Science Experiments

Tube 1: water with sugar
Tube 2: water with salt
Tube 3: water with vinegar
Tube 4: water with oil

Company Picnic and Great America

Kit enjoyed the bounce house at the company picnic in Saratoga.

Tuk and Kit Are Back

Tuk and Kit enjoyed their flights back home. The airline staff always comment on how well Kit travels. She's a pro!

No economy class seats were available for reward miles so they got to travel business class for their return flights. Tuk was worried as Kit had to sit in her own capsule seat with a partition between them. Sometimes Kit gets concerned during take-off as the plane becomes noisy and starts vibrating. While Tuk was worried, Kit was not. Kit was just fine.

Kit was quite excited about being upstairs in a 747... a plane with stairs! She played with all the seat controls then settled in to watch children movies in Thai for the flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong. She just loved her little capsule. She told Tuk that she was fine and for Tuk to enjoy her own capsule.

Kit went to sleep by herself from Hong Kong to San Francisco, missing dinner. We were wondering what a business class child's dinner would be... and we still don't know.

Kit is very proud of how well she did.

Mumbai

New cricket stadium being built in Pune.

Traffic going into Mumbai was pretty bad. Police directed us to use a lane on the other side of the expressway.

Driver stopped to purchase this chili-lime to repel negative energy and keep us safe. He is not from Mumbai so it is tough for him too.

Entering Mumbai we drove by Dharavi, Asia's largest "slum", home to nearly a million people. Pune had poverty yet not to this scale.

Started my walking tour at the top of a small hill in Mumbai looking down at the beach.

Wandered through side streets and the market. Market was busy for the 3 day weekend and the upcoming festivals.

Impossible to not be thinking that the terrorist attacks were near this spot. Back in Pune, the bombed German Bakery was not far from my hotel.

There are many interesting buildings in the "old fort" area of Mumbai.

Mumbai is built on six original islands and reclaimed swamp land.

An old university. Asia's first stock exchange is in Mumbai. Banks are everywhere.

The Gateway to India built in commemoration of King George V and Queen Mary's visit. Mumbai wasn't much at the time, just a port stop on the way to Delhi.

Freni, my guide from Mumbai Magic, put together a nice variety of walking locations for me centered mainly around Mumbai's history with the British.

They offer a city transporation tour (train, bus and taxi) lead by a college student that I'd like to take next time.

The Taj motel, site of the terrorist attacks in 2008.

We had a great dinner at Gaylord's churchgate location, sitting outside. It is the oldest restaurant in this part of Mumbai.

Mumbai airport was a pain due to inefficient procedures. Arrived at sunrise in Munich.

Delicious German fried potatoes for breakfast before my flight to London.

View of Tower Bridge on approach to London's Heathrow airport. The ship is the HMS Belfast, a WWII era cruiser, now a naval museum.

United 777 for London to San Francisco flight.
I ordered vegan meals. Only one wasn't good (bland). Get served first so I'm done long before the bev cart arrives.

Lovely day in San Francisco.

Saying Goodbye

Took a little walk around the hotel before going in to say goodbye to everyone.

Had dinner at the kabob hut. Explained that them calling it my "last meal" didn't translate all that well.

Wait staff is very nice and attentive. Well, I had the entire restaurant to myself!

Another shot with the staff.

Does Stockholm Syndrome apply to being held captive in a 5 star hotel?

With the captains and two chefs.

With the chefs.

Dropped in for coffee and dessert at the C&C restaurant to say goodbye too. Amol and Poonum take care of me most evenings.

Chef, Ashok and a captain. Ashok took ownership of serving me. Captain suggested many Indian desserts to try.

Most of the Indian desserts were very good, especially in combination with each other.

And said goodbye to Pooja. At 19 she is the baby of the staff. Everyone takes good care of her.

Trupti serves me coffee and masala dosa (or idli) every day.

Security x-rays my stuff and has me go through a metal detector every day. They also check each car.