BootsnAll Travel Network



Archive for October, 2007

« Home

Egypt: Part II

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

Here’s the rest of the summary for Egypt. I promise to post a more interesting blog for Jordan and Syria.

Day 12 Con’t: Sandra changed her mind not diving for the day. I am pushing to get my Advanced PADI before Saturday since there will be a scheduled boat going to Thistlegorm and Rasmuhamad National Park. I need my Advanced to be able to dive there. Darren from Australia who is taking his Advanced with me and I got our equiptment ready, got in the truck with Sandra and dove the Island. Amazing. Red Sea!! Saw manta ray.

Day 13: Got up at 7AM to dive by 730. That didn’t quite go as planned. Dove the Canyon and the famous Blue Hole a bit later. Great day to dive. There was a Free Diving Competition at the Blue Hole. While we were doing our safety stop, we watched the free divers go down deeper than our eyes could see. The winner went down to 120meters. The way they dive is so elegant and beautiful in the water. At night, I went for a night dive. Sandra took us to the Light House. I love diving at night. Life is different down under at night

Day 14: It was Friday, woke up a bit later. Scheduled to do my last dive to finish my Advanced. Did my underwater navigation test. Passed with flying colors. Now I can dive by myself without a guide. At night, we had dinner. Great bargain, we found a restaurant that serves fresh fish for 20EP. Score. Later, we met up with the rest of the people who are going to Thistlegorm and Rasmuhamad National Park. The security held us for a bit since we didn’t have our passport. After our dive master gave him some baksheesh, they let us go. We got in our boat with bunch of Russians. We camped on top of the boat. What a lovely night. Millions of stars above us!

Day 15: Dove Thistlegorm. First dive around the sunken British fleet. Saw Reef Sharks. Finally dove with sharks, and my first wreck dive ever. Amazing! Second dive inside the ship. Third dive was in Rasmmuhamad National Park. What a beautiful garden. Best that I have seen yet. I am quite happy diving the Red Sea. After we got off the boat, we walked around Sharm el-Shek. The town is full of tourist. Got back in Dahab by midnight.

Day 16: Hung out and didn’t do anything. Too tired from diving. Again, life is hard.

Day 17: Went swimming with Mary Anne around the Light House. Kris got us invited to go to Caleb’s (one of the diving instructor) house for a BBQ. Nice to go to a houseparty. We had many laughs at the party.

Day 18: Went swimming with Mary Anne on an inflatable dinghy. Swam and dragged Mary Anne on a dinghy for a bit until we reached Clodagh (girl from Ireland) who is sunbathing at the Lighthouse.

Day 19: Went with Mary Anne to the Lagoon. We wanted to try windsurfing. Unfortunately, windsurfing is beyond our budget. We tried bargaining for a kayak. That didn’t work. We got kicked out using the Hilton’s infinity pool. We swam and walked back to our hotel where we saw Kris lounging where we left him five hours ago. At night, we went out for our last dinner in Dahab.

Day 20: Took an hour nap before our scheduled taxi pick up. Woke up Mary Anne (my roomate) and said my good bye. I will see her again in India. Said bye to Olivia who was suppose to go with us to Jordan. But plans changed and she took a job at the dive shop. Taxi picked me, Kris, and Greg (from UK) at 5AM. We arrived in Taba, Egypt at 6AM for Aquaba, Jordan.

Egypt… it’s an interesting place with so much history. You can spend as much time looking at temples, burial sites, and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo… or float along the nile in a felluca under millions of stars. You can also hike where Mosses received the 10th commandment at sunrise.. and dive and discover life under the Red Sea.. Or if you are looking for a hangout.. Dahab is the place to be. The people that I met in Egypt made my travels so much more interesting. I had many laughs with other travelers while in Egypt. As much as a I want to meet locals, meeting other travelers is as meaningful. Traveling with people is very intimate. I always love meeting people with a story to tell. And while traveling, your lifestory is told within a days, or two weeks, or as long as you are traveling or hanging out together. I can truly say I made new friends while in Egypt.

I left Jordan yesterday. I promise to post a more interesting blog for Jordan. I heart Jordan!!! I arrived in Syria late last night. It took 4hours at the border for a fax to arrive from Damascuss granting me my visa. Yes, I tried entering Syria without a visa. It all worked out. I’ll post some photos soon!

Egypt: Part I

Thursday, October 18th, 2007

I’m a bit lazy. Maybe I’ve been doing a bunch of hanging out the last 4 days, or maybe it is the bronchitis? Hm.. Well here’s a summary. Is someone even reading this? A comment or two would be appreciated.

Day 1: Arrived in Cairo, checked in my hotel at 3AM. Slept, woke up. Tried to go to Egyptian Museum, but it was closing early since Ramadan. Walked around through the craziness in Cairo streets. Had a beer with Tim from Australia.

Day 2: Went to see Egyptian Museum with Shaun from London. The Museum is crazy cool. It houses all the artifacts that used to be in the pyramids and tombs. Although my attention span left me uninterested after couple hours. Left, had lunch, back to the hotel. Went to Islamic Cairo with Samantha from Australia and Shaun. Had sheesha and dinner. Tried to go to a minaret at 11PM, but it was close. I should definitely try to start my day earlier. I should know better by now that it is Ramadan. Everyone is hungry and not wanting to deal with tourist!

Day 3: Went to the Giza Pyramids. Got there at 4PM. The entrance to the Pyramids was already close since it was Ramadan. I should know better! Hired a camel. The camel guy took me to the back entrance (no need to pay for entrance fee). Camel-it up around pyramids and the sphinx. Watched the sunset overlooking one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Realized how lucky I was on the sand of the Pyramids. Pretty cool! Went back to the hotel. Shaun and 3 others went out for drinks. After, we went on a felucca ride along the Nile.

Day 4: Didn’t do anything. Always nice not to do anything once in a while. It was 9th of October. Big celebration in Egypt. They celebrate their victory over Israel.

Day 5: Took a 13-hour train from Cairo to Aswan. Was seated next to the door that doesn’t close. It bothers me that it doesn’t close automatically. I kept closing it or else I will smell urine if it stays open. Got in Aswan at around 9PM. Checked in my hotel. Walked around for a bit. Called it a night.

Day 6: Went to checked out the Unfinished Obelisk. Since I didn’t have an International Student Card, I had to fight that I am a student with the ticket guy. I am using my old UCR ID. I won the argument! Nothing special. Walked towards the Nubian Museum. The Museum closed early. Again, everything is in Ramadan schedule. Walked up the hill a bit. Found a ruin that I have no clue what it was called. Watched the sunset overlooking the other side of the Nile and the valley. Silence took over me. Just beautiful!

Day 7: Scheduled to be in a felucca ride along the Nile River for 2-nights. Met Captain Mohammad and his son Ala. Met other travelers in the felucca with me – Dylan from Mexico, Iris (aka – Crazy) who lives in Portugal, who is from the Italian speaking side of Switzerland, Kris and Olivia from Canada, and Alex from Germany. First day on a felucca was just magical. We had a bonfire at our first stop along the Nile.

Day 8: Spent all day on the felucca. The felucca stopped in one of the islands. We swam in the Nile River. I paid one of the kids with little boats. I row around the Nile River. We special ordered camel for dinner. It was nice eating camel on the Nile in a felucca. It couldn’t be any better. Maybe if all the huge expensive cruise boats sink and stop ruining the silence in our felucca. At night, there were locals playing traditional Nubian drums. Passed out with Olivia on the sand staring at the stars. Great way to end the night.

Day 9: The felucca dropped us off in Kom Ombo. We took a mini-bus to the temples of Esna and Edfu. I decided not to enter. I just hung out with Kris. We just talked smacked until time to leave. Let us be, we are enjoying our time. The mini-bus dropped us off in Luxor.

Day 10: Went to West Valley of the Nile. Visited the Valley of the Queens, Valley of the Kings, and 2 other temples that I don’t remember. I am seriously a bit templed out.

Day 11: Stayed on the East Valley. I visited Karnak. The site was massive. I left like Indiana Jones roamng around the site. Not feeling very well. I had McDonalds. The view inside the famous store was excellent – it overlooks Luxor Temple. Met a Filipino guy who works in Dubai that is in holiday in Egypt. Left Luxor and took a night bus to Dahab.

Day 12: Arrived in Dahab after 18 and 1/2 hours in the bus. Met Brad from Illinois. I knew he knows Olivia and Kris and that is how I introduced myself. Met up with Kris and Olivia at the hotel in Dahab. Bronchitis is in full force. Can’t even smoke a full cigarette the right way. I thought I was going to die. Hung out the rest of the day and night.

Day 13: Left the hotel and headed to Mt. Sinai where Moses was given the 10 commandments. At 1:30AM, we started to trek up the mountains. Kris and I decided to do more difficult route – the 3,700 steps of repentance. It took me over 2hours to get on top. I tried to repent all my sins while I was hacking and coughing my brains out. Hopefully it worked. I didn’t get the 11th commandment though. At 5:30 AM, the sun started to break through the clouds. What a beautiful sunrise. Hordes of people though. At 10:00AM, we were supposed to meet at the bottom. Iris didn’t decide to show up until after 1030AM. WTF. Oh well, she’s cool. Felt more like crap. I can barely breathe. Hiking with bronchitis is not recommended.

Day 14: Suffering from Bronchitis. Didn’t do anything.

Day 15: Still suffering from bronchitis. Read for my Advanced PADI Course.

Day 16: A lot better. Read and completed my work towards my course. Went with Mary-Ann and Kris to the beach. First time swimming in the Read Sea. Now I can’t wait to dive. We decided to get dinner in one of the beach resort. We bargain for the price of dinner. Was quoted 17Egyptian Pounds – appetizer, whole grilled fish, rice, chips, lemonade, and desert all inclusive. The waiter/hostess named Marco Polo agreed. I had a huge rupper. What a bargain. When we were about to leave, we gave Marco Polo 100EP for 5-people. He asked what that was. We thought we were being kind giving each 3EP for tip. He said our meal was 70EP. F-that! We argued and argued, but he insisted we agreed 70EP. 4 of the 5 people are native English speaker and my English is pretty well. We did enunciated SEVEN TEEN properly. How can he mistake it for SEVENTY? We’re not paying 70, the manager gave us back our 100EP and said to come back tomorrow and give what we think is the fair price. Well, 17EP is the fair price. Out of principle we are not paying more than what we are quoted. I’m starting to hate bargaining even for medicine at the pharmacy, or even for water at the grocery store. Just give me the Egyptian price!!!!! The only cool thing was the view. We can see Saudi Arabia from were we are seating.

Day 17: Woke up early, had breakfast with Brad before he left. Excited to dive. But Sandra my diving instructor said we have to push it back until the next day. Bummer, now I’m writing this blog. I’m just going to chill. Maybe go to the lagoon.

I’m going to post some photos before I leave for Naweiba.

Madrid, Athens & Photos: Oh How I wanted to Stay…

Saturday, October 6th, 2007
I arrived in Madrid on September 27, 2007. Since didn't get my backpack until after 2AM, I decided to hang out at the airport until the metro starts running at 6AM. Yes, I was too cheap to take ... [Continue reading this entry]