What a wonderful day we had. The hotel provided a boxed breakfast. Our driver picked us up and took us to the extremely huge train station. I think Ron and I could have figured out how to get to the platform, but it was very nice to have Adi with us. Cathy and I decided India is a country of those who have almost everything and those who have almost nothing, (Including no underwear for young children.) It was at the train station and in Agra that we saw the most beggars. Some were absolutely pitiful with all kinds of deformity. Yes, we were concerned, but Adi told us the government provides for deformed people and those who are sick. They even have hospitals for these people. For this reason and others, the cities suggest tourists do not support beggars. 

Again more than one class of service on the train. We had air conditioning and reserved seats on the express train to Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal. Plus they served us breakfast, our second one of the day.

It was extremely hot and humid outside. The local guide met us and took us to see the Taj.  Upon arrival on the grounds, we were met with a nice looking building made of sandstone. As we continued into the grounds, we came to an archway, that perfectly framed the most gorgeous building I have ever seen, The Taj Mahal.

           

Some Taj Mahal statistics.

It was finished in 16??  It took 22 years and 20,000 workers.  It was built to honor the builders most favorite wife. Therefore, it is the only spectacular building built for love.  Most are built to gods or to government, but this one was built for a departed wife.  She died in childbirth for her 14th child. The workers came from all over the continent, many from Persia.  Many never returned to their home land, but stayed in Agra. 1200 families of the descendants, who were workers, still live in Agra and take care of the Taj.  The Taj is closed on Fridays and that is when the upkeep takes place. There are no descendants of the royal family so the government maintains the building, with pretty strict rules.  They expect it to last another thousand years unless someone vandalizes it.  During the British rule, the army tried to take the precious stones, but they would need to destroy the gems to get them freed from the glue, so they gave up on the project. They have 40,000 visitors a day. 

                   

The building is made from the finest marble available. It is a built by a Muslim king and he had verses from the Koran inscribed around the entrance gate. It is hard to believe, but the inscriptions are in black onyx. The artisans carved from the marble and glued the stones into the cavities. I hope you can see the Arabic writings around the front entrance. One more thing. At no time during the day is a shadow cast on the wording.

Continue reading “2nd day in India”

Since we arrived late last night and it was midnight local time before bedtime, we all opted for an 11:00 am departure time with our local tour guide. 

• However our driver was about an hour late so we left late witih our tour guide, nicknamed, Mountie, and our representative Adi.  She notified me that she would be with us during our stay in India. That turned out to be a good thing.
• Pictures below are.  Sandra and Carol in their rickshaw. The Cathy and Robbin in their rickshaw.  Ron and Sue on the steps of a temple.  Two street scenes in Delhi. Two pictures of beautiful Indian girls.  I have another picture with 4 girls but I could not get it to upload. The gang in front of a temple with our orange scarfs on.
• O
• Our guide discussed with us Hindu and sheikh religion.  However sheikh is not a religion but a way of life. A man who did not like some of the 9000 rules and rituals of the Hindu founded the sheikh way of life.  About 30% of Indians are sheikhs.  They do not cut their hair.  Men wear turbans to cover their long hair.

Today is the 150th birthday of Mahatma  Ghandi and it was a holiday in India. There are 20 million people Who live in greater Delhi. 8 million live in Old Delhi and 12 in New Delhi. Since it was a holiday we think 10 million were at the parks enjoying their family and friends. The other 10 million were at the Spice market and all in their very own vehicle.  There are 1.3 billion people in India second only to China that has 4+ billion people.

India was under British rule from 18?? To 1946.  Centuries before that, there were about 400 kingdoms. Finally the king ordered a united India. However, there are still places that refuse to unite, like Belarus. 

Our first stop was at the sheikh temple.  No shoes or socks and a head scarf were required.  As the custom is, we cleansed our feet by walking through a shallow pool. We listened for a few minutes as the priest was reciting a sermon to thousands of people.  Our next stop was to see the kitchen where volunteers were preparing vegetables. They serve 3 times a day adding up to 6000 meals a day. The vats for rice were enormous. As we departed we noticed how beautiful the young girls are in their colorful, bordering on brilliant, native dress.  They really know how to pose.  A young man was having his picture taken and I photo bombed him.  The photographer liked it and wanted one more.  Then he wanted a picture with Maria and me and him poising.  I suppose the guys were in their early 20s.  Another time we took a picture of 4 girls and they also wanted our picture.  We walked through the shallow pool to retrieve our shoes and we were off to Old town for a rickshaw ride.  

Two guests per ride.  Ron and I were the heaviest and we had the oldest peddler.  I guess he was pushing 40, but the other guys were 20 something.  At one time, going up hill, a friend of our peddler came along side and pushed the rickshaw up the hill, just to help us catch up.  We had the rickshaws for about 1 1/2 hours but we got off and and walked around  and took pictures at a temple. We also drove by rickshaw to the spice market. The rides in India kind of remind you of “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.” Tuk Tuks and rickshaws, and motor bikes and cars and trucks are all vying for first place.  Five or six vehicles wide on the streets with the same amount coming directly toward you. Beep beep! I am sure they learn this process of driving in elementary school.  Beep beep! At one time a tuk tuk got too close to our rickshaw and the driver gave it a smack, and peddled on. Beep beep! See some street scenes above. We were told that if anyone drove like that in Jophar, they would be fined.  I have been to three cities of India and they all drive the same.  Trust me, you have to see the traffic to believe it. Beep beep! 

It was so hot today.  We were happy to go to a craft shop even knowing they would try to sell us something.  Carol bought a beautiful loose ruby and Sandra bought a gorgeous red dress.  Some of us were tempted to buy some silks, but we resisted.

We had a great lunch at an upscale Indian restaurant.  It was a little too spicey for my liking.  We were there about 2 hours.  It took us a long time to order from the menu.  Normal time to eat. A very long time to pay the bill.  Again another day with just 2 meals.  That is working out very well.

Thanks for sharing the ride. Tomorrow we visit The Taj Mahal.

 

Today we were ready to go at 8 am.  We returned at 8 pm. I was feeling a little taken advantage of because we paid $60 USD for our day trip, and I saw it advertised on the street for $29 USD.  However, to be fair, we all decided we wanted a private tour.

Our same guide and driver picked us up at our hotel.  To HaLong Bay is a 3 1/2 hour drive away. Of course there is a rest stop with unusual things to purchase and the ladies and men are working on the craft before your eyes.  This makes the product more valuable. Don’t you agree? These are beautiful embroidered Vietnamese scenes with very tiny stitches.  Carol, Cathy, and I all bought one. Maria got a beautiful topaz ring, Gerard bought a beautiful bowl and urn. He had the urn shipped. All I saw that Sandra bought was 2 ice cream bars.  She doesn’t have to carry anything. Ron and Robbin also bought ice cream. ( I tried and tried to upload pictures of the gals working on the embroidery put, I just could not upload them.

It was quite different in the country than in Old Town.  The traffic was thinner but still lots of motor scooters and now we add relatively large trucks.  Very few semis.  We passed luscious rice fields and learned that they are ready to harvest when the tops turn yellow.   Most of the fields were green.  We also saw a good number of water buffalo. Many of the homes we passed had pretty fronts with nice balconies.  Also they are very narrow, but always more than one story. We understand it has to do with taxes per square meter.  Makes sense!  Just as nice as they were in the front, almost none of them had finished sides and I presume backs.  They still had the bare concrete showing.

Ah, Ha Long Bay.   First things first.  Lunch.  Now I realize what a private tour is.  There were only the 8 of us on a boat that probably holds 100 or so.  Our meal was a seafood dinner.  The gals brought out plate after plate of delicacies of the sea, including dishes we were unsure about.  I did not like the breaded squid. We had tiny clams and stuffed crab and shrimp, no cocktail sauce, and a wonderful regular fish with millions of bones.  I liked it the best.  See picture below. Our guide said HaLong Bay is one of the 7 wonders of the world. The mountains coming out of the bay were beautiful.  There are about 2,000 large and small mountains. It was so peaceful and we took lots of pictures. See some above.  Peaceful yes, but we learned they have 500 boats that ply the waters for tourists and Vietnamese vacationers.  It’s a great place for wedding pictures.

Included in the tour was a walk to a gorgeous cave just below the earth’s surface.  It was hot and humid in there.

Then we boarded our large van and headed home.  Carol sat in the front and she was questioning whether we would make or not.  She cannot figure out why they have a center line because no one observes it.   Alas we made it back and we all had a smoothie on the street.  FRESH and delicious and only $1.50 USD.  Will I ever be able to pay $6.00 again for the price of a smoothie? The only

Our next day was a travel day.  We went from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpor, changed planes and got into Deli at about 9:00 pm.

Thanks for traveling with us today. I wish you could be here to enjoy the sights, scenes, scents, and special audio sounds in person.

 

 

What  a difference in Hong Kong and Vietnam?  Hong Kong is very, very clean, Vietnam is not.  Hong Kong shopping is extremely high end.  In Vietnam you bargain for a hat for one dollar.  In Hong Kong the cars are expensive, in Vietnam, everyone owns a motor scooter. I do not know the average income n Hong Kong but in Vietnam it is between $150USD to $300 USD per month.

Our first day in Vietnam began with an excellent cooked to order breakfast and then free time before meeting our local tour guide. I wish I could describe walking across the street in “Old Town.” It’s not like a salmon swimming up stream because the scooters are going in both directions.  Actually Ron and I agree that it is sort of like PAC-MAN only worse. There are no lights or stop signs at the corners.  Everyone is honking which says, “I’m here,” not “get out of my way.”

Carol got hit by a motor scooter.  She did not even fall down but it was quite amusing seeing her keep her balance.  The driver, in perfect English said, “Why did you run?”  To me this said that he was looking out for walkers, but when she picked up speed in just 2 or 3 steps, he could not anticipate her move.  Thus, he nudged her because he could not stop and avoid hitting her. Later we learned ( from our guide) the secret of crossing the street is to take slow steady strides.  Makes perfect sense when you are involved in the picture.  We do try to stay on one side of the street.  Otherwise, when we cross we stay in a huddle and oftentimes hold hands like kindergartners. So far we have survived.

here are some pictures of the traffic. Please add your own “beep beep” every 6-8 seconds.

Our guide took us to the temple of “Confucius” which was interesting for the first 15 minutes. Then he took us to the “Hanoi Hilton” and someone is not quite telling the whole truth.  The messages said the American prisoners were treated very well with good medical care.  Actually the prison was built in the 1890’s by the French to house Vietnamese political prisoners.  It was not a pleasant place to be.  Because of progress in building the city, only about 1/3 of the prison still stands. Our guide did also refer to the fact that the Vietnamese were the victors in the American War.

We were getting hungry, but we made a short stop at the day market before trying some PHO with beef and noodles.  Yummy.  And filling.  And cheap.  Back to the day market.  It was inside a warehouse.  Kind of like wholesale.  I cannot begin to tell you how much STUFF was crammed into that building.  The inventory of the vendors was tremendous.  We did not see too many Caucasian’s so I am thinking, not too many tourists.  However, there could have been a lot of Asian tourists. On the street near our hotel was a vendor with zippers.  How many, probably a million.

Next we went to the water puppet show.  The music was outstanding, the puppet show caused most of us to doze off for a time or two. We then walked back to our hotel because it was Saturday night and there were so many people out, that they close the streets to traffic.  It was another amazing experience.

There are 9 million people in Hanoi, and 95 million in Vietnam. Approximately 1,500 people die each year, and 4,000 babies are born.  It is hard for me to believe that death ratio, but that is what our guide told us.

Here are a couple of more pictures.  The first one is our meal, the second is a woman pushing her goods down the street. The last one is Sandra, Carol, and me sitting on a child’s plastic chair enjoying our smoothies at a street vendor next door to our hotel.

We were happy to drink delicious and freshly peeled fruit smoothies in a plastic cup, because we saw how the really cute ice cream dishes were washed.  Not sterilized at all.

Sunday we take a ride out into the country and visit HaLong Bay.

Everyone is keeping up.  I hope you are too.

It is really Sunday September 30; but I want to back up to Friday.

Friday was a travel day for us.  Our morning was free, with 2 rooms checking out at noon and two at 2:00 pm and our driver picking us up at 2:45 pm to catch our 5:30 flight (2 hours) to Hanoi.

This tour is designed so 8 different personalities don’t have to spend every waking minute together, and it worked this morning.  Some shopped, some walked for seemingly miles, some rested, and some nursed the beginnings of a cold.

Fast forward to arrival in Hanoi! Hanoi means land surrounded with water. Our transportation met us at the airport as scheduled.  Then we probably traveled 40 minutes through the countryside. As we got closer to our accommodations for the night, we tried to make light of the surroundings, but they were fairly gloomy. Have you ever made advanced hotel reservations and been concerned that they were going to be as expected or at least adequate? If so you know my worst fear about being in the tour business. Is the hotel going to be okay? Tonight, in the dark, all of us were experiencing that feeling.  As we approached “Old Town” there were hundreds, no thousands of motor scooters sharing the road with just a few cars, and I might add, they were all honking their horns.  Therefore, none of our pictures will show the whole scene because there is no audio.

We. finally arrived at the Hotel Luxury and were most pleasantly surprised.  The lobby was bright and very clean, and the rooms were just as nice.  However, the sidewalks were filled with parked motor scooters and Vietnamese people sitting on plastic children’s chairs, eating, drinking, and just enjoying their friendships.  We thought it quite strange, but the longer we are here, the more we find it quite acceptable.

I have a speech that I give on “how travel is good for your health.” One of the reasons, is that you become more aware,  which translates into more  tolerate of other people’s culture.  Being more tolerate of other cultures, makes you relax around them, and relaxation is very good for your health.  We see this trait working in just a few days and right before our eyes.

On this trip we are having a hard time staying past 9 pm before we fall asleep in just a few seconds after our heads hit the pillow.  Then we usually get up earlier than at home.

I hope you are enjoying our trip.  I am sorry I cannot see where anyone is making posts.  When we get to Europe, I might be able to get in touch of Word Press and find out why.

I’ll write something later

Our day was a little shorter today because we chose to make it shorter.

With 7 million people, you can imagine there needs to be lots of shops.  But, this is ridiculous.  Many of the shops are extremely high end.  Our guide said the men like to show off their successes with Rolex watches, and other expensive things, ending with Prada shoes. There must be at least one shop per person.  We decided to get off in a shopping district and walk the streets for an hour.  On one side seemed to be all ladies make-up shops and on the other side was all telephone shops.  So that was not too interesting.  The Hong Kong people love to shop.

Remember about 10 days ago there was a Typhoon that hit Hong Kong?  Well here are two pictures to see some of the devastation.

We found a great photo op and took lots of pictures.  Below are a few.

We even saw a local Bride And Groom at the ice cream food truck. 

Here is the whole group of us standing along Victoria Bay in Hong Kong harbor. And, another in front of our Big Bus Tours bus. It has been overcast and very humid since we arrived in Hong Kong. Again we enjoyed the day. Maria and Gerald, Cathy and Robbin And Sandra are still out seeing a light show on the harbor. Me, I have been trying to make this post but I keep falling asleep, so so-long for tonight.  Tomorrow we have the morning free and late afternoon, we fly to Hanoi.  Thanks for tagging along with me!

 

 

 

 

Hong Kong is big with 7+ million people. We did not have much problems getting around this morning, but this afternoon was a different story.

The hop on hop off tour was an excellent idea.  We all hung together all day and  saw lots of sights.  During my first hop on, I sat with a man from Thailand. I could not believe he was 65 years old so I got his picture. He studied in Nashville and got his Doctorate in Illinois.  He still teaches part time.  He was with his wife, 55 years old and his son 25 years old.  It is really difficult to guess someone’s age from a different nationality.  Don’t you think?

 

Our bus tour included a sanpan boat ride in the bay.  You cannot imagine how many people live on dilapadate boats and then turn the corner to see beautiful multi million dollar yachts.  It was quite a contrast, with extremes just feet from one another

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Then we took a tram to the top of the summit.  This tram ride has been around  since 1888. Prior to that 2 men carried the people on a chair.  It is amazing because the grade to get to the top is 14%.  And I think it is 400 meters up.  However, the view was beautiful.  Too bad it was so overcast.

Below is the Hong Kong flower.  This one was presented to the people when they gained their independence from Great Britain in 1997, over 150 years  as a British colony.

 

Below is an above ground cemetery.   You may have to enlarge the photo to see the grave sights. We did encounter quite a bit of rain for an hour or so.  All in all it was a wonderful day in a never-before visited country.  Thanks for sharing our day.

WOW!   15 hours in a seriously long time to live in an airplane seat.  Luck of the draw, we had bulkhead seats. Carol, Gerard, and Maria each had 3 seats to spread out prone.  I have a feeling Maria and Gerard are out and about while the rest of us are in our rooms shortly after arrival.

Our flight was uneventful with extremely smooth flying. Thank you for praying for us.  We did get an education and we found out why it was a 15 hour flight.  See the picture below.  We traveled north via Canada and through the Arctic Bay so I assume we were at the Artic Circle, then through Russia and China, finally landing in Hong Kong.

We plan to Hit The Bricks at 9:00 am tomorrow with a hop on hop off tour.

thanks for coming along

who is going

 

GERARD AND MARIA

 

RON AND SUE

 

ROBBIN AND CATHY

 

  CAROL AND SANDRA

So far it has been delays for both flights but not for very long.  Everyone seems to be visiting with each other and that is GREAT.  When we arrive in Hong Kong  at 9 pm on Tuesday, we are thinking it will be 9:00 am Tuesday morning in Detroit.  We met at the airport this morning at 9:00 am.  That’s on the go for 24 hours.  We are going to be tired puppies and ready for a nice clean and warm bed.  Look for us again on Wednesday.

 

You can see we are doing our last minute preparation for our ATW (around the world) trip, by taking out our garden.   Actually if you will bear with me, this is a new blog and I am pretty much  technologically challenged. Therefore, I need to practice before I get in the thick of things.   We depart on Monday. Just 2 days from now.  All our preparations are complete, just put a few more things in the bag and head off to the airport.