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I’m off to my next global adventure!  Destination:  India.

I frankly have mixed feelings about this upcoming trip.  While India has a fascinating ancient culture, colorful and ornate architecture and delicious cuisine I am not looking forward to the masses of people in the major cities.  I am not an overly fastidious person but my ocd nature does not mesh well with teeming avenues crushed by humanity.  Fortunately we will be visiting many of the most popular sites either at sunrise or sunset to avoid the majority of the hordes.

In addition, in recent years the urban areas, particularly Delhi have experienced dangerous levels of air pollution during the winter months, due to little rain and winds which are greatly needed to alleviate the toxins caused by croplands being burned off and gas burning vehicles.  I will be bringing a mask and the good news is that we will only be in Delhi for a short time.

Our itinerary includes many less-populated areas and I am looking forward to seeing and learning about this culture that dates back more than 5000 years. My camera is all ready with new batteries and memory cards and I hope to capture photos not only of palaces and temples but also a few of the many endemic bird species that call India their home.

Finally I am excitedly anticipating  a visit to the Panna National Park which happens to be a tiger sanctuary.  Hopefully I will be able to photograph some of these elusive  big cats.  Here is  one of these stunning creatures from the internet:

Fingers crossed that I will photograph some of his relatives.

Chasing Dreams will be on hiatus until my return to the States.  I will try to post some photos to whet your appetite on Instagram so check in at  – @cgurmann.

Namaste.

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