To be sure, they didn't actually call this phở on the menu. Instead, it was simply their "beef noodle soup," and it was only after I took a few bites did I realize why. Sure, this bowl had the requisite ingredients, including rice noodles, bean sprouts, and cilantro. But the onions were grilled, giving it a lovely depth (think: In-N-Out grilled onions) that I'm surprised I hadn't seen other places do before. Mmm...it looked like I was going to like this thing a lot.

That was, until I ate the beef, which, while very tender, was marinated so sweetly that I flinched when I tasted it. It was basically a tare-marinated piece of yakiniku, which was fine on its own merits, but just wasn't what I wanted in that clear broth. Well, these guys claim to be inspired by both Vietnamese and Japanese cuisines, which explains the approach to that bowl (a modern approach to a traditional bowl of Asian noodles, I suppose).

I'll come for that grilled onion broth again, but I'll probably pluck out the meat and eat it with a bowl of rice on the side instead. It might also be interesting to go to the proper restaurant itself rather than this shared space inside of a clothing store, but I guess this location is a bit more convenient (181 Orchard Road #02-16, 6884-7560). Note that this item is only available on weekends.

The Outdoor Weblog has posted the second of their new weekly feature entitled "The Outdoor Enthusiast Next Door", and it just happens to be an interview with yours truly.

New Blog Queen Terah Shelton read about my recent trip to Africa and asked if I'd mind answering a few questions on the trip. What you see published on her blog is ther result, along with a few pictures from my safari gallery.

A big thanks to Terah for giving me the opportunity to write about my trip and sharing it with her readers. She did a great job of making me look good and selecting some of my favorite pics to accompany the article. I fully intend to continue my summary of the Kili climb here as well, once I get a little time to catch up, and more detailed thoughts on the safari as well.

Update: Part 2 of the interview has been posted on the website if you're interested in more.

I'm not even sure if that's really the name of this place; the Farmart website says that this place is called the 228 Coffee Stall instead (67 Sungei Tengah Road #43A). But when I tried to write the Chinese characters in Google Translate, it returned "Arnold," or anou in pinyin.

Anyway, this shockingly cheap S$4 (US$3.10) plate of fresh blood cockles paired with Tiger beer on ice was just the refreshing snack that we needed on such a scorching hot day. I kinda liked the otak-otak that the lady nearby was selling too...again at a shockingly cheap price of four pieces for only S$2 (US$1.60). I think the beer was more expensive than the food!

And this little Farmart village was kinda cool too. It seriously felt like being at some random village in Malaysia yet without requiring us to bring any passports. The prawn fishing area looked a bit run down though.

The title of this post pretty much says it all. Safari guide Matthew Copham set his GoPro camera down while out in the field and he managed to capture a once in a lifetime shot. A curious cheetah wandered up to take a look at the strange device and then gave it a lick. Fortunately, the big cat didn't find the camera tasty enough to eat. Still, pretty cool footage none the less.

According to this report over at Yahoo Sports Floyd Landis' "B" sample turned up traces of synthetic testosterone when follow-up tests were conducted on seven urine samples submitted by the Tour de France Champion. The article quotes from the French newspaper L'Equipe, where the report orginated.

Landis, who has continually maintained his innocence, claim that the tests should not have been conducted at all since his primary, or "A", sample tested negative for any banned substances. To further complicate matters, Landis' own "expert" was suppose to be allowed to witness the latest round of testing, but was barred from the room while the tests were conducted, despite an agreement that would have had him observe the testing process.

This latest twist in the story comes after a report a few months back that Landis' samples may have been mislabled, and someone else's samples were the ones actually being tested. Over the past ten months, there certainly has been a lot of back and fourths to this story. At this point, it's difficult to figure out who to believe. Clearly the French labs have issues with their testing process, that much is evident from other cases as well. But these samples testing positive doesn't bode well for Landis either. So, at this point, we either have a plot by the French to discredit another American cyclist, or Landis is guilty of using performance enhancing drugs. I'm not sure I'd rule out either option at the moment.

Thanks GoBlog!

While I was away last week National Geographic announced the 2014 Adventurers of the Year, a distinction that goes to 13 individuals who achieved extraordinary accomplishments in exploration, adventure sports, conservation or activism. As usual, this year's list includes climbers, skiers, endurance athletes and a host of other amazing individuals who pushed boundaries in some unique ways.

Amongst those who have earned a place of honor on the 2014 list are Dave and Amy Freeman, who traveled across North America on foot, in kayaks and on dogsleds, covering some 11, 647 miles (18,744 km) in the process. They're joined by Raphael Slawinski and Ian Welsted who put up the first ascent of the tricky K6 in Pakistan, and Sarah Marquis, who traveled on foot from Siberia to Australia over a three-year period. Unsurprisingly, Diana Nyad makes the list for her amazing swim from Cuba to the U.S., and ultra-runner Kilian Jornet is honored for his amazing feats of speed and athleticism in the mountains. See the full list by clicking here.

As has been the norm the past few years, Nat Geo is also letting us cast our vote on who we think should be the top adventurer. The winner of the vote will be named the People's Choice Adventurer of the Year in early 2014. Vote early and vote often by clicking here.

As usual, there are some very good choices on this list and some people that I've written about regularly. It's great to see some of the folks that we admire get recognition beyond just a niche following on the Internet. Congratulations to all of the winners. These honors are much deserved all around .

I posted a programming not a few days ago for a televisions how airing on The Discovery Channel called Adventure Bhutan. The two hour program aired last night, but in case you missed it, remember, it was on the Discovery Channel, I'm sure it will get played over. And over. And over...again.

Judging from the traffic logs for my blog, there seems to be a lot of interest in the show, so I thought that I'd share my thoughts on it while it's still fairly fresh in my mind. First off, I'll lament the fact that the show wasn't in HD, nor was it aired on the Discovery HD Channel. It would have looked amazing seeing Bhutan and it's stunning scenery in full HD. The show was letterboxed and seemed to be in the 16:9 aspect ratio, which leads me to believe that it was filmed in HD, just not aired in that format. But that's neither here nor there.

The show followed a team of adventurers and explorers as they traveled down the Mangde Chu River by whitewater raft and kayak. This area of the World has never been seen by Westerners before, and it's safe to say that it's likely not been visited by many (if any) humans before. There were points on the river where the rapids were rated as Class VI, which one of the members of the team explained meant that there was about a fifty percent chance of survival. Not only would you have to be a world class kayaker to survive this river, you would need excellent gear and boats to navigate the area, which probably points to the fact this was indeed the first group of people to explore the region.

The team certainly met with their hardships along the way. The river was more challenging than they expected in spots, and the narrow canyons made it difficult for them to run the rapids. They had to portage around some rather nasty areas, and those portages, over rocks and through jungle were not easy at all. When team leader Gerry Moffatt fell and gashed open his leg, there was a serious threat to his health and quite possibly his life. (I couldnt' have been the only one who winced in pain when they showed that gash!)

But of course, in the end, they were able to make the first descent on the Mangde Chu, and reach their destination at the border of Bhutan and India. I have to admit, it looked like quite the adventure, and there was some amazing white water to run. However, the show turned into more of an kayaking adventure and less of an exploration of the territory to me. As someone who enjoys kayaking very much, I was thrilled to watch them tackle some crazy rapids, but I really wanted to see more of this "Unexplored World" they kept telling us about. Yes, we did get some shots of the canyons and this new area that man was seeing for the first time, but often times we would get a shot of one of the team members telling us how amazing it was there, when what I really wanted to see was the things that made it amazing. The camera work wasn't exceptional while in the canyon, and there was little to distinguish the area from any other canyon on Earth. I was hoping for more of a mix of the white water kayaking and exploration elements at times. It also didn't help that it took the first hour of the show for the team to just arrive at the unexplored area.

That said, I was entertained by the program. It was great to see, and learn more, about Bhutan and the people there. It's a part of the World that many people don't even know exists, and few Westerners will ever travel to. The team setting off into an unknown region, by kayak no less, was fun to watch, and I did get into their struggle to reach their goal. All in all, I would say it was well worth the two hour investment, even if I would have liked to have seen more of a focus on what they found in the region they were exploring. The overall quality was what you would expect out of the Discovery Channel, which is to say very good, it just left me wanting a little more. I guess that just means I'll have to plan my own Bhutan Adventure. :)

Just like clockwork, the 2013 Antarctic season appears to be ramping up right on schedule. We already know that the Scott Expedition is off and running, but soon they'll have company out on the ice. Veteran adventurer Richard Parks will soon embark on a solo expedition to the South Pole and he hopes to do so in record time.

Parks left the U.K. on Monday of this week and should be in Punta Arenas now. He is no doubt resting, sorting his gear and preparing for the flight to Union Glacier for the start of his speed attempt. He will be taking on the daunting task of trying to beat Christian Eide's speed record for traveling 1150 ki from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole, a distance of 1,150 km (715 mile), that was set in 2011. At the time, Eide managed to make that journey in an astounding 24 days, 1 hour and 13 minutes. To do that, he had to average 47 km (29 miles) per day, which anyone who knows anything about Antarctic travel will tell you is an insane pace. Parks hopes to go faster.

Richard has set a goal of completing his journey to the South Pole in 23 days. That means he'll have to average 50 km (31 miles) per day, which doesn't sound like a lot more but those extra kilometers it can really wear on someone day in and day out, particularly when they are dragging a heavy sled behind them the entire way.

If all goes as expected and the weather cooperates, he hopes to begin the expedition in mid-November. That means he has a couple of weeks to rest and prepare before heading out on the ice. I'll certainly be following his progress once he gets going.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Scott Expedition continues to make progress, albeit at a slow pace. They boys have been on the trail for just five days but pulling the heavy sleds have made it tough so far. Their pace has dropped to as little as 1 km (.6 miles) per hour as they slog through powdery snow when they would prefer to be on hard pack. On top of that, the weather has taken a turn and gotten colder (-40ºC/F this morning!) and windier. They're now getting a real taste of what it is like to travel in Antarctica.

This was all to be expected of course and that's the reason Ben and Tarka set off early in the first place. It is also not uncommon for polar travelers to struggle early on, then find their groove once they've had a chance to acclimatize to the conditions. I suspect that will be the case here as well.

That's all for today. I'll update the progress of both of these expeditions as we get word and I'll post more starts as they come.

I have to thank my friend Louise of the superb blog Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland for letting me know about this fantastic site. The 'Towers' is one of the best examples of a nineteenth century folly existing today in Ireland. The Towers were commissioned by Arthur Kiely-Ussher in around 1835. He had inherited over 8,000 acres of land in the area, and quickly gained a reputation for being a harsh and cruel landlord. It is said that his wife had become deeply envious of Strancally Castle, built by Arthur's brother John Kiely, and hectored Arthur to build a residence to outshine that of his brother.

Plans for an extravagant mansion were drawn and work began on the long and winding carriageway, with an ornate gate lodge (see above). They then constructed the elaborate bridge over a small stream, with large towers flanking each side of the bridge. However their grandiose ambitions quickly outstripped their funds and they ran out of money soon after completing the bridge and their dreams of building a huge mansion were never to come true, they spent their days living in the now demolished Ballysaggartmore House, and must have felt despair as they travelled along their stunning carriageway, that it would never lead to the mansion they had so desired. An account at the time deriding the extravagance of some of the gentry in Ireland at the time noted that

"...the crowning folly of them all, at Ballysaggartmore in Waterford, huge gates, then an even larger bridge, then for economy a smaller bridge and then at last, no house for there was no more money, the derelict demense lies heavily overgrown, enclosed and silent..."

However it is hard to feel too much sympathy for the Kiely-Usshers. Arthur was reputed to have been a cruel and avaricious landlord during the Great Famine, evicting large numbers of tenants who could not pay their rents. He demolished their homes and replaced them with livestock who could bring in a better revenue. A reporter from the Cork Examiner in May 1847 reported on Keily-Ussher's estates that:

The interior of one of the towers

"I found twelve to fourteen houses levelled to the ground....and groups of women and children still hovered around the place of their birth..."

As the tenants became ever poorer and more desperate, a group tried to assassinate him, they failed in their attempts and a number were sentenced to be transported to Tasmania in 1849. The Famine was one of the most catastrophic events in recorded Irish history. In this area around Lismore alone, the population fell by over 50% between 1841 and 1851. To spend so much money on an extravagance like the Towers while the country starved gives a good indication as to the nature of the Keily-Usshers.

Despite its unjust and sad history, today the site is a wonderful place to walk. It has a real fantasy feeling when you finally encounter the Towers, they reminded me of something from the HBO show Game of Thrones!

The woodland walks alone are worth the trip, and you can find a diverse range of trees like horse chestnut, holly, hazel, ash, oak, sycamore and spruce. The main avenue is planted with poplars and rhododendrons, with a number of benches to take a load off and enjoy nature, it must be a really wonderful place to walk on a bright summers day, or perhaps even better still when the leaves turn golden in autumn.

The site is pretty easy to find, just take the R666 from Lismore heading towards Fermoy (signposted left after the bridge past Lismore Castle). You'll find the Towers after about 3–4km well signposted on the right hand side. A fairly large carpark and a number of interpretative panels are on the site, I recommend when you arrive to follow the path up the slope to the right and loop around to the Towers that way, first entering by the Gate Lodge.

There are a number of other sites nearby, and Lismore town itself is a wonderful place to spend an afternoon with plenty of great cafes to stop and refuel as well as a number of heritage sites.









I hope you enjoy this blog, we're trying to cover as many sites as we can across Ireland. If anyone has any suggestions about sites you'd like us to cover please do leave us a comment. If you enjoy information and images of Irish heritage sites then do follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ If you'd like to support us then please consider downloading an audioguide to one of Ireland's wonderful heritage sites. They are packed with original music and sound effects and are a great way of experiencing the story of Ireland. They only cost €1.99 and are fun whether you are at the site, or listening from the comfort of your own home. If you enjoy stories of the turbulent medieval period in Ireland try our guide to Viking and Medieval Dublin, visit us at www.abartaaudioguides.com for free previews and to download your free audioguide to the Rock of Dunamase  or the free audioguide to the wonderful heritage town of Kells in County Meath

All photographs © Neil Jackman / abartaaudioguides.com 

Earlier in the year I had the chance to checkout an excellent documentary about heliskiing in Alaska called The Alaskan Way. The film was originally suppose to be about the incredible risks and rewards that come along with backcountry skiing in remote parts of that state but during filming tragedy struck and two people were killed in an avalanche. Now, a few months later, the entire film is available online for free and is definitely worth checking out, especially as we head into the ski season. You can watch the entire 59-minute film below, but I suggest you click this link and watch it in full resolution on Vimeo instead. If you find you like the film, then hit the "tip" button on the page and give the filmmakers a few bucks. 10% of everything this is raised is going directly to avalanche education initiatives, which is certainly a good cause.

The Alaskan Way from Godu Productions on Vimeo.

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There are over 170 dolmens (also known as portal tombs) recorded in Ireland. Geographically they are more common in the northern half of the island, with some clusters in the south-east and in the west. Gaulstown is one of ten examples in County Waterford. Portal tombs may be one of the earliest of Ireland’s megalithic tomb types, and a forerunner of the more complex court tombs. Typically a portal tomb is a simple chamber formed of upright stones, with a large capstone. The monument was then possibly covered with a cairn of small stones or a mound of earth.

The Gaulstown Dolmen dates to the Neolithic Period, likely to have been constructed some time around 3,500 BC.

 It is situated in a wonderfully atmospheric wooded glade at the base of a steep slope known locally as Cnoc na Cailligh (The Hill of the Hag). The stone to construct the tomb was locally sourced. Some subsidence of the tomb in recent years has been repaired with the addition of a concrete slab to ensure the structure is supported. Positioned close to the dolmen is the remains of another stone-lined prehistoric tomb known as a cist burial. These features generally date to the Bronze Age period. Its presence so close to the dolmen may suggest that the site continued to be an important spiritual place for millennia. 

The Gaulstown Dolmen really is one of the finest examples of a portal tomb in the region and well worth a trip. You’ll find the tomb roughly around 7km south-west of Waterford City. Follow the R680 from Waterford city towards Kilmeadan. At Tramore crossroads (signposted for Tramore) turn left onto the R682. Continue along this road, driving through the first set of crossroads until you reach a second set of crossroads. Turn right here and continue down this road (you will drive straight through another crossroads) and the site will be on your left. The tomb is signposted, but you can easily miss it as a large modern gate blocks the laneway to the site and makes it look like the entrance to a private residence. Please be careful not to block the gateway when you park your car to the side of the large gate. Access to the site is through a pedestrian entrance to the side of the gate, follow along the short path to find the site.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog, if you’d like to support us please consider downloading one of our acclaimed series of audioguides to Ireland’s heritage sites, they are packed with original music and sound effects and a really fun and immersive way of exploring Ireland’s past. They are available from abartaheritage.ie. Try our latest guide for free; The Sligo Heritage Trail. Narrated by Sligo actor Ciarán McCauley and packed with facts, history and tales about Sligo through the centuries, it's an immersive way to enjoy the story of Sligo. 

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Climbing.com the website for Climbing magazine has posted an excellent preview of the upcoming climbing season on K2. As things start to wind down on Everest, the Karakorum season will be starting to warm up.

There will be four teams gunning for the summit on K2 this year, three of which will be climbing alpine style, with small teams. None of the four intend to use supplemental oxygen. Two teams will challenge the West Face, which remains mostly unclimbed. One of those teams is a large Russian expedition which will lay siege to the mountain, while Peter Hámor, Dodo Kopold, and Piotr Morawski will go light and fast having recently topped out on Nanga Parbat and still being acclimatized for high elevation.

Kazakhs Denis Urubko and Serguey Samoilov will be looking to climb the North Face, on a route that has never been attempted. They'll be going up an 11,000 foot vertical face that that is amongst the most challenging big wall climbs anywhere in the World. The North Face remains largely unexplored and few climbers have even scouted the area.

Finally, on the South side, Americans Bill Pierson and Fabrizio Zangrilli will be attempting a new route themselves, going up the 9500 foot wall before merging with The Magic Line route that is amongst the more direct climbs on the mountain.

K2 remains one of the more dangerous climbs amongst the 8000m peaks. Not many climbers actually find themselves on the summit, and of those that do, nearly half perish on the descent. The mountain is a mere 240 meters shorter than Everest, and yet it is orders of magnitude more difficult to climb. Fortunately, the teams that are attempting K2 are all seasoned pros, with plenty of high altitude experience. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more about these climbers as we get closer to the Karakorum season, but I'll take this opportunity to wish them all luck now.

Thanks to Jason over at The Adventurist for passing this one on. He has his hands full with all the Everest news at the moment, so if you're looking for the latest, be sure to head over to his site and catch-up.

Traditionally the main entrance to Fes-el-Bali (Fes' old walled medina) is through the beautiful Bab Bou Jeloud. Two things were "missing" when I strolled over to take a look a couple weeks ago. One was the large... birdcage in a corner of the square where the captured crown prince of Portugal was once displayed as he slowly died of starvation; and the other was the truly intolerable myriad of uber-aggressive "guides" (angry, unemployed young men with major chips on their shoulders). The scourge of tourist tranquility, the hordes of these pests are pretty much... gone (as they were even earlier from Tangier and Marrakech). I think Fes was the last hold out.

An aside here. Roland and I were once walking around in the late afternoon, wandering aimlessly in the vicinity of the Bab Bou Jeloud when a particularly obnoxious, snarling guy insisted that we couldn't walk around without him. The discussion quickly degenerated into him cursing and screaming at us and calling us Jews and Americans and whatnot; very threatening. When a cop appeared out of nowhere and grabbed him we were very relieved; our relief turned to mortification when the copy commenced beating him savagely. But I guess why we didn't see him or any of his colleagues on this trip.

There are now signs posted throughout the labyrinth that makes up the old city, marking sites and routes. I mean, it could be Rome or Dublin almost. It is no longer the forbidding, scary place it has always been reputed to be. We never even felt intimidated to not walk around late at night. We wandered around anywhere we wanted for 3 days essentially unmolested. Maybe the Fassi saw the benefits tourism have brought to Marrakech, but something-- maybe aggressive police action-- has made Fes' medina a lot more comfortable for tourists-- and a lot more profitable for bazaris. It isn't Disneyland yet and you won't see Ma and Pa Kettle ambling around alone yet, but that's probably coming soon. I definitely saw a lot more European families walking around freely.

I've been meaning to feature Giulio di Sturco's photography for a while now, and recently revisited his website, to which he added a number of galleries.

One of those consists of his work during Indian Fashion Week in New Delhi, and is titled Dreaming Fashion.

You may wonder what I chose to feature this gallery on what is essentially a travel photography blog.

My rationale is multi-faceted: this gallery of edgy fashion and striking models underscores the enormous strides made by India in becoming an Asian economic powerhouse with a new growing middle class and modernizing cities, but also emphasizes the growing wealth disparity between its haves and have-nots.

Another reason is Giulio's photographic style. His blurry photographs impart both a dreamy look and one that suggests motion and energy.

The third reason is the pretty models...always a magnet.

Giulio's work also includes more sobering work. His galleries of photographs of the Ganges' pollution, the misery of Bihar residents after a flood and violence in Kashmir provide a reality check, and a reminder that not all is rosy in India.

Giulio di Sturco is an award-winning Italian photographer working between Milan and New Delhi. He studied photography at the European Institute of Design and Visual Arts in Rome, and was published in D (La Repubblica delle Donne), Internazionale, Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, Anna, Amica, Geo, L'Espresso and others.

Is it just me, or has Ikeikemaru started cutting back on their list of specials? Well, this skilfish was basically the main thing that they were advertising today, suggesting that it had a "beautiful fat content similar to otoro." I picked up a couple of pieces for S$13.60 (US$10.85). It wasn't quite as rich as otoro but nonetheless was still tasty enough to eat easily.

I've always wanted to learn to SCUBA dive. It's been something on my list of things to do for some time, and eventually I'll get there. But here's one more reason we should all get certified.

That USA Today article tells the tale of deep sea explorers who have salvaged over 17 tons of gold and silver coins dating back to colonial-era America. The haul is estimated to be worth a whopping $500 million. For various reasons, the salvage company has not divulged any information about the ship or it's location as of yet, but it is said to lay in International Waters, and is subject to the rights of salvage at sea. The salvage team has already pulled up more than 500,000 coins and artifacts that are said to be in better condition than typical finds of this type.

That settles it, I'm going to book my scuba classes immediately. Anyone want to join The Adventure Blog salvage team?

With 300,000 tourists stranded in Thailand-- and the economy losing at least $2 billion-- Thailand's Constitutional Court banned Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from office for 5 years. Flights to and, more importantly, from Bangkok's two airports will resume Thursday.

Somchai, the brother-in-law of crooked billionaire/fugitive and ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra, was booted out of office over election fraud. Thaksin's party, the People Power Party (PPP) was disbanded. Somchai, whose illegitimate right-wing government had fled to Chiang Mai, agreed to the terms of the court ruling.

This CNN report was a little premature in it's gloom and doom:

National Geographic Adventure has posted a cool audio interview with climber Mike Libecki who recently returnd from a trip to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan where he, and his brother Andy, climbed Mount Asan.

The two brothers spent five weeks exploring the climbing possiblities in the area, and finished off with a 3000 foot ascent on Mount Asan's headwall. The trip was quite a bonding experience for the brothers, who have also climbed together in China and Greenland, but this was the first real technical climbing for Andy.

It sounds like the two had a great time, despite the fact they got food poisoning, from eating goat head and intestine, a local delicacy. If you ask me, if you go to a foreign country and eat goat head and intestine, you're just asking for food poisoning. ;)

MountEverest.net has an update on the Kazakhs who topped out on Everest yesterday. It seems the pair are back in ABC, safe and sound, although they did require a bit of aid from some Sherpa's on the way down.

Word is that they need a "small puff" of oxygen from one bottle and warm drinks, but they finished the descent under their own power and are resting comfortably now in their tent. Good news all around!

In other news, Fausto de Stefani has returned to Lhotse to clear up some unfinished business of his own. Fausto claims to have summitted all 14 8000m peaks, but his climb on Lhotse back in 1997 was called into question. At the time, he was climbing with friend Sergio Martini, and the two believed they had reached the top, but because of an awful blizzard, they were unable to check their position properly. Another climber later claimed to have seen the pair descending before they had reached the summit. Thus, Fausto was never credited with reaching the top on Lhotse. It remains the only 8000m peak he hasn't topped out on. Hopefully he'll soon correct this oversight and join the ranks of the elite. Hey Fausto? What took you so long to come back? Good luck!

I have to admit, Egypt has always been a destination I've dreamed of, like since I was a kid even. I mean, in our culture-- replete with Bible stories, mummy movies, Napoleon, Israel, hi-tech aliens building pyramids, Cleopatra-- how could it not be? And if you've been following this blog at all, you've probably figured out that Roland and I have always been looking for cool and challenging places to go experience. Egypt sounded really exotic to us both and we finally made it over about a decade ago.

We planned to spend about a week in Cairo and a couple weeks roaming the country (including a Nile cruise to Aswan). Although it didn't seem so at the moment, some real misfortune for everyone else turned into a break for me and Roland. Just as we were leaving L.A. in November a bunch of religionist fanatics slaughtered a busload of tourists from Switzerland or Austria and Japan. It was really a spectacular horror show with scimitar-wielding terrorists chasing unarmed tourists through the ruins and mercilessly slashing them to death. It was a bloody slaughter; 5 dozen were murdered. Egypt, one of the world's biggest tourist destinations, immediately emptied of tourists. And they stopped coming (at for a couple weeks). I feel terrible for the Austrians and Japanese, of course; I mean what a way to go! But... well, Roland and I pretty much had Egypt to ourselves. I mean it was just us and the Egyptians, who, except for the scimitar-wielders, are an extremely generous, friendly and gracious people.

Example of how this worked: the cruise. Normally these big boats are packed-- hundreds of people (including brats) running around making noise and slowing everything down. And the cabins are tiny little cells. I mean really, really tiny. The giant ship had a full crew (which included an Egyptologist) plus me, Roland and two sprightly old Brits returning to London from a lifetime of foreign service in Oman and seeing Egypt on the way home. That's right; instead of a couple hundred tourists we were four. The first result was that instead of Roland and I having to share one of these tiny cells, we each got our own tiny cell. Still horrible but an improvement. Later the Egyptologist explained to us that no tour group in his experience on the Nile had seen as many things as we had. That's because normally the tour goes as slow as the oldest and most crippled turtle-like member. The 4 of us were all really into seeing everything-- and we did.

We flew to Cairo on TWA direct from L.A. They're out of business now. Some guy from the Warner Bros affiliate picked us up at the airport and whisked us through an otherwise annoying customs rigmarole and hassel-hell. We checked into Le Meridien on Roda Island right in the center of town connected to the Corniche by its own bridge, and got a great room with a balcony overlooking the Nile. Good hotel with the best views of Cairo in the city and not expensive at all (although it probably is now). On the way back we decided to stay in the Sheraton in Dokki, a little bit away from the hectic part of town but still convenient. It was pretty inexpensive too, although I have a feeling that all the prices were down because of the recent brutal murders of all the tourists.

Food in Egypt is definitely nothing to write home about. It's amazing that such an ancient culture doesn't have a unique cuisine, like China or Morocco or Turkey. But they don't. It's kind of garden-variety Middle Eastern. The restaurants were non-descript from a culinary perspective, although the food was ok. On the cruise there was always the very boring, semi-bland choice of "chicken or fish."
If you've looked through my blog, you're no doubt aware about how I delight in the cuisines of the countries I visit. Scratch Egypt off that list. There was not one memorable restaurant in almost a month! Even the lavish ones the Warner Bros affiliate people brought us to served food that was just slightly better than mediocre. This was definitely not a food trip. It was a tombs trip.

In Cairo the biggest deal is, of course, the Pyramids. And were we in luck on that score! You know the guy always on CNN whenever they do a story on mummies or anything old in Egypt-- Dr. Zahi Hawass? Well, one of the musicians, Andy Paley, in a band on Sire Records, where I used to work, was friends with some well-known American Egyptologist, a Rockefeller no less, and through this guy we had an introduction to Dr. Hawass, then Governor of the Pyramids (now Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities). This turned out to be a golden key to the most amazing visit to the Pyramids imaginable.

Dr. Hawass treated us to a tour usually reserved for heads of state. He literally closed down the Great Pyramid and made everyone else wait while we had it to ourselves! It's pretty awesome. Most things don't live up to expectations; that one did. He said we could sleep in it if we wanted to. We didn't at the time but now I'm sorry we didn't take him up on it. We didn't climb any pyramids the way Bush just did in Chichen Itzen in Mexico last week, looking like a pansy. We didn't because a U.S. marine climbed up and fell off and died; so it's forbidden now. Afterwards he showed us a small, locked up pyramid that no one is allowed in except Charles De Gaulle and other people they wanted to impress. They don't want general traffic in there because of breathing. Next door they had a little museum with an ancient ship with a bunch of mummified pharaoh's servants on it. The Sphinx, on the other hand, was covered in scaffolding and seemed to be crumbling into the sand. Roland claims they were injecting silicon into it.

The other stuff in Cairo we went were the Egyptian Museum, which was like an over-stuffed warehouse but still amazingly interesting; El Azhar Mosque (the spiritual center of Old Cairo where, unlike the Moroccan mosques, all are welcome); the 12th Century Citadel and the Muhammed Ali Mosque (an incredibly magnificent Turkish-style mosque also known as the Alabaster Mosque and unrelated to boxers); and the City of the Dead, basically a gigantic cemetery with hundreds of thousands of people living in it.

After a pleasant enough week in Cairo we took an Egypt Air flight to Luxor to meet our Nile ship. Luxor is really spectacular (although it took some effort to put all the screaming, terrorized Austrians and Japanese being hacked to bits by the terrorists out of our minds). The temples, big and small, and burial areas in the outskirts-- The Valley of Kings and The Valley of Queens-- were mind-boggling and themselves worth a trip to Egypt. We stayed on the ship and they took over the routine, starting with the Temple of Karnak-- the heart of the Amon cult and one of the most spectacular sites either of us has ever seen... anywhere. After seeing it, the also incredible-- albeit much smaller and less grand-- Temple of Luxor wasn't nearly as breathtaking and memorable. We wound up going back to the Temple of Karnak for a cool touristy sound and light show the next night. The boat stayed tied up on the dock for a few days-- a floating hotel/restaurant for us, while we explored the Luxor region. It was really amazing. We were supposed to sail north to Dendara to see the Temple of Hathor, the goddess of love, but the Nile was too low so they kept us in Luxor longer-- which was fine with us-- and gave us a gift certificate for a night at the Hilton Hotel in Taba on the Sinai.

It's 140 miles from Luxor to Aswan and this was the heart of our trip. We (me and Roland and the two old Brits) stopped everywhere and did everything. First stop was Esna, a tiny ancient agricultural town-- we were in rural ancient Egypt now-- with an awesome little temple dedicated to Khnum, the ram-headed god. On the other side of the river and 30 miles away is Edfu. By this time we felt really comfortable on our ship and we had taken over the sound system and were playing Velvet Underground tapes as we watched ancient Egypt float by. The Temple of Edfu, the holiest site of Horus, the falcon god, is the most intact temple we saw on our whole trip. In some ways this was the one, the one where it was easiest to fantasize that I was an Egyptian living a thousand years before Christ. I wasn't in the real world any longer.

Next came Kom Ombo, the site of the temple to Sobek, the crocodile god. Roland loved it. I felt I had seen enough temples by then and I hate and fear crocodiles anyway. I was also getting bored with the crappy food on the boat and I was happy when the boat Egyptologist told us if we wanted to we could go for a camel excursion into the Libyan Desert to visit an old Coptic monastery. We all jumped at the chance and we had a truly remarkable day, although Roland picked up some accursed Arabic phrase that made my nasty camel run off whenever he shouted it.

Our last stop was Aswan, best known for the Aswan Dam, of course, but there are some pretty cool things to see there too. I think the last thing we did as part of our organized cruise was to take a falucca to Elephantine Island and Kitchener's Island to visit the gardens. It was very beautiful and peaceful and helped feed my fantasy about living 3,000 years ago. We checked into the Pullman Cataract Hotel, famous as the site of the film Death on the Nile and very beautiful-- Moorish in style. It's a luxury hotel but it was inexpensive and not really all that luxurious. Like everywhere in Egypt, the food was mediocre.

On a lark we decided to go see Abu Simbel, way down near Sudan, the gateway to Africa. We flew there from Aswan on ZAS. Most people fly in for a few hours and fly out with the same group. We were the only ones who stayed. The town gets lively when the planeful of tourists arrives and then gets real sleepy when they fly back in the evening. We loved being the only ones in this very primitive African town. We found a basic hostel to stay in. There were no real hotels. I don't recall any real restaurants either and we traded a farmer a pen for some tomatoes. The Temple of Rameses was as spectacular and awe-inspiring as the photos lead you to believe it is.

We wound up flying back to Cairo and I let Roland talk me into taking a night bus through the Sinai to Taba (to use our gift certificate and cross over and visit Eliat). We went to visit Jerusalem too-- and spent Christmas Eve in Bethelhem where tradition says Jesus was born, but that part of the trip is for another time.

UPDATE: Egyptian Roads

They should be avoided when possible. Christmas week, 2010 and a bus crashed into a truck, killing 8 American tourists, injuring 21 others, going from Aswan to Abu Simbel. Better to fly.

The crash took place early Sunday as the tourists were traveling from Aswan to Abu Simbel, the site of an ancient Egyptian temple.

Road accidents are common in Egypt because of bad roads and poor enforcement of traffic rules. An estimated 8,000 people die in car accidents annually in the country.