http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Ralph2006/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Ralph2006 en-us Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:49:28 +0000 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:49:28 +0000 What better place to end a trip than in Asia. It was and always will be my favourite destination. Hence we jumped on the opportunity to break the long trip home with three weeks of sweet FA on a beach. The first port of call was Bangkok a city Kellie and I have been to before. The main reason for staying a few days was to shop in the massive shopping centres where everything from real Versace to f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-367562.html The benefit of travelling is meeting lots of people which somehow after a couple of days think they like you and then offer accommodation in case you ever come to their hometown. This was also the case with Jens which I met and travelled with remember the 36 hour bus ride in Mozambique. Little did he know that one day we will turn up on his doorstep in Cologne. That in short is the story how we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Uusimaa/Helsinki/blog-369148.html After all the family life partying and skiing it was time to do something for our cultural education and so we headed to Berlin. The drive there was an experience in itself. We took the German high speed train called ICE which drove us with a max speed of 250kmh through snowy white Germany.In Berlin we checked into our traditional Berlin Pension in an old house with 3 meter high walls comfy bed http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-363435.html I said this about many places but we really didnrsquot intent to go to Italy to go skiing. The closest we ever got to plan a visit in Italy was Kellie's wish to rent a villa in Tuscany and learn cooking from an Italian Nona.Anyway I convinced her that December is not the best time to visit and sit in a cold villa so this plan was off the table. The reason why we went to Italy was me not planning http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Trentino-Alto-Adige/Bolzano/blog-362318.html Getting from Amman to Germany is a breeze. Takes only a few hours in a comfortable plane where you get food and drink. Well ok there was one drawback. All flights to Europe seem to leave at the ungodly hour of 3am and so did ours. Enough of the whingeing and on with the story.Kellie always wanted to experience a real winter with snow and all that and I was absolutely against it as winters for me m http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/Stuttgart/blog-354475.html Amman is certainly by far the most boring capital city we have been too. It is just too modern the streets are clean the traffic jams are small no chaos the people are friendly and there is not too much to see or do. We only went to a Roman theatre Walked up to the old fort marvelled at the third highest 126 meter flagpole in the world and had some decent food and sweets. As usual the main http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-354476.html If you ever wondered I know you do why the hell we went to the Middle East then there is just one answer. Petra. No not the long lost love of mine but the ancient city of Petra. What else then a couple of old stones could drag me half way around the world Egypt and Israel were originally never on the itinerary but are a late addition as they were so close to Jordan and Petra and I am a sucker f http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-354229.html Itrsquos a long story why we headed back down to Eilat at the Red Sea and it has to do with border crossings and visas and I spare you the details. More exciting for me was that the trip involved a car and me behind the wheel. I really miss driving around and being able to stop wherever we like. So we boarded our new four wheels and headed south again. One of the things not to miss when coming http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Ein-Gedi/blog-354469.html We met a FrenchAmerican couple which lives in Israel while hiking in Simian Mountain in Ethiopia. Sounds like the beginning of a joke but isn't. Before we separated we exchanged email addresses and we promised to pop by when we are in Israel and so we did. Itrsquos not only that we liked them and that Haifa sounded like a great place but also the promise of staying in a proper flat and not a h http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/Haifa-District/Haifa/blog-351578.html There are many scary stories of people sitting in their underwear at the Israeli border for hours while being interviewed by the Israeli border guards. Luckily or unfortunately as it would have been a great story our Egypt Israel border crossing was quite uneventful. I was asked lots of question why do you want to come to Israel. Incorrect answer to support the Palestinians where do you liv http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-348186.html After all the temples tombs and pyramids we needed another time out and headed for the Sinai and the Red Sea. Itrsquos not really around the corner and we spend 18 hours in an overnight bus. Wasnrsquot that back as I donned on my eye mask put in the ear plugs and blew up my inflatable travel pillow. Travelling in style... Dahab has the dubious fame of being Sinairsquos backpacker friendlie http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/Dahab/blog-345665.html Leaving Aswan can be done in style on a 5 star Nile cruiser or the good old way on a Felucca. Feluccas have ploughed the Nile since ancient times and there is a good reason for this. Which one I donrsquot know but I guess it must have something to do with the high oil price and the fact that Feluccas have sails. Well guess what we chose the Felucca. We were quite lucky and had only two other Ja http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-343981.html I need money lots of it billions and pretty quick. I intend to build a second Abu Simbel but more of that later.The trek down to Aswan was done in style in a sleeper train. After arriving in Aswan we wanted to go straight down to Abu Simbel and went to the train station as we knew there would be a 11 am bus. There was a bus we inquired if this is the 11am bus and we loaded our luggage into it a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-342035.html 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 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 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 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