A Walk Along the Nile (in photos of course!)

Hello Aswan!

It might be a while before any tourists visit Egypt.

That’s not a bad thing.

“What are you talking about Robyn?!”

Ok, look I am the last person to ask for violence. I wish that Egypt could have reformed without the violence that may have left dead and hundreds hurt.

But what we’re looking at, what we’re hearing about in Egypt is about people finally standing-up for their rights. They are standing-up to a government that did very little to actually treat them with any rights.

I can’t say I totally understand, but when I visited Egypt last year I did witness some of the poverty and the helplessness that people felt. People couldn’t do something as simple as marry because they didn’t have enough money.

More than that? Police routinely used citizens for fun. People were afraid of Police rather than witnessing them as there to help. Read this interesting article in The New York Times today.

The unrest in Egypt, however, will not and did not remain in Egypt. Nope. It spread to it’s neighbour Jordan (another one of my countries visited) and will have massive consequences for Israel (they had a peace deal with both Egypt and Jordan. Oops.)

So what I’m saying is it could be a while before I’m strolling along the Nile again. Or you for that matter. Which is too bad. For a country that has such a regal and curious past (pharaohs and mummification?), I hope a new leadership might emphasize these positives and bring a country together to respect its past and its future!

But while we might not be able to go there right now, I thought I would bring it to you: A Walk Along the Nile. From Abu Simbal (only miles from Sudan) to Cairo.

Lake Nassar, which was dammed and ensured the relocation of the tombs at Abu Simbal (sometimes you can see crocs here!)

The temple at Abu Simbel for Rameses II (he built a second one for his Queen Nefertari next door)

The gorgeous (!) Aswan Dam: Don't blink or you will miss this monstrosity that was built for hydroelectric power and also flooded the lands of Nubians causing 150,000 or so to have to be relocated to Aswan and further north.

Near Aswan is this unfinished Obelisk. Some poor man was just chipping away on this enormous object when it suddenly cracked. Can't imagine he was much liked at the water cooler that day.

The Nile cuts through Aswan creating stunning views and Elephantine Island

A window into life on Elephantine Island located in the Nile passage of the city of Aswan

Life is not always so pretty on Elephantine Island where many of the displaced Nubians have made their home.

Lost in the desert! I had to run along the sand dunes for the ferry, which turned into a lift with a man rowing home from work and his sons, so we could get the train north to Luxor!

A sunset in Luxor!

The long entrance to the Luxor Temple

A closer look at the Temple

One of the Sphinx statues that lines the 3 km stretch between the Luxor Temple and the Karnak temple along the Nile (or used to. The city is trying to recreate the connection between these two temples)

The entrance to the Karnak Temple (the largest ancient religious complex in the world)

Crossing the Nile in Luxor to visit the Valley of the Kings (i.e. where Tutankhamun was buried)

Washing his water buffalo on the other side of the Nile

A feluca ride down the Nile

Looking at Luxor from Banana Island

Making a Living on the Nile

Skipping through the Valley of the Kings

Time to head even further north to Cairo. This is the famous "Mirror" Cafe in Cairo's bazaar.

Cairo's extensive Museum (amazing place that you could and should spend hours sifting through). It's also right near the Tahrir Square where the protests are taking place.

And Finally:

These guys (the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx) run near the Nile and just as close to the city of Cairo....I just hope we can all visit again soon!

Wrestling the World

On Monday it’s someone who doesn’t like what you write. On Tuesday it’s the washing machine that won’t stop leaking. On Wednesday it’s a dryer that has no vent and Thursday… well let’s just move onto Friday.

Which is exactly what it is and for most that means the weekend is coming soon and so is a break. Well, not for me. I’ll be running around tables.

But now I’ve got the chance to show you a photo for Friday: Cholita wresting in Bolivia. La Paz to be exact. Have you ever seen women wrestling?

Ok besides a bar brawl! How about women with their hair braided, in full skirts and men dressed as skeletons? Yeah it’s like a pajama party with outfits. It’s the WWF with women.

Even better? Sitting miles above the highest capital in the world, this wrestling ring is surrounded by both locals and tourists throwing popcorn and heckling the wrestlers!

Apparently the cholita wrestling is a time-honoured tradition in town and it’s the place to be! So make sure you enjoy your Friday and find yourself in Bolivia….La Paz to be exact soon.

Friday Photo of the Day

Love in St. George's

And the photo today? This one comes from my trek down to St. George’s last week for their annual National Trust Open House Walkabout.

What’s that? Well all the old, old building are opened-up and we get to snoop! Even better they serve Gluvine and Egg Nog to keep you going!

With the lights running around the houses and the wine running through them it’s a perfect night to enjoy the beginning of the holidays.

That’s if you can get there….which is why this is my photo of the day!

We managed to get there. Two people on a 50 cc motorbike (i.e. what tourists get when they visit Bermuda) for the 30 minute drive to St. George’s is no mean feat.

But we did it. In an hour.

After warming-up and snooping it was time to return to Hamilton for some food. Ha. Ha. Ha.

The 50cc?! Well she managed to get us as far as half way to dinner and then…..well then she decided to quit. She popped her tire and left us hidden in the dark on the side of the road.

Poor little bike. She had to be left in the rain as we hopped into a taxi that eventually found us and delivered us to dinner.

St. George’s was still worth it and make sure you tune-in tomorrow! Robyn’s Wanderings has a new wanderer!

Today in London….

Fire fire everywhere!

Four hundred and five years ago a man walked into Parliament and tried to bring it down! To hell with the King….I suppose.

Who was this attempted terrorist? Why Guy Fawkes. Though this York-born man did not operate alone. Nope. This was a plot by Catholics who wanted to take-down King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne.

Who is Guy Fawkes? Good questions. Born on April 15, 1970 he lost his father when he was just eight-years-old. His mom went on to marry a staunch Catholic. No shocker then, when Fawkes later converted and moved to Spain to help fight in the 80 years’ war for Catholic Spain against the Protestant Dutch.

He also tried to rally support for a Catholic rebellion in England. He found a Thomas Wintour who did the introductions to Robert Catesby and they planned assassinate King James I.

With a spot rented beneath the House of Lords, they began to stockpile gunpowder and Fawkes was left in charge.

Someone ratted them out via anonymous letter and when the authorities searched Westminster Palace early on November 5 (i.e. today 405 years ago) they found Fawkes. The gunpowder. And save James’ life.

Questioned. Tortured. He broke his silence. On January 31 he jumped off the scaffolding he was going to be hanged with and broke his neck.

For some reason, now, England celebrates this. Yep. Fawkes represents the Gun Powder Plot and every year his effigy is burned on a bonfire.

Oh and there are fireworks! Well of course there are. No sense in just letting him burn in silence!

In true Bermudian fashion we will be joining the Brits in their burning! Well at least the fireworks that is. Aptly placed our fireworks will be around an old Fort here.

Fort St. Catherine! Where we used to watch-out for the Spanish almost 400 years ago. It’s a small world.

Sweet Swedes

 

Sweet Tooth

 

Fantastic. Sweden might stop selling their alcohol at 6 p.m. every day in specially assigned stores. They might not even sell alcohol on the weekends.

But when it comes to candy? They will get you drunk on sweets 24 hours a day, in every store you can find. I don’t even want to know what the dentists in this Scandinavian country are paid!

I just returned from visiting Stockholm and I couldn’t resist these candy cornucopia. Well for both Photo of the Day and, well, my sweet tooth!

I mean how do these Swedes stay so fit? Clearly they can’t be indulging in these candy trays? They must just be for the fat tourists.

Nope. Not at all. Every time I went in for a scoop so did someone named Sven with blonde hair (just kidding a Swede) dove in too.

I noticed something. They didn’t take much. I was ready to fill the bag to the brim with chocolate raisins and sweet strawberries……my Sven? A couple of pieces.

Ahhh moderation. That’s where we all left it. In Sweden! But have no fear! There is another way to keep your waistline in check and it has everything to do with the people you are with.

Yep a study recently showed that College kids (cause you know that freshman 15 sneaks on) who have chubby roommates are less likely to gain weight.

I’m not kidding. It was done by the University of Michigan and their explanation? The chubby roommate probably watches what they eat more closely. So how’d they get overweight? Want to read more. Check out the article here.

Happy Friday everyone!

Bring us your unhealthy!

 

Come one patient come all!

 

Where do we recruit patients? I mean don’t most health services only want you if you are sick? Am I wrong? I know there’s a lot of money in sick people (anyone read the papers lately). But recruiting?

I did a double-take. I was wandering through Dover (you know the town with white cliffs and a castle?) as I continue to find cheap trips from London. But this sign didn’t quite register at first.

NHS. National Health Service for those who live in England (and for those who don’t know what NHS is). We recruit for jobs. We recruit for businesses. Now NHS is recruiting for patients?

Or is it NHS’ patients are recruiting? Then we would have a problem with the apostrophe rather than the health services.

I can’t believe that is the case.

So NHS is looking for patients? Everywhere else in the world we’re trying to cut-down on patients. Everywhere else in the world the health systems are struggling to keep-up with the demand.

Apparently Dover wants you to come to them. They will take your sick. They will take your patients! So how do you sign-up? Unfortunately the office was closed (it was a Sunday) so I couldn’t ask.

But I could take a pic. I could share it with you. And I could find one place in the world that apparently being sick is something to be recruited for!

A hurricane in London….England?

 

A Hurricane in England?

 

I didn’t believe it either. Nope. I scoffed at my friend’s boyfriend a couple of weeks ago when he raised the subject.

We were discussing the impending Hurricane Igor attack on Bermuda. I was pretty sure the Brit had no idea what a hurricane was about. He claimed to have suffered one in England!

Ha. Right. Sure…. You sure it wasn’t just some strong winds?

Ok now I’m eating my words. Why? I’m wandering around London looking for cheap trips from this capital city. One of them had to be to Hampstead Heath – an area where writers such as John Keats and Louis Stevenson haunted. Maybe they would inspire me?

As I wandered through the Heath here, yesterday I noticed a sign. It sat innocently enough near the path, but it destroyed any of my belief in these storms.

It claimed to represent all the trees that had been wiped-out in the hurricane on 1987 (you can try and read it yourself in my poor attempt at photography above!)

Ugh. Aghhhhh he was right! Now I’m going to have to concede. Who knew? Well I had no idea which is why I made this photo my photo of the week. A little Bermuda (hurricanes) with a little of London (Hampstead Heath).

On another note….I have now found my favourite place in London. This Heath is truly…..calming. Nah you can’t block-out the city sounds completely but the green of Parliament hill where people fly kites, read or sleep is definitely a start! With lakes and massive mansions there is a little of everything here and I loved it. What an escape.

Perhaps too much of one, however. I spent so much time in the Heath I didn’t have time to see anything else. So it’s back to Hampstead today to discover the historic figures it hides. No wonder so many literary figures haunted these hills!

What is this?

Moon over London

Through my blurred eyes, I stumbled. I seemed to be stumbling a lot. Was it the shoes? My sad little white sneakers that had made it through London, Sweden and Berlin?

I don’t think so. They hadn’t been causing problems before. Could it be my arch nemesis – WHEAT?! Don’t think so. I had been very careful and not eaten anything out of the ordinary. In fact I had found a grocery store filled to the brim with gluten-free food and I had stuffed my face with them.

It wasn’t the side-walk. I was wandering along the groomed streets of London. And noooo. No it wasn’t to do with too much beer, wine or any other spirits. Unfortunately no.

What was it? What was this blurred image?

I was wandering through London. I was wandering through London FOUR hours LATER than I was supposed to be. I was sadly watching the young students stumble over each other and after each other as they propelled themselves from the clubs.

I couldn’t watch their antics any longer. I looked up.

It was my blurred image. It was my small sliver of a moon trying to peak into what these plastered freshers were doing. So I decided to try some night photography. Anything to keep me standing straight at 2.30 a.m. as I waited for my London, night-bus.

But why, you ask, was I standing on the streets of London at 2.30 a.m. sober? Good question.

Well the answer to that would have to be deferred to the likes of EasyJet.

Yes this budget, low-cost, cheap (whatever you want to call it) airline had been my choice for my latest adventure – Berlin, Germany – and was a bad choice at best (and remember to check on Monday’s Rock Fever Column in The Royal Gazette and here for tips on how to travel these budget airlines).

Last I left you here on my blog I was in Sweden. Berlin was my next stop and it was supposed to be easy. And I don’t mean because of the name of the airline. No, what I mean is that my flight from London to Berlin was late in the day which meant no early risings.

Too bad my flight that was supposed to leave at 7.50 p.m. didn’t leave until 11. That led to a late-night Berlin commute.

Just to even things out Easy Jet decided to offer me a late-night London wandering too. From Luton (i.e. an hour and a half from London centre). My flight was supposed to arrive at 11. It arrived at 12.30 a.m.

I couldn’t get out of bed this morning. I couldn’t move. I’m exhausted. It’s been a lot of flying hours and not enough lying-in hours.

Hence the lateness of this blog. I think it might be time. It might be time to find a trip closer to London (remember I’m based here for a month trying to find cheap trips from this capital city).

Where should I visit? Got some ideas? Suggestions? I am happy to hear them!

Travel with Perspective

“You know what I’ve noticed….people in London are not very friendly. I mean I swore before they used to at least say hello.”

“Robyn no. If they say hello run the other way. If they say hello there’s a good chance you’ll end-up in their freezer.”

But I like to say hello. I like to be friendly and joke about the weather or the fact that I had to be up at 3 a.m. for my cab to the bus to the airport (yep the cheapest way to an airport). Maybe it’s the Bermudian in me. I’m going to be friendly despite myself.

And yet as I struggle to leave the Bermudian in me I am actually trying to escape Bermuda.

It’s not a myth. Love em and leave em. It’s the only way to stay sane. Swizzle in and Swaggle out. I’ve got Rock Fever. I’ve got island fever. I need to escape!

How many sayings do Bermudians have to escape our lovely little island. And it is lovely. Don’t get me wrong I love Bermuda. I can’t imagine living anywhere else (and I’ve tried).

But it’s small.

After a while things that should not matter start to matter too much. People who should not matter to you – do. Comments about your work start to build-up and bury you under scepticism.

So I boarded my plane. I was still surrounded by people I knew. Ok maybe not to invite to a party, but to say hello to on the street. Touchdown London.

Breathe you're in London

I escaped. Breathe. And I could. I could sit in a Starbucks and I didn’t know a single person. I could concentrate on the work I needed to do.

But escaping Bermuda, for me, is not just about being able to blend into a crowd. It’s comforting. It’s comforting to see a new world (even if I’ve been to London before).

It’s comforting to find people living their lives in lots of different ways. It’s comforting to find a 20 pound flight to Sweden and being able to visit a friend.

But that’s what traveling is truly about, isn’t it? Remembering that where you are from (i.e. Bermuda but it applies to everyone) is not the only world out there. It’s remembering that people are watching the world in a different way. They don’t all believe that they live and die by your words.

It calms. It calms me to know that there is a bigger universe out there that does not revolve around Bermuda. It puts my home in perspective. It makes problems at home, while important, not seem so overwhelmingly bad.

It’s refreshing. And it’s time to visit Stockholm…the first stop on my cheap European trip. I swear I will find cheap visits.

Today is a holiday. Why are we talking about burning a book?

Praying in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Friday Photo of the Day? It is prayer at a Mosque in Kuala Lumpur to mark Eid ul-Fitr, which according to the Coordination Committee of Major Mosques and Islamic Centres is today. Don’t know what that means? It means the end of the month of Ramadan (a holy month where Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sex from sunrise to sunset every day). It means gathering with family and enjoying a meal. It means greeting each other with the likes of “Eid Mubarak” or “Eid Saeed.”

Last year I was on the Pehrentian Islands in Malaysia for the conclusion of Ramadan. It was difficult as the restaurants closed and the islanders departed for the mainland to celebrate with their families. My dinner was reduced to M&M’s and a Mars Bar.

But who could complain? It was, as I could understand it, the Muslim equivalent to Christian’s Christmas. If it were my Christmas I would be with my family.

Which makes it that much harder (or maybe not) to understand the actions of a Floridian Pastor Terry Jones.

He plans to burn the Quran. Why? To mark the 9th anniversary of 9/11 and protest the building of a mosque (which is not a mosque, but actually an islamic centre) near the 9/11 site.

Yesterday he backed-away from these plans. He said the imam promised to build the centre elsewhere. But then plans changed.

Later that night (i.e. last night) Jones said he had been given false information and the centre would not be moved. He would only put the burning “on hold” according to Politics Daily.

Are you following? Yawn….who cares. No one should. Not a single news agency should have written about Terry Jones in ernest. There is no logic in his words.

Being Muslim, reading the Quran and praying in a Mosque is not the same as flying planes into a building. Just like being Christian, reading the bible and praying in a Church is not the same as hating Muslims.

And more importantly?

It seems in this entire Terry Jones scheme of things and with the American focus on their own holidays or remembrances no one has recognized the Muslim holiday – Eid.

This is a really important time, if not the most important time, of year for their families. Why are the press letting a Floridian Pastor with a book-burning passion mar this important time?

Maybe they should all travel. Maybe they should be in Malaysia to understand that people are people whether they are Muslim, Christian or Hindu. They want to be respected. They want to celebrate with their families and they want to enjoy a good meal.

“Eid Mubarak”