When a cruise is not a cruise

We flew out of Cairo on an early morning flight, 4:45am, to Aswan, arriving a bit after 6am. Once our baggage was sorted, we boarded minibus to be transported to our Nile cruise ship, the Nile Ritz. A rather smaller version of a P&O ship, it carries approximately 200 people, in decks of accommodation combined with a restaurant [level 3] and the top deck [level 4] that had a rather large enclosed lounge/bar area which opened to the foredeck, and at the rear deck with chairs and tables, small pool with loungechairs for those sunbathing. The 6 couples were divided into 2 couples each in decks 1, 2 and 3. Sheryl and I drew the short straw for deck 1, the lowest desk; Sheryl afraid we were close to the bilge pumps and engine room. Our room was small but comfortable, airconditioned, with shower/toilet/sink, a small wardrobe and storage, tv on top of a minibar fridge; our window was about 30cm above the waterline, giving great views of whatever or whomever floated by. Charming!
We didn't have much time to dwell on our luck as we were whisked off by bus to visit the High Dam, which was very impressive. Noticed quite a highly visible security presence here; numerous uniformed, armed guards appeared to be everywhere. You could take photos here, but not videos. After about 20 minutes we boarded our bus and drove on to a boatramp from which we caught a passenger boat to the island of Aglika, to view the Temple of Isis. This temple was originally on the Island of Philae, which was submerged by the waters of the Aswan Dam.
To get to the boatramp was quite a feat as there were heaps of people trying to sell you stuff. The boats carry about 14 people, split over simple seating on the left and right edges of the boat, which was covered from the hot sun by a simple metal canopy. The driver sat at the back, operating a small, loud and smelly outboard engine, without a cover, so we could see the ancient metal bits spinning and whirring as it spewed out foul black fumes. The mechanically minded fellas in our group commented it was held together with elastic bands and was older than Methusala, ie, probably a true antiquity in its own right. Many of these boats jostled for position at an impossibly small jetty that could only really cater to 2 boats, so about a dozen were cramming in to pick up a group, or trying to leave with a group, heading for the temple buildings. A short trip of about 10 minutes saw us arrive at the island jetty.
A short walk past more people trying to sell maps, instruments and other 'souvenirs' with our guide towards the temple, our eyes and brains realising here we were visiting true history, true ruins, older than most civilisations of Europe. Again, many armed guards dotted around the ruins here. The scale of the ruins was impressive, constructed over 800 years, some 2500 years ago; difficult to believe they were built by people with very limited technology and simple tools. There was something to see everywhere you looked: colonnaded walks meeting at the base of 2 giant squat towers [pylons], which were covered in deep-etched heiroglyphics and massive bar-relief figures, left foot always forward. The entrance between the towers is guarded by statues of 2 lions. Built of limestone, and even though in great ruin, these buildings continue to shimmer in the sun. The inner walls are covered in heiroglyphics. You could study them for hours, but we didn't have the time. Our guide, George, gave us a brief rundown of some of the architectural and artistic features. My [Pier] personal favourite was the small Temple of Hathor, set to the east of the Temple of Isis; small, yet grand, beautiful proportions. You could only imagine what the entire complex on this island was like, had the all buildings not been in ruin. Fantastic. Lots of photos taken.
We spent maybe an hour or so at this island before we were called back to the motorboats. Wish we had more time, also wish it wasn't as hot. Back to our cruise ship via the city of Aswan, for lunch. The buffet food on offer, again, was fantastic; great choice, beautifully cooked, and plenty of it. Once lunch was over, it was a short time before the ship commenced the cruise, next stop, Kom Ombo, approximately 50 kms from Aswan. We arrived at Kom Ombo mid-afternoon, and then we were herded on to a bus in order to visit the Temple of Haroeris and Sobek [on the east bank of the Nile], arriving with hordes of other tourist groups, not long before the sun began to set. The temple stands on a low promontory in the bend of the Nile, so upon arriving you had a lovely view of the ruins from below. It beckoned to you, reflected in very romantic golden almost-sunset light -- plus, thankfully, it was cooler -- but the sheer amount of people trying to get in the turnstiles/metal detector machine caused a minor stampede, and some of our group decided not to attempt being part of the crush. And this wasn't the high season, so one could imagine just how insane it would be at that time of year. [We think something seriously needs to be done to make the main entrance for tourists to be safer and easier in the future.]
The design of this temple seemed at first glance quite similar to the Tempe of Isis, so there was an immediate 'familiarity' with this place. You could see remnants of original paintwork, which seems a miracle of thousands of years of aging and weathering. We can't remember everything that was told to us by our guide, and we don't profess to be Egyptologists, suffice to say anyone that has a fascination with ancient ruins, ancient Egypt, temples, decorated architecture, sculpture, ancient languages and hieroglyphics, ancient beliefs and religions, etc, would be fascinated by the rich decoration and beautiful architecture of this temple. The sheer amount of heiroglyphics and bar-reliefs covering the inner building and outer corridor walls, as well as columns, is mindboggling. Darkness descended slowly but surely, making it difficult to see around the ruins, plus we had to return to the cruise ship, which needed to sail on to our next stop, Edfu, approx 60 km from Kom Ombo.
Cruising the Nile was quite an eye-opener: the edges of the riverbanks were flat, lush plains, in parts seeming to go back quite a way. We saw massive crops of sugar cane and many, many date palms and banana trees. People were tending to their crops, children swam in the river and waved to us shouting 'hello, hello'; feluccas calmly drifted by on the flat water of the Nile, no waves except those caused by the many cruise ships sailing in both directions. The river was quite wide, and every now and then there was a bridge spanning the river. On the west side of the Nile, beyond the farms and fields, you could see the low desert hills. Every now and then you saw a small tomb sitting on top of a hill. We were told that 5% of Egypt's land was arable, the rest was desert, so you could see why farmers used every square inch of fertile soil to grow something. Again, towards sunset, you could hear the sound of the call to prayer, echoing in from both sides of the Nile, and filling your head with visions of times past; many of the mosque minarets throbbing with coloured lights. A very pleasant way to travel.
If the buffel lunch impressed, well, the dinner the first night onboard was amazing. The restaurant was set up for silver service, the tables looked gorgeous with cutlery and crockery sparkling under candleight, all the waiters dressed up formally ... we felt so underdressed! Suits, crisp white shirts and ties for the men, evening dresses and bling for the women should've been the code. The food was served to us by the waiters ... we love how they served the vegies from platters with fork and spoon in one hand, very skilfull, very elegant. The food again was scrumptuous. Poor Pier was exhausted by the time dessert was served, could hardly keep his eyes open, so bade a polite goodnight, descended into the bowels of the ship for an early night's retirement.
On the second morning of our cruise we visited the Temple of Horus in Edfu. After lunch we cruised further north to Esna, where we went through the lock, on to Luxor, which is where the cruise ship stopped, so really, we only 'sailed' for 1.5 days: so much for a 4-day cruise! In the end we probably travelled only 175 km of the 1545 km to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Temple of Horus [body of a man, head of a falcon = sky-god of the Nile Valley] was buried up to it's lintels [horizontal slabs sitting on top if columns] till the 1860s. Again, it's design is generally similar to the other temples we have seen so far. Two vast pylons at front [the entrance guarded by 2 large black granite falcons], then a massive colonnaded courtyard, followed by a more massive series of halls [the last of which was the Sanctuary of Horus], surrounded by thick outer walls. Heiroglyphics and bar-reliefs as far as the eye could see; again, some of the architectural features had remnants of the original paintwork. Again, dazzling in the hot sunlight, filling the senses and imagination of what it once must have looked like. Everywhere you step you wonder who was there before you; what rites had been performed; history everywhere. The camera could hardly capture the immensity of some of the spaces, nor could our brains at times. Again, too many other tourists there to not feel rushed or crowded in at times, but that was a relatively minor quibble. The only improvement we could suggest to Thomas Cook would be for tours of temples to be conducted earlier in the morning if possible, especially at this hot time of the year. It seemed we arrived towards late morning/lunchtime, which was silly. The front entrance to this temple had a long line of souvenir shops, with the owners trying hard, and politely, to get you in to spend your Egyptian pounds. We resisted, knowing you'd probably be ripped off, plus we were always concerned with being at meeting places on time, otherwise you'd be rewarded with the stern looks and body language of the backs of our travelmates. Not a patient lot by this point of our trip [more in a later post on our assessment of group travel], some of whom were sick with colds. Like some other times we haven't mentioned, the meeting time had changed without us knowing, which was quite annoying [too many Chiefs and not enough Indians]. Onto our bus, and back to the cruise ship. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, reading our emails and adding to our blog, and much later, a yummy buffet dinner. Many of the passengers hit the onboard shop hard to try on outfits for tomorrow night's fancy dress after-dinner party and frolics. Unfortunately Pier was rather antisocial about the whole thing, whereas Sheryl was hoping to have some fun, even if for a short while. [Sorry about that Sheryl -- P]. Some of our group had picked up bits'n'pieces from the shops outside the temple we visited this afternoon. Pier couldn't see the point of buying more 'crap' that we'd never use again, and also spending time with people who didn't give a hoot about us. So, after dinner, we sat at the front of the boat, relaxing, catching what breeze we could from the now-not-moving cruise ship, watching dressed-up people arrive for drinkipoohs and mill about, waiting for the entertainment to start. Pier felt it looked quite sad really, almost verging on the desperate, so many middle-aged people looking uncomfortable in their outfits: we must all have Fun, Fun, Funnnnn! Sorry if this sounds rather negative, but that's what I felt. As more people arrived the party games started and after a short while we took our cue to go to beddiebyes, knowing we had another hot day's touristing ahead of us.
After breakfast the following morning, with all our group having had a 'great time' [as proof, check the photos on the onboard shop windows] we piled onto our bus for our visit to the Necropolis of Thebes and the Valley of the Kings. Again, a really hot day, the sun beating down on us, the airconditioning in the bus a short respite before our sweat glands again being assaulted from the big blue sky above. Penance for our 'sins' the night before perhaps? But we were good, why us? Oh well, we had to suffer collective punishment then! Grrrrr! We arrived at a bus holding area where we dissembarked, the grandeur of the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut shimmering away about a kilometer from us. Again we ran the gauntlet of a long row of souvenir shops before we entered the security screen entrance and on to a waiting area, waiting for a tractor-pulled-3-tourist wagons spluttered over to us, and we piled in and were then deposited in front of a 100m paved slow rise to the lower steps of the 3 levelled temple. Wow, a wonderful sight before us filled us with renewed enthusiasm as we withered in the heat. Another 100m walk to the right to a shaded kiosk with whirring fans and cold fridges filled with frosty drinks beckoned to us. No, no, NOOOOOO ... just 30 minutes in the temple and you can go. OK, we steeled ourselves and on we walked, reaching the first ramp of steps, admiring the colonnades to the left and right. It kind of felt like we were visiting a very low South American Mayan stepped pyramid [that's because Pier worked on a World Histroy textbook -- which included a chapter on the Mayans -- before we left for our trip]. Many of the huge sculptures of the man body-animal/bird headed figures standing in front of the columns were bady damaged or missing. We could imagine just how incredibly beautiful this temple would have looked like thousands of years ago. Gorgeous proportions, lovely architecture, large in scale yet not overwhelming to we modern-day mortals. We rose through another 2 levels and admired the views facing the palins below, to where the fertile farming lands were and the Nile itself. Here it was sandy and stony, dry and desolate, the cliff walls behind and to the right were barren, sandy-white to cream and light browns in colour, dotted with small entrances to caves and tombs, every now and then a door/portal sculpted into the cliff. At the rear of the upper level we saw the entrance to the Sanctuary of Amun, which we could not enter. Wow. A final look around, with some photos taken, and then we took our leave, descending the ramps over to the kiosk for seats in front of a fan with some cold drinks ... ahhhhhhhhh ... it was so hot, a shame really as it spoilt our pleasure at having visited this temple, we could have easily stayed longer to have a really good appreciative look had it been cooler. And back on to the bus to be taken to the Valley of the Kings, where again we were dropped off next to a security entrance, waiting for golf-cart-pulled tourist wagons to take us higher into the valley for the tombs. We didn't know it then but our entry tickets allowed for only 3 tombs to be entered: the tickets were hole-punched by attendants as you entered the tomb. We were put off by the sheer amount of people there, and decided to go to the futherest and highest placed tomb at the rear of the valley, which was probably a mistake, as we had to climb up a few sets of steep stairs to get to the entrance. Blast, already tired and even more hot, we descended into a steep angled tunnel cut into the cliff walls, the floor of which was wooden planking with thin horizontal boards nailed in for your shoes to grip on. Yes, the angle down was quite steep. A constant line of people were descending and ascending, room enough in the tunnel to really fit 1.5 persons comfortably across. As people were ascending their entire faces and much of their clothing was drenched in sweat ... it got hotter and more humid as we descended, so much so that it was incredibly uncomfortable and stressful to get down there. The conditions didn't help to admire the quite vivid decoration of the tunnel walls and ceilings, especially the vestibule with ink blue painted ceiling with white stars, walls decorated with simple outlined figures. We didn't get as far as the burial chamber itself, as we would have needed to descend even further into an even narrower tunnel. There was a great line of poeple trying to descend, and the ones ascending looked so drenched in sweat and exhausted looking. So, Sheryl returned up to the outside while Pier stayed a little while to admire the vestibule, feeling ever increasingly hot and uncomfortable.
We are fairly sure the one we visited was that of Tuthmosis III. From the Egypt Rough Guide ... secreted into a separate wadi, high up in a cleft, the tomb of Tuthmosis III [1479-1425 BC] is one of the oldest in the valley. Its concealment and defences make this tomb especially interesting, though some are disappointed by its artwork [not me!]. Having ascended a wooden stairway to the cleft, you descend through several levels, crossing a pit by footbridge to reach a vestibule. Yadda yadda ...
Once out and rejoining Sheryl we both shook our heads and decided it was not worth it to visit 2 more tombs, in this heat, with the limited time we were given by our guide. Again, we wished we were more fully briefed by our guide about the physical and mental reality of visiting these tombs. We wish we had been given a recommended shortlist of which tombs were the most beautifully decorated ones to visit in our limited time. They probably would have been the more popular and crowded of the tombs, so don't know if that would have been a good thing either. Some of our group had visited tombs which were, in their words, absolutely awesome, decorated in extremely vivid colours and beautiful designs inside. Damn! Picked the wrong one. [PS, Tut's tomb was closed that day]. Our group members expressed doubts that the colours weren't touched up, as they were so vivid*. I can't believe it either, especially with the amount of humidity [and acidity?] caused by the breaths of countless visitors over many, many years.
Our tip: get to the Valley of the Kings as early in the day as possible; know which tombs are the best decorated; allow yourself plenty of time to deal with crowds, knowing you will have a bit of an ordeal to go through when actually descending into tomb tunnels. Definitely drink plenty of water, and remember, no cameras allowed.
Sheryl and I decided to get to the group wait zone, sitting under shade on benches with a big bunch of people. It was here we met an old fella from Washington State, a 78-year old Korean War veteran, born in the Depression, who had worked every job you could think of. He said he'd ended up as a dairy farmer. I made th mistake of asking if he was in the Army, for no, he was in the Marines [how dare I slur his record?!]. The Marines are a cut above, teaching him to "take no s**t from noone" and "to whip his weight in wildcats" [Sheryl loves this one]. Having visited Australia last year, he especially loved Sydney, declaring it as the most beautiful city in the world. He said he was definitely against Obama as "he was going to take from the rich to giver to the poor" and that "he'd worked too hard in his life to lose it all now" ... sound familiar? Scare tactics akin to those of our friend Johnny last election? Yeah right, as if that would ever happen in reality! We enjoyed our 10 minutes with Mr Whippy Wildcat before he ambled off to join his group, his too-damaged hips not allowing him to visit any of the tombs. Another tip from us: do your travelling when you have your [relative] youth and good health! Soon it was time for our group to get together, swap notes, catch the wagons to our bus and head off to our next stop.
After a short drive we stopped for about 10 minutes at the Colossi of Memnon, a gigantic pair of enthroned statues, 18 metres high. Currently in a dusty space between a road and some fields, they once fronted athe mortuary temple of Amenophis III, once the largest complex on the west bank. The good old Rough Guide tells me the complaex was plundered by later Pharoahs, so that only the Colossi remained. Both have lost their faces and crowns, and one was damaged by an earthquake in 27BC. Even though they looked sad and out of place in that patch of sand, they were nonetheless imposing and I enjoyed getting up close to notice all the graffiti from ages past, in Roman and Greek, and bits in English.
Back on the bus for a visit to -- you guessed it -- another government approved alabaster factory. We grudgingly endured a short brief about how alabaster is worked by a man and some workers there, before entering the showroom of countless bowls, replicas, souvenirs, platters, figurines, jugs and titsch by the barelload. Everywhere you turned someone was suddenly next to you offering you information about whichever piece you showed interest in, as well as a price. Go away! George [with your kickbacks] and Thomas Cook, you have a lot to answer for! Maybe we were naive, but this aspect of our tour package was extremely annoying. After about 15 minutes, on to our bus, drinking more water, for our return journey to the Nile Ritz. According to our itinerary, "afternoon is at your leisure" which effectively meant there was nothing for us to do, no options to choose from. Our vessel was 'parked' too far from Luxor itself to be able to walk into the city for a look.
Next tip: if you decide on a Nile cruise, make sure you find out exactly what the vessel is like -- has it been refitted? etc, facilities and activities on offer -- also, EXACTLY what you'll be doing/visiting and for how long and when in the day, what other options are on offer; also, EXACTLY where the vessel is docked in relation to the city/town itself, ie, can you exit the vessel and walk into town/city for a look, especially if the vessel is going nowhere for 2.5 days?! Regarding the first point, we found at times that our vessel was moored at the end of 3 other vessels widthwise [ie, parallel to the shore] and you had to walk through the lobbies of those 3 vessels from your vessel to get to the gangplank on to the river shore. That way you saw the fitout and condition of each vessel in realtion to your own. Ours was a bit on the dowdy side compared to some we saw, which had ritzy floor-to-ceiling marble, or very modern plush hotel look about them. A good question to ask! Regarding the last point, it would have been much better for us had we been docked next to a town/city centre as we could've made more of our "at your own leisure" time, seeing as we aren't bar jockeys, leather-skinned sunbathers, or snoozing with bodice-rippers or thick 'airport' novels on our laps on sunlounges. Yes, there was a table-tennis table -- Sheryl too competitive for Pier -- but it was too hot to play, plus the westerly breeze wrought havoc with your sidespin and pinpoint placing! Sheryl and I decided to take a bit of a walk along the river bank.
Heading north we soon reached the end of a grassed area, hounded by a dog with a very hoarse bark. Heading south we passed through a grassed and pergola'd area that looked like it was an on-land extension of a cruise ship's mooring, complete with a full set of expensive looking gym equipment, sitting there in the weather without any cover, rusting and locked solid through neglect. Such a waste! The money spent on that equipment could've fed a Kenya village for a year! We thought maybe this was the private riverbank area for a particular ship or company that might've gone bust very quickly, otherwise why leave behind this equipment. We were amazed noone thought to pick it up and take away, 5-finger discount-like! Theories, theories. We sat down admiring the view we didn't have: a moored cruise ship in front of us, a seemingly neglected small fishing boat on the water to our left, secured to the bank by a frayed rope. A boy was spalhing about in the water between the cruise ship and the riverbank, using his sandals as paddles in his hands, floating on the water on a black grabage bag filler with empty bottles ... interesting. He paddled over to us and we had a short, halting exchange in English; suddenly a head popped up in the little fishing boat, it was this fella's older brother; soon these boys' father appeared and the boys skedaddled ... perhaps they were shirking a job, so we set offback to our cruise ship, disappointed there wasn't any hope of seeing anything interesting on the riverbank, worthy of spending our time till dinner. Annoying, as it seemed a complete waste of time [and money] to be stuck out here with no options. We decided that tomorrow we would somehow organise to get into Luxor and have a look around, even if for a short time. We had a reasonably early evening after dinner as we were going to have an early morning for a balloon flight.
Day 28, Saturday 20 September
We got up with our alarm at 3:15am, were quickly dressed and up to the restaurant for cuppas and a slice of sweet cake. We had to wait a while before a van came to pick us up, to transport us along the riverbank through Luxor to a watertaxi stop. It was dark and cool, and we had to wait some more time before the balloon pilot, a big, burly Egyptian came onboard to give us his safety briefing. The was another group of about a dozen people on our vessel, from the Czech Republic, none of who, except for their tour leader, who could speak English. Unfortunately for our gruff inpatient Captain Bombasticus, his instruction had to be translated by the Czech tour leader, which took ages. Finally, as the sky grew noticeably lighter, we crossed over to the opposite [west] bank of the Nile, where we were picked up by another van to transport us to the balloon liftoff area, which was located in a freshly harvested field on some poor farmer's land. There were about 6-8 or more other balloons in the immediate vicinity, in various stages of inflation all around us, an impressive sight. I will never tire of hearing the fans whirring, and the fast, furious and loud bursts of ignited gas blowing up balloons with the beautiful golden glow in this semi-darkness. Lovely to see especially in the red, orange or yellow coloured balloons. The combined Traveljoy-Czech Republic group were measured for height and weight estimated, then loaded into the basket, almost 30 people. Unlike other compartments of 6, Sheryl, I and Linda were in a compartment by ourselves, we 3 being small and short we had room to move. Our compartment was next to the ever-loud, almost-rude, autocratic pilot [who'd want to be his assistants?!], so felt the heat of the burners when he fired them up, thank goodness we knew to wear hats, otherwise we'd have had very curly, blackened tops-of-heads, ha, ha. A slow rise off the dusty patch, the irritated farmer had by now arrive on his donkey, and was being shushed and pushed away from our sight as we drifted above the crops, by now the sun had risen over the low hills on the eastern bank of the Nile ... no matter how many times we've seen the sunrise during our trip, it never fails to mystify us with it's beauty; it's unique every time. Captain Bombasticus made sure the balloon turned every now and then so that we could all have the chance to take in the ever-widening 360° views of the incredibly fertile plains on either side of the Nile, the city of Luxor on the east bank, some of the street lights below twinkling in the sunrise. Opposite to the rising sun were the craggy pale shapes of the low mountains, along the lower slopes we could see various temples, the Colossi as well as the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, with no tourists anywhere in the area, so you could see the complex without interruption, even at this distance [a great view through the zoom of cameras, video cameras and binoculars]. Every now and then Captain Bombasticus would blast "everyone enjoyin it?" ... yessir! He broke off in a Jamaican voice as he took a shine to some pretty Jamaican lasses who were in a compartment on the other side to us, with the pilot in the middle. Oh dear ... Unfortunately for some of our group with high expectations, our balloon didn't fly over and above the Valley of the Kings ... our pilot explained had we done so the winds would not bring us back to our landing spot. Who cares, we had a fantastic view of the gorgeous countryside, the sunrise, and the ruins of everything we'd seen the day before, so we could see the relationship of them all, where they were placed on the land, in relation to the Nile and to Luxor. Plus, it was another balloon flight and we love them. We still think our flight above the Yarra Valley 5 years ago was the prettiest balloon flight we've been on to date. About 45 minutes later we'd landed on another patch of a harvested field, close to some farmhouses. Two older ladies dressed in black led a small herd of goats around us, a classic photo series right there. A few kids came over with some bits'n'bobs, hoping to sell them to us. Once we'd landed and had a celebratory dance, certificates and t-shirts were handed out ... one of the boys pestered me for my t-shirt ... I asked hom how many he had [6] and what he did with them [sell them] ... I should've given it to him as once home it was pretty cheap and nasty [and took room in my bag]. Oh well, next time ...
The flight was a very enjoyable experience, and once we were returning via Luxor, Sheryl and I decided it would be worthwhile trying to organise a taxi to take us into Luxor so we could spend some time to ourselves having a look around the city centre. We knew many businesses wouldn't be open due to Ramadan, but we thought "who cares, at least we're having a look". Some of the others in our group expressed interest. Once back at our ship and having had breakfast, we decided to make definite plans: we asked the reception on the ship if they could call for a taxi, decide on a price for drop-off with a pickup at midday, andsee who else would like to come. Two others decided "yes", and we put the plan in motion. Yee-har! Movement at last! The taxi man arrived, he was instructed by reception as to what we wanted, we piled in and it worked! Dropped off in the city centre next to a Maccas, we went for a little stroll towards the train station. We noticed the tourist info office opposite was closed [useful ... not!] and soon 2 guys on horsedrawn buggies approached us with offers to take us on a ride around, wherever we wanted. Some of us needed to go to an ATM, and we wanted to see the market the townspeople go to, as well as finish up at a big souvenir place [which we knew was the 'real' reason why they picked us up [the 'kickback' for taking tourists there]. Anyway, the price was supposed to be 5 Egyptian pounds each [pretty much 1AUD] and so we decided to go with it. These guys were a major hoot, Sheryl and I enjoyed the lively little fella who drove our buggy, fining the ATM, and then turning ino an almost impossibly narrow street lines with stalls on either side of the street, with shoppers walking alongside both sides of the street with 2 buggies attempting to push everyone aside. In other words we had a very closeup view of the stalls and the people and produce, at times we had to stop for a few minutes as we couldn't progress any further because of the crush. In the meantime we saw fruits and vegetables, meats and fishes hanging or being chopped up in the open, mounds of spices with the smells drifting to us and the incredible blue oif the indigo was amazing; every now and then we [horse, buggy, drives, us] would get dirty looks as we pushed our way through the market. We saw a woman blowing into the mouths of small pigeons [?] so their chests puffed out, then placed them back into a crate with other pigeons -- we wondered why she did that: was it to stupefy them? Does anybody have a theory on this? Then there were clothing stalls, veils, scarves, ladies and men's outfits, shoes, bicycle repair shops, people frying latticelike pastry [?] on big [about 1 metre round], flat round iron pans ... yum [whatever it was] ... it was tantalising and exotic and amazing to see. We snapped off as many shots as we could, without being inpolite, most of them are a little blurred, but, who cares?! It was a fantastic experience, like a scene out of a movie. We finally would our way through the market, ending up at this big souvenir place, where we bought some papyrus, wooden boxes inlaid with mother of pearl, as well as an outfit for Pier. We were totally ripped off with the boxes and the outfit, but we didn't care all that much, as we had such a wonderful adventure in the horse-drawn buggy. Once done, we jumped back onto the buggy and were driven back to our meeting point with the taxi. Yes, our price was supposed to be E£5 each, but it went up as we tried to pay that price, ending up E£40, $AUD8 ... big deal! We had some time to spare so the 4 of us thirsty intrepid travellers went into Maccas where we got drinks and Sheryl and I shared some fries. The lady with us saw that they were selling Maccas Egypt towels, so had to buy one, to add to her already incredible, and some lavish, purchases to date ... I'd hate to have to lug her bag!
Our taxi duly arrived and off we went, returning to our cruise ship, paid the driver the agreed price, and took ourselves to our rooms. Sheryl and I agreed that this short trip was probably the most enjoyable experience we've had together all cruise! It certainly was memorable, and a total hoot. We had lunch on board, then relaxed chatting with various people up on the top deck. As the afternoon wore on it was time to do a final pack of our bags before it was time to leave our cruise ship, and taken to the centre of Luxor [same place where Sheryl and I were dropped off by taxi this morning] for a couple of hours shopping in the central [touristy market]. Unlike the market the Luxor people used, this market was a street of shops, tizzed up for tourists -- and we're sure, with prices to match -- but it was fun to say "la shukran" [no thankyou] and have a bit of a joke with the shopkeepers as they tried everything to entice you to buy from them. At a carpet shop Sheryl said she'd only have a look if the carpet was jet-propelled. Others exclaimed "free, free", probably meaning free to look rather than free to take with you, ha, ha. We walked up and down a few times, just killing the time before we had leave for the train station, 7:30pm. As soon as the call to prayers started up, the street market transformed into virtually every man starting smoke, trestle tables and blankets being set up in side streets, food brought out and people feasting as the sun went down. Amazing. We were somewhat jealous, wishing we could join them as the food looked yummy! We had to make do, all us our group meeting up at a cafe for a drink and chat, beofre it was time to be picked up by our bus, for the short trip to the train station before dropping us and our luggage off. Our time in Luxor almost finished. What a day!

*According to our Rough Guide, yes, the colours have been restored.

Next post, thoughts on group travel, and our tour in general.

Thoughts on Cairo

Let's start with Cairo, where we began and ended our time in Egypt.
Cairo, 23 million people in one spot, a megacity, which kept on going on and on and on from the air, even more so once you were in amongst it. All you could see as we were making our descent was a thickly congested jigsaw puzzle of dark brown cubes or varying sizes and heights, almost like the biggest legoland you'd ever seen. A low hanging pall of pollution gave us a hazy view of this sprawling city. The great thing was landing and not dying from the humidity; yes, it was quite warm, but no humidity like that of Dubai, thank goodness. A week of that would've been the straw that broke the camel's back and we would've hoped for an early return home, or more time in Kenya.
The process of progress through the airport was 'organised chaos', the drive into our hotel was surprisingly lovely, especially the Heliopolis quarter, which was ordered, green, plenty of trees and lovely buildings. This is where you find President Mubarak's residence, as well as those for diplomats and the rich. The closer we drew to central Cairo, the more we saw of high rise towers, all with roofs and balconies sprouting satellite dishes in such quantity that it was like a plague of pimples, amazing to see.These towers were squeezed in cheek by jowl; airconditioning units stuck on the sides of each unit, the pipes running from the fan units leading into holes in the walls in whatever way the installer decided would be fastest and easiest; wires for satellite dishes draping the outside of the building like thin black creepers; the buildings grimy, grey and brown, very rarely painted bright colours, like a huge set for a futuristic film. The overpasses and underpasses didn't make sense to us, being a city we didn't know how to navigate; traffic flowing on the opposite side to that of Australia. It seemed like the inner city was decaying as we were speeding to our hotel, the Flamenco. The sheer scale of the city was overwhelming, like nothing we'd ever experienced before.
Cairo, it's not a beautiful city [the bits that we saw, anyway]. The Nile gives it a little breathing space. It felt like Paris or Rome on steroids. Each street choked mainly dusty, scratched and dented parked cars; even the trees lining the narrow footpaths were covered in a layer of grime. It was difficult to work out what the road rules were: beeping of your horn is compulsory, to let the next car next or in front of you know you're coming through; 'give way' [under any circumstances, except for when a police officer directs you to do so] is not a concept these drivers know about; hardly any traffic lights, almost noone uses their indicators; cars looked banged up and bits hanging on with tape, string, luck or sheer grim determination. The cacophony was deafening, the determination of the flow of traffic unknowable for we polite Melbournians. It works, somehow, and we are in absolute admiration for the incredible driving skills of the Cairo drivers, as well as the judgement of the pedestrians attempting to calculate the complex mathematics, probabilities, momentums and injury risks of cars, taxis, buses, minivans, boys on carts pulled by donkeys, men pushing handcarts, stunned tourists trying to know what to do, police in white unforms, etc, all converging or diverging in hundreds of trajectories with split second skill, as determined, cool, calm and casual as you please. Wow, an insane ballet of humanity in front of your eyes.
The streets near our hotel houses upper middle-class people, some of the houses/villas and embassies were lovely. We didn't see too much from the bus as it totted, lurched and budged it's way through the madness. It was hot, even at the early hour we'd arrived; dusty, smoggy and assaulting on the eyes: so many things to see, apartment buildings, small shops underneath, a myriad of signs, a policeman virtually on every corner [one of the things we noticed was the very visible security presence], people walking, driving or just sitting on chairs. And the constant tooting, and with everything seemingly squeezed in with little space to spare, it felt somewhat claustrophobic; we're used to elbow space, space in general, parks, grass, flowers, front gardens, etc.
Another thing we noticed was that people were quick to shout at eachother — they weren't arguing, it's their way! No public display of affection, except for mothers and children, or a greeting between friends. Plenty of modesty; men and women in all forms of dress, but no women or young ladies in mini-skirts, uncovered shoulders, except for tourists [who should've known better]. Minarets of mosques, tall and thin, some exquisitely delicate and beautifully rendered, painted and decorated, shooting up in the sky; beautiful. At night many of these minarets were lit up by brightly coloured neon or light bulbs, pulsating in the darkness. At 6pm, or sunset, an incredibly disjointed choir of 'calls to prayer' rung out, revervebrating through the streets from all directions from 360°. It sounded incredibly exotic, and it meant time to get home, eat and drink as the Ramadan fast for the day is broken. On our last cruise of the Nile night in Luxor [the night before we arrived back in Cairo] we wandered a market, and in many of the side streets as well as the main market street, people had spread out their blankets and rungs, or long trellis tables and chairs, for their feast. It was so very tempting to join in as the food looked and smelt so inviting.
Once the fast is broken for the day cafes, shops and restaurants open for the rush of hungry people. Ramadan posed a bit of a problem for we westerners, especially in Dubai. Cairo was a bit more relaxed for us. At least we could visit the local McDonald's or Pizza Hut for an eat-in or takeaway meal in our room. As in Rome 4 years ago [our honeymoon] McDonald's was a 'saviour' for us: you know there's a toilet you can use without hassle, and they have a really tasty, big burger called 'The Royale', which is about twice the size of a Big Mac; their large fries are about twice the size our ours as well. I [Pier] want to start a petition to get the Royale into Australia: much better value than the not-so-Big Mac! Yum! And I'm not a big fan of Maccas at the best of times.
Back to Cairo. On our first morning in Egypt we flew in from Dar-Eas Salaam, drove straight into central Cairo to the Hilton, then walked a short distance to the Cairo Museum, which is a must-do. If you're into Tutankanamen, heiroglyphics, statuary, sacrophraguses, anything 5000+ years old, then go check this place out. It was busy when we were there, even though it wasn't high season. Lots of tour groups being led by loud guides in many languages; the rooms varying in size, quite warm and uncomfortable, with heaps to see. You really do need a full day here if you're a keen Egyptologist, so get there early in the morning, and have plenty of rests in the shaded park in front or in the cafe, where the food is pretty basic but the drinks are cold.
After the Museum, a night in our hotel before an early morning flight to Aswan, to get to our Nile cruise ship, the Nile Ritz. The name pretty much says it all! I'll get on to the 'cruise' later on in another post.
Our second last night in Egypt was spent of an overnight train, leaving from Luxor at 8:20pm, arriving in Giza at the ungodly hour of 5:30am. It was probably the worst night of our lives, as the train looked like it hadn't changed in appearance since the 1970s, grotty and dusty on the outside, and a little grimy and tattered on the inside. We had an overnight sleeper, which looked pretty much the same as the ones I [Pier] used to use when I was a poor student in Adelaide, returning home for term breaks from Adelaide, to Melbourne. So, it felt familiar, but that's where the 'romance of the past' ended. Once we left Luxor and were handed our meal -- rice, chicken, and some meat in 3 separate warm aluminium lined cardboard containers, s small container of some fruit pieces, a small breall roll, and a drink: the containers looked as if they'd been re-used. Erk! We were very hungry [especially after having seen what the locals were eating a couple of hours earlier in the market streets], so took the chance of not getting food-poisoning.
After dinner, the carriage steward put our beds in place, and for the next 7 hours or so, tried to catch at least some little sleep as the carriage machine-gun rattled, rolled, lurched, bounced and jigged it's way north. In my desperate attempt to catch 40 winks, there was not only the noise of the carriage, but the squeaking and rattling of our carriage doors, people talking noisily in Arabic outside our compartment, etc. Whoever at Thomas Cook [from whom the Nile tour package was purchased] and at Traveljoy [our travel company] thought it was a 'good' idea to do so, knowing we'd had a really early night before [for a balloon flight], and knowing we'd have a big day on arrival in Giza, needs to be told emphatically, "IDIOTS, what were you thinking?!" Our group, including by now some of our number ill, also 2 elderly travellers, were almost DOA: extremely grumpy, tired and flabbergasted at what we'd had to endure. Grrrrrrr, shame on you Thomas Cook!
Looking more dead than alive, after only touching our 4:30am 'breakfast', we alighted at the not-so-delightful Giza station, especially the litter-strewn approach to the station. After some delay with the luggage, we boarded a bus to take us to our hotel, again the Flamenco, where we were able to freshen up with a shower and a delicious breakfast, attended to by indifferent wait staff. Then a bus ride across the city to the enormously impressive Citadel, with a mosque in the middle of it, perched on top of a hill overlooking the city. Located next to a quarry used by the Pharoahs to build the pyramids. A multi-storey carpark with mall is currently being built in the quarry. Tacky? Noooooo!
The view to the incredibly massive, sprawling city was breathtaking, literally: the smog was terrible, and the views limited by the low-hanging brown pall. But, it's vast, a dreary legoland broken up by mosques and minarets and some high towers. The carpet of 2, 3, 4 or so levelled housing was depressing to see: up close they are reinforced concrete cubed shells, the spaces filled in with brick, small windows, rare balconies, you could see the edges of concrete stairs in some of the spaces; with the roofs dotted with satellite dishes, and again outsides draped with wiring, and tubing for airconditioners, etc. It appeared to be the cheapest and quickest form of housing has been erected, with little care for aesthetics, humanness, comfort; each building jammed into the next, with the height of the rooms of each building at various heights. Ugly, and lots of them, as far as the eye could see. We wondered where the parks, shops and schools were. Yet, every now and then a major surprise: a few acres of beautifully green and healthy-looking crop land, breaking up this virus of concrete and brick squalor. We guessed there were a few farmers that hadn't sold their land to developers. It was a welcome relief to see these oases of green, planted in the beautiful brown soil. Perhaps Cairo has grown too quickly, with lax development laws, so the people and culture that had created such exquisite beauty of the temples we'd seen had come to this. Apologies if this sounds scathing or condescending in any way, but this is what we saw and how we felt.
Back to the Citadel. This monumental fort complex was commenced in the late 12th century. On top of the hill, the Mohammed Ali Mosque grubby on the outside -- the beautiful alabaster walls, columns and arches need a good scrubbing -- the forecourt, and the interior of the mosque is gorgeous, decorated like a Faberge egg [according to our Rough Guide]. Having seen many examples of grand mosques in various TV documentaries, it was wonderful to be in one, being in awe of the spaces, the vastness, and the gorgeousness of the decorations and coloured glass windows. The forecourt, in white alabaster, is simply beautiful. Classic curved arches, like that of Renaissance churches; beautiful windows with intricate ironwork, and amazing clock tower and an centrally placed Turkish ablutions fountain. It felt quite familiar to be here, and at the same time, an out-of-this-world feeling as it was such an exotically beautiful building. Hopefully it will get a good washdown and sparkle again in the near future. Again, lots of tourists being led around by guides crowded the views.
After a good hour or two, it was time to leave, as we were heading for the grande finale for the day, and of our time in Egypt, the Pyramids and Sphinx. We travelled through the suburbs once more, gradually advancing to the edge of the city, and via a grotty, litter-strewn back way [and also a short stop at another 'government approved' souvenir shop], filled with slow, chaotic, loud, honking and shouting traffic, we caught glimpses of the pyramids in the narrow spaces between buildings. We would've thought there would have been a far more 'grand' way of respectfully approaching these 4000+ years old wonders of the world. But no, more madness, the back streets looked like a garbage dump. Once out of the throng there was a curved, upwards approach to the first of the pyramids, and it was then that the true scale of it hit you, like a tonne of finely chipped limestone, ouch. Wow, amazing; BIG! Yes, seen them a zillion times in books, tv, movies, etc, but, as like seeing the Eiffel Tower, or the Rift Valley Walls in real life, it really does take your breath away to appreciate the sheer scale of it all. And people built this. A long time ago. With limited technology. Wow, wow, wow!
Built on a plateau that has grand, smoggy views of the city, these babies are imposing, with a presence about them that is inspiring and moving. We had a big, blue sky and a hot sun above; the pyramids shimmered before us. Thankfully not covered in grey grime, the limestone had a creamy yellow colour to them. Lots of little people-ants at their base, posing, taking photos, some stepping back a far as they could to take the scene in and make sense of it all [if possible]. Our guide gave us some statistics that were mind boggling: the first pyramid, the Great Pyramid of Cheops originally stood at 140m high, and 230m along its base, estimated to weigh 6 million tonnes, containing some 2.3 million blocks weighing between 2.5 to 15 tonnes each. The second pyramid, the Pyramid of Chephren, is built on higher ground, and is the one with the intact summit casing. It's base is 215m, and weighs about 4.9 million tonnes. We bought tickets to enter the inner chamber of this second pyramid, some of the passages sloping, we had to bend over to advance. There was a short connecting passage in which we could stand upright [it pays to be short!]. We reached Chepren's burial chamber, which was like being in a small bare stone cottage house with no windows, rectangular in shape, with a high triangular pitched roof. Dark and, surprisingly, it was rather warm here. We were sweating a goo deal by the time we returned outside. More wow!
After a short pause we drove on to a higher part of the plateau from which you had the classic 3 pyramids views, with heaps of tourists taking photos, some with the bedouins that decided to be part of your picture. Like those photos people take at the leaning tower of Pisa where they hold out their hand as if their supporting the tower, here people cupped their hands under the pyramid, or pinched their fingers, as if they were dangling the pyramid. OK then! Again, you have seen this view so many times in books and tv, but again being there in real life the enormity of the pryamids hit home, and the fantastic view laid out before you can't really be conveyed by a photograph.
We didn't have a great deal of time here as we would have wanted -- one of the things we didn't like, being in a package group situation. Being a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it would've been great had we arrived there much earlier in the day [hopefully cooler], and had the chance to take our time, walking along the bases of the pyramids, taking in the views and perspectives from different angles and distances. If you ever get the chance to visit the pyramids, we recommend that you try to spend as much time as you can with them, at least half a day.
Following the pyramids, we then took a short drive lower down the plateau to Chephren's Funerary Complex, and [of course] the Sphinx. It seemed to me [Pier] smaller than I'd imagined, but still, it was one of those 'oh wow, I'm here, I can't believe I'm here' moments when you saw the full thing in front of you. Again, something very old, some 4000+ years old. Depending on where you stood, you caught the classic Sphinx before the Pyramid view, and you couldn't do anything else but take that photo regardless. Wow. Shame about the Pizza Hut in the shops a few hundred meters in front. It was like that moment when we were standing with jaws dropped in front of the Pantheon in Rome, to turn 180° to see a McDonald's at the far end of the piazza. Oh dear!
Again maybe 30 minutes here before the now almost obligatory stop at a 'government approved' carpet factory, for yet another chance for souvenir shopping. Again, Thomas Cook, this is something to delete from your itinerary; it's maddening, and mostly a rip-off, and takes away valuable time from the things we were here to see.
We returned to our hotel for our last afternoon and night in Cairo. Maccas for lunch, followed by relaxing in our lovely hotel room, with views across the Nile to a mosque and the backdrop of countless buildings covered in satellite dishes and smog. Room service for dinner and an early night. Time to try to charge the batteries for the next couple of days ahead.
The following morning was a 'free morning', meaning nothing was organised by either Thomas Cook or our travel leader, Lawrence. What a pity, what a waste of valuable travel time. After a slow start, Sheryl and I ventured into the surrounding area, discovering lots of wonderful local shops in the narrow streets, selling homewares, curios, souvenirs, Egyptian cotton, manchester, fashion, etc. Some of the shops had fantastic tiled floors. We picked up some presents, enjoying not being hassled, not having limited time, and not having to bargain; the prices were better than the so-called 'government approved' stores we'd been forced to visit during our time in Egypt. Pizza Hut for lunch, returning back to the hotel to pack our goodies away, to meet up with the group in the foyer before leaving for the airport at 2pm. Why so very early [as our flight departed at 6:30pm] we didn't know, the traffic was quite bad. Upon arriving at the airport we found out that the flight was delayed 1:15, so we didn't leave till 7:45pm. The flight was not much longer than 3:20, arriving in Dubai 2:30am [Dubai time]. We didn't get to say goodbye to 4 of our group, who were in transit at the airport for their flight to WA, leaving 6 of us to go onwards. We were delayed going to our hotel as a couple from our group had left their camera on the plane. By the time we arrived at the hotel, the 4 that had to fly on to Qld had a bit over 2 hours sleep before returning to the airport. Why Traveljoy didn't book rooms at the airport hotel, we don't know, but it was extremely annoying that we only had the chance of 4 hours sleep before we had to return to Dubai airport! We should have had 5+ hours as we were there way too early, having to wait around for a couple of hours before our 10:10am fllght to Melbourne. We took the opportunity to spoil ourselves, enjoying a lavish breakfast, like the ones we were getting used to in Kenya and Tanzania.
We tired wee bunnies arrived 5:30am local time, Wednesday 24/9. We wished we could've had a couple more days in Cairo in which we could've explored much more of the city, especially the central part and Islamic quarter of the city. What a shame. Oh well, we feel we had a good, little taste of Cairo, and if we ever get the chance to visit again, then we'll know what to do.
Next post will about our 'cruise' on the Nile. Sorry this is out of order, but then I'm jetlagged!

Dubai: hot, hot, hot; and a little bit about Egypt

Dubai = Sodom and Gomorrah, well, that was what we thought of it. Hotter than hell, humid to add to our woes, soulless, a testament to man's greed, vanity and seemingingly endless and ever-ridiculous quest for one-upmanship.
1.4 million people: 20% Emiriati's, 80% ex-pat, 50% of whom are Indians and Pakistanis. Just offshore from the mainland, 3 ever increasingly larger residential developments have been built upon 'palm' shaped islands reclaimed from the sea [probably best viewed from a helicopter Ñ check out Google Earth]. They plan on building an even bigger one soon. Because they can. There's also a map of the world made from reclaimed land, again best viewed from the air ƒ because they can. Amongst the myriad amounts of statistic, facts and figures given during our bus tour was the sobering information that the Indian and Pakistani workers are bussed in from the outer city to the construction sites. They earn about $US450 per month, apparently slightly more than they would in similar jobs back home. They sign 3-year contracts. They live 4 men to a room, and it's airconditioned [woohoo, woopiedoo!]. Try the concept of virtual slave labour and maybe we might be getting closer to the truth. There's perhaps a true underclass here, the ex-pat workers in the construction, hotels [lots of Phillipino's and Indian'/Pakistanis here] and other menial jobs. The so-called 'poor' Emirati's have been allocated free housing by the powers that be, not just for the immediate family, but also grandparents, etc, etc ƒ the 'free' housing we saw were quite big, seemed very neat, nice homes, nothing like public housing we're accustomed to seeing in Australia. Emiriati's get free education, health, and pay no personal income tax. Fuel is about 50c/litre. Interesting that we're here during Ramadan, the implications for us being no food/drink outlets or cafes open during the daylight hours, so we had to find food and bottled water in a supermarket to take back with us, to be eaten/drunk in private [ie, no public consumption of food and drink allowed in the hours between sunrise and sunset during Ramadan]. Apparently this also means that many businesses close during the day, music isn't played anywhere, which doesn't give a true picture of the vibrant activity of normal day-to-day life here [and in Zanzibar and Egypt].
Back to one-upmanship ƒ the royal palaces are huge; we saw one that looked like it could sit anywhere in the French countryside and not look out of place: manicured lawns, hundreds of peacocks wandering outside along the tree-lined drives to massive gates ƒ sigh!
In Dubai here we have the world's tallest residential building [because they can]; the world's tallest commercial office building [because they can]; the world's tallest luxury hotel [because they can]; the world's biggest marina [because they can]. They want to build the world's tallest shopping centre [because they can] and the world's biggest airport, with 6 runways [because they can]. They are expecting 300 million people to go through this airport, even though they currently are expanding an already huge airport, which we saw.
With all the new residential and commercial buildings going up,
we wonder who is actually going to live in them; who could possibly afford them in the first place? How is all the office space going to be filled? Just what is being generated here to justify so much construction? We were told one of the palm island developments sold out completely in 70 minutes, with prices beginning at US$1 million plus! It just boggles the mind, the sheer scale and vision of it all.
In the to the 60's it was a small fishing and pearling town. With the discovery of oil massive income has been generated. With a small population, to build this city huge amounts of ex-pats have been brought in to provide accounting, engineering, educational, medical, etc expertise; they are paid really well, and in turn generate needs in education, health care, accommodation, leisure, etc. A never-ending circle. This is the place to make money if you aren't already thinking about heading west for the mining boom in Western Australia!
There are so many diversions for the wealthy and the ex-pats: luxury hotels, marina, huge shopping complexes, an indoor ski slope; they want to build a Dubailand, a mixture between Disneyland and god knows what; they also want to build an F1-land as well. We visited a 6-storey shop totally devoted to electronics, and by what we saw, there is no shortage of money here!
We thought back to the squalid poverty we witnessed in Kenya and thought "che?". We thought much of the world's poverty could be solved if just a fraction of the wealth here could be diverted to humanitarian use rather than for the pleasures of the idle rich. It's obscene.
You can tell we aren't a big fan for this place. Yes, one can admire the architecture and town planning, the foresight and vision seen here made real on a grand scale. If they aren't happy with the way something is turning out Ñ ie, a building or a piece of highway Ñ they just tear it down or rip it up and start again! Yes, one can admire the original culture of the place, and see how that has been preserved Ñ the Dubai Museum was great, and definitely recommended. Yes, we can have fun by visiting the spice and gold souks, be harrassed by hawkers [all Indian/Pakistani] trying to sell you copies of exclusive brand watches and handbags ƒ but there is something troubling here. Scratch the surface and questions about priorities need to be answered.
Not only did we have to deal with Ramadan, which wasn't too troubling, the main debilitating problem was the heat combined with humidity. On Sheryl's birthday we walked maybe 1.5 kms to a local shopping centre, our sunglasses and camera lenses completely fogging up within 3 paces of the hotel's front door! By the time we made a few unscheduled directionally challenged diversions, and reached the shopping mall, we [particularly Pier] were covered in sweat, our tops sticking to us; it took Pier over an hour to cool down in the mall! It felt like being in a sauna. There was nowhere to buy a cold drink, and even if we could, we would have to find some quiet corner somewhere and sneakily take in some liquids. Thankfully there weren't many shoppers, so the deception was easy. A birthday call received from grandson Lockie was heaven sent for Sheryl; and just on 1pm, as the shops were closing for an afternoon break, Sheryl found a new watch as a birthday present. Happy Birthday to Sheryl! Meanwhile the rest of the group were visiting probably the biggest shopping mall here, The Emirates Mall [with the ski slope], then going for a dune bash. We met up with the rest of the group upon their return from the dune bash, and shared with them a birthday cake that had been kindly presented to Sheryl the afternoon before by the management, which was great, a lovely gesture on their part. We were too hot and bothered to go out for dinner so instead we had room service delivered, so a nice, quiet, personal dinner, no stress, no pressure to do this, do that, or be anywhere in particular.
The 15th saw us take a bus tour around the city, with the facts'n'figures commentary I've told you about. The city mainly treeless, except for the occasional planting here and there, some bits off main roads that are drip-irrigated, some roundabouts; all you experience is dry, hot, humid city with lots of shops and residential buildings, apartments, office towers [some of which are spectacular, but had to time to stop and view as we were on a schedule], the palaces, hotels, etc, etc, as well as the well-known only 7-star hotel in the world, the Burj Al Arab [we had enough time to suck in as much cool air-cnditioned air as possible, stop for 10 minutes, take a few photos, brave the intense heat that caused the sand to burn the soles of Sheryl's feet and to dip her toes in really warm water ƒ not very refreshing. There were a few hardy souls swimming, whether or not they were enjoying any coolness is debatable]; we drove along some long, straight roads, bordered by villas, apartments and shops, with the sight of air-conditioned bus-stops every kilometer or so causing us to wish maybe they'd do the same back home [especially in summer, ha, ha]. These bus-stops are a big incentive by the powers to get people moving on public transport. We visited the Dubai Museum for under an hour, then back to our hotel to refresh ourselves, and to change. That evening we went on a dinner cruise of Dubai Creek, in one of the many restaurant vessels plying their trade. Perhaps due to Ramadan, and maybe due to the heat, we were the biggest group on board, with perhaps another 20 or so other souls feasting on lovely, beautifully presented food. The restaurant part was downstairs, air-conditioned, while up top was the upper deck, with a roof but sides open, with tables set there too. It was too hot and humid to spend much time up there to enjoy the sights of the towers and other brightly lit restaurant vessels on the Creek. There was not much you could see through the windows below because the windows were covered in condensation on the outside due to the air-conditioning inside! The food was great [as it has been all trip] and it was another 'experience'. Once the trip was over it was time to head back to our hotel, to pack for tomorrow as we depart for the airport for our flight to Cairo, for the beginning of our week in Egypt.
So, in short, you can tell we weren't all that impressed by Dubai. Maybe if it was in the cooler part of the year, December to February, when the temperatures are around the mid-20s; maybe if it wasn't Ramadan, maybe if the wealth and excesses weren't so in your face, then perhaps we might have enjoyed walking around the city, shopping, admiring the architecture and the progress this place is bursting with; maybe if it was cool enough to sit on a ritzy hotel's rooftop restaurant with views over the city and the sea for Sheryl's birthday, then perhaps we would've had a far more memorable celebration. But, for all this, the facts'n'figures we were given, plus with what was before our eyes, the looks on our porters and waiting staff, the looks on the faces of the Indian/Pakistani workers in the buses that passed us during our stay, we can't help feel there is a soulessness about this city. Absolutely excellent if you are young, or a young couple, footloose and fancy free with skills that you can sell for a great salary and benefits, plus the fact that Dubai is an ideal stepping point for Africa, Asia and Europe, then go for it.
For us, this transition from nature and warm smiles and welcomes to high tech megacity just didn't cut it. We felt that perhaps we should've ended the trip there in Zanzibar, with the warm breezes off the sea and the big smile of Juma welcoming us fresh in our memories.
The next post will be of our time in Egypt, but probably won't be posted before our return to Melbourne. Please excuse Pier's probable errors of fact here and there in this post. It was so difficult to remember much more, especially after a week or so has passed.
Our flight into Cairo was with Emirates, which was great, lovely food, and we watched "I Am Legend" on the inflight movie. The flight was only 4 hours or so. I'll give you a short rundown about our first few days here. Once through Cairo airport we were collected by a bus, motored into central Cairo to the Hilton Hotel, where we had a short break before walking over to the Cairo Museum. Wow, what a place; the highlight being the upper floor, where the relics of Tutankanem's tomb were displayed, wow! We drove to our hotel [The Flamenco] for the night, the Flamenco, based in the high class residential/diplomatic area of Zamalek Island. To bed early as we had to get up at 2am for our flight to Aswan the following morning, in order to join our cruise ship [the Nile Ritz], cruising the Nile for the next 3 days. We visited the High Dam at Aswan, and a number of temples: Philae, 2 temples at Kom Ombo, the Necropolis of Thebes, Valley of the Kings, temple of Queen Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon. Just about everywhere were hordes of tourists! On our last day at Luxor we took a balloon ride, taking off from the cane fields on the fertile plain between the Nile and the Valley of the Kings, wow!

Zanzibar; palm trees, spices and Stone Town

Jambo, jambo again.
This one's about Zanzibar. We arrived from Arusha after a short flight of a little over an hour. It's a very small airport, even though it's signposted as 'International'. We knew we were someplace entirely different to the mainland when we were descending down on to the island. We could see palm trees everywhere, it looked a lot less congested than say Nairobi, the architecture was different too, lots of mosques. We arrived after sunset at the Zanzibar Beach Resort, which looked fantastic under lights. There weren't many porters around, and were met by the Hotel Manager, which was very unusual. Why? Well, the Ramadan fast was broken for the day, so much of the staff were gone, probably at home, eating and drinking for the first time in the day since pre-dawn, so a long day without food or drink. We befriended a wonderful fellow called Jamu, tall, thin, with a big smile and a cheeky nature [quite unusual in Tanzania]. He took our big bags to our rooms, in the upper level of one of many freestanding 'villas', dotted along the front edge of a lawn with trees, a winding white-bordered path between us and the edge of the hotel property. The sea was maybe 100 meters away, We were tired and hungry, but we had a great little joke and chat with Jamu, and knew pretty much right from the start that we connected with him. We found out later on that Jamu is the head poolman, who was conscripted into being a porter because the staff just weren't there! Once into our room, refreshed and eager, we enjoyed dinner at the restaurant, but you could tell immediately that we were spoilt for welcomes and smiles in our time in Kenya. Noone was rude or unwelcoming, it was just in a quiet way, little eye contact. We decided we would just keep smiling and try out our swahili, and hope that we may get some spark back from the food and drinks waiters and housekeeping staff. For example, we'd have fun stepping over or around freshly mopped stonework, with happy "jambo, jambo" and make a joke out of it, rather than trudging through their work, and housekeepers were amused by this, probably thinking we were nuts. Anyway, that's our style.
The following morning, a beautiful day [but warming up] down to breakfast, catching Jamu's eye and we had a bit of fun with him. He's taken by us and offered to take us around Stone Town with him the following day, his day off, as we had the day free. Wow, how wonderful we thought, but we were worried he was taking time out of his precious time for us, but he insisted.
Anyway, after breakfast we went on a tour of a spice farm. Zanzibar was made famous by its spices, which is why it was called the Spice island. It's also had a hugely chequered past with many different civilisations conquering and occupying the island, thereby adding their own cultural spice mix to the place over many hundreds of years. It was also a hub in the slave trade, where slaves were sent to this island, and sold. The drive from the hotel took us through the real Zanzibar, lots of shops and houses off the road, but what was saddening for us was the huge amount of littler, mainly in the form of plastic bags and bottles, the scourge literally infecting this island. [We noticed heaps of littler just dumped all over the place in Kenya too, not in National Parks though]. As we went higher up the insanely high hill [tallest point in Zanzibar is a lofty 200m] we noticed bigger and bigger houses, many of whom appeared to be abandoned [trees and shrubs growing in the shells of the buildings] or incomplete -- housing boom went bust, or people ran out of money or credit?
The farm we visited was a family-run operation. Our guide walked us through the hilly place, the soil rich, the vegetation lush. We were expecting everything to be neatly laid out in rows, but it was quite haphazard to our untrained eyes: tall trees shading shrubs and other plants, all for a reason. Mango and other tall trees shading ginger, tumeric, and other plants. We had smell tests of crushed leaves to see how keen our noses were: peppercorn, vanilla, cloves [the king of spices], cinnamon [the queen of spices, naturally most important], curry leaves, tumeric [amazing yellow juice that stained your fingers quite readily], ginger, lemongrass, cardamon, also fruits such as banana, pineapple, custard apple, jack fruit and star fruit. And lots more. It was fantastic to learn of the medicinal and food uses, Pier's mouth was watering with every description of meals that could be prepared, yummmmmm! We were followed by a few young boys who were chatting to us, weaving things from banana leaves as we walked. Eventually our tour ended, and we sat down under a shelter to try out some teas -- lemongrass, masalla, ginger -- as well probably the juiciest pineapple and bananas we've ever tasted. Sheryl loved the custard apple and jack fruit especially; for Pier, the masalla tea was his favourite, even though he's a coffee man [might even be tempted to try chai latte one of these days!]. We then had the opportunity to buy some spices and soaps -- hope we can get them through Customs on our return.
We had lunch back at the Resort, met up with Jamu, and we accepted his offer of accompanying us tomorrow: 9am at the Resort gates, for 3 hours. Following lunch our minibus took us to Stone Town. There we visited a church under which were cells where slaves were held, prior to being sold. Needless to say it was quite a sobering situation, our imaginations running wild, thinking how it would've felt for those unfortunate people, stolen from their homelands, chained by the neck underground in stifling conditions, where you could easily fall victim to starvation, thirst, disease and suffocation. Sheryl was quite upset by this. We were shepherded to the central fish market, the sights within would send any seafood-loving gourmand would turn vegetarian instantly -- shall we say, not at all hygienic, flies and fish bits all over the place; smelly, dark, noisy -- oh boy, yuk is an understatement! Then through the fruit, vegetable and spice section, which was rather more inviting. Then onwards through the narrow alleyways, one no wider than a person's width [probably for moving sheep in single file] of Stone Town, something Pier had been yearning to do for many years. While not as attractive as portrayed in travel shows such as "The Great Outdoors" and "Getaway", it was still a fantastic experience, checking out all the little shops, some no bigger than an average bathroom, magnificent 4-5 star hotels, houses, always looking up at the shutters, open and shuttered verandahs hanging over the street below, etc. You could easily get lost. We had the feeling of dejavous, as if we'd been transported back to Venice 4 years ago, a grottier version perhaps, not as well kept, not so many tourists looking lost; the sense of familiarity was certainly there. Strange that! Many of shops, and all of the major hotels and businesses and some of the nicer residences had magnificent doors [one of the things by which Stone Town is known for], great big thick creations, many with intricate handcarvings, great hinges, bolts, handles and other metal decorations that gave the place that extra little bit of exotica. Meanwhile, people walking, guys on bikes, kids playing, mammas fussing or tending to their children, old fellas just sitting in doorways, on the stoop, hawkers or shopkeepers trying to invite you to buy. At least here [in Tanzania] they usually accept "hapana asante" -- no thankyou -- the first time, in Kenya they were very insistent, bordering on pestering. Meanwhile, members of our group just taking it all in, snapping away with cameras, trying not to lose the main group. Wonderful; love it! We stepped into the Africa Hotel for 5 minutes, marvelling at the interior decor, up to their restaurant/bar area, with views to the bay, oh, wow, gorgeous! Definitely recommended to you if you are keen to visit Zanzibar and be in the heart of it. We also visited the House of Wonders, with it's fantastic views over the city and port from the upper floors. Not too many wonders inside we thought, but the high, wide, shaded verandahs were relief in more ways than one from the heat. We visited the old fort next door, which is now a concert venue [you could imagine Andrea Boccelli singing there] and craft/curios market; heaps of wonderful things sold here, as well as cold drinks, aaaaahhhhh. Sheryl taught a gorgeous young girl with braided, beaded hair 'thumb wars', what a smile she had. Back to the hotel for dinner, and easy, peaceful sleep for the weary travellers.
The following day, after breakfast, we met up with Jamu, who we almost didn't recognise in his civvy clothes. We were so happy to see him, we took a taxi into Stone Town, revisiting many of the streets we'd seen, along with others, chatting all the way, getting to know him -- and vice versa -- better. Jamu had a surprise offer for us: would we like to see his house and meet his wife of 2 months? Yes, of course we'd be honoured. A taxi out near the airport, and to Jamu's house, a rented 2-room dwelling, almost no furniture, mats on the floor. Off with our shoes, and we were greeted by a big smiling Saumu, Jamu's wife. It was a real pleasure to spend 20 or so minutes looking at their wedding photos, asking about the ceremony, admiring Saumu's outfits, just chatting and laughing, it was great. It was lovely to see how in love they were, shown shyly. We swapped email addresses with the promise of keeping in touch: we want to know how they're getting on, and definitely want to hear about their children when they come! Also, if we are to work and live in Arusha in the future, we will want to visit them.
Sadly, because of Ramadan, we couldn't spend time together over a meal, and our few hours together were drawing to a close. We said our goodbyes to Saumu, and Jamu accompanied us in a taxi, to the port to show us around a little before depositing us at the House of Wonders, where we were to meet up with our tour group. It was sad to say goodbye to Jamu, what a lovely, happy, generous man he is. Hope he keeps in touch with us. He doesn't start at the Resort till 2pm tomorrow, we leave at lunchtime for our flight to Dar-Es Salaam, our connection for our flight to Dubai.
We had lunch in a rooftop restaurant, with fantastic 360° views of the the rooftops of the city, minarets and shops, apartments and flats, warehouses and port buildings all around us. A lovely breeze, cold drinks, tasty food, what more could 2 Melbourneans want? A spot of last-minute shopping afterwards, then back to the Resort for packing, dinner and a good night's sleep.
The following morning was somewhat low-key and flat for us, as this signalled the end of our magical stay in East Africa. Sheryl and I have absolutely enjoyed our time in Kenya [foremost] and Tanzania: we have learnt so much, we have met so many wonderful, happy, welcoming people. While the ebb and flow of relations within our tour group has been an unwelcome undercurrent, we have been blown away by our time here. We would thoroughly recommend you all save hard and book for a few weeks of adventure here. You'll come away with memories you'll never forget and pictures you won't tire of looking at. We've been told "go to Malawi, you'll love it even more" so maybe there's a tip for you there.
We were met by big squeal of delight and a faceful smile from Saumu when we went to reception; we were so happy to see her too. With a hug and kisses, she gave us a small farewell gift, which was so generous of her. Wow! A short time later, after some group photos, it was time to say goodbye to the now-friendly faces of the staff we saw and interacted with during our stay, it was sad to go, we could have easily spent more time here, to really discover the true Zanzibar, as well as snorkel the reefs, visit the northern beaches, to have tried the true Zanzibar cuisine. Oh well, perhaps in 2010?!
A short 15-minute flight to Dar-Es Salaam, a couple of hours wait, and then our 4+ hour flight to Dubai.
Next post, Dubai; and then, our week in Egypt.

More from Kenya

We have travelled to a couple of Wildlife Parks since Lake Nakuru. Firstly south west out of the Rift Valley to the Masai Mara National Park where we spent 2 full days; secondly, via a night in Nairobi, a couple of nights in Tsavo East. And what a fantastic time of game driving and sheer luxury we've experienced! The Masai Mara is about 1800 sq km in size, located about 150km directly west of Nairobi. To get there we drove out of Lake Nakuru NP via the town of Nakuru [4th largest town in Kenya], then some sealed highway before an unsealed back road where our drivers had some 4WD practice on our way to the town of Narok. The countryside on the back road was spectacular; lush, green, hilly, lots of farms, still spotting eucalypts in abundance, not as many people as it was out of the way, hence few shops, stalls, schools and churches. Children always waved, adults just looked or ignored us. The country side completely changed at the Rift Valley walls, taking in the widest valley plains we've ever seen, incredible! The roads became busier, more people along the way. At the gate to the NP a small crowd of Masai women came knocking on our vehicle windows, trying to sell wooden carvings of animals and 'stick people', beaded bracelets and neck ornaments, checked red blankets that you see the Masai people wear, etc. It was quite intimidating, and it always helps if you are polite but firm, keep smiling, and have a bit of fun with it. Once through, it was a short drive to the 5-star lodge called Keekorok. We thought Outspan [night 2] was special; we thought Sarova Shaba was unique; we thought Treetops was bizarrely interesting … well, Keekorok was wowwwwwww! We knew we were going to staying in lodges, but had no idea just how luxurious they would be. Like staying in a country club/resort: as with every other accomodation [to date in Kenya] you are greeted with moist warm towelettes and a small glass of juice. A little bit of paperwork before we're given a key. You point out your luggage and a porter escorts you to your room, he shows you around before giving him a tip, and then you take in your lodgings, the decor, fittings, etc, orient yourself. At Keekorok we were in half of a small freestanding cabin: a reasonably spacious bedroom, a queen size bed with mosquito nets, with a bath/shower/toilet. Manicured lawns [courtesy of the resident hippos], flower and shrubbery beds, big acacia trees, not far from the pool. A short walk to the main building which houses reception, lounge, bar and large restaurant, which is staffed by many waiters, from whom you order drinks. Meals are buffet style, with many choices of meats and vegetables, curry, fish, salads and deserts. Keekorok had the largest restaurant, and the largest choice of dishes to choose from. Like Lake Nakuru, for dinner they had 2 chefs who would make a stir fry or pasta + sauce to order. At brekky, the same guys would make you omelettes to order. Sheryl has discovered omelettes, yum! At Keekorok they had decked walkways around the edge of the gardens, from which you could wildlife, or sit at a wide deck where teak tables and chairs were set up, or wander further to an enclosed pavillion overlooking a hippo pond. On the first night there we saw at least a dozen hippos in the water, frolicking, flicking their ears and tails, every now and then a chorus of tuba like blasts exchanged between various hippos, probably asking if the nibblies on offer, or water temperature, was better on the other side … There was a big buffalo bull lying nearby, as well as a family of Egyptian geese. Ah, nature. On our last night at Keekorok, a band of Masai men, in full Masai traditional clothing and decoration, quietly arrived after we'd finished mains, and preceeded to sing and step and perform their jumps. It was all throat/mouth sounds, words and chants, in unison; it sounded quite other-worldly, was it 4-part, 8-part, 12-part? Complex rhythms; it seemed like one song/chant flowed into another. It was mesmerising, compelling, so different to the troupe at Lake Nakuru. No audience participation here, just the Masai men. Masai Mara NP is Kenya's premier wildlife park, located in the north of the Serengeti Plains [approx 15,000 sq km in size]. The Serengeti is famous for the massive wildebeest migration, with about 1.5 million of them making spactacular river crossings. During our game drives here we saw great herds of them, as well as large groups of zebras. These two animals often travel together, the wildebeest relying on the zebra's superior senses of sight and hearing. There's nothing pretty about wildebeest, but up close they have interesting striped markings on their forequarters. They make a grunting noise as they move, so when you are next to a herd it sounds like a massed choir of old people trying to get up out of comfy sofas. There is no leader of the herd [unlike the matriarch of a herd of elephants, or a pride of lions], one of the beests steps one foot away from the mob and the rest follow. Very egalitarian. One drive we saw a long line of wildebeests on the left, and 20 metres to the right, a long line of zebras. These lines merged near a track we were on, and they crossed together to the other side. On the way to Nairobi, through the Rift Valley and up the escarpment wall a long line of traffic that were in was held up for a good while: unfortunately a truck had lost its brakes and went over the side. Abraham told us this happens frequently. Well, we saw a completely different view to Nairobi than the one from our arrival almost 2 weeks ago. This time we got a clearer view of how big this city is; the sprawling suburbs, walled estates, and the city centre with its many high rises. I [Pier] was sitting on the side of the 4WD that faced the city parks, and a few high rises up on the hill. Had I been seated on the other side of the vehicle I would have seen a far more dynamic view of the city. Apologies to Nairobiphiles that may have been insulted. Yes, chaotic traffic and roundabouts madness as on our arrival … don't think that will change in a good long time! Yet, no honking, swearing, road rage, rude gestures, everyone takes it in their stride and gets on with it. A part of life that is patiently accepted. We had a short stay in Nairobi, a lunch, afternoon, overnight, quick breakfast before heading off before the chaotic morning traffic the following day. While in Nairobi we had a hectic schedule: on our way to the Giraffe Centre we saw the Kibera slums on our right, amongst the largest slums in Africa, less than 10 kms from the city centre. The Giraffe Centre is a rehabilitation and education centre for giraffes, and has been featured on 'Getaway'. Here we were up close and personal with about half a dozen tall adult female giraffes, and 2 shorter young ones. We were given pellets to feed them, so you could even put your arm around their neck, some tried to gently headbutt you. All this on a deck maybe 3 metres up. You had a good sense of how tall these animals were. You could also put a pellet between your lips, and the giraffes would kiss you as they took the pellet from you with their 18 inch blue tongues. Sheryl had a go, I took video and photos. My personal favourite was the young male, Barney, who was about 7 foot tall. Just beautiful and gentle. We were shown Jock, a male who is not 'wee' at all, at about 18 foot high. Dark chocolate markings, we shorties came up to the top of high rear leg. It was an amazing sight to see his head slowly swing down from the heavens at the end of an impossibly long neck, to take pellets from our hands. An unforgettable experience. Driving through the exclusive, rich suburb/area of Karen, we next visited Kazuri handmade beads factory/shop, where we were given a short briefing about the establishment, also a tour of the factory, followed by some retail therapy. The beads, and other ceramics such as teapots, cups, mugs, bowls, small animal figurines, etc, are made by single mothers who have disadvantaged backgrounds. Kazuri provides the women with training, and a safe, cooperative, positive environment, well-set up workshops and factory in which they create beautiful jewellery and ceramics which are exported world-wide. They have a couple of outlets in Australia too. Following this, we had dinner at a meat restaurant called Carnivores, where food waiters wander around the restaurant serving you roasted meats such as beef, pork, chicken, turkey, as well as ostrich meatballs and crocodile meat. It was a bit too much for most of us, we would have preferred a light dinner at the hotel and some rest, as were had a very early start the following morning for a long and tiring drive to our next destination, Voi Wildlife Lodge, next to Tsavo East NP. Voi Wildlife Lodge is located near the town of Voi, southeast of Nairobi, about 150 kilometres from Mombassa. It's maybe 50 kms from the Kenya-Tanzania border. The country was similar to that of the Tsavo country, undulating plains, scrubby, quite dry. The Lodge itself was like a dry oasis, rocky low mountains nearby, pretty in a stripped-back, austere kind of way. Again a very warm welcome; we enjoyed our interactions with the chefs and a manager there, Hillary, who was a genial host with a syrupy Lou Rawls voice. The Lodge could house 300, but there were 80 booked in during our time there. Even though the atmosphere may have lacked a buzz and intensity, we enjoyed the fact we didn't have to queue for anything, we pretty much had the place to ourselves, it wasn't crowded; it was the same for all our game drives wherever we've been in Kenya. We couldn't imagine the dust, chaos, jostling and pushiness of attempting to get a view of an animal versus 40 vehicles, when we sometimes had a dozen or so at most for the cheetah, leopard and lions being the most highly sought after of the Big 5 [the others being rhinoceros and African buffalo]. We felt very sorry for the staff — drinks waiters, porters, laundry, reception, etc — who rely on tips supplementing their low salaries through tips. The troubles following the Kenyan elections have certainly put a huge dent in tourism numbers in Kenya, and in Tanzania as a flow-on effect. So those of you contemplating a safari tour in Africa, just do it, you won't regret it. The spirit of welcome has just be awesome; it has taken us by surprise, and we love it! By far better than our experience in Italy in 2004. Back to Tsavo East NP. Much the same animals as the previous NP's, except Samburu. In Samburu there are animals there that you can't see in other NP's, so definitely recommend you go there as one of the Parks to explore. At Tsavo you must stick to the tracks, you can't just drive off anywhere you like. Except for toilet stops somewhere deemed 'safe', you can't leave your vehicles. The highlight of our time at Tsavo E was visiting the Mudanda Rocks, colloquially known as 'strips of drying meat'. These are weathered Precambrian basement rocks c.570–4550 million years old. It's an outcrop about 1.6 kms long, maybe 30m high at most. We left the vehicles and climbed up, a tiny version of Uluru, admiring the weathering, colouring and striations of this ancient rock, having visions of dinosaurs having walked this way, or perhaps and ancient version of homo somethingorotherus, the Rift Valley being the Cradle of Humanity. Had a wonderful view across the plains to the Yatta Plateau in the distance. Another highlight was seeing a male ostrich walk his 9 chicks up a road, his mate walking in the nearby scrub. Wonderful to see this huge bird with the tiny ones darting about in his wake. A note to Eastwood teachers and students: we noticed a primary school in Voi town that has a hearing impaired facility. Perhaps you could look it up on the internet, it's called Mwanyambo Primary School. Perhaps Eastwood PS could form some kind of relationship with them Sadly we said our goodbyes to the staff at Voi Wildlife Lodge that made us feel so much at home on 7 September, driving west to Tanzania via the border at Taveta. We didn't realise there is a 1–2 km space between the actual borders of Kenya and Tanzania, a kind of no-man's land. On the Kenya side we had a mix-up with our passports so that Sheryl went through as Pier, and vice-versa. Pier was sure the official had a good look at the photo page of Sheryl's passport before stamping it and waving him through. Phew, international embarrassment averted, no bribery required! An easy passage through the Tanzanian border checkpoint.
Our next stop is Moivaro hotel, some 8 kms from Arusha, home of our driver Abraham, and a chance for him to visit his family — as well as The School of St Jude's, which we have both been anxious to tour, which happens tomorrow morning. The road from the border to Arusha has been amongst the best that we've travelled on, smooth, unpatched, beautiful, no potholes, and the houses and shops off the road look well-maintained and loved, so we have a very positive impression of Tanzania so far. Next blog will be about our 4-day visit to Tanzania. In the meantime, take care of yourselves, we miss you.

Just a quick one, 4 September

Jambo, jambo everyone.
We are now at Voi Wildlife Lodge, having spent a couple of days at Masai Mara, and a night in Nairobi yesterday. We did a fair bit of driving yesterday, as well as visiting a giraffe reserve and a beads factory -- will post a new blog soon, we hope. As mentioned in some emails, the internet here is so very slow, and quite expensive. We literally only have enough time to open up emails, read them quickly, then post a blog; suddenly half an hour is gone and we pay $20 for the privilege!
Just to let you know, we brought a small iBook laptop with us. We download our photos each night, and if we have some spare time we write some material for a blog, and add to it till next we have time on the internet. We then load the text file on to a memory stick, and load the text onto the blog when we have access to the internet ... that's why there's so much to read, ha, ha!
The internet is so slow it is impossible to upload photos, so sorry about that. We hope in Dubai, where it is far more modern, we may have the opportunity to upload some photos then, just to whet your appetites.
It simply reflects how much we are taking in, there's just so much to process.
Take good care of yourselves. We miss you and wish you were all here with us, it would make a special trip even more unbelievable!

more adventures...

Jambo! Habari? (Translation: Hello! How are you?)
Because of difficulty in getting to a computer to email, probably best if we put things on this travelblog.
From Pier…
About a thousand photos later, and many unforgettable experiences in between. Where to start? It all seems to be a blur, and it's only been a few days since we added to our blog at the Shaba Game Reserve. According to our itinerary, the Shaba is located on the Ewaso Nyiro River. Looking at a map, find Nairobi, follow the main road north-east through Thika, Murang'a, Nyeri [on the outskirts of which Outspan is located, and Timbertops is not far from there], Nanyuki [and you get views of Mount Kenya to your right], Isiolo, and a little bit further on you'll find the Shaba. We crossed the Equator to get to the Shaba. Unlike Australia, where you'd find a plaque, statue or monument of some sort, the equatorial line was marked by a simple hand-painted sign, next to a dusty soil carpark, around which were about a dozen souvenir shops. As soon as you arrive you and your bus are quickly approached by hawkers, who introduce themselves to you and suggest you visit their shop once you've had your photo taken at the Equator sign. Here there isn't a fast-food joint, a huge petrol stop or boarding with tourist information, facts and figures. Men take it in turns with a small bucket, a funnel and a couple of matches, showing the phenomenon of how water spins in different directions as it pours out of a funnel, depending on which side of the Equator you are. 20 meters south, the water spins one way — anti-clockwise — at the Equator line it drops straight down, no spin; 20 meters the other side of the line, the water spins the opposite direction. We first saw this shown on the “Long Way Down Series” and we were thrilled we got to see the phenomenon for ourselves.
After 5 or 6 game drives we have now seen an abundance of furred and feathered beasties. At Shaba we saw klipspringer, gerenuk [Pier’s favourite], dik-dik [who are tiny, cute form of gazelle], Grevy’s zebra [a rare type of zebra who look grey, with thin vertical stripes that run 2/3 the way from their spines to their bellies with a pale underside], vulturine guinea fowl [amongst other types], black breasted bustard, northern red-billed hornbill, elephants, Rothschild giraffes, Grant’s gazelles, a troop of baboons, Maribou stork, squirrels, vultures, hares, an ostrich, 2 lionesses [fleetingly], crocodiles, African buffalos, grey heron, black breasted roller, impala, oryx, the common water buck, greater blue-eared starling [beautiful colours], etc, etc.
That was Pier’s bit – he’s frustrated with the computer’s cursor so I’ve taken over … I don’t put as many details in as Pier so apologies to all those that like to know the name of this creature and that. After our first full day games drive, we stopped off at a Samburu village and was shown around the village site (for a fee of course). Amazing to see the living conditions and the dancing (yes, I got to do another African dance). The highlight for me was going over to a group of about 20 children, many of them orphans from surrounding villages, that this particular village ’oversee’ their care. I suspect many of them are orphans due to the AIDS virus. Anyway, this bedraggled little troupe of children was sitting obediently with their ‘teacher’ and I asked if I could talk to them. The sea of little faces was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and I taught them a song as they had sung one to our group earlier. The experience was pure magic and I could have stayed all afternoon. It was a top day.
After our stay at Shaba we went to a place called Treetops which is this strange place over a waterhole so you watch the animals all night (not a lot of action however). It’s a 4 level structure made almost entirely out of wood, tall and narrow, with observation decks, including one on the rooftop. The rooms were small and cosy, which suited us; with just enough room for 2 single beds, and a small table between them. Our windows looked onto one of the ponds. I had a great chat to the guide who accompanied us up the hill to our accommodation with his huge rifle and bullets to protect us from all those wild animals that didn’t show up. We talked about Kenyan politics and people. He then arranged for me to go and chat to these ladies who were having a ladies weekend away from their husbands. There were about 8 women from Nairobi, all grandmothers and the most welcoming, lovely women. Turned out that one of them was the wife of the owner of Treetops. Everyone else was looking at animals but I was more than content getting to know the locals.
I’m loving this sort of interaction – seeing the animals is a bonus. Scenery is quite amazing. Leaving for the Masai Mara tomorrow and a balloon flight the next morning – life’s tough!
[Pier again] We drove from Treetops yesterday morning back to Outspan for breakfast, then west from there to where we are today, Lake Nakuru Lodge, overlooking Lake Nakuru, famous for its enormous flocks of Greater and Lesser Flamingos, as well as pelicans. It was a beautiful drive, the countryside becoming increasingly lush and cultivated as we drew further away from grotty Nyeri. You could throw anything into the soil here and it would grow! Many tea, coffee, banana, wheat, maize and soy farms, the roads congested with men on every conceivable form of goods transportation: bicycles, motorcycles, donkey-pulled carts, vans and lorries, piled high with produce. We would often cover our eyes with our vehicles whizzing between oncoming traffic and maybe a man on a bike with extra wide bags of produce on the back … way too many close shaves! We had a stop at the edge of the Rift Valley, which is the world’s largest geographical formation, a crack on the Earth’s surface, running some 9000km [more than a ¼ of the Earth’s circumference] north-south from Israel to Mozambique. The view we had of the valley and the hills beyond was spectacular, beautiful! We stopped at Thomson’s Falls, discovered in 1880, when explorers were attempting to locate the source of the Nile. Then on to Nakuru, finally to Lake Nakuru National Park, passing black rhino, Thomson’s Gazelles and some baboons on the way up to the Lodge. Lunch, then a game drive in the afternoon. New animals and birds we saw were: Egyptian geese, Hammerhead bird, reticulated giraffes, Beisa oryx, cerval cat, white rhino, and of course, many lesser flamingoes and pelicans at the lake’s edge. The landscape here so very lush in comparison to the Shaba Game Reserve, which was quite dry and dusty, packed with the spiky thorn trees, except for the river, lined with lush green vegetation, trees and palms. No rocky escarpments here, just flat country and rolling hills in the distance.
We have trouble trying to remember the names of the animals, to tell the difference between the various gazelles, etc. There’s so much we’ve seen, it’s a bit of a blur. There are 12 of us, all from Australia, in our group, travelling in 2 4WD vehicles, each with a driver, Abraham and our tour leader, Lawrence. Each vehicle can seat 8, so we’re happy to have the extra space as we all have small bags and backpacks with us. The same stay in each vehicle, swapping drivers each day. One ‘group’ ‘is 2 sisters and a brother, with their spouses, forming quite a clique.
Observations: well, simply and plainly, Kenya is a third world country. Nairobi looks like a place that had money in the 60’s, but hasn’t progressed much since, major buildings and infrastructure-wise; not many ‘modern’ buildings that we could see. There is one major road through Nairobi, and it was clogged! Out of Nairobi there weren’t multi-laned freeways anywhere we have travelled to date. Main roads are at best 2 lanes wide, with no lane markings, posts at the edge of the road as we’re used to in Australia. Noone worries about passing on a curve or crest of a hill. The only time you use your indicator is NOT when you want to pass another car or turn somewhere; you use it to let the car behind you know ‘OK to pass’ — right blink — 'not OK to pass' = left blink. No highway patrols in flash brightly coloured and decorated cars here to fine you. Speed limit is 80 Kph, but here noone checks their speedo, or fears a traffic camera is nearby! Crazy, but it works.
Away from major towns there are police checkpoints every now and then, used to pull over trucks to check cargo [check for drugs we were told], or matutus to make sure papers and stickers are in order; safari vehicles let through without delay. Minimal roadsigns, or warning signs [eg, bend in road, koalas next 10km], or speed signs. Traffic chaos is generally accepted, no honking of horns, cursing or road rage … hakuna matata! In townships and villages off the main road, there are no traffic lights or street lighting. Buildings don’t have neon or lit signs; company names are named quite creatively, and all hand signpainted. Sometimes roundabouts have heaps of signs pointing to various companies, police, schools, government institutions, churches, etc. Heaps of signs for schools and churches of any and all denominations along the road. Apart from the main strip through a township or village, all other roads are dirt, so buildings are generally grubby. Shops can be made from whatever is at hand, and can be as simple as a piece of plastic on the ground or a bucket filled with fruit or veg. Most shops on the side of the road are made from wood, not so much stone and mortar; many painted bright, lurid colours. Massive advertising hoardings assault you every now and then, generally for mobile phones or skin creams, or other. Mobile phones are cheap, and it’s quite incongrous to see a fully laden cart going to a market, pulled by a donkey or two, with a fellow up front talking on a mobile. There are shopfronts or buildings painted lime green everywhere, the colour of the mobile company Safaricom, with their logos up top, and the actual shop name handpainted above the shop doors. You’d see many little shops no bigger than an old outback dunny, built of wood with a thatched saplings roof, barely hanging together, with a lime green Safaricom “Top up” poster above the door. It just looks wrong …!
I mentioned creative signs, here are some we've seen: Gender Equity Bar & Restaurant, By Grace General Store, Wonder Price Building, Hitman Cool Cabanna Pub, Two In One House, First and Last Butchery, Arise And Shine Cafe. And some school mottos: Let the vision motivate your life; Knowledge is light; Hard work and discipline leads to success; Strive for excellence and eminence; Knowledge, success and eminence for all; Unity and diligence for success.
And the conversations we've been having with people we've been meeting along the way, well, that's another story …
Till our next post or email, stay happy and healthy.
Kwaheri!