MLB season started this week, and for the first time we are able to watch the games here in the Netherlands, on NASN (which is great, except for their extremely annoying self-promoting commercials). But what strikes me and what I want to write about here is all the commercial product placement in these games. More »

We arrived at Agra Cantonment train station at about 8am on Sunday, 05 March 2006. We stayed in Agra for two nights, at Hotel Kamal in Taj Ganj. Here are some of the places we visited. More »

Oh no! It’s officially over for my favorite TV comedy; Arrested Development will not be picked up by Showtime next season, as rumors circulating for months had suggested. More »

The Verkeers Informatie Dienst (Dutch traffic information services) announced today that, in the first three months of this year, the length of traffic jams in the Netherlands has increased by 19.2% compared to last year. More »

Wikipedia has a great list of dozens of today’s April Fools jokes, from the Internet, TV, radio and newspapers. Very funny stuff.

Two weeks ago we were in Jaipur, India, during Holi, India’s festival of color that marks the beginning of spring. The day before we had attended the wonderful Elephant Festival and we had already bought a few bags of color from a street vendor, so on the morning of 14 March we headed into the city, each armed with bags of colored powder in our pockets. Ready for our first Holi.

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The huge billboard at Leiden train station, that was erected in February, was destroyed by heavy wind yesterday. The billboard of 1100 square meters in size held an image of a huge bookshelf holding books with titles related to themes such as the celebration of Rembrandt’s 400th birthday this year. More »

In the month of Phalgun, a day before the festival of Holi, India’s festival of colors, the elephants of Jaipur gather in a show of pomp and pageantry recreating the royal splendour of a bygone area. There is a parade, polo match and tug of war. Here is our report of the Elephant Festival on 13 March. More »

Throughout Europe on 29 March 2006 a partial solar eclipse will be visible. In parts of Africa and Asia, plus a small part of the Mediterranean Sea between Crete and Cyprus, and parts of Turkey and Georgia, the eclipse will be total. More »

We have just published a new page in our travel photo album of our trip around Rajasthan, India, from 3 to 22 March 2006. We saw the Taj Mahal in Agra, bicycled around Keoladeo NP at Bharapthur, saw tigers at Ranthambore NP, played Holi in Jaipur and saw many forts and palaces. More »