Taking the Wrong Boat

Wednesday, June 6, Mumbai, India.

Today’s major activity was a trip to Elephanta Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site about a 45 minute boat ride from Gateway of India.  We had no problems purchasing tickets (RP150/US$3 each) and then hopping on the ferry, which left a few minutes later.

The island doc is on the end of a fairly long causeway and they have a narrow gauge railroad that can be ridden to the bottom of the 120 steps that lead to the caves.  Or you can hire porters to carry you up on a sedan chair, but for any reasonably fit person, the trip from the dock to the caves is a gentle walk and climb that takes maybe twenty minutes.  Along the way everyone pays a RP5 tax, walks past the ubiquitous stands of souvenirs and at the main entrance at the top you pay your entry fee, which is  RP250/$5 each for foreigner’s ticket, but just RP10 for Indians. However, the foreigners’ tickets include a guide service so we were glad we didn’t hire one of the locals trying to pigeon hole us off the boat

.v

Our guide Ramanandan was amazing.  He spoke perfect English, was very knowledgeable and clearly had educational experience (we later found out that he taught at the Waldorf School).  He not only gave us information about the site, but by finding out a little about our backgrounds, was able to  tailor his presentation to our knowledge level and experience, e.g. he made a lot of engineering references knowing that this is the boys’ area of expertise and interest.  He told us so much about Indian culture and philosophy, especially how it relates to mysticism.  One example is the Hindu idea of god is that of Generator, Operator, and Destroyer.  Sometimes this is the Trimurtha - three principal deities (Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva) and sometimes it is the different aspects of the same god, e.g. the three headed version of Shiva.  The cave is a temple to Shiva and essentially is a series of spaces arranged around a central inner sanctum.  The inner sanctum contains a Shiva lingam or large stone thallus that is the center of veneration.  In the spaces around this are galleries containing amazing carved panels depicting various scenes from the life of Shiva.  Decorated columns seem to support the entire space.

The amazing thing about this temple is that is it all one piece of rock – the entire temple was excavated and carved from the solid rock under the mountain approximately 1,500 years ago. All the detail work, all the columns, etc. are one interconnected piece of rock.

We walked back to the dock just as a boat was leaving and were hurried on to it.  As far as we knew all boats came and departed from the Gateway of India, but when we docked, we found ourselves at a different port in Mumbai and the boat was not going on to Gateway of India, so we got off and tried to figure out where we were  Even when presented with a city map, none of the locals (inc. the policemen) could point out where they thought we were.  So we took a taxi to a restaurant (the Copper Chimney) which we had read about in our guide.   Lots of confusion ensued as policemen and locals all tried to help the taxi driver figure out where we were going.  In the end he got us to the general area and we walked a ways until we eventually found the place, about 20 minutes before they closed the kitchen, but this was enough time for them to serve us up a very nice lunch.

Nearby was the local Rolls Royce showroom and in fact, on our way back to the hotel, we say a shiny new white Rolls Royce.  I would think that you’d have to be crazy to try and drive a car like that here – one scratch from a taxi and the repair would probably cost more than the taxi is worth.  About 80% of the cars on the road appear to be taxis and the other 19.99% appear to be what in the US would be middle class or economy cars – Hyundais, Toyotas, etc.  Haven’t seen any Mercedes, BMWs, etc. – just the one Rolls Royce on the road (plus 3 in the showroom).  We later found out that cars here typically end up costing about 3X the US with import duties etc.  In the paper I saw an ad for a used 2011 Prius with 8,000 KM (5,000 miles) on it with an asking price of RP23 lakh, or about US$50,000. The Indian counting system is interesting,  rather than use millions or billions, for large numbers they use lakh, with is 10^5, or 1/10th million, and crore, which are 10^7 or 10 million or 100 lakhs, so you sometimes see numbers like 23,00,000 (23 lakh) which is a correct representation in India, but looks very confusing.  We would expect to see 2,300,000.

After lunch we came back to the hotel and got the 3G data plan working on the phones, so now we have internet access. Dinner was a tasty  but simple affair provided by our hotel and included in the tariff.  We ate with the Welsh couple we met yesterday, then hung out with them on the rooftop terrace watching the traffic go by in the evening. Then it was time to try to get some sleep before facing the onslaught of Mumbai again tomorrow.

Survival: Mumbai Edition

Well, we’ve made it through 24 hours here and are still alive, which is a good sign.

Traffic here can only be described as crazy with pedestrians dodging cars at almost every turn, and frequently between them as well.  As a passenger in a taxi, you wish that you could find some way to get in on the horn business, because if you could, you’d end up a millionaire.  On the other hand, being a pedestrian reminded me of the old video game Frogger where cars try to run you over at every point and you have to hop across the road in cadence with the traffic.  Except in this game you only have one life, unless you happen to be a Hindu, in which case you might think differently,  Amazingly we witnessed no vehicle on vehicle or vehicle on person accidents.

We’ve come across a number of strange, pseudo English signs like “Horn OK please” which seems to be painted on the back of almost all trucks.  Have yet to figure out what this means – kind of sounds like they are asking you to beep them.  Then there was this sign which I think is meant in the sense of suction and blowing machine, but sounds a bit like a scary prop from an adult movie:

The way the taxi drivers drive here, you could be forgiven for assuming that the city had been colonized by the Italians, but in fact it was the British and Portuguese who put their stamps here.  In fact, one theory for the name of the city comes from the Portuguese Bom Bahia (good harbor), and Bombay was acquired by the British as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganca in her marriage to Charles II in 1661 (or there abouts).  Last year Kelly and I traveled through Spain and Portugal and spend some time in Braganca, which is a tiny town in the remote north east of Portugal.  By contrast, modern Mumbai is a bustling city of officially 22 million people, but clearly many more, and is India’s largest.  Think “Indian New York” – the largest populated city, the financial capital, and an expensive place to live.  Except New York is a bit better kept.

Staying at the same place is a Welsh couple from Porthcawl, which is the next town over from where Nigel and Mo live, so it’s a small world.  The wife, Janice, works for the Y and is here to setup a program of babysitting for the children of prostitutes if I understood correctly, and will be here through September.  The aim is to keep the kids off the streets.

We went with Janice and her husband Martin for all of us to get SIM cards for our phones, but they did know that they needed to have their phones unlocked to take a different carrier’s SIM card and so ended up having to buy a basic local phone (only about US$10).  I had taken care to get Aaron and my phones unlocked before we left, which will allow us to stay in touch and also hopefully have internet access when we need it.

Now, what is simple in the US or the UK is not necessarily so in India.  Just to get prepaid SIM cards we had to take our passports for them to copy, submit a photo, sign the forms and photos and generally wait around,  but we did get them in the end.  I think they actually wanted a letter of introduction from our hotel, but we managed to skip that one.

We then headed to the Gateway of India which is a local landmark ceremonial gate built to commemorate the 1911 visit of George and Mary and was the departure point for the last British solders of the Raj.  In fact what George and Mary went under was a cardboard facsimile, as the read gateway wasn’t built until 1924. Across the street, we stopped in a looked around the swanky Taj Mahal hotel which is apparently THE place to stay here.  Unfortunately it was also one of THE places targeted in the vicious attacks a few years ago, along with the Chabad House and other Jewish sites.

On our way to lunch we made a stop at the Knesseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, a very old facility that was build by the Sassoon family, who were Persian Jews that emigrated here.

This being our first real meal in India, we splurged a bit and had lunch at Khyber, an award winning fairly upmarket restaurant specializing in NW Indian cuisine.  I tried a drink called Jaljeera, which is intended as an aperitif.  The best I can describe it was like drinking the brine from the eggs at Passover, but with cumin and mint mixed in.  Very salty and not really to my taste.  The rest of the meal was very good though.

From the restaurant we walked to Victoria Terminal (also called CST), a Victorian gem of a railway station, beautifully crafted and full of details, the interior of which was modeled after London’s St. Pancras Station.  If you can believe it, this station is used by more than two million people each day!

Another 1KM or so along the road brought us to the Crawford Market, one of the larger local markets with everything from food to animals for sale.  This was perhaps the most extreme olfactory experience of the day, but only slightly more intense than walking down any other street in the city.

To me the city is like playing scent roulette – smells of perfume, flowers, fruit, and other sweet aromas waft past you as you walk, and then get replaced by something very malodorous that often cannot be identified.

We had planned on stopping by the Chabad House to make a donation and when I called earlier in the day Rabbi Mendie extended an invitation for dinner that we ultimately took up.  The food was simple, but the company was nice and we even had a little Gematria study and ma’ariv thrown in.

It was then time to go back to our hotel and sleep. 

Day 1 survived!

By and by we got to Mumbai.

“It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” as the song goes.  But it’s much further to Mumbai (formerly Bombay).

We arrived at Austin’s Bergstrom airport around 8a, for our 9:55am flight.  Some 28 hours later we touched down in Mumbai after layovers in New York and London.  Leaving New York there were bad storms in the area so we sat on the plane and ended up leaving about 90 minutes late, which made the connection in Heathrow just enough time to haul ourselves from Terminal 3 to Terminal 4 which is quite a ways.

The flight from London to Mumbai was on Jet Airways, the leading Indian Airline and one which I was not familiar with before this year’s travels.  However, I must say that I was very impressed – the aircraft was in good condition, the meals were very tasty, legroom was more than I was expecting, and the entertainment system was very good.

Unfortunately there was a screw up with the meals – I had ordered vegetarian for me and vegan for Kelly.  American Airlines said they would take care of the requests and forward similar ones to Jet.  As it turned out, on our transatlantic American Airlines flight only one meal had been reserved, but they had a veggie (dairy) option as part of the regular meal choices.  Interestingly the spread with the vegan meal had whey in it, and for breakfast they served buttery croissants and yoghurt!

On the Jet flight it appeared that no meal request made it through.  I guess I‘ll need to send American Airlines a nasty gram when we get back.

Arrival in Mumbai was early and 3 of our 4 bags came out pretty quickly, but unfortunately it took another 20 minutes or so for the last one to make it onto the belt, but in the end we were 4 for 4 in our bags making it to India.

They have a good plan at Mumbai airport whereby you get a prepaid taxi voucher from an official desk, which keeps the taxi fare standardized and reasonable – no gouging.  About US$80 for a 40 minute ride to our hotel, which is the YMCA International Center.  Rooms are decently priced, clean, and come with breakfast and dinner, although we haven’t had dinner there yet.

Around 1am we hit the sack and worked on getting some zzzzzzs. 

The Indian visa process. Or how to bring bureaucracy into the 21st century.

India requires visas from most countries, including the US and UK.  Before we started our travel planning, I vaguely recalled this from my discussions with other travelers, so once we were committed to making India our destination for this summer, I knew that we needed to take care of arranging our visas.  

At least in the US, the Indian consulates have outsourced the application process for most visa types to a third party called Travisa.  The process goes something like this:
a.  Fill out the appropriate application on the Indian government website, one for each person.  Be prepared to provide your religion, information about multiple generations of your family, your occupation, your port of arrival in India, your address in India (remember - they tell you not to book any travel until you have received your visa!), shoe size, favorite TV show, ....  Perhaps my favorite question was list all countries you have visited in the last ten years.  Suffice is to say that the space allocated for this ran out well before I got to the end of the list.  Since there wasn't enough space to list every country we have visited in that time, what was the point?
b. Certify the application online and get a reference number.
c. Have a passport sized photo and signature for each applicant.  Scan these together (individually won't work!)
d. Complete an online processing form with Travisa including the application reference number and re-entering some of the same data from the Indian government application form.  Choose whether to do everything by post (estimated processing time up to 4-6 weeks), or in person with theoretical same day service at your nearest Travisa office, which for us is a 2.5 hour drive away in Houston.
Rinse and repeat once per person, without being able to save any data that would be same across all applications.  With everything I needed to do, I estimate it took me about 1 hour per application.
e. Submit everything online and then print the application, which includes 10 pages of instructions.  Either bring in person to your designated appointment time, or send in the post along with your passports and other documentation.  Since 4-6 weeks would be cutting it very close for us, we chose to make the drive down to Houston.  The granting of visas is at the discretion of the Indian consulate so they tell you there are no guarantees, but applications made by 11am are usually ready for pickup that same night at 5pm.  Accordingly we made an appointment for 10:40am a few days later.

Let me pause for a second to note that the complexity factor in doing visa apps goes up big time when you have two sons, neither of whom live at home.  Luckily I had visa/passport photos that were only a year or two old for all of us, but how to get the signatures?  For Ben this could have been done with a cross town drive, but for Aaron, who is in college in Atlanta, I suppose the expectation of the Indian government was either that he would take care of the whole process at his local consulate/application center (good luck with that, especially since his passport was in our safe in Austin), or that we would mail forms back and forth.

To give you an idea of how finicky the process is, there are a couple of places where you have to sign, including a box where if you go over the edge, even slightly, your application will be rejected.  

The solution was for me to get scans of everyone's signature and layout a document that placed and scaled the signatures to be exactly where they needed.  Something that isn't too difficult for me since I work with visual editing software all the time, but a pain none the less.

After I had filled out an submitted each of the apps, I noticed that there was a small problem with Ben and mine.  On Ben's I think I listed his birthplace as Austin, rather than Tarzana, CA and on mine, I had listed my parents by their first names, but it turned out that for the parents' name only, this should be first and last name.   A long wait on hold that was never answered and some online research revealed that applications could not be edited and that I should redo the process and reprint the forms.  Grrr.

Our appointed appointment time arrived - we had picked 10:40 am  to get in under the 11am deadline, yet give us time to drive to Houston without getting up in the middle of the night.  I must say that the Travisa process was pretty painless at this point.  A receptionist looked over all our paperwork to double check it.  Copies of everyone's drivers' licenses.were also needed, but I had made sure to bring those.

Then we dropped off everything (forms, photos, passports) at the counter and paid our fees (something like $70 per person for the recommended  6 month multiple entry visa).  From there we did a little shopping, and art viewing and came back after 5pm only to find out that two of the passports had come back with the visas and the other two were still in progress.  Which ones came back?  Ben and mine, i.e. the ones that got resubmitted a day after Kelly and Aaron's!  We paid an extra $25 or so to have the other passports shipped back to us and they arrived two days later.   Had we known this, we could have simply had all the passports mailed back to us and driven right back to Austin, saving ourselves half a day.  Oh well.

One nice thing is that Travisa provides the ability to track everything on their website, so you can see where you are in the process.  Likely this would have been much more useful had we done the whole thing via post, but in the end we got the visas we needed.  To be honest, I can't really understand why doing this via post should take 4-6 weeks when if you show up at the counter it can be done in a day (or two).  Perhaps they are just being cautious on their website with the processing times.  Either way, the only difference in cost is that actual shipping fee (FedEx).

India has a reputation for lots of bureaucracy and (from a western perspective) inefficiency, so maybe this is just another step in the cultural acclimatization process.  Keep in mind that if you have a very large population, finding jobs for people may be more important than saving a few minutes for each applicant.   I've experienced this before in other places I've traveled and it takes some adjustment.

As the prayer goes, "Oh Lord give me patience, but I want it right now."

Getting ready for India

Normally I start blogging once our trip has started, but I thought I would start my first post a little early.  By the way, if you are reading this, please leave a brief comment - it really makes a big difference.  On a previous trip, I just about gave up blogging as I thought no one was reading it, but kept it going if nothing else as a personal journal.  Turns out that lots of people have told me that they enjoy reading about our travels - if you are one of those, please let me know.

Our eldest son Ben just graduated from university and will be starting his full time employment in August, so this will likely be the last time our family is able to make an extended trip.  We will be traveling as a group of 4 - me, my wife Kelly, graduate Ben, and our youngest son Aaron who will be returning to college in the fall as a sophomore.  In all, we will spend about five weeks traveling to a variety of locations throughout the country.

Our general rule for summer travels has been to try to go to places cooler than Austin, Texas during the summer, but we've violated that once or twice.  We've always wanted to go to India and this seemed like the right time, although we expect it to be very hot and possibly quite wet, especially at the tail end of our trip.  Although we have not been to India before, we have spent a significant amount of time visiting Indian communities in different locations around the world.  We have also had some of our most memorable meals in Indian restaurants in odd places such as Bangkok, Thailand; Szeged, Hungary; Melaka, Malaysia; and Quito, Ecuador.  In Quito we ate there with an Indian family who now live in the US and they thought it was some of the best Indian food they had ever had.

However, visiting "Mother India" will of course be a different experience and one that I am anticipating with eagerness and some trepidation.  Mostly what I wanted to include in this post is some of the ways we try to prepare for a trip, but I thought it might also be interesting to record some of my expectations and then look back on them as we experience the reality of the world's second most populous country, and its largest democracy.

I am expecting India to be one of the most diverse, if not THE most diverse country in the world.  Certainly this is true of religion, with notable communities of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Christians, Jews, Parsis, and others, as well as a wide diversity of economic conditions, geography, architecture, dance, music, language, food and all other aspects of culture.

Some predictions:
- We will be awed by the culture
- We will taste some incredible food (and hopefully learn how to make some of it).
- Each of our senses will be overloaded, and not always in a good way!
- At times we will find ourselves very tired and frustrated
- Attitudes towards time and details will test our patience
- We will be better for the entire experience

The process of preparing for a self guided trip of this nature is quite a bit different from joining an organized tour.  Rather than just show up at an appointment place and time and be whisked from point A to point B, all the research and planning is our responsibility, which although a lot of work, is also one of the things I enjoy as it requires me to learn a lot more about the places we will be exploring.  The key advantage of traveling our way is that we have complete flexibility to go as fast or as slow as we want.  When an experience might be greatly enhanced by the knowledge of a local guide, we'll hire one.

The preparation for these kinds of trips happens a long way in advance.  Informally, I've been doing the research for a few years.  There are various places that are on the dynamic list of locations we ultimately want to visit.  Often the opportunity to go there doesn't occur for a few years.  In the interim I talk to people who have visited the country to listen to their experiences and mentally note the sorts of places and things that we might want to do or try to avoid when we eventually make the trip.  In the case of India, I've also done a fair amount of research on intercultural issues as I have helped Indians relocate to the US and Americans prepare for ex-pat assignments in India.  These programs have also created interesting opportunities to talk with native Indians about their attitudes and expectations between Indian and US cultures.

Next in line is usually reading.  India has been on my radar for a while and so I purchased a good India guide  a couple of years ago that I've browsed from time to time.  My two preferred travel guides are the Footprint series out of the UK and the DK Eyewitness Guides, which are much more visual and useful for people who don't like to do lots of reading.  Of course websites are important too and for general information I like wikitravel.org

After listening to some of the history of India (see below) and the importance of its traditional texts, I found a book at Half Price Books on Hindu Tales that looks very readable.  In preparing for a previous trip to Thailand, I read the Ramayana in translation, which is a key Indian text in the form of a saga, sort of comparable the Iliad or Odyssey.  Also while at Half Price Books, I found an audio course and a book on Hindi language.  I have no illusions of becoming fluent in Hindi, but learning a little of the language provides insights into the culture and being able to speak and understand some phrases goes a long way to trying to create a cultural bridge with individuals.  Many times I've found people who claim not to speak any English, so I use my limited knowledge of their native language. Usually after a few minutes, it turns out that they do speak some English, but weren't confident enough to use in until they saw me butcher their language!  Even though English is widely spoken in India, I suspect I'll have a chance to say a phrase or two while we are there.  India has more than 400 distinct languages and dialects, and every Indian I have previously met spoke at least 3 languages - their local dialect, Hindi, and English, and often 5 or more.

Once the decision to make the trip has been made, probably the first logistical issue is booking the travel.

UPDATE:  I realized this morning that I left out a very important step.  The first real logistical issue is to figure out if there are any special travel documents required, such as visas, which for India, there are.  In fact there are many different types of visas, even just for tourists - single entry, multiple entry, 6 month, 5 year, 10 year, all at different prices and some with different requirements.  The Indian government warns not to book travel until the necessary visas have been received.

Booking travel could be a whole series of posts in and of itself.  Suffice is to say that the days of really great travel agent service is behind us.  The nature of travel agent compensation and the huge variety of contemporary travel options means that travel agents don't much incentive to do detailed research.  It can be helpful if you are able to find an agent specializing in the area to which you will travel, but I had no success in this regard.  When I had a travel agent price out the basic US-India flights, they came back with a quote that ended being nearly $900 per person more than what I ultimately found.  And the flights that I got were on our preferred airlines, shorter, and to the specific locations we wanted.  Bottom line is that if you are planning your own travel you need to be willing to do a lot of research (and maybe get a bit lucky with your timing) if you want to get the best deals.

Having the major flights in place, the next concern is health.  Most tropical areas have specific health risks and require certain inoculations.  Luckily we have an excellent Travel Health Clinic in Austin which I have previously used.  They were able to reference all our previous records and determined that for most of us we just needed to do a Typhoid booster, remind us about healthy traveling, and setup malaria protection.  It turns out that I needed some additional shots, but our family doctor was able to take care of those once we knew what they were.

I've previously written about malaria protection, and in reality the goal is to avoid being bitten by any insects due to a variety of diseases that get spread that way and for which no inoculations exist.  But for malaria specifically, we generally use the medication Malarone in addition to bite avoidance measures.  Since we are traveling as a group of 4, one way to save some money on what can be expensive medication ($6 per pill per day at retail) is to order a 90 day supply for 2 people.  Since we need less than 45 pills per person, these two prescriptions will cover all of us.  Other health precautions include putting together a travel emergency kit including key medications and first aid supplies.  Talk to your doctor.

An essential aspect of protection from insects is to use Permethrin treated clothing.  There are a few products that are sold that come pre-treated and lucky for me I was able to get a good deal on a few shirts at the Columbia Sportswear outlet in San Marcos.  But mostly we self treat our travel clothes with Permethrin sprays or dips, which requires (a) that you have all your travel clothing picked out and (b) that you allow time to treat and dry your clothes.  We travel very light on these trips - rather than carrying enough clothing for the whole trip, we plan on doing laundry.  Having lightweight, durable, easy drying clothing is key, and can get pricey.  Let's just say that REI and Columbia Sportswear did well from us.  Thankfully they both had good sales on for the Memorial Day weekend, but our wallets are still a lot lighter!

Apart from clothing, and medicines, outfitting also includes making sure we have appropriate gear with us - enough stuff to make our lives easier, not so much stuff that we overload ourselves.  I am planning on getting pre-paid Indian SIM cards for two of our phones, hopefully with data access, so this requires getting our phones unlocked by our mobile provider such that they can accept other SIM cards.  Failing to do so would make the cost of using the phone prohibitive, especially with data access.  I've heard horror stories of people who didn't know about the extreme costs ($15/MB or more) and came home with $1,000 plus mobile phone bills.  We have to be able to charge our phones and any other personal electronics we bring, so an India power adapter is essential.  One good tip for charging multiple devices is to take a single India power adapter along with a power strip from your country. This means you can use all your regular chargers and just need to have one power adapter.  You can even get compact travel outlets with built in USB ports, meaning that you just need to bring the appropriate cables and you can charge a couple of phones with one small device and still be able to plug in other things.   I bought one of these from Amazon and am looking forward to using it this year: http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Outlets-300-Laptops-USB/dp/B003TXRTNG

Some other areas of research include watching videos and films.  PBS had run Michael Wood's BBC series called "The Story of India" which we found available on Netflix.  At times it was a little dry, but the 6 hour long episodes gave a very good overview to the complex history of this country.  We also plan on watching "Ghandi" and a few other movies.  Kelly and I want to see the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel before we go, which I understand was shot in Jaipur, a location we plan on visiting.

Some time ago I bought the Great Courses lecture series on the world's great religions, which includes a 12 hour course on Hinduism that I was able to re-listen to in my car.  Having to drive to and from Dallas last week gave me the opportunity to finish most of the course in one day.  This was an excellent course and I know it will enhance my understanding of many aspects of Indian society that we experience, but perhaps the single biggest learning from the course is that if you think you understand India, the teacher has been things seem much simpler than they really are.

So, lots of preparation.  Looking forward to seeing useful any of it turns out to be!

Benjamin Finkel, Esq.

We now have another university graduate in the family.  Benjamin graduated yesterday from the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a certificate in Asian Language studies (Chinese) and high honors.

The graduation was held at UT's Erwin center which is where they play basketball games as well as stage large concerts and other events.   This is actually the same location that the Austin Independent School district uses for its area High School graduations, so there was a bit of deja vu about the affair since both Ben and Aaron had their high school graduations here also.

The Dean of the College of Natural Sciences was the MC for the event and did his best to share a few humorous anecdotes and pieces of parting advice for the students.  With Biology Sciences being the most popular major in the College of Natural Sciences, they have all the non Biology students (inc. Ben) graduate in the 8am session, while all the Biology Science students come to the same place at noon for their ceremony.

You can spot Ben in the upper right center of the image looking out among the sea of students.  I particularly liked how some of the students had decorated their mortar boards.  Some of them (not pictured) were quite elaborate, and I suspect those were the graduates of the Fashion and Textiles program.

Of course Ben's name would be called just as my camera battery ran low and I was in the midst of changing it.  At least I got one image of him crossing the stage, although it looks like he is about to give the Dean a chest bump!

The stadium may not look full, but there were several hundred grads there and it took a few hours to call them all up.

Afterwards we were able to meet up by the flagpoles and get a few pictures with mom,

brother, and

girlfriend Sarah (who graduated at noon).

Thanks to Sarah for getting a nice picture of the four of us.  The sun went behind a cloud for about 15 seconds allowing us to get a nice image.

This is what it looks like when several hundred graduates try to meet their family and friends while avoiding the several hundred other students who are on their way into the same arena to get ready for their graduation ceremony.

This morning we had a few friends over for a graduation brunch.  Kelly cooked for hours yesterday and made some lovely food that we'll probably be enjoying for most of the week.

Congratulations to Ben (and all the other graduates of 2012 and their families).

Toyota Prius V Wagon first impressions

Having been the proud owner of the first 2012 Toyota Prius V in Austin for less than 24 hours, I thought I might write about my initial impressions. 

The last time I bought a new car was eleven years ago when the Acura MDX first came out.  Since I had kept my previous vehicles for about 3-4 years maximum, the fact that I still had the MDX until about two months ago when my son totaled it is probably the best indicator of how much I liked that MDX and how well it worked for me.  When Acura came out with a new body style for the MDX about two years ago I had a look, but was quickly disappointed because:

• The storage space was smaller with a smaller rear opening.
• The interior was incredibly “bling-y” and button crazy (I counted more than 50 buttons and dials on the center console alone!)
• Most alarmingly, the fuel economy had not improved at all over a decade. The official ratings are actually worse for the new models.

As an event photographer, I often need to haul gear around with me.  Sometimes it is a modest amount, but several times a month I need to carry a ton of gear and would pretty much pack the MDX to the gills with its rear seats down.

Now that our kids are off at college, what I wanted in a new vehicle seemed like kind of a paradox:

1. Lots of flexible storage space, typically found in medium sized SUVs and larger station wagons.
2. Significantly greener - much improved fuel economy and lower emissions.
3. Up to date comfort, safety, and amenities (like Bluetooth phone and audio support).

My search was incredibly disappointing as vehicles that had enough storage had lousy fuel economy.  Anything with decent fuel economy wasn’t large enough to take all the gear I need. For more on the other vehicles I seriously considered, see the end of this post.

Then I read about the forthcoming Prius V and it looked like it might work for me.   I did some research and ultimately put a refundable deposit down some weeks ago, which is how I ended up, much to my surprise, with the first one in Austin.

We already own a 2010 Prius hatchback and really like it.  Confusingly, the “V” in the Prius V does not mean 5th generation, but versatile (i.e. wagon).  At first glance, the Prius hatchback and Prius V wagon look pretty similar from the front, but once you see them from the side you quickly notice that the rear end is larger and squarer.  What is perhaps not so immediately obvious is that the wagon is quite a bit taller.

Since I have not looked at a 2012 Prius hatchback I can’t tell whether some of the interior differences (beyond dimensions) are 2012 features on all Prius versions, or are specific to the Prius V, but here are the changes I’ve noticed so far:

• Significantly more 2nd row legroom.  This is really where the extra length of the vehicle seems to come is as the flat area with the rear seats down measures the same as the Prius hatchback.  However, there is more volume in the wagon because of the squarer back end and because of the taller ceiling.  The space between the front and rear seats is large enough that I can actually fit some significant pieces of equipment there including a 4’ ladder and my lighting stands case and still have all the flat storage space available.

• Significantly more headroom for 2nd row passengers.
• Redesign of console information area and LCD display.  Some information has been moved to the LCD display making the console much cleaner.  Also subtle use of color adds some visual interest to this display.
• New Entune system that is far more than just typical navigation and audio controls.  The manual for this system is about as large as that for the rest of the vehicle, so I have a lot of learning to do before I understand the system entirely, but Entune integrates with my Android based smart phone to use it’s data connection capabilities to display certain information on the console using the car’s own apps.  Includes traffic info, weather, local points of interest, stock info, sports, etc.  Even includes Pandora internet radio.

• Entune system runs off a hard drive, so navigation system is much faster and more responsive (this runs off a DVD in the 2010 hatchback).  The screen appears to be smaller but higher resolution than our hatchback.
• Whereas the hatchback has a 4 disk CD changer, the wagon has a single disk CD player, which is fine with me, since most music I will be playing will come off my smart phone or a USB drive.
• Radio seems to include HD Radio (as well as analog and XM Satellite radio).  Also as previously noted, Pandora internet radio can be used with a Smart Phone.
• Clearer rear view.  On the hatchback there is a spoiler in the middle of the rear window reducing rear visibility.  There is no such spoiler on the wagon, providing a clear view.
• “Bridge” from the front console and the center console between arm rest/storage area gone.  Now the space is open, making the storage area more open and useful.  The buttons that used to be on this bridge have been moved to the top of the arm rest.

• Redesign of storage area between driver and front seat passenger.  This was a kind of odd design in the hatchback.  Now the armrest flips open towards the passenger side rather than sliding back, which is good because in the 2010 hatchback the lid could get stuck in the open position if you had the rear seats down. The storage area also looks larger. The cupholder design is different and more solid in this area too with one open cupholder in the center armrest and another pull out holder below.
• 12v accessory and USB/AUX-in moved to below front console (as opposed to being inside the arm rest storage area in the hatchback).  This makes the USB/AUX ports much more accessible and there is even a nice pocket for phones and other devices right below the ports.  But it also means one less 12V socket in the car.

• Extra pop out cupholder on the passenger’s side.
• Power mirror controls grouped with window controls on driver’s door – easier to find and operate.

• Small storage hole for parking passes, credit cards, etc. on driver’s side.
• Better soundproofing and thus quieter on the highway, not that the hatchback was very noisy.  The under floor storage compartments in the back of the car now seem to be made of heavy duty Styrofoam rather than solid plastic.  I have to assume this is a sound damping feature.
• At 44/40 US MPG city/highway (48/54 imperial MPG or 5.89/5.23 L/100KM) it is about 15-20% less fuel economic than the hatchback.  However, this is far and away the most fuel efficient vehicle currently available for the cargo space.

My overall impression of the car is very positive.  Even with it fully loaded with all my gear on the test drive it drove like the Prius hatchback.  When I glanced down at the speedometer while on the highway, I was surprised to find that I was already doing 70 before I knew it.

The car is equally as comfortable as the Prius hatchback for the driver and front seat passenger and significantly more so for the rear passengers with the extended legroom and headroom.

The new Entune entertainment, communication, and information system looks like it will useful and fun (once I learn how to use it!)

At the end of the day this is a comfortable, highly efficient car with significantly more storage than most.  Storage space is equivalent (or at least for me, more useable) than most small – medium SUVs and other wagons. 

While nicely made and well trimmed, it is certainly not a luxury vehicle and while the driver (and perhaps front seat passenger) get lots of goodies to play with, the rear seat passengers will be taken to where they are going in comfort, if not in great style.

The cost of the vehicle is similar to the VW Sportswagen and heavily loaded Kia Sorrento, but is still a bit pricey for what it is.  The premium one pays for a hybrid really doesn’t make financial sense unless you drive a lot more miles than I will, or gas prices go through the roof, but for me having a vehicle that is much greener was important.   The Prius V should get more than twice the fuel economy of the MDX.  I drive to Houston fairly regularly and it has been nice to be able to make the round trip on one tank of gas and spend less than $20 on gas with the Prius hatchback.  So maybe that will now cost me $24 if I drive the Prius Wagon.

I remember seeing a joke ad for the Toyota “Pious” – essentially about hybrid owners having a “holier than thou” attitude towards other drivers.  In reality, the greenest thing most car drivers can do is probably keep their current cars for as long as possible (it takes tons of energy to make and deliver a new vehicle!) and be more efficient in using them – keeping them well maintained with proper tire inflation and cutting out unnecessary trips. But when it is time to replace a car there is no doubt that if you do care about the environment and want a greener vehicle, this is a great option.

Now that families such as ours own two of these Toyota hybrid vehicles, Toyota decided to get customer feedback on what the plural of Prius should be. Options included Priuses, Prius (i.e. a plural noun), Pria, and the winner, Prii.  

Which reminds me of a joke about two irish tailors having a chat about a tailor’s iron, also known as a goose:

Mick says to Paddy, “I need to buy two new irons, what do I ask the ironmonger for -- two gooses?“

Paddy: “That doesn’t sound right”

Mick: “Maybe I should ask for two geese?”

Paddy: “No, that doesn’t sound right either”.

Next day Paddy sees Mick with two irons and asks him what he said to the ironmonger.  Mick said “ah sure it was simple, I told him ‘give me a goose, and while you are at it, given me a second one too!’”

So, now we own a Prius – and a second one too!

---

Vehicles seriously considered, including MPG (city/highway in US MPG):

• VW Jetta Sportswagen Diesel TDi 30/42. Great fuel economy, clean diesel technology, drives beautifully, well liked by people I know that own the sedan. But, not enough storage space for my needs, very cramped driver’s space, not much amenities for the price, higher cost of diesel fuel. Audi A3 was similar.  What I would loved to have bought was a VW Passat Diesel wagon, but they don’t sell them in the US!http://www.edmunds.com/volkswagen/jetta-sportwagen/2012/?sub=diesel
• Lexus RX 450h hybrid SUV 32/28.  Gorgeous car, tons of power, good space, very comfortable with all the amenities of a Lexus. But, very expensive, fuel economy better than other SUVs, but really not as much as I wanted. One issue is that although you can find specs on base models for about $45K, in reality they are only available fully loaded at about $60K+.  The dealers have never seen them other than fully loaded!  http://www.edmunds.com/lexus/rx-450h/2012/?sub=suv
• Kia Sorrento 4 cylinder SUV 22/32.  The surprise vehicle for me – comfortable, tons of space, good amenities.  On the downside, the fit and finish wasn’t quite as good as other cars, the KIA dealership (at least our local one) is horrible to work with, the fuel economy isn’t a huge step forward, 4 cyl. version felt a bit underpowered. http://www.edmunds.com/kia/sorento/2012/?sub=suv
• Toyota Prius V 44/40. My winner. http://www.edmunds.com/toyota/prius-v/2012/?sub=wagon