Jordan Day 2: Jerash to Medaba

So far Jordan has been a suprise package which we are thoroughly enjoying. Dramatic mountains with ancient Roman city ruins and an old fortress was the order for today.

We drove out to Um Qais to view the remains of a Roman City and to take in a great view which looked out into Typeious Lake, Israel and Syria. In perfect conditions you can also see Lebanon.

Next we visited Jerash, the largest and best preserved roman city in Jordan. We had an excellent local guide who took us through the complex on an interesting journey which covered about 2 hours.

On our return we stopped at an Islamic Fortress, before heading to Madaba, our headquarters for the next couple of days.

Jerash - includes a well preserved Amphitheater

Views into Syria

Jerash Roman ruins within the new city

Islamic Fortress

Jordan Day 1: Amman

Arriving in Jordan, with visas payed and stamped, we meet with our driver Waed. He is so laid back, we like this place already. Driving into the city of Amman we see a completely different landscape then the barren land we witnessed from the plain. Rocky hills with wild grasses and olive trees. Pine trees, orchards and villas. Clear blue sky with wispy white clouds. There is no traffic, no beeping, no smog and it’s clean. You could almost imagine you’re in the mediterranean ... almost. Waed tells us of how he went to Cairo for a holiday - he lasted 1 day before flying out to a different country as it was too busy for him.

Our first stop is a roman amphitheatre down town, then the Citadel which provided great views over the city. All of this at our own leisurely pace, no saying of how little time we have or any long winded stories, just “enjoy, I’ll be here when you’re ready”.

We finally had lunch at 3pm, some traditional food that was fantastic but there was so much of it. Meze, salads, sausages, mixed grill of chicken, kofta and lamb and my new favourite drink – mint lemon juice. It’s after 8pm and I’m still full so will have an early night in preparation for our big day tomorrow. Oh, we got up graded to a junior suite and they’re creative with the towels here too!

the main theatre

the smaller theatre

ben’s interpretive dance

view from the citadel

temple of hercules, the citadel

umayyad monumental gateway, the citadel

remains of the umayyad throne room/audience hall, the citadel

view from the citadel

the room

Egypt Day 15-16: farewell Egypt

Day 15: The pilot kneels on the tarmac as he prays to Allah under the shade of the wing, whilst we shuffle onto the Egypt air flight bound for Cairo. This flight signals the nearing end of our Egypt journey and it’s now that we begin to reflect. We have had a few frustrations along the way and it’s by no means an easy country to travel, but my boyhood dreams of visiting this place have been realised. Michelle and I are always mindful of the fact that wherever we travel there is a high likelihood we will never return as there are so many adventures to take in a single lifetime, so we have made the difficult decision to skip Alexandria and to spend our last day revisiting the Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum. We were so rushed on our first visit here that we both want to return. As we will travel through Greece later the theory is we will get a good dose of ancient Roman cities on the beaches of the Mediterranean and we may never see the pyramids again, at least as they stand today.

Day 16: On our last day in Cairo we are greeted by Mary, our last and easily best guide for the whole trip. She is in her early twenties, wears an Ed Harry T-shirt and her English is perfect. We start at the pyramids and get the chance to walk around all three this time and view them all together.

In the afternoon, following the ubiquitous buffet lunch (overlooking the pyramids!) we headed back to the Egyptian museum where Mary showed us several things we missed on our first visit and with more time we were able to stare again in amazement at the artifacts of king tut . We headed back to the hotel which we have grown to loath and it finally rendered some use to us with some much needed cleaned clothes. The washing was expensive but what price do you put on two weeks of clean underwear?

Speaking of underwear - Mary told us an interesting anecdote - An Egyptian woman’s respectability can be somewhat measured by the cleanliness of the washing hung from her window. Traditionally her husband’s undergarments first then shirts and longer colours. If they are clean and bright she is a good intelligent woman!

My Summary: Egypt is a third world country with a first class history. As an obvious tourist you are persistently challenged and pressured for money. They have many ways to skin a tourist it would seem and we are certain we have paid our tourist tax in this country. As you gaze on yet another breathtaking monument to the glorious history of the Egyptian Pharaohs there is always someone demanding you ride their camel or buy a statue etc etc. In this regard I am glad to leave, and I am not sure there is much genuine humour and frendliness here towards western tourists. Only the shallow platitudes of someone who needs your business. This sounds quite harsh as I read it back so I should point out that there are always the exceptions. My thanks and honest praise would go to the keeper at the desert rose in Barayeha and all the crew in the white desert. Its been a great experience none the less.

Egypt Day 14-15: Valley of the Kings and the Tombs of the Nobles

The Valley of the Kings was up there with the Pyramids and the Cairo Museum for me. Mohammed, our guide took us to three tombs on our ticket entry and pointed out that entry to the tomb of Tutankhamen was additional and perhaps not worth it as it was only very small. We had to disagree and opted to pay the additional 200 Egyptian pounds to enter Tutankhamen’s tomb. You could spend days exploring the various tombs at the Valley of the Kings, but we took in three of the highlights ( missing out on the best which was closed). The first was, Tomb of Ramses III (no.11), secondly was the tomb of Tuthmosis III (no.34) and thirdly was the Tomb of Ramses 1 (no.16). It was a 38 degree day in a desert valley so it was lucky we saved the main event to last to keep us motivated through the day.

So our final exploration was the tomb of Tutankhamen. One of our guides put it best regarding Tutankhamen – The real significance is not the pharaoh himself, but the discovery of his untouched tomb. Perhaps the best secret to living after death was to ensure that your tomb remained untouched by tomb robbers! It’s the smallest tomb we entered and it was simply astonishing to know the treasures that came from within.

This was a highlight experience that still gives me chills! But sorry photos forbidden.

We stopped for another over priced buffet lunch then on to the hotel to check in and sit by the pool for some down time. The next day we were up at 7:30am to head to the tombs of the nobles and the tombs of the workers, also located on the west bank of Luxor and close to where we were the day before.

This was a different day as it was early morning and we were alone again, without the crowds and queues . We had the opportunity to get some more photos and witness some more highly decorated tombs. We visited the temple of the workers and were allowed to film and photograph finally! I think Michelle was feeling lost without her camera!

Nobles Tomb

Workers temple

Egypt Day 14: Balloon and Thebes/The West Bank

Defiantly worth the early start, we woke up at 4am to get ready for our hot air balloon ride over Thebes. We had fantastic views of the west bank and the areas we were going to explore later that morning.

After we landed we begun our long day of site seeing around 7am and it was already warm.

First was the Colossi of Mommon, 2 impressive 18m high statues of Amenhotep III.

Next was the Valley of the Queens ( no cameras allowed past the entry checkpoint). The place was completely empty and if felt very special to view the two toms by ourselves: Tomb of Amunherkhepshep and the Tomb of Queen Titi.

Then came the Hatshepsut Temple, a terraced temple set at the base of a limestone cliff. The design of this temple was very different to any we had seen and it wasn’t until we were leaving that the bus loads of please started to file in.

And the house of Howard Carter on the way to the Valley of the Kings.

view of the ramesseum

view of thebes

view of thebes

Colossi of Mommon

Hatshepsut Temple

Hatshepsut Temple

Egypt Day 13: Luxor East Bank

On sunday we sailed into Luxor and explored the impressive Karnak temple. I had never imagined it to be so extensive. We could have easily spent hours exploring it and still not have seen everything. Following that, an avenue of sphinx led us to the temple of Luxor.

That evening we went back to Karnak to see the sound and light show. It was wonderful to walk through the complex lit up by strategic lightening and with a fraction of the people that where there earlier that day. I can't say too much about the 'sound' part. It consisted of over dramatized voices telling parts of a story in a convoluted way. I think Ben and I were even more confused about the story behind this temple. One voice would be sounded to the left and then another voice (in a slightly different pitch) would come from the right, which drew our attention but we where meant to be looking straight ahead or at what ever various parts of the temple was lit up. Then between each statement was a dramatic music interlude "dum dum dummm". By the end of it we couldn't stop laughing and for the remainder of the night and probably the next day we added "dum dum dums" to the end of all our sentences.

karnak temple

karnak temple

karnak temple

karnak temple

karnak temple

luxor temple

luxor temple

luxor temple

luxor temple

luxor temple

luxor temple

luxor temple

luxor temple

Egypt Day 12: Nile Cruise

The house keeping of the Nile cruise are very creative. Throughout our stay we would return to our room to find our towels formed into various things: a flower, a baby – with my shirt used for the nappy, 2 swans making a heart, a crocodile, a person and last came the worst of the lot - a baby hanging from the ceiling.

Ben’s already mentioned Kom Ombo and Edfu so I won’t say too much, but I’ll include images.

Oh, my SLR has been very temperamental throughout this trip and has since ceased working. So if anyone has any recommendation on a new SLR I’d greatly appreciate. For now, I’m just relying on my little point and shoot :(

I think Kom Ombo may have been my favourite temple. After Phillae it was so nice to have enough time to actually enjoy the beauty of this place. For the afternoon sail to Edfu, Ben and our guide Mahmoud played rounds of table tennis while I sat on the sundeck for some much needed rest and enjoyed the view. It was fantastic seeing so much while doing nothing.

Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo

ben and mahmoud

Edfu

Edfu

Egypt Day 11: Aswan & Abu Simbel

On arrival in Aswan, and after being greeted by our guide Waleed, we were transferred to our hotel ( Basma ). This hotel was the most lavish to date and we were disappointed we would only spend one short night here. In the morning we took a short flight (45 minutes) to Abu simbel to see the Temples of Ramses II and his favourite wife Nefertary. Moved from its original location due to the damming of the Nile it was no less impressive or commanding in its new location. Photos were forbidden on the inside, where a series of highly carved rooms fed off the main entrance down to the rear of the temple finishing with four statues of various gods and Ramses reside. The sun lights up the statue of Ramses and two of the gods ( whilst the god of evil remains in darkness) for two days of the year I'm told.

It’s hard to imagine this impressive structure once covered in sand and remaining lost for 1000’s of years.

From here we flew back to Aswan. We had a short sail on a felucca up the Nile before exploring Aswan further on land.

But this reminds me of a more interesting story – it’s always a good idea to check that you have the necessary Visa’s before you travel to any foreign country. On our second day in Sharm El Sheick at the beginning of this adventure, I noticed some mention of visa requirements for Australians in our guide book ( thanks again Elizabeth!) When I asked our tour guide if we need one – he was instantly shocked and confused as to how we could have got through customs without it! We were immediately put in a car and ferried back to the airport to get the visas’s. We had to take a reverse route through customs which seemed highly irregular and were ushered through various back doors escorted by armed customs officials. It was a bit tense and confusing, but we now hold the necessary visa’s , much to the relief or our guide!

Back to Aswan. On the second day we visited the Temple of Filae and the High Dam before transfer to our cruise boat which takes us overnight to Luxor. Whilst sailing down the Nile we stopped at two temples ( Kom – Ombo and Edfu) both of which had us completely fascinated. We travelled by horse drawn carriage to Edfu after dark and it was interesting to visit this temple under dramatic lighting. For the greater part of these visits we are accompanied always by a guide who spews forth endless information rehearsed from many years in the industry. It’s not usually a charismatic or engaging description and usually with the thick Arabic accent and monotone presentation we are quickly lost and confused. We ran out of time at Filae due to a very long winded and convoluted story on the history of Osiris and Isis so I have started using some cunning steps to shorten these presentations without causing any offence.

1. Never let the guide sit or be in the shade – in full sun and standing the rant is usually cut much shorter

2. Cut them off by learning the history from the Guide book first – i.e sometimes they will throw in a rhetorical question like “do you know why the pharaohs did this?” - Its very good to answer this before they tell you! But you can’t just say “yes” because they will challenge you to elaborate.

3. Use sign language with you wife to suggest you are both somewhat deaf...we haven’t used this yet but its ready to roll out if needed.

Abu Simbel - Awesome!

Feluca Ride on the Nile - Tourist requirement!

Basma Hotel, Aswan

The Temple of Isis at Philae ( and following)