Safari II.

We had a minibus for the two of us and our driver. The roof of the minibus gets to be lifted so we could stand up and watch the nature and animals freely. And what we saw was amazing... gazellas, lions, elephants, giraffes, antilopes, monkeys, buffaloes, zebras, emus,... and a turtle!

SAFARI for 5 Euro in Kenya

When coming to Kenya I would never dare to think I will manage to go for Safari. Firstly, I thought there will be no time, since the training is from 8.30am to 6pm each day. Secondly, I assumed the price shall be so high, I will not be able to afford it. But sometimes the life decides otherwise.

When receiveing the training programme, I have noticed we have two days off - Friday and Saturday. There was some programme organized but I thought I could try to check how much would Safari do and in case try to go there.

The most amazing Safari in Kenya is supposedly Masai Mara, except all warned me that it takes some 8 hours on road one direction. I talked to my collegue here, a guy from Slovakia if he would like to join me, so that in case I do not go alone. The lady who was to help us arrange did not really respond, so I decided I will sms the Kenyan guy whom I met on the plane, as he offered to arrange the Safari for me through some Travel Agency he knows.

Well and as it worked out, he has booked for us a semi-luxurious tent with build in new bathrooms by Talek river in Masai Mara. The drive was to take some 5-6 hours one way, which was fine. But most importantly, he insisted he will fund the whole trip no matter how much I have insisted upon paying our costs.

To be honest I could not really believe it, so I kept on expecting what is gonna happen or what my go wrong. But by 7am on Friday this Safari minibus comes with a driver and we set on a trip. The road went quite fast as we kept on talking on all possible subjects. Early past midday we made it to Masai Mara. And within some hour we made it to our place where we were to stay over the night. It felt like little oasis, the place was incredible. The place is like a garden and each tent is separated by trees.

We got lunch and by 4pm were ready to go on the safari.
The end of first part for now.

Travelling to Kenya

Actually the trip to Kenya, although long was pretty unsual.
I flew to Vienna first with tiny plane, I thought such planes are used only in Indonesia. So that was rather an unpleasant surprise.

I boarded the plane to fly to Cairo at 3pm. I was sitting next to one African lady who was pretty loud with expressing all inconveniencies as well as highlights from her travelling. This way we have learnt (why flying Egyptian airlines) how outrageous it is that there is no alcohol available and that she is really getting thirsty! :o)

There were quite few male flight attendants and one started to joke with me, ... being flushed to the toilet, ... but that was all to turn out great as suddenly the flight attendants comes to my place and asks me to go to the back. When I come he serves me 1st class deserts and invites me to visit his IT business while waiting for my flight in Cairo.

As I need a visa, I stayed with my new African friend and we were joined by one more Kenyan man. They both spent lots of time talking which spared me the effort and I could just listen and do nothing. The African lady managed to find out that there is a bar serving alcohol available at the airport and she insisted upon inviting us.

I agreed to get a whisky. I forgot my alcohol pad which I need on Sunday nights, so I used this whisky, poured it on the napkin and was ready for my weekly activity. :o))

Boarding plane to Kenya was good, my Kenyan "friend" who has invited me for food in Cairo airport also managed to arrange me three seats to sleep on at the plane, so that was great. Getting up at 5am was thus slightly easier.

I got picked up by the NGO staff. We were driven to this land that this NGO owns. After seeing it in the morning, I call it the kingdom inside of the republic. It is incredible. Place located on a hill will little vilas scattered all over the place, flowers, blossoming trees, cut bushes... no more to say to that...

And I am soooo sleepy.

Some collect stamps...

I think I have not yet mentioned that as some collect stamps, my passion is collecting "driving car in different countries". I find it simply amazing to have a chance to sit in a car in a new country and try their roads...

I drove jeep in Thailand... it was the first time for me to drive on the other side of the road. It is not easy, especially when one keeps on turning windshield wipers instead of indicators :o).

Hand-over Ceremony

Traditional dance performed by girls from Aceh.

Near to Phratong Island.

Indonesia

In order to get to Meulaboh in West Aceh, you need to fly with cessna. I thought no one will get me on that excuse for a plane. But so far that flight was the best I have ever experienced. Only a shame I could not try to sit in the co-pilot's seat.

Some of the views from Thailand

Home again

Yesterday night I made it home from Dhaka. The trip was quite cool. We were to fly from Dhaka to Bahrain at 5am and I guess due to me being a girl, me and my collegue, got new boarding passes and ushered to the 1st class. Being foreigners probably meant that we were in 1st class and not business class were the rest of women and their partners were seated.

I pretended to sleep for some time... amaaaaaaaaazing amount of space for my long legs... and woke up just as our plane for approaching Dubai. I looked out of my window to see the city but the plam islands were on the other side so I slipped between the seats on the other side to see them... that was amazing view. I got to hear about it so many times and it was great to finally see it. The sun was out and no clouds around, thus the whole Saudi Arabia, or rather the sand, was clearly visible from the plane. Later we had the view of Israel, Cyprus, Turkey and finally Greece, where we landed before our final flight to Prauge.

Whenever I land in Prague with Czech airlines the first thing I hear is the Vltava symphony, the most beautiful piece of music ever created...

Hena

Hena is big in Bangladesh, both for men and women... Men die their hair, beards and nails mainly... women on the other hand paint palms, top of their fingers as well as nails, top of hands and feet... It is interesting to see how "make-up" can differ in each country.

The South Trip

Yesterday morning we departed to south. Gradually we could see how the amount of land under water was growing. The south was the most affected area and still is. The padi fields (rice fields) are pretty much non-existent any longer. There are people on boats all around, bamboo stick bridges are built to pass from houses to roads over the marsh lands.

We have been on the road for less than two hours when we approached the Padma (Ganges) river. Another really cool river if you ask me. Here there are no brigdes yet, there is thus ferry system (with Dannish boats from 1986). A bridge is planned to be build here starting from next year.

After two more hours we arrived at one boarding school. A great welcome was awating us. There was also this girl performing a tribal dance and it was amazing. She was really extremely skillfull and you could see the elegance in every move. Coming to this, I was very surprised to realize that the Bengal people do not have movement in blood. I used to hear about Latin Americans that as soon as they move one is thrilled watching them, as they are born to dance. I somehow expected the same about Bengal people. Many girls dancing though proved me wrong. The performace was nice but that was it. Thus seeing this girl made a real difference.

Anyways, after few hours we left for another place where we were to spend the night. It was the last school to visit during our trip here. Yet, the school outstanded all the previous ones in welcoming and the evening programme.

As we entered the gate, heavy rain was falling down and the sun set so it was complete darkness. We were asked to leave the car and suddenly could hear drums. There were girls and boys lined up with machetes, marching to the sound of the drums as we were walking between the two lines of students. On the side of the path there were more children performing traditional work, like fishing, milking a cow and boat racing.

The astonishing part was when we approached this "statue of liberty" as the principal called it. I came closer and saw three statues and could not believe that they actually were three real boys completely covered with mud. They were so still that in the night for a bit I could not tell if they are alive. It was amazing but I wonder how would I feel waiting for half an hour in rain all covered with mud. Amazing.

The evening programme was great as well. As the children tried to introduce to us as many tribal differences as possible through dances as well as little theather plays. All kids were laughing and seemed to have good fun.

As the night progressed, the rain became heavier as well as the wind got much stronger. A storm was coming, which eventually left several trees dropped down, several electricity posts were damaged and the whole campus (as well as the region) was without electricity. As we were told, if the storm continues and the waves hit the river, it is impossible to pass the Padma river on a ferry and we would have to go somewhere up north to use a brigde over the river. Fortunately, the rain eased as well as the wind and we made it safely to Dhaka the very next day.

Paharpur

Paharpur, the biggest buddhist monastery south of Himalaya. There was one Bengal family and us... usually lot more tourist come but probably due to Ramadan the place was deserted and we could enjoy the peacefullness of the place... and climb around as much as possible :o).

Eid celebrations

End of Ramadan means that a week of holidays comes. Most families thus try to get reunited. It is estimated that 8 million people left the capital city, Dhaka, to travel to villages to visit relatives. Now it is pleasure to drive in Dhaka as the city is empty :o)))

Eid streets

Eid mubarak was heard all over tonight. We went out to eat with our Czech friends. Funnily enough we ended up eating at Pizza Hut (all other restaurants in the area were closed?!) and those who have been to developing countries do understanding that rather rich locals go to such places. That is why the eating turned into watching all the made up girls with stunning make-ups and expensive saries as well as men being all dressed up in their national clothes. Surprisingly enough the streets that usually were full of poor locals and riksha drivers completely changed and were filled with rather rich Bengali driving their expensive cars and enjoying the Eid with their friends. To be entirely honest i would have loved to just sit at some spot unnoticed and watch all what is going on. This is the side of Bangladesh that does not really get to be revealed much... the suffering, beggars, rikshas, that is what usually seems so typical for Bangladesh.

Alcohol

There is very strict policy about alcohol in Bangladesh. Once in a while police breaks into rich Bengali house and if alcohol is found there the family can be enjailed for more than 5 years. Sometimes the family may be asked to pay 8million of local currency for each member of the family to ensure they shall be released after 5 years from jail and not after 10 or 15 years. It is quite interesting to see such tough rules whilst during Ramadan one sees some restaurants open and even some people eat out visibly, as well as those of other religion who is not really restricted to eat out nor asked to follow the fast.

Rab-1

I was introduced tonight to Rab-1. And to be honest was quite surprised something like this exists here. There is no real government right now. I understood that the two female leaders of the two most popular political parties are in jail... and right now there is this temporary government which is supposed to lead the country to democratic elections and stabilize the country a bit. There is actually some sort of martial law over the country. And now back to Rab-1. Those are cars that carry soldiers who can kill anyone if they decide that the person is doing something wrong. They cannot kill foreigners but they can kill without a need to ask permission any Bengali on the spot...

The West Trip

Early in the morning we left for Joypurhat in the west. At one point we got into a line of tructs that has hardly moved. After some waiting our driver decided to overtake the line of the trucks and buses on the left (fortunately the drivers were very organized and left quite some space free there). When we approached the front of the line, the problem there seemed to be a broken road for some 100m where cars could pass only in one line. And thus the police was controlling the traffic. We have lost some 3hours in this jam. As we passed the narrow place and continued on the road, which was full of holes, I have counted that there were 570 trucks lined in the cue in the opposite direction. The trip usually takes 4 hours. It took us 8. We have arrived at night to another school where we were to stay the night. The accommodation is usually very good as foreigners usually do get the best available.

The next day we were on the road again visitting some more schools and were to come at night to the same school. The room was very nice but at some point I realized that there are way too many mosquitoes in the room and there was no mosquito net. I tried to kill some but realized that the three metres long was is covered by some 50 mosquitoes and I have no way to kill them all. Especially since I do not like to kill them. So through sms I managed to move to my collegues room where three more guys were staying. Fortunately I got my room and the two other guys went to sleep into a living room.

I get shivers imagining what would happen if I stayed in my room and turned off the light...

The Norht Trip I.

7. 10. 2007
During ealry morning we have left for north region. The best part of this trip so far. For several hours were going norht in a van. Passed the Mymensignh city, as well as Havan national park. We were passing through forests, there were cotton fields, flooded fields, pedi (rice) fields and tens and tens of little villages filled with hundreds of people. The road was cramped. One truck was passing after another as well as row of buses was heading down south to Dhaka.

We have continued as far as possible by our van. At some point though the road become more of a path and cars could not access it. That is where motorbikes were waiting for us (with drivers) and we were to continue to our destination on them. In one word - AWESOME. I loved it. I was holding the driver with one hand and taking photos with the other. The path is narrow, you pass lots of little bridges, the air blows around and is refreshing. Simply amazing. Twice we had to get off the motorbike and cross a river on a small boat. When we arrived at the boarding school, we were 1km away from Indian border.

Dhaka area

4. 10. 2007
After some work programme in the morning which included some more visits to local schools we have visited the local bazar - Bongo bazar. It could be also called Bongo sauna, if you ask me. It is a huge place with hundreds of little stands and narrow paths where all sort of clothes can be bought for ridiculously low price. The clothes that are sold there are of great quality as they were intended for export but due to some slight many times unnoticible damage they did not pass the high quality check. T-shirt for half US dollar, shirts for 2 US dollars etc. can be found there.

Coming from a football country, it is funny to see little boys running around in the field playing cricket :o)).

Tribes and names

There are many tribes that speak local dialects. Many children thus do not speak Bangla. Most of the time when someone mentions a surname you straight away know what tribe he comes from. The locals of course may tell also by the look or accent of the locals.

One tribe I recognize a bit. That is the Garo tribe, they live in the north and most of them are on the Indian side of the border. The Garo tribe comes from Tibet (some 800 year ago) and they still have some traces in their nature that make them rather different from other local people. The very positive aspect of Garo people is that they are organized and on time. :o)

There is eg. one tribe in the North West called Santal. Then if your name is Marandi, Hembrom, Soren, Murmu, Kisku, Chorea, Tudu or Baski, you are from this tribve. On the other hand there are some other, probably smaller tribes, which means that your names is the name of the tribe such as Tripura or Chakma (these tribes come form the Chittagong area).

Garbage

Actually, I was thinking that there is hardly any garbage vissible along the way. Few years back it was forbidden to use plastic bags as the huge number of them kept on plugging up the canalization. Another reason for not much garbage in the streets is that everything has its price here. Plastic bottles, cans, the leaves of pineapple (for rugs), the skin of pineapple (for buttons)... simply everything can be resued and thus all kinds of rubbish are being collected which probably leaves the countryside look quite clean...

Railways

There are new railway tracks being build. But the reason why I want to mention the rail here is that they build broad and narrow gauge tracks together thus avoid the necessity to reload trains that would have broad gauge instead of narrow. So when you look at the track you will see three rails. How cool is that :o)

Roads and paths

Most of the roads and paths are about a meter higher above the surrounding fields thus if lucky at least the roads are saved from the floods. But that is not a rule and there are lots of heavily broken roads.

Riksha

One of the most frequent mean of transport is riksha. There are estimation that there are over million riksha men in Dhaka. It seems a lot. On the other hand there are rikshas anywhere you look. I have tried riksha yesterday for a short distance and I was happy it was the first day when the weather was nice and mildly cold.

The men bike everyday. You seem sometimes up to 4 people on a riksha and when they have a little carrige instead then they carry even 12 people. There are two extreme types of weather. Hot or rain. When it is hot, you see sweat running down the face of the men, their jaws are clenched, their muscles are outlined agains the clothes as they make a move at a time. During rain, many of them cover their heads with plastic bag, their clothes are soaked, the roads are slippery.

One wrong move, a slight touch of a car, and the wheels of riksha get twisted and the riksha falls down. Just yesterday I witnessed an accident. One riksha man turned on to a round and a car behind him did not manage to stop. The riksha straight away collapsed and a small girl with her grandma rolled out of it. The girl was obviously in shock but it seemed that excpet several scratches she was not seriously injured.

Fruits

there are banana fields, pineapple fields, as well as sugar cane and others. When the fruits are about to be ripe, they are cut off and brought to a local market from where most of it is send to Dhaka by truck. The fruits are brought to the local market by risha men. You will see tens of guys, young or old, driving riksha with a huge load. All this makes one think what work had to be done before a banana was put one´s plate.

Rice

The colour of the countryside is green. It is the kind of vivid green that shines in the sun. And the green is everywhere. If you wonder what it is then those are the "padi" fileds (fields were rice is grown). I have seen the rice fields on photos but have never seen them in a real life. It is incredible. And I never knew that rice grows pretty much like wheat. Although the fields are filled with water I managed to get a stem with rice. :o)

The interesting part is that when you plant the rice, the little plant will grow pretty much on one spot and will become very bushy. So that is when the work comes, as you need to take the separate parts of the rice and plant them elswhere in the field, where they will again become very bushy and you will again have to replant some of them to a free place on a field.

Eventually the rice appears and the leaves turn yellow. Then once you harvest the rice you need to beat out the rice away from the stems. Then you steamboil the rice to remove the cover of the rice. And I guess only after that is the stage when you can sell the rice. This is how I understood the process...

I met one lady who used to work on a rice field. She said the water was reaching up to their chest sometimes while the worst was working during the winter time.

Brahmaputra

I would have never dreamt that once I shall be crossing Brahmaputra river (in Bangladesh the river goes by the name of Jamuna). Brahmaputra is a river about what we have studied when we were in basic school and it is incredible to see such river. The bridge at the place where we crossed is around 5km long. The other bank of the river is not visible from where you start. No wonder Bangladesh suffers from so many floods annually.

Tourists

There seem to be no tourists at all. We have wondered the country a little and so far I have met 10 foreigners. 5 in the plane to Chittagong, they all seem as either businessmen or NGO workers. 3 of them in a hotel, again NGO workers and the 2 other were also working here.

I guess the reason is that there are other rather entertaining areas in Bangladesh where tourists might be found as well as we have quite few times entered areas where special authorization is required so I guess tourists might pick other places to go to.

The East Trip II.

Second day we have travelled to the north of Chittagong. We have visited several schools there. It is strange that seeing how poor the people are always makes me sad. There are things done to improve at least some condition in the lives of people, not all, of course. But the process is way too slow. And in Bangladesh there are way too many people. Imagine that Bangladesh has population nearing 150 million of people. Then you have a country like Iceland whose size is slightly smaller and the population is 300 thousand people.

The schools in this region are way worse than what I was about to see in the other parts of the country. At one place, the school was dark and the students could hardly see. And no electricity ALTHOUGH the electricity is available in this area and the school should have the money from sponzors or the organization to be able to pay for it. It is just the will to make it available there...

Anyways, the day passed by fast. It was hot which makes everything more tiring. By 5pm we have reached the airport and were heading back to Dhaka. The plane was an hour late. As we learnt the plane that we were to use broke down and new plane flew in from Dhaka. I was very happy to land. :o))

There are lots of bricks being made in Bangladesh. You can tell already from a distance by a tall chimney that indicates the place of brick production...

The incredible part is that as soon as you have holes in a road they use bricks to repair the roads. It looks really cool... Grey road with red patches... :o)

The East Trip I.

2. 10. 2007
As a regular monitor trip, three people from our organization has departed on a trip to Bangladesh. The project we run in this country is supporting the education of Bengal children. Since there are number of students sponzored in quite few schools, the first trip in the country was going eastwards.

Arriving on Sunday early morning to Dhaka, we had one day to relax a bit and do the few of compulsory visits and yet the very next early morning we headed again towards the airport. We took the domestic flight, with domestic plane to domestic destination of Chittagong. The second largest city of Banlgadesh.

The van that was awaiting us at the airport set for a three hour trip to the Hill Tracts. Expect for the completely new scenery of the country, the constant buzz and movement anywhere you look, the first really exciting moment (although I was extremely excited to land as well) was when we were crossing the river on a ferry with all those riksha men, trucks, locals and little students. The trip continued till we have reached our first school. It is a boarding school up on a hill, thus unaffected by flood. We have been greeted really warmly, got flowers, songs and dances were performed as well as we have a chance to watch the kids during classes.

The first visit pretty much set our minds on track of what has to be done and changed.

After local meal WHICH (to my utter dismay) has never really changed since and we are being constantly served exactly the same food at every new place, has been that time new and very tasty. Yet then I could not wait to try some other local specialities. Ilish... Ilish... Ilish... at each place, with excitement in the hosts eyes we are always told ... Ilish ... you know... Ilish is the national fish here.

In the afternoon we set on a long trip towards south. Using a shortcut we were to pass through some resctricted areas in the region of Bandarban which required a police authorization. Not sure why but at some point we were stopped and had to wait for confirmation from HQ, which meant half hour delay since the communication thanks to the hilly area did not work.

Anyways, continuing down south we have reached Cox´s Bazar. It was before 7pm when we arrived at one village school. The children were waiting there for us the whole day (whatever one might think). Btw, Bengal children are tiny. Some start school around the age of four...

The procedure at each schools usually looks the same... the difference is created by the teacher, the building (if there is any), the supply or no supply of electricity, the school equipment if any... etc...

The night was amazing though, as on our way away from the school we have stopped at the Bay of Bengal. Cox´s Bazar lies on a beach which is supposedly the longest beach in the world. Taking shoes off and feeling the sea was amazing... especially since this October is very hot in Bangladesh.

After a dinner we headed back to Chittagong. Arrived by midnight and seeing the hotel room was one of the most beautiful views ever. Although it was shabby and probably with lots of little animals hiding around...

Btw, no tigers, no sharks, nor other animals were around at the beach (the response to my sms).

I give 10 brand shirts for a service

... very quality and good looking shirts...

Making friends with lizards also brings sorrow to your life. Yesterday when in a bathroom I noticed something lying on the ground. It was a lizard.... hmm... it was a dead lizard. (this is the sad part)

The shirts goes to the one who will come and take the lizard away from the bathroom...

Bangladeshi news - 6

I live on the first floor of a brick colonial-looking guest house. I live here alone. My collegues live downstairs. It is beautiful place. Comfortable place and till yesterday if felt I am the only one living here.

Yesteday night I was proved wrong. I have a little zoo here but fortunately no cocroaches (yet). But to put it straight, there are animals I like to live with and animals I dont like to live with.

I have one inhabitant here who is a tiny 3cm long lizard. I dont mind living with him. He is cute and mostly stays on a wall away from me. I have my territory, he has his territory and we are both happy.

Then there are the rest of the animals who I do not like to share the appartment with. Mosquitoes and all sorts of insect. I dont like insect. And I kill insect (I apologize for hurting feelings of those who defend insect rights). But since I always have to look away when I kill, I need a big thing to kill the insect with. Yuck.

Now few tips. Pet bottle serves as a great weapon. And believe it or not, it is possible to kill a flying mosquito with it! I tried twice and both time it worked. Not sure if I only knocked them unconscious... as the second hit after the mosquito lies on its back on a ground is fatal.

When outside of city there are 6 types of transportation on the road... rikshas, threewheelers, jeeps, vans, trucks and buses. Vans and jeeps are boring... the rest is incredibly colourful.

Bangladeshi news - 5

Bangladeshi men are born with antisuicidal gene, otherwise I find no other explanation how they can survive the car driving every day.

I have experienced some crazy driving. I cant believe it can get even crazier. Many times there are milimetres dividing us from other transportation, other people. And both the people and the transportation are during the "encounter" somehow left unharmed. The two splendind views were, 5 rikshas next to each other on a road... all going in the same direction and no space on either side of the road to pass. The second situation was bit more disturbing three buses next to each other, passing one another, going in the direction toward us.

The drivers here are double crazy but incredibly skilled...

Bangladeshi news - 3

Looking into the faces of Bangladeshi men, it is bit surprising to find traces of chinese descendents, as well as arabic, persian and turk. It creates an interesting mixture of faces. Women have extremely beautiful smile. (As long as they do not chew phan)

Siwa trip - full of activity :o)

Dahab...

A trip to Luxor :o)

Abu Simbel and Philae temple

Asuan

Asuan - the second day

Few hours of sleep passed and at 3am we had a wake up call. The trip was to start very early. We come down, get our breakfast box (wow :o), and three of us get to this one minibus. We get few more people along the way and I am happy there will be not many tourists at our today’s destination, which is Abu Simbel.

Yep, I admit it was a silly thought. Within 20 min we stop on a road and there are already several big buses and we are standing there and waiting for more to come. The point is simple, we will have a guarding convoy with us and thus all the buses will come to Abu Simbel at once. Thank god, this was off season. Thus we ended up only with some 20big buses and 20 minibuses. (We were told that in high season there are approx. 60 buses and during one specific day, when the sun hits the face of the Ramses statue inside of the temple, the 22nd (resp. 21) October there were 1,5mil people last year!).

We arrived past 7 at Abu Simbel, the place itself was magnificent from the very beginning. It was sunrise, there was the huge Nile with rocky banks and as if little fjords… hmm… and there were actually also several huge tourist boats with some more hundreds of tourists on it! (Fortunately they actually left the very time to go back to Aswan).

So we took the walk to Abu Simbel temples. There were two temples awaiting us. One built for Ramssese II. himself, the other one, smaller one, for his beautiful and beloved wife Nefertari, both dating to the 13th century BC. The temples should have commemorated the victory in the battle of Kadesh, and also were to impress and show the power of Ramssese to the neighbouring Nubians.

In 1964, the temples were moved from its original position to some 290km south of Aswan, as Aswan High Dam was to be build in that area, which meant the complex of the two temples would be flooded by the emerging artificial reservoir Lake Nasser.

The inside carving of the smaller temple could be view here.

A little after 9 we left Abu Simbel and drove some 3 hours back to Aswan. Our first stop was the Aswan High Dam. It is 111m high and nearly 4km long. Well, hmm… dam :o). The trip continued to Philae temple. We paid entrance, got on a boat and were brought to the island where the Philae temple is situated. In 1977, the temple has been moved from its original position on Philae Island to nearby Island of Agilika due to the Aswan High Dam which raised the waters of the Nile.

The temple was built during the 3rd century BC and was dedicated to the goddess Isis. The Vestibule of Nectanebos I served as the entrance to the Island of Philae. The original stairways leading to the vestibule were unfortunately washed away by the Nile and out of its original 14 columns only 6 remained till now. The complex further consists of the Temple of Emperor Hadrian, Temple of Hathor, Trajan’s Kiosk and other. Pilgrims from all over Mediterranean would come to Philae Island to worship the goddess of Isis.

Most of the sights built on the island date to the 26th Dynasty or the Roman Period, although they are predominantly of Roman style. The construction on the island took over 800 years. The temples were closed by Justinian in the year 550 AD after some 4000 years of worshipping of the pagan gods.

The island was incredibly colourful with all the flowers and the trees and was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. It was also one before the last stop. We ended up going to see one incomplete obelisk in Aswan. But I was not allowed to get in with my “fake” student ID. Well, your loss :P.

We arrived back to our hotel after 3pm. Later we stopped to get some food on our way back to the railway station and were on the train back to Cairo at 6pm.

Asuan - the first day

We left for Asuan on Thursday night. My bus from work was late that day by 45min, I did not pack for the trip the previous day and so coming home I had 40min to get ready. I am a slow packer, although I pack 3 t-shirts and couple of underwear. So in a way we were running late... BUT (hihi)… I discovered that there is one metro station actually 3min from our place and so we don’t have to walk 15min to Dokki station, as we always did before. Thus we were 15min “early” for the train :o).

The best part came right after, it was 8pm in the night, I did not have proper sleep the past several days (6.30am each morning is early!) and there was the sleeping train waiting for us…!!! And yes, it is the best travel on the train that i have ever had! We left on time, after 8pm and made it to Asuan the next morning past 9pm. Loooong sleep, good sleep.

By the train station we were caught by one young Nubian guy, offering us a ride in felluca (a boat), and at the end we ended up going to our hotel by boat instead of walking. Though since there was no wind, it took us over an hour to get to our hotel instead of 10 min walk. But nonetheless, the boat trip passed extremely fast and we got to enjoy the sight and slight movement of the nile river with lots of felluca passing by and big tourist boats parked (?) everywhere by the banks in double or triple rows.

After settling down at the hotel, our first trip lead to the market street of Asuan. This place is famous especially for its heaps of little shops with spices of all colours, teas and of course the usual clothes, scarfs and little statues and other silly things. I am ashamed to say that 500m of the street we have passed in over 1 hour! Surprisingly we actually shopped a lot, which is not only for me, quite unusual. :o)

Past three we met our felluca boy. He was to bring us to the numerous islands and sights that were on the Nile or on the other bank of it. Altogether we spent some 5 hours on his boat, due to no wind. Few times he and his friends had to paddle to get us somewhere. And still I was not bored, I sank my feet in the water to cool down a bit and enjoyed the light breeze, and calmness of the place.

First stop was at the Kitchner island. The UK honorary consul has established a botanical garden on this little island. I really liked that place, very nice and silent, with lots of flowers and tall palm trees. Another place to simply sit and do nothing.

Our second stop, after cruising zig zag over the nile was the right bank of the river. There is the Simeon monastery, or rather say the ruins of it, to be found. We walked for some 15min to reach the ruins, we walked around and ... well, we saw the ruins :o))... The other sight, the Mausoleum of Aga Khan was closed down recently, so except the desert, the camels and the green islands, there was nothing else to be seen.

Back on board, we headed for the Elefantine island. That is the biggest island in Asuan, has some big ruins of a temple and at the other edge there is the Nubian village. There are over 5000 people living in the village. The main activities of the Nubian people are running fellucas, farming, tourism, they actually "charge" tourists for entering and being shown around the Nubian village.

The village itself is very colourful. We saw mothers hanging out with their children, their hands busy with making plaits to the little girls, little children playing in a mud, some asking for bakshish and youth lazying around in the heat of the day. (Dody quote) We were offered to visit the Nubian house, I was offered to get my hands coloured with Hena, but we were in rush, so we skipped all this and just wandered around. The village is a cocktail of the beauties and uglies, where the colourful walls and finely painted windows danced together with the dirty abandoned mud walls. You will see turquoise, yellows, bright green, daring red lighting up the drab background of egyptian dust (Dody quote).

The visit has not lasted more than 20min, but we have still managed to miss the sunset on the Nile river...

As the boat drew back to the bank, we have passed the tombs on the west bank of the river. It was too hot and not much left to visit those.

During the night, we were sent to one local egyptian restaurant. It was supposed to be close by but we still managed to miss it and ended up at the pizza place by the railway station... hmm... great choice :o)).