Map: Birpara Town, Jalpaiguri District, North Bengal

October 4th, 2005 | By Joshua | 10 Comments »

When I showed my map of Birpara to Tay, and asked her if I’d missed anything, I was startled when she immediately declared “Yes!” and went on to list everything that was omitted: trucks, cows, rickshaws, bicycles, people, honking, piles of shit…
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Map: India’s Tea Belt, North Bengal, and Birpara

September 7th, 2005 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

Some will find a hint of the exotic exuding from the place-names and mountain ranges in this latest cartographic creation. Others will see the map-maker’s psychological travails, his attempt to define with a few lines and colors his position in the world (geopolitical and otherwise). Knowing that his incipient skills with the medium can only be improved with practice (i.e. drawing more maps), he nevertheless presses on, painting India’s Tea Belt a young-leaf green, saving mysterious shades of purple for everything beyond unknown borders.

But something went terribly wrong with the map-making experience!
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Map: A Month in Pakistan

August 30th, 2005 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Our route (late June to late July, 2005):

Rawalpindi-Islamabad –> Hunza Valley and Karimabad (via flight to Gilgit) –> Trek to Rash Lake –> Down the KKH –> Islamabad –> Lahore –> Into India

Maps! How could I have neglected the maps? For years, I have moved among maps:
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Map: Across the Subcontinent

August 27th, 2005 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

Here’s an overdue shot of our route. The writing is small, I know, so I’ll spell it out: after landing in Islamabad two months ago, we lingered a month in Pakistan (Hunza, Rawalpindi, and Lahore) before heading east (through Amritsar, Dharamsala, Mussoorie, Rishikesh, Delhi, and Calcutta), ending up here in Birpara, sandwiched between so many borders.

Strange Enchanted Coasts: Our Honeymoon

June 16th, 2005 | By Joshua | 4 Comments »

Our Trip:

Paris, France: 9 days
Friends and family; sightseeing with the masses.

Dubai: 36 hours
One-night layover, dose of Arab opulence.

Pakistan: 1 month
Explore family roots and the Himalaya Mountains.

Northern India: 4 months
Traverse the north, first assignment as AJWS volunteers in West Bengal.

Cambodia: 2 weeks
Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, the standard Killing Fields/Angkor tour.

Thailand: 3 months
Explore Bangkok, make a book deadline from Chiang Mai, massage school for Tay.

Laos: 2 weeks
Down the Mekong, sipping strong coffee…

Sri Lanka: 2 months
Our second assignment with AJWS, on the tea plantations of Nuwara Eliya.

Africa: 3 months
Tay’s first time back in 10 years, my first time! Overland from Dar to Kampala, then our third AJWS assignment, working with Planned Parent in Ghana. Then, a week in The Gambia, and two short nights in Casablanca.

South France: 5 days
Back with our loving hosts from Paris, at their second son’s wedding in the south.

New York City & Strong Island: One month, August, 2006
The triumphant return! Bask in the warmth of August, friends, & family before packing up the truck and driving 2000 cross-country miles to…

Colorado, USA: September-ish
Find a home, get a job, write a book, start a family, take them on a long trip…

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For more (the who, why and wherefore) about our trip.