Tea, Tea Trees and Pepper...Assam, India

Drove through parts of Assam in far eastern India recently.  

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Flew from Delhi to Guwahati, skimming along the southern face of the Himalayas.


Started our drive quite early in the morning, light fog, sun streaming through...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Encountered some "heavy traffic"... 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Saw a great pair of Tatas !

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

...and Tea...miles and miles of it, on both sides of the road.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

On a prior trip, I had noticed many trees growing among the tea plants.  Seems this is part of the method of growing tea.  The "tea trees" have a tiny leaflet, and when the trees are pruned to be taller than they are wide, they give off a partial shade that the tea plants need.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

So the trees are regularly placed, all through the fields.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

But then I noticed some vines on the trees.  We stopped at a road-side tea shop, and they explained that Black Pepper vines grow well there.  

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

So the tea plantation produces tea, and black pepper.  You can buy fresh dried pepper corns at the tea shop and they'll grind them for you.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Since they are constantly pruning the trees, I expect they are producing firewood as well.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

My optometrist recommended that I wash my eyelids with Tea Tree Oil Shampoo, to reduce an irritation.  And, lo and behold, there on the shelf at the tea shop was Tea Tree Oil Shampoo, yet another product of the plantation.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The tea plants are rigorously pruned to about 3 feet high, and the not-so-tall ladies pick the freshest, uppermost leaves.  They take them in large baskets to the processing shop where they are dried and fermented to make black tea, or just dried to make green tea.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

I dusty ride through highway construction, 
in the midst of some otherwise very lush, green, monsoon-nurtured forests.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Beautiful !!

Y'all take care.
- Mark

Switzerland - III / Zurich (Vacation 2018)

We ended our vacation in Zurich (we took a bus around to Munich and Bren flew home from there).

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Zurich sits at the end of a glacial lake, where a river forms and runs on into Germany, becoming part of the Rhine.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

There;s a cool pedestrian bridge, crossing over to the Old Town. 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Residents and tourists put "love locks" on the fence-like railings (the new, silver one at center-frame, is ours).  ;-)

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A beautiful, sunny for walking through the Old Town.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The river forms a pretty prominent feature, separating old town from the modern city center, with several bridges to make it easy to get over there for lunch or dinner.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

One thing that was quite cool, was the water-taxi.  You can get on and just ride it for the 2-hour loop, for only 8 Euros each !  You can side at a table, a waitress will bring drinks and sandwiches, and you can enjoy a leisurely loop around the lake.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 Lots of sail boats out in the late April weather.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A roadway along the lake connects Zurich back south toward the Italian boarder.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 Homes and churches all along the way, with beautiful views of the lake.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

An interesting site in Switzerland and in Germany...a tree, likely a fruit tree I suppose, is pruned annually to keep all the limbs and eventual fruit within reach from the ground (and also making a tree that has a nice shady area beneath).

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 Night falling, lights coming on in the riverside restaurants...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Steeples silhouetted against the sunset...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 Beautiful place.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Y'all take care,
- Mark

Switzerland - II ... (Vacation 2018)

Our day on the Glacier Express ended in the 5000 year-old Swiss town of Chur.  It was a bit of a gray day, and we only had the late afternoon and evening to wander around, but we had a very nice walk around the old-town, and a nice dinner.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 Really cool old town, nicely kept.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 In one of the squares, we encountered a group setting up their alpine-horn.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A "21-Alpine-horn Salute" !!

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

"Everyone on the same page"...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

It was cool !
- Mark

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Switzerland - I ... (Vacation 2018)

OK, so we started in Rome, traveled to Venice by train, and then continued to Zermatt, 
where we would catch the Glacier Express.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

This is in Brig.  We needed to wait a few minutes as we transferred from the "normal" train to the more "mountain train" that travels from Brig up to the ski village of Zermatt.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Of course, Zermatt is the home of The Matterhorn.  By luck, we arrived on the weekend that the ski slopes were shutting down for summer.  There were only 2 couples at the hotel, so they upgraded us to a beautiful double-size room, with this view from the balcony !!

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The next morning we boarded the Glacier Express in Zermatt,  The special train is very nice, huge (clean) windows, and wonderful scenery all the way.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

We had terrific luck with weather...beautiful !!  

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

So many wonderfully craggy mountains...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 ...and glaciers of course...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 ...beautiful

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

As we neared the highest point of our trip, we climbed steeply enough that the train engaged a "cog" (a gear and rack device that makes sure we have enough traction, and don't slip back down the mountain)...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

From Zermatt to Brig to Chur, the Glacier Express is very cool.
Y'all go check it out !
- Mark

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin