“Who knows, here goes...” -RENT

Hi kids. You're getting this email because I thought you might be interested in hearing about my trip to Asia as it's progressing. I'll email updates to this list as I'm able, which will probably end up being once every few days to a week. If you prefer not to get my updates, let me know and I'll take you off the list (and don't worry-- I'm not easily offended). If you're receiving this at work and would prefer to receive it at home (because, honestly, there's no telling what I could write in here), let me know that too. And if by some stretch of the imagination someone wants to be added to this list, then kindly inform her that I really don't have all that many friends and that if she didn't make this list, she probably isn’t one of them.

Anyhow, I'm off to New Delhi tonight by way of London. I hit London in the morning, sit on the tarmac for a couple hours, and then get to Delhi tomorrow night.

I don't have a firm schedule, but I have a rough trip outline, although I'm fully expecting to deviate from it. But in the interest of pacifying my mother, who has been asking me for days now “where specifically I am going,” I've provided the rough outline below. In the end, though, I expect it won't be much help to mom, because I'm fairly certain she won't be able to find these places on a map anyhow.

Aug 16: depart JFK

Aug 17: arrive New Delhi
...Delhi, Agra (Taj Mahal), Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Mcleod Ganj

~Sep 1: fly to Bangalore
...Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai , Mamallapuram, Pondicherry, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Kochi, Mangalore, Goa, Mumbai

Sep 13: fly to Singapore
...Singapore, Jakarta, Yogyakarta/Borobudur, Gunang Bromo (volcano), Denpasar/Kuta/Ubud (all in Bali), Kuala Lumpur, Cameron Highlands (central Malaysia), Penang, Phuket, Ko Phi Phi, Bangkok, Pattaya, Ko Samet, Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue, Savannakhet, Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Huay Xai, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, back to Bangkok

~Oct 15: fly to Hong Kong
...Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing (to see Emily!), Great Wall

Oct 31: fly to San Francisco

Ok, I think that about covers it. I'll send another one of these once I have something interesting to write, which won't be before Saturday. To the airport I go.