Leaving Luxor and heading off south to Aswan on Mar. 7th started out very well. We had our complimentary breakfast at our cheapie hotel, then sped out the door on the way to the train station. Five minutes later we were there, snacks in hand, all ready for a quick three hour train ride to Aswan. Things were going too smoothly to be true, and sure enough, nine am, our departure time, rolled around, and kept on rolling by. Minutes turned into hours and before we knew it, it was noon and still no sign of our train! A fellow traveller [View Full Entry]

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The plane arrived on Feb. 25th, and there we were, in Cairo, Egypt. We bought our visas with minimal problems, then had to buy a chocolate bar to get some change for the bus. ATMs seem to love to spit out bills that are too high to change. After a little confusion with the bus, as all the numbers were in Arabic, we met a kind gent who wrote out the number to catch to downtown Cairo. A man on our bus was also really kind. We started a conversation with him, and he helped us and told us when to [View Full Entry]

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As predicted, when we arrived in Dubai on Feb. 18th, we were in for quite severe culture shock. How could we not be, coming from a place like India, to this. The huge luxury hotels, an indoor ski slope, the massive, modern shopping malls, all situated near the blue waters of the Persian Gulf. Dubai seemed to be the place that everyone has heard of, but few know more than these details before visiting the city. Though we hadn't had a wink of sleep all night, we couldn't help but notice how clean, modern, and nice the Dubai International Airport was, [View Full Entry]

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We were off, on our way to see the Taj Mahal in Agra, a must see location on any trip to Northern India. Just another easy night train on Feb. 12, this time from Bikaner to Jaipur, since we wanted to break up the long train trip, and spend one more day wandering Jaipur. It was an interesting stopover and we liked the city much more the second time around. We got a much better hotel and strangely enough, a few people actually remembered us from the last time we were there. Namely, the guy from the internet cafe, a guy [View Full Entry]

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It was dark, cold, and way too early when we arrived by train in Jaisalmer on the morning of Feb. 5th. We had decided to call ahead and reserve a room, since we would be getting there at six am, and it was a wise decision. Our hotel offered to pick us up at the station for free, which was just fantastic. It was a bit scary waking up on a train in the dark, wondering if we were at the right stop, and then rushing off while hoping that we didn't leave anything behind. It makes for a rather stressful [View Full Entry]

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We got onto the overnight train to Udaipur on Jan. 26th, without having any idea what to expect. It was great; we left at 10:30 in the evening, climbed into our bunks, which also included sheets and blankets, since we were travelling on the two tiered a/c section, and fell asleep. A perfect way to travel, you wake up in a new place, ready to go. A short and simple pre-paid rickshaw ride took us to our hotel. Since it was early, we waited on the rooftop restaurant and enjoyed some breakfast and chai while our room was cleaned. The sights [View Full Entry]

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India seems to be one place that when people know you're going there, they say one of two things. Either 'Wow, you're going to India, that's great, how exciting!', or 'You're going to India, why would you want to go there?'. Well, we were on our way, to the place where people are usually quite intimidated to visit for the first time, ready to expect the unexpected, bring on the challenges, and say hello to living life on the edge with sacred cows, on the crowded streets of New Delhi. From Bangkok, we set off on Jan. 21st, with another nice, [View Full Entry]

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After a very easy and short bus trip from Laos across the Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge, we arrived in a place called Udon Thani, Thailand. It was smooth sailing getting through the borders, other than the odd line jumper that seemed to be a fairly common thing in Southeast Asia. We got over it pretty quickly though, since we were one step closer to seeing one of the wonders of the world, the magnificent temples of Angkor Wat! We were on the move, and in a bit of a rush since it was Jan. 14th, and our flight out of Bangkok was [View Full Entry]

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It was Jan. 7th as we walked down a dusty hill in Chiang Khong, Thailand, to the side of the famous Mekong River, to climb into a small boat and cross the river to the Laos side of the border. The water was surprisingly dark and murky, and we wondered how deep it really was, trying not to fall in with our packs strapped to our backs. We carefully climbed into the tipsy little river boat and in five short minutes, we were there at the Laos border crossing. We got our visas stamped, then hopped in the back of a [View Full Entry]

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Morning rolled around on Jan. 2nd, and we headed off to the bus station to hopefully meet up with our new friends and head north to Chiang Mai. It was very easy and straight forward, that is, until we found out the brutal news that every single bus to Chiang Mai was already full. Again, 'Happy New Year' was to blame, as it was the day after New Years and everyone was returning home after their holidays. The only possibility of getting to Chiang Mai that day was if we were to buy a ticket, get on the bus, and stand [View Full Entry]

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