IndiAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

It has been a week and a half since we arrived. And let me tell you, the shock was extreme. As much as I was trying mentally to prepare myself for a major slap in the face, I got punched 10 times instead. The experience for now is really intense. All the senses are attacked here. It is so busy with people, it's loud, stinky and poverty is everywhere. The mixture of smells is weird. And in this world of dirt, crass, shit, leave really nice and gentle people. We have seen very little for now, but in this pile of dirt, there is so much treasure.
At this point it is too early to understand our feelings about this country. It is horrifying and beautiful at the same time. When it is good, it's really good and when it is bad, it is very bad.
We have no regrets for now. You just need time to adjust to the noise, the heat and the smells. That takes a lot out of you. But discovering such a different world is.... I don't know..... WOW.

We arrived in New Delhi about 3:30 in the morning and YES! our luggage arrived, and YES! car from our hotel came to pick us up. It was like winning lottery twice in half an hour.
It was dark when we arrived but you could tell that the place where we landed is a complete opposite of the one we came from - Vienna. It was hot and dusty and chaotic even at that hour. And on top of that people where starring at us constantly making us feel like zoo animals.
We stayed in Delhi only for two days and that was more than enough. It was too much. Too noisy, to dirty, and too much harassment from the rickshaw drivers and other scammers.
We stayed in Paharganj which did not help. We experienced all the scams that the Lonely Planet mentioned in their guide book right on the first day. For dealing with rickshaws you need a lot of patience, but the dangerous guys are the ones who walk by you listening to your conversation and then jump in and pretend to be helpful to finally pressure you to go to a specific tourist office while the rickshaw that would take you there magically appears next to you. That's when it was confirmed once again that Miko is too nice of a guy. Simply too nice. (He does good bargaining though) We got out of it and when we told him no, he got upset and defensive. He almost got us convinced that the next day was a holiday and nothing was working and over the weekend that everything is closed so we had to go to this tourist office NOW!! Such a scam.
Just to mention that once we finally arrived at the official government tourist office in Delhi, the guy there congratulated us.
Our second day in Delhi, we spend visiting some sights. The Lotus Temple was very nice, full of people mostly Indian, so that was nice too. The combination of the colorful clothing of the women with the white modern architecture of the temple (in the shape of a lotus), the perfect blue sky and the green garden was beautiful.


We also saw the Humayan Tomb and the Gandhi Smriti, the place where he spent the last 144 days of his life and where he was shot.
Visiting these sights was very relaxing and nice break from the madness of the streets. But getting from one place to the next by auto rickshaw was hell. So much work getting the right price because as soon as they see you they triple it or quadruple, or just refusing them when you wanted to walk, was hard. Miko was mostly upset that he could not take any pictures on the streets because as soon as we stopped someone would come to us, either to directly ask for money, or to sell us something, or to whatever.... Just constant harassment.
So, for reward, we would go to a great pastry/cake shop and buy us some goodies :) The Wengers Pastry shop on the Connaught Place. One of the sellers liked Miko a lot and gave him a free cookie and called him his brother. Don't know why...

So, after two days we took a train to Chandigarh. The ride was quite uneventful except for one shocking detail. We left around 7:30 in the morning and saw a lot of poverty along the train tracks. People, families living in structures made out of I don't know what to call it - leftovers, discarded stuff. So poor. And here we are on this AC train, touring India just for pleasure.
Then we saw a lot of people squatting, mostly men, and I couldn't figure out what they were doing at first. Then it became obvious that they were all shitting. Just like that by the train tracks, about 10 to 20 feet between them for some privacy I guess. It was obvious that they were living in the shacks nearby and this was their communal toilet.

Chandigarh
The main reason we came to this town 4 hours by train north of Delhi was to visit the Rock Garden. It is also worth mentioning that the city was designed by Le Corbusier.
Overall the impression of the city was very good. It is very green, has parks everywhere and it is very clean compared to other Indian towns (that's what we heard).
The Rock Garden was fantastic, as if you entered a magical world, imagine a garden made out of rocks of all different shapes, sculptures, with waterfalls and trees and different textures on every corner. It was created by a Pakistani men who worked for the railroad, Nek Chand. He made it out of industrial waste found nearby as the city was built.
















Now the funny part of our visit to Chadigarh. It started during the first few hours of our visit, while we were in the Rose Garden. While we were sitting on a bench in the park, a young couple came over and asked if they could take a photo with us. And that is how it started. Pretty soon a whole group of teenage boys surrounded us and wanted to take photos. In the beginning we were just laughing and did not know what to think.
The next day in the Rock Garden, it continued and so many people came over to have their photo taken with us. One guy introduced himself as Indian Air Force and asked if his wife could take a photo of him with us. But after the photo most of them would just thank us very politely and just leave. Only few asked where we were from or what our names were. Just a photo.

Finally, the highlight of our stay in Chandigarh was meeting a very nice, old man named Narinder Singh. He approached us in a restaurant and welcomed us to India. Very nice, sweet and honest welcome. He just wanted photos of us and that we write something nice about him on a piece of paper. He was all about giving (apple and a scarf for Hana, comb for Miko for his beard) and sharing helpful information (very good for confused tourists) and teaching us Hindu. He taught Hana that the bold spot like Miko has is called Ganja in Hindu and that it means he will have a lot of money :) Not so bad after all. Also, Indians always respond positively and approvingly to Miko's beard. That's a good thing too I guess.
The nice old man came the next morning to the bus station to wish us a farewell and to get us the best seats on the bus - behind the driver.












Our ride from Chandigarh to Rishikesh by bus (7 hours) was crazy. Being on the road here is like playing video games. There are no lanes, or nobody respects them. They create four out of two. Everybody is constantly passing each other and they are honking ALL THE TIME, not to be aggressive or because they are upset, but just to let the others know that they will pass, that they are there on the road. Just imagine everything on the road that has a honk constantly using it. We needed ear plugs.
To top it off, Hana caught a cold in Chandigarh followed by the fabulous tourista when we arrived in Rishikesh. Likely Rishikesh is perfect for recovery.





















But in the end we got lucky and found a very nice room with a big terrace overlooking the town below with the river Ganga running through and the mountains all around. We spent 6 days enjoying, relaxing and recovering. Rishikesh is a center of yoga and meditation with Ashrams on every corner. Very peaceful and calm compared to the other places we saw.
Here, the Beatles came looking for enlightenment with the help of a lot of drugs. They stayed for two months and wrote most of the White album.
Miko's highlight was a haircut he got yesterday in a little shop in the street. The guy trimmed his beard, shaved him and trimmed his hair with scissors. He worked really hard to do it well. It took almost one hour and in the end he gave him a head massage! Bloody Phantastic! It seems to be a custom here to get a head massage after the haircut.
Miko also went rafting on the river Ganga and he swam in it as well. It was freaking cold!
Hana in the meantime enjoyed the view from the terrace, read, got a massage and relaxed some more.
Yesterday we saw a ceremony called ganga aarti ceremony at the Parmath Niketan Ashram by the river. It was a very nice experience. There were boys dressed in yellow robes with their heads shaved except one spot in the back. They chanted and there was some drumming. When the sun went down, they lit lights and passed them around the crowd. A lot of singing, chanting, very colorful and moving sitting by the Gang and witnessing it all.

We are a little sad to leave Rishikesh tomorrow but our journey continues. We go to Bikaner next and then Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur...........

Vienna before the big jump to India

Our first day here we filled out the ballots mailed to us from the US and voted. YES, WE VOTED! Let's hope it makes a difference.

This post is going to be a short one, like Vienna was. We stayed here 4 days but it went by like 2, 2 very good ones.
Sanja, who some of you in San Francisco met 3 years ago when Hana turned 30, welcomed us the same way her sister did in Zagreb. Partying runs in the Piro Family.



During the day we walked around the city center (1st bezirk) were it was beautiful, VERY clean and organized. (We are really going to be slapped in the face when we get to India.) And at night we went out and stayed out really, really late. We met a lot of Sanja's friends and even some of people from Sarajevo that Hana got in touch with through Facebook.

Hana's ante and uncle and cousin took us to see the castle Schonbrunn and we spent a nice day with them. We also visited the hills north of Vienna, the Kahlenberg hills, where the view was probably amazing but we could not see it because of the fog. Nonetheless, the hike down through the vineyards was very nice. Sanja's legs still hurt from it, and now walks like a grandma.

Right now we are mentally preparing ourselves for India and we will probably write more about Vienna later. Anyway, it was too short to visit much, so we have to come back :)


Merci beaucoup Sanja!

A little stop in Zagreb

We just left Zagreb yesterday where we spent 3 nice and mellow days. We were staying at Hana's friend Josipa and her husband Kreso.
Hana and Josipa were in High School together. Hana lived in Zagreb for 2 years (92-94) with her grandpa before she went to in Frankfurt (Germany) with her mum. They didn't see each other since.
You could tell that they were really happy to see each other again. They share great memories together.
One interesting thing for me also was that for the first time I was hearing about Hana's grandpa. He became an actual person, nice and quiet, not just a picture on the wall at grandma's apartment.

Anyway, during those 3 days we visited the center of the city and went to Josipa's galleria/internet cafe where she shows and sells her own work including other artists pieces.
She creates ornamented mirrors or sculptures/mirrors, made of wood. She also creates wall sculptures for private clients, like the wooden tree she made for her own house. You can see her unique work at this website: www.josipacamber.com


On second day, we went with Kreso, Josipa and Hana's friend Petra (from the same high school) to the mountain called Sljeme right outside of Zagreb.


It is autumn now. The colors in the trees are amazing. Beautiful mixture of green, yellow and orange. I forgot how this time of the year is beautiful. San Francisco is so much of the same all year long, it is great to rediscover the beauty of the seasons changing.
This day was a Croatian holiday (independence day) so sadly the park was packed with people. But strangely it did not feel like we were in Croatia, it felt more like Austria or Swiss.
I have to say that I like the food in Sarajevo much better, the food is too close to German food here.
We finished this day by meeting up with Sandra (sister of Sanja that we are visiting in Vienna). Hana and Sandra have not seen each other in 8 years, so it was a fun evening. This girl is very energetic, she loves socializing and partying. She got us drunk and herself with it. Sacré Sandra!



After that, our last day was a lot slower, we walked around the old part of Zagreb called Gornji Grad. Beautiful! We went to the view point on top of an old tower to spread more of Pépé ashes.
On this day we also started our Fromage & Chocolat project. In each country we are going to visit, we will be filming people saying Cheese & Chocolate in their own language.

It was a very nice visit. Thank you all for the good time!

Week 2 in Sarajevo

Our last week in Sarajevo was a lot busier than the first but no bomb explosions. We spent a lot of time with Hana's grandma Dika, helping her out, running errands, extending her passport, getting her a visa for the US, helping her make food for Bayram.
One morning, after our ritual coffee at noon, we went with grandma to the butcher shop. As soon as we entered the store, she told the guy working there to get her the manager because she would not buy meat from anyone else. When the lady appeared, she criticized her for the meat she sent to her last time. She said it was awful. (Sweet grandma's words) So this time, the lady had to cut each piece of meat individually then show it to grandma for approval.
That same day in the afternoon, grandma lost her teeth and we spent some time looking for them all over the apartment. Grandma did not even remember that she took them out until she sat down to eat. Hana finally found them in the armchair where she usually sits. Don't ask why she put them there, it's grandma.



We probably did not mention this before, but we arrived in Sarajevo towards the end of the month of Ramadan. Which means that since we got there everyone was talking about Bajram (the last day of Ramadan). It lasts 2-3 days, people go to the cemeteries, visit their family, eat home made food, drink coffee and eat baklava. And in Sarajevo specially people go out, drink and party hard. Any excuse is good to have a good time.
So baka Dika, set on having everything ready for the event, decided to prepare food 3 days before and since she can not do it all by herself anymore (even if she won't admit it), Hana got busy helping her out. Miko, since he is a man, was not allowed to do any housework, but likely or sadly grandma can not walk around as much anymore, so he was able to help out a lot more. Before if he were caught in the kitchen washing dishes, Hana would get yelled at, not Miko, Hana.
He also filmed the making of baklava, listening to grandma swearing because she had to make it, which really was her own will. Sacré grandma Dika!
Miko also learned how to make Bosnian coffee and even got the approval of the great master Dika Besirevic! Youpi!!!


Finally it was Bayram. We got little tired of hearing about it and the anticipation among the people. We started the day on a little sad note by bringing flowers to the graves of Hana's grandpa and uncle. Then, during the afternoon we went for something little more happy (at least for Miko), it was the first day of Pépé (Miko's grandpa) flying around the world. Pépé passed away 3 years ago. He was cremated and all the family members who wanted were given a little ceramic container with some of his ashes. Pépé always wanted to travel, so Miko thought it would be nice to spread his ashes everywhere we go and film it. So, at the end of the afternoon, we went up to Vidikovac (viewpoint in Bosnian) overlooking the city. The light was good, but it was a little windy, and not in the right direction. It ended up being a little like that scene in The Big Lebowsky, when John Goodman through the ashes of Jim Beluchi against the wind. This video is going to start with Hana's funny line: It went towards meeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Ha, ha, ha!

Then we finished Bajram like everyone else: going out. We ended up in a really cool bar called Babylon where everyone we met there that night bought us drinks. First we met a group of english speakers: an American student, a lawyer from Utah, a girl from New Zealand and a guy from Irland. After they left, we met this crazy local, somewhat scary but very nice bold guy, who was about to join french legion, who for some reason he really liked Miko and treated him like his best friend for the rest of the night. While Hana got stuck with a stupid drunk kid who was trying to psychoanalyze her. At the end of the night, the bold guy Enes told us a funny line: When you drink a lot of Sarajevsko beer, the next day when you scratch your butt you will think that you are scratching your head. That was our Bajram!

The next day, a guy named Cerkez (same last name as Hana) was playing in the City Pub in Sarajevo. They are not related but the last name is not very common so Hana and her sister Sarah and brother Harun decided to make it Cerkez cousin reunion.
It was fun, everyone was singing along the old traditional songs and dancing. By the way, they played old traditional folk songs with a modern twist, style of music popular in Bosnia called urban sevdah.

We also went to visit Hana's family resort house about 20km away from Sarajevo. Miko finally saw it. He has heard about it for a long time now. We had a nice time there, drinking coffee outside and playing with a sweet cat who seemed to be trying to tell us something. The house was completely destroyed during the war. Only the walls were left standing. But Hana's mom had it rebuilt after the war.
I wish we could have stayed there longer but we had to go back to Sarajevo, oh well, next time.


We also had a funny moment at the hairdressers. Miko and I went to the same place to get haircuts. It was just funny to be there sitting in chairs not far from each other and me translating from my chair to the guy who was cutting Miko's hair and trimming his beard. I would explain how much to cut and where, and then the guy would come to me to ask Miko if he was happy with the cut. Anyway, we were the center of attention for everyone working there and there were all smiling, nice people. Plus Miko (my Japanese tourist) was taking photos even during his haircut.


One thing I forgot to mention. During our stay a mini Gay and Lesbian Festival was organised. The day of the opening some people who participated, and especially the organizers were attacked and beaten up by young kids. This was a big disappointment for me. I thought that people in Sarajevo were better than in Belgrade and Zagreb, where similar things have happened. The mentality here is still some ways behind. Sad...
But we still had a good time in Sarajevo. This city is changing fast. Lets hope the mentality will too.

Evo nas u Sarajevu!

Here we are in Sarajevo now! We arrived 4 days ago and on our very first night we were welcomed by a big kaboom! At about 1am a bomb exploded just down the street from Hana grandma's apartment. It seemed to be directed at the car of one of the baker's sons (so say the rumors and the cab drivers). A month ago another bomb blew up the windows of the bakery (guess mafia related). No one was hurt and most of the people got up to look from their windows to see what is going on at the bottom of the street. After 10 minutes everyone went back to bed, especially Miko, who was only interested in sleeping at the time. Did not even go out to take a photo. Anyway, welcome to Sarajevo!

The next day we met Hana's dad Sead and went for a nice hike which started at a 450 years old bridge (Kozja Cuprija), then followed the river back to the city (3km). To reward ourselves (every excuse is good), we went to eat pita with spinach and cheese (zeljanica & sirnica) and pita with meat (burek) in old part of the town (Bascarsija). Very good.

The weather was for the first 2 days but then it got cold and rainy. We have not prepared ourselves for this kind of cold, mentally or physically. Not to mention the lack of warm clothes, since we only have one of each. Hope the cold weather won't last too long, the city is so pretty when it is sunny. It is being repaired and rebuild everywhere. You can see how the city used to be beautiful before the war.

One of 2 Miko's favorite cafes closed, it was a cafe and bookstore in the same place (Karabit), full of art students. Luckily the other one is still open and full of green plants as always, it's called Avlija. Seeing how sad he was about the cafe that closed, Hana showed Miko another cool bar/cafe and now it's his new favorite. It's called Zlatna Ribica (Gold Fish).

By the way, this city is full of bars and cafes. They are literally on every street, corner, basement, apartment building, sometimes even ten in a row, one next to the other. It seems to be the only and best business in town. And in the summer they are all full.

Last Sunday we went on a little day trip to Mostar, which is about 150km away from Sarajevo. It is in part of the country called Herzegovina and since it is a lot closer to the coast, the weather is much nicer and warmer. What a nice change to walk around in a t-shirt instead of a t-shirt, a sweater and a jacket.

The bus ride was supposed to be 3 hours, but 15 minutes before the arrival the bus stopped in the middle of the road. The parking brake blocked (according to the drivers) and the bus would not move. It took them 1 1/2 hours to fix the problem and then we could continue our trip.

Mostar is named after the bridge Stari Most (which means Old Bridge) that was destroyed during the war. Four years ago on our way to the Croatian coast, we stopped in Mostar for quick break just to see the newly rebuilt bridge. The opening ceremony was 2 days after and the bridge was still closed. During the war 80% of the city of Mostar was destroyed by heavy bombing and shooting. Four years ago the marks of the war were evident everywhere and very shocking. Going there now, we were amazed how much of it was rebuilt, so much work. The main area around the bridge is almost completely redone and the city is regaining its beauty. The architecture of it is so unique and it blends with the surrounding hills. Not to mention the color of the river running through (Neretva), is it blue, or green, or tirquoise... Everyone should go visit. That's it.

We will stay in Sarajevo for another week or so, the next destination is Zagreb (Croatia=Hrvatska) and if we have time we'll also visit Hana's relatives in a small town in Western Bosnia.

Our last week in France!

It has been a while since our last and first post but here we are still alive.

Our last two days in Rennes were a lot of fun, we went to the Cote de Bretagne with Yann and visited pretty Cancale and beautiful St. Malo. It rained a lot but we were able to get a few breaks between the showers and walk around. Both places are very popular tourist destinations, Cancale is a small fisherman town where they have les moules and oysters, and the local people have a reputation of being crazy, hence their kids are even crazier and the teachers in schools have a very difficult job... (info by our guide Yann). And St. Malo is an old fortified city with gorgeous houses, really stunning, even Mick Jagger owned a house there and would come party with his buddy David Bowie... (info by our guide Yann).

One last thing worth mentioning here is our menu for the day:

breakfast - pastries (chausson aux pommes, pain au chocolat) & coffee

lunch - lovely french cake (le flan nature)

and for desert big, bad ice cream served by a very rude boy while he was constantly texting.

The next day we went to the Market to eat the deliciously greasy Gallette Saucisse avec Fromage, and meet with Miko's friends and their colony of children running around.

After that we took the train to Paris!

We stayed in Paris for 4 days with Nolwenn and Stephane. Nolwenn is Miko's friend from Art School in Rennes and her boyfriend Stephane is a musician, you can check his music at http://www.myspace.com/bunq and also http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=33634966

The logos for both bands were designed by Nolwenn, very cool. (we love promoting our friends :)

As soon as we got to their place on Saturday night, they had a few friends who came over for the apero. After we went to a restaurant Ramuleau (the same place where Miko and I had our fancy dinner 6 years ago, the first time I came to Paris). After the restaurant we went to a bar called Liberte, full of local drunks and party people. It was a funky mix, where the bartenders drank as much as the clients, and our friend Nolwenn broke a glass as soon as we got in (desole Nolwenn, je devais le mentionne). We had one mojito which was so strong and bad that it gave us a headache for the next 12 hours, but that did not stop us from having fun until 3am. Our biggest party night during our stay in France.

The next few days we spent riding bikes around Paris. The Velib is a new thing in Paris, started about a year ago, and basically you have bicycle stands every 300 meters all over the city and the first 1/2 hour is free. The trick is to take the bike, ride to your destination or stop half way and find another bike stand to check the bike in and then check it out right away and then you have another 1/2 hour to ride for free. During our stay in Paris, we never used the metro, except to get to the airport and back, and we did not spend a cent on transportation. How cool is that?! Besides it was the best way to visit and experience the city, even though Hana got really scared a few times while riding in the city. Imagine going around the Rondpoint among the cars, and scooters on one of the main boulevards, hoping you are going to come out alive :)

In Paris, nobody respects the traffic rules, not pedestrians crossing the street when they are not supposed to, nor the scooters riding on the side walks, nor bicyclists like us riding everywhere on side walks and in the opposite direction of the traffic. It is Paris after all and that's how it goes over there. On our first day we were 8 bikes riding together and it was like a mini Critical Mass (Hana loved it).

On Monday, Hana got her last vaccine for Japanese encephalitis!!! Yes, it is done and we don't have to carry the thermos around with us anymore and worry about the temperature inside!
Youpi!

Our last day in Paris, we went on the bike ride with Nolwenn and followed the canal Saint Martin (famous because of the movie Amelie) all the way to a beautiful man made park Les Buttes Chaumonts. On the way there we saw the shooting of the TV show RIS, the cheaper version of the american tv show CSI. We ended our day in style (french style), eating pastries and cakes in the artisan shops on the street Rue des Martyrs. Miko had only one, but Hana and Nolwenn had 2 each.

Our diet during the past 2 weeks has been 50% pastries. Soooooooooo Goooooooooooood!!!!!!

It is probably good we left France before our behinds became so fat that we couldn't move anymore.

C'est parti!

Et voila!

C'est parti!

After more than two weeks into the trip we have finally set up the blog. And what a pain it was, but hopefully worth it because of all you people who will be reading this and enjoying it.

First, thank you all for the great send off. It was nice to see everyone before the departure.

So, here is our first report: After all the madness of getting ready for the trip, we left for France ready to finally relax...

But no. During our flight, Hana was reading a book: Healthy Travel for India and Asia, when she realized that she was missing a very important vaccine. Actually, a stupid nurse at Kaiser travel clinic would not give it to her when she asked for it (twice), saying that she does not need it. Well, it turned out that she did need it.

Miko was relaxed about it thinking we can get it done in France, no problem. It turned out that the US purchased a whole supply of this vaccine and it's not available in France since December 2007. After calling clinics all over France, by the way Miko spent 3 days on the phone trying to find the vaccine (not to mention the silly hours when these places where open 9:30-12 twice a week, you got to love France). Finally, a miracle happened and a clinic in Montpelier had the vaccine available and even further, decided to let us take the vaccine (3 shots total) with us while we are traveling in France.

We were also lucky to be in Toulouse, only 3hours away from Montpelier, so we were able to drive there, get the shot and the vaccine and come back in one day. Since then we've been carring the vaccine with us in a thermos, trying to maintain the temperature between 4-8° Celsius, and looking for nurses who could give Hana the 2nd and 3rd shot in Rennes and Paris.

This wonderful begining prepared us for whatever next might come along :)

After that we were finally able to enjoy the time in France with family and friends.

We visitied a beautiful castle near Toulouse called Château de Laréole,

Then we drove up to Bretagne and stayed in a renovated farm house called Les Roseaux de Callac in Guémené Penfao with Miko's entire family. We've spent days eating, drinking coffee, visiting the area, eating lunch, drinking coffee, playing games, eating dinner, fromage, dessert, talking, drinking wine, having dinner with Miko's family (dad's side), drinking coffee, having dinner with Miko's family (mom's side), eating cheese, drinking wine, visiting grandma, going to a 2 day wedding of Miko's cousin, eating, drinking, dancing until 3am (Hana in heels) with mom Michelle and dad Jean-Paul shaking it with us, then dressing up in funky, colorfull outfits for silly wedding pictures, playing games. We ended this visit with a nice lunch, drinking wine and cider, eating bread and cheese, and then everyone went their own way.

We are now in Rennes, visiting friends and eating pastries either for breakfast or lunch or both every day. The clothes are getting tighter, but we know it's all going to melt once we get to India. Saturday we are taking the train to Paris, where we are going to meet up with more friends. The next destination is Sarajevo.

That's it for now. You can see photos on Flickr, the link is on the right.