Kirsty Grant

SWITCH TO MY NEW WEB PAGE...

2007-08-24T12:48:00.001+01:00

I've changed to a BRAND NEW web page for future blogging. The new address is: http://kirstygrant.wordpress.com Click this link to go there now!!! http://kirstygrant.wordpress.com The new site will carry news about my travels down under. The old site will remain live for all my previous blogs from Egypt, USA & Canada. So you can use both!

Tuesday 21st Aug

2007-08-21T21:12:00.001+01:00

Tuesday 21st August - 10 days until Australia! For the past few weeks since coming back from USA/Canada I bet you've been wondering what I've been doing? I've been generally relaxing and enjoying the wet and windy weather here in Devon and Cornwall. I was enjoying it so much in fact that I accepted an invitation to go camping in Wales just to see if it was actually any more windy and wetter than Cornwall - and it was! At least it was good for 2 reasons: 1. I got to see my sister 2. We were sleeping in the motorhome - warm and dry! After 3 days I came home and today went into Bude for some surfing in sushine. It's not long before I leave, so must make the most of my time!
Kipper enjoyed digging holes in the sand and barking madly at anyone who tried to steal his tennis ball - crazy pooch! Have started to pack for Australia - nightmare! Shopping in Exeter tomorrow for things I have a desperate need for in my travel wardrobe/toilet bag/handbag.. you know how it is. Hope life is treating you all well out there in jobland!

HOME FROM THE USA & CANADA

2007-08-08T11:48:00.000+01:00

I'm home and back in the comfort of my parent's Devon home. Now I will spend some time reflecting on my time in North America and look ahead to my 4 month trip Down Under. It is sooo nice not to have to go to work !!! *PHOTOS ADDED - JUST SCROLL DOWN THE PAGE A BIT !*

Canadian Photos - Calgary

2007-07-24T20:59:00.000+01:00

Canadian Rockies Photos - Footloose Trek

2007-07-23T19:44:00.000+01:00

Over Calgary Over the Rockies Our transport crossing British Columbia Glacial River Emerald Lake Emerald Basin Hike Emerald Lake Emerald Lake: I did swim in it honestly! Takkakaw Falls Cathedral Mountain Riding to Victoria Glacier Lake Louise Cowgirl! Scenery! Banff Gondola Sulphur Mountain summit Banff Top of Sulphur Mountain Banff Banff: Tunnel Mountain 4,419 miles to England!!! Tunnel Moutain Resort Banff Trek Barbecue, Banff Amazing Views Peyto Lake & glacier Peyto Lake view (mosquitos aargh!) A lake! Going for a ride! Heliocoptoring! Glacial Lakes, Icefields Parkway from Helicopter My feet, A helicopter, 500ft up! Echo 1 to tower: Roger, Roger, do we have Clearance Clarence? Blimey a Bear!!! He's coming this way!!! The Road thru the Rockies Athabaster Glacier Putting my toe on the Glacier toe! 2 hours of hiking up the glacier... bloody cold! Jasper chalet hotel view Yeeehaaah! Save a bear.. ride a cowboy? Cycling fashion... around Jasper Our chalets outside Jasper Lake Beauvert, Jasper Lake Beauvert Jasper Mt Robson 3954m (highest peak in Canadian Rockies) Canadian cowgirl! Totem Poles Stanley Park Vancouver Vancouver Skyline - last stop before Seattle and home.

Canada Diary Episode 4 - British Columbia/Alberta

2007-07-13T16:19:00.000+01:00

July 11-20 This week I've been mostly in the Canadian Rockies. There's not been much chance to update my blog and the pc's here are really slow. So, a quick summary. Left Seattle with 11 other travellers - mixed group all ages. Very fun people from UK and Denmark. Tour leader Andrus - a cool dude! Kamloops - large boring town amidst a dry desert like valley. Golden - middle of Kicking Horse valley - very scenic and a place to list for future ski holidays - this is being developed on a big scale. Emerald Lake - beee ute iful !!! Hiked to emerald Basin and then took canoe on the water - even swam in glacial lake! Lake Louise - revisited. This time on horseback up to plain of 6 glaciers. Banff - cable car to sulphur Mountain, hot springs, mosquitos !!! Aaarghh! Takkakaw Falls - highest in Canada - stunning! Icefield Parkway - Helicopter Ride over columbia Icefields - awesome! Hike onto Atha Jasper - saw black bear! Bike ride through 5 lakes region, Lake Beauvert - so pretty! Vancouver - pretty location - not much time here though - photos of totem poles and quick tour of city. tomorrow - back to Seattle for one last meal at Elliots on the pier - then home on Saturday/Sunday. Next stop Devon!!!

Canada Diary Episode 3 - Lake Louise

2007-07-09T02:30:00.000+01:00

July 4th Up at 6am to watch the British Grand Prix live with Ed - same commentary as ITV so it felt like home. By 8.30am on the road to Banff National Park with a Starbucks and McBreakfast to keep us going! Leaving Calgary, the scenery is mainly grassy plains and distant foothills of the Rockies. On the TransCanadian Highway 1 we soon arrived some 130 km later at the entrance to Banff Park. With many photo stops along the way, our first real stop was at Moraine Lake - a gorgeous turquoise lake with snow capped mountains. We climbed the short but steep rocky mound at one end of the lake to take in the views. Then back in the car to get to Lake Louise. This popular resort in winter is dominated by the ski village - the slopes visible on the mountain. At this time of year it is cyclists, walkers and tourists. At the Lake the stunning Chateau Lake Louise hotel forms a backdrop at one end of the green lake with the majestic Mount Victoria at the other end, surrounded by other peaks all sporting glaciers. We donned out hiking gear to set off on a 10k round trip to a tea house and back along the Plain of the 6 Glaciers trail. Plenty of views and vistas, snow caps, amazing geological features from the glacial activity here make this trail interesting added to that the flora along the way - alpine plants and spring flowers. Some 5 hours later we were back at the car and on our way back into th city. A great day which has whetted my appetite for the Canadian Rockies Tour which I join from Seattle on Wednesday. I have one more day in Calgary then fly on Tuesday back to Seattle.

Canada Diary Episode 2 - YAHOOOOOO !

2007-07-07T05:03:00.000+01:00

July 6th - Calgary stampede - Yahoooooo! Yahoo is the battle 'cry of a Calgarian rodeo rider and supporter - not the internet service provider. Ive been practising today and am pretty good - no doubt helped by the alcohol that's cramming my blood supply at the moment...! It's Friday night and I've been here 3 days now. My first full day in Calgary was spent at the Heritage Park - a collection of historic buildings set in a themed park next to the Bow River. With people in costume and authentic surroundings it was fun. Once Ed was home from dentisting, we ate at a barbecue place nearby and took a drive through the city for a drink on 17th Ave - very hip and trendy with people getting into stampede party mood. Thursday was a chilled out retail day with Arlene in the downtown area of the city and malls. I bought some clothes to suit this hot weather and we ate lunch at a sports bar in the city. Dinner was buffalo on the barbecue at home and some great wines - finishing with an ice wine - kind of like a desert wine. Today we got up early to beat the queues into the city for Stampede Parade. This is an annual party event which starts at 9am and kicks off the Stampede which lasts 10 days. The stampede in case you dont know is the world famous rodeo which dominated city life and attracts the top riders from around the world. After taking the C train into the city Arlene and I had a pancake breakfast at ROADHOUSE on 9th Ave and had prime seats to watch the many floats and spectacls passing by during the 3 hour parade. Highlights included the Mounted Police (not mounted though), the Canadian army screeching to a halt in a tank, some mini horses pulling wagons and the many gorgeous horses and natives in their parade finery. The breast cancer charity is supported here and so many people (including us) were wearing pink under the banner 'are you tough enough to wear pink?' I think men look good in pink anyway - and there are lots of real men here! The afternoon was spent in the showground at Victoria Park - a sort of combination of rodeo, fun fair, agricultural show, car boot sale and shopping outlet. We saw some rodeo action up close (Arlene is a committee volunteer so we got in free), drinking booze, eating food ( most of it free) and people watching. We ended our day with Ed joining us for some ore free food and then a stop over in the Nashville North music tent for live country music and more booze! So far I like Calgary - I wish I was a cowgirl! More Rodeo tomorrow, then hiking in the Rockies on Sunday......

Canada Diary Episode 1

2007-07-04T16:56:00.000+01:00

July 4th - Calgary Here I am in Canada, I arrived here from Seattle airport yesterday. With all the troubles in the UK and with the US on a high level of security I am glad to be out of the USA for 4th July - especially avoiding airplanes. I'm staying with Ed and his partner Arlene ( I met Ed in Egypt) in Calgary, or just outside. Calgary is in Alberta, and the scenery is fairly flat and green with very few trees or features, but with the Rockies nearby there is playground for the outdoors not far away. It's Stampede week in Calgary which means lots of cowboys, parties, rodeo action and drinking! I hope to be in drunken party stupor for most of this week. Ed has some great wine and we enjoyed 3 bottles last night (feel a bit rough this morning) and today I'm going with Arlene to the Heritage park to see how the old homesteads were in the frontier days of Alberta's history. So - more of an update later. Kx

July 1st - Update

2007-07-02T04:22:00.000+01:00

I am on my way to Canada, but first I've updated my blog site with some photos from Seattle, Montana and the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn - Custer's Last Stand. I hope you enjoy reading/looking at my photos - let me know what you think gkirsty@hotmail.com Hope all is well in Blighty! Kxxx

Photos: Little Big Horn - Custer's Last Stand

2007-07-02T04:12:00.000+01:00

Custer's Last Stand - over 200 men in a mass grave lay here Marble stones mark the spot where US soldiers fell The battlefield of Little Bighorn Little Bighorn Cemetary Custer's marker(the spot where he was killed) Tribute to the horses that fell here Monument to the Indians

Photos - Cowboy Up in Montana - Big Sky Country

2007-07-02T03:07:00.000+01:00

My rental car - Nissan Ultima! On the Highway to the High Country! Melville Church (as used in The Horse Whisperer) Welcome to Sweet Grass Ranch Sweet Grass Valley - Crazy Mountains Sweet Grass car parking! My log cabin My wonderful soft bed Sweet Grass valley - the ranch is below (red buildings) 6000ft up in the Crazy Mountains Big Sky Country! Riding 'Happy' Relaxing in my log cabin... Sweet Grass entrance - still 6 miles to go! The old Barn Otter Creek An old Hudson - Otter Creek Ranch Rocco with a colt - not horse whispering, just kindness and patience! Rocco shows us how to train young horses! Pronghorn Deer The Water Slide - down on your bum! (it hurts and it's cold!) The Cattle Drive starts The Hot Tub! RAWHIDE! moving cattle on my horse 'Mary' Cooling off - Sweet Grass Creek (cold!) Horses going to the cattle drive 'Mouse' Tony and Nate sing us a song Bill and Shelley Carrocia (the owners) home on the range... Big Timber Montana Event Sponsorship - Montana Style! My short sighted horse....

Photos from Seattle

2007-07-02T02:31:00.000+01:00

Seattle from the Space Needle Puget Sound to the Olympic Mountains My hostel - The Green Tortoise! 'Rachel' the famous Public Market piggy bank Beautiful Mount Rainier On Alkai Beach - West Seattle (City skyline behind me) Outside the first Starbucks - but I prefer my Piroshky! Piroshky! Summit of Mt Rainier - Active Volcano!!! Snow in June! on Mount Rainier Sailing on Obsession My favourite Russian Bakery! The yacht 'Obsession' leaves Seattle across Elliot Bay ( I am on the water taxi) At Pike Place Market At the Space Needle

American Diary part 23 - Montana

2007-07-02T02:26:00.000+01:00

July 1st I'm in Montana after a week of amazing scenery and cowboy living on a ranch in Sweet Grass County near the small town of Big Timber - I'll let the photos speak for themselves, but basically I've been riding 6 hours every day - sometimes 8 hours over cattle country, up mountain passes, past the snow line and galloping across vast stretches of Montana prairie - fantastic! I even got involved in a real life cattle drive on horseback - just like city slickers! Friday night was a hoot at the local Big Timber Rodeo - I saw everything from kids on rodeo sheep to a man being crushed beneath a bucking bronco (he got away just about ok), barrel racing, cattle roping and some guys from the ranch I stayed at trying to win money for riding a wold cow - hilarious! Today I visited the Battle of Little Bighorn memorial and stood near the spot where General Custer made his last stand against the indians. Enjoy the photos - next stop is Calgary for more rodeo action at the annual stampede. Bye for now!

American Diary Part 22 - Seattle Episode 3

2007-06-22T19:55:00.001+01:00

Friday June 22nd - Seattle Had a sleep in again - must be tired from all the camping. 9am had fresh fruit in the hostel for breakfast - trying a detox diet - see how long it lasts! I had signed up for the Beach trip to Alkai beach in West Seattle, but seeing how the weather is COLD and grey today, I took my name off. Instead, I strolled down 1st avenue towards the Pioneer Square to find the Klondike Gold Rush museum and learn about this aspect of Seattle's history. The Pioneer area is worth a second look - I dismissed it before but when you really look at the buildings and discover the stories from the 1890's it comes alive. The Excellent Klondike Museum is free to enter and has some really well done exhibits and lively guides to take you through this period of North Western American history. The depression of the 1890's hit hard and news of Gold in the Klondike of Alaska started a frenzy of activity in Seattle and other Western ports including San Francisco. Pioneer Square was the focal point of this activity with steam ships leaving from the nearby port of Seattle taking prospecters up to Alaska. I really had no idea just how brave and tenacious these people were in search for gold - but many were desperate. When news of the Gold broke, literally hundreds of people quit their jobs and left their homes to head north - including the Mayor of Seattle! Their story is amazing and I want to read more about it when I get chance. (Jack London wrote some great books) They had to battle with the extreme cold weather conditions of Alaska and forge a way through mountain passes dragging all their kit and food with them. when they finally arrived in the Yukon (over half didn't make it) they then had to sit out the winter and wait for spring in order to chop down trees and build their own boats so they could float hundreds of miles down a river towards the gold fields (mad!). This river was a major white water experience, and at the end, they had to start the harder work of setting up somewhere to live, then finding somewhere to pan for gold or dig for it (most of the stakes had already been claimed) and avoiding the many swindles and raketeers going on. I wish I was going to the Yukon, would like to visit - maybe next time. This museum is part of the National Parks so I got another stamp in my passport! It's midday in Seattle and I'm in the public library in the middle of the business district. The library is housed within a very angular shell of a building of lattice work using metal and glass - diamond shaped glass panels let in lots of light. I'm using the free internet here before going on a wander of the shopping malls and thinking of a plan for the rest of the day. It's also a chance to check in online for my flight tomorrow! UPDATE 9pm So the diet detox has not gone so well. After the library, I went back along the main shopping area and avoided all the empting food places along the way, but did buy some trousers in GAP - my stuff is getting a bit worn out and I may need to be smart in Calgary. My feet seem to lead me to the Piroshky bakery again.. and it was there that my diet cam to an end, just 5 hours after it started! I had a delicious Beef and cheese, then went back for a pudding version with an amazing filling of warm black cherries and white melted chocolate - divine! I still prefer the rhubarb one though. A quartet of barber shop/gospel singers was keeping the crowd entertained outside the original Starbucks shop and I watched them for a while, then back tot he fish market to check out the throwing action - a large crowd had gathered (more people in town on Friday?) so the fish throwing was in full swing. I bought a souvenie 100 year anniversary poster for my house - when I get one again - then dropped it back at the hostel. The sun decided to come out to play, so I walked down to the waterfront and took the water taxi across Eliott Bay to West Seattle - Seacrest Waterfront. For just $3 and 13 minutes it's a bargain. It's about 2 miles to walk to the beach, so instead I jumped on the free shuttle which operates all over the area. It drove me and several others over the top of the hill with great views of Seattle and an insight into the homes of those who live over the bay. Most of the houses are wooden clapper board style in various pastel shades. Arriving at the beach strip the homes turn into beach chalet dwellings with balconies for partying. It all looked very tranquil and chilled out. The beach is shingle and sand stretching for about a mile lookng west across Puget Sound. People were all over the sandy parts playing volleyball, having barbeques, sunbathing or chilling out with friends. I walked from one end to the other with a fresh pina coladao smoothy from one of the beach front cafes, and found the plinth for Seattle's Statue of Liberty - sadly she was not there and is being renovated - never mind. I need to see the movie sleepless in seattle again as I'm sure this stretch of beach is where Tom Hanks plays with his sun at sunet in the motor boat whilst Meg ryan is secretly watching them. Feeling a bit tired (a lot of walking today) I flopped onhe sand and closed my eyes listening to the breaking waves until around 6.30pm when it got a bit chilly. I walked back tot he water taxi - about a mile - and was soon back on Pier 56. I saw the Yact 'Obsession' leaving for the 7pm sunset sail, and managed to take some nice photos of her in full sail. Since my diet was ruined by the russian bakery, I walked back up to Pike Place Market and the Bolivian restaurant 'copacabana' which I visited on Monday night. As a farewell to Seattle treat, I ordered the prawns and garlic with potatoes and salad - it was yummy, then had a flan for pudding and glass of Washington State chardonnay to wash-ington it all down! Back at the hostel, I have to pack and get to bed for an early start. Need to be at the airport by 7am and I hope Alaska air don't screw things up again!

American diary Part 21 - Seattle Episode 2

2007-06-22T03:25:00.000+01:00

Thursday 21st June - Longest day! happy solstice.... OK, so here are some more things that Seattle is famous for that I missed off the list: 1. Bill Gates and his HUGE mansion and the software company he owns 2. Amazon .com HQ building 3. Boeing - the airplane makers started up here and still have their own place with an airstrip, along with an Aviation museum 4. Mount Rainier (pron. Ray knee Yair - apparently - I have been pronouncing it wrong since I got here) This 14,400 ft ACTIVE - repeat *ACTIVE* volcano was my destination for today.... so if you want to hear about it, read on! Alarm at 6am - hot night in Green tortoise, so not much sleep. I have a fan above my bed but it's really noisy so i can't really use it 'cos the others in the dorm complain. Gathered my hiking, walking, snowing, raining, eating stuff and headed onto the street. Rain in Seattle. just drizzle really. My rendezvous was outside the hostel on 1st avenue and Pine, outside a bagel shop which was closed still, so I walked a short distance to my fave rusian Bakery... which was also closed! then found 'Seattle's Best coffee' which was open and ordered a coffee and muffin (by the way, ordering coffee here is tricky - e.g. 'I'll take a tall, double skinny, why bother to go') By 7.30am I was on the street and got picked up by the tur bus. Along with 17 others we were driven very well by TOM to the national park of Mt Ranier some 80 miles away in glorious Washington State countryside. It really is green here - on account of the rain. We passed small towns, big towns and plenty of pasture, wooden barns and bungalows with horses, RV's and trailers. Stopping mid morning for coffee at Eatenville, the weather cleared so by the time we made it to the park entrance there was only a little amout of cloud on the sumit. We made various stops for waterfalls, scenic locations, river valleys carved out by glaciers and snow melts and then made our way to PARADISE the highest point by road and the location of the visitor Centre. I got another stamp in my national parks passport, and ate a very poor burger from the Restaurant. The summit was totally clear so I took far too many photos. Mt Ranier is an *ACTIVE* volcano.. last eruption was 15000 years ago but every 50 yearsit 'does something' according to Tom and it is over due to 'do something'. Luckily it didn't do anything when we were there! It is part of the Pacific North Western 'Ring of Fire' and one of 5 seriously worrysome volcanoes in this area - Mt ST Helens being the main one. When these 'pyroclastic' volcanos erupt they don't spew out 'magma' (said in the style of Dr Evil) - they have massive super heated hot gas explosions which blast the top or side of the mountain away. The biggest worry for this region are the mud flows which follow an eruption, melted snow running in vast quantities down the slopes and into the valleys destroying and covering everything in it's path. As pretty as the meadows and homes are in this area, I would not want to live here just in case. Amongst the many things I saw, was a suspension bridge across a glacial river, a thermal pool bubbling with mineral deposits like those in Yellowstone and a tranquil forest hike caled 'trail of shadows'. The forest in this region is dense, wet and a circle of environmental perfection - everything has a place and a purpose. One exciting thing about the summit area - albeit only 6000 ft up, is the SNOW!!!! i have never seen snow in June before, so this was a novelty. The mountain has many climbers each year and approx. 3 die trying. Just this weekend a man was killed in a fall. We were told some amazing stories - one woman who made it aged 78 in a record time of 19 hours so she could be home in time to receive her weekly call from her son in New York and a man in a wheelchair who made modifications so he could wheel himself on skis to the summit - using his friends to put him back in the chair when he fell out - amazing! There is a ballot to make an attempt and as well as $1500 you need to pass a rigourous fitness assessment and climbing test.... don't think I'm ready for that ! On the way back out of the park we saw a female deer leading her very newborn calf across the road - just like Bambi it could hardly walk straight and toppled over! so cute! We then stopped at the Copper Creek diner for some seriously good blackberry pie - and i MUST tell you the story about this diner..... it's a long one......... In the 1950's a couple on holiday passed the log cabin at copper creek and noticed it was for sale - so they bought it in an attempt to change their lifestyle and set up as a diner to feed hungry lumberjacks. The husband was a cook and the wife did the waiting and paperwork. Things went really well, until the third week when he left his wife in the middle of the night. So, not knowing how to cook she took a bicycle and visited homes in the area asking for help. A woman agreed to cook until she found someone long term and kept this going with her Blckberry pie recipe. In 1994 this woman finally retired having never been replaced! The original lady owner has sold it since but they kept the secret recipe going and to this day the pie is still served - and it was delicious! apparently over 200 pies are eaten in a typical summer weekend. Where do all the berries come from I wonder? So that was my day at the volcano. no eruptions Some pie some Snow A Waterfall Hot springs A Bridge Bambi cool. Back at the city, I walked from 6th and Pike down to the hostel, bought a SEATTLE shirt from the excellent shop on the corner - you pick a shirt and choose your logo design... then enjoyed the free all you can eat buffet in the hostel. Cool again! I found out from TOM that I had luckily avoided police trouble all week in Seattle, Jay walking is a serious offence, as is crossing a street on red and not waiting for the 'white man'. Both incur heavy on the spot fines, but I so far got away with it! It's hot here tonight - think I'll be Sleepless in Seattle!! Ha ha - i had to get that in somewhere! Kx

American Diary Part 20 - Seattle Episode 1

2007-06-21T00:50:00.000+01:00

Tuesday 19th June - Seattle Day One After a decent sleep in I got up around 9am and used the very good shower rooms here at the Green Tortoise Hostel. The Hostel is a bit dingy and small, but at least the beds are soft and the showers clean and quite newly renovated. The location is good too - right opposite the Pike Place Market. So, I found my way along the corridoor to the free breakfast which was DIY waffles or fruit, so I chose fruit, so as not to make a complete idiot of myself trying to use a waffle machine. The deal with hostels is that you clean any plates you use, so you join a queue of people waiting to use the sink. Then I was free to explore. I walked first to the post office to buy a shipping box then returned back to my room to pack all the unwanted heavy items to send back home. It has made my bag a lot lighter. Then I set out onto 4th avenue and walked towards the Science Park. THINGS WHICH SEATTLE IS FAMOUS FOR: 1. Space Needle 2. Frasier 3. Pike Place Public Market 4. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan Movie - you migt have heard of it... 5. Greys Anatomy - TV show I've not really seen it. Seatlle is hilly - not what I expected, but the streets are manageable. There are free buses, but I prefer to walk generally - you see much more. I noticed whilst walking that there are lots of PIGS in Seattle - on street corners, in alleyways, outside shops and cafes. I wondered why.... some are decorated and some are themed, very wierd.... At the Science Park, I paid $16 to ride up to the top of the Space Needle - well worth the view! 520ft above Seattle and Elliot Bay you get great views. The weather was clear, Mt Ranier, Mt Baker, Olympic Mountains and Cascade Mountains were all clearly visible - amazing scenery! Mt Ranier is huge! it sits behind Seattle like a mini Mt Fuji covered in snow. I spent almost 2 hours at the top, listening to the excellent free guides describing all the sights and giving a history lesson of the city. The Space Needle was built for the 1962 science expo. After that, I wandered the science park and museum, spent time with the tropical butterflies (good tip Abby!) and then watched an IMAX movie on the eruption of Mt St Helens in 1980. I had wanted to take a tour to the actual mountain, but the operator has chosent not to run the trips anymore, and I'm not too keen to drive there alone. Instead I am going to Mt Ranier on Thursday for a day trip. Anyway, back to Tuesday.... Leaving the science park on the monorail, I got off in the centre of downtown with smart shops and restaurants. Not being in a shopping mood, I ambled along the sidewalk and eventually decided to head back to the hostel . They offer a free supper on Tuesday whcih was pretty good! I then sat in the sofa and chatted with a German girl until 10pm and then bed. Wednesday 20th June Slept even later today! Missed breakfast so instead I headed into the Pike Place Market to wander around. The fish market traders are great - they throw fisah all over the place and yell out orders and prices to the public and each other. Most people just watch, but some buy and occasionally they throw a dummy fish at people to catch them out - good fun! There are all kinds of things in the market, but I like the fresh fruit and farmer's market produce. Walking along Post Alley I was looking for Starbucks - the very first one anywhere. I couldn't find it, and was getting pretty hungry (11am) on no breakfast. Walking for ages up and down stairs inside the market and along the street I eventually found it - only to be a bit disappointed to be honest! It was a shop, selling coffee... but no pastries, food - just souvenirs. I snubbed them for my breakfast and instead I found a brilliant Russian pastry cafe called Piroshky Piroshky and I highly recomment it - superb sweet and savoury delights with a great level of service and all baked on site. Think I'll go back every day - I ate Rhubarb Piroshky today. www.piroshkybakery.com Buying some fresh cherries I wandered the market some more - you can spend all day here, then joined 1st Avenue to find North Face's Seattle store - an hour later I had spent almost $100 on stuff! great! Walking some more, I arrived at Pionner Square and the statue dedicated to Chief Seattle after who the city is named. There is not much else there unless you are interested in antiques - which today I was not! So, being close to the Smiths Tower building I decided to spend $7.50 on a ride to the 35th floor to get some views across Seattle from the opposite end to the needle. The building was the first skyscraper built in 1914 by the chap behind Smith Corona typewriters and the Smith & WEston handguns - needless to say he had a lot of dough and could spend money on luxury fittings inside. The interior is marble and wood with bronze extras all over. the lifts are operated by gentlemen in uniform and they are all extremely polite! The 35th floor has an open air walking platform and the views were worth it. Inside the observation level is known as the Chinese Room, decorated with wooden carved ceiling and famous for it's Wishing Chair which is said to guarantee that the woman who sits in it will marry within one year...... so..... yes... I sat in it! I also made a note in the visitors book that if I DO get married within a year I will return to this chair! After that optimistic experience I rejoiend street level to wander down the steep hills to the Piers along the waterfront. I had intended to get a McDonalds or eat at IVAR's famous fish eatery, but when I got there I didn't fancy either one, so instead I sat in a smart table with excellent service to enjoy a seafood cobb salad at Elliots. Seeing a sailboat go out on the water gave me an idea, and instead of taking the ferry to Baimbridge Island I am going on a 2 hour sunset sail... more on that later! So now it's 5pm and It's hot in the city! I think I might be sleepless in Seattle tonight if the temperature stays like this! UPDATE 10m Just got back from a very nice Yacht trip out into Elliot Bay and Puget sound. Down at the water side, the piers were pretty busy with night revellers and couples dining out. I saw a poor guy lying in the road having been knocked off his bike, the ambulance arrived (perhaps they were filming Greys anatomy?!). Then 3 schoolbuses arrived and spat out a crowd of over excited colege kids on their graduation night - dressed up to the nines, they made a lot of noise! I was glad ot be going out onto the water! I caught the yacht from pier 56 at 7pm- a very sleek sailing boat called 'Obsession' crewed by Charlie and his mate Nate. Leaving Seattle behind, the skyline was more visible and very nice to see. Mt Rainier was clouded on top but still impressive. As we made it out into the bay, the wind picked up and we made good speed across to a group of islands. then the wind dropped completely so we drifted for a while and I chatted to a few of the other guests - a couple frm Texas who were in town to collect a vintage cadillac which they bought on eBay and driving back to Texas from Seattle, and a chap o his own on business with a medical job - also from Texas. Once they heard I was English, it was all about the Queen and how small and green my country is - same old questions! They were nice though. Around 9pm the sun set behind the Olympic mountains above Baimbridge Island turning the sky orange and casting bright lights across the bay to reflect on the glittering buildings of downtown Seattle. It then turned cold - really cold! The skipper gave us blankets though so I was fine. turning back to Seattle I had a great view of the skyline at dusk as he twinkling lights came on in all the skyscrapers, and the neon from Pike Street market, the Marina and docks. Tonight there was also a baseball game at the stadium which was all lit up. It is a lovely city to look at at night. Back on dry land, I walked briskly back up the steep streets via harbour steps (more pigs) onto first avenue. I walked fast partly to warm myself up and partly to avoid some of the undesirables hanging around. I passed 2 horses in the darkness of the underpass being unhitched from their carriage afte a long day of ferrying tourists around - they looked a bt forlorn and I wanted to go and talk to them but decided against it. Up on the higher streets I was soon back at the hostel whcih is where I am now, typing into my blog before going to bed. Mount Rainier tomorrow, then I hope to get myself on a whale watching trip on Friday. I found out about the pigs - apparently there is a piggy bank at Pike Place market, and it is 100 years since the market opened, so to mark the occasion, the city is displaying themed pigs all over the place, some sponsored by businesses and others by shops just for fun, or kids ones. It's quite cool. I'm trying to photo as many as I can. Tired now.. and hungry....Maybe I can get up early enough tomorrow for another russian pastry????? mmmmmm..........

I hate LAX Airport and Alaska Air!!!

2007-06-18T23:39:00.000+01:00

Forgive me for this rant....I left my LA hotel at 5am to catch a flight at 8am to Seattle. It is now 4pm and I am still waiting to leave the airport after sitting here for over 8 hours! Nothing to do, except internet at $5 for 15 mins... and spend a fortune in the fast food places. The plane had a fault, so eventually they put us all onto another flight which leaves at 4.30pm... I HOPE. Rant over. Enjoy your day. Kx PS Alaska Air sucks ************************** UPDATE - TUESDAY 19TH JUNE A plane from LAX finally tok off at 5pm and landed here at Seattle at 7.20pm. Luckily I was on it. I dumped my bags at the hostel, then walked the short distance to a fab little restaurant called 'Copacabana' with a sun terrace overloking Elliot Bay, above Pike Place Market. I had a cool glass of Chardonnay and a seafood salad to wipe clean the frustrations of my day! So, Here I am in Seattle, at the Green tortoise hostel opposite the famous Pike Pace Market. I have 4 days here and have just booked a day trip to Mount Rainier National Park for Thursday. sight seeing and mooching in the city until I fly to Billings, Montana on Saturday. I am smiling again. Kx

At last...lots and lots of photos!

2007-06-17T22:26:00.000+01:00

My first sunset in America - May 12th looking across the Atlantic with Hannah from the Maine coast near Portland. Bar Harbour, Jordans breakfast of Blueberry pancakes and maple syrup! Acadia National Park, Maine. Jordan Pond and the Bubbles behind (Hannah being daft!) Acadia National Park - Maine Acadia National Park, Maine. Cadillac Mountain view across the Atlantic from Mount Desert Island Acadia National Park, Otter Cliffs on Mount Desert Island. Me and Hannah Our 'Thelma and Louise' luxury vehicle! Bar Harbour Wonder View motel, Bar Harbour Maine My New England breakfast at Jeannies - Bar Harbour, Maine Camden, Maine on our way back to Yarmouth Hannah enjoying the food at Moody's diner, Maine. Boston - view from top of Bunker Hill Monument - over 700 steps! Fanueil Hall Boston My swanky Boston hotel! The Freedom Trail in Boston Where everybody knows your name! Boston common city skyline Poor Roly! scared of the lobster... Steamed lobster for my last supper with the Klepinger's - It's still alive! tasted good though! My 'hotel' in Maine! The Klepinger family home, Yarmouth. Going Lobster Mad in Portland, Maine Portland Lighthouse - Atlantic Ocean - Cornwall in the distance somewhere! New York city tour bus Lunch near the Brooklyn Bridge Strawberry Fields forever... Central Park tribute to John Lennon Boat trip around Ellis Island and statue of Liberty Statue of Liberty - bit of a grey day! Ground Zero New York Times Square Top of the Rockerfeller Centre, Looking at the Empire State building - going there next! That's the Empire state building behind me! Great Views! Top of the Empire State! Empire state building at night - raining hard! My hotel New York, Astor on the Park, Upper West side Central Park View from Central Park Our trek across America starts here - Jazz Hostel, Upper West Side, Central Park New York My bedroom for the next 28 days! Niagara Falls - crossing into Canada just for a few hours! Niagara Falls - water on my lens! Maid of the Mist, Niagara Falls Niagara Falls! OHIO, IDAHO, WISCONSIN, MINESSOTA all the farms look the same! Cleveland, OHIO 90 degrees and humid! Cleveland, OHIO The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Chicago Skyline - beautful city! Chicago 'Cloud City' mirror sculpture called The Bean Chicago - me at The Bean Chicago, view from SEARS tower, tallest building in USA. Chicago, view from the Hancock Tower Baseball Game, Chicago - Go Sox! ( I did enjoy it really!) Chicago at night from the Baseball stadium Loading our bags before leaving Chicago (Dan on the roof) The Mississipi The Great American Prairie - a typical farm The Badlands of South Dakota Viewpoint over the Badlands Badlands Ranch:Inside the Crazy lodge - some of my travelling pals. Badlands Ranch - our crazy lodge is on the right! Me and 'Lightening' look out over the Badlands of South Dakota Mount Rushmore, The Black Hills, South Dakota Crazy Horse Monument, Thunderhead Mountain, The Black Hills of South Dakota. 50 years on and only the head is finished.. how long before it's completed???? Buffalo and horns on our van - Custer State Park, Black Hills South Dakota Our Log Cabin, Custer State Park in the Black Hills South Dakota. Deadwood,Black Hills South Dakota, Saloon #10 where Wild Bill Hickok was shot during a poker game. Devil's Tower, Wyoming Crossing the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming - snow in June! Yellowstone National Park Geo Thernmal craters, Yellowstone Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone Mammoth Springs, Yellowstone. Buffalo.. Bison.. Tatanka... Yellowstone National Park GRIZZLY!!!! (right in the middle, honestly!) Yellowstone. Hiking Mount Washburn, snow in June! Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Phew! I made it! The Summit of Mount Washburn 10,000 ft Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. The Teton granite mountains, Wyoming Cheeky Chipmunk! Above Jenny Lake, Teton National Park, Wyoming. Jackson, Wyoming - the arch is made of Antlers! The Mormon Church, Salt Lake City Utah - didn't see any Osmonds though... It's BIG.. it's Salty... The Great Salt Lake... Salt Lake City Utah. Bonneville Salt Flats - Utah, site of many world Land Speed Records 500 miles of nothing! The Nevada Desert from Salt Lake City to Reno. Reno, Nevada. Get Married, Get divorced, Gamble your life away.. nothing else to do there - except maybe an 'All you can eat buffet!' Mono Lake, California Walking the volcano rim, Mono Lake 8000 ft above sea level. Paddling down the Merced River, Yosemite National Park - 'Half Dome' behind. Campsite at Yosemite National Park Can you spot the British tent! San Francisco! 4000 miles across the USA to the Pacific! San Francisco Skyline from the top of the Coit Tower. Aren't you a little short to be a Stormtrooper? A windy boat trip around San Franciso Bay - Alcatraz Island Mirror Lake, Yosemite National Park TIOGA PASS leaving Yosemite National Park, California. almost 10,000 ft above sea level. Death Valley - Badwater Basin - 282ft below sea level. Vegas at Night... Las Vegas - or is it New York??? Get your Kicks on Route 66!!! at Seligman, Arizona. Crossing Miles and Miles of the Mojave Desert.... London Bridge across the Colorado River at Lake Havasu City. The Pacific! Venice Beach LA - 5 weeks and 4500 miles after leaving the East Coast and the Atlantic Ocean in Maine. Life is like a box of chocolates... at Santa Monica Pier - Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. HOLLYWOOD!!!! Hollywood Boulevard walk of fame... Hollywood Hall of Fame - George Clooney's hands and feet!

American Diary # 19 Los Angeles

2007-06-17T00:37:00.000+01:00

June 15th LOS ANGELES An early start from camp - lots more driving. We hit the road and crossed back into California, stopping on the way to see the plants and wildlife at JOSHUA TREE national park. The Mojave and Colorado deserts meet here and offer different ecology, but the highlights are the trees (remember the U2 album) which look like loo brushes on the end of stumpy branches. We took a short hike here to see the animals, but the AP's chattering scared everything away! It was god to get out though. Getting to LA we hit heavy traffic and made straight for the sea. VENICE Beach is known for it's freaks and rollerblading superbabes and body builders. Walking the strip we saw them all! with time to spare some of us took our towels onto the Baywatch beach and enjoyed the pacific ocean (a lot like Bude) before joining the van again and taking a short trip up the coast to Santa Monica. Here we stopped at the BUBBA GUMP restaurant (see the movie Forest Gumo for the scene on Santa Monica Pier)for dinner before eventually arriving at our LAX airport Holiday Inn. Thank the lord for a soft bed and hotel room! It was a good week though. June 16th This morning I dined at a local cafe on muffin and yoghurt with an apple 'to go'. Good to have healthy food again. Then Pia drove us on a site seeing tour of the highlights of LA starting with HOLLYWOOD. Stopping for photos of the famous sign, then onto Hollywood Boulevard for photos at the famous Chinese theatre (where the stars put their feet and hands in the cement). I put my hand into the George Clooney hand print (he was here last week for Oceans 13) and took photos of the rest - best one for me was Star Wars from 1977, including C3P0 and R2D2 footprints! Next door is the OSCARS location inside the KODAK theatre which was nothing more than something to take a picture off. There are shops, but nothing I was interested in. The sidealk along Hollywood Blvd is lined with the names of people in a golden star - I spotted Bugs Bunny, Whinnie the Pooh, Kermit the Frog as well as some human stars too - no sign of anyone famous in person though. Next stop was Beverly Hills for some home spotting - we pulled outside Ozzy Osbourne's Tom Cruises, and the Beverly Hills Hotel, but didn't see anyone. after that we cruised down Rodeo Drive and then a very long journey in traffic back to the hotel. Tomorrow I will spend the day by the hotel pool (too much traffic to get anywhere by taxi) then fly to Seattle on Monday morning. Hope all is well in Blighty - or wherever you are reading this from! BFN

American Diary # 18 Lake Havasu

2007-06-17T00:32:00.000+01:00

June 14th Left camp at 7.30am and leaving stuff on the van a group of us took a trail down into the canyon to experience it's depths. In this heat, people die (really) so we had only 3 hours to use. Not enough to get anywhere near the bottom, so we settled for the Kaibab Trail to 'Oo ah' point. This took 40 mins going down to a steep precipice above the canyon - truly incredible - and then an hour coming back up on steep and dusty ground. Well worth the effort. You need more time to fully appreciate the canyon, so I think I'll be back. Driving through Arizona we touched on the Mojave Desert and arrived at Lake HAvasu City. This is the location for the LONDON BRIDGE which was sinking and shipped to the USA and rebuilt. It stands across the Colorada and hase the Union Flag and stars and stripes on both sides. It's a great setting and with temperatures over 100 degrees I wanted to jump into the water. We just stopped for photos then continued on to our campsite on the river side at dusk, perfect for a swim in the cool waters. The group was becoming more familiar and we actually had a good laugh and a swim before bed time around 11pm. So hot we could hardly sleep.

American Diary # 17 Grand Canyon

2007-06-17T00:19:00.000+01:00

June 13th - Grand Canyon and Kipper's Birthday! Left Vegas and to cut a long blog short, we drove for ages and crossed into Arizona. We stopped at Laughlin for a driving permit (not far from Hoover Dam) and Colorado River winding through a barren desert area. Strange to see patches of green grass and new housing, fuelled by the fresh water supply and local jobs in the hydro electric industry. At some point we stopped on ROUTE 66 and a place called Seligman, where the PIXAR movie 'CARS' was based. It's a great film, "If you get the chance , I highly recommend it... it is so choice" (direct quote from another movie, guess which one?). Anyway, I bought some tacky souvenirs from the museum and barber shop (famous) and took some photos. The shop owner told me about the BBC visit last year with Blue Peter, he even has a badge proudly displayed in the shop. Stopping for groceries in WILLIAMS we saw some British firemen from Portsmouth who were taking part in a transameric cycle challenge, West to East Coast in 10 days. I gave them all my loose change for the childrens hospitals, and wished them luck. After more driving, we arrived in a forested area near to the Grand Canyon and had achieved 7000ft without noticing. Myself, Chris and Nicole took a helicopter ride over the Canyon at 6pm just as the sun was starting to drop and gave us some amazing colours and shapes in the rocks strata below. With 'Jurassic Park' music in our chopper headphones it was a spectacular experience and I can't use enough words to describe it. Again ... I highly recommend it. The AP's watched an IMAX thing, which can't have been anything like as good, but they got free sticky stars and were happy. Camp was on hard dry ground near the Canyon edge, and after pitching tents we drove to a viewpoint for the sunset around 8pm. This too was amazing, and as we left there were over 50 astronomers set up in the car park offering free looks at the stars. After dinner ( I cooked) I persuaded a few people to come back with me to the telescopes by walking along the dark roads and we got to see some cool stuff. Big dipper ( Plough) North star, Jupiter and it's moons, Venus, Ring Nebula, Dumb bellNebula and Whirlpool Nebula, also Scorpio, Polaris, a constellation called M13 in Hercules (whatever) and some other stuff I forget. The Mily Way was bright and there were a few meterorite showers thrown in for good measure. Almost got lost in the dark getting back to camp but a brilliant evening.

American Diary Part 16 Las Vegas

2007-06-16T23:52:00.000+01:00

June 12th - Death Valley to Las Vegas Another early shower and this time avoided any queues! yippee!. We left Bishop and the memory of the Deliverance trio behind (they tried again with me that morning, but sent a different wierdo to do the questioning, and later they stood by the showers and talked to the boys who also thought they were wierd!) Driving all day through dry sage brush desert and small towns on straight roads (Big Pine, Independence, Lone Pine) we started to descend into the DEATH VALLEY national park. The scenery getting noticably drier and more bare rock. Stopping at a high viewpoint it was startling how vast the park is, and the reality of being stuck here was evident all around you. An hour later we arrived in the middle of the valley at the visitor centre Furnace Creek. It's hard to imagine anyone wanting to work here, but once inside the air conditioned buildings with cold drinks you forget what's outside..... and what is outside? The HOTTEST, DRIEST, LOWEST place in the Western Hemisphere. on our visit it was only (only!) 90 degrees and can reach over 110 degrees. It is so dry you feel the moisture leaving your skin and feel thirsty all the time. The heat radiates from the bare ground and makes you entire body overheat really quickly, so any shop selling water or ice cream can name their price - and they do! Back in the van we drove on for a few miles to reach BADWATER BASIN and the lowest point - 282 (feet or metres I forget) below sea level (it was very low anyway!). We stopped here and the AP's moaned about the heat and didn't see the point of the visit, so those of us with brains got out and walked about on the salt flats which remain after all the moisture evaporates. It does rain in the valley A LOT - they have severe storms regularly and it causes the roads to buckle, rivers to form and erosion all around the place. the moisture cannot run off outside the valley so it collects and evaporates leaving the minerals behind. Interesting stuff don't you think? On this trip I have seen lots of amazing natural geological wonders and more were to come. Anyway, I made my visit longer than I should have just to keep the AP's waiting - when I got back to the van I could hear them singing along to the German version of the dance track 'Barbie girl' and I almost (almost) thought about staying in the valley instead of taking the trip with them, but realised that a slow and painful death on the salt flats would not be a nice way to go, and at least I had my Ipod on full volume to help me survive the environment inside the van! Thank heavens for Depeche Mode remixes, Van Halen and movie soundtracks to keep me sane....... Another short stop at a viewpoint overlooking the valley and then we carried on for another 5 hours driving through the desert towards Vegas, crossing the Nevada state line along the way. LAS VEGAS I found the Nevada desert interesting, mainly because I was looking at the ramshackle homes, rusting trucks, sage brushes, stuff. Other people slept. Vegas is huge and spreads wide across a vast dry plain. The distant skyline promises some excitement in the monotony of it's surroundings and after a slow crawl along the Interstate we were dropped at our Motel 'Best Value Inn' just off East Tropicana Street at the end of THE STRIP - Vegas's main drag where all the casinos can be found. The heat was stifling, and thank God for aircon! Meeting the group at 6.30pm we walked the short distance to EXCALIBUR casino for an All you CAN EAT buffet - so I ate all I could, and wished I hadn't. the AP's and boys had booked a Limo tour (stretch Hummer) and I chose not to join them surprisingly. Instead I walked the strip and photogrpahed all the wierd and wonderful sites in Neon and Stone, from the replica of New York, Pyramids and Sphinx, Venice (complete with gondolas and Bridge of sighs), Ceasars Palace, and the BELLAGIO - most famous now for the location of the Oceans 11,12 & 13 movies. Along the way I dipped my feet into a few fountains to cool off, until we (Nicole and me) got told off by security - but not before loads of other people had copied us and got busted too! At the Bellagio, there are amazing fountains which perform to musci every 20 mins. by 10.45pm tired and a little weary of the 'in your face' Vegas strip, we stopped to wait for the show. I managed to film some, before a woman prodded me in the back and asked me to move so she could have her photographer take her picture. I politely explained that I was filming it on my camera and thought that would be enough to end the matter. But Oh No... her photographer then had another go, and I still refused explaining that I had waited over 20 minutes and travelled from England and wanted to see the fountains. She then turned nasty, said it was her wedding day -called me a Bitch and said "F**k You'. I was charmed enough to stay there even longer than planned just to piss her off. I mean... what reason did she have to be so rude? There were other spots she could have stood, not just where I was. It did spoil the evening, but on reflection I realise she was a cow and I hope her husband files for divorce when he realises what he married! She looked like a ho anyway. (That's American for slut by the way). Back at the Best Value Inn, I took a cold shower then bed watching RODEO Live from somewhere dry and dusty with 2 guys on TV trying to make the show exciting... and failing.

American Diary Part 15 Yosemite again!

2007-06-16T23:35:00.000+01:00

Sunday 10th June We arrived at the same campsite we had visited at Yosemite. Nicole and I put up out tent in record time whilst the newbies struggled with poles, pegs and fly sheets. I gave in and helped, it was too painful to watch. The next challenge was the first dinner. I had already decided not to do any shopping - 3 weeks was long enough. so, some of the au pairs did the work this time and cooked up some spaghetti, tomato sauce and hotdogs. Not gourmet but sufficient. We then chatted until dark and an early bed after the briefing about bears and food storage - this caused a lot of sreeching from the au pairs about being eaten alive, having their tents ripped open and general feeble behaviour about the cold, hard ground, no pillows, no hairdriers and bugs- WE ARE CAMPING OUTDOORS FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!! Monday 11th June Woke early (5.45am) to get a shower, only 2 cubicles and 12 girls. Already I was surprised to see it full with a queue. What takes them soooooooo long????!!!!! I lost patience a little with one girl doing makeup in the mirror and taking far too long. Anyway, by 8am amazingly we were all ready to leave. Our tour leader 'Pia' from Germany was excellent, getting more involved in the cooking and food boxes than Dan ever did. She even had oven gloves and a clever metal thing for toasting bagels over a gas burner! Having already visited the park last week, I planned to hire a bike and go cycling along the valley, or try to get on a horse. Once inside the park I took Nicole to find the stables. When we walked there we were too late, but just as well. The 'horses' turned out to be Mules - and fat mules too! so glad we didn't commit ourselves to going. So instead, we hired pushbikes and with the wind in our hair we cycled a few miles through the valley in search of Mirror Lake. We found it at the end of a steep path which had to be walked, and had just enough time for a photo before cycling back, returning our bikes and getting the shuttle to meet the group and move on to our next stop. The weather this time was much clearer and leaving Yosemite we left via the TIOGA pass which had been our entrance last week in the snow and grey skies. This time it was warmish, and clear so perfect for photos. We stopped at a great viewpoint for snaps, then again at a lake to have a picnic lunch. The pass itself is just under 10,000ft and once through, the road is pretty steep cut out of the rock winding through a granite valley. the next stop was MONO LAKE - another repeated visit (not happy with Suntrek for 2 days of duplication) and those of us who had already seen it, just sat in the sun whilst the au pairs (AP's) wandered around. Hardly interested in it at all, so they didn't take long. At least it was a chance to see the volcano again which we walked around before. Our camp site was to be at a place called BISHOP. A flat site with an entrance in the style of a wild western town. It would have been perfect except for 3 very creepy guys who could have been in the movie 'Deliverance' camping nearby with a red pickup and a habit of chewing something and spitting it out. One of them approached me and asked questions about our group - I was pretty economical and wanted him to leave, but he had a pervy sneer on his face which I really didn;t like and he go tthe message and walked back to his mates. Dinner was ok - Tacos from the Panama AP, then Pia took us all to a local creek in the desert where hot water flows into small pools from undergound springs. The group went in, but I didn't fancy it - it was a bit dirty to be honest and smelled and when I saw dog poo on the bank it really put me off so I stayed on dry land! the memory of creepy guy also made me want to stay fully clothed! It was an early nigh after that. Back at camp in the dark, some took showers

American Diary Part 14 San Francisco

2007-06-10T18:50:00.000+01:00

June 9th Arrived San Francisco around 10am after a brief photo stop to see the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin County side. I've been to SF a few times with work so know it pretty well, but good to come back again. We got dropped at our Hostel on Ellis and Larkin streets in the dodgy area of Tenderloin! Said goodbye to Paul and Maraijke (glad to see the back of them!) and dan our leader, then it was just Me, Nicole, Chris and Nick. (Min the Korean also left us). I offered to be a tour guide for the day and took us on a fun packed day around the city: Union Square, Coit Tower, Lombard Street, Fishermans's wharf, Boat trip to the bridge and Alcatraz, then back to Union Square for Burger before bedtime! The major highlight was a surprise meeting with Dave Prowse (Darth Vadar in Star Wars) who was doing a signing at a store on Pier 39. I bought a poster which he signed for me and we talked about Bristol and the Green Cross Code Man! He was great! He's 73, walks with a stick, is over 6ft 8" and still quite an imposing chap. It's 30 years since Star Wars - how time flies! I slept in a dorm with 3 other girls, and had a brilliant night's sleep - first in many weeks. June 10th 8am we met the group for our next leg of the GO WEST tour. There are 13 of us, all girls except for Chris and Nick who look like they've gone to heaven... they are both 19 year old german boys, both really sweet and for the next 7 days will be in the company of 10 au pairs all under 23 and from diverse countries - lucky them! I get to be the token spinster over 35! So we head off to the South West and Arizona today. Will update the blog when I get chance! BFN

American Diary part 13 Yosemite & Sacremento

2007-06-10T18:33:00.000+01:00

June 7th Left Reno and headed into California and Yosemite Park. On the way we stopped at MONO Lake. Another geo thermal salty lake with wierd 'Tufas' or mineral towers rising from the water. There is an abundance of life here and a moonlike scenery - no trees, volcanic rocks, mountains in the distance. We walked the lakeside then around the crater of a volcano which erupted only 650 years ago and is still active. A fascinating place. Leaving the heat of the Great Basin we climbed the TIOGA pass up to 10,000 ft and into another snow storm entering the park. The Sierra Nevada is the backbone of California and Yosemite sits within the Sierras. A granite park with massive cliffs eroded by glaciers leaving a wide valley with steep and impossibly sheer sides which climbers love and a bunch of activities for anyone wanting to get outdoors. We camped just oustide the park on a steep site - bears here too. With just one day here we had to choose what to do. I declined the Upper falls walk which is not only 6 hours of steep walking, but is a sheer precipice of gravel. Instead, I perused the visitor centre, museums, posted a package home to lighten my bag, then walked to the lower falls with Nicole. It's so scenic and everywhere is a photo. The highlights are El Capitan - a sheer granite cliff, and Half Dome. The river Merced flows through the valley and so Nicole and I hired an inflatable raft and meandered down stream taking in the scenery and paddling. A very pleasant day... and no bears. Not much wild life at all really. The snow was light this past winter so the waterfalls and lakes were very dry, but the scenery was still incredible. I visited the Ansell Adams gallery and bought some postcards to frame at home. We are spending more time here next week on the next leg of the trip. June 8th Leaving the park, we drove down and down with the scenery changing rapidly from pine forest to peach coloured sun dried hills dotted with dark green trees. Mediterranean climate of the Western Sierras. Almost immediately it felt like a different climate. Very hispanic, ranches, sweeping hills, hot sun. For lunch we stopped at the state capital - Sacremento. This Old town is a restored trading post with wooden sidewalks, an old railstation, museum and touristt shops along the River which once provided a lifeline to this land locked city. Going solo I wandered the shops and tired of crappy ham sandwiches I chose a smart riverside restaurant for a caesar salad and ice water overlooking the bridge and felt a bit civilised. It was a moment of self indulgence (cheesecake pudding for afters). Back at the van we motored on to reach our overnight camp just outside San Francisco at a place called Petaluma. This is home to suntrek so Dan had friends to talk to. I did more laundry, then swam in the excellent pool and hot tub. For most of the trip we'vce used KOA sites to camp and they have all been great. After supper at a local Mexican place we said our farewells before bedtime. The group changes in San Francisco, our next stop.

American Diary Part 12 Utah into Nevada

2007-06-10T18:21:00.000+01:00

June 4th Had a morning in Jackson Hole. This small and vibrant town is more like a true cowboy place than anything so far. Wooden sidewalks and saloons mix with up market boutiques, galleries, clothing shops and the ski-ing facilities which keep the town going in the winter. I really liked it here. After lunch we carried on towards UTAH and Salt Lake City. Wyoming is a great state with lots to offer and my favourite so far. The drive to Salt Lake was long and a bit dull. The scenery changed from hills to flatter wide valleys and it got warmer. By the time we arrived at Salt Lake City it was 90 degrees. A brief tour of the Temple Square allowed us to see the Mormon church but no-one really wanted more than that. At camp it was stifling hot but too late to use the pool. I cooked chilli, then some of us went with Dam to the local drive in movie and saw Pirates of the Caribean III from the roof of the van - excellent! We got back at 1am. June 5th Salt Lake ahs little to offer - but it was good to see the mountains from a distance where the 2002 winter olympics took place. The Mormon thing is a turn off, I'll admit. The next phase of our journey was a real contrast to Salt Lake City but first we drove an hour south and stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats. This dried out lake of perfectly flat slat deposits is ideal for land speed testing and the location for the world records - another good film to see 'The Fastest Indian'. We took some photos here and wondered at the wierdness of it with salt clogging our shoes. Then more driving across the Dull, Dull Great Basin of NEVADA. Actually I thought it was interesting as storm clouds gathered over the hills and I saw so many typical American stuff that I hoped to see - derelict homesteads, rusting tow trucks, gas stations, tumbleweed! hotrods, horses.... Anyway, we arrived eventually in RENO. Nevada still has gambling and prostitution, so there is not much else to do here. Those of us not into either pursuits (most of us) chose to go to an all you can eat buffet at a nearby casino (our hotel was a casino but not good food). Properly filled up on all kinds of cuisine and puddings I then thought it would be a good idea to jump around in the amusement arcade! so Nicole and I played air hockey, on the dance machine, basketball and felt a bit sick! It was fun though and we got the chance to sleep in a hotel with a proper bed!.

American Diary part 11 Yellowstone

2007-06-10T18:00:00.001+01:00

June 1st We entered Yellostone park from Cody and wound our way up the mountains, through pine trees and up and up to the middle. The park is one giant super volcano with mutliple thermal areas where the earth's core has a direct route to the surface. Mud pools, thermal gases, hot springs all erupt here constantly and it smelles of sulfur almost everywhere. In addition to the geology is a bunch of wildlife including Black Bears, Girzzly (brown) bears, elk, Deer, Wolves, Coyote, chipmunks, Marmots, Big horn sheep.... etc etc etc. I admit to being nervous about camping in *tents* in the middle of bear country. I was looking out all the time for signs of bear! Our first day (before camp) included a visit to Dragon Mouth Cave. A hole in a hillside where thermal gases escape into a pool of hot mineral water creating a 'booming' steam cloud which looks and sounds exactly like you would imagine a dragon's breath to be. After that we stopped at some hot springs with mineral deposits giving amazing colours to the small ponds - turqouise, orange, yellow. We hiked to a waterfall (forgot the name) which was incredible - so much better than Niagara. The vally it had carved was all colours of orange, yellow, brown, red from the minerals. At camp, we pitched tents and everywhere there were signs about Bears! All our food got stored in metal boxes and all our toiletries had to be kept there too. It was a bit freaky. I slept OK though, but it was freeeeeeeeezing! At higher altitude it was cold. June 2nd This full day in the park was fab! It's a vast area, and our camp was at MAdison - on the rim of the 'crater' from the last eruption. The whole area could blow at any time, and if it did, it would wipe out most of North America and have serious consequences for the global climate. But it didn't happen when we were there! Driving around the park, we stopped at the Old Faithfull geyser - I got soaked! On our way to a hiking location, we spotted some activity - lots of cars parked. It was a BEAR!!!!! A black bear was sunbathing in a meadow near some dead trees. We watched for a while from the car, then drove half a mile. Again we stopped - amazingly we saw a grizzly about 100 m from the road, walking through some woods. He was being sent away by the rangers who try to discourage bears from hanging around roadways and peopled areas. He walked for several minutes as a convoy of cars followed him and we parked and got out on foot (blimey!). \It was fine. We were able to watch both bears from our hilly vantage point. The grizz had made the black nervous and he ambled away, leaving Grizz on his own. I got some great footage and shots, but it didn't make me feel relaxed about camping! After that we took a hike up to the summit of Mount Washburn. A 10,000 ft peak with snow along the trail but stunning views across the park, Lake Yellowstone, the crater rim and you could see the thermal activity. I was exhausted but it was worth it. Coming down I spotted bear tracks in the mud and walked a bit quicker! I could write for days about Yellowstone, but the other highlights were seeing a Coyote swim across a stream, loads of chipmunks up close, birdsong, Mammoth Hot springs, Elk, Deer... fabulous mountain scenery... and HOT weather! We actually had sun. June 3rd Leaving Yellowstone we stopped for an afternoon at the Teton National Park. This is a small range of mountains rising 13000 ft with a collection of lakes and forested walking trails. A small group of us climbed a trail to the canyon falls to see a huge waterfall and also discovered some Moose. Feeling tired I took the boat across the lake back to the parking area and shared a pot of ice cream with Nicole. We would have liked to hire a canoe but ran out of time. The photos from here are amazing, crystal clear Jenny Lake, Grand Teton and blue sky! We drove to camp at Jackson Hole pitching tents in the setting sun alongside a small river, ducks, and yellow headed blackbirds providing birdsong. I did more laundry (the true american experience - all human life) and then went with Dan and Min (only us over 21) t0 the Cowboy Saloon Bar in Jackson. Sitting on actual saddles at the bar we drank beers and watched the basbeball on TV, I then lost 2-1 in a game of pool with Dan (who never loses) at least I got one game off him!

American Diary part 10 Wyoming

2007-06-10T17:42:00.001+01:00

WYOMING May 30th Left South Dakota and entered WYOMING - the symbol for this state is a rodeo horse and cowboy, which about sums it up. A rugged landscape of ranches, hills, grazing land and... DEVIL's TOWER! A volcanic column of granite forced up as magma inside a volcano which has long since eroded away to leave this wierd shape visible from miles away. Famous from the film 'Close Encounters of the third Kind' (see it NOW if you haven't already). It is a truly spectacular place. Surrounded by trees at the base, there is a walk of around 2 miles giving different perspectives and changing light. You can see climbers making the ascent, and birds circling at the top - apparently there are snakes nesting on top too. Another Priarie Dog town covers a large meadow at the base near where we camped, and I had the BEST view of the tower from my tent. It was 'awesome'. I didn't see any UFO's though, Shame. To get into the cowboy mood, Dan turned the van into a cinema and we watched 'Unforgiven' on his laptop. Clilnt Eastwood at his best. Great. May 31st Leaving Devil's Tower we stopped for lunch at DEADWOOD. This town was at the heart of the Black Hills gold Rush in the 19th century and home to people such as Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hikock who was shot here during a poker game in Saloon #10 - we saw a very cheesy performance of this by some third rate actors whilst we ate fries and rank coke in the very same poker saloon. There is not much here, gambling is about it. There is a good museum though, and fascinating artefacts from the gold rush, the fires which have hit the valley and destroyed the town more than once, and stories of the outlaws who lived there. Moving on, we drove high up and over the BIGHORN mountains. Spectacular, and covered in snow, we drove through a mild blizzard and I realised I had the wrond clothes for this weather! Arriving at our muddy and wet campsite mid afternoon, my hiking shoes began to leak and my socks were soaking wet. I was going to need new boots. We drove the short distance into CODY - a larger town established my Buffalo Bill Cody, famous for his wild west shows (See the movie Hidalgo. More modern that you would like, it has a wide street and shops selling cowboy clothing and not much else. At the top end of the street are 5 museums, more disney than wild west so I gave it a miss, but i DID find an outdoors shop and picked up some leather hiking boots for $40! Bargain! We stopped in Cody for dinner (too wet to cook at camp) and had pizza for $5 each. Back at the tents, I did some much needed laundry and chatted to some fellow campers - both American with intriguing life stories! It really was muddy, cold and miserable. Not a highlight. June 1st Wet tents got packed away and we left the site - I ceremonially dumped my old and soggy Ariat boots in the trash - useless, despite waterproofing them before I left home. Shame on you Ariat! In the distance we could see the start of Yellowstone Park and it was here we would spend the next 3 days.

American diary part 9 South Dakota

2007-06-10T17:02:00.001+01:00

Well - it's been over a week since my last blog and I'm now in San Francisco! There's too much to write about in one hour (which is about all the time I have) so I'll try to cover the highlights since Chicago.... May 26th We left Chicago on a grey day (we had the best weather) and headed west again skirtin Lake Michigan which we couldn't see. This was a long day of driving for Dan and hours of sitting on the van reading books, ipod listening, sleeping, or staring out at the scenery. To be honest there wasn't much to see! We crossed 2 state lines: Minnesota (home to the movie FARGO and very scandinavian) and Wisconsin where we stopped in Milwaukeee for lunch. a city known for 4 things 1) Beer (lots of breweries) 2) socialism 3) German based culture 4) The tv show Happy Days (I may have got that last one wrong). It was raining hard so we stayed inside a covered market and had some lunch, then back on the van. More driving took us to the Mississipi river where we camped for one brief night - I cooked on the ground (no table) and in the dark (no lights)but it turned out OK! May 27th The Great American Prairie covers a number of mid western states including Idaho, which we crossed for a short while before entering South Dakota and many hours of endless grassy plains. I found this scenery fascinatin - old style farms with grain silos and wooden barns, white picket fences, small copsed trees. It was not unlike parts of the south of England. Other states further south in the great plains are more bleak and known as The Corn Belt for the endless acres of corn which grows there. Anyway, our destination in South Dakota was the Badlands. This region of rocky hills rises out of the plains as a result of geological happenings millions of years ago, so called by the French and Indians because it was bad to cross through. Once a sea bed, it contains fossils of dinosaurs and other creatures, and has coloured stripes within the rock giving it a strange appearance. We spent 3 hours in the heart of the rocks to walk several trails and view out across the plains where many of the indian wars took place, and Dances with Wolves was filmed. A highlight here was to see herds of wild buffalo roaming the plains. Before the white man came there were millions, which were hunted almost to nothing. Reintroduced last century they are making a comeback. We also saw several huge 'towns' where Prairie dogs live in burrows and pop their heads up to see what's going on! Our camp that night was incredible at the Badlands Ranch and Resort. A storm was brewing and we were offered the use of a cabin with 24 beds for just $10 each. Of course we took it! It was home to a ranching couple who live there in the winter and hire it out in summer as part of the camp services. It was filled with wacky photos, stuffed animals, trinkets and wierd furniture, but it was comfy and dry! Before sunset we took a ride on horses along the white river and saw the den of a Mountain Lion and the Badlands as the sun went down. Magic. We then had a massive storm, lightening, thunder, rain which lit up the plains. The early pioneers who settled here must have been tough! May 28th Leaving the Badlands we stopped at Waldrug - a shop famous for having over 500 adverts along the I90 interstate and built up over 60 years. It's just a tacky souvenir stop. South Dakota has a lot to offer. We visited the famous Mount Rushmore monument to see the 4 US presidents carved into the granite, each head 20ft high. the mountain itself is stunning, granite peaks covered with pine forest. The monument seems smaller than expected but is still impressive. A short film told us about how they used dynamite and 17 years of smoothing the rock to arrive at the final images. This attracts Americans from all over and I can see why it generates national pride. However, it was not at all tacky and the visitor experience was very dignified. The weather again turned bad and we had rain and cloud. Arriving at our campsite, we realised that there was a long, long walk to the loos and showers and with SNOW on the ground we decided to hire a cabin and share the cost between all of us. So, like The Waltons, we all slept in a log cabin in a meadow for the night! It was my turn to cook, so I warmed everyone up with a sausage casserole - a Grant family favourite!!! May 29th Close to Mount Rushmore is Thunderhead Mountain. The Native American Indians wanted a memoral to show that their culture had great heroes too, so in 1941 they invited the same sculptor to create a statue to Crazy Horse, a warrior who led many battles including Little Big Horn - Custer's last stand. This is HUGE. His head is the only part completed after 60 years, since they are relying on donations and will not accept money from the government who broke so many treaties with the Indians. All 4 heads from Rushmore would fit into Crazy Horse's head! It will take them a long time to finish this and the original sculptor has long since died, his family are continuing. It's still a good place to visit. After both monuments, we visited Custer State Park. This is not the site of his last stand, but a park named after General Custer from his prescence here to scope the land and look for gold, whilst controlling the indians. We did a nice walk around a lake, and saw an original stockade. The park also has plentiful wildlife, including more Buffalo! Our next stop was something I had looked forward to ever since booking the trip..... Devil's Tower, Wyoming.

American Diary Part 8 - Chicago day 2

2007-05-25T22:16:00.000+01:00

May 25th & 26th Slept really well in a soft bed at the Hostel, no-one snored! Enjoyed a really good breakfast of muffins, coffee, banana and honey nut loops. Then fulled fuelled I set off on foot again to try and view the city from up in the sky. The hostel have special discounts on tickets so for $19 I had both the Sears Tower and John Hancock Towers to enjoy. Walking first to the post office within the financial district (very stunning with impressive architecture, USA flags, marble and limestone) I posted some items back home to lighten my luggage, then walked on to the SEARS TOWER. Luckily today has been calm so the Skydeck was open. At the top, I had an amazing view of the whole city - and it was just like the scene in Ferris Bueller! I even stood on the blue rail and leaned my head against the glass! (no-one was looking). The Tower used to be the tallest in the world before the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, and now a tower in Tai Pei which has the highest inhabited floor, however, the Sears tower has the highest antennas! Sears Tower is 1730 feet to the tip of the antennas. However, it was a bit crowded so after some photos and a quick souvenir shop, I headed down to street level. By now it was 11am and time for my Starbucks fix! Today I mostly had a Skinny Tall Latte and a pannini. Then off to walk the 'Magnificent Mile', so named because it is Magnificent and a mile long! It takes you up the city through the main sky scrapers and over the River - I was aiming for the Hancock Tower. This is the 4th tallest in the USA, after the SEARS Tower, Empire State and the AON building also in Chicago. It was a much better view! I got to see all the buildings and North out over almost 50 miles and 4 states of the USA. Both the SEARS and HANCOCK towers are the same age as me - born in 1970! After that I strolled back down the Magnificent Mile to the Hostel enjoying the sun and the changing architectural styles of the buildings, the water works used to be housed in 'castle like' building and a very lovely church nestles amongst the tallest buildings in the city covered in vines. I sat with a cold drink at the shiny BEAN and watched people taking pics of themselves in the reflections, then passed the waterfalls nearby and got wet as the wind blew the spray over me.. oh well! I'm meeting the group at the baseball game tonight, so will update the blog later. Bye for now! I love Chicago! *********************** May 26th morning - after the ballgame - I am sat in the Public Library in Chicago just 2 mins from the Hostel and the most beautiful building. It is in red stone with very ornate and imposing steel dragons and other gargoyles on each corner of the building, it's very gothic. There are over 130 computers here, set out in rows and I feel like I'm in a scene from Big Brother (the book not the reality show)in complete silence, processing data like lab rats! Anyway, I get one hour free in here to use email and internet so here is an update on the ball game before we leave Chicago in a couple of hours. The Chicago White Sox are not a bad team, they won the World Series (only America competes so I don't see how it can be a *world* series!)in 2005 and last night played a team from Tampa in Florida who were not supposedly that good. Of course we all supported the home team, and arrived at the 'US Cellular Field' via the subway at around 5.30pm. This area of Chicago is several miles away from the skyline but you get an amazing view. We were all given free baseball hats with the team logo, and 'Miller Lite' on the back (official beer to the stadium) Once inside, we climbed the stairs to our level (almost at the very top to our - cheap but good - seats) and wandered around the interior looking for something to eat, maybe some souvenirs and just soaking up the pre-game excitement. I bought some Nachos which nearly blew my head off and a ht chocolate to keep warm. By 7pm the game was underway after the usual frenzy whipping that to introduce the teams. We had agreat view of the pitch right above the 'plate' (technical term) The game was a little tricky to follow but it was fun - many strange and mysterious goings on between the umpires, pitcher (bowler) and catcher (wicket keeper) and lots and lots of cheering and shouting from the crowds as they consumed more and more beer. It reminded me of a 20:20 cricket game with music, video, games and prizes to keep the crowds entertained, also it was a 70's themed night which added to the fun as they played classic tracks from the disco/rock/funk era. I was freezing! the wind blew across the pitch and I didn't have a coat or jacket. Despite this, it was fun, and I would go again. Our tour leader Dan tried to explain what was going on, but the funniest thing was a guy behind us who was bellowing down to the players every word of encouragement, criticism, abuse, sarcasm and frustration he could muster under the influence of many (and I mean many, cos we saw how many he drank) bottles of beer! He was harmless and very entertaining. The game was even, with some very fast pitching (up to 94 mph) and some great hits into the crowds along with a few catches. It ended up 4-4 with just a few pitches left and the Sox looked as if they were heading for a rather lacklustre draw after some mediochre late pitching . However, a Japanese Sox player stepped up and hit a beauty allowing another sox player on 3rd to make it to 4th base and claim a victory 5-4. The stadium erupted with fireworks and cheering - it was great! As we left, the city at night was clearly visible all lit up with the Sears and Hancock towers sporting pink antennae and lots of other sparkly lights across the skyline - surely one of the best city views in the world? It rained heavily as we left, so we waited inside for the crowds to go and luckily the trains ran on time so before long I was back at the hostel and into bed to get warm! So that was my Chicago experience! The next 2 days will take us across Illinois, camping along the Mississipi river tonight near to Milwakee, then onto South Dakota and the Badlands - the American Prairie with the Black Mountains & Mt Rushmore, then into Wyoming and down to Yellowstone, Utah and across to San Francisco arriving there around the 9th June. We will therefore be leaving the big cities behind us for a while and I may not have the opportunity for blogging before we get to San Francisco. The USA has an image of having the best of everything, but Internet Cafes are not part of that image! There is plenty of WIFI but no good unless you have your own pc. I continue to be amazed and pleasantly surprised by the way of life here in the USA. People are friendly & happy, service is good everywhere, there is little evidence of trouble on the streets (granted I have not visited the rough areas), and the cities are extremely clean and well looked after. Best of all, the loos are of a high standard everywhere!!! Kx

American Diary Part 7 - CHICAGO Illinois

2007-05-25T04:36:00.001+01:00

MAY 24th Happy Birthday MUM! Leaving the Toledo area we drove across I90 on the northern tip of Indiana state and into Illinois to arrive at Chicago around 12noon. We had to put our watches back on hour and gained some time, so before entering the city we stopped at the Baseball stadium for the Chicago white sox to buy tickets for the game tomorrow - should be fun!. Dan dropped us off in the hostel (not bad for $40 per night) and after dumping my bags I headed off alone to explore the city. One of my fave films (remember the bus ride to Boston) is Ferris Bueller's day Off. Set in this city, he plays truant from school and has fun in the city - including a baseball game and the Sears tower - I hope to do both although the city is different now than it was some 25 years ago, they have a new stadium for a start. I walked the street towards the start of Millenium Park and stopped for a Starbucks then wandered through the park which gies wonderful views of the skyline and has a few interesting sculptures to look at - the best is the BEAN or cloud city which is a mettalic bean shape as big as a house which reflects the city and you and twisted and wonderful ways. With the sun shining and the wind blowing warm across the city it was the perfect day for a walk. I continued through a lovely garden of lavender and down to the large waterfall then over the busy main shoreline road to see the marina of yachts and powerboats on Lake Michigan, then left along the shore path for 2 miles to the Navy Pier. This is an area of tacky attractions and fast food so not for me, instead I took a boat trip into the city along the Chicago river with a commentary on the buildings and architecture of this wonderful vertical city. The SEARS Tower is the tallest in the USA and after pizza with Nicole we walked in the fading daylight to the tower hoping for a night view of th city from the top floor only to find it closed due to hight wind. I will try again tomorrow. My other plan is to walk several miles to the John Hancock tower which also has fine views albeit from the 3rd highest tower in the city. Chicago is not what I expected from seeing Ferris Bueller and episodes of ER! The 'L' train runs around the loop of downtown and is a unique feature of the city, the streets are clean and friendly and the whole place has a nice atmosphere. I am saddened to think that our cities and towns in the UK are generally dirty, crowded and poorly maintained with miserable people and surly employees. I am loving the cities of America, and indeed the back roads!

American Diary Part 6 -Cleveland OHIO

2007-05-25T04:26:00.000+01:00

MAY 23rd Left Niagara early morning with a brief coffee stop at the local gas station. On the subject of gas - I am staggered by the volume of cars, giant trucks (road trains) giant motorhomes (land yachts) and other gas guzzling vehicles on the highway. With all that petrol being consumed, it's clear that the USA has a major decision to make if it is serious about reducing emissions..... smaller cars maybe? Heading north on I90 (the main interstate for the first half of our trek) we crossed into Pensylvania, then OHIO to reach CLEVELAND on the shores of Lake Eerie. Famous for not much really, this ciry has the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME which deserved at least 4 hours of our time and I thought it was great! highlights for me included seeing the costume worn by David Bowie in his Ashes to Ashes tour and the stage set for the Pink Floyd concert THE WALL including the giant puppets of the headmaster and the wall itself. There were lots of other things, not least the architecture and the setting along the shore of the lake, the hot weather (30 degrees) and the display of giant guitars at the entrance which made this stop worthwhile. The shoreline was deserted and calm with the lake waters stretching far away like the ocean. Back together in the bus and continuing on across OHIO state (largely agricultural with farms, crops and livestock) I watched the scenery unfold as we passed loads of typical American barn style farms in sienna coloured timber and white picket fences. Late in the evening we arrived at our campsite near to TOLEDO in OHIO, another nice site in the trees and good facilities. Supper was chilli tacos from Nicole and Min - we now have 2 nights in a hostel in Chicago so my next cooking duty is not until Saturday.

American Diary part 5 - Finger Lakes & Niagara

2007-05-25T04:10:00.000+01:00

MAY 21st We left camp early and on the road by 8am North across parts of Pensylvania and back into New York state through small towns suck as Binghampton and Lisle to reach the Finger Lakes near to Ithica - home to Cornell University one of the IVY League. The scenery here is much like parts of central Europe with rolling hills covered in forest broken by rivers and towns dotted amongst the valleys along the interstate. Homes are very pretty made of timber and not unlike those in Maine. Ithaca looks to be a lovely place but we didn't visit, instead we headed to the shoreline of Lake Cayuga (one of 11 lakes formed by glaciers) to set up camp and hike up to the Taughannok Falls, a cascading waterfall as high as Niagara but much less water. It is all very pretty and quiet (summer kicks of on May 26th) so we had a barbecue on the shoreline (bit chilly) with Paul and Marijke cooking for the 2nd night. The facilities on the KOA (kamp america) sites are good generally. May 22nd Travelling across the region known at the MID ATLANTIC states we stayed in NY state to reach the famous tourist spot of NIAGARA FALLS.. At this point you are no doubt hoping for a photo.. I have plenty but cannot load them onto this PC so you'll have to wait! Niagara is a confused town with an identity crisis - half Vegas, half Lanzarote it has a natural feature which draws a crowd but little else for me. If you like the Canaries then you wil *love* this place (for the trashy amusements, nightlife and souvenirs)s. As a group we crossed into Canada for the afternoon to get the best views of the 3 falls aboard the Maid of the Mist (wearing a stupid plastic souvenir rain poncho). American Falls in the highest, then Bridal Veil falls and finally the Horseshow Falls - the most spectacular. I was glad we had crossed the border - it was well worth it, but the falls did not take my breath away as I had hoped. They are amazing but the tourist trap around it takes the majesty away and it just looks bigger than it actually is on the postcards! I then paid an extra $12 for the "Journey Behind the Falls" and another plastic poncho only to find that the 'journey' was a 'wasted' one...... If you go there, don't bother with this. Leaving Canada walking across Rainbow Bridge I then wandered around Goat Island on the USA side of the Falls and was rewarded with some incredible close up views of the water rushing over the gorge and the best viewpoint at Terrapin Point - worth the 30 minute walk. I also recommend the Observation Deck which for $1 allows you to stand out over the gorge and look down at the boats below. By 5pm we were back in the bus and off to find a grocery store before making camp at the local Niagara KOA - a nice spot with grass, a fishing pond and great showers! Supper was pasta with sausage from our German friends Chris and Nick. This camping lark is easy!

American Diary Part 4 - Leaving New York

2007-05-25T03:46:00.001+01:00

Since my last entry I have travelled across 3 more states and arrived in Chicago. Before I tell you about my first day in the Windy City, here's an update on the past few days. Sunday 20th May I spent a sunny Sunday in New York wandering through Central Park along with joggers and charity walkers and browsed some shops before joining the Suntrek tour group in the Jazz on the Park Hostel around the corner from my swanky hotel. I have been really impressed with New York which is a pleasant and easy city to walk around - I'll definitely be back. Highlights of Central Park included - The reservoir named after Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy with a surrounding jogging track and excellent views of the city skyline. The Cleopatra's needle nestling amongst trees on the East side. Belvedere castle - a tiny but perfectlt positioned fantasy castle on a high piece of ground in the park with turrets, balconies and stairways that disney would be proud of, with a pond below filled with turtles swimming around! Shakespeare's Garden - a gorgeous floral display alive with spring colour and footpaths winding up a small hill. The sheep meadow, a spacious green area where animals grazed centuries ago, now used for picnics, concerts, ball games and general relaxing. The stony outcrops which appear through the park offering vantage points for photos or simply lying in the sun. The various stone bridges, the Lake, the trees and wildlife. I must have walked over 6 miles that day and with most of the roads blocked for the AIDS charity walk, I had to find my way back to the hostel on foot, so was tired, hot and thirsty when I got there! I saw no trouble in New york, felt perfectly at ease the whole time and will go back when I get the chance. By 2pm I had met some members of the tour and by 3pm we were all together, 7 travellers and 2 tour guide: Me 36 from England, Dan the tour leader about 25-28, Nicole 20 from Adelaide, Min 22 from Korea, Chris 19 from Stuttgart and his friend Nick also 19 from Stuttgart and Mariajka and Paul a couple in their 50's from Winchester in England. Our transport is a 13 seater mini van with all our gear loaded on the roof, so once our bags were stowed we left the city bound for our first night of camping. Crossing the George Washington bridge we entered New Jersey briefly then back into New York state for the 3 hour drive north on I87 and I84 arriving at a small place called PLATTEKIL for the night. As a group we share duties on trek and I have been assigned to shopping duties with Nicole. So armed with the group's money I went into the supermarket and bought loads of cheap food for breakfast, lunches and dinner. Each of us will share cooking duties, but for the first night I made Spag bog with Nicole and it was fine! We each have a tent which is easy to put up,after 4 days I can manage it in under 12 minutes! So far the weather has been fine so no wet and windy episodes with a fly sheet and tent pegs! This is ourdaily routine... driving... shopping... tent building and eating.. sleeping... tent destroying and driving! Amid all the driving we stop for coffee and some sight-seeing. So our first night was simply a lesson in tenting then some food and sleep. The Trek adventure had begun!

American Diary part 3 - NEW YORK NEW YORK!

2007-05-20T02:47:00.000+01:00

May 19th NEW YORK! I woke early and was out the door by 8.30am. the bell hop (getting with the NY lingo) told me about a breafast bar nearby which I walked to. It turned out to be the NY equivalent of a greasy spoon, but with few empty seats I thought it must be ok. The service was slow, but eventually I ordered a banana porridge and toast with hosue coffee. Around me, people were eating eggs over easy, bacon, home fries and pancakes with maple syrup (although probably not pure syrup that I've been used to in Maine!) Maybe tomorrow I'll order the full works.... After that, I hailed a cab and headed into the big apple to join my bus tour. www.newyorkpartyshuttle.com takes you around the city for 5 hours. It was easy to find, on Broadway and by 10am we wre moving. Along the route we stopped at: John Lennon's hotel apartment and the place he was assasinated, along with the strawberry fields memorial in Central Park, along Broadway passing the theatres, into the park itself where Saturday people were jogging, pushing prams, horse riding, taking kids to the zoo or just strolling. We were shown landmarks on the route mostly without stopping - Grand Central Station, various apartment blocks and sites used for movies and TV shows (Will and Grace, Seinfeld etc), the Empire State, Rockerfeller centre, Little Italy, Chinatown, Camden Street, Tiffanys etc We had lunch on our own in Pier 17 on the south of Manhattan (I had a Subway sandwich and peanut butter cookie)before taking the Staten Island ferry (free) across the bay past The Statue of Liberty before coming back. It was a chance for photos. Back on the bus, we did stop at Ground Zero (a very solemn place) for a few moments of reflection. I know some friends of mine have been here and know what it is like. they have begun work on the Freedom Tower and the whole area is a gaping chasm with construction vehicles and workers. the perimiter is a memorial to those killed with a timeline of the events on 9/11 with photos which truly make you feel humbled by the actions of those who tried to save lives that day. Across the street is the church of St Pauls used on that day to shelter the workers and provide food and water, it was undamaged. One poignant site is the damaged skyscraper on the southern end which is being removed floor by floor and clearly shows the scars of that day. Another nice touch is the prescence of the golden globe which survived with some damage and will be incorporated into the final memorial tower. After this sombre moment, we lightened the mood with a stroll through Wall Street - home to some of New York's Most stunning architecture and symbols of financial might. After my trip to Boston I saw the place where George Washington took the oath as first president of the USA. The tour continued around the waterfront before taking us back to Broadway. I wanted to go back to some of these places so tipped the guide and set off on foot. First stop TIMES SQUARE - like Picadilly on acid! the use of technology here is amazing, buildings have movies running on the outside walls with neon, lights, sound, music... amazing, gawdy, overpowering, impressive! I can only imagine Vegas or Hong Kong and Bangkok to be any better. There was a public demo going on in the middle - something to do with Iraq. quite strange to have something so serious alongside all that frivolous display of marketing! Walking away from Times Square I found my way to the Rockerfeller Centre and rode to the top floor for some great views of the city - despite the rain! Hungry again (5pm) I stopped for Pizza and a sit down, then back on the street I wandered in the general direction of Grand Central Station and found it! (New York is pretty easy for walking).. This was a real discovery1 the station is stunning! The architecture and lighting really impressed me, and of course it's been used in so many films! In need of coffee I found myself in Starbucks on 36th and Madison and wrote some more postcards. Then onto the empire state at dusk for a brilliant finish to my day - I was there for almost 2 hours and saw the view change from rain to darkness with all the street lights and sounds from below. Fabulous! I bought some goodies up there too - baseball cap and tshirt (Hannah - I've spent some money!) At 9pm I came back down to the street and caught a cab back to the hotel. so here I am in Jazz Hostel - upper West side writing my blog. Tomorrow I catch my tour and begin the trek across america. I may have more time in NY before we leave, so I plan to walk through Central Park and visit the Natural History Museum. More blogging when I can! That's all from NY! (sorry no photos)

American diary - Part 2 Last night in Maine

2007-05-20T02:33:00.000+01:00

May 17th and 18th After a wonderful 2 days in the Acadia National Park and then a stay in Boston , I returned to Yarmouth and the home of the Klepinger family until May 18th. My second day in Boston included a walk through the parks again, the New England Aquarium and Isabella Gardner art museum - after that I walked from Fenway back to the Prudential Centre and strolled and browsed the shops without buying. I can't seem to summon any will to buy souvenirs! The bus ride back to Yarmouth was crowded and we enjoyed a screening of GREASE to pass the time. Hannah collected me from Portland bus station and we caught the end of Matthew's baseball game in Yarmouth (the team lost) before shopping at Hannafords for fresh lobster and steamers! Back at the house Roly dog was tormented by the lobster (not sure he knew what it was) whils I tried my best to hold it without dropping it each time it moved! I didn't have the heart to plunge it into boiling water so I let Hannag do it! but I did have the stomach to eat it afterwards and it was perfect - my first truly fresh lobster, no frills! I did manage to send it's claw flyig across the kitchen (slippery little sucker!). Friday was my last day in Maine, and with everyone out of the house it was a chance to pack and reshuffle my bags. I then took Hannah's car to the local park with roly for a rain soaked walk along the river. At noon I collected Hannah from her place of work, and we had a final girlie afternoon in Portland at the art museum (much better then the Farnsworth in Rockland) and shopped a little before goodbyes and at 5pm I was all alone at the airport. Once inside I was told my flight was *cancelled* but no time for panic as they put me on a Delta flight into La Guardia at 6.30pm. However - NY traffic control were being tricksy and the flight didn't leave till 8pm, landing in NY at 10pm. This was my first 'change of plan' moment in my otherwise flawless itinerary and it really didn;t matter. With time to kill I trawled the shops and bought a souvenir! Yes I actually bought something! I am even wearing it now - a blue t shirt which reads: "the way life should be... MAINE" with a lobster on it! La Guardia is closer to Manhattan than Newark so the cab was cheaper! My hotel "Astor on the Park" is in the Upper West Side faces Central Park and is in a swanky area. Apparently this is where rock stars, sports stars and film directors live.... so, at 11pm I was tired and wanted nothing but sleep which is what I did in a very comfy bed with 4 soft and squishy pillows. I drifted to sleep thinking of shingle houses on the coast of Maine.... maybe I should buy a lottery ticket!

American Diary - Part 1

2007-05-17T00:40:00.000+01:00

MAINE and MASSACHUSETTS On May 12th I arrived safely in the USA on a very comfortable Continental airlines flight into New York then connected to Portland in Maine to be met by Hannah and Arne Klepinger from Yarmouth who kindly offered to be my hosts during this first week of my US tour. If you remember, I met Hannah in 1999 on holiday in Porlock, Somerset. Straight from the airport we dined at Cape Elizabeth at the Lobster Shack, right on the coast with Cornwall some 3000 miles East. My lobster roll was to die for! Slightly jet lagged it was an early night for me once we arrived at the Klepinger home - a pretty pale yellow New England style wooden home set in a wooded street. Sunday was Mother's Day in the US, and the kids (Matthew 11 and Larua 14) both gave their Mom a card and attempted some chores in the garden! Hannah and I set off in the convertible Chevrolet to head up the coast for a 2 day road trip Thelma and Louise style around Mount Desert Island. The journey was very pretty passing amazing scenery and traditional houses just made for the landscape. Lunch was at Belfast, my first taste of 'Steamers' boiled clams and hot butter followed by fried clams - I was clammed up afer that! Arriving on MDI (the island) we found a room overloking the bay at the Wonder Vew Inn - it reminded me of the summer camp in Dirty Dancing! We then spent 2 wonderful days eating great food (traditional Maine fare, lumberjack breakfasts and carbohydrate packed lunches) and exploring the awesome scenery of the Acadia National Park on foot and in the car with the roof down of course! We did do approximately 7 miles of walking too.... including around Jordan Pond (sadly the restaurant was closed so no chanc to eat 'popovers' a kind of filled yorkshire pudding) and along a hiking trail where the carriages go. The park resembles our Lake District, but has more trees and a sense of wildness that we don't have in the UK. We saw unusual birds, deer and evidence of Beavers - I even saw a hummingbird in Hannah's garden before we left. It's a park for the outdoors and activity. It was too early in the season to take advantage of the many things to do, like carriage driving, cycling, climbing, whale watching etc. So instead we made sure that our stomachs experienced the best food, and made the most of the convertible by cruising the quiet roads all around the island. My favourite spot being Otter Cliffs, looking out across the ocean watching the sea birds and lobster boats. I will be going back there again one day. When I do, I'll revisit 'Jeannie's breakfast bar' for a Great Maine Breakfast! On the way home, we called in at Camden to see the clippers in the harbour and had a dose of culture in a museum at Rockland exhibiting Maine artists (good) and some Andy Warhol (crap in my opinion) and had one last meal at (famous in Maine) Moody's diner! Back at the house in Yarmouth Mathew was involved in a school concert, so I went along and it was great! the 4th & 5th grade performed as a band and also sang, and it wasn't at all bad! It was fun to see high school life for real. With Hannah and Arne back at work and the kids at school, I decided to head south to Boston for 2 days of sightseeing. I was there in 2004 with BMC sofware but didn't get chance to explore. On the internet in Hannah's kitchen I booked a Ducktour ride and called to reserve a room a the swanky Park Plaza hotel on arlington street (whci is where I am typing this from!)I took the bus from Portland (watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off on the way - one of my fave films) and jumped on the subway or 'T' to get to my hotel. Once my bags were dumped, I walked into the Boston (Bawston) sunshine, strolled through the public garden and Boston Common to join up with a guided history tour along part of the Freedom Trail. As you will all know, Boston is the home of the 'tea party' which sparked the war of independence and led to the creation of the USA as an independent state. Being British here is a little awkward, but you are treated with good humour (just don't mention taxes). The tour was great and ended at Fanueil Hall, which gave me chance to visit the home of the Massachussets arm of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company - the oldest army regiment in the world. The HAC had it's hadquarters in London at Armoury House where I have been several times as a guest and enjoyed their hospitality. Boston is closely linked in it's history to the British and unlike the rest of the USA has buildings and locations which date back to the 17th century. For this reason it attracts people from all over America. I took the rest of the Freedom Trail my myself, ending up at the site of the Bunker Hill battle between the British and the Bostonians. The tower which marks the spot has 294 steps and I managed them all! The views were worth it happily. It was at this point that the weather changed dramatically and I sheltered in a doorway on a street of very attractive houses down from Bunker Hill. I managed to get a taxi to stop for me and made it in time to join the Duck Tour at 5pm. These amphibous vehicles take you on a tour of the city then drive into the Charles River for a dfferent view. Despite the very torrential rain and lightening, it was fun (if a little cold) and the driver was full of tales and stories to keep us entertained. So, wet and tired I returned to my 'swanky' hotel. I have one more day in Boston to visit some museums and maybe the aquarium, then back to Maine to say goodbye to the Klepingers and on to New York! (PS: apologies for any bad spelling, this hotel keyboard is bad!)

Leaving for North America

2007-05-10T19:35:00.000+01:00

It's Thursday evening on the 10th May and I'm a little bit tipsy from a Gin & Tonic! Thanks to our Queen (Gawd bless 'er) our American cousins are warmed up to receive their next high profile British visitor - My bags are packed and tomorrow I say goodbye to Kipper, my parents and Devon for 2 months of travelling across America. My bags are full of all sorts of kit - probably too much stuff - being the type of person to 'over pack' it's been hard to limit myself. I'm prepared for hot weather, rain, cold nights, hiking, riding, rafting, boating, swimming and spending hours on a bus! I'll keep in touch via this blog, so check back regularly for updates. Today we learned that by the time I get back Tony Blair will no longer be Prime Minister. You may like to know that on the 27th June when he leaves office I shall be on a horse in Montana, and you may well hear me 'Yeehah' in celebration from across the pond! I'm not sure Gordon Brown is going tobe any better, so while the UK sorts itself out and William Haig gets his act together to challenge for Prime Minister (he will be back I'm sure) I plan to spend a very short time in England before going to Australia and New Zealand - I may even stay there long enough for a Tory government to take over! So, in the meantime, keep smiling, keep reading my blog and I'll do my best to entertain you from across the Atlantic. Have a nice day! K

GO WEST to AMERICA & CANADA !

2007-04-27T23:00:00.000+01:00

On May 12th I'll leave Blighty for a 70 day trip across the vast and varied continent of North America. My itinerary has been meticulously planned and will therefore no doubt go wrong almost from the start, but in theory this is where and when I shall be travelling: May 12th - May 18th MAINE & MASSACHUSETTS Portland, Yarmouth, Bar Harbour & Boston Staying with my friend Hannah after many years of promising to visit, I'm finally doing it! May 19th & 20th NEW YORK NEW YORK Empire State, Central Park, Macy's, Statue of Liberty etc... I'm going to be a real tourist on one of those bus thingies that goes around the city May 20th - June 16th GO WEST! 28 days to cross America East to West from New York to Los Angeles. This road trip in a mini van throws together a bunch of people who will have never met - until now. Now doubt after 28 days of camping we'll all be good friends! The trip takes us to historical, natural and 'unnatural' places of interest! New York, Niagara Falls, The Great Lakes, Chicago, Milkwaukee, the Great American Prairie, Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Crazy Horse Memorial, Devil's Tower (as seen in Close Encounters of the Third Kind - one of my favourite movies), into the wild west and Buffalo Bill country, Yellowstone, Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole, Salt Lake City, Great Salt Flats, Reno, Mono Lake, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Joshua National Park, Los Angeles. www.suntrek.com Trek 411 'Go West' June 17th - June 23rd WASHINGTON - SEATTLE After a short flight up the west coast, I'll be ready for some free time by myself in this city famous for coffee, grunge, Frasier and being sleepless...... although hopefully I will have a proper bed for the first time in a month and will get lots of lovely sleep! June 24th - July 2nd MONTANA Cowgirl ranchin' "You can see what man made from the seat of an automobile, but the best way to see what God made is from the back of a horse" (Charles M Russell) Enough said. This has been an ambition for as long as I can remember, I may decide to stay in Montana and never leave........ www.sweetgrassranch.com July 3rd - July 10th CANADA - Calgary Visiting my newest friend from my Egypt trip - 'Edmundo el dentisto' who lives in Calgary. I'll be hoping to make use of my new cowgirl skills and join in with the annual Calgary Stampede Rodeo festivities as well as seeing all that Calgary has to offer. July 11th-July 21st CANADIAN ROCKIES A 10 day sightseeing, hiking, canoeing, white water rafting riding, relaxing, eating & drinking tour around British Columbia and Alberta. Starting in Kamloops, Mount Revelstoke, Glacier National Park, Yoho National Park, Golden, Kicking Horse Valley, Emerald Lake, Takakkaw Falls, Banff, Mineral Hot Springs, Lake Louise, Bow River, Borgeau Lake, Icefields Parkway, Peyto Lake, Saskatchewan Glacier, Athabasca Glacier, Jasper National Park, Whistler Mountain, Mount Edith Cavell, Angel Glacier, Mount Robson (highest peak in the Rockies at 3954m) cross the Camelsfoot Range, Fraser River, Vancouver and back into the USA ending in Seattle. www.footloose.com a lodging trek called 'Canadian Rockies' July 21st - HOME TO ENGLAND August in Devon and Cornwall to enjoy the beaches, surfing & barbecues. Then packing my bags again for a 6 month trip DOWN UNDER!

Egypt Part 1 - CAIRO, THE SPHINX & THE PYRAMIDS

2007-03-22T18:26:00.000Z

I'm back home in blighty after a very thrilling, varied and tiring 23 day tour in Egypt. Egypt is a land of contrasts, surprises and wonderment and it's really hard to convey the experience, but I'll do my very best and hope you find it interesting and not too wordy! I am writing a full journal which contains much more detail and references to the history behind the places I visited, but for the blog I'll aim to keep it bite sized and jovial! If you are a glutten for punishment and want the full unabridged version then drop me a line on email and I'll be sure to send you a copy (PDF or Word doc.) when finished - I warn you, that I'm only on day three and already at 4,500 words! (My email address is gkirsty @hotmail.com by the way) Let me begin my report with a review of the actual trip: NILE & BEYOND with Tour Operator: EXPLORE! www.explore.com 2400 Egyptian miles travelled over land, mountains, sea, river & desert Week One: Cairo, Pyramids,, Sphinx, Eyptian Museum, The Islamic Quarter, Suez, Mount Sinai, Dahab, Ras Mohammed, Red Sea Snorkelling. Week Two: Luxor, Valley of the Kings, Aswan, Lake Nasser & the High Dam, Philae, Abu Simbel, 3 days Sailing on the Nile, Hot Air Balloon, Luxor Museum, Valley of the Workers. Week Three: Western Desert, Kharga Oasis, Dakhla Oasis, Farafra Oasis, Bahariya Oasis including Camel Trek to Bedouin Camp, Off Road tour of the White Desert and overnight Camp, return to Cairo. DAY ONE - FRIDAY FEB 23rd So, on Friday February 23rd I set off for Heathrow with help from my good friend Debbie who dropped me at the airport. At midnight I arrived at Cairo airport and my fears about the hassle I might face getting a visa, making it through immigration and collecting my baggage were unfounded as the tour company had arranged for me to be met and transported to the hotel. I travelled alone but met up with another Brit in the arrivals hall- a nice man called Wayne - who was on a different Explore tour but had a free day on Saturday like me so we arranged to meet in the morning and explore the city together. On arrival at my hotel - The Caroline Carillion Hotel, Mohandessin, Cairo - I was greeted with a glass of orange (a nice custom) I was excited to be in Cairo, and amazed to have survived the taxi ride! (Cairo has to be one of the scariest places to drive). After taking in the panoramic view and absorbing the atmosphere, lights, sounds and smells of this 24 hour city, I was ready to sleep. The noise from car horns did keep me awake most of the night however and before too long it was 7am and time to get dressed to meet Wayne. We spent an enjoyable day visiting the Islamic Cairo including The Citadel, Mohamed Ali Mosque and the Khan Al Khalili market. The citadel was built on high ground in the 13th century as a massive fortification against Crusaders. the Mohamed Ali Mosque is the largest building here and a landmark of the city dating from the 19th Century - built using the limestone outer layer (now obviously missing) from the Great Pyramid it is also known for its alabaster ceiling. The Khan Al Khalili market is everything you expect from a Souk - spices, cottons, souvenirs, tacky rubbish, silver and gold with plenty of 'pro-active sales techniques' (otherwise known as hassle) from the traders. I didn't buy anything! It was quite tiring so a brief stop for tea allowed time to watch the people go by before saying farewell and returning to our hotels. That night I met our tour leader called Wael, and 2 travelling companions - Tim from Melbourne and Ed from Calgary. the three of us had supper locally and an early night before a busy day at Giza on Sunday. DAY TWO SATURDAY FEB 25TH Early breakfast with the rest of our group (16 in total). Jan & Alan, Dereck, Celie & John, Chas & Sue, Mark & Karen, Katherine, Anna, Pam & Alan. Plus me, Tim & Ed. A mini bus took us to Giza, west of Cairo collecting our guide for the day en route. His name was Tariq and his enthusiasm for Egyptology was infectious. He gave us a good background to ancient Egypt before showing us around the pyramids and sphinx at Giza and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo itself. There is so much to learn and I find it all fascinating! The Pyramids at Giza. Brief intro - Built between 2600 BC and 2400 there are 3 main pyramids at Giza - the biggest is the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) which stand 137m high containing 2.5 million blocks of limestone - the tallest structure in the world until the Eiffel Tower. It's the only remaining wonder of the ancient world still standing - despite the outer casing of limestone being nicked by Mohamed Ali to build his Mosque!. The second biggest is the Pyramid of Khafre (Chephren) which still retains some of the limestone covering on it's cap (it looks bigger than the others because it stands on higher ground). The third is the Pyramid of Menkaure (Mycerinus) which has 3 well preserved Pyramids for his Queens on one side. There are many, many other burial tombs and smaller pyramids on the site and we didn't have time to explore them all. I took the opportunity along with the group to visit INSIDE the Pyramid of Khafre to the inner burial chamber of the Pharaoh. although his bdy was not found, it contains the red granite sarchophagus of the King - whcih strangely is too large for the tunnels you crawl through to get to it - so how exactly did they get it there? I don't know! The journey into the burial chamber is tricky and not very pleasant - you shuffle sideways with your body bent double at the waist and head bowed down a stuffy, dark tunnel which descends at 45 degrees nose to bum in a line of tourists. You then come into a short corridoor with a higher ceiling before entering another claustrophobic and cramped tunnel which this time goes up at 45degrees! At the end of this is a short corridoor again which leads into the burial chamber. At this point I was relieved to stand up straight and walk around although the air was incredibly stale, sweaty and sickly to breathe in. The only feature was the sarcophagus - the walls were blank except for 'Giovanni Belzoni March 2 1881' an inscription to mark the discovery of the chamber by the italian archeologist - left there by himself. I spent only a few mninutes inside, and it was hard to imagine the vast weight of stone above and around you, and the conditions the workers endured by candle light with no modern machinery to build this tomb and bring the King to this place. The return to daylight and fresh air was a big relief but I was very pleased to have made the journey. After taking some scenic landscape photos of the pyramids we headed to the Sphinx. This famous statue is part of the Pyramid complex for Pharaoh Khafre. The head is allegedly the image of Khafre it was carved from a block of stone left after limestone was quarried for the building of his adjacent Valley Temple - and all connected to the Pyramid by the Causeway. The Valley Temple is where the King would have been mummified after being brought here by boat from the Nile nearby (thhe river was much closer in those days) before his journey into his burial chamber inside the pyramid. This temple is made of red granite from Aswan - and I was able to visit the quarry later in my tour. The pyramids and sphinx are better than I was led to believe. The area is not as commercial as some might say, and the overall atmosphere on that day was perfect - if a little crowded. I can recommend it for a visit! We had a brief stop at a nearby papyrus museum and shop with a packed lunch of falafel before heading back into Cairo for the Egyptian Museum. This was a highlight for me as I was itching to see the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Like many people I have long been fascinated by the story of Howard Carter and recently learned more about the discovery and life of the boy king. I was not disappointed! Our guide Tariq did an excellent job of showing us the key exhibits inside and left us to roam by ourselves. I paid the extra money to see the mummies of some of the most famous Pharoahs including Ramses II - another King I had become more familiar with before my trip. Well worth the small expense, but left me feeling slightly ill at ease that these ancient bodies had been removed from their sacred tombs to this very undignified place under lights inside a glass case - gawped at by tourists from every corner of the globe. It seemed wrong. The Tutankhamen wing was fabulous - the gold treasures leave you speechless and the quantity and size of the vast array of different possessions buried with him is hard to believe - just how did they get it all inside his small tomb? I understand that some of this collection is coming to London this summer - BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!!! you won't be disappointed! We returned to our hotel and later had a group dinner in the Islamic area near where I had lunch and afternoon tea - the menu was Egyptian pancakes! Not bad at all. After that we wandered the Souk again and stopped for drinks in a small bar where I tried my first sheesha pipe! This was a brilliant day and a fantastic start to my trip.

Egypt Part 2 - SUEZ & SINAI

2007-03-21T21:23:00.001Z

DAY THREE MONDAY FEB 26th We left Cairo and boarded a comfortable bus soon after dawn headed for Suez and the Sinai Peninsular. On our way out of Cairo we stopped to visit the tomb of President Anwar Saddat who was assasinated in 1981, also site of a tomb in rememberance of the unknown soldier. A word here about the National service in Egypt. This is compulsory and men are either posted to Tourist Police duties (guarding monuments and temples), Military Police (road checkpoints and other armed duties) or full military duties. It's clear that many Tourist police regard their work as a necessary bore to be endured but not with any attempt to hide their feelings! Those guarding this spot were dressed in ridiculous costumes which kept blowing about in the wind - one poor bloke had his face covered by the headress he wore and I had to turn away for as i was giggling so much! The skyline of Cairo is mixed up with modern high rise hotels and offices and low level brick housing - often of low quality and built by the residents themselves. It is a massively sprawling city of over 16 million people - we were told that 4 million live along just one street. It is a city of poverty too, and this is evident on every street where Mercedes cars mingle with battered ancient taxis and wagons pulled by donkeys carrying fruit and crops from the agricultural fields which spread out from the Nile. The traffic moves well (or at least it did on that Monday) and the roads are reasonably well maintained, but frankly you would have to be mad to drive there. Everyone ignores the lanes, and drives in a criss cross manner using the horn to move people out of their way - it's mad, scary but somehow entertaining! As you leave Cairo's suburbs, the terrain quickly changes from suburban density to low lying green strips where crops are cultivated to the edge of the barren sands of the desert. The rest of the journey to Suez was largely featureless. The Suez Tunnel was opened in 1869 and designed by a Frenchman Ferdinand de Lessops. It took 10 years and 25000 men to build the 100mile long cutting linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea creating a shipping channel between Europe and the East. You can still see the ships moving through the desert - quite wierd. There is plenty of political history here, which you can read about yourselves! Wael gave a brief and interesting talk on the history before we moved on into Sinai via the road tunnel underneath the canal. Once into Sinai we took the coast road with occasional views of the Red Sea and distant mountains in the West. Sinai is the Eastern most part of Egypt and sparsely populated. It fell into Israeli occupation in the middle of last century and Egypt reclaimed the territory in 1979 but maintains a visible military presence along it's borders. We were accompanied at all times by a police guard (with a gun). During our time in Sinai we became used to the regular police checkpoints along the roads and the site of bored looking (but efficient) police officers! Sinai is mountainous with desert canyons and hiddden valleys carved from the sea millions of years ago and eroded by the wind and sand. The coastal areas are desolate but have long sandy beaches and amazing coral reefs which become the focus of tourism the further south you go towards Sharm el Sheik. Our itinerary kept us off the tourist trail in the main,thankfully. SWIMMING IN THE RED SEA! After 4 hours in the bus we stopped for lunch at a very pleasant hotel and beach restaurant called 'Moon Bay' on the Red sea Coast. By now we had covered about 400 miles and the break was much needed. A brief dip in the sea to cool off followed by lunch on the beach and a short rest and we were back on the bus again for our long drive South East towards our overnight stop at St Catherine's Monastery. This section of the drive became interesting as we turned inland and climbed into the Sinai mountains through 'Wadis' (valleys) fillled with Bedouin villages and Date Palms. We learned that this region once the heartland of Bedouin life and culture centred around camels, date palms and the desert is now altering due to tourism. The Bedouin are now looking to tourists to earn money and are losing the traditions of living in close harmony with their surrounding natural environment. Modern brick buildings provided for schools and housing spoil the landscape and I can't help but feel that the old way of living must be better - even it it means that people like us do not visit the area any more. By dusk we were at a height of 1500m and found our hotel nestling between two giant peaks. We were all bracing ourselves for meeting up at 2am to climb Mount Sinai, so a brief supper and early night were advised. DAY FOUR - TUESDAY FEB 27th I've never done a climb in the middle of the night and saw this as a taste of things to come when I attempt Kilimanjaro! We all managed to meet the bus at 2am which drove the short distance to the start point near the Monastery. I wasn't prepared to see so many others on the climb, there must have been hundreds so once we were through the police checkpoint (even the police were up at 3am) and onto the path we had a trail of walkers in front and behind wearing or carrying torches making a chain of lights all the way up the mountain. We had a 700m climb to the summit to see the sunrise and were blessed with a clear sky filled with stars. All the way up you are offered camels by the Bedouin as an alternative to walking, and along the route are small huts offering hot tea and chocolate to keep your strength up and keep you warm. The huts were snug and warm and a welcome break from the dropping temperatures outside. I can't describe how surreal it feels to walk in the dark along a rubble path which you know is fairly high and close to the edge, with camels and Bedouin appearing out of nowhere almost bumping into you, and the sound of muffled conversations coming from above and below. I tried not to look up as I knew the sight of those torches so far away and so high would affect my determination so I kept my head down and kept putting one foot in front of the other. Sooner than expected we were at The Steps - the final ascent to the summit. More like bolders than actual steps, there are over 700 and it was fairly tough reaching the top. The summit itself is not flat, but rather a range of jagged peaks with sloping stoney areas for sitting on to watch the sunrise. There is a short final ascent to the very top point and the small chapel, but before we tackled that, we rested in one of the summit huts for tea and to hire a warm camel wool blanket to keep us warm until sunrise. Up to the summit at 6am and finding a seating spot wasn't easy so I stood. So many people and jostling that I'm amazed no-one gets pushed over the edge! By 6.20am the sun appeared and the colours on the mountain changed from cool blues, to purple, pink, orange and gold. It was spectacular even prompting a group nearby to sing! With the sunlight upon us it was clear just how high we were and how precarious our position! Once the crowds had cleared I sat on the edge looking down to the next level below and photographed my feet. It was high, not sure how high a drop exactly though. This is the spot where Moses received the Ten Commandments, and despite being atheist, I admit to feeling something special sat up there in the early morning sun. Coming down was easier and by 9am we were eating breakfast in our hotel. After a shower we headed back to the Monastery to have a look around. One of the oldest religious sites in the world it also houses the descendant of the Burning Bush - grown from the root of the original plant. This is a religious attraction and spiritual place for many who took the chance to touch the branches and stand in prayer. Back on the bus, our destination was DAHAB, on the Eastern coast of Sinai. We arrived early afternoon at our hotel 'Danielle' on the beach in an otherwise remote area. We passed acheckpoint which has to be the best job in Egypt - the policeman was under an umbrella with a cool box just yards from the lapping waves on the beach in front of him! I think we were the only people he saw that day. The afternoon was free for much needed R&R so I sat by the pool and wrote some notes, eating french fries and drinking coke! In the evening we had a lovely meal in a fish restaurant on the beach in Dahab, before another earlyish night in advance of our desert jeep safari the next day.

Egypt Part 3 - DESERT SAFARI & RAS MOHAMED

2007-03-20T10:15:00.000Z

WEDNESDAY FEB 28th An early morning and another sunrise! this time from the hotel overlooking the Gulf of Aqqaba and the distant shoreline of Saudi Arabia. A bumpy jeep ride took us to a desert region at the foot of the Sinai mountains. Passing through Wadi Dahab, Wadi El Ghaghib and El Murawah, we stopped to leave the jeeps behind and hike for about 90 minutes to the Narrow Canyon. Once covered by the sea, this area was formed by the erosion of water and later winds and sand leaving a barely passable ravine. As a group we made our way through the very narrow slits in the rock, up and over bolders and squeezing through gaps - often leaving the tiniest space between your body and the rockface - to reach an isolated dead end surrounded by a wall of rock. Here there was a small mound of rock where scultors had etched shapes over many years. The silence here was strange - no noise from anywhere. A short walk to meet the jeeps and we were taken to a local Bedouin family Oasis for a superb lunch and the chance to purchase some desert treasures from the small (but enterprising) kids! Well fed and rested, we were then facing a long afternoon of driving to reach the southern most tip of sinai at Ras Mohammed National Park. Leaving the mountains the roads were flat and surrounded by desert and low lying hills. Ras Mohammed national park lies on the coast and is a landscape of fossilised corals. Our camp for the night was ready on arrival as the sun set over the sea. The wind was getting stronger and it was pretty chilly so the large open fire was very welcome. Our hosts had prepared a wind shelter made with blankets and held up with branches tied with rope, each of us had a mattress to lie on and make our beds using the sleeping bags and pillows we'd brought with us. Supper around the fire was good, hot and filling - followed by music, dancing and games - so much fun to be had without alcohol! The stars were brilliant again and before long we were all in our beds. I woke up in the night and saw a desert fox wandering the camp - larger than our British foxes with longer ears, he was gorgeous! The wind had battered our shelter so that some fo the posts collapsed. Sand was everywhere and I don't think anyone had a good sleep - apart from Wael our tour guide who snored until 9am! Breakfast at camp comprised bread, jam, panckaes and chocolate sauce (yum) tea (or Chai) and coffee (Nescafe) & hard boiled eggs. Staying with our desert guides, we took a tour of the national park in jeeps, visiting the Mangroves, visitor centre and the meeting of the two gulfs - Sinai and Aqqaba. The coral reefs were visible from this point and loads of diving boats were racing towards the peninsular from nearby Sharm el Sheik. It was a windy day and not ideal for snorkelling but we found a small bay and had a go. The fish were amazing but the corals became tricky as the sea currents got stronger so we came ashore. Back at camp for lunch - riddled with sand but eatable - we then drove a short way to Sharm el Sheik to board our ferry across the Red Sea leaving Sinair and reaching to Hurghada back on the mainland. The crossing was difficult in strong winds and we were buffetted about, but we got there safely and checked into our very smart hotel 'Sea Garden'. Hurghada is very develpoped for tourism and diving and not my cup of tea. Dinner was at a nearby Italian Resturant which strangley also served Chinese! I thinkk I had a pizza and a 'Sakkara' Egyptian beer. After hiking up Mt Sinai and our desert safari, my clothes were filthy, so I gave them to the hotel to clean and went to bed showered and refreshed - the next day we would be snorkelling again, ths time from the luxury of our own boat!

Egypt Part 4 - RED SEA to LUXOR & KARNAK TEMPLE

2007-03-19T11:38:00.000Z

FRIDAY MARCH 2nd - Hurghada & Safaga Left the Hotel Sea Garden in Hurghada by bus to travel for 40 minutes south to Safaga diving resort. The corals here are better than Sharm and the resort much quieter. On arrival we had our wetsuts, masks and snorkells fitted (much hilarity - and Katherine your bum did NOT look big!) Our own private boat and crew were waiting so off we went across the Red Sea! Our first anchor point was the edge of a short reef. This was my first coral reef, having snorkelledin the Mediterranean as a teenager. I wasn't prepared for the colours, variety and sheer beauty of the reef. It was just like finding Nemo! I saw all types of fish and couldn't name any of them! We spent about 40 minutes in the sea before coming back to the boat for hot coffee and a breather. As we approached the boat, a Moray eel came towards us on the sea bottom, swimmng like a snake with an ugly thick head - scary! It didn't cause any trouble but Ed dashed off with Katherine's camera to get a shot - I look forward to seeing it! after warm drinks, we then moved position to dive at the pillars of coral. These are about 7 pillars which rise up from the deep and are teeming with fish swimming at eye level so it feels like you are among them. It was amazing, awesome, incredible, wonderful..... Back on the boat again, we had lunch prepared by the crew which was also wonderful, and afterwards we took a small glass boat to a sand island where plenty of other boats and people were enjoying the sea too. We saw nothing in the glass boat - oh well. to entertain ourselves, we made sand sculptures - my Pyramid looked more like the bent pyramid, and Katherine's sphinx became a scarab, only to be accidentally trodden on by Celia! We had fun. Tired but exhilerated we ended the day with a birthday celebration for Alan who was 70 at a restaurant on the beach in Hurghada. SATURDAY MARCH 3rd The next day, we had yet another early start! Since the terrorist shootings in 1996 on Luxor's west bank, all tourist traffic into Luxor and down the Nile Valley is controlled by a police convoy. The convoy leaves at specific times and you can't afford to miss it. So by 7am we were at the holding point along with about 50 or more other coaches. By 9am, the convoy set off heading west towards the Nile. The scenery was desert and mountains with our newish tarmac road winding it's way through. It was strange to see a long snaking line of coaches all following each other with no other traffic on the roads. A short stop for loos and tea after an hour is also the chance for more 'pro active' selling by the locals. Then on again to Luxor via Quena and along the Nile valley. Here the scenery was magic, as the irrigation channels followed the road we could see small farms, mud houses and crops growing whilst small children waved frm their houses and donkey wagons carried their crops along the dirt tracks. Everywhere there were photos waiting to be taken. At points on the road you could see the traffic waiting patiently with a police guard for the convoy to pass before their road could re-open. I imagine that's how the Queen feels when she travels! On arrival in Luxor, the landscape is more built up and greener. sugar Cane, Date Palms, Alfalfa and other crops grow in abundance, with rows upon rows of mud brick dwellings. The centre of Luxor is a smaller version of Cairo with the same frantic traffic mixed with Caleshes (horse & carriage) and liberal use of the horn. Our hotel EMILIO was near the Nile and the stunning Luxor Temple could be seen from the roof top swimming pool terrace. Across the Nile in the distance you could make out the West Bank, Hatshepsut Temple and ridge behind which nestled the Valley of the Kings. I was excied to be here and looking forward to exploring. After checking in and a brief snooze, we met at 1pm for a walking tour of Luxor through the Souk, a quick snack on freshly cooked falafel and up to the Corniche past Luxor Temple and back through a street where the Calesh horses were being washed and fed. Man of the horses are suffering from undernourishment, but you have to harden your heart to it or else I would be bringing them all home to Britain. Luxor is a brilliant place! I had lunch with some of the group on the roof terrace of the hotel, then at 2pm we all met again to take a Calesh ride to KARNAK Temple. The Calesh was fun with Luxor on our right and the Nile on our left. Our guide for the Karnak Temple gave us plenty of information - most of which I couldn't take in. The Temple is vast and dedicated to Amun containing many shrines and monuments added by kings over the centuries. I took over 100 photos. My first real close up experience of real egyptian Hieroglyphics. As the sun dipped, the shadows on the carvings and reliefs inside the temple were sharpened - I could have stayed there for a long time but our Calesh were ready to take us back. After a local supper we all headed to bed for an early night. The next day promised to be a real highlight - a donkey trek at sunrise to The Valley of The Kings!

Egypt Part 5 - VALLEY OF THE KINGS

2007-03-18T17:32:00.000Z

SUNDAY MARCH 4th I was so excited I couldn't sleep and was up before my alarm call at 5am. It was dark outside and I was soon packed ready with a rucksack, sun cream, hat, water bottle & camera. I was first into the breakfast room and managed a cup of tea, the hotel had arranged for brekfast bags to take with us, each one containing bread, jam, a hard boiled egg, cucumber and tomato and some fruit juice. By 6am the group was assembled and ready and walking the short distance t the riverbank - we all had some nerves about the donkeys being unsafe and the mood was subdued as we crossed the Nile to the West Bank in the 'EXPLORE!' motorboat. The sun was still slowing rising, and in the sky we could see hot air balloons. The sunrise was really atmospheric making the temple stand out and adding a warm glow to the river and early morning activity all around. Once on dry land, we walked again down the street where our donkeys were waiting. They were much smaller than I expected and looked a bit feeble but well cared for. The saddles were thick & padded and brightly coloured. We learned that 'Oosh' would make them slow down and ' Yalla' would make them go faster! Once mounted, we rode for about 90 minutes along the irrigation channels past mudbrick homes on our left with locals working the strips of lush crops on our right. I saw 'Hoopoos' and Kingfishers and wanted to take photos of everything but my camera was in my bagpack. The dust track we rode was shared with motorbikes, trucks & donkey wagons and a few children watching us with fascination. Soon we turned onto a main road then joined a newish road which took us up a hill past the home of Howard Carter and into the Valley entrance. I think most of us had used 'Oosh' quite a lot on the way up but it was fun! After sliding off, each donkey galloped away to their shed like a mini stampede. The VOK entrance has been modernised this year to accommodate coaches and in future the visiting times will be regulated. For now, were able to pass through the new visitor centre (rather empty) and onto a small train to the centre of the tombs area. For me, this spoiled the romance and mystery of the valley and I felt like I was at a Disney park. Once in the 'hub' of the tombs, the atmosphere is more appropriate thankfully. The tombs are close together and marked with large information boards and singposts help you find each one. Around you are the towering walls of the valley with footpaths snaking all over, looking up it is easy to imagine yourself back in the 19th century digging for the entrances with the hot sun beating down! After a brief talk on the valley and some advice on which tombs to visit, we were free to wander. At this time it was around 9am and the crowds were building. There are over 60 tombs in the valley, but only 12 were open that day, and I chose Rameses III, IV, and IX. I had also chosen to visit the Tomb of Tutankhamun for an extra cost and it was the first place I headed for before the crowds. THE TOMB OF TUTANKHAMUN The history of the discovery is fascinating - Howard Carter excavated across Egypt for over 12 years. He dug in the valley in earnest from 1917 sponsored by Lord Carnarvon. By 1922 Carnarvon concluded there was nothing to be found and withdrew his funding. Carter however pursuaded him to attemp a final dig and paid for the attempt himself. He found the tomb entrance at the end of November - just weeks before the digging license ran out. The pharaoh died suddenly as a young man so his tomb wasn't ready. Instead he was buried in a tomb being prepared for his Priest 'Ay'. So, it's smaller than the others and despite what the guides tell you, it is well worth the effort of a visit! Just a few other people were visiting the tomb, so I took steep entrance alone - it made me feel like Howard Carter! Inside the walls are bare until you turn to the burial chamber which is painted with murals in amazing colour, almost gold in their appearance. Standing on a raised platform you can look down into the open sarcophagus at the body of Tutankhamun lying in a golden coffin... I stood for many minutes taking it all in and was alone apart from an Egyptian man standing watch. It was an amazing experience. As I emerged, another Egyptian man took my photo using my own camera which he had taken off me earlier. He looked old enough to have been there when Tutankhamun was buried! He nevertheless was pleasant and I paid him some 'Baksheesh' for his trouble - I think he has worked out that this little gesture earns him tips! RAMESES III, IV, IX The tombs of Rameses are incredible for their vivid colours and the volume of hieroglyphs and reliefs painted on the walls of each tomb. My knowledge was lacking and I felt that my visit was spoiled by not being able to read the images on the walls, or understand the meaning of the murals depicting each Pharaoh in various forms, alongside the ancient Gods. I made a decision right there to learn more about it! I was also amazed at the sheer size and depth of the tombs - some reaching so deep into the valley that it's impossible to imagine the work required using basic tools over 3000 years ago. We're not able to take photos inside so I can't share any images. The experience of these tombs was amazing, but I was frustrated by the massive number of people pressing their way inside forcing you to shuffle along and not allowing time to just soak up the atmosphere. If I make the trip again I would make sure to visit earlier in the day! LEAVING THE VALLEY to HATSHEPSUT TEMPLE With the sun getting hotter around mid-morning a group of us led by Wael left on foot up a steep footpath leaving the valley tombs below - The view was stunning! We stood for a while to absorb the scene before continuing East over the rim of the mountain and down into the next valley with Luxor ahead of us in the haze and the incredible Temple of Queen Hatshepsut emerging below us against the backdrop of the rockface. After an hour of slow walking and views we were down at ground level to meet our guide and the rest of the group for a tour of the Temple. Built by Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahri over 3,400 years ago this was her Mortuary temple. She was the only female Pharaoh and reigned strongly for 20 years. A lot of reconstruction work has been done here since the 1960's by a community of Polish workers who had their own village visible nearby. Many of the statues and columns are replicas but the overall impression is amazing. This was the location of the terrorist shootings in 1996 so the site of an armed guard was reassuring. COLLOSUS OF MEMNON Before lunch we collected our donkeys from their stable shed near the temple and remounted for another bumpy journey back to the riverbank. The return journey took us past the Polish village and down into a mudhut village which we understand is going to be flattened to excavate tombs which lie beneath. We trotted past the Collosus of Memnon statues which stand at 18m guarding the entrance to a long since disappeard mortuary temple for Amenhotep III and soon we were in a busy side street mingling with taxis, buses, schoolchildren and passing shops to the amusement of the shop keepers standing with cigarettes in the doorway. It was a bit humiliating, but part of the 'Egypt' experience! Our donkeys did us all proud and I was sad to say goodbye - mine did linger for a photo before runnng off to his shed. We had lunch at Nile Valley restaurant overlooking the river then took our boat back to the East Bank and our hotel. With a free afternoon I lay by the pool for a while then went to my room for some sleep. Our group dinner that night was the last with Wael and we gave him a card to say goodbye. He was brilliant as our tour leader and I missed him over the next 2 weeks - I think we all did!

Egypt Part 6 - ASWAN & ABU SIMBEL

2007-03-18T17:20:00.000Z

MONDAY MARCH 5th Yet another early morning up at 5am! We were to catch a train at 7am bound for Aswan and say goodbye not only to Luxor (just for 6 days) but also to Wael who dropped us at the platform with hugs and handshakes all round. Our group had split, some going home and some going onto the cruise ship Doma. We were 8 people on the platform hoping to meet our train as arranged which carried on board 12 other travellers newly arrived in Cairo 24 hours previously and our Week 2 tour leader called Taso. The train was late! We waited until 9.30am and watched various trains coming and going. Nothing like the British system of flags, whistles and announcements, this was a casual arrival with tea served on the platform and trains leaving just as casually with passengers jogging to jump aboard at the last minute. I was suffering from 'Gyppy tummy' and not very relaxed! My fears were doubled after finally boarding our train when I discovered the most filthy, disgusting loo on the train itself. Enough said, it was truly foul. Taso came to say hello once the train has got moving again. We had 3 hours to Aswan so it was snoozing or reading or watching the scenery. The Train follows the Nile and offered fascinating views of mud villages, river bank and small towns along the route. It became drier to the East and continued to be mountainous. Apart from the loo episode, the journey passed swiftly and on arrival at Aswan we lugged our bags down and up stairs to the street outside. Taxis took our bags and we walked to our hotel 'Cleopatra'. It felt a little wierd to be in a group wth strangers and a new tour leader after building such a strong bond in week one. Our hotel was near to the main Souk street, with a pleasant lobby. The rooms were disappointing though, and for the first time I shared a twin. the rooftop pool was also of a poor standard but in the heat it was a pleasant way to cool down. I skipped lunch and had apple juice to settle my stomach before joining the optional trip to the Aswam Dam and Philae Temple. 12 people squashed into 2 taxis which sped us along fast roads out of Aswan's dusty donkey streets towards the Dam. We first passed over the original dam built by the British and spotted Philae Temple in the distance. We carried on without stopping the newer High Dam. Built by President Nasser to protect the Nile valley from the annual river floods, it has created a massive lake named after him. The Dam enables Egypt to generate electricity which it also exports abroad. The view of the lake gave you an inckling of it's overall size - some 500m long. The photo shows the NILE flowing north from the wall of the Dam. PHILAE TEMPLE The creation of the Lake threatened to submerge some of the ancient Egyptian temples. Philae Temple is very well preserved and dates from 300BC built during the Greco/Roman period and dedicated to ISIS with a shrine to Hathor. It was flooded for some time in its original location and later moved in the 1970's as part of a UNESCO project stone by stone to higher ground on an island nearby. The approach is via motorboats and felt to me a bit like being in the Mediterranean. The Temple is strking and in the setting sun the shadows on the stone carvings and hieroglyphs was wonderful. A roman gateway up from the lake built by Hadrian made me realise just how OLD these Egyptian temples are. In Britain we tend to measure everything by our roman heritage and yet this is 'modern' in Egyptian terms. Cleopatras Needle in London originated here and was donated to Great Britain by Egypt in recognition of help from the Royal Navy in recovering stones from the water. By sunset we were heading back in the boats to our taxis and back to the hotel. Again I skipped supper and stayed in the hotel. I was glad to take an early night as we had aanother early start for ABU SIMBEL. TUESDAY MARCH 6th ABU SIMBEL Alarm at 3.30am to catch our bus at 4.30am and join the tourist convoy to Abu Simbel, some 300 miles further south near the Sudan border in the region known as Nubia. The hotel provided breakfast boxes - same ingredients as in Luxor and I took one despite wanting to stay off food. On the bus I tried to sleep a little but by 6am I was awake and groggy surrounded by people eating from their boxes. I couldn't face it, so wathed the scenery instead. Sunrise was casting blue light on the desert on both sides, no more mountains or greenery to look at. As we got closer to Sudan, the road blocks increased and convoys of trucks were waiting roadside for permission to continue across the border. At 7am we arrived in the small town of Abu Simbel. Lake Nasser nearby is the only feature of the desert but the town hs a modern hospital and otherwise looked charming. The buses park in one large carpark and the hundreds of tourists swarm into the temple visitor centre past a dozen shops trading in souvenirs, cola, fanta, sprite, crisps & icecreams. Abu Simbel was also moved to higher ground to avoid the lake water and a small exhibition tries to convey the enormity of this project. The approach to the temple is via the back of a large dome of gravel which was built from nothing as a new backdrop to the temples. The path rounds to the front with Lake Nasser stretching before you into the distance. The first view of the enormous statues of Rameses II is breathtaking. Our guide (who was bonkers and believed in the Alien theory) shared some tales of Rameses II and showed us what to look for inside the temple which is dedictaed to his war triumphs against the Hyksos in the Battle of Qadesh and his growing egotism which led to him declaring himself a god. The second temple is dedicated to Rameses II's favourite wife Nefertari. However, he had to include statues of himself here too - such was the size of his ego! At the foot of the main temple you are dwarfed by the statues and early graffiti from the explorers is cleary visible from a time when the sand covered the temple making it possible to carve into the stone some 15m above the present entrance. Inside the statues continue and the walls are just awe inspring in their detail and scale. Deep inside the temple is a shrine to the sun god Ra - amazingly the sunrise strikes the exact spot twice a year in spring and autumn. The temple of Nefertari is similar but on a smaller scale with impressive carvings and murals. No photos are allowed inside, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. An amazing morning and well worth the long trip. We arrived back in Aswan early afternoon and I rested for the remainder of the day. With my 'Aswan Diet' going well and my clothes loosening I opted again for a 'no food' day to avoid any further gyppy tummy. THE UNFINISHED OBELISK I opted out of the Nubian Village visit and along with Jan and Tim went in search of the Unfinished Obelisk which lies in a granite quarry in Aswan. Tim had a map and we walked confidently for 3 miles and still couldn't find it. When we asked directions and eventually arrived we were 4 minutes late! Disheartened we walked back to the hotel via some very dodgy backstreets! After a refreshing drink on the riverbank we then braved the souk together and I bought hibiscus tea and a galabaya in white cotton. Starting to feel hungry again, around 6pm I ate in the hotel with a few others and managed an omelette. Another early night to pack my bags ready for the sailing expedition the following day. WEDNESDAY MARCH 7th Feeling rough again - not sure the omelette was a good idea - I skipped breakfast and the optional camel trek to a local monastery. Several others had also not gone so after dropping our bags at the Feluccas we had a free morning. It as agreed that we couldn't let the Obelisk beat us so hailed a taxi to take us there at 8.30am. This time it was open and packed with tourists! The quarry was used by the Ancient Egyptians to build their granite temples and statues, floating the blocks down the Nile. the unfinished obelisk remains here as it developed a crack in the stone making it useless. It would have been the largest obelisk in Egypt but instead lies here unfinished as a clue to the methods used by the ancients. We had a triumphant photo taken before leaving to join the others at our Feluccas.

Egypt Part 7 - SAILING UP THE NILE

2007-03-18T17:15:00.000Z

WEDNESDAY MARCH 7th to SATURDAY MARCH 10th. After the Unfinished Obelisk expedition, we had an hour before boarding our Feluccas for the 3 day sail down the Nile towards Edfu. I spent a very pleasant tme in a restaurant called 'Aswan Moon' floating on the Nile opposite Elephantine Island taking in the scenery and chatting with some of the Explore Group over cold d rinks and Mint Tea (Chai be Na Na). Aswan is similar to Luxor in that it is next to the Nile with a Corniche walkway, a Souk and plenty of small shops. The Nile here has several islands between the banks, Elephantine Island and Kitchener Island, the scenery across the river is dominated by a big sandy rise with an ancient monument on its crest. A more modern eyesore is the Movenpick hotel on one of these islands which looks more like an industrial water tower. The population here is more mixed and Nubians with their striking features, darker skin and bright smiles are noticable amongst the Egyptian faces. By 10am the Camel trekkers had returned via a small motorboat and met us at the Aswan Moon. We then walked along the Corniche to our waiting Felucca sail boats. The Felucca is a traditional wooden sailing boat used for many centuries. The deck was spanned with wooden planks under which we stored our heavy luggage, keeping a daysack with us for water, suncream and reading books etc. Above the planks we had soft mattresses covered with a large sheet where we could all spread out and laze around shaded from the sun by a canopy. It was really quite nice! Between the group of 20 travellers we shared 3 boats. Each boat had a crew of 2 men - all Nubians with a sense of humour! Our boat (I forgot the name of it) was captained by Hamada and his second in command called Islan ( I think). Between them they very casually and without fuss sailed the boat perfectly, whilst making us hot tea or settling down to play chess with each other - keeping a foot on the tiller and a glance at the sails! Our first brief stop after setting sail was to a small island nearby for the Police to check the paperwork for all three boats before allowing us to continue. This didn't take long and we were soon making good progress on the river in convoy, zig zagging from one bank to the other into the wind, but with the Nile current in our favour. The initial buzz and excitement of leaving the dusty shores for water lasted for a few hours as we had plenty to look at - passing ships, bridges, wildlife on the shore, the sailing itself, the rush of the water along the hull of the boat, waving passengers from their cruise liners and the scenery on land. Aswan faded into the distance and around lunchtime the three boats moored onto a sandy bank with tall dunes for a rest, toilet stop and food. This was our first experience of 'Freestyle' toileting and I had no problem with it, but it was tricky to find a secluded spot as there wasn't much cover and the sand was boiling hot! Meals for the whole group took place on the largest felucca with food laid out in the middle in a help yourself buffet. A typical lunch comprised pitta bread, chopped salad veg, fetta cheese, some fruit and a hot drink. Dinner was hot pasta or rice & potatoes with a meat dish followed by oranges. A full afternoon of sailing brought us at dusk to our first camping spot. The wind had dropped so we had to drift to the bank for over an hour and it was dark when we arrived. Supper was followed by a large fire on the bank and Nubian music and dancing. It was a lot of fun! Our tour leader had the task of constructing our toilet on the bank. This was a loo complete with lid over a dug out hole surrounded by a low level tent. It wasn't very glamorous! The loo travelled with us tied to the boat which looked hilarious! Sleeping on the Felucca was fine, warm and comfortable, broken only by the rocking of the water as the large cruisers went by through the night heading south to Aswan. The next few days passed by in a similar pattern. Awake at dawn, coffee and biscuits made by Islan. An early morning exploration of the river bank, a group breakfast of bread, jam, eggs, fruit and hot drinks. Morning sailing, A Temple visit followed by lunch, then more sailing, setting up camp, supper, fire, music and dancing. Each of our stops has it's own memory. The First night - stray dogs running around on the bank and our first 'environmental toilet' Second Day - Kom Ombu Temple - meaning ' Land of Gold' this amazingly well preserved Greco/Roman temple was built around 300BC for 2 gods - Sobek (crocodile god) and Horus. Each having hieroglyphs and reliefs on separate sides of the temple. we were also plagued here by local kids selling jewellery! Later that day we also passed the EXPLORE Cruise boat DOMA going South and waved at our week one buddies from our Feluccas! Second night - A very noisy buffalo who was less than pleased to see us! Third day - Swimming in the Nile - a chance to wash my hair too! Another very unhappy buffalo which tried to get inside one of the boats on arrival! there were some very sweet donkeys as well though. Saturday morning - visit to Edfu Temple. One of the best preserved and imposing temples. Scenery - wonderful Nile scenes through the day, and sunrise & sunset. Dramatic views of the mountains, palm trees, crops on the riverbank, donkeys, kids, farmers and locals waving from the shore. The wildlife was wonderful too. I saw lots of Kingfishers which are larger than British ones with black and white feathers and they hover above the water. The nests in the dry mud of the river bank were visible all the way along the Nile. At dusk I heard the sound of Egrets, frogs, moorhens and other birds. Through the night you could make out the distant sound of the Mezzuin callng to prayer. Overall it was a very special experience. On Saturday morning we left our overnight camp and drifted together a very short distance to the edge of Edfu. Our luggage came of each boat and we said thank you and goodbye to the crews. Mini buses took us along bumpy tracks through tiny village streets to the centre of Edfu - a busy town and a hub for the cruise ships. We visited the large and impressive EDFU Temple - built in the Ptolomeic period and dedicated to Horus. With just 45 minutes here I took time walking the outside walls which carry huge carvings over 15m high. It was busy with tourists and not so easy to appreciate the quiet areas. If I ever return to Egypt this is one temple I'll try to visit again. There is so much to see here, and I'd like to be able to understand the story behind some of the murals and carvings. Inside the temple were shrines decorated with hieroglyphs lit by orange spotlights for maximum effect. It was however, the best temple we had visited thus far (better still to come) Before coming to Egypt I had not fully understood that each temple and monument would have been colourful. I was aware of the carvings, hieroglyphs and obelisks, but in ancient times, these would have been brightly painted in Red, Blue, Green, Gold. In places around the temples today you can see traces of this colour. The original effect must have been stunning. BACK TO LUXOR AGAIN ! Mid Morning we left Edfu in our mini buses to join the Police convoy north to Luxor. This relatively short journey brought us back to our Hotel Emilio in the bustling and dusty Luxor by lunchtime. The peace of the river shattered by the noise and crowded streets! The aroma of dirt, sewerage, spices, horses and car fumes was quite pungent! It was good to be back here and I was looking forward to free time over the weekend to explore Luxor Temple, the museum, Winter Palace and my hot air balloon ride!

Egypt Part 8 - LUXOR & BALLOONING

2007-03-18T17:00:00.000Z

SATURDAY MARCH 10th - LUXOR the foursome of myself, Jan, alan and Dereck headed ino the Souk at Luxor to buy some gifts and souvenirs. The traders are a bit of a pest and notorious for their pushy tactics - the only ay to cope is to smile or ignore them completely but keep walking. I had inmind to buy some scarves and at the very end of the Souk we found a small stall and were told 'no hassle' by the owner - although this wasn't strictly true ias it turned out, but I did buy some nice scarves and paid an acceptable price. Emerging from the Souk, the impressive site of Luxor Temple faced us with the Nile and Wst bank behind. Feeling thirsty after our haggling ordeal, we wandered along the road to find the Winter Palace Hotel for a 'posh' drink. the hotel is a landmark of Luxor, famous for being the winter lodge for King Farouk and also the preferred hotel for Lord Carnarvon and other foreign visitors over the last 120 years or so. The pale yellow building has an imposing stone stairway off the street and was crying out for a photograph! Not being guests at the hotel and looking a little shabby we weren't expecting to be allowed inside, but hoped for some tea on the terrace overlooking the Nile. However, once through the tall revolving wooden doors into the tranquility and air conditioned lobby we were met by a porter who looked us up and down and eventually agreed to let us take a look inside the hotel for a few minutes. It's pretty smart, but not unaffordable - it still has that colonial atmosphere of restrained elegance. Jan and I took our chance to use the very posh loos (luxury after the river bank!) and then we all enjoyed a cold drink on the terrace outside. It was a brief moment of luxurious respite before rejoining our 'no frills' (but fun) adventure with Explore. Our next stop was Luxor Museum. A pleasant walk along the Corniche (ignoring the endless heckles to take a Felucca, taxi or Calesh) brought us to this very modern museum mid afternoon. Fully air conditioned and beautifully laid out with superb lighting, this place was far superior to the Cairo Museum, but lacked some of the treasures of Cairo. However, there were some amazing examples of statues, wall decorations (incredibly intricacy of the painting) and 2 mummies: Ahmose and Rameses I. Inside a smaller wing are a dozen statues which were recently dug from Luxor Temple and found in almost perfect condition. Outside the museum it was almost dusk and we were all a bit tired and flagged down a Calesh to take us back to our hotel. He promised 'a good price' and then demanded the equivalent of £8 for a trip of less than a mile! I argued that not even a London Cabby would charge that much! We gave him more than it deserved but not that much. At least his horse was reasonably well cared for. Later, we had a very nice group dinner by the river and then walked back through the Souk again and bought yet more scarves! then an early night in advance of my Balloon Ride! SUNDAY MARCH 11th Another 5am alarm call - for my Balloon ride! Still dark outside I met Mike, Tim and Dereck in the lobby and were soon collected in a minibus and taken to the motorboat. Abord the boat we were one of around 20 other people all on the balloon. The crew provided hot drinks and we listened to a briefing from the pilot - a very nice man who proudly wore his Blue Peter badge! (he took them up in 2005 for the BBC). Once across the river, the buses took us to the launch sight, not far from the Hatshepsut temple close to the village of Gurna which is going to be flattened for excavation of tombs underneath. This was to be my first ever balloon ride so was quite nervous but excited. I have a little fear of heights, but didn't worry too much. I was one of the last to get into the enormous basket which involved using holes for your feet and clambering over. The basket was oblong and sectioned to prevent tipping and our pilot had the middle with his gas canisters and burners. All around us there were balloons taking off, some already high in the sky. The dawn was rising and despite some haze it was a good sky. Very quickly we lifted off the ground, without any real motion and within 10 seconds we were quite high. At this point my stomach turned and I thought I'd made a mistake - but it wore off and I really enjoyed the feeling of drifting and looking around at the sites below us. The burners were incredibly hot and at times and really uncomfortable so I ducked to avoid the blast of heat. Our height reach 2000ft and it certainly felt high! We were above the other balloons with spectacular views across the Nile, Valley of the Kings and out into the mountains of the west. It was strikng how the green land abruptly stops and becomes desert, showing the importance of the Nile waters. I was able to pick out many of the sites we'd already visited on our tour, and took loads and loads of photos and short films. We found the house that Howard Carter occupied during his excavations - surrounded by trees near to the road we had ridden on donkeys the week before. Hatshepsut temple looked amazing from this high up, and the path of our valley walk looked far steeper and higher than I remembered! After 40 minutes floating over the tombs and temples of the west bank the pilot headed us towards the Nile and dropped low over some farms and mud houses. The sounds of cars, donkeys, farmers below drifted up towards us, and kids waved. We gained height again for a short while before coming down slowly to hover just 2m above the ground. The pilot skilfully used the burners and airflow to position the balloon in the perfect landing spot which was so smooth that I hardly noticed. A crew of men grabbed the basket and brought us gently to earth. To celebrate we had a traditional dance and a song from the crew, followed by certificates and a tshirt.

Egypt Part 9 - LUXOR TOMBS & TEMPLES

2007-03-18T16:45:00.000Z

SUNDAY MARCH 11th LUXOR TEMPLE After breakfast back at the hotel, I met Alan & Jan again at 9am for a tour of the LUXOR Temple complex. This was close to our hotel so an easy walk. At this time of the day it was already quite busy and without the benefit of a guide we were left to fathom the meaning of the pylons, obelisks, statues, columns, frescos, shrines and hieroglyphs. I have read up about it since though! Luxor temple was dedicated to the god Amun and aplace to celebrate the festival of Ope. Linked to Karnak temple since the 4th Century BC by a long avenue of sphinxes of which only 37 survive today on each side before hitting a wall with the buildings of modern Luxor blocking the way to Karnak. There has been some recent digging (visible from our hotel) to uncover more of the sphinxes. Luxor temple was mostly built by Amenhotep III in the 18th Dynasty (C1350BC) and added to by Rameses II in the 19th Dynasty. The 2 giant statues which guard the entrance are of him as were the pylons which depict his battle with the Hittites at Qadesh in 1274BC. There were many other statues and a pair of obelisks - only one remains and the rest of the pieces are now in Paris - the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde. The temple was home to the Gods Mut (wife of Amun) and her son Khonsu - the statue of Amun Ra lived in Karnak and was brought here to join his family during the festival. Inside the entrance is a hall of columns added by Hatshepsut and strangely a Mosque from the 12th century. Further inside is a staus of Tutankhamun and his wife before entering the Hypostyle hall of papyrus columns, leading to another court for Amenophis III. Alexander the Great also added his own shrine to the temple. In the Roman period the temple was used to worship Emperor Constantine (AD 312-337) and an area of hieroglyphic plaster depicting Amenhotep III was smoothed over and replaced with a fresco of the Emperor and his court. TOMBS OF THE WORKERS At noon we joined the whole group for a trip back across the river to the west bank and the Tombs of the Workers. This site near to the Valley of the Kings was home to hundreds of skilled craftsmen who designed, dug, plastered and decorated the tombs for the Pharaohs. These workers tombs date from thegolden age of Egypt between 1500BC and 1000BC also known as the New Kingdom when all the great Pharaohs lived during the 18th, 19th & 20th dynasties. The tomb workers were not slaves but highly skilled and valued employees of the king. They lived and worked in the valley with little time off, but when they did have free time it was used to build their own tombs. The tombs which remain today are mostly in a poor condition, but 2 well preserved tombs remain and are open to the public. The workers saved the best for themselves and decorated their own tombs with incredible images of the afterlife and their hopes for life in eternal paradise. The quality of the artwork and their colours take your breath away. These photos are from the postcards I bought since cameras were not allowed. the tombs we entered were at the bottom of short but steep steps and small but what they lacked insize they made up for in quality. It's hard to imagine that these tombs are over 3000 years old although little remains of the village of mudbrick houses alongside the tombs. MEDINET HABU - MORTUARY TEMPLE OF RAMESES III (c. 1184-1153BC) Our final temple in Luxor was the best and not one which is often visited by the tourists. Built for the 70 day mummification rituals for Rameses III it is a funerary temple dedicated to the achievements of his reign. It's located on the west bank at Medinet Habu and is the biggest standing temple away from the noise of Luxor and with a rocky backdrop it makes for a tranquil and atmospheric location. Rameses III was the last great pharaoh of Egypt and won many battles against invaders. The entrance walls are unusal in that they follow the Syrian style and surrounded by a mudbrick fortification wall. On the massive pylons are depictions of the king smiting his enemies and the heads of his enemies are used as steps on the upper levels of the entrance. Inside, his victory against the Libyans is shown by several graphic scenes of prisoners having their hands. tongues and 'manhood' removed to count their numbers. Many of the scenes inside show Rameses honouring the gods - primarily Amun. The temple roof is missing but the preservation of the colours and carvings into the stone and plaster are breathtaking. I hope the photos do it justice. I've added a close up of Rameses cartouche. There are many more temples in and around Luxor and the west bank and I'd like to go back one day and visit them, as well as the new excavations under Gurna, and the tombs in the valley which were closed (Seti I, Ramses II, Hatshepsut) so I've plenty of reasons to go back! Once we had returned to the east bank in our motorboat, some of us called in to visit the 'week one' Explorers on their cruise ship DOMA which was back from Aswan and moored nearby. We had a tour of their ship and stories of their antics aboard which all sounded fun. I was happy to have chosen the Felucca though. The others went back to the hotel but I stayed with them until 6.30pm then walked alone to the restaurant for our final group dinner before the final week of our tour into the Western Desert.

Egypt Final Report - WESTERN DESERT & HOME

2007-03-18T16:07:00.000Z

MONDAY MARCH 12th - THE WESTERN DESERT We left Luxor after breakfast in a comfortable mini bus, picking up 2 new travellers from the Cruise ship 'DOMA' - Mary Ann from Canada and Pauline from Bath. This final leg of the tour comprised 12 travellers (6 from the the original week) a tour guide (Tarek) a bus driver (Arden) and a policeman to protect us from stuff. We headed out of Luxor via the only bridge crossing the Nile about 8 miles south. Driving West we soon left the green lushness of the Nile valley behind us and entered a very dry and barren landscape. The Western desert is part of Egypt and the massive Sahara desert and not much is known of its civilisations before 1000BC and the New Kingdom. Over the course of 1500 years the Pharaohs, Llibyan kings, Persian kings and the Romans all prospered in the area with christianity arriving in AD 390, it's now largely Moslem. There wasn't much to see on our 4 hour journey to the first Oasis city 'Kharga'. The Western Desert region is vast and sparsely populated, except for in areas where there is a natural water source. This occurs in half a dozen places where the land lies below sea level. I had a romantic notion of an Oasis being a watering hole emerging from the sand dunes surrounded by palm trees, bedouin tents, camels and donkeys. The reality isn't quite like that! Kharga is 60m below sea level and is a built up area over 100 miles long, like any other city or large town. The Egyptian government is trying to pursuade more people from the overcrowded Nile valley to settle and work in the Western Desert. The residents here have only recently been subjected to tourists and their approach to us is more reserved and curious. As well as coming in from Cairo, Luxor and other places, many of the locals are descended from Libyans. Farming is the main occupation, and the region is famous for dates & fruit and vegetables which are exported as well as supplying Egypt. Minerals are mined from the desert too. As ever, there are police checkpoints across the route, some in very, very remote places and I wondered just how long the policemen spend here before going totally bonkers from the solitude! It's strange to drive for hundreds of miles through barren desert and then find yourself in a well populated city with hospitals, police stations and shops. There are only two trains out of here every week bringing supplies or taking people to Aswan. Our first hotel on Monday night ina remote desert area just outside Kharga was a pretty but rundown 'village' of painted mud brick houses amidst a flower garden. We hiked through the sand to a nearby temple 'Qasr el Ghueida' (Fortress of the beautiful garden) - on a hill dating back to Persian times (500BC). This was almost a ruin but still retained some original hieroglyphs from the Persian king Darius honoring the pharaonic gods. The temples was surrounded by a mud brick fortress wall. The whole area was open to walk around it was crumbling away in front of our eyes. On the hill were remains of ancient pottery used for eating and then smashed - thousands of years old and just lying on the ground! Had this site been in the UK it would be surrounded by railings no doubt. The temple lies on the ancient '40 mile road' so named for the time it would take to reach the Egyptian capital. Back at the hotel for a shower - (I was reminded how precious the water is here - it came out in a brown trickle!) then dinner at the hotel which was served by a young boy and a few helpers - the beef seemed more like mutton to me but it was a fulfilling meal. Tarek gave us a desert briefing in the bar (a large round room with mud walls, date palm roof, sand floor, dance stage and pool table -it hardly ever rains here). An early night was in order and I had the best night of sleep since arriving in Egypt. TUESDAY MARCH 13th I had a lie in! I actually managed to sleep until 8.30am, it was a cool night and a comfy bed - heaven! After breakfast (bread, jam, eggs, tea- the usual!) we left in our bus to visit local monuments before heading to the next oasis. First was Hibis Temple - another Darius construction and more impressive than Qasr el Gueida. This stone temple looked more Egyptian in style and appeared in good condition. It was undergoing renovation works and not open fully for us to visit. We were told it was being rebuilt on this original site by an American University project after they returned it here because they thought it best to move it to another location to prevent flood damage only to find the new location equally flooded (yes really!). After Hibis, we stopped at an intriguing necropolis of mud brick christan tombs at el Bagawat dating back to the 4th & 5th Centuries. Small in size, the tombs are all different in design,some containing amazing old testament frescos over 1400 years old and remains of human burials. In Kharga, we stopped for lunch on a busy road at a restaurant which looked like an untidy garage but served pretty good food! 'Ahmed Hamdy' seemed to have a reputation and his place is used by a few travellers. We were to go there again before leaving the oasis. The afternoon drive took us to the meeting point for our overnight camp in the desert. The final phase of the journey was on Camels, not tourist camels, but genuine Bedouin family camels. We jumped on the back of a pickup truck and hung on for a bumpy ride to the camel 'depot' which turned out to be a shaded area in an otherwise featureless sand dune desert with views off into th distance of date palms and mountains - Much more like the desert Oasis I had imagined! The camels were all 'laydeez' some with babies in tow and most of them pregnant again. The wear no bridles on their heads and we sat on padded cloth saddles strapped on behind their hump. It was comfortable, but with no means of control you were totally in their hands. The camels know the way of course and our Bedouin friends walked on foot keep the camels in order. The ride was great! The sun was going down, the dunes were spectacular and apart from the smell coming from the camels it was amazing. The babies kept getting left behind and made mewing noises to find their mums - who replied (told them off I think!) with gutteral moos! Really sweet! On arrival at camp, the 'non camel' riders had got there by truck and greeted us on foot. I held on whilst my camel lay down for me to get off and before long the whole herd galloped off into the sunset (literally) to fnd a spot not far off for the night. The campsite was in the middle of nowhere in the lea of a sand dune for shelter from the winds, apart from that, nothing to see except sand. Our 'loos' were freestyle in the sand - watching out for scorpions and horn vipers! The girls found a bush over the top of the dune which offered some privacy. As the sun set many of us sat on the high point of the dune for photos and a chat. Then a hot dinner around a campfire, followed by Libyan/Bedouin music and dancing and into my sleeping bag for a s=chilly night under the stars. WEDNESDAY MARCH 14th Woke up at sunrise, the campfire was burning again and our Bedouin hosts were busy making tea and bread on the fire. The usual jam, eggs, coffee got everyone up and about and after a short walk in the dunes to stretch the legs we said goodbye and left on the pickup truck bumping across the sand. We crested a dune and approached a farmed area of crops to find the road was dug up and an irrigation channel in the way. It was all hands on deck to cover the water with palm leaves and bark to enable the truck to drive over - which it did to a big cheer! Back at the bus, the tourism manager for the region joined us to guide us around an early Islamic mud brick village on a hill at El Qasr- very quaint with narrow streets and higgledy piggledy homes stacked one on top of another. It's not lived in today, but was a great example of how life was lived centuries ago. After that we called into a small but excellent 'ethnographic museum' to see artefacts from the traditional oasis lifestyle. A short drive later we were delivered to the site of a hot spring to enjoy a mineral bath for an hour and then back to Ahmed Hamdy for another good lunch before hitting the road to Farafra. We had a long drive ahead, some 300miles to reach Farafra Oasis. On the way we stopped to view the GREAT SAND SEA part of the Libyan desert at the edge of the Sahara and stretches for 500 miles before reaching the border with Libya and yet more desert beyond that. It is a desolate place and the mirage effect did make it appear to be a sandy beach with a shimmering sea in the distance. During our monotonous drive we had to slow down whilst a herd of camels were driven across the road on their journey across the desert. At a coffee stop on the way, the girls agreed that the toilet was horrid so wandered into the fields nearby instead. Our police guide came to make sure we were alright and stood guard with his back turned - the first time I've had an armed escort to wee in a field! (see photo) Our hotel in Farafra was superb with comfortable Bedouin style room, with split level twin beds and a chance to shower and freshen up after camping and mud baths. Dinner was spaghetti and a bit bland but Ok. I had a good night on a double mattress under a mosquito net. THURSDAY MARCH 15th We had a slow morning at the hotel in Farafra (Badiwaya) with a shortwalk to a local market, art gallery and chance to buy gifts. After lunch at the restaurant we had 2 hours to rest and I caught up with my Wilbur Smith Egyptian novel (Seventh Scroll) until the bus was ready to go. WHITE DESERT CAMP Our next stop was to the WHITE DESERT for an overnight camp. Within an hour we had stopped on the deset road to meet up with 2 jeeps and transfer our overnight bags. The jeeps drove us deep into the White Desert, where one broke down! After much debate amongst the drivers another vehicle was summoned and we were back on our way. By now, the sun was dipping, casting shadows across the desert landscape which is made up of chalk deposits sculpted by the wind over thousands - if not millions of years and peppered with lumps of black volcanic rock across the sand. The effect reminded me of an iceberg sea. Some of the shapes resemble animals, we saw a horse head, chicken and mushroom and I even found one which looked liked a muffin dripping with a frosted topping! or maybe it was a mirage?! We were dropped off on foot to explore the shapes and meet at the camp - with the advice to 'keep walking in a straight line for half an hour' and sure enough we all found the camp and no-one got lost - amazing! This camp was by far the best - set in a remote landscape miles from civilization, surrounded by wierd chalk shapes, sand dunes, rough vegetation and a stunning sunset. As sunset approached almost everyone took the opportunity for a quiet moment of reflection among the dunes, or far off amongst the chalk shapes. I chose to climb a chalk shape near to camp and watched my last sunset in Egypt. Our hosts had prepared a wonderful hot meal and we sat near to the fire as the desert temperatures dropped and the stars came out. We were joined by a desert fox who must have visited us again in the night as his prints were everywhere the following morning. We slept in large tents to stay warm and I woke up at 6am whilst everyone else was still sleeping. I crept outside and walked about half a mile to sit and watch the sunrise. I was completely alone. We had our final breakfast at camp and left the park in the jeeps - the drivers having fun bouncing us around and dodging obstacles on our way back to the bus which waited for us on the main desert road to take us to Cairo. FRIDAY MARCH 16th The atmosphere on the bus was subdued, partly tiredness and also the preparation to go back to the UK. We had a long, long drive to reach Cairo and stopped off for some extra sites along the way including an ancient burial site where over 2000 'golden' mummies were found (we saw 5 in a museum which was more like a shed!) These were Greek in their style of decoration each having a gilded mask and very badly preserved. We went inside some small tombs from the 26th Dynasty and saw our last ancient Egyptian murals. Stopped at the 'Crystal Mountain' which didn't sparkle as much as I had hoped, but was a chance to stretch our legs. Then we had a boring featureless journey through the desert to the edge of Cairo. We approached Cairo from the West via a newly developing region called 'October 6th'. It reminded me of silicone valley in the USA with shiny office buildings, universities and apartments. Before long we arrived at The President hotel for our last night. I shared with Mary Ann who went with a small group to the Souk for last minute shopping in the Islamic quarter. I repacked my bags for the return trip and we all met up again for our last supper right next to the pyramids in Giza. It was a good meal and a chance to see some other people from our first week. It was hugs all round as we said our goodbyes back at the hotel - thenbed before another final early start to the airport. SATURDAY MARCH 17th - HOME! Breakfast in the hotel at 5.30am, all I managed was a coffee and one mouth of croissant. A group of us were all on the same flight and the bus dropped us at the airport and we checked in together. Our 9.30am flight was delayed a little and in any case we had almost 2 hours to kill in the terminal. I took the chance to buy tacky souvenirs to use up some small currency. Then all too soon we were on board and flying home as the rain poured down - how symbolic! TOP TEN FAB THINGS FROM THE TRIP 1. The ancient history, Temples and Tombs 2. The Nile sunsets and sunrises from a Felucca 3. The snorkelling and hot air ballooning 4. The Sites, Smells and Sounds of Egyptian life in the Nile Valley 5. Freshly made Falafel & fruit juices 6. Mint Tea & Sheesha 7. Happy, Smiley People 8. Diverse and dramatic Scenery 9. Camping in the deserts 10.Spending time with great people SUMMARY I had a great time all the time (almost) and saw and experienced some incredible things. Would I go back? In short , YES, but not for a while. There ae still things left to see in Luxor and Alexandria. The new museum at Giza, the fresh tombs at Gurna and whatever else is discovered in future. I would go back to the Red Sea for a snorkelling and beach holiday too. Egypt has a lot to offer and is not disappointing, go there if you ever get the chance

Leaving for Egypt!

2007-02-21T14:51:00.000Z

My bags are packed - I've kissed my doggy and my parents goodbye and I'm ready to catch the plane to Cairo. My flight leaves on Friday afternoon so I'll be spending Thursday on the motorway then over night in Ascot thanks to my friend Debbie. This my final sign off as I'm not sure what internet access will be available. Having had weeks to plan for this trip I suddenly found myself in a bit of a panic rush this week. On Sunday I returned from a 10 day trip to Ascot housesitting and dogsitting for my friend Louise - a lovely young Chesopeek Bay Labrador called Hudson. I had all my 'stuff' scattered around the house/bedroom/kitchen/car/garage and planned to spend 2 days packing and repacking to get everything in. This plan went wrong when I was hit by not one but two migraines on Monday and Tuesday - so was unable to do anything but lie in bed in a dark room - bummer! Today is Wednesday and so far no 'sparkly lights' so I hope I'm over that little episode. The bags are indeed packed thank goodness and the pressure is off but I still feel a little woozy! It's been a real challenge sticking to the 20kgs baggage allowance, and I sacrificed some of my knickers in favour of more tshirts and toiletries. I am proud to say that I'm travelling without the luxury of hair styling products, very minimal makeup and no nail varnish - except on my toes - but I have packed a razer. I have been able to pack my Ipod and shiny new camera courtesy of Nectar points - just need to work out how to use it! The bulk of the bag is taken up with my sleeping bag, sleep mat & mosquito net - I'll be sleeping under the stars during our sail down the Nile and again later in the desert and in February it can get quite cold. I've also collected a bag of unctures, potions and pills to counter all any any illnesses which might get me! You can't be too careful! I'm expecting just 5 other people on the trip as well as our guide - who is called Mohammed - should be easy to find him then! No doubt we will all get on with each other, but you never know - it could be interesting! Our first day of adventure is Sunday - whilst most of you are munching on your toast and coffee over the Sunday papers, I'll be walking around the Pyramids at Giza and the Cairo Museum of antiquities! After that we head into Sinai and up the mountain where Moses received the 10 commendments and saw the burning bush. We have a few days on the Red Sea coast before crossing the sea to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, down to Aswan and then by Nile Felucca up to Edfu. The final part of the tris is spent in the Deserts of the west visiting several Oases before returning to Cairo. I'm back on March 18th - just in time for Mother's Day - don't forget your cards everyone! Kirsty xxx

Nile & Beyond.......

2007-02-02T11:26:00.000Z

My first trip is booked! I go to Egypt on February 23rd for a 3 week tour including Cairo, Giza, Luxor, Aswan, Mount Sinai, sailing down the Nile and camping in the desert. It's going to be a real change of scene and I'm looking forward to it. Egypt has always fascinated me, a civilisation that lasted for thousands of years and stayed relatively unchanged - advanced and backward all at the same time.. and how did they build those pyramids? For those of you who like me are fans of 'Team America' I am also looking forward to visiting Backadackalacka street! Right now I have a stinking cold so the prospect of hot sun is quite appealling. I'm still giving myself major Brownie points for going to the Doctor 2 weeks ago for my vaccinations by myself! I have a big problem with doctors and medical matters as many of you will know - so to be able to sit in a chair whilst the nurse stuck not one but TWO needles into my arms was no small achievement! Luckily there is no need for Yellow Fever jabs and Malaria tablets for Egypt at this time of year, but I will need them if I go sub saharan Africa - something to look forward to! There is relatviely little preparation for this trip other than to buy various bits of equipment and it's fun to shop! Living in the depths of Devon, there are very few outlets but Barnstaple and Exeter offer one or two decent outdoor specialists, and internet is invaluable. So far I've bought some proper trekking boots and have started to break them in on the cliffs and beaches with Kipper, then I took delivery of a super snug winter warm sleeping bag, silk liner and self inflating sleep mat- essential kit for nights in the Egyptian desert when the temperature can fall to zero overnight. I tested it all on the living room floor - which was fine, until I tried to get each thing back into its storage bag! All together, the sleeping kit takes up more than 2/3 of my travel bag, so not much room for clothes. Other items include; mosquito net, mosquito repellent, first aid kits including needles and suture kit, universal plugs for USB devices (phone & Ipod), a digital camera (courtesy of Dad's Nectar points!), clothes to stay cool, clothes to keep warm, all kinds of toiletries in miniature form to keep the weight down and 30 pairs of pants! As I write this, I'm downloading all my favourite CD's onto my Ipod whilst the sun shines outside. It's the kind of winter's day that makes you want to go out for a long walk with a flask of hot tea and some fruit cake. That seems a much better idea than sitting here at the computer..... so I'm off! Byeeee!

London, China Town, Olympia & Greenwich

2007-01-18T20:14:00.000Z

Last weekend I travelled to London to attend the Adventure Travel show but also as a tourist for the first time in my life without the pressure of work and deadlines. The journey from Exeter by train was pleasant - rolling farmland with glimpses of several ancient sites including the white horse on the Wiltshire downs - it made a change from the Moreton in Marsh route into Paddington! With time to spare on Friday afternoon I chose to visit St Paul's Cathedral which has it's own tube station to make things easy! Dragging my weekend luggage out of the tube (A fab Christmas present with frogs all over it) I typically went the wrong way on the pavement so needlessley walked the entire way around the Cathedral only to find the main entrance just metres from the tube exit - I then had those steps to climb up which I remember from Diana's wedding to Prince Charles - my entrance was much less glamourous, with red cheeks and a bit of a 'glow' whilst lugging my wheely case to the top. Once inside I paid for the full tour (£13.50) with all the trimmings and donned the headset to learn all about London's most famous and enduring landmark. A side effect of the terrorism threat is the lack of luggage storage at London's attractions so my froggy case followed me round albeit 2 feet behind on the end of a handle - trying not to disturb the peace and tranquility with the noise from the wheels. If you have never been to St Paul's like me, I would recommend it. The architecture outside is so iconic but the scale of it is a surprise - the space inside is enhanced by the astounding ceiling decoration, sculptures, tombs, military dedications and ornate carvings combined with it's history really does take your breath away, and so do the 200 steps to the top of the dome (made harder as the passage is narrow with low ceilings so not ideal for carrying froggy luggage!). The Whispering Gallery encourages everyone to look down onto the heads below, and it does make your knees tremble - Sir Christopher Wren employed riggers from the shipping yards to build the dome as they were used to hanging from ropes and swinging on wooden platforms - even today it is amazing to think how it was completely built in just over 25 years. He apparently broke with tradition to build the domes instead of a spire. During the Blitz the Cathedral largely survived but the dome was partly destroyed by a bomb, and a chapel built in it's place, dedicated to the American dead from WWII. All of their names are contained in a book whose pages are turned once each day. Down below, the tombs of Sir Christopher Wren, Nelson & Wellington are all inside the crypt - complete with a cafeteria and gift shop which I thought was a bit offensive to the serenity of the place! With my audio tour complete I headed out into the street where the peace is very soon shattered. I spent a very pleasant evening in China Town before spending my first night in Balham (Thanks to Nicky for the free accommodation!). Saturday was the focus of my London trip - a day at Olympia to research adventures and travel at the annual exhibition sponsored by The Telegraph. This event brings over 200 companies from all over the world and I very quickly realised that 12 months is not long enough for travelling! The highlights of the day included a talk from Ben Fogle and James Cracknell who rowed across the Atlantic, I was so impressed I bought their book which they duly signed and I took my chance to speak to Ben about his travels. I watched his climb to Kilimanjaro on BBC last year so was keen to get his views..... I asked him if it was achievable to reach the summit and his simple reply was "YES!" I think he had probably had enough questions from the many hundreds of people they signed for. Still, he was a lovely person and I'm still a fan of 'Animal Park'! The last time I encountered the gorgeous James Cracknell lasted just 60 seconds as I jogged past the raised platform he was standing on having just rung the bell to start the Reading Half Marathon in 2001 - I did finish in just under 2 hours and 50 minutes but he was gone when I crossed the finish line..... oh well. Another highlight was the Dragoman Overland truck which was driven into the hall so visitors could experience life on the road. It's a cross between a Hummer on Steroids and an armoured prison van! They offer tours up to 6 months all over the world and I'm keen to go with them to South America, but the cost is quite high - might have to rethink that one! I got all excited about Trek America only to find out that their travellers are usually in the early twenties, I may still go with them though - they offer a 2 month road trip around the USA and Canada with an itinerary that's hard to beat. At the end of a long day I had filled a bag with very heavy brochures and filled my head with all sorts of ideas. It was a great show, and I recommend it to anyone seeking unusual trips, no matter how little or how much time you have for a holiday. Sunday was a sunny blue sky day which makes you happy to be in London, so Nicky and I headed down the Thames on a riverboat to Greenwich. The trip itself was hilarious as the boat skipper entertained us with history and stories along the way - not all of it true! £4.50 well spent and I gave him a tip too! At Greenwich we were disappointed that the Cutty Sark was behind boards being renovated but after a greasy spoon lunch and some hot ginger wine in the Greenwich market we were refuelled for the short stroll up to the Observatory. This was my first visit to Greenwich which felt like a small village with a strong historical atmosphere. The view from the top was the best in London - even better than the London Eye. You can see all the landmarks in one view across the Thames, it has to be one of the prettiest cities anywhere. The Oservatory marks the spot where Longitute and Latitude were established for travellers at sea by some clever maths and labourious star gazing in the 1700's which frankly was double dutch to me! However, it's fun to stand on the GMT dateline and have one foot in the Eastern Hemisphere and one in the West (see cheesy tourist photo of my feet!). This is the location of the 2012 Equestrian sports and in my view it is an excellent choice - I'll be booking my ticket as soon as I can, I don't understand the critics! The Maritime museum was fun too, with some interesting nautical exhibits, but we were both a bit too tired to do it justice and decided to hop on the DLR back to Balham via Canary Wharf - which should be a tourist attraction in it's own right! quite an amazing place to walk through if you get the chance. On Monday morning the world went back to work and I went to the British Museum! My enjoyment of the Egyptian mummies was almost spoiled by a cacophony of school kids who very nearly pushed me into making a very cross exhibition of myself but I reached for my shiny new IPod (thanks BE chums) for some tranquil music which did the trick and calm was restored, with just enough time for the Elgin Marbles and the Uley Mercury (a roman statue found near where I grew up in 1970's Gloucestershire) it was time for a Starbucks panini and Latte before getting the train to Ascot, then onto Exeter and home. So that was my trip to London..... now the real planning starts to put my travel calendar together! So many countres.. so little time!

It all starts Here.......

2007-01-10T18:07:00.000Z

It's been 6 weeks since I waved goodbye to my job and my home to experience a gap year with no stress or responsibilities apart from my dog and my bank account. In that time I've not worn a watch or set my alarm and it's amazing how little you need either one. I wake up when I've had enough sleep (usually 8.34am) and somehow I always seem to know what time it is. Now that Christmas and New Year are behind me I can start to focus on my year ahead. I spent some time last year making lists of destinations to aim for and this has now been shortened, once I realised how thinly my budget would need to be stretched! I have a more realistic outline which is split into 3 lists: 'MUST DO' which includes the USA, Canada, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Then comes: 'WOULD LIKE TO DO' which has North Africa, South America and Asia followed by: "IF I WIN BIG ON THE PREMIUM BONDS" Which is a 5 year plan to visit everywhere else that isn't mentioned in the first 2 lists! I'm off to the Adventure Travel Show this weekend at Olympia so I'll get some valuable information and hopefully some inspiration too. It's a miserable time of year with rain and windy weather, but Kipper and I are making the 'most of the coast'with regular trips to the beach but it's way too cold for swimming! Here is a photo of Widemouth Bay taken just before Christmas - and yes, there were people surfing!