Via a short side trip to Jerash, a city of Roman ruins, we headed up to the Syrian border and after a couple of minor prblems, we were in our 3rd country in a week. We were dropping accomodation standards and were camping here, so we put up our tents and settled in for the night with our excessively cheap duty free alcohol. I mean $8 for a 1.125L bottle of Vodka? They are really asking for trouble. We managed to get both the tour leader and driver fairly hammered so Mission Complete. :) Our first full day in Damascus [View Full Entry]

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Well I was planning on doing a single blog for all of Jordan seeing as we are only here for 4 nights, but the combined scenery of Wadi Rum and the city of Petra have put a spanner in the works for that. For anyone considering Petra, it is worth it. It was absolutely amazing, and if I seem t be repeating those exclamations, I will cover my bases and say the day at Petra is the highlight of the trip thus far. We rocked up there and started our tour with the guide and it was a 1.2km walk [View Full Entry]

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Well the following day was a border crossing day, as in it took until 5pm for the 3pm ferry to get going, then getting through customs the other side was another hour. We stopped in Aqaba in Jordan, and immediately we could see the difference between Jordan and Turkey. The money was clean, like the city, and the people didn't hassle you. It was great! Our drive to Wadi Rum (the desert where Lawrence of Arabia shot to fame), where we were sleeping for the night. The drive took us up from the border crossing town and we could see [View Full Entry]

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Well the night train was uneventful enough, despite Justin telling us the diahorrea stories from previous trips. The American ladies 2 seats in front were not impressed. Oh, and if you happen to be watching any Russian TV and seeing me drinking tequila, the night train to Cairo is where it happened. We had a lazy day in Cairo after looking at the Egyptian Museum (for some of us, for the second time) and it was basically spent in the bar saying farewells. I finished off by having dinner with Heather then said goodbye to her and the others, then [View Full Entry]

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So I have just about managed to get my land legs back after the 2 days floating up the Nile. Basically all it consisted of was lying on a giant mattress in the sun while every now and again getting up to eat some of the wonderfully prepared food. I spent it polishing off 2 books and listening to alot of music. Fully recommended! Ironically the only excitement was 30 seconds after I had thought to myself "Wow, I haven't been this relaxed since the Cruise last year", then the captain of the other felucca decided to tack towards us [View Full Entry]

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The next morning was another early start as we were up to catch the 'tourist' train to Aswan, which duly arived an hour and a half late. We got to Aswan, and alas we were only in 4 star accomodation this time. It's a hard life. :) The temperature was again up around 35 degrees so we had a quick swim before heading off to see the Aswan Dam and the Philae Temple. Overall I think we all liked Aswan the most as it was a fairly small city and the girls didn't get hassled as much. I don't know [View Full Entry]

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As you might have guessed, we were on our way back to Luxor, again by convoy, but this time with one major difference. This time we were staying for the next 2 nights at 5 star accomodation. This overlanding stuff is hard work! So basically, we dumped our stuff in the pool and all went and sat by the pool, swum and relaxed while watching an amazing sunset over the Nile. About half the group had to be up very early the next day for Hot Air Ballooning so we all pretty much had a quiet night. I gave this [View Full Entry]

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Well it was another early morning as we had to be in time to catch the convoy to Hurghada, a 5 hour drive away. The reason they have a convoy is that a few years ago, a bunch of Muslim extremists attacked and gunned down a bus load of tourists, hence they have a convoy of 150 odd buses and vehicles 'guarded' by three jeeps of military. So as our driver put it, instead of having lots of little targets, there is one big one. But luckily we were the slowest of the lot so basically had our own escort. [View Full Entry]

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Well, what a luxury a proper bed and a shower is! We pulled into Luxor and the first thing that most people did was get straight into the shower. Myself, I jumped straight in the pool and it felt fantastic! After I did eventually shower, we were treated to some fine local cuisine before most people turned in after the exhausting desert trip. The next day was our sightseeing trip in Luxor, and after what i've seen in Cairo, I can't understand why Cairo is more popular than here. Luxor is everything that Cairo is not. It is clean, no [View Full Entry]

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Well we managed to get up at the very early time of 7am and drag ouselves across the city where we met the rest of the Kumuka crew. So other than introducing ourselves to the people we hadnt met, we headed out to the Pyramids where we had an organised tour. But, as was to be the theme of the next few days, the weather was against us, and as you can see from the photos, it was overcast, and more importantly, windy. So we got some impressive sandstorms whipping around us as we checked out the Sphinx. We also [View Full Entry]

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