Nov 17-19 —last destination— Oman

 I am actually writing this on November 19, 2019 as I await my flight from London to home. The last couple days I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to do my final posting. Our last stop was in Oman. We had two nights and one long day there. It is a country that is just now opening up to the world and they are trying to increase tourism. So we noticed that the personnel in the hotel are still trying to learn some hospitality skills.
 We visited a huge mosque in the city of Muscat   The women have to cover their heads and wear long dresses or pants. It was a beautiful structure but pretty strange for most of us to be there. Oman is a theocracy and Islam permeates everything they do.  It’s not a place I would care to return to but it was a bit of a lesson for us. It was the most extremely different place that we visited on the whole trip.
Yesterday we took the final trip on our plane to London. That experience--with our plane-- has been incredible!  Not only have I been spoiled the last few years by traveling business class overseas, now it seems the only way to travel is in your own plane!! Ha ha 😜

 So this is my last posting for this trip. I will add a couple pictures. One is at the bar / social area on our plane & the other is the Muscat bazaar.
I’m very much looking forward to getting home to Roger ❤️ and my puppy.

.November 15 Myanmar/ Burma

We arrived here last night after flying to Mandalay on our plane and then getting on a short half-hour prop local plane flight to Bagan.  Our hotel is called a sanctuary / resort and is more like what I would call a retreat facility. We have individual bungalows.  Our local guide is very amusing and informative. Most of today was visiting the temples of Bagan   I had seen videos of this place and it did not disappoint. It is amazing how many of these temples are everywhere. You basically can’t look around anywhere and not see several.  It’s hard to describe how many there are. Many of them were built in the 11th century.  There were many huge Buddas. The ones here look quite different from the Chinese ones. These are more slender as opposed to the plump Chinese ones. Several that we saw were made of a single piece of teak wood. Incredible craftsmanship!
 Yesterday when we were on our plane Merle was able to sit in the cockpit during the landing. I was able to visit the cockpit for a few minutes. That was pretty exciting. I might be able to be there during a landing or a takeoff.  They are drawing names out of a hat to see who gets to do it.

 Tomorrow morning November 16 we will fly back to Mandalay and then get on our plane to fly to Oman.  It is hard to believe that is our last stop before returning to London and the flight home. As is often the case, the first two weeks went by rather slowly (not in a bad way ) but this last week has zipped by.
Myanmar’s  history has been pretty difficult and I understand that tourists have only been coming here in the last 5 to 10 years. It was closed off to the world for a very long time. So some of what we saw is not visited very much by foreign travelers— yet.
 Today was our day to see the temples, pagodas, and stupids of Bagan. There are subtle differences among them but don’t ask me what they are! Those built in the 12th century and in goldleaf were incredible. At sunset we had a short river boat ride to a sand bank in the river for drinks and appetizers awaited us.

Our group:
 I wanted to write a few things about our group: we are similar ages most in their 60s or 70s and a few in their 50s. There is an 87 year-old woman in great shape! They are from all over the US. Four are from California. As is normal in group dynamics, you could hit it off with some folks right away. Others took 2+ weeks to break the ice! One gal is a dog trainer and I had some good conversations with her. We have 3-4 MDs, 1 dentist & 1 nurse.  (I actually wrote this on our flight to Oman —over five hours long). For the first time people are running around the plane, gathering around the bar, playing cards. They are socializing more than I’ve ever seen. We have avoided all political discussions except one night at dinner around 10 of us sat together and we’re all in agreement about
 the moron in the White House.
More about Oman  tomorrow.

Nov 12-13 Cambodia

Thanks to the Chinese government, we had to get up at 3 a.m. to fly our plane to Cambodia.  (the only time they'd allow our private plane to land).  RS gave us today “on our own,” which we really needed.  Got to our Incredible resort hotel where I gathered up my laundry & sent it out to be done today.  Merle & I booked 90 min massages which we really needed especially after walking the wall yesterday!
Cambodia feels just as Roger had told me to anticipate: lush green, humid, rural, and a LOT like Hawaii in its natural state.  And Roger said to me on the phone today that he bets I feel more comfortable here—-which is totally true!  I am used to being around VN people at home and the Cambodians seem so similar.  Warm, friendly.  After being in Arab and Communist countries, this feels so much better!  We were greeted at the airport by a team of local RS guides who will be with us for the 3 days.  Big smiles.  Welcoming.
 I loved Cambodia from the time of landing. The town is called Siem Reap  and it means something like “Siam get out. “.  The town was basically all built since the 1990s. The temples and the country over all were not on peoples’ Destination lists until recently (thanks to the Khmer Rouge  and several other powers in control.  To think how far these people have come!
Nov 13– our pre-dawn

visit to Angkor Wat temple. Goose bumps!!  Got great pix.  I had watched videos about several of our destinations and this was one of them. It was really magical to see it in person. Our hotel is a Sofitel  which is a French hotel chain and we were greeted at the door by a man in management who was French!   All of the staff members greet everyone with "bonjour" !
Wow, this hotel!!  Not to be believed how beautiful!  We had our 90 min massages for $75!!
 In the evening we attended a traditional dance show. The style nearly died out during Khmer Rouge. The story we heard is that one woman survived who was able to teach young people to dance the traditional way.  This is the style where the women have their fingers bent backwards. We got lots of pictures.
 We also visited another temple  (Angkor Thom) also called the “jungle temple.”   It was the most overgrown of the temples when it was re-discovered after hundreds of years.  It served as the location site of the movie “tomb raiders.”  I really liked this one. Again, took at ton of pictures.
 As we left the country I realized that I am in awe of the people and their perseverance and how they have rebuilt their country. I highly recommend coming here!

( forgive typos. Unable to edit it right now)

CHINA summary

Today we’re actually in Cambodia, but now that we’re gone from China, I’ll try to catch up.  Rather than give day by day summaries, I’m going to just brainstorm a list of experiences, highlights, and impressions.

—I didn’t write in blog while there for several reasons:  wi fi was spotty; I felt insecure about using their unsecured WiFi and there was little free time.
—We were in 2 cities: Xi’an and Beijing.  RS had difficulty getting the govnt. to OK our landing in China, and since the last RS group was completely turned away, they were determined to find a way for us to get here.  The solution was to arrive and depart in Xi’an in the middle of the night.  That meant for some lost nights’ sleep.  But we all rolled with it.  Glad our group is adaptable, as things change pretty often (not due to anything RS is doing wrong at all).
—The cities and infrastructure were beautiful, state of the art, clean.  Guess we Americans have done a good job of boosting their economy over the years. ..
—The air in Xi’an was horrible—-not as bad as India & Jordan but still quite bad.
—Beijing air had been very bad, but our first day there was very windy & we loved it cuz it cleared out the air.  Our 2nd day in Beijing— at Great Wall—-was gorgeous!!  We could see for miles!  It was spectacular!
—Our guide (in each country we have a local guide who’s a part of RS) was a lovely man who’s spent a lot of time in US & Canada—-so he knew how to interact w/ Americans.  There were things he could discuss & others he would not talk about.  I said I was surprised to see CNN & MSNBC in our hotel rooms.  He said only the hotels that cater to westerners get them & the rest of the population could not watch those.  He also said when we first got there that’s we’d not be able to get on FB or YouTube.  I didn’t really care, but that was a reminder of the censorship.  Oddly, a couple times I ended up on FB anyway, when an email came directing me there.
—There seemed to be a police presence most everywhere.  In public places like Tiananmen Square you’d expect it.  However there, there were armed soldiers—-at the ready.
—I never felt fully comfortable in China. Always felt like Big Brother was near. (he was)
—The young people  here seemed happy.  They were seemingly well off. ( Although we were shown an area where many locals live & it was pretty scary—-the conditions. )
—Most of the public ladies rooms had the squat toilets.  We learned how to do it but didn’t enjoy the unsanitary conditions.  Had to bring your own TP & towel to dry hands. Glad my trainer makes me do squats!! Merle & I used them but most ladies in our group queued up for the one western stall.
— Due to the fact that there are more young males than females in China, the ladies have some power in attracting the kind of men they want—they say the  4 Cs are the requirement—-Cash, Condo, Car, Cute.  Getting a car in Beijing requires getting permission and it can take years to get the OK.
—It was interesting to see the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City.  But of course the highlight was the wall.  It was a grueling hike uphill & up treacherous steps to get on it.  But wow!!  I also really enjoyed seeing the terra-cotta warriors. So impressive!
—We flew a China airlines between the 2 cities, which was also an experience to compare with US airlines.
—I’ll think of more to add later, but I wanted to get this much done.  Glad I came.  Doubt I’d like to return.

China status

 My Internet connections are spotty in China. So I probably won’t post until I get to Cambodia in a few days. Having a great time. 

Nov 6-7 New Delhi—-to China tonight

Yesterday was our visit to the Taj Mahal.  On a cultural level, it was a quite a day!  Getting there was a long 4 hour coach ride.  En route we got to see the streets and people in this huge city, then in Agra.  I added pix below & have no idea why they’re placed in the middle, but too bad. No time to correct that.

The chaos of the streets is something to behold.  Very noisy, people driving/riding with no regard to lanes—-whether cars, busses, motorbikes, carts and bicycles—and of course, cows—-all merging together!   I have no idea why hundreds of people aren’t hit every day.

Once at Agra, we visited the Fort Agra, which was not for military but rather what we’d call a compound.  We then had lunch at a very nice hotel (but unfortunately we had to rush), then went to the Taj.

Our RS group of about 45 is broken into 2 groups for the whole trip, so we we usually are about 22-24 as a group; more manageable.  We had our local guide with us all th

e while, and it’s a good thing because just getting inside the Taj property was quite complicated!
Unfortunately the air quality is extremely unhealthy at present, so the visit was very negatively affected.  I wasn’t impressed with the Taj very much because of the awful air.  As Merle said, you couldn’t see the building as white because it all looked just like the smog around it—no distinct lines.  Very sad to see.  I find in such air that my voice gets husky.  We kept on our masks most of the time, though I doubt it made much difference.
Most visitors there looked Indian and their very colorful clothes were fun to see.

Returning to New Delhi was another adventure!  RS arranged it so we’d take a train back, which only took 1.5 hours.  But the station!!  Wow!!  We were a bit of a spectacle for the locals, marching in our line of foreigners, many with blond or white hair!  Beggars, people lying on the ground, business men and women commuting to work, animals.... a real anthropological picture.  Again, very glad to have local guide!  Would Not want to try that alone. And the tremendous contrast of poverty and opulence could not be ignored.
We returned to our FIVE star hotel—-the MOST luxurious one I’ve ever seen—-for our gourmet dinner.

Nov 7
Today Merle & I decided to take the day to relax & catch our breath!  (Turns our a number of others did too).  We slept in (8 hours for the first time), had a Yummy breakfast—-their buffets are not to be believed, then we had our second massage of the trip!  Amazingly the price was only around $100–and for this expensive hotel, we were shocked!  Ahhh...feeling much better!

Originally were were scheduled to stay 1 more night at this great hotel, but there was a change of plans.  The previous RS trip that finished a week before us, had been turned away by the Chinese government.  RS was determined not to let that happen again, so they arranged for us to fly at night---tonight to Xi’an where we will stay 1-2 nights.  Then we’ll leave our plane there & take a Chinese plane to see the sights In Beijing. Government won’t let our foreign plane make domestic flights within their border.

So we’ll leave the hotel around 6 tonight to get on our plane for China.  Will try to sleep some on the 5 hr trip. Then how things go in China will remain to be seen.

Whenever we get back on board, it’s always like being home again—-familiar and comfortable, and a lovely flight crew.  We have 6 flight attendants, who are South African, as is the Captain.
I thought traveling business class was the bomb——but it’s nothing compared to having your own plane & crew!!  Of course we’re being thoroughly spoiled!

Will post again sometime from China.

Nov 5. Jordan to India

Today is a long day of travel with a 5-6 hr flight. I saw some BBC news yesterday with the HORRIBLE air condition in New Delhi & sort of dread that. But we understand that the RS office monitoring it & will make changes in travel if need be. I heard today that the air is a bit better. Mask time!. I’m hoping that where Taj Mahal region is better air.

UPDATE:  it is now November 6 and we are in New Delhi. We landed late last night after a 5+ hour flight. At the airport we were greeted with flower leis and drummers marching us to our bus  and it created a welcoming & festive atmosphere. It’s very different from the Arabic countries. We checked into our hotel— the Oberoi. OMG it’s for sure 5 star!!  I’ve never seen a hotel this over the top!  I can’t enumerate all of its amenities here, but if you want to, you could check their website. Wow!

We were very delayed getting to the hotel because there was a huge protest going on in the streets that delayed us almost an hour. In addition we were late getting through the airport, getting our luggage etc. So by the time we got to the hotel it was almost 11 o’clock. We had not yet had dinner. And the restaurant up on the rooftop---outdoors in this bad air!  They had a most fantastic array of Indian foods. The level of service and the quality of the food was beyond belief. I wish Roger could have eaten this!!
It is now the next morning and we are in our bus to drive four hours to the Taj Mahal. I'll write about today in another post. 

Nov 4 Petra

 We keep learning new things every minute. We learned that Petra is the name of the archaeological find and that the word Petra was given by the Greeks. Makes sense since it’s the name for rock. The Arabic name is something I can’t pronounce. But Petra is what everyone knows it by. The town next to the archaeological site is called Wadi Musa.  That means valley of Moses. Interesting! This morning we went to see Petra. I had watched videos and read a fair amount about Petra and was very excited to see it. It was fantastic! I have taken a lot of pictures, but I had to remind myself to watch the experience around me and not get caught up in photography!  After walking close to 2 miles, we reached what is known as the treasury. That is the most famous picture of Petra. Amazing feat to build it. The Nebeteans built it as burial sites & monuments.  The city where they lived next to it was completely destroyed by earthquakes so those are not remaining.  Even before reaching the treasury, we saw burial places, other carvings, and the water system that they had developed. They diverted water when the floods came into  this area or else they would never have been able to live here, as  there is very limited water present in natural Springs.
I was disappointed we didn't see more of Petra, due to limited time.  I'd enjoy seeing this again.

 I have finally learned how to add pictures easily--- I have to write the blog on my phone and not my iPad. So here are a few from today.

Nov 3 Cairo to Jordan

We left our hotel early to drive to airport. The traffic was super horrible!  Took way longer than they expected. En route, we were surrounded by mile after mile of half built or half torn down apartment buildings. When we asked, our guide tried to tell us that the reason was that people thought that it was  a good investment to start to build a building and even if they couldn’t afford to finish is, they could finish it later. Well that made zero sense.  Ca ca. We had many of our own theories ...

Cairo seemed to be a great big slum. Garbage —tons— everywhere. Pollution was unbelievable. I don’t regret going there to see pyramids but wouldn’t return.

Flight to Jordan was less than an hour. Just time for a quick snack. Wish I’d eaten more because lunch was hours away.
After landing, a very odd thing happened.  RS (Road Scholar) had sent a young man from the US to be a  professional photographer to capture the travelers on the first trip ( before us) and us —-on these maiden trips on private planes. “Andy” was with us for several days & we were getting to know him. But upon landing, the authorities denied him entry to Jordan with his photo & video equipment!!  We all waited on our bus while they tried to sort it out. A resolution was not forthcoming so our guides said he would stay at the airport while some folks figured it out. Later we learned that he was being allowed in —-sans all equipment except for a camera! Crazy!  We will catch up with him inPetra.

We were the taken to Wadi Rum— a valley I the desert that has been the location for filming many movies:  Lawrence ofArabia, the Martian, a StarWars movie,etc.  the area is referred to as valley of the moon because it looks like the moon!  We had lunch at a camp then in groups of5-6 we got in the back of little pick up trucks that had seats and we toured the valley for about 2 hours. Landscapes were gorgeous. Stopped at a Bedouin camp where they had kitsch for sale. Amusing.

At the moment I’m on  the2 hour bus ride to Wadi Musa and Petra & since there is wi fi I thought I’d see if I could get on— and you can see that I did!  I’m happy to get this done as often there just isn’t time.

Tomorrow we see Petra. I’m thrilled to have air I can breathe here!

Nov 1-2 UK to Egypt

Oct 31, Halloween,  was our visit at Stonehenge. I think it was my fourth or fifth time there. The weather was really really cold but thankfully there was no rain. The New museum at Stonehenge was very well done! We also went to Avebury, where there were additional stones. I had never heard of the place and it was interesting to see how it was similar and different to Stonehenge.It was Halloween but we hardly knew it. We only saw a few children in costumes.In the morning we are boarding our airplane for the first Time to fly from the UK to Egypt.

Nov 1 we boarded OUR plane for the first time.  Here are some highlights:
—We had our own private terminal for security screening & awaiting flight.  Just us!  (And the ladies who served us tea, coffee, etc.  ). It really felt like we were in a whole different class. We found our our plane has been rented by such people as The Rolling Stones & Guns & Roses.  Crazy!
—First view of plane:  it has “Road Scholar “ painted on it!!
—Inside, they have a map of our trip on the wall.
—Our seats are beautiful!  Feels like a private jet.  There’s a socializing area, bar, etc.
—We have a chef on board!!  At meals we get a specially made menu with 2 choices for each course; a real gourmet meal! And extensive beverage menu.
—The on board entertainment options weren’t really working.  I expect they’ll fix it later.
My voice sounds husky whenever I’ve been outside.
As we flew over Austria I had a great view of the snow capped Alps.  I felt like that’s  when  I said farewell to Europe & all things familiar, ready to embark on all things new!

Our hotel in Giza has a view of 2 pyramids! The air quality if horrible & My lungs quickly felt like they did when we had the bad California fires. My voice sounds husky whenever I’ve been outside.But the hotel rooms are very nice.

As I am writing this, it is now November 2. I had a ton of trouble getting onto my blog, but it just occurred to me that I need to use chrome instead of Safari. Now it works!. I will try to get caught up.

Today we visited the pyramids, the sphinx, and the Egypt museum. Nothing can describe the amazing experience of seeing how huge the pyramids are and realizing how old they are. Today was a big holiday here, the birthday of the prophet Muhammad. So our guide said there were way more people here than usual. It was an exhausting day but very worthwhile.
I’m writing fast so there may be goofs. I’ll try to add pix either now or later.