The Traveling Pancy

Today is a full day of wildlife viewing!  We started out before sunrise and immediately spotted a herd of impala.  There is one dominant male in the herd easily identified by his large antlers – the rest of the herd is made up of females (without horns), adolescents and babies. The sun rose shortly after…

We arrived in Kilimanjaro airport mid afternoon and then immediately caught a flight to Seronera airport in the Serengeti.  Our game lodge, The Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti was about an hour from the airport so this gave us an opportunity for our first game drive.    Of course, the first animal we saw leaving the…

We spent an afternoon in the Harijan village of Kachhpura located near the Baby Taj.  The visit was sponsored by a local NGO that is bringing commercial work to the village, providing schooling for village children and helping villagers improve their infrastructure and sanitation; all while preserving the Harijan culture. Kachhpura is an agricultural community…

We left the hotel at 6:15 am and took a short electric cart ride to the entrance of the Taj Mahal.  All transport vehicles in this area of Agra must be electric to minimize pollution and discoloring of the marble.  It was dark and we waited in line with many other tourists, intent on seeing…

We arrived in Agra in the early afternoon and stopped at Agra Fort enroute to our hotel.  The city of Agra rose to prominence during the reign of the Mughal emperor, Akbar; he built the double walled Agra Fort of sandstone and marble over an eight-year period beginning in 1565. Akbar’s predecessors continued to build…

Today is the Temples of Angkor day.  The Angkor archaeological site is huge and filled with remains of hundreds of temples and one can spend days exploring them.   Our first stop was Ta Prohm, often called the ‘Jungle Temple’ because of the trees that are intertwined among the ruins.  Ta Prohm was a Hindu temple…

Drove about 45 minutes outside Siem Reap to Tonle Sap.  According to our guide, Samay, Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Asia and fourth largest in the world.  (Fun fact – Lake Superior is the third largest freshwater lake!).   The drive took us past some very rural and poor communities. Our guides up…

The food tour was one of the most interesting and fun experiences we had in Cambodia.  Once again, we jumped on the back of Vespas and took a progressive food tour around Siem Reap with our guide, Piak.  First stop was Pub Street for Cambodian cocktails – we enjoyed delicious ginger mojitos and local Cambodian…

After spending the morning learning about ancient Cambodia and Khmer culture, we were eager to spend the rest of the day exploring and learning about the current way of life in Cambodia.  We visited a school, Hun Sen Srah Srang Primary School, to meet teachers and students and learn about Cambodia’s public education system. Great…

We were at the gates of Angkor Wat by 5:45am.  It was still dark but quite crowded with tourists like us wanting to watch day break and the sun rise over the organic stupas of Angkor Wat.  Even with flashlights, it was a bit precarious walking over a flexible plastic bridge to cross the moat,…