A lazy morning saw us sleeping in until 11.15. Oops, we missed the 8.30 alarm clock! Nonetheless, I'm sure it was well-needed sleep after our long haul flight. We ate breakfast in a great hutong street full of funky cafes and little groovy shops where I'm tempted to spend a lot of money. It's called Nanluogu Xian street and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting cool places - a bit like Melbourne's Brunswick Street. I was craving a tuna sandwich so that and a watermelon shake was my start to the day. Dan overdosed on fruit - fruit shake, fruit platter [View Full Entry]

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Not wanting to go to the touristy Badaling section of The Great Wall, we opted instead for a five-hour, 8km trek along the more remote sections of Jinshanling and Simatai, about 110km north-west of Beijing. We left Beijing at 6.30 a.m. for a two and a half hour drive in a van with twenty other foreigners. I don't think any of us realised how spectacular the scenery would be, nor how hard the walk would be! The wall in the Jinshanling section was steep and the stones uneven and loose, in a ruinous state. There were some sections that were so [View Full Entry]

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From the ancient wonders of the Middle East to the other end of the Silk Road, all in one week! We're now in Beijing and feeling slightly jet-lagged and culture-lagged, having just come from Egypt and Jordan! We flew London to Hong Kong, then had a connecting flight to Beijing. Beijing's traffic is sedate compared with Cairo, and the pollution doesn't seem anywhere near as intense as the dust that chokes Cairo. Whether it's all been changed for the forthcoming Olympics I don't know, but it's surprisingly green and clean here - lots of trees and immaculate pavements and subway stations. [View Full Entry]

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Swimming in The Dead Sea is one of those remarkable experiences never to forget. You walk into the sea as normal but then try to sit or lie down and bounce straight to the surface, like on a spring, feeling bouyant. The stories about being able to read a paper or drink while swimming really are true. The other amazing thing about swimming there is that we were just a few miles from the Hebron Hills of the West Bank and Jerusalem was only 10km away! A few of us decided to try the Dead Sea mud and caked ourselves with [View Full Entry]

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The ancient city of Petra is set in a grand canyon and the rock formations and gorges are impressive enough, even without seeing the buildings carved into the rock faces. To get to the city you have to walk down a narrow, snaking, high walled canyon; and the anticipation of seeing The Treasury building for the first time felt electric. The Treasury, of Indiana Jones' fame, is everything we'd hoped it would be - imposing, beautiful, breathtaking and a gorgeous rose pink colour. The only other thing we've seen that has had such a profound impression on us are the Angkor [View Full Entry]

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We're a few days behind on this blog, but before describing Jordan I'll complete our time in Egypt . . . After Luxor, we got the overnight train to Cairo. The train had seats only, no bunks, and was quite uncomfortable and all we got minimal sleep. The acrid smell of cigarete smoke left the carriage smelling stale, and the toilets were putrid. Needless to say we were all pleased to be in Cairo and have showers. We had a great day seeing the last sites on our list, exploring two mosques, a park and the upmarket area of Zamalek - [View Full Entry]

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There's not much to say about our stay in the beachside resort of Nuweiba on the Gulf of Aqaba, other than it was incredibly relaxing. Nuweiba sits on the edge of the Sinai Desert and is a long sprawl of beach bungalows, which face Saudi Arabia - just over the water. Our palm-thatched bungalow sat right on the beach with the sea only five metres from the water. The sea was a lovely turquoise and warm to swim in, although very shallow. Other than read, play cards and lie in the sun, we really didn't do much. Seeing the sun set [View Full Entry]

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Getting the ferry from Nuweiba in Egypt to Aqaba in Jordan was probably one of the worst travel days we've ever had, and I can't not write about it! Everyone in our tour group has travelled widely, all over the world, and no one could think of a more exasperating day. We left our beach camp at 12.30, with the aim of catching the 4 p.m. ferry, and arriving by 5 p.m. Instead, we spent a very long day sitting in the ferry terminal, with our ferry not arriving until 8.30 p.m. By that time, we'd all lost our syndicate as [View Full Entry]

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Seeing Wadi Rum was one of the things I was most looking forward to on this trip, and I think it surpassed my high expectations. There's such an incredible romance to the desert, especially in Arabia. Unlike the undulating sand dunes of The Sahara, Wadi Rum is full of majestic rock mountains, canyons and gorges. One of the guys in our trip described the rocks as looking like melted candle wax, and I think this was apt. The rock appears orange or red but on close inspection is a spectrum of colours - ochre, brown, yellow, pink. The sand is a [View Full Entry]

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We spent Monday sailing down The Nile on a felucca. It lived up to the romance of bygone eras, and it was one of those rare oppurtunities to do absolutely nothing. It was bliss! We sat on a huge mattress under a canopy as the sail blew in the breeze above us and directed our meanderings. Every few hours we'd be offered tea or coffee and all we did was read, play cards, eat, drink, kip and talk. The water was blue and calm and glassy and indigo. The sky above was a deep blue and the contrast with the swaying [View Full Entry]

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