HELLO 2011

Happy New Year everyone, mine is still about 6 hours away as I'm in Istanbul and they're always late here.

Be safe and have fun

2010....It was a very good year.

YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT DID YOU

Some great lines I've heard or read on this trip

"We hope your taste buds stay with you after you leave this flight" - Turkish Air inflight menu - yeah, so do I, I need em.

"Would you like air condition or fresh air?" - Driver on the way to Cairo airport; Redundant part was the offer of fresh air, I mean, it's Cairo

"For Gentlemen, in the instance of an impact, please loosen your tie and collar and move into the crash position" - Turkish Air pre flight safety announcement; I guess the Turks like their impacts to be a casual affair.

"How awesome is this building" - Written on the side of a building in Luxor, there was more to it but that's all I saw as we drove past. It was a fairly ordinary building and it was yellow, which just made the bad translation even funnier.

"I love chance!" - shouted loudly by a shop owner in the Istanbul bazaar, in his attempt to attract tourists to his wares.

OH AND I MAY HAVE CROSSED THE NILE

A few times actually, Hussan got his buddies who drive these boats to shoot us across each time, no charge, just a 5 Egyptian Pound tip or AU$1.00. Nice. Might pencil in a Nile cruise for next time I come to Egypt, hang on I hate river boat cruises, maybe not then.

AL DEIR AL BAHARI TEMPLE

Or the place Queen Hatshepsut built

Arrived in Istanbul this afternoon (more of that later) after two great days in Luxor where we visited almost every damn monument and engraving we could find, I could have used a few more days there no problem. We scored a private guide again, a local guy called Hussan who knew almost every other person in Luxor and was a genuinely nice guy and a great guide. Well worth the money

First up we hit this temple, probably the most well known of all of Egypt's temples. Hard to fathom that 13 years ago over 50 people were brutally murdered there by terrorists, yet it does pass through your mind when you arrive. That aside it's an incredible spot and just behind that hill and to the right is the Valley of the Kings. Due to the no photo rule in there I'll just say that seeing the Valley of The kings was another of those boyhood dreams made into a reality.Entering a 4, 000 -5, 000 year old tomb is just a bit mind blowing, you have to do it one day. Try doing it without American, German or Japanese tourists as that is the my pecking order for worst tourists ever at this moment in time. It does fluctuate but generally only with those three. Give me cashed up newly rich Russians any day.

We also dropped into the valley of The Queens but again no pics, but some fantastic tombs. Such a shame they were all robbed. At least Tutts stash remains and that is fairly impressive - understatement. A busy morning with all three spots but we did start early and manged to navigate around the coach tours and their cultish sheep like occupants.

this lil guy was trying to sell us some crappy souvenirs, so cute and had a beaming smile

CAIRO OLD SCHOOL

A day in the Old Islamic Cairo area with it's winding alleyways through the bazaar. We managed to get away from the tourist trail which resulted in lots of stares from people who wondered just what the fuck we were doing there. It's strange to be stared at when you walk down a street...."Do I have a huge wart on my nose?"

Time to leave Cairo now and head to Luxor, can't wait to hit the valley of the Kings and visit Tutankhamen's mummy. There is just the hotel tab to deal with first and I think we may have racked up a slightly big one here in the last few days, meh, it always looks worse than it is when it's written in Egyptian pounds right?....right?

LET THERE BE LIGHT AND LET THERE BE SOUND

Only, there wasn't really. I'd been hearing about the light and sound show at the Pyramids for years so I was pretty keen to hit it up last night. Kinda shouldn't have bothered really, I would give it 4 maybe 5 out of 10....sadly. Sadly because I so wanted this to be awesome, but it wasn't. In fact it was probably awesome back in say 1982, but they don't seem to have updated it all that much and Jean Michelle Jarre does a much better gig and that's saying something cos I hate Jean Michelle Jarre light shows. This was just a boring story with some boring lights that could have been so much better. As for the sound ....well, what sound? Omar Sharrif's commentary along with I believe Sir Alec Guinness shows you just how out dated the show is.

So far this has been the only really disappointing thing we've done here. It really has been fantastic, you should try and get here if you can. Tomorrow we head to Luxor, so the Egyptian fun train is still rollin.

A CAIRO XMAS

Big chair is big

Merry Christmas from Cairo

AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS

I'm having a slightly weird Christmas this year as it's not exactly celebrated all that much here in Cairo. I planned it like this so I'm not complaining, just sayin it's a bit odd. But to all of you who are tucking into Christmas lunch today have a merry Christmas and a safe one....

we never found it strange that daddy had two wives

EGYPT A FEW DAYS LATER

Loving Egypt. Spent yesterday visiting Memphis where we scored a look at an amazing statue of Ramses II. Then onto the Step Pyramid of Djoser followed by the Pyramids and the Sphinx. I even spent a whack of dollars on a hand knotted Egyptian rug for my new place. Fingers crossed it actually arrives in Australia. Today we spent a few hours wandering the dusty halls of the Egyptian Museum, what an incredible place. I could go again and still see the same amount of stuff that I'm sure I missed.

The Egyptians have been awesome, such a friendly bunch of people, strangers will pass you in the street and say "Welcome to Egypt" and no they're not trying to get you into a shop or anything like that, they just keep on walking. Not that there aren't many who ARE trying to get you into a shop, I'm just sayin.

oh .... that's mine and my brothers reflection there on the sphinx's butt

We had a private tour guide yesterday for all the pyramid stuff and she was...well lets just say I have fallen in love. Her name is Samiyah and she had the most amazing eyes and was just plain gorgeous, oh and also an archaeologist. Ticked that box. Alas I fear we have no future, as much as she wants to be with me I must set her free. I'll be letting her out of the wardrobe when I leave in a few days, but until then....

I'M IN CAIRO - CAN YOU BELIEVE IT

I still can't, lifelong dream achievement unlocked. This place is fantastic so far. The people have been extremely friendly, not toooo pushy and to put it bluntly I'm lovin it. We even had a pretty good flight over on Egypt Air, which was supposed to have been Malaysian Airlines but like most carriers these days they code share. But it was fine, no different to say a Jetstar (minimal service) kind of flight. Actually seeing as the food was edible that puts it one notch above Jetstar. I scored my usual 25 x 10 minute sleeps giving me around 4 hours all up, way too little but I'm crap at sleeping on planes.

Cairo from my hotel balcony, just now

After a few hours kip in my hotel room, which is very nice btw, my brother and I hit the streets of downtown Cairo. Crossing streets full of speeding traffic is the main obstacle here to waking up alive tomorrow, it's nuts, so we figured out pretty quickly that you just spot a local who's crossing and grab onto their shirt and hope they are pro at this, most seem to be.

Crossing the 6th October Bridge into Cairo

Australia is such a nanny state, I mean this kid looks happy up front there unharnessed doesn't he?

We cruised a few streets before a friendly guy who just finished work at the Cairo Museum (our Friday target) passed by us and offered up some info as we waited to cross a street. Pointed to the best places to shop etc and when best to visit the museum. Nice guy and typical of the Caironians (is that right?) we've met so far. Including Mohammed who owns a small tourist gift shop across the road from the museum. He used to live in Sydney and is married to an Italian woman whom he met in Zurich in 1987 and now has two sons who are unlikely to continue running his fathers fathers store even though it's in a prime location opposite the museum and we know all of this because we were given his life story in between purchases :breath: Good times.

into downtown cairo

grilled street corn fanned with birds feathers for everyone

Tomorrow it's Memphis, the Pyramids and the Sphinx, scored a private tour guide through the hotel and we're all set to get the good oil on the main reason we've come here, can't wait.

nothing beats a cold beer after an afternoon of foot slogging

ALIGN YOUR CHAKRAS WITH YOUR THIRD EYE

I was shopping in David Jones today and had this conversation with a salesperson ....

"Oh so you're holidaying in Egypt, is that cos you're an archaeologist?"

"Well, yeah it interests me and there is that connection"

"Have you read any of such and such's* books?"

"Err no I haven't"

"She regresses people and takes them back to an ancient library where they retell history, it's fascinating and she has even said that beneath the Pyramids there are tunnels, you can't see the tunnels because they're constructed from energy, but they're there"

Now because I was brought up to be polite, even to people who believe in the power of crystals and of the 'energy tunnels beneath the pyramids' I simply smiled and nodded and even took the piece of paper on which she wrote the authors name and the names of her books. Now if I hadn't been brought up to be as I am I might have said this....

"The what tunnels? Are you insane? Do you seriously believe there are tunnels made from fucking energy under the pyramids? What is it with you crazy bastards and your fascination with the damn pyramids. They were built as tombs by men who wanted to continue to flop their todgers out even after they died. 'Check out the size of mine Ramses'. That's all! Oh and as for regressing? That you even give that shit some credence means you've probably regressed yourself. And when I say yes I am an archaeologist, what on earth makes you think I'll be agreeing with you when you tell me this stuff?"

But I didn't say any of that, because that would have been rude, instead I just stared at her nodding and wondered if she was single, because she was cute. I'm a bad person aren't I? Anyway, I'm outta here and I'm off to the land of limestone lego blocks. I'll report instantly any energy leaks from beneath the Pyramids, not sure how much blogging I'll be doing, probably heaps but I wont know until I know. Now say hello to my camel....

*I'm not using the authors name because google sees all and I will just attract nut jobs to the comments section.