Memories... Lovely pictures, it brought memories back to me as I went to Egypt last December, the best holiday ever so far...thanks for sharing it with us, your website is great!
Found a last Hi Kar Po and Rob,
I lost the link to your blog and it was Helen Naylor, yesterday, who brought excerpts from your travel diaries and enabled me to find you on the web. So here I am, glass of wine in hand, reading through your amazing journals. How right you were to choose the middle east and not be afraid to go there! The hospitality you have experienced sounds amazing and you must have felt quite humbled to have been so welcomed into the refugee camp in Lebanon. I love the pictures of crusuader castles and roman cities. Will be interested in what you think of Turkey, which is the only part of you journey that I know well. I think Istanbul is beginnning to be quite trendy but the east of the country is very different.
Back here in England - well, don't even think about it. It's election night tonight - local elections that is, and labour are expecting a bit of a thrashing. Not that the opposition has anything to offer of course. Life carries on here at work strategies are produced that no-one reads etc but musn't be cynical. I'm off to the Italian lakes on Sunday for a week of walking so will write to you again in a week's time. love Pam
Hail to the Turkmenbashi! So, how was the trip to the museum to despotic regimes and communism!?! Did you get converted to follow the Turkmenbashi?
Hope you had fun. The people in Central Asia are reknowned for their hospitality to strangers.
Be careful what you say about Genghis Khan! they are all descendents of his in Uzbekistan, Kirgistan, Kazakhstan!
Superstar *** Whao! Pearly and I must have been darn lucky, having your Superstar wife as our ex-flatmate, Rob!
Keep posting your travelogues. Enjoy reading them. -Jing-
Re Lebanese guy I certa1nly have no need to be rem1nded that I am a tour1st - and lov1ng every moment of 1t thank you very much. Be1ng a tour1st however doesn't preclude one leav1ng one's bra1n at home - we meet people, we learn, we observe, we have cool and not so cool exper1ences and we form our own op1n1ons - r1ghtly or wrongly - and that's just how 1t 1s. Th1s 1s a personal TRAVEL blog and I make no pretense at be1ng a pol1t1cal analyst. And l1kew1se, 1f you are look1ng for a pol1t1cal bunf1ght or an 'unb1ased' opn1on on the pol1t1cs of your country, 1 would recommend that you look farther af1eld than www.traveblog.org. RIP
you re not a political analyst so don t try to be one... please don t try as a tourist to understand or analyse the politics and history of lebanon... i feel sorry for what happened to the palestineans but there are many things u fail to grasp...
what you do if u welcome refugees in your country and then these people carry guns, attack another country from your land and terrorrize your population. Do you even know that at some point the plan of the palestineans was to deport all christians from lebanon by shipping them to canada and US so they could settle in our country!!!!
So please save us from your biased opinions and stick to being a tourist
Re: How to Haggle Cheers for the advıce Blouse. All good tactics that we have been employing constantly over the last few months, must have had a temporary braın collapse on this occasion though. We expect to pay a little more for some things and don't generally mind too much but when someone blatantly takes the piss like that it tends to get a wee bit frustrating, especially when we didn't even put up a fight. Very decent of my good wife to tell everyone all about it.
How to haggle Having lived 5 years now in Sth America one has learned to haggle, so I post this guide to beginners. Attain price, chop it down to 40% and then work your way up to around 60%. The "walk away" tactic is always good, always seems to get good results. The even better "get two traders haggling between themselves for the best price" tactic is the king pin haggling move but maybe difficult for beginners. Happy Birthday Rob, and also remember the 3USD isnt much for you guys but may make the difference for some poor person.... enjoy.
Finally caught up with u two! Have read all of the journals up to the current now, and I must say a fine effort Miss Chong!(smelly Simpson hasn't done too bad either...although you both must be a bit whiffy after all this travelling in the back blocks), you'll be glad to know i'm back at work after our 5 weeks in Chile, and as you expect it sucks..and the UK winter is still in full force!
It was such a relief to get back to the reliable rubbish British transport system on our return...after the very reliable, clean , comfortable transport service we found in Chile!
What am I doing here?Any room on your trip!
Enough already! That's it! What sort of cruel torture are you two playing at? Don't you know it's 0 degrees in London today (wishing i'd kept hold of those icebreakers now...) and grey and miserable as usual (one day last week the weatherman actually reported the following; dark grey in the morning, light grey in the afternoon - brilliant!), not only that but the rest of us suckers are working right now. Have some sensitivity please! Surely, it wouldn't kill you to tell us all what a crap time you're having and how you envy us daily tube ride? Make it up if you must - that's what friends are for.
Toni xox
PS Love the photos
PPS Take care of each other
PPPS Ignore me, I'm just jealous ;-)
Hi pal, you looked tired in the photo. Pearly and I are having a good time in Hong Kong now. She is enjoying her pear while I am busy typing you this note in her somewhat cold apt now. Guess the temperature in HK today is below 20 degrees. Better than your side there?
hey fine asses Dear team, your blog is fab. I am sure you thought - well actuall;y not - because you ahve been so busy where is that girl gone? Did she stay running around the mount forever in a country where men actually find her attractive? No, I have returned to UK but with a focus to get my life together, and I have started that already and have left LDA and am workign at Kingston upon Thames in Surrey for two months as a PRESS OFFICER! So, I am very happy but things have been go go go ever since I got back finishing LDA which seems to be in an everspiralling lurch towards somewhere - last thing I knew it was being put about - like my ass - that LDA would become a delivery unit for the GLA - no more policy strategy and all that. had a leaving party was way nice with all the usual suspects there - not any of your crew Rob, but everyone got me a gorgeous ring which I love - all silver and blue. so this job is a big commute but ab fab for my cv and i am using my brain and my writing fingers. Yay!
I love! your photos and your info on Syria, what a fantastic time you are having - are Egyptian tour guides with their profound 'this pyramid is old' comments like LDA consultants? eg You should write a policy paper detailing the way forward adn throw in a sustinability strategy - that will be £7000 please. And no, we won;t proof our two-page document for typos. That will be £5000 please.
Snowed yesterday - what is lebanon like? Beirut that is where I will go of all the places you are detailing and doing a boat trip to turkeyand Greece in summer with some NZers so that will be good for my tan. You guys like history I like tanning. Are the boys good looking in Lebanon? As good looking as you two? I doubt it. I miss you both will write again soon - lookign forward to the next update kia kaha and arohanui to you two lovely laidies ooxx Jody Lynne ooxx
awesome! Just a quick note to say COOL stuff! Enjoying scanning the blog to see what you've been up to. I'm delighted to hear that most of the folks you meet are really decent - a nice change from the news over here in USA. All well here. Shane, Ally and beasts.
very nıce It was great runnıng ınto you guys contınually through Jordan and Syrıa, and sharıng storıes of mıddle eastern travel and culture. Im sorry I dıdnt get a chance to say goodbye, I lost you ın one of Damascus covered souqs - keep up the great photography and enjoy the rest of your trıp. www.worldwıdewanderer.org
Baked beans Howdy KP and Simpson
I'm glad to hear that you dudes are having a good time.
I remember going up Mt Sinai too. I sat at the top after running up in world record time and had to hire a blanket because it was so cold. I crouched next to a rock with the blanket over me and proceeded to get walked over by a chick who mistook me for a large boulder!!!
As Jones mentioned we have just got back from Northland. It was really stunning - heaps of cool beaches and a multitude of stuff to do.
Haven't heard about your container yet. Will of course pretend I don't know anything about it when they do contact me.
Hope you're having a great time in Jordan.
Ciao
Tom
Hi guys,
Wow - your travelogue is well comprehensive KP! It's great to read! I feel very nostalgic reading it actually having been to so many of those places - days sailing on a felucca and climbing Mt Sinai etc. We climbed Sinai in the dark and waited for the sunrise - it was helluva cold tryin to sleep up there using a 5 pound hired blanket!
Sounds like you're havin a great time! Tom and I have just been cruisin round Northland - not sure our tales can match yours though! It was beautiful though - fantastic beaches and stunning scenery.
Oh yeah we checked out the Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa. I thought the gallery in vienna was one of the best I went to! I really like his stuff - can't remember the price of the posters though!
Anyways - hope you guys are keeping safe and having fun. Enjoy Syria and Jordan and for goodness sake don't hang out with any Danes! Esp Danes carrying cartoons! :)
glad you are trekking Hi, the trip definitely sounds fantastic so far. We are just checking in and glad you are doing a desert trek now instead of the red sea as we just read that a passenger ferry crossing the red sea from Egypt sank with things not looking good for most of the passangers :( so hoping you guys are OK. Things are good here but we are definitely not having as much fun as you are.
Cheers
thanks Thanks alot for this input ...very useful
I am going to be in Dahab for 14 nites end of March and want to do a few days in Luxor ( plus its trips) in the second week ...really helpful to find your input
Do you know if it would be very hard to do Dahab to Aswan, come up to Luxor and then back to Dahab .....trouble is i do not have loads of time
if you had any time im at
body-tech@lycos.com
Sounds like you are having a great trip
I wanted to try and do Horus and Isis temples as well in my short holiday in Dahab ....maybe too much
best
Sophie
Kong Hei Fatt Choy! 1. Gong Hee Fatt Choy!
2. What can be more interesting than to read my great pal's travelling journal on the 3rd day of CNY in Kampar?
3. Enjoy the rest of your trip.
4. Continue to write. You have secured one great fan here!
5. Bon voyage!
Love,
Jing
After 4 years and 6 months in London we finally decided to return to NZ - the long way. We will be travelling from Egypt to China overland taking in 12 countries. This is where the journey begins...... full info
Tweedledeedums
Kar Po & Rob
Re Carine
Of course we remember you Carine. Hope things are going well for you. Thanks for your nice comments and glad you enjoyed the blog.