Escape from Langkawi...Hello Koh Lipe!

When I left you I had bought my ferry ticket to Langkawi.  I arrived yesterday and just wasn't feeling it.  It was too commercial (a duty free island), I was staying in skank pit #3 (I can't even go into it), the beach wasn't that nice and the water was murky...no thanks, adios.  I booked a speed boat ticket the same day and took off this morning for Koh Lipe Thailand.  I must congratulate myself, this might just be the most brilliant thing I've ever done (ring a bell Lloyd?).  I met three Germans on the boat and I just finished having dinner with them.  They're heading over to my beach tomorrow (they are staying on the other side of the island) and Alana who I met in Langkawi is heading over on the boat tomorrow too, so it should be good fun.  Here are some quick pics I took today.  I'll also enclose the pic of my Chinese seal engraver Mr. Ng. from the last post.  I've gone bamboo.  Peace out...Jan

Mr. Ng. and My Chinese Seal

My Bamboo Hut

The View From My Front Porch

The Gorgeous Turquoise Water

Keong Hee Huat Chai!

That's Happy New Year to all of you who don't speak Hokkien.  Well, if you did as I instructed in my last post and assumed I was propped up in a chaise lounge on the beach, laying in the sunshine with an ice cold beer, good book and delicious seafood, you can save me the trouble of writing about the ten days immediately following that post.  I just couldn't leave Pangkor.  I loved it.  It was relaxing, the locals were really great and the beach was nice.  I originally booked for three nights, then I extended it two nights, then two more, then three more.  The next thing you know I had been there for ten nights!  Thank God I was meeting Justin in Penang or I would still probably be there.  After I tore myself away from Pangkor I took the ferry back to Lumut, the bus to Butterworth (mainland Penang) and then a quick ferry over to Pulau Penang.  I checked into Hutton Lodge and met up with Tracy for beers and dinner.  Tracy is a friend I met on Pangkor who is originally from Australia but is now teaching in China.  That morning I got up and took a tour of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion.  He lived from 1840 to 1916 and was a Hakka who basically became the Rockefeller of the east.  I planned to stay at Hutton for three nights but I got a call from Justin saying his sister Phyllis who lives south of KL had rented a three bedroom apartment that they were staying in with her and I should move over there and join them, so I did.  We were one big happy family...Phyllis, her husband Tony, son Juan-Matthew (pronounced John-Matthew but called John Boy), daughter Jomanda, Kamal and Justin.  That night the whole family came over to "our" house for reunion dinner.  Reunion dinner happens on Chinese New Year eve and everyone in the family, who is able, is expected to attend.  Justin's sisters Catherine and Pat came along with numerous cousins, spouses and their children.  Let's see if I can remember everyone...Justin, Kamal, Phyllis, Tony, Jomanda, John Boy, Pat, Catherine, Helen (Justin's Mom), Joanne, Dino, Dilia, Kyle, Pam, Johnny, Byron, Timmy, Edward, Wai Lee, Sally and Lily (wonder how I did).  Before dinner you have Yee Sang; a really delicious salad with veggies, peanuts, raw fish, etc.  It's crunchy, sweet, salty, spicy and yummy.  The entire family (and me) grab chops sticks and stir the salad together to stir up good fortune in the new year, the higher the salad is tossed (no jokes some of you) the more prosperous you will be in the new year.  For dinner we had steamboat, a big vat of boiling water spiced to perfection and filled with multitudes of processed fish products, veggies, tofu, chicken, etc.  My new Chinese family were even kind enough to make one of the steamboats without chicken so I could eat everything in it.  You fill your bowl with the seasoned broth from the steamboat and then "go fishing" in the vat with a little wire scoop and pull out all your favorite items and then spice it up with chili sauce.  It was really delicious.  We stayed up that night waiting for the midnight fireworks but they barely materialized so we went to bed around 1:00 am.  The next morning we were up bright and early to head over to "Mommie's" (Justin's moms house) for Phang Teh (the traditional tea ceremony).  The tea ceremony is for the young to pay respect to their elders and wish them longevity and for the elders to give blessings to the children.  The ceremony starts with Justin's mom being served a small portion of tea by her oldest child, they wish her happy new year and then she gives them ang pow (a red packet with money) for good fortune in the new year. The tea ceremony proceeds with the rest of her children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren (and me) wishing Mommie happy new year.  You aren't allowed to wish anyone else happy new year until you have had the ceremony and wished your parents happy new year first.  It actually pays to be a spinster during Chinese New Year because everyone (older than you I think) gives you ang pow if you're not married.  I may not get a tax break or shower gifts but I do get ang pow!  After Justin's mother has been wished happy new year by everyone the rest of the family follows the same routine where each of her children are served tea by their children, grandchildren, etc.  After the ceremony it's time to go visit the open houses (I think we did five) of your aunties, godmothers, etc., where you get more ang pow!  You sit, chat, eat, repeat.  Justin's mom stays home and receives visitors while we are out.  Then after all the visiting is done, you go back to Mommie's and...you eat again.  We hung around and relaxed till it was time for Boo Lan Sai, the lion dance.  The lion comes to your home (you hire a troupe) and he blesses your house and brings you good fortune for the new year.  He is accompanied by a troupe of musicians who loudly beat drums while he dances around.  You hang lettuce and ang pow in your doorway for the lion to jump up and take; he spits out the lettuce but keeps the money.  You also leave him a beer to drink (which he does) but I'm not sure what the beer signifies.  There is also a bowl full of water and coins, the lion fills his mouth with the coins and spits them into the crowd and everyone gathers eighty cents and puts it in a ang pow envelope and carries it in their wallet throughout the year for good fortune.  When he is finished dancing you light a really loud and really long firecracker; the noise chases away evil spirits.  After the Boo Lan Sai we went back to our house to rest before everyone came over for leftover steamboat dinner; if you're me you "rest" for three hours and Jomanda has to wake you up at 9:00 so you don't miss dinner.  So it was more steamboat, a couple beers and then it's time to play "in between" or Kaliao as Justin's family calls it.  It's a card game where each player has two cards laid down in front of them and you bet (yes, real money, goodbye ang pow) if the next card will fall in between those two.  You have to put in 1 ringet at the beginning to join the game and the pot builds as people (like me) begin to lose.  The minimum bet is 10 cents, there were times that Justin was betting 50 ringet!  If you think the chances are good that your card will fall in between you say "kaliao" which means "all" in Hokkien and you match whatever is in the pot.  You either win the entire pot or if you lose pay that amount back into the pot.  If you are unlucky like me you "kaliao" and have the misfortune of having to pay double the pot because your card is equal to one of the existing cards.  I lost all but 13 ringet of my ang pow money, oh well, easy come easy go.  The next day Kamal, Justin and I went to Justin's cousin Edward's apartment to hang around the pool and swim all afternoon (guess who wanted to do that).  Edward was having his open house and lion dance that night so we chilled at the pool all day and then went to Edward's for dinner.  Everyone brought fireworks so we headed to a dead end street by Edward's apartment and "played" fireworks.  They really get some serious stuff, I'm not talking sparklers, these are REAL fireworks.  I have a video of the biggest one but I'm not sure I can post it to my blog, I may have to upload it onto YouTube.  Justin and Kamal brought lanterns from KL with them for each member of their family to light and send into the air with a new years wish so we did that after the fireworks; they were really beautiful.  When that was done Justin, Kamal and I walked from Edward's apartment to the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, Kek Lok Si "temple of supreme bliss".  It was excellent, part religious monument, part Disney light parade.  By then it was after midnight and we headed back home for bed.  Oops, I forgot, we ordered McDonald's and had it delivered to the apartment, snarfed it down and then went to bed.  It's really weird, the only places that deliver here are fast food restaurants.  The next morning we all had to pack up and move out of the apartment.  Phyllis and her family were headed back home and Justin, Kamal and I had to go find a place for me to stay.  We dropped our stuff at Mommie's and then met up with all our housemates and had breakfast.  I of course had my new favorite beverage teh ice.  It's iced Indian "pulled" tea, which has condensed milk; so sweet and delicious.  Joanne, Dino, Dilia and Kyle met us there too.  After that we headed downtown and searched for a place for me to stay but everything was booked because of Chinese New Year.  I had called my favorite place Hutton Lodge a bunch of times to check to see if there were any cancellations or check outs.  I had resigned to staying in the dorm rooms but we arrived to find out even the dorms were full.  Suddenly my savior who recognized me from my previous stay found an available room for me so I was home again and in a private room.  After that we headed out to Batu Ferringhi to go to Sunset Bistro for dinner and cocktails on the beach before Justin and Kamal had to fly back to KL.  It was great, it was the kind of place where if you lived here you would head out to on the weekends with all your friends and spend all afternoon drinking, playing games and chillin by the beach.  At 8:00 pm we headed back to Mommie's to pick up our luggage and say goodbye.  I want to give a big thanks to everyone for including me and making me feel so welcome.  So here I am now at the Hutton Lodge writing this post.  Yesterday I went to the Penang Museum and to some small temples and mosques.  Last night I had dinner at the apparently famous Nasi Kandar Line Clear where I had rice with fish curry and of course two teh ices.  I was so proud of myself, I was sitting there eating with my hand like a local and ordering a second teh ice and someone asked me if I lived in Penang...I was so authentic they thought I was a local!  Today I bought a ferry ticket to Pulau Langkawi (yes another island) and went to see Mr. Ng, the Chinese seal engraver, to have him make me my very own Chinese seal with my last name in Chinese characters.  I'm really excited, I get to pick it up this afternoon and will try to post pictures of it and him next time.  So that's it for now.  I don't know how long I'll be on Langkawi but I'll try to post from there.  Peace out...Jan       

Coral Beach on Pulau Pangkor from the Chinese Temple

Outside Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

Everyone Digging Into Steamboat

Tea Ceremony - Mommie Being Served Tea by Dilia

The Lion Blessing Edward's Apartment

 

Pam and Johnny Sending Up Their Lantern

Kek Lok Si Temple

Kek Lok Si Temple

Justin Tan, Tea Plantations, Thaipusam, not...Malaysia!

When I last left you I was getting ready to leave Egypt.  I met Jennifer for dinner that night and then took off for the airport.  At the Cairo airport they have a bunch of different times you have to pass through security.  At the last security check just before boarding there was this guy ahead of me, tall, thin, pasty white with little round glasses and a black sparkling glitter shirt who was getting his bag searched.  All of a sudden out come the "Love Cuffs", he starts flailing around, jumping in the air trying to grab the box while security waved them around, it was hilarious!  Anyway, I arrived in Kuala Lumpur (KL) and took the KLIA express train to town, transferred to the local monorail and arrived in the Golden Triangle, my neighborhood for a couple nights.  A friend of mine from NYC who is originally from Malaysia is back here and living in KL...Justin Tan, aka JTPI.  He was out of town for work my first night so I got settled and headed to the hawker stalls.  YEAH!  I'm back in Asia where the food is DELICIOUS!  No offense to Morocco and Egypt but you can only eat so many vegetable tagines and couscous.  I had "famous spicy prawns", what ever that means, and ice cold Tiger Beer.  Yes, beer, it's everywhere!  The next day I did some "business", banking, laundry, etc. and I walked to the bus station and bought a ticket for the next day to go to Cameron Highlands and then walked to the Petronas Towers...WOW.  They are beautiful.  I took a ton of photos during the day but somehow managed to not take any night time photos which was a big mistake.  At night they look like diamonds and lace.  I know it sounds like a bad country song but they are probably one (or do you say two?) of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen (sorry Empire State Building).  That night I met Justin and Kamal (Justin's Husband) for an excellent dinner at another hawker stall where we dined on sting ray, squid, prawns and veggies.  The next morning I was on a bus to the Cameron Highlands.  It's about a four hour bus journey from KL winding up to around 6000 feet above sea level.  It's really peaceful and lush with tea plantations, strawberry farms and insect eating flowers.  I arrived in the early evening at Father's Guest House, got situated, had dinner and made myself comfy in the communal room where I watched Blades of Glory.  One of the great things about Asian guest houses/hostels is they almost always have communal areas with movies playing (it's actually probably a bad thing since you should be out doing something cultural or intellectual).  The next morning (well I slept till noon, so not sure I can call it morning) I went to a tea plantation...Gorgeous!  The hills are blanketed in lush green tea plants.  The rows of plants almost look like giant, dense, plush corduroy.  It's still a bit colonial up in the hills so I sat at the cafe admiring the view and had tea and scones like any proper young (that's a stretch) lady (even bigger stretch) would do.  That night I had dinner with Jenny (another traveler) and watched more movies, Lovely Bones (they always have new pirated movies) and Deja Vu.  The next day I just chilled around Father's before I took off back to KL.  I was headed back specifically to meet Justin, Kamal and Arlene (Justin's cousin) to go to Thaipusam.  Thaipusam is a Hindu religious festival celebrated at the Batu Caves where millions of pilgrims come to pay homage to Lord Murugan.  Let's just say there is a long procession with a 5 ton chariot, devotees, trances, piercing and head shaving...but how would I know, I didn't get to see it!  We headed out to the caves a little before midnight because that's when the fireworks and height of the festival were supposed to happen.  We sat in traffic for about two and half hours and once we arrived we couldn't find a parking space.  Shiva take the wheel!  Are you kidding me?!  Really?  I bet if I was going to a Betty Crocker bake off followed by knitting classes and ballroom dance lessons it would actually happen!  Oh well, like any good Malaysian would do (or so I'm told) we promptly took ourselves out for a late night snack (it has a name but I forgot) and then headed home at about 4:00 am.  We thought we would give it a second try the next night so one of Kamal's friends was going to pick us up and take us there.  Guess what?  His car broke down and he didn't make it.  There were a couple slashings (that's what Kamal calls them, I think it means getting cut with a knife but I never really clarified) and a kidnapping so I'm just going to assume that someone (maybe Ganesh?) was looking out for me just like the time I couldn't book a hotel on the Tsunami side of Thailand and that's why it didn't pan out.  I forgot to mention that I stayed with Justin and Kamal this time around for four nights; they have a great apartment, a really cute dog named Bobby Brown, Bob or Uncle Bob and they are excellent hosts, thanks for the hospitality guys.  That night Justin, Arlene and I went to Chinatown shopping and out for Thai food.  The next day Arlene treated us (including Justin's good friend Christine who was in town from Singapore) to dim sum at the hotel where she works, it was delicious.  Justin and Arlene dipped in quickly to the "Fish Spa" where hundreds of tiny fish eat the dead skin off your feet.  I have been dying to do this ever since I heard about it, but in Malaysia they use a communal tub and you all know how I feel about sharing, no fish spa for me.  That night we ordered Domino's pizza with a funky phyllo dough crust and stayed up playing Wii till 4:00am.  I'm excellent at tennis and bowling but my guitar hero and boxing skills could use some work.  Monday was a holiday, so after another sleep in we went to Kamals cousin's restaurant for banana leaf.  It's traditional, vegetarian, Indian food served on a banana leaf that you eat with your hands, I loved it!  We ran around and did their errands and mine and then headed home to watch the Grammy's.  The next day I caught the morning bus to Lumut and then the ferry to Pulau Pangkor, an island off the west coast of Malaysia where I am now.  Yesterday I swam in the ocean, baked in the sun and had beers with Stuart, a guy from London who I briefly met on the bus/ferry and now we are staying at the same hotel.  I'm meeting Justin and his family in Penang around the 12th for Chinese New Year so I may stay here the whole time or head up to Langkawi island, I'm not sure yet.  I probably won't have much to report until after Chinese New Year so just assume I'm propped up in a chaise lounge on the beach, laying in the sunshine with an ice cold beer, good book and delicious seafood.  Peace out...Jan

Petronas Towers

Tea Plantation

Justin & Arlene at the Fish Spa

Justin's Feet in the Fish Spa

Justin, Kamal & Christine at Banana Leaf Lunch

More Dahab, Back to Cairo and Pyramids (kind of).

Ok, so here I am back in Cairo on my own.  When I last left you I was in Dahab with Roni chillin by the sea and relaxing after our 18 hour bus journey from Siwa.  You'll be glad to know that we found a place where Roni could eat in peace without a clowder of cats crawling all over her.  We had big plans to go to St. Katherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai on our last day, guess what, didn't happen.  You know what happens when I get near the sea and beer...nothing, and that's exactly what we did.  We found out you could only visit a small portion of the monastary and although we were interested in seeing the burning bush (yes, the one where God spoke to Moses) we apparently weren't interested enough to pay money and get back on another bus, especially since we were going to board one that night for nine hours heading back to Cairo.  We also found out that you had to climb one mountain to be able to see Mount Sinai, that didn't work for us either.  So it was relaxing, reading, eating and sheesha for us, I don't think we earned religious points but I plan to build up loads of good karma in Asia.  We arrived at 7:00 am on Friday in Cairo ready to fall in love with the city (which we didn't the first go around) after every one we talked to told us how much they loved it (that includes you Tof).  We tried to get a room at the place we stayed before but they were full and walked us over to a great little hostel in the neighborhood, up 85 stairs, no elevator, yes we counted.  We scheduled a driver with the hotel to take us to the pyramids and had him pick us up at 10:00 am after we loaded ourselves with caffeine and pastries.  We were off, an exciting day of viewing all the great pyramids of Egypt.  Have I mentioned that women seem to be second class citizens here and some men feel as though they can order you around and that you don't have a mind of your own?  Well if I haven't I have now (keep in mind there are definitely exceptions and some men are really great).  So we take off with our driver heading out to our first stop Dahshur to see the Red Pyramid (the world's oldest true pyramid), the Bent Pyramid and the Black Pyramid.  We arrived at the entrance and needed to pay our admission fees and a fee for the car but instead of explaining that to us the driver just started barking "give me 62 Egyptian pounds!".  Side bar for Vania, reminiscent of our sunset Taj Mahal incident.  Well I FLIPPED OUT!  I was tired after our long overnight bus journey and we were paying him way more than we probably needed to, but wanted to make sure we had a nice driver who knew exactly what we wanted to do.  Let's just say a book flew through the air, the tourist police came over smiling to make sure everything was ok and I told the driver that I was sick of being talked to like a donkey and if he couldn't speak to me properly then he should just shut up!  We proceeded to Dahshur and once we were finished with the pyramids there he apologized, said "no pushing" and behaved like he should have all along.  There was even a flower/weed picked and given to us as part of the truce.  Back at the Red Pyramid Roni and I had climbed up the front of the pyramid, I stopped 3/4 of the way due to fear of heights and Roni went the rest of the way on reconnaissance.  She concluded that once you reach the top you have to go inside the pyramid.  Per the Lonely Planet via 125 extremely steep stone steps and a 63m-long passage.  Well as we were contemplating it a group of Japanese tourist came out of the hole and looked as though they had been through hell!  Clutching the railing, white as ghosts saying they couldn't breathe down there, it was extremely hot and there were parts of the passage where you had to bend way over to fit (these were small Asian people).  I'm out!  Roni came back down and rejoined our attitude adjusted driver.  Next stop the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the world's earliest stone monument.  We effortlessly paid our admission and the driver kindly informed us that we would go through the museum, watch a DVD on the site and then head out to view it.  I was really excited to see Serapeum, which was dedicated to the Apis bull and supposedly a "highlight" of visiting Saqqara.  The bull is portrayed as black with a white diamond on its forehead, and image of a vulture on its back and a scarab-shaped mark on its tongue....right up my alley, dying to see it.  Sorry, it's closed.  Oh well, we roamed around Saqqara utterly confused and then headed over to the great Pyramids of Giza.  After hearing and reading about "the battalions of buses, armies out touts and legions of visitors", I was over it, Sheckler Style!  We informed the driver that it would be just fine to see Giza from a panoramic view outside the gates and to pull around to where I could see the Sphinx and that would conclude our pyramid circuit.  Veni Vidi Vici, or was I conquered?  A hot shower, a good meal and a few Sakara beers and we were off to bed.  The next day, our last together, we shopped the old souk of Khan al-Khalili and eagerly anticipated the Sufi dancing we were going to see that night.  We finished shopping and grabbed a snack and a beer before heading over to see the show.  Get this...I'm sitting at Cafe Riche in Cairo when I hear someone behind me saying he owns a cafe in Morocco and his voice sounds really familiar.  I turn around and it's the guy who owns Cafe Clock in Fes.  He recognizes me instantly, we had a quick chat, he was on holiday with a friend from the UK and killing time before their train to Luxor.  Small world, right?  Anyway we head off to see the Sufi dancers where we ran into Jennifer who we met in Siwa and is from NYC here on vacation.  The dancers were excellent!  Part religious worship and part entertainment spectacular!  They are Egypt's only Sufi dance troupe and way more colorful and wild than the whirling dervishes of Turkey (who are also excellent, just different).  We all went to dinner after the show and then Roni was off at midnight for her overnight flight back home, I'll miss you Grandma.  I went back to the hotel and got on the computer to check email when one of the owners of the hotel (twin brothers own it) asked me if I wanted to join him for a beer, of course I did, and we hung out talking till 4:00 am!  Needless to say I slept till 11:00 and had to drag myself out of bed, shower and pack because I had to check out today and hang around till my flight at midnight.  I have plans to meet Jennifer at 6:00 for dinner and had big plans to go to the Egyptian Museum, but instead I had coffee walked around town and did this blog post.  I'll probably just finish up in time to meet Jennifer and this computer is too slow to post images, I'll do that later.  I'm on my way to Kuala Lumpur tonight to see my old friend Justin Tan.  More from there.  Peace out...Jan

View from Dahab across the Gulf of Aqaba is Saudi Arabia

Red Pyramid

Pyramids of Giza (panoramic view)

Sphinx and Pyramid of Giza

Smoggy Cairo, Moammar I can see your house from here and Dahab...Egypt!

Ok, last time you heard from me I had checked into skank pit number two and was waiting for Roni to arrive.  After my post (and buying toilet paper) I returned to the hotel and they moved me into our double room that, believe it or not, was even worse than the four bed room that they let me sleep in upon arrival.  It was filthy!  The blankets were rank, the sheets were dirty and don't get me started on the doorless bathroom.  I put on a bunch of clothes to stay warm, slipped into my silk sleep sack and sat awake reading and killing bugs until Roni arrived at 3:00 am.  Thank god she was equally grossed out so we stayed awake talking and waited for the sun to rise so we could escape.  As soon as the sun was up we hightailed it out of there to a nice little place on a rooftop not too far away where they fed us a lovely breakfast while we waited for our room to be checked out of and cleaned.  Needless to say the day was pretty much a wash.  By the time we checked in, showered and napped it was late afternoon.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local falafel restaurant.  When you're traveling everyone wants to know where you're from and after this dining experience I may need to start lying.  Once the waiter/owner found out that I was American, out came our order of babaganoush with USA written in ketchup across the entire plate!  We tried to eat around it which didn't work so I kindly gave him the thumbs down and got a replacement without ketchup.  We tried to find something to do in Cairo that night but most things that we were interested in doing weren't happening on Monday night so in a desperate search for beer ended up at the Hilton.  You can't really get beer or cocktails anywhere except at the large hotels that cater to tourists so we had four beers and cheese/curry fries and felt a little better about Cairo than we did earlier.  The next morning we were on the 7:30 bus to Siwa Oasis via the Mediterranean town of Marsa Matrouh (too far north for good beach weather in January).  We just barely met our connecting bus to Siwa; thankfully it left late and I pleaded with the driver to let me go to the bathroom before it took off, he conceded and we were on our way.  Around 5:00 we pulled into the desert oasis of Siwa to a heard of young boys with donkey carts vying for our business in a friendly/aggressive way.  We finally settled on the young boy who managed to get our luggage released from the side of the bus that wasn't open.  A quick, bumpy ride down the dirt road and we arrived at the Shali Lodge, heaven.  It is a beautiful authentic mud-brick hotel, where might I add we didn't have a reservation but were welcomed with open arms.  They only had a room with one bed for the first night so we took it and moved rooms in the morning to one with two beds.  It was really beautiful with archways, lanterns and white fluffy duvets, luxury living for around $34/night each (bit of a splurge but definitely worth it).  We were greeted with mint tea on the roof with Yusuf and Henna (can't remember his real name but he kept wanting us to go have his wife paint our hands with henna for a fee of course).  We headed downstairs to the dining area with a roaring fire made by Ali and cushions on the floor where we had an excellent dinner.  Siwa is really a dry town, not a beer in site and no Hilton to run to in case of emergency.  At dinner we met Fabrice, a fun loving, free spirited guy who is a dancer with the Forsythe Dance Company in Frankfurt and made plans with him the next day to go on a desert excursion.  It was excellent!  We went racing through the desert with our driver and guide and went dune diving in the 4 x 4 down the face of sand dunes that were 50 meters high!  We also visited the extraordinary hot spring and cold fresh water lake at Bir Wahed, and hunted for ocean fossils (we found in tack sand dollars!) keep in mind this is all in the middle of one of the Great Sand Seas 120 km from the Libyan border.  We had dinner in the desert and then rushed back to the hotel so Fabrice could catch the overnight bus back to Cairo.  The next day we hung around Siwa and met up with a Yugoslavian woman who has purchased several rooms in the old 13th century mud-brick Shali and is restoring it to it's original condition.  Along with her new Shali home she has purchased the only Albino donkey in Siwa (his name is Ame) and she cuddles him and walks him like most people would their dog.  That afternoon we hooked up with Abu and his donkey Duty for the 6 km ride out to Fatnas Spring for sunset and an apple sheesha.  The next day Roni and I walked to the Temple of the Oracle built in the 6th century BC which Alexander the Great consulted during the 26th dynasty.  From there is was a quick stop at the Temple of Umm Ubayd and onto Cleopatra's Bath where we had lunch and tried to play Jenga with their warped wooden blocks and swatted off the swarms of flies.  We bought our bus tickets for the overnight bus the next night and then headed back to Shali Lodge for dinner where we met the very intelligent and funny Alex, another great guy who is originally from Hong Kong but spoke to us in English with a thick Irish accent, of course Roni noticed right away.  Alex had been sent to boarding school in Northern Ireland and finished his language studies there (he speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Russian, Arabic and who knows how many more languages) and was traveling to continue his study of Arabic.  The next day we planned to just roam around town, purchase a few little trinkets and kill time till our 8:00 overnight bus back to Cairo.  We went back to one store where we had met Taha (local Egyptian guy who has lived just about everywhere and loved singing Lady in Red and Hotel California) to take him up on his offer of "hospitality" which means to join him for a cup of tea and for Roni to purchase her "long life" scarf and ring.  We did just that and ended up going back out to Cleopatra's Bath in Taha's car to meet up with his uncle and some friends for a coffee.  On the way back to town we stopped by their farm where he picked us some delicious dates and the most amazingly fragrant lemons I've ever smelled.  After that we met up with Alex and had dinner and then he went to the bus station with us to see us off, although he said it was to make sure we really left.  I would be amiss if I didn't mention that Ali (the excellent fire builder) had made me the most generous offer of becoming his second wife.  Shockingly, I turned him down.  He still thinks that I'll regret my decision and be back soon.  It was a long, cold overnight bus ride back to Cairo where we were dropped off right next to our old friend the Hilton.  We ducked in, used the restroom, had a quick breakfast and then took off for the next bus station (again right around the corner from the Hilton, thanks for the convenient location Paris) to buy tickets for the bus to Dahab where I am now.  Dahab is about and hour north of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula and Red Sea.  We arrived to gorgeous weather, came into town, had a beer and dinner and then went looking for a hotel.  Well, it apparently hasn't rained in Dahab for around four years...that night was the exception.  We walked the streets like drowned rats and finally settled at the New Sphinx Hotel who's best feature is that is has Channel 2, my favorite channel from Morocco.  We tucked ourselves in and woke up in the morning to a flooded room!  It had rained all night and since they rarely get rain I don't think some places (like the luxurious Sphinx) are built for it.  It's been a bit overcast for the past couple of days but we finally got sun today and we soaked it in.  Dahab doesn't have the beaches of Sharm, it's more rocky and not as over developed, but still a little too touristy/tacky for our taste.  Although there are some really charming little cafe/restaurants along the seaside and beer is available everywhere so it's ok in my book.  Did I mention there are cats everywhere!  Let's just say Roni isn't so found of them and they can smell it a mile away.  They were snuggled up to her and her shrimp dinner last night and it was hysterical.  Tonight we are going to try to find a cat free zone so she can eat in peace.  We're going to chill here for a few days and probably go to St. Katherine's Monastery and Mt. Sinai before heading back to Cairo and doing the pyramid circuit, etc.  That's it for now.  Peace out...Jan

Morocco.

Images from Morocco...yellow saffron dyed hides and a man working the vats in the tanneries of Fes, the desert near Merzouga, the Dades Gorges and the kasbah at Ait Benhaddou.  A post from Egypt next time.  Peace out...Jan

Funky Cold Medina, Desert Scorpion, Road Block...Au Revoir Morocco!

It's been awhile, let me fill you in.  On New Year's day I became the unofficial project manager of the new wing of the Atlas Hotel.  I was in a single room in the existing hotel with shared bath and no heat, but since Jill was arriving I moved to a new room with two beds, private bath, TV and heat in the new part of the hotel that they were just finishing.  We were their first guests, unfortunately I didn't have a chance sit for the life size portrait they promised to hang in the courtyard in my honor.  I checked into our sparkling new room to find that the heat, hot water and TV didn't work and there wasn't a side table or trash can (the night before they hung the curtains, made the beds and scrubbed the place down).  I went to breakfast hoping some things would be resolved but when I returned it became clear that if I wasn't breathing down their necks these things weren't going to get fixed, so I stationed myself at the project managers desk (edge of the bed) and started assigning tasks.  As usual poor Abdullah did most of the work.  By the time Jill arrived around 8:00 pm most of the thing were done.  Unfortunately they thought they got the heat working but they didn't and we moved to a new room the next morning. That night we went to Gueliz and had the first civilized dinner I had since arriving in Marrakech.  All seemed great, the salad nicoise was delicious as was the omelette and then my fish course arrived, or is it lizard?  I gave it a miss and moved on to dessert.  After dinner we went back to the Djemma El Fna and Jill got her first look at the madness and the less than polite ass grabbing that the local men think they can get away with.  The next day we walked around the souk in serious evaluation mode so when we came back to Marrakech we would be ready to shop for what we didn't find in Fes.  At one point we tried to leave a courtyard in the middle of the souk three times and kept circling back to the same place.  By the third time I was joking saying "I know this is the Djemma El Fna, but if we end up back in that same square I'm going to cry"...we round the corner and guess where we are..the same square (ps, I didn't cry, I laughed my ass off).  Sunday we got the train to Fes, in theory seven hours but it ended up being nine.  Jill had made a reservation at a riad in Fes and had emailed them our arrival details before we left Marrakech so they could pick us up at the train station.  As we got closer Jill was emailing them from here phone to make sure they would be there when we arrived.  When they finally responded they told us that there must have been some miscommunication and that we didn't have a reservation.  Since it was 10:00 pm we did what any tired sensible women would do and checked into the Ibis Hotel (like a Holiday Inn, but a little nicer) right next to the train station.  You would have thought we checked into the Four Seasons, we were thrilled.  Crisp white duvet, hot shower, channel 2 with excellent/crap American movies and no sewage smell (oh ya, there was a little plumbing stench at the Atlas).  On the train we thought we were involved in an elaborate con of some sort with a police officer (wearing a track suit), a guy supposedly from the tourism office and a damsel in distress (with a pierced face) who missed her train connection in Casablanca.  They were an unlikely threesome who joined us in our 1st class cabin and all told slightly different variations of the same story, she cried and there was some mention of no money.  But being the heartless bitches that we are, we decided it was a scam and choose to ignore them.  The next morning we went to the medina in Fes which we had read was much better than Marrakech...well, if it is they must have hid all the good stuff that day.  We went to see the tanneries which were excellent and luckily it was a cool day so the pigeon shit that they use to cure the hides didn't reach its usual pungent fragrance that requires a piece of mint under you nose to help mask the smell.  In the afternoon it began to pour rain and the quaint cobblestones of the medina became a slippery wet death walkway so we hightailed it back to the Ibis and snuggled into our beds and watched crap movies on channel 2.  Being less than impressed with the offerings in Fes (the intellectual and spiritual capitol, maybe that's the problem) we decided to rent a car the next morning and set off on a road trip back to Marrakech.

Side bar -- Some of you are familiar with the Indian yes/no head bobble, well Morocco has the squinty eye/head tilt/smirk that for all purposes means no you can't have what you're asking for.  No they don't have a seat for you at dinner, no they don't have any rental cars available, etc.  So as soon as you're sure that what ever it is that you want isn't available you get it.  End of side bar.   

We picked up the car and headed for our first stop Efroud.  It took a little longer than anticipated because we were on a secondary road that was the exact same color on the map as the primary road so we ended up arriving in Er Rachidia just after dark and decided to stay there.  I have to give Jill all the credit, she drove the entire way, excellent work!  We checked into what the guide book said was the "smartest" hotel in town.  Webster's please note, smartest = skank pit.  It was one of those faded floral bedspread, dirty carpet skank holes.  But there is a bright side.  After a couple beers in the bar to try to numb our senses enough to ignore the horror which was our room, we met the guy who works in or owns the gift store in the lobby of the hotel who told us his brother Mohammed is a guide in Efroud and could take us to the Sahara Desert in Merzouga right near the Algerian border which is where we were heading.  He wrote down his brothers name and the name of the hotel where he worked in case we wanted to hire him.  We ya ya'ed him and went to bed, ditched him in the morning and hit the road for Erfoud.  Once we arrived in Erfoud we thought we had missed the signs for Merzouga so we pulled over to get our bearings.  Two kids (boys of course, there are no women anywhere and the few who are out are covered) came to try to "help" us, I think they wanted to be our guides.  As I was telling Jill to just roll up the window to shut them up we heard a friendly voice saying it was Mohammed and that his brother told him to watch for two white women, one American, one English, that we might want a guide.  We unknowingly had pulled over right in front of the hotel where Mohammed worked.  We figured it was fate, so for 150dh he hopped in the car and we headed for the desert.  Thank Allah we did.  We would have never found what we were looking for and if we even  got close I'm sure we would have turned back because you had to drive across less than optimal surfaces and through sand to reach the desert.  As we approached the desert Mohammed asked Jill if he could drive and once he was behind the wheel the "Desert Scorpion" became a whole new vehicle.  Jill inquired about the safety of this type of rental car in these off-road conditions.  That's when Mohammed proceeded to tell us that this was the absolute best car to have in the desert and they call it the "Desert Scorpion" for that reason.  He gunned it!  We raced through the sand and sped over rocks like professional nomads (sans camel).  The desert was excellent.  We stopped for tea and crepes at this really great kasbah with a beautiful swimming pool right on the deserts edge and I was tempted to just park the Desert Scorpion and check in forever (the hot guy in the desert gear and turban didn't hurt).  We went back to Erfoud, had lunch with Mohammed and then hit the road, destination Boulemane and the Dades Gorges.  We arrived just before sunset and checked into the hotel where I sent my last brief post.  The place was perched on top of a hill in the Dades Gorge and the scenery was beautiful. When we arrived we asked if they had beer but since it's a Muslim country most small places don't serve alcohol and they of course didn't.  We had dinner, I slipped away to the bathroom and by the time I was back the owner was offering us what was supposed to be whiskey and ended up being neat gin with a lime twist (so much for a dry hotel).  Jill wasn't feeling great so she passed on the cocktails but I of course accepted, it would be rude to decline wouldn't it?  They kept asking us if we wanted beer because we had asked earlier and now the owner was around who apparently owned a store and bar in town.  We graciously declined, the gin was enough, and then moments later a hotel employee was gone and had reappeared with beer.  So I tucked myself behind the front desk of the hotel with a couple beers and some neat gin while poor Jill was left  sitting around the fire chatting with the only other guest (a female French artist), the owner and his Moroccan driver friend who fancied Jill and was rubbing her leg telling her "it was good to be free, no?"  The three of them got wasted and Jill managed to sneak away to where I was and we snuck up the stairs to bed.  The next morning we headed to Ait Benhaddou to see the gorgeous kasbah.  We spent the night and got up bright and early Friday morning for the bone chilling ride over the Tizi n'Tichka pass and our return to Marrakech.  I failed to mentioned that Jill had previously got a speeding ticket when she had meticulously paid attention to and abided by the speed limits in every town except this one instance where she didn't see the sign telling her to decrease to 60km/hour and was going 81 (clocked by radar).  Anyway, we are just outside of town when suddenly we are getting flagged over, we knew she wasn't speeding because we were stuck behind a huge truck.  Well guess what...Road Block!  It had snowed overnight in the mountains and the pass was closed.  This was Friday and we both had flights out Saturday night so we went to Ouarzazate and spent a painfully boring day rearranging our flights to leave from there and drop the car in Ouarzarate instead of Marrakech.  We killed time by loitering in the lobby of the Le Meridien hotel drinking tea and watching a Rae Dawn Chong and Antonio Sabato, Jr. movie without sound and making up vulgar dialog.  We finally flew out of Ouarzarate at 8:45 pm.  The flight was routed through Casablanca (totally out of the way) and since I was going to fly there the next day to leave for Egypt I just stayed and Jill went on to Marrakech for her flight home the next day.  So much for all that Marrakech souk shoppping I had planned.  I landed in Casablanca and took the train from the airport to the Casa Voyageurs train station and checked into my good old friend the Ibis Hotel.  I had to check out of the hotel at noon so I killed time buying my train ticket, sipping coffee in male dominated cafes and reading in the Ibis bar until I caught the 8:00 pm train to the airport for my flight at 11:45 pm.  I arrived in Cairo at 6:30 am and after a couple phone calls was picked up by the late taxi driver from my hostel.  I checked into a room for four people because mine wasn't ready yet and slept till 2:30.  Talk about a skank pit (different than the last).  They don't even provide toilet paper, so I'm off to buy some after my posting.  I would have changed hotels but Roni arrives at 3:00 am and is meeting me there, maybe we'll change tomorrow or just suck it up for one more night before taking the 9 hour bus to Siwa.  More then.  I'll post pics when I get to a faster computer.  Peace out...Jan