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June 10 DublinA bit tired when I got here considering that I had only just returned from Egypt at 11pm and arrived at the airport to come here at 3am. Found my hostel really easily as it is right next to the famous Temple Bar, found the Temple Bar really easily also. Wasn't able to get into my hostel until 3pm, it was 8am when I arrived but I was able to dump my bags and look around. Dublin is a really clean city actually one of the cleaniest I have found since leaving Australia.
That afternoon I checked in and met the other 9 people I was sharing the room with 1 Australian and 8 Americans (not that they wanted anyone to know that, American's aren't really well liked overseas, they all blame George Bush). I hung around with these guys while I was here and we had a ball. Headed off to the Temple Bar and at 10 euros a drink (that's $16.90 for my Australian friends), I managed to spend a lot of money that night. The bar was packed and we got to listen to traditional Irish music all night - good fun. Headed over the Arlington after Temple Bar closed to check out some Irish dancing but we were too late so we walked around the streets looking for a yiros (they just don't know how to make them outside of Australia I tell you, they just aren't the same).
Next day I was up bright and early (I know some of you find it hard to believe but I had to pack a lot into my days) and headed off on the Viking Splash Tour of Dublin, the tour is done in a aqua duck (you know the old army tanks), we had to yell at unsuspecting people on the streets as we drove past to scare the crap out of them, worked most of the time too, so I saw Dublin by land & water. Checked out U2's recording studios, Bono has graffitied the walls around the studio and other people have added their bits onto it - Pretty Cool - Simon you'd have loved it. Didn't see the guys around the place though, they are apparently in New York somewhere & touring. Spent the rest of the day walking around taking pictures (I'm such a Japanese tourist now) and headed off to a tour of the Jamieson Rum & Guiness Factories. The Guiness factory was cool and there is a view tower at the top to check out once the tour is done to get your free pint of Guiness. They had a room full of the old advertising and it was all pretty cool.
All in all I liked Dublin and wish I could've had more time but it is now time for me to make my way home to Australia. Talk to you all soon.
June 06 Egypt - Nile CruiseEverything in Egypt is sold cheaper than ASDA prices (ASDA is a UK supermarket), I was determined to make up for Marrakech here and bartered like buggery for everyone on the ship as well as myself, so much so that my guide was going to send me out for a scarf that she wanted.
The cruise was fantastic and I met a great group of people who you can see in the photos and had a ball with them. Every night there was something going on on the boat entertainment wise and the Galabah night was a great night - everyone dressed up (well nearly everyone only a few exceptions). Most of the ship came down with stomach problems but I think after having them for 3 weeks and pretty much ignoring them I lasted well and didn't have any troubles.
I have seen tombs in Valley of the Kings, Queens and a number of Temples that I can't even begin to describe. Unfortunately in most of the tombs, you aren't allowed to take photos to protect the heiroglyphics. I didn't realise they were coloured and they were amazing - some of the colours were still really bright especially in the tombs in the Valley of the Queens. I saw King Tuts tomb with the golden sarcophagous inside, it was amazing. The tombs though were really hot and rather difficult to breathe in at times.
On the ship it was so funny, little boats would sail upto the ship and all of a sudden stuff would start flying over the top of the boat and they would yell out to us prices for buying the stuff so we were throwing it all back, sometimes an item would hit the water and they would madly rush to save it from sinking. It was hilarious and people were bartering left right and centre.
I got upto 1 million camels for me in Egypt along with one guy who wanted to take me home for tea to "put angry smile" on his wifes face. Another guy kept telling me I needed to try egyptian man and I would never go back (I think they were worse than the French, they all loved me too without even knowing my name).
Anyway this entry is short sharp and sweet, talk soon.
Marrakech - MoroccoEverything in Marrakech is either on sale for a democratic price or half price just for me. We had a guide for the first day who took us through the Medina and all the souqs (each souq has a different speciality ie leather, lamps etc) - thank god we had a guide going through there cause it's like a rabbit warren very easy to get lost, his name was Charouki Mohamed. Very nice guy but I am sure he only ever showed us shops he got commission in (and he would have gotten shit loads) or shops that belonged to his friends. Theresa and I both got ripped off and I was the worst (but not so bad that it wasn't better than at home for the lamps I wanted). I got a massage and I am not so sure that he wasn't just trying to cop a feel, but I felt 100% better after it - too many hours on planes sleeping in uncomfortable positions. Apparently I am worth 70,000 camels here, not sure if that's a good price but the men stare without trying to hide it at all very blatant.
Theresa and I spent a lot of time trying to sneak photos and get cool pictures because taking a photo of anything will cost you money if there is a person in it or you want a photo of their shop. I think we did pretty well at detracting attention when we wanted a photo of something.
We went up into the Atlas mountains and checked out a Berber village and how they lived. Basically, the women work their butts off and the men sit around doing stuff all. One guy wanted me to come and live in his village with him - reckons he'd look after me - fat chance of that one happening. We even were game enough to eat at the local restaurant. We had to climb over these bridges, rather scary - theres a photo.
headed off to a Spectacular horse show and it was pretty cool, we sat around in big tents getting entertained by dancers from all cultures in Morocco and then onto the horsemen. It was pretty cool to watch, the guys did a lot of jumping on and off their horses in full gallop and doing different stunts. The food was fantastic but Theresa and I were too full to really enjoy it - we thought it wise to eat beforehand just in case.
Then last two days we hopped onto the Red Tour Bus and cruised around Marrakech to check out the sites, there were these gardens that were stunning - we picked the hottest day to go there and of course the bus didn't go right to the gardens at the time we wanted so we had to walk a fair way - we were stuffed.
Trying to cross the road over there is just taking your life into your own hands - majority of the time we latched onto a local and followed them across and once we even made it on our own. Basically you just go and the traffic goes around you.
Loved Marrakech but the people constantly wanting money for everything and anything was a bit rough and wore me down. May 25 Zakynthos & AthensHi Guys hope you are all well, I've been in Greece on the island Zante and it's not too bad except for all the drunken poms staggering around in the streets at night'; although it makes for good people watching. Booked a heap of tours to go on and the guy was surprised - normally the poms don't go on tours they find a sunbed and that's where they stay for the entire trip.
First day we took it easy, went on the bus into Zante town where we found everything closes at 2pm and reopens at 6pm. So we hung around, it also happened that we missed the bus back to Laganas and had to wait for the last bus. But it was cool we wandered around had some tea and then headed back.
2nd day way too early in the morning for my liking but we were off on a jeep safari of the island, really the only reason we were going was that we wanted photos of smugglers cove. Anyway met some nice people on the tour and our guide was pretty cool. Even though on some tracks I thought we were going over the edge - he took one corner a bit too rough and we got a flat tyre - the way the poms crowded around you'd swear they'd never seen a tyre being changed before although it was rather entertaining. Stopped at Porto Vroni, the deepest port on the island (for a bit of history in WWII the subs used it to hide out in). Went for a swim here god only knows why it was freezing. We also jumped in a tour boat to see all the blue caves; they were amazing the water is so clear. That night we headed out on the town for a while, yes I found a Karaoke bar:
3rd day we decided that it would be a relaxing day so we slept in and just wandered around. I haven't had many of those days normally its go go go.
4th day another nice early morning, why can't someone start tours at a decent hour. We went on a boat cruise around the island, we wished that we'd chosen the 1/2 day tour, went a bit stir crazy on the boat. Had about 3 swim stops blah blah, saw some nice blue water - never saw the turtles - the island is the nesting ground for Caretta-Caretta turtles, only saw one when we were sitting in a restaurant eating tea, no photos.
Off to Athens and yet again another ridiculous early morning, met our tour guide Kostas, we became his coach family for 2 days - some of his English translations were really funny! Our first impression of Athens wasn't great as we were in the red light district; it was busy due to the Eurovision Concert. We were reading the fire sheet & get this, basically we'd know if there was a fire if we heard people screaming in the halls or if we heard fire engines or if we were lucky there'd be an alarm - very interesting. Then we went into old Athens and it was quite nice, we wandered around through the markets before heading off to a traditional Greek night of food, wine, music and dancing. I got dragged up on stage and everyone was betting that I would lose my top, but I was actually having trouble keeping my pants up - yeah I’ve lost weight. Crashed out that night & another ridiculous early morning - 6am wake up call. Headed out to see the changing of the guards (in the pom poms on their feet they used to hide knives); then onto the Acropolis & the Parthenon - awesome. We ditched our guide of the place because she talked forever never thought we'd see the place if we stayed with her. Then onto the Corinthian Canal - it was dug out by hand 100,000 people from 1883-1894 and is 110m deep - pretty unbelievable.
Back in Zante we headed to the Baywatch beach party, we got dragged in by the Aussie guys organising it - food & all you could drink for 3hrs! I ended up in a drinking comp that I bailed on really quickly when I found out that I had to make a cocktail by getting the ingredients from the mouth of the girl next to me & then passing it onto ugliest guy I've ever seen.
Last day was hard we had to get out of the hotel at 12pm & I didn't get much sleep. We spent 2hrs waiting for a bus into town which never showed up so we gave up on that idea and chilled out instead. The airport was funny, we had to queue outside & it's apparently a miracle if you're plane leaves on time - the airport has a reputation for being slack. Amazing our plane was on time, thank god because we had 4 hrs before our flight to Marrakech. May 13 BahrainHi all I’m in Bahrain now to visit my cousin Paul & his wife Christine. It’s rather much like Australia – Dry & Dusty.
Day 1 - I got to check out the Souk, which is the local markets and Christine warned me that everyone will stare at us because we are white & blonde – well they did indeed, there was a bus load of children I saw at one stage that were fascinated by us and kept waving and giggling – Paul kept blowing them kisses. In the Souk everyone was trying to get us to come into their shop it was quite funny. Then onto Seef Mall just to have a look around. That night it was off to check out the night life we went to the Warbler & JJ’s (they were having Bahrain Idol that night, rather entertaining). There are highways all around Bahrain – Mum & Aunty Kay you can stop reading now – Paul and I got up to 230Km/h in his Porsche it was awesome – we had the windows down so there was a bit of drag. The traffic here is unbelievable basically there are no rules, everyone pushes in and if you don’t take off the second it looks like the lights are about to go green you get honked or abused.
Day 2 – We decided we needed a bit of culture so we headed to the museum just out of interest sake – don’t think we’ll visit there again rather boring. Lots of scary dummies dressed up to explain life in Bahrain not too many real artifacts. Then we just drove around checking out the sights of Bahrain. Paul & Christine showed me a couple of the Kings 12 Palaces – some of them being for his kids and wives. Then we checked out the Grand Prix track – rather massive and elaborate and the local Golf Course which is fully lit up (all 18 holes) because they tend to play at night – it costs about $360.00 to play. Then we went and had coffee and I swear a couple of locals nearly broke their necks trying to get a look at us – very funny.
Day 3 – We had a pretty cruisie day just went out had lunch with Paul and then hung around the house and relaxed before heading off to dinner with Paul & Christine’s friends – all really cool people – mostly Scottish. The more they have to drink the thicker the accents get and the harder they are to understand – I don’t think I did too badly in understanding them. We headed off to this restaurant called Monsoon’s. It was beautiful there were water features running around the outside and inside of the hotel with a pond in the middle that ran round the edge of the main dining area. The Strawberry Daiquiri’s I had here were the best I have ever tasted, I didn’t want to leave. Then we headed off to Ric’s which is the local hang out – it’s a country & western bar where all the American’s hang out too. Then onto JJ’s where we danced the night away and ran amuck – we got into trouble for dancing in our area and not on the dance floor – I think we might have been a bit rowdy. Great night!! PS. I got to dirty dance with this very hot black guy. Yeah Me!!
Day 4 – We were off to brunch at the Radisson and it was huge there were people everywhere though apparently not as busy as normal. We had 3 hours of eating and drinking. It was Colin’s bday and Christine & Paul bought him this g-string – hmmmm very funny – I’ll upload the photo because he wore it all day. We had a ball then headed off to Ric’s again. This time they made me get up with the band and sing – of which there is a 3 song minimum before you can get down – they twisted my arm – you guys know how much I hate singing!!! Then later that night we headed to the Rugby Club to sit outside chill out and relax. By this time poor Christine was stuffed – did I mention that she’s pregnant! Yeah! We saw the scariest (& funniest) thing last night, there was this car full of guys and in the boot we could see 5 little faces, all the kids were in the boot holding it shut just enough that they could get air and see out - they apparently don't care about safety over here and lives don't seem to be overly precious to them.
Day 5 – Well it’s my last day here before heading off to Zante (Greek Island) so I’m not sure what I am doing today but I’ll update this log later. |
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