Tuesday 26 April 2011

A blonde abroad!

I have recently got back from a two week holiday in Egypt. It was a fantastic experience, but as usual very eventful! My blog would be about 10 pages long if I wrote down everything that happened, but here are a few snippets:


Nasty Mosquitoes!
You can guarantee that wherever I go I will get into some sort of medical difficulties. It’s a fact. My accident proneness knows no limits, and is not limited to the UK. And true to form I had a medical disaster while in Egypt. On a trip to a temple near the Nile I was bitten quite badly by those nasty little creatures mosquitoes. Thinking nothing of it I carried on as normal, but the next day I woke up with massive red spots and very swollen ankles. I had managed to have an allergic reaction! Luckily some antibiotic cream sorted me out, although I still have faint marks on my legs and ankles now. Not content with stopping at the ankles the mozzies decided to have another nibble at my arms before I came home, which promptly came up in blisters!

Sailing on the Titanic
Now how many people can say they have sailed on the Titanic? The answer is none! Well, while on holiday Joe and I took that number to two. Ok, of course I don’t mean the real Titanic, there is not much chance of that! But while heading across the Nile for a camel ride we found ourselves in a small boat ironically called the Titanic. This did not fill me with much confidence, especially as I had already witnessed several boating ‘incidents’ on the Nile! Thankfully we arrived back in one piece!

Being stopped and asked to buy things EVERYWHERE!
Ok, Egypt is mad. Everywhere you go you are stopped by people trying to sell you things, take you on a boat ride, or polish your shoes! I can understand that they are desperate to make money, but it did get a bit much. Especially on our last few days in Luxor when Joe and I decided to venture out of the hotel for a walk. We got about half way down the road, which took 20 minutes as people were constantly stopping us! In the end we gave up, but not before we were accosted by a mad shoe cleaning guy, who was apparently from Scotland and called Simon?! He was intent on polishing our shoes, which I don’t really know how that would have worked as I was wearing flip flops and Joe had canvas shoes on!

Camel riding
One of my favourite parts of the holiday! My camel was called Zeke, while Joe had one called Teto. Getting up on the camel was easier than I had thought, but it was very high up! We went for a lovely little walk, with the only problem being some local children trying to roll stones under joes camel to trip him up! Well, rather him than me! Haha! The eventful part came when we tried to get down. We had to lean backward, which I didn’t do enough, and nearly went shooting over the top of the camels head!

Drunken dancing on a ship in the middle of the Nile dressed as an Egyptian.
One pretty surreal experience! While on the cruise there was an Egyptian evening, where we had to dress up! I got pretty excited about this, as anyone who knows me will know how much I love fancy dress! Joe was slightly less enthusiastic! And when I say slightly less, I mean alot less! I had to force him down to the shop to put on what can only be described as a dress with a towel wrapped round his head. However I thought he looked great! That evening consisted of drinking way too much, taking part in amusing but silly games, and dancing to cheesy songs on the ships small dance floor. One funny part was a guide who I thought asked me if I was having a good time. Cue manic, drunken smile and thumbs up. Suddenly I was being spun around, with no idea which way was up or down. Turns out he said 'Shall I spin you around?!'

Hangovers while walking round temples in 35 degree heat.
Not one of the best ideas Joe and I ever had! Needless to say many bottles of water were drank!

Cairo traffic
I will never again complain about traffic in Somerset. Not now that I have experienced the chaos of Cairo's roads! It is quite simply manic.Our hotel looked over the main roads, and 24/7 we could hear the roar of traffic and car horns blaring! One evening we decided to brave the roads and attempt to cross. Well, that was a mistake! We stood at the side of the road for ages, trying to find a gap, but no sooner had one appeared when a taxi pulled up right in front of us and the driver offered to drive us to the other side. Politely declining we tried again, but the same thing happened! After a few attempts ended like this I spotted a zebra crossing! Yes, we were saved! Little did I know that zebra crossing do not mean the same in Egypt as they do in England. Confidently putting a foot on the crossing I was almost run over! So we returned to the hotel, alive but without having seen the other side of the road.



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