Aswan

 

DAY ONE

After a massive bus journey of more than 12 hours we finally arrived in Aswan at 12pm.  It was a full bus so everyone squeeze in, it made for a pretty uncomfortable journey through the night.

We relaxed in our hotel until 3.30pm then went on a boat up the Nile to a beach just outside a Nubian village. 

Our tour guide, Newbi was a funny character, he was an Egyptian in his sixties and wore a purple flowered shirt with a purple hat.  He came with lots of enthusiasm and energy and reminded Trace of the baboon in the Lion King Movie.

This little boy latched onto the boat and just start singing.  He had a long paddle home by the time he let go! 

Our first stop was on the beach of the Nile as far upstream as is possible before the dam.  This was where most of the group apart from three (Trace being one) were persuaded to swim in the Nile.  So far everyone is still alive! Locals and the two guides all jumped in so that plus clear water and the mid 40 degree temperatures convinced us!

Once the group had finished swimming we hopped on a camel each and walked up the beach and into a Nubian Village.  The ride was nothing like riding George, very good fun and a laugh!

 

That was the last we saw of Mike as his Camel like to be the leader!  

Mike somehow ended up with the racing camel, it passed everyone, he finished first and had to wait… Not quite the relaxing ride everyone else had!

After our camel ride we went into a small school class room with a retired Nubian teacher he gave us a few basic lessons on Arabic. We were sitting up the front and Mike got pulled up to repeat the first half of the alphabet and failed miserably.

We then walked through a bit of the Nubian Village and enjoyed a home-cooked meal at a local home (this consisted of soup, rice, and lots of strew type things, we didn’t ask what they contained we just ate!)

Just when we were about to head back the owner of the house came in with a baby crocodile.  Everyone had a hold and a photo with him.

 

He may be little by crocodile standards but they were big teeth by our standards!

It was then back to the hotel to get ready for our 2.30am wake up call. . . . why 2.30am you ask . . . .

About to head back to the hotel

Quick swim before bed at the hotel

DAY TWO

We were up at 2.30am and in the bus and off just before 3am.  The reason for this was because we need to be escorted out to the Abu Simbel temple because of the threats of tourist attacks (this is normal practice and has been carried out for the past year or so).  We lined up with lots of other tourists buses, each of these were checked for bombs both in luggage compartments and with mirrors underneath the bus.  Once the check was done we all travelled in convoy to Abu Simbel, no stopping whatsoever for the three and a half hour journey.  you got the impression if something wanted to cross the road it was going to be run over by about 20 busses and some military vehicles without hesitation.

 

Abu Simbel was magnificent, the photos below really do not do it justice . . . .

  

We had to be back on the bus at 9am to join the convoy back to Aswan at 9am in convoy with rest of tourist buses.

Instead of cruising the Nile in a felucca we as a group decided to “upgrade”and stay on the “Nile star”cruise boat for three nights.  This was a 4 star cruise ship but as we have become aware 4 star in Egyptian is not like 4 start in New Zealand! This ship is very nice though and we are glad to have the air conditioned room.

We hopped on the boat at lunch time and enjoyed the buffet meal.

Later that day at 5pm we went for a sail on a felucca up the river Nile.  It was peaceful apart from the occasional loud engine boat.

 

This was our Felucca captain

Once we were back on land we went to the markets where we brought an Egyptian dress for the Egyptian party the next night.  This involved us having to bargain . . . . Trace was ok at this, Mike got frustrated but still did ok… We both bargained our way to equally the cheapest dresses of the group! Victory!!

They’ll do anything to make a sale!

Unfortunately this guy wouldn’t come down low enough so a deal wasn’t made.

During the market visit we got sick of Egyptians always asking you to come into the shop.  They would come out as you walked passed and say hello and try to entice you in.  Our best quote would be “I don’t know what you want but I have it in my shop!”.

Mike got offer 2 hundred million camels for Trace… After some bartering they were willing to go to 500 camels and 10 donkeys too – what a bargain!  No exchange took place.

At 8pm we came back to the boat and had dinner.

Then after dinner we watched a Nubian dance, Mike got picked on (again) and had to go up on stage to speak Nubian – he was very bad – good entertainment though!

 

The guys on the cruise ship kept leaving a surprise after servicing our room – crocodile!

DAY THREE

Up at 8 for breakfast then off to visit the grand Temple of Isis, set on the Island of Philae. En route we saw the engineering marvel that is the Aswan High Dam, a huge project that since its construction in 1970 has changed Egypt's economy and culture immensely.

Temple of Isis

  

Getting in and our of the port was interesting, the captains of the small 20 seater boats just played bumper boats until their boat was up against the shore.

Our tour guide Newbi was back with us.  He had many talents and one of them was a hand reader.  Trace got him to do a reading.  He had the following prognosis:

1. Going to come into some money when you get home – ya lets hope this happens

2. Something has scared her in the passed year – She has no idea what this is

3. She has lost something of value in the passed year – no idea either, so after that, two of the historical ones we have no idea on - things are not looking bright for money in the future!

Also he informed her that she is going to have two children, one boy and one girl and live happily ever after.  Brilliant ending to a fairytale don’t you think?!

Trace and Newbi after the palm reading

Once we had visited the temple of Isis we stopped at an Egyptian Perfume shop, they gave us a quick demonstration of how they blow the glass perfume bottles before launching into their perfume sales pitch.  We managed to bargain a little and purchased a couple of items. 

Back on the boat for another buffet lunch – Yum Yum.

We started sailing to Karnak these are some of the views we had on the Nile on the way.

  This is a boat similar to the one we were on

 

We arrived at about 7.30pm and we visited the temple here at Karnak.

  

Once we had explored this temple we headed back to the boat for dinner dressed as Egyptians and then danced the night away with some traditional Egyptian games and dances.

Mike was picked on again as for a game but actually did ok this time (no more language tests)… and was presented with a prize for coming first!

The boat continued to sail as we partied in the bar and up on the deck.

A few of us relaxing on the deck

The evening sun setting  

Another surprise awaited us after our room had be serviced that night . . .  A little person with Trace’s hat.

Egypt - Cairo

We arrived in Cairo at 10.30pm, after getting our visa and heading through customs we were greeted by our Top Deck Tour Representative who arranged our airport transfer.  On our way out of the terminal we were offered taxi rides, “for very cheap rate”, we do you good deal”.

Driving in Cairo is a little… Different.  Initially we had a clear run on the motorway as it was pretty late so the driver was hitting 140km/hr in a 60 area… Then it screeched to a halt and we went more like 30km/hr the 4 lane motorway suddenly became a free for all!  I think our driver grew up playing need for speed… He definitely had a need!  We were weaving all over the place covering twice as much distance but somehow going faster than the other cars.  We passed donkeys with carts and overweight policemen driving with their lights on but in no rush. They were laxed back in their seats, smoking cigars with all four windows down and joking with each other.

One interesting motorway technique that seems quite common when in a jam is to try and drive between lanes, one wheel either side of the white line.  This worked well for our driver for a bit, then he had to start using the horn to create room, then suddenly everyone was doing it and our 4 lane motorway was more like a 6 lane motorway with lots of tooting.

Rich, These guys make your driving look patient and caring! (FPH perspective) 

It took us about an hour to get to our accommodation.

This picture was taken the next day from the bus… Not nearly as bad as were were already half way out of the city! Also, the bigger the vehicle the more right of way so not too much trouble with a bus!

Once we arrive we are allocated our room with two double beds, a balcony, an en-suite, air conditioning and a fridge... A four star hotel, apparently.  The beds were super soft, the sheets on the first bed we tried were not clean, the shower only has a cold setting, “the room has an odd smell to it, the air conditioning is so noisy you think we could take off . . . . .  Trace is thinking “take me home!!”  As we have said before this trip is all about experiences. . . . . most good . . .  some . . . . . well they could be better.

DAY ONE

Our alarms sounded at 7am and we jumped out of bed had a cold shower and headed down stairs to meet our tour guide.  Once at the main reception desk we were greeted and told it was in fact only 6.30am! We had moved our clocks forward an hour coming into Cairo – Obviously this was not the case.  Back to bed for another hour!

Later that day we found out that due to Ramadan, Egypt was an hour behind what it should be.  This was something to do with the timing of the sun and eating.

So we rose again at 7.30am and got some breakfast, approaching all food with caution. . . . we picked up a plate it was dirty so we picked up another one, it to was dirty.  This went on for a few more plates and then we decided this was just the way it was going to be.  We enjoyed good old bread and butter for breakfast, we were too sceptical of everything else and afraid we may get the squirts before we had even started!

We jumped on the tour bus at 8am

Our first stop is the Cairo Museum.  This museum has a staggering array of artefacts that have been uncovered.  It houses over 100,000 relics, including the magnificent treasures from the famous tomb of the boy-king, Tutankhamun.

We went into the mummy museum for an extra cost, this was well worth the extra money and because we have an “international youth card” we passed as students and got into all Egyptian sites for half price!  In this Mummy museum we saw about six mummies, these bodies were so well preserved there skin still in tacked and hair still on their heads.  No photos as no cameras were not allowed.

Second stop – Giza Plateu

 

This is just outside the city limits and home to 3 jaw-dropping Pyramids and the magnificent Sphinx.  The Great
Pyramid was the world's tallest man-made structure for around 3,800 years!

Everyone else was doing it Ok?! 

The “it has to be done” photo

 

The Sphinx

 

Mike went in the second biggest of the Pyramids which had a small tunnel which lead to an empty hot room, once a tomb for mummy, it was very hot and sticky down there.  Trace decided it best to stay above the earth with fresh air.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at papyrus paper making shop.  This has some stunning pieces of work in it and we were tempted to buy but decided against it.

Once we were back at the hotel we chilled until 9pm, when we boarded our overnight bus for Aswan . . . . .

Madrid

We caught the train from Barcelona to Madrid at 9am.  We had decided while planning our trip that we would reserve first class tickets, what a choice! We ended up with a free breakfast . . . yummy! Along with some first class service.

The train was super fast, we clocked 300kmph on the speedo at one point – we missed that photo opportunity but caught it at 298kmph!

We checked into our four star hotel, wow what an experience after roughing it for a while. . . . fresh clean sheets, air con you can hardly hear, bathroom to yourself and with a bath, its the simple things in life!

The next two days in Madrid were spent walking the streets and doing a bit of shopping and relaxing in the hotel, catching up on some much needed R & R.

The main shopping street in Madrid

Relaxing in the hotel room

We thought we should report on Mike’s Jandals . . . . they have come along way since departing NZ on the 4th July . . . . as you can see from below the duck tape came in handy as new jandals were difficult to source for a while. 

After an emotional farewell (not) it was time to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new.  Hopefully these survive the rest of the trip.

Barcelona

 

DAY ONE

After boarding our flight at 6.55am we were bound for Barcelona.  Breakfast was served on this flight – sausage, eggs and potato – this rang alarm bells and we hoped it would not be deja vu . . . . We were lucky no food poisoning – thank goodness!

We then caught the aerobus into Barcelona and after talking with the locals we eventually found our way to our apartment.  All the locals warned us of pig pocketers – we thought it must be bad if the locals are warning us so we kept our eyes pealed.  Wallets buttoned into pocked and Mike was ready to chase.

That afternoon we walked up La Rumbla which is Spain’s most famous boulevard.  It was lined with street artists, people in costume and vendors selling everything from birds to mice and flowers.  There were also so many people selling whistles which sounded like birds, this sound drove you nuts!

This was the entrance into the Barcelona Markets, it was huge with such a huge range of produce and meat.

DAY TWO

We started by walking up the main shopping street, Passeig.  This had all the very very expensive shops on it, we couldn’t even afford to walk in the door of most of them, Guess, gucci, you name it, it was on this street.

We passed a few of Gaudi’s buildings on the way

After about an hour or so of walking we made it to La Sagrada Familia, this is star architect Antoni Gaudi’s work which is still a work in progress and Barcelona’s most famous building.  Construction began in 1882 and it is predicted to be completed in 2030.

This was an absolutely amazing building and we spent most of the day here.  Check out the photos below, although they really do not do it justice.

 

 

  

  

    

A view from one of the towers 

Looking down on the stair case

Once we had finished looking around here we walked back to the apartment and then headed for the beach . . . .

Mike was hoping to see some topless action . . . . Unfortunately contrary to what we had been told there were no naked people at all on the beach, better luck tomorrow we though. . . .

DAY THREE

We started the day by visiting Barcelona’s Gothic Catedral, Barri Gothic.  This was an extremely large and intricate cathedral.

 

From here we took the subway up to Park Guell, This park was filled with Dr Seuss-style playgrounds, colourful mosaics and Gaudi –designed paths and plazas.

We had a picnic lunch here and enjoyed the view of Barcelona city

   

Then it was time to hit the beach again.  This time we walked down a bit further to Port Olimpic which was less crowded.  Still no nude sunbathers . . . .  Just one lone guy struting his stuff.  There were also plenty of guys walking up and down the beach with chilly bins in hand yelling “Aqua, cola, sprite, cold beer, fanta” and also a few masseuses 45 Euro for 40 minutes. . . . But, I think you could have probably bartered them down.