It has been a very busy week and very little internet to speak of, so here is a run down of my week. I have been able to update my map, but will have to wait until I get home to upload the rest of my photos.

Tuesday

We went to Philae in the morning, this is also one of the temples move and was under water for quite a few years behind the low dam. It would have been a pretty cool dive site during that time, but was eventually moved to dry land.

We then went back to the hotel to pack and went to our Felucca which was going to take us north towards Luxor. We sailed for about two hours before parking for lunch (Xmas lunch). The wind was picking up so it was determined to windy to sail, so we were towed for an hour or so until the wind calmed down and then we sailed until sunset where we parked for dinner and slept the night.

Wednesday

In the morning we transfered from the Felluca to a bus for the rest of the trip to Luxor. On the way we stopped off at Kom Ombo Temple and Edfu Temple. The temples just start to keep on getting bigger and bigger. Once in Luxor we all did our own thing in the afternoon before meeting up to do a night tour of Luxor temple, this is a very popular temple to do at night rather than through the day.

Thursday

It was another early start this morning to do a balloon ride over the west bank of the city where all the tombs and temples are. We were picked up at 5am and driven to the launch site. It was a pretty amazing ride getting to see the sites from above. After about 45 minutes we landed and was driven to meet up with the rest of the group who did not do the ride.

We then got our donkeys which we were going to ride for about 45 minutes towards the valley of the kings. We were all expecting to be lead along, but were surprised when we were instructed how to make them go faster and stop, we were then off. The only rule we had is that we could not go past the lead donkey. It became a bit of a race and I slowly moved into second place, my donkey "white lightning" then made its final move over taking the last donkey (deciding to bite it on the way past) and I rode to glory.

We then took a ute the rest of the way to valley of the kings. Unlike all the other tombs we had seen so far, by this time the kings were working out the pyramids kept on getting robbed, so they started digging them into mountain so they weren't so obvious.

After a brief history lessson we went into three tombs - Ramsses III, Ramsses IV and Mernptah (entry ticket included access to three of the ten open tombs). There are 60 odd in total, but they cycle through them. We also paid the extra to go and see King Tutts tomb, though not spectacular it is the most famous and his mummy is on display in the tomb.

We then went to the Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut which is very imposing on the landscape and then statues of Memnon, then headed to locals house for lunch. After lunch we took a boat up the river to the Temple of Karnak, the largest temple ever built in the world. It is actually a complex of temples and covers 60 acres in total.

In the evening I went out with some people I ran into at the Valley of the kings, they were staying in the same hostel I was before starting the tour.

Friday

Today our long trek to the desert began, the first leg of the trip was an 8 hour drive to the Dakhla Oasis. This was just really a place to stay the night as we could not get all the way to the White desert in one day. We did go for a walk to the old part of town which is slowly disappearing with redevelopment, but there is still a maze of old mud brick buildings existing.

Saturday

Today was our final step into the desert, though we did have a couple of stops on the way. The first stop was to visit an old Arabic village of El-Kasr, though pretty much empty now it is still pretty much intact and it was amazing wondering through the narrow streets and looking into some of the mud brick buildings.

We then stopped off for lunch at an Badr Museum in the Faratra Oasis, which is owned by a famous artist in Egypt. Here we transferred to 4WD for the rest of our journey. We stopped off looking at the amazing natural formations of the desert before stopping just before sunset to set up camp and prepare for a night in the desert. It gets quite cold during the night, but the camel wool blankets do the job to keep you warm.

Sunday

So yesterday we packed up camp and drove off to see more sites on our way to the Bahariya Oasis where we are going to spend two nights. We stopped of at the mushroom desert (where the formations look like mushrooms), crystal mountain where for some reason there is a massive crystal formation and the black desert.

We have now spent one night in the hotel and we are doing a tour today before going out for dinner for New year and probably have a few drinks on the roof of the hotel (the only place you can drink).

Yesterday was our first day at Aswan, the train was only an hour late - it still has not arrived today and it is 2:30pm. We went for a walk around town and went and saw the Coptic Church and the unfinished Obelisk which still remains in the original granite quarry due to crack that formed while they were trying to make it. If finished it was going to be the heavy single man made object ever.

Last night we caught a Felluca over to the Nubian village on the other side of the river to have dinner with the locals. It was a nice relaxing night.

This morning we had to get up at 2:30am to join the convoy to Abu Simbel, one of they temples they moved when the high dam was built. It is a huge temple and took 4 years to move.

Have a free afternoon to look around town and then dinner out tonight. We are going to Philae Temple early in the morning and then onto the Felluca for the night on the way to Luxor. Will be spending Xmas on the Felluca and won't have internet for a few days.

So today is the first of the trip and it was a big day, we spent the morning being shown around the Cairo Museum - obviously the key attraction is the King Tut display with all the glorious Gold coffins and artifacts buried with him. It was really interesting and our guide has great knowledge of the ancient history.

We then went and saw the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. We walked around the biggest and I went in an saw the Solar Boat. This boat was found in pieces buried next to the pyramid and was put back together and measures 43 metres. We then went to the paranamic lookout and did the usual corny photos of doing things to the pyramids.

We then went down to the second pyramid and went inside to have a look at the burial chamber, then down to the Sphinx for an hour before heading for a late lunch. Now we are on the night train on the way to Aswan were we will spend two nights.

Spent yesterday going around some sights that aren't in my tour. Got a driver to take me out Dhashur (the red pyramid) and went into my first burial chamber, I am sure there will be more to come.

I then went to Memphis to the open air museum of Egyptian Statues. It was then off to Sakara for about three hours of scrambling around the desert looking at tombs, walking where I should not be and opening doors to tombs that are not locked.

Thursday night is party night in Cairo as Friday is a holiday, so we started off at the El Horreya Cafe which is probably the most famous bar in Egypt and then after a few beers there we end up at the Jazz Bar (but does not play Jazz music) where it turns out a band call Wostel Balad were playing. They are the hottest band in Egypt and were really good.

I have now moved to my tour hotel and met up with everyone (except four have not turned up yet), they seem like a pretty good group of people. We start off at the museum in the morning and then to the pyramids in the afternoon.

After the night bus from Dahab to Cairo I am now resting up in the hostel before going out on a day of adventures.

I was warned that I would not get much sleep on the bus, but I proved everyone wrong and even had to get woken up by the army guarding the Suez border for our security check. We got the standard passport check (as some visas only cover the Sinai so they want to make sure you have the correct tourist visa) and then we had to get out of the bus and get our bags to they could be checked by the sniffer dogs (not sure if they were looking for bombs or drugs).

Then back on the bus and was in Cairo by 7am. Out of the nine hour trip I think I sleep for about eight hours.

Today I am off to the Khan el-Khalili (Bazaar), then walk through Al-Azhar Park and then down to the citadel. This should take me most of the day, but any time left over will have to end up in a coffee house some where.

I have had a great two days of diving, doing five dives in total I got to do a pick of the best dives around. Dahab is a very relaxing place and good to choice for me to use to recharge the batteries before the rest of the Egypt tour.

Today I have just relaxed and used the time to update my photo album which I have fallen behind in updating.

Catch the night bus to Cairo tonight and arrive about 7am in the morning. This gives me two days to explore the city before the tour starts.

After a late minute change of plans I decided to jump on the ferry to Egypt last night instead of spending another day in Aqaba. I Figured I would get more out of the day here than there as it is a lot cheaper here and there is meant to be really good diving.

Though the actual ferry trip only takes two and half hours I actually arrived at the Aqaba port at 10:00pm and finally got out of the port at Nuweiba at 8:30 the following morning.

For starters you have to be there two hours before boarding, hence the 10pm arrival for a 12am boarding. Then there are all these crazing lines that are formed, first to get through the gates, then to line up for the boat, then do Egyptian passport control on the boat.

Finally by about 1:30am this was all done, but we still did not go anywhere. It turns out the boat does not arrived in Nuweiba until 6:30am, so it just sit in port until 4am Egyptian time and then takes off at 5am Jordan time to arrive at the required time.

An absolutely crazy ferry trip, made worse by the problems I had at the Jordan immigration. There seem to be a problem with my passport and next thing I know I am being taken to the police at the port. After waiting for about 15 minutes they finally started asking me questions - if I had another passport, had I been to Jordan before, had I worked here.

It appears they were interested in someone with the same name, but after about 10 minutes of questioning the penny finally dropped that we both had the name "David John" but different surnames and I was promptly released the my passport returned. That would of been a funny one for the Australian consulate to work out for me.

Anyway, I am Dahab now and it all seem safe. There is an obvious Army presence on the road here, but everyone says it is completely safe and there are no problems around here. Dahab is just a tiny resort town with loads of dive centers and restaurants. I have found out I can catch a bus from here to Cairo, so don't need to go further south to get the bus (as I initially thought), though the bus does take to southern route.

I already have one dive in today and two more planned for tomorrow, one of which is a famous site called the blue hole. Next thing I need to do is catch up on uploading some photos from Jordan, I took so many it is hard to decide which ones to upload.

Met up with a group of people in Petra to go to Wadi Rum with. After a great 4WD tour through the desert we then finally made it to Bedouin Camp for the night. Firstly we walked into an open area a 1km or so away from the camp see the sunset. Then it was back to camp for a traditional dinner before go back out side to lay under the stars for a while.

It started getting cold so we headed inside for the camp fire and relaxing after a long day. We all got up early to watch the sun rise the next morning and then after breakfast and a broken down 4WD we finally headed to Aqaba.

I am now on my third day of laying around in the sun near the beach and preparing for an exciting trip into Egypt tomorrow night

The last two days I have been in Petra and it lives up to all expectations. Walking down the gorge and seeing the Treasury for the first time is amazing. I have spent the last two days just walking and walking getting great views. It appears all the really cool stuff is up hill and hours away from the start of the city. The Monastery takes about an hour and half to get too, but being the largest tomb in Petra it is a must to see.

I think I climbed up mountain I could around Petra and got great views of the city and amazing shots of The Treasury from high up. It really is an amazing place. Tonight is Petra by night where the gorge and Treasury are lit up by candles and I can't wait to see it.

Off to Wadi Rum tomorrow.

Saturday was even a bigger day than the day before, I used the same driver to take me down the King's Highway. First stop is Mount Nebo where Mose saw the promised land. Then to Madaba to see a church which has mosaic map of the known world and dates back to 560AD.

We then drove to Karak which is a huge crusader castle and once again for its age is in amazing condition. On the I got great views of what is described as the Grand Canyon of the Middle East.

After get more views of the Canyon and Dana a nature reserve which would deserves days on it own I ended up at Shobak another crusader castle. Though not in great condition it is famous for the fact the escape tunnel do the base of the mountain is still intact. So with head torch in hand I to the 15 minute trek down the tunnel which runs at about 45 degree angle. It must of taken years to dig.

On Friday I rented a taxi for the day, luckily I found someone else to share the cost and did what is called the castle loop. The loop takes your through five different sites which head out to the Iraq border. Azraq and Amra were the highlights of the trip - Azraq fort is where Lawrence of Arabia wrote the Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Amra is a old bath house and is on the UNESCO sites due to the amazing fresco's that cover all the walls.

It has been a busy few days in Jordan, I have seen a lot and traveled great distances. On Friday I used the local bus system to get to Ajlun and Jerash. Ajlun is a crusader castle and the lower level are still in excellent condition. Jerash is old Roman city and cover about 2km, it took about 3 hours to walk around.

Finally have some internet, so here are a few posts.

Today I went out with another guest to see Ajlun and Jaresh, there weren't enough people to hire a taxi so we just took public transport. Ajlun has an crusade fort, but this was an Arab fort to protect against the crusaders. It was amazingling intact with the ability to walk through multiple levels to the top.

We then went to Jaresh which is an old Roman city, though now surrounded by the modern city. We were both surprised by the size covering nearly 2kms with two theatres, a hippodroam and many temples. It took over 3 hours to walk around it. We left at 8:30 this morning and never got back until 5:30.

First day in Amman and pretty much saw all the sites I wanted to see, first thing I went up to the Citadel and saw the ancient fortress that looks overs city. Then down to the Roman Theatre and the Odeon which is a smaller theatre right next to the main theatre. Went for a nice walk around the city and had my first falafel for the trip and then went out and had some drinks with people from the hostel and ended up in the same bar I drank in 15 years ago.

I have now left Turkey and arrived in Jordon. I got an early afternoon flight, which meant I had to leave the hostel around 11am to get to the airport in time. It was quite a good flight and a movie on my laptop to keep me ammused for the time in the air. With the time change and delay in take-off I did not get to the hostel until 8pm.

Finally ticked off all the things I want to see in Istanbul, so I can take it easy in the morning before I catch the bus to the airport.

I went to the Bazaar again to by some cotton clothes for the middle east, I am going to choose to cover myself even though tourists can get away it wearing short t-shirts. I just think it is being more respectful and should be treated better by strangers.

I then went trough the Palace and paid the extra to look inside the Heron, which I am glad I did as it is the best part of the palace.

Going out for dinner with Adam and his girlfriend tonight, we are going to meet at 6:30 and go to the police station first to see if we can quickly get a police report for my stolen camera.

Had good day yesterday finishing off some of the more distant sites to visit. Walked out to the last remaining part of the old Roman aqueduct. Then went back to the spice bazaar and got a few photos to replace the ones I lost when my camera was stolen.

I then mistakenly tried to go via the palace cutting through the Grand Bazaar. It happens to be closed on Sunday and it took me ages to find my way around it. By the time I got to the palace it was a bit late to go in as some of the main things you want to see close earlier and I would not have made it in there in time. So my mission today is to go and I have ticked off all the things I want to see.

Last night I caught up with an old English friend who I met back home. It was really good to catch up with him. I am going out for dinner with him and his girlfriend tonight, since she is Turkish we are also going to try and get the police report done, but will only bother if they will do it straight away as I don't want them to have to wait around for ages.

I am onto my fourth day in Istanbul, having a great time seeing all the sites - there are some pretty amazing things see here. I have been back to the Grand Bazaar three times for differing reasons and just when I thought I was getting my bearings, I went there a different way today and through a different gate - it then took me about 15 minutes to work out where I was.

I have visited the two major mosques (one is now a museum). While I was in the Ayasofya Mosque I took a photo out of an open window on the first floor. When I was going through my old photos from 15 years ago I realised I had taken the exactly the same photo that time as well - very strange.

I finally got into the Blue Mosque today (there most famous). Kevin (the guy I first met in Slovenia) and I had tried to go three times so far, twice it was closed for prayer and other time the line was so long we new we would not make it before prayer. Today it is raining and went I went there the queue was really short so I finally got to get in.

The down side of Istanbul is that my camera got stolen yesterday while I was walking through a crowd in Taksim, someone took it out of my jacket pocket. I am still trying to get a police report down so I can get some money on insurance, but it is pretty hard to find an English speaking police officer to help me out. Initially the Tourist police went to the restaurant to look at video footage and they were really helpful, but I need to go to a local station to get a report written.

The positive side is that I copied all my photos to the laptop the night before, so have only lost a few photos I took at the spice market.

Yesterday we moved to a hostel over the river on the other side of town, there was another person we had met in Slovenia staying there, so we had a big night out for there last day of this part of their trip. I am also catching up with an old English friend tomorrow who now lives in Istanbul and it is easier for him to get here.

Takism, the area we are staying now is a crazy place. It is where all the bars and live music is located, if you wondered around last night you could have been in any big city in the world, it was very surprising.