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We had our first real sleep in and woke up to a delicious fruit juice and breakfast. After breakfast we headed straight for our beach, and since it was low tide Ashleigh and I took a long walk out towards the reef. On the way we saw a few local ladies work their seaweed fields and we sat in the knee deep water gazing back at the Palm tree dotted beach, amazed. Zanzibar is a place that can not be missed and we are thankful to have come here. We relaxed for the rest of the day catching up on some reading and went out for pizza at a nearby restaurant. At night we laid in the hammocks and watched the stars.
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October 22 - Massai Visit and Ngrongoro Crater Safari After a good nights sleep (still too short though) on a real bed we got up to start our two day Safari trip to Ngorongoro Crater. Our driver/guide Grayson is a young friendly guy, and our cook Mr. Delicious seems funny. We left Moshi around 8am and stopped on the way in Arusha to get some snacks and buy a nice souvenir map of Kilimanjaro as a memory. We were happy that we didn't stay in Arusha, Moshi has a better feel to it. From here we passed some smaller towns and stopped at a crafts shop for lunch. All goods were way too expensive. After lunch we entered the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and went towards our camp site along the crater rim. We stopped at a viewpoint to enjoy the amazing view over the enormous crater area, it was much bigger than we had expected and we could see herds of animals in the far distance. We are excited to explore the area tomorrow morning, bright and early. On the way to the camp we saw a group of olive baboons hanging out by the road. It was neat seeing them up close. We dropped some gear off and went straight to the Masaai village, which was only a half an hour drive from Simba camp. We were greeted by the chief of the tribe and he had the men and women sing and dance for us. Afterwards he invited us in to the village. Here Ashleigh danced with the women, Stephen and I jumped around with the men. We got to go inside one of the bomas, the traditional house of the Masaai. One small boma can fit seven people, parents and five children as well as a calf (yes the calf sleeps within the small hut). It was hard to believe how they could all fit and live in one of these houses. After our visit we had a chance to buy some of their crafts, but we couldn't find anything good. We drove back to our camp site, took a short walk around and had a delicious dinner. When it got dark, we were surprised by a large visitor. Two elephants had come into the camp out of nowhere and were drinking water from one of the big tanks. It was the highlight of our night, seeing these two mammals up close. We are excited for more animals tomorrow. October 23 - Ngorngoro Crater Safari Drive We woke up around 5am, well before the sunrise, had our breakfast and drove down into the crater. We were one of the first vehicles down there, since we wanted to get the most out of our drive and animals are more active in the mornings anyways. We first spotted some big birds, the famous grey crowned crane and an augur buzzard. Before getting to the bottom we also saw a few warthogs running away from us (they looked hilarious when running fast), and a jackal. Once in the crater, we had a 360 degree view of animals. Our roof was popped up and anywhere we looked, we could see wildlife. Wildebeests were hanging out with the zebras, and Thomson gazelles were playing in between them. Some would get close to us, others would run off. We drove around and could stop at any time, which was great. We spotted a couple ostriches, which always seemed to travel in pairs and a large herd of Cape buffalo. After a few hours we finally found the King of the area, a male lion! He did not mind all the attention and just walked around the vehicles marking them as his territory, just to remind us, that he is the boss down here. We followed him for a while and spotted a few more male lions up in a hill. We took a quick break by the hippo pools, but only one hippo came somewhat close to the shore. The rest hung out in the lake, farther away from us. Our drive continued through the open grass field, where we saw a hyena making its way towards us. All animals seem so big here. We had already seen three out of the big five animals and were keeping our eye out for some leopards or the rare black rhino, but had no success. We drove through the forest a couple times looking for them. However, we did spot some female lions feasting on a recent kill, saw a group of velvet monkeys and three elephants. One female lion was debating if she should go for a buffalo kill, and approached it slowly. But without much backup, she would not risk her life and so she went off into the trees. Besides some of the animals listed earlier, we also saw many flamingos hanging out in the mostly dried up lake, a cokes hartebeest, and many other birds, including a vulture and the African fish eagle. A jackal family also said hi to us and small, pretty birds deserve to be mentioned as well. We absolutely enjoyed our first safari drive. We saw so much in only a few hours and happily returned to camp for a quick lunch, before driving back towards Moshi. We haggled for a couple souvenirs, at one of the small towns on the way back and arrived on time for dinner. I wasn't feeling very well, so we ate, packed up and went straight to bed. All the exciting days have caught up to me, and a good sleep is needed. October 24 - Back to Dar We had bought our bus ticket yesterday for the 7am bus back to Dar Es Salaam. It showed up 30 minutes late, but the seats are better than on the other bus, we took to Moshi. It was a perfectly clear day, and we finally got to see Kilimanjaro and its full height from the town, nearly 5000m below. It looked absolutely fabulous, with its glacial peak. It is still hard to believe we went all the way up there. We said our goodbyes to Moshi and our mountain before leaving for Dar. The drive was terribly long, but we made it there in 11 hours. We had to walk for a good half hour to get to our place just before it got dark. We were all drenched and ready for a decent meal and a shower. That was it for today. Back in Dar our least favorite city. October 25 - Island Getaway We all needed a break from our fast paced travels and so we surprised Stephen with a visit to the famous island of Zanzibar as an early birthday celebration. He thought we are leaving Tanzania already, but luckily we still have a few days left. We took a taxi to the ferry port and got our ticket right away. We left right on time, the weather was perfect and the water smooth (I was grateful for that). We arrived two hours later and got stamped in (they even checked our yellow fever cards). Once outside the port, the hustling began. Everybody wanted to take us somewhere, and everyone tried to deceive us with the usual lines. It got tiring pretty fast and we had no real success of finding the right bus to Paje, the small town where we would be staying. We gave up after a while, still had three followers that would not leave us alone, and approached a somewhat decent looking taxi driver. We quickly agreed upon a price that we were comfortable with and were on the way. I told the driver to not try anything stupid, but he tried to get gas money from us anyways, before leaving Stone Town (I got my way, we would pay once at our destination). The drive took us through a nice forest and an hour or so later we arrived at Teddys Place in Paje. Ashleigh had booked us a nice little cabana hut and we loved the place instantly. It is a quiet spot, has a nice bar and a cute layout of huts. We settled into our simple hut with a sand floor, gave all our food to the reception for storage (to avoid ants or rats from invading our bags) and cooled down with a couple cold drinks. After lunch we headed down to the beach. The walkway through the coconut palm trees is postcard worthy and the light, turquoise water is phenomenal. It is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, and the best part is, we have it mostly to ourselves. Since it was high tide we went for a nice swim in the bathtub warm water, and suntanned for a while. I played some soccer with the local kids, and the touts here actually leave us alone for the most part. We all needed this relaxing holiday, and so we laid around for the rest of the day, chatting and lounging in the hammocks. At night we went to a nearby restaurant and spoiled ourselves to some pizza and a bottle of wine. We were all in the best mood and so the night continued with some tropical cocktails and socializing with others. The hostel got quite busy, and the party went on late. Ashleigh and I called it a night around midnight, Stephen stayed up well past three am meeting some cool people. Greetings from Zanzibar! Kilimanjaro: October 15 - 21, 2014 Marangu Route, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Preparation Day: To prepare for our Kilimanjaro trek, John emailed numerous different agencies to find the right price and service. We found one company that we really liked so we arranged to meet with the owner and two guides on our first day in Moshi. We all had a really good first impression of the two guides, very friendly and they had done the trek fifty+ times. The guides made us lay all the clothes out which we ha brought, to make sure we would not be cold on the mountain. After an hour meeting, the owner invited us out for a coffee before we went into the long process of trying to pay by credit card. In the afternoon we spent a good amount of time organizing all of our things to bring. To give one of the porters a break, John and I combined a bag with all the stuff we would need for five nights on the mountain. After all that we had some chowmein for dinner to give us some energy to start our trek tomorrow Day 1 Marangu Gate (1879m) - Mandara Hut (2720m) Distance: 8.5 km Elevation Gain: 841m Time: 12.30pm - 4.30pm (4 hours) We woke up to our last breakfast off the mountain, finalized our packing and waited for our pickup. Ibrahim and the guides showed up half an hour late and we still had to try on our summit jackets, pants, rain pants, check our sleeping bags, gators and load everything in, before we could leave for the trek. By the time everything was finalized it was already 11 am. The rental gear wasn't in the best shape, so we had to change out some items for better ones. The drive between Moshi and the Marangu Gate took about an hour and past by the last border town (to Kenya). When we arrived at the gate, porters were packing up all of our gear and headed for the weight station. Each porter can carry up to 20kg and most of it is on their head. Ashleigh and I were able to make all our gear fit into one backpack, so we reduced some of the load, but food and cooking gear is heavy. The total weight came to 160kg, so 8 porters were required. It is hard to believe we need that much stuff, but I guess we all need to eat and sleep. Along with the eight porters, we also have one cook and of course our two guides Tino and Kija. We got our permits all figured out, signed in, filled our water up and then we started the trek. The porters were going up a different way. We made a small half hour detour to some small waterfalls on the way up. Everything around us was lush, green and the temperature was perfect. We even spotted a dik-dik (small antelope), but no monkeys. The trail was very well maintained with many runoffs build into it. (We are glad our paid fees seem to go to the right place). The ascent was gradual and we hiked at a perfect pace. We stopped for a quick lunch and then headed towards our first camp. We had many random conversations, which made the hike fly by. A few hours later we already made it to the Mandara Hut (2720m). The camp is nice, we got a small 4 bed hut to ourselves and the mattresses and pillows are comfy. We washed our faces and had some popcorn with tea. It's a bit chilly already so we all bundled up in our comfy clothes. The first day went by fast, the hike was pretty easy and steady. We were happy with our pace as a group and all feel fine. Luckily it didn't rain during the hike, which allowed us to enjoy our surrounding environment. Our guide showed us some fauna that was famous for the area and we learned a few Swahili words. We had a big dinner prepared for us and discussed our next day in detail. After that, it was time to crawl up into our hut. John Comments, Day 1: Amazing fauna, small right toe pushing a bit - tightening boots helped. Knee joints a bit stiff from temperature drop. Overall good mood - very thankful for no rain. Pace was good, easy ascent. Day 2 Mandara Hut (2720m) - Horombo Hut (3720m) Distance: 11.5 km Elevation Gain: 1000m Time: 8.30am - 2.15pm (5.75 hours) We had a pretty decent sleep and woke up to a blue sky. It got cool in the morning, but it was nice. We had a big breakfast consisting of porridge, eggs, toast, sausage and fruit. The hike went through some alpine forest and we made a detour to a crater. After some time the trail opened up and the vegetation zone changed to Moorland. There was a lot more traffic today, since most hikers use this route to descent as well (from the other routes). Only a handful of people stayed at Mandara Camp so it was less busy and quiet. We finally got to enjoy some views, and we could see Kenya in the distance. We had been fortunate with no rain and good temperatures, but clouds began to move in fast. We got our rain gear on in time, and sure enough, it started to rain. It lasted for over an hour and we hid under some bushes to eat a quick, but well needed lunch. Before we reached Horombo Camp, Mawenzi Peak (5149m) decided to say Hello. It is an amazing peak, sharp rocks with tons of snow. We got to see some white-necked ravens scavenging on a kill, they were tearing out big chunks. We were surprised how much wildlife was up here at 3700m. When we arrived, we went through the usual registration process. We had hot water to wash, which felt amazing after being in the rain for a couple hours. We had some popcorn and tea again, and changed into dry clothes. The rain finally let off and the views down towards Moshi town were great. Before dinner, we played some cards, crawled into our sleeping bags and lit the candle. It will be a cool night with temperatures dropping below freezing. Dinner was amazing as usual and the rain started up again...Good night. John Comments, Day 2: Hands were cold during rain but hiking poles helped. Sweater was a bad idea at first, but good as we gained altitude. Cool plants. Amazing peak Mawenzi. Little tight thighs and left knee stiff. Still a good appetite (too good), little headache, but need to drink more. Everyone did great. Good pace and awesome chats. Day 3 Horombo Hut (3720m) - High Point (4280m) Distance: 8km Elevation Gain/Loss: 560m Time: 9.00am - 1.00pm (4 hours) Today was our most important day - Acclimatization! We got a bit of a sleep in, the usual amazing breakfast and then started the hike towards Mawenzi Peak (5149m). The weather was perfect, blue skies, slight breeze and so our layers came off quickly. The trail was steep and rocky at the beginning until the zebra rocks. The rocks literally looked like a zebra skin and were pretty cool, we took a few pictures and decided to go higher since we all felt fine. Other trekkers turned around, but we went further up on a nice trail until the Mawenzi Peak junction. The peak seemed so close and still awes me every time. We hiked as far as the the Kibo peak viewpoint to get our first real glimpse at our mountain! Most of the top was hiding in the clouds and we could see tomorrow's trail slowly ascending to the last base camp "Kibo Hut". The camp is just below the snow line and the trail towards the peak looks steep. The temperature dropped and the wind picked up, so we decided to turn around. We got as high as 4280m and Ashleigh and I both felt slightly nauseas from the altitude gain, but it went away quickly. The trek back to Horombo Hut was easy and we arrived just in time for a hot lunch. For the rest of the day we laid around in our hut, went for a few quick walks whenever the sun popped out and had dinner. John Comments, Day 3: Thankful for no rain and some sun. Knees hurt going downhill, didn't use poles today. Felt slightly lightheaded and nauseas at 4280m, but took a candy and it went away fast. Headache on the way down, from my neck most likely. Ashleigh put some tiger balm on it and it helped, seems to be muscle related. Getting anxious for the last camp, but will enjoy the nicer temperatures here. Stephen got sunburned. Otherwise feeling good. Day 4 Horombo Hut (3720m) - High Point (4850m) - Kibo Hut (4720m) Distance: 10km Elevation Gain: 1130m Elevation Loss: 130m Time: 8.30am - 2.15pm (5.75 hours) Today we would push higher up to the base camp "Kibo Hut". The trail was easy, a slow ascent through a Mars looking landscape. All vegetation subsided and Kibo peak appeared clearly in front of us, as a giant. On one side we had the sharp Mawenzi Peak (5149m) and on our left and in front of us Kibo Peak (5895m), which is Kilimanjaro's highest peak. We reached the base camp after almost six hours. From here Gilman's point (5685m) seemed to be within our grasp, but the mountains true height is deceiving. We had an early dinner since we had to get up around 11pm for our summit push. We barely slept because of a couple other trekkers, who were suffering from severe altitude sickness (they kept being loud and weird). John Comments, Day 4: Perfect weather, easy hike, thankful for acclimatization day. Height of Kibo is amazing. Irregular breathing when laying down, went away after a few hours. Did not sleep much at all, super thirsty. Had to wake Ashleigh to get water (since on top bunk). Day 5 Kibo Hut (4720m) - Uhuru Peak (5895m) - Horombo Hut (3720m) Distance: 21km Elevation Gain: 1175m Elevation Loss: 2175m Time: 12.15am - 8.15am (Uhuru Peak) - 11.15am (Kibo Hut) - (11 hours), descent from Kibo Hut 1.30pm - 4pm to Horombo Hut (2.5 hours) Total time hiked: 13.5 hours After some rest (we didn't sleep more than an hour or so), we were woken up for our summit attempt around 11pm on Day 4. We had some tea and biscuits, put our gear on (which consisted of around 5 bottom layers and 6-8 top layers) and anything else one might need for climbing a big mountain. We peeked outside and were surprised by a snowstorm. This should be fun! We didn't end up leaving until 12.15am (Day 5) after we were all geared up in our summit clothes. Fortunately the snow stopped and so did the wind, and a clear night sky with countless stars within our grasp, unfolded itself. We put our headlamps on and slowly started the ascent towards Gilman's Point (5685m). It was only 4 kms away, but nearly 1000m in elevation gain from our camp. There were a few other groups already on the slopes and we slowly made our way up. The weather was good, minimal wind and cool temperatures in the -10 range, but we had the gear for it to stay warm. We passed all climbers and were leading the way shortly, trekking through the fresh powder. The steep climb up consisted of never ending switchbacks, most of which were very steep, so the progress was slow. We stopped every now and then for a drink and an energy bar. We were all patiently waiting for the sun to come up, but that would still take a while. We climbed for a good five hours before getting to the steepest part of Gilman's point, which took a lot of effort. At this point we all felt the altitude, but the sun was coming up. Finally after close to six hours we reached Gilman's point (5685m). Most people turn around here and only a few push higher. The sun was up and we could see Uhuru peak (5895m) in the distance. It looked so close, but so far at the same time. There wasn't a second of doubt in my mind to turn around. We went really slow, stopping at Stella Point (5756m) for a quick rest, but since we had already spent some time at this high altitude we really needed to get going, so we wouldn't cool down too much or feel worse. The views along the ridge were breathtaking (literally) and we slowly made for the summit. At 8.15am we finally topped out and reached Africa's highest point Uhuru peak at 5895m! The highest freestanding volcano mountain in the world! We pushed our bodies to the limit, all feeling exhaustion and the altitude in different ways. Luckily I felt pretty good, only slightly dizzy, but thanks to summit fever I used all the adrenalin I had, to reach the top. Stephen felt very nauseas, but his legs somehow kept moving to get to the peak. Ashleigh moved very slowly, feeling lightheaded, sore legs and experienced some blurred vision (she still saw the peak though clearly!). We all made the top at the same time and felt emotional, happy, excited, proud and all exhaustion was gone for a few moments. We enjoyed the views over Tanzania, saw Mt. Meru in the distance and the clouds hanging out way down below us. The glaciers around Kibo peak were amazing (too bad they will be gone in the near future)! Time seemed to stand still as we took plenty of pictures and as we enjoyed the views. We won, we killed Kili! After the excitement wore off, we all felt the altitude again and knew we needed to get down before it got worse. We slowly descended, stopping now and then to admire the spectacular view. It was a moment that would not be forgotten. We needed to get down as soon as possible. After reaching Gilman's point we basically slid down the loose scree slope to Kibo camp (4720m) and reached it only 3 hours later (it took almost three times as along to climb up). Stephen was feeling pretty nauseas and we all lost our appetite at this point. I had a headache that would only stop as we descended. Ashleigh felt weak and exhausted, needing both food for energy and adequate rest. We past out for a short hour, forced down a lunch and then started our slow descent to Horombo Camp (3720m). Luckily the trail was easy and the farther we got down the better we felt. We reached the camp feeling a lot better, regained our appetite, all altitude effects wore off, but we still needed sleep! We ate dinner, and all passed out as soon as we laid down in our sleeping bags. We all slept like rocks and didn't move until ten hours later for our wake up call. It was the best sleep one could have at a mountain hut camp. It had been a long day, the weather was perfect, the conditions excellent, all adding up to our summit success. We found out that, out of all climbers on the Marangu and Rongai route, we were the only ones that reached the highest summit successfully that day and we felt proud of it. Thanks to our great guides, good weather, acclimatization and determination we could all make it up. We pushed each other when needed, not allowing anyone to express any sort of doubt (even though it did cross everyone's mind at some point). We were all determined to make it up and were highly motivated by different reasons. Congratulations to us! John Comments, Day 5: Pushed my body very hard. Mentally I felt very strong and never doubted that I couldn't make it (after experiencing altitude effects and exhaustion on Kazbeg) I knew I could make it. Headache on the way down. Some dizziness especially after quick breaks on ascent. Normal breathing the whole time and no nausea. Pushed Ashleigh very hard to keep going. Feet were cold the entire ascent, but hands warm, thanks to hand warmers. Amazing feeling to top out with Ashleigh and Stephen all together as a team. Ashleigh was emotional, very excited to make it, she went slowly (Pole, Pole in Swahili), took many breaks as needed. Huge accomplishment. Had summit fever since Gilman's point and kept going. Helped Ashleigh as much as possible to succeed, since I felt good thankfully. Ashleigh burned nose and lips pretty good (looks like a real mountaineer, souvenir to show). Stephen felt very nauseas but didn't vomit, pushed hard even with irregular breathing. All effects went away when we reached 3720m. Day 6 Horombo Hut (3720m) - Marangu Gate (1879m) Distance: 19km Elevation Loss: 1841m Time: 7.40am - 1.40pm (6 hours) After an amazing sleep, we woke up to our last breakfast on the mountain and were ready to get back to civilization, a hot shower and a cold beer. We packed our gear and hit the tail down. It was a long 19km descent, but the trail was perfect. We chatted as usual about the most random things, so time flew by. We were all happy to leave the Moorland behind and enter the alpine forest again. I can't believe how beautiful the plants, sounds and smells of the forest can be. It was a perfect way to end the trek. We observed a group of blue monkeys (they are not actually blue, but a certain male part apparently is...) for a short while as they were hanging around, jumping from tree to tree not paying attention to us at all. Our lucky bird (which we saw on the way up) also came out to say congratulations. We cruised down with only a quick break. Six hours later we finally made it to the gate! We were all exhausted, but happy to have made it. We received our certificate showing that we made it to the highest point on Kilimanjaro Uhuru Peak (5895m). Our guides and porters sang us a song and danced, we showed our appreciation in a tip (since I can neither sing nor dance very well ;). It was sad leaving, but we were thankful to have made it with the help of the Afrishare team. All the hard work had paid off. We drove back to Moshi and were super excited for a hot shower! We celebrated with a couple Kilimanjaro beers, which only seemed appropriate and headed to bed. John Comments, Day 6: Appreciated the forest after being on the mountain so long. Love the sounds, smells of the forest. Knees were hurting a lot especially the left one. Toes as well, but didn't want to tighten the boot too much. Poles made all the difference. Great conversations with Ashleigh and Stephen. We make a good team. Summary Statistics: Total distance hiked: 78km Total time hiking: 39 hours Elevation gain/loss: 4016m Total weight of gear and supplies: 160kg Number of crew: 11 Temperature low with wind: -13 Celsius Oxygen level at peak: 60% Again a big congratulations to Stephen, Ashleigh and myself! On October 12th we said goodbye to a great month in Egypt. We were able to see everything we wanted and we're ready to move on. We took a flight from Luxor to Cairo and had a 4 hour layover before our 12:00am flight to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The flight was good, filled with mostly
passengers returning from their pilgrimage from Mecca and all went well. Happy thanksgiving by the way! Once we arrived, we bought our Visas and were greeted by our Air BnB host whose place we rented for the night. Traffic was a nightmare, since we arrived at 6:30 am, but at least there was no crazy honking like in Egypt and cars actually stayed within their lanes! We made another rookie mistake and didn't take out cash at the airport. We asked to stop at the train station to buy tickets for our journey onwards, later this month, but of course there was no ATM and credit cards weren't accepted. Unfortunately it wasn't our smartest start, but eventually we will learn ;). After the 2 hour journey to the place, we took out some money, bought lots of water, a snack and had a much needed nap. Refreshed we went to the ticket office to buy bus tickets for our ride to Moshi and went grocery shopping. The rest of the day we didn't do much and took another nap. At 8:30 pm our friend Stephen arrived from Canada, so we went with the host to pick him up in were stuck in another 2 hour traffic jam! We are happy to welcome Stephen and are excited to travel together for a while. This morning (October 14), we woke up at 5:15 am to get to the bus station. The bus left at 6:45 am, but instead of pulling right onto the street it did a huge loop around the bus depot, which added on a long hot hour (no air conditioning anymore). However, it was a big bus and the seats were comfy. The roads are mostly paved with some rougher sections along the way. The bus driver stopped randomly in villages for a minute, so people could try to sell us snacks and off we went. Surprisingly we got a drink and crackers for free on the bus. We stopped once for a very quick pee break, back to the squatting toilets! The landscape was flat, green and lined with lots of trees, which we haven't seen in a long time. We definitely spent too much time in the arid desert and were thrilled to see the lushness. We saw some monkeys on the side of the road, and John and I were clearly the only two excited by that! When we got closer to Moshi, we kept our eye out for the reason we're here: Mount Kilimanjaro! Somewhere in the clouds it was slumbering, waiting for us to discover its slopes. We could only see the steady ridge go up into the sky and for a few minutes the glacial peak revealed the mountains true height, poking out well above the clouds. For now we would go to bed at a nice temperature and with all the comforts we need. It was a long travel day, we had tried some local cuisine which took an hour to prepare (but was worth the wait) and called it a night. October 10 - Dendera Temple
Today John and I went to the Dendera Temple. Originally we weren't going to go, since we have seen so many, but we are happy we decided to see one more. We met two guys from the hostel and shared an hour taxi ride with them. Once at the temple, we were the only ones there and it was peace and quiet. The temple had the feel of what a temple was like back then. The roof was still intact and the paintings on pillars and the ceiling looked great. Apparently Christians came and chiseled out the heads and bodies of the engravings of Egyptian Pharaohs all over the temple. We walked through many rooms and found a secret stairway to the roof. After our hour ride back it was almost dinner time. To mix it up we had some pasta for dinner and took it easy all night. October 11 - Felucca Ride John and I saved the one thing you have to do in Egypt until our last day, and that is to go on a Felucca ride. A felucca is a traditional boat which relies on wind to sail. It was about a three hour ride and we just sailed around on the Nile and stopped on a sand bar for a quick walk. It was a very nice and relaxing ride, a perfect end to Egypt! The sun set perfectly over the Sahara and we are excited to move on! To be honest, all we did yesterday was wander the Souk to buy some souvenirs (and we haggled like crazy!) We really like this hostel so we dont mind spending time here. Today we had a much more exciting morning. We went on a hot air balloon ride! Something we both have wanted to do somewhere on our trip. We woke up at 4am, had a quick cup of coffee and hopped on our bus. We were then dropped off at the Nile and boarded a little ferry boat. We drank another coffee here and they gave us a Twinkie. Not sure why they thought that would be a good snack this early, but since we didn't have any other food, all that sugar would be a good thing. Once we crossed the Nile we took another quick bus ride and arrived at the balloons. However, we had to wait almost an hour before we took of. No one ever told us why, but we figured it was because the winds were too high and we were waiting it out. When the timing was right, they filled the balloon with air and started the hot air (gas). About 20 of us hopped into 4 separate compartments. Getting us off the ground was more nerve racking than being in the air! The basket kept going from side to side, giving us the feeling that we would fall out, but luckily all went smoothly. Before we knew it we were soaring high above the Valley of the Kings at 3000 feet. What a beautiful view, Nile to the East, farmland right below, the desert and mountains to the West. We flew over some small villages, no roofs on the houses, straw beds spread out and chickens running around chasing each other. After this village we were going real low, thinking we were going to land. There is a special landing position we are supposed to hold, so we all sat down but the pilot never said anything. We did touch down hard, (few rock pebbles in the face) but then popped right back up in the air. The pilot was training someone, so we are not sure if the touch was intentional or not but apparently it's good practice and confuses everyone. Once we got back up we soared for a while longer until we arrived at their landing field with a much smoother landing. We were in the air for almost an hour, it was well worth the ride! We arrived back at the hostel around 8:00am and had our proper breakfast. We didn't do much for the rest of the day, since we didn't have much energy from our 4 hour sleep. Today John and I caved and finally opted to go on a guided tour of the Valley of the Kings and two temples for ease of transportation. When we arrived at the Valley of the Kings paying our entrance fee was interesting. At first the guy wouldn't accept our international youth cards to give us half off (but it has worked everywhere else in Egypt) and we weren't going to pay double since that would be a rip off. After some bickering back and forth our tour guide said for us to bribe him but that's not something we were going to do. So finally after some time he finally gave us the student price. Our guide told us to buy a train ticket to take us to the tombs. Kind of confused by this we bought the tickets for a $1 and went on, which was a joke. A two minute ride to the start and we could have walked faster. Not that a $1 is a big deal but it shows how lazy Egyptians are! Anyways the tombs were interesting to see. Unfortunately we weren't able to take any pictures at all. To give an idea what they are like: there is a long tunnel covered in hieroglyphs and paintings that lead up to the tomb. Everything was very restored but gave a good perspective. The actual coffins are in the Egyptian museum in Cairo which we already saw. We saw three different tombs and that was the perfect amount. Next we went to the temple Hatshepsut. It was a unique temple compared to the rest, built into the cliffs. Luckily here, we had no problem getting the discounted ticket but didn't pay for the 10 second train ride. It was extremely hot here, not a breath of air but we still enjoyed ourselves. The last temple was very similar to the Karnak temple so our guide didn't even bring us in. We arrived back at the hostel around 1:00pm, ate lunch and relaxed. For dinner we finally had a meal we were craving, a bit of everything like the meals we had in Dahab. We don't eat a lot of meat here, so we thought chicken is what we needed and it sure was!
Over the past few days John and I have been stuck with a cold, probably from going in and out of air conditioning so much! We laid low on our first day in Luxor and stayed at the hostel. The workers here took good care of us, making us lemon honey tea and giving us tiger balm to use for our headaches. Most of the day we stayed in bed, but ventured out to chat with some other travelers for a few hours, since we didn't want to miss out on finally meeting new people! The next day (October 5th) we decided to check out the Luxor temple to get ourselves moving a bit and it was only a 10 minute walk away. This temple was built by Egyptians and even Romans over many centuries. I really liked the walkway with the sphinxes all lined up. You could almost imagine the Pharaoh walking down to his Temple being held up by his servants. While we were walking around many kids were taking pictures of us, right up in our faces with their camera phone. That disturbed us a bit so we were pretty cautious where we walked and John jumped in front of me a few times, to avoid me being snapped. Even old guys were asking for our picture, so weird. Anyways, after the Temple we headed back to the hostel and laid low during the hot part of the day. There is no air conditioning at this hostel, but we were actually happy about that. For dinner we wanted Koshery so we went to a recommended restaurant. Sneakily they had an English menu, but all prices were double! A guy at the hostel bought our food the night we got in, so we knew the price. We had to get a worker to go buy it so we wouldn't get ripped off, sneaky buggers! The next day we went to Karnak Temple. This one was built over a period of 1500 years, consisting of very high columns and walls. The entrance, I'm sure was used in some movies! We walked 4 kms to the temple and avoided many touts trying to sell us Felucca and horse carriage rides! Once there it was very touristy, but we escaped it a little bit and went on a random route. Since we have seen a few temples already the only thing that really stood out for us were the huge columns with hieroglyphs in them. After our walk back we escaped the heat for a few hours and relaxed to make sure we overcome these colds fast!
September 30 & October 1 - Aswan
We were ready to leave Cairo and the terrible traffic behind and were on the way to Aswan, a city in southern Egypt. It was an hour flight and we arrived in the city by the Nile around 6pm. Since there was no public transport into town, we had to negotiate a taxi. This was not going well, I knew the approximate cost of the 20 min ride into town and so I bartered hard with this one guy. He did not give us a break and became way too aggressive for my liking, so we tried another, more calm looking fellow. After some back and forth he agreed to take us for around $10 (still more than it should be). The first guy got very loud, aggressive and would not let us leave with the other driver. They had a big argument and some other guys stepped in to calm the loud guy down. We shoved our packs in the cab, Ashleigh got in and locked her door and I made sure the right driver got in. It was a nightmare, but we were glad to get out of the crazy situation. The driver was friendly, but still tried to pull a bad move, when stopping on the side of the road and almost taking his "friend" with us. I told him that was not going to happen, whatever his intentions were. We didn't book a hotel so we tried getting off were Google maps told us too. Google maps was wrong and so we wandered down the road to find a hotel. The second one we had picked was closed, but right beside it a man yelled over to us. It ended up being the correct hotel (our initial pick). We were glad to have found a place to stay, since it was already dark and we did not feel like walking around all night. We dropped our bags in the simple room and went to search for a restaurant. Most seemed closed and we had no luck, we were starving and so we found the golden arch and caved for McDonalds. It was a nice treat and the atmosphere was like back home, something we needed at this point. We ate outside at a table overlooking the Nile river. The town seems nice, a lot quieter, but people are a lot pushier. We called it a night and would explore the place tomorrow. The next day we got up for breakfast on the rooftop terrace. The view was amazing, we could see down the Nile, and there are a few small islands around the place. Many traditional boats, better known as feluccas, sail up and down the river. We decided to walk down to the unfinished obelisk, one of the main sights of this place. It was a good half hour walk through some real neighborhoods. The streets were dirty, garbage was everywhere but it's easy to ignore. We got to the place expecting a half finished obelisk to be standing somewhere, but this was not the case. We wandered around the sight until we finally clued in, that the obelisk was still in the granite rock. It was a massive piece, one solid chunk and it was carved out on three sides, just missing the bottom to be carved. It was laying there and we wondered how they had planned to lift this massive piece of rock. After some theories we gave up the guessing and started the journey back. We avoided the midday heat and sat on the rooftop eating some imported fruits. Since we didn't have a big lunch we went for an earlier dinner. We found a local stand and got some koshary, which we also ate back at the hotel. We have an early day ahead of us tomorrow so we went to bed early. October 2 - A full Day! Ashleigh and I got up at 3am, after a weak sleep due to all the noises going on outside and a rock hard pillow. We had a long day ahead of us, luckily our hotel provided a packed breakfast and shortly after, we were picked up by a modern minibus that would take us to Abu Simbel. We had to travel as part of a police convoy that was leaving Aswan just after 4am. The drive was along a newly paved road and we saw a magnificent sunrise over the desert. We arrived at Abu Simbel around 7am and were given almost three hours to check out the sights. Abu Simbel, which is located along the Nasser lake, only 20kms from the Sudanese border, has some amazing temples from the time of Pharaoh Ramses II. The whole site had been rebuild, since the initial site was sinking due to the rising of the Nile. It must have been a lot of work to move and rebuild these massive statues. Inside the temple there are many hieroglyphs and other carvings. The site was crawling with tourists since everybody arrived with the convoy, but we found a quiet spot nonetheless to take it all in. The drive back was fine and we got back to the hotel just in time to leave again. We had organized a last minute Nile cruise the day before, by going from boat to boat asking if anyone was leaving today and could take us. We had luck after a couple ships, and when we entered the lobby we were already impressed. All we needed was a good deal, the hotel and companies online charged way too much (well, way too much for our budget), and we read that it's best to just board the cruise and ask for a last minute deal. The guy working reception made a call to his boss and we could have a private cabin for one night including four meals for $80 total. We could not say no to that price, it was our 6 months of traveling present to ourselves. The cruise left around 2pm, after we had a huge buffet style lunch. Ashleigh and I were like hungry lions, and went back multiple times. People probably judged us and we might have forgotten how to use utensils properly. Oh the simplicity of travel changed us, but we will be more elegant tonight. The cruise ship is very nice, rated at 5 stars and our private cabin looks like a 5 star hotel room in our opinion. We have everything we need and more. We were both very excited to have landed such a good deal and we would get all the way up to Luxor by tomorrow night, with some stops here and there. We sat on the top deck taking in the Nile views. The banks are green and lush, animals are grazing and small simple villages line the river. The water is calm and we move at a slow pace, so we can take it all in. Our room is on the outer side and has a big window with two comfy chairs in front of it. It is perfect! Once 4pm came around we were notified it was tea time. We made our way up and sat by the pool enjoying a couple cups of much needed coffee and some cake. Since it is all inclusive (except drinks with meals) we didn't hesitate to go back for more cake (yes we are taking advantage of it, we are budget travelers!). We watched the sun slowly set over the Sahara desert and the colors were perfect. I captured it on photo, but one would have to sit beside us to really appreciate the beauty of this sunset. We docked at the crocodile temple of Kom Ombo for a couple hours and Ashleigh and I went on land to check it out from the outside. It is a smaller temple and since the sun had set already, we decided not to go inside. We made ourselves look more presentable and walked downstairs for dinner. A huge oriental food buffet was set up and we tried a lot of it, twice! The dessert table was even better and we satisfied our craving as well. It has been an eventful day, marking our half year of traveling. It's hard to believe it's already been six months but we still enjoy the lifestyle of traveling, often not knowing what the next destination may be. We stargazed for a few minutes before calling it a night. The dance floor and bar is right above us, let's see if the old folks can keep it down (we are in bed before them, how sad. It was a long day for us though so we have an excuse). October 3 - On to Luxor Fortunately the old folks kept it down last night so we were able to have a fantastic sleep with fantastic pillows! John and I had planned the night before to wake up at 6 am and go visit another Temple in Edfu. Well, when the alarm went off we decided we wanted to enjoy a nice breakfast and the time on the cruise. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast with many fruits! For a few hours we read our books on the top deck. I misjudged the 9:00 am sun so I got a sunburn, my first one in a long time! At noon we arrived at Esna and were greeted by many locals in their boats trying to sell towels. It reminded me of the movie Captain Phillips when the Pirates were coming after the boat! They attached their little dinghies with such ease to the big moving cruise ship, and started haggling away by yelling to passengers on the top deck. We went to take a quick peek. The temple took 200 years to build and now only the columns remain standing right in the middle of the town. Lunch was amazing once again and we ate until we couldn't anymore. The cruise had to go through some locks to pass through dams. Many locals were in the middle ledge trying to sell their goods and of course saying rude disrespectful things to get passengers' attention. One boy was yelling "Bon Bon" and wanted money or basically anything. None of the people on board caved to the begging, but a worker threw him a bag of sweets and a sprite. We saw him share so I guess he does have some manners! Around 5:30pm we arrived in Luxor. The ship docked about a 15 minute drive out of town. After our last taxi experience we wanted to avoid a taxi at all costs. Since the whole cruise was pretty much tour groups we asked two group leaders if we could catch a ride into town on the bus. The German group said no, but luckily the Chinese group took us in and we got a lift for free. The sun had set by now so we walked to our hostel and only got hustled by one guy. Everyone else who talked to us was nice and just wished us a nice day. We found the hostel easy and received orange juice as a welcome drink. Finally we met some other travelers and we socialized for a bit. Since we were both still full from lunch we split a Kosheri for dinner and called it a night! Even though we have only been in Luxor a few hours, we already know we will like it. It's not as busy, cleaner and people seem nicer than in Aswan. The hostel isn't as nice as the cruise of course, but it will do! |
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