Paris, France (May 2019)

Posted on June 3, 2019 by drbonnieanderson under Europe

We had a whirlwind of a day in Paris—23,000 steps, 10.2 miles, 27 floors plus riding the Metro. We hit most of the major landmarks and had crepes for dinner and gelato too. Our hotel was the Marriott on the Champs de Elysees, we walked with group of about 10 all over— Arc de Triomphe, Tuileries, crepes with Nutella, Louvre, walked along the Seine, Notre Dame, blocked off due to fire, gelato, walked to Centre Pompidou, subway to Sacre Coeur and Mountmarte, walked up tons of stairs to get to the top, long walk down to Moulin Rouge, metro to Trocadero to see Eiffel Tower light up with sparkle lights.

Amman, Jordan (May 2019)

Posted on June 3, 2019 by drbonnieanderson under Middle East/North Africa

Quite a few people in our group were needing Pepto Bismol in the morning, not quite sure if it was the dinner at the bedouin camp or the sack lunch after Petra, but we started calling it the “Wadi runs.” We visited some Roman Ruins at the Citadel and found out that the Greeks used to call Amman Philadelphia. We had a brief shopping outing, walking around downtown. We had a fancy lunch with strawberry drink with a texture almost like jam.

We had a brief shopping outing, walking around downtown. We had a fancy lunch with strawberry drink with a texture almost like jam.

We had an enjoyable business visit to Aramex—they do shipping worldwide—partnering with UPS and Amazon. It was interesting to hear about their rapid growth, as well as challenges of operating in this part of the world.

We got explore Jerash—where there are tons of Roman and Greek ruins from as far back as 5500 BC. Among other things, there were big theaters, temples to Zeus and Artemis, and a hippodrome.

Sarah and I walked to the Boulevard mall for dinner.

We drove to Bethany, the site of Jesus’s baptism based on the ruins of three churches found there (in the middle of nowhere), barely a puddle of water right now, walked further to the Jordan River (opposite side of the river from our visit in Israel in 2017)–it was pretty muddy.

From there we drove to a Dead Sea resort hotel. It was nice to have a place to change clothes, have showers, towels, and lunch. People enjoyed the mud and floating, also fun times in the pool—especially the water slide.

After lunch we drove to Mt Nebo where people think Moses was buried, great view (on a clear day) all the way to the Red Sea. Nice ancient mosaics. The artist was told about some African animals, but hadn’t actually seen a giraffe (as you can tell by his depiction). We visited a shop where disabled people make mosaics including a “Lehi’s Dream” mosaic.

We had a farewell dinner–a fancy traditional Ramadan feast at Karam Beirut. There was way too much food, lots and lots of plates of dishes.

Aqaba/Petra, Jordan (May 2019)

Posted on June 3, 2019 by drbonnieanderson under Middle East/North Africa

We were thrilled to discover that our bus for Jordan has WiFi, USB charging, and a bathroom. We had a Sunday devotional on the bus since LDS church services in Jordan (and UAE) are held on Fridays. After a four-hour bus ride we arrived in Aqaba at our hotel right on the Red Sea. After a nice breakfast we went swimming in Red Sea and pool. Others in our group played beach VB, or went scuba diving or parasailing.

After lunch we visited ASEZA-the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority and heard an interesting presentation on the government investment in the area.

We drove to Wadi Rum on the bus and then got in the beds of some old of Toyota trucks for a ride around Wadi Rum. We saw petroglyphs and some Bedouin camps. There was a pretty strong sandy wind storm. We finally arrived at our camp which has concrete buildings with Bedouin style black outer shells, includes AC and shower, toilet, and electricity.

We had a sunset camel ride out and back, mine was one of the largest, named Shahaine. Dinner in big tent was pretty good, chicken lamb and potatoes cooked in a pit barrel (more on this later…)

The next morning we had about an hour bus ride to Petra. Sarah and I were better prepared this time. We had our sunbrellas and plenty of water this time. It seemed more crowded this year and quite dusty. Some in our group ran to get to the Monastery and back in time. We did the Treasury, Royal Tombs, and everything in between. We had a sack lunch on the bus on our way to Amman.

We stopped at the Tafila Wind farms.

On to Amman.

Dubai, UAE (May 2019)

Posted on June 3, 2019 by drbonnieanderson under Middle East/North Africa

In Dubai we stayed at the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai hotel. We’ve seen the dramatic difference of poverty in India to the excessive show of wealth in the United Arab Emirates. We shared Uber Mercedes to Mall of Dubai for the lights and fountain show by the Burj Kalifa, dinner at Shake Shack with $7 shakes! It was a looong walk to metro station. We were glad to ride the metro in the crowded women only car.

We had an amazing breakfast buffet–best I’ve seen. We went to the Jumeirah Mosque for an educational session about the mosque and Islam in general from a British lady (convert to Islam). It is Ramadan right now, so most Muslims are fasting during daylight hours. Ramadan Kareem is a common greeting right now.

The prayer clock--updated daily based on the sun.

We took a cab to the Burj Khalifa and went to the observation deck on 124 – 125, it was pretty cool. We had about 5 miles visibility so we couldn’t see the palm islands or Burj al Arab.

We went with Arabian Adventures to the sand dunes—Amjad was our driver. They deflate the Land Cruiser tires once they are ready to go off-road. It was awesome. We got to sandboard down the dunes, get henna tattoos, ride a camel, have a traditional bedouin dinner, and watch a Sufi whirling dancer.

We went to Emirates Air crew training headquarters, got to see safety and evacuation, also customer service and appearance management. We got to see their flight simulators with hydraulic lifts to simulate turbulence and nose dives, saw slides and water landing training, photo with safety vests, simulated fire in the cabin, details about each type of seat, first class suites, even a fancy shower suite, hair and makeup.

Other members of our group had amazing adventures with jet skis around the Burj al Arab, helicopter flights, ziplines, skiing in the Mall of the Emirates, and visiting penguins.

Mumbai, India (May 2019)

Posted on June 3, 2019 by drbonnieanderson under India

Our time in Mumbai (Bombay) had a rushed beginning. For security reasons they locked the exit door for a few minutes, splitting up our group. We were finally allowed to exit and had a rushed bus ride to get to Gandhi museum before closing. The museum is in a house where Gandhi used to live and did some of his critical work.

We drove along the Queen’s Necklace along the shore, but we were warned “don’t get in the water” because it is so polluted.

We had an early start to take a 1 hour boat ride to Elefanta Island and the caves carved in the 1400s. We rode a “mini toy train” to the base and hiked 120 steps through a shopping gauntlet to get to the caves. Chitra our guide explained about the carvings of Lord Shiva throughout—telling a story. It was very hot and muggy. It was interesting to watch the aggressive monkeys stealing food and drinks.

We had a very interesting time at our Tara Consulting Services visit. Sarah and the others daughters went to the pool instead.

We had a very fancy dinner in the hotel. There were lots of cricket players staying in our hotel for a big tournament, so many of our group got tickets and went to one of the matches. It was 136-8 when we left. Akash Tigers (blue) had just hit, and the Eagle Thane Strikers (yellow) were up to bat next.

We had an interesting visit to P&G Mumbai, and they even fed us lunch.

Jaipur, India (May 2019)

Posted on June 3, 2019 by drbonnieanderson under India

Our hotel was a former palace. There is still a room reserved for royalty only ($15,000 per night).

We saw some snake charmers on the way to the Amber Fort. There are lots of snakes in India, and snake charmers are still very important to remove snakes from houses and help with snake bites. Since they don’t kill the snakes, and don’t have good medical care, India has the highest rates of snake bites in the world.

We got a tour of the Amber Fort /Amer Palace (built in the 1600s) in Jaipur. We got to ride in the back of pick up trucks to get up the narrow, steep streets to the fort. Elephants are another option.

The “small wall of India”

We had a tour of a textiles factory, demonstrations of block printing fabric and carpet making.

We drove through the Pink City—old colonial part of town all buildings are required to use the same color of terracotta pink.

We had a business visit to Jaipur Foot where they make prosthetics for free. They use flesh-tone PVC pipe (heated up) and interesting technology for the knee joint. They don’t turn anyone away, most done within a single day but if not they can sleep in the dorms. We had a detailed presentation from Dr. Mehta the founder. Our group was able to give them a generous donation. Many of the workers have prosthetics themselves.

We drove to the outskirts of town to ride elephants–ours was a 28-year old named Lakshmi.

With a few others, we attempted to take a tuk tuk ride to McDonalds. Our driver didn’t know where to go, and there were too many of us in the vehicle. Although finally got there, McDonalds was closed for remodeling, but we were able to walk to Dominos nearby.

Delhi/Agra, India (May 2019)

Posted on June 3, 2019 by drbonnieanderson under India

Due to flight delays, we arrived in Delhi late (and the hotel even later).

3:30 am outside the Delhi airport

With 2.5 hours of sleep, we still made it to church at the Vasant Vihar Ward in the basement of a non-descript building. They had a very nice Mother’s Day service and gave us flowers.

After a quick clothing change, we headed out to the Gadodia spice market. It was closed due to the election, but we could still walk up the narrow stairs several floors to the roof. It was very hard to breathe—so many spices, especially chili peppers in the air.

After lunch we had a long bus ride to Agra and dinner at the hotel.

We got up early for our sunrise tour of the Taj Mahal. Our guide Raaj had traditional Indian clothes for the faculty leaders and our daughters.

We got the “high value tickets” and tour of the mausoleum—but no photos allowed there. Intricate carved marble.

We had a tour of Agra Fort, just down the Yamuna River from the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal, was imprisoned here by his son. You can glimpse the Taj Mahal out the window.

We had a tour of the Akhbar marble factory tour and demo about inlaid stone carving used in the Taj Mahal.

We got to visit one of Mother Theresa’s Sisters of Charity organizations. It was really sobering to visit the children’s and women’s wards. The community helps provide support.