Perfectly Thankful!

I am so thankful that we had such a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday in Boise. I would say that it was a PERFECT time!

Our Thanksgiving dinner was in a nice hotel in downtown Boise.  We all enjoyed the buffet but the service was minimal.  No one ever came to our table to see if we needed anything so we had to flag down servers from other tables to bring drinks and rolls and extra silverware. By the time George got someone's attention to ask for our check, he had already decided that the tip would reflect the service we had received.  A server finally came to our table and sheepishly admitted that no one had been assigned to us and she was getting the manager to come over.  The manger told us that there would be no charge for our entire meal. George may have danced a jig! 

Isabella was well behaved for the entire meal and of course she looked adorable! 

 Friday night we went to the Boise Botanical Garden's "Winter Garden Aglow".  It was magical. 

Isabella hadn't had a nap so she was a bit grumpy but did enjoy the cookie and hot chocolate! 

She also loved taking a bubble bath in my big bath tub!  A nice way to warm up! 

And she found out what joy it is to run around and around from our kitchen into the dining room and into the foyer - around and around and around....pure delight!  Plus she loves the 'antique' toys I saved from our kids!   

This little girl has her Daddy, Uncle Matt and Uncle Scott wrapped around her little finger. 

Honestly Grandma and Grandpa are pretty smitten too! 

Fun For Less

We have taken 10 trips with Fun For Less Tours.  That may seem like a lot but we have met people that have gone on 40 trips with them.  Yes, FORTY!

Why do we keep traveling with them?  There are many reasons.  We do think they give good value for the money.  The hotels are always top notch, the local guides are knowledgeable and personable, and they pack the maximum amount into a day of touring.  In fact, sometimes when I return from a Fun For Less trip I feel like I need a vacation to recover!

All those things definitely influence our tour company choices but five of the main reasons why we love Fun For Less are pictured right here.

Carol, Jim, Lyndsay and Spencer Tyndall

Michael Wilcox

The Tyndalls make us feel like part of their family and Michael Wilcox shares his insights into the history and culture of each country.  On this last trip we were treated to 9 of his lectures on things from Islam and Buddhism to Genghis Khan and Marco Polo. He treats other religions and beliefs in such a respectful way and his knowledge of history and literature is fantastic. George and I both learn so much from listening to him.

Being part of the Tyndall 'family' means that Jim and Lyndsay get to tease you as much as they want....and you get to tease back.  That makes things so much fun. 

I love traveling with Carol because she is a shopper and a photographer so I always just hang back with her and if she is late to the bus what is Jim going to say!  She laughs that she sets such a bad example but we love her for it. 

This is one of my all time favorite photos.  It is in Krakow, Poland on our Baltics trip.  Michael, Lyndsay and the other Tyndall sister, Jamie, had just returned from a shopping extravaganza.  I think that Mike was a little embarrassed but he didn't buy nearly as  much as the two sisters.  Jamie is just as fun to travel with as the rest of her family but since she has 4 kids at home she doesn't go as much. 

After one dinner on our Silk Road trip Jim and Carol got to be the Sultans.  They are such good sports! 

I wish that Jim and Carol could go on every trip we take but they spend a lot of their time traveling to new countries and researching future tours.  We benefit from their planning and have had the best trips ever. 

The Fun For Less logo says,  "We don't send you, we take you."  Our experience has shown that this is true.

Turkmenistan

We spent two days in Turkmenistan.  Our Uzbek guides called this country the 'North Korea' of Central Asia.  It is the 7th least visited country in the world. The 2015 World Press Freedom Index ranked Turkmenistan 178 out of 180 countries -- ahead of only Eritrea and North Korea.  

Our morning in Merv seemed ordinary enough.  Many people are cotton farmers which felt like home to me!  This ancient city was a very important stop on the Silk Road.  Those 'hills' behind me are not hills but are parts of the old city wall. 

The city was huge! 

 People were friendly.  The women wear scarves but there are forms inside to give the scarves an interesting up-lifting shape. 

I was very touched by this shrine at one mosque.  Women who are praying for a baby often visit here and tie a cloth on a tree to ask for a special blessing. 

Notice the blue headed shape in a type of cloth sling....that is supposed to be a baby.  Very creative prayer idea. 

We left Merv and spent the last afternoon on the train before arriving into Ashgabat, the capitol city.  It is known as the 'White Marble City' and for good reason as it has 540 buildings encased in white marble. By the way, they are listed in the Guinness Book of Records as having the highest density of  white marble buildings in the world.

This one is a mosque that cost $130 million dollars and supposedly can hold up to 20,000 people.  George was skeptical of that number. 

On the grounds of the mosque there is a mausoleum which holds the remains of Turkmenistan's first president.  Besides the marble, they are also quite fond of gold leaf!  Are you starting to notice something weird?  Ashgabat is a city of over 727,000 people.  Where are they?

The new president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow enjoys having gold statues of himself all around the town.  Here he is standing tall and casual with his coat over his shoulders.

 And here is the new president looking warlike on a golden steed!  The building to the left is the "Palace of Happiness' 

It's a wedding venue complete with a room where each newly married couple is required to have a photo taken in front of a photo of the president.  Definitely a 'cult of personality' around this guy!  Radio Free Europe has nicknamed him the 'photo-bomber-in chief''. 

 Inside this circle is the world's largest enclosed Ferris wheel....another Guinness Book of records winner! 

This is the independence tower...they became free from the USSR in 1991 

 Turkmenistan has been declared by the UN to be a 'neutral' country like Switzerland and this space ship like structure is the "Neutrality Tower." 

 The country received recognition in the Guinness Book of Records another time for this star on their TV tower - it is the largest architectural star in the world. 

 And another recognition for this - the largest fountain complex in the world. 

 Notice the 8 lane divided highway and the white marble lamp posts. George estimates that he saw 50 people all day long.  The group stopped at a market but were told not to take any photos and not to try to buy anything with US dollars.  The guide assured that secret police were watching.  Weird country!

The white marble buildings in this photo are beautiful new apartment complexes with  lovely gardens and playgrounds. But where are the people?

This group, who were all dressed alike, came into the museum and allowed the group to take their photo. 

I spent the day sick in the hotel and this is the view I had all day. No cars.  No one played tennis or was on the golf course.  No one swam or walked around in the manicured gardens.  It felt a little eerie!  We were told not to leave the hotel grounds on our own.  A doctor from the hotel came to check on me but when he found out that my husband was out, he beat it back to the door and said I could call again when my husband came back. 

The place is a combination of Disneyland or Las Vegas or Dubai and Pyongyang, North Korea.  

But it does have a spectacular hotel!   That structure between the trees is our hotel. 

It was even more stunning on the inside!  White marble and gold!  I do sense a theme here. 

Although it was the weirdest country I've ever been in, I'm really glad we got to go.  Now we can add 5 'stan' countries to our list.  Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.  I don't think that we will be adding Pakistan or Afghanistan any time soon!  

Life on the Train

Lots of people have asked me about two weeks of life on a train. 

Here is the diagram of the train.  We were in carriage 6.  A and B were the dining cars.  Fun For Less Tours filled the entire train. 

The best way I can describe it is COZY!We had the least expensive compartments.  George could touch both walls.  

During the day we had two benches.

At night the benches were made down into beds. 

The beds were 22 inches wide and shorter than George! 

We kept most of our essentials on the little table between the beds. 

This is looking back towards the door. Above the door was a storage compartment for the big luggage but it was not easily accessible. You can see that there were a couple of places to hang clothes and a  few little cubbies to put toiletries and snacks. 

Underneath the beds/benches there were large storage areas.  Once a day we went through all the effort of opening up the big compartments and choosing what we wanted to wear the next day.  As you can see we had to take all the bedding off the beds to access this storage so it wasn't super convenient but certainly doable.  One of us had to stand in the hall while the other picked out clothes.  I am glad that we had packing cubes for all of our clothes.  Certainly did make it more organized. 

At the end of each carriage was the shower.  Each day we could sign up for 15 minutes shower times. 

There is only hot water and water pressure when the train is moving.  Standing in a slippery shower while the train is rocking and rolling is an adventure in itself. 

At the end of each carriage was an area to store the super large suitcases.  From there you could pass into the dining car. 

The food was good and the service excellent. 

 I can't imagine cooking for 90+ people in these tiny spaces. 

 Or washing dishes....lots and lots of dishes! 

The workers always seemed happy and willing to pose for photos! 

We got to go in and out the VIP entrances of the stations. 

Just a funny note....there was no word in the Uzbek language for 'train station'.  One of the early emirs went to London and when he got off the train he was at "Vauxhall" and he mistakenly thought that Vauxhall meant 'station' so every station in Uzbekistan is called "Vauxhall". 

I'm not sure what you are supposed to call these women.  At one time they might have been considered 'porters' but maybe attendants is the better word.  They are the ones who kept things clean in our carriage and also made down our beds every night and morning.   

Would we go on another train trip?  Probably!!!!  The small quarters and the shared bathrooms were not a problem at all.  The motion sickness does give me a reason to 'think twice' but then scopolomine patches do work well!