Friday May 27th -
UGH - after a very long 24 hours we have finally arrived in Cairo - and wouldnt you know it they are having a political rally right outside our hotel. The Cairo News paper is right across the road from our hotel where they are holding the rally. Yup its a bit uncomfortable right now. I will try and take a picture, but im not sure how they would view that if they seen me clicking away. Hmmmm took 1 but now im scared hah hah hah. The army is set up outside our hotel - and my god the police are armed with huge arse guns - and they look all of 15. They are everywhere - very high presence.
I am about to lose the plot with Telstra as we organised to have global roaming on the mobile whilst we were here and wouldnt you know it they havent done it - good thing we have Steves work phone. The bloody guy in the Phillipines office "MARVIN" is his name didnt even bother to note the account when he didnt bother setting it up. Can you say Ombudsman case ? Maybe even give my good friend Tracy a call LMAO. So if you are unfortunate enough to have to call Telstra and Marvin answers the phone - ask for another operator immediately. Arrrrrgggggg I could spit venom right now.
Breath Colleen ....... breath ...... deep cleansing breaths.
OK, have had a 2 hour nap and am feeling a little refreshed. We have come to the bar called The Nomad on top of the King Hotel where we are staying and it isnt as bad as I thought it was going to be. As I was surveying the skyline from our perch I could see the 3 pyramids in the distance ~ there was no mistaking what we were seeing and it has all made the journey worth it.
There is one thing that is very clear when you look around over here ~ your riches are NOT things. There are people who have either made their homes in the blown up buildings or they are living it what is left of their homes. There are goats living on roof tops along with a mountain of satelite dishes - OMG the number of satelite dishes.
Saturday May 28th -
Well it is 5 30 and I am awake - they have been at it all night outside with blow horns and honking.
Tried to have a shower last night and I guess maintenance isnt a priority in these places, the shower hose not just leaks but spews from the tap connection and a trickle makes it through to the head. I didnt care - it was cold and wet and when it is about 38 degrees still at 10 PM I wasnt complaining. Have I mentioned that they smoke everywhere over here ? It makes it hard to breath - and this is from someone who only quit smoking 5 months ago.
Found out this morning at breakfast that it was some sort of political protest/election yesterday and it was held at the newspaper.
We have been chatting with quite a few of the other tourists at the hotel and have really enjoyed sharing our stories thus far. There is a lovely young married couple from Canberra that have packed up and are spending the next 6 months travelling all over the place - jealous they are doing Peru. Steve and I have decided that we are going to look into booking that trip for next year (14 days). There are 2 beautiful young girls that we met today that are nurses back home in Australia - they have just arrived from Africa where they have just finished up a 45 day tour. They also did a job stint volunteering at a gorilla orphanage there - was really cool to hear them tell a story about going out for a walk to have a cigarette and say that she was walking down the gorilla trail like it was something that you do everyday. Cuz isnt it ? HAH. Also met a really nice young man from Sydney named Andrew - we went for a walk around Cairo today with him. We hit up Tahrir Square, walked past the museum, and walked along the Nile. I have been hissed at so many times today by the men(this means the "C" word to them) so needless to say I have been yelling alot and asking them if they would like me to fill their slow hissing leak with my fists. This surprised me as Steve and I purchased me some of the local clothes to wear - I was made very uncomfortable yesterday by the stares and words that were said to me. I havent been hit on in a VERY long time LMAO.
I have been eating some of the local food and am fine so far *knock on wood* the water consumption is through the roof - it is so hot over here and dry.
We have our tour group meeting tonight and we head out to the Giza Plateau in the morning (I dont think I am going to be able to sleep tonight from excitement). We are also meeting up with everyone we have met so far for dinner and a few drinks on the roof top. We all head out on our tours tomorrow - some on different ones to us.
Have I mentioned about the traffic/roads over here yet ? I totally dont get why they even bother with the lines - no one uses them !! If there isnt a seat belt in the vehicle I am defenitely not getting in it. Holy crap scary - they are all over the place. And the horns - the ******* horns !! AHHHHHH they honk at everything and they dont care what time of night it is either.
Steve has surprised me and has been the one suckered in by the shop owners. This is another UGH - they are everywhere and just when you think they are saying hello to you because they might be friendly .... they say just come here for a minute and I show you my shop - I have perfumes, silver and papyrus - I do your name in heirogliphics .... he has already purchased for the kids (cant say what because Ashlee will be reading this HAH HAH HAH).
Well it is 4 30 and I want to have a nap before the meeting tonight - will upload this with some pics when we go to the roof top, there is no internet service in the rooms
Well the nap never eventuated ~ was in laying down and Silver Surfer came on .... so there I was in the middle of Cairo in a hotel room watching it ..... hangs her head in shame.
We have come downstairs to the little cafe to have a coffee - you have to really like coffee to like it here. It is Turkish coffee but if you ask for it with milk it goes down not bad. It is hard to describe - it has some kinds of spices in it as well. I was going to try those big flavoured smoke thingys but I didnt want to puch the whole newly non smoker thing (and who knows what the hell is in that anyway) last thing I need is to be on some kind of TRIP here .... hah
OK going to try and post this thing ....
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Monday, 23 May 2011
3 more sleeps
Well it is Monday night and we are down to 3 sleeps before we fly out ... not that anyone is counting.
Wouldnt you know it this low grade head ache I have had for the past 2 weeks has turned out to be a sinus infection. Just what you want when you are going up in the air ~ NOT !
We have packed, unpacked and packed again trying to make sure that we have everything. If your asking yourself if I plan on doing it again ~ dont be silly of course I do. I think Steve has more in his pack than I do tho ~ and I am the germaphobe with all the disinfectant stuff !! Better safe than sorry I always say.
Was telling an Egyptian friend of mine that I was really looking forward to the Nile cruise and just relaxing and making ripples in the water with my fingers ~ I thought his eyes would pop out of his head in fear !! His response was something along the lines of " O MY GOD Colleen NOOOOO ~ the Nile crocodile is one of the feirsest on the planet AND the hippos !!" .... I was like " Um the what now?" So needless to say I will not be putting my hands anywhere near the water. I do have one question tho ~ we are expected to cross over to another boat to use the toilet whilst we are on this cruise ... is there a bridge between them ?
I have done my homework for this trip and wikipedia has had a work out from me. I have done up a book for us explaining where we are at and the importance and history. There is so much history there ~ on another note we will be returning to Africa and visting the Cradle of Mankind and doing a safari at a later date.
Im not an overly religious person but the climb we are doing on Mount Sinai is something that I am really looking forward to - sunrise on top of the mountain where Moses was given the 10 commandments is something that I cant pass up. People say the bible is just stories ~ well I want to see where one of the best stories of mankind is set. I will also be seeing where he parted the Red Sea !! Again not over religious but I am excited to be able to say that I have seen where this has happened. Will be doing some snorkeling as well when we get there. After the Barrier Reef I am hooked on diving/snorkeling.
Well ~ I have babbled on and it is time for me to scoot. Will post again while we are on route to Egypt and keep you updated when we are actually somewhere they have access to the web
Roo Xx
Wouldnt you know it this low grade head ache I have had for the past 2 weeks has turned out to be a sinus infection. Just what you want when you are going up in the air ~ NOT !
We have packed, unpacked and packed again trying to make sure that we have everything. If your asking yourself if I plan on doing it again ~ dont be silly of course I do. I think Steve has more in his pack than I do tho ~ and I am the germaphobe with all the disinfectant stuff !! Better safe than sorry I always say.
Was telling an Egyptian friend of mine that I was really looking forward to the Nile cruise and just relaxing and making ripples in the water with my fingers ~ I thought his eyes would pop out of his head in fear !! His response was something along the lines of " O MY GOD Colleen NOOOOO ~ the Nile crocodile is one of the feirsest on the planet AND the hippos !!" .... I was like " Um the what now?" So needless to say I will not be putting my hands anywhere near the water. I do have one question tho ~ we are expected to cross over to another boat to use the toilet whilst we are on this cruise ... is there a bridge between them ?
I have done my homework for this trip and wikipedia has had a work out from me. I have done up a book for us explaining where we are at and the importance and history. There is so much history there ~ on another note we will be returning to Africa and visting the Cradle of Mankind and doing a safari at a later date.
Im not an overly religious person but the climb we are doing on Mount Sinai is something that I am really looking forward to - sunrise on top of the mountain where Moses was given the 10 commandments is something that I cant pass up. People say the bible is just stories ~ well I want to see where one of the best stories of mankind is set. I will also be seeing where he parted the Red Sea !! Again not over religious but I am excited to be able to say that I have seen where this has happened. Will be doing some snorkeling as well when we get there. After the Barrier Reef I am hooked on diving/snorkeling.
Well ~ I have babbled on and it is time for me to scoot. Will post again while we are on route to Egypt and keep you updated when we are actually somewhere they have access to the web
Roo Xx
Monday, 28 February 2011
On a whim Ronin and I walked in to a travel agents office one Sunday afternoon in November (2010) and walked out having booked a back packing trip to Egypt for May 2011. We chose "Egypt Encompassed" and would be there for 23 days in total. We are 5 star hotel people not back packer people !? What were we thinking ? Never the less, I couldnt be more excited.
Alot has happened in that area of world since we booked this trip. There were riots in the streets of Cairo, people broke into the museum and destroyed artifacts, they closed the Valley of the Kings for fear that it would be targeted as well. The president of Egypt has stepped down and it is now a country ruled by the army ( dont know if this is a good thing or not yet - but I guess time will tell). Seeing this happen in Egypt has had a rumble on affect and other countries are also rising up for their freedoms and rights. Scary place over there right now really.
Ronin and I have done just about everything we can to prepare for this trip ~ we have been innoculated for everything known to man, have scripts for anything that the shots dont cover, have mentally prepared ourselves that we will probably be malnutritioned by the time we return as you cant eat much of the food over there if you dont want to get sick. Have purchased a new kick @ss camera to capture every moment, purchased a new HP Notebook to blog as we go and keep everyone back home up to date on where we are at and how it is all going (keep the moms up to date that yes we are still safe and alive), bought our back packs (still questioning this) and our yoga mats to sleep on (again remembering that we are 5 star hotel people, I think this is going to kill us.) As I type this I myself have to question what we were thinking .... BUT then I sit back and remember .........
It is Egypt, founded by King Menes in 3150 BC. It is a civilization that has had me mezmerized for my whole life. The place where they built the Great Pyramid, the Sphinx, and left so many questions for us to find the answers to. I know that I am no archeologist and wont be finding any answers while I am over there but I can tell you this ~ I know that no one on this earth will be so in love with a place as I am when I set foot in the Valley of the Kings. I will stand in awe at the base of the pyramids and I will gaze up at the night sky and let myself drift away thinking of what life may have been like all those 1000's of years ago. Am I excited ? I dont think that word even begins to explain how I feel.
It is now May 5th 2011 and Ronin and I fly out in 20 sleeps (not that I am counting HAH). I pick up the passports with the Visas in them today (excited deep breath).
Alot has happened in that area of world since we booked this trip. There were riots in the streets of Cairo, people broke into the museum and destroyed artifacts, they closed the Valley of the Kings for fear that it would be targeted as well. The president of Egypt has stepped down and it is now a country ruled by the army ( dont know if this is a good thing or not yet - but I guess time will tell). Seeing this happen in Egypt has had a rumble on affect and other countries are also rising up for their freedoms and rights. Scary place over there right now really.
Ronin and I have done just about everything we can to prepare for this trip ~ we have been innoculated for everything known to man, have scripts for anything that the shots dont cover, have mentally prepared ourselves that we will probably be malnutritioned by the time we return as you cant eat much of the food over there if you dont want to get sick. Have purchased a new kick @ss camera to capture every moment, purchased a new HP Notebook to blog as we go and keep everyone back home up to date on where we are at and how it is all going (keep the moms up to date that yes we are still safe and alive), bought our back packs (still questioning this) and our yoga mats to sleep on (again remembering that we are 5 star hotel people, I think this is going to kill us.) As I type this I myself have to question what we were thinking .... BUT then I sit back and remember .........
It is Egypt, founded by King Menes in 3150 BC. It is a civilization that has had me mezmerized for my whole life. The place where they built the Great Pyramid, the Sphinx, and left so many questions for us to find the answers to. I know that I am no archeologist and wont be finding any answers while I am over there but I can tell you this ~ I know that no one on this earth will be so in love with a place as I am when I set foot in the Valley of the Kings. I will stand in awe at the base of the pyramids and I will gaze up at the night sky and let myself drift away thinking of what life may have been like all those 1000's of years ago. Am I excited ? I dont think that word even begins to explain how I feel.
It is now May 5th 2011 and Ronin and I fly out in 20 sleeps (not that I am counting HAH). I pick up the passports with the Visas in them today (excited deep breath).
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