FROM ST KATERINES IN EGYPT THROUGH JORDAN TO ISTANBUL TURKEY

Since our last post, we have still found it difficult to get on the internet or when available in the hotel its is grossly expensive. But here we are, our first day in Istanbul and the internet is cheap and free in the hotel; if you can get a computer!

We visited St Katherines on Mt Sinai which was quite moving, where Moses received the ten commandments and we touch the burning bush. We then drove back down out of the mountains and north up the coast to Nuweiba to catch our 2pm ferry up the Red Sea to Aqaba, Jordan. We wait but by 2.30pm our guide returns telling us there is no ferry but one may come at 10pm tonight. We discuss options and decide to try our luck crossing through Israel. The border is about 80 km north, so we set off driving. We complete customs on the Egyptian side and pass through their border checkpoint and then we walk dragging our cases behind us 200m across no mans land towards armed guards on the Israeli side - just like the movies but no ones running and there are no shots !!! We are received and questioned as to why we are entering Israel and what are our plans. When we say we are just passing through from Egypt to Aqaba in Jordan on a family holiday, they then want to know where we are going and what countries we will visit later. Satisfied with the answers we are moved through to a section to Xray our bags. All is well until the last bag, when they demand who's is this bag. We check the label and its Jenny's. She melts into the ground and they ask us to open it. Searching through, they find her Epilady leg shaver with transformer next to a container filled with pure perfume oil we bought in Egypt - it all becomes clear, they thought it was a bomb. The bag goes back through the Xray and they start smiling again. We walk past the guys holding AK47 machineguns and head on out of the border post for a change of undies!! Outside we find ourselves in the town of Elat. We talk to a taxi driver and ask how much to the border post of Aqaba, Jordan. We get scalped US$20 for the 15 minute Taxi ride, despite my attempts at negotiating. We were told US$10 max is what we should pay. We arrive and pay US$82 departure tax and are allowed to pass with little fanfare. We walk the 200m through no mans land like old pros and cross into Jordan no problems. We meet our guide Mahmoud and then wait one hour for an entry visa - some excuse that the system is down, meanwhile being eyed out the window and Mahmoud explaining why we have come through Israel. Finally its getting dark and they issue the visa and away we go the 15 minutes to our hotel - and finally the change of undies!

Our hotel, The Movenpick in Aqaba is very nice, on the shores of the Red Sea. We have a good rest and swim the following morning. At 12.30pm we meet Kamal our guide and driver for the Jordan Tour and leave heading north to Wadi Rum, a desert area where we meet a Beduion Tridesman and have a ride in his 4 x 4 (no camels anymore!) into the desert. Amazingly tall rocky hills extend out of the desert and we drive around exploring the landscape where Lawrence Of Arabia was shot. He takes us to caves and then we stop at the base of a massive sandstone hill 300m high and he makes Beduion tea in ther shade and we eat pita bread with cheese segments. lots of fun and we communicate with his broken english and lots of hand gestures.

We drive north 180 km and stop at Petra. We stay in an old village that has been converted in to a 5 star hotel called Taybet Zaman, where each room was one of the tridemens houses but has been rebuilt with modern appliance - very novel and a great view from the side of the hill. The following day we drive down to the new town of Petra and then walk 1km to the Siq, a narrow passage 1.8km long through the mountains towering above. This was where one of the Indiana Jones movies was filmed. Walking out of the end of the Siq, we see an incredible view of the Treasury El Khazneh, carved into the red sandstone - breathtaking! We rest, its 32c and only 10-30am. We walk on another 2.5km past incredible temples and tombs carved into the sandstone mountains, then past a a more recent Roman colonnade and Amphitheatre. We have a break and some snacks for lunch then start the gruelling walk and climb 1.5km of tracks and 850 steps up the Ad Deir mountain to the Monastry, which like the Treasury but bigger and not as elaborate has been carved into a red sandstone mnountainside. The view from the top is breathtaking and we need the rest as we are exhausted. Many people are making the trip on the back of donkeys, but not us kiwis - mad buggers walked it!! The walk down although faster and less tiring is tricky passing people and donkeys on the narrow steps and then at the bottom the long walk slightly uphill all the way out of the valley and the Siq. We collapse at the Sandstone Restaurant where we are to meet our guide and after a rest and a drink we have some food. Back to the hotel we fall into bed at 7pm and sleep.

We proceed on with our trip heading to Amman in the north. Along the way we see the vast changing countryside, from desert to mountains to massive canyons to green valleys, travelling up the Ancient Kings highway, route of the ancient trade caravans. We stop and visit Kerak Castle on the way.

Then on to Madaba, where we see the Greek Orthodox Church of St George with the oldest known map of the Holy Land in its floor as a Mosaic.

Next we drive to Mount Nebo where Moses looked out over the holy land after his 40 years of wandering in the desert. In the distance in the valley through the heat haze, we can see the north end of the Dead Sea and the city of Jericho.

We arrive in Amman the capital of Jordan with a population of just under 2 million. We have got on well with Kamal our Driver/Guide and he asks if we would like to visit his family before going to the hotel. We agree and find he lives in a 3 storey house on the east side. The ground floor he rents out, the next level his widowed mother lives, then his family consisting of wife and 5 kids live above. He is part way through building a top level which will be for his eldest son (now 20 years old) when he marries. We arrive to find the house full of relatives, as it is a three day public holiday weekend to celebrate the Prophet Mohammed's birthday and they are visiting their mother. She invites us to sit in her level and have tea and meet the family. This we do (she is left on the couch) and chat in broken english with Kamal translating for an hour.

We have a couple of days in Amman and drive north with Kamal to visit Jerash, Pompeii of the East. Amazing how the Greeks built their city over earlier towns. It is an amazing site, with an Amphitheatre seating 7000 and a beautiful Circle collonade and street which was the market and main street. Jerash had a population of 20,000 people with a water supply and its own sewer, attested by the manholes in the middle of the limestone paved streets - incredible. Abraham our guide was very wise and knowledgeable and despite the 34oc temperature we enjoy the visit.

We then spent two days at the Dead Sea about 80km west of Amman. We needed the break from being on the go and the Movenpick Reort was wonderful. Floating on the Dead Sea due to its salt content or covering ourselves in the mud was a lot of fun. We also enjoyed a massage each to get us ready for our Tour of Turkey.

And so we have arrived in Istanbul Turkey. We are staying in the Old City and having a good time before joining our Tour in 2 days. The weather is noticeably colder, only 20oc when we arrived yesterday and I would guess 160c today. First time I have put trousers on.

Well we will keep in touch as and when we have internet access and update you on our Turkey experience.

Egypt and cruising down the Nile River

We left Cairo 11 March and flew via Aswan to Abu Simbel to view the massive statutes of RamsesII and his wife Neferitari. Mind blowing in size and incredible to think that they paid US$40 million to move them up out of the Nile valley before they flooded the Nile following the building of the High Dam and creation of lake Nasser.

We fly back to Aswan and join the boat the NILE PLAZA for our cruise starting tomorrow down the nile heading north back towards Cairo stopping at Luxor. We have a sail in a Falucca (traditional egyption sail boat) across to Elephantine Island - bit of a non event! Back to the boat and the quality of which we (and we find out later many others) are very disappointed in. Lucky if it was 2 star and the food inedible. We complain and consider leaving the boat, but are advised to stay put as everything is fully booked. We manage to get kids moved from their room, the floor of which is 1 metre below the waterline and stinks of diesel and is damp and musty!

We visit Philae temple on an island by small motorboat, the high dam (massive) built in 1971 with help from the Russians and Lake Nasser the largest lake in the world and then a factory shop making pure essential oils. We buy two small quantities and a glass bottle.

We cruised to Kom Ombo and visited the temple from which we saw the sun set over the Nile - magical. We cruise on to Edfu and visit the Temple Of Horus which is well preserved as it had filled with sand and lay undiscovered and accordingly not defaced or pillaged. Amazing structurehyroglyphics and statues

On to Esna a very poor town. I get off and go for a walk, but most people stay on board. Watch them extending the river wall to accomodated more boats - now almost 500 between Aswan and Luxor and growing all the time as they are all full! We wait our turn to go throught the Lock and drop 7.5 m down to cruise on the Luxor. Takes from 2pm until 5.30pm to get through, 2 boats at a time.

We cruise on to Luxor and visit the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank. We visit 3 tombs, Ramses III, Ramses IV and Setnakht. Very interesting in the Alabaster hills, dusty and incredibly hot at 32c with thousands of people everywhere. We then go to the Necropolis of Thebes - built into a massive alabaster hillside it is incredible. We walk up and discover howbig it is. The view across the valley floor and the green crops to the Nile is an amazing cntrast to the dusty hills. On the way back to the boat, we visit an alabaster factory and shop to see how they craft items from little boulders. In the afternoon we visit Karnak Temple, the largest temple in Egypt and right in Luxor. Very impressive with its rows of Sheep Sphinx, which used to run for 3 miles in a straight line all the way to Luxor Temple. We drive to Luxor and view what was built by Amenophis III and RamsesII. This temple had silted up over time by 12 metres being on the banks of the Nile. When discovered, it had a more recent city built on top of it, so most of the columns and statues had been cut off at 12m. We see the restored remains of a Mosque 12 m up still in the top of part of the temple - incredible.

We leave Luxor after two nights on the boat, with a galabaya party. Our group wins all the competitions but one and seems to be the most bonded group... fun fun fun.

We fly across the Red Sea to Sharm El-Sheikh a resort area still in Egypt. In the cusp of land where he Red Sea meets the Sea of Suez. Built on desert land between the hills and the Red Sea it is amazing. Our resort on the edge of the cliffs has good terraced access to the sea, coral reef and fish. Huge pools and grounds the rooms are massive - a nice change and a couple of days rest and access to the internet is great. Internet is very expensive in Egypt and hard to find outside of the hotels which charge 44 pounds (NZ$13 for 15 minutes!)

Tomorrow we will visit St Katherines. Mt Sinai, then the port f Nueiba to catch a ferry to Aquaba in Jordan. Will see how internet in Jordan.

THIS COMPUTER WILL NOT READ MY SD CARD SO NO PHOTOS TODAY.

England and Egypt

We finish sightseeing in London on 29 February and we drive north oround the M25 ringroad to head north, but get stuck in a traffic jamb due to a traffic accident. We force our way off the motorway and stay the night. Over the next five days we explore Cambridge including Kings College and the Fitzwilliam Museum(incredible), Royal Leamington Spa, Stratford upon avon, Oxford including Christ Church.We stayed in a farm stay outside of Oxford at a place called Ramsden (see photo). It had a fantastic little pub where we had a beautiful meal.

We visited Woodstock and Blenheim Palace, Bath and the Roman Baths, and Stonehenge (see photo). We then headed to the southern coast and Bognor Regis a town caught in a time warp for 40 years and Little Hampton a pretty little seaside town. We then head back up to Heathrow and fly out to Egypt.

We arrived in Cairo on Thursday the 6th March. Incredible place with 17million people. Everything is mud coloured and streets are very dusty. We have a day of rest then begin 2 days sightseeing. We visit Memphis the original capital of Egypt with its statue of Ramses II, the pyramids and the sphinx in Giza (see photos) and paid to enter the largest kings pyramid and walk 100meters up and into the centre of the pyramid to the room which holds the huge red granite sarcophagus that held the kings mummy (since removed). We visited an Egyptian carpet factory (beautiful but we don’t buy) then a papyrus studio where they use original paper making techniques with hand painting. We went to the museum and saw the Tutankhamun display which was mind blowing. We spend the next 2 days walking around Cairo, skipping across 3 to 6 lane roads dodging cars visiting the shopping district where the shops with certain goods are all grouped together, the bazaar and have a rest a few hours around the pool.

11th March we are flying to Aswan and Abu Symbel then cruising down the Nile. Will update the blog when next we can.