Mauritius, a tropical paradise. The Oberoi is made for romance. 2 days is not enough time to spend on this beautiful island. There are so many things to see and do. We Kayaked in the Ocean and went on a Glass bottom boat ride, went into Port Louis for a couple hours (you should spend an entire day there). It only takes about an hour to drive from one end of the Island to theother, next time we rent a car and explore. (they do drive on the opposite side, so that may be a problem) and then we watched the sunset on the Indian Ocean. This island is perfect for a little relaxation and romance and apparently is used mostly by the Europeans; it is very unusual to have people there from the US.  
We were picked up from our hotel to be taken to the airport.  Our driver pulls up to this little building away from the terminal.  We ask him if this is was the right place and he said yes.  We were greeted by several people given our choice of champagne, wine or beer.  We were brought inside to a wonderful waiting area with snacks.  Now we had no idea what was going on we hadn't checked in and it was only about and an hour and half until we left.  They asked us for our passports and tickets and Bert and I were like what is going on.  I finally asked and a lady came out and explained that this is a special service that is offered by this company on Maritaus and soon on St Kitts.  They treated us like royalty, checked us in took our bags right to plane and at time of boarding put us in a wonderful car and drove us to the gate, took our carryons and walked us on the plane.  It was simply amazing to learn that this service exists.  No other way to fly and one note we were economy fliers you don't have to be first class.
Now on to Safari in South Africa.

God Bless, Happy and Safe Travels.

 

Dubai Wonderful

Dubia loved it, Actually the United Arab Emerites as a whole.  I wasn’t sure about visiting this country either, I thought I would feel like a second class person being a women and not being Muslim, and the not showing affection and having to wear more clothes was giving me second thoughts, but it wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated.  The people there were very nice. The architecture there was so amazing.  They have not only the world highest tower, of which our hotel was in.  They have the world biggest shopping mall, (now you know I am not a shopper but one level entirely of shoes, even made me swoon.  Every color and kind you could imagine and really not bad prices. It also held an indoor ice rink and an aquarium.  The décor was amazing; they have a beautiful waterfall and a gorgeous starry sky inside the building. Yes they are a little indulgent, but the government really takes care of you if you are an emirate. Yes their price of gas is cheap but the cost of Water is outrageous.  I think I would rather have water.  The Armani hotel is fabulous.  Every detail was perfect and right out our window was a fountain like at the Bellagio in Vegas designed by the same guy but 3 times larger.  It was beautiful.  I learned a lot about this country.  The head of the country drives himself around in a jeep, He has no security and mingles with the people.  He seems to be a very nice man. We went to his Palace and although you couldn’t go in you could walk around the grounds without a guard in site.  Women’s rights have come along lately which is a good thing, actually there are 7 women on their government board not sure what it is called and many women didn’t wear the traditional outfits, some were even a little daring in their dressing.  That was a surprise.  We visited the Gold and Spice Souks.  It is surprising to me was the number of people buying and selling gold from every country in the world.  One thing that impressed me most was how clean it was. Overall Dubai is a destination I would visit again.

We went from Dubai to another province of the UAE and stayed 2 nights at the Banyan Tree Al Wadi Resort.  A very interesting place in the middle of the desert.  We had a villa with a private pool.  The first night we sat in the Moon bar a rooftop bar where you can watch the sun go down, have a good drink and listen to music, and then the second night we went on a sunset camel ride, there was a lot to do there 2 days wasn’t enough.  During the day they have a beach resort that they shuttled us to.  Now this is the place I would go to when I go back, beautiful sand beaches, warm clear water in the Arabian See, beautiful Golf courses absolutely someplace to put on your bucket list. 

Will be posting more pictures soon face book.  Internet a little slow.

Next stop Mauritius.God bless and Happy Travel

 

The Mekong Delta

The MeKong Delta was very much an eye opener to the fact that even though I may think I understand the word poverty, I had no idea.  This was an excursion that I am very glad I took.  There are parts of it that is beautiful and then there are parts that will tear your heart out. It began with on a normal little boat and we were lucky enough to have 7 other people with us.  5 of them were a family from Canada with 3 children who were traveling the world for 3 months.  They took their children out of school to give them some world experience and to see this through their eyes was enlightening.  As we proceeded past the city we came upon a lot of I guess you could call them homes, they were big sticks in the ground on which these people had placed floors and walls made out of tin and metal.  They did this because they could not afford a home and since no one owned the river banks they could stake their claim and have someplace to live.  They used the river as their bathroom, and trash bin for what they couldn’t burn.  So it was very polluted.  As we proceeded further we were served sandwiches, fresh fruit and beverages, there were plenty of leftovers and as we moved down the river the children on the banks would wave to us, they are charged for schooling, which made educating these children impossible.  A couple of times the captain would blow his horn and pull over to the side and the children would come some carrying their baby siblings to get our leftovers.  It caused my heart to ache, but these children were smiling and happy because they knew nothing else.  We stopped in one village in Mekong and a family kindly invited us into their home.  There were no doors, there was 1 bed and 2 hammocks, a dining room table a picture of Jesus on the cupboard.  This 2 room home housed a family of 7.  Grandparents of 90 or so, of which the grandfather still worked every day cutting fire wood.  There was a measuring cup hanging off the gutter to collect water, which they would boil for drinking.  The all do have a TV, because that is the only way they get there news. The good thing was the government was now spraying for mosquitos so Malaria is not very prevalent anymore.  There is definitely a age gap on the Delta you are either very young or very old.  The majority of the young men go to live in city and the young girls are usually sold to older men from other countries for brides.  If these young people are lucky enough to make it in the city, they don’t come back.  We visited an orphanage which I was hesitant to visit but actually these children were well taken care of, received education, had physical activity we watched them play soccer and were fed well.  It is sad to think you are better off as an orphan than a child with a family.  The women of the village prepared the food that we brought and it was a little unusual but really very good, and when we were finished the orphanage children cleared the tables.  They were very happy to see us. One thing that really made me think is we watched a 70 year old woman that had a boat and that she paddled across the river as a makeshift ferry.  She did this about 100 times a day, I have never worked so hard. We returned to Saigon feeling very unsettled as witnessing those conditions and then walking into this amazing hotel and see such economic differences was hard to swallow.  This was a trip that anyone visiting Saigon should take as it shows the real Vietnam. We also learned that our tour guide who was about 24 was one of the lucky children that was able to leave MeKong where his family still lived.

Next article a complete turnaround the city of Dubia.