Seeing as i didnt write any of these posts but they were all signed by me i thought i better add something short! not much more i can say about our trip as i could never describe the sights or the emotions as well as susan has, just that i really had an amazing time! i mainly wanted to just thank susan for writing this blog and taking so many amazing photos. i know i would never have documented the trip myself so im very happy that ive had her to do it for me!! the blog along with the photos will ensure we never forget how much we enjoyed Egypt and Jordan.
Thank you Susan! Love Leo
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Saturday, 18 July 2009
Final Post
and I promise not to make it as long as the others!
I am home sweet home now. Well, not quite I am in Dublin after arriving last night but will be making my way home to Belfast this afternoon. I can't wait to see everyone, hear all about Maeve and Dermot's honeymoon to California and eat lots of jambalaya!
I have lost my hat, my suncream, my lipbalm, broken my sunglasses and the zip on my handbag, almost lost my passport twice and now my very Egypt blackened feet are homeward bound. The time flew in. What will I miss?
- Not knowing what challenges we are going to face every day and the humour that came along with it.
- Hibiscus tea! Drank hot or cold and given as a welcome drink in most places (in Egypt it's called karkaday and I have brought a bag or two home)
- The friendly children. Some of them, true, were just trying to make you buy their friendship bracelet or sprig of mint but so many just wanted to welcome you to their country. On our trip to the Citadel, as we were leaving, a busload of school children were coming in obviously on some sort of day trip and very exciteable. All the little girls were obediently holding hands so they didn't seperate while the boys had their teachers run ragged trying to make them behave. When they saw us they were jumping and screaming and waving and getting me to take photographs off them. They are some of the best photographs I have just because they make us laugh everytime we see them.
- Black and white taxi rides ... Ok I won't really miss that but it did feel strange to not haggle the price of our taxi at Dublin airport yesterday, we felt like we were getting ripped off!
Thank you to everyone for reading and keeping in touch with me. I never thought so many people would - really the blog was for Danny and Ann who encouraged me to keep it and don't worry Danny, I know you've been reading even if you can't comment.
Eileen P (if you're reading!) I hope you have an equally lovely time in Egypt this summer too and please reiterate to Andrew and Sara how much we appreciated and enjoyed their company. Thank you so much for organising it for us.
If anyone is interested I could maybe post a few of my photos here as well - I took literally about 1000 pictures!
To sign out here is a picture of the Ancient Egyptian Goddess of the stars and sky, Nut. I bought a papyrus with this image painted on for myself not really knowing who the goddess was. Like mentioned in my previous post, we were taken to see a genuine papyrus artist who inspired me to buy. The colours in mine are so vivid - the blue of the sky and the gold of the stars - and I just instantly liked it. Maybe because the sky has been such a recurring theme of the trip! Leo also bought one of Nefertiti and Pharoah Akhenaten worshipping the sun god. Night and day!
lots and lots of love, Susan and Leo xox
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Final Day in Cairo
I meant to post earlier but the internet was broken in our Cairo hotel until today so lets see...
the last few days have been a challenge to say the least. Our return trip through the border was fine and fairly eventful free until we got to the Egypt side where all professionalism of Israel was left behind with : "You are a lovely girl, welcome to Egypt". The tourism police then proceeded to sing to me while my bag was being searched and I had security men paw through my laundry bag infront of them - degrading! So when we walked outside and it was now 40 degrees (and we have been awake since 5am) we were not thrilled to find our private driver was not waiting and we were therefore fair game for the Bedouin taxi men. After a 20 minute wait for our driver (and we were already late for him) we managed to agree a cheaper price with a taxi man to take us to the airport at Sharm for a flight. Apparently though our taxi man had skipped some taxi man heirarchy and decided to put us in the middle of his fight. Fight calms down ok I'll get in the car now. He drives back to the taxi rank to fight some more. Tourism police find it all a bit hilarious. Other taxi men open the door to where I am sitting start screaming in Arabic at me and trying to drag our bags out of the car and I finally lost it. Two weeks of 'la shukran' and I couldn't smile anymore. I got our heavy backpacks and with a healthy amount of rage managed to get them out of the car in seconds flat. I told the police man I did not feel safe getting in any of their cars and I was to be left alone. There was a deafening silence (for all of 10 seconds) while they tried to decide how to respond to the mildly hysterical Western woman in which I went across to the Hilton hotel situated on the border where the staff had seen the fuss and gave me a chair and water. I found the number of our driver and they phoned him on their mobiles for me - crisis diverted ... although our private driver refused to put on the air conditioning we paid for as its too expensive and made us change into his brother's car in the middle of the desert.
What a morning! I was so annoyed with myself for losing my patience but it was too hot for me to keep my cool! We were disappointed to have our hotel let us down about Petra for night the night before and instead listened to machine gun fire (a traditional ritual that couldn't be explained?!) while eating dinner so I wasn't feeling at my most charitable.
I was glad to be back in Cairo. I don't think I realised till we returned here that this is probably the most interesting place, in my opinion, that we have visited. Purely because there is always so much more to do and see when you return and the mix of people you meet is incredible. We did not manage to do much during the day yesterday we were so tired and, more mix ups led to us missing the closing time of 2 things. I was about ready to give up on Egypt and write these last days off but we dusted ourselves off and tried again today and, as always, Egypt proves me wrong again and we had an amazing final day.
We went to the Citadel (at last!) this morning where the views all over Cairo and unparalleled. We could even see the pyramids through the smog of the city. The Mohammed Ali Mosque within the Citadel was also a wonderful photo opportunity as the interior is filled with decorated domed ceilings and lots of hanging globed lights making it a little different to other mosques we have seen - beautiful. Then, after lunch on Zamalek beside our hotel we ventured back out in search of Khan al Khalili, the famed bazzar in Islamic Cairo. We were keen to reach it by walking through the Tentmaker's Bazaar up to one of the big old doorways of Islamic Cairo as we had seen in Eileen's photos (!) We couldn't make ourselves understood to our taxi man however but when he pulled in a very friendly Cairen unviersity student pointed us in the right direction. He said he wasn't a guide so not to worry he would just show us the way and then let us walk down on our own. The streets he took us down were amazing. The sights you hear about that make Cairo so colourful and unique but that we had yet to expeirence so close up. Every corner we turned into another twisting alley brought something new with it. Goats, chickens, cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, donkeys. Carts filled with juicy watermelons and metal urns holding mint teas. Local fruit markets where flies swarm over the cut melons and cats pounce on the scraps. Mostly we were ignored as we were with an Egyptian. Nobody harassed us to buy. Mostly what we heard was welcome to Egypt, 'salaam alaikum'. He brought us to the top floor of a building where we were amazed to find some people living in makeshift houses. The place was filled with rubbish with goats eating paper among it but the view over a mosque and the warren of streets was just what we wanted to see. Buildings destroyed and never rebuilt from the 1992 earthquake, motorbikes negotiating fruitsellers. Down the stairs through an unlit corridor I was beginning to feel a bit uneasy. We approached a wooden door and he rang a bell assuring us we would find a famous papyrus artist housed here. We were not disappointed. Leo had really wanted to buy a piece of papyrus but we had only seen very low grade papers, or some were banana leaf, and all were printed and not hand painted. They showed us all the different quality of paper and paint to assure us of their legitimacy. The women made us Egyptian tea and let us browse for as long as we wanted and we both bought small paintings of ancient Egyptian scenes for very reasonable prices. Next we got to walk through the tentmakers bazaar where you could see all the men stitching their quilts and patchwork in their shop fronts.
We also visited a mother of pearl inlay workshop. They offered us the fake, the half fake and half real and their very authentic ones. It was hard to want the cheap stuff when we saw the genuine mother of pearl. I would never have been able to know what was fake or low grade until shown and believe me, the real one shines much better and I have very magpie-like tendencies.
The spice bazaar showed us green pepper corn grown only at St. Catherine's which we were offered to taste and which we regreted when we realised how hot it was and finally, to the perfume bazaar. I wanted to go to a shop called Karama Perfumes because guidebooks tell me it is where the other perfume sellers in the Khan get their oils to dilute and sell for the same price. The smells in the bazaar were beautiful - heady and exotic. They make you imitiations of anything you ask for. I was very impressed by their Chanel and I really thought I wouldn't be. The Coco Chanel especially is very similar and pleasant!
So here we are at the end of that overwhelming afternoon. Led through warrens of streets and alleys, arrested with scents and odours, colours and dark corridors and then put into a taxi by our student guide - whose name we never did learn. He even got us a cheaper price with the taxi and he never did ask us for money or pester us. Maybe he got commision of the workshops? But as we asked to see most of them it seemed very unlikely. I prefer to remain cynic free on my last day and say that we were just very blessed and happy to meet such a helpful Egyptian. He was also a student of antiquities, not unlike Leo!
We still have to pack and eat dinner. We have just returned from an evening drink on the Marriot terrace, an old converted palace which is beautiful and very shiny! Thank you to Eileen Peters for the recomendation - it was nice to sit down after our 3 or so hours in Islamic Cairo!
Last night we went to a beautiful restaurant last night right on the Nile called Sequoia. Oh so trendy with its all white decor and white tented roof but the food and guava shisha were very nice and we met a lovely woman at the table next to us who was happy to chat as she worked in tourism. A bit more upmarket than our dinner in Cairo after the border experience where I managed to meet my only Northern Irish connection of the holiday - a loud, drunken Derry man who kept inviting us back to his house for a sing song.
Sorry this is so long but it is my second last post so I am indulging myself. Can't wait to see you all soon and thank you so much for your comments, it's been so nice to share this all with you as I remember it all!
Love Susan and Leo xoxox
the last few days have been a challenge to say the least. Our return trip through the border was fine and fairly eventful free until we got to the Egypt side where all professionalism of Israel was left behind with : "You are a lovely girl, welcome to Egypt". The tourism police then proceeded to sing to me while my bag was being searched and I had security men paw through my laundry bag infront of them - degrading! So when we walked outside and it was now 40 degrees (and we have been awake since 5am) we were not thrilled to find our private driver was not waiting and we were therefore fair game for the Bedouin taxi men. After a 20 minute wait for our driver (and we were already late for him) we managed to agree a cheaper price with a taxi man to take us to the airport at Sharm for a flight. Apparently though our taxi man had skipped some taxi man heirarchy and decided to put us in the middle of his fight. Fight calms down ok I'll get in the car now. He drives back to the taxi rank to fight some more. Tourism police find it all a bit hilarious. Other taxi men open the door to where I am sitting start screaming in Arabic at me and trying to drag our bags out of the car and I finally lost it. Two weeks of 'la shukran' and I couldn't smile anymore. I got our heavy backpacks and with a healthy amount of rage managed to get them out of the car in seconds flat. I told the police man I did not feel safe getting in any of their cars and I was to be left alone. There was a deafening silence (for all of 10 seconds) while they tried to decide how to respond to the mildly hysterical Western woman in which I went across to the Hilton hotel situated on the border where the staff had seen the fuss and gave me a chair and water. I found the number of our driver and they phoned him on their mobiles for me - crisis diverted ... although our private driver refused to put on the air conditioning we paid for as its too expensive and made us change into his brother's car in the middle of the desert.
What a morning! I was so annoyed with myself for losing my patience but it was too hot for me to keep my cool! We were disappointed to have our hotel let us down about Petra for night the night before and instead listened to machine gun fire (a traditional ritual that couldn't be explained?!) while eating dinner so I wasn't feeling at my most charitable.
I was glad to be back in Cairo. I don't think I realised till we returned here that this is probably the most interesting place, in my opinion, that we have visited. Purely because there is always so much more to do and see when you return and the mix of people you meet is incredible. We did not manage to do much during the day yesterday we were so tired and, more mix ups led to us missing the closing time of 2 things. I was about ready to give up on Egypt and write these last days off but we dusted ourselves off and tried again today and, as always, Egypt proves me wrong again and we had an amazing final day.
We went to the Citadel (at last!) this morning where the views all over Cairo and unparalleled. We could even see the pyramids through the smog of the city. The Mohammed Ali Mosque within the Citadel was also a wonderful photo opportunity as the interior is filled with decorated domed ceilings and lots of hanging globed lights making it a little different to other mosques we have seen - beautiful. Then, after lunch on Zamalek beside our hotel we ventured back out in search of Khan al Khalili, the famed bazzar in Islamic Cairo. We were keen to reach it by walking through the Tentmaker's Bazaar up to one of the big old doorways of Islamic Cairo as we had seen in Eileen's photos (!) We couldn't make ourselves understood to our taxi man however but when he pulled in a very friendly Cairen unviersity student pointed us in the right direction. He said he wasn't a guide so not to worry he would just show us the way and then let us walk down on our own. The streets he took us down were amazing. The sights you hear about that make Cairo so colourful and unique but that we had yet to expeirence so close up. Every corner we turned into another twisting alley brought something new with it. Goats, chickens, cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, donkeys. Carts filled with juicy watermelons and metal urns holding mint teas. Local fruit markets where flies swarm over the cut melons and cats pounce on the scraps. Mostly we were ignored as we were with an Egyptian. Nobody harassed us to buy. Mostly what we heard was welcome to Egypt, 'salaam alaikum'. He brought us to the top floor of a building where we were amazed to find some people living in makeshift houses. The place was filled with rubbish with goats eating paper among it but the view over a mosque and the warren of streets was just what we wanted to see. Buildings destroyed and never rebuilt from the 1992 earthquake, motorbikes negotiating fruitsellers. Down the stairs through an unlit corridor I was beginning to feel a bit uneasy. We approached a wooden door and he rang a bell assuring us we would find a famous papyrus artist housed here. We were not disappointed. Leo had really wanted to buy a piece of papyrus but we had only seen very low grade papers, or some were banana leaf, and all were printed and not hand painted. They showed us all the different quality of paper and paint to assure us of their legitimacy. The women made us Egyptian tea and let us browse for as long as we wanted and we both bought small paintings of ancient Egyptian scenes for very reasonable prices. Next we got to walk through the tentmakers bazaar where you could see all the men stitching their quilts and patchwork in their shop fronts.
We also visited a mother of pearl inlay workshop. They offered us the fake, the half fake and half real and their very authentic ones. It was hard to want the cheap stuff when we saw the genuine mother of pearl. I would never have been able to know what was fake or low grade until shown and believe me, the real one shines much better and I have very magpie-like tendencies.
The spice bazaar showed us green pepper corn grown only at St. Catherine's which we were offered to taste and which we regreted when we realised how hot it was and finally, to the perfume bazaar. I wanted to go to a shop called Karama Perfumes because guidebooks tell me it is where the other perfume sellers in the Khan get their oils to dilute and sell for the same price. The smells in the bazaar were beautiful - heady and exotic. They make you imitiations of anything you ask for. I was very impressed by their Chanel and I really thought I wouldn't be. The Coco Chanel especially is very similar and pleasant!
So here we are at the end of that overwhelming afternoon. Led through warrens of streets and alleys, arrested with scents and odours, colours and dark corridors and then put into a taxi by our student guide - whose name we never did learn. He even got us a cheaper price with the taxi and he never did ask us for money or pester us. Maybe he got commision of the workshops? But as we asked to see most of them it seemed very unlikely. I prefer to remain cynic free on my last day and say that we were just very blessed and happy to meet such a helpful Egyptian. He was also a student of antiquities, not unlike Leo!
We still have to pack and eat dinner. We have just returned from an evening drink on the Marriot terrace, an old converted palace which is beautiful and very shiny! Thank you to Eileen Peters for the recomendation - it was nice to sit down after our 3 or so hours in Islamic Cairo!
Last night we went to a beautiful restaurant last night right on the Nile called Sequoia. Oh so trendy with its all white decor and white tented roof but the food and guava shisha were very nice and we met a lovely woman at the table next to us who was happy to chat as she worked in tourism. A bit more upmarket than our dinner in Cairo after the border experience where I managed to meet my only Northern Irish connection of the holiday - a loud, drunken Derry man who kept inviting us back to his house for a sing song.
Sorry this is so long but it is my second last post so I am indulging myself. Can't wait to see you all soon and thank you so much for your comments, it's been so nice to share this all with you as I remember it all!
Love Susan and Leo xoxox
Monday, 13 July 2009
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Leaving Jordan tommorow for a return trip through the borders which will hopefully be as pain free as last time.
We have really enjoyed our time here, Jordanians are lovely people. It's a very small country and not as geared towards tourism as Egypt so it's unlikely you would ever return but in the few days we have spent here we feel like we have seen a lot. It's very scenic and beautiful. The Jordanians are a very proud people. They always want to know how they compare to Egyptians and are much more relaxed in terms of money - Cairo is going to feel very intense after this (although I can't wait to get back there as well).
Yesterday we went to the Dead Sea. It's a 3 hour drive but we got another very nice taxi man who let us stop above the Dana Nature Reserve for photos - the view was breathtaking. To get to the lowest point on the earth the road took you remarkably high first! The descent downwards was quite incredible. You know the opening scene of the Shining? Think that but in a desert and if Leo raises his eyebrows a certain way he can look (a bit) like Jack Nicholson.
The Dead Sea wasn't what I expected. Our guidebook led us to believe it was a must do but a horrible place, I believe the words were "smelly, desolate, bone dry". Dry and very salty yes but not exactly smelly and desolate. We paid 12 JD into the public Amman beach which is geared for tourists too - swimming pool, changing rooms and the like and made our way down to the Dead Sea. It was HOT. Really, the temperature just sores there even the water was quite hot. I think that it is more the drop in pressure that makes the heat so difficult to handle. We had a can of soda water that had two massive dents in the side and burst when I tried to open it! We thought our heads might do the same. We ran down the scorching sand and into the water to try to see what the fuss was about and I have to say it was pretty fun. A hard thing to describe, you don't feel like you're floating till you realise you're not sinking either. You can float on top of even very shallow water so it was quite fun and we got our cheesy tourist photos. After a short time though the salt stings every cut you never knew you had! We then started to slather the dead sea mud over us in a bid to look beautiful. It too was also piping hot! At this stage it felt like their was a weight on my heart so my mud didn't last 5 minutes before I had to wash it off and seek shade and water - oh well Cleopatra I was not but you never know my skin does feel a *bit* softer. All in all a very beautiful place and the sunset on the way back over the Dead Sea was an incredible colourless light.
This morning then we went to Petra. Our hotel drives you there for free which is about 2 minutes in a car and we arrived around 8 to try and miss most of the tour groups at 9. There was a few but as its low season the place is quieter than you would imagine. The walk down the Siq up to the treasury was amazing, like being at the bottom of a canyon or something. The colours along the rock were unexpectedly vibrant, they were striped and even shades of yellow and white prevailed thorughout the varying shades of pink and orange. Leo got his Indiana Jones moment and then .... I did it. I conquered beast and mounted a camel. It wasn't easy I had to have a bit of a gentle shove (literally pushed onto) and I had about 5 men in teatowels assuring me that nasty camels aren't brought out for tourists and he was a lovely quiet camal. I thought he looked like a lawyer as he had a patch of curly hair like a wig on top of his head.
So I got on and then had to go through the ordeal of the camel standing up - terrifying. No word of a lie, they have what looks like 2 knees on their legs and they bend them in all shapes so you think you're falling forward then falling back. Judge also had a bit of a mind of his own. Leo's camel took off at an obedient pace whereas Judge kept trying to sniff Leo's knee and then would walk me into the tourist shops along the path. I had to kick postcard stands with my feet, if our camel walker stopped he would try to sit down, he would bolt onto sand off the path - I'm exaggerating a bit they walk pretty slow so bolt might be the wrong word and he was very quiet but he was a bit mad compared to Leo's. I enjoyed it in the end anyway but I'm not sure I'll be getting on another one anytime soon. When we left Judge we saw the real angry camels, gurgling like some sort of dinosaur. Do not get on a camel bearing teeth.
Petra though was beautiful. A very big place, hard to even imagine it as an active lively place for traders - it must of been stunning. We hope to go back this evening as they run tours at night where the Treasury is lit up by candles. We'll see what the score is anyway as it's another early start for the border crossing tommorow.
We have really enjoyed our time here, Jordanians are lovely people. It's a very small country and not as geared towards tourism as Egypt so it's unlikely you would ever return but in the few days we have spent here we feel like we have seen a lot. It's very scenic and beautiful. The Jordanians are a very proud people. They always want to know how they compare to Egyptians and are much more relaxed in terms of money - Cairo is going to feel very intense after this (although I can't wait to get back there as well).
Yesterday we went to the Dead Sea. It's a 3 hour drive but we got another very nice taxi man who let us stop above the Dana Nature Reserve for photos - the view was breathtaking. To get to the lowest point on the earth the road took you remarkably high first! The descent downwards was quite incredible. You know the opening scene of the Shining? Think that but in a desert and if Leo raises his eyebrows a certain way he can look (a bit) like Jack Nicholson.
The Dead Sea wasn't what I expected. Our guidebook led us to believe it was a must do but a horrible place, I believe the words were "smelly, desolate, bone dry". Dry and very salty yes but not exactly smelly and desolate. We paid 12 JD into the public Amman beach which is geared for tourists too - swimming pool, changing rooms and the like and made our way down to the Dead Sea. It was HOT. Really, the temperature just sores there even the water was quite hot. I think that it is more the drop in pressure that makes the heat so difficult to handle. We had a can of soda water that had two massive dents in the side and burst when I tried to open it! We thought our heads might do the same. We ran down the scorching sand and into the water to try to see what the fuss was about and I have to say it was pretty fun. A hard thing to describe, you don't feel like you're floating till you realise you're not sinking either. You can float on top of even very shallow water so it was quite fun and we got our cheesy tourist photos. After a short time though the salt stings every cut you never knew you had! We then started to slather the dead sea mud over us in a bid to look beautiful. It too was also piping hot! At this stage it felt like their was a weight on my heart so my mud didn't last 5 minutes before I had to wash it off and seek shade and water - oh well Cleopatra I was not but you never know my skin does feel a *bit* softer. All in all a very beautiful place and the sunset on the way back over the Dead Sea was an incredible colourless light.
This morning then we went to Petra. Our hotel drives you there for free which is about 2 minutes in a car and we arrived around 8 to try and miss most of the tour groups at 9. There was a few but as its low season the place is quieter than you would imagine. The walk down the Siq up to the treasury was amazing, like being at the bottom of a canyon or something. The colours along the rock were unexpectedly vibrant, they were striped and even shades of yellow and white prevailed thorughout the varying shades of pink and orange. Leo got his Indiana Jones moment and then .... I did it. I conquered beast and mounted a camel. It wasn't easy I had to have a bit of a gentle shove (literally pushed onto) and I had about 5 men in teatowels assuring me that nasty camels aren't brought out for tourists and he was a lovely quiet camal. I thought he looked like a lawyer as he had a patch of curly hair like a wig on top of his head.
So I got on and then had to go through the ordeal of the camel standing up - terrifying. No word of a lie, they have what looks like 2 knees on their legs and they bend them in all shapes so you think you're falling forward then falling back. Judge also had a bit of a mind of his own. Leo's camel took off at an obedient pace whereas Judge kept trying to sniff Leo's knee and then would walk me into the tourist shops along the path. I had to kick postcard stands with my feet, if our camel walker stopped he would try to sit down, he would bolt onto sand off the path - I'm exaggerating a bit they walk pretty slow so bolt might be the wrong word and he was very quiet but he was a bit mad compared to Leo's. I enjoyed it in the end anyway but I'm not sure I'll be getting on another one anytime soon. When we left Judge we saw the real angry camels, gurgling like some sort of dinosaur. Do not get on a camel bearing teeth.
Petra though was beautiful. A very big place, hard to even imagine it as an active lively place for traders - it must of been stunning. We hope to go back this evening as they run tours at night where the Treasury is lit up by candles. We'll see what the score is anyway as it's another early start for the border crossing tommorow.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Are we re-entering the land of Genta?
Hi again!
Thanks to everyone for your comments - we love reading them!
In Jordan now thankfully, it has been quite a journey! I am happy to say we left so early (5am - leo says I have to put the exact time in as he is so exhausted) from Dahab we drove through the Sinai mountains at sunrise so I got to see it after all and it truly did not disappoint. I will not over indulge in the descriptions this time except to say that it was tremendous. The colours, the light - O.k I am overindulging as Leo pointed out! I rarely see sunrise though, nevermind in Egypt, so it was pretty impressive! Watching the sun rise in the sky I couldn't help but swell with emotion a bit. It's hard to try and understand or explain why ... it's something like a pride for the earth we live on and a sense that we are blessed to be able to see it but there is something about being on another continent and seeing this natural phenomenon that makes you think of everyone at home that you love too so I prayed for you all.
Enough of that! We then proceeded to the border at Taba to cross into Israel at 6:30 in the morning and the temperature was already in the 30s. The Egyptian border was not my favourite experience. They double charged me departure tax because the first stamp they gave me wouldn't stick .. then the tourist 'police' tried to get it in U.S dollars from me! Granted it was the smallest amount of money you could imagine but still, you think at a border they could at least pretend to not want baksheesh. He was also really annoyed that we had been smart enough to get a double entry visa in Ireland already because he couldn't charge us more for that. About 15 feet later and we were in Israel and we couldn't believe the dramatic change. The people, their accents, mannerisms - it made us want to stay! They were so friendly and it was the first time we had been anywhere where there was about 10 woman working and talking to us. We had been a bit worried about getting a taxi from the border here thorugh Eilat, in Israel, to the Israeli - Jordanian border as it is the Sabbath in Israel today but they just charge a holiday price so we were fine. We got a lovely South African woman take us to the border telling us all about Israel as we drove along the waters in Eilat. You hear so much about it on the news you never contemplate going and suddenly you're there, albeit briefly, and I felt like saying onwards to Tel Aviv!
I didn't of course and left the Star of David behind for Jordan. Leo said the first noticeable difference at this border was once again being greeted with "friend or wife?" by the security who then let me sit in between them to fill out my form. Mum, you will be happy to know they also thought the way I hold my pen is hilarious - they probably think we all write like that in Ireland now!
Final part of our journey was the hour and a half car ride to the town of Wadi Musa, beside Petra, from here and we managed to get a taxi quickly again. Jordan currency is almost exactly equal to the Euro so after a week of Egyptian prices it was a bit of a shock to the system. Our taxi man was lovely though and bought me mango juice and Leo a (really really awful thick black) coffee. He stopped a few times to let me take pictures in the desert, of Wadi Rum. We also pulled into a tourist shop where we met the people we travelled with at 5am who got the boat across to Jordan and they convinced us going through Israel was a better choice. We also met a lovely American couple from Rhode Island who must have been in their 70s and who were doing an Egypt/Jordan trip independently like us.
We have been exhausted so we have not done anything else today - just rested in readiness for the Dead Sea and Petra. It has been so hot and we have been so tired that it has been nice to not do anything more today. Our hotel is fine - basic but clean and very friendly people. It almost feels like being in their house, they have pictures of their children in the lobby and tonight their mother cooked a Jordanian buffet for any guests who wanted to partake. It was delicious! The nicest meal we have had so far. Lovely to have something homecooked. This lovely sticky rice, fish cooked in herbs and vegetables that even Leo liked, and plates of different salads and hummous and typical mezze dishes. Really relaxing we'll def. eat here for our stay as the town is so quiet with little in it.
I apologise for the length of this post but I will just recap our last day in Dahab before I sign out. I had mentioned that we might snorkel or Leo might get me to go on a camel. Well, I still am not too keen on the camel but i DID snorkel. Now, I don't even swim with my head under water so this is a bit of a big deal. Let's be honest, I don't even really swim in the sea but Dahab is so renowed for its waters I was curious to give it a go. We went to a place called the Blue Hole, infamous in the area for its coral and clear waters that divers love. We got an ancient open 4x4 drive over the desert to it which believe us was not for the faint hearted. It was more like 4x4 terrain but not exactly 4x4 car, a pick up truck of sorts so after that snorkelling was a bit of a breeze. It was really hard to get the hang of it, putting my head under water and breathing through my mouth. A few times I breather thorugh my nose and inhaled water which was horrible. I managed to get some giant man in a tiny speedo's snorkel mask as mine didn't fit me well and I was screaming out the Hail Mary in the beginning so he took pity on me. After that it was amazing. It was like being on the set of Finding Nemo and I was the Little Mermaid. A lot less glamorous in a lifejacket granted but we had so much fun and it was the perfect end to our Dahab break.
and that is the end to this post as well. They always become so long - sorry! It's just so I can remember everything.
Love, as always
xox
Thanks to everyone for your comments - we love reading them!
In Jordan now thankfully, it has been quite a journey! I am happy to say we left so early (5am - leo says I have to put the exact time in as he is so exhausted) from Dahab we drove through the Sinai mountains at sunrise so I got to see it after all and it truly did not disappoint. I will not over indulge in the descriptions this time except to say that it was tremendous. The colours, the light - O.k I am overindulging as Leo pointed out! I rarely see sunrise though, nevermind in Egypt, so it was pretty impressive! Watching the sun rise in the sky I couldn't help but swell with emotion a bit. It's hard to try and understand or explain why ... it's something like a pride for the earth we live on and a sense that we are blessed to be able to see it but there is something about being on another continent and seeing this natural phenomenon that makes you think of everyone at home that you love too so I prayed for you all.
Enough of that! We then proceeded to the border at Taba to cross into Israel at 6:30 in the morning and the temperature was already in the 30s. The Egyptian border was not my favourite experience. They double charged me departure tax because the first stamp they gave me wouldn't stick .. then the tourist 'police' tried to get it in U.S dollars from me! Granted it was the smallest amount of money you could imagine but still, you think at a border they could at least pretend to not want baksheesh. He was also really annoyed that we had been smart enough to get a double entry visa in Ireland already because he couldn't charge us more for that. About 15 feet later and we were in Israel and we couldn't believe the dramatic change. The people, their accents, mannerisms - it made us want to stay! They were so friendly and it was the first time we had been anywhere where there was about 10 woman working and talking to us. We had been a bit worried about getting a taxi from the border here thorugh Eilat, in Israel, to the Israeli - Jordanian border as it is the Sabbath in Israel today but they just charge a holiday price so we were fine. We got a lovely South African woman take us to the border telling us all about Israel as we drove along the waters in Eilat. You hear so much about it on the news you never contemplate going and suddenly you're there, albeit briefly, and I felt like saying onwards to Tel Aviv!
I didn't of course and left the Star of David behind for Jordan. Leo said the first noticeable difference at this border was once again being greeted with "friend or wife?" by the security who then let me sit in between them to fill out my form. Mum, you will be happy to know they also thought the way I hold my pen is hilarious - they probably think we all write like that in Ireland now!
Final part of our journey was the hour and a half car ride to the town of Wadi Musa, beside Petra, from here and we managed to get a taxi quickly again. Jordan currency is almost exactly equal to the Euro so after a week of Egyptian prices it was a bit of a shock to the system. Our taxi man was lovely though and bought me mango juice and Leo a (really really awful thick black) coffee. He stopped a few times to let me take pictures in the desert, of Wadi Rum. We also pulled into a tourist shop where we met the people we travelled with at 5am who got the boat across to Jordan and they convinced us going through Israel was a better choice. We also met a lovely American couple from Rhode Island who must have been in their 70s and who were doing an Egypt/Jordan trip independently like us.
We have been exhausted so we have not done anything else today - just rested in readiness for the Dead Sea and Petra. It has been so hot and we have been so tired that it has been nice to not do anything more today. Our hotel is fine - basic but clean and very friendly people. It almost feels like being in their house, they have pictures of their children in the lobby and tonight their mother cooked a Jordanian buffet for any guests who wanted to partake. It was delicious! The nicest meal we have had so far. Lovely to have something homecooked. This lovely sticky rice, fish cooked in herbs and vegetables that even Leo liked, and plates of different salads and hummous and typical mezze dishes. Really relaxing we'll def. eat here for our stay as the town is so quiet with little in it.
I apologise for the length of this post but I will just recap our last day in Dahab before I sign out. I had mentioned that we might snorkel or Leo might get me to go on a camel. Well, I still am not too keen on the camel but i DID snorkel. Now, I don't even swim with my head under water so this is a bit of a big deal. Let's be honest, I don't even really swim in the sea but Dahab is so renowed for its waters I was curious to give it a go. We went to a place called the Blue Hole, infamous in the area for its coral and clear waters that divers love. We got an ancient open 4x4 drive over the desert to it which believe us was not for the faint hearted. It was more like 4x4 terrain but not exactly 4x4 car, a pick up truck of sorts so after that snorkelling was a bit of a breeze. It was really hard to get the hang of it, putting my head under water and breathing through my mouth. A few times I breather thorugh my nose and inhaled water which was horrible. I managed to get some giant man in a tiny speedo's snorkel mask as mine didn't fit me well and I was screaming out the Hail Mary in the beginning so he took pity on me. After that it was amazing. It was like being on the set of Finding Nemo and I was the Little Mermaid. A lot less glamorous in a lifejacket granted but we had so much fun and it was the perfect end to our Dahab break.
and that is the end to this post as well. They always become so long - sorry! It's just so I can remember everything.
Love, as always
xox
Friday, 10 July 2009
Moonrise
Well dear bloggers, I am sorry to say that Mount Sinai never happened. Not everything can go to plan though right?
We were very disappointed but our hotel cancelled the trip at last minute as not enough people were going on it and there was no other night to do it as the Monastery would be closed :( We may go visit it and possibly climb it tonight though for sunset but with the heat that is going to be much harder! We will see it anyway before we leave and pray for you all.
We missed our sunrise but what we did get to see was a moon rise. We have never seen a moon rise before! It gets dark about 8 here but the moon doesn't appear till 9. We were having dinner on the beach when the waiter told us to look over to the lights of Saudi and we saw this mass of red light grow bigger and bigger, I couldn't believe it. It rose up so quickly and was the most amazing shade of burnt orange like the desert and mountains surrounding it. It was completely hypnotic. It rose quickly into the sky like a giant balloon and eventually it lost its orange glow and became the full silver moon we had seen the night before. The moonlight from it is beautiful, it really illuminates the black sea below it. The sky here is a very powerful thing. Leo says he can see why the ancient Egyptians were so obsessed with star alignment and building temples to the Sun! I tried in vain to capture it with my camera which was near impossible but I played around with my new fancy digital SLR and managed with different shutter speeds to get it to come out on film (if a little shakily!).
We also indulged in some shisha last night while sitting on a restaurant's roof (literally the roof - i thought we were going to die) which was very relaxing and a nice strawberry flavour. It's very unladylike to smoke in Egypt, well everywhere probably, but Dahab is more relaxed they frown upon it a little less. It was mostly travellers trying it as opposed to the shisha street cafes you see in Cairo which you wouldn't feel comfortable entering unless you were a man missing some teeth unfortunatley. So I indulged here knowing I wouldn't again and let myself feel like the big caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland blowing smoke rings.
Today is our last full day here before we go to Jordan tommorow. We will either snorkel or Leo will persuade me onto a camel and then, I think, have a very similar evening before we re enter the madness of things again tommorow. We will probably have to cross into Israel to get into Jordan as the ferry is something ridiculous like 100 US dollars so we are going at an ungodly hour to try and avoid getting stuck behind a massive que of tour groups - Eliat is meant to be even hotter than Egypt at the minute! It sounds like a bit of an excursion but I'm exited to see Petra, the dead sea and experience a different type of people so everyone please pray we manage to pull it off!
On to do some shopping now - some lovely Bedouin shops here where they actually let you browse without hassling you to buy. Yesterday we walked over a bridge and found more shops but it was like re-entering Luxor. They had even heard of Asda and Primark and were assuring us their prices were cheaper! I will wait to try and do most of my shopping in the Khan al Khalili market in Cairo and around so I can maybe get a better deal but Leo is too stressed out by haggling and likes the Bedouin's fixed prices.
I hope you're all getting ready to celebrate the glorious 12th.. sorry to miss it ;)
lots of love xox
p.s Crazy Barbour is crazzzaayy ;)
We were very disappointed but our hotel cancelled the trip at last minute as not enough people were going on it and there was no other night to do it as the Monastery would be closed :( We may go visit it and possibly climb it tonight though for sunset but with the heat that is going to be much harder! We will see it anyway before we leave and pray for you all.
We missed our sunrise but what we did get to see was a moon rise. We have never seen a moon rise before! It gets dark about 8 here but the moon doesn't appear till 9. We were having dinner on the beach when the waiter told us to look over to the lights of Saudi and we saw this mass of red light grow bigger and bigger, I couldn't believe it. It rose up so quickly and was the most amazing shade of burnt orange like the desert and mountains surrounding it. It was completely hypnotic. It rose quickly into the sky like a giant balloon and eventually it lost its orange glow and became the full silver moon we had seen the night before. The moonlight from it is beautiful, it really illuminates the black sea below it. The sky here is a very powerful thing. Leo says he can see why the ancient Egyptians were so obsessed with star alignment and building temples to the Sun! I tried in vain to capture it with my camera which was near impossible but I played around with my new fancy digital SLR and managed with different shutter speeds to get it to come out on film (if a little shakily!).
We also indulged in some shisha last night while sitting on a restaurant's roof (literally the roof - i thought we were going to die) which was very relaxing and a nice strawberry flavour. It's very unladylike to smoke in Egypt, well everywhere probably, but Dahab is more relaxed they frown upon it a little less. It was mostly travellers trying it as opposed to the shisha street cafes you see in Cairo which you wouldn't feel comfortable entering unless you were a man missing some teeth unfortunatley. So I indulged here knowing I wouldn't again and let myself feel like the big caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland blowing smoke rings.
Today is our last full day here before we go to Jordan tommorow. We will either snorkel or Leo will persuade me onto a camel and then, I think, have a very similar evening before we re enter the madness of things again tommorow. We will probably have to cross into Israel to get into Jordan as the ferry is something ridiculous like 100 US dollars so we are going at an ungodly hour to try and avoid getting stuck behind a massive que of tour groups - Eliat is meant to be even hotter than Egypt at the minute! It sounds like a bit of an excursion but I'm exited to see Petra, the dead sea and experience a different type of people so everyone please pray we manage to pull it off!
On to do some shopping now - some lovely Bedouin shops here where they actually let you browse without hassling you to buy. Yesterday we walked over a bridge and found more shops but it was like re-entering Luxor. They had even heard of Asda and Primark and were assuring us their prices were cheaper! I will wait to try and do most of my shopping in the Khan al Khalili market in Cairo and around so I can maybe get a better deal but Leo is too stressed out by haggling and likes the Bedouin's fixed prices.
I hope you're all getting ready to celebrate the glorious 12th.. sorry to miss it ;)
lots of love xox
p.s Crazy Barbour is crazzzaayy ;)
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Dahab
Thanks Marianne - we even contemplated not paying in extra to see it as it wasn't meant to be very good but I couldn't resist!
and thanks for jacuzzi warning Monica, I wasn't in it anyway that's for sure!
Well we are in Dahab now. Dahab is arabic for golden and that is really the colour of the sand here. It isn't really a beach to lie on because the sand is so coarse but the colour is incredible and our hotel has a swimming pool! It's a very cool place and Egyptair didn't lose our bags this time!
When we arrived we had an hour long drive from Sharm el Sheikh - I am so glad we decided to not stay here its just 2 miles of resorts in the middle of the desert it looks a bit claustrophoic! The drive was incredible though. It was just one road in the middle of a desert with the towering mountains on either side - a real reddy colour. At times we even spotted a few Bedouin camps where people still live in this harsh environment. A not so scenic sight were the camel corpses dotting the desert. I'm not so fond of the beasts I have to say, they sound prehistoric and smell very very bad but still, poor gamals! :(
Its tiny here with only two streets but you don't need any more. Our hotel is right on the water and the street is lined with candles at night inviting you into all the Bedouin style restaurants: basically just candles and massive floor pillows and low tables. There is constant shisha smoke filling the air and the few people here are mainly here for dives and snorkelling which the area is renowned for. The view is incredible and you can see Saudi Arabia all lit up across the water at night. The people too are a lot more relaxed and there have been no taxis harrasing us for 24 hours now! They def. adopt a more Bedouin friendly approach though they still ask Leo "wife or girlfriend" every time I'm out of ear shot. It would appear wife is the best answer as they don't seem to put much by the term girlfriend. The only things harassing us are the cats which appear from nowhere when you try to eat, they even annoy Leo! We have a litter of kittens beside the hotel though which is adorable but all the cats are so scrawny here its hard to tell which ones are kittens or not.
We are enjoying it a lot here - the first day we havent had to do something or go somewhere. Unfortunatley I have ended up totally burnt within an hour and through sun-cream so thats the end of my sunbathing!
We want to climb Mount Sinai for sunrise, a half hour drive from here, but when we arrived we found out tonight is the only night we can go because when you descend, you can visit St. Catherine's Monastery and it is closed on Fridays so... we're going tonight sunburn and all! I am a bit worried but it was my idea to do this so I will give it a go- worst comes to worst you can do most of it by camel back but I don't trust camels so I don't really want to be on one in the pitch dark on a steep mountain! The climb should take about 3 hours maximum and apparently blankets and things are rented out by the Bedouins on the summit to keep warm (although I can't believe anything is cold here) to wait for sunrise. Apprehensive but excited so will post all about it if we don't die with the physical effort. The stars and sunrise will make it all worth it though!
We will be here relaxing for another few days and the plan is to try and get to Jordan to see Petra (and hopefully the Dead Sea) on Saturday. We still have to find out how feasible that is though but hopefully it will be straightforward enough then back to Cairo to shop! After the peace here that will probably feel like a nightmare. There is lots of lovely things to buy its just such a stress having to haggle everything and knowing most of them are probably conning you. I would buy more if I could be assured it wasn't made in China!
As always hope everyone is well. Can't believe we have been away a full week now - time is flying by.
lots of love xx
and thanks for jacuzzi warning Monica, I wasn't in it anyway that's for sure!
Well we are in Dahab now. Dahab is arabic for golden and that is really the colour of the sand here. It isn't really a beach to lie on because the sand is so coarse but the colour is incredible and our hotel has a swimming pool! It's a very cool place and Egyptair didn't lose our bags this time!
When we arrived we had an hour long drive from Sharm el Sheikh - I am so glad we decided to not stay here its just 2 miles of resorts in the middle of the desert it looks a bit claustrophoic! The drive was incredible though. It was just one road in the middle of a desert with the towering mountains on either side - a real reddy colour. At times we even spotted a few Bedouin camps where people still live in this harsh environment. A not so scenic sight were the camel corpses dotting the desert. I'm not so fond of the beasts I have to say, they sound prehistoric and smell very very bad but still, poor gamals! :(
Its tiny here with only two streets but you don't need any more. Our hotel is right on the water and the street is lined with candles at night inviting you into all the Bedouin style restaurants: basically just candles and massive floor pillows and low tables. There is constant shisha smoke filling the air and the few people here are mainly here for dives and snorkelling which the area is renowned for. The view is incredible and you can see Saudi Arabia all lit up across the water at night. The people too are a lot more relaxed and there have been no taxis harrasing us for 24 hours now! They def. adopt a more Bedouin friendly approach though they still ask Leo "wife or girlfriend" every time I'm out of ear shot. It would appear wife is the best answer as they don't seem to put much by the term girlfriend. The only things harassing us are the cats which appear from nowhere when you try to eat, they even annoy Leo! We have a litter of kittens beside the hotel though which is adorable but all the cats are so scrawny here its hard to tell which ones are kittens or not.
We are enjoying it a lot here - the first day we havent had to do something or go somewhere. Unfortunatley I have ended up totally burnt within an hour and through sun-cream so thats the end of my sunbathing!
We want to climb Mount Sinai for sunrise, a half hour drive from here, but when we arrived we found out tonight is the only night we can go because when you descend, you can visit St. Catherine's Monastery and it is closed on Fridays so... we're going tonight sunburn and all! I am a bit worried but it was my idea to do this so I will give it a go- worst comes to worst you can do most of it by camel back but I don't trust camels so I don't really want to be on one in the pitch dark on a steep mountain! The climb should take about 3 hours maximum and apparently blankets and things are rented out by the Bedouins on the summit to keep warm (although I can't believe anything is cold here) to wait for sunrise. Apprehensive but excited so will post all about it if we don't die with the physical effort. The stars and sunrise will make it all worth it though!
We will be here relaxing for another few days and the plan is to try and get to Jordan to see Petra (and hopefully the Dead Sea) on Saturday. We still have to find out how feasible that is though but hopefully it will be straightforward enough then back to Cairo to shop! After the peace here that will probably feel like a nightmare. There is lots of lovely things to buy its just such a stress having to haggle everything and knowing most of them are probably conning you. I would buy more if I could be assured it wasn't made in China!
As always hope everyone is well. Can't believe we have been away a full week now - time is flying by.
lots of love xx
Monday, 6 July 2009
To my adoring fans
Oh and lovely to see all my new followers - glad you can keep up to date with me this way and yes Marianne, have taken literally hundreds of photos so far for you all to see!
xx
xx
Louts or Touts
.. in the words of Leo. It was summing up Luxor for us yesterday anyway. As much as we adore the Sheraton, after feeling like the only westerners in Cairo when we arrived the Sheraton felt almost too 'Brits on Holiday' to handle. After all those headscarves I think I had adopted some Muslim humility because seeing some of the shapes beside the Sheraton swimming pool.... Leo was in the jacuzzi today when a tattoo emblazoned English man began to wash his trainers in it - classy
and the touts? Well self explanitory really! Taxis literally chase you down the road. I had a nosebleed today and they were still trying to sell me plastic sphinxes.. honestly!
But we have raelly loved Luxor. We took a felucca again last night and tonight we loved it so much and we used the same sailor man with his son whom we bid adieu tonight as we leave for Dahab tommorow.
Here we have visited the Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple and today the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hasephut (spelt completley wrong!) The heat was incredible today especially in the Valley it rose to about 45 degrees and you are just walkign around the desert with no shade - I had my hat mashallah! We went to three tombs, included in the price of your ticket, and paid extra for Tutankhamun. We thought we might not pay extra for it as it is the smallest tomb in the valley but we were glad we did. It was the only tomb with his mummy on display, and the sarcophagus with the full mask and everything inside. It was actually really sad because his mummy was so tiny - I prayed for him not to give us the curse!
We got the local ferry over to the West bank (where the valley is) to save getting ripped off with a driver who would wait around for you al day. It was actually very straightforward and easy to work but I think they were so amazed to see us use it. There was lots of girls about my age who just couldn't help staring at us but when you waved they would laugh and smile and wave back - they were just so curious. I ended up using my camera to photograph some of them which I normally would not feel comfortable to do but they all loved it and all the old men are waving away in the photos!
We have just walked back from dinner and are looking forward to Dahab tommorow purely because there will be a lot less hassle, quieter, fewer taxis etc. We had a gorgeous meal last night but there was 4 waiters to 1 table - its very quiet here because its low season - and they asked us how everything was every 5 minutes. Even with room service they rang to the room three times to check we were doing ok! But you definitley can't fault their service.
Oh! and i promised I would do this to our felucca man - anyone going to Luxor? Ask for the 'Moustache' and he will give you good price haha.
Danny - thanks for your comment but why does it call you Maeve?! I hope you and Ann enjoyed the 4th July and returned safe to NY
Also - to everyone else I hope this blog isn't too boring. I am currently sitting in an internet cafe that looks like the Moulin Rouge with a man offering Leo his business to marry me so it can be a bit distracting to write anything good!
love to all xox
and the touts? Well self explanitory really! Taxis literally chase you down the road. I had a nosebleed today and they were still trying to sell me plastic sphinxes.. honestly!
But we have raelly loved Luxor. We took a felucca again last night and tonight we loved it so much and we used the same sailor man with his son whom we bid adieu tonight as we leave for Dahab tommorow.
Here we have visited the Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple and today the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hasephut (spelt completley wrong!) The heat was incredible today especially in the Valley it rose to about 45 degrees and you are just walkign around the desert with no shade - I had my hat mashallah! We went to three tombs, included in the price of your ticket, and paid extra for Tutankhamun. We thought we might not pay extra for it as it is the smallest tomb in the valley but we were glad we did. It was the only tomb with his mummy on display, and the sarcophagus with the full mask and everything inside. It was actually really sad because his mummy was so tiny - I prayed for him not to give us the curse!
We got the local ferry over to the West bank (where the valley is) to save getting ripped off with a driver who would wait around for you al day. It was actually very straightforward and easy to work but I think they were so amazed to see us use it. There was lots of girls about my age who just couldn't help staring at us but when you waved they would laugh and smile and wave back - they were just so curious. I ended up using my camera to photograph some of them which I normally would not feel comfortable to do but they all loved it and all the old men are waving away in the photos!
We have just walked back from dinner and are looking forward to Dahab tommorow purely because there will be a lot less hassle, quieter, fewer taxis etc. We had a gorgeous meal last night but there was 4 waiters to 1 table - its very quiet here because its low season - and they asked us how everything was every 5 minutes. Even with room service they rang to the room three times to check we were doing ok! But you definitley can't fault their service.
Oh! and i promised I would do this to our felucca man - anyone going to Luxor? Ask for the 'Moustache' and he will give you good price haha.
Danny - thanks for your comment but why does it call you Maeve?! I hope you and Ann enjoyed the 4th July and returned safe to NY
Also - to everyone else I hope this blog isn't too boring. I am currently sitting in an internet cafe that looks like the Moulin Rouge with a man offering Leo his business to marry me so it can be a bit distracting to write anything good!
love to all xox
Saturday, 4 July 2009
Luxor
We arrived in Luxor this morning on a flight from Cairo which was under an hour and going great... until they lost our bags! Feeling a bit stressed and very hot we negotiated (as always) a taxi to the Sheraton who then told us that without a taxi license or a flight to catch we wouldn't be allowed back to the airport to collect our bags! All very stressful but thankfully sorted and bags are with us this evening!
Luxor is beautiful and quite a change from Cairo. It's so much more green and the cars, although they beep their horns for something to do, are a *bit* quieter. This may also be because the number of donkey and cart greatly outnumbered the now BLUE and white taxis! Ours was being held together with cellotape and proudly had painted onto the side "air conditioning". This consisted of the driver giving me the handle (Which had fallen off the door) to attach to the screw to roll down my window!
The temperature is a good 5 degrees hotter here hitting 46 today in the afternoon and as its surrounded by desert the air is just so stifling. Fortunatley our hotel is really beautiful and right beside the nile. Literally you walk down a set of steps and you could put your toes in it! We didnt achieve much today what with the whole bag debacle but we made full use of the air conditioning and this evening took a felucca ride. Felucca is a wind powered sail boat used all down the nile between Luxor and Aswan mainly. We went out for an hour at sunset which was so beautiful. It really reminded us that we are on the continent of Africa, the sun was just so powerful. The Egyptian men sailing our boat must haev thought I was crazy the amount of pictures I took but I couldn't resist! They were lovely as well a father, who has saield feluccas to Sudan on the nile before and done it since he was a teen and his son who he is training. Their boat was called Baraka which means good luck in Arabic.
We hope to get out very early in the morning (as its so hot!) and go to either the Karnak and then the Luxor temple or the Valley of the Kings and then make use of another felucca or horse and cart around the town. Very glad we are here and very relaxing after the mania that was Cairo but we had a lovely evening there last night. We went for dinner with Sara and Andrew (a fellow irish man) in a restaurant called La Bodega. We hope to go back there too! I had shredded chicken in filo pastry with pomegranate and yoghurt sauce - no illness this far touch wood. We were very grateful for the evening and the company and strolled back to our room well after 1 in the morning!
Over and out
Susan and Leo x
Luxor is beautiful and quite a change from Cairo. It's so much more green and the cars, although they beep their horns for something to do, are a *bit* quieter. This may also be because the number of donkey and cart greatly outnumbered the now BLUE and white taxis! Ours was being held together with cellotape and proudly had painted onto the side "air conditioning". This consisted of the driver giving me the handle (Which had fallen off the door) to attach to the screw to roll down my window!
The temperature is a good 5 degrees hotter here hitting 46 today in the afternoon and as its surrounded by desert the air is just so stifling. Fortunatley our hotel is really beautiful and right beside the nile. Literally you walk down a set of steps and you could put your toes in it! We didnt achieve much today what with the whole bag debacle but we made full use of the air conditioning and this evening took a felucca ride. Felucca is a wind powered sail boat used all down the nile between Luxor and Aswan mainly. We went out for an hour at sunset which was so beautiful. It really reminded us that we are on the continent of Africa, the sun was just so powerful. The Egyptian men sailing our boat must haev thought I was crazy the amount of pictures I took but I couldn't resist! They were lovely as well a father, who has saield feluccas to Sudan on the nile before and done it since he was a teen and his son who he is training. Their boat was called Baraka which means good luck in Arabic.
We hope to get out very early in the morning (as its so hot!) and go to either the Karnak and then the Luxor temple or the Valley of the Kings and then make use of another felucca or horse and cart around the town. Very glad we are here and very relaxing after the mania that was Cairo but we had a lovely evening there last night. We went for dinner with Sara and Andrew (a fellow irish man) in a restaurant called La Bodega. We hope to go back there too! I had shredded chicken in filo pastry with pomegranate and yoghurt sauce - no illness this far touch wood. We were very grateful for the evening and the company and strolled back to our room well after 1 in the morning!
Over and out
Susan and Leo x
Friday, 3 July 2009
.. and everything else!
So we are getting ready to leave Cairo tommorow morning for Luxor and we have survived it so far!
It's a very very intense place. We have moments where we lose patience with it all completley and then moments that restore your faith in it.
On our first full day (yesterday) we went to the Egyptian Museum where Leo met with his contact Sara. She was very helpful to his dissertation and we are meeting her and Andrew tonight for dinner in a restaurant called La Bodega.
She got us into the museum and the Mummy rooms for free - they were quite creepy. A lot of them had full sets of teeth and heads of hair which I'm not sure why but I wasn't expecting. They also had a room of mummifed animals - crocidiles, giant fish, baby baboons! and of course the Tutankamhun 'death mask'. Surreal seeing everything and the museum itself was quite an experience. Thousands of artefacts displayed in thousand year old cabinets in a non air conditioned museum.. very different to what you would expect but they are currently awaiting a new museum. Leo learnt that most people we have spoken to so far are not intereseted in having many artefacts returned as they think they are good advertisements for Egypt when placed in other countries and that they have plenty of things in their museum as it is.. you can see where they are coming from!
Today then we went to the Pyramids at Giza. Another site that was hard to comprehend considering they have been there for 4,500 years and also quite an Egyptian experience with the many touts everywhere! You are warned its bad but you really can't imagine till you're hit with them. The tourist 'police' even look for 'baksheesh'(tips). If people offer to take a photo (with your camera) of both of you - you pay. They follow you around throwing tea towels over your head to protect you from the sun and you have to pay even when you give it back. I literally had to pry a note out of someones hand who kept trying to reach into our bags. It got a bit offputing - it can ruin the whole energy of the place when you can hardly take a photo or concentrate on what you are looking at because if you don't keep moving someone will try and lift you onto a camel!!
We climbed inside the great pyramid then which Leo had warned was quite stuffy and you had to crawl a bit ... he was not exagerrating! I felt so claustrophobic.. we got stuck behind an American tour group and had to pull ourselves up a steep slope (in the dark with a ceiling about 3 feet high) with railings attached with people behind and infront. The woman infront of us kept stopping for breaks which was very irritating. When you finally get up there you can go into the King's chamber which has a stone tomb as well. I have never felt so strange before. The acoustic was undescribable it was so echoey you could barely understand anybody and even when people were silent there was this hum all around you. The energy was just very strong. It was the most central part of the great pyramid which is one of the oldest things in the world - a very surreal feeling.
We got one of the Cairean 'black and white' taxis there and back and managed to get one of the nicest taxi men we have had yet. He charged us half the price of everyone else and didn't pester us at all - very civil and courteous and when we tipped him he seemed genuinley surprised! He restored our faith a bit from some of the other hair raising incidents. Our taxi man this afternoon for example had near death experiences, a yelled fight through his window on a motorway and almost knocked down about ten people.
The heat so far has been much better than we expected. It was breezy at the pyramids! The mornings and evenings are fine its really just the afternoon heat but we are coping much better than we thought and feel just fine so far! We have ate really well in recommended pubs and restaurants so our next challenge is getting this internal flight to Luxor - the time of which they keep changing which does not put me at ease!
We wished to have seen more of Islamic Cairo such as the Citadel and Khan al Khalili but we are def going to do all of that when we return on about 15th July.
Hope everyone is well and you are not all asleep after reading that but it is a good way for me to record everything!
xx
It's a very very intense place. We have moments where we lose patience with it all completley and then moments that restore your faith in it.
On our first full day (yesterday) we went to the Egyptian Museum where Leo met with his contact Sara. She was very helpful to his dissertation and we are meeting her and Andrew tonight for dinner in a restaurant called La Bodega.
She got us into the museum and the Mummy rooms for free - they were quite creepy. A lot of them had full sets of teeth and heads of hair which I'm not sure why but I wasn't expecting. They also had a room of mummifed animals - crocidiles, giant fish, baby baboons! and of course the Tutankamhun 'death mask'. Surreal seeing everything and the museum itself was quite an experience. Thousands of artefacts displayed in thousand year old cabinets in a non air conditioned museum.. very different to what you would expect but they are currently awaiting a new museum. Leo learnt that most people we have spoken to so far are not intereseted in having many artefacts returned as they think they are good advertisements for Egypt when placed in other countries and that they have plenty of things in their museum as it is.. you can see where they are coming from!
Today then we went to the Pyramids at Giza. Another site that was hard to comprehend considering they have been there for 4,500 years and also quite an Egyptian experience with the many touts everywhere! You are warned its bad but you really can't imagine till you're hit with them. The tourist 'police' even look for 'baksheesh'(tips). If people offer to take a photo (with your camera) of both of you - you pay. They follow you around throwing tea towels over your head to protect you from the sun and you have to pay even when you give it back. I literally had to pry a note out of someones hand who kept trying to reach into our bags. It got a bit offputing - it can ruin the whole energy of the place when you can hardly take a photo or concentrate on what you are looking at because if you don't keep moving someone will try and lift you onto a camel!!
We climbed inside the great pyramid then which Leo had warned was quite stuffy and you had to crawl a bit ... he was not exagerrating! I felt so claustrophobic.. we got stuck behind an American tour group and had to pull ourselves up a steep slope (in the dark with a ceiling about 3 feet high) with railings attached with people behind and infront. The woman infront of us kept stopping for breaks which was very irritating. When you finally get up there you can go into the King's chamber which has a stone tomb as well. I have never felt so strange before. The acoustic was undescribable it was so echoey you could barely understand anybody and even when people were silent there was this hum all around you. The energy was just very strong. It was the most central part of the great pyramid which is one of the oldest things in the world - a very surreal feeling.
We got one of the Cairean 'black and white' taxis there and back and managed to get one of the nicest taxi men we have had yet. He charged us half the price of everyone else and didn't pester us at all - very civil and courteous and when we tipped him he seemed genuinley surprised! He restored our faith a bit from some of the other hair raising incidents. Our taxi man this afternoon for example had near death experiences, a yelled fight through his window on a motorway and almost knocked down about ten people.
The heat so far has been much better than we expected. It was breezy at the pyramids! The mornings and evenings are fine its really just the afternoon heat but we are coping much better than we thought and feel just fine so far! We have ate really well in recommended pubs and restaurants so our next challenge is getting this internal flight to Luxor - the time of which they keep changing which does not put me at ease!
We wished to have seen more of Islamic Cairo such as the Citadel and Khan al Khalili but we are def going to do all of that when we return on about 15th July.
Hope everyone is well and you are not all asleep after reading that but it is a good way for me to record everything!
xx
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Day 1
We have arrived!
Just testing this much promised blog is working and will post something more substantial later.
Cairo is crazy and wonderful
xx
Just testing this much promised blog is working and will post something more substantial later.
Cairo is crazy and wonderful
xx
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