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Our hotel was right across the street from the entrance to Petra.  We were offered rides on horses, donkeys and carts, but chose to walk in.  The first 1/2 mile was on a gravel path with ordinary rock formations all around.  Then we reached the Siq – the canyon entrance to the Petra complex.  It twisted and turned – our guide showed us the old water trenches – one for agriculture and one for personal use.  The colors of the rock walls were amazing.  Then we rounded the last corner and got our glimpse of the Treasury.  Red sandstone carved over a 1000 years ago.  The area was full of other tourists and lots of camels and small shops selling souvenirs.  

Around another corner and the city of Petra was before us.  It is only about 30% excavated.  There were temples and houses and monuments.  Quite amazing.  Lots of small shops selling all kinds of items.

We had lunch at the restaurant in the “basin” – lots of wonderful veggie dishes and great hummus.

After lunch Bob hiked to the monastery 892 steps up, and then on to the top lookout point.  He was surprised to find a shop at the top.  

I did the reverse walk in 95 degree heat.  I could have taken a camel or donkey or cart, but they all looked dangerous and walking felt safer.

That evening we went to “Little Petra”.  We walked down candlelit paths on carpets and came to a large open area with waiters serving drinks.  Then suddenly there was booming music and the area was lit with colored, dancing lights.  You could see lots of stars in the mostly dark sky.  Then we were led to tables and had dinner under the stars with more music and lights.  We had entertainment with Berber dancers.  Quite wonderful evening.

Fitbit – 15,765 steps, 7.18 miles, 52 floors
   

Another early start to our day.  We had to take bush vehicles to the dirt airport, to get onto bush planes to take us to the Kilimanjaro Airport to get on the jet.

We had some visitors at breakfast.

Morning visitors at the watering hole

The rest of the day was spent traveling.  After we landed in Aqaba we had a 2 hour drive to Wadi Musa, which is where the entrance to Petra is located.

Petra in the morning.

Our lecturer this evening was Louise Leakey, granddaughter of the famous archeologist Leakeys, who discovered the remains in Olduvai, near Ngorongoro Crater.  These remains were some of the first humanoid ones dating to 3.5 million years ago and “proved” that human life started on the African continent.  She is also in the same field, doing paleoanthropoligist and raising a family in Kenya.

Fitbit – no info today, all the time zone traveling has confused it and I can’t get a reading unless I remember to look at bedtime.

Sunset cocktail party at the hotel pool and watering hole – out past pool area

Maasai dancers entertaining us

We started on an early morning (6:30 AM) game drive. It is impossible to describe the vast numbers of animals we saw. Bob and I guessed that we saw somewhere between 1,000 to 1,500 animals. The extreme openness of the Serengeti can not be put into words. I will let our photos do the talking.

To commemorate my “7th” continent.

Wildebeest migration – there were 100’s in a line

Lioness stalking a Thomson gazelle

Leaving India  was not easy.  We had to go through security 3 times.  They even had the men go through one scanner and the women through another.   The female cabin staff all dressed in beautiful saris.

As we approached the Kilimanjaro Airport, our pilots got permission to fly around Mt. Kilimanjaro.  It was quite spectacular.  Unfortunately the famous snows are not as big.  Another fact of global warming.

Immigration for Tanzania was fairly rigorous with us being photographed and finger printed.  Then we were loaded onto our bush planes for the flight into the Serengeti area.  Once we landed we got into game drive jeeps for the trip to the hotel.  In the 1 hour drive we saw lots of animals.  Some of them were the Thomson gazelle, maribou, elephants, giraffe, hippos, baboons, zebra and Impala.

Our room overlooks the water hole and we have been watching the animals.

Fitbit – 5027 steps, 2.38 miles, 39 floors
  
    
    
    
  Maribou

Hippo

Better elephant photos to follow 😀🐘

Today we slept in and missed sunrise at the Taj Mahal, but we did not miss the Taj.  We did see the sun rising – still on some other time zone – and we can see the top of the Taj Mahal from our terrace – but we did not go there at 5:15 AM.

We had a wonderfully well done guided tour in the morning.  The Taj Mahal actually does take your breath away.  The fine craftsmanship in the design, the decoration and setting are amazing.  I think we must have taken 100’s of photos.  Our guide did a wonderful job of explaining the who, how and why of the Taj. He also found shady spots for us to listen to his explanations.  This was very much appreciated because the temperature at 10 AM had to have been in the high 80’s if not in the 90’s.  In addition to the actual building we went into the working mosque that is part of the complex.  We were very fortunate to have Jack Daulton – one of the expert lecturers on the trip – in our group and he was able to further expound on the mosque and how it is used for worship.  There was a mosque near our hotel and we heard the call to prayer several times.

When we returned to the hotel after our tour our clothes were drenched.  We sent out 6 pieces for express laundry service and got them back mid-afternoon.  This service cost us around $10!

In the afternoon we went to Agra Fort, the Red Fort,  which is a large fortress and palace complex on the Lamuna River about 3/4 of a mile from the Taj Mahal.  Again, we had a wonderfully informative guided tour of the complex with lots of information about the Mughal dynasty that was instrumental in building both complexes.  Both sites were very crowded because it was a Sunday and people from all over India travel to see these 2 World Heritage sites.

Bob returned to the hotel to work out and Bette joined the shopping tour.  First stop was a marble factory.  We were shown how the very intricate pieces of plates and table tops and other items were made.  After that it was on to the tapestry and jewelry stores.  We saw some amazing, museum quality embroidered pieces.  Some had taken over 30 years to complete.  We were treated to seeing some extraordinary jewelry made from emeralds in the crown Mamtez Mahal wore.  

On returning to the hotel, and after my third shower of the day we had a lecture by Terry Garcia, head of scientific exploration for National Geographic.  He told us about some of the projects they are funding around the world.  It was very interesting.

Then it was cocktails on the pool terrace with singers and dancers for entertainment and henna painters. A quiet dinner and then early to bed, our small bags were due at 6:30 AM and our departure was for 7:15.

India is quite a land of contrasts.  We were at an Oberoi hotel which was over the top in luxury, but along the streets were people selling all sorts of goods, road side barbers, water buffalo, 3 or 4 people on one scooter.  

Fitbit – 9276 steps, 4.04 miles, 32 floors

As you can see from the title of this post, today was a travel day.

The airport at Paro was a little crazy, we had to go through security twice.  The first time we were fine, but the second time they tried to confiscate my scissors for my needle point which have a blade of about 1.5 inches.  I got to keep them but it took some convincing and maybe a smile or two.  We flew in the vicinity of Mt. Everest but did not see it 😟.

When we arrived in Siem Reap – an airport security person just walked us from our charter on Bhutan Air directly to our private jet- no immigration, no customs, no security – just a plane to plane transfer.  

Upon our arrival in India they just stamped our passports and off we went.  It will be hard traveling without all of these great perks at our arrivals that we have gotten.  We arrived around 7:30 and the streets were crazy with motorbikes, cars and motorized rickshaw type vehicles.  

No photos, because all we did was fly today.

Tomorrow the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort.  Oh, and perhaps a little retail therapy.

Fitbit – 2203 steps, 1.04 miles and 4 floors

Our last day in Bhutan was jam packed with different experiences.  Bob took the morning off but I did not.

The first stop was to Buddha Point – think Christ the Redeemer in Rio but on a smaller scale.  The Buddha is the a statue of Maitre or the future Buddha.  It is still being built.  The Buddha and the pedestal he sits on are complete but the terrace still has to be paved and the landscaping was not done at all.  This site is on a hilltop which affords you a view of the capital town of Thimphu and the valley where Thimphu is located.  The interior of the pedestal was covered in gold with beautiful mandalas painted on the ceilings. One of the paintings on the wall was the god you would pray to in order to be more accomplished musically.  I said under my breath that it was too late for me, but my guide – an ever mindful believer – said it was never too late.  I have not tried to sing since but will let you know if it worked.  The enormous room in the pedestal will eventually hold 125,000 (no typo) Buddhas – 100,000 will be 8 inches tall and the remaining 25,000 will be 12 inches tall.  We were offered a chance to purchase our own Buddha but declined.  Currently there are 10,000 in place.

Our next stop was at Memorial Chorten, a stupa (religious memorial) built in memory of the 3rd king of Bhutan.  We all spun the big prayer wheels and circumnavigated the stupa 3 times.  The was to be a blessing on us.  While we were doing this there were hundreds of Buddhists, spinning the wheels and then circling the building.  Most had a string of beads, sort of like a rosary, that they were saying prayers with.

We next went to Dechen Phrodrang Monastery, Palace of Great Bliss.  This one was actually a school and the students were young boys.  One of the women did a video of them on her iPhone and they had a great thrill seeing themselves.  We also visited a nunnery, but it was lunch time and we did not see much.  

We made a photo stop to view Trashichho Dzong – a beautiful medieval fortress/monastery that now serves as the seat of government.

We were to have a picnic lunch by the river with dancers and an archery exhibition but the rains washed that out.  

After lunch at the hotel, I visited the Textile Museum, which had beautiful fabrics and artifacts from all over Bhutan.  It was co- founded by Melissa Gates.  A little shopping and then back to the hotel to get ready for our evening activities.

Bob was invited to attend a local basketball tournament.  He had a good time doing that.  Saw a game – but said b’ball is better in the US.  Also the officiating was better there.

Bette went to Raven House – a royal building – where we had a reception and audience with Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuck.  She is a beautiful woman who greeted our group, talked personally with a few of our tour members and then we all posed together for a photo.  I am supposed to get a copy by email and will post when I do.

What a day !!!

I am sorry for being so wordy, but our unexpected Bhutan experience turned out to be quite interesting.  Here is some info about Bhutan.  There are approximately 700,000 people in the country.  They are predominately Buddhist – 90% or more.  The unemployment rate is 40% (again not a typo).  They bring in workers from India because they will work for less and the Bhutanese won’t do road building or other construction type work.  They have a king, but also have democratic ways with an elected prime minister and 2 houses of elected officials.  The former king, who abdicated so his son could lead the country had 4 wives – all sisters – and all drop dead gorgeous.  Wife 4 was the one we had the audience with, but is not the mother of the King.  They current King has a wife who he married 2 years ago. Education is free and mandatory up through grade 8.  They go to school 5.5 days a week.  The bright students will be encouraged to continue.  The government will pay for college in foreign countries, but you have to return to Bhutan for 5 years or you have to repay the cost of the education you received.  The main language is English with everyone also speaking the national language (not sure what the proper name for it is).  The national dress is worn by the people during business hours.  Men wear the goh – not sure of the name for the women’s dress.  You can not enter any religious site if your arms or knees are exposed.  The government makes sure that everyone has housing.  Cows and dogs run wild everywhere.  Bob said that a dog ran into the basketball game!  

Fitbit – 7229 steps, 3.42 miles, 45 floors