Dans le pays des Berbers

Well, Christmas day was strange to say the least. It's always bizarre to spend Christmas day in a Muslim country. To be quite honest, we spent the first few hours of our Christmas day in the Casablanca airport as our flight to Marrakesh was delayed by 2 hours but God listened to our prayers and our luggage arrived safe and sound in Marrakesh. Then, exhausted, we had to haggle our way to downtown Morocco as the Taxi Drivers tried in vain to make us pay an exhorbitant amount to drive 5km. We finally arrived at our hotel, a 5 minute walk from Djeena El Fna, the main square in Marrakesh at around 3:00 AM.

On Christmas day, we relaxed in the Medina of Marrakesh. We visited a few palaces, the Saadien Tombs, made our way through the souks (market in arabic... Marrakesh has one of the most famous souk in the world... very impressive!). We also ate BBQ in the Djeena El Fna (an experience in itself). The main square has a circus of activity including snake charmers (Jess is mortified of snakes, so we had to move quickly when we walked next to them).

We decided to do a 3-day tour of the South of Morocco along with Latitia, Jess's friend in town for the holidays. We left on the 26th, early in the morning and got to see beautiful mountain landscape (along with snow covered tops, yes you read right!), breath-taking gorges, amazing dishes, mostly traditional Berber dishes, and got to sleep in the Sahara desert.

Unfortunately, Jess' stomach pain acted up on her on the second day of the trip. It was the most painful day of the entire trip for her and made us consider finding a way back to civilization (most of the South of Morocco is rural and finding a doctor can be problematic). She toughed out the day though and we slept at the Inn in the desert instead of in the tent in the dunes next to the Sahara desert. We didn't get to do the camel ride but we did get a good nights sleep. The stars in the desert are amazing. This was by far our favourite part of the trip. Jess was also feeling much better the next day although her stomach is still quite sensible and she needs to eat (we have both lost weight on this trip but Jess' weight loss is starting to become a bit worrying).

Oh, I almost forgot to write this little adventure down. Ahmed, our Berber bus driver (we were in a mini bus with 13 others tourists), got us through the mountain range between Ouarzazate and Marrakesh climbing up to 2600 metres and going back down to 400 metres in Marrakesh. To make his job harder, he had to drive in the dark, in the fog, in a snow storm mixed with rain (and I'm sure there was freezing rain in there) with a severe lack of safety on the road considering they were both narrow and treacherous and lacked the adaquate guard rails (considering that there was a 300-400 metre drop next to the road. Jess and I were in the front (I acted as translator for the tour as Ahmed only spoke French, Arabic and Berber). It was a very scary experience, and I hope never to repeat it. We had to help a car along the way that was hanging off the cliff. Had the car rolled over, the occupants would have surely died (only to be found the next day at the bottom of the mountain!)

So, we are back in sunny Marrakesh. We are going to play it by ear today and decide what to do next due to Jessica's health. One of the tourists in our mini bus was a family doctor from New Zealand. She helped us out by naming a few drugs we could try to help her stomach problems. (for your information, a doctors prescription in a developing country is not necessary to obtain any type of drug. Need penicillin? No problem. And it cost a fraction of the costs in Canada!).

De retour du pays des Berbers!

Goodbye Egypt, Hello Tunisia

Well, we made it. In one piece with all our luggage. If Egypt was the Romania of Europe, Tunisia is certainly the France. It is clean, well built, with a charm ressembling strangely the a French city. Jess told me that the French colonisation strategy was to extend France beyond its border and they often treated the areas in their control as French and part of France so they made sure the countries had strong institutions in education, culture and bureaucracy. They also regarded the importance of law and order and rules as paramount to a functioning city. Well, this is blatantly obvious as you walk through the streets of Tunis. If you forgot people were muslims from North Africa, you would almost believe yourself in the South of France.

We will however, venture into the history and culture of this amazing country. We are planning to see Carthage, where several roman ruins lie and also Sibi Bou Said, one of the most beautiful seaside villages in Tunisia. Tunisia also has some of the most beautiful beaches in the Mediterranen although I think I won't put on my swimming trunks quite yet (it's about 13 degrees outside) . But there is a beautiful sun out there.

The last leg of our trip to Egypt was very nice. We made it to the Giza Pyramids, saw the sphinx. We couldn't come to Egypt without seeing the pyramids. We got lost on our way back to our hotel trying to find our bus stop (they don't indicate them anywhere in the city and the buses stop randomly everywhere. We found 2 girls from Holland also waiting for a bus and we decided to share a cab together to Midan Tahrir (central Cairo). We took our taxi from our hotel and had to fight a bit to get our tickets changed even though I had confirmed it over the telephone centre of Egyptair but at this point, I wasn't alarmed. You have to fight for everything in Egypt.

Both Jess and I were getting tired of the taxing life in Egypt for a tourist. Tunisia is a welcome change which should help us get ready for another taxing trip in Morocco.

I wish everyone a merry Christmas and a great new year. Sorry I can't send individual emails as my Internet time is precious.

Canada Dry

Typical day in the life of Jess and Serge in Egypt.

"Hello!"
"Hello."
"Want to buy a (blank for anything they are selling)? Only 5 pounds! Good deal. Good deal."
"La Shukran (no, thank-you in arabic)"
"You speak arabic?"
"No, just a little."
"Where are you from?"
"Canada"
"ah, Canada dry (big smile on the Egyptians face)"
"yes, but Canada is not dry (Jess always replies this which always makes me laugh)"
"Masalama (goodbye in arabic)"

Repeat that 10 to 15 times a day and you have an adequate picture of our walks. But it is fun. Most people are nice and helpful although we rarely buy from the street because you never know what you are getting.

Yesterday, was amazing. After Jess recuperated from her allergic reaction (we think it is fish or the spices on the fish we had in Dahab. But it was SO good!). We slowly made our way to the Luxor Temple and then off to the Karnac Temples. Both were very impressive and the fact that some of the ruins remain after over 4000 years of pillaging and annoying tourists taking pictures left, right and center, it is quite amazing!

We were convinced by an enterprising Egyptian to take a ride in his horse and buggy (very much a horse and buggy, egyptian style... pictures to prove it!). We rode around the city and the market (souq in Arabic). It was amazing to see this part of the city and it was less hassle given no one bothers foreigners with guide (very helpful). Saeed, our buggy driver took us to the temples and spent most of the day with us. For this privilege, we paid the handsome sum of 60 Egyptian pounds ($12, not much but for us starving students, it is starting to be expensive!). We did have fun with Saeed and it was relaxing to stroll around Luxor in a horse and buggy. Don't forget to pay baksheesh for Cinderalla (the horses name. Baksheesh means tip or bride in arabic. Everyone expects baksheesh for everything they do for you exept give directions. Directions for some reason is free in this country!).

In the afternoon, we took a felluca ride (a felluca is like a sail boat but an Egyptian sail boat). They have been in use since the Pharaohs. We spent 3 hours on the Nile with our Captain Allah. He took us to Banana Island, an island plantation with real banana trees (we ate fresh bananas from the tree. Bet you haven't done that before!). There were also mango trees and mandarine trees and orange trees. The sunset was amazing and so was the sail back. Our captain was truly a gentleman and although he couldn't read, you could tell he was very learnt with the way the world works. He was dealt a bad hand in life but he had hope. His good spirit and positive outlook on life was really inspiring. We talked about microfinance and what he would do with just US$100. He had some very enterprising ideas but no program exists in Luxor yet (maybe for future reference because the people of Luxor are very hard workers and very friendly and trustworthy as we've learnt).

Today, we went to see the Valley of the Kings and the temples on the West side of the Nile. It was very impressive. We hired a driver for the day for about $20 which is a good deal if you consider the distances between the sites. The tombs of the Pharaohs were very empressive. I was most impressed by the Habu temple. The structure is in very good condition with some of the original paint dating back 3000 years ago. Amazing! We drove around sugar plantations, gazed at ruins of previous villages and saw a multitude of impressive relics. We made it back by taking the ferry to the East bank and walking back to our hostel.

Tomorrow, we will take the train to Cairo at 9:30 AM (10 hour train ride! Yikes). We will see the Giza pyramids and the spinx on the 21st before flying off to Tunisia.

More news of travels to come.

Did you ever wonder what an Egyptian Hospital looked like?

Or other things you don't want to read as the subject of a blog entry. Well, we got to see the inside of an Egyptian hospital but everyone is doing fine.

Upon our arrival in Luxor, Egypt after our 20-hour bus ride and having spent the better part of an hour trying to locate ourselves in central Luxor after our very eccentric arabic taxi driver dropped us off relieving us of 30 egyptian pounds, we made it to our hostel.

Jess was becoming alarmed by the rash that had developed over the last 2 days and the inflammation of her feet and fingers. I was becoming increasingly worried (keep in mind I've seen Jess get fairly sick after a severe cold and fever, tonsillitis requiring antibiotics and a stomach acid attack lasting the better of 3 days in Egypt). At first, I got quite worried. Could it be Thyphoid fever? Looked through my lonely planet for symptoms... no, no fever and no rash predominately on the abdomen. What about bed bugs? that got me worried because we would have to fumigate all our things but no, that doesn't fit the bill given I did not show any symptoms and her rash was generalized. We didn't know although a mild allergic reaction (untreated mind you) wasn't out of the realm of possibilities.

So, I got out my trusty Lonely planet, found the hospital and then found a taxi on the main street (al Medina for those of you interested). Unfortunately, the taxi driver took us to another hospital (not on my map) and overcharged us for it. However, it was a hospital. We made it to the emergency ward and were immediately looked after (no wait time at all!).

The doctor took one quick look at Jess and concluded it was an allergic reaction. He was preoccupied with the antibiotics she took but she started taken them inLondon over a week ago and usually allergic reactions to drugs manifest themselves within 72 hours (usually the first 2-3 hours). So, we went through the list of things she consumed or used. We couldn't put our finger on it although the sea bass could be it (but it was so good and fresh but Jess might be allergic to some kinds of sea food).

She was immediately administered anti-allergy drugs and Mohammed, her nurse, will come to the hostel tonight and tomorrow morning to administer her one more dosage. She should be fine by tomorrow (we hope). We might do some sightseeing if she is okay but we won't push it.

Mohammed and her doctor were wonderful. We were taken into the emergency room and cared for immediately (and cared is the true word here. not like Canada). We were given immediate treatment and the diagnostic was taken after the regular test. And all this for US$20. Nothing for us but a lot for a nurse who earns US$100a month and works 12 hour shifts (and makes housecalls!). We will probably take Mohammed out for supper to thank him for his attention.

Jess would love your good wishes. Please send her a quick note wishing her a quick recovery at jessica.l.west@gmail.com She will certainly appreciate your good wishes.

Up till now, I have met three Mohammeds in Egypt and all three have been kind and helpful. I think Mohammed is our guardian angel. Strange how this world works.

Dahab, Egypt

As the sun sets and the full moon starts to shine on Dahab, you realize that this is the place you want to come to relax, and enjoy yourself.

Following our first day in Sinai and after visiting Mt. Sinai, we decided we wanted to stay a little longer in this sea-side paradise. I called and changed our flight to Tunis to December 21st giving us three extra days. This allowed for us to stay 2 extra nights in Dahab and we will probably stay 2 nights in Luxor and 2 nights in Cairo although I anticipate this leg of the trip to be both very amazing (given the pyramids and museums we will see) but also very taxing (so we are trying to appreciate our sea-side resort for a few more days!).

Today, we went snorkelling along the beach and coral reef. The water is quite warm and snorkelling allows us to watch in utter amazement at the technicolour sight before us. There are thousands of fish in every colour, size and beauty lining the coral floor. Of particular beauty is this area where the coral gives way and you find so many fish intereacting with each other. Some are eating at the coral, others are eating each other but most just swim and seem quite content to swim with the humans peering from above. It is these moments you wish you had an underwater camera.

Last night, we tried the sheesha at the hotel. It was very good and very relaxing. We gazed into the night sky (not a cloud in sight) and the light from the full moon was blinding out the light from the surrounding stars. The night sky was beautiful.

We will be leaving for Luxor tomorrow on an overnight bus (yuck!) which will last over 14 hours. We expect to arrive between 6:00 and 8:00 AM.

We have to go but we will keep you posted.

Am I in Paradise?

Well not quite. But Dahab is quite near it, I'm sure. This is our third day in Egypt and it didn't quite go to plan and many things were far removed from paradise. But I am glad we have found a place to call home for at least a night.

We arrived safely in Cairo although I got a bit scared when my luggage didn't go through until the very end. So, with both our backpacks, we bravely exited the airport doors only to find a horde (literally) of taxi drivers all too eager to drive us to downtown Cairo... all this at 4:00 AM in the morning. They jump on the virgin white tourists that look like easy prey. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for them), we were in no hurry. We had decided to wait till 6:00 AM and take the city bus for 2.5 egyptian pounds each (about $0.50). This was a bit better than the best fare that was offered at 40 egyptian pounds (about $12).

We met up with this American women, also waiting for the city bus. She appeared very frightened. She was part of an organized tour and they had forgotten to pick her up at the airport. So we decided to take the bus together given her hotel was relatively close to ours. We made it to the Egyptian museum and then walked about 10 minutes to our hotel. We dropped off Melanie at hers and then went to visit downtown Egypt.

A few observations about Cairo (for those of you brave enough to venture here!):
1) Cairo is a very very dirty place (keep in mind that I live in London which is also considered
dirty). There was rubble (kind of like a war zone) and garbage everywhere
2) There are millions of people living in a very small area.
3) There are scam artists everywhere. And they prey on white tourists who look prime for the picking. On one particular street we were on, we were harrassed three times within a 100 metre block. There scam is very simple. They start walking next to you and tell you they want to help you find your way. You tell them you are not lost and then they ask you where you are from. They ask where you are staying and your name. And so it goes. You give them no information or else they will hound you. So you keep walking. They try to sell you something or get you into their shop. It doesn't stop until you walk away. They get angry at you and ask you why you are mad. You tell them you just want to be on your way. And so it gets repeated every 15 minutes. Very "taxing". New word I discovered speaking to British tourists also having a similar experience.

Many people visit Cairo in an organized tour group. This is both good and bad. Good because you get less of the scammers in your face (technically, they always find a way!). Bad because you do not experience the real Egypt and meet and speak with Egyptians from Cairo, Nubeans from Aswan or Bedouines from Sinai.

Okay, back to the trip. We visited the Egyptian museum which was great! The history in this country is astounding. We even got to see the mummies (real ones!). Well, we saw the preserved bodies of Seqenenre, Ahmose I, Amenhotep I, Tuthmosis I, Tuthmosis II, Tuthmosis III, Seti I, Ramses II, Ramses III.The other group was found in the tomb of Amenhotep II, consisting of the mummies of: Amenhotep II, Tuthmosis IV, Amenhotep III, Merenptah, Seti II, Siptah, Ramses IV, Ramses V, Ramses VI. Quite impressive and well worth the visit!

We decided to leave Cairo after our exhausting day trying to dodge Egyptian scam artists. We really wanted to visit Dahab and Mount Sinai. This was the right decision! Although the bus trip took well over 10 hours and we had to get through 7 passport checks (more on this in a future blog), we eventually made it to our destination. Checking in at 11:30 PM yesterday, we went to sleep and woke up relatively early the next morning to catch the bus to Mount Sinai (where moses was supposedly told the ten commandments by God). Mount Sinai is about 150 km from Dahab and the bus ride took a little over 2 hours. Jess and I climbed the mountain (and yes, it was really tall). It took us 2 hours and it was a grueling climb. After going up the stairs of repentance, I can honestly say both of us repented most of ours sins through that climb! It was worth it all to see the awesome view of the surrounding mountains. It was a really strange sensation to be up there. It was so quiet... almost eerily quiet. You could hear yourself breath. Very spiritual.

We made our way back only to find no way of going back to Dahab (we had read that there were constantly service taxis... a hybrid between a taxi and a bus... and very cheap). So we grabbed a regular taxi and paid 200 egyptian pounds (around $40) to grab a ride back to Dahab. I can honestly say that I was scared. The car was a Russian made car dating back to the before I was born. There were no seatbelts and we were cruising at 90km plus. Did I mention there are no marked lines on some of the roads in Egypt? And that people tend to drive in the middle of the road. Lots of fun but we eventually made it safe and sound.

Jess loves it in Dahab. It is around 25-30 degrees. The water is superb (The Red Sea, right accross from Saudi Arabia). The people are extremely nice (Bedouines are very very friendly people). And the food is very good. So it is kind of like paradise, I guess. But we were hoping to see Luxor and the Valley of the Kings over 2 days which means we need to leave tomorrow night. I will try to push back our flight with Egyptair by 2 days so that we can stay in Dahab an extra few days but we will see if I am successful tomorrow.

I'm signing off for now. Let me know if you have any questions about my trip in the comments section or by e-mail.

Snowing in Prague

More pictures are available by clicking:
Prague Pictures
Terezin Pictures


Well, I guess I couldn't stay away from the Canadian winter completely. Jess and I just came back from a 4-day excursion to beautiful Prague where it snowed on the last day of our trip (wet snow that is).

It all started on Wednesday morning (November 30th). We almost missed our flight when the train conductor "replacement" arrived 10 minutes late (we were to arrive at the airport 50 minutes prior to our flight... we arrived 40 minutes with the check-in counter closing 30 minutes prior to flight). We arrived with 5 minutes to spare.

We arrived in the departure lounge of the Gatwick airport starving (because having woken up at 5:00 AM that morning to take the tube and then the train, we were in no mood to wake up earlier to make breakfast). We strolled to a McDonalds and ordered breakfast and coffee. I guess the coffee hadn't sunk in yet when we realized we only had 15 minutes left before our flight was to depart... so we walked very quickly to our gate only to discover our section hadn't been called yet. Finally, we made it on board... took a deep breath... and relaxed for the next 2 hours.

Arriving in Prague was a breeze. No queues for luggage, passport checks or when exiting the airport. We had very good directions to get to the hotel and they proved extremely useful. We took the bus to the metro line and then the metro for two stops and then the tram. We walked the rest of the way (about 5 minutes). We were then shown our humble domain for the next 3 days. We had a very large bedroom (12 feet high vaulted cealings) with an extremely comfortable IKEA bedset. The apartment was along the Neruvoda street, a famous street in the Lesser Quarter leading up to the Castle Steps (for anyone having visited Prague). We shared a full bathroom with another apartment but there was only one night where someone stayed there (we think) and we never heard nor saw the other tenants so we pretty much had the apartment and bathroom to ourselves.



I won't bore you with the details of our trip but I will say Prague is an enchanted, beautiful city which has survived numerous wars, invasions, revolutions and communism. Through it all, the people of the Czech Republic have demonstrated that they could preserve something pristine and wonderful... their city. The city is marked by ondulating hills and amazing 13th to 19th architecture. This ecclectic mix is what makes the city so breath-taking. Every street corner has a different surprise waiting for you. It also has dark secrets as we learnt. After Hitler invaded the Czech Republic in 1938, he commissioned the building of a Jewish museum to highlight the future extinct people. Unfortunately, we were unable to visit the museum because we waited till Saturday, our last day, to visit the Jewish Quarter (kind of silly given Saturday is the day of the Sabbath for the Jewish people). But we did get to travel outside of the city to see Terezin, site of a Jewish Ghetto and transit city during the second world war. Over 200,000 Jews were housed in this garrison city during one time or another with a height of 80,000 people living in the city. It should be noted that the city was built for 5,000 people. That meant that when there was major overcrowding in the city, people only had 1.8 square meters of space (this included outside parks and streets).

Close to Terezin (actually less than a kilometer away), there is the Terezin small fortress which was used during the second world war as the Gestapo prison camp. In it, many prominent Czech intellectuals, nationals and Jews were imprisoned. Needless to say, both the Terezin the garrison city and Terezin, the small fortress had a strange eary feel to it. It probably didn't help it was located in the middle of nowhere and that we visited the Jewish Museum, full of drawings and paintings of Jewish children imprisoned in the city during the second world war. None of them survived the war.

But I can't end on such a sad note. We visited the Prague castle which was amazing. We got to see a the Prague string-orchestra perform in the basilica. We also strolled all over the Jewish Quarter, Old Town Square and the Lesser Square. We became enchanted by the people, the sights and the history, even if we were a bit cold (the weather hovered above and below zero... strange how you get used to weather in London which hovers around 5-10 degrees).

Jess and I are finalizing our plans for Africa. We have booked most of our trip with a prelimary itinerary as such:
December 11-12: Cairo, Egypt
December 13-15: Luxor, Egypt (valley of the kings)
December 16-17: Aswan, Egypt
December 18: Cairo, Egypt
December 19-24: Tunis, Tunisia
December 25: Marrakesh, Morocco
December 26-28: Desert Trek in the South of Morocco
December 29: Marrakesh, Morocco
December 30: Casablanca, Morocco
December 31: Rabat, Morocco
January 1: Meknes, Morocco
January 2: Fès, Morocco
January 3: Sevilla, Spain
January 4: Granada, Spain
January 5-7: Barcelona, Spain
January 8-9: Paris, France
And back in London at the end of January 9th! Should be an exhausting but fun Christmas holiday. More news to follow but in case you are interested in getting in touch with us during the holidays, I suggest you contact us by e-mail at lcserge@yahoo.ca.