Springing with Life

Its officially spring. And it has been very hot, unusual to have temperature reaching 29 deg C. Again like all other months recently, this has been the hottest April ever on record.

Flowers are really blooming. Holland's countryside is at its most colourful with tulips laid like giant carpets. The best way to appreciate this is to go to Keukenhof between The Hague and Amsterdam. With 64 acres, it is the world's largest flower garden and has been held for 50 years. Keukenhof is open from the last week of March to mid-May accomodating 700,000 visitors. We spent 3-hours there and that was enough.

The idea for the flower garden was mooted to have a flower exhibit where growers could show off their hybrids which will help Netherlands as it is the world's largest exporter of flowers.

Nile Cruise

Our last night was spent on a 2-hours river cruise on the Nile where we had dinner and some entertainments. First one was an Egyptian belly dance!!! This dancing uses movements in every muscle of the body integrated with the music’s rhythm. The dancer’s goal is to visually communicate to the audience with the emotion and rhythm of the music.

The next one was more of a hypnotic dance, like a Turkish tribal dance where the male dancer keep spinning himself for tens of minutes without getting dizzy at all. At the same time performing all sort of things and making jokes.

The Courtyard

Typical of a Turkish mosque, there is a large courtyard in the Muhammad Ali Mosque measuring 50 by 50 metres with a freestanding building in the centre. This building contains ablution fountains and facilities for washing before entering the mosque. The courtyard is enclosed by covered galleries. We were reminded by our tour guide of a brass clock which was presented by King Louis Philippe of France in 1845. The clock was reciprocated with the obelisk of Luxor now standing in Place de la Concorde in Paris.

The mosque itself was constructed in a square plan. The main floor material used is alabaster or marble – hence it is often referred as The Alabaster Mosque. Muhammad Ali tomb is located inside the mosque.

The City of a Thousand Minarets

Cairo is said to contain more than 2000 mosques. The best way to appreciate this is to go out at night to see the city skyline lighted up with thousands of minarets. The grandeous and often used for showcase to visiting dignitaries is the Mosque of Mohammed Ali. Design along Turkish lines, it took 18 years to build starting in 1830.

Mohammed Ali, a lieutenant in the Ottoman Empire took Egypt after a brief French rule of Egypt. He intrigued his way to become governor of Egypt as part of Turkish rule but in reality he was the ruler without any challenge from the Sultan in Istanbul. He was famous for killing 500 Mamluks or the local Egyptian leaders after giving a lavish party. It is ironic such a man of barbaric proportion is remembered by the Mosque he built. He was said to keep his horses in a disused Mamluk Mosque nearby.

From Amman to Cairo

We flew from Amman to Cairo on Royal Jordanian Airline. Our last hotel was Soffitel La Sphinx located very close to the Pyramids (see the photo to be convinced). This was our 7th hotel during the trip. Hotel grading in Egypt is meaningless. In Cairo don't ever check-in into any 4-star hotel or lower.

1) Cairo - Hotel Maadi, supposed to be 4-star but looked like 2-star.
2) Aswan - Hotel Isis, nice hotel on the river bank.
3) Luxor - Le Merridien Hotel, excellent, voted as the 6th best hotel in whole Africa
4) Nuweiba - Nuweiba Village Resort, nice and a typical beach hotel.
5) Petra - Grand View Hotel, nice but seems to be overwhelmed coping with full house.
6) Petra - Petra Panaromic Hotel, excellent and good view.
7) Cairo - Soffitel La Sphinx - a typical Soffitel chain - always excellent.

The Bedouin Way

Never realized till now that there are still Bedouins roaming around living in their traditional way in Jordan. These are the Nomadic Arabs, deeply proud of themselves. They live in tents scattered across the highlands, their flock of sheeps grazing like time has never moved. Camels, traditionally associated as Bedouin's best friend, are now often replaced by a Landrover or Toyota 4WD.

We went to a Bedouin camp to try their food - buffet style. The Bedouin oven couldn't be simpler. Simply dig a hole in the sand and burn enough firewood to make glowing coals. Seal the oven containing the meat, cover it with sand and cook for an hour or two. Yummy!

Floating on the Dead Sea

Been-there-done-that experience.

This hyper-saline water provided bouyancy that you simply float on it. It was weird, something that is hard to understand. You can hear squels of surprises from people visiting the place for the first time. We were!

I always struggle to float but here I could sleep or even read book while floating without fearing of getting drown. The kids and me floated on the water but only for a short while as the salty water starts to make our bodies itchy and uncomfortable. We needed a good shower and scrubbing to remove the coat of salts on our body.

Pampering at the Dead Sea Spa

Most people come to the Dead Sea to pamper themselves in a seashore spa. We went to the well known Dead Sea Spa which has more focus on medical treatment, with an in-house dermatologist. We had mud application which cost US$30 per person.

The mud is black in colour and contains various minerals at high concentration levels like calcium, magnesium, iodine, bromine which are good for allergies, improve skin and so on. The black mud used in the spa extracted from the Dead Sea was applied hot to the skin. After the whole body is applied, you are then wrapped up in plastic and covered fully with blanket. The whole body felt very hot and seems like the skins are reacting to some sort of drastic acid reaction. It felt like ages even though it was only for 25 minutes. A good shower to clear up the mud was a much needed relief.

The Promised Land from atop Mount Nebo

It took us 3 hours to reach the Dead Sea from Petra. On the way, we stopped at Madaba and Mount Nebo, holy sites for Christian pilgrimage. Mount Nebo is a mountain in Western Jordan where the Dead Sea and the West Bank can be seen on a clear day.

Mount Nebo is where the Prophet Musa according to Christian's bible was given a view of the promised land that God was giving to the Hebrews. Pope John Paul II visited the site during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The land is amazingly fertile and green. Up the mountain it was quite cool and breezy with thick clouds clambering not too far above.

Petra Panorama Hotel

This beautiful hotel is built at the top of the mountain which surround the northern side of the valley of Wadi Musa where Petra Rose-red city is located. The lobby is located at top floor followed by 11 storeys of hotel rooms going down the cliff. So it was quite awkward when using the lift -going down from the lobby rather than going up!

The hotel location offers wonderful view of the mountains where on a clear day one could see a white building on top of one of the mountain. This is mountain of Nabi Harun or Jebel Harun in Arabic. On the summit is a white shrine said to cover the grave of Nabi Harun.

Wadi Rum Panorama

Wadi Rum is now one of Jordan's important tourist destinations. This isolated area offers lots of activities such as camel trekking, rock climbing amongst the massive rock formations, 4WD scrambling, camping and so on. You can spend a few hours or afew days.

This shot was taken at the back of our 4WD. The weather was cool but later on we were hit by a mild sand storm. We also enjoyed a Bedouin-style lunch.

Dune Bashing in Wadi Rum

Jordan's far south belongs to the desert and Bedouin. Wadi Rum is where the desert opening up an enchanting moon-like landscapes like those in the Starwars movies. It was made famous by the Lawrence of Arabia film. Many of the spectacular scenery are reachable only by 4WD.

We went on a dune bashing, also known as desert safari, using 4WD to explore sand dunes. This was the most memorable part of the whole trip for the children. We looked for the steepest dune and raced up and down on it on the 4WD. Dangerous but really exhillarating. We spent a total of 2-hours doing excursion across the vast Wadi.

Petra Rose-red City

If you only go to one place in Jordan, make it Petra located at Wadi Musa half way to the South of Jordan. It took us 3 hours to reach from the port town of Aqaba. Petra means rock in Greek, home to 20 thousands Nabataean, a nomadic tribe, whose dwellings, temples and tombs were chiselled and bored out of rock face.

This city existed as early as 100 B.C. and was ran over by Roman and Muslim invaders before being abandoned completely. The main attraction (photo) called the treasury is tucked away in a confined space and only come on sight after navigating through a narrow and winding canyon. The view is awesome, something that we always see only on photos and books.

By the beach at Nuweiba Village

A much needed rest after the long journey from Luxor. This location is not as charming and busy as the famous Sharm El-Sheik to the south but has a direct ferry connection to Aqaba in Jordan. Located at the Northwestern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, this body of water does not seem as big as on the map. The Gulf of Aqaba and Gulf of Suez to the west form like two fingers sticking out from the Red Sea.

There are lots of new hotels and resorts being constructed. The water is gentle here, one can see the land of Saudi and Jordan across the water. We spent the night here and met some locals selling all sort of beautifully handcrafted necklaces and traditional jewelleries.

Crossing the Sinai

Definitely the lowlight of the trip was crossing the Sinai Peninsular from Cairo on the way to Jordan. After an 11-hours train ride from Luxor, we were transferred on to a bus ride which took us another 9 hours before reaching Nuweiba Village on the coast of Gulf of Aqaba.

The bus journey took us through the Suez Canal and passing thorough the deserted plain of historic Sinai. There's hardly anyone living here, Sinai was captured by Israel in 1973 war and was only handed back in 1982. There are still a lot of security check points along the way where security personnel repeatedly board the bus to check on passengers. This photo was taken midway in Sinai in our only stop!

Karnak Temple

This is located within Luxor town itself - a few minutes drive from the hotel. The complex is the most important place of worship in ancient Egypt and measures a total of 1.2 sq km in area.

The biggest temple is the Temple of Amon-Ra, reflecting ancient Egypt belief in the Solar devine. The entrance is a made up of a majestic avenue of ram-headed sphinxes. Inside the main hall are rows of decorated large pillars, 134 in total! There are a few obelisks or solid single pillars inside the temple. The obelisks are single cut granite piece up to 40 m tall and weigh up to 1000 tons.

Temple of Hatshepsut

This is one of the most famous structure associated with Egypt but for the wrong reason. It was the site of the 1997 terrorist attack where up to 60 people were killed. The after effect was drastic as Egypt's tourism industry collapsed totally and took years to recover.

The Temple is partly rock-cut and partly free-standing structure is one of the finest monument of ancient Egypt. Its very difficult to imagine that this monumental and beautiful structure was built thousands of years ago (1515 B.C.) for Queen Hatshepsut. This was the period of great Egyptian empire over entire known world.

Valley of the Kings

Next stop was Luxor. There are so many things to see here - the area often described as the world's largest open-air museum. Unfortunately the two days have been very hot so we could not stand too long under the sun.

The Valley of the Kings is a place of death - a final resting place for ancient Egyptian royalty. The tombs are cut tunnel-fashion into the cliffs that border the valley. Inside the simple rock-cut tombs consist of a single chamber. We went into two of the tombs - Ramses VII and Ramses IV. The photo shows the decorated burial chamber inside the tomb of Ramses IV. Many of the paintings however has deteriorated because of the humidity brought by countless visitors into the Tomb.

Longest Train Ride

It took us 13 hours by train to reach Aswan from Cairo covering a distance of just over 900km. Aswan is the southernmost city in Egypt and where the great Aswan dam is located. It is magically beautiful here.

The old Aswan dam was completed by the British in 1902. The High dam was later built with the help of Russians and completed in 1971. It doubles Egypt's power supply and increases cultivable land by 30%. It also created an artificial lake the size of Brunei.

Amongst the things to do here is going on a ride on felucca or traditional canvas-sailed boat. The river is at its most picturesque in Aswan as you see the Nile flows around palm studded islands and high desert sands in the background.

Alexandria in 332 B.C.

Cairo is very dusty and crowded. Its a city of some 15 millions. Not a place to stay even for a few days. The second day we went to Alexandria, a 3-hours drive to the North towards the coast of the Mideterranean. Founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C., the city is a much needed respite for Cairo inhabitants for fresh air and easier life.

This photo is of Fort Qaitbey built by Mamluk Sultan Qaitbey in 1480. Its a huge structure located at strategic location to defend Alexandria from enemies coming from the sea. The other great thing to see in Alexandria is the Momtazah Palace and Gardens built by one of the last Egyptian Khedive or Turkish King in the 1910's for a summer retreat from hot Cairo. Khedive started when Egypt was under the Ottoman Empire under the command of Muhammad Ali in 1800's. He declared himself ruler of Egypt, taking the title Khedive.

At the foot of the Pyramids

Just came back from 12 days of a whirlwind tour of Egypt and Jordan. First stop was the Pyramid complex at Giza - one of the Ancient Seven Wonders of the World.

The Pyramids are very big and very old. This extraordinary funerary complex is nearly 5,000 years old built by the Egyptian Pharoahs! The biggest one is made up of 2.5 millions stone blocks each weighing at least 2 tons. A layer of granite blocks used to provide the outer casing but these have been taken away leaving the stone blocks being slowly damaged by the desert wind. We didn't dare to go inside but most of the treasures are now kept in the Egyptian Museum - that was the itenary for the afternoon.

Cloggies

Something that you can’t resist to buy as a tourist, the Dutch clogs are available in many shops here. They are associated with the Netherlands as part of the touristic Holland image, where they are seen as a form of national dress. Because of this, Dutch people are sometimes called cloggies or clog-wearers.

In Dutch, clogs are known as klompen and traditional clogs were made out of wood. But nowadays they are hardly worn except probably for few oldies in some villagers.

Holy Smoke!

Walking along Amsterdam's Klaverstraat, we ended up at a canal which got rows of nicely decorated stalls on its bank selling souveniers and flower bulbs. Amongst the items on sale is this one shown in the photo. Its canabis seeds complete with instruction on how to plant it. I wonder what happen if you buy it and being caught by the custom back home?

Cannabis, hashish and marijuana are considered as soft drugs here in Netherlands. Here one could find many "Coffee shops" in Amsterdam selling soft drugs openly.

The main aims is to separate the markets from hard drugs so that soft drug users are less likely to come into contact with hard drugs. This policy also aims to take the soft drug market out of the hands of the criminals, thus reducing crime.

Visit to Delft Factory

There is nice small porcelain factory worth visiting in Delft. This one gives you a short tour in the factory.

First porcelains are made in casts where hot white clay specially imported from Britain and Germany is poured into shaped casts made of porous material. Within 30 minutes, a thin layer gets hardened against the cast as air in the clay escapes through the porous cast material. Excess clay is then poured out. The rest is left to further hardened for 3 more hours.

The next stage is putting them in a small electric kiln or oven for 32 hours. The finished porcelain products are white in colour and looked polished.

The human work then takes over. Motifs are hand drawn, these take up to 3 hours depending on the size and design intricacies. The ink used contains materials that turn the black ink into the famous Delft blue after heating the porcelain for the last time.

This factory is the only two authentic factory left that still labour through this painstaking process.