Our "Indiana Jones" Escapade in Egypt

Yours sincerely and the wife have done a bit of travelling before our retirement for fear of getting knee ache and not being able to walk. As you know the tour buses stop further and further from tourist spots for fear of affecting precious historical structures.

Our best so far is Egypt in 2007. It was a passage down over two thousand years of history. Before going, siblings and good friends lovingly expressed their concern: "No better place to go to ar?" "Choi si lor " (literally translated from Hokkien as "Looking for death?!") Well, when your time is not yet up, it is not yet up. One may slip, fall and die in the bathroom, or in his sleep. How careful one lives his life, death is inevitable at the end. So, what? We updated our Will before making our journey and upgraded our insurance.

The Egypt escapade was thrilling and exploratory. It was a bit like Indiana Jones' adventure. KLIA to Doha by Qatar Airline. A short transit, then flew in to Cairo. A day was spent with the Sphynx and the pyramids at Giza. Awesome. From here it was a coach ride to Alexandria. Then, a pre-war train journey to Aswan. From here it was by Nile River cruise to Luxor, the Valley of Kings where tombs of Pharaohs line the valley, including that of Tutankhamen.

Another adventurous trip was our journey to Abu Simbel from Luxor to King Ramsey II's reconstructed temple after the flooding of the Aswan Dam. It was a architectural marvel. The journey was by a convoy of 40 coaches escorted by several jeeps of soldiers. The journey started at 4.00 am through the eastern tip of the Sahara Desert, 10 km from the border of hostile war torn Sudan. We saw the glorious sun rose over it. Situated in front of a meander of the Nile, Abu Simbel is awesome !

Of course, the camel ride (nothing tickles my bums more that the humps of the camels), horse carriage ride, balusia (sail boat) cruise, belly dances ( The one we watched was in her retiring years) etc were thrown in. Surprisingly, we hardly saw females in commercial establishments (shops, hotels etc) outside of Cairo and Alexandria. The favourite colour seems to be black.

One small advice, if you have anything to buy, hold your cash tightly in one hand, get your change and then hand over your money. The petty traders have a bad habit of not having small change so they push all sort of small, unsaleable knick knacks to you! They can be very friendly, smiling and insistent!!!

Besides this, the usual "baseeh" (tips) demand goes all along the way irritatingly.

But, don't let these mosquitoes bug you. Move along. Take things easy. Smile a lot. The wrold has a lot to offer.

Some pictures to share with you.

"Chukran" ( this is thank you in Egypt) for visiting. I even greeted them with "Asalamualaikum" but still no mercy at the shops and stalls. They still made their "kill."

Following are the 'proofs'!!



This is the "Volkswagon" model of the belly dancer I was talking about, not the "Perodua Kancil" on Hollywood movies. 6 footer! I though they use to be small and petite. She made my nite! How? She picked me to shake my hips with her. Sort of interactive performance. Of course, Marie (the wife) was not jealous, or was she? She should be proud. Her husband of all the men there that nite! Jealous ! Hey, you men out there. Such women are like the places in National Geographic, you just see and appreciate. You can never hope to visit!!!

Yours sincerely and his globe trotter wife in front of Karnak Temple of Amon Ra. Massive site with towering obelisk (Pointed pillar structure, You can see standing infront of Egyptian temples. There is one in Paris. I Wonder how it got there.)
Anyway, yours sincerely had been to the "Ali Baba Museum" in London. Everything carted away from the colonies in the name of safe keeping.

Try to watch the light and sound show here at night. It is very mythical and legendary.




As you can see, this part of the wall carving is black and worn out. See properly! It has been touched by almost all male visitors to the embarrassment of the females. It is the ..the..
..the er..er...phallus of the fertility god. A touch promises male libido ! Every male was shying off. So, I took the lead before everyone rushed in. Anyway, nothing to lose. If it works, all to gain! Hehehe (Observe that young people add this to their blog. So I copied.)

Take another good look. Click and enlarge. YOU CAN ALSO TOUCH IT ON YOUR monitor. Just touch it. (Remember: Nothing to lose)




The massive Kom-Ombo Temple. An area of immortal archaelogical heritage. It takes 15 people to embrace one of the pillars.

Some of the granite statutes are still intact.

Only the roof was not replaced or else the place is as good as thousand of year ago.







Yours sincerely's bettter half. She got me to travel by booking a package for two and told me straight in the face years ago: "I cash booked already. If you don't go it is burnt!!!" She knew well that I won't let it burn. Since my first trip to Medan, Indonesia years ago, I have been bitten by the travel bug. And now we are spending our children's inheritance.

Marie posing in front of Kom-Ombo Temple.
Forgot to ask her to relax, this is not a "Negaraku" attention!

Among the good things travelling with ladies is that they carry everything: tissue papers, "Minyak Cap Kapak." Disinfectant Cream, Panadol,
plasters, toothpicks, nail clipper, you name it, they have it. So, does Marie.