New Florence. New Renaissance.

India trip - top 10 experiences

As we approach the end of our month long visit to India, Margaret and I took advantage of a WiFi-free day on a ‘Kettuvallam’ - a houseboat on India’s longest lake, Vembanad to discuss our top 10 experiences - intense, spiritual, picturesque, humorous - during our trip. Not an easy task from a very long list of candidates which included visits to tea plantations and spice farms and are cataloged in hundreds of photos and videos.

If Margaret had made the list by herself it would likely include many Shiva, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Baha’i and other temples and churches, mosques and synagogues we have seen. If I were to do the list alone it would include spectacular fruit buffets (mounds of papaya and muskmelon) and much more humble meals served on banana leaf and some of the wind farms and other technology we saw in our travels

Here they are in no particular order

Old Delhi spice market - the wild cycle rickshaw ride through narrow streets. The sinus clearing walk through lanes of red pepper and other spices. The admiration of workers who carry heavy bags while politely dodging the vehicular and tourist traffic

Taj Mahal under a full moon and next morning we saw its remarkable Makrana marble gleam as the sun shone at it from different angles

A boat ride on the holy Ganga along the ghats in Varanasi, supposedly the oldest city in the world. The steep climb down and up, the cremation fires and jostling with other boats to participate in the aarti - the fire ritual made for an intense experience

A visit to the spot In Sarnath where Buddha gave his first sermon after reaching his enlightenment

A ‘drivethru’ meal - on the way to Tenkasi the Zoho bus stopped for what looked like a traffic jam. Next thing we knew folks boarded and handed each of us a choice of packaged veg or non veg meals. Bags with very filling lunches.

A langur - long tailed monkey - hitched a mile’s ride on our vehicle in Rajasthan

A visit to the Zoho village in rural Tenkasi. Kids during traditional dances, songs and martial arts. A guided tour of schools, farms, local architecture  and more from Sridhar Vembu, the CEO of Zoho and his team

A room In Haridwar where you could walk into the Ganga. Margaret took a dip in the fast moving holy river and was glad she could hold on to the metal cage

A room overlooking Munnar - rightfully called “God’s own country”

A pedestrian bridge in Rishikesh. The 1st and 3rd lane are for two wheelers but the walking humans opportunistically take advantage of them and the cows use all three. Brought home the hustle and bustle which defines India. Everybody is on the move all the time!!!

Bonus - the gentle houseboat ride through the Wetlands at 3 knots with room and board included. We went by countless snake birds and snake boats. On a busy Sunday the lake has over a thousand of these boats. At times, we felt an armada was coming towards us and headed to and from one of the ten rivers which feed the lake. 

2022 edition of West Coast on the East Coast

Continuing the Instagram series on the slower, friendlier, prettier other coast of Florida

Gallery of 10 photos in each

Apollo Beach - TECO Manatee Viewing Center

Cayo Costa - Hurricane Ian

Dunedin – Scottish Highland Games

Hudson – Canterbury Farms Nursery

Lakeland – Polk Museum, Rodin exhibit

Lakeland – Lake Morton, Birding paradise

Lakeland – Linder Airport, Thunderbirds in their F-16s at Sun n Fun

Lake Nano – Medical City Town Center

Lake Nona – Wave Hotel

Masaryktown – Sunflowers and more at Sweetfields Farm

New Port Rickey – Downtown and Green Key

Oldsmar – Olds Park

Palm Harbor – Lake Tarpon

St Petersburg – Saturday Morning Market

St Petersburg – Christmas in the Pier and Museum District

St Petersburg – Green Thumb Festival

St Petersburg – Wat Lao Buddhist Temple

Safety Harbor

Spring Hill – Nature Coast Botanical Garden

Tampa – Margaret’s Buddha Army

Tampa – MacDill AFB, Blue Angels in their Super Hornets

Tampa – MacDill AFB, Airfest

Tampa – Sistine Chapel exhibition

Tampa – Pam Callahan Nature Preserve

Tampa – Hillsborough River, St. Patrick’s Day

Tampa – International Plaza and Bay Street

Tampa – Florida State Fair – Farm fun

Tampa – Florida State Fair – Fairgrounds

Tampa – Bayshore Blvd, Gasparilla

Tampa – Pirate Pride – Gasparilla and Buccaneers

Tampa - Lowry Park

Tampa – the bridges of Channel A

Tampa – the bridges of Channel G

Tampa – Bayshore Blvd

Tampa – U of Tampa

Tampa – Thanksgiving

Tampa – Christmas libations

Tampa Bay area – Rail memories

Tampa Bay area– Rail landmarks

Tampa Bay area – various waterfronts

 

2022 – Other Instagram Posts

As travel opened up, many of the Instagram posts were from the East Coast of FL, and trips around the country.

Galley of 10 photos in each

East coast of FL

Ft Lauderdale – Las Olas Beach area

Ft Lauderdale – Venice of the US

Ft Lauderdale – Christmas Boat Parade

Miami Beach – IFS Unleashed

Miami Beach Convention Center – IFS Unleashed

Miami Beach – National Hotel

Orlando Wetlands Park – Feb 2022

Orlando Wetlands Park – Nov 2022

Pompano Beach – Refuge from Hurricane Ian

St Augustine – fascinating stones and stores

St Augustine – Castillo de San Marcos and St George St

St Augustine – Nights of Lights

Other travel

Joshua Tree National Park

Las Vegas – Chinese New Year – Aria and Venetian

Las Vegas – Chinese New Year at Bellagio

New York – LGA new Terminal B

New York – Village and Washington Square Park

New York – Ferry

New York – NYSE TCU Closing Bell

San Francisco – Salesforce Dreamforce

San Francisco – SFO Harvey Milk terminal

Twentynine Palms, CA

Which lady has yelled at you the loudest?

I have been yelled at by mom, my wife, my daughter and many other ladies but I am going to nominate Lauren Schlichting as the loudest

That’s US Air Force Major Lauren Schlichting.

We were at the Sun n Fun Airshow in Lakeland, FL yesterday. The last mile to the parking lot took us 90 minutes, the grounds were soft from days of rain and sure enough we got stuck in the parking lot mud till help arrived 90 minutes later. So, I was arranging for our tickets when the Thunderbirds show had already started. With my back to them, I was left shaking like a leaf by the loudest sound I have ever heard. So was Margaret 30 feet away and everyone else around us.

The Thunderbirds had flown directly over us in their F-16s. They can technically reach speeds of Mach 2 though in airshows they stay below Mach 1. But it sure felt like a sonic boom had hit us. And Major Schlichting, in her first year as a Thunderbird is the right wing pilot in the diamond foursome formation. It's precision flying - she is often only 18-inches from the lead jet. 2 other solos make up the aerobatic team of 6.

Two weeks ago, I had the chance to see the US Navy’s Blue Angels in their F-18 Super Hornets - see my write up here. Each has their fans. Navy v Air Force. Super Hornet v Fighting Falcon. My wife likes the Thunderbirds jet livery more. 

This video is a nice compilation of both the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels. Mercifully, they rarely fly together – imagine those roars if they were to try to out-hotdog each other.

You may enjoy my Instagram gallery of 10 photos from the event.

Oh, and btw the Major’s pilot call sign is “Threat”. Don’t piss her off 😊

Hydrogen-fired train

The company, formally East Japan Railway, will begin safety testing on the two-car Hybari train in late March. Plans are to start commercial service in 2030.

Hybari runs off hydrogen fuel cells and batteries. Hydrogen is supplied from tanks to a fuel cell system, and a chemical reaction with oxygen in the air generates electricity. The batteries store energy generated when the brakes are applied.

Nikkei Asia

Video on principles of such trains are designed

The evolution of hypersonic aircraft

China is developing a hypersonic airliner capable of transporting 10 passengers to anywhere in the world in less than an hour.

The 148-foot-long (45-meter) plane is about a third the size of a Boeing 737 and has delta wings identical to that of Concorde, the world’s first supersonic airliner, but with the tips pointed skyward, reported the Daily Mail.

Officials hope to build a fleet of the jets by the end of 2035 and to increase their capacity to 100 people by 2045 – although their exact purpose is yet to be revealed. Owing to its intricate construction, the plane will be able to travel at a speed of Mach 5 or more than five times the speed of sound.

Eurasian Times

Here is a video which goes into the fits and starts in the evolution of hypersonic craft

Finland: Capital of Disc Golf world

Disc golf and woods, woods and disc golf. They were meant for each other. One such location where you can find an abundance of both of these things is Finland. They have seen a steady rise in course implementation, PDGA events, and PDGA membership since the early 2000s. Their numbers are so high that they currently hold the record for the most disc golf courses per capita. They have over 800 courses for nearly 5.5 million people (that’s one course for every 6,875 people). They also have more disc golf courses than ball golf.

Here is a TED talk on how the sport helped the country during the pandemic

 

Amtrak’s new Venture coaches

That’s because last week Amtrak quietly unveiled the first deliveries from a previous order with Siemens dating back to 2017. While some interior modifications may occur, this is essentially the same product that will roll out throughout the country over the next decade.

The Points Guy has a detailed review here on the Amtrak Venture class coach

The global journeys of spice

Aramco World has a nice series around the global travels of 6 spices - ginger, cumin, cloves, nutmeg, pepper and cinnamon

Finding Shackleton’s Endurance

National Geo has greenlit an epic documentary detailing the successful search and discovery of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s sunken Endurance ship near Antarctica, helmed by British historian Dan Snow.

The doc will chart the successful search by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust for famed explorer Shackleton’s shipwrecked Endurance, which sank in 1915 near Antarctica.

Led by Polar Geographer Dr. John Shears and Marine Archaeologist Mensun Bound aboard the South African icebreaker Agulhas II, a crew of scientists and archaeologists teamed with filmmakers and Snow to document the events in real time leading up to the discovery.

Dateline

Here is a preview courtesy of the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust