Overseas Travel

Aleppo

2007-05-13T20:12:19Z

Well we caught a bus this time and it only took us total of eight hours to get from Beirut to Aleppo. Our border crossing was much easier with the bus. We got into Aleppo about 4.30pm and wandered around looking for a hotel that had any vacancies. We finally found one and took its last available twin room. Quiet charming, NOT, but we couldn't really be bothered looking for any more. Once we settled as much as we could we headed out to try and sort out our trip tot he Dead cities for the following day. We worked out that we would do it the following day and finish in Hama where we wanted to stay for that night. So we got that sorted out without too many dramas and it was now time for dinner the lovely gentleman, Walid from Baron Hotel, that helped us with our trip to Hama was kind enough to show us to a lovely restaurant not far from our hotel and lent us some money to tide us over until we found an ATM, needless to say after dinner we had another early night.

OK, So sight seeing in Aleppo didn't turn out to be as eventful as we had anticipated got lost a couple of times but ended up seeing all that Aleppo had to offer. We searched all day for an ATM and found heaps but none that would spit our money from our HSBC cards. Cat was coming down with the flu or a cold so I dropped her back to the hotel and wandered a little longer. Yeah I found an ATM that liked my card. There is nothing more frustrating than knowing you have money in your account but not being able to access it. Anyway now we had money to pay for our trip to the Dead cities.

Aleppo remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Beirut

2007-06-30T06:41:30Z

Well after a 2-hour bus ride we found ourselves in Beirut. What a beautiful sight. Beirut is right on the water and looks fantastic from a distance on the drive in. We found our hotel and headed our to see the sights. First thing we found was a beautiful big mosque that was of course guarded by soldiers, but we managed to be given permission to cross the barricade to take a photo. Then we found the main town square and their clock tower, parliament buildings and churches, saw a few ore mosques along with lots of soldiers with their machine guns. Oh and then there were the tanks and truckloads of soldiers, but I can san that I have never felt safer, well except for being home in Aus. We tried to take photos of the Grand Serail we were told not to take photos by the soldiers, as it was now a military building. We ended up walking down by the water and along the coast to see the lighthouse and Pigeon rocks. Pigeon rocks were a beautiful sight to see but it is a little disappointing to see that there were so many restaurants built along the cliffs that it almost makes it impossible to get a good photo of them unless you go in and have food. We then wandered on and found heaps of building that had been destroyed in the recent wars, bullet and bomb holes really make it feel quiet surreal. Its just amazing to actually see the evidence with my own eyes that this stuff really did happen, it doesn't feel that way when you are watching it on the TV from the opposite side of the world. Well by this time it was getting late so we stopped off to get some dinner in the town square and then back to the hotel to get ready for another day of travel the following day.

Beirut remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Hama

2007-05-01T11:58:36Z

Out of the rain we headed to Hama to check out our accommodation. Cat crashed all afternoon so took the opportunity to catch up on my blog.

Well we caught a little sleep in as we had to wait for our clothes to be returned from the laundry. Once we had our clothes we got out and saw Hama. There was not really a lot to see in Hama but what we did see was lovely. We saw some ancient Norias, which are big water wheels that they use to move water around, walked around and found some runs of an old Castle. They also have a citadel but some how I think we didn't get to see it as we thought the ruins were the citadels but looking at a map later I realised it was not on the roads we walked. We also saw the clock tower, as it was right outside out hotel. By the time we had seen this and wandered around some of the town it was time to make our way to the bus station for the trip to Palmyra.

Hama remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Damascus

2007-05-01T11:47:10Z

We got to Damascus and arrived to our 4* hotel to find they were charging an arm and a leg for a room the size of the ones we were paying half the price for in 2*. So Cat and I complained a lot and they finally gave in and gave us a discount. We didn't do an awful lot that afternoon but as Cat and I were really looking forward to going to a Hammam we started by finding out which ones allowed women and when. We were given a time but it didn't suite us so we decided to walk down to it and see if we could do it on Sat before we left for the airport. Yeah success, Saturday it was. Now we just chilled out and had an early night.

Disaster struck!!!!

Cat had already been sick for the last week with a cold and I got a bout of gastro, woke up the next morning feeling under the weather, but had organised a trip to Bosra for a few hours so no sleeping in.

Bosra was lovely, some more old Roman ruins with a lovely big amphitheatre, it just happened to be Easter Friday that day and the local schools had all organised bus trips for the kids to Bosra and they all seemed to be in the amphitheatre at the same time. I suppose in one way it gave us the feel of how it would have been in its hay day but as we were both not well it was just a little loud for us. We then wandered around the ruins and our driver told us a little about its history. After that it was a quick retreat to the hotel for me and I didn't see the light of day until the following day.

We felt a little better so we went and had our Hammam, which was an experience. Wow how do I explain it, for those of you that haven’t experienced it. A hammam is a bathhouse. We went on a women’s day so only women allowed. It is a maze of small rooms for washing and splashing water on yourself, steam rooms and scrub and massage rooms. I hear the locals only have a proper bath once a weeks so they really go the works, the locals had brought in their shampoo, face masks, foot scrubs, anything you can think of for a ladies day they had it. Cat and I opted to have a scrub and massage to get rid of the weeks of neglect to our skin and boy I felt good after but some how think I lost half of my tan....lol

After that we walked around the old city, looking at the Umayyad Mosque, the Azem Palace, the souk and we also saw some more ruins before heading to the airport for our overnight mission to Libya.

Damascus remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Dead Cities and Around

2007-05-01T11:37:50Z

We started by driving north of Aleppo to St Simeon's Basilica or the ruins of it anyway. The peace was a welcomed change to the hustle and bustle of Aleppo. It was so peaceful and quiet you could actually hear the birds singing, which I hadn't heard for quiet some time.

Then on to the Dead cities of Al-Bara and Sujilla, both a little different from each other, they were not as impressive as we had imagines but still nice to see.

By this time both Cat and I were hungry but as Cat had a sore throat we struggled to find her anything that she could eat before she fainted at the side of the road. Needless to say the hunt for some food escalated, we finally found some kind of soup and they boiled some potato chips for her and after that she seemed fine just a cold to contend with.

So off to Apamea, and the lord decided it shall rain upon this earth, we got a little damp but luckily not drenched. Apamea is another of the many great Roman ruins, the most visible ones are in the colonnade but there is also the citadel which looks great from the outside, but not so good on the inside as it is inhabited by the locals and there is rubbish everywhere.

Dead Cities and Around remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Palmyra

2007-05-01T11:34:11Z

Well we got here and found a hotel which is really the story in every town we go to but we ended up organising a cab to take us straight up to the Citadel/castle to get some fantastic sunset photos. Of course for some reason we got in cheap, maybe it was that we were 2 aussie girls, and then the ticket man chased us around and ended up giving us a guided tour before the sun went down.

We started they day by catching a taxi out to the valley of the tombs to see the tower of Elahbel and the Hypogeum of the Three brothers, then headed back to the museum and caught a camel up to the back of Palmyra to work our way from the back to the front. Mental note.... I will never ride a camel again.

I am now starting to realise how huge the Roman Empire really was, they were everywhere. The ruins at Palmyra are fairly well restored but some of the original stones have been replaced with coloured cement, but overall it looks fantastic and is definitely worth seeing. We wandered down the colonnades, explored some of the church ruins, looked at the amphitheatres and ended down at the Temple of Bell where we got a guide with the ticket. Thank god we had a guide as he showed us stuff that we would never have seen without him, just watchout though as we gave him a tip for his time but somehow he didn't think it was enough so got a bit of attitude.

Well all that took us a day and Palmyra was completed, now on to Damascus.

Palmyra remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Dahab

2007-05-01T11:23:08Z

We ended up having a couple of extra days to spare at the end of our trip and Cat wanted to do her Advanced dive course so we headed to Dahab. I was thinking about doing the advanced as well but had run out of funds, so it was a no can do. So while Cat dived I relaxed and managed to work on my suntan a bit more. I also got to hang out with the guys from Penguin helped one of them with his English. Cat finished her dive course and then took an overnight trip out to Thistlegorm wreck for a few more dives so I stayed in Dahab and extra night while she did that and met her in Sharm el Sheik the next day when she got off the boat, actually she was already at the hotel by the time I arrived.

We didn’t do anything eventful in Sharm, just hung around by the pool until it was time to go to the airport.

Marsalama (goodbye) from the Middle East.

Dahab remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Luxor

2007-05-01T11:21:17Z

After Edfu we then headed to Luxor, settled into the hotel very quickly and headed straight out on a guided tour of the east bank of Luxor, which took us through the Karnak temples and the Luxor temple. Both of the temples were absolutely fantastic it was really nice to see that some of the statues were still in one piece. The tour finished around 6.30 so we headed out for dinner in the area of our hotel. We were pleasantly surprised to find a really nice English restaurant where we had a fantastic dinner.

Karnak Temples

Luxor Temple

The next day we had a private car and our own guide to show us around the west bank of Luxor. Our guide was really quiet good he had studied Egyptology at university and knew all the little details. We started by seeing the Colossi of Memnon, which were 2 large statues and then headed to the Valley of the Kings and while we were there we went into 4 tombs and all were very different. I cant remember the names of them all but we went into 2 of the Ramses tombs and Tutenkhamun’s tomb, which was really nice to see especially after having seen all of his treasures in the Cairo museum. His tomb is really small and consists of a room where his sarcophagus is complete with his mummy in its casket and a treasure room.

After the Valley of the Kings we stopped at the Temple of Hatshepsut, we were told that it was worth paying for entry as the inside was totally reconstructed and not original so we just took photos from the outside. We both wished we were able to get closer to the outside the temple as we were told it was impressive by other travellers. It was then on to the valley of the Queens, which was also the burial grounds for princes and princess’s. We went into 2 tombs of princes and one of a queen but like the valley of the kings and actually most of the west bank we were unable to take photos inside the tombs.

We then went to see some tombs of the nobles, stopped for a bite to eat then on to see Medinet Habu, which was very similar to Philae, Edfu and Kom Ombo. So that took most of the day, we headed back to the same restaurant for dinner, as it was so good the night before. Then packed for an early departure in the morning.

Luxor remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Felucca - Aswan to Luxor

2007-05-01T12:02:16Z

This started straight after our trip to the islands of Aswan. We dropped off a couple of people and picked up a few more, we turned out to be a very international group, 3 Aussies, 2 Slovenians, 2 Malaysian and of course the 3 Egyptians that were crewing our felucca for the journey. We started slowly tacking our way up the Nile, stopping only for toilet breaks. We stopped at a nice little sandy spot for the night which was out of the current so we didn’t get rocked away by the waves of the cruise boats continuously going past us. After dinner the Slovenian guys pulled out some schnapps and we played cheat (card game) by candlelight.

Needless to say we were up with the sun the next day as the felucca is a wooden boat with boards over the hull to make a flat area covered with a thin mattress that you sleep on and a shade sail to protect you from the sun. Nothing flash but quiet enjoyable for a couple of days. We just relaxed again, stopping for lunch and a greatly welcomed swim to cool off. We then stopped near the local camel market and one of the Egyptian guys went and bought us some camel meat for dinner, which turned out to be really nice. They stewed it for 3 hours and it was really tasty. We also had chicken for those that didn’t want to have the Camel and that was also one of the best style chicken I have had in the Middle East. We ended up anchoring the felucca alongside what seemed to be a rice field with a few other feluccas and all ha a bit of a sing-a-long. We ended up having a bit of a problem with the mosquitos due tot eh rice field and all got eaten alive.

We were up early the next morning to sail an hour to Kom Ombo temple. We got there before the crowds of people and took the opportunity to use the toilets available and met some rather disgusting tourist police that made both Cat and I feel really uncomfortable.
We wandered around Kom Ombo for about 30 mins and then had to waste 45 mins before the other people on the convoy were ready to leave for our next destination.

On to Edfu temple next, we had about an hour to wander around here, Edfu is a temple for Horus and it had some lovely statues of him. Both Kom Ombo and Edfu are impressive Egyptian temples, which we were able to take photos of and very happy about. There is nothing like seeing an amazing historical site and not being able to take photos to remember it by.

Felucca - Aswan to Luxor remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Aswan

2007-05-01T10:22:38Z

Well a long 12 hour trip on the train brought us to Aswan, anyone doing this trip in the future, my advice would be to get the sleeper as we got no sleep at all on the first class train. Anyway we had a short rest at the hotel and then headed out to se the high dam and Philae temple. Philae is another amazing place. I couldn’t believe I was there standing in front of this absolutely beautiful structure. I have wanted to see Philae for years and it just had me breathless and quiet emotional. We had a guided tour through Philae, which took about an hour to explain the history of the temple, the statues and the hieroglyphs and then the guide gave us some free time to wander at our own pace. I managed to find a quiet spot to sit and reflect for a while.

Next day saw us getting up extremely early, 3.30 am actually, to catch a bus up to Abu Simbel. We got of the bus to a big pile of sand, wandered around tot he water and found the amazing façade of the temple of Ramses 2. It is hard to imagine that they cut it up into pieces and moved it away from the rising waters of the high dam as you can hardly see the incisions made in the rock. We wandered around inside the temple and also in the smaller one along side it, which is the temple of Queen Nefertari. Once again there were some fantastic hieroglyphs but unfortunately we were not allowed to take photographs of the inside.

We got back to the hotel about 1 pm then decided to catch a felucca over to the tombs of the nobles with one of the Slovenian guys that we had met that morning. These were interesting but not as amazing as the others we had seen. We could also see Aga Khan’s mausoleum for the tombs of the nobles but it was too far away and apparently is now closed to the public. Our return journey on the Felucca ended up taking us 3 hours as we ran out of wind and had to paddle our way back.

Next day another early start but this time not as bad and the day before. We headed out to the islands of the Nile in Aswan, Elephantine and Kitchener islands. We stopped at Kitchener first and saw the botanical gardens then over to Elephantine Island to wander through an ancient Nubian village, which is still being lived in today.

Aswan remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Cairo

2007-04-30T15:38:18Z

One of our Spanish friends we met on the ferry to Aqaba, Erica, met us at the train station and we stayed with her while we were in Cairo but we had also booked a hostel just in case, which came in handy for the rest of our trip as we had picked that hostel as they were recommended for the tours they can organise. We ended up heading to the hostel the first night to chat about trips and ended up booking a tour to the Pyramids. We also ended up booking the rest of our trip to Luxor with them as well.

Next day was the trip to Dashur, Memphis, Sakara and the Pyramids, which turned out to be a really long day but totally fantastic. Dashur was impressive but I got a little claustrophobic so I stayed outside while Cat went in. Then we went on to see the museum at Memphis, Memphis is said to be the true home of the Pharaohs. The museum had some lovely carvings and sculptures.

Then on to the Pyramids. WOW, they are totally amazing. I think it took me the whole 3 hours we were there to realize that I was really here. We were going to go into the great pyramid but were told it would be very claustrophobic so we opted just to go inside the second one instead, which was a little disappointing as they had taken all the stuff out of the temple and had taken it to the Cairo museum. After wandering around the great pyramid and inside the second pyramid we decided to take a horse ride up to the panoramic spot to get a shot of all 9 pyramids. The horseman tried to scam us but had no success. After we finally got to the panorama spot we took photos and headed down to the sphinx. We wandered around the Sphinx for a bit as they wee just about to lock it up when we went in, talk about timing.

That night we headed to see Khan Al Khalli, which is a big market just like all the other markets we had been to but worth looking at.

Next day was looking in the Egyptian museum of antiquities, which took a couple of hours. The Tutenkhamun exhibit was very impressive, it is had to imagine all the of the treasures in the museum were all found in his tomb. We also saw the royal mummies but King Tut’s was still in the valley of the King’s. We then headed off to see the Citadel and then a quick look through Coptic Cairo, where we went into the hanging church along with a few others. We also went into what is known as old Babylon but this turned out to be some really old buildings lived in by the locals with rubbish in the streets, really quiet filthy. We then met up with our friends for a quick coffee before heading to the train station.

Cairo remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Alexandria

2007-04-30T15:32:48Z

We spent the whole day travelling from the Libyan border. On the way from the bus station to the hotel Cat and I were delighted to see the Alexandria had KFC and McDonalds, the first real western food we had seen in 5 weeks. Just what we needed to break the monotony of the Schawarmer and Shish kebabs we had been eating since we left Dahab.

Up reasonable early to see Alexandria. We went out to the Kom Al Shuqqafa Catacombs, which were interesting but unfortunately one fo the many sites we were not able to take photos of. Then on to see Pompey's Pillar, which I am told has nothing to do with him at all and just called that to attract some tourist. We then managed to catch another taxi with a driver that couldn't speak English or read Arabic; we drove around in circles for a while but eventually got to the Batboy Fortress. We tried to find the Greco-Roman museum but it was closed so we went on to see Kom al Kikka, the roman Odeon. We then had just enough time to collect our bags from the hotel and catch the train to Cairo.

Alexandria remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Benghazi to the Egyptian border

2007-05-01T12:06:16Z

Well Benghazi started our five day tour of the North east section of Libya and what a lot of driving we ended up doing.

We got greeted at passport control by out guide and driver, after trying to get some money or even exchange some we headed off. We stopped at the commonwealth war graves cemetery in Benghazi had some lunch and then started our journey. After driving for a while we went through a little town called Tocra and on to Tomeita (Ptolmais) where we looked at their museum, which had all the statues and mosaics that had been excavated on show. Our guide then organised a guided tour of the site itself where he translated all the information about the site. After that we headed on to Qasr Libya, which is an old Castle, the castle is not really impressive but I would really recommend seeing the fantastic mosaics that have been found in the area that are on display inside the castle.

From there we headed to our hotel in Cryencica, near Al-Bayda, on the way we stopped at a huge bridge crossing over Wadi Al kuf to take some photos, Wadi is Valley in Arabic.

Then it was on to the hotel to settle in then out to find some food as both Cat and I were both tired and starving. After having a little drama trying to find some food worth eating we finally found some dodgy spaghetti Bolognese to eat and off to bed.

Day 2, of the tour saw us wandering around the ruins of Cyrene and Apollonia. We also got to see Latrun, which is a lovely ruin of a Byzantine church, which was also used as a trading centre. Unlike the other ruins in Cyrene and Apollonia the excavators of Lathrun have managed to piece together part of the alter and have erected it in its original spot, which was nice to see.

Day 3 was the end of the ruins and more about seeing the countryside. Mind you we did go back and spend the morning in the Cyrene Museum as it was closed the day before. We then got a packed lunch form Al Bayda and spent the rest of the day in Ras lil Hellal looking at waterfalls, caves and having picnics lunch down by the water. The Mediterranean is so blue around this area. Actually it looked beautiful where we have been so far. We also went back to Apollonia and saw another place that we had seen on a postcard, it is part of the ruins that are still underwater.

Day 4 was spent travelling to Tobuk on the way we stopped in Derna and saw a lovely waterfall there then stopped for photos of the oldest mosque in Libya, Al Sahaba, stopped for lunch and then on to Tobruk, Cat and I both got to have a bit of a drive and the funny thing is that cat has been car sick the whole time we have been in the middle east, as the driving over here is so erratic but she was fine while I was driving....lol We stopped at a couple of WW2 cemeteries and had a look at the Australian fig tree hospital, which was a cave used in the war to look after the injured. After settling in at the hotel in Tobruk we went out for some dinner and a wander around.

Day 5, we got ripped off as we paid for a 5 day tour thorough Arkno tours and we spent 2 hours being dropped to the border. What a fifth day. I advise if you want to see Libya it is definitely worth seeing but do it with a different tour group. As this trip was definitely not worth the money we paid for it.

Benghazi to the Egyptian border remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Tripoli

2007-06-30T06:43:29Z

After an hour in our rickety taxi we finally got dropped off at our pension (which is basically paying for a room in someone’s house). The family we stayed with were lovely and the rooms were good but cluttered with grandma’s doilies covered with dust but definitely 100% better than the hostel the night before. We wandered around hat afternoon and then just vegged out at the hotel/pension. Oh and had a shower, tell you I was dying for it by then.

Next day we wandered the streets of Tripoli, we got to the Grand Mosque and met a lovely Lebanese man that was so proud of his town that he wanted to show us around. He was so prepared he even had the gowns we needed for in the mosques. We wandered around and he explained the history of the mosques and places we went to. We saw at least 3 or 4 mosques, went though the local souks (markets) and he showed us the last remaining soap factory in Tripoli on the way tot he Citadel, Cat and I decided to head up and have a look at the Citadel by ourselves. We wandered for a while in the Citadel, it is much smaller than the others we have seen but still quiet nice to look at. After that we just strolled around until we found our way back to the hotel. We ended up talking to a couple of other guests staying at the pension and decided to go down tot he harbour to take some photos and have a bite to eat.

Sunset by the water was beautiful but dinner was disappointing but still filled a spot for a while. We called it a night as we had decided to head to Beirut the next morning for a night.

Tripoli remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Syria/Lebanon Border Crossing

2007-04-27T21:53:21Z

Well what an experience. The taxi driver told us that it would only cost us 50 Syrian pounds each to get to Tripoli from the other side of the border crossing. Well we went through Syria fine then had to contend with at least 30 taxi drivers that couldn't speak a word of English trying to give us a ride to Tripoli for more than it was worth. They must have thought we were idiots but we weren’t going to buy it. Cat and I ended up walking the 1.5km to the Lebanese passport control and by the time we got sorted out we found one the taxi drivers that was prepared to take us for the amount we were offering. We got the border control officers to translate where we were going and off we went in his rickety old Mercedes. By the way in Lebanon all the taxis are very old Mercedes Benz's.

Syria/Lebanon Border Crossing remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Krak des Chevilliers

2007-06-30T06:45:09Z

In our haste to leave the dodgy hotel we caught a taxi to the bus stop to try and catch a bus to Krak des Chevilliers but found that there were no ATM’s in town or any money exchanges at the bus depot. Once again we got harassed at the bus stop by haggling bus reps wanting our money.

We ended up being approached by a taxi driver that spoke English and wanted to take us to the castle. We managed to get his price down and he took us back into Homs to change some of our money.

We finally got to the castle and decided to get a guided tour. The castle is massive and would have to be the most impressive I have seen so far, as you will see from the photos. We found something new and beautiful every time we turned around.

Krak des Chevilliers remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Homs

2007-04-30T15:05:48Z

Well where do we start. We had a lovely first couple of hours in Syria and then it all went down hill. Homs is not rally a great memory of Syria but we lived to tell the tail. The bus dropped us off near the bus station and we got mobbed by taxi drivers that didn't speak English. We finally found someone that spoke English and he supposedly translated where we were supposed to be staying for us. We got in the taxi and got taken on a wild goose chase. He took us tot he wrong hotel and then wanted to charge us more to go to the one we asked for. Well needless to say we put up a fight but still ended up paying more money. Got dropped of where we were going to find out that the hotel no longer existed. By this time we were so tired and had had enough of it all we found the closest hotel available, which turned out to be the dodgiest hotel I have ever seen. We stayed the night, sleeping on our sleeping bags and on our camping mats, as the beds were really disgusting. We got out of there ASAP in the morning and flagged a taxi to the bus stop. Got dropped to the same bus station from the night before and worked out that we got totally ripped off, we payed 3 times the amount we were supposed to pay.

Homs remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Trip to Damascus

2007-05-13T20:05:30Z

The next day saw us in a private taxi to Jerash and then on to Damascus.

Jerash was huge, so many ruins to try and mention. It has a temple to Hadrian, a hippodrome, 2 theatres, one of which they had some musicians playing the bagpipes and drums. The music sounded really great from the top of the theatre, on to the rest of the site they had just under a dozen different churches and of course the main street lined with roman pillars called the colonnade. Seeing all of this took us at least 3 hours and both of us took the opportunity to make the most of the sun while we could and wear our singlets. Then on to Damascus but with what was supposed to be a little stop at the taxi drivers house for tea, which ended up turning into late lunch and a chance to meet the family and all the neighbours. His family were lovely and his wife in particular was very excited to have us as guests in her home. We were a strange sight to see in town thus all the neighbours coming over to meet us.

After lunch and looking at their wedding photos we finally got going to Damascus where we caught a bus straight to Homs.

Trip to Damascus remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Amman

2007-05-13T20:03:39Z

We started our stay in Amman by doing our laundry, which was well over due and having a hot shower. Yes another early night for a weary traveller. The next day consisted of more sight seeing. We headed off to see the Citadel first by foot but got a little lost and ended up getting a taxi. The bugger about taxis in the Middle East is that most of them don’t speak English. We finally got there and looked around. It was also very lovely, after taking heaps of photos we walked down the hill and found the Roman Amphitheatre and the remains of the forum, then stopped at the King Hussein Mosque but weren’t able to go inside as it was almost prayer time, took a couple of photos from the outside and then headed back to the hotel. We decided to head to Damascus the next morning via Jerash so we stayed close to the hotel.

Amman remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Kings Highway

2007-05-13T20:22:59Z

After being picked up at Wadi Rum by our taxi we realized that we hadn’t seen the Nebatean temple so we headed back to Wadi Village to have a quick squiz at the ruins.

We then had a little problem with the first taxi drivers car so they sent another to meet us and the new taxi driver was great, he spoke English well and also helped us with our Arabic while we made our way up to see Karak Castle, which was a nice castle, to had beautiful views down the valley to the dead sea and beyond to Israel.

Wow do they do rigorous passport control in this area. We had our passports checked about 6 times in less than an hour. We eventually got down to the Dead Sea and decided to have a swim. This was interesting, we were the only women that were wearing bikinis so we tried to get into the water as quickly as possible but the sea floor was crystallized salt which made for really hard entry. When we finally got in deep enough to swim we floated on top of the water, still revealing our white bodies we decided to do the whole dead sea mud thing and covered ourselves in it but when we took it off our faces we both naturally just stuck our faces in the water and, wow burning eyes ouch…. I had to have a lifeguard come out and help me back to the shore before I could even think about opening my eyes. Both Cat and I managed to get out safely and recovered while eating lunch at the restaurant.

Then on to Mt Nebo, which has a connection to Moses but I can’t quiet remember at the moment as most of the places I have been in the last couple of weeks have had something to do with him. They have a beautiful little church up at the top, which has another fantastic view over the Dead Sea and Israel. Then it was on through Madaba city to Amman.

Kings Highway remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Wadi Rum

2007-05-13T14:39:05Z

The Spanish girls joined us for our trip to Wadi Rum, arrived in Wadi Rum about 10am and rattled around the desert in a rickety old 4WD. Erica and Steph only joined us for our first day and night in Wadi Rum, so both Cat and Erica where little monkeys and climbed anything and everything they could. We saw many things in Wadi Rum, so I will just mention a few of them. We saw the Seven sisters from the visitors centre and then started at the red Dune, we managed to climb to the top and the sand was so soft though it took us forever to climb it.

Up to Lawrence's spring (being Lawrence of Arabia) which is a little disappointing as you cant see anything as it is a well up in the mountains that is piped down to watering trough's for the animals to drink from. Then on to see the Nebatean inscriptions on one of the mountain walls.

Next Lawrence’s house, this was ruins of a small brick house that was more like a pile of rubble, that rest against a big rock but it had a fantastic view and the girls found it for climbing.

Next was Um Fruth Arch or Bridge and Khazali Canyon and then off to the campsite where we had Bedouin tea and relaxed while dinner was prepared and cooked. Well dinner would have to have been the best Jordanian food I had had, after dinner we sat around the fire and our guides had a few friends drop in and they played some Bedouin music for us with a loot and some drums and had a little bit of a sing-a-long, which was really nice. As it had been a big day in the desert we decided to have an early night and as it was a lovely night out we opted to have the night out under the stars so we could catch sunrise without having to get out of bed. Unfortunately there were too many clouds to see the stars let alone the sunrise, but it was lovely none the less.

After breakfast we headed out on some more adventures around Wadi Rum, this time with one of the other guides, Abdullah. Abdullah was a lovely guy but unfortunately grew affections for me very quickly, which some times made both Cat and I a little uncomfortable but overall he was very lovely and made the journey a little more interesting.

We ended up seeing what they called the Chicken rock, and the Small Bridge, then on to have lunch at Burrah Canyon.

Burrah Canyon Was fantastic, lunch of course was traditional Bedouin food. Canned tuna on their flat bread, which is like our pita bread, cucumber, tomato, followed by Bedouin tea. Unfortunately a sand storm blew up while we were having lunch, which made for and interesting trip back to the campsite especially stopping every 500 meters for a while to collect firewood. Oh well I suppose it completes the desert experience.

Wadi Rum remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Petra

2007-05-13T14:03:26Z

We bumped into some lovely Americans on the bus to Neweiba to catch the ferry to Aqaba and then some Spanish ladies in the fantastically clean departure lounge at Neweiba, now that was a joke. It is absolutely disgusting. Anyway we were all traveling in the same direction so we got a couple of taxis and off we went. As it was getting dark quiet quickly and Cat and I wanted to see the Aqaba Fortress/castle our taxi driver took us to take some photos before heading to Petra. After arriving at Wadi Musa, which is the town area that is right near Petra that we needed to stay at, we organized our room, got some dinner and called it a night.

Up early for our first day in Petra. We organized a guide through the hotel, they dropped us off at the main gate and off we went. I loved our time looking through Petra. Walking down the Sig, which looks like there was an earthquake and the earth has opened up and made the pathway that meanders down to the Treasury, which is the facade that was used in the "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" movie.

After that we wandered further through to see the various types of tombs and excavations.

We stopped for lunch before catching a donkey/mule up the mountain to the monastery, which was as awesome as the Treasury. They both have totally different feels about them. The Treasury was very elaborately carved and the monastery is very simple. We were told that the Treasury was most likely designed to be used for christenings or baptisms of some sort and that the monastery was used as a last preparation before burial.

Ok, now that we have seen that and all the marvelous views we now had to walk the 800 steps back down the mountain and of course I ended up leaving my camera at the top, luckily I figured that out before I got to the bottom. I just had to walk up about 150 steps and back down them to meet up with the others that were patiently waiting for me. When we finally got to the bottom I decided to get a donkey ride to the Treasury. We headed back to the hotel for a traditional Jordanian dinner cooked by the hotel manager’s mother, which was lovely and really convenient for an early night after a big day.

Next day, back down to Petra, this time without a guide and with the Spanish girls we met on the ferry Erica and Steph. We wandered down a route that was advised by our guide the previous day. We walked down this track which was basically a dry river bed, had to walk down rock walls and all but totally had fun getting back to nature and loved the welcomed peace from the continuous cries for donkey rides from the Bedouin men and boys.

Once getting back to the main section of Petra again we had a quick lunch and walked up to High Sacrifice, another 500 steps or so. We got to the top and saw some fantastic views over Petra and the obelisks, then decided to take the alternative way down the mountain and saw some more fantastic tombs and monuments and got shown by some Bedouin ladies a short cut back to the main area of Petra, which saved us some time and energy. Back to the hotel to work out our trip to Wadi Rum before heading out to see Petra by night.

Petra by night was lovely, a beautiful memory as it was too hard to take a photo, but a little disappointing as they had all the candles lining the Sig (pathway) down to the Treasury and in front of it but unfortunately none on the steps or inside which would have been really cool, you really didn't get to see much of the Treasury at night. They had some lovely Bedouin music being played but as we were not able to see the treasury we headed back early and caught up with our guide Ali from the first day for a drink before he dropped us back to our hotel to pack for Wadi Rum.

Petra remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Sanai

2007-04-27T21:03:45Z

Well hello,

We have been exploring again. This time in the Middle East. We started this trip flying into Sharm El Sheik in Egypt/Sanai. We got greeted by a taxi driver that the hotel arranged for us. We had to wait for a little while as there were more guests expected on a different flight. The wait gave us a little time to realise that we were actually on holidays again. It was very sureal looking out at the palm trees and sillouette of the mountains through the dusty sky. It took us an hours to get to Dahab from Sharm, where we got an amazing reception from Emad and the boys at the Penguin Divers Resort. Once we settled in we went and sipped tea with Emad in one of the many bedioun style restaurants on the beach to get our farmilarization. Had some dinner and did our paperwork for our dive course. Off for an early night as it had been a long day of travel and we start our learning tomorrow.

The next morning saw us starting our dive course and the next four days after that to complete it. What an adventure, with trying to work out all the equipment and how to use it, as well as putting all our learning into practice. But boy was it worth it..... I feel a real sense of satisfaction knowing that I have completed it and almost with honors..lol. Once we got out into the open water for our training we got to see some really cool stuff and I am looking forward to doing more diving soon, maybe in greece. In the evenings after having our dinner and lounging around on the coushins we were either studying or meeting the locals and checking out the shops, also trying to avoid the numerous advances as the Egyptian men just love the white women that are well rounded..

After finishing the dive course we were able to look around Dahab a bit more. We chilled out around Dahab the first day as we needed a certain amount of time to pass before we could go to Altitude including climbing Mt Sanai. That night we went on the sunrise tour of Mt Sanai and St Caterines monastery, which is were Moses went to get the 10 commandments from God. We started climbing about 1 am in the morning and it took us about 3 hours before having to climb 750 steps to the first summit and then another 100 -150 to the summit to see the sunrise. Tell you what if the walk doesn't kill you the cold will, it was - 5 degrees with the wind blowing and we really weren't prepared for it, I don't think I have ever been that cold, the wind just blew straight through you. We had our sleeping bags but still needed to rent a blanket at the top. Ok, enough of my windging the view was fantastic, the sunrise was breath taking. I would do it again but next time I will be prepared for it. There were quiet a few religious groups that had climbed the mountain and they were all doing the prayers and singing there Hymms. So it really was a sight to see...lol

We supposidly took the easy way (camel track) on the way up the mountain and I chose to come down the 3000 steps to the monestary which are said to be the steps of repentance. When we got down we wandered through the monestary and their chapel as well as seeing the burning bush. We caught a little sleep on the bus on the 2 hour bus trip back to the hotel, had a nana nap then we had been invited out to one of the local restaurants for a traditional egyptian meal, which was to die for and of course not on the menu. The only let down was that we ended being there for about 4 hours and all I wanted to do was sleep.

Sanai remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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New York

2007-04-27T21:01:51Z

All righty then, Next stop was New York. I didn't get in until late on thursday night so I decided to head to bed and try and have an early start. Next morning I woke to a lovely view, we had a suite at the Waldorf Astoria on Park Ave, Manhatten and the view from the lounge was fantastic. You could see all the way down Park Ave towards Harlem, really quiet special if I do say so myself. After admiring the view I decided to step out for a while and have a wander around. Boy it was a bit chilly that day.

I went up to 5th Ave and saw the St Patrick's Cathedral, didn't go in at that point as it didn't seem to be open, so I kept wandering down towards Central Park where I walk past Truimpe Tower, very lavish looking building. Kept going and ended up walking around the south eastern end of Central park for a couple of hours. It is truely amazing to see that they have left such a large park area in the middle of the jungle of 60 story plus building, it is really nice to see the contrast though. After I spent some time there I decided to head for Times Square and found the Rockefeller center on they way (Missed the ice skating rink the first time round) and on to Times Square. I had only ever seen footage of it once or twice so it took me a little bit to recognise it.

Well it was now time for lunch so we headed to the Grand Central Station and had a fantastic meal at te Michael Jordan Steakhouse, which looks out over the main area of the station. After the long lunch we ended up hiring a limo for about 6 hours and the driver drove us around Manhatten. I got a little bit spoiled, well a lot actually. We went to the Rockefeller Center and up to the observatory to see the nightscape. We didn't get to the Empire state building as the lines were too long but I did manage to see it from the Rockefeller center as well as the ice skating rink this time. Then on to take a photo of the David Lederman late night show sign outside the studios. Past Radio city and into Times Square with all its neon lights flashing, now that really looks fab. We stopped to have a drink in the lobby lounge of M in Times Square (some hotel). We had dinner reservations at 11.30pm and of course I was starting to feel a little peckish so we headed to another restaurant/bar off columbas cirlce for another drink and snacks. Well I then had to go home and get dressed for dinner but by that time I was so tired and a little tipsy that I ended up curling up in bed and missing dinner, oh well there is always next time.

The next morning I had a lazy start and watched a movie waiting for Scott to wake up. I then headed out for breakfast, bought some postcards and looked inside St Patrick's Cathedral while Scott finished off some business stuff. We then headed off to catch te Staton Island Ferry, which was really cool. I got to see Manhatten from the water which is really beautiful. It is really amazing that they have so many high rise buildings on such a small island. We went past Ellis Island and the statue of liberty. I would love to see both of them closer next time I come back. I got a couple of photos but just my luck my camera batteries ran out as we were going past the statue of liberty and by the time I got them changed we were pulling away from her. On to Staten Island we go, it looks nice from the water but the area we drove through in the car seemed a little rough, so we kept going on to the airport and over the longest bridge in New york on the way.

Thats the end of this chapter...

New York remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Oslo

2007-02-23T14:06:47Z

Welcome to Norway!!

We were greeted by a snow clad tarmac and beautiful big snow flakes falling on our noses or in cats case right into her mouth, clever little chicky she is. Mind you with this beautiful weather comes attached the fact that it is bloody cold. The snow here is everywhere and it is so soft and white, not like the stuff we had in London on Thursday. It always amazes me every time I see it with its crunchiness and squeaking under your feet how quickly it makes me feel like I am a child again. All I wanted to do is pick it up and play with it. We meet a lovely Aussie Chicky who is over in Norway studying while on our 2 hour bus ride from the airport (Torp) to Oslo City. She recommended that we go snow sledding while we were there. Both Cat and I thought that sounded like it just had to be done. We finally got to our hostel at 1 am
Friday morning, so called it a night.

We ended up sleeping in for a while, then once we got up and moving we checked out the tourist info centre for things to do. Walked along Karl Johann Street, which is Oslo's main mall area and stumbled across the Kings residence or Palace, which is at the end of the street on a hill surrounded by parkland. The Palace has a great view over the city but unfortunately we were not able to get inside to look around so we wandered down to the harbour hoping to get a boat out on the Fjords, unfortunately for us they don't run in the winter so we settled for looking around the fortress and Castle.

The Fortress with the Castle held inside is perched on a hill in the harbour not very far from the city centre at all. We managed to walk up on top of the fortress walls, wow the view from there is really quiet amazing. Oslo really is a pretty city. As we walked through the fortress we found a section that made us feel like we had stumbled into our own little Narnia, It was just magical and there is no way I could capture it all for you. But Cat and I had grins from ear to ear in utter bliss and amazement with it all. We managed to catch the changing of the guards and then decided to go sledding; of course in true style we got lost again and ended up walking around in a big circle for an hour before getting back to our hostel to pick up some wet weather clothes. Boy am I glad I got that, not that it really did me any good as by the time I was finished my first run down the slope I had so much ice down my pants I was wet anyway. I ended up coming off the sled at least 15 times on my first run and I really didn't want to go again. But the girls managed to twist my arm and after that there was no stopping me. We kept going until the last possible run which was about 8pm. Really quiet cool after the sun goes down they turn on the lights and you keep going. When you finish your run down the slope you catch the local train up the hill again and off you go again, scary thing was the later it got the less soft snow there was on the track, which means you end up travelling so fast on the ice but still after the first run I managed to stay on the sled. Mind you with all the stacks on the first run I had already done the damage. I have a million bruises. ouch. one is the size of my hand and is black and blue, but really it was all worth it we had so much fun. After sledding we headed back to the hostel to defrost and then out to have a traditional Norwegian dinner. Tried reindeer, quiet nice actually, it was served in a style that I cant remember the name but anyway it was finely slices raw but pickled meat that just melted in your mouth. Then made our way back to our beds as we were both knackered from all our adventures sledding.

Up reasonably early the next day to head out to the Viking museum, which was cool, it has a few old Viking ships that had been found in burial grounds with lots of artefacts from that era that were buried in the ships. Then on to the open air museum, this was set up to house buildings of heritage from around the country. So we wandered around there for a couple of hours looking at all the cottages from the as early as the 1700’s. As Cat said it is like Norwegian version of our Sovereign Hill. They had town houses and country log huts, farm buildings, schools and churches all from different decades of Norwegian history.

After there we headed to a sculpture park. Basically Oslo designated a part of a huge parkland to a well known sculpture to be creative and he has sculpted over 100 statues of naked people. It was certainly very interesting to see and both cat and I wondered if he was a little perverted, but it seems he wasn’t.

We didn’t do anything else exciting while we were here so I will call it a day. Overall Oslo was a lovely place and totally enjoyed my stay there.

Oslo remains copyright of the author krissy, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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