http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Misanga/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Misanga en-us Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:06:24 +0000 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:06:24 +0000 Just a short note to apologise for the time lag in getting this latest round of updates to you all. The last couple of weeks of our trip has been absolutely full on and we have had a bit of trouble finding both the time and the Internet access to do our updates.Now that we are settled here in Venice for the next few days and our schedule as slowed down to only about 56 hours of walking a day lt http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-330826.html We drove down to a seaside town called Cesme today to visit the castle of St Peter. Cesme is a lovely little town and the castle was well looked after and very interesting. There was a museum inside that mainly contained nautical exhibits as the castle featured in many famous sea battles.From standing on the battlements we could see across to the Greek Islands well we were assured by Mum an http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Cesme/blog-330821.html It was a big day today as we had a lot to fit in. We headed out for our private tour of Ephesus nice and early. It was only about 1 hour out of Izmir and in no time at all we were at the Temple of Artemis one of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World. As you can see from the picture thanks to earth quakes and some good old fashioned looting there is not a lot left of the original 136 columns. It wa http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Ephesus/blog-330816.html Another lazey day today with an outing into Izmir to look at some shops and check out the new Marks and Spensers that has just opened here. Had another nice lunch at a cafe and a walk along the sea front. We managed to make some Skpye calls home which was just lovely as the web cams were all working. We spent the rest of the day veging out and we will not be too late to bed tonight as we have a http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Izmir/blog-323958.html We headed out to Sardis today to see some Roman ruins. It was a nice drive out there as the Turks are no where near as crazy as the Egyptians on the road. We stopped first to see the temple of Artemis which was huge and after a picnic lunch supplied by Mummy we then headed over the road to the main complex which was really impressive. The ruins were quite different to the Egyptian monuments tha http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Izmir/blog-323957.html We went out to Foa today which is a lovely village that sits right on the Aegean. We had a great lunch in a little restaurant on the harbour and then walked through the town. We then headed off to try and find a place for a swim. We did not realise that here in Izmir beaches are owned and you have to pay to use them. After driving up the coast a bit we did find a nice little spot that we cou http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Izmir/blog-323954.html Today was a bit of a rest day with our only adventure trying to find a replacement 16GB SD card for our little computer as Graham has managed to fry the one that is in there ltsighgt. We went out to dinner tonight right on the cordon which is the sea front here at Izmir and watched to sun set as we ate. http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Izmir/blog-323949.html Well not such an auspicious day for travel today however we made it here safely. After surviving our last drive throught Cairo with the same maniac driver that took us to Dahab and back we were greeted at the airport with perhaps the biggest shambles that we have seen yet. Cairo airport is definitely something that has to be experienced.If you are ever travelling out of Cairo then we suggest tha http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Izmir/blog-323947.html Our last day in Cairo. We did not get up to anything too adventurous but managed to do some washing so that we do not stink out Mum and Dad when we get to Turkey and managed to get the travel diary up to speed. Our tour is now dwindling with only 5 of us left. It feels a bit strange now that the tour is over and there is no one here to look after us and tell us what we should be doing and where http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-323942.html After our first sleep in and another nonbreakfast box breakfast we spent today relaxing and snorkeling in the Red Sea just beautiful. Dinner was at a place called the ldquoFunny Mummyrdquo which is filled with lots of cats so many cats we were given water pistols to chase them away No sleep for us tonight as we leave at 11.30pm to travel to Mt Sinai which is a 2 hour drive west of Dahab http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/Dahab/blog-322854.html Up early again and had breakfast with Matt Kat and Derek who appear to be the other early risers before we head off to Dahab. Our departure was delayed somewhat as there were quite a few sore heads after the farewell drinks last night.The bus ride was one of most uncomfortable for the trip as we were in quite a small bus on perhaps the bumpiest road in Egypt with the craziest Egyptian behind the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/Dahab/blog-322851.html We arrived in Cairo from Aswan at about 10 am this morning the train ride this time wasn't too bad everyone is pretty much over the breakfast boxes. No improvement with the toilets with Michelle managing to hold again for 12 hours After checking into the King hotel and a nice cold shower we headed out with Kat Matt Christina Trey and De Danae to see the Citadel and Khan Alkhalili http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-322847.html Our night on the felucca was lovely and waking up to the early morning sound of the Nile before sunrise was very peaceful. There was not enough wind to sail back to Aswan so we had to take a motor boat. We spent the next couple of hours in the Airconditioned MacDonalds which all have free WiFi over here uploading some more pictures to the blog. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing Uno w http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-319680.html Up at the crack of dawn today at 3.00 am for the drive down to Abu Simbel in the little bus that could. We had another armed escort however this time there were heaps of buses heading out. We started in the middle of the convey but were soon passed by almost everyone.Another breakfast box broke the drive and we arrived at the new resting place of Ramses II and his favorite wife Nefertari. Our gu http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-319676.html Early start today for our adventure into The Valley of the Kings. After a nice nonbreakfast box breakfast at the hotel we caught a boat across the Nile to the west bank where we waited a while as some our group had gone on a sunrise balloon ride. Once all the group were together we were sized up for our donkeys which would be our transport into The Valley of the King. The donkey ride is definit http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-319674.html The overnight train to Luxor was an adventure in itself. We were so glad that we were on a tour as otherwise there is no way that we would have got on our train as the station has no signs and the announcements are made through a 100 year old speaker in Arabic.The carriages were not too bad the seats were actually quite comfortable. About half way through tour 9 hour Egyptian time trip that http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-319672.html We rose early this morning as we were both very excited about seeing the pyramids After a nice breakfast with Derek another Australian on our tour we all bussed it out to the pyramids. It was very exciting when we all caught a glimpse of ldquoCheopsrdquo the great pyramid through the buildings as we travelled through Giza. It was at this time that our tour guide asked who would l http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Giza/blog-318529.html We arrive early at Emadrsquos shop still a bit apprehensive about our back door tour. Our driver Abdul arrived and we headed out to Saqqara Egyptrsquos oldest pyramid. On our way out we drove through some of the really old and poor sections of Cairo and it was a bit of an eye opener to see just how poor a lot of Egypt is.We are not sure how people drive here in Cairo as the traffic is abso http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-318527.html Left for Cairo this morning. Dubai airport was a bit of a shambles and we only just made it to our gate in time for boarding as it took us about 2.5 hours to check in and clear passport control. Emirates planes are excellent and we managed to score exit rows which was even better.The landing in Cairo was a bit bumpy as there was lots of turbulence near to the ground. Cairo airport made me very g http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/blog-318526.html Arrived in Dubai early this morning was a very long 8 and a half hour flight with a vomiting child sitting behind us it is amazing how much vomit can come out of one child. The Dubai airport was a little stressful for us not knowing where to go to get visas as Hong Kong airport told us to pick them up at the Dubai airport upon arrival. After mentioning to some airport security man that we we http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-318522.html