I have learned a lot in the last 24 hours. For instance, when the cops come to our street and broadcast something over the loud speaker they are actually telling the taxi drivers, who are ALWAYS parked out in front of our building, that they cant park in front of our building. This little gem was learned last night when I decided that, instead of going out, I would hangout downstairs at of the restaurant underneath our apt. Recently, we've started saying hi and chatting a bit with one of the restaurant owners so last night when I was walking home at around 12:30 I pulled up a chair...and stayed until 5 am...

It was like a show out there! Allenby really is the craziest street in Tel Aviv and I was thoroughly entertained. I had lots of caffeinated drinks bought for me - my restaurant host, Elias, and some Arabs who were just hanging out after a party. I met the two hippy-esque girls who are squatting in the apt across the street from us. They were pretty young and surprisingly clean looking. I finally got to talk to this friendly looking homeless guy who hangs around our neighborhood. It turns out hes Russian but grew up in the US and so his English is perfect. Hes likely a paranoid schizophrenic or something, as it took him a while to decide that he would come over and talk to us with me there. He needed to know my sign first  - Virgo, which he said means I am self-centered - and only after an hour of going away and thinking about it did he decide I was ok. Hes very interesting and college educated. According to Elias his family is well off and gives money to one of the street vendors for whenever he needs it.

Very random night.

Today I tried unsuccessfully to sleep late - likely the caffeine - and then went to the beach for a while. It was a beautiful day and on the way home I decided that I would finally stop and chat with the Hare Krishnas and find out more about what they are about. I got one guy to tell me a bit about why they are there singing every weekend, but he was more interested in trying to get me to give him ten sheckles as a donation in exchange for a brochure that  would save him the trouble of having to explain it all to me and make my life better. I respectfully declined but stuck around to watch them dance and recite the mantra for a while longer. While I was there an older Israeli man approached me and told me that the guy I had been talking to used to work at the hospital with him but was fired after he was caught trying to distribute Hare Krishna materials at work. The Israeli guy then told me that Israel was a Jewish state...uh thanks...and asked what religion I was.  When I responded that I didnt have a religion. He smiled and said well you have to be something, your parents are something right? I responded that they were both catholic at one point, and he said well then they took you to church and got you baptized and gave you your name right. Uh no. He just couldnt wrap his head around it. By the end of the conversation all I got was a humph and a questioning look.

Its been an interesting 24 hours.

Passover Rules

Passover was not exactly conducive to blogging...so theres a lot to catch up on.

So. My mom’s trip was great over all (at least I think so). On her last day here we took a trip to Jerusalem. I was really impressed with Jerusalem's landscape. I always knew that there was an area named Temple Mount, but it had never really registered that the Dome of the Rock and the surrounding city is actually built on and around a mountain. It makes for amazing scenery.
The day my mom left my friend Theresa arrived. We also had a great time. While she was here we explored Jaffa, enjoyed the beach and Tel Aviv’s night life, experienced out first Seder, saw the Bahai gardens in Haifa, and took an amazing road trip to Jerusalem, the dead sea and Masada. The weather was great for most of her trip and I definitely looooooved the dead sea area. We played in the mud and floated in the salt water and soaked up the sun. Sigh. It was really nice.

After Theresa left Tam’s family came to town and we headed down to Eilat and Petra. Also awesome. The weather was even warmer than its been in Tel Aviv – the best part being that it stays warmer in the evenings – and we had a great time. Eilat itself isn’t that special. Its very touristy and mostly hotels. We went to the underwater observatory which was surprisingly impressive. Half the observatory is a lookout over the red sea above the water and the other half is under water along the reef. It was really cool. We also went snorkeling along a coral reef. Tam has an underwater camera and we took a bazillion pictures. The water was a little chilly, but we had a great time.

Petra was…wow. I found it more impressive than many of the places we’d been to in Egypt. Its just so big and impressive. The buildings are carved right into the side of the mountains and the natural colors of the rock are incredible. Later in the day, we rode donkeys up to a monastery at the top of a mountain. We were really annoying, bumping people and stuff with the donkeys – and I am pretty sure my donkey tried to step off the edge of a cliff several times – but the view from the top was great.
Passover is now over – sad – and we’re back in classes – sadder. We’re starting to realize that our time left here is pretty short. In fact, Tam and I leave a month from now. Wow. So for the next few weeks I guess we’ll just try and enjoy the city as much as we can!

View from the top

Today mom and I planned to go to Akko...but I slept in :)
Instead, we went for a leisurely breakfast and wandered up King George - somehow managing to avoid buying anything. We then went to the Azrieli Centre and went up to the observatory to get a 360 view of Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas. It wasn’t the clearest of days, but the view was still pretty great. The picture above shows the coastline and right in the middle by the water, the building that you can barely tell has sort of an angled bottom and a square top, is right up the street from where we live.

After taking in the view we walked up Ibn Gvirol and mom got her eye brows threaded - how very middle eastern! Then we walked to one of the northern beaches and had a beer and some fries in the dimming sun.

We're pretty bagged now, but tonight we're going out with some of the exchange students to dinner at a restaurant called Havana and then maybe to a wine bar in neve tzedek. The rough life continues.

Oh yeah...its now Passover break for the exchange students. We don’t have class until April 7. Amazing.

grrrr...

So I had written a nice post and it crashed, so heres a quick version:
1. Every party in Tel Aviv turns into a street party. Like St Patty's day for instance. We went to a party at a pub called Molly Blooms, but the interesting part was the street out front that was full of people. Not the greatest picture ever, but you get the idea.
2. My mom is here! Its been a good visit thus far, even though I’ve been absent for a bit of it to work on an exam (darn school). She’s here until Friday and we're hoping to see more of Tel Aviv and head to Jerusalem. Tonight we ate at a great restaurant named Cafe Noir - definitely a food recommendation.

3. On Sunday my international humanitarian law class went on a field trip to a military court in the occupied territories. We got to listen in on the trial of a Palestinian accused of selling an uzi to another man. It was a bit of a circus, as language barriers required that a translator do simultaneous translations into Hebrew for the prosecutor and into Arabic for the defence attorney, the witness and the defendant. On top of this, the translator was making comments to one of the soldiers so he could translate into English for us. It gets crazier, but its just too hard to put into words. Literally a bit of a circus - hopefully people are actually receiving justice.

Another succesful weekend

Another great weekend is over – and there's a lot to report.

First, boot camp was a good decision. We've had it twice now and I definitely think its going to help us eat more pastries. Its pretty much what I expected – we run around and in between running around we get yelled at (although are instructor is little and cute and I could totally take her) and do push ups and sit ups. Its a really good small number of people too. We had it this morning and then again Wednesday and Thursday. We're going to be buff before we know it.

Aside from working out, we've been eating and drinking and dancing. Friday, there was a street party on Rothschild – wow. I have no idea how many blocks along this street were full of people and djs and food and drink stands. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, and apparently it happens every couple of months. This video (I have no future in film...) gives you a little idea of how loud and busy it was. It sounds like we were in a club – but this is actually like 3:30 in the afternoon in the middle of a street. Nuts!

After the Street party Tam and I were lucky enough to be invited by our roommate to Shabbat dinner at her friend's house. The food was great and hopefully we made some new friends (who will invite us over for more delicious Shabbat dinners!).

Saturda,y we exceeded all of my expectations and made it to a yoga class at a place called Yogini. So awesome. I was still pretty tight from our first boot camp class and really needed the alignment and stretching that the yoga teacher focused on. After class we went for brunch at Dalal – a restaurant in Neve Tzedek that I think I have mentioned before. I tried to branch out from the Israeli breakfast which is my new favourite thing, but only managed to agree to share the Israeli breakfast and shakshuka with Tam. We spent the rest of the afternoon digesting on the beach.

Finally, today – which technically isn't the weekend – we were delighted that our only class was cancelled. This allowed us to go to boot camp, take a leisurely lunch and then run some errands. We're majorly tuckered out from all the fun and it was great to have a day to get some things done (like clean up my disaster of a room and buy groceries).

This week we have a tour of Jaffa/Yafo and Neve Tzedek and I'm sure there will be some kind of a celebration on St. Patty's day. We also need to try and get some school work done because we have a couple exams before the Passover break and, more importantly, my mom comes at the end of the week!

Current Temperature: 25°C (at 11pm)

Boot Camp – Day 1

No, we have not joined the army. But, if you've been following the blog at all you will have noticed that a large majority of what we have been doing while we've been here has had to do with eating - and its starting to show. One of the exchange students from Canada had heard about a girl who had great results from attending these boot camp work outs on the beach. So a group of about 6 of the exchange students decided it would be fun if we gave it a go. We'll be going twice a week for the next 6 weeks or so – give or take a few sessions because of Passover and friends and family visiting. Today is day 1...

Also...I can't believe I've been neglecting to put up the temperature lately...its been beautiful.

Current Temperature: 20°C

Cats

Today it was around 30 degrees and we didn't have class until 3, which can only mean - Beach Day! Nothing more I can really say on that except that I love the beach. Love it.

Managed to make it to class despite the weather (we DO go to class) and were entertained by a cat in our class. Like Egypt, there are stray cats all over Tel Aviv - especially on our campus. Apparently the cats there are taken care of by the biology department and have free run of the place. They look pretty healthy and I am sure there are lots of suckers (ahem...me...) who will feed them and pet them etc. One of these cats is always around the law school building and today it wandered up to the second floor and into our intellectual property class. It walked around looking for attention and food. Every once and a while it would meow and eventually - sensing that I am one of those huge suckers - jumped up on my chair and laid down in the space between my back and the chair. Ha! It only stuck around for a bit because I couldn't pet it as much as it would have liked and eventually it was chased out of the class by the proof. Funny stuff (and definitely more interesting than what we were learning).

Tonight, while others are going out, I am heading to bed to rest up for another day at the beach tomorrow!

New friends, good food, sun and dancing...what more could you ask for in a weekend?

The past weekend was pretty fantastic. The weather was nice. We ate at several delicious restaurants. We (finally) went for a much needed run. And we discovered a few new and fun clubs in Tel Aviv.

Wednesday night we went to a bar called the Apartment. It was a nice place and Tam randomly got her hair trimmed, because a hari salon was celebrating its birthday there. Despite being cut to dance music in a dark bar, her hair still looks good!

Thursday night we went to a club called Rothschild 12. When we got there we thought we had the wrong address because it looked like an abandoned building. Turns out the bar was around back...It was a pretty small and trendy place, but it played some pretty fun music. From there we decided to head around the block and see if we could find another bar to try out. We ended up in a Georgian (like the people...) bar - but I have no idea whats its called. We thought it was a gay bar at first, but it turns out older Geirgian men just really like to dance on speakers. Who knew.

Friday was lovely. We gought up at a decent hour and walked down the beach to a neighborhood called neve tzedek where we went to a restaurant called Dallal for brunch. I LOVE ISraeli breakfasts. This place served up something similiar to what I described from Max Brenners (minus the chocolate) - with lots (tons) of fresh bread, cheese spreads, tuna, salad and eggs. So good. From there the girls I was with decided to do some shopping while I met some others at the beach. It wasnt a scorcher this weekend, but the beach was still great.

Once it cooled off we decided to walk down the beach towards Jaffa. On the way we stopped at a place called the Dolphinarium where they had this big drum circle. Pretty sweet.

Saturday we went for a run down the beach front path to Jaffa and back. Since it was shabbat, the path was full of people out walking and enjoying the sunshine. Once we were done, we decided to counteract the calories we had just burned by trying out a gelato shop called Tita. They have a ton of crazy flavors with cute names like Hanzel and Gretel and Snow White etc. Also delicious.

After spending some time relaxing at the beach - and trying not to adopt the cutest puppy that a guy wanted to give to us for free - we got cleaned up and walked back down towards Jaffa to a restaurant called Manta Ray. They have these crazy deliciously crazy mezzes that I would definitely go back for. The restaurant itself is located right on the water and lit up by candle light as the sun went down. Very nice.

We ended the weekend with a bang by heading up to the port area to a club called Chin Chin. This is definitely my favorite dance bar so far. Good fun people and great dance music made for a fantastic time.

All in all - great weekend.

Galilee and the Lebanese Border

Yesterday Tam and I skipped school (gasp!) to head up north with some friends. We slept over night at their house (which was so nice and quiet!) and then joined a group of 17 and 18 year olds from a village north of Tel Aviv for a tour of the Galilee region. This area borders Lebanon and we spent most of the learning about the 2006 conflict from soldiers who witnessed it.

This region doesn't appear to be dangerous - right now (although our guide did carry a hand gun)- but in 2006 it was the center of the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Because of the proximity of Lebanese villages housing Hezbollah members and supporters, the area has a noticeable military presence. We visited a military base that sits right near the border and is just down the hill from one of the Lebanese army's bases (um, strategic disadvantage much?!). From here we could see one of the UN bases - which serve to act as a buffer between the groups and are supposed to prevent Hezbollah from building up weapons stocks and getting too close to the border. Apparently, according to the region's head of intelligence (who came and spoke to us), the UN is having little effect and Hezbollah has become aligned with the Lebanese army and is 3 times stronger than it was in 2006.

I tried to go into the talks during the tour with a healthy bit of skepticism against the Israeli military. I assumed that they would bash the enemy and spout army propaganda for the kids we were with who are going to be starting their mandatory service in a year or two. And while there was definitely some, like the video they showed us about the special service team doing all sorts of crazy missions, I also came away thinking that Hezbollah is a serious and scary threat for Israel. It seems like its not a matter of whether they will do something again, but when.

I have to admit that I have not been very concerned with terrorism or security issues so far in Israel. Yes, theres security checks when you go into malls and even to get into our campus, but living in Tel Aiv makes you forget that this country has many enemies. This trip was actually the frist time since I have been here that I got a scare...and it turned out to be silly. We were sitting near the military base listening to a soldier speak about the 2006 war when there was a loud bang. My heart nearly stopped and I was ready to dive to the ground. Turns out it was just a car backfiring or a firecracker set off by someone celebrating the end of purim. But it definitely caused some wide eyes and nervous chuckles from most of the people on the tour. I did notice though that the soldiers and our guide, who have all served in the region, barely jumped, becsause they said that the souns wasnt nearly loud enough to be gun fire. Sounded loud enough to me!

Purim = The Painting Elephant of Awesome

After three successful nights of celebrating the event known as Purim, I am wiped. For our final night we got dressed up again and went to the Florentin area. After visiting a house party we headed out on to the street to mingle with the thousands of people enjoying the once 'cancelled' Florentin street party. Tons of people + music and dancing in the street = awesome.

After exploring a few streets in the area we joined the dozens of people who were wandering around trying to figure out how to get to this after party that someone we know had organized. We eventually found the spot and the search was definitely worth it! We danced for hours and I was shocked when I realized that it was suddenly 5 in the morning.

Its a good thing today is going to be a lazy day because it is currently miserable out. Not like Canada cold miserable, but crazy blowing wind and rain miserable. Its quite the storam acutally. So much for getting groceries today... Happy Purim!

Purim and lots of rain

Last night we put on makeshift costumes, covered ourselves in glitter and make-up and headed out a party at a place called The Block Club. There was a Daft Punk tribute party and (after braving the rain - a lot of rain) we had a ourselves a pretty good time. My new obsession - picture/video - will show how much fun we had and how goofy we looked.

This morning Tam and I had a delicious Arabic brunch with a few members of her family. We then were treated to a tour of old Jaffa. This area, which is just south of where we live in Tel Aviv, is full of history and awesome architecture. The area we visited centers around a monsatery on the sea and has cobble stone walkways and lots of narrow alleys to explore. Jaffa is only about a 20 minute walk down the boardwalk from our place so we'll definitely be heading back there.

Tid Bits

I got a few more pictures from Tam of Egypt so I made another quick movie of the ones I liked the best - theres some new ones from Cairo, Sinai, and our falucca and scuba adventures. Instead of uploading it to youtube like last time I tried just using blogger to do it, but I feel like theres a quality difference. Notice anything?



We've now been in Tel Aviv for over a week and I am really liking it here. I've said it before, and Ill say it again, we live in a great area. Last night the TAU exchange students met up at our apt for a little get-together before we headed out to a bar in the neighborhood. Its so nice to be able to walk everywhere (even though last night we got a does of the Israeli rain that Tam's Granny warned us about!). I have no idea what the name of the bar we went to is, but we had a great time and danced up a storm. We discovered we're not such big fans of Israeli dance music, but fortunately they played some good 90's beats.

This morning we slept late and then wandered around trying to find a place to go for brunch (for those who dont know, Israel's Fridays are like Canadian Saturdays). After a lot of line-ups and busy cafes we finally decided on Max Brenner's - excellent decision. Apparently they have this place in NYC as well, but the Tel Aviv location is the first one and wow good food. So I think this guy stared out as a chocolate maker and expanded into a restaurant. The food was delicious and we got waaaay too much. Its not often that I dont clear my plate, but I was definitely not able to here. Heres a picture of the vegetable omelette with all the crazy sides they give you. Theres some cheese-type dip, tuna salad, vegetable salad, yogurt and granola, bread and of course some chocolate spread. Its all served with orange juice and your choice of a variety of coffees of hot chocolates. Delish - and I am still full nearly 6 hours later.

This weekend is purim - which is essentially the Jewish version of Halloween - except with a lot more meaning . I am not clear on the story (I think its a story of the Jews being saved from being exterminated by this evil guy Haman), but I get to dress up, eat hamantashen and make loud noises with these fun gragger noise maker things when someone says this bad guys' (Haman) name. Sounds like a sweet holiday to me. I must comment though that the girls here dress exactly like the ones at home on Halloween - aka skanky. Hey look - theres a slutty cop, a slutty bumblebee and a slutty nurse. sigh. My costume has yet to be determined, but I think its going to involve wings and some glitter. Saweet. Pics to come.

For the purim festivities, we were supposed to be going to big street party in the south part of the city tomorrow night, but its apparently been cancelled because of the weather. Instead, we might head to the port area to check out some of the goings on there. I am sure it will be a good time either way.

First few days in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is pretty sweet so far. We've been exploring the city while we try to get errands done - like setting up cell phones and getting bedding. Everything we try to do takes longer than we plan because of language barriers and our lack of knowledge of the city, but we're learning!

Friday was great becuase we were able to sleep in then head to Carmel Market to get some fresh fruits and vegetables (and the requisite baraka...Im going to get so fat) and check out the arts and crafts market that they have every Tuesday and Friday one street over. Im sure we'll be heading to both of these places many many times. After lunch we made our way to the beach for the first time. Its crazy that we've been here for a few days and live literally two blocks from the beach but had yet to make it down there.

The rest of our weekend was spent with Tams family. I am super fortunate to be here with Tam who has so many kind and generous relatives in and around the city. Friday night we taxi'd up to Herzliya for friday night dinner at her cousin's house. Dinner was great and we stayed over night so we could join them on a picnic to the Carmel mountains the next day. We lucked out yet again with the weather and had an absolutely great day. The mountains are beautiful - with mountain range on one side and a view of the sea on the other. Israel definitely has some pretty impressive and varied landscape for such a small country. 

Yesterday we had our first classes. Not too much to comment on them just yet as these were the intro classes, but I htink they will be interesting enough. I will say that they are almost all 1.5 hours in length - which I have determined to be the optimal amount of time for a law class to be (take note Ottawa U) - so no complaints there. Going to two more classes today. I guess I will mention that we have about a 40 minute bus ride to get to class. Not terrible, and likely worth it since living near campus would not be as interesting or convenient for most things as where we live now (although quieter for sure...).

Current temperature: 18°C (brrrrr)

ps. the spell check on this thing doesnt work...and I am too lazy to re-read my posts :)

Egypt Pictures

I decided to take a crack at using this muvee software I have on my laptop to make a video of our pictures from Egypt...hopefully it works! Let me know if its doesnt.

Egypt Roundup

I had a really good time in Egypt but wanted to list some of the pros and cons of the country - at least from my perspective.

Likes:
Food - We got fat in Egypt. There are so many good breads and pastries and fried delicious falafel. On our last day in Dahab we gorged ourselves on amazing crepe-like pancakes smeared in nutella and covered in fruit. Amazing. One of our best meals was likely at the Nubian restaurant in Aswan. The flavors of the food were great - no doubt thanks to those famous Nubian spices. Tam would likely say her favorite thing to eat in Egypt was a loaf of fresh bread she bought from a random bakery in Cairo - shes still raving about it. My favorite is definitely the new teas we've discovered. The two big ones are Nubian hibicus tea (which is delicious hot or cold) and mint tea. Tam also bought a Bedouin tea thats supposed to be good for your stomach.

Weather - Aside from a couple cold days in Cairo, we were super spoiled with the weather. Very dry, hot and sunny.

History - We were pretty templed out by the end of our travels, but theres no denying that the sites and stories from Egypt's past are worth the trip. I think I liked the temples in Luxor the best (Karnak especially) and also the pyramids outside Cairo. We would also recommend guides. The places we went to where we didnt have someone explaining all the incredibly detailed artwork on the walls and things about the structure itself (like who built it, for who and when), we found that we got a lot less out of it.

Mt. Sinai  - Despite the donkey taxi drivers that work in St. Katherines, I definitely recommend the hike up Mt. Sinai to see the sunrise. There were tons of people, you can stop at one of the many coffee shacks they've built on the mountain along the way if you get chilly, and the energy and anticipation that is felt at the top of the mountain is pretty cool. If youre going to go, hike up the camel trail and then come down the other side of the mountain using the steps.

Dahab - I really liked Dahab and the red sea. The colour of the water is like what youd expect to see off of a caribean island - the light blue aquamarine colour flanked by dark blue. Really pretty. I also liked the atmosphere in the city. Its so different from the rest of the country,at times, you almost forgot you were in Egypt. We also had some reallly nice food here and met some nice people.

Dislikes:
Poverty - At least 90% of Egypt is poor. Ive never been somewhere with this much poverty, and its very disconcerting. The country is filthy and because of it people dont seem to care if they throw garbage on the ground. The cleanest place we saw was the main street in Luxor - but this is probably also one of the most touristy places in Egypt. We were at one bus station and we saw a guy standing 2 feet from a garbage can and he still dropped a big wad of trash right onto the ground. Frustrating. Our guide explained it by saying that its hard to get people to change their old ways.

Money Issues - Everything to do with money is super annoying in Egypt. First, tipping. I dont mean at restaurants and whatnot (although people need to be carefull because often the service charge is included on the bill), but rather for guides and drivers etc. We are happy to tip when its earned, but in Egypt its expected and they remind you about that allll the time. Even the jerkoff of a taxi driver who drove us from St. Katherines to Dahab cheerfullyreminded us to tip him. No dice pal.
Second, in our first couple of days in Cairo our guide always said that in Egypt you get what you pay for. What he neglected to mention was that you have to pay for everything. Need to pee? One pound (and dont forget to tip the person who is ripping off two squares of toilet paper for you...if there is toilet paper that is). Taking a bus ride? Buy your ticket (OK) but dont forget to bring change because if you want to bring your bags with you that will cost extra when you go to board.
Finally, bank machines. Argh. If youre planning to go to Egypt either bring travellers checks, exchange enough cash before you leave or map out every HSBC bank in the cities in Egypt where youre planning to travel because they are the only ones that will work with your Canadian debit card.

Hassling - We figured that while traveling in Egypt we'd run into some issues as women - and this was definitely true. I didnt ever feel unsafe, but after being followed and photographed and videotaped and feeling like I needed to wear even baggier clothes and even groped in one instance, I got pretty bothered.

Littlest Hobo Hell - Anyone who knows me knows that I love animals and generally need to say hi to every one I see. Some people also know that stray dogs and sad looking animals upset me. This is a big problem in Egypt because there are stray dogs and cats, sad looking camels and donkeys, and goats with deformities and broken limbs all over the place. I realize that the people are not very well off, but it doesnt stop it from bothering me.

Im sure theres more...but these were the highs and lows I can think of right now. More to come on Tel Aviv soon...

Current location: Tel Aviv
Temperature: 24°C

Diving and Sunshine

Sadly, our trip to Egypt is over. Its been a tiring trip (especiall considering how short it was) but I think a good one overall. Tam and I have been discussing our likes and dislikes about Egypt and maybe Ill try posting those tomorrow.

We're currently in an internet cafe at the bus station in Eilat waiting to head back up to Tel Aviv. The last couple of days in Dahab were great though. The weather was absolutely pefect and it was totally relaxing. We both went diving - which I can only describe as amazing. I definitely belong in the water. We barely had to go 10 meters from the shore in Dahab's main bay and we found ourselves swimming along a beautiful coral reef covered crazy in colours and beautiful fish. We did two dives - one to learn the basic skills and one where we actually got to go deeper and see what it was really like to scuba dive. Unfortunatley, because of my head cold, I was only able to make it down to around 9 meters ( I think Tam made it to 12) but I was still able to see everything I wanted. I will definitely be going diving again.

Our next day and both evenings in Dahab were spent eating and lounging - either by the pool at our really nice hotel or on cushions smoking sheehsa right beside the ocean. Sound nice? It was. We're defiintely heading back to Tel Aviv with more colour in our cheeks (and some mosquito bites!).

So now we head back to Tel Aviv where we meet our new roommate and have orientation tomorrow morning. We're excited to get back and meet new people and explore the city (hopefully we'll feel better about the noisy apt after a couple of days of getting used to it). We'll definitely be happy not to have to take anymore long bus trips.

Next post from Tel Aviv... (where apparently its equally hot an sunny...yesssssss).

Gulf of Aqaba...

Exhausted...but happy.

Our last stop in Egypt is Dahab - a sleepy little diving town on the red sea  Its beautiful here and we spent the afternoon researching dive shops and exploring the board walk. We've set up two dives for tomorrow - really excited!!

Borrowing someone's laptop on the beach right now. Currently sitting on a cushion eating delicious baba ganough and preparing to play some backgamon. Tonight will be an early night because we travelled for 24 hours from Luxor to to get ´to St. Katherines (Tam's official verdict is that all Egyptian trains suck...but I definitely recomment the sleeper train over first class)  and then were up at 1:30 am to climb Mt Sinai - which was totally worth it! The weather was perfect for the hike and the sunrise was great. Somehow Tam and I managed to squeeze our way into one of the most perfect spots for the event.There were tons of people on the mountain and when the sun came up many were singing and praying. Totally sureal experience. Its crazy that we arrived in St Katherines in complete darkness, hiked up the mountain with hundreds of people with just flashlights in complete darkeness and then when the sun comes up you realize youre in this huge mountain range that goes on for miles. We could look down and see the path that wed used to snake our way up the mountain (before getting to the summit using 750 steps). For the trip back down we took a different path - 3650 stone steps put in place by the local Bedouins. A really great experience and definitely recommended.

Getting to Dahab was a bit of a disaster. I definitely yelled at some Egyptians today. I think Ive finally reached my haggling breaking point. The amount they were trying to change us to get here was outrageous and at one point one guy even lied to get us into his cab so we'd miss the opportunity to get a cheaper ride with someone else. Its a well coordinated operation among the drivers (using cell phones and stalking tactics)to take the travellers for as much money as possible. We finally ended up with a ride we were semi happy with and just gave up. When we got here I told the driver he had better go and get some tip money from his buddies - because he wasnt getting from us. Yeah...I probably needed a nap at that point.

Anyway, we made it and its exactly like wed hoped it would be. For the next two days we plan to do some diving, hang out on the beach (smoke some sheesha hehe) and meet some of the people staying in Dahab (this will likely also entail participating in some of the nightlife...something we've definitely been missing).

Location: Dahab
Temperature at 6 pm: 24

Back on a train...

We're killing a little time before we board a train back to Cairo. As I mentioned before, we're taking the sleeper train (fingers crossed that we get some sleep) back up north and then catch a bus tomorrow morning to St. Katherines. Once we get there we drop off our big bags, get refreshed and pump ourselves up to climb Mt. Sinai. We start at like 2 am and are supposed to be at the summit for sunrise. Our legs are tired just from walking around today (plus Ive got a head cold...booo) so hopefully we'll make it. ha. After we climb we get on another bus and head to Dahab. There we are going to lay on the beach and try and do some diving in the Red Sea - which is supposed to be amazing. We've heard really good things about both Sinai and Dahab so we're really looking forward to it. Will also be a nice change from temples and tombs.

Today, after checking out the Luxor museum, we explored the amazing temples on the East bank in Luxor - Karmak and Luxor temples. Karmak temple has been my favorite site so far. Its huuuuge and so many of the stories and figuers we've heard about over the last few days have all come together and built things here in onor of the god Amun. Its too hard to describe, but its very impressive. Luxor temple was smaller but had some goood statues made by Ramses II and a frescoe painted by Christians inside. Joining the two temples is Sphinx Avenue, which is a long line of sphinxes - great site.

The only bad thing about today and our trip really is that we've been harassed alot by Egyptians. Not like the pople selling things - but regular men and younger people who want to talk to us and take our picture. Most of the time its ok, but today one man followed us around and creeped us out. At one point a group of men was either videoing or photographing us and out guide had to tell them to stop. Made us feel pretty uncomfortable and I personally (even though I am dressed modestly) ended up walking around a lot of the afternoon with my arms across my chest. Hopefully Dahab will be better!

Location: Luxor (about to board a train to Cairo)
Temperature: 29 °C

No hassle, No hassle

In Luxor now. Really like it here...aside from the fact that we can barely walk a block without being hassled to take a carriage ride. Its a funny place. They put up signs in their shops and know that you dont want to be bothere, but approach you and bother you by telling you how they wont hassle you. We're getting pretty good at ignoring them though. The tactic is to either not say anything at all or say thanks or I am not interested in Arabic (which I know how to say but have no idea how to type) and they might leave you alone. The second they hear that you speak english or are from Canada they have a ton of one liners and are really good at getting you to at least stop and talk to them. Its all fun though.

As for what we've seen and done for the last few days...

We left Aswan a couple days ago by felucca. This was actually a great experience - and we didnt die from the cold. There was 12 of us on the boat - 4 Americans, 2 Aussies, 1 Irishman, 2 Koreans, one Brit and then three crew members. We got on at about 1 and layed in the sun on cushions, had some good food and were able to meet some nice people. Acutally meeting people was probably the best part. Since Tam and I have been spoiled and have tours by ourselves we have not had a chance to meet other people traveling around Egypt and hear their stories. So it was really nice to hear where others had been and where they are going. We actually hope to meet up with a couple of them in St Katherines when we climb mount Sinai in a couple days.

After spending the night on the felucca - which got cold but not unbearably cold - we had a great breakfast. Kind of like french toast but made with pita bread and served with jams. Definitely one of my favorite things we've eaten so far. We then got off, said so long to the people who would be spending another day and night on the boat and headed north to the temples Komombo and Edfu.

By midafternoon we had arrived in Luxor - a nice and clean city - definitly as a result of it being so touristy. We spent the afternoon wandering around and finding somewhere good to eat. This morning we went to see Egypt's prized tourist attractions - the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's Temple.

Valley of the Kings - After the pyramids, this is what people come to Egypt to see (as the crowds can attest). The valley is filled with 63 tombs (the famous one being of course that of Kig Tut - the only one that has been found with anything in it). We saw three tombs, that of Tutmoses III, Ramses I and of a King and Queen who cant remember. They are all really different, but equally interesting. The most facinating part is that these tombs were all madein the time of the New Kingdom - whereas mos of the pyramids were from the old kingdom. Its seems as though these guys got laz and instead of taking the time to biold themselves a whole pyramid they were smart and found a mountain that really looks like a pyramid and put their tombs in it. That was they still had access to the sky and sun but saved themselves some time and effort.

Hatshepsut's Temple - This was something that I really liked. Ever since the museum in Cairo, Tam and I have been pretty fond of Queen Hatshepsut. This is because she was a badass and declared herself the daughter of one of the most powerful gods of the day, stole the crown from her step-son/nephew and declared herself King of Egypt. She ruled for 18 years. Heck yes. Her temple was to honor her after her death and its beautifully placed on the other side of the mountain from the valley of the kings. Unfortunately, once she died and her step-son/nephew took over he defaced her temple, but its still very commanding and impressive.

Tonight we're going to find somewhere fun to eat and have some tea that we have grown to love. Tomorrow we see the Luxor museum, Lucor temple and Karnak temple then take the sleeper train back to Cairo(note: the sleeper train - NOT the first class train we took to get here. See this earlier post for more on that.). We then take a 7 hour bus ride (ugh) to St Katherine's to climb Mt Sinai for sunrise (wooo).

Oh yeah...today after lunch we layed by the pool on the roof of our hotel and read and worked on our tans. Life is rough!

Location: Luxor (East Bank)
Current Temperature: 26 °C at 6pm...tomorrow's forecast 30°C    :)

Bartering Champs!

OK...first...this post was clearly not meant to happen. First the computer shut off and then once I had finished it the second time I lost it again. So heres a lazy-I-am-so-not-happy-right-now version...

We bartered like champs in the Aswan market for dried hibiscus flowers for tea - Awesome.
Were able to wear t-shirts for the first time today - Amazing.
Nubians have really good spices and make deicious food.
Ramses II loves himself and his wife, Nefertari, and made some really awesome temples at Abu Simbel. You have to take a convoy through the desert to get there - even more important you have to wake up at 2:45 am - yes, 2:45 am - to meet that convoy.
Turns out camels are really tall and not Tam's favorite animal. Riding them is pretty fun if you're me - not so much your Tam and your guy keeps hitting the camel and you think youre going to fall off.
Banks in Egypt hate Canadian cards - stick with HSBC and youll be happy.

Tomorrow we get to sleep in and then head to the market to barter for some more stuff - fun. Then at noon we head out to get on a felucca for the night. We're a little worried about this since it gets pretty cold at night and we are huge wusses. Hopefully we dont freeze. The felucca heads back up north toward Luxor and some pretty cool looking temples and the valley of the kings. Should be sweet.

Location: Aswan
Temp: 17 °C

Lesson Learned: Always take the sleeper train....

We just arrived in Aswan in Southern Egypt and are waiting for our hotel room to be ready. We took the overnight train from Cairo....interesting. I think combined, Tam and I have about 4 hours of sleep from last night. Feeling surprisingly good though. The weather is warmer here and we have a good tour of some temples set up for this afternoon. We're in Aswan for a total of 2 nights, but one of them - tonight - doesnt really count because we are leaving to go to Abu Simbel at 3 am. Should be a really interesting tour. After that we're going on a tour of a Nubian village - which our guide assures us (a million percent) will be the best tour we go on in Egypt. Will report back on that one.

Yesterday  - in Cairo - we spent the morning touring a 15th century mosque, an old Coptic church and a synagogue. Then in the afternoon, we saw the much talked about Cairo museum. You would need days to see everything in that place. Fortunately for us, our guide in Cairo was an Egyptologist and he knew the most interesting things to see in the museum and was able to give us really thorough explanations. Tam and I can now tell you differences between statues of living and dead kings and the differences between the statues from the three kingdoms (old, middle and new). A highlight for me was lunch (haha shocking) where we had Egyptian falafels - which are made with fava beans instead of chickpeas. Delicious.

Alright time to get freshened up, grab some food and head to Philae Temple and the surrounding sites.

Location: Aswan Egypt
Currnet Temperature:  Sunny and 16 °C

First night and the trip to Cairo...

So we spent the first night in our apt. And the verdict is mixed. The location is awesome. We can seen the sea from our balcony and we're close to some good shops and a neat market. We're really in the middle if the action. However, being in the middle of it all means its noisy. And its even noisier giving the honking and yelling that goes on at all hours. Definitely will take some getting used to.

Met our landlords. Nice and interesting people. Run the pub that is right below our apt (shockingly we cant hear the pub at all). Apparently - at least according to our landlord - its the only place in Tel Aviv where you can get cider. Lucky me. We tried it out last night and its was good stuff - made even better by the fact that we get to drink  and eat for half price!

Today we got to Cairo. The day started off a bit rough becuase Tam was not feeling the greatest. But its gotten better! We have not seen much of the city yet, but did have quite the experience on the drive from the ariport to our hotel. The driving is crazy. Picture fours lanes of traffic but theres actually six crs and a motor bike squished in there. They are all constantly honking and theres no traffic singals to be seen. People have to run in between cars because theres no crosswalks. Took a video I will post when I get a chance. Nuts.

Looking forward to Egypt! Even though its a little bit colder at night than we thought (current temp...a balmy 13 degrees).

On Our Way!

This blog is a bit of an experiment for me. It fees kind of narcissistic to write about yourself and things youre doing and expect people to give a darn...but here goes...

Its been a busy couple of weeks but its nearly time to head to the airport. Our bags are packed and we are contemplating how we're going to convince the airline to let us on with our severely overweight luggage.

The plan for the next couple of weeks is as follows:
We'll get to Tel Aviv tomorrow afternoon and get set up at our aparment (the apartment that is two blocks away from the beach...). We spend the night there and get ready to head to Cairo the next afternoon. We'll then be spending two weeks touring around Egypt! Details, pictures and daily weather updates to come...

So long cold Canada. Looking forward to the next three months!