Album: Update August 4 – Brian in India

August 4, 2010 via Dodie

We talk to Brian every other day but not getting a lot of written material from hiim he is working till 9PM his time Monday through Saturday with only Sundays off.  On those Sundays he tries to travel around the area to get the most out of his stay.  Besides the below trip to Taj Majal (see below Brian’s description of that trip)   he went to Elephanta Island the next Sunday which was a 1 hour Ferry ride there and back to a monkey infested island also known as  “Place of Caves”…….

It is an Island with 3 villages on it  full of cave temples that have lots of sculptures.  It is located in Mumbai Harbour which is east of Mumbai full of palm and mango trees.  Brian enjoyed it and bought gems that are mined on the island.  He is working on a scary movie due to be released around Halloween and is enjoying his students and colleagues.  On Saturday night he went out to a local establishment and went dancing.   Jessie and he have scheduled her flight to India for sometime in mid-September when he will be done with his work…they plan to travel the area for several weeks and currently are looking to go to Viet Nam, Thailand and Bali.    I will give you more update when I can.   Dodie

From: Brian Lee [mailto: [email protected]]  Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 3:16 AM To: Lee, Dorothy Subject: the taj

the taj was great, i fealt like i was in an indiana jones movie, there were camels and little tiny streets that were like a maze. there were venders all over the place selling everything from flowers to rubees and emeralds. i looked at some pretty colorfull rocks trying to hagel some prices but they never went low enough for me. then all of a sudden the streets opened up to this giant Palace (Taj mahal)(Royal Palace). we hired a guide to tell us all about the story behind the giant palace, quite romantic until he got to the part about cutting the hands off all the arttisans that worked on the sculptures and detail work. there are only two days of the year that they let people into the original tombs that the king and queen are burried. we happened to be there on one of those days. i laid down 10 ruppees on the kings tomb! on the way out we were swarmed by vendors trying to get us to buy things we didnt need. they didnt take no for an answer and we finally found salvation back in the car where are driver was waiting…. more later

Love, me

July 8, 2010:

Haven’t heard much from Brian except that he is posting photos to a Flickr account. Really great to see what he is seeing! Check out more of his photos at

Just in from Dodie 06-28-10:

Brian just called 11:30 AM  our time, 9:00 PM his time so he is 14.5 hours ahead of us. He had just gotten off work.   He is very tired but extremely happy.  He is loving teaching-he said he thinks his students are about his age but they look so young he can’t tell, mostly men, few women.  They are very attentive but quiet, the language barrier is there, so he has to  be very attentive.  The hotel is beautiful he said, a walk-in shower, a window overlooking the bay a 4-star breakfast every morning, air conditioning.  ….he said getting to work is a “trip” with goats, sheep cows in the roads, people running red lights, no signs, the dogs run in packs, birds hunting (luckily they are driven there).  He has yet to see monkeys.  Though it is monsoon season, the rains haven’t hit yet, it is very humid.  He experienced the market place yesterday, and did a lot of touring as well as a full day of work…….he will write more and send pictures after he gets some sleep.

August 4, 2010 Linda