Following an indeterminable wait at Kathmandu airport (it wasn't clear that anyone knew when or if our flight was supposed to depart), we arrived in Pokhara and were met by our local guide to be taken to our accommodation for the night; Fishtail Lodge. This was a property at the luxury end of Backpacker friendly Pokhara, but had clearly seen its glory days as "THE" place to stay, come and go some years before. Nevertheless, it was nice with its most interesting feature being the method of entering the hotel - the only way to get to the property was via [View Full Entry]

---

---

Nepal....just saying the word conjures up all sorts of images - vistas filled with sparkling white mountains, monks winding their way through hilltop villages chanting buddhist mantras, tigers stalking their prey through overgrown jungle and strangely painted Sadhus wandering on foot along dirty, dusty roads. While many of these images are accurate (and some of them we even saw), there is also a different side to Nepal - people will calmly wait in a queue for several hours or days to fill up their car, tuk-tuk or motorbike with petrol; people are welcoming, friendly and hospitable despite the fact that the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Arriving in Hong Kong from Israel, we proceeded to get ripped off by a taxi driver on the way to the hotel - so much for being seasoned world travelers!! Our few days in Hong Kong was essentially a rest stop before we headed off to our next major destination, the Kingdom of Nepal. Although it was a brief stop, we were able to get Janice's new Hong Kong ID card, hang out with Kevin (my brother in-law) for a few days and sample some fantastic Cantonese cuisine - which we did at every opportunity. Then a few short days later, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Crossing the border from Jordan into Israel, again proved a frustrating experience, but after another long interrogation we finally made it outside and rejoined Dvir, our Israeli guide with whom we would spend the remainder of our time in the country. As we had lost several hours due to the delayed border crossing, we immediately left for Beth She-An an ancient Roman city built in the Byzantine era, though the area has been occupied for the last 5,000 years. This is where we had our first introduction to the concept of "Tels" - a tel is a large mound or hill [View Full Entry]

---

---

It's six-thirty A.M on Valentine's Day and we get picked up at our hotel in Eilat to be taken to the Jordanian border. After leaving Israel and walking across the two hundred metre "no mans land", we arrive at the Jordanian immigration desk (staffed by one person) and get caught up behind a very large Eastern European tour group which delayed us forever...eventually we are able to enter Jordan and head to Aqaba to meet our guide and begin the two and a half hour drive to Petra. Following a couple of photo stops en-route (at which point we realize just [View Full Entry]

---

---

After arriving from Cairo we settled into our hotel in the central area of Tel Aviv known as Dizengoff Square and the next morning after a late start went off to the Diamond District to try and get my camera serviced - several months of traveling through harsh environments was starting to take its toll!! Negotiating our way through a protest (demonstrating against the Israeli government's lack of action against the Palestinian rocket attacks) we made our way back to Dizengoff to prepare for dinner that evening with my good friend's Sasha and Oren. During an excellent dinner (thanks again guys), [View Full Entry]

---

---

As our flight from Cairo to Tel Aviv was not until late evening, we decided to do a day trip down to the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. Designed and built by the high priest and architect, Imhotep, in the 27th Century B.C this structure was the first pyramid and set the trend for all tombs, temples and pyramids that followed. Before the 3rd dynasty, tombs had been built underground and covered with a mastaba - a mud brick structure. Imhotep decided that this wasn't good enough for his King and built a tomb comprising six stone mastabas on top [View Full Entry]

---

---

Leaving Luxor by bus convoy, we drove through a barren, featureless landscape for several hours before arriving at the soulless, characterless city that is Hurghada. On the shores of the Red Sea, this city is a major destination for low budget, package tours from Europe, particularly the former Soviet Union. The city is filled with plain, ordinary looking resorts and hotels, which is a shame as the sea and coastline are quite beautiful. After lunch we had a walk around town, but as I was starting to feel unwell headed back to our hotel for a rest. That evening I apparently [View Full Entry]

---

---

The next morning Janice's condition had improved slightly, the fever was down and she was able to make it out of bed to visit the Temple of Horus at Edfu. Dave, our tour leader, had 'arranged' (read bribed) the guard to let us in first so that we could get a few minutes to ourselves and look around in relative solitude. The temple was built in the Ptolemy period, but is important because it closely imitates much older temples and it is incredibly well preserved - it is also the site of the legendary battle between the gods Horus and Seth [View Full Entry]

---

---

Following a very early start, we made our way via bus convoy through the barren desert to one of the most amazing archaeological sights in Egypt - the massive temple at Abu Simbel built by Rameses II in the 13th C BC. The Great Temple of Rameses with its' 108 foot (33 metre) high statues of Rameses II seated on a throne and the smaller temple of Hathor are an impressive sight and literally take your breath away when you first lay eyes on them. I can only imagine how Swiss explorer, Jean-Louis Burckhardt, felt in 1813 when he 'rediscovered' the [View Full Entry]

---

---