I checked out of the Canada Hostel and got the Metro to the Turgoman bus station. I was lucky to get on a bus straight away and was on my way to Alexandria. For most of the 3 hour bus journey it was very sunny and looked like it was going to be a very nice day. Then about half an hour before arriving in Alexandria, the clouds started to gather and it started to lash rain. The Irish curse strikes again. After I got off the bus, I fended off the taxi drivers and went looking for a minibus going into town. One guy asked me where I was going, brought me straight to the minibus and got in himself. On the bus he and the other passengers were asking for my opinion on what ... read more

I was woken up fairly early to the sound of loudspeakers coming from Tahrir Square. Today was the one year Anniversary of when the Revolution began in Egypt, which ended Mubarak's rule. Nobody was sure what would happen today as the military have remained in power despite elections being held and promises that power would be handed over. I left the hostel and walked around the streets around Tahrir Square. There was more of a festive atmosphere than anything else, although I did come across one or two marches with people holding pictures of people who had died. Amidst the celebratory atmosphere, it was easy to forget that today was also the anniversary of the deaths of many people's loved ones. Having spent some time seeing what was going on, I decided to head out to ... read more

I arrived at Nuweiba port at about 7.30 a.m. after a freezing cold, sleepless ferry journey. I managed to get some Egyptian money, Visa and went looking for a bus to Dahab. Unfortunately I realised that it had gone at 6.30 and there wasnt another one until 10.30. After 2 nights with very little sleep I eventually agreed to get a taxi for 100 LE. As soon as I got to Dahab, I found Penguin Village and pretty much slept for the day and night, getting some food and arranging my diving for the next day. I started the PADI Open Water Diving Course the next day and finished it 2 days later. Having got the Certificate, I decided to do 2 of the Advanced dives in the Canyon and the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole ... read more

We woke up early in Madaba as we had to go back to Amman to get the bus to Petra. Luckily, the bus station we pulled into from Madaba was the same as the one we needed to be in to get the bus to Petra. It took us about 4 hours to get down to Petra after waiting the best part of an hour for the bus to fill up in Amman. We found our hostel in Petra, put our bags down and made our way as quick as possible to Petra to get the most out of the remaining sunlight. The sun was setting at around 5.30 and we got in at about 3 o'clock, so we thought we only had a couple of hours. However, after climbing up way above the Royal Tombs, ... read more

The Hotel was so quiet that the tours they often run to the Dead Sea weren't happening due to lack of numbers. So we had decided we would take the bus to Bethany and the Dead Sea, even though it seemed that this would be very tough. When we went to get a taxi to the bus station, we managed to reach an agreement with the driver to take us to both places and back, while waiting for us at each for 30 JD. This saved us a lot of hassle and I'm not sure if we ultimately could have done all we did that day with just public transport. The first stop was Bethany, the place where it is claimed that Jesus was baptised by John. The site itself is not all that impressive and ... read more