Last few hours on the trip, updates and reflections...and photos!!

well, we are winding down to our last few hours on our magical voyage that is very sadly coming to a close. It has been an unforgettable experience, but unfortunately we cannot live this way forever! So, since the last posting, we had a delicious Christmas dinner at our hotel, with every kind of food imaginable. The next morning, we set off for the Red Sea for some diving and snorkelling. Although we had been snorkelling in Thailand and the great barrier reef in Australia, we were always told that the red sea is the best in the world. So why not try diving here? The weather in Sharm el Sheik is fairly warm, although the wind cools it down considerably so it wasnt incredibly hot when we were swimming around. With diving, I would say that the biggest key to success is being able to clear your ears when you go deeper as the pressure builds up, kind of like when you are in an airplane except that it hurts more. Unfortunately, I was not able to pop my ears and so I could not go as deep down as Jason, who became a diving superstar and went as low as 40 m on his last dive (in recreational diving, certified divers only go as deep as 40m, and thats with a lot of experience!). I was content snorkelling around and watching all the amazing varieties of fish and coral. I had never seen so many different kinds of fish! So, we headed back to Cairo after a 7 hour bus ride where the driver played horribly old 80s movies on a crapy VCR. The only plus side is that I had just bought a new book that I was really enjoying and had tons of time to read. We had some issues to sort out with the travel agency upon arrival in Cairo. We were nice about the problems that we had, but we made it clear that we were not satisfied with the service that we received and that we wanted some kind of compensation. In the end, we received $200 US dollars plus a free night at the hotel in return for us not causing trouble and slandering the travel agencys name in front of all of their new clients at the hotel. I was impressed with how hardcore Jason was! We scammed the scammers in Egypt...one point for the good guys! In all seriousness, not all of them were bad. I think the problem is that the people who work with the foreigners dont understand how to approach us, and that we are constantly a magnet because of our skin colour. Sometimes being white has such an advantage...but other times, we are a magnet for trouble. So, here we are in Frankfurt, Germany. Our flight from Cairo left at 520am, which means that we got no sleep the night before as we had to wake up at 230 am. We spent yesterday morning dozing around the hotel, and later went out for some apple wine, which is well known in Frankfurt. Today we walked around and appreciated the Frankfurt architecture. This is our first time in Germany, but we really like the feel of this city. Also, its strange that our height finally blends in, especially after being so long in countries where the average height is nowhere near our height. We head home in a few hours...this trip is almost finished! I would like to take a few minutes just to reflect on this trip. First of all, we are incredibly thankful to have received the support to embark on such a magical journey. The timing was perfect for both of us and we recognize that although taking so long away from our careers wasnt the most convenient thing for a lot of people, we appreciate those who made this possible. Second, this trip was more than just travelling around the world, taking pictures and living in different cultures. This trip was also about meeting people from all over the world who live in different realities. We met people from all walks of life who are doing things that are worlds apart from what we consider normal. For example, we met a guy in Picton, New Zealand (south island) who just arrived to Picton after spending 5 months biking from Auckland in the north island. We met people in Cambodia who live on virtually nothing and who accept and embrace it as part of their reality. We met guys in Fiji whose idea of a dream vacation was to go somewhere with snow because they had never seen snow. We certainly will not remember all of the names of the people that we met, but we will never forget how our conversations together have touched and shaped us.

So, enough of that stuff...here are some pictures, left to right, in semi-chronological order: from Dubai - photos of the skyline (see how the Burj Dubai in the middle dwarfs all of the other incredible skyscrapers); dune bashing in the Dubai desert; a camel walking around, because you know thats totally normal; the sun setting in the desert; the Atlantis on the Palm in Dubai, which was recently opened with 20 million dollars worth in fireworks; the ski hill and snow inside the Emirates mall because everyone needs to snow in the desert; the Burj al arab, the fanciest hotel in the world; inside the gold souk in the Dubai mall; the brown water in our hotel in sharm el sheik. Obviously we got out as soon as we could! This photo also helped us make a stronger case to our friends at the travel agency in Cairo; the karnak temples in Luxor (there are 134 pillars, the most of any temple in the world); Jason in the karnak temple; pigeons flying around the citadel, a photo taken from the top of our hotel in Cairo; photos on Christmas day in the red sea; the next four are around Luxor in the valley of the kings and valley of the queens; some cool temple carvings somewhere...cant remember where; us outside Alexandria near the Mediterranean; me underground in Alexandria (I think); part of Old Cairo in a town that was built about 650 years ago, near where the holy family was said to have hung out for a while; the next three are of old mosques in Cairo; a horse being used to haul stuff on a busy part of the street with cars and buses driving by; and finally the last two in the main square in Frankfurt. Phew!

is it time to leave yet?? annoyed and exhausted with Egypt

ok, that's maybe not the best post title, but that's how we are feeling right now. We took the plane from Luxor to Sharm El Sheik where we are right now. Our tour agent (Bourak Tours, based in Cairo...worst tour operator ever) booked us into what was supposed to be a 3 star hotel, but I am pretty sure it's a minus three star. We arrived in the city late, around 11:30 pm, so our critical skills were lower than they usually are. We mostly laughed about the state of our room and how it had no toilet paper or towels, but the best part was how the water was dark brown from the tap. Not just a little brown, like stinkin' brown. I wouldn't even wash a dog in that water, nevermind not brush my teeth with it. Anyways, we are currently waiting for our trip representative to come meet us at our hotel. We have checked into a Days Inn across the street to enjoy Christmas. This morning I was so frustrated with getting screwed here that I just wanted to cry. Thankfully, Jason has been really supportive, and I am sure we'll have a good laugh when this is all done. On the plus side, I don't think I have ever really wanted to come home from a trip as badly as I do now. It hasn't been all bad. Yesterday we spent the day checking out Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple, both really cool. It's so incredible to think that people were able to build such magnificent temples 3500 years ago. The history and architecture of this country is absolutely spectacular, and for this we have really enjoyed ourselves. So, on a more positive note, we hope that you have a magical Christmas, wherever and with whoever you are spending it. There is a Christmas gala at our hotel tonight that we are looking forward to enjoying. We are planning to take a snorkelling or diving trip to one of the most magical sites in the world tomorrow so that is definitely something to look forward to as well. We may try diving for the first time if we can as well! So we are not totally jaded...just kind of :) We leave for Cairo on the 26th, and fly out at 5:20am to Frankfurt on the 28th, home late on the 29th. Only a few more days till we are back home!

update from the land of sand, temples and scams

hey guys!


I know it's been forever since we have updated the blog. I wanted to put pictures up so you would have something interesting to look at, but the technology here is struggling and the computers won't recognize my memory card so, it'll be a little while!


On our second day, we visited old Cairo and saw some really old churches, an old mosque and the islamic part of Cairo. We even visited a crypt that is said to have housed the holy family (Jesus, Mary and Joseph) when they fled Israel from Herod. The buildings around the church are over 650 years old.


The next day, we visited Alexandria, a city three hours north on the mediterranean sea, where we saw an old mosque, the library overlooking the sea and had fresh fish, cooked in the Egyptian style of cooking the whole fish and leaving it on your plate, bones and head included. It was good though, just more work than we are used to!


We had a day to relax in Cairo before taking the night train so we mostly walked around the city, getting lost in the markets. The children here are great; they are so friendly and curious, and always want to know your name and where you're from. We saw some wacky stuff, like a cow in the middle of the street and goats all over the road.


The night train from Cairo to Aswan was horrible. Our travel agent suggested we go in first class instead of on the sleeper car for the 15 hours on the train. Lucky for us, we were sitting right in front of a guy who was snoring so loudly you could probably hear it in the next car. Jason tried to wake him up but he fell back asleep and back into loud snoring mode. We moved into another car, but the only two seats together that were available were right at the front near the open vents, so our night's sleep wasn't great. Upon arrival to our hotel, we had about half an hour before we were wisked away on a tour to see the Philae temple, a beautiful temple on an island. We were both so tired we weren't really paying attention to the tour guide though. That night, I think we were in bed by eight because we had to get up at 2:45am to see the temple of Abu Simbel because apparently there was only one convoy that went per day and the journey took 3 hours. Why we had to go that early is beyond me...after we got back, we headed out to our cruise boat where we spent 2 nights enjoying our first cruise boat. It was nice, even though there weren't many people and most of the were in their sixties, but oh well....it was part of the experience! The food was good. We had to get up at six am the next two mornings; the first morning, we went to the Edfu temple, and on the second (this morning) we had to check out early. We spent the day checking out the valley of the kings and the valley of the queens, two places where there are tombs, although everything has been taken out and put into museums.

So, tomorrow is our last day of checking out temples and then we head out to Sharm el Sheik for Christmas. We are getting pretty tired of checking out temples, and even more tired of constantly looking out for people trying to scam us. I think Cairo was more enjoyable because it is not a city that is only focussed on tourism, unlike Luxor or Aswan. At all major sites we get hounded to buy useless stuff. It gets a little tiring to constantly say no only to find the sellers even more insistent. We are having a great time on this trip though so we can't really complain, but we are just a little tired of the early mornings and constant scams. That's the joy of travelling though!

Anyways, we hope you're all doing well and are enjoying the Christmas season. We heard that there is a lot of snow back home - we are looking forward to seeing some of it when we get back on the 29th!

rockin' out with the pyramids in Cairo

here we are in Cairo...we spent our last morning in Dubai with Rheanne, who very kindly drove us to the airport so we could have our last meal in Dubai together. We then said our sad goodbyes and took a plane with Egyptair, where the customer service quality was pretty crappy. Once we landed, we had no idea where we were staying (it's tough to always plan so far ahead when you're travelling for a long time). We ended up going with these dudes from the airport who took us to a hotel. It's not bad...small, cheap, with a great rooftop restaurant.

So far, we really like Cairo for its perfect mix of crazy driving (busy all the time, people squishing into lanes, honking constantly), the dirtiness of it (people seem to use the street as a trash dumping zone), the friendly people, the weirdness (donkeys, horses and oxen hauling stuff, camels everywhere around the pyramids) and great sights. Today we went with a guide to see the pyramids of Giza (we even went in one...not for people with sore backs or who suffer from claustrophobia), the sphinx, saqqara (site of the first pyramids, dating back to about 3500BC) and memphis to see the sculpture of king ramses II. Every once in a while I get flashbacks from my high school history class, especially since my old teacher LOVED Egypt, and I can see why! We have our next two weeks booked...it'll be busy but great! Tomorrow we will see old Cairo, including the oldest mosque in Egypt, some cool churches and the egyptian museum. From there, we go to Alexandria the next day, then south to Aswan.

Well, we're off to hopefully buy a camera from a sketchy store. It's not easy to find a good camera store in Cairo - the one we're going to is close to our hotel and the prices are reasonable. Too bad the store is at the top of a dirty building where one dude smokes in the store and the other one has like 0.75 of a lazy eye in both eyes so you never know which one to look at...kinda like those chameleons with the rotating eyes. Can you tell it's been a long day? Anyways, we'll post pictures when we find an internet café that can take the memory card reader.

Most info soon!

summary of Dubai fun

hey guys,

I know I am overdue for a posting. I hope some of you weren't worried that we got swallowed up by the sea of Indian dudes walking around Dubai or that I got sent off to join an Emirati's family of 5 wives and 10 children. Anyways, here's a bit of an update on what we have been doing the last few days. Sadly you'll have to wait a little while longer for pictures because the sketchy internet cafes here that don't have skype (apparently they block it here because it's a monopoly or something...damn straight it is. it's like 2 cents a minute for us to call home), these computers don't have a legit version of windows XP and they don't recognize my memory card reader. So, sorry about that!

Day 1 in Dubai - recovery day: mostly spent recovering from jet lag. it was 6 hours difference from Fiji to Thailand, 1.5 hrs (I think) difference from Thailand to Mumbai, and another 1.5 hrs from Mumbai to Dubai. My poor body clock has no idea what time it is anymore!

Day 2 - wrong way, every time: because we went to bed so early the first day, the second day we woke up ridiculously early. We left our hotel around 6:30 am to go to the Burj Dubai (which is now the tallest building in the world but is still not done being built. It's a secret how tall it will end up being). We also went to the Dubai mall, which was closed. We just walked around for a while, then went back to our hotel to relax for a while. On the plane, I read that there was the world dressage challenge so we sort of found the address, then got a taxi driver to take us out to watch it for a bit. It ended up being a wild goose chase, with us asking about half a dozen people where to find the emirates equestrian club and everyone giving us a different answer (there was also a racecourse and camel racing nearby, so I think that added a degree of complication to our search). We finally gave up, but not without getting some great shots of the Dubai skyline (including the massively tall Burj Dubai) and seeing camels hang out in the desert. We asked our taxi driver to take us to the Dubai mall so that we could actually see what was in it. What a place! There are TONS of high end shops, and it even has the world's largest aquarium (because everyone needs to go to a mall to see sharks and manta rays) and an ice rink. I don't know what was more fun to watch; the middle eastern kids skate around all wearing the same colour of rented skates, or the middle eastern families. It's a little difficult to see how genders are fairly equal in Canada but women have essentially no rights here. So, after a long day, we tried to take a shuttle bus back to our hotel instead of paying for a taxi (we can't really complain, taxis are quite cheap here) but the one we wanted to take was full so someone suggested we take another route, which ended up taking us the complete opposite way of where we wanted to go. On the shuttle, it was Jason and I and two teenage boys who were slowly annoying the driver. At one point, the driver kicked everyone out of the shuttle so we had to take a taxi back to our hotel. On the plus side, we had great night views of the most amazing hotels that money can buy, and by the time we headed back to our hotel it was so late the traffic had died down. So, kind of a crazy day!

Day 3 - blast from the past: My good friend Rheanne recently moved to the UAE, in one of the nearby Emirates. She met us at our hotel and we spent the day on a bus tour exploring the new part of the city. We saw some incredibly buildings and hotels that were recently built or are being built now, including the Atlantis on the Palm and the Palm Jumeira, which are island in the form of a palm tree. We also walked around an area and saw one of the stars of the new James Bond movie (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0316284/) . It was a great way to see the city!

Day 4 - cruise and safari: We took a Dhow cruise along the Dubai Creek (it's a lot bigger than a creek) and then in the afternoon went to a desert safari where we were in a Toyota Land Cruiser (their version of the 4runner) and went dune bashing, where you take a 4 wheel vehicle and drive up and down desert dunes. It was pretty fun! Sometimes we took the vehicle down sideways and I was sure we were going to roll, but our driver was great. We also took a snowboard down a dune, I pet a camel and we had a great BBQ dinner complete with a belly dancer. I also got a small henna tattoo, and Jason and I dressed up in traditional Emirati clothing. Sadly our camera got some sand it in so we'll need to buy a new one because the lens won't open, but I will post whatever photos we took when I can.

So, that's it! Today we leave for Egypt for two weeks. We are debating whether to try to go to Bethlehem for Christmas or not....it might be a hassle trying to get there, but we'll see!

I hope all is well with you and I look forward to seeing you when we are home in two weeks.

Travel update - Dubai

hey guys,

we're here in Dubai, after spending a few days in Bangkok and an evening layover in Mumbai. Bangkok was great. We spent one day shopping, and the next morning drove around to see temples (I will post photos when I am on a better computer). It was fun to be back on familiar ground, checking out some old sights and some new ones.

The trip in Mumbai was interesting. It's such a culture shock to be in India, even when you think you have prepared yourself (I am sure it's not like this everywhere). The second you get off the plane you're being shoved around - Jason got squished in the bus by people shoving their way out. We got a taxi who must have stopped at least 6 times along the 2 km trip to the hotel to ask random people how to get to our hotel. We were able to see Mumbai during the day...the trip to the airport was pretty chaotic, with people driving all over the place, others living in shacks...it's quite the sight. The security at the airport was insane. It seemed that our passports were being checked every few minutes by army security. Even driving in, there was an army guy behind a pile of sandbags...I guess as an added precaution if things get scary. Anyways, it feels good to be out of there, even though we're in a Muslim country for the first time with a new set of rules. We are staying in the old part of Dubai in a two star hotel (the Burj al arab was booked, sadly...haha) for a few nights, and then we'll go from there. So far, Dubai looks like nothing we have ever seen before.

We'll post new pictures when we can!

Off to Bangkok

hey guys,

When we arrived in Auckland in Friday, our flight to Bangkok was cancelled. The next flight out to Bangkok was on Sunday, so we have been hanging out and taking it easy in Auckland since Friday afternoon. I guess I could think of worst places to get stuck in for two days. We are in Bangkok until Tuesday, where we fly out to Mumbai and stay in Mumbai overnight only to catch our 9:30 am flight to Dubai the next day.

So, nothing too new...we're looking forward to do some shopping in Bangkok! :)

We will update the blog with more exciting news soon...

Bula from Fiji!

Bula! (hello in Fijian) We are back on the mainland after an incredible week of relaxing, snorkelling, drinking, learning about the Fijian culture and more relaxing. We left stinkin' early on the 27th to hit up our first island, Nacula, where we stayed at a resort called Safe Landing for four nights. The highlights were the cave trip and the visit to the Fijian village. During the cave trek, we swam in a freshwater cave and even swam underwater to get to a closed roof cave (that was a little freaky...you have to dive underwater to get to the other side). During the visit to the Fijian village, we attended a preschool's end of year presentation. The children were so friendly and smiley! They are just mesmerized by our toys like digital cameras and ipods. We even went back on the Sunday to attend a church service. We don't really know what they were talking about because the whole thing took place in Fijian, but I am sure they pray about the same things that most Christians pray about.

After Safe Landing, we visited the island of Waya and stayed at the Sunset Waya resort. It was much more basic than at Safe Landing (including the addition of mice and cockroaches), but the activities were more fun. We went on a snorkel and shark feeding trip. Yes, we swam near a reef shark. At one point, one of the guides grabbed the shark (after luring it with a fish) and I got to pet it. Don't worry, it was a reef shark, which only eats fish, but it's still pretty crazy to be swimming around and seeing the shark come closer. I have seen Jaws one too many times to be completely comfortable with the idea of swimming near a shark! We also went on a mountain trek and got great views of another village. We also went mango picking and ate Fijian apples.

We spent our last night at Beachcomber, also known as the party island. It wasn't incredibly jumpin', but our standards are pretty high from partying on bigger party islands in Thailand.

So, here we are on our last night in Fiji. We are staying at another hostel this time, and even managed to get a beautiful private room. Jason is feeling under the weather so I think a good night's sleep will do him a world of good.

We leave tomorrow for Auckland then to Bangkok on a layover. It seems that the situation in Bangkok is fine, but in Mumbai it's a little sketchy. The travel agent who booked our round the world ticket informed us that India airlines are changing reservations free of charge, so we will likely scrap India and maybe either stay longer in Thailand or go sooner to Dubai. We will keep you posted!

Here are some recent photos of our travels. From left to right, I figured out how to mess around with our camera so I did a colour swap with the sunset; the inside of the open roof cave we visited; me with a Fijian child (I think it was a girl, but it's hard to tell. He/she was so cute!); two Fijian girls chillin' out with the ipod; the view from the mountain at Safe Landing; and Jason snorkelling with tons of fish (our guide put cracker crumbs in the water to attract the fish).

I hope all is well back home. Don't be shy to give us an update on what you have been up to!

quick update

hey guys,

just a super quick update since internet on Beachcomber is ridiculously expensive. Apparently there is some civil unrest in Bangkok, where we will be in two days. We have heard through various travellers that the airport is closed. It is supposed to open again tomorrow...we have contacted our travel agent who booked our around the world ticket to find out our options if the airport remains closed and if we cannot fly into Bangkok to make our connecting flight to Mumbai, where we will be for four days before hitting up Dubai. I assure you that we will take every precaution necessary if we feel that it is unsafe to travel to either Bangkok or Mumbai, where recent activity has made some international news.

On a positive note, we are having a marvelous time in Fiji! More updates to come with photos when we are back on the mainland.

M & J xoxo