Highlights

Here are Josh and Yona's highlights.
1) Being on the shockingly beautiful Kanolla/Kannur beach in Kerala, watching dolphins, swimming in the warm water, nice ocean breezes, beach combing and finding grandma toenails, canoeing in the mangrove swamp and watching/hearing all the birds, and watching the sunset over the ocean every night.
2) All the great fresh fish available in S. India, which Yona liked to eat with her hands. Josh liked Trishna Restaurant in Bombay a lot and we both enjoyed the grilled fish tikka masala. For that matter, all the delicous food like sweet lassis, falooda (tapioca and icecream concoction), coconut water, as well as new main courses we had not had before.
3) Visiting the elephants at the Dubare Elephant Camp. A little touristy, but we got to feel the whiskers that pass for fur. Also, there was a baby elephant who liked to wrestle/shove/play with the teenage and adult elephants.
4) Riding the rails of India. We did a few night trains, which were shockingly comfortable when we were in 2 tier AC. The Blue Mountain Steam train up to the hill town of Ooty was cute (small, lots of windows and doors) and offered stunning views. We stopped often to top off the water and monkeys used the opportunity to visit us and beg handouts.
5) Being hosted and/or made to feel at home by so many people including Priya, Raghu, et al; Leela; Namhita,Vishal, Amita, Ashish, Saachi, et al. This includes the nice tour we got of Blue Mountain Montessori by Amukta and being invited to a wedding by Akshay. And recieving blessings for our baby from everyone from taxi drivers to stangers.
6) Having locals explain concepts that were foreign to us, like Jain philosophy (while sitting on a Jain priest's bed having snacks with some crazy planet-of-the-apes-like-hindi tale on the tv in the background).
7) A wonderful walking tour (in Chennai) and a fun village trek to a cave temple with a stop at a farm house for an impromtu dance party and a warm greeting by every child we passed (even though almost all of them mistakenly said bye bye instead of hello).
8) Seeing the millions of stars (not quite of the southern hemisphere, but close) shining brightly in the Osian desert on the roof of a camel man.
9) The relaxing stay and interesting plantation tour at rainforest retreat in Kodagu where saw vanilla beans, cadamom, tea and coffee, pineapples - all grown in an organic, sustainable method. It was especially cool that the owners are scientists who could tell us about the geology/biodiversity of the area including the wasps that pick up caterpillers, paralyze the them, stuff them in a hole, lay eggs in there and close up the hole. And the frogs and orchids too...
10) Seeing (and trying when safe) all the fresh fruits and vegetables including custard apples, nungu, mangosteen, chickoo, passion fruit, water pumpkin, drumsticks, amla, fresh barley, something called water chestnuts that were not really water chestnuts. The markets, especially devaraja market in mysore, were really cool. And all the boiling vats of milk and other products were fun.
11) The astrological observatory of jantar mantar in Jaipur. That emperor dude was serious about horoscopes!
12) Some other random highlights: helping repair the thatch roof of a traditional house during a home stay south of Jodhpur, the cultural activities and food meditation at The Attic in Delhi, flying first class and using the lounges (where we are this moment).

More pictures and maybe final thoughts to follow.