20th February, Beirut We arrived in Beirut last night just in time for the pension's rooftop BBQ hosted by the owner/manager, Michel. A nice introduction to the city even if we were not quite in party mode after our 8 hour journey from Damascus. Another one of those whatshouldhavebeenastraightforward150kmjourney which turned into something not so straightforward afterall. We are learning fast that all stress-free and successful travelplans dependent on public transport in these regions will do well to factor in what we call the "insha-allah" (God Willing) element. Forget bus tim [View Full Entry]

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It's been a while since our last posting and those of you who know me well have probably gussed the reason why. Yes, for the first time KP gets to surf the net whilst I make a contribution to "our" travel blog. Hence the delay. Although Amman seemed like a fairly nice place our brief stay there was notable for only one reason really - it snowed very heavily! Not exactly what you expect in the middle east. The shared taxi (with Amy and Duncan, the couple we met on the ferry crossing from Egypt) to Damascus took 3 hours, and [View Full Entry]

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We got into Amman this afternoon - 2.5 hours on the very straight and dull Desert Highway. We have had 3 fantastic days in Petra, the site of the famous salmon-coloured sandstone Treasury building which is on just about every piece of tourist literature related to Jordan. I certainly didn't know what to expect from Petra apart from having seen pictures of the Treasury building but a visit to Petra is much more than just a visit to an ancient monument like the Pyramids in Giza or the Coliseum in Rome, where the whole point is to go and view the [View Full Entry]

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Minutes before we were about to board our ferry from Nuweiba (Egypt) to the Jordanian port of Aqaba, we received a frantic text message from my parents telling us of a ferry sinking in the Red Sea and hoping we were OK. We were fortunately heading across the Red Sea in the opposite direction and in a much more modern and safe catamaran ferry (like the ones plying the Marlborough Sounds) . We crossed quickly, comfortably and without incident; taking only 1 hour as opposed to the estimated 5 - 36! hours for the slow ferry. Should anyone head out this [View Full Entry]

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We decided that since we were in Sinai, it would be a good idea to go one of the widely advertised desert safaris as we had never trekked in the desert before. We had tasted some of the other activities that Dahab had to offer - we a full day's snorkelling in an area called the Blue Hole just 3km out of Dahab which was fantastic (lots of really colourful fish, sheltered snorkelling area) - and was ready to move on to other experiences. Anyway, our 3 day intrepid desert safari transpired to be a walk around some Bedouin family's backyard [View Full Entry]

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Or so we think that's what Moses may have said upon descending Mt Sinai in his barefeet. We are certainly feeling ours after quite a steep descent from Mount Sinai this evening. We left at 8 this morning to have a look around St Katherine's Monastery and climb Mt Sinai for the sunset. St Katherine's is a Greek Orthodox church which has thrived since the 6th C ( I think) and was saved from being torched with the explicit agreement and blessing of the Prophet Muhammed and subsequent caliphs when Islam came to Egypt. There is a very valuable and interesting [View Full Entry]

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Just before we started this trip, one of the things we said we wouldn't do was to travel on night buses in the developing world. Experience tells us from our time in India and Nepal that it is often bl**dy awful - cold, uncomfortable buses and dodgy driving. Anyway, funny that we now find ourselves in Dahab utterly exhausted and out of sorts after a 17.5 hour bus journey from Luxor. Predictably, it was cold, uncomfortable, the bus was dirty, and there weren't enough toilet stops. Fortunately, the driving was actually ok. Anyway, we won't do it again.... We are now [View Full Entry]

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We moved to the West Bank of Luxor and have found ourselves a gem of a place called El-Fayrouz. It's a lurid apricot palace with spacious and cool tiled rooms with a fantastic rooftop area and a very pleasant garden outback with seating under the shade of creeping plants and vines. I am sorry now that we stayed on the East Bank for the first 3 nights, although it was convenient for the things we wanted to see on the east bank like the Temple of Luxor and Karnak. I think after the two and the previous ones in Aswan and [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Luxor this afternoon after 3 days and 3 nights on a felucca, sailing between Aswan and just outside Edfu Village. We had a great trip despite my initial misgivings about dealing with a man called Captain Washington and travelling on a single decked boat for 3 days, or more importantly, sleeping, on a barely covered deck with no heating and also no toilet facilities. The Egyptian winter may be mild but it still gets pretty chilly at night ( although the daytime temperatures are perfect - sunny but cool). The felucca is a wide-bottomed, single deck boat with [View Full Entry]

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We are leaving on a felucca tomorrow for three days and three nights sailing on the Nile to a village outside Edfu village, or, at least we think we are going on a felucca trip - it's been a bit vague but we think we have cut a deal with a man called Captain Washington. Everyone in Aswan seems to know Captain Washington so we think he must be a man to be reckoned with. The felucca captains here have names as colourful as their personalities - Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Flamingo, Captain Hash etc. And some are so colourful as [View Full Entry]

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