Around Luxor Temple
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Our View of Ancient Egypt
Seeing as it takes forever for pictures to download here is only a small selection which includes a photo of me at Hatchepsut's Temple, one of Tom and I at the Colosus of Memnon,one of a dig going on at the Valley of the Kings, as well as two from Karnak Temple.
Monday, January 12, 2009
We're for scuba in Dahab
Finally got away from the bright lights of Sharm. After a pretty nice Thai meal last night on the centre strip of Sharm we knew it was really time for us to head out, afterall a year away means a year on the cheap.
We caught the afternoon bus to Dahab and have been pleasantly surprised since arrival. Our dorm room is clean and the facilities pretty new. The dive shop, Red Sea Relax, is right out front and if we dive with them, our accomodation is free.
Our first meal, at a restaurant right outside of our hotel and next to the water was great. Chicken curry for Tom and veggie stirfry for me. Very happy to be eating vegetables again after my wee illness. With drinks the meal was the equivalent of approx 15 Euro.
Looking forward to what this little beachside town has to offer.
We caught the afternoon bus to Dahab and have been pleasantly surprised since arrival. Our dorm room is clean and the facilities pretty new. The dive shop, Red Sea Relax, is right out front and if we dive with them, our accomodation is free.
Our first meal, at a restaurant right outside of our hotel and next to the water was great. Chicken curry for Tom and veggie stirfry for me. Very happy to be eating vegetables again after my wee illness. With drinks the meal was the equivalent of approx 15 Euro.
Looking forward to what this little beachside town has to offer.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Further on the Adventures of the Past Week
We left Luxor minus the sheesha/hooka/nargila or what ever you want to call the Arab waterpipe. The story of why goes like this: smartly we though we would first check out the post office to see if, like Morocco, they were set up with all shapes and sizes of boxes for use to send goods home easily. Upon asking the first employee of the post office, we were directed to the guy sitting next to him. So, we asked again. After we explained what we were looking for, a box big enough to fit a sheesha, he went on to ask if we were buying today and if so he had a friend and we should buy today because he was almost finished work (it was 2:30 in the afternoon) and we would get Egyptian price from his friend. So....we walked out and gave up. Let's just home we can actually buy one in another Middle Eastern country with a bit more ease.
Our adventure that day continued with the bus ride to Hurghada. We booked the bus at the ticket office near the train station, as directed by the woman at the tourist information office. We arrived early to the station. As we sat and waited for our bus, we couldn't help but notice that other than two innocent looking asian girls, we were the only non-Egyptians taking this particular bus. This would be fine in other countries, (we took a few local buses in Morocco) but according to what we had read, tourists in Egypt were suppose to travel in convoy with a police escort from Luxor to Aswan or to the coast. No police escort was present when the bus departed. None followed us at what we believe was the meet up point near the airport. So, we are still unsure as to whether or not we were at risk traveling through al-Qaeda territory without protection.
Nevertheless, we got to Hurghada safe and sound and out of there quickly by fast ferry to Sharm, where I sit right now at an internet cafe writing this on a English/Russian keyboard.
We are off to the supposedly much more laid back town of Dahab on the 12th to learn how to scuba. I believe I will be fully recovered by then.
As for pictures, the current computer I am using is not modern enough to handle our camera, so those will have to wait a bit.
I meant to mention in my note from yesterday, we are pretty happy, with the current climate in the Middle East being what it is, to have decided to fly to Thailand on the February 8th in order to travel through South East Asia for three months before heading back to finish the tour of the Med.
Our adventure that day continued with the bus ride to Hurghada. We booked the bus at the ticket office near the train station, as directed by the woman at the tourist information office. We arrived early to the station. As we sat and waited for our bus, we couldn't help but notice that other than two innocent looking asian girls, we were the only non-Egyptians taking this particular bus. This would be fine in other countries, (we took a few local buses in Morocco) but according to what we had read, tourists in Egypt were suppose to travel in convoy with a police escort from Luxor to Aswan or to the coast. No police escort was present when the bus departed. None followed us at what we believe was the meet up point near the airport. So, we are still unsure as to whether or not we were at risk traveling through al-Qaeda territory without protection.
Nevertheless, we got to Hurghada safe and sound and out of there quickly by fast ferry to Sharm, where I sit right now at an internet cafe writing this on a English/Russian keyboard.
We are off to the supposedly much more laid back town of Dahab on the 12th to learn how to scuba. I believe I will be fully recovered by then.
As for pictures, the current computer I am using is not modern enough to handle our camera, so those will have to wait a bit.
I meant to mention in my note from yesterday, we are pretty happy, with the current climate in the Middle East being what it is, to have decided to fly to Thailand on the February 8th in order to travel through South East Asia for three months before heading back to finish the tour of the Med.
Friday, January 9, 2009
News from Us
I've been sick for the past few days. Actually had to get Tom to call the doctor to the room last night after midnight because I almost fainted. I have a commons illness that affects travelers and involves rushing to the toilet countless times over the course of the day. Thus I have not been able to get very far from the room to do much of anything in Sharm el Sheikh.
Feeling quite a bit better after the lovely needle in the bum I received last night and the course of medication.
Not much to say about Sharm seeing as I haven't seen much of it. It is nicer than Hurghada, which is the dive of resort towns. The weather is much warmer here than elsewhere in the country and the atmosphere hardly Egyptian.
We have started to notice the affect of the war in Gaza. The airport in Taba, at the boarder with Southern Isreal, has been shut down; therefore, from what we overheard in a conversation the other night, as has the Hilton resort there. So I believe people are being tranported away from the region in order to fly home. The guy who was discussing his situation with a couple had, it seems been here since Christmas time, and prior to departure had been layed off due to the lack of building going on in the U.K.
Of course we also get Al-Jezira, so we get to see of the horrible scenes coming out of the camps. The Arab news papers are full of pictures of dead Palestinians trying to get all rallied and angry.
I will try to write more within the next couple of days. Hope everyone is staying warm!
Feeling quite a bit better after the lovely needle in the bum I received last night and the course of medication.
Not much to say about Sharm seeing as I haven't seen much of it. It is nicer than Hurghada, which is the dive of resort towns. The weather is much warmer here than elsewhere in the country and the atmosphere hardly Egyptian.
We have started to notice the affect of the war in Gaza. The airport in Taba, at the boarder with Southern Isreal, has been shut down; therefore, from what we overheard in a conversation the other night, as has the Hilton resort there. So I believe people are being tranported away from the region in order to fly home. The guy who was discussing his situation with a couple had, it seems been here since Christmas time, and prior to departure had been layed off due to the lack of building going on in the U.K.
Of course we also get Al-Jezira, so we get to see of the horrible scenes coming out of the camps. The Arab news papers are full of pictures of dead Palestinians trying to get all rallied and angry.
I will try to write more within the next couple of days. Hope everyone is staying warm!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Luxor's Tresors
Tom Sailing in Aswan
Sunset in Aswan
Christmas Dinner at the Fairmont
Over the last three days we've been taken into
We decided to book a to book a tour to check out the West Bank of Luxor, just so as to circumvent possible problems with tickets, taxi and missing out on the good stuff. It went alright despite having to wait in the mini bus for about an hour before departing due a number of problems and mixed messages from the company arranging the tour. It was all worth it in the end because the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and
The
After almost two weeks of taking in what remains of ancient
No real comment to make about Egyptian food. Other then a few great restaurant (Felfela) it is alright, but I am sure as I have read it is better when cooked by an Egyptian Mama. Especially in package tour heaven there is a lot of bland Euro food that is not what I am looking for at all. We've found a café in town run by an American guy (the only reason we know this is because he sits around all day in the place) which is great. Mostly sandwiches, pasta, salads etc. I know it will be the same on the Sinai, so I have to say I am now looking forward to February and Thailand.
We're just about to take on the Souk in order to possibly purchase a hookah, so wish us luck!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
From Aswan to Luxor
Just got off Skype to my Mother who I woke up to with happy new year. It was 12:30am and she was asleep. Thanks to a scary movie on TV Tom and I actually stayed up a little later than my mom, but not that much longer.
We've just moved from the Mercure Hotel to the Bob Marley Hostel in Luxor. Though we would spoil ourselves just a little bit more in order to celebrate the New Year, but ended up a little disapointed by the number of package tourists just looking for a tan and prehaps a day in the Valley of the Kings. The even strager experience was the spend the hours leading up to midnight with those same tourists and the Egyptian taxi drivers at one of the few English Pubs in town. Quite the scene. We were however happy with our delectable dinner of chicken curry.
Luxor and Aswan, unlike Alexandria and Cairo seem to be competing for the title of 'tidiest town'. To be fair they respectively number only approx 400,000 and 200,000, but still it is in nice to stroll along the Cornish (the name given to the street that runs along the water in most Cities or towns in the Middle East) and not be steping over potholes and rubbish.
We are looking forward to exploring Luxor, the city which rests on the site of ancient Thebes, after searching for things to do in Aswan. Aswan does have lovely views of the Nile, but it has few easily accessable sites (most are either a ferry ride or trek, so we chose to save our money) and a lack of restaurants, cafés etc. We did take an hour long felucca ride along the Nile, but really just to say we had. We also ventured to the Nubian Museum, created thanks to donations from many Western nations after a Czech research team lead not only a major excavation, but also an effort to move major Nubian sites and tresors so that they would not be lost under the waters with the creation of a massive dam. This lead to the great task of moving the giant statues at Abu Simbel up up a huge cliff, so they would remain above water. We chose not the venture down to the Sudnese boarder to see this site but have heard it is amazing.
Seeing as our resolutions are to make an effort to stay fit while we travel, in order to continue to fit the clothes we have bought with us, we're off to find Tom some running shoes and then to visit the Luxor temple.
We've just moved from the Mercure Hotel to the Bob Marley Hostel in Luxor. Though we would spoil ourselves just a little bit more in order to celebrate the New Year, but ended up a little disapointed by the number of package tourists just looking for a tan and prehaps a day in the Valley of the Kings. The even strager experience was the spend the hours leading up to midnight with those same tourists and the Egyptian taxi drivers at one of the few English Pubs in town. Quite the scene. We were however happy with our delectable dinner of chicken curry.
Luxor and Aswan, unlike Alexandria and Cairo seem to be competing for the title of 'tidiest town'. To be fair they respectively number only approx 400,000 and 200,000, but still it is in nice to stroll along the Cornish (the name given to the street that runs along the water in most Cities or towns in the Middle East) and not be steping over potholes and rubbish.
We are looking forward to exploring Luxor, the city which rests on the site of ancient Thebes, after searching for things to do in Aswan. Aswan does have lovely views of the Nile, but it has few easily accessable sites (most are either a ferry ride or trek, so we chose to save our money) and a lack of restaurants, cafés etc. We did take an hour long felucca ride along the Nile, but really just to say we had. We also ventured to the Nubian Museum, created thanks to donations from many Western nations after a Czech research team lead not only a major excavation, but also an effort to move major Nubian sites and tresors so that they would not be lost under the waters with the creation of a massive dam. This lead to the great task of moving the giant statues at Abu Simbel up up a huge cliff, so they would remain above water. We chose not the venture down to the Sudnese boarder to see this site but have heard it is amazing.
Seeing as our resolutions are to make an effort to stay fit while we travel, in order to continue to fit the clothes we have bought with us, we're off to find Tom some running shoes and then to visit the Luxor temple.
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