| December 2008 |
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1 December 2008 We had cereal for breakfast in our room, overlooking the Marmara Sea, then packed up and drove along the coast towards Canakkale. Dad stopped for a while for me to run around with my Phlat Ball, while he took some photos. Then Mum took over the wheel, grumbling about the bumpy road surface.
Once we settled in, Mum went to the Tourist Information Kiosk nearby to pick up some brochures on what to do in the area and then we took a walk out to fetch our coats from Tuah, as it was getting colder and to have a closer look at the Trojan Horse. On the way, I got mobbed by a group of school girls.
There was also an old canon in town to commemorate the Gallipoli Campaign, in 1915. We got back to our room early so we can enjoy the luxury of the space we have today and have an early night, as we have lots of sightseeing to do tomorrow
2 December 2008 Canakkale and Gallipoli, Turkey After a very good breakfast in the hotel, we set off in Tuah for the pier, just outside the hotel and take the ferry across the Dardanelles to the Gallipoli Peninsular. From the other pier, we drove to the Kabatape Museum, which was unfortunately closed for renovation. We proceeded to the Shell Green Memorial and turned off from there onto an off road track, to the Lone Pine Cemetery.
From there we went to several other cemeteries and memorials and to the ANZAC Cove. Mum says that right where we we standing some 92 years ago, men were fighting a war and being killed. It's hard to imagine, as it's so beautiful and peaceful here now.
At the Turkish Memorial, we were greeted by two rather hungry friendly dogs. We shared some biscuits we had with them and later found their little puppies. We had a brilliant day out on Gallipoli, but it is sad to see so many lives wasted, for the sake of a war.
3 December 2008
We wondered around the ruins for some time, imagining how it used to be many, many years ago. I had a good time climbing up the old stones, pillars and walls. From Troy, we headed for Izmir, taking a rather nice drive along the coast. We stopped off for groceries along the way, and attracted a small crowd of curious locals.
We arrived rather late into Izmir, as the road was not in great condition and there was an accident along the way, bringing traffic to a standstill for quite a while. We decided to stay in the first reasonably priced hotel, with secure parking for Tuah. Of course, we ended up in the less fashionable side of town. We took a taxi into the city centre for dinner, which was rather nice and were quite worn out by the time we got back to our room.
4 December 2008
The view was fantastic, but the wind was quite strong and we had to walk along narrow, rocky steps and passages at quite a height, with no safety barriers. At the top, I felt as though I could reach the sky! On the way down, we passed a small village, and spotted some sheep locked up in a shop house. Some of them had no fur. Dad says they coats were sheared for wool to make warm wooly jumpers for people to wear in the winter. What about the poor sheep then? They must be cold!
We saw some of the sights in
Again, we arrived after dark, as we stopped at a factory outlet on the way and did a bit of shopping. Dad pulled in at McDonalds on the way in to Bodrum to get me some McNuggets, as I was all kebab-ed out, and while we were waiting for Mum to come back with them, a motorcycle pulled up. The rider was Jim, a Brit living locally. He saw Tuah, with his British number plate and rode up to speak to us. As the tourist season was over, most hotels and all campsites were closed. Jim offered to show us the way to a hotel which was open, where we got a great deal for a very nice room. I am ever so grateful to him for doing so; otherwise we may have had to drive around for ages before finding a suitable place for the night. Dad and Mum would have both been grumpy then, and that’s not much fun for me. The wind was still very strong and it’s too dark to enjoy what is supposed to be lovely
Pamukkale, Turkey My ears itched all night. Something had bitten them both, and I was uncomfortable and had been scratching them all night, which also kept Mum awake. Anyway, we went for breakfast and met Yeon, a Kuala Lumpur school teacher, backpacking through Rome, Bulgaria and Turkey for three weeks. She was a lovely lady, and the first Malaysian we've met on the road for this leg of our travels.
7 December 2008 Antalya and day-trip to Olympos, Turkey We all slept well last night, and after breakfast, decided that we will spend another night here, driving out westward for the day. We stopped at Kemer, a seaside resort for lunch and find a laundry that is open and able to do some washing for us in a few hours. Tomorrow is Eid Murbarak, the Muslim festival widely celebrated in Turkey and many shops were closed and will be closed tomorrow for celebrations.
8 December 2008 Side and
We parked Tuah and walked down to the coast. It was nice, but obviously one of what Mum calls a ‘Tourist Trap’. Shops were selling all the usual souvenirs and leather goods, carpets and clothes, and all prices were quoted in Euros, not Turkish Lira. I managed to persuade Dad to buy me a set of rubber snakes, though! We were about to leave town, when we met an old man who offered to take us around the ruins (for a fee). He took us through paths we would have not been able to find on our own, and explained the history and buildings of the ancient city of
Parts of the ruins were in sand dunes, like a mini
We stopped to have a drink and I realized that 3 of my new snakes were missing. They must have fallen out from the bag they were in while I was prancing about along the way. I was not happy at all. Dad retraced our steps with me, and about ten minutes down the road, we found two of the missing snakes. I was a lot happier.
Mum bought some banana and honey pancakes, like the ones we had at Olympos and we said goodbye to our guide and headed back to Tuah. We decided to drive only as far as Alanya, as it was already getting dark. Many beach hotels along the way were closed for the winter, but we found a nice place to spend the night in the town itself, near Cleopatra’s Beach.
We headed out for dinner after settling in and found a restaurant that was open, called Lapponia. We had one of the best meals we’ve tasted here in Turkey, and met some wonderful new friends, Huseyin, Merat. Mahmut and Ebru.
I was looking for an addition to my stone collection, and found the perfect one....but it was a bit too heavy for me to carry. There were lots of little white flowers growing in the fields and I gathered a handful. It made people happy when I gave them a flower, as we walked along.
Soon it was time to drive again. The roads were quite bad and we were winding up and down mountains, with solid rock on one side of the road, and steep cliffs (and no safety barriers) on the other. This was the major trunk road, too!
Antakya, Turkey We were up early and had some cereal from the back of the truck for breakfast. By 9.30am, we were on the road, heading towards Adana. We found that yesterday's drive was the worst stretch, and from now on, it was smooth sailing. We made Adana by lunchtime, and proceeded to Iskandrum after stocking up on some snacks. We could not find anywhere reasonably priced in town to spend the night, and as it was early enough, we decided to head to Antakya, the last major town near the Syrian border, and where St Peter's Church, supposedly the oldest in the world, is located.
We carried on into Antakya town, only to find that it was congested and very expensive. Remembering a small motel about 20km before the town, we headed back and found ourselves a room for the night. 11 December 2008 Antakya, Turkey, border crossing into Syria and Aleppo, Syria
Hamah and Dad decide today that we should spend another night in Hamah, and take a day trip to the desert city of Palmyra, where we will see more ruins, yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site. We after breakfast, we set off in Tuah, having to depend on the GPS, as the road signage was non existent, until at least halfway through.
I have been in the desert before, when we visited the Sahara in We drove right up to the ruins, and saw some camels too. They were being used to give tourist rides through the ruins (for a fee). I like to look at camels, but not sit on them. They are awfully huge animals. Donkeys are just my size, but there weren’t any here.
Needless to say, there were touts about, but we weren’t hassled when we said ‘no thank you’. We drove back to 14 December 2008 Hamah and
The drive to We eventually manage to find somewhere to stay and after settling in; wonder off for an early local dinner and in search of an internet café. 15 December 2008 Dad and Mum did not have a good night sleep. Me – I sleep well just about anywhere, usually. We had the miserable breakfast laid in front of us and left the hotel, which was one of the worst (and expensive) we have had! We left Tuah where he was parked overnight, as that was a free parking space, and took a cab into the
There weren’t as many people in the souk (market) as in the Grand Bazaar in
After some lunch and walking around the city a bit more, we return to Tuah and with about an hour of daylight left, Dad and Mum decide to buy some roast chicken from a village stall and head towards the Jordanian border. The idea was to camp for the night just outside the border, not wanting to pay ridiculous amounts for a room in the city, but just before we arrived at the border, we spotted a small motel, which was really cheap and clean. 16 December 2008 We had an early breakfast and headed for the Syrian-Jordanian Border, 2 minutes from where we had spent the night. Exiting
We stopped at Jerash, an ancient ruins site, north of
Dad bought himself a ‘Kaffiyeh’ – the traditional
There is a debate this morning, on if we should drive into the
We were greeted by the pillars of the From there, we drove to Madaba, about 30km from
There was a viewing point from the memorial, where on a clear day; we could see The Dead Sea, We started to head back to
We had a late start, as Dad was checking his emails and updating his web journal. We left Amman and made our way back to Mt Nebo, where we were yesterday at Moses Memorial, but drove on the Baptism Site, on the River Jordan. The views coming down from Mt Nebo was awesome! Imagine that Moses was looking at this same view many years ago and these areas were traveled by John the Baptist, King Herod, Prophet Mohammad and other famous people from the Holy Books.
Anyway, we had to cross a couple of Military check points and when we got to the area where the Baptism Site was, we had to leave Tuah in the car park and follow a guide in a shuttle, with a group of people. Bethany Beyond the Jordan, the Baptism site, is on ‘No Man’s Land’, whatever that means.
We saw the actual site where it is believed that John baptized Jesus, and the chapels (what’s left of them) built by the site; the Monk’s cave, where John is believed to have stayed for 6 months; the Spring where the water flows from into the River Jordan, called ‘John the Baptist Spring’ and the best part, was to actually splash in the River Jordan. We were allowed to go into the river on this one spot, where we were watched by armed military guards, and warned not to smile, wave or talk to anyone from the other side of the river, on the Israeli bit. They were only 10 feet away from us! We had to walk for miles today, but I didn’t mind. There were lots of sticks and stones and the splash was a bonus! We had some nasi goring (fried rice) which Mum had made and packed this morning and drove on to the Dead Sea. There were 4 hotels there, the cheapest being US$200 per night – we decided to camp. It was much warmer here than Amman. I had a walk on the coast this evening and built some sandcastles, but did not get to swim – Mum was saying something about me needing a shower after, which I am not going to have tonight, sleeping out. 19 December 2008 Waking up this morning, we had some breakfast, trying hard to keep the hundreds of flies away from our food and faces. They were everywhere! We headed up to the bit of The Dead Sea where people could pay to go on to the beach. Mum had wanted to swim, but after checking out the washroom, she decided against it. We waded in the water though, but I was not very happy to see the water dry on my legs leaving a white residue. Salt, Mum said. That’s what I was told about the terraces at Pamukale in Turkey, too.
Anyway, after washing our feet we headed up on the desert road that took us through the mountains to Petra. We had lunch high up on the top of those funny looking mountains for which Petra is known for. We were told by someone in town that we could get cheap accommodation at a small inn up in the hills. A basic room, but that’s all we needed.
There were quite a few people staying in the dormitories and we had a traditional Jordanian dinner – rice and chicken with about 10 types of vegetables.
We got to the site and found this to be the most expensive entrance fee we have paid so far! We took a horse ride for about 1.5km, then walked about another 2km before we actually got to the impressive Al-Khazneh, a building carved into the pink coloured stones. That’s what this place was all about. Dad was saying something about feeling as though he was Indiana Jones, whoever he may be. I wish he would make up his mind. A couple of days ago, he was Lawrence of Arabia.
We spent hours at Petra. There were the Royal Tombs, the As Siq, Theatre and many other places, some which we did not get to see. I got a donkey to take us part of the way. I had fun riding on it with Mum and was singing as we rode along. We met Teresa Cline, a professional photographer from Canada, who we also met in Bethany Beyond The Jordan, two days ago. Teresa gave me a lucky Canadian penny. She said that if a Canadians gives you a Canadian penny outside Canada, it means that person will get to visit Canada one day. We were dog tired. We got back to the inn and after a good wash, sat down for dinner. It’s an early night for me. Tomorrow is another big day – we head into the desert, Wadi Rum.
Wadi We tried to look for an internet café in town, but nothing was open so early in the morning, so we picked up some fresh bread from the bakery and headed towards Wadi Rum, the desert. As we arrived at the visitor’s centre, we met a family – Malaysian Hanim, her French husband, Karim and their kids, Louisa and Rayan. They were living in
We had to pay a small fee to enter the area, and were able to take Tuah in with us because he is a 4 wheel drive. We drove in on the sand, which was soft in many places to
There were too many low clouds tonight, so we did not get to see the brilliant sunset we had hoped for. By 5.30pm, it was pitch black. We had the tent up, and sat about in Tuah for a while, as it was too cold to be sitting outside. The sky soon cleared up and we could see the stars in the night sky. They were so bright! Mum cooked us some noodles for dinner, and we went up to the tent early and played dominoes for a while. I won….Uncle Doug thought me well! 22 December 2008 We woke up to find some paw prints going all around Tuah – a wild dog or wolf had paid us a visit last night. After breakfast and playing in the sand, we drove to We also found the ancient inscriptions on a mountain. The drawings looked like men and camels to me. Ahmad, a Bedouin guide who was with some tourists, on a day trip told me that they were more than 2000 years old.
Further down the sand dunes, we got bogged down in the soft sand. Dad and Mum had to use shovels to dig Tuah’s tyres out, but when Dad tried to move forward, Tuah ended up getting bogged in further. Just as Dad and Mum were about to use the high lift jack and recovery kit, a local Bedouin 4WD came along. They helped pull us out using Tuah’s winch. I did my bit to help, using my sand pit toys to shift sand around.
We left the desert after some bread for lunch and an ice cream when we got to the village. We headed for Aqaba, on the 23 December 2008 Today, we are having a rest day. Don’t laugh – travelling is hard work, not all holiday! After breakfast, Mum went in search of a laundry to have our desert-dirty clothes washed. We then drove Tuah out to be washed. He was as dirty as we were, coming out of Wadi Rum, yesterday!
In the evening, we walked out to town and found the local bakery. We were offered a tour of the back of the house (for a small token fee) and were taken downstairs to where some huge machines were kneading the dough, which was then placed in another large machine, which pressed out little round shapes onto a conveyer belt. This ran into another bit of machine which flattened the rounds into something like pancakes. Then, the belt took the dough into an oven and out came wonderfully fresh, hot, flat bread! Yum! 24 December 2008 Ferry from We had an early start, as we planned to catch the 1pm fast ferry from Aqaba to Newiba, in There were 6 of us travelers on board – Ron and Tjeert, two guys who have driven all the way down from
It was a long ferry ride, and we did not arrive at our destination till about 8.45pm. Mum had managed to call Mama, while we were sailing, to wish her a Merry Christmas. I was lucky to have had our friends to help entertain me. It would have been so boring otherwise.
We were all hungry, as we had not planned to be on the ferry for so long, but were told that we were quite lucky to have ‘only been delayed by 3 hours’. We had some snacks and fruit, and were pleased to drive off the ferry, only to be stopped soon after, for another long process of clearing the two cars. It was one thing after another, one document after another, one payment after another, and eventually about 2.5 hours later, we drove off, with Egyptian number plates on both cars! The 6 of us (in two cars), headed for Dahab, about 60km away. It was past 1am when we arrived in town (I was asleep by now) and managed to find some cheap and cheerful rooms. 25 December 2008 MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! We had breakfast by the
In the afternoon, we took Tuah out for a drive to the St Catherine’s Protected Area – another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The desert was quite amazing with light coloured sand and rock formations. The Monastery itself was closed to visitors when we arrived and we also learned that climbing up Mt Sinai (or Mount Musa/Moses as they call it here), would involve a 3 hour trek. We walked trough the grounds of the Monastery, feeling very cold, as it was much colder up here than it was in town.
26 December 2008
After saying goodbye to our Dutch friends, Ron and Tjeerd, we took off for Sham el Sheikh, the resort town on the
All the large five star resorts were here, and they all were priced way beyond our budget. We had a late lunch at McDonald’s, a treat for me, then decided to give one last try to find somewhere reasonable to stay, before heading out of town towards the Suez Gulf. With some luck, and Dad’s perseverance (desperateness) to stay in this popular resort town, we managed to find a reasonably clean, traditional style chalet, just outside the touristy area, for a reasonable price. No beach though. 27 December, 2008
We arrived in Suez just as it was getting dark, and as we were driving through the town trying to decide on when to spend the night, a white car drove up along side us, and guess who was in it? Our Dutch friends, Ron and Tjeerd! It was nice to see them again. We checked into the same hotel in town, then went out with them later for a fish dinner.
My tummy is still feeling a bit dodgy, probably a side effect of the Lariam I am taking for anti malarial. Hope I'll be back to normal soon. We drive into Cairo, and yes, Ron and Tjeerd were right about what they've heard about the drivers here - very much like those in Aleppo, Syria....mad!
29 December 2008
After watching me for an hour or so, it was decided that I was well enough for us to go out to visit the Pyramids and Sphinx. I was so excited! We drove in, going as fast as we could up the gates, so that no tout could stop us without being run over! Mum bought the entrance tickets for us and Tuah, and we ignored the many 'guides' at the entrance, trying to get us to park Tuah and take a camel/horse/donkey instead. Mum had checked out some travel blogs this morning and knew we could drive right in and that's just what we did!
The Great Sphinx was a little smaller than I thought it would be, after seeing how big the Pyramids were, and his nose was a little broken, but it was good to see it, finally. Back at the hotel, I was having problems with my tummy again. We need to go into the city tomorrow morning to apply for our Sudan Visas. Hopefully, this won't take too long and my tummy will be back to normal in the morning.
Another day in Eventually, our application was looked at and we were told to make the payment for the visas and come back to collect the passports in two hours, at 3pm. It was quite painless, really! We had lunch on the River Nile while waiting and then had our taxi send us back to Tuah. We had checked out of the hotel we were in for the last two nights, as Mum was quite fed up with the porters expecting something called ‘baksheesh’ every time we walked in and out. They tried to grab Mum’s backpack to carry up to the room for her (in return for this ‘baksheesh’ stuff) and anyone trying to touch Mum’s bag, has a death wish! We moved somewhere else down the road, which was more pleasant, and cheaper. There was a parking space for Tuah nearby, too.
Tomorrow, we need to secure ferry tickets for the once a week ferry from 31 December 2008 Still in New Year’s Eve started out pretty well for us. Nice breakfast in the hotel and we set off in search of the Ramses Station, where the Cairo office of the Nile River Transport Company who run the ferry from Aswan to Wadi Haifa are located. On the way though, Mum was complaining about the back of the car being a mess, and she found that my seat had been tempered with. We didn’t think too much of it though, then. Then the day started going downhill. At the station, I waited with Dad in the car, while Mum went off to the ticket office, coming back sometime later with the bad news that Monday’s ferry was full for vehicles (they can only take 4 cars). The next ferry would be on the following Monday, the 12th, and we could only buy tickets from the 5th onwards. Stuck in We were just making our way out of Cairo, when Mum opened the glove compartment to take out the Garmin (GPS) to help with directions, and found that it was missing, along with her beloved Arnette Sunglasses (with powered lens). The Garmin’s charger had also been removed from the cigarette lighter socket. We called the hotel we had stayed in last night, and the Sales Manager there met us in the car park where Tuah had been overnight. We discovered that Dad’s HD video camera, in its bag along with tapes of the footage we had been recording the last 2 months on the other video were also missing. Our recovery kit had been opened and tempered with, but it did not seem that anything was missing from it. As the car had not been broken into, we ruled out the items being stolen from Tuah in that car park, but that of the previous hotel we were in, down the road, as they required Tuah’s keys to be left with them. When we checked out of the hotel yesterday, we put all our stuff into the car and the car park attendants had the key and knew we were out with the taxi for a few hours, and were under the impression that we were leaving Dad had to go to the previous hotel with the police and after a few hours of questioning the attendants involved, one of them got marched off to the station. We still did not recover our stuff, though. Dad and Mum were really upset, especially about losing all the video recordings. Not much of a happy New Year for us. |
