Month: July 2016

“I would tell you my adventures- beginning from the morning,” said Alice a little timidly “but It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”

Sad to leave Egypt yet excited to meet Jordan, our group boarded the high speed ferry from Nuweiba for the 90 minute journey to Aqaba, Jordan.  Six hours later we arrived.  I went to Jordan with no expectations and little knowledge except that I wanted to see Petra.  Egypt had surprised and changed me more than expected so who knew what Jordan might do.  It did not disappoint.  First stop, dinner, ice cream and sleep.  While this may not sound exciting, the idea of gelato made me downright giddy.  Second stop, a drive to Wadi Rum for some 4×4 rides in the desert.  Wadi Rum is believed to have once been the bottom of an ocean and is also the landscape scenes from The Marian (further evidence of my ever expanding alien theory).

We paused for the sunset, now a regular activity for us, and headed to camp.  This camp did not have electricity or (gasp) wifi or cell service.  But it had stars, billions of stars.  We saw the space station move across the sky and for the first time in my life, saw the Milky Way- like every star in the Milky Way.  And we had wine.  How I had missed a good wine and this night was perfect for it.  Most people slept outside but my ever practical mind weighed the effort of moving my bed outside the tent with the fact that I would be asleep 30 seconds later and not actually see the stars plus the idea that the sun would rise and start cooking people in a few hours.  It was all in all, a fantastic night and I woke up a little different than the day before.

We awoke the next day, dirty and sweaty and climbed into our car.  I am pretty sure a teenage boy’s locker room smelled better than that thing but off we went.  We had only one stop today, Little Petra.  This was like an appetizer to a meal that you didn’t order and had no idea what was even on the menu.  It was pretty cool to see some of the rooms carved into the sandstone.  The believe that Little Petra was once a food court where traders came before entering Big Petra (my own name).  What is probably the least talented Bedouin in history played some traditional music for us as we checked out the dining rooms and kitchens.

Then it was time for the Indiana Jones Mother of all Cool Things… Petra.  I have wanted to see this for years and was my sole purpose in coming to Jordan. We woke up early AGAIN to be the first ones at the Treasury, the building everyone recognizes.  I cannot say how grateful I am that we did.  We walked the long siq (pathway) through the canyon.  Every corner was filled with the anticipation of seeing it.  Our guide then totally tricked us into looking up so we all turned around together to see it.  If you were still sleeping in town at that time, you weren’t anymore.  You could hardly hear over the gasps and camera clicks.  We ran to the Treasury and stood in awe. Needless to say, when the next group arrived, certain they were the first, we stood proud.  Then, since we had not been climbing enough steps, we took the 800 step climb complete with rock climbing since my group went ahead and took the hard way) to look at it from overhead. We sat in a Bedouin tent, listening to his music overlooking the Treasury for a good while, making the memories. Another adventure that changes you.  About 10 more miles in Petra and it was time to go.  

Until that night, when we came back for the totally cool Petra by Night.  After the mile long, candle lit walk down the siq, you arrive at the Treasury to find candles, traditional music and story telling.  Every night becomes cooler than the night before.

The next day it was off to the Dead Sea.  We saw some castles on the way and stopped by the cave home of this fabulous eccentric man who gave us tea and showed us his collections but we were ready for some relaxation.  A quick dip in the Dead Sea and we found all of our cuts and scrapes but had a great time floating was followed by a complete mud mask.  I am definitely changed from this adventure- at least ten years younger!

And then it was time for our last full night together as a group. What started as some random walking around town, we met up in a cafe.  A few hours later, the place had closed, the staff drew the blinds and turned up the music for an impromptu club and a group celebrating the end of a great adventure.  And yes, I am different for it.

Off to Morocco- another lifelong dream.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

So begins Egypt, Part II.  Quick recap from Part I.  We have already visited the Pyramids which were clearly built by aliens, rode a camel, visited a few temples, skipped many hours of sleep and crashed our felucca into the banks of the Nile.  Not bad for one week in Egypt.

After spending the night on the deck of our damaged felucca, we rose with the sun to begin the day’s journey to Luxor.  I believe I added three hours of sleep to my tally after this adventure.  First stop, a temple to honor the crocodiles.   Kom Ombo had mummified crocs but we spent most of the visit looking at the temple engravings looking for evidence to support our growing alien theory.  A spinoff travel company was also invented, along with a lot of slightly fabricated stories about the temples, bridges and history of Egypt.  The fact that this group included a lot of people with fantastic imagination made this ever so much fun.

We arrived in Luxor a few hours later.  Never in my life would I think I would say I arrived in Luxor and not mean Las Vegas so it all felt a bit surreal.  Some of the group headed out to another temple, but I was feeling a bit templed out so a few of us visited the pool instead.  That evening was dinner, overlooking the Luxor Temple, beautifully lit in the evening and then early (11:00 PM) bedtime for an early morning hot air balloon ride over Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.

It was a beautiful ride until landing time.  My balloon ride in Kenya included a bit of a crash landing so I was super excited for this one.  It did not disappoint.  Our pilot seemed to think a somewhat narrow road between two fields with a concrete block median, next to a tree and between two fields would be a good place to land.  I don’t claim to be an expert hot air balloon captain, but I feel I might have made a different choice.  After narrowly missing the tree, we slammed into the ground, then the concrete blocks and then the other side of the road.  He was quite proud of his landing so I passed on the opportunity to correct his thinking.

We then hopped on some donkeys to ride to the Valley of the Kings.  Yep, donkeys.  Turns out they are way more fun to ride then camels if you can get them to move.  They clearly didn’t listen to the female voice, so a few of us tried our best masculine voices to trick them.  Donkeys are smarter than you might think.  The Valley of the Kings was definitely a highlight.  I had no idea what to expect- certainly not 983 tombs (that number might be slightly exaggerated and closer to around 62) literally cut out of the side of the mountains. Time allowed us to go into five of them and since it was 329 degrees outside, that was plenty.  They are amazing- much of the paint is still intact- and you go deep into corridors in the mountain.  Of course, we found plenty of alien evidence, including lots of blue men but the highlights were the beautiful colors in the tomb of Ramses V and VI and King Tut in the flesh and blood.  Well flesh at least.   Photographs are not allowed so an shot from the balloon is the best I can do.

Overnight train, Take Two, to get back to Cairo for one of my favorite days.  We headed into Old Cairo for an Islamic tour, including visits to several mosques, the market, streets that have been restored to their original design and time to hang out in a cafe and watch the energy of this city.  I learned a lot about Islam that day and satisfied one of my goals for travel, opening my eyes to different, sometimes contrary views of the world.  I could have lived this day many times over.

It was now time for some relaxation (ha!).  After another two hours of sleep, we flew to Sharm el-Sheikh and then drove two hours to the Red Sea.  Spoiler Alert- it isn’t Red. Our hotel was a gorgeous family owned resort on the beach where we snorkeled and tanned and sat in the water talking for hours.  And since we had been getting so much sleep, we took the rare opportunity to climb Mt Sinai by moonlight to watch the sunrise.  We left the hotel around 11 PM and started the hike sometime between 1 and 2 AM.  It took about 2 1/2 hours to reach the summit and it was a rocky, sometimes steep, climb.  The camel walking next to me was sometimes a temptation to ride, but I pushed through.  My lungs are still burning two days later.  One hour later, I watched the most magnificent and hard earned sunrise I have seen.

And another of the amazing group of people that have become dear friends at the summit of Mt. Sinai.

And so ends my time in Egypt.  I can’t say enough about this country.  If you have ever thought of going, please do.  The history is indescribable and the people are absolutely lovely.  I never once felt unsafe, don’t let the media scare you.  Visit history while you can.

“How doth the little crocodile

Improve his shining tail

And pour the waters of the Nile

On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin

How neatly spreads his claws

And welcomes little fishes in

With gently smiling jaws!”

Alice in Wonderland

Egypt, I have arrived.  After a ridiculously early wakeup for a flight from Nairobi (a theme of my time in Egypt you will soon see), I arrived in Cairo and was whisked through this massive city to my hotel where I locked myself in for a day to catch up on life, which it turns out is quite difficult when you do non stop travel.  A quick trip to Alexandria to see the Mediterranean and the sites of the Lighthouse of Alexandrea and the Library of Alexandria, now occupied by a fort and the new, quite impressive, Library of Alexandria.  The highlight of the day was sitting in a cafe with my guide and driver, playing dominoes and talking with the other diners.  I am finding more and more that my favorite times of these trips are just sitting and talking with people from around the world.

The following day, I ran into three other women from my group, three women with an adventurous spirit.  We headed off into the 195 degree heat with no plan or map, with the Nile and the Cairo Tower as our landmarks.  First stop, the subway.  Everything was in Arabic so we paid our 1 Egyptian pound (about $.11) and picked a train.  We knew the day would be good when we walked out of the randomly selected station into Tahrir Square.  From there we walked around, stopping in a papyrus, oil and jewelry store where we spent the next two hours chatting with the employees (mostly because I nearly passed out and had to lay down in the shop for a wee bit- darn heat) and then headed to a restaurant where, despite a menu that listed tons of dishes, only two were available!

Day Three and time to start the official tour.  I got what would be the last full night of sleep for many, many days and we headed to these little things called the Pyramids of Giza.  The temperature was a tepid 185 degrees so it was quite a lovely day (exaggeration alert).  To say this Wonder of the Ancient World was amazing would be a ridiculous understatement so I began my campaign to convince everyone that Ancient Egypt was populated by aliens and the pyramids were, in fact, their work.  This endeavor continues today.  After viewing them up close, we hopped on some camels for a walk around them.  Dandy and I bonded quickly although she refused to pick up the pace when prompted by me.  Mental note to learn camel commands in Arabic before I visit again.   After our transportation pooped out, we went to see the Sphinx.  From the wrong angle, it looks as large or larger than the biggest of the nine pyramids.  I suspect aliens had a little something to do with this as well.  By this time, it was 235 degrees outside, so we headed to the Cairo Museum to enjoy the air conditioning.  Alas, we were fooled.  The only room in the museum that is air conditioned is the one that contains a small sample of King Tut’s treasures.  Needless to say, there are sixteen people that know A LOT about these treasures!  We also popped in to see some really old mummies, which are not quite a gross as you might imagine.  Since we were then, nice a sweaty, we boarded an overnight train for a ride to Aswan.  Thank goodness we had a train car to ourselves as we regressed to age 12 as soon as we boarded, which was made better or worse by the fact that we had stopped for wine, beer and whiskey along the way.

After twenty minutes of sleep (only a minor exaggeration this time), we arrived to 265 degree heat and immediately headed to the Philae Temple.  As this was our first temple, we were super excited.  I have now seen enough temples to last me a long while.  By the time we made it to the unfinished obelisk, we were spent.  It was much like the Grand Canyon scene in Vacation.  We climbed the quarry, took one look at the obelisk and headed to the comfort of the air conditioned van.   Fortunately, naps and showers were next on the agenda and then an absolutely lovely dinner with a local Nubian family, complete with henna tattoos.  Advice for future travelers- if you decide to get a henna tattoo, please think twice if you have been sweating for 36 straight hours.  The ink runs and merges and forms blobs rather than designs!

Since I got so much sleep the night before, I was super excited to get up long before the crack of dawn to join a convoy out to Abu Simbel, the temple that was moved when the dam was built.   We meet all of the other pilgrims making the three hour trek at 4:00 AM to form a convoy there and back.  I soon learned that Egyptian convoys maintain formation for exactly 3.67 minutes.  After that, we couldn’t see another car for miles.  Abu Simbel was an enormous temple that was cut into pieces and moved when threatened by flood when the dam was built on the Nile.  It was an amazing temple, filled with symbols that clearly prove my theory that aliens lived in Ancient Egypt.  On the way back, we stopped at a Perfume Museum that involved, lunch, tea and a lecture on essential oils that included plenty of opportunity to purchase.  Stay tuned for more “museum” stories.  The night ended with a trip through the Aswan Market and tea an backgammon at a cafe.  I learned the Egyptian way to play so I am pretty sure at this point, people are just assuming I am Egyptian.

The next day was a sleep in day!!!  Contrary to popular belief, I am in introvert and truly treasure my time alone, especially because I can’t sit still or stop talking when I am in a group.  For those keeping track, I have slept a total of three hours and twenty minutes at this point.  After a late breakfast, we boarded some feluccas (flat bottomed boats) to sail the Nile.  We sailed the morning, stopped for lunch and a swim IN THE NILE.  We were assured that the crocs were on the other side of the dam.  I can’t be certain and it is a much better story if they were in fact swimming with us.  Then we headed back out.  We had a lovely sail.  For about thirty minutes.  Then the brilliant idea of reenacting the King of the World scene from Titanic appeared.  So, with “My Heart Will Go On” playing in the background, several of us headed to the front of the boat for the photos.  At that exact moment, the sail tore and the wind gusted and we headed straight into the woods where we would spend the next hour waiting to be pulled out and then towed.  The beauty in the moment was in the fact that the music continued to play as we crashed into the bushes and dodged branches and thorns, all while laughing like hyenas. The tow rope broke and we headed right back into the woods. Another hour, plenty of snacks and wine later, we were towed to meet our other boat where we would spend the night on the deck, under the stars.  During this adventure, the idea of our own travel company came was formed, with our firm belief in aliens as the cornerstone.  It could have been the wine.

And so continues Egypt.  Stay tuned for the morning after the Egyptian Titanic.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” said Alice.

I love Africa. After visiting South Africa in April, I was beyond excited to see what Kenya had to offer. Kenya did not disappoint. I committed to learn two Swahili words each day and am proud to say I am fluent. In twenty words. I also managed to crack some of the secret code that guides use when animals are spotted but they don’t want their clients to get excited. My guide both loved and hated my curiosity.

I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya after a really, really long flight from Sydney. Fortunately my body has become quite adept at airplane sleeping so I spent most of the flight behind closed lids. Then it was off to visit Nairobi’s three main tourist attractions. First stop, the Giraffe Center where you get to pet and feed giraffes. As giraffe saliva is an antiseptic, you ate encouraged to put a pellet in your mouth and the gentler of the giraffes will lick your face to get the pellet. Turns out it feels like exfoliation.

Next stop, a visit to the baby elephants. There is a group that rescues baby elephant that have fallen into wells or lost their mothers. They nurse them for a few years and then return them to the wild. And since elephant have near perfect memory, they come back often to visit. Here, I received the traditional blessing of an elephant throwing mud on me so I have that going for me. One last stop at the bomas, traditional huts made of cow dung and mud for the over 40 Kenyan tribes. While I asked tons of qurstions, jet lag had sat in and I retained none of it. The trip ended with a traditional music and dance section which I believe I enjoyed less than the visibly bored performers. So much for curiosity.

 

“Would you like some wine?” said the Mad Hatter.  “Yes.” said Alice. “We haven’t any and you’re too young.” said the Mad Hatter.

Fortunately, New Zealand doesn’t card people, even when they clearly look under 18  (I can say this because two separate students in Melbourne who interviewed me for school projects told me I looked 25).

The rest of the Wellington, New Zealand trip was amazing- so good it has taken me days to  finally write this post.  We can thank jet lag for waking me up at 4:00 am Kenyan time!  My friend Jessie (another friend met in Antarctica) took a few days off from work and we had a much needed holiday from my holiday.  In saying this, I realize how truly ridiculous it sounds, but traveling is tough work!  And a break was needed!  Fortunately for me, Jessie shares my love of movies, knitting and wine so she planned the perfect adventure.  It was so perfect, in fact, that few photos were taken and you will find this post a little light on visuals.

New Zealand takes their cinema nearly as serious as their coffee and the movie houses are more neighborhood than multiplex.  The first stop was in Wellington where we brought fantastic wine into Independence Day and armed ourselves with plenty of knowledge to fight off the queen should aliens attempt to attack this July 4.   Then it was off to the New Zealand countryside to see why James Cameron and Peter Jackson have purchased 63% of the land (yet another fabricated statistic).  Oops- before we were off, Mustache announced the grand opening of their cookie truck and it just happened to be across the street from where we were- so cookies and coffee were acquired for the drive.  The cinnamon cookie is my personal favorite!

The Wairarapa region was the lucky recipient of us.  First stop, pie.  Second stop, the Mount Bruce Pukaha to see the bird sanctuary.  In Maori, every bird name starts with the letter K (fabricated statistic alert).  Here we saw kaka, kiwi,  kokako, kakariki, keraru (PSA- also a great brewery in Upper Hutt) and my personal favorite, the piwakawaka.  My good camera was in the car so no pics of him- just the kaka during feeding time.

All of that working bird watching meant it surely must be time for wine and cinema- the selection was a hilarious New Zealand film, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, made even better with locally produced wine.

We had been invited to James Cameron’s house for lunch so we headed further out into the countryside (I think this goes without saying, but fabrication).  We got distracted with the Cape Palliser Lighthouse and the fur seals hanging out near its base and never made it to James’s house.  I hope he can learn to forgive.  The 250 steps helped me quickly forget the slight.

The adorable but not curious enough for my liking fur seals helped as well.

A final stop in Ngawi to see the bulldozers that push and pull the local fishing boats into and out of the water.  Some people have made good use of their down time!

Enough nature now- off for wine tasting, beer tasting and Quiz Night at the local hotel pub.  We placed a respectable fourth, doing quite well in the Geography, Cinema/TV and Random categories.  A few more weeks in that town and we would have OWNED quiz night!

Final Wellington must do item- visit Miramar, the primary location for NZ film.  We saw the giant outdoor green screen where LOTR filmed and visited Weta Cave where the trolls graciously let us pass.

And so ends the wine, knitting and cinema adventure of Wellington.  One flight to Sydney with a 24 hour layover, one 13 hour flight and one 5 hour flight and I am BACK IN AFRICA!!