This is the wooden Russian Orthodox Church in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan. It was built in the 1890s when Karakol was a garrison town in the furthermost reaches of the Russian Imperial Empire with China just on the other side of Tien Shan Mountains.

In the atheist/communist Soviet Union it was used variously as a school, gymnasium, and warehouse, anything but a church. After Kyrgyzstan gained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was lovingly restored by the people of Karakol.

All the various ethnicities comprising Karakol are welcome here – Christian Russians and Christian Kyrgyz, Uighur Moslem refugees escaping Chicom China, ethnic Han Chinese Moslems called Dungans escaping for the same reason, Buddhist and pagan Kazakhs. The interior is lavishly decorated with Christian art and paintings of Christian saints – no Islamic or Buddhist or any other religious art, just Christian. Yet all are welcome to pray in this haven of refuge and peace in their own way.

This is a Russian Church very distinct from those controlled by Moscow run by the Kremlin as a propaganda arm of the KGB/FSB. It is a real Russian Christian Church instead. Come here to feel to the spiritual serenity for yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #221 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Everyone who visits Nepal falls in love with Pokhara. One reason is views of the Himalayas like this from Phewa Lake. You’re only at 2,600 feet while soaring far above you are the world’s 7^th highest mountain, Dhaulagiri ((26,795’) to the left, the 10^th highest, Annapurna (26,545’) in the center, and the unclimbed sacred peak of Machapuchare (match-a-pooch-a-ree, 23,000’) to the right.

The low altitude gives Pokhara (poke-a-rah) delightful spring-like weather most of the year, the town oozes charm and gracious hospitality with wonderfully fun bar-restaurants like the Moondance Café. As Nepal’s adventure capital, there’s whitewater rafting, tandem parasailing and motorized hang-gliding, as well as the launching pad for Nepal’s most famous trek, the Annapurna Circuit.

Or you can simply relax by the lake or be paddled around it in a canoe for birdwatching. We always end our Himalaya Helicopter Expeditions here, which we’ll do again this coming October. Hard to imagine a better place to unwind. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #295, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Over a thousand feet on a mountain ledge above Amalfi on the Mediterranean, you’ll find the Terrazzo dell'lnfinito, considered by poets for centuries the most beautiful view in the world. It is part of the magnificent gardens of the 11^th century Villa Cimbrone, in the hilltop town of Ravello, built by the Romans in the 5^th century.

The Sorrentine Peninsula is a finger of land south of Naples sticking out into the Med’s Tyrrhanean Sea, off the tip of which is the legendary island of Capri. The main town of Sorrento is on the north side facing Naples and Mount Vesuvius. But it is the steep southern shore of the Amalfi Coast that is our planet’s most spectacularly scenic drive with its ancient ports of Amalfi and Positano.

Exploring this magical part of the world is an ultimate “bucket list” experience. And to top it off, on the way down from Naples, you get to visit Pompeii, the excavated Roman city buried and preserved by the ash of Vesuvius in 79 AD. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #115 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

The first of The Seven Pearls of Shing is called Mijnon or The Eyelash. It’s at 5,300 ft in the Fann Mountains of Western Tajikistan. At dawn, the air is still and crystal clear as is the water. The surface of the lake becomes a mesmerizing mirror with the early light reflecting the vertical cliffs above while penetrating to the translucent lake bed below. It is an epic example of the boundless beauty of our world.

Yet Tajikistan is only one of the “Stans” of Central Asia, an ultimate of the world’s mysterious, remote, and wondrous places. There are four others: Kazakhstan, Kyrghistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. A number of your fellow TTPers have been there with me and can tell you what a fabulously life-memorable adventure it is to explore all five.

We’ll be there again sometime soon. Be with us with your loved one, your children, or grandchildren and you’ll all have an experience to treasure for all of your lives. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #263 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

From the 900s to the 1200s, the Pagan Empire built over 10,000 Buddhist temples. 2,200 remain on the plains of Pagan today, one of the world’s most wondrous sights – especially if you see them from above in a hot air balloon. It is truly astounding how much there is to explore and experience in Burma. Hopefully, we’ll be there once more for it all next February. I hope you will be one of your fellow TTPers to join us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #33 photo ©Jack Wheeler)