Agra, India

We departed from Lhasa on an early commercial flight via Sichuan Airlines back to Chengdu where we transferred back to our Big Blue jet for the flight to Agra, India. Sadly, the flight wreaked havoc with my inner ear and cold, so now my ears are clogged. Miserable. We are thrilled to be reunited with our Thompson airlines plane and staff…it’s like going back home for us. We were all thrilled to find out that Chef Geoff made hamburgers and fries for our lunch! We’ve had enough with the Yak butter stuff! It will take us about 5.5 hours to get to India. We have clearance to land at a military airport so going through the airport today will be a snap, thank heaven. Return flight through Chengdu today was exhausting. Not unhappy to leave Tibet. Good to see once in a lifetime, but I think that’s enough for me. Sadly for the people who live there, I fear tourism restrictions by the Chinese military may make travel to that area more challenging in the future. We found out today that the NG RTW trips will no longer visit Tibet after 2015 due to problems they’ve had with being denied entry. They will replace that stop with Myanmar. So we may be one of the last groups to view Tibet with NG. Once on board Big Blue, Jay Dickman gave a great lecture on how he Became a National Geographic photographer and Jan Nijman lectured about India, Islam and the Taj Mahal. Wonderful greeting upon arrival at our hotel, The Oberoi Amarvilas. by lovely, attentive footmen when we arrived just at dusk this evening. The hotel is beautiful and we have the most stunning view of the Taj Mahal from our window with chairs on the balcony for sitting and gazing. They had prepared a wonderful feast for Dinner with a nice blend of Indian and Continental cuisine for us. Tucking into bed early. Tomorrow’s another early day as we depart by 6am to enter the Taj Mahal in time for Sunrise photo sessions. Hotel: The Oberoi Amerivilas 1 US Dollar = 60 Indian Rupees (INR)