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Published: January 7th 2008
Cairo ... Aswan ... Luxor ... Dahab ... Red Sea ... We've been everywhere!!!
Our tour is going better than either of us had expected (truthfully we were shell shocked after our tour in Kenya and were REALLY afraid of who/what we would encounter)! So far, our guide has been really cool (and knowledgeable - he doesn't make up random facts like the last two have!), the people we are travelling with are really nice - no more self absorbed crazy people! And small world ... there is a man on our tour who lives down the street from us, has partied in the house behind ours (the same house we've called the police on because they were always so fricken noisy), and who went to the same high school in Lacombe as one of Kristena's best friends. It's a small world after all! Also, we feel like although we prefer the independant travel thing (2 months ago neither of us would have said that!), it's been nice to have everything arranged and taken care of!
New years went better for us than Christmas did ... we ended up going out for an overpriced dinner, and everyone pretty
much sat around drinking overpriced drinks until the countdown. The next morning, at 9am, we had our own private little new years - countdown and all - because we're still Edmontonians and that was our REAL New Years! As for how we've been filling our Egyptian time ... temples, temples and more temples! Abu Simbel ... Kom Ombo ... Edfu ... Karnak ... and truthfully although they are incredible to see, after a while they all begin to look the same! Trevor is pretty intrigued by the fact that real people built them thousands of years ago, and likes to hear the stories behind what they thought or believed - Egyptian mythology ... but Kristena ... not so much! She's convinced that it's all made up and that the aliens really might have had a hand in all this. Ha Ha (but we're not kidding). And highway travel in Egypt is interesting ... everywhere we go, we must be escorted by a police convoy. The reason for this we are not quite sure ... apparentlly in 1994 there was a terrorist attack on the road to Abu Simbel Temple, and that's about all we know. We're not sure how a
police car or two in front of and behind us will stop a bomb, but who are a couple Canadian tourists to say??? Oh, the things we are learning! 😉
After a few more days in Cairo, we took an overnight train to Aswan (which is in the south of Egypt). The train was supposedly "first class" ... but thats a bit far fetched and we're both convinced that a train this filthy wouldn't even be allowed to operate in Canada! We could SMELL the bathroom (which emptied out over the tracks, btw) from our seats ... mmmm! In Aswan, we boarded a felucca, which is a traditional Egyptian sail boat. It was a really relaxing experience! We spent two days lying around, reading, sleeping, and playing a few intense games of Mafia (a crazy card game our guide introduced us to), while cruising up the Nile River towards Luxor! We even slept on the boat - sardine style - in the open air ... it was an experience to remember! Luxor is home to the Valley of the Kings - a must see in Egypt!!! We arrived at the Valley of the Kings in true Egyptian style -
ON DONKEYS!!! It was sooo much fun!!! We named them Tzatziki and Busta, and actually got to gallop (who knew a donkey could run???), and were quite the photo op for passing tour buses - wonder what they were thinking when they passed us!?!
Today we arrived in Dahab, which is on the Sinai Peninsula, on the Red Sea! We're really excited to be here, and have heard that the Red Sea has the second best diving/snorkelling in the world (second only to the Galapagos Islands), and are thinking about doing a dive! The prices are crack related though, so we're still not sure! Kristena has been violentlly ill for the last few days, and travel has been a little less than thrilling for her, but a little Ciproflaxin goes a long way (thanks Mia!!!) and we're hoping she gets better soon (in time to at least snorkel here)!
Happy Travels,
Trevor and Kristena
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Adrian Zermeno
non-member comment
damn
i didn't know they emptied the toilet on the tracks!