I'm in New Delhi now, using a hotel computer to write this entry. Here are some impressions from my travels so far, in chronological order:

While boarding our flight from Seattle, we noticed a young man who had been pulled aside by security agents for questioning. He remained cordial and smiling as he answered their questions, though it must have been a tense situation for him. A few minutes later, he took a next to me, and we talked a bit during our flight. He knows just a bit of English, and I can say only four things in Arabic, but such sparse conversations are often the ones that stay longest in my memory. My seatmate is from Libya, and is a dentistry student at the university in Tripoli (he laughed when I said that his work will help many people, but children won't like him). He'd been in the States visiting his brother, who is studying computer science in Portland, Oregon. He liked Portland very much, and now thinks he would like to study there himself. Perhaps we'll cross paths again in the airport someday.

We landed in Frankfurt and spent an enjoyable layover day in the nearby town of Mainz, which we easily reached via train right from the airport. We took a self-guided walking tour around the beautiful town, visiting the Dom, a church with beautiful Chagall windows, and the Gutenberg Museum, where I had a chance to see a demonstration of a working Gutenberg printing press. Watching the simple steps of the process to create a new print page brought to life how much more easily documents could be printed by the press than could be written by hand. Stopping for lunch and coffee at a coffee shop, we noticed that all tables were taken by customers, none of whom were using a laptop or iPhone. Instead, they were enjoying the excellent food and coffee and their conversations with their friends. Quite a contrast from a typical Starbucks in the US, and a bit of food for thought about how we spend our days in the US!

Later, walking along the bank of the Rhine River, I noticed two Viking cruise ships tied up at the riverbank. My friends J and K have booked a river cruise for next summer, and may very well find themselves on one of those ships. Sometimes it seems like an especially small world!

The next day, we boarded our flight from Frankfurt to New Delhi. My seatmate L, a graduate of India's prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, is now a graduate student at a Canadian university, where he's just finishing his masters in engineering and about to proceed to work towards his PhD. He's working in the general area of fuel cell development, adapting nano techniques to help solve a key obstacle to development of truly affordable fuel cells. Our conversation--about his work, the state of his field in general, India, and other topics--was wide-ranging. His broad knowledge and articulateness impressed me; I can't think I've ever met a student at his level and age who was as articulate, thoughtful, and knowledgeable.

At the New Delhi airport, we were picked up and taken to our hotel by pre-arranged cab. I'd been learning Hindi via Rosetta Stone, and now I was getting the first chance to practice speaking with actual people, including the cab driver. He's learning English, little by little, from his customers, and was delighted to help me with my Hindi as he drove us to our hotel. I was delighted and encouraged that he actually could understand my fumbling sentences.

Yesterday was a busy day spent changing money--an essential step--and exploring the walkable area near our hotel. We also took the new Delhi metro out to Chandni Chowk, the best-known of Delhi's many bazaars, and the enormous Red Fort, built by a Mughal emperor. The crowds we encountered while walking the streets and taking the Metro made navigation and progress difficult, but each of our steps brought to life new aspects of ordinary life in India--tiny stalls selling everything you can think of and some you can't; people carrying everything you can think of and more besides; bicycle- and auto-rickshaws, cars, and buses weaving intricately around each other; our first encounter with India's street cows (you just walk around them, they don't seem to mind); and every kind of person from beggar to businessman with cellphone on ear, all shoulder to shoulder in the narrow streets. All together, they made an intense, living tapestry. Later, walking home after a simple supper at a rooftop restaurant, I noticed a rickshaw driver rolled up in a blanket and stretched out on the shaft of his rickshaw for a night's sleep--not a position in which I'd be able to be comfortable, but his ability to adapt to the constraints of his circumstances is something to remember.

I will wrap this post up now in case others need to use this shared computer. When I next get a chance to sit at a computer, I'll tell you about the events of today, including a visit to Delhi's largest mosque, Raj Ghat where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated (now a simple shrine), and a highly exhilarating ride through Delhi's packed streets in an autorickshaw.