Hi, all.
This is the answer where living creatures in Egypt go...........They go to under water in Red Sea!!! (Just my funny theory. Don't take it serious!)
Many under water photos you will see in this album were taken from a silly disposable sealed camera. I only snorkelled but I saw colourful corals, several kinds of fishes, and other amazing sea animals. It's unbelievably abundant down there as if I open a sea animal book! I wished I could dive at that time so I could tell more.
When you get on the boat and look around the land, you'll find your hotel is actually in a developped desert area. The real treasure is in Red Sea. It's apparently a dramatic contrast between in the land and under the sea. Red sea is the top 5 diving spot in the world. Ras Mohommed National Park and Straight of Tiran are dream destinations of all divers. (however, it's pricey here) And this is the reason why we visit Sharm El Shiekh (SES), the city of the Ras Mohammed National Park which also covers under the sea area.
Let me talk a bit about geography. SES is in the south tip of Sinai Peninsula. In SES, not only can you dive and snorkel but you can go up North to visit St. Katherine's Monastery and climb Mt. Sinai. Sinai region covers huge area in east of Egypt including the world famous, Suez Canal. As I studied logistics, I wish I could visit Suez Canal where ocean shipments from Asia and Australia go to Europe and vice versa. Perhaps I might see the vessels that carry L'Oreal shipment around here ;-) In the case, you have no idea where the places are. I attach the map of Egypt here. Sorry, I know it's little too late. It should be attached since the first email, shouldn't it? But late better than never!! (hehe)
About the trip, not sure whether you still remember we missed the connecting flight before we reached SES. One of my friends wrote back saying that was a real pain in the arse (very British expression but that's also how I feel about the incident). I hardly slept that night and the flight arrived at 5AM. After tried hard to negotiate the taxi cost, we went to the hotel we booked. At 7AM, the diving club picked us up and we had breakfast on the way.
On the first day we went to Gordon Reef and Thomas Reef in the area of Straight of Tiran. At Gordon Reef there are 2 wrecked ships. The water is so clear. You can see some fish from the boat. The sky was so blue and bright. It's a bit chilled, yes but it's more than a lovely day. However, this was a tough day for me. I had seasick because I was lack of sleep. I snorkelled less than an hour. Then, I had an introductory dive which you would dive with an instructor. I had a very quick lesson to learn how to breath with regulator and sink myself. Unfortunately, I failed to equalise (adjust my ears to deeper level). So my ears hurt and I had to stop after many attempts. I saw the corals from the surface of water but I couldn't reach them. I was disappointed.
After the first day, I knew what was going to be my New Year resolution! It is to learn scuba diving. Today I know how to equalise. Even though it's not perfect yet but I haven't hurt myself so far....just little struggle. I hope I'll get better and better.
On the second day, we joined another diving club. As tomorrow morning we had to fly back to Cairo, I and Sayuri snorkelled together today. This was the day we got all the photos under water by my silly camera (no zoom, no flash). We went to Tiran again. We stopped at Jackson Reef, Woodhouse Reef and the last place that we took a break was Gordon Reef where was accidentally the same place as yesterday. This triggered me that next time I should join only one club per trip. And diving in winter is really cold. It wasn't cold under the water if you wear a proper wetsuit like we did but after we got on the boat again, it was VERY cold even for British mates so don't ask me....
Here we come to the last album of my Egypt trip.....ah..I'm so exhausted but the trip was great! This year I plan to travel in one of the most popular countries among tourists. I think some of you may be familiar with it. It's Thailand, hehe. But somehow, I just had a short trip to Singapore last month. Better talk about that later, huh? :-D
Note: where else I'd like to go & do in Egypt. 1) Do a safari desert trip/Go to oasis, 2) Scuba diving in Ras Mohammed and Straight of Tiran, 3) Visit Alexandria, 4) Observe Suez Canal. So if you fancy any of this, I'd like to be your travelmate!
Good flight. Good night.
Nam :-)
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202007/Egypt%20Trip%2020-29%20Dec07/Sharm%20El%20Sheikh%2021-22%20Dec/
Showing posts with label Egypt Trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt Trip. Show all posts
Monday, 25 February 2008
Saturday, 16 February 2008
Namrin in Egypt: Luxor 26-27 Dec
This is the forth album...we nearly reach the end of the Egypt trip. I was still on the cruiser and Luxor was the next stop after Edfu (and Esna). This means Luxor located in North of those 2 cities as the current of Nile River goes from South to North. (Just repeat what I told you last time, hehe)
Let's talk about Luxor. Luxor was one of the capital cities of Egypt in ancient time. I think it was a capital city for a very long time during Pharaoh's reign. In the past it is called Thebes. Thebes owns several ancient buildings and tombs. It has so many attractions for tourists. And for the modern eyes, here is a big city which less busy but more friendly than Cairo. You may picture of Manchester VS London...or a better example is Kyoto VS Tokyo (because Kyoto also used to be a capital city). Note that I didn't meant that Cairo is as developed as Tokyo or London, just meant to compare the capital city with its brother city.
Major tourist attractions in Luxor are as follows:
In West Bank
- Valley of the Kings (we've been here)
- Valley of the Queens (we didn't go there)
- Tombs of the Nobles (we didn't go there)
- Deir al-Medina (Temple of Hatshepsut) (we've been here)
- Temple of Mernaptah (Museum) (we didn't go there)
- Colossi of Memnon (we've been here)
In East Bank
- Luxor Museum (we've been here)
- Mummification Museum (we didn't visit there)
- Luxor Temple (we've been here)
- Temples of Karnak (we've been here)
As you see, there are so many things to see so I and Sayuri spent 2 days in Luxor. The trip was very heavy on the first day because we still had been with the local guide and the Thai group so it's better to let him introduce us to several places. In the case that you prefer to have a slow pace, I think you can spend 3-4 days in Luxor without feeling bored!
When we were at the Valley of the Kings and Luxor Temple, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy was also visiting the same place at the same time. Unfortunately, I forgot his mobile phone number so we didn't meet up :-P
The thing that came through my mind when I was traveling in Luxor was about service mind. I think in general, service is not in Egyptian mind. I really wonder why (this is a tourist country) and I still can't answer myself. I believe that there would be something in their history that makes this wonderful sightseeing country is not good at service. For an example, when we were on, they called themselves a 5-star cabin cruiser, we were asked to leave the lunch table because they wanted to clean up. It was only 2PM and next meal was dinner at 7-8PM. I didn't know why they couldn't wait for a little bit. This kind of things also happened in Cairo. However, my negative feeling has been changed when we stayed in a small hostel on the last night in Luxor, the hostel team was very generous and unbelievably helpful. They even refused the tip!! I and Sayuri felt that this hostel was strange because it's too nice comparing to any other places we've experienced in this country so far. Anyway, we feel thankful and hey, some Egyptians have service mind but it's just not so easy to find.
For the last part of this album, I'd like to say modern Egyptians are very lucky that they had Pharaohs. I believe that people also appreciate those ancient Kings and Queens. Without them that means without those incredible Pyramids, treasured tombs, amazing historical temples, etc., Egyptians' lives today would be more suffering because economy wouldn't be this good without tourist business.
Most of living things are surrounded by dessert; heat, drought and sand. Have you ever wondered where all living creatures in Egypt go? I'll show you where next time. Stay tune.
Namrin
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202007/Egypt%20Trip%2020-29%20Dec07/Luxor%2026-27%20Dec/
Let's talk about Luxor. Luxor was one of the capital cities of Egypt in ancient time. I think it was a capital city for a very long time during Pharaoh's reign. In the past it is called Thebes. Thebes owns several ancient buildings and tombs. It has so many attractions for tourists. And for the modern eyes, here is a big city which less busy but more friendly than Cairo. You may picture of Manchester VS London...or a better example is Kyoto VS Tokyo (because Kyoto also used to be a capital city). Note that I didn't meant that Cairo is as developed as Tokyo or London, just meant to compare the capital city with its brother city.
Major tourist attractions in Luxor are as follows:
In West Bank
- Valley of the Kings (we've been here)
- Valley of the Queens (we didn't go there)
- Tombs of the Nobles (we didn't go there)
- Deir al-Medina (Temple of Hatshepsut) (we've been here)
- Temple of Mernaptah (Museum) (we didn't go there)
- Colossi of Memnon (we've been here)
In East Bank
- Luxor Museum (we've been here)
- Mummification Museum (we didn't visit there)
- Luxor Temple (we've been here)
- Temples of Karnak (we've been here)
As you see, there are so many things to see so I and Sayuri spent 2 days in Luxor. The trip was very heavy on the first day because we still had been with the local guide and the Thai group so it's better to let him introduce us to several places. In the case that you prefer to have a slow pace, I think you can spend 3-4 days in Luxor without feeling bored!
When we were at the Valley of the Kings and Luxor Temple, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy was also visiting the same place at the same time. Unfortunately, I forgot his mobile phone number so we didn't meet up :-P
The thing that came through my mind when I was traveling in Luxor was about service mind. I think in general, service is not in Egyptian mind. I really wonder why (this is a tourist country) and I still can't answer myself. I believe that there would be something in their history that makes this wonderful sightseeing country is not good at service. For an example, when we were on, they called themselves a 5-star cabin cruiser, we were asked to leave the lunch table because they wanted to clean up. It was only 2PM and next meal was dinner at 7-8PM. I didn't know why they couldn't wait for a little bit. This kind of things also happened in Cairo. However, my negative feeling has been changed when we stayed in a small hostel on the last night in Luxor, the hostel team was very generous and unbelievably helpful. They even refused the tip!! I and Sayuri felt that this hostel was strange because it's too nice comparing to any other places we've experienced in this country so far. Anyway, we feel thankful and hey, some Egyptians have service mind but it's just not so easy to find.
For the last part of this album, I'd like to say modern Egyptians are very lucky that they had Pharaohs. I believe that people also appreciate those ancient Kings and Queens. Without them that means without those incredible Pyramids, treasured tombs, amazing historical temples, etc., Egyptians' lives today would be more suffering because economy wouldn't be this good without tourist business.
Most of living things are surrounded by dessert; heat, drought and sand. Have you ever wondered where all living creatures in Egypt go? I'll show you where next time. Stay tune.
Namrin
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202007/Egypt%20Trip%2020-29%20Dec07/Luxor%2026-27%20Dec/
Saturday, 2 February 2008
Namrin in Egypt: Kom Ombo-Edfu-(Esna) 25 Dec
I've been busy with work for a while. This is the 3rd of 5. And we were at the middle of the trip as well.
For the persons who are interested in cruising the Nile, taking a cabin cruiser is a very good choice but quite expensive. The most popular and shortest programs are cruising for 3 days 3 nights and 3 days 4 nights. We took 3 days 3 nights by starting from Aswan, then, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Esna, and finish at Luxor. The 3 days 4 nights is just the opposite route. It takes longer time because you cruise against the current. Aswan is south of Luxor but southern land is in higher than northern land. This means you go up North if you cruise along with the current.
Kom Ombo is the first stop today. The temple of Kom Ombo is special because it was built for 2 gods, god of crocodile or Sobek and god of falcon or Horus. Normally, one temple will feature one god. Therefore, the temple of Kom Ombo has 2 main entrances. You and me, foreigners, may not notice 2 entrances except you are good at Egyptian history. I asked the guide where Pharaoh stayed because it doesn’t make sense that Pharaoh only built just a temple on the Nile River bank which is a great location. He said behind the temple it used to have a palace but the palace was built with different type of stone. Thus, after thousand years, the palace has gone. Only the temple is still left. The temple was built to pray for gods so Egyptians used a very durable type of stone such as granite to construct this sacred place.
After an intensive explanation of Kom Ombo and Pharaoh history, time was up.
In a few hours, we arrived at Edfu. We visited the Temple of Edfu or so called Temple of Horus. Apparently it was built to offer for god of Falcon. The proof is a few giant Horus statues in the temple. This temple is bigger than Kom Ombo temple. Make sure you have more than 1.30 hr. to see the whole temple.
Actually, that's all for today. We didn't stop at the Temple of Esna. We just passed it. The interesting bit was when the ship got into the Lock. Err..it's a bit difficult to explain. The lock is built for transit the ship when the level of water is very different. I suppose Esna is the end of Aswan Dam. Imagine the water in the dam is higher than the water in (normal) Nile River. So the ship goes to the lock and the lock will block the water and adjust the level of water in the lock for the ship to cruise into the (normal) Nile River. Unfortunately, we were having dinner at the time when we got into the lock so I didn't take a picture. Anyway, it's not going to help much if I couldn't explain you well by writing, hahaha :-D
Oh, we were a bit in Egyptian costume...don't forget that it was Christmas Day... yeah we need sth special.
Next we will visit the former capital city of Egypt, Thebes or today, we call Luxor ;-)
Nam
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202007/Egypt%20Trip%2020-29%20Dec07/Kom%20Ombo-Edfu%2025%20Dec/
For the persons who are interested in cruising the Nile, taking a cabin cruiser is a very good choice but quite expensive. The most popular and shortest programs are cruising for 3 days 3 nights and 3 days 4 nights. We took 3 days 3 nights by starting from Aswan, then, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Esna, and finish at Luxor. The 3 days 4 nights is just the opposite route. It takes longer time because you cruise against the current. Aswan is south of Luxor but southern land is in higher than northern land. This means you go up North if you cruise along with the current.
Kom Ombo is the first stop today. The temple of Kom Ombo is special because it was built for 2 gods, god of crocodile or Sobek and god of falcon or Horus. Normally, one temple will feature one god. Therefore, the temple of Kom Ombo has 2 main entrances. You and me, foreigners, may not notice 2 entrances except you are good at Egyptian history. I asked the guide where Pharaoh stayed because it doesn’t make sense that Pharaoh only built just a temple on the Nile River bank which is a great location. He said behind the temple it used to have a palace but the palace was built with different type of stone. Thus, after thousand years, the palace has gone. Only the temple is still left. The temple was built to pray for gods so Egyptians used a very durable type of stone such as granite to construct this sacred place.
After an intensive explanation of Kom Ombo and Pharaoh history, time was up.
In a few hours, we arrived at Edfu. We visited the Temple of Edfu or so called Temple of Horus. Apparently it was built to offer for god of Falcon. The proof is a few giant Horus statues in the temple. This temple is bigger than Kom Ombo temple. Make sure you have more than 1.30 hr. to see the whole temple.
Actually, that's all for today. We didn't stop at the Temple of Esna. We just passed it. The interesting bit was when the ship got into the Lock. Err..it's a bit difficult to explain. The lock is built for transit the ship when the level of water is very different. I suppose Esna is the end of Aswan Dam. Imagine the water in the dam is higher than the water in (normal) Nile River. So the ship goes to the lock and the lock will block the water and adjust the level of water in the lock for the ship to cruise into the (normal) Nile River. Unfortunately, we were having dinner at the time when we got into the lock so I didn't take a picture. Anyway, it's not going to help much if I couldn't explain you well by writing, hahaha :-D
Oh, we were a bit in Egyptian costume...don't forget that it was Christmas Day... yeah we need sth special.
Next we will visit the former capital city of Egypt, Thebes or today, we call Luxor ;-)
Nam
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202007/Egypt%20Trip%2020-29%20Dec07/Kom%20Ombo-Edfu%2025%20Dec/
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
Namrin in Egypt: Cairo 20-23-28-29 Dec 2007
I'm back.
Where are we now? It's the present capital city of Egypt, Cairo! The best highlight of Cairo is well you know, The Great Pyramids of Giza, the ancient World 7 Wonders that has still existed. What can I say?? This is like my dream comes true. And the Pyramids were the first world 7 wonder that I visited. There are still 6-7 places to go, woo! :-D
My first day of this trip started in Cairo. From the pictures, you can see there are 3 grand Pyramids. I mentioned their names on the photos. Let me skip the historical part. Not only the Great Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx did we go, we also had extra time so we visited the Step Pyramids of Zoser in Saqqara, the town near Cairo. Some of you may not know it but it's great and it's even older than the Great Pyramids in Cairo.
On the 1st day, Sayuri and I had a special guest or in the another way, we were Sayuri's friend's guests. He is Hidemasa. He was our brother today. He was very kind (much kinder than I could imagine) and took care of us very nicely. It would be good if he could be my real brother, haha. Hide speaks Arabic fluently so he helped us a lot when we needed some information.
My first day was nearly perfect. We went to the Pyramids in the early morning right after I arrived at the airport. When we walked around Sphinx, there were only about 5 people including 3 of us!!! So we got loads of photos without bothering other people. We had a luxurious lunch at a 5 star hotel that Hide knew. It was next to the Pyramids!!! Isn't it fantastic!! Before we went to the airport again to fly to Sharm El Sheikh (the city located on the Sinai's peninsula of Red Sea), it rained and there were RAINBOWs on the sky. Not 1 but 2, primary and secondary rainbows "What a perfect day!" I told Sayuri and Hide.
Fom Cairo we stopped at Luxor (central of Egypt) to have a connecting flight to Sharm El Sheikh (SES) (East of Egypt) because of high season, we couldn't find a direct flight for today. The flight attendant told us to pick up our luggage in Luxor by ourselves and then, get it on board to SES. Before we followed his advice, Sayuri asked the flight attendant to confirm again that it was going to be okay because we had only 1 hour gap (this schedule was offered from the Egypt Air website). He said 'Yes, no problem'.
Then, our WORST day happened on the same day of my "Perfect day". We missed the connecting flight because our luggage delayed. The ticket counter just closed 5 minutes before we showed up!!! Can you believe it? The officers didn't try to help us at all and that was 20 minutes to 8PM. It's dark and late! I told him we didn't have a place to stay in Luxor. The plane hasn't gone yet. I asked him to let us be on board but he ignored and siad it was our fault. Hey! Hang on! The luggage came out so slowly. Isn't it your company operations? Why don't you put our luggage through the next flight since the first place? (Answer? I think they can't manage it!!) Many passengers were still waiting for their suitcases I told the officer. We explained neither nicely nor aggressively, he (and they) didn't seem to give us a hand. The manager came and told us he'd find next flight but you know what, we had to pay for any single pound that it costs more than our ticket value from Luxor to SES. We almost begged them but EGYPT AIR didn't take any responsibility for the delay that caused us missing the flight. Even the taxi cost to go downtown of Luxor to buy the new tickets, we had to pay ourselves.
In conclusion, we flew back to Cairo that night at 11.30 PM and then, we got the flight at 4AM from Cairo to SES. We had some sleeps at the airport. The reason that we had to fly to SES that night was because we had already made an appointment with a diving club and the hotel. The manager at the airport in Cairo was lame as well. He couldn't manage to save his customer service. And I have to say this was the worst impression that National Airline treated the customers like this. I and Sayuri never miss the flight before so we didn't know what we should get from this situation but for sure, it shouldn't be NONE plus extra expense. I realised I'd go beyond my budget since the 1st day. Damn iT!! (excuse me but damn Egypt Air!!)
We were in SES during 21-22. On 23rd, we came back to Cairo. This time another Sayuri's friend, Atsusa, was our guide. She speaks Arabic quite well too. She was pretty and somehow, looked like Thai more than Japanese, hahaha
We had quite a lazy day. We started the day with lunch at a franchise restaurant where Atsusa showed us that yummy and cheap foods are existed in Egypt. Atsusa showed us that if you could speak Arabic you can get a cheaper price ( i.e. taxi---there is no taxi metre here.) THen, we went to the Citadel and Ibn Tulun where a few Mosques are located. I can say today was our Mosque day. I never been to any Mosque before and the places we visited were quite interesting especially Mosque of Mohammed Ali. It's truly stunning! After we had Eyptian style sandwitches as our dinner and went to bed before woke up extremely early to ....yeah to fly to Abu Simbel at 3.30AM!!
....trip to other cities, Abu Simbel, Aswan, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Luxor
Our last 2 days after Luxor, of course, we didn't miss Egyptian Museum [NO CAMERA]. How could we? This museum is huge and stored thousnads of priceless Egyptian stuff. I told Sayuri that we'd better call it Pharoahnic Museum instead of Egyptian Musuem because 99% of things are related to Pharoah including mummies, royal coffins, utensils, men and women accessories and on top of all, Tutankhamun coffin. Seriously, you can spend a day here if you like. But we stayed for a half day before we brought ourselves to do last day shopping (Thanks Thailand for polishing my negotiation skill). We went to the popular Khan El Khilili market. This is a grand bazaar in downtown Cairo and it's very colourful. Even though you don't wnat to buy anything, it's good to walk around and taste some foods :-q
In Cairo, there are several small shops of fresh & cheap fruit juice. Only a few Egyptian pounds per glass. If you have fairly good immunity like me, try it and try as many as flavours you can ..you'll love it!
Next station is Kom Ombo, Edfu, and Esna.
Blog again soon.
Nam(rin)
Pls click to the photos
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202007/Egypt%20Trip%2020-29%20Dec07/Cairo%2020-23-28-29%20Dec/
Where are we now? It's the present capital city of Egypt, Cairo! The best highlight of Cairo is well you know, The Great Pyramids of Giza, the ancient World 7 Wonders that has still existed. What can I say?? This is like my dream comes true. And the Pyramids were the first world 7 wonder that I visited. There are still 6-7 places to go, woo! :-D
My first day of this trip started in Cairo. From the pictures, you can see there are 3 grand Pyramids. I mentioned their names on the photos. Let me skip the historical part. Not only the Great Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx did we go, we also had extra time so we visited the Step Pyramids of Zoser in Saqqara, the town near Cairo. Some of you may not know it but it's great and it's even older than the Great Pyramids in Cairo.
On the 1st day, Sayuri and I had a special guest or in the another way, we were Sayuri's friend's guests. He is Hidemasa. He was our brother today. He was very kind (much kinder than I could imagine) and took care of us very nicely. It would be good if he could be my real brother, haha. Hide speaks Arabic fluently so he helped us a lot when we needed some information.
My first day was nearly perfect. We went to the Pyramids in the early morning right after I arrived at the airport. When we walked around Sphinx, there were only about 5 people including 3 of us!!! So we got loads of photos without bothering other people. We had a luxurious lunch at a 5 star hotel that Hide knew. It was next to the Pyramids!!! Isn't it fantastic!! Before we went to the airport again to fly to Sharm El Sheikh (the city located on the Sinai's peninsula of Red Sea), it rained and there were RAINBOWs on the sky. Not 1 but 2, primary and secondary rainbows "What a perfect day!" I told Sayuri and Hide.
Fom Cairo we stopped at Luxor (central of Egypt) to have a connecting flight to Sharm El Sheikh (SES) (East of Egypt) because of high season, we couldn't find a direct flight for today. The flight attendant told us to pick up our luggage in Luxor by ourselves and then, get it on board to SES. Before we followed his advice, Sayuri asked the flight attendant to confirm again that it was going to be okay because we had only 1 hour gap (this schedule was offered from the Egypt Air website). He said 'Yes, no problem'.
Then, our WORST day happened on the same day of my "Perfect day". We missed the connecting flight because our luggage delayed. The ticket counter just closed 5 minutes before we showed up!!! Can you believe it? The officers didn't try to help us at all and that was 20 minutes to 8PM. It's dark and late! I told him we didn't have a place to stay in Luxor. The plane hasn't gone yet. I asked him to let us be on board but he ignored and siad it was our fault. Hey! Hang on! The luggage came out so slowly. Isn't it your company operations? Why don't you put our luggage through the next flight since the first place? (Answer? I think they can't manage it!!) Many passengers were still waiting for their suitcases I told the officer. We explained neither nicely nor aggressively, he (and they) didn't seem to give us a hand. The manager came and told us he'd find next flight but you know what, we had to pay for any single pound that it costs more than our ticket value from Luxor to SES. We almost begged them but EGYPT AIR didn't take any responsibility for the delay that caused us missing the flight. Even the taxi cost to go downtown of Luxor to buy the new tickets, we had to pay ourselves.
In conclusion, we flew back to Cairo that night at 11.30 PM and then, we got the flight at 4AM from Cairo to SES. We had some sleeps at the airport. The reason that we had to fly to SES that night was because we had already made an appointment with a diving club and the hotel. The manager at the airport in Cairo was lame as well. He couldn't manage to save his customer service. And I have to say this was the worst impression that National Airline treated the customers like this. I and Sayuri never miss the flight before so we didn't know what we should get from this situation but for sure, it shouldn't be NONE plus extra expense. I realised I'd go beyond my budget since the 1st day. Damn iT!! (excuse me but damn Egypt Air!!)
We were in SES during 21-22. On 23rd, we came back to Cairo. This time another Sayuri's friend, Atsusa, was our guide. She speaks Arabic quite well too. She was pretty and somehow, looked like Thai more than Japanese, hahaha
We had quite a lazy day. We started the day with lunch at a franchise restaurant where Atsusa showed us that yummy and cheap foods are existed in Egypt. Atsusa showed us that if you could speak Arabic you can get a cheaper price ( i.e. taxi---there is no taxi metre here.) THen, we went to the Citadel and Ibn Tulun where a few Mosques are located. I can say today was our Mosque day. I never been to any Mosque before and the places we visited were quite interesting especially Mosque of Mohammed Ali. It's truly stunning! After we had Eyptian style sandwitches as our dinner and went to bed before woke up extremely early to ....yeah to fly to Abu Simbel at 3.30AM!!
....trip to other cities, Abu Simbel, Aswan, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Luxor
Our last 2 days after Luxor, of course, we didn't miss Egyptian Museum [NO CAMERA]. How could we? This museum is huge and stored thousnads of priceless Egyptian stuff. I told Sayuri that we'd better call it Pharoahnic Museum instead of Egyptian Musuem because 99% of things are related to Pharoah including mummies, royal coffins, utensils, men and women accessories and on top of all, Tutankhamun coffin. Seriously, you can spend a day here if you like. But we stayed for a half day before we brought ourselves to do last day shopping (Thanks Thailand for polishing my negotiation skill). We went to the popular Khan El Khilili market. This is a grand bazaar in downtown Cairo and it's very colourful. Even though you don't wnat to buy anything, it's good to walk around and taste some foods :-q
In Cairo, there are several small shops of fresh & cheap fruit juice. Only a few Egyptian pounds per glass. If you have fairly good immunity like me, try it and try as many as flavours you can ..you'll love it!
Next station is Kom Ombo, Edfu, and Esna.
Blog again soon.
Nam(rin)
Pls click to the photos
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202007/Egypt%20Trip%2020-29%20Dec07/Cairo%2020-23-28-29%20Dec/
Sunday, 13 January 2008
Namrin in Egypt: Abu Simble-Aswan 24 Dec
Hi, everyone.
At the end of 2007, I gave myself a special reward by going to Egypt. The trip was awesome. I and my friend, Sayuri, experienced a lot of good things...including some bad things. Anyway, we survived and came back. Now I will show you some of fantastic places and activities we have done in Pharoah land.
First of all, I have to explain that the albums sent to you were arranged by the places alphabetically and by time, not by date because we went there for 10 days so I think 10 photo albums are too many! Secondly, following to albums, the story I'm telling you in each email would be run by places as well. Anyway, I'll show you our schedule which was quite busy because it was high season so we couldn't manage it more easily as we wanted to get around to many places. (It's the most often flying within 10 days in my life EVER!)
Day 1-20 Dec: Cairo and Saqqara
Day 2-21 Dec: Sharm El Sheikh (Red Sea)
Day 3-22 Dec: Sharm El Sheikh
Day 4-23 Dec: Cairo
Day 5-24 Dec: Abu Simbel and Aswan
Day 6-25 Dec: Kom Ombo, Edfu, (passing Esna)
Day 7-26 Dec: Luxor
Day 8-27 Dec: Luxor
Day 9-28 Dec: Cairo
Day 10-29 Dec: Cairo
For this album, Abu Simbel-Aswan, Sayuri and I were in the middle of our trip. And from this Abu Simbel until first day in Luxor, we joined the Thai group tour (but all guides are Egyptians). If you wonder why? It's simply because I couldn't find the tickets to Abu Simbel during this high season and Thai agency offered much cheaper package to cruise the Nile for 3 nights than I could find on the internet!!! Apart from these 3 days, we traveled on our own.
Abu Simbel (south of Egypt) is one of the highlights that you shouldn't miss it. It's actually a small town in my opinion but Pharoah Ramses(es) built the great 2 temples over there and they were rescued from flooding by Unesco before Egyptian government built Aswan Dam. It took about 40 MILLION US dollars to disassemble and re-assemble the temples. Let's appreciate it!
Oh, I have to tell you that the flight to Abu Simbel from Cairo starts at very early morning (i.e. 3.30 AM or 4.30 AM) and the return flight to Aswan or Cairo finish at noon or before that only. This means you can appreciate the temples for little less than a half day. I and Sayuri hardly slept (yet this was not the first time during this trip).
After enjoying Abu Simbel, we flew up north to Aswan. Then, we stopped by Aswan Dam which was not quite special for me but this dam means a lot for all Egyptians. Then, we visited the Unfinished Obelisk where is like a granite stone mountain which there were evidences that ancient Egyptian dig granite stone to make an Obelisk here. Don't worry... you will see the FINISHED Obelisk in later album.
What else? We checked in the hotel cruise. Sayuri was very happy because this was the best accommodation of the trip. After taking a nap, we were out for a fellucca trip, an Egyptian boat that is controlled by wind and hands (no engine). It was nice but little cold--dont' forget it's winter in Egypt.
This was Christmas' Eve so the hotel treated us with a special course which was fairly good. We went to see the show a bit before we accepted we were too tired as we woke at 1 or 2AM this morning. Bed time...zzzzz
See ya
Namrin
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202007/Egypt%20Trip%2020-29%20Dec07/Abu%20Simbel-Aswan%2024%20Dec/
At the end of 2007, I gave myself a special reward by going to Egypt. The trip was awesome. I and my friend, Sayuri, experienced a lot of good things...including some bad things. Anyway, we survived and came back. Now I will show you some of fantastic places and activities we have done in Pharoah land.
First of all, I have to explain that the albums sent to you were arranged by the places alphabetically and by time, not by date because we went there for 10 days so I think 10 photo albums are too many! Secondly, following to albums, the story I'm telling you in each email would be run by places as well. Anyway, I'll show you our schedule which was quite busy because it was high season so we couldn't manage it more easily as we wanted to get around to many places. (It's the most often flying within 10 days in my life EVER!)
Day 1-20 Dec: Cairo and Saqqara
Day 2-21 Dec: Sharm El Sheikh (Red Sea)
Day 3-22 Dec: Sharm El Sheikh
Day 4-23 Dec: Cairo
Day 5-24 Dec: Abu Simbel and Aswan
Day 6-25 Dec: Kom Ombo, Edfu, (passing Esna)
Day 7-26 Dec: Luxor
Day 8-27 Dec: Luxor
Day 9-28 Dec: Cairo
Day 10-29 Dec: Cairo
For this album, Abu Simbel-Aswan, Sayuri and I were in the middle of our trip. And from this Abu Simbel until first day in Luxor, we joined the Thai group tour (but all guides are Egyptians). If you wonder why? It's simply because I couldn't find the tickets to Abu Simbel during this high season and Thai agency offered much cheaper package to cruise the Nile for 3 nights than I could find on the internet!!! Apart from these 3 days, we traveled on our own.
Abu Simbel (south of Egypt) is one of the highlights that you shouldn't miss it. It's actually a small town in my opinion but Pharoah Ramses(es) built the great 2 temples over there and they were rescued from flooding by Unesco before Egyptian government built Aswan Dam. It took about 40 MILLION US dollars to disassemble and re-assemble the temples. Let's appreciate it!
Oh, I have to tell you that the flight to Abu Simbel from Cairo starts at very early morning (i.e. 3.30 AM or 4.30 AM) and the return flight to Aswan or Cairo finish at noon or before that only. This means you can appreciate the temples for little less than a half day. I and Sayuri hardly slept (yet this was not the first time during this trip).
After enjoying Abu Simbel, we flew up north to Aswan. Then, we stopped by Aswan Dam which was not quite special for me but this dam means a lot for all Egyptians. Then, we visited the Unfinished Obelisk where is like a granite stone mountain which there were evidences that ancient Egyptian dig granite stone to make an Obelisk here. Don't worry... you will see the FINISHED Obelisk in later album.
What else? We checked in the hotel cruise. Sayuri was very happy because this was the best accommodation of the trip. After taking a nap, we were out for a fellucca trip, an Egyptian boat that is controlled by wind and hands (no engine). It was nice but little cold--dont' forget it's winter in Egypt.
This was Christmas' Eve so the hotel treated us with a special course which was fairly good. We went to see the show a bit before we accepted we were too tired as we woke at 1 or 2AM this morning. Bed time...zzzzz
See ya
Namrin
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202007/Egypt%20Trip%2020-29%20Dec07/Abu%20Simbel-Aswan%2024%20Dec/
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