Jun 3, 2009 - High Court of Assam at Gauhati

Route: Siliguri - Sivok - Bongaigaon - Golpara - Gauhati - Golpara - Coochbihar - Jalpaiguri - Siliguri Distance covered: 475 Kms. + 561 Kms. = 1036 Kms. Place of Stay on 02.06.2009: Harmony House, Apurba Sinha Path, Rajgarh Road, ByLane No.5 Place of Stay on 04.06.2009 (after midnight of 03.06.2009):Hotel Central Plaza, Mallaguri After relaxing in our favourite hotel, we started off for Gauhati. The journey was the most difficult which we had undertaken till now. After a grilling 12 hours journey we reached Gauhati at around 10 p.m. Our...

Aug 14, 2007 - Jorhat-Don't Tell Mum!

Tea helped put Assam on the world map. A British official first reported its existence in 1823. A few other things make this north-east Indian state unique. The one horned rhinocerous is its pride and joy. Then there's the world's largest river island. Of course, you might not have heard about the last two. I hadn't. Perhaps you didn't even know about about the tea. However, maybe you have seen recent reports about some other things that make this place famous? Floods, strikes and terrorism! I thought I would see the devastation caused by...

Feb 16, 2006 - Dulliajan, Assam - Enter the land of black gold

Greetings all, We are here in a town called Dulliajan right now. IT's primarily an oil town. Almost everybody works for the oil company here. We've only beeen here for a few days and it's been fun. Yesterday we visitied an oil platform and got to actually go up high on the platform and watch them change the drill bit. The well we visited can drill 12,000 feet deep. Yes, that is twelve thousand feet deep. That's rediculously deep. All of us enjoyed that experience more than we thought we would. We even had a cup of tea on the rig! Last...

Feb 11, 2006 - Tinsukia and other things

We have now moved to Tinsukia, Assam, the triangle city and are resting at our new hosts. We visited a women's college today, and Don and Nate were big hits. Wow, does it ever get hard to say good-bye to our new found friends. Hopefully the pictures are not too large to preview. Namaste, Marlene

Feb 10, 2006 - The tour of our first Indian prison

Today we met with the Rotaracters from Dibrugarh around 9:00 AM. We had a great meal with them and hopefully planted the seeds for many great conversations to come. It's fun to share there youth and energy. Sara and Karin were feeling a little under the weather so they did not attend the mornings events. So Nathan, Marlene, and I fought the good fight and went at it three strong. After meeting with them we were whisked away to a visit to one of the local colleges. I was joking to Nathan on the way there that maybe we'll get honorary...

Feb 8, 2006 - Dibrugarh

Hello to everyone from Dibrugarh, the city below the river, Yes, this City is below the river because in 1952 an earthquake re-directed it. There are dikes similar to New Orleans, and in the rainy/monsoon season they are closely watched. After a six hour ride from Kaziranga, we arrived in Dibrugarh and greeted by several Rotarians, with flowers and a special Bindi or red paint on our forehead. Then we proceeded to our host families. Today, February 8, 2006, we visited a village where the Rotary clubs provide medical services once a month....

Feb 7, 2006 - One Horned Rhino's, Elephants, and the Super Bowl......

Hello all, Don here with another update. I tried updating the website in Tezpur a few days back but they have power outtages quite frequently here. So I'll try and recap some of the past events. Tezpur, the city of blood. We spent 3 wonderful nights in Tezpur. Many fun things happened. Nathan and I spoke at Tezpur University and met all sorts of great people there. We answered questions about GPS, E-Mail, and many other topics. My host in Tezpur who's name is Dr. Gogoi is in fantastic shape. Especially considering he is over 60 years old....

Feb 1, 2006 - Welcome to Tezpur!

Hello friends, Sara here. We arrived in Tezpur yesterday. It is so, so much warmer here than in Shillong - probably 75 F and sunny right now. The first two hours of the drive was a big change in elevation (we were on our way down). Our hosts have been so gracious to spend so much time driving us and we learn a lot on the way -- so much information is exchanged in informal settings! I'm learning about different tribes and states and relationships with the government, getting this sense of what it is like to be in a very old civilization...

Jan 25, 2006 - Our First Presentation

Hello all, It is another beautful day in India. It seems like it is always sunny and 65 here. It reminds of me of San Diego. Enough about the weather, you all get enough of that at home. We are all doing well. I'd go as far as saying we are doing extremely well. Maybe even splendid. Yesterday was our first full day in India. We met for tea and coffe around 10:30 AM. After that we got a tour of the city. We drove around near the Bramaputra River, to the hill top near the local Makhalya temple, then to the Guwhati culturual center then...