And Away We Go....

Happy Belated Easter/Passover everybody. We're currently in Egypt and there definitely was no Easter feel here in Cairo, given that Sundays are the equivalent to a Westerner’s Monday.

After a stressful few days of packing boxes and selling our furniture, we finally moved out of our apartment on Friday, 4 April. Jason Siu was kind enough to let us crash in his apartment for a couple of nights –THANK YOU JASON! We then headed off to Melbourne to attend our friend’s wedding and returned to Sydney on Monday night.

On the morning of our flight (Tuesday, 7 April), we finally figured out how to fit our life into one backpack. Upon check-in we were delighted to find out that both backpacks weighed under 20 kgs (45 lbs), only to find out that our stress was unnecessary because with a RTW ticket, we have the same luggage allowances as the US, i.e. 2 bags at 23 kgs per piece. It would not be feasible to travel the world with 2 bags at 50 pounds each, although it would have made Val happier to have some cuter clothes and shoes and look less like a “backpacker”.

It was sad to say goodbye to Australia, the country we called home for the past 2.5 years. Our journey starts on our smooth flight to Kuala Lumpur with Malaysia Airlines. They were really nice and we enjoyed their in-flight hospitality. From KL we took the redeye to Dubai and arrived there at 4am. This is where the fun begins for Martin....

Who has heard of an American passport? Everybody! Liechtenstein passport – “please follow me sir.” We were taken away from passport control to a room in a side office. The passport official did his own thing in the system and could not locate Liechtenstein. He told Martin that he needs a visa. Martin explained to him that Liechtenstein has the same visa requirements as Switzerland (no need for a visa in Dubai), however this official didn’t want any of it and sought assistance from his colleague. At this point, Val got a little annoyed given that she only slept a total of 4 hours during the 20 hour journey to Dubai and quietly tells Martin “you should really convert and become a Swiss citizen or have your tiny country join the EU.” Twenty minutes later, the second official completed his due diligence and finally welcomed Martin to Dubai with a big smile. Martin was then told that he is the FIRST person from Liechtenstein to visit Dubai. Martin has vowed that he will verify this with all of his 32,000 fellow citizens when we get to Liechtenstein in September/October. As it turns out, this cycle will repeat itself in many other countries…more about this later.

Now about Dubai – it reminded us of what Vegas probably looked like 20 years ago, one massive construction site. We were most impressed with its blending of cultures and religions. We found it to be one of the most diverse cities that we had ever visited, with a huge concentration of local people, and most notably Indians, Pakistanis, Asians, Russians, Americans, Europeans, Africans and lots and lots of Filipinos. By the way, driving a Mercedes in Dubai is so not impressive (no offense Jurai) as Maseratis, Ferraris, Bentleys, and Rolls Royces were the norm on the roads. Where do these folks get their money to drive these cars??? Dubai is big and spread out, but rather orderly and clean. Despite people looking fierce in the street and staring us down, once you say hello and smile at them (typical Martin), a smile is returned.

We stayed in a fairly nice hotel in Deira, called the Flora Grand. Deira is the old town Dubai and due to its historical importance, there are no plans to modernize it. Highlights of Deira included an abra (wooden boat) ride on Dubai Creek; a visit to the Gold Souk where Val almost shortened our trip’s budget because she found the most beautiful, perfect, diamond engagement ring for Martin to buy her – but Martin prevailed this time; the Spice Souk, the atmospheric wooden-latticed arcades of the Old Souk and Textile Souk with its narrow lanes and Arabian influenced architecture. The following day we experienced the hyper-modern Dubai where we saw the Emirates Towers, the Dubai Financial Center, the brand new Dubai Mall (holds over 1200 stores and seemed to be at least 4 times bigger than the Mall of America in Minneapolis…to put it is simply, you can spend a whole day in here, but have only seen a portion of it in a rush), Burj Dubai – set to become the tallest building in the world but still in construction and the intricately detailed architecture of Jumeirah Mosque.

Our last day was spent viewing the Burj Al Arab (the world’s only 7-star hotel, slightly out of our price range at $2000 per person per night minimum), sitting on its own island, and the Madinat Jumeirah, an attractive market, enchanting hotel, shopping and entertainment complex, but highly touristy. We then met with Val’s long-lost family friend Mirasol and her fiancé. Mirasol’s family lived next door from Val’s grandma’s house in Cebu, Philippines, and they were pen pals from grade 6 onto high school. Val had not seen her since 1989, so this was truly a special occasion to catch-up with a good friend. We had dinner at the Mall of Emirates with views of people skiing and snowboarding in the artificial ski slope, Ski Dubai. Mirasol and Jerry will be marrying next month and we wish them all the best for their future together. Mirasol, let’s not wait another 20 years to see each other again.

Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Dubai, but we plan on returning once construction has been completed and we have financially recovered from this trip. Flying Egypt Air was a pretty scary affair. While taxiing on the runway, there were noises that sounded like it come from the under carriage, clonking noises that almost sounded like a bang on a gong. These sounds would come up often, except no one on the plane seemed concern except for us. When we took off, we heard more sounds, like sand running off the front of the aircraft towards the back. This time we noticed surprised looks from other passengers. Long story short, we made it to Cairo safe and sound. Everything went smoothly until Martin had to go through passport control. Again, he was asked to step aside and after some Q&A on Liechtenstein, he was finally granted entry into Egypt.

Here is a link to our photos http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CYtm7Fu5as10

When we stepped out of Cairo Airport, we were aggressively approached by taxi drivers, like flies attracted to horse manure. Surprisingly, even the Egyptian tourist information official appeared to be in collaboration with these hawkers. Kudos to Val who stood her ground and negotiated a 75 Egyptian Pounds (approximately $20) fare for what turned out to be the 1 hour ride of our lives to our hotel. If you have not heard about Cairo’s traffic, everything they say about it is true. We are just lucky to have made it here alive as there are absolutely no traffic rules. What is supposed to be a 3-lane road becomes a “wherever you can squeeze in and dodge other cars,” which translates to anywhere between 5 to 6-lanes of traffic. Every car has its nicks and dents. Cars were stalled left and right. They love to honk their horns, mostly to warn the men walking across the busy freeway. It is pure chaos and we’ve never seen anything like it before.

We have spent our days doing nothing much, except running small errands like picking up bottled water at the store, dodging the excessive amount of hawkers who continue to welcome us to Egypt while trying to sell us discount cards to their friend’s restaurant or tours of Egypt, and going into the bank to break our higher denominated currency into smaller denominations. Interestingly enough, one is to tip everyone here including the person who picks up your tray from your table at McDonald’s.

Today we braved Cairo and hired a private taxi from the hotel. We soon figured out that they all collaborate together and what was supposed to be a $50 day turned out to be a day where we spent a couple hundred dollars, considering horse rides around the Great Pyramids of Giza, entry fees, souvenirs and tips, tips, tips and more tips - lesson learned! Should you ever want to come to Cairo, make sure that you stick with a tour group arranged from your home country. We should not have ventured...only 1 more day till our tour starts with Gecko Adventures.