Ikas90

I didn't end up doing all that much today. I woke up very late, to make up for all the sleep I missed out on. After having a bit of a chat with the hostel receptionist, who was Australian, she recommended for me to try out some Stingray. So that was the first thing I went out to do. I found my way to the restaurant, another similar outdoor local place, and ordered myself the Stingray. It was very tasty. Very firm, and easy to eat. You can even eat the bones - they are soft enough to chew on. It started raining when I decided I wanted to visit the Petronas Towers. But at least the rain here goes on and off, and isn't constant. It was close to dark by the time it stopped, ... read more

After barely catching enough sleep due to the change in time zones, I was to go with Jo Ann and her friends to Batu Caves for the day. She came to fetch me from my hostel at around 7am and then gathered everyone else up. I became acquainted with Aqid and Afiz, and of course, Faizal again, and the first thing we all did was head for breakfast. We had local food, of course - something called nasi lemak, with beef rendang and teh tarik. Pretty spicy and delicious. Then we went to the Batu Caves, which was truly amazing stuff. There was this temple to the side where we had to take our shoes off to enter. Surrounding the place also, were monkeys. I had never seen monkeys like that on the street before, I ... read more

It was finally time to leave Egypt, and for one last time, I would have to put up with the annoying people at the airport, carrying my luggage for me and demanding a tip afterwards. I just wanted to sit down, relax and wait with my own luggage at the check-in terminal. I seriously couldn't wait to get out of here. My first transfer point was Kuwait. After that it was a seven-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur. I breathed a sigh of relief as I left Egypt for good. Malaysia was going to be far more pleasant. As soon as I cleared customs and immigration, there were no people trying to approach me. It felt amazing. Today I wasn't going to really do that much - I was tired, jet lagged, and needed to get to ... read more

Today was the day I was going to head back to Cairo. I had until 4pm before my flight. So I woke up early this morning, at about 8am, and had a day trip planned to the Temple of Philae. I had to first get to the entrance of the site, then take a boat to the island which the temple was situated on. It was an intriguing journey. I took it all in. I think this is the site I've spent the most time at. It's simply beautiful and breathtaking, and the surrounding land and water scapes made it even more so. I spent a good hour admiring the place. It was going to be the last attraction of its kind that I would see. Getting off the island was a bit of a problem ... read more

So today was the day to head down as far south as you can go in Egypt. Abu Simbel, an ancient site three hours from Aswan. Trips had to be planned with police convoy, due to the security risk in the area. I greeted my driver once again in the hotel lobby. We set off at around 11am. We passed Philae and the High Dam, and from then onwards it was a proper highway, with nothing but desert for the rest of the way. This made for impressive scenery. This was the Sahara Desert. Three hours later, after not having much going on inside the van, being the only tourist on board, we arrived at Abu Simbel. Once there I was greeted by a tour guide; part of the package already paid for. So I proceeded ... read more

Today I had to get to Aswan. So I checked out of my hostel and made my way to the train station. One guy passing by on a motorbike asked me if I was looking for a hostel or place to stay. I said no; but as if that answer wasn’t enough, he proceeded to ask “Why?”. And he kept on following me and repeating it until I crossed to the other side of the road. Anyway, so I got to the train station, only to find out that there were no trains running to Aswan that day, despite what the online timetable showed me. I was aggravated. Looks like you can’t rely on anything here. Thank goodness I have a flight back from Aswan to Cairo, otherwise the train might “not run” and cause me ... read more

Today I planned to visit Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. I woke up after midday, and did a bit of research on how far away the attractions were. Luxor Temple wasn’t too far, but Karnak was a few kilometres up the road. I decided to ask reception for a transfer. I was driven there by motorbike, which was quite fun. And intense at times; but what was mostly fascinating was the streets and people that I was seeing. It just screamed Africa. My motorcyclist drove me along the Nile bank, past Luxor temple, and spectacular views on both sides of the road. It wasn’t too long before I was at Karnak Temple; I bought myself a ticket, grabbed something to eat then headed to the site. It was astonishing. This has to be the most impressive ... read more

This morning started with having to jump off a moving train. Yes, you heard correctly. The train crew didn’t wake us up in time once we got to Luxor station, and by the time I got all my stuff ready, the train was on the move. They yelled out, trying to stop the train, but my only option was to jump off, as did my cabin mate. Luckily the train was going no faster than running speed. I did stumble a bit when I jumped off, and it was kind of scary, but an interesting experience. This is how it’s done in Egypt; it will make an adventurer out of you. I got transferred to my hostel, and caught a bit more sleep. I had a tour at about 8am – I was going to be ... read more

I hoped today was not going to be a repeat of yesterday. I again, arranged things with Tareq, this time to visit the Egyptian Museum. We hoped that the entrance fee was the only thing we were going to have to pay Tareq came to get me from my hostel at midday. We set for a walking journey across the city. The museum was no more than a ten minute walk away, and crossing the streets and dodging the traffic proved to be fun. We got to the entrance of the museum, and prepared ourselves for any suspicious movement. Needless to say, there were indeed people approaching us, offering to be our tour guides. Our tactic; ignore. Simply ignore them. Don’t even say “no”, as that can bring the opportunity for them to harass you. Just ... read more