Round the World '08

The next day after desert safari we start our bus journey to Jordan, we have to get up at 4.30am, we arrive at the bus station and I am coming down the escalator with my bag, I go to get off and my good ole jandal gets stuck I pull my foot out and get off the escalator I turn around and the escalator grate is broken so there is about a 1cm hole there and this escalator is going fast – I look down at my toe and there is a cut and there is blood, I freak and start to bawl, I sit down and 5 guards work on getting my jandal out while 1 grabs me a serviette (which is the closest thing to a first aid kit!) he wraps it around my toe, I look at where I cut my toe and realise this thing hasn’t been cleaned since ancient Egyptian time, I panic and have a massive teary, luckily mum has a first aid kit and bandages my toe, I couldn’t believe after everything adventurous we did in the dirtiest place in the whole world I managed to jam my jandal and cut my toe on a bloody escalator!

Jordan
We get the bus to Taba in Sinai Egypt we then get a taxi to the Israel boarder crossing we then walk across the Israel boarder taxi from here to the Jordan boarder walk through the Jordan boarder and get a 2 hour taxi to Petra, our taxi driver is so nice he buys us drinks and stops to show us things and holds my hand – he’s a sweetie, we stop at a mountain top to see the view and drink tea with a few Jordanian men, after our Egyptian experience we have learnt not to accept anything from anyone, that nicest is only for a tip and do not respond when the locals so ‘Hi’ so mum gets all suss and thinks he wants something, we arrive at the hotel and no worries the taxi driver was just nice….we agree that we have a bit of a chip on our shoulder from Egypt and have to learn to be polite and accept that Jordanians are actually very kind people.

The hostel we stay at has a beautiful view over the mountains, a cheap traditional dinner and a backpackers feel. The next day we spent at Petra, it is awesome, we walk through a narrow valley of cliffs to a clearing where the treasury a temple carved into the rocks is, we then trek looking at other carved houses and temples along the way and met a NZ lady who is famous for marrying a Bedouin man (Bedouin tribes are nomads who live in caves and roam the deserts with their goats) she wrote a book about it, we brought a copy at her stall and she signed it, we then take a scary donkey ride up 800 very steep steps to the top of the mountains to see the Monastery another temple carved into the rocks.

That night we met Kevin a English guy who is a hard core traveller, he tell us about a cheap bus we can catch to Amman and a hostel there so the next day we catch this bus with him, we arrive at the hostel and Luwas the guy on reception is so friendly our room is 12 JD a night (24NZ) the glass in the window is broken so we cover it with the curtain sitting on the floor but Mum cracks when we see a cockroach in the bathroom – they don’t have them in NZ, she screams and Luwas comes up we search and search and cant find it, we go out for dinner and come back and out he comes again so mum goes and gets Luwas again we search and search and no roach I think Luwas thinks we are crazy bitches – he is right, mum refuses to use the loo.

We spend the next few days visiting the Roman Amphitheatre, the King’s Mosque and a mall. We also do a afternoon trip to the dead sea, it is a weird sensation to be floating in deep water, the water is very hot and kinda thick with salt, I have like 100 itchy bites so my dead sea experience is very painful, we pay 12JD ($24NZ!!) each to use the resort beach and swimming pools. Over the next 3 days at the hostel we kill 2 very big cockroaches EW!

After a 24 hour journey we arrived in Cairo, We had only booked our tour a few days before, we are transferred to our first nights accommodation – the tour companies ‘guesthouse’ our first reaction is shock, when we see even the neighbourhood we are staying in, full Egyptian culture experience would be my only way to describe this, we are taken to our ‘room’ one bed and 2 fans in 500 degree heat, the place has a layer of dust and sand and the toilet doesn’t have a seat (seems a popular toilet style in Egypt) we brave the night in the slums and the next day we visit the Giza Pyramids which are amazing and the first pyramid Saqqarah - the step pyramid, we spend the night in downtown Cairo at a hostel, it is basic but seems luxury after the previous night - we are treated to aircon, tv and even a toilet seat LOL. Oh and the men in Egypt are HOT, sexy dark features, me and mum both think there is something really attractive about Middle Eastern men.

The next day we visit the Egyptian Museum there is sooo much to look at here, the highlights would be the mummies room, these mummies had hair, skin and toenails, and on some you could see their facial structure, another highlight was seeing King Tutankumen’s tomb contents and his mask, we find out in ancient Egyptian time incest was common and one of the Kings actually married his daughter we also learn that even in the mythology the gods married their siblings EW. We then visit Old Coptic and Citadel Cairo, which is from a much more recent Islamic and Christian period than ancient Egypt. In Coptic Cairo we meet a nice Egyptian man at the local shop who gives us a energy bar and shows us how to smoke Shu-esh (dunno how to spell it) it’s a tobacco you smoke through this massive bong thing, actually it’s the biggest bong ive seen, the tobacco is flavoured like fruit.
We then take an overnight sleeper train to Aswan, we had heard some bad reviews about the train’s food and accommodation but we were pleasantly surprised by the comfortable beds and yummy food.

We arrive in Aswan and the hotel here is not so cool, but bearable, we go on a tour around Aswan to the Unfinished Obelisk (like a quarry area) BORING, we do not have a guide just a grumpy driver this makes it boring and difficult as many men are hassling us! Then to the Philae Temple where we hitchhike on a ferry to the island where the temple is, very beautiful, the policeman nicely tells us 5 seconds of history then asks for a tip, which is the normal bullshit tourist trap in Egypt, we then visit the Dam, again BORING, the next morning we wake at 3AM! To catch a bus to Abu Simbel, we must leave early as this temple is in the desert and can reach 50 degrees later on in the day, we arrive and it is amazing, the whole temple was taken apart and rebuilt on higher ground due to the dam, you can look over the dam at Sudan. We board our cruise and start sailing the Nile, we really enjoy the cruise and the other travellers we meet are really nice.

The next morning we visit Efdu Temple, we take a horse and carriage there and I get to steer the horse, the horse driver asks me if I have a BF I make the mistake of telling him I don’t he wonders why and I tell him I don’t need one LOL, he then asks how many camels?! LOL Mum says 400 Million I think she wants to offer me for free though LOL When then sail off to Luxor and our cruise ends, we enjoy our stay in Luxor we visit the Valley of the Queens and Kings and pay extra to go into King Tut’s tomb which was amazing – Tut’s mummy is down there, we also visit other amazing tombs in the Valley of the Kings including one that goes down so steep it is like a oven at the bottom I manage to get down and up without stopping due to the fact I think I will pass out, on our tour we met a African American guy called Dis-say he’s so funny, turns out he’s staying at our hotel too, he tells me I have ‘one hot mama’ and I gag! The next day we take a felucca ride down the Nile, it is one of the best experiences in Egypt, we anchor in a nice area and walk a shore we then go swimming in the Nile and it was the most refreshing swims of my life, we are amazed by all the flecks of gold that washes ashore, our felucca crew are heaps of fun and make us hibiscus tea.

Back in Cairo we are undecided what to do, we can start our massive bus journey across the Israel boarder to Jordan or spend a few more days in Egypt and do a desert safari we are approached by 2 travellers – Jessie who is Taiwanese and Steve a American who now lives in Ghana – they ask if we would be keen to do desert safari – we jump at the chance to go as a group and taxi to the station to purchase our bus tickets for the next day. The next day we take the bus to Bahraiya a desert oasis, we are then taken to a traditional house for lunch, we then jump in the back of a jeep and begin our drive out to the middle of nowhere, after about an hour the jeep goes off-road and it gets so bumpy I am thrown into the air a few times we drive down a sand dune and am practically vertical, the white desert is amazing pure white from the salt deposits left from when this was the ocean floor! We drive for another hour and then park up to watch a beautiful sunset and set up camp, our village guide lights a fire and starts to make dinner, after a yummy dinner we play games around the fire and then put our thin mattresses down on the sand for a night sleeping under the stars, because there is no light you can see so many more stars and we see 3 shooting stars, the desert is so quiet it is eerie, like the most silent silence I have ever experienced.

We are at Hong Kong airport again, scabbing the free wifi, we have finished the China part of our trip and am waiting for our flight to Cairo via London.

The best part of China by far was watching my little brother Jesse win that bronze at the Olympics, we all cheered till we were hoarse at the finals and we were all at the edge of our seats, the team beat Aussie by a long shot (not that, that’s hard!) LOL. The Laoshan Velodrome was pretty high tech. The chinese really got into it, the volunteers were so excited and helpful. The 2008 olympics was a experience I will never forget.

While in Beijing we stayed at the City Central International Youth Hostel, which was very clean for a asian hostel, we travelled out to the Great Wall of China, it was very busy and hot and alot steeper than you would think! Even me and Grace were having trouble with our long legs, can’t imagine a little chinese person trying to climb it, we got the gondola to a peak, pretty freaky gondola ride I don’t think China has much of a safety standard!
Tiananmen Sqaure was massive and once again crowed and hot, we walked around the Forbidden City which was beautiful and huge, our last day we just managed to see the Temple of Heaven which was tranquil, and ventured around a hutong. The Silk markets were so cool but you gota barter and we all separated once meeting up again we discovered some of us brought the same thing for different prices.
Had a celebration dinner for Jesse, Peking Duck at a restaurant that opened in 1864, they bring out the whole duck and cut it up in front of you, you even eat the head.
At the end we got a card with the number of the duck we just ate, ours was something like 381,000!
Me and Grace went clubbing at Club Banana a very posh Beijing nightclub, shes only 16 so we just told the bouncer she didn't bring her ID and he was sweet bout it, dont think they are that strict on age. We got to sit in the VIP area and drink cocktails which was cool, we were the only non asian there and no one spoke english, the decor of the club was awesome, heaps of screens, lasers, performers, cages, poles and a bouncy dance floor, the music was mostly english techno but there were a few chinese songs, we even danced with asian boys who couldn't speak a word of english, was a really awesome night, we had a ball!

After Beijing me and mum went onto Shanghai, I think this place is so shabby, we went to the bund and some Old Shanghai markets, our hotel New Asia Hotel was sooo nice, king single beds and plasma tv we loved it! Our best meal yet was at a restaurant in Shanghai, for $10 NZD we got 3 main dishes and they were huge and sooo tasty.

Hong Kong was contrasting, we stayed in Mong Kok in the city which was very crowded but ventured to Lantau Island which was beautiful, a peaceful seaside village, we took a bus on a very bumpy road up into the mountains to a hill top were a massive bronze budda sits, it was awesome, my favourite place in China, we looked around the Po Lin Monastery that was up there and burnt incense for the Budda. We also went to Hong Kong Island on the old Star ferry and took the Peak tram up to the peak, the tram is practically vertical at one point during the ride.

After a 11.5 hour flight we arrived in Hong Kong, tried to get into the transit lounge but it was going to cost $85 each for a seat and no bed, so we decided to sleep rough on the seats and floor, first seats were rather uncomfortable due to the fact they had metal arm rests seperating them but luckily they had a little table in the middle, after seeing a few asians sleeping across the table I was exhausted enough to give it a go, ouch it hurt but doesn't matter when your in a coma! Mum had to wake me to tell me there was hotties near us 'HOTTIE ALERT' LOL SHAME! So we moved to another terminal and found some far more comfortable seats, we had some crazy 'sweet buns' for breaky, leave for Shanghai connecting with Beijing in a few hours....we really want a shower!

Today me and mum start our journey....
Auckland - Beijing - Shanghai - Hong Kong - Egypt - Jordan - Turkey - Paris - London all in 7 Weeks
Right now we are really looking forward to watching Jesse, my little brother race track cycling in the Olympics, and thanks to all mums hard work we got tickets to all his events!
So we have just finished packing our backpacks and am toasting the start of the trip to a glass of red wine mum got in Italy.....Look out Beijing my bro is going to rip it up!