I am still in Australia, and still staying with my friend. I was originally intending to only stay a few days with Matthew before heading North or South to continue exploring Eastern Australia, however i haven't made it too far. I am having a blast with Matt, and with my dwindling money supply and being spoiled with crazy luxuries like cars, my own bathroom, bed, and laundry facilities, i just cannot be convinced to leave!!
In reality it is just having a great friend who is willing to let me crash at his house for 3 weeks and laugh and play with me which is keeping me here! We have been quite busy the last 1.5 weeks. As i mentioned Matthew is a dance instructor and is currently trying to open his own studio, so was not working when i first got here but was waiting for approval by council to allow him to start building. On my 4th day here he got the approval that he has been waiting for 3 months to get and now he is a ball of energy and work. I am really excited for him, but i was really enjoying my own personal tour guide who had nothing to do but entertain me!!
He is still doing quite well balancing finding things for me to do and taking me around with work, so i am really in no place to complain.
We have been on some fun adventures, heading out to the Hunter Valley, which is wine country about 2 hours outside of Sydney. We went wine tasting on Sunday this weekend, taking the whole day to drive out and enjoy the beautiful country side, and then explore some of the wineries they have here. The first few i was sorely disappointed, but then we struck pay dirt with a few. We were trying to discover what Matthew liked in wine, and he would always laugh at me because i would always try the same things and then go for the most expensive red they were sampling on the list. Of course i kept falling for the $50 - $70 bottles and Matthew would just shake his head. His favorite was a $13.50 bottle of white! I was making him crazy as well trying to explain all of my "expansive" wine knowledge.... i may be exaggerating slightly on how much i really know.... but I guess i miss pretending to be a wine expert to all the tourists who fell upon Summerhill.
Matthew also took me salsa dancing over the weekend with 2 of his dance instructor friends. Now if you would like to talk about being intimidated... please, go to a Salsa bar, where everyone is either professional salsa dancer, or old creepy men with shirts unbuttoned to their belly-buttons. (and they say some women show to much cleavage, i never want to see hairy old man cleavage again!) I had receive 2 lessons at this point of my professional salsa dancing career. The first included about 10 minutes learning the basic step, and being yelled at because i always try to dance on the balls of my feet. I am convinced i look better being bouncy, maybe if i just bounce up and down of my feet people will think i am a pro..... Matthew disagrees.. So i have less than 40 minutes of salsa under my belt and after watching people eat up the dance floor, was quite content to suck on one beer all night and crawl under the table and cry. Unfortunately that was not permitted. I danced one salsa dance, then crawled under the table and cried! After the dance instructors all got up and started dancing. I realized that they all waited for me to go first because after i saw what they could do, i did not feel like dancing any more. My jumbled shuffling feet remained glued to the floor.
We eventually moved to another bar when no one could take the Latino version of N'Sync and other 90's music any longer, where i danced the night away. And by dancing i simply mean jumped up and down and shook my hips now and then. Matthew and his dancer friends dance differently... but i could at least blend in with the rest of the crowd who don't know the difference between their left foot and their right.
I haven't seem much of the local wildlife save a bunch of spiders and lots of different types of birds. The strangest thing is watching parrots, and parakeets, and cockatoos fly around wild. I keep waiting for one of the parrots to say hello to me, but they never do! Maybe they don't understand my North American accent.
I am also working for my keep here. I have been helping Matt paint and clean his new studio, which is where i have come across the majority of the spiders. Mostly just daddy long legs, but a few others i have either attacked with long handle brooms or long hosed vacuums. Anything within to close of a proximity and my squealing alights Matthew or his friend Mark to spider killing attention. The best part of one of my days beyond the spider patrol by the boys, was when in their attempt to paint the wall of the stairs, and without a proper ladder to stand on the stairs the boys devised a multitude of ways to stupidly stack or lean the ladders against things. In my last attempt to help, Mark was holding one ladder, and i had to hold the paint bucket as Matthew scoured the other and didn't have a free hand to hold the can. When the ladders collapsed because of the stupidity of the boys, fortunately it fell against the stairs landing, but not before smashing my paint can held arm and pouring 90% of the paint down my hair, face and shirt. Thank God it was a water based paint otherwise i would have been scalping the two boys for my new hair! Needless to say i was done helping for the day and started cleaning up instead after giving myself a full bath in the smallest sink imaginable. The boys were too afraid to come near me after that!
One of the best things we have done so far was last night Matthew and I got dressed up in full fancy-shmancy gear and went to the Sydney Opera House and went to see a symphony. There was the full orchestra, a choir, and 3 opera singers. 2 of the opera singers i could have done without, only one of them i really enjoyed, but the orchestra and the choir were both amazing! I am such an old fart but that stuff absolutely amazes me. Almost as great as the symphony was during the intermission, we were in some really great seats (thank you Matthew!!) which opened up onto a bar that overlooked the whole harbor, bridge and Luna park ( a famous amusement park) which were all lit up. It was an absolutely gorgeous view of the inky black water with a few boat lights on it, and a close up view of Northern Sydney.
In total i think you can tell i am having a great time here. I really enjoy Sydney and could only ask for a bit of sun because i am drastically loosing any tan that i had gained! I know all Australians would curse me (as they have had a 6 year drought) but i don't want any more rain! Give me Sun! (Don't worry Father i have been wearing 30 sunscreen everyday!)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
The Land of OZ
I am in Australia, and having a really great time. I have only been here for 2 days so far, but am staying with my friend Matthew, who i went to high school with. He picked me up bright and early on Saturday morning and showed me a bit of the city. The first day was actually spent mostly doing my laundy as i regret to say it had been about a month (EW!!) since most things had seen a washing machine. Now not to harp to harshly on my cleanliness, I have become a great bathroom washer of clothing in sinks with hotel bars of soap that I scam. But whites always seem to become a bit grey, and they just don't get rid of that musty back-packers smell. With the humidity in Thialand also things never seemed to fully dry, unless i racked the airconditioning up to sub-zero temperatures. So Matthew was a little overwhelmed at my 3 months on the road, worn-out and slightly smelly clothes, and insisted that i shower, and at my refusal to burn my clothes, we washed them in hot hot water, and they even went in a dryer!!! Let me tell you how much i love dryers. They are the best thing in the whole entire world, and my next big love is dryer sheets. Yes i know that they are bad for the enviornment or something, and are loaded with chemicals, but they are chemicals that make my clothes feel and smell WONDERFUL!
But washing my clothes is not all i have done in Australia. Matthew lives outside of Sydney, or in Sydeny... i am not sure which it is. I think Sydney is another Vancouver or Phoenix where the city had grown into other cities so you don't know where th boundries lie. But iether way i am in or around the capital city. We have checked out Manley Beach and Bondi beach, I met Matthews best friend, another dancer and went to a club that has 5 rooms which all play different music, but the inside looks like Ranchmans ( a cowboy bar in Calgary). Matthew has started to try and teach me to dance, as he is a dance instructor and is curretnly opening his own studio. I am not very good, and tend to get dizzy! I have learned that one day when i grow up and can drive a car without hitting other cars that i want to get a motorcycle. Matthew has one and after gearing me up in leathers and helmets i have decided i look good as a biker babe and should invest in one of these two wheeled machines. But as i said since i tend to run into things, i still would like a big steel metal cage around me!
Tomorrow we are going to head into the city and check out the opera house and the botanical gardens and whatever else there is to see. I have ridden over the Sydney Harbor bridge via motorcycle and seen the opera house from afar, but want to get closer!
I am hoping to check out a bit more of the country and see what wild animals i can run into so we're looking into going camping one weekend!
That is really all for now. The last computer wouldn't let me upload the pictures that i had promised so i will try to get onto that soon!
Love from down under!
But washing my clothes is not all i have done in Australia. Matthew lives outside of Sydney, or in Sydeny... i am not sure which it is. I think Sydney is another Vancouver or Phoenix where the city had grown into other cities so you don't know where th boundries lie. But iether way i am in or around the capital city. We have checked out Manley Beach and Bondi beach, I met Matthews best friend, another dancer and went to a club that has 5 rooms which all play different music, but the inside looks like Ranchmans ( a cowboy bar in Calgary). Matthew has started to try and teach me to dance, as he is a dance instructor and is curretnly opening his own studio. I am not very good, and tend to get dizzy! I have learned that one day when i grow up and can drive a car without hitting other cars that i want to get a motorcycle. Matthew has one and after gearing me up in leathers and helmets i have decided i look good as a biker babe and should invest in one of these two wheeled machines. But as i said since i tend to run into things, i still would like a big steel metal cage around me!
Tomorrow we are going to head into the city and check out the opera house and the botanical gardens and whatever else there is to see. I have ridden over the Sydney Harbor bridge via motorcycle and seen the opera house from afar, but want to get closer!
I am hoping to check out a bit more of the country and see what wild animals i can run into so we're looking into going camping one weekend!
That is really all for now. The last computer wouldn't let me upload the pictures that i had promised so i will try to get onto that soon!
Love from down under!
Loas and Southern Thailand
The river kyaking day ended up to be kyaking in rapids. Tonnes of fun however quite the adventure was getting there and back in itself. The kyaking trip in Loas, was stated to be a hour public bus ride out of the city of Vientiane. Now typically when one thinks of bus, they think, well a bus. Even in Africa my bus expereinces, while always interesting (and fillled with the blasted red dirt) were always in some form of bus transportation. This was my first non-bus bus. Instead the public transporation comes in the form of a pick up truck, with two bench seats along the back, and a open canopy to store all the luggage on the top. No goats on the top of this bus, but a cooler full of chicks twittering away was stored up on the canopy. And of course after 5 - 6 people are crammed on each bench seat the drives stop and pick up people to stand on the back of the truck and hold on to handles off the canopy.
So this was a bit of a surprise, and the next surprise came when after 1 hour, and multiple stops at each town the we drove through to ensure that there were no other people in the village who could be crammed into the "bus", we were nowhere near the city we were headed to. After 2 hours dad and I became certain the we were off to the wrong city, and as the bus driver, or anyone on the bus did not speak english, scared and frustrated glances were passed back and forth between dad and i in each passing town. Finally after 2.5 hours, we were dropped off at the side of the road and pointed to a bridge.
We found the kyak place, and although our guide was mostly there to ensure we made it through the class 3 rapids, (only instruction was if you fall out, don't swim, you'll get stuck in the whirlpools... just wait until your out of the rapids and get back in the boat.) The journey was uquite nice and serene. Dad and I enjoyed the scenery, and made it through the rapids without falling out of the boat, or losing control!! (same cannot be said for our guide, HA!) It was a really fun time on the water.
The next adventure came on our return to the city. After some lunch we were informed that we would be taken via tractor (..... really tractor??) back to the city, and then driven again by bus that isnt a bus, back to Vientiane. However instead of said tractor, our guide walked us out into the center of a small local village, and left us at a shop. He said the bus would come, to just wait, as he left for home on his scooter. Dad and i were glared down by the local men who were crowded around a table infront of the shop. It was at this point that Dad adopted my word of "sketchy"!! We were in the middle of no where and were feeling quite vunerable. I was about 2 more minutes away from hoofing it back through the jungle to get back to the eco-house where we had lunch, and insisting on a real bus with air conditioning, when the non-bus bus came. It was another 2.5 hours home, but it was an adventure!
The next morning we were off to Phuket to enjoy some beach time and a bit of relaxation. As both Jamie and Cindy were sounding a little stressed at home, we decided it would be a great idea to get everyone to Phuket for a last minute family vacation. Dad and i were informed of a fantastic website called wotif, (www.wotif.com) which gives great deals on hotels all over the world. We got a 4 star hotel for about $50/night!! The place was lovely with golden sand in a small bay. Lapiz blue waters, and beautiful tropical gardens surrounded the area. We each had small little bungalows which faced out towards the ocean. My favourite part though, beyond the crashing of the waves rolling up on shore, was the pool. Now usually when there is an beach and the ocean to be had, i could care less about pools. But unfortuantly the golden sand beach quickly gave way to a old rocky coral bed. The pool more than made up for the not so fun ocean swimming. It was huge and rolled around the hotel gardens with lots of waterfalls, and flowers dipping into the water. It felt as though you had wandered into a small oasis. In a shallow section of the kiddie pool there were big elpehant statues in the water which when turned on spurted water out of the elephant trunks to make a shallow water park. A swim up bar enticed you to drink pina coladas out of coconuts, or my favourite the banana daquiris! It was a great place for some R&R. I was really excited to have Jamie and Cindy come down as well. We stayed off Patong Beach for a few days, mostly just relaxing and doing some shopping at the markets in town. Dad and Cindy always could manage to find a Irish pub somewhere in the towns that we went to do grab a Guiness, and Jamie fell in love with the local beer Singha.
After Patong we headed north to Kohlak. Kohlak was the big hub-bub where many of the really swank hotels and resorts were before the tsunami, however as it was farther north without any protection from other land, it was hit quite hard, and the everthing the layed on the beach was completely destroyed. The town is doing quite well in its rebuilding process, but it is smaller now, and i actually hope it stays the same, and it is quite and beautiful in comparison to Patong.
We stayed again at a wonderful hotel thanks to that website for a great deal. This hotel was even better in the sense that although didn't have all the amenitites the other hotel had, (they are still rebuilding) the rooms were glorious, everything was brand new, and the beach rocked my world. Golden sand beach that stretches out a couple miles on each side, rolling blue ocean, and we could wander past the surf stil not past our chests into the water and not a rock to be found! It was great. I love the ocean, but dad kept having to go back and jump in the pool to cool off as the ocean was not cold enough! The ocean was probably a good 80 degrees F or 25 degrees C!! It was fantastic!
We managed to also do another elephant ride, bamboo raft trip, with cindy and Jamie as well as visiting a turtle conservation farm, seeing wild snakes sleeping in trees, more shopping and massages and pedicures, fishing and snorkeling, visited the police boat tsunami memorial, and watched 3 fanstastic sunsets!
After a what seemed like a very brief stay in Southern Thailand, we headed back to Bangkok to each go our seperate ways.
I had such a fantastic time traveling with my dad, and was very happy that Cindy and Jamie came to join us for the last bit. This trip has been a great experience and i am so glad that i have had the chance to see my family and expereince so many things with them!
So this was a bit of a surprise, and the next surprise came when after 1 hour, and multiple stops at each town the we drove through to ensure that there were no other people in the village who could be crammed into the "bus", we were nowhere near the city we were headed to. After 2 hours dad and I became certain the we were off to the wrong city, and as the bus driver, or anyone on the bus did not speak english, scared and frustrated glances were passed back and forth between dad and i in each passing town. Finally after 2.5 hours, we were dropped off at the side of the road and pointed to a bridge.
We found the kyak place, and although our guide was mostly there to ensure we made it through the class 3 rapids, (only instruction was if you fall out, don't swim, you'll get stuck in the whirlpools... just wait until your out of the rapids and get back in the boat.) The journey was uquite nice and serene. Dad and I enjoyed the scenery, and made it through the rapids without falling out of the boat, or losing control!! (same cannot be said for our guide, HA!) It was a really fun time on the water.
The next adventure came on our return to the city. After some lunch we were informed that we would be taken via tractor (..... really tractor??) back to the city, and then driven again by bus that isnt a bus, back to Vientiane. However instead of said tractor, our guide walked us out into the center of a small local village, and left us at a shop. He said the bus would come, to just wait, as he left for home on his scooter. Dad and i were glared down by the local men who were crowded around a table infront of the shop. It was at this point that Dad adopted my word of "sketchy"!! We were in the middle of no where and were feeling quite vunerable. I was about 2 more minutes away from hoofing it back through the jungle to get back to the eco-house where we had lunch, and insisting on a real bus with air conditioning, when the non-bus bus came. It was another 2.5 hours home, but it was an adventure!
The next morning we were off to Phuket to enjoy some beach time and a bit of relaxation. As both Jamie and Cindy were sounding a little stressed at home, we decided it would be a great idea to get everyone to Phuket for a last minute family vacation. Dad and i were informed of a fantastic website called wotif, (www.wotif.com) which gives great deals on hotels all over the world. We got a 4 star hotel for about $50/night!! The place was lovely with golden sand in a small bay. Lapiz blue waters, and beautiful tropical gardens surrounded the area. We each had small little bungalows which faced out towards the ocean. My favourite part though, beyond the crashing of the waves rolling up on shore, was the pool. Now usually when there is an beach and the ocean to be had, i could care less about pools. But unfortuantly the golden sand beach quickly gave way to a old rocky coral bed. The pool more than made up for the not so fun ocean swimming. It was huge and rolled around the hotel gardens with lots of waterfalls, and flowers dipping into the water. It felt as though you had wandered into a small oasis. In a shallow section of the kiddie pool there were big elpehant statues in the water which when turned on spurted water out of the elephant trunks to make a shallow water park. A swim up bar enticed you to drink pina coladas out of coconuts, or my favourite the banana daquiris! It was a great place for some R&R. I was really excited to have Jamie and Cindy come down as well. We stayed off Patong Beach for a few days, mostly just relaxing and doing some shopping at the markets in town. Dad and Cindy always could manage to find a Irish pub somewhere in the towns that we went to do grab a Guiness, and Jamie fell in love with the local beer Singha.
After Patong we headed north to Kohlak. Kohlak was the big hub-bub where many of the really swank hotels and resorts were before the tsunami, however as it was farther north without any protection from other land, it was hit quite hard, and the everthing the layed on the beach was completely destroyed. The town is doing quite well in its rebuilding process, but it is smaller now, and i actually hope it stays the same, and it is quite and beautiful in comparison to Patong.
We stayed again at a wonderful hotel thanks to that website for a great deal. This hotel was even better in the sense that although didn't have all the amenitites the other hotel had, (they are still rebuilding) the rooms were glorious, everything was brand new, and the beach rocked my world. Golden sand beach that stretches out a couple miles on each side, rolling blue ocean, and we could wander past the surf stil not past our chests into the water and not a rock to be found! It was great. I love the ocean, but dad kept having to go back and jump in the pool to cool off as the ocean was not cold enough! The ocean was probably a good 80 degrees F or 25 degrees C!! It was fantastic!
We managed to also do another elephant ride, bamboo raft trip, with cindy and Jamie as well as visiting a turtle conservation farm, seeing wild snakes sleeping in trees, more shopping and massages and pedicures, fishing and snorkeling, visited the police boat tsunami memorial, and watched 3 fanstastic sunsets!
After a what seemed like a very brief stay in Southern Thailand, we headed back to Bangkok to each go our seperate ways.
I had such a fantastic time traveling with my dad, and was very happy that Cindy and Jamie came to join us for the last bit. This trip has been a great experience and i am so glad that i have had the chance to see my family and expereince so many things with them!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Northern Thialand
After our exciting elephant treking and bamboo rafting we had a day off in Chaing Mia. Dad found a tuk tuk driver to take us around town. We started going to 2 more wats, and then went and saw all the different factory's along the Golden Mile. This is a big stretch of road that has all the traditional skills showcased for tourists to come and visit, to see how each traditional item is made, and then purchase it! We went and saw the Thia silk factory, umbrella making and painting, teak wood carving, and jewlery factories. Halfway through the day, I was getting food grumpy ( a phenomenon when i don't eat i range from being pleasantly straving, to weepingly desperate to enraged cow) I politely demanded we find food.... NOW. So the tuk tuk driver took us to the closest hole in the wall, which served heaping plates of food for a dollar per plate. It was the best Thia food i have had yet!!! Dad got Pad Thia, which is his favorite local dish, i discovered Ginger fried anything is amazing! You could serve me ginger fried big toe and i would eat it! It was the most fantastic meal i have ever had and it cost us $5 us dollars for 2 plates of food, 2 drinks, a big bottle of water and icecream!!
After our factory day ( i must say we did pretty good... i desperately wanted a teak dining room table for chirstmas but dad said no..... the chairs were each about 30-40 lbs... solid wood) we went back to Wat Chedi Luang, where they offered Monk Chat. This is where novice Monks come and talk with the public about anythign they want to talk about. Buddhism, Thai culture, Monk life, temples, etc. This not only educates the public, but also allows the novices to practice their english!
Dad and i sat down and talked to a Novice who was 22 years old, and had been practicing for 10 years. We talked about a lot of different things, and i really wish Dad and I had a recording of it, because mostly i got a gerneral overview of the topics. But it was really interesting to talk to him and learn about the Monk life and a bit about the Buddhist beliefs. He was as equally interested in our lives, cultures, and was bit confused as to how i was living in a different country than my father. We kept it simple just saying i had been going to school up there, but is shows you how different our cultures can be. Some of these countries are smaller than some US states, or Canadian provinces, and few ever leave their country, either from a lack of means, or just as it is not the culture to do so.
THe next day we had planned a tour to take us up to Chaing Ria, and the Golden Triangle. For those who were oblivious like me to what the Golden Triangle is, it is the border of Thialand, Burma and Loas. This is where a lot of the Opium from the 1970's importing during the Vietnam war and so on came from. Think American Gangster with Denzel Washington....
Anyways, not that i really wanted to mess with anything poppy related. Most of the Southeast Asian countries have big signs to let you know that drug trafficing is punishable by death, and the death penalty WILL be used!... Okay no poppies and dumping out my tylenol bottle. However i thought it would be interesting to see/learn about that history. What dad and i were painfully unaware of is that we had somehow ended up on a market tour, where they trick you into thinking that you are going to see a whole bunch of really cool sights and do some adventure things, hotsprings and long boat trips in to Burma and Laos, local Thai food lunch, drive to the most northern part of thialand and then go through the jungle to the long neck people's village..... ummm no. Instead the hotsprings, were hotsprings fountains which was the size of a pond you might put in your backyard, with a big Market, next was the long boat into the different countries, well you go 3 minutes up river and look at a casino on the river bank, OH your in Burma! THen backtrack 6 minutes down the river, and go to a.... Market, and Oh your in Loas. Then they take you to the most northern part of Thailand, where there is a big touristy gate saying "Most Northern Part of Thialand" and surrounding it is.... yes you guessed it a market. Oh i forgot to mention the lovely thia style lunch, well the resturant is called "A Buffet for Tourist Groups" No explanation necessary.. except the food sucked!
THe only really interesting thing was the local village, which unfortunately was not a local village, but a tourist stand set up for the villagers to sell their goods, and also to be "viewed" almost like animals at the zoo. I was completely uninmpressed by our tourguide as he would just walk up to each person talk about them, finger them or move them around never seeming to actually acknowledge them. They were lovely people though and although i wasn't able to talk to them due to language barrier, i made a friend with lady from the "big ear tribe" ( i dont know the real name of each tribe or village due to lame tour guide) but this is where they stick big rings in their ears and stretch their earlobes, similar to what some people do today. This lady's ear was streched with a ring big enough you could maybe fit a banana through!
All in all it wasn't quite what we had anticipated but we got to see different things such a beautiful jungles, traditional Loation "medicine" such as tiger penis, gecko, cobra, and scorpion whiskey! Um ew, i'll just be sick thank you very much.
The next day was really exciting where Dad and I went ripsailing through the jungle tree tops. This is where you are up in the canopies of the trees hooked onto cable lines in a harnass and "sail" from tree top to tree top. There were 17 cables lines, 2 sky bridges, nd 3 abisailing, where you go vertically down the tree via a rope. The longest cable was 120 meters, and the highest abisail was probably about 75 m up! It was such a fun day and dadand i had a blast! We were a bit nervous at first, and you just hold on to your harness as if somehow you are controlling wether that keeps you from falling, but by the end we were throughing ourselves off the platforms and "flying" (flapping our arms and kicking our feet) through the air. Dad and i raced down the last abisail together.
Our last Day in Chaing Mia was spent in a Thai cooking class where we learned to cook Pad Thia, curry dishes, different soups and appetiezers. They took us to the market in the morning so we could learn aout the different herbs, vegetables, fruits and spices to use. Half way through the class we had a break and dad decided to go for a 15 minute, 3 dollar hair cut. I giggled on the couch the whole time while this lady shaved dads head. He now looks like a military man!
We are now i Vientiane, Laos.. it is a little quiter than we first anticipated, but tomorrow we are going either kyaking or white river rafting, we're not sure which, they say kyak, but then show you a picture of white river rafting. Either way should be another great adventure.
Finally found a computer with a USB so look back for some pictures of previous trips!
After our factory day ( i must say we did pretty good... i desperately wanted a teak dining room table for chirstmas but dad said no..... the chairs were each about 30-40 lbs... solid wood) we went back to Wat Chedi Luang, where they offered Monk Chat. This is where novice Monks come and talk with the public about anythign they want to talk about. Buddhism, Thai culture, Monk life, temples, etc. This not only educates the public, but also allows the novices to practice their english!
Dad and i sat down and talked to a Novice who was 22 years old, and had been practicing for 10 years. We talked about a lot of different things, and i really wish Dad and I had a recording of it, because mostly i got a gerneral overview of the topics. But it was really interesting to talk to him and learn about the Monk life and a bit about the Buddhist beliefs. He was as equally interested in our lives, cultures, and was bit confused as to how i was living in a different country than my father. We kept it simple just saying i had been going to school up there, but is shows you how different our cultures can be. Some of these countries are smaller than some US states, or Canadian provinces, and few ever leave their country, either from a lack of means, or just as it is not the culture to do so.
THe next day we had planned a tour to take us up to Chaing Ria, and the Golden Triangle. For those who were oblivious like me to what the Golden Triangle is, it is the border of Thialand, Burma and Loas. This is where a lot of the Opium from the 1970's importing during the Vietnam war and so on came from. Think American Gangster with Denzel Washington....
Anyways, not that i really wanted to mess with anything poppy related. Most of the Southeast Asian countries have big signs to let you know that drug trafficing is punishable by death, and the death penalty WILL be used!... Okay no poppies and dumping out my tylenol bottle. However i thought it would be interesting to see/learn about that history. What dad and i were painfully unaware of is that we had somehow ended up on a market tour, where they trick you into thinking that you are going to see a whole bunch of really cool sights and do some adventure things, hotsprings and long boat trips in to Burma and Laos, local Thai food lunch, drive to the most northern part of thialand and then go through the jungle to the long neck people's village..... ummm no. Instead the hotsprings, were hotsprings fountains which was the size of a pond you might put in your backyard, with a big Market, next was the long boat into the different countries, well you go 3 minutes up river and look at a casino on the river bank, OH your in Burma! THen backtrack 6 minutes down the river, and go to a.... Market, and Oh your in Loas. Then they take you to the most northern part of Thailand, where there is a big touristy gate saying "Most Northern Part of Thialand" and surrounding it is.... yes you guessed it a market. Oh i forgot to mention the lovely thia style lunch, well the resturant is called "A Buffet for Tourist Groups" No explanation necessary.. except the food sucked!
THe only really interesting thing was the local village, which unfortunately was not a local village, but a tourist stand set up for the villagers to sell their goods, and also to be "viewed" almost like animals at the zoo. I was completely uninmpressed by our tourguide as he would just walk up to each person talk about them, finger them or move them around never seeming to actually acknowledge them. They were lovely people though and although i wasn't able to talk to them due to language barrier, i made a friend with lady from the "big ear tribe" ( i dont know the real name of each tribe or village due to lame tour guide) but this is where they stick big rings in their ears and stretch their earlobes, similar to what some people do today. This lady's ear was streched with a ring big enough you could maybe fit a banana through!
All in all it wasn't quite what we had anticipated but we got to see different things such a beautiful jungles, traditional Loation "medicine" such as tiger penis, gecko, cobra, and scorpion whiskey! Um ew, i'll just be sick thank you very much.
The next day was really exciting where Dad and I went ripsailing through the jungle tree tops. This is where you are up in the canopies of the trees hooked onto cable lines in a harnass and "sail" from tree top to tree top. There were 17 cables lines, 2 sky bridges, nd 3 abisailing, where you go vertically down the tree via a rope. The longest cable was 120 meters, and the highest abisail was probably about 75 m up! It was such a fun day and dadand i had a blast! We were a bit nervous at first, and you just hold on to your harness as if somehow you are controlling wether that keeps you from falling, but by the end we were throughing ourselves off the platforms and "flying" (flapping our arms and kicking our feet) through the air. Dad and i raced down the last abisail together.
Our last Day in Chaing Mia was spent in a Thai cooking class where we learned to cook Pad Thia, curry dishes, different soups and appetiezers. They took us to the market in the morning so we could learn aout the different herbs, vegetables, fruits and spices to use. Half way through the class we had a break and dad decided to go for a 15 minute, 3 dollar hair cut. I giggled on the couch the whole time while this lady shaved dads head. He now looks like a military man!
We are now i Vientiane, Laos.. it is a little quiter than we first anticipated, but tomorrow we are going either kyaking or white river rafting, we're not sure which, they say kyak, but then show you a picture of white river rafting. Either way should be another great adventure.
Finally found a computer with a USB so look back for some pictures of previous trips!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Bangkok and Chaing Mai
I met my Dad in Bangkok after leaving Egypt. He had been here a day already and had some things arranged for us, including a swanky hotel. SCORE!!
The day before while doing his own exploring he met Toy, a tuk-tuk driver (3 wheeled scooter with a covered canopy and bench seat in the back) Toy took us to some of the Temples or Wats. We first saw the Golden Buddha which is 5.5 tonnes of solid gold! The temples are all beautifully decorated with golded spires that ride op the roof lines like waves, and the front facades are decorated with intricately carved wood, gold paint, bright reds and deep sapphire blues, and have inlaid pieces of glass or tile to reflect the sun and make the whole place sparkle. Inside the Wats are the golden Buddhas which sit serenly in the back, often eyes downcast as if to look at all the offerings of lotus flowers, incense, glasses of brandy, and candles burning at its feet. Other smaller golden buddhas often surround the larger one. All of the temples have golden buddhas, some have many many many almost littering the temple grounds. They are not all solid gold, but a bronze or some alloy statue which worshipers (correct word??) will come and they can purchase a piece of gold lief to stick onto the statue. When they are all covered with enough gold they will be laqured and finished. The money will be used towards the temples or the monks.
After the Golden buddha we saw the Happy Buddha in China town. The happy buddha is happy i think because he is fat! Happy buddha is the typical round belly buddha that most think of. He is a Chinese version and there is a local Thia joke saying he is fat because the Chinese eat so much while the Thia are poor and devout! I like the fat Buddha, i like eating... ALOT!
After the temples we went to a canal river boat trip where we rode down the river that runs throuough the city. We saw a snake show where they whipped Cobras around as if they were play toys, and i came to find a whole new respect for the King Cobra which is the size of a python, but a freaking Cobra!!! Um please do not ever let me see one of those outside of a cage!
We saw the reclining Buddha (which we discovered later represents Buddha when he dies) and a million other buddhas (or so it seemed)
The second Bangkok day rocked! We went to Tiger Temple which is a Buddhist sancuary for animals. It has all sorts of boars, cattle, horses, and deer that have made their way into this sanctuary one way or another. In 1999 the first tiger cub was brought here and there are at least 12 there now.
My dad and I got to go up to full grown tigers and sit with them and have our pictures taken, and then go and play with 7 month old tiget cubs. It was not as exciting as walking with the Lions in Africa, but it defintely gave me respect about how much bigger tigers are than lions! The 7 month old tiger cubs were the same size if not bigger than the 14 month male lion cubs!
We also visited the Death Bridge cemetery which WWII buffs (you know who you are!) should know that was a bridge that linked Thailand to ship arms when the Japanese army was occupying Thialand. They used prisoners of war to build the bridge and treated them no better than the Nazi's to the Jews. POW's were worked to death and brutally treated.
That same day after a 12 hour excursion we flew up North to escape Bangkok and are now in Chaing Mai. Just like everyone i talked to about Thailand, if coming here, GET OUT OF BANGKOK. It is gross and dirty and busy... the North already after 2 days rocks!
Yesterday we went on a Trek. The day started with an Elephant trek where we rode elephants quite literally through the jungle. Everything was lush and green and full of spiderwebs that i somehow found myself covered in! EW! Fortunatley they were all abandoned.
After elephants we visited a local village where we saw a young girl weaving scarves. This paticular village is a real village. (not the tourist trap villages you got to where everyone pretends to be remote and then go into their "hut" and watch cable tv and make dinner with running water and gas stoves) Although they had electricity, 80% of the pop never goes to school, they speak their own dialect, are married at 13-14 and if their spouse dies never can remarry. It was really interesting to see.
After we hiked through rice paddys and more jungle (where i saw a spider the size of a softball--> OMG) to a beautiful waterfall.
The coolest thing for me was we finished with a bamboo raft ride down the river. I was expecting sitting on a boat and chilling out, nope, bamboo rafts are about 3 feet across and 30 feet long, held together by pieces of bicycle tires. They are manned by a driver at the front with a big piece of bamboo who pushed you off things on each side of the river, or pushed the pole down to the bottom. Because you are floating on a few pieces of bamboo when ever you go over the rapids the water splashes up all over you, but it doesn't matter because you are already soaking wet as the water comes up between the bamboo pieces. I wasn't aware that i was going to get wet, so tired in vain at first to perch myself up as best as possible. All the local guides laughed at my attempts to stay dry and within 30 seconds of the experience i realized why. There was nothing i could do but get wet and have fun. So i did.
I wasn't too concerned because i thought everyone else would be wet too..... wrong. They told my dad to pole at the back of the raft, so he stood up the whole time, dry and clean. No river mud all over him. The other people in our group were lame and didn't want to get wet so tried to stand or crouch the whole 25 minutes. They were wet, but not soaked from the waist down like me! LLAAME!!
All in all it was a great trip. We have had some wonderful Thia food, and are hoping to learn to cook some food in the next few days!
Having lots of fun exploring Thailand!
Will keep in touch!
LOVE!!!
The day before while doing his own exploring he met Toy, a tuk-tuk driver (3 wheeled scooter with a covered canopy and bench seat in the back) Toy took us to some of the Temples or Wats. We first saw the Golden Buddha which is 5.5 tonnes of solid gold! The temples are all beautifully decorated with golded spires that ride op the roof lines like waves, and the front facades are decorated with intricately carved wood, gold paint, bright reds and deep sapphire blues, and have inlaid pieces of glass or tile to reflect the sun and make the whole place sparkle. Inside the Wats are the golden Buddhas which sit serenly in the back, often eyes downcast as if to look at all the offerings of lotus flowers, incense, glasses of brandy, and candles burning at its feet. Other smaller golden buddhas often surround the larger one. All of the temples have golden buddhas, some have many many many almost littering the temple grounds. They are not all solid gold, but a bronze or some alloy statue which worshipers (correct word??) will come and they can purchase a piece of gold lief to stick onto the statue. When they are all covered with enough gold they will be laqured and finished. The money will be used towards the temples or the monks.
After the Golden buddha we saw the Happy Buddha in China town. The happy buddha is happy i think because he is fat! Happy buddha is the typical round belly buddha that most think of. He is a Chinese version and there is a local Thia joke saying he is fat because the Chinese eat so much while the Thia are poor and devout! I like the fat Buddha, i like eating... ALOT!
After the temples we went to a canal river boat trip where we rode down the river that runs throuough the city. We saw a snake show where they whipped Cobras around as if they were play toys, and i came to find a whole new respect for the King Cobra which is the size of a python, but a freaking Cobra!!! Um please do not ever let me see one of those outside of a cage!
We saw the reclining Buddha (which we discovered later represents Buddha when he dies) and a million other buddhas (or so it seemed)
The second Bangkok day rocked! We went to Tiger Temple which is a Buddhist sancuary for animals. It has all sorts of boars, cattle, horses, and deer that have made their way into this sanctuary one way or another. In 1999 the first tiger cub was brought here and there are at least 12 there now.
My dad and I got to go up to full grown tigers and sit with them and have our pictures taken, and then go and play with 7 month old tiget cubs. It was not as exciting as walking with the Lions in Africa, but it defintely gave me respect about how much bigger tigers are than lions! The 7 month old tiger cubs were the same size if not bigger than the 14 month male lion cubs!
We also visited the Death Bridge cemetery which WWII buffs (you know who you are!) should know that was a bridge that linked Thailand to ship arms when the Japanese army was occupying Thialand. They used prisoners of war to build the bridge and treated them no better than the Nazi's to the Jews. POW's were worked to death and brutally treated.
That same day after a 12 hour excursion we flew up North to escape Bangkok and are now in Chaing Mai. Just like everyone i talked to about Thailand, if coming here, GET OUT OF BANGKOK. It is gross and dirty and busy... the North already after 2 days rocks!
Yesterday we went on a Trek. The day started with an Elephant trek where we rode elephants quite literally through the jungle. Everything was lush and green and full of spiderwebs that i somehow found myself covered in! EW! Fortunatley they were all abandoned.
After elephants we visited a local village where we saw a young girl weaving scarves. This paticular village is a real village. (not the tourist trap villages you got to where everyone pretends to be remote and then go into their "hut" and watch cable tv and make dinner with running water and gas stoves) Although they had electricity, 80% of the pop never goes to school, they speak their own dialect, are married at 13-14 and if their spouse dies never can remarry. It was really interesting to see.
After we hiked through rice paddys and more jungle (where i saw a spider the size of a softball--> OMG) to a beautiful waterfall.
The coolest thing for me was we finished with a bamboo raft ride down the river. I was expecting sitting on a boat and chilling out, nope, bamboo rafts are about 3 feet across and 30 feet long, held together by pieces of bicycle tires. They are manned by a driver at the front with a big piece of bamboo who pushed you off things on each side of the river, or pushed the pole down to the bottom. Because you are floating on a few pieces of bamboo when ever you go over the rapids the water splashes up all over you, but it doesn't matter because you are already soaking wet as the water comes up between the bamboo pieces. I wasn't aware that i was going to get wet, so tired in vain at first to perch myself up as best as possible. All the local guides laughed at my attempts to stay dry and within 30 seconds of the experience i realized why. There was nothing i could do but get wet and have fun. So i did.
I wasn't too concerned because i thought everyone else would be wet too..... wrong. They told my dad to pole at the back of the raft, so he stood up the whole time, dry and clean. No river mud all over him. The other people in our group were lame and didn't want to get wet so tried to stand or crouch the whole 25 minutes. They were wet, but not soaked from the waist down like me! LLAAME!!
All in all it was a great trip. We have had some wonderful Thia food, and are hoping to learn to cook some food in the next few days!
Having lots of fun exploring Thailand!
Will keep in touch!
LOVE!!!
SHEESHA
So for those of you who are virgins to the world of sheesha, my parents and i have become addicted. There were two sections to our trip, one was Cairo and our great tour guide Eman. The next was everything after Cairo and our tour guide named Adel (not A-del, like a girls name but Add- del) Adel was.... well interesting. But he is for later. To connect these two parts of our trip was Sheesha! A flavored tobacco, with no nicotine, that is placed inside of a sheesha pipe, that looks like a giant bong, and you smoke it through a pipe. It was hilarious, and so much fun.
Our first night in Cairo I was introduced to Sheesha, my clean lungs had a fit and i coughed and sputtered much to the amusement and delight of the staff (and my parents). We even found beer at our favorite spot Christos's (Beer in a Muslim country is hard to come by!) By the end of the trip Brian was smoking Sheesha and blowing it out his nose, his lips never leaving the pipe. Apparently this is how the "pros" smoke said one man (however many locals laughed at this technique!) And I could inhale and everything without coughing!
After we left Eman, whom we came to appreciate even more after Adel, we headed out to Luxor, to get on our Nile cruising boat. These boats look like they should have a big waterwheel on the back of them. They are a big long rectangle. We were a little disappointed to learn that as we arrived so early (730 am) we would not be able to check into our rooms until 930-10:00. We were kindly requested to sit in the lounge for the next 2-3 hours. I was an unhappy camper as to arrive in Luxor at 730am we had to leave our hotel at 330am!! Instead of sitting in the lounge we found the pool upstairs and crashed on lounge chairs, bags beside us like homeless people!
Cruising the Nile is a lot of fun. You wake up every morning and instead of a beautiful new view outside your window, you look into some one else's. It is actually quite humorous as when you dock, the boats dock 5 across, so whoever's boat is on the outside, you have to walk through the lobbies of 4 other boats to reach land! It was really amusing. We always got to dock right at the port so i never got to go wandering through others boats....
The Nile is amazing. It is incredible how wide it is! I am used to rivers like the Elbow, widest part is really not that big (from what i really see or pay attention to) The Nile is Huge!! No crocodiles much to my disappointment, due to a dam. What really amazed me is how lush and green everything is beside the Nile. The Sahara desert rises up behind about 5km after the riverbed, but surrounding the Nile is a beautiful oasis that stretches down the rivers side.
We spent more time visiting temples, and tombs, museums, and sheesha cafes. It was such a wonderful time. It was awe inspiring to see technology and knowledge that was so advanced in a civilization that is over 5000 years old. They had hinges at least 3500 years old that quite literally looked as though it had been purchased at home depot! Where did this knowledge go! We went to perfume, papyrus paper, oriental carpets, and cotton factories. Yes Egyptian Cotton. You can buy 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets for the mere price of 400USD!!! Right. Unfortunately could not convince the parents to shell out! What the heck do you need 1000 threads per square inch below you anyways?? I am quite content with my 150, everyday layman's cotton thank you very much!
Now i must share with you our guide Adel. Although the man had a good heart, really tried to make sure everything on the tour was taken care of, he was the worst guide ever! Firstly he informed us that we was going to name our group Isis, for the god of love, beauty and music. Okay i thought, kind of lame that he is naming us, but i thought it was just a cute-sy tourism thing. No... wrong. Let me introduce you to the "clapper". The most annoying toy invented. Parents of young children i will take you on about this. Envision what looks like a cheap Chinese toy hand on a stick. There are two plastic sides of the hand, and when you shake it, it claps. Doesn't sound so bad? Imagine attached to this toy is the arm of a man who has a incessant clapping tick. The moment he steps off the tour bus, he feels the overriding urge to "clap". So he claps and claps and claps, waving the damn toy around as if without it, we would scatter and loose ourselves in the abyss of ...... the temple?? In addition to the OCD clapping, he also calls out ISIS..... Isis, come here please. Isis... Iiiisiiissss! Closer, closer please. Come closer. When we are all surrounding him, and he is explaining, he unconsciously taps the clapper against his leg causing it to... CLAP!
Within 15 minutes of our first tour with him i had my own overriding urges. One: to inform him that i was a person, not a lost puppy. Two: DESTROY THE CLAPPER! Come to find out everyone on the tour was also plotting their own demise of the clapper. We briefly discussed a coup, but realized he had all the tickets to the temples, and we would not be able to enter with out him.
Adel was a very nice man, but just wasn't meant to be a tour guide. However we took what we got from him, supplemented ourselves with a lot of books, and had vicious discussions between Brian and I about which god was on the wall, or which flower was being represented on one of the pillars. Fortunately we had Sheesha to bring us back together each evening.
Our first night in Cairo I was introduced to Sheesha, my clean lungs had a fit and i coughed and sputtered much to the amusement and delight of the staff (and my parents). We even found beer at our favorite spot Christos's (Beer in a Muslim country is hard to come by!) By the end of the trip Brian was smoking Sheesha and blowing it out his nose, his lips never leaving the pipe. Apparently this is how the "pros" smoke said one man (however many locals laughed at this technique!) And I could inhale and everything without coughing!
After we left Eman, whom we came to appreciate even more after Adel, we headed out to Luxor, to get on our Nile cruising boat. These boats look like they should have a big waterwheel on the back of them. They are a big long rectangle. We were a little disappointed to learn that as we arrived so early (730 am) we would not be able to check into our rooms until 930-10:00. We were kindly requested to sit in the lounge for the next 2-3 hours. I was an unhappy camper as to arrive in Luxor at 730am we had to leave our hotel at 330am!! Instead of sitting in the lounge we found the pool upstairs and crashed on lounge chairs, bags beside us like homeless people!
Cruising the Nile is a lot of fun. You wake up every morning and instead of a beautiful new view outside your window, you look into some one else's. It is actually quite humorous as when you dock, the boats dock 5 across, so whoever's boat is on the outside, you have to walk through the lobbies of 4 other boats to reach land! It was really amusing. We always got to dock right at the port so i never got to go wandering through others boats....
The Nile is amazing. It is incredible how wide it is! I am used to rivers like the Elbow, widest part is really not that big (from what i really see or pay attention to) The Nile is Huge!! No crocodiles much to my disappointment, due to a dam. What really amazed me is how lush and green everything is beside the Nile. The Sahara desert rises up behind about 5km after the riverbed, but surrounding the Nile is a beautiful oasis that stretches down the rivers side.
We spent more time visiting temples, and tombs, museums, and sheesha cafes. It was such a wonderful time. It was awe inspiring to see technology and knowledge that was so advanced in a civilization that is over 5000 years old. They had hinges at least 3500 years old that quite literally looked as though it had been purchased at home depot! Where did this knowledge go! We went to perfume, papyrus paper, oriental carpets, and cotton factories. Yes Egyptian Cotton. You can buy 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets for the mere price of 400USD!!! Right. Unfortunately could not convince the parents to shell out! What the heck do you need 1000 threads per square inch below you anyways?? I am quite content with my 150, everyday layman's cotton thank you very much!
Now i must share with you our guide Adel. Although the man had a good heart, really tried to make sure everything on the tour was taken care of, he was the worst guide ever! Firstly he informed us that we was going to name our group Isis, for the god of love, beauty and music. Okay i thought, kind of lame that he is naming us, but i thought it was just a cute-sy tourism thing. No... wrong. Let me introduce you to the "clapper". The most annoying toy invented. Parents of young children i will take you on about this. Envision what looks like a cheap Chinese toy hand on a stick. There are two plastic sides of the hand, and when you shake it, it claps. Doesn't sound so bad? Imagine attached to this toy is the arm of a man who has a incessant clapping tick. The moment he steps off the tour bus, he feels the overriding urge to "clap". So he claps and claps and claps, waving the damn toy around as if without it, we would scatter and loose ourselves in the abyss of ...... the temple?? In addition to the OCD clapping, he also calls out ISIS..... Isis, come here please. Isis... Iiiisiiissss! Closer, closer please. Come closer. When we are all surrounding him, and he is explaining, he unconsciously taps the clapper against his leg causing it to... CLAP!
Within 15 minutes of our first tour with him i had my own overriding urges. One: to inform him that i was a person, not a lost puppy. Two: DESTROY THE CLAPPER! Come to find out everyone on the tour was also plotting their own demise of the clapper. We briefly discussed a coup, but realized he had all the tickets to the temples, and we would not be able to enter with out him.
Adel was a very nice man, but just wasn't meant to be a tour guide. However we took what we got from him, supplemented ourselves with a lot of books, and had vicious discussions between Brian and I about which god was on the wall, or which flower was being represented on one of the pillars. Fortunately we had Sheesha to bring us back together each evening.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Egypt
I am limited on time, so this may have to be a quick blog... will update again.. soon?
There isn't much else to say about the Greek Islands. I had a great time with my friend Nancy, and really hope to visit her next summer at her home in Chicago. I am having a more diffucult time trying to persuade her to come to Canada and visit me in Kelowna, or Calgary or where ever the heck i will be living in 9 months. The only other adventure was the almost pickpocketing! We were on the train back to Athens when some jerk-a-ma-holic next to me decided it would be a good idea to try and open my purse and have a free for all with my belongings. Fortunately i noticed the 5 finger discount happening and yelled at him on the train. After perfuse denial, he and his friend made a quick exit at the next stop. I am lucky that i caught him, and he didn't make off with anything! That had me quite riled up, i was ready to tear some heads off once i got over the initial shock, but i have had a good 10 days to get over it!!
The next stop was Egypt where i flew into Cairo and met my Mom and Brain at a beautiful hotel just across the street from the pyramids!! How can you be disappointed in that. They were sitting by the pool waiting for me to meet them. The hotel is called the Mena House Oberi, and has been there since the 1800's!!! They have done alot of updating, but you definatly get the old time feeling and it is very Egyptian. It was so beautiful and i really didn't mind the pampering they provided me with. You couldn't stand in the reception lounge for more than 45 seconds before about 2 or 3 people are rushing you to see what they can do for you. The economy relies very very heavily on the tourism industry, so they actually have their own police force for tourism and antiquities!!! The roads in Cairo are somethign to be seen. It is the definition of organized chaos, only the only form of organization is only apparent to the locals. People swerve around one another, a series of quick honks or beeps, and the flashing of headlights the only signal that you are planning to swerve into oncoming traffic, or between two cars on a one lane road!! It is facinating to watch, with a slight cry from your own mortality as you sqeeze between a bus, a dump truck and then blast through a group of people trying to cross the road, entering the chaotic highway with a hand stuck out to signal their crossing and hoping that someone will not hit them.
On my way to the hotel to meet my family i kept watching these people standing in the middle of the highway, one arm stuck out, and hoping that i didn't have to postpone my trip to help some poor soul who had been flattened on the highway. I just kept saying ABC's, airway, breathing, circulation....
We have seen and done so much here in Egypt. We had the most fantastic guide in Cairo, a lady who is raising 3 children, has her degree in archeology, and was currently trying to be a mom, tourguide, wife, and write her masters thesis on Egypology. She used to work down at one of the pyramids translating hyroglyphics!!! She was a master!
We visited the steps pyramid, the 3 great pyramids, the museum, the citadel, the Mohummad Ali Mosque (not to be confused with the boxer!), the Cairo Musuem, and saw so many absolutely amazing things!! Eman (pronounced Ee- maun) was so thorough in her descriptions and pointed out so many incredible things on the carvings in some of the tombs we saw. We were amazed to see 5000 year old hedgehogs carved into the walls! The artists even had humor and she would show us some of the ironies or humor that was carved onto the wall. We learned alot about the history and the culture of the ancient egyptians.
We even got to go into the Cheyops pyramid, or the pyramid designed byt Kufu! It was completely amazing. You have to climb up this tunnel which is only abotut 4 ft tall, and you are going up this long, dark tunnel that has no air, and no end in sight. Finally you reach a small room, only to have to go up another slanting, short tunnel. There is only one way in and out of the pyramid so you are trying to sqeeze yourself up against the wall when you are already scruched down, so it is not the place for anyone with claustrophobia! Finally you reach this room that is pitch dark besides the one light that they have placed in the room. It is made of black granite, and the only thing that was found after the tomb robbers was a granite sarcophagus, which the pyramid would have had to be built around. You can hear yourself breath the musty air in the place as it is all surrounded by granite. It literally smells like "old". It was amazing. Brian and I were bad children and as we were in the tomb by ourselves for about 5 minutes jumped in and layed in the sarcophagus! Eerie!
We have done and seen so much. Been in places that are over 5000 years old, seen paint and art in forgotten tombs that has survived for 3000 years, still beautiful in its colors and astounding in the definition and beauty that has been given to the carvings! I have loved this time here and will write much much more about my adventures, but have to go. Leave tomorrow to meet my dad in Thialand! Very exciting!
Only 6 more weeks. Am already sad to leave!
Love you
There isn't much else to say about the Greek Islands. I had a great time with my friend Nancy, and really hope to visit her next summer at her home in Chicago. I am having a more diffucult time trying to persuade her to come to Canada and visit me in Kelowna, or Calgary or where ever the heck i will be living in 9 months. The only other adventure was the almost pickpocketing! We were on the train back to Athens when some jerk-a-ma-holic next to me decided it would be a good idea to try and open my purse and have a free for all with my belongings. Fortunately i noticed the 5 finger discount happening and yelled at him on the train. After perfuse denial, he and his friend made a quick exit at the next stop. I am lucky that i caught him, and he didn't make off with anything! That had me quite riled up, i was ready to tear some heads off once i got over the initial shock, but i have had a good 10 days to get over it!!
The next stop was Egypt where i flew into Cairo and met my Mom and Brain at a beautiful hotel just across the street from the pyramids!! How can you be disappointed in that. They were sitting by the pool waiting for me to meet them. The hotel is called the Mena House Oberi, and has been there since the 1800's!!! They have done alot of updating, but you definatly get the old time feeling and it is very Egyptian. It was so beautiful and i really didn't mind the pampering they provided me with. You couldn't stand in the reception lounge for more than 45 seconds before about 2 or 3 people are rushing you to see what they can do for you. The economy relies very very heavily on the tourism industry, so they actually have their own police force for tourism and antiquities!!! The roads in Cairo are somethign to be seen. It is the definition of organized chaos, only the only form of organization is only apparent to the locals. People swerve around one another, a series of quick honks or beeps, and the flashing of headlights the only signal that you are planning to swerve into oncoming traffic, or between two cars on a one lane road!! It is facinating to watch, with a slight cry from your own mortality as you sqeeze between a bus, a dump truck and then blast through a group of people trying to cross the road, entering the chaotic highway with a hand stuck out to signal their crossing and hoping that someone will not hit them.
On my way to the hotel to meet my family i kept watching these people standing in the middle of the highway, one arm stuck out, and hoping that i didn't have to postpone my trip to help some poor soul who had been flattened on the highway. I just kept saying ABC's, airway, breathing, circulation....
We have seen and done so much here in Egypt. We had the most fantastic guide in Cairo, a lady who is raising 3 children, has her degree in archeology, and was currently trying to be a mom, tourguide, wife, and write her masters thesis on Egypology. She used to work down at one of the pyramids translating hyroglyphics!!! She was a master!
We visited the steps pyramid, the 3 great pyramids, the museum, the citadel, the Mohummad Ali Mosque (not to be confused with the boxer!), the Cairo Musuem, and saw so many absolutely amazing things!! Eman (pronounced Ee- maun) was so thorough in her descriptions and pointed out so many incredible things on the carvings in some of the tombs we saw. We were amazed to see 5000 year old hedgehogs carved into the walls! The artists even had humor and she would show us some of the ironies or humor that was carved onto the wall. We learned alot about the history and the culture of the ancient egyptians.
We even got to go into the Cheyops pyramid, or the pyramid designed byt Kufu! It was completely amazing. You have to climb up this tunnel which is only abotut 4 ft tall, and you are going up this long, dark tunnel that has no air, and no end in sight. Finally you reach a small room, only to have to go up another slanting, short tunnel. There is only one way in and out of the pyramid so you are trying to sqeeze yourself up against the wall when you are already scruched down, so it is not the place for anyone with claustrophobia! Finally you reach this room that is pitch dark besides the one light that they have placed in the room. It is made of black granite, and the only thing that was found after the tomb robbers was a granite sarcophagus, which the pyramid would have had to be built around. You can hear yourself breath the musty air in the place as it is all surrounded by granite. It literally smells like "old". It was amazing. Brian and I were bad children and as we were in the tomb by ourselves for about 5 minutes jumped in and layed in the sarcophagus! Eerie!
We have done and seen so much. Been in places that are over 5000 years old, seen paint and art in forgotten tombs that has survived for 3000 years, still beautiful in its colors and astounding in the definition and beauty that has been given to the carvings! I have loved this time here and will write much much more about my adventures, but have to go. Leave tomorrow to meet my dad in Thialand! Very exciting!
Only 6 more weeks. Am already sad to leave!
Love you
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