PEARL'S ASHES #8

I did say I would post part 2 of my Democracy series today, but I haven't quite perfected a better future for Mayday Mayday, so this will come later in the week.  Instead, as this is nostalgia Tuesday, I will reach back and specifically look at the eighth ash drop for Pearl at the Taj Mahal.  However, first, a few of the latest developments imposed on the world by President Donald Trump.

• 
  Trump had a press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House, the first world leader to do so.  Shockingly, Trump indicated that the USA will take over the Gaza Strip.  Watch this video.  Previously, he took credit for brokering this peace, but new American boots on the ground in the Middle East is almost beyond the pale.
• 
  China is the only country currently struck with Trump's tariff, 10%, and announced a counter tariff.
• Remember my travels to China and how this blog site had problems because of the ongoing fuss with Google, which began in 2010?  
• Google's market share declined from 36.2% to now 3.8%, primarily because Google is not blocked in Hong Kong.  
• Well, look for more problems between the two because of this now tariff war.
• There is a large list of websites not able to operate in mainland China.
• You Tube since 2009.
• Facebook, 2009.
• Yahoo, 2021.
• Wikipedia, 2019.
• Reddit, 2018.
• Netflix, 2012.
• Blogspot (this blog), 2009.
• Instagram, 2014.
• WhatsApp, 2017.
• Spotify, 2008.
• Pornhub, 2016.
• BBC, 2015.
• New York Times, 2012.
• Washington Post, 2019.
• The Guardian, 2019.
• Bloomberg, 2012.
• HuffPost, 2019.
• Wall Street Journal, 2015.
• Reuters, 2019.
• TIME, 2016.
• Australia Broadcasting Corporation, 2018.
• The Economist, 2016.
• ABC, 2021.
• Voice of American, for a long time.
• NBC, 2019.
• HBO, 2020.
• TikTok, yes, TikTok, 2020.
• ChatGPT, 2023.
• Truth Social (Donald Trump's media platform), 2022.
• A lot more on this list.
• 
  Well about the China blowback, Trump indicated now that he is in no rush to talk to President Xi.
• As you know there was a trade war between the U.S. and China in Trump's first term.

• 
  This time, China is prepared to counter.
• Trump's tariff on China is currently 10%.  
• China said it would implement a 15% tariff on coal and liquified natural gas, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars to take effect next Monday.  
• Maybe most important, China will control the exportation of high-tech products and will minimize sales of rare minerals.  This will cause huge problems to some American companies.
• Should all that occur, GDP growth will be lowered, inflation in the U.S. will grow and there will be negative effects on the U.S. dollar.
• As those New York Times graphics above show, American's remain relatively wealthy, but unhappy and unwell.
• 
  Fossil fuel CEO Chris Wright was confirmed as Trump's Energy Secretary, supported by 8 Democrats on the floor. Wright will "drill, baby, drill" and distantle the Democrats "green new scam."

• 
  Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s and Tulsi Gabbard's nominations were approved for floor vote, which means they will almost surely be approved by the Senate. 
• Trump will be closing down the Department of Education.  He says, let each state do it themselves.

There is a timing issue about Pearl's Ashes in this blog site.  Most of the ash laying ceremonies themselves occurred 14-16 years ago and my blog compiled them into regular postings around 12 years ago, but I then decided I would write a virtual book featuring mostly photos, and these chapters unfolded 8 years ago.

• So back I go 17January2010 when I began a global journey mostly to drop Pearl's Ashes #8 at the Taj Mahal.  While the first seven occurred in Hawaii, my primary purpose was to travel the world to drop her ashes at locations she wanted to visit, but did not, mostly because I personally had no interest in India and South America.  For this trip I only dropped her ashes once.

• 
  On 8February2010 I visited the Taj Mahal.
• The previous day I wrote about getting into India.  INDIA SUCKS…* remains as the most commented posting I've ever had.
• To quote:

Let's forget yesterday. I'm appalled that I said "India Sucks." 

Today, though, was not much different, but my attitude has re-adjusted and returned to my normal self. To begin, can you believe there are 82 HD channels, and at the time of the Super Bowl, there were 6 soccer matches, 2 rugby, 2 badminton, 1 tennis, 1 golf, 1 auto racing, 3 cricket and, on ESPN, a SEC gymnastics competition. NO SUPER BOWL in Delhi. Anyway, I couldn't have caught all of it as at 6:15AM I was picked up for my Taj Mahal encounter, the primary reason why I'm on this trip.

• We caught a van from New Delhi to Agra.  Very cost effective, for a 260-mile roundtrip.

There was a driver of a minivan and a navigator, joined by a tour guide for a person from Sweden, another from Turkey and myself. Remember from yesterday, all this cost me about $50, including lunch. 

The drive of 4 hours to Agra was a nightmare. Early in the morning, a red light means please consider slowing down, but, if there appears to be no crossing traffic, whiz through as fast as possible. The 130 mile ride was mostly down a four lane highway, with a few complications. Ox, goat and horse driven carts; wandering cattle and water buffalo; way overloaded trucks; tuk-tuks that carry not two people, but up to 20; congested towns; people running across the street and horrendous air pollution (it was smokey the whole way). For transportation buffs, you will see every possible mode of transport since the dawn of civilization, including trains that seem to move along well and, above, airplanes, which I only imagined were there, for the haze is worse than when the volcano emission envelopes Honolulu.

We finally got to Agra and went straight to the Taj Mahal. The cost of entrance was about $20 for this and the Red Fort. Frankly, like Angkor Wat, the experience was not awesome. I'm glad I came, I enjoyed the tour, but I was sort of disappointed. These accompanying photos actually show the Taj to be whiter than actual. This is one of the 8 wonders of the world. Time and pollution, though, have stained the white marble. But, after all, this complex is more than 350 years old. I did, however, honor Pearl.

The Red Fort, almost 450 years old, is the second must see, but, again, I'm templed and forted out to enjoy any more tours. The lunch at a 5-star restaurant was Indian, and good, with Kingfisher, an Indian beer.

The most exciting part was the ride back to Delhi, all 6 hours of it. This was the equivalent of the road through hell. They say that just at the moment of a catastrophe, time slows, like, say, your car meeting another head-on at 60 miles per hour. To survive in this traffic, the driver needs to be intrepid, no, make that, reckless. He needs to fearlessly pass cars and toot his horn as much as possible. Time virtually stopped for me at least a dozen times today.

I was so exhausted about surviving the day that I ordered room service: a butter/pesto tossed linguine with a bolognese sauce, accompanied by an asparagus Caesar salad. I opened the bottle of bordeaux provided the Le Meridien and had one of the better meals on this trip:

Amen.

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