December last year, I was lounging around in the middle of an Egyptian oasis with Pommy as we wrote out our to-do list for this year. My list was ludicrously long and consisted mainly of travel destinations...one of which was to hike Mt Kilimanjaro.
In 3 weeks time, as I trek up to the roof of Africa...I can tick this off the list. Hopefully I make it to the top of this 5890m mountain, haphazard training notwithstanding.
Had it not been for my 2 week eating and drinking binge through HK and Sydney...and another week lost to the Linda Blair diet (minus the head spinning) - I would be quietly confident I was in semi-fit condition. Alas, good intentions and all that. Some hard-core gym cramming methinks for the next 2.5 weeks and then some heavy praying on the way up the mountain is in order.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Q2 08 Update
Been quite tardy about updating this blog for a while, non-stop travels over the weekends and glorious daylight over the weekdays are to blame.
Since Egypt in early Jan, I've been hopping about (in no particular order):
- Barcelona - ostensibly a cultural trip to check out Picasso and Gaudi but in reality more of a shopping trip for hip spanish clothes
- Andalusia (Seville, Cordoba, Granada) - Spain again, can't get enough of their paella and very cool sites like the Mezquita and Alhambra, loved the local flamenco performance we caught. Did I mention the paella?
- Shannon, Ireland - driving trip over a weekend and when I say driving, I mean full on driving - we drove non-stop over 2 days and covered the very picturesque Dingle peninsula, up to the awesome cliffs of Moher, the Burren, up to the Sky Road near the Coonamara forest. Ireland is gorgeous and hooning about the narrow roads at 100km/hr was a good laugh
- Brussels and Bruges - very cool comic paintings around Brussels which was fun trying to find. Bruges was just gorgeous
- Paris and Versaille - I unequivocably love Paris and can return again and again
- Weekend hiking trip in Wales - walking nonstop for 6.5 hours from Chepstow to Redbrook (nearly 30km) left me hobbling about town for 2 weeks due to a sprained foot. Very foolhardy to say the least, but at least we saw a slice of Wales and the very strangely named 'Offa's Dyke trail'!
- Oh yeah I checked out Stonehenge and Bath as well during a random weekend, had the best scones there!
So I've been quite focused this year, traveling a lot and making more travel plans. Am heading to Scotland in a couple weeks to hike Ben Nevis and check out the mysterious lochs. July will be an extended trip up to Norway for the glorious fjords and the midnight sun all the way in a little town called Bodo - I can't wait to pass the arctic circle!
Not much else has been happening in my life apart from the unending packing and repacking I've been doing. I've been quite remiss with London life apart from what I can squeeze in during the weekdays which is surprisingly a lot given the wealth of shows here! Came back tonite from Lord of the Rings, unfortunately I slept through 3/4 of this 'musical', it was abysmal.
All else has been great and getting better now that spring is here.
Since Egypt in early Jan, I've been hopping about (in no particular order):
- Barcelona - ostensibly a cultural trip to check out Picasso and Gaudi but in reality more of a shopping trip for hip spanish clothes
- Andalusia (Seville, Cordoba, Granada) - Spain again, can't get enough of their paella and very cool sites like the Mezquita and Alhambra, loved the local flamenco performance we caught. Did I mention the paella?
- Shannon, Ireland - driving trip over a weekend and when I say driving, I mean full on driving - we drove non-stop over 2 days and covered the very picturesque Dingle peninsula, up to the awesome cliffs of Moher, the Burren, up to the Sky Road near the Coonamara forest. Ireland is gorgeous and hooning about the narrow roads at 100km/hr was a good laugh
- Brussels and Bruges - very cool comic paintings around Brussels which was fun trying to find. Bruges was just gorgeous
- Paris and Versaille - I unequivocably love Paris and can return again and again
- Weekend hiking trip in Wales - walking nonstop for 6.5 hours from Chepstow to Redbrook (nearly 30km) left me hobbling about town for 2 weeks due to a sprained foot. Very foolhardy to say the least, but at least we saw a slice of Wales and the very strangely named 'Offa's Dyke trail'!
- Oh yeah I checked out Stonehenge and Bath as well during a random weekend, had the best scones there!
So I've been quite focused this year, traveling a lot and making more travel plans. Am heading to Scotland in a couple weeks to hike Ben Nevis and check out the mysterious lochs. July will be an extended trip up to Norway for the glorious fjords and the midnight sun all the way in a little town called Bodo - I can't wait to pass the arctic circle!
Not much else has been happening in my life apart from the unending packing and repacking I've been doing. I've been quite remiss with London life apart from what I can squeeze in during the weekdays which is surprisingly a lot given the wealth of shows here! Came back tonite from Lord of the Rings, unfortunately I slept through 3/4 of this 'musical', it was abysmal.
All else has been great and getting better now that spring is here.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A taste of the middle east
Came back recently from a 3 week jaunt around Egypt and Jordan with Pommy - fascinating sites and really glad we did it, though neither of us will be heading back to Egypt any time soon. I guess one reason is that we covered a lot of ground in our 2 weeks there, we saw all the main sites and probably all the not-so main sites. Cruised through Cairo and the obligatory tourist attractions like the sphinx, pyramids, Egyptian museum (very cool!) Citadel, bazaars, Coptic Cairo - basically all the usual destinations you see when you head to Cairo. It was nice but we could never shake the feeling of being stared at (and not in a nice way!) plus the hassling just drained us out.
Next stop was Luxor, pretty little city. The definite highlight here was our 4.30am wake up call for a hot air balloon ride to see the sunset. The setting for some gorgeous sunrise photos. Now for those of you who have seen my photos, you know I have a thing for sunrise and sunset. This particular sunrise left me gobsmacked.
In Luxor we saw the usual temple sites which have all blurred in my mind. I remember the Karnak and Luxor temple, though can't tell them apart in photos now... From there we made trips to Abu Simbel (this one I remember, gorgeous setting by the sea), Edfu, Isna, Kom Ombo - these ones blur too...
We then headed to Aswan, my favourite Egyptian city bc it was low-key and easygoing. We saw some cool things like the Philae Temple (which was moved piece by piece from it's underwater resting place to a nearby island), and some other stuff...how vague do I sound? it's only been 2 weeks since I've been back and I've forgotten lots of the little details already!
One thing I do remember was our trip out to the desert - what an awesome experience! We camped overnight on xmas eve literally under the moon and stars, cocooned under 5 layes of blankets. I couldn't bear to poke my head out during the night bc the temperature dropped so dramatically, but the night sky was just so gloriously lit by the full moon and myriad twinkling stars that it was worth the cold I got the next morning.
From the White Desert we headed to the Sinai region to climb Mt. Sinai. We definitely did not take the easy relaxing route! So yet another 2.30am wake up call for a summit to Mt. Sinai for the sunrise! I can't say it was a worthwhile sunrise given how cold we were but it was pretty cool to say we were on the same mountain that Moses (apparently) received the 10 commandments...
We then took a well-deserved break at a resort in Sharm El Sheik, it was nice to relax but come the afternoon I was bored silly and just couldn't wait to leave. Our next destination was to Jordan via the ferry. It took us the entire day to take the 1hour fast ferry from Egypt to Jordan - typical Egyptian efficiency! But we finally got to Aqaba port and from there to Wadi Rum desert.
Now that was another incredible desert experience! From the early morning sunrise over our tents (we actually had a roof over our heads, what a surprise!) to the amazing desert scenery, Pommy and I were absolutely hooked!
We got to experience a Bedouin style make-over with some red scrapings from the mountain, we had tea in the middle of the desert with desert mint picked from the nearby mountain. We got to bump along on makeshift seats on the back of a ute, it was so much fun!
Next stop was a few days in Petra, of the rose-city fame. The famous rose building was actually part of an entire city, so much more extensive than I expected! Pommy and I spent the day exploring all the amazing sandstone buildings and rock formations, it was the best way to spend new years eve.
Now on to New Years Day - we spent that floating on the Dead Sea...what a great way to start 2008 :)
So that was our trip in a nutshell, oh I forgot we had to head back to Egypt after Jordan (was quite heartbroken by that) and we spent another day in Alexandria...which was a nice enough port city but after Jordan, it just couldn't compare.
Next stop was Luxor, pretty little city. The definite highlight here was our 4.30am wake up call for a hot air balloon ride to see the sunset. The setting for some gorgeous sunrise photos. Now for those of you who have seen my photos, you know I have a thing for sunrise and sunset. This particular sunrise left me gobsmacked.
In Luxor we saw the usual temple sites which have all blurred in my mind. I remember the Karnak and Luxor temple, though can't tell them apart in photos now... From there we made trips to Abu Simbel (this one I remember, gorgeous setting by the sea), Edfu, Isna, Kom Ombo - these ones blur too...
We then headed to Aswan, my favourite Egyptian city bc it was low-key and easygoing. We saw some cool things like the Philae Temple (which was moved piece by piece from it's underwater resting place to a nearby island), and some other stuff...how vague do I sound? it's only been 2 weeks since I've been back and I've forgotten lots of the little details already!
One thing I do remember was our trip out to the desert - what an awesome experience! We camped overnight on xmas eve literally under the moon and stars, cocooned under 5 layes of blankets. I couldn't bear to poke my head out during the night bc the temperature dropped so dramatically, but the night sky was just so gloriously lit by the full moon and myriad twinkling stars that it was worth the cold I got the next morning.
From the White Desert we headed to the Sinai region to climb Mt. Sinai. We definitely did not take the easy relaxing route! So yet another 2.30am wake up call for a summit to Mt. Sinai for the sunrise! I can't say it was a worthwhile sunrise given how cold we were but it was pretty cool to say we were on the same mountain that Moses (apparently) received the 10 commandments...
We then took a well-deserved break at a resort in Sharm El Sheik, it was nice to relax but come the afternoon I was bored silly and just couldn't wait to leave. Our next destination was to Jordan via the ferry. It took us the entire day to take the 1hour fast ferry from Egypt to Jordan - typical Egyptian efficiency! But we finally got to Aqaba port and from there to Wadi Rum desert.
Now that was another incredible desert experience! From the early morning sunrise over our tents (we actually had a roof over our heads, what a surprise!) to the amazing desert scenery, Pommy and I were absolutely hooked!
We got to experience a Bedouin style make-over with some red scrapings from the mountain, we had tea in the middle of the desert with desert mint picked from the nearby mountain. We got to bump along on makeshift seats on the back of a ute, it was so much fun!
Next stop was a few days in Petra, of the rose-city fame. The famous rose building was actually part of an entire city, so much more extensive than I expected! Pommy and I spent the day exploring all the amazing sandstone buildings and rock formations, it was the best way to spend new years eve.
Now on to New Years Day - we spent that floating on the Dead Sea...what a great way to start 2008 :)
So that was our trip in a nutshell, oh I forgot we had to head back to Egypt after Jordan (was quite heartbroken by that) and we spent another day in Alexandria...which was a nice enough port city but after Jordan, it just couldn't compare.
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