http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Ralph2006/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Ralph2006 en-us Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:07:48 UTC Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:07:48 UTC The Egyptian museum deserves the title of the museum with the worlds best collection presented in the worst possible way. The items in the museum are stunning and extraordinary but somehow someone forgot to stop and all rooms are overflowing with exhibits. There are often four Sarcophagus stacked on top of each other and at one stage you have 30 of them in view. There really is too much of a good http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-341280.html Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast was once considered one of the greatest cities in the world. Today it receives remarks as greatest historical city but with the least to show for it Lonely Planet or It looks like a pockmarked Cannes Michael Palin.That's not untrue but doesn't do it justice. We had a great time there. The city has a great museum which explain the history of Alexandria http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Mediterranean/Alexandria/blog-340919.html After all the hustle and bustle of Cairo and a serious overdose of culture we needed rest and relaxation yes again. What better place to go than the desert. Not being Laurence of Arabia and having no inclination of spending the night on sand we opted for the version of the desert with water palms and donkeys. An oasis like in the fairly tales would be a nice option. The closest to that must be http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Western-Desert/Siwa-Oasis/blog-338021.html CairoCairo another city of superlatives. Allegedly worst polluted city in the world and Africa's most populous city depending on how you count and who you ask. It also happens to be a great city with lots to see and do with friendly people and next to no crime. Really nice to be able to walk around in the middle of the night in virtually any part of the city without fearing to get mugged. This http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-337401.html The town of Mekele was never really on our to see list but it seemed to be a convenient place to do some more RR. The last few weeks have been a bit hectic for a variety of reasons so we deserved a couple of days off.When I say couple of days off I mean just staying in one place not doing nothing We visited the rock hewn churches of Tigray just to get another dose of spirituality an fitness. http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Ethiopia/Tigray-Region/Mek--ele/blog-336154.html Lalibela is certainly the most famous and the most visited place in Ethiopia. There were at least 30 tourists in the townhellip It deserves to be that famous as it contains 11 absolutely amazing rock hewn churches within 10 minutes from each other. The churches were built on the order of King Lalibela which as the legend has it visited Jerusalem and on his return wanted to build a Jerusalem in E http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Ethiopia/Amhara-Region/Lalibela/blog-335690.html I traveled many days in buses but the drive from the Simien Mountains to Aksum was one of the scariest in my life. The road was carved by the Italians into the steep mountain side and any mistake of the bus driver would result in a long drop and certain death. Once I unclenched my hands and the white knuckles were pink again I could enjoy the scenery which is equally spectacular. Luckily for us th http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/blog-332274.html When we arrived in Gondar we planned to stay a few days to rest and relax and to decide if we want to go trekking in the Simien Mountains National Park. That decision was cut short when met the Belgium couple we did the Lake Tana tour with. They were planning to do a four day trek and leave for the Simien Mountains the next day. They were looking for people to share cost with. All of it seemed li http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Ethiopia/Amhara-Region/Simien-Mountains/blog-332268.html Before you ask I didnrsquot find Tolkienrsquos Lord of the Rings Gondor but Gondar a city in Ethiopia.Camelot of Africa is the nickname of Gondar as it has smack bang in the middle of the city a Castle looking like its coming out of medieval England. Strangely enough the biggest damage to the castle was done by the British during the Second World War. The Italians were at the time occupying http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Ethiopia/Amhara-Region/Gondar/blog-330112.html Why EthiopiaThe reason why we are in Ethiopia starts with a visit to a Colombia shop a few years back. In this store I stumbled over the bored husbands section where the shop provides a few seats a coffee table and a coffee table book. Not being a bored husband but curious I picked up the book and you guess right it was about Ethiopia. It looked like a great country as all countries do in those http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-329781.html There is a lot top be said about expectations especially if they are not met. I read about the famous monasteries which are dotted around the shoreline and islands of Ethiopiarsquos largest lake Lake Tana. I imagined extensive compounds and large impressive decorated churches. Well there is non of that. The compounds are small and so are the churches. From outside they are unimpressive as ther http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Ethiopia/Amhara-Region/Bahir-Dar/blog-328876.html tribesThe main reason to go down south in Ethiopia switch of your dirty mind no pun intended is to see the various local tribes. This should be accompanied by wish to get shaken and stirred in a Land Cruiser for hours on end on bad roads. It is a long drive down but very worth it. The first tribe we saw were the Hamer people. They are subsistence farmers and are quite happy living like its 1599 http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/blog-328210.html Why EthiopiaThe reason why we are in Ethiopia starts with a visit to a Colombia shop a few years back. In this store I stumbled over the bored husbands section where the shop provides a few seats a coffee table and a coffee table book. Not being a bored husband but curious I picked up the book and you guess right it was about Ethiopia. It looked like a great country as all countries do in those http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-323816.html If someone told you that I paid USD500 to see some apes in the jungle then you might laugh at him and call him a liar especially if your name is Marc . Fortunately this time you would be wrong. Not that it was my idea to go and visit them. Kellie insisted on it in the beginning and I'm glad she did.There are three countries which still have Mountain Gorillas left which are Uganda Democratic R http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-319711.html Doing an organized tour is not my favorite holiday experience to put it mildly and it took a lot of soul searching and some obstacles in the way to join one. The main reason why we decided to do it was me saying a while back that I donrsquot want to spend a lot more time on uncomfortable busses the ability to see lots in little time and as main reason that it is not possible to get gorilla tr http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Kenya/blog-317573.html A Serengeti safari is must when you are in Tanzania. Thatrsquos at least what David Attenborough and Bernhard Grzimek make me believe when I saw their documentaries when I was young back then in the good old days and right they are. But let me start from the beginning.We arrived after the visit with God in Arusha where we were greeted by a friend of our WorldVision guide. The WorldVision dude http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/North/Serengeti-National-Park/blog-314643.html Yep God lives in Africa.God is the sponsor child of Kellie and he lives in Tanzania. Kellie inquired where exactly he lives and it turned out that he lives more or less close to our travel route so she started arranging a visit. Thatrsquos easier said than done and involves a lot of paper work including a police clearance but was successful in the end.We got picked up by a WorldVision LandCrui http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/North/blog-314319.html Kellie arrived safe and sound on the 9 of July but not without problems with immigration. One many things that I will never understand is why they insist that you put a local address on the immigration form. If you are a tourist then most likely you will stay there for one night and then move on. Kellie didnrsquot know which place we would stay in Dar and was too honest to put in a fake name. Lu http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/Zanzibar/Zanzibar-City/blog-310896.html I met Uri and Sara in Nkhata Bay and both also wanted to catch the train to Dar Es Salaam so the three of set off on Tuesday morning to reach Mbeya in Tanzania. I was stressing out a bit as it seemed an awful long distance to travel in one day included a border crossing and we needed to pickup the tickets for the train. I also had my doubts about our train ticket reservation. The day before I was http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-308934.html Nkhata Bay is yet another perfect place to do absolutely nothing and has test backpackers with the best food in Africa so far. To have the best food is not that hard as most places specialize in Chicken and very soggy chips. Nkhata bay is as small bay on Lake Malawi with a small sleepy village. It is hard to believe that this was once the most important town in the area. The one thing that made http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nkhata-Bay/blog-308137.html