Friday, August 12, 2011

Travelling Light



This photo shows you the amount of baggage that Katie and I travelled with for the majority of our six week long Southeast Asia trip.  We each carried a small backpack.  Katie also carried a small purse and I carried my fairly large camera bag.  Early in the planning process we decided that our trip could be simplified if we avoided the dreaded “checked luggage”.  Not only is there the risk of your luggage not arriving with you at your destination but discount airlines such as AirAsia.com actually charge you for checked luggage.  So we packed light and had our laundry done on an “as needed” basis.  It turns out that we needed our laundry done five times.

Here is a list of the bigger items that I packed:

1 sleep sheet (which we didn’t even use because luckily the places we slept were clean enough)
1 sarong (used as a blanket or towel as required)
1 long sleeve dry wick shirt (used twice in cold airports)
1 baseball cap (not really packed because I wore it all the time)
5 pairs of socks (not really needed since I wore flip flops for the entire trip)
1 pair of running socks (definitely necessary)
1 pair of running shoes (I think we ran about 140 km during the trip)
1 pair of flip flops (cheap Thai ones that completely wore out during the trip)
2 pairs of camping pants (one would have been enough)
1 golf shirt (which I wore on our three year wedding anniversary in Vietnam)
5 dry wick T-Shirts
1 dry wick running shirt
2 pairs of cargo shorts (which undertook massive amounts of abuse)
1 bathing suit
1 pair of running shorts
6 pairs of boxers


I’m sure that Katie’s stuff was similar enough to mine with the exception of the sun dresses (I don’t find them flattering on me).  In the end, we are very happy with the amount of “stuff” that we dragged around with us.  Sure we would make some small changes if we were to do it again but overall it worked very well especially when you put three people and all their baggage on a motorcycle in Vietnam (which happened more than once).  For now we’ll have to wait and see where these small bags will take us in the future.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Last Leg: Loas

Katie:  Tom, did she just say that we can't ride to the waterfall on the bikes we just rented?

Tom:  Yup.

Katie:  We are going to ride to the waterfall on the bikes we rented, right?

Tom:  Yup.

Challenge accepted!  I wish the woman who rented us the bikes would have said "you shouldn't ride to the waterfall on these bikes" or "you'd be crazy to ride to the waterfalls on these bikes."  Nope, she said can't, and we don't respond well to can't statements.  It took us 2 hours of biking and occasional walking in the pouring rain, across a Loas mountain range to reach the waterfall... almost.  After parking our bikes we followed an incorrect trail up the muckiest slope to ever lack a "trail closed" sign.  Then when we reached the bottom of the waterfall, we followed a sign saying "To the top", although the word "top" should have been replaced by "leeches".  It took another 15 minutes of scrambling over and under fallen trees on muddy terrain to get to... well... leeches, and no flowing water.  You wouldn't believe how creative leaches can be in moving through the breathing holes of our running shoes.   We went back down, and debated sliding back down the now muckier trail we'd taken up, or walking along the ledge of a small cascade to the correct path, which all the other tourists seemed to have followed just fine.  We chose the latter option, and forced smiles for this photo.  It really was a pretty waterfall.

Sadly, the story I just told was the most successful cycling story during our time in Laos.  Our next bicycle rental, in stunning Vang Vieng, was short-lived.  We came across a few parked bikes next to some rice fields, with signs for caves.  We decided to explore.  About ten minutes into the walk came some more famous last words.

Tom:   Katie, I'm sinking in mud over my ankles.  Do you think we should turn around?

Katie:  Nah.  We've come this far.

Tom:  We may only be a tenth of the way to the caves.

Katie:  Only 9 tenths to go then.

At least an hour and one broken flip flop later, we made it to the unexciting cave.  Our friend Andrew (who met us in Turkey) got me into the weird habit of taking pictures of my feet at cool places.  I swear these are really my feet.


We decided to rent bicycles for a third time in Loas to make up for the short distance we'd made it the day before.  This time when we were maybe a km past the spot we'd stopped the previous day, I got a flat.  Great.  We locked up the bikes and continued on foot, reaching a sign for not 1, 2, or 3, but 4 caves!  This walk was slightly less muddy, and the caves were slightly more interesting.  Finger painting my name on the cave wall in mud was fun.  Walking my flat-tire bike back to the town in the pouring rain for nearly an hour, not so fun. 

Let me also mention that this extra time made us 4 minutes late for renting innertubes to tube down the Mekong (the most famous activity in Vang Vieng), so instead we wound up at the tubing take-off spot with no tube, and about 200 very drunk high school age students (I would know) in their bathing suits.  We ran into a Dutch couple we'd met at the waterfalls a few days earlier, and showed them that yes, Canadians can party, even old ones like us.  I don't think I've ever felt as old as when Bjorn said "I hope we're like you guys when we're your age."  Funny, because we hope we never act that age again.  We`ve officially added tubing parties to our Murtaugh List.  We`re too old for that sh!t.

Our last city stop was in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.  Our first night there we went out with some Americans working there, but had to take it easy (read last paragraph).  They taught us to enjoy ice cubes in our beer as the Loa people do.  I wouldn't do it at home, but it's pretty hot there, so it kinda hits the spot.  The following day, we did not use our past experience for learning, and we rented bikes.  On our way to see this big gold temple that is "the icon of Laos", I got a flat tire.  Yes, that was the 2nd time in 3 days.  Thankfully it wasn't too far, and it didn't pour rain that day.  I did get the bike replaced and rode it the entire next morning without getting a flat.  Woohoo! We spent our last night in Southeast Asia sitting on the banks of the Mekong River enjoying Beerlao.  Cheers to an unforgettable trip.


Next stop:  Ottawa, Canada.  I can barely believe it!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

What's Wat?

In three sentences or more, tell me everything you can about Cambodia.  If you were actually able to come up with three sentences, then I'm impressed.  I know that I couldn't have a couple of weeks ago.  That's what made me so excited to visit Cambodia.  Unlike with Thailand and Vietnam, I had never been to a Cambodian restaurant, or met a Cambodian person.  Being wedged between the two countries, I didn't expect it to be too different.  I was right enough, although it does have its own personality. 

The first thing I realized was that I was wrong about Vietnam losing the furniture lottery... Cambodia somehow came out worse.  The Cambodian street food stalls have the same kindergarten stools as in Vietnam, but usually that's all they have... no tables.  The street noodles here are more delicious than in Vietnam, to mine and Tom's tastes anyway, so we can accept eating them from our laps. 

We enjoyed Cambodian food so much that we decided to take a cooking class here.  The class first took us to a local market to pick up ingredients, and to see lots of gross things like chicken blood and guts, and not-dead-yet fish.  I thought the entire class might become vegetarian on the spot, but no such luck.  We prepared mushroom amok, fried spring rolls, and tofu lok lak.  Sounds like another night of feeding someone (don't worry, not you mom or dad) some Southeast Asian cuisine.

We have enjoyed things other than food in Cambodia.  So far we've spent a lot of our time here visiting Wats, which is just another name for temples.  Buddhist temples, with their tiered roofs, huge sculptures, and colourful paintings can be really stunning.

Yesterday we had a wonderful day enjoying wats, the Cambodian countryside, and most of all the Cambodian people.  After an early morning run, we rented a motorbike to head to some sights just a little too far out of the city to see by bicycle.  About a half hour in, we could see the first temple complex at the top of a nearby mountain.  Within thirty seconds of seeing it, our bike felt a little wobbly.  Upon pulling over, we saw that we had a flat.  Great.  Luckily we had just passed a sort of police check point, Tom pushed the bike back to the police to ask for help.  They pointed to a small roadside canteen, which was also apparently a garage.   The woman who sold us a bottle of water made a call, and within a few minutes, a guy showed up to fix our flat.   We waited about a half hour, playing "The Price is Right" regarding the repair.  Tom thought $30.  With more faith in Cambodian people, I said $7.  Neither of us was closest without going over.  The new tube + 1/2 hour of labour cost us $1.  Not bad.  Unfortunately he pointed out a slit in the tire, so we drove the bike back to the rental place, worried about having to pay for a new tire.  Not a chance.  The rental company quickly put us on another bike, and actually siphoned the few liters of gas we had bought into our new bike.  As we retraced our steps, Tom sang "On the road again..." 

The Wat on the mountaintop was quite picturesque, along with the view across Cambodian mountains and farmland, although our favourite part was actually a canyon/cave between some temples.  Down a stone staircase we arrived in this canyon with some stalactites like a cave, but open to see the surrounding trees and mountains.  It was really peaceful and beautiful in a unique way.  On our way back down to get our motorbike we spoke with a monk who was trying to practice his English, before heading off to a complex of ruins.  The climb up to the ruins was exhausting, and they were a little more ruined than not.  Trust me, you're not missing out on any exciting photos of the site.

Our last stop was at Cambodia's one and only winery.  Speaking with a very friendly woman in very broken English, we learned that this small family-run winery has been operating for 11 years.  We got the tasting menu, consisting of 4 drinks made there:  red wine, brandy, grape juice, and ginger juice.  I actually thought the red wine was pretty good, although Tom found it a little "barnyard" (Glenda and Adam will understand).  The kind owner let us tour the vineyards on our own.  They were more impressive than those in Egypt.  We soon learned why, as we motorbiked back to return our motorbike in the pouring rain.

Now we have reached the "pièce the résistance" of our trip:  Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious complex.  Tom saw photos of Angkor Wat in 2003, and has been talking about visiting it ever since.  We arrived this afternoon in a nearby town, and will be bicycling there for sunrise tomorrow, and exploring the ancient town of Angkor for 3 days on our rented bicycles.  For Tom, the 8 year wait ends tomorrow.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Nam

The Americans coined the not-so-original nickname "The Nam" during the war in Vietnam in the 60's and 70's.  I thought it was a pretty orginial blog title for the second half of our Vietnam travel, which included much war-related site-seeing.


Shortly after writing the last blog about our motorbike travels to the beach, Tom and I got caught in our first Southeast Asian downpour.  Not bad given that it is rainy season here at the moment.  In continuing with our Vietnamese copycatting, we bought cheap raincoats from a street vendor, and scurried around the busy streets to find a restaurant to take cover in.  Give us a break, we've probably seen less than a half-dozen rainfalls in the last year!


After a quick meal of "com chay" (rice and vegetables), we headed back to our hostel to wait for our overnight bus to head to our next destination down the coast:  Nha Trang.  Nearly 12 hours on a honking bus is not fun.  It's especially not fun when they even fill the aisles with makeshift mattresses so that nobody can move.  It's even less fun when the person next to you doesn't realize they shouldn't move, so they hit you with their foot, knee, or elbow each time they shift.  No, I'm not talking about Tom.  I'm talking about the stranger that was sleeping next to me when they separated Tom and I to let another couple sleep side-by-side.  Let's just say it wasn't the highlight of our trip.

Nha Trang was a great city though.  With about 4km of beach, it is relaxation at its best.  We spent much of our first day lounging on the beach, spent the second day with a Texan we met, riding a motorcycle around the countryside to see some unique churches and enormous Buddhas, and spent the next day scuba diving.  I forgot the evening on the beach at a brew pub.  Tough life!

Our next train ride, to Saigon, was only 7 hours, was in the daytime, and didn't have anyone sitting in the aisles.  You really start appreciating the little things when you're traveling! 

Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as it is now officially (but very uncommonly) named, is a big city, with a nice friendly backpacker area.  After taking it easy for our first evening, we met a woman from Edmonton in the morning for a run.  Friendly as you would expect a Canadian to be, she also met us that evening for dinner, along with a local.  Between the run and dinner, we went to the heart-wrenching War Remnants Museum.  Formerly named the "American War Crimes Museum", the museum is full of beautiful photos of a very ugly time and place.  While difficult to look at, it would be very short-sighted to visit Vietnam and ignore the war that although finished about 35 years ago, continues to impact Vietnam today. 

The following morning we went to the Cu Chi tunnels with Mady, a friendly guy from India that we met (actually the Canadian woman's roommate).  This is a tunnel network that was used by the North Vietnam army for hiding, living, moving supplies, and even attacking.  In the photo above, Tom is inside a tunnel that had a hidden area for shooting outward.  Only Tom and one other guy got to go into that section since they were closest to the size of Vietnamese soldiers at the time.  In our guide's words "they not drinking much beer or eating McDonalds back then".  We also got to crawl, and sometimes run, through the slightly larger tunnels.  I may have down a sort of crawl-run along with a girly scream when a bat was flying in one of them.

That night Mady cooked us amazing vegetarian Indian food, and showed us photos from India that have quickly shot it up our list of travel destinations.  We certainly don't have enough time to detour there on this trip.  We have lots of travel left in us for later!


This brought our big city stops in Vietnam to a close, but we still had a 3 day/2 night trip down the Mekong Delta remaining.  This region at the southern tip of Vietnam along the Mekong River has maintained a much more rural feel, although both cities we stayed in were larger than my hometown of Cornwall.

On the first day of the trip we stopped at a completely uninformative honey bee farm and drank some pretty tasty tea with honey.  I'll stop at uncle Genie's sometime to get the real scoop on making honey.  The boat ride within canals surrounded by coconut trees was quite pretty, and the coconut candy at the coconut candy factory was even better than the tea with honey.  The chocolate-coconut candy... not as much.  It tasted neither like coconut nor chocolate.  We slept in a city called Cantho that night, and left early the next morning for a trip to the floating fruit market.

The floating fruit market was like no market I've ever seen.  All buyers and sellers were on boats, mostly motorized, filled with bananas, papayas, dragonfruit, jackfruit, watermelons, pineapples, and lychee.  There were even boats that served as corner stores, with pop and chips, and as restaurants, to make you noodle stir-fries.   

Next we got to stroll through fruit orchards.  The first area we got to was full of "rambutin".  After saying it 3 times only to get a blank stare from me, the guide spelled it for me:  r-a-m-b-u-t-i-n.  As if this helped.  Finally he picked one, and I saw that it was what I had been eating and thinking was a lychee.  Apparently it's a little less sweet.  My favourite fruits to look at (and pretty high up there to eat) are dragonfruits.  They are such a bright pink, and the "scales" really do look like I picture a dragon looking.  That night was spent in Cau Doc, near the Cambodian border.


Another early morning and we were off to see a floating fishing village.  This time we took rowboats, which were rowed by Vietnamese teenagers and grandmothers half our size.  It was really peaceful coming down the river without the sound of motors.  The village was so interesting.  We'd seen a floating village when we were up in the north of Vietnam in February, but it only had a couple dozen houses.  This one had hundreds.  We rowed through it for at least an hour.  There were houses on stilts, some floating on canoe-like boats, and some built up on fishing cages.  I will try to explain the fish house design to my dad.  I know he'd love to open his living room floor to a fish pond. 


This was our last tourist stop before a beautiful boat ride and long and hot bus ride to Cambodia.  Goodbye Vietnam.  Good morning Cambodia.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Kindergarten Furniture

Sheri Ly, ask and you shall receive.  Here is Tom having his breakfast this morning:

 

This is the norm, not the exception. 

With only 2 days left in Vietnam, we will write a full blog about the second half of our Vietnamese travels later this week.  Next stop:  Cambodia.  Furniture size:  unknown.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

When in Vietnam...

"Canada people like exercise!"  It was the only conclusion our Vietnamese boat driver could come to.  After taking us for a "not-quite-sunset-yet" cruise to a pagoda, he asked us our plans for the following day.  We told him that we planned on renting bicycles and going to the beach (about 15km away).  Not motorbikes, but bicycles.  What you have to understand is that motorbikes are the vehicle of choice in Vietnam.  Tom and I estimate that they outnumber other vehicles by about 10:1.  Our bike ride to the beach was... let's just say indirect (we took my dad's kind of shortcut)... and very very hot and humid.  By the time we arrived, you'd think I'd already jumped into the water. I really shouldn't complain when I get to spend a day sitting on a beach on the ocean though.  We learned our lesson for the next beach trip.

Yesterday Tom and I rented a motorbike to take to Marble Mountains and to the beach.  The Marble Mountains were just that... 5 mountains made of marble.  What made them interesting were the many cave temples and Buddha statues within the mountains.  The fact the the mountains are entirely marble was also cool of course, especially after a year of sandstone.

For the afternoon we wanted to go to the beach "as the Vietnamese".  This means:
#1:  Going by motorbike
#2:  Going around sunset


Seriously, despite having oceanfront beaches all the way down the coast, most Vietnamese don't go to the beach in the daytime.  It's just too hot.  Plus they're not exactly into tanning the way North Americans are.  In fact, when we look for sunblock in pharmacies around here, it is often next to the "skin whitening cream".  So we headed to the beach on our motorbike around 4pm.  It was a little busy, but not nuts... at 4pm.  Tom much enjoyed his $0.75 beer. 

There was a steady stream of arrivals, 2, 3, or 4 on each motorcycle.  By 5pm the water and beach were packed with happy-go-lucky Vietnamese friends and family having a great time.  Tom thought it must be like Spring Break at Daytona Beach, with more children and less wet white t-shirt contests.  When we left around 6pm, as Canadians who don't make a habit of sitting on a sunless beach, the motorbikes were still flooding in.  While we were a bit curious about how late the party would continue, I wanted to try out the motorbike in daylight, and we both wanted to get out for some street food on kindergarten-sized chairs.  Seriously, they lost a furniture lottery in this country or something. 

I tried out the bike on the most deserted road we could find, and let made Tom takeover before getting to my first intersection.

I'm pretty sure I went from 0-50 kph in about 2 minutes.  It felt fast to me!  Tom got to (aka:  I made him) do all the city driving, and did an awesome job of it.  We won't be getting motorbikes in Canada though.  We'll stick to the bikes that give us excercise.  But we're in Vietnam... so we did as the Vietnamese.

Monday, July 4, 2011

On an Island in the Sun

Bungalow on the beach on an island in Thailand:  $27/night


Sundress made in Thailand:  $8


Huge plate of pad thai (noodles):  $1


No "To Do" list:  PRICELESS!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Ma'a Salama

Ma'a Salama is arabic for goodbye.  If my father's prayers are answered, this will be the last time I use those words.  We are leaving Egypt today, with the only return plans being a short stop to pick up our luggage on our way back to Canada.  Goodbyes are never easy, whether they are at the end of a night out, a trip to visit your parents, or a school year.  Saying goodbye to family and friends as we left Canada was really tough.  After ten months in Egypt, saying goodbye to friends here is tough as well.  Sorry for no pictures in this blog, Tom's laptop got backed before I could put the pictures in.

The most mundane tasks and events gain prestige when it is their last time.  Awww, this is the last day I will yell at my math class.  Awww, this is my last exam I will mark in Egypt.  Awww, this is the last time I will walk down a crowded street with no sidewalks.  Seriously though, we've had some sad lasts over the past week.  The last Maadi runners run, the last Egyptian cooking lesson, and the last meal with new friends here.

The end also brought a lot of firsts for us, as we tried to cram everything Cairo we could into our last week.  Friday after our (awww) last group run, we headed to the famous Egyptian museum, which contains the world's largest number of Pharaonic antiquities.  Saturday we headed to Alexandria, a city you likely saw on the news during "Unrest in Egypt".  More traditionally known as Egypt's former capital, founded by Alexander the Great, it is safe now.  We were able to spend a day having coffee/shakes next to the famous library, soaking in the Mediterranean coast, visiting a fairytale-like castle and enjoying our (awww) last fiteer (Egyptian pizza).

Sunday was back to work for me, but we took advantage of the evening for one last Egyptian cooking lesson:  soups and dessert.  The lentil soup was awesome, and I've never met a dessert I didn't like.  The teacher and the rest of the slaves (a.k.a. cooking students) weren't so bad either.  We are so happy to be heading home with a small repertoire of Egyptian recipes to share with you all.

The fun didn't stop Monday.  After work, we headed to the free sufi dancer show in the Khan el Khalili market.  We shopped a little, ate kushary (Egypt's national dish) for our (awww) last time, and headed to the show.  They performed in the courtyard of an old mosque, a beautiful setting for the show.  The musicians were outstanding and the sufi dancers spun non-stop for longer than you can imagine.  I found the show altogether mesmerizing, and can't believe it took us ten months to go see it.  It's better than missing it entirely I guess.

Tuesday was supposed my last day at work, and it was the length of nearly two days.  With grad in the evening, I stayed at school until nearly 10pm.  Grad was nice though, and outdoors (feasible in a country that doesn't get rain), and I was happy to say proper goodbyes to the small group of grade 12 students I taught all year in chemistry then physics.  I think grad night is the one night each that I recognize some parent-like instincts within me.  I just can't help be proud of the sometimes goofy, sometimes hardworking, sometimes drive you up the wall, and always remarkable students I've taught as they go on to bigger and better things.  I even got a personal thank you in this year's valedictory speech, so I felt pretty good about my year with these kids.

Wednesday Tom and I were hosting a farewell breakfast for our friends on staff, as most people, us included, were leaving Wednesday night.  Unfortunately, I had to come into school to guarantee our flight back to Canada.  For those of you who are interested, we are scheduled to land in Canada on Thursday, August 11th, at 3:50pm. 

Tom hosted breakfast and said farewells this morning without me.  I guess that's okay, I kinda hate goodbyes.  Our last (and hardest) will be tonight as we go to a bbq with our running leader, cooking instructor, and very close friend, Mr./Papa Mohsen.  He has kindly offered us a last meal, and a ride to the airport, as we head to Thailand tonight.  

The adventure continues...

Friday, June 24, 2011

June Jet Lag

What time is it?  This is a question that most of us learned to answer in grade one or two, however it has been very difficult for Tom and I to answer lately.  I guess that will happen if you take a round trip across seven time zones in a period of about as many days.  The passing of one of the greatest women I've ever known, my Granny, sent Tom and I on an impromptu trip to Canada last week.  High school exams brought us back to Cairo only a week later.  It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks of sadness, laughter, family, friends, and far too many airports (6 if you're counting).

Just a few days before the sad news brought us to Canada, and more specifically to Metcalfe where the internet sometimes barely works, I swear I was writing a blog about our previous weekend in the Fayoum oasis, a region about 2 hours south of Cairo.  We went there mostly to visit the Valley of the Whales, a 45 million year old ocean (now desert) containing some unique and significant fossils.  We also did a long run in another stunning valley, and shopped for local pottery in a very quaint village known for its pottery school and numerous pottery shops.

We left Cairo early-ish Friday morning with about a dozen people from our running group, and went straight to the Valley of the Whales.  This dried ocean was the site of remarkable rock formations, fossils, and mangrove roots.  You could almost picture yourself walking along the ocean floor, covered in water, and you really wished you were covered in water, as you walked through the open desert in the hot sun.  Apart from the fascinating landscape, this valley contained many whale bone displays, with informative explanations in small sheltered huts.  It turns out that the fossils at this site show whales that used to have legs, to travel from land to water.  This is one of only two sites in the world where this has been found.  Pretty cool for a place we had never heard of despite living in Cairo for nearly a year.

We were fortunate to have a runner from our group with a cottage near this valley, so we spent the late afternoon, evening, and overnight at her place.  The pool was fresh (Tom's word for friggin' cold), and the food was plentiful and delicious as always.  We slept up on the balcony beneath the stars, and got up earlier than you should on a weekend away for a morning run.  The truck we'd taken there wouldn't start, so 12 of us piled into one SUV.  Luckily a few of the runners are very fast and very slim!

This was a beautiful run.  It was in a valley called Wadi Rayan, with a view of a small natural lake.  The air was clean, there was no traffic, and the scenery was breathtaking.  There were more sandstone rock formations all around, with a path down the middle perfect for our running.  We ran for over an hour and a half, but it didn't feel any longer than an hour run in Cairo. 

After a swim, the usual Maadi runners breakfast, and a second swim, we headed out to the village for shopping.  Apparently about 40 years ago a Swiss woman came to the area and fell in love with an Egyptian.  She got married and stayed there, and to help boost the local economy, she opened a pottery school.  Many of the students have opened pottery shops in the village, with prices far far better than you could find in Canada.  We bought a large bowl that will match our house in Arnprior perfectly.  I know that some of you are happier than others to hear about us making plans for home near Ottawa.  No matter where we go now, our home will contain some pieces of Egypt.

Monday, May 30, 2011

The Road Less Traveled

It took Alexander the Great eight days to make the journey across Egypt's desert to Siwa.  It took us about 8 hours by car.  The Siwa oasis was the destination of choice for our last long weekend in Egypt.  This lush paradise within the desert did not disappoint.  Neither did our multicultural travel companions.  We were six in total for the trip:  2 Canadians, 1 Egyptian, and 3 Brazilians... 6 relaxed weekend travelers.  



As usual, our trip began with too much time in a car, with too little to look at.  After hours of characterless desert, we reached our first of many amazing views: a strip of bright turquoise water in the distance.  Without realizing it, I was seeing the Mediterranean Sea for my first time.  The strip of turquoise soon became a seemingly endless sea of turquoise, bordered on one side by white sand beach.  We stayed at a seafront hotel our first night to break up the drive... not to mention to enjoy the beach.  Despite it being fairly chilly outside (for Egypt, not for Canada), Tom convinced me that I couldn't miss the opportunity to swim in the Mediterranean Sea.  Been there, done that. 

After a morning run along the water, we cleaned up, ate too much breakfast at the all-you-can-eat buffet, packed up, and continued the journey to Siwa.  After about 3 hours of flat desert driving, the expanse of green palm trees was almost surreal.  Oasis:  a small fertile or green area in a desert region, usually having a spring or well.  (dictionary.com)  This was no mirage, we'd arrived at the Siwa oasis.

We went straight to our hotel, Shali Lodge, a unique hotel built in Siwa's traditional mudbrick style.  Our room was large and charming, filled with local decorations and  handcrafted bamboo furniture (even the bed).  The very friendly staff soon let us know that the chef was ready for us.  The local cuisine of bread, (many many) dips, rice, and eggplant stew was truly delicious.  The chef came out to talk to us and gave me instructions for making one of the dips that I had really enjoyed.  He teased me a little for being too North American, wanting to know amounts to use.  It turns out that recipes are quite literally foreign to him (and to most Egyptian cooks we've met).


We toured the town for the afternoon, and climbed through the fortress of Shali for sunset.  The mudbrick castle uses the typical building material (mud) of the town.  Sadly the clouds did not allow for a great sunset, but they could not take away from the magnificence of the contrasting surroundings.  The panoramic views of mountains, desert, a lake, and palm trees were breathtaking.  We stayed until it was almost dark, and headed back to the hotel for another spread of local dishes.  The chef made me think a little of my granny... "why didn't you eat it all... you don't like it?!"... "I like it, it's delicious, but I'm so full"... "ok, let me get you dessert"... "no thank you, I'm so full"... "just a little piece" (after which a huge piece arrives).  The crepes with dates were well worth the overstuffed feeling though.  Dates grow naturally on palm trees in Siwa.  In North America we talk about a 100-mile diet.  I think I had a 100-meter dessert.

Sunday was our busiest day, with a short run turned long rock climb in the morning, and a desert safari in the afternoon.  Throughout the morning run, our very fit Brazilian running friend kept convincing us to run for "just five more minutes" to get to a lookout. I'll admit, it was worth it in the end for the amazing views.  It was probably good to work off the crepes with dates as well. 

We left around 10am for our safari in the Great Sand Sea.  A half-joking suggestion to ride over the Lybian border (within the empty desert) got us quite lost, and possibly in Lybia for a few minutes, but we'll never know.  We had two jeeps, and the drivers started to get pretty irritated with one another, and started driving less cautiously than I would have liked.  You have never truly appreciated your "oh shit! bar" until you have been riding up and down sand dunes in a jeep driven by a crazy Egyptian man you can't communicate with, without a seat belt or even a seat that stays bolted in place in the vehicle.  We're fine!

By 1pm we were safely oriented in Egypt, out of the jeep, and climbing up a sand slope for sand -boarding.  In actual fact, the foot straps on the board were broken, and our guide told us to just sit on the board to go down the hill.  I would call what we did "sandbogganing".  No matter what you name it, it was a blast.  I was a split second away from being the only person in our group who didn't take a spill when the board's edge caught the sand and I rolled over.  Tom had so much faith in my skills that he'd already turned around, so he missed the spill picture.  Too bad. 

The rest of the safari was less eventful.  We stopped at a natural hot spring and had lunch.  We stopped at a natural cold spring for some relaxation.  It's pretty unbelievable to drive up to a natural body of water in the middle of the desert.  We relaxed a while before heading back to the hotel, and had a siesta before playing cards and heading out for another local dinner.  The vegetable couscous was delicious. 

Our last day of vacation was no vacation at all as we traveled the entire distance back to Cairo with only a couple of stops.  The long weekends are over, and the work weeks are coming to a close.  16 days of class left... but who's counting?!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Tourist Time

"Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?"  As our weeks in Cairo have dwindled into the single digits (wipe those smiles off your faces moms!), Tom and I are realizing just how much we haven't seen and done in this fascinating city.  To ensure that we make the most of our remaining time, we've decided to take one day each weekend to be Egypt tourists.  Last weekend's stops: Citadel of Cairo and Al Azhar Park.

The Citadel of Cairo is a medieval fortress, built over 900 years ago.  For hundreds of years it housed Cairo's rulers, but today it is a tourist site including three mosques, and several palaces turned museums.  It is located on a hill in downtown Cairo, and though we'd seen its extravagant Muhamed Ali mosque on many rides between our neighbourhood and the airport, we'd never gone inside its surrounding wall.  We visited two very different mosques within the walls, the Mosque of al-Nasir Muhammad from the 1300's, and the much larger and more famous Muhamed Ali Mosque (named after the Ottoman commander, not the boxer) from the 1800's.  We also toured the Military museum for at least a half hour, which was at least 25 minutes longer than I stayed interested.


From the Citadel we took an overpriced taxi to Al Azhar Park.  This park is the single strip of green in the beige downtown Cairo landscape.  Developed less than a decade ago, it is Cairo's largest (and probably only) public park.  It felt like a green paradise to us.  

Despite a seemingly vegetarian unfriendly menu, we had a delicious lunch of amazingly fresh bread and Egyptian dips at a picturesque restaurant within the park.  It was so relaxing to be eating on a patio in the sun overlooking green grass, flowers, and trees.  There were kids playing in the water, and we couldn't hear any horns honking.  This may not sound that spectacular to most of you, because for you it's not gone, but Tom and I are in some pretty serious greenery (and quiet) withdrawal. 
 













The park truly is a green island in a sea of sand.   It has lush gardens, colourful flowers, fountains, canals, a lake, and a great view of the Citadel.  
We puttered around the park for a couple of hours before heading to the Nile for a felucca ride to complete a full Cairo tourist day.  We're offering free accommodations for another 7 weeks to any of you who want to be Cairo tourists too.  Otherwise travel vicariously through us as we blog about our weekly highlights.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Red Sea Relaxation

I have a job here in Egypt.  I really do.  I just get a lot of days off to celebrate all Canadian, Egyptian, Christian, and Muslim holidays.  Last week when we arrived home from the long Easter weekend in Turkey, the school announced that it would respect Egyptian labour day the following week, creating a short-notice long weekend.  Tom and I decided to travel to Ain Sukhna, a beach getaway for Cairenes.

We stayed in an apartment with two friends, at the same resort as another half dozen teachers from our school.  Tom and I shared the room with the double bed (sorry moms, I hope that's allowed), while our friends (a.k.a. our children for the weekend) stayed in the room with two twin beds.  Our temporary children were impressed with our parenting abilities when we made a big stack of banana chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.  We much enjoyed the pancakes on our balcony, overlooking the Red Sea.   

There are some obvious and some not-so-obvious differences between resorts in Egypt (at least this one) and the resorts we've been to in the Dominican Republic.

1 - The Beach

Dominican - sprawling sandy beaches with no end in sight
Egypt - a few dump trucks of sand plopped in the 100ft space between the highway and the Red Sea

Thankfully the pools at our resort were really nice and had lots of lounge chairs.  

2 - Beachwear

Dominican - mostly bikinis, with a few 1-piece bathing suits, and a few topless women.
Egypt - bikinis on Westerners, plus the burqini... swimwear that covers the body from head to ankle

3 - Rooms

Dominican - all rooms are completed
Egypt - many rooms are still under construction

4 - Beverages

Dominican - beer, wine, slushy boozy deliciousness, bahama mamas.... all included!
Egypt - no alcohol (other than the stuff we packed into our bags of course)

Don't think this stopped us (especially Tom!) from having a great time. 

While I may not give our resort a 5-star rating, we really appreciated the chance to get out of the big city and relax with friends.  Our apartment was nice, the pools were refreshing, and 2 days of not needing to do anything in particular is particularly enjoyable.  Now I'm well rested for the two 5-day weeks of teaching in a row before the Victoria Day long weekend.