July 31, 2010 - Bangkok

Arrived in Bangkok about 11 last night after 6 hour flight from Tokyo.  I fly to Delhi this evening at about 8:30.  It is still the monsoon in India, so the plan is to head quickly north to the Himalayas, first to Manali and from there to Leh in Ladakh, in the rain shadow of the Himalayas.  I plan to spend most of the first 2-3 months in the Himalayas and then descend to the plains once the monsoon ends (usually mid-September) when it is cooler and drier.  Then I plan to head to Rajasthan and Gujarat before circling back to Delhi for my flight out in late January.  With my visa I can spend no longer than 180 days in India at one time.  That's my plan; we'll see how it works out.

July 30, 2010

In Narita (where Tokyo's airport is located) waiting for fight to Bangkok.  Arrived this morning about 8 am local time after 6 am flight from Saipan.  Saw Iwo Jima on flight.  Looked low and barren, with Mt. Suribachi completely covered with clouds.

I will try to keep up this blog as I travel.  I've done some experimenting with it here in Tokyo this afternoon, but haven't been able to make the time of posting conform to local time.  It posts the time and date by US Pacific Daylight Time.  The title of the post is the date here in Japan as I write this.