Things to ponder

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and here's wishing you all a wonderful New Year and a fantastic 2009. Only one day to go...Who knows what the new year will bring for us but it is sure to be different and although hard work will be on the cards we do hope to get away for a bit of a holiday at the end of January/ early February as there are no holidays after that until Lynne's contract finishes at the end of June.

Christmas day was a little different for us this year - Xmas eve here we managed to skype Brian's Mum in Napier which was Xmas morning in NZ. We also woke Dan (sorry Sarah) up early on Xmas morning to have a wee chat. Then we went off to bed and woke to find it was Xmas afternoon - NZ time. So much had happened in that time that we had sadly missed.
We had a Christmas breakfast with some friends across town and then had a big get together for an afternoon/ evening meal ( and a few drinks ) here with many of the apartment dwellers in our block. So a good time was had even though we couldn't share it with our friends and family back home.

Celebrating the New Year is not a big deal here. I'm still not sure what we are doing as yet - we have work the next day ( Brian has the day off and is hoping to go Fishing and maybe even catching something). We could go to a flash hotel and enjoy an expensive drink or 2 with the many other expats here and then get a taxi home or get together with some of the folks here and have a few quiet ones up on the roof and watch the fireworks that are supposed to happen. They do good fireworks over here - We'll keep you posted as to what we got up to....

Felucca down the Nile

We spent 2 nights sailing - a very relaxing time except for the mozzies on the first night. We were joined by 3 young guys - 2 from Oz and 1 from UK. Check out the cooking facilities on the boat - he cooked and served all meals; breakfast, lunch and tea. Brian had a swim and I went in up to my waist! It was cold but like NZ waters you sooned warmed up. There were no toilet facilities on the boat - if you needed to go we just had to tell the crew ( 2 local Nubians) and they would pull over to land and off we'd go....an interesting experience. Luckily I didn't find out there were no toilets on the boat until we were just about to board!!
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Pyramids

Here are some classic shots of the pyramids - both at Giza and Saqara.
They are huge and impressive.

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Christmas is close...

It is feeling much cooler here now. I'm even having to wear socks around the house on the cold tile floors. We were standing on top of our apartment last night watching a big fireworks display with a group and we were all complaining how cold it was - we were all rugged up in jackets (I think it was around 16C). Mind you as someone said it's preferable to the 50c+ it gets in June/July.

We have a long weekend - Qatar is celebrating it's National Day. They have had a big parade along the Corniche (waterfront). Unfortunately we only watched it live on TV as we didn't want to get caught up in the crowds/traffic jam. It was impressive watching the camel army and funny seeing the marching band with bagpipes - the parade walked past the Emir and all the Arab dignatories sitting in a large open tent.

We will miss the whole family xmas festivities - we hope to skype everyone at home. We do get xmas day off and luckily it falls on a thursday which is the last day of the week over here so we'll enjoy xmas as a long weekend. We are having a late lunch/tea with a group of people at our apartment. It will be enjoyable but not the same as the company of family on this day.

Carry On Up The Nile

Technically that should be down the Nile ( or Neil as the locals often say....We opted for Neil as it sounded so much more friendly) but more on that later.

We started our trip in Cairo - what an eye-opener of a place. We had thought the driving in Doha was pretty crazy but Cairo takes that prize by a vast margin. We dont know why they bother with traffic lights or lanes as everybody ignores them - cars, motorbikes, donkey and horse drawn carts criss cross in all directions, quite how they don't have more accidents is beyond comprehension - as our driver from the Airport said you need ten eyes and a strong heart to survive the mayhem that is driving in Cairo.
By far the majority of cars were old Peugeot 504's along with the odd Renault 12 and Fiat 125. The cars like the city were old and crumbling.

Cairo has a population of over 20 million and is full on 24 hours a day. There are people everywhere and it is all close quartered stuff. Most of them seemed to be out on the street just outside our hotel at night. Kind of oppressing but not really scary. The place is old and looks it, with everything in a state of decay and rubbish everywhere.

The pyramids ( 2580 B.C. ) of course were very impressive and photos just dont do their magnificence justice. Also we visited the pyramids and tombs at Saqqara ( 3000 B.C. ) some of the oldest to be found.
A long ( 14 Hour ) train trip to Aswan took up day 3. Aswan is a beautiful small city on the banks of Neil far to the south of Cairo. Our hotel was right on the banks and very luxurious and very relaxing.
Days 4 to 5 found us on a Felucca, a local sailing boat, again relaxing as we travelled down river towards Luxor. That was a real highlight of our trip and we lay about just taking in the views and particularly enjoying the sunsets and sunrises and the onboard cuisine cooked by our two crew - a couple of affable fellows and big Bob Marley fans.

Luxor is another very pretty city on the banks of Neil. At Luxor we visited the Valleys of the Kings ( where Tutenkhamuns ( 1336 B.C. ) tomb is found ) and Queens as well as Queen Hatshepsuts Temple ( 1470 B.C. ) and the amazing Karnak Temple where they did a great line in Columns.

Egypt ( and Egyptians ) largely appear( s ) to be very poor. Farming seems to still be very much hard work done by hand and Bullock pulled ploughs. Country folk get around on donkeys and carts. Tractors were a rare sight and farm buildings were often of mud or brick construction and pretty run down looking , yet the country exports quite a lot of farm produce. Tourism is the biggest income earner and you get hassled a lot by sellers at all the temples and in any of the fascinating and colourful markets. Even resorting to physical restraint ( mostly harmless ) at one place where a leather belt was not purchased by a desperate vendor. Hard bargaining is a must and often you get something for a fraction of the first given price. You wonder after any purchase that you most probably could have got it for a lot less even if it seemed a bargain anyway. A lot of fun.

One week is not nearly enough time to visit this most interesting country and there are many places we just didnt have time to visit... Who knows, we may make it back sometime, probabaly not to Cairo though. We'd be quite happy to give that a miss. There are just so many countries to visit around this part of the world and high on the list of recommendations are Jordan, Turkey, Oman ( possibly Jan/ Feb ), Iran, Morrocco....the list goes on...Cant wait until the next Holiday break. After 30 years the old itchy travelling feet seem to have reoccurred.

Apartment living - no. 2

We've been in our new apartment block for a week now. It's much lighter and with a view, but in a seedier part of town across from a motorway. We have to leave the aircon going in the spare room to drown out the drone of the motorway at night!. It's comfortable - we're now on the third floor. I do like having a bit of a view. The roof is great especially at sunset - I'll take a photo tonight and post it. In the photo slideshow you can see the front of the building - with Brians green truck in the front and you can see the view across the motorway - a mosque and other family homes. No apartments across from us.

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Eid Mubarak

Happy Eid ( Eid Mubarak ) to all our blog followers.

Eid al-Adha is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims. The festivities last for two to three days or more depending on the country - the Emir has given us all a week holiday. Eid occurs the day after the pilgrims conducting Hajj ( the annual pilgrimage to Mecca by Muslims worldwide ) descend from Mt. Arafat. People go on the Hajj once in their lifetime and it's quite a big deal with a lot of preparation going into it. I think they can only wear white.

This year in Qatar Eid lasts from Sunday until Thursday and this means there is pretty much a week of public holidays. Yay - a well deserved break from the daily grind.

The desert Kiwis are off to Egypt for a week and are very excited about the thought of a bit of Pyramid and Sphynx spotting and a Felucca trip on the Nile. We start off in Cairo then train to Aswan and a sailing boat ( felucca ) trip ( hopefully - not yet organised ) to Luxor. Thanks Geoffrey for your help with our itineary.

So keep checking out the blog, when we get back we will post an article and some photos.