Blogs from Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa
May 23rd 2012
Morning! Yesterday we travelled on a felucca to Philae Temple which is an island which has three temples on it. One roman, greek and egyptian. Its amazing to see how big they are and the detail of the carvings is awesome. Even after thousands of years u can still c the quality of the craftsmanship. The whole site actually needed to be moved piece by piece from its original location due to the danger of flooding from the nile. The whole process took 8 years. The heads of the egyptian kings had been ruined by the french or british i think. They thought that if they destroyed the holy sites of:the local egyptian religous sites that they would become christians. After this we went to a market. We just bought some water n snacks. We have ... read more
May 22nd 2012
hey hey! Yesterday we went to visit the egyptian museum which has over 100 thousand artefacts. Tutankamen wasnt as famous as some of the other pharaohs however his collection of treasure that was buried with him has been preserved and kept together. He had three massive rooms of treasure. It makes you wonder if the more famous tombs of pharaohs like ramses ll hadnt been piliged how much treasure there must have been. The most fascinatingpiece was Tutankamens famous mask which was solid gold and perfectly hand crafted. Next we were off to see the great pyramids of giza. The sheer size of them is overwhelming, to know that no modern cranes were used during construction. Each block depending on its size was approx 2.5 tonne. Shama got to go into one of the pyramids. The ... read more
May 19th 2012
Greetings dear friends, We are currently pulled up to the shoreline of the Nile. A donkey Eeeaws behind me As awarm breeze Touches my shoulder. Arabic conversation flows amongst the crew. It is HOT! We have had an incredibletrip so far, so amazing anda surprising and touching! We are loving being so fully pampered and cared for! Having delicious food prepared for us as we watch scenes from the ancient pastfloat by. This morning wefewer up at dawn,a about 5:30, and walked along the right inot a group of 3generations of men and boys who were eatingI read likely baked in a clay oven and cheese. They invited us to join them for tea and bread, which did humbly did. I am typing on a borrowed iPad soapologize for mistakes! We were walking along the river ... read more
May 14th 2012
May 8, 2012 Luxor, Egypt Nautica arrived in the Egyptian port of Safaga early May 7. Safaga is an ancient port city on the Red Sea. It is not much to look at but it is the closest port to Luxor and the Nile valley. I boarded one of 15 buses that left in a convoy across the desert. The journey took more than 3 hours. There was a military vehicle at the front and rear of the convoy. The Egyptians are extra cautious ever since a deadly attack on a bus load of Germans about 20 years ago. There were police checkpoints every 20 kilometers, but the officers on duty seemed totally uninterested in our purpose. Most of them were sitting in the shade smoking and hardly even looked up as we slowly lurched over ... read more
May 13th 2012
The layer of dust lined my skin, which glistened in the sun against the sheen of sweat; the combination resulted in a gritty exfoliation, a treatment available only in Egypt. We were greeted with a barely manageable heat, seeing as we arrived in the late afternoon we knew we were in store for foreboding temperatures over the next two weeks. After introductions to the rest of the group and tour leaders we had a quick wander in our area of Cairo and promptly returned to the hotel. Cairo is a filthy city, the streets are lined with litter, excrement, stray animals and dare I say... stray men. Doing your best to ignore the pedlars at Giza took self-control, which was easily lost with the almost abusive sales pitch and aggressive upselling. The locals were relentless and ... read more
May 3rd 2012
Just moments before, I had been contemplating a pedicure; did I want a pedicure before or after I bought the delightful orange leather travel bag I had been eyeing off the previous night? As I walked past the fast food store behind my family contemplating my dilemma, a small boy stood in front of me. I had subconsciously noticed he was ignored by everyone else and I took a step towards being just as dismissive. After arriving in Egypt a mere 4 nights earlier I was already accustomed to seeing past the unsavoury locals, the men pushing their cheap junk in your face, the dirty children with scum under their finger nails, holding out their hands in hope to receive money; in just 4 days I had already perfected the ... read more
April 18th 2012
Dear All Greetings from Luxor, with this my final travel blog update on my Egypt trip 2012. Writing this one from the departure lounge in Luxor Airport, though will be waiting till I get home before I upload this and the latest batch of photos onto my page. So if you are reading this now, I have arrived back safely. Wow – rather a mixed bag of feelings about the last few days to be honest. I believe I last wrote when just about to leave the amazing oases of the Western Desert, and their stunning landscapes. My original plan being to travel directly by private car from Al-Kharga oasis to Luxor along a little-used desert road being curtailed by the fact that this road has recently been made off-limits to foreigners due to the lack ... read more
April 16th 2012
After a delicious breakfast of pancakes, banana & honey onboard the felucca, it was time to say farewell to our hosts and head off to our next destination. Luxor, the ancient Egyptian town known as Thebes, holds 22% of the worlds monuments including highlights like Karnak Temple, the worlds largest temple complex and Valley of the Kings, tombs of the ancient Kings, Queens and Nobles. En-route to Luxor we stopped off at Edfu Temple for an unscheduled stop. I've already mentioned our delightful British travel companion and today she was at her very best. With the group having decided to only stop at one temple on the way to Luxor, rather than two, she was already in a bad mood. Everything that we don't do always turns out to be a "highlight" and the reason she ... read more
April 15th 2012
As the sleeper train pulled into the busy Cairo station, I had flashbacks of the filthy overnight trains in Vietnam. We were all pleasantly surprised once inboard, when Jess and I were shown to our private two bed cabin, complete with a dining table, sink and lamps. This was certainly a step up from trains in Asia and everyone in the group was running from room to room excited about how "luxurious" it was, having all spent time in Asia....the simple things!!! As nice as the decor was, it was actually the most uncomfortable of all train travels I've experienced so far. I felt as though I was on an out of control vibrating bed, being thrown this way and that around the carriage. Many of us where still in a zombie like state when we ... read more
In Case You're Wondering Where I've Been ...
Published: April 8th 2012Africa » Egypt » Upper Egypt » Aswan
April 8th 2012
Below is a Note I had written on my FaceBook page without a lot of fanfare. I am certain that it got lost amongst all the many things I post, but I am just fine with that. I knew that whomever needed to see it, would. And just as that post was a self-indulgent type of release... I suppose this one is too. :) Let me preface this with saying that I am in a much better space with all of this right now. I just thought maybe those of you who are following this blog may want to know why I have been away. Matters of the heart just take precedence, you know? xx Sue Divine "I posted briefly the other night when I broke off an engagement with a most beautiful man. I posted ... read more
