The Oregon Trail - Lewis, Clark and a Volcano

cently had a chance to follow the path that Lewis and Clark took when they explored Oregon and Southern Washington. After taking a leisurely drive along the coast, I cut back at Astoria and drove to beautiful Portland in the shadow of Mt Hood. Here is a pictorial journal of the trip.

There was a beautiful "old growth" rainforest en route to the coast.
















I was amazed that it was possible to literally drive into the ocean ... if you wanted to. By the way, this sweet 2-door is the best rental I've ever driven. A smooth drive, and this was THE perfect day to roll down the sun-roof and catch some rays.



I



The "car" picture










This is a novel way to cook pizza. The steps are:
- Open package
- Place package on heat vent under windshield
- Turn heat up












Some cool architecture in Astoria



If you think herding cats is hard ... try herding sea lions

India Trip - I am engaged

Nadia and I finally made the long pilgrimage back home. Being the sentimental sort, Nadia was looking forward to seeing the place where I grew up, learned to play soccer, went to school etc. Since we were in India for just one week, we only had time to visit Mumbai and Pune. I also had the privilege of delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, but once that was out of the way, the vacation was a total blast. Here is a pictorial journal of our trip

First-up, a really cool sign that we saw prior to departure from JFK:


Anji, Nadia and I at IIT-Bombay


The "Elixir" competition, and the ensuing lecture that I delivered on Healthcare Innovation in India. I really enjoyed my experience running Elixir. I met some great folks and enjoyed working with the students to develop their concepts for the final exhibition.




Nadia and I, at the culmination of Elixir...


For anyone who has been to an Indian wedding, I'm sure you can empathize with the bride to be...this is Nadia, trying on a selection of salwars.



Doesn't she look pretty?



Trip down memory lane

This is where I lived ...


I spent many many hours reading about dogs, fish, birds and wildlife in this very corner of "Manney's bookstore"

The place I went to school - St Vincents


My old school desk... 20 years later



My 6th grade teacher ... 20 years later



Catching up with my former "desk mate" - also was with me at Stanford and at St Jude :) (His mom designed Nadia's ring)


The place where I learned to play basketball (no wonder the NBA career did not take off)

The place where I learned to play soccer - this is where I proposed to Nadia ;)

and here is the rock ... or rather, the rocks...

Nadia's favorite pictures:
a) Fascination with cows in the street



b) Shivaji market - Hawks diving down to scoop up the offal from the meat market
c) And then there was the local buffalo shed...

Given our penchant for food, we spent the bulk of our time in India (and later in Dubai) sampling an eclectic selection of local eats - as well as "firm Dhaaba favorites" (Indian fastfood). Fresh pomegranate juice, Basundi, Royal Falooda .... mmmm... D-lish.


"Tender coconut is mm..mm.. good!"


"I love Shrikhand"


One of my favorite "Pune joints" - I used to love eating chicken sandwiches at this cafe when I was a kid.


"Yes, kaju katli, anjeer roll, meetha paan, lasoon sev, palak sev..." (mom's not around to stop me heheh! - just kidding mom ... you know I eat healthy now)


"OOh basundi - I love you"





Overall - it was a fantastic trip culminating in a very happy ending.

Coasting down to Southern Cal

Nadia and I spent Thanksgiving visiting with family and friends who live in Ventura, LA and San Diego. We spent most of time driving, or hanging out at the beach. Needless to say, we ate a lot of really good food.


Here are some quick highlights of the trip

Driving down the Pacific Coast. The only place better? The Alaskan Highway...



Hanging out with Paul's family on Thanksgiving day. Delicious food. Great relationships. You cannot go wrong.


Spending time with Aakash in San Diego




Nadia introduced to the lovebird

Then we returned back to LA to hang out with another buddy - Nitin - who just got engaged. Nadia and I visited our favorite 'chaat' place in Artesia.


Finally, we rounded our So'Cal excursion with a trip to Pomona College to visit my brother (and soon to be Stanford alum ... jk bro) Ajoy.

Troubleshooting the DAQ

Alaska II: Paddling to the Midnight Sun

The second phase of our Alaska vacation involved exploring the glaciers in Southern Alaska on Kenai Peninsula. We spent a day exploring glaciers at Kenai Fjords, and then headed off to paddle at Aialik Bay with Miller's Landing (THREE THUMBS UP!!)

But let's start at the beginning...

The Seward Highway has been touted as the most scenic drive in the United States and I was eager to see whether this gushing praise was justified. I will reserve my judgment and let you decided for yourself after looking at the pictures below.












On second thoughts, I will say that it was absolutely amazing. Snow-capped mountains are a beautiful thing, but when coupled with fragrant wildflowers, cerulean blue water and majestic eagles soaring into the crisp blue skies, it was a truly inspiring 127 mile drive.

En route to Seward, we stopped and watched for wildlife at Tern Lake - a beautiful lake cloistered in the Kenai Mountains. We saw an abundance of Artic Tern. These birds have fascinated me ever since my dad bought me a bird book when I was a wee lad. I managed to sneak up close and take a couple of pictures.



Exploring in Kenai

Dave and I woke up pretty early the next morning and headed off to explore Exit Glacier at Kenai Fjords Nat'l Park. A fine connoisseur of "free stuff," I was pleased to find that entrance to the park was free. This did create a minor dilemma for me about whether to buy a new Nat'l Parks Pass.







After all that exploring and considering I had not eaten any meat since Denali, I was eager to tuck in. Dave and I bought some meat at the local grocery (Salmon in Alaska is more expensive than in California!!). I cooked up some Korean BBQ and Indian style "meat and potatoes" and we filled our bellies prior to the next morning.



We awoke bright and early to head off to Lowell Point - the tip of Kenai - in order to jump aboard a water taxi with some kayaks and our gear. Dave and I were eagerly looking forward to this leg of the trip because we were heading out on open Alaskan seas to explore glaciers and islands off the coast. I've enclosed the pictures of our adventure but they do not do justice to plethora of wildlife that we saw ... as well as the treacherous seas that we experienced.

The tip of Kenai ....



A welcoming black bear....





Our campsite



The Kayaking Adventure Commences
Our explorations took us to remote islands that spring up at low tide, pristine glaciers that are only accessible at high tide, and choppy ocean water that threatened to give us a taste of the chilly Alaskan water. On the plus side, you do come through the experience feeling much more "manly" ;)

Holgate Glacier


Can you spot the seal lion that leaped out of the water with a HUGE hunk of meat in his mouth?










Battling the waves






We caught some fish and had some company...



And then, there was the grand finale ...






Yes... they did break into my car. No, they were not smart enough to take the entire MP3 player and stereo system.

Alaska I: Exploring "The Mountain"

The trip to Alaska involved 5 days of backpacking in Denali, followed by a trip down the scenic Seward Highway to Kenai, where we Kayaked in Aialik Bay and explored some of the islands and glaciers off the southwestern coast.

Day 1: Staying at the 26th Street Hostel.
I highly recommend this place. The people were friendly, you get great kitchen privileges, internet, they are located close to groceries and outdoor stores AND you get a killer breakfast.




Salmon in Alaska is really expensive. We forked out $10 for a tiny UNCOOKED piece of Salmon at Carr's.


Day 2: Driving north to Denali





Our first glimpse of "The Mountain" ... we don't really think this was Denali after all... :(



Peering through the binoculars to catch a glimpse of "The Mountain"









We also found a moose head - that we could not bring back home although I was tempted.



Finally, we reached Denali, scrambled to collect our gear and hopped aboard the last shuttle to Wonder Lake.







We saw several animals in Denali: wolf, bear, caribou, dall sheep and moose. The highlight for me, was climbing upto a strategic vantage point at Polychrome pass and being pleasantly surprised to see a Peregrine falcon dive bomb an unsuspecting swallow.















The Journey

I was able to go on several fun and intense hikes. The next few pictures chronicle my exploration of the Eielson, Stony Dome and Polychrome Pass area which is in the second part of Denali, past the Toklat and Teklanika Rivers. As you can see, the trail was far from easy, but the spectacular views, abundant wildlife, varied foliage and lack of tourists made the journey well worth it.







Tundra Vegetation

Abhi hits NY and DC

This is a pictorial chronicle of a trip that my girlfriend and I took to New York and DC. I made the finals of the Worldbank Development Marketplace and spun the final round into a mini-vacation. I'm not really seriously blogging here, but mainly just looking for a place to dump pictures so that friends can view them.

Nadia and I had a chance to visit several sites in DC. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Natural History Museums, Smithsonian, White House and Capitol Hill.



At the feet of Abe Lincoln...



This is us before going to see "Lions of the Kalahari." I'm sure that those of you who know about my unhealthy preoccupation with the Savuti Lions, the Duba pride and Buffalo in Botswana will easily see why this was the highlight of my trip.




A really cool gem exhibition was also going on at the same time. We got a chance to see some really nice precious stones ;)


Next we headed off to the Botanical Garden



Finally, we got to the Worldbank Development Marketplace