After our last visit to the step pyramid it was back to our hotel to pack and prepare for our second part of our journey on the road to Jerusalem.
We made some good friends on the tour group, particularly Jaqui and Gillian from Canada and it was sad to say goodbye. Perhaps we will catch up with them should we have the opportunity to travel to Canada, particularly to Toronto where they live.
We wound down in Cairo by having a late lunch at McDonalds and some window shopping, at the mall across the road.
The next day was a rest and relaxation day and making ready for the trip to Israel. After breakfast Grant, Penny & Linda decided to visit the markets to get hassled by the stall keepers and then we met to see Prince of Persia at the movies as we were still in the mood for Arabs and desert scenery. The movie was loud and we were presented with an intermission break during the movie, which gave some of us a toilet break. I haven’t had an intermission break in a movie since Gone With The Wind. It was very quaint to experience this again.
We finally left Cairo for Tel Aviv Israel via Amman Jordan. We travelled once more through the streets of Cairo with all its chaos and mayhem and finally boarded our plane.
The plane trip was uneventful, but smooth in timing and travel. We landed in Tel Aviv airport, which is a clean and new structure. Catching the taxi to our hotel and travelling along the roads of Israel was quite a contrast with those of Egypt. We didn’t hear a horn and all the cars stayed in their lanes and there were no pedestrians walking with the traffic. The scenery reminded me of home and for the first time in over 2 weeks we didn’t feel out of place or did we stand out in this society. We reached the hotel and bedded down for the night.
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Day 12
Giza, what can I say. Its always impressive no matter how many times you see it. It was the first time for the rest of our group and so the enjoyment of that spread to us again. We saw the pyramids from the other side and went inside the second pyramid so we can actually say “been there”.
The capped pyramid is the smaller of the two, but is actually constructed on a higher level giving it the impression that it is bigger. Time has deteriorated the exterior of the pyramids, but it didn’t help when previous generations “stripped” the exterior to use those materials in building other insignificant structures that nobody knows what was built. The only example of what the exterior looked like is the cap section where limestone was used and would have given the pyramids a white shiny veneer that would have made them even more spectacular.
The Sphinx is the guardian of the pyramids and was constructed out of the bedrock that was there making it even older than the pyramids.
We also got within touching distance to the sphinx and you could actually see the base and how beautiful it was when fully intact.
The back view shows the tail and rump that they are attempting to repair.
We travelled to the area of what was the previous capital of ancient Egypt, Memphis. The site where a “miniature” sphinx made out of alabaster was found laying on its side which caused it to be deteriorated.
A huge statue of Ramses 2 was also found at the site. The building which houses it was built around the statue for viewing. I’m guessing it couldn’t be stood upright as the legs have broken and deteriorated. It is quite a huge statue.
Well our tour of Egypt has finished and we expressed our appreciation to our tour director, Mohamed Mahmud, he has made touring a wonderful experience. We have one more night and head off to Tel Aviv via Amman tomorrow evening.
One last photo, I think represents at least in my mind what Egypt portrays to the visitor to this timeless country. I’m not trying to denigrate the country and its people, maybe more its leaders. Although the intentions are genuine, I’m sure, the actual practice is where it lets it down.
The capped pyramid is the smaller of the two, but is actually constructed on a higher level giving it the impression that it is bigger. Time has deteriorated the exterior of the pyramids, but it didn’t help when previous generations “stripped” the exterior to use those materials in building other insignificant structures that nobody knows what was built. The only example of what the exterior looked like is the cap section where limestone was used and would have given the pyramids a white shiny veneer that would have made them even more spectacular.
The Sphinx is the guardian of the pyramids and was constructed out of the bedrock that was there making it even older than the pyramids.
We also got within touching distance to the sphinx and you could actually see the base and how beautiful it was when fully intact.
The back view shows the tail and rump that they are attempting to repair.
We travelled to the area of what was the previous capital of ancient Egypt, Memphis. The site where a “miniature” sphinx made out of alabaster was found laying on its side which caused it to be deteriorated.
A huge statue of Ramses 2 was also found at the site. The building which houses it was built around the statue for viewing. I’m guessing it couldn’t be stood upright as the legs have broken and deteriorated. It is quite a huge statue.
Well our tour of Egypt has finished and we expressed our appreciation to our tour director, Mohamed Mahmud, he has made touring a wonderful experience. We have one more night and head off to Tel Aviv via Amman tomorrow evening.
One last photo, I think represents at least in my mind what Egypt portrays to the visitor to this timeless country. I’m not trying to denigrate the country and its people, maybe more its leaders. Although the intentions are genuine, I’m sure, the actual practice is where it lets it down.
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Day 11
Breakfast at the Hilton was OK, typical of a Hilton standard. I think we were spoiled by the Semiramis where the food was exceptional. After breakfast we ventured out on the streets. Did I say it was peak hour traffic, well its always peak hour traffic. We spotted a pedestrian crossing, but that doesn’t mean anything here, only that we can see the straight line across the road. Well 3 roads of traffic and 1 minibus depot later we were on the museum side of the road. We reached the front entrance and found a shady spot in the front gardens to wait for our tour group. While waiting we struck up a conversation with a young man, Aziz, who is also a tour guide (French speaking) and we chatted about his country and ours. He was very helpful in answering a lot of questions that we had in regards to Egypt and Muslims in general.
Our tour group finally arrived, well worn, but happy to see us. We have become somewhat of a family with some couples feeling quite relaxed and friendly. We entered the museum, which houses most of Egypt’s antiquities, including King Tutankhamen. Mohamed, our tour guide was as ever very knowledgeable about his Egyptology and showed us various exhibits that he thought would be interesting to us, with some pieces dating back to 3,900BC. Its always amazing to see these stone art pieces / carvings and to think how gifted these artisans were, given the type of tools that they had. King Tutankhamen’s exhibits has an end section of the building allocated to it and it is amazing. Especially the sarcophagus and mask which is solid gold and very, very beautiful.
After our time wandering the corridors of this amazing museum it was time to rest and meet under the shade of the trees at the front garden again.
Back to the bus and Ramses Hotel. Anne wasn’t feeling well and was starting to get a migraine, probably from the walking and the heat and traffic and other stresses like concentrating on the information at hand, so she went to rest while the rest of us ventured down the street in search of McDonalds. Walking down the busy side street in the middle of Cairo a young couple with their 2 kids heard me yell out “Penny”, they turned around and were awestruck to see that they knew this Penny. It turns out that the couple are Canadians who spent a year in Coffs Harbour on a teacher exchange and she had worked with Penny for the last 6 months of last year. They had been travelling ever since with their kids around the world on their way back home to Canada. Travelling through places such as Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Russia (across Siberia on a train), Greece and now Egypt. Well it’s a small world sometimes.
We eventually found McDonalds just across the road on level 7 and had a McArabia Meal. Just a couple of meat patties in Lebanese bread. It might be a hit in Bankstown or Auburn, but not for everyone.
Tonight we revisited the pyramids at Giza for the Light & Sound “Spectacular”. The pyramids are always unbelievable, however the Light & Sound Show is a bit outdated with the English “toffee” accent and the less than spectacular laser lights. The lighting of the pyramids and sphinx is nice and more could be done in that vein.
With the show finished we returned to our hotel. The last 100m took more than 20mins. The traffic is unbelievably congested. As the bus driver cut across multi lanes of traffic to turn into our hotel road we all burst out in applause at the skill and nerve that he had displayed.
Tomorrow we return to Giza and Sakkara / Memphis. The pyramids at Giza I don’t think anyone could get tired of.
Our tour group finally arrived, well worn, but happy to see us. We have become somewhat of a family with some couples feeling quite relaxed and friendly. We entered the museum, which houses most of Egypt’s antiquities, including King Tutankhamen. Mohamed, our tour guide was as ever very knowledgeable about his Egyptology and showed us various exhibits that he thought would be interesting to us, with some pieces dating back to 3,900BC. Its always amazing to see these stone art pieces / carvings and to think how gifted these artisans were, given the type of tools that they had. King Tutankhamen’s exhibits has an end section of the building allocated to it and it is amazing. Especially the sarcophagus and mask which is solid gold and very, very beautiful.
After our time wandering the corridors of this amazing museum it was time to rest and meet under the shade of the trees at the front garden again.
Back to the bus and Ramses Hotel. Anne wasn’t feeling well and was starting to get a migraine, probably from the walking and the heat and traffic and other stresses like concentrating on the information at hand, so she went to rest while the rest of us ventured down the street in search of McDonalds. Walking down the busy side street in the middle of Cairo a young couple with their 2 kids heard me yell out “Penny”, they turned around and were awestruck to see that they knew this Penny. It turns out that the couple are Canadians who spent a year in Coffs Harbour on a teacher exchange and she had worked with Penny for the last 6 months of last year. They had been travelling ever since with their kids around the world on their way back home to Canada. Travelling through places such as Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Russia (across Siberia on a train), Greece and now Egypt. Well it’s a small world sometimes.
We eventually found McDonalds just across the road on level 7 and had a McArabia Meal. Just a couple of meat patties in Lebanese bread. It might be a hit in Bankstown or Auburn, but not for everyone.
Tonight we revisited the pyramids at Giza for the Light & Sound “Spectacular”. The pyramids are always unbelievable, however the Light & Sound Show is a bit outdated with the English “toffee” accent and the less than spectacular laser lights. The lighting of the pyramids and sphinx is nice and more could be done in that vein.
With the show finished we returned to our hotel. The last 100m took more than 20mins. The traffic is unbelievably congested. As the bus driver cut across multi lanes of traffic to turn into our hotel road we all burst out in applause at the skill and nerve that he had displayed.
Tomorrow we return to Giza and Sakkara / Memphis. The pyramids at Giza I don’t think anyone could get tired of.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Day 10
By morning we were packed and ready to leave Aswan and our boat. Our first stop was the Aswan Airport for the 30min plane flight south to Abu Simble. There was another group onboard our ship also going to Abu Simble but by bus taking 3 hours there and back. They were the German Group. We only occasionally spoke and said hello to each other and certainly never mentioned the war.
Aswan Airport like Luxor Airport is a military base with commercial flights so the security is a bit more obvious. As we got off the bus I heard a huge rumble and looked up to see 2 fighter jets scrambling west over the Sahara Desert. That is one noise I just can’t get enough of.
Another safe landing at Abu Simble (another military base) and we jumped on the bus headed for the temple.
This was another temple that had to be relocated due to the dammed water. They had to cut it piece by piece from the original mountain and then make a replica mountain to provide the exact same appearance, even to the detail of crumbled rocks at the base of the sitting statues. These were also impressive, the left temple of Ramses 2 and the smaller temple of his wife next to it.
Back to the airport for our trip “home” to Cairo via Aswan. Cairo from the air is unbelievable. This was our second look at the sprawling metropolis. There are no houses to speak of, just rows and rows of apartment blocks sprouting out of desert sand with chunks of green in places and connected with never ending traffic. . That way he delays payment of taxes for the building, but this leaves the place looking unsightly and disorganised. Some apartment blocks are yet to be finished and don’t get completed until the owner is ready.
The city looks better from the air than on the ground. From the air it looks like an organised city, but from the ground its disorganised chaos, with traffic noise, bustling people and unsightly and dirty buildings and streets. That’s Cairo.
We booked into the Hotel Ramses Hilton, just up the road from our first hotel in Cairo. We refreshed and ventured onto the streets in search of food. Across the small side street we entered a multi level building in search of the Gracie Restaurant that we were told catered to Egyptian cuisine even though it had an Italian name. Well what a surprise it only served Italian food. Anyway it was reasonable and good food with great waiters who allowed us to sing the Australian and Canadian national anthems. We had 2 Canadians with us. Gillian a teacher principal (who looks like Whoopi Goldberg) and her travelling companion Jaqui, a Canadian Customs Border Officer.
We retired for the day looking forward to our sleep-in as the rest of the group had an early start to visit 2 mosques and the Greek Coptic quarter of Cairo, which we had already done on our first stop in Cairo. We were to meet up with our group at midday at the Cairo Museum the next day.
Aswan Airport like Luxor Airport is a military base with commercial flights so the security is a bit more obvious. As we got off the bus I heard a huge rumble and looked up to see 2 fighter jets scrambling west over the Sahara Desert. That is one noise I just can’t get enough of.
Another safe landing at Abu Simble (another military base) and we jumped on the bus headed for the temple.
This was another temple that had to be relocated due to the dammed water. They had to cut it piece by piece from the original mountain and then make a replica mountain to provide the exact same appearance, even to the detail of crumbled rocks at the base of the sitting statues. These were also impressive, the left temple of Ramses 2 and the smaller temple of his wife next to it.
Back to the airport for our trip “home” to Cairo via Aswan. Cairo from the air is unbelievable. This was our second look at the sprawling metropolis. There are no houses to speak of, just rows and rows of apartment blocks sprouting out of desert sand with chunks of green in places and connected with never ending traffic. . That way he delays payment of taxes for the building, but this leaves the place looking unsightly and disorganised. Some apartment blocks are yet to be finished and don’t get completed until the owner is ready.
The city looks better from the air than on the ground. From the air it looks like an organised city, but from the ground its disorganised chaos, with traffic noise, bustling people and unsightly and dirty buildings and streets. That’s Cairo.
We booked into the Hotel Ramses Hilton, just up the road from our first hotel in Cairo. We refreshed and ventured onto the streets in search of food. Across the small side street we entered a multi level building in search of the Gracie Restaurant that we were told catered to Egyptian cuisine even though it had an Italian name. Well what a surprise it only served Italian food. Anyway it was reasonable and good food with great waiters who allowed us to sing the Australian and Canadian national anthems. We had 2 Canadians with us. Gillian a teacher principal (who looks like Whoopi Goldberg) and her travelling companion Jaqui, a Canadian Customs Border Officer.
We retired for the day looking forward to our sleep-in as the rest of the group had an early start to visit 2 mosques and the Greek Coptic quarter of Cairo, which we had already done on our first stop in Cairo. We were to meet up with our group at midday at the Cairo Museum the next day.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Day 9
We woke up this morning with our boat docked at Aswan. A more beautiful and greener part of the Nile. Our day trip started with a visit to a red granite quarry where we were shown how the early stonemasons cut the large sections of rock to various shapes including an obelisque. One such example of an obelisque had been left at the site as there were imperfections in it that meant the large piece of stone could not be used.
The process was carried out by making wedge incisions into the rock using a harder rock type and cracking the perforations. A process such as this could take around 8 months to prepare a large obelisque section.
After our visit to the quarry we went to yet another temple. This one was located on an island called Philae.
The temple had been relocated from another site as they had flooded the valley that it was situated in following the construction of the first Aswan Dam. This was done piece by piece with over 320,000 pieces in this jigsaw puzzle.
To get to this temple we had to go by small boats with the locals providing the craft and having some of their “traders” on board to sell the odd trinket. Ian and Linda always love to haggle.
After this little ferry ride we visited the High Aswan Dam. A huge undertaking that supplies 75% of Egypt’s power. It also holds a lot of water. I wasn’t able to get a dam picture.
When we arrived back out our boat Grant and I had decided that we should maintain our tradition of whenever we are on the African continent its hair cut time. So off we went looking for the local barber. And we found one, a fellow called Ramadan (yeah like the religious event). Well after haggling we got down to a 20LE hair cut for each of us.
As an additional treatment at no extra charge we were given the “threading” treatment. Its where Mr Ramadan cuts some cotton thread, makes a sort of triangle by holding it in both hands and with his teeth and goes about plucking the hairs from your ears, eyebrows and face. We didn’t go for the nasal hairs this time. Believe me I could go for a full body treatment.
After our beauty treatment we were booked to go on a Felucca ride. What is a “Felucca’ you might ask. Well it’s the Egyptian equivalent of a river going yacht. They are actually graceful and can ride like the wind.
This was to be our last day on the boat as tomorrow we were off to Abu Simble. It was a bit sad leaving the MS Nile Sapphire, but we hadn’t seen a temple for a while so we packed up our bags and made ready for the flight south.
The process was carried out by making wedge incisions into the rock using a harder rock type and cracking the perforations. A process such as this could take around 8 months to prepare a large obelisque section.
After our visit to the quarry we went to yet another temple. This one was located on an island called Philae.
The temple had been relocated from another site as they had flooded the valley that it was situated in following the construction of the first Aswan Dam. This was done piece by piece with over 320,000 pieces in this jigsaw puzzle.
To get to this temple we had to go by small boats with the locals providing the craft and having some of their “traders” on board to sell the odd trinket. Ian and Linda always love to haggle.
After this little ferry ride we visited the High Aswan Dam. A huge undertaking that supplies 75% of Egypt’s power. It also holds a lot of water. I wasn’t able to get a dam picture.
When we arrived back out our boat Grant and I had decided that we should maintain our tradition of whenever we are on the African continent its hair cut time. So off we went looking for the local barber. And we found one, a fellow called Ramadan (yeah like the religious event). Well after haggling we got down to a 20LE hair cut for each of us.
As an additional treatment at no extra charge we were given the “threading” treatment. Its where Mr Ramadan cuts some cotton thread, makes a sort of triangle by holding it in both hands and with his teeth and goes about plucking the hairs from your ears, eyebrows and face. We didn’t go for the nasal hairs this time. Believe me I could go for a full body treatment.
After our beauty treatment we were booked to go on a Felucca ride. What is a “Felucca’ you might ask. Well it’s the Egyptian equivalent of a river going yacht. They are actually graceful and can ride like the wind.
This was to be our last day on the boat as tomorrow we were off to Abu Simble. It was a bit sad leaving the MS Nile Sapphire, but we hadn’t seen a temple for a while so we packed up our bags and made ready for the flight south.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Day 8
Continuing on up the Nile we disembarked at a place called Edfu where, you guessed it, we visited another temple. This one was a little different. It was a newer design only some 300BC when Alexander The Great and his “Greeks” (really Macedonians) were in charge. This was a beautifully persevered Temple because it had been covered by sand for a long time.
After our stroll through the temple it was time for us all to run the gauntlet along the bazaar as we headed back to our bus. All of us are getting annoyed and tired of dealing with the haggling street vendors selling their wares. It would be more enjoyable if they let us alone to stroll through their stalls instead of being in our faces. Anyway we made it back to our boat, but before we boarded we decided to go into our “mate” Ahmed’s stall because he said he would give us a good price and he did offer me 25 camels for Anne, so I thought we could do a deal. The camels sounded pretty good!
As we were choosing our items and collecting them to “haggle” about the price we could hear this loud horn. It was coming from our boat. We had thought that the boat would still stay their till after lunch so we didn’t think it was a problem, however as we looked to our fellow boat people we realised that the loud horn was for us to get back on the boat and the crew was actually dismantling the gang plank. We collected our goods and haggled with our mate Ahmed down from 600 EP to 200 EP. He wasn’t too happy but we were happy to drop our bundle and jump on board, so 200 EP was better than a camel pat.
Safely on board we showed off our hard fought prises and prepared for lunch. After lunch we had our customary afternoon nap and prepared for yet another temple tour, the Kom-Ombo Temple. This temple is built on the shores of the Nile and so it has not been well preserved due to weathering and flooding.
It actually had been affected by a recent earthquake that caused some of the top sections to fall.
The interesting thing about this temple is that there is a sort of large well in the courtyard that is fed underground from the Nile and measurements are taken to confirm whether the water supply down stream would be good or poor. These water levels would confirm whether the people could be taxed at certain levels, meaning good seasons for high taxes and poor seasons for low taxes.
With the tour completed we walked back to our boat and prepared for our nights entertainment. We were the entertainment as we dressed in our Galibaos and walked and ate like an Egyptian.
Grant had bought a “cap” of sorts and together with his Galibao he actually reminded me of Colonel Gudafi from Libya. Very impressive. We finished off our day by sitting on the top deck and sailed under the Aswan Bridge which was lit up for us to take some snaps. As we passed I tried to jump up and touch the underside of the bridge. I wasn’t too far off touching it. Here is where we were to dock for the night and begin another early start.
After our stroll through the temple it was time for us all to run the gauntlet along the bazaar as we headed back to our bus. All of us are getting annoyed and tired of dealing with the haggling street vendors selling their wares. It would be more enjoyable if they let us alone to stroll through their stalls instead of being in our faces. Anyway we made it back to our boat, but before we boarded we decided to go into our “mate” Ahmed’s stall because he said he would give us a good price and he did offer me 25 camels for Anne, so I thought we could do a deal. The camels sounded pretty good!
As we were choosing our items and collecting them to “haggle” about the price we could hear this loud horn. It was coming from our boat. We had thought that the boat would still stay their till after lunch so we didn’t think it was a problem, however as we looked to our fellow boat people we realised that the loud horn was for us to get back on the boat and the crew was actually dismantling the gang plank. We collected our goods and haggled with our mate Ahmed down from 600 EP to 200 EP. He wasn’t too happy but we were happy to drop our bundle and jump on board, so 200 EP was better than a camel pat.
Safely on board we showed off our hard fought prises and prepared for lunch. After lunch we had our customary afternoon nap and prepared for yet another temple tour, the Kom-Ombo Temple. This temple is built on the shores of the Nile and so it has not been well preserved due to weathering and flooding.
It actually had been affected by a recent earthquake that caused some of the top sections to fall.
The interesting thing about this temple is that there is a sort of large well in the courtyard that is fed underground from the Nile and measurements are taken to confirm whether the water supply down stream would be good or poor. These water levels would confirm whether the people could be taxed at certain levels, meaning good seasons for high taxes and poor seasons for low taxes.
With the tour completed we walked back to our boat and prepared for our nights entertainment. We were the entertainment as we dressed in our Galibaos and walked and ate like an Egyptian.
Grant had bought a “cap” of sorts and together with his Galibao he actually reminded me of Colonel Gudafi from Libya. Very impressive. We finished off our day by sitting on the top deck and sailed under the Aswan Bridge which was lit up for us to take some snaps. As we passed I tried to jump up and touch the underside of the bridge. I wasn’t too far off touching it. Here is where we were to dock for the night and begin another early start.
Friday, 21 May 2010
Day 7
Did I say an early start? It was still dark when we were taken by van / ferry / van to our take off area on the western bank of the Nile (our boat is parked on the eastern bank) where we were amazed to see about 7 other hot air balloons in various stages of inflation. Ours was the Sindbad (like the sailor?). The basket was in four compartments each with up to 7 people (ours was 6) and the “pilot” whose name was Mohamed (aren’t they all Mohamed?).
We were run through a “crash” course on landing procedures (pun intended?), signed a disclaimer where we couldn’t blame anyone for our stupidity in wanting to get to 2,000 ft above the ground with only hot air holding us up and no parachutes, and up, up, up we went. The sensation was fantastic, until I looked over the basket and so how high we were and wondered “what would happen if…..”. Well my anxiety levels started to race higher than I actually was.
I started taking photos to keep my mind of my mortality. It is beautiful up there over the mountains and river and houses.
It was another reminder of the uniqueness that is the Nile river valley. The narrow strip of green farmland that sustains a huge population, and the never-ending desert landscape that goes on as far as the eye can see.
After descending from around 2,000 ft, I was happy and relieved to be floating above the tree tops as we approached our landing spot which was a farm field adjacent to the river. The shout came for us to brace ourselves in the “crash” position and as we descended we were met by our ground crew who caught the basket and gently set us down on terra firma.
We all clapped and shouted for joy. When we disembarked we gathered around in joyous song and dance. Once more we defeated death itself and we celebrate living another day!
Following our adrenaline rush it was off to catch up with the rest of us “boat people” and into the Valley of the Kings to explore the many royal tombs of Pharaohs past. You wouldn’t believe it but we saw another “king” who is obviously still alive and kicking.
After this a few more temples and we were back on board. Man my feet hurt!
During lunch on board we set sail for the upper parts of the Nile, truly a grand river. We approached the “locks” were there is a height change for our continuing journey, but before that we were ambushed by a series of small boats “tagging” onto our boat and trying to sell us their wares such as Galibos, scarfs, table clothes etc.
They would do this by being tethered to the boat and shouting out “madam – very cheap” and then throw up the item in a plastic bag to the top deck level (4 storeys high) and then haggle over the price and you would either throw the item back or throw down the agreed value. As we were nearing the lock the price inevitably lowered and some did get a bargain or two.
One of the damages of these small boats trying to tether themselves onto the larger moving boat actually eventuated. There were about 6 boats tied to the lead boat that was tied to our boat and as another small boat tried to tag along there was a mix up causing the last 4 boats to come unstuck. There was some downcast faces as they realised that the had “missed the ship’ and lost any chance of making a sale. Well that’s the Nile.
We were run through a “crash” course on landing procedures (pun intended?), signed a disclaimer where we couldn’t blame anyone for our stupidity in wanting to get to 2,000 ft above the ground with only hot air holding us up and no parachutes, and up, up, up we went. The sensation was fantastic, until I looked over the basket and so how high we were and wondered “what would happen if…..”. Well my anxiety levels started to race higher than I actually was.
I started taking photos to keep my mind of my mortality. It is beautiful up there over the mountains and river and houses.
It was another reminder of the uniqueness that is the Nile river valley. The narrow strip of green farmland that sustains a huge population, and the never-ending desert landscape that goes on as far as the eye can see.
After descending from around 2,000 ft, I was happy and relieved to be floating above the tree tops as we approached our landing spot which was a farm field adjacent to the river. The shout came for us to brace ourselves in the “crash” position and as we descended we were met by our ground crew who caught the basket and gently set us down on terra firma.
We all clapped and shouted for joy. When we disembarked we gathered around in joyous song and dance. Once more we defeated death itself and we celebrate living another day!
Following our adrenaline rush it was off to catch up with the rest of us “boat people” and into the Valley of the Kings to explore the many royal tombs of Pharaohs past. You wouldn’t believe it but we saw another “king” who is obviously still alive and kicking.
After this a few more temples and we were back on board. Man my feet hurt!
During lunch on board we set sail for the upper parts of the Nile, truly a grand river. We approached the “locks” were there is a height change for our continuing journey, but before that we were ambushed by a series of small boats “tagging” onto our boat and trying to sell us their wares such as Galibos, scarfs, table clothes etc.
They would do this by being tethered to the boat and shouting out “madam – very cheap” and then throw up the item in a plastic bag to the top deck level (4 storeys high) and then haggle over the price and you would either throw the item back or throw down the agreed value. As we were nearing the lock the price inevitably lowered and some did get a bargain or two.
One of the damages of these small boats trying to tether themselves onto the larger moving boat actually eventuated. There were about 6 boats tied to the lead boat that was tied to our boat and as another small boat tried to tag along there was a mix up causing the last 4 boats to come unstuck. There was some downcast faces as they realised that the had “missed the ship’ and lost any chance of making a sale. Well that’s the Nile.
Thursday, 20 May 2010
Day 6
Another early start. This was the start of our Trafalgar Tour stage of our holiday. An early wake up call and early breakfast had us on the bus and to the airport for our flight to Luxor to start our Nile river cruise. It had been a few days since we had been on a plane, so we welcomed the usual feeling about being at an airport and in the air. The flight took about 1 hour and we entered our bus and strait away went to our first of many temples that these ancient Egyptians liked to build. Nowadays they seem to like to build multi story brick / concrete unit complexes, which don’t ever seem to get finished, but that’s another story.
Our first Temple was magnificent, huge etc etc. Luxor is the site of many temples and other Egyptian relics dating back to 3,000BC. These temples were grand in the extreme with most Kings trying to outdo the previous one, you know – “mine’s bigger than yours”.
We finally made it to the boat. The boat reminds me of a Mississippi river boat, 5 Levels but without the big paddle steamer thing at the back.
Ken and Vanessa De Garis caught up with us today following their own pre tour hot air balloon ride. Our balloon ride was booked for the next day an early start 4.45 am. Ouch!!
On another note, Anne had started to show signs of an allergic reaction. The night before she had stated to feel a hot sensation in her face and our first day on the boat her face had swollen as if she had been stung by a bee. Her face was burning up and the fact of being in the hot Egyptian sun everyday wasn’t helping. It took till the last day on the Nile for her face to get back to some normality.
Our first Temple was magnificent, huge etc etc. Luxor is the site of many temples and other Egyptian relics dating back to 3,000BC. These temples were grand in the extreme with most Kings trying to outdo the previous one, you know – “mine’s bigger than yours”.
We finally made it to the boat. The boat reminds me of a Mississippi river boat, 5 Levels but without the big paddle steamer thing at the back.
Ken and Vanessa De Garis caught up with us today following their own pre tour hot air balloon ride. Our balloon ride was booked for the next day an early start 4.45 am. Ouch!!
On another note, Anne had started to show signs of an allergic reaction. The night before she had stated to feel a hot sensation in her face and our first day on the boat her face had swollen as if she had been stung by a bee. Her face was burning up and the fact of being in the hot Egyptian sun everyday wasn’t helping. It took till the last day on the Nile for her face to get back to some normality.
Day 5
Breakfast as usual a good start to the day. Khaled was taking us to some of the more modern “religious” sites. We started with a Muslim mosque in central Cairo. Here lies the tombs of several “royals” among them King Farouk and some of his wives and the Shah of Iran. Khaled instructed us on the finer aspects of Muslim worship, he himself being a member of the Suni Sect.
Upon entering the mosque we were required to take our shoes off and enter, however the internal finishes were run down and lacked any continuing maintenance regime and in my mind, I thought if this is such a sacred building then why not maintain it to a good standard, perhaps that is a show of their humility? I think its that they spend the money in other areas.
One thing that struck me about Khaled was that he had a good knowledge of most things and seemed “connected” with most of the people in Cairo. He seemed to be able to get us into places that might usually be off limits to others. Its been great to have him take care of us.
Our next stop was to visit the Greek Coptic church of St George. Its complex contained 2 chapels. The older one seemed to have a special significance in regards to the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. Khaled was saying that the Egyptian Coptics don’t mention Joseph the carpenter as being with Mary and Jesus, but that they were “protected” by Michael The Archangel. When we entered the major chapel Khaled had mentioned that he had “felt” something in this building the first time he entered it. I on the other hand thought it was depressing as the internal finishes were dark and sombre. I guess each to his own. Speaking of depressing most of us had to use the bathrooms and the state of them was “gagging” to say the least.
Khaled then took us on a shopping spree at a centre on Road 9, where we bought trinkets and Galibos (long Arab style dress for men). He also drove us past the LDS chapel which was a previous residential stand alone building, typical of chapels in small branch countries.
To top off our “religious” day out, we were entertained by the “Sufi Dancers” (Whirling Dervishes – I think they are a type of religion?). These guys (all men) play instruments typical of Arab cultures, sing in typical Arab tones and whaling and dance in spinning circles. It was very hypnotic, so hypnotic that I dozed off and when I awoke and looked around I saw that my fellow travellers, Ian, Linda, Grant and Anne had also slipped into never never land. The most amazing thing about these “dancers” is that they would twirl in circles to a rhythmic beat for up to 30 minutes and when they stopped they would be still and not be dizzy from inertia. They seem to get into some trance. This was the only tourist attraction that didn’t seem to come with the typical hand out for money that all other places come with.
At the finish of our day we bid Khaled and his driver a fond farewell as he dropped us off at our hotel for the night.
Upon entering the mosque we were required to take our shoes off and enter, however the internal finishes were run down and lacked any continuing maintenance regime and in my mind, I thought if this is such a sacred building then why not maintain it to a good standard, perhaps that is a show of their humility? I think its that they spend the money in other areas.
One thing that struck me about Khaled was that he had a good knowledge of most things and seemed “connected” with most of the people in Cairo. He seemed to be able to get us into places that might usually be off limits to others. Its been great to have him take care of us.
Our next stop was to visit the Greek Coptic church of St George. Its complex contained 2 chapels. The older one seemed to have a special significance in regards to the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. Khaled was saying that the Egyptian Coptics don’t mention Joseph the carpenter as being with Mary and Jesus, but that they were “protected” by Michael The Archangel. When we entered the major chapel Khaled had mentioned that he had “felt” something in this building the first time he entered it. I on the other hand thought it was depressing as the internal finishes were dark and sombre. I guess each to his own. Speaking of depressing most of us had to use the bathrooms and the state of them was “gagging” to say the least.
Khaled then took us on a shopping spree at a centre on Road 9, where we bought trinkets and Galibos (long Arab style dress for men). He also drove us past the LDS chapel which was a previous residential stand alone building, typical of chapels in small branch countries.
To top off our “religious” day out, we were entertained by the “Sufi Dancers” (Whirling Dervishes – I think they are a type of religion?). These guys (all men) play instruments typical of Arab cultures, sing in typical Arab tones and whaling and dance in spinning circles. It was very hypnotic, so hypnotic that I dozed off and when I awoke and looked around I saw that my fellow travellers, Ian, Linda, Grant and Anne had also slipped into never never land. The most amazing thing about these “dancers” is that they would twirl in circles to a rhythmic beat for up to 30 minutes and when they stopped they would be still and not be dizzy from inertia. They seem to get into some trance. This was the only tourist attraction that didn’t seem to come with the typical hand out for money that all other places come with.
At the finish of our day we bid Khaled and his driver a fond farewell as he dropped us off at our hotel for the night.
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Day 4
Our guide Khaled picked us up at 8.15am and off we went to battle the traffic through the streets of Cairo heading towards Sakarra, where the oldest pyramid in the world is to be found.
Sakarra is situated south of Cairo and is adjacent to the remains of the great city of Memphis. The river Nile runs south – north and the river valley is lush and green. On either side of this strip of green is desert and so as we reached Sakarra we literally crossed over into desert. Here we were handed over to our archaeologist guide Saleh who gave us an archaeological lesson on ancient Egyptian burial customs and reading Egyptian Hieroglyphs.
By the end of our 2 hour tour we had become Egyptologists.
We were told that the Sakarra pyramid was the first one built around 4,000BC and that there were subsequent tombs built layer upon layer and they had just the previous month found another burial tomb in their diggings. The one interesting fact that Saleh had raised was that Egyptian tombs were located west of the cities because the Egyptians believed that just as the sun set in the west and arose the next day in the east, so when the dead were buried it was in the west so that they too could arise in the east as the sun did.
The road to and from Sakarra passed through rural settlements. Every so often we would pass donkey driven carts / wagons, sometimes with oxen in tow, giving us the feeling of stepping back in time. Egypt is a contrast in lifestyle. Modern western culture in the city ranging to 3rd world poverty in its suburbs and rural areas. The one fascinating aspect is that the people are friendly where ever you are and are fascinated by visitors to their country.
With our appetites wet by Sakarra we drove on to Giza where the famous pyramids are located.
Here we were given over to our Giza guides who placed us on camels and horses for our trek to the pyramids. Traveling through the desert on camel back gave me the feeling of being on the set of Lawrence of Arabia. The gentle rocking motion of the camel striding towards the great pyramids was inspiring and very picturesque, however after 2 hours of riding the camels, our hips and buts were screaming out for mercy. Needless to say many a picture was snapped.
After our journey through time we came back to the present as we struggled to return to our hotel through “peak hour traffic”. As we crawled our way along with our fellow motorists, Anne seemed to have caught the eye of an old Egyptian man in a small commuter bus wearing a turban, who upon catching Anne’s eye gave her a wink and a toothless grin, I suppose in an attempt to win her over, or welcome her to his country. All in all she was somewhat taken aback.
When we finally arrived to our hotel we refreshed and made ready for dinner and dinner tonight was to be in a local Egyptian style restaurant in the heart of town. To build up our appetite for dinner we had decided to be brave and walk the streets. As we waited at a pedestrian crossing, the local traffic cop finally halted traffic so that we could cross, but we forgot that this doesn’t mean anything in this country as evidenced by a car coming to a screeching halt as we proceeded to cross and Ian showed his disgust by raising his foot in an attempt to kick the car to stop him hitting Linda. Surviving this attempt on our lives we ventured through the subways below ground level and somehow made it to the other side of the busy roads and onto our restaurant for dinner.
Dinner was not as palatable as the night before, however the ambiance was typically Egyptian and that was really the aim of the evening. With dinner over we again ventured through the streets of Cairo and somehow made it back to peace and safety of our hotel. Another day over and looking forward to more to come.
Grant's quote of the day;- We were driving along the river Nile and Grant looked at the island in the middle of the river and said “look there’s an island in the middle of denial”
Sakarra is situated south of Cairo and is adjacent to the remains of the great city of Memphis. The river Nile runs south – north and the river valley is lush and green. On either side of this strip of green is desert and so as we reached Sakarra we literally crossed over into desert. Here we were handed over to our archaeologist guide Saleh who gave us an archaeological lesson on ancient Egyptian burial customs and reading Egyptian Hieroglyphs.
By the end of our 2 hour tour we had become Egyptologists.
We were told that the Sakarra pyramid was the first one built around 4,000BC and that there were subsequent tombs built layer upon layer and they had just the previous month found another burial tomb in their diggings. The one interesting fact that Saleh had raised was that Egyptian tombs were located west of the cities because the Egyptians believed that just as the sun set in the west and arose the next day in the east, so when the dead were buried it was in the west so that they too could arise in the east as the sun did.
The road to and from Sakarra passed through rural settlements. Every so often we would pass donkey driven carts / wagons, sometimes with oxen in tow, giving us the feeling of stepping back in time. Egypt is a contrast in lifestyle. Modern western culture in the city ranging to 3rd world poverty in its suburbs and rural areas. The one fascinating aspect is that the people are friendly where ever you are and are fascinated by visitors to their country.
With our appetites wet by Sakarra we drove on to Giza where the famous pyramids are located.
Here we were given over to our Giza guides who placed us on camels and horses for our trek to the pyramids. Traveling through the desert on camel back gave me the feeling of being on the set of Lawrence of Arabia. The gentle rocking motion of the camel striding towards the great pyramids was inspiring and very picturesque, however after 2 hours of riding the camels, our hips and buts were screaming out for mercy. Needless to say many a picture was snapped.
After our journey through time we came back to the present as we struggled to return to our hotel through “peak hour traffic”. As we crawled our way along with our fellow motorists, Anne seemed to have caught the eye of an old Egyptian man in a small commuter bus wearing a turban, who upon catching Anne’s eye gave her a wink and a toothless grin, I suppose in an attempt to win her over, or welcome her to his country. All in all she was somewhat taken aback.
When we finally arrived to our hotel we refreshed and made ready for dinner and dinner tonight was to be in a local Egyptian style restaurant in the heart of town. To build up our appetite for dinner we had decided to be brave and walk the streets. As we waited at a pedestrian crossing, the local traffic cop finally halted traffic so that we could cross, but we forgot that this doesn’t mean anything in this country as evidenced by a car coming to a screeching halt as we proceeded to cross and Ian showed his disgust by raising his foot in an attempt to kick the car to stop him hitting Linda. Surviving this attempt on our lives we ventured through the subways below ground level and somehow made it to the other side of the busy roads and onto our restaurant for dinner.
Dinner was not as palatable as the night before, however the ambiance was typically Egyptian and that was really the aim of the evening. With dinner over we again ventured through the streets of Cairo and somehow made it back to peace and safety of our hotel. Another day over and looking forward to more to come.
Grant's quote of the day;- We were driving along the river Nile and Grant looked at the island in the middle of the river and said “look there’s an island in the middle of denial”
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Day 2 - 3
Hong Kong again for some more walking the streets and “window shopping” with Ian and Linda. Grant & Penny visited Grants grandfather’s grave (maternal) who was buried in Hong Kong Happy Valley Cemetery following his death from illness (a sea captain). They also managed attendance at the LDS Hong Kong District Conference where it was rumoured that Elder Dallin H Oaks would be presiding. The rumour turned out to be just that, however they were still glad they attended.
On our journey through the streets we were looking for a chemist for Ian and finally found one open. The majority of shops are camera stores, suit tailors, jewellery stores, foot massages. Surprisingly we didn’t find one nail pedicure store which, is all the rage back home.
We met up again with Penny & Grant and booked out of the hotel. Our shuttle bus picked us up at the door and dropped us off at Kowloon station where we “checked in” and the train delivered us safe and sound at the airport.
I finally fulfilled one of my life ambitions – to go on a long haul flight in “business class”. I was so excited. It was an odd sensation. The seats were lined up at an angle as separate compartments, comfortable, but not sociable. I did sleep well and the food was much more in keeping with the “upper class” bearing in mind it was still “airline food”.
We reached Dubai just after 9.00pm and as we began lining up for the usual customs check, Linda realised she didn’t have her passport. It appeared that she had somehow left it on board. We thought the worst, like Tom Hanks in the Terminal where Linda would have to wait out her time eating kebab scraps and left over biscuits while her new passport would arrive. After much to-ing and fro-ing Linda finally had her passport found in Ian’s seat compartment. We finally made it to our hotel bed around 1.00am for a 5.00am reboarding on our flight to Amman. Needless to say we didn’t see much of Dubai. We didn’t see much of Amman also, just the transit lounge where we had the customary ice cream with Grant of course.
Time to board our flight to Cairo and it was Grant & Penny’s turn to travel business class, albeit for a short less than 1 & 1/2 hour flight. The whole of the middle east is of course a desert, however you still need to see it and feel it first hand to appreciate it.
We reached the great metropolis called Cairo and it was like stepping back to the 60’s. I don’t think any maintenance has been done since that time. Yes various new buildings / hotels have been built, but they are surrounded by 3rd world dilapidated buildings where somehow people still live their day to day lives. We were met by our “driver” Khalid who had arranged for a minibus and delivered us to our wonderfully spacious hotel, the Semiramis Intercontinental, which is a luxurious hotel overlooking the grand Nile River.
After settling into our rooms we decided to brave the busy streets of Cairo in search of a local restaurant / eating establishment. We checked with our hotel doorman who assured us that some fine traditional eateries were to be found “down the road” about 10 mins walk. Well, what a walk it was. Cars zipping past honking horns, taxis trying to engage us and general mayhem. We thought Italy was bad, but it doesn’t compare with Cairo with its multi lanes of vehicles in one way traffic, that is 4-5 lanes of cars in a 3 lane road. Our walk was down the bank of the river Nile and it seemed that every 50m there would be stationed a “tourist” police or armed soldier, who would greet us with a “hello”. We were to find out that that is the only English word most Egyptians know. Well, after walking about 2klm we didn’t find any eatery so we decided to turn back and walk to our hotel where we knew that there was food. Linda and Ian decided a taxi would suit them better so it was the “young ones” who ventured back on foot.
We finally made it and were reunited with Ian and Linda. The walk had increased my appetite - Anne would say I don’t need anything to increase my appetite. We had decided to eat at the hotels’ buffet restaurant and what a great decision that was. I’m not much of a broccoli eater but it was sensational, as was most of the food. Well as usual I couldn’t help myself and by the time we had finished eating I couldn’t breathe. It was at this point that Grant had decided that he was tired after only 4 hours sleep since leaving Sydney. He had forgotten that we had 2 nights in hotel rooms, but why spoil his memory.
There was one last thing that we needed to do. That was to go “shopping” for our own stock of drink for our room. Ian and I bid farewell to Anne and Linda and we thought we would be brave it again and hit the streets of Cairo.
This time we headed up the opposite direction. I remembered our driver said that “rush hour” was all day long and he was right. There seems to be no let up to the traffic. We walked around the corner to what became Sadat Square, a busy intersection with a massive roundabout, where cars, buses, horse drawn carts and people jostled for positions on the road. Ian and I had found a subway where it looked like we could travel underground to arrive safe and sound on the other side of all this mayhem. Well after ferreting our way through the underground we only made it half way round to where we wanted to be, so we decided to be as the locals, you know “when in Cairo …” well here we were, Ian and I walking through the lanes of cars while they were still moving. It looks worse than it is. The trick is to start walking and don’t stop. It seems that the cars swerve and the pedestrians just cross like they were taking a “walk in the park”. It was an adrenaline rush – all the beep, beep and swerve, swerve. We made it to the other side just like the chicken, but not like the frog. It was so busy with people milling around everywhere. If you can picture a large shopping mall with shoppers and people meeting, well this was pretty much the same, but no shopping mall, just the occasional smoking bar, kebab shop, internet café etc.
After buying our drinks it was back to the subway and this time we made it to the other side of the road, but a bit to the left. We eventually made it back to our hotel relieved to have survived the near death experience called “shopping in Cairo”. The end of day 3 and now looking forward to discovering Egypt with our own special tour guide named Khaled.
On our journey through the streets we were looking for a chemist for Ian and finally found one open. The majority of shops are camera stores, suit tailors, jewellery stores, foot massages. Surprisingly we didn’t find one nail pedicure store which, is all the rage back home.
We met up again with Penny & Grant and booked out of the hotel. Our shuttle bus picked us up at the door and dropped us off at Kowloon station where we “checked in” and the train delivered us safe and sound at the airport.
I finally fulfilled one of my life ambitions – to go on a long haul flight in “business class”. I was so excited. It was an odd sensation. The seats were lined up at an angle as separate compartments, comfortable, but not sociable. I did sleep well and the food was much more in keeping with the “upper class” bearing in mind it was still “airline food”.
We reached Dubai just after 9.00pm and as we began lining up for the usual customs check, Linda realised she didn’t have her passport. It appeared that she had somehow left it on board. We thought the worst, like Tom Hanks in the Terminal where Linda would have to wait out her time eating kebab scraps and left over biscuits while her new passport would arrive. After much to-ing and fro-ing Linda finally had her passport found in Ian’s seat compartment. We finally made it to our hotel bed around 1.00am for a 5.00am reboarding on our flight to Amman. Needless to say we didn’t see much of Dubai. We didn’t see much of Amman also, just the transit lounge where we had the customary ice cream with Grant of course.
Time to board our flight to Cairo and it was Grant & Penny’s turn to travel business class, albeit for a short less than 1 & 1/2 hour flight. The whole of the middle east is of course a desert, however you still need to see it and feel it first hand to appreciate it.
We reached the great metropolis called Cairo and it was like stepping back to the 60’s. I don’t think any maintenance has been done since that time. Yes various new buildings / hotels have been built, but they are surrounded by 3rd world dilapidated buildings where somehow people still live their day to day lives. We were met by our “driver” Khalid who had arranged for a minibus and delivered us to our wonderfully spacious hotel, the Semiramis Intercontinental, which is a luxurious hotel overlooking the grand Nile River.
After settling into our rooms we decided to brave the busy streets of Cairo in search of a local restaurant / eating establishment. We checked with our hotel doorman who assured us that some fine traditional eateries were to be found “down the road” about 10 mins walk. Well, what a walk it was. Cars zipping past honking horns, taxis trying to engage us and general mayhem. We thought Italy was bad, but it doesn’t compare with Cairo with its multi lanes of vehicles in one way traffic, that is 4-5 lanes of cars in a 3 lane road. Our walk was down the bank of the river Nile and it seemed that every 50m there would be stationed a “tourist” police or armed soldier, who would greet us with a “hello”. We were to find out that that is the only English word most Egyptians know. Well, after walking about 2klm we didn’t find any eatery so we decided to turn back and walk to our hotel where we knew that there was food. Linda and Ian decided a taxi would suit them better so it was the “young ones” who ventured back on foot.
We finally made it and were reunited with Ian and Linda. The walk had increased my appetite - Anne would say I don’t need anything to increase my appetite. We had decided to eat at the hotels’ buffet restaurant and what a great decision that was. I’m not much of a broccoli eater but it was sensational, as was most of the food. Well as usual I couldn’t help myself and by the time we had finished eating I couldn’t breathe. It was at this point that Grant had decided that he was tired after only 4 hours sleep since leaving Sydney. He had forgotten that we had 2 nights in hotel rooms, but why spoil his memory.
There was one last thing that we needed to do. That was to go “shopping” for our own stock of drink for our room. Ian and I bid farewell to Anne and Linda and we thought we would be brave it again and hit the streets of Cairo.
This time we headed up the opposite direction. I remembered our driver said that “rush hour” was all day long and he was right. There seems to be no let up to the traffic. We walked around the corner to what became Sadat Square, a busy intersection with a massive roundabout, where cars, buses, horse drawn carts and people jostled for positions on the road. Ian and I had found a subway where it looked like we could travel underground to arrive safe and sound on the other side of all this mayhem. Well after ferreting our way through the underground we only made it half way round to where we wanted to be, so we decided to be as the locals, you know “when in Cairo …” well here we were, Ian and I walking through the lanes of cars while they were still moving. It looks worse than it is. The trick is to start walking and don’t stop. It seems that the cars swerve and the pedestrians just cross like they were taking a “walk in the park”. It was an adrenaline rush – all the beep, beep and swerve, swerve. We made it to the other side just like the chicken, but not like the frog. It was so busy with people milling around everywhere. If you can picture a large shopping mall with shoppers and people meeting, well this was pretty much the same, but no shopping mall, just the occasional smoking bar, kebab shop, internet café etc.
After buying our drinks it was back to the subway and this time we made it to the other side of the road, but a bit to the left. We eventually made it back to our hotel relieved to have survived the near death experience called “shopping in Cairo”. The end of day 3 and now looking forward to discovering Egypt with our own special tour guide named Khaled.
Sunday, 16 May 2010
Day 1
Day 1 saw our daughter Tayce deliver Anne, myself, Penny and Grant to the airport where we met with Ian and Linda. Our small group of intrepid travellers were excited and looking forward to this “trip of a life time”. Along with our group we met up with Keith and Jan Sandler from Coffs Harbour who will also be travelling through Egypt and Israel with us.
Our first step on this journey was to take us to Hong Kong. Ian and Linda were able to secure business class seats and so were up the front of the plane leaving the rest of our group in the more sociable and close feeling quarters called “Economy”. Being only an 8 and ½ hour flight we were feeling pretty good when we arrived at Hong Kong. Coming to the northern hemisphere spring weather we experienced a comfortable 29 degrees C and exited the airport Customs area with no checking at all. We purchased train tickets to arrive at our stopover hotel, The Kowloon Hotel. At this point I was beginning to feel surreal, in that, here we were in a foreign country, only knowing the general layout and directions of where we were to go. Grant was beginning to “worry” about which stop we were to get off at (there was only 3 and we were stop # 2). Anne who had organised this stop over had it to the minutest detail and it turned out that the train brought us to Kowloon Station where we were ushered onto a courtesy shuttle bus straight to the Kowloon Hotel foyer.
After we checked in we went exploring the sights, sounds and smells of Hong Kong. Penny had a desire to view the Harbour Laser Show, so we walked over and under the busy Hong Kong streets and as we followed a crowd of people we ended up at the harbour foreshore with the laser show just commencing. With the cloud cover that was there most of the time, the laser show was not all that spectacular, however I took the opportunity to take some happy snaps with our new camera. I hope you can get a feel of the atmosphere from these.
At the conclusion of this spectacular, it was dinner time. Surprisingly we ended up at a “Chinese” restaurant and were pleased to see what the strength of our Aussie dollar could buy.
More walking brought us back to our hotel where we bedded down for the night. Just a note on our hotel room, its just like everything else the Chinese do so well. The room is compact with just enough room to swing a “kitten”. On a more sour note, Anne and I discovered that I had inadvertently left our Ipod Touch on the plane from Sydney. How disappointing.
Well that was day 1.
Our first step on this journey was to take us to Hong Kong. Ian and Linda were able to secure business class seats and so were up the front of the plane leaving the rest of our group in the more sociable and close feeling quarters called “Economy”. Being only an 8 and ½ hour flight we were feeling pretty good when we arrived at Hong Kong. Coming to the northern hemisphere spring weather we experienced a comfortable 29 degrees C and exited the airport Customs area with no checking at all. We purchased train tickets to arrive at our stopover hotel, The Kowloon Hotel. At this point I was beginning to feel surreal, in that, here we were in a foreign country, only knowing the general layout and directions of where we were to go. Grant was beginning to “worry” about which stop we were to get off at (there was only 3 and we were stop # 2). Anne who had organised this stop over had it to the minutest detail and it turned out that the train brought us to Kowloon Station where we were ushered onto a courtesy shuttle bus straight to the Kowloon Hotel foyer.
After we checked in we went exploring the sights, sounds and smells of Hong Kong. Penny had a desire to view the Harbour Laser Show, so we walked over and under the busy Hong Kong streets and as we followed a crowd of people we ended up at the harbour foreshore with the laser show just commencing. With the cloud cover that was there most of the time, the laser show was not all that spectacular, however I took the opportunity to take some happy snaps with our new camera. I hope you can get a feel of the atmosphere from these.
At the conclusion of this spectacular, it was dinner time. Surprisingly we ended up at a “Chinese” restaurant and were pleased to see what the strength of our Aussie dollar could buy.
More walking brought us back to our hotel where we bedded down for the night. Just a note on our hotel room, its just like everything else the Chinese do so well. The room is compact with just enough room to swing a “kitten”. On a more sour note, Anne and I discovered that I had inadvertently left our Ipod Touch on the plane from Sydney. How disappointing.
Well that was day 1.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)