Jordan

Last time we wrote to you, we were in Aqaba, at the southern tip of Jordan. We both felt a little bit under the weather shortly after we got to Jordan, and then Istanbul has been so exciting that we could not find the time to type the blog till now.

We also forgot to mention a couple of things on our Egypt blog: Firstly, we wanted to acknowledge Cathy’s photographic contribution to our blog and secondly, we forgot to mention that Amelia scored the first goal when we played football (soccer) in Aswan – brilliant effort Amelia!

Not to rub it in for any of you who are either preparing for another busy season or for those who just came out of a busy season (you know who you are), but we are writing this blog from the shady rooftop terrace of our hotel in Kalkan on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey where we are enjoying beautiful weather, warm temperatures (30 degrees Celsius or around 90 Fahrenheit), amazing hospitality and great food. Anyways, back to Jordan…

Aqaba, and our accommodation in particular (International Arab Divers Village), turned out to be a nice little gem. Abdel, the owner and a retired naval officer, was an extremely friendly and gracious host; Lucky, Abdel’s limping white puppy lab was absolutely adorable; and we enjoyed 24-hour free WiFi. On our second day in Aqaba, we decided to explore the town and as we were walking down the hill from our hostel, we scored a free ride to town from two electricians, who were working on the neighboring property. On the ride to town, they pointed out Eilat (Israel) and Taba (Egypt), all within 15 kilometers across the Red Sea. We spent a fairly uneventful day roaming Aqaba, surfing the web and organizing a trip to Wadi Rum, a famous desert in the south of Jordan.

The next day we took a taxi to Wadi Rum Village from where we joined a six-hour 4WD tour with a non- English speaking guide and a Spanish couple (mostly non-English speaking as well). Most of the day was spent pointing at sights and trying to figure out the historic importance behind it – Lawrence of Arabia, who’s he again? We also saw wild camels, which when viewing our photos, you will notice were an awesome subject. In the late afternoon we arrived at our Bedouin camp. The tent was comfortable and big (we got a 4-person tent to ourselves), but the non-flushing toilets and lack of a water bucket to assist with the flushing were a bit challenging. We got some good sunset photos, but overall we had to conclude that Wadi Rum was not nearly as exciting as expected, perhaps because we had previously seen fantastic desert scenery in the U.S. and Australia. Here is a link to our photos in Shutterfly or on Picasa (same album on both sites): http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CYtm7Fu5as24&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5&cid=EMsharshar

or

http://picasaweb.google.com/valandmartin2009/JordanBlog?feat=directlink

The following morning we were crammed into the back (literally) of the jeep and found ourselves wedged between bags as we were rushed back to Wadi Rum Village. This is where we probably made the biggest mistake to date – we listened to our host rather than our gut, prior to booking accommodation in Wadi Musa, the town next to Petra. Mohammed (the owner of the Bedouin camp) suggested staying at the Petra Gate Hotel, which supposedly is far cheaper and better than most other budget hotels in town. Upon consulting Hostelworld.com, it sounded like a bargain as this hostel was voted #1 by travelers. Mohammed made the booking for us and off we went on the 2-hour ride on a public minibus to Wadi Musa. The drive was fine, but the blaring local music, the seemingly psychotic bus conductor and the winding, twisting ups and downs of the road made us a bit edgy.

We arrived in Wadi Musa and checked into the Petra Gate Hotel – an absolutely awful hostel that won best hostel 2008 of Petra (there are about 6 hostels in the area). For a measly 25 Jordanian Dinars (about $50 AUD), here is a quick summary of what we got: tiny room that barely fit our backpacks, a busted bathroom door, a broken plastic toilet seat that eventually fell off the toilet, and at night there was a scorpion crawling on our wall which was swiftly killed and removed by one of the very nice hotel employees who slept on the floor of the lobby. Needless to say, first thing in the morning, we transferred to the hotel across the street and for just 3 JD more, we got a much larger and cleaner room with a TV - oh and almost forgot, it had a toilet seat too – what a convenience! We should however point out that Nasser, the owner of the Petra Gate Hotel, and his staff, were very kind and wonderful hosts. Most impressive to Val was the Filipina who worked at the Petra Gate Hotel and spoke Arabic fluently. Nasser even drove us to Petra’s entrance gate in his own car, free of charge.

Petra is considered the most important archeological site in the Middle East and is renowned for its rock-cut architecture. The Nabateans constructed it as their capital city around 100 BC. In 1985, Petra was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. For you movie buffs out there, one of the Indiana Jones movies was filmed here and a huge billboard boasting Harrison Ford can attest to this fact. Petra was the star attraction of Jordan. The narrow 1.2km-long canyon, known as the Siq, opens up the most impressive of the Petra sights, the striking façade of Petra Treasury (Al-Khazneh) and its stone façade turns into an eerie orange/pink at sunset. Our full day Petra excursion also saw us hiking to the Royal Tombs, the Street of Facades, the colonnaded street and the Monastery (Al Deir) as well as The High Place of Sacrifice, reached by a 45-minute climb from the Street of Facades, offering unparalleled views across the valley. Just for completeness sake, we watched in awe as one rather aroused donkey was trying to copulate with another donkey, unsuccessfully. This went on for at least 15 minutes before one of the farmers took care of the donkey’s urges by throwing rocks at him and dragging the female donkey away. As we were leaving the site around sunset, the cutest puppy followed us out the gates, and had it not been for a naughty teen that chased after it, the puppy would probably have followed us to our hotel room.

The following day we organized a full-day taxi ride from Petra to Madaba (about 30 minutes south of Amman) with a taxi cab driver from Aqaba named, Mousa. We quickly noted that Mousa practically has friends from all over the world. He proudly showed us a guest book with comments from previous customers, all speaking very highly of him – as we soon noted, rightfully so. He was a real character, spoke to us in 3 different languages, he was very accommodating, always smiling and trustworthy. As part of our full day 250km odyssey, we visited the crusader castles in Shobak (where he posed for a photo with us) and Karak, the Dead Sea (had to give it a miss because it was too expensive for us considering that we were only going to be there for about an hour); and Mount Nebo where Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land. Unfortunately, the Moses Church with its impressive and well preserved main floor mosaic measuring 9m by 3m was under reconstruction for the Pope who visited a week after our visit.

Our final stop and rest point for the next 2 days was Madaba, best known for its superb, historically significant Byzantine-era mosaics. Particularly impressive were the many mosaics and paintings in the 19th century St. George's Church, though the supposedly impressive Mosaic Map was a bit of a let-down as it was faint and in rather poor shape. On our walk to the Church of the Apostles, we were stopped by a local electrician/TV repairman, who once served with the Jordanian Air Force and obtained his high school diploma from El Paso, Texas in the early 80’s. It was rather interesting to get his perspective on the world order, America and the Iraq war. What was supposed to be a 5-minute chat turned into a 1-hour discussion in his repair shop and carried on in his neighbor’s convenience store where we snacked on Cheetos and sodas. No matter what the opinion was, he was a genuinely nice guy and was only interested in peace and the welfare of his family – fair call!

We then went on to Amman where we spent the next 4 days. It would have been way too long had it not been for Musa Al-Ramahi’s fantastic friends, Mirvat, Rami, his wife Tala and their daughter Talia who showed us around Amman and offered continuous hospitality. Rami (Musa’s best friend) took a full day driving us around Amman, showing us the various neighborhoods before we met up with his good friend Mirvat, who according to one of her 5th grade students, is a sophisticated, yet complicated woman. She is hilarious, full of stories and jokes – we love her! We stopped for refreshments and treats at a local bakery before we went back to Rami’s house were we met his wife, Tala, and beautiful daughter Talia. Tala treated us to tea, coffee and a plate of freshly baked banana muffins where each of us grabbed more than one (we won’t disclose the number of muffins eaten…). After that we went on to see the historic downtown and enjoyed a simple, yet delicious late night treat, being freshly baked sesame bread rolls, cream cheese and herbs.

The following day we visited the King Abdullah Mosque which welcomes non-Muslims and then roamed historic downtown Amman, including the 6000-seat Roman Theatre, the 500-seat Odeon and Hashemite Square. On our way back to the hotel room we stopped at a barber so Martin could get a haircut. It was impressive and quite an experience when at the end, the barber put a lot of full-strength, wet-look gel on Martin’s hair and he came out looking like a local. Not to worry, Martin is mostly back to his normal looks now! We caught up one more time with Rami and Mirvat and went to their favorite hangout, Casper & Gambini’s in an affluent suburb called Abdoun. Unfortunately, this evening meant goodbye to our new Jordanian friends as we were heading to Jerash the next day and had to fly out of Amman at 6:40am the following day. We do however look forward to catch up with Rami in Kuala Lumpur next February.

The ruined city of Jerash, about 48km north of Amman is considered to be an archeological masterpiece. We reached the site after a hair-raising taxi ride from our hotel to the bus station and after enduring a 1.5 hour wait in a hot bus (buses only leave once they are full and unfortunately, our timing was such that we were the first passengers…).

Jerash is considered one of the most important and best preserved Roman cities in the Near East and is sometimes misleadingly referred to as the "Pompeii of the Middle East or Asia", referring to its size, extent of excavation and level of preservation (though Jerash was never buried by a volcano). This site was rather interesting and the ruins that we saw, the Triumphal Arch (Hadrian's Arch), the cart-rutted Cardo Maximus, and the Oval Plaza or Forum (one of the most distinctive images of Jerash - 56 Ionic columns surround the paved limestone plaza) were all memorable.

The next morning, we had to rise at 3:15 as we were picked up to go to the airport at 4am. We warmed up over hot tea and warm pita bread as we both showered in cold water – not very pleasant as Amman during this time of year is still rather cool, but a sure way to wake up!

The flight to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines was pleasant and uneventful and we arrived in Istanbul on time. Kudos to the Turkish immigration officials who, for the first time during our trip, did not question Martin’s home country and stamped his passport without any dramas – thank you Turkey! We have now been in Turkey for a bit over a week and are truly enjoying ourselves. We will provide you with a further update closer to our departure at the end of May. Hope all is well with you and we continue to look forward to your e-mails and comments.

So long,
Val & Martin

Yalla Egypt!

Cairo is a massive, sprawling metropolis of some 20 million people and after having learned our lesson from our “rip-off” horse ride tour to Giza, we were totally discouraged in exploring the city on our own, other than making frequent trips to the internet café and excellent Alfa supermarket (they had the whole Hostess line of goodies – Val had her first Twinkie in 4 years!). This time, luck was on our side and we met Tom and Bess, a lovely Australian couple in their twenties, at the internet cafe. We had seen them during our “rip-off” tour to Giza the day before and started talking to them. We quickly felt a little bit better when we found out that we had not been the only tourists scammed. We learned that Tom and Bess were on the same Gecko’s tour as us and with safety in numbers and a renewed confidence in not letting “them” rip us off any longer, we decided to head to Khan El-Khalili, a massive maze of bazaars and to Bab Zuweila, a fort-like wall from where we enjoyed spectacular views over Cairo from the twin minarets. With our confidence level ever-growing, we took a local taxi from the bazaars to the spectacular 12th century Citadel of Salah ad-Din al Ayyub… except the taxi wouldn’t start. Tom and some local shop keeper on the street had to help the cabbie push the vehicle in order it to start. We were all apprehensive riding in the cab, but we made it to the Citadel alright and intact.

That same night, we met with Ramy Adly, our tour leader for the next two weeks. Ramy deserves special mention as both of us previously avoided organized tour groups like the plague. This tour turned out to be one of our best adventures ever. Ramy was simply outstanding in everything he did, from being organized, honest, funny, informative and a genius by upgrading us from a 3-star to a 5-star Nile cruise AND upgrading our rooms from regular to balcony, beach-view rooms in Dahab. We think he would also make a perfect boyfriend for all our single-lady friends in SF and Sydney….you know who you are! We should also mention here that we could not have possibly asked for a better tour group – it felt like travelling with the best of friends and family…special mention to the” Yalla-Banana” Crew: Ramy, Michael, Pam, Cathy, Debra, Tom, Bess and Amelia who made this trip so very enjoyable! We miss you guys already and hope that all of you had a safe trip home or to Greece (we might meet you there Tom & Bess).

Our first activity with the group was a night, sound and light show of the Giza Pyramids….it was alright, but we all expected a bit more. The next morning took us back to the mighty pyramids at Giza where we explored the pyramids and the nearby Sphinx. We then headed to the truly outstanding Egyptian Museum where one of the highlights was the golden mask of King Tutankhamen and his numerous other treasures. In the evening we took the night train to Aswan in the south of Egypt (a 12-hour rattling, full blasting air conditioner adventure).

Although largely sleep deprived, we got our hotel rooms in Aswan, cleaned up and boarded a bus to visit the stunning Temple of Isis at Philae Island. After the temple, we ventured to the Nubian bazaar - a long and colourful street that snakes through the centre of town. This is where Martin paid his first bribe to take a photo of an elderly man smoking a sheesha pipe. That evening we boarded a felucca sailboat, a wooden boat without an engine, and relaxed on the Nile, enjoying great views, wonderful company, Stella beer (not Belgium’s Stella Artois, this is Egypt’s beer), mint tea and biscuits. We were then treated to a Nubian dinner, complete with song and dance. This is where we met some locals of the west bank part of the Nile River. Val wanted to adopt the lovely 18-month old Haleema who loved to dance. Martin fell in love with 5-year old Osama who was after candy. The dinner and the subsequent dance and song provided excellent photo opportunities, the results which we have included in the attached link to Shutterfly (remember you do not need to become a member to view the pics): http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CYtm7Fu5as2a&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5&cid=EMsharshar

The following day we were up at 3am and took a police convoy to travel by road to Abu Simbel, one of the most impressive temples ever built and certainly one of Martin’s photographic highlights. We were not sure what was more impressive: the temples themselves, the feat of moving the temples stone by stone from its original location to avoid being flooded by the massive artificial Lake Nasser, or the fact that we were only 45kms (less than 30 miles) from the Sudan border. The temples were fantastic and Martin ended up with over 70 photos in less than two hours. For the most part we all slept on the bus back to Aswan where we boarded our Nile Cruise boat, the Ra II, which we called home for the next three nights. Much to our delight, Ramy and Hassan (another Gecko’s tour leader) managed to upgrade us from a 3-star boat to a 5-star boat – way to go guys!!! This was definitely another highlight of our trip and the buffets made us feel like being back in Vegas – unfortunately, the waistline was not as impressed with us. We tried to exercise it off one night in Aswan, by playing some soccer against Hassan’s tour group, but Martin managed to injure his knee during the 1st half (a reoccurring knee injury, but nothing too serious). Val felt guilty given that we had to climb Mt. Sinai in less than a week and she was the one who encouraged Martin to be a team player and play soccer too. Nevertheless, Team Ramy tied the game with Team Hassan at 3-3 with one less player, since we had no substitute for the highly talented Martin (yes, Martin did insert this part). Good job team!

Cruising along the Nile was a very relaxing experience from the past few busy days and allowed Martin to heal his injury by sitting on the sundeck rather than limping around temples in 40 degree (100 degrees F) heat. We hung-out at the sundeck and watched the locals go about their business on the banks of the Nile. It was really cool to hear all the kids scream and wave hello to us. Even more rewarding were the smiles and the increased yelling and enthusiasm when we waved our hands and said hello to them – it was as if we were celebrities.

Our first stop on the cruise was at Kom Ombo to visit the Temple of Sobek, a Greco-Roman temple overlooking the Nile. At sunset we stopped at Edfu where we explored the lit and well-preserved Temple of Horus, considered one of the finest examples of temple construction. The next day we arrived in Luxor and took a horse-drawn carriage to the massive temple complex at Karnak, built over a period of some 2000 years, and one of the greatest temples ever constructed. In the evening we explored the bazaar in Luxor and relaxed at an outdoor café within the bazaar before retiring to our cabins on the Ra II for the last night.

The following morning we once again rose early as we signed up for a hot air balloon ride – a first for both of us. The sunrise, accentuated by the ever present pollution, made for a fantastic experience. We cruised at a maximum altitude of 500 meters (1500 feet) which allowed us to observe farmers and life below us. After about 50 minutes we landed in a sugar cane field and were greeted by kids who wanted money for taking photos of donkeys and dogs, which of course, they claimed were theirs. They didn’t stop asking until we boarded our van…a 10 minute walk from where we landed.

We were then transported to the Valley of the Kings were we visited several impressive tombs. We completed our visit by 9am for which we were very grateful as the thermometer was already in the mid-30’s or 95 degrees F. What follows will probably be one of the most memorable experiences ever – a donkey ride along Luxor country.

Everyone on the tour, but Ramy, was hesitant riding the donkeys in the middle of traffic. Ramy told us that there is not much direction needed for these donkeys, they knew where to go…yeah, sure. You do become confident and comfortable, shouting out commands to speed-up or go to the left/right, just after 5 minutes of riding the donkeys. We all wanted them to go faster, so we would shout “yalla-yalla,” which means “let’s go, let’s go” but that didn’t make them go any faster. These donkeys have a mind of their own and as much as we didn’t want to believe Ramy, he’s right, the donkeys knew where they were going. What we didn’t like was when they went fast in spurts then suddenly slowed down…”Did we tell you to speed up donkey? What made you do that?” Then Bess shouted out “banana” which made her donkey go faster, so we all followed foot and shouted “banana”, then “yalla-banana”, which made them go slightly faster. The locals probably thought we were out of our minds shouting out “yalla-banana!” but from then on, it became our group’s cheer. We are happy to report that both our donkeys were well behaved and did not cause any accidents or traffic congestions. This also meant that this was the conclusion of our southern Egypt odyssey and that evening we boarded the night train back to Cairo (9 hours of rattling and excessive air conditioning).

Back in Cairo, we wasted no time and Ramy took us to the awe-inspiring 9th century Mosque of Ibn Tulun and then to the fantastic El Fishawy Café, which reputedly has the best Turkish coffee and mint tea in town; and yes, we can attest to this. Lonely Planet should also mention that the place from which we ordered falafels is probably THE best in the country. Unfortunately, today meant the completion of the Egypt adventure for Pam, Michael, Debra and Amelia, but not before we had a fantastic “last supper” at Deals Restaurant in an upscale neighborhood in Cairo.

After an emotional good-bye the following morning, our shrunken group consisting of Tom, Bess, Cathy and us were on our way to Mt. Sinai. The Sinai Peninsula is an untamed wilderness, with jagged pink granite mountains punching up into clear blue skies. After 7 hours of driving and going through a tunnel under the Suez Canal, we arrived in St. Catherine were we checked into our hostel and then once again wasted no time in starting our hike up Mt. Sinai with our friendly Bedouin guide, Hussein. Thankfully Martin’s knee injury had mostly healed. Climbing the mountain, where Moses is said to have received his Ten Commandments, was not as strenuous as we had assumed, but it was no walk in the park either. The changing light and scenery were truly dramatic and we had plenty of time to enjoy the sunset.

We corrupted Hussein into eating Twix, Pringles, Oreos and other junk food which probably helped him understand why we were always falling behind on the hike up. At one point, Hussein told us that we would have only 20 minutes up to the top, but for this group, make it 30. Anyway, we made it to the top around the 2.5 to 3 hour range. He was an adorable guy, posed with us for a group photo and even proudly carried Martin’s tripod down the mountain. The scramble down in the dark was a bit scary, but we survived to tell the tale. All would have been fine at the Morgenland Hostel, but after a failing air conditioner and a losing battle of killing an ever growing number of mosquitoes, we surrendered to the fact we would catch little sleep and wake up with several bites the following day. Thanks Debra for providing us with citronella mosquito repellent bracelets. Not sure if they worked effectively as we both got bitten, but interestingly not around our wrist area.

The following morning we were off to Dahab on the Sinai Peninsula and only about 19 kilometers across the Gulf of Aqaba from Saudi Arabia. We enjoyed a bit of snorkeling at a spot called the Blue Hole and spent the rest of the day eating, drinking and of course, the obligatory smoking of sheesha. Dahab is a beautiful, laid back little ocean side town on the Gulf of Aqaba. Our final day was spent sleeping in, shopping for souvenirs, writing postcards, doing laundry and relaxing some more before having a great last dinner at Al Capone’s Restaurant on the shores of the Gulf of Aqaba.

The following morning was one of the most emotional days as we had to say goodbye to our friends Cathy, Bess, Tom, and our ever gracious tour leader Ramy. Suffice to say, we are planning a reunion when we return to Australia in February 2010 – Cathy and Ramy, book your flights NOW! We spent the rest of the day depressed, missing our new found friends and running errands.

The following day we were picked up at 10am for a 1 hour drive to Nuweiba from where we caught the ferry to Aqaba, Jordan. We had been warned that the ferry departure can be up to six hours late, or in the worst case, not show up at all. I guess we were lucky as we departed Nuweiba in Egypt at 6pm, when the departure was scheduled for 2:30pm – 3.5 hours late is not all that bad. We made some new friends on the bus ride to Nuweiba and while waiting for the ferry. In particular, we met Jamie, an Australian archeology student doing projects in Jordan. Most impressively, he spoke Arabic very well and we look forward to catching up with him when we are in Amman.

Anyway, does everybody remember Martin’s problems when traveling to new countries? Well, add Jordan to the list. When boarding the ferry in Nuweiba, Egypt, all tourists get priority, i.e. they can board first prior to anyone else. The Jordanian customs official was nice enough, but we don’t think he ever located Liechtenstein and after about 30 minutes of explaining where the country is located (it is between Switzerland and Austria, no, not Australia, Sir), he frustratingly waived Martin through. Thankfully, a Pakistani lady was also questioned as the local crowd grew increasingly frustrated and the angry looks actually started to make Martin nervous as they could not board the vessel until he was let on board.

We finally made it to Aqaba and experienced an interesting taxi ride. Firstly, we thought that once we agree a price, we leave. Nope, there was one more seat left in the cab. Having been delayed for 4 hours on our ferry ride, we were in no mood to wait for a taxi to fill-up. As we started to unload our bags from the trunk, the cab driver finally agreed to leave, but it was not long before he picked up some random guy on the side of the freeway to make an extra buck. He also headed north into town, instead of south to our hostel. Long story short, he spoke no English, we spoke no useful Arabic and so what was supposed to be a 7 km, 10 minute ride, turned into a 45 minute goose chase which, at some point, got us within 5 kilometers of the Saudi Arabian border. When we finally did reach our hostel, he had the nerve to ask for more money. Thankfully the hostel was a nice surprise, clean room and friendly owner (a retired naval officer and former UN delegate who served in Croatia) who made us feel right at home. We liked it so much that we added another day before we set off to explore the many sights of Jordan. Good bye for now and we will update you once we get to Amman, Jordon or to Istanbul, Turkey, the 4th country on our trip around the world.

Masalam,

Martin & Val

P.S. - Please let us know if you are having a difficult time viewing our pics on Shutterfly and if so, can you recommend another website where we can load our pictures for next time. Shokran (thanks)!

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.

The Itinerary

It is finally here, the itinerary that Martin has been working on for the past year! Unfortunately (or fortunately) it is still open for some changes. For example, our travels throughout Europe and Asia are flexible - we know where we want to go, we just do not know what city we will be in on whatever day. Also, the around-the-world tickets have been booked and the places where we fly in and out of have been determined, but dates are flexible to change.

Here is what our adventure for the next 11 months will entail. Please let us know if you would like to join us in any part of this trip, we would love to have the company!

April - May: Middle East
7 Apr: Sydney to Dubai (via KL, Malaysia Air MH122 and MH30)
11 Apr: Dubai to Cairo (Egypt Air MS913)
14 - 26 Apr: Nile & Sinai Revealed Tour http://www.geckosadventures.com/Middle-East/Trip/Itinerary.html?trip=Nile-&-Sinai-Revealed-&tripid=3407
27 Apr - 31 May: Jordon and Turkey
31 May: Istanbul to Cairo (Egypt Air MS738)

June - August: Africa (various overland tours with Kumuka)

1 June: Cairo to Johannesburg (Kenyan Air KQ321 & KQ762)

2 - 19 June: South Africa Discoverer http://www.kumuka.com/South-Africa-Discoverer-Dossier.aspx

Countries visited: South Africa and Swaziland

21 June - 29 July: Cape to Equator http://www.kumuka.com/Cape-to-the-Equator-Dossier.aspx

Countries visited: S. Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya

30 July - 6 Aug: Kilimanjaro Climb (Rongai Route) http://www.kumuka.com/Kilimanjaro-Climb-Rongai-Route-Dossier.aspx

Countries visited: Tanzania and Kenya

9 - 26 Aug: Kumuka Tour - Gorillas and Game http://www.kumuka.com/Gorillas-and-Game-Dossier.aspx

Countries visited: Uganda and possibly Rawanda (depending on where the gorillas are)

26 Aug - 9 Sept: Drive around Cape Town, S. Africa

September - October: Africa and Europe

1 - 9 Sept: Cape Town, S. Africa

10 Sept: Johannesburg to Amsterdam (KLM KL592)

11 Sept - 14 Oct: We will be travelling throughout Europe: Amsterdam, Belgium, London, Paris, Milan, Rome, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

October: Europe, Seattle, Tokyo and Nepal

1st weekend of Oct: tentative plans to attend Oktoberfest in Munich.

1st half of Oct: Travelling throughout Europe.

14 Oct: Amsterdam to Seattle (Northwest NW33)

18 Oct: Seattle to Tokyo (Northwest NW7)

22 Oct: Tokyo to Colombo (Sri Lanka Air UL461)

23 Oct: Colombo to Mumbai (Sri Lanka Air UL141)

November: Nepal and India

Travel around Kathmandu, Delhi and Mumbai

25 Nov: Mumbai to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia Air MH195)

26 Nov: tentative flight from KL to Bangkok

December to February 2010: S. E. Asia

Dec: Thailand and Laos

Jan: Cambodia and Vietnam

Feb: Vietnam and Malaysia

11 Feb: Kuala Lumpur to Sydney (Malaysia Air MH 123)

Last week of Feb: tentative 3-week campervan trip in New Zealand

We tentatively will start the second leg of our world trip in mid - March 2010. We plan on visiting Asia (China and Japan), come through the US to see you guys (Hawaii, SF and Vegas) then down to S. America.

Where did January and February go?

Thank you for visiting our blog.

We are still here in Sydney and are not due to fly out of here until 6 April. Time is going by very quickly. There is still furniture to sell, boxes to pack and ship and many friends to say goodbye to. It is hard to believe that we have lived in Australia for more than 2 years. We have both seen so much of this beautiful country, probably more than what we have seen in our own respective countries. And as much as we are looking forward to going on this "once in a lifetime" world trip, we will miss Australia.

We will try our best to keep this blog updated with tales of our adventures and lots of pics. Our first stop on the itinerary will be Dubai, followed by Egypt, Jordon and Turkey. Speak to you then!

Take care!