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We arrived in India on 1/25. Tom had back to back field trips in 1/25 & 1/26. I spent the days with other guests from our voyage. The highlight of our week was our trip to Delhi and Agra to see Humayun’s tomb and the Taj Mahal. The great emperor Akbar had the tomb built to honor his father and of course the Taj Mahal was built as a tomb to honor the 4th wife of Shah Jahan, one of the strongest Mughal emperors. Humayun’s tomb was built around 1579 and the Taj Mahal was commissioned around 1631. You will also see pictures of the Agra fort which was the home of Shah Jahan and his family. This included concubines which were numbered anywhere between 200 and several thousand. India has been very interesting. Lots of history, very crowded in the cities. Traffic is just crazy. Hardly any traffic lights or Stop signs. Miss you all. Time is flying!
This resort is just what we needed. Total relaxation! We might rent kayaks today. The water is so calm
Today I was a Trip Liaison on a tour of the Georgetown section of Penang. We had a wonderful tour guide named Raymond who was so knowledgeable about the history of Georgetown. He talked about the different ethnic groups in Penang, Chinese, Malay and Indian being the primary ones. The are getting ready for Chinese New Year thus the Chinese lanterns. The pictures include a Chinese temple, a Hindu temple and a Chinese Clan House.
Greetings from Malaysia! We arrived in port this morning and toured the city with a guide. He gave us a lot of the history from the colonial building built by the British to Thai and Burmese temples. He also pointed out luxury condos and home owned by Chinese investors. He told us that Penang was 60% Chinese. Others have told us more like 40-50%. He said the Chinese residents are mainly from Singapore. Tomorrow morning Tom and I will both chaperone walking tours in the Georgetown section of Penang. You can see the British influence in the name. Here are a few pictures from today. Plus a sunrise off the ship. Q
Well we survived the 18 hours of fling and arrived safely in Bankok. It is 95 degrees here and 195% humidity. There is a lot to see in Bankok and the Thai people are just so lovely. We visited several ruins of ancient temples. Learned that Wat means temple in Thai. Yesterday we took a Longboat ride on the canals and were told that Bankok is sometimes called the Venic of the East. I will share several pictures here. The Golden Buddha was amazing. Notice how different the Thai Buddha looks from the Chinese Buddha we are all used to seeing.