Sri Lanka

Weddings in Sri lanka are an expensive all day celebration where traditional fashion and culture prevail.
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A symphony of local fruits dangle you into submission.

Local cusine - it just read "rice and curry" on the menu and 8 dishes arrived including basmati rice, prawns in curry, spinach with coconut, pineapple in curry, dal, potatoes with chives and garlic, something with hot chilis and of course a Lion Lager or two to wash it all down !!

2011 World Cricket Championships will be held next month in Sri Lanka.

For a dollar or so take the train south or inland from Colombo. I suggest 3rd class to maximize immersion in local culture.

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Cinnamon sand and warm turquoise waters provide some of the world's greatest beaches .....

..... however in some areas such as Hikkaduwa and Ulawatuna, nature is slow to recover from the 2004 tsunami disaster that claimed 50,000 lives.

Japan erected this memorial to the Sri Lankan people lost in the tsunami. Jane standing at the base provides scale.

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Sri Lankan faith is strong - people always bow with hands clasped and ask how they can help us, when we should be helping them.

The sun goes down on another day - here as it does on all of us.

The next generation looks forward.

Southern India

Young girl with captivating eyes in Cochin.

Tea plantations are abundant near the hill station where we stayed just outside Munnar.

Mountain sheep were happened upon during a hike in the Western Ghat mountains.

Rubber is collected one drip at a time - the cups emptied every day.

We spent 4 days on a houseboat - slowly moving along the palm fringed backwaters of Kerala.

Water lilies in pink, yellow and white are abundant on the backwaters .....

..... along with many species of birds.

Boat building includes hand fitting the planks of the shell - then stitching them together with rope over a layer of coconut fibres.

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A small girl having her daily bath at the edge of the backwaters.

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A fishing net is thrown after extensive practice into a small canal.

Women swim in full saris at the beach.

Colorful art on the edge of a fishing boat at Kovalam Beach.

Intricately carved colonnade in Tirumalai Nayak Palace in Madurai.

The east gate of the Sri Meenakshi Temple - decorated with 3 dimensional colored gods and goddesses, demons and heros - stands 52 meters high.

984 carved granite columns support just one section of the temple.

Hand painted art decorates one of the ceilings.

A goddess with adornments of flowers and powdered paint.

Butter candles in the temple are lit with a silent prayer.

Northern India

Wall painting of the Hindu God Shiva.

Exchanging cultural intrigue.

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Red and pink roses and orange merigolds used in holy offerings.

On a row boat on the Ganges River at sunrise is a mystical experience.

Cremation Ghats on the edge of the holy Ganges River - the ashes then washed into the river.

A Sadhu Hindu Holy Man - Varanasi.

Women in beautiful saris working on construction projects.

Buddhist monks meditating at Sarnath. Note the gold leaf applied to the stupa.

The Wind Palace constructed of red sandstone in the Pink City of Jaipur.

Snake charmer - the cobra lashed out and struck my pant leg.

Justin photographing me, photographing him in the hall of mirrors - Amber Palace.

Elephants are adorned in colorful paint.

Taj Mahal, Agra - the most architecturally beautiful structure ever erected - a tribute to love.

Standing in front of carved white carrera marble inlaid with semi-precious stones.

Scalloped arches of the palace built in the 16oos.

Pushkar Lake - a holy Hindu pilgamage site as viewed from our palace corridor.

The exterior corridor of the palace where we stayed in Pushkar.

8 chillies and 1 lime are strung up every Saturday morning to bring good luck.

Local breakfast is available from street vendors.

Wandering the alleyways of the old part of Jodhpur - the Blue City.

A palace guard stands watch.

It was wonderful to have Jenna and Justin join us for two weeks as we travelled across Northern India.

Something of interest in all directions.

Riding in traffic in the capital city of Delhi - population 16 million !