Overnight train
Our train was delayed by 2.5hours and the people who were perhaps most stressed was the tour guide. But he looked like he expected something like this to happen. Suprisingly, alot of us were impatient except for me since I'm in holiday mode and you can tell that I really trust Zizo ;).

Oh and there are 28 of us in total, made out of mainly kiwis and Aussies, Chinese and Swedish. The train journey took a total of 15 hours...

The train ride was one of the rides that taught me alot about hardship. We were on 1st class but we saw a train dedicated to the soldiers and this had a huge impact on me. If you place yourself in india where people board the train through the windows, that is what the train was like. Sleeping was okay as our chair can recline but it got really cold in the middle of the night so much so that I was freezing in my thermals. Note to myself coming back: bring out the sleeping bag.

We were shouted a complimentary lunch by Zizo (very thoughtful of him) as we had to head off to our next spot without being able to check into the hotel. No complaints, since it's egyptian food.


Philae Temple
Off to our first temple! This one is called The Philae Temple and we had to take a boat as this temple is on an island. This temple is dedicated to the God of Love, Isis. You can read more on the story here about how the Egypt Gods were created but here is my simplified version (you can skip this part too if you can't be bothered with the story): A long time ago Isis was married to the King of Lower and Upper Egypt, Osiris. But as you know there is his jealous brother who wants to steal the throne, Seth.So he came up with an evil plan of making a tomb and getting people to try and fit (person who fits wins the price). So as soon as Osiris climbs in, they sealed it and threw it away to a place nobody knows. 


Isis, was of course saddened and she turned into a bird to look for Osiris's body. She also got help from her sis (God of Magic) Nephthys.They found his body under a tree and she used his soul to bear a child called Horus (Depicts a falcon) to revenge for his father.

Anyhoo, after that lovely story, Zizo taught us a few things about similarities in temples. There were a couple of things to spot at the temple, one being very obvious that is a picture of a warrior with his left foot stepped forward holding a weapon with his right arm in front of the God / Queen / King the temple is dedicated to.


Papyrus Institute
After that trip, we headed of to the Papyrus institute to check out the original Papyrus. Another interesting tip to pick in terms of differentiating what's real and not and not to get ripped off too. Apparently the papyrus won't tear if you bend it. Check out the video clip

Aswan, Egypt - Day 3 Papyrus Institute from Gjin Ow on Vimeo.


Me and D bought one where they wrote our names in egyptian and there is a picture in the middle (2 gods showering Horus with Wisdom and Knowledge). Our first Egypt souvenier, cheh wah.

Nubian Village
We finally checked into our next so call 5-star hotel called the Sunset Hotel and was greated by hibiscus drink (yum). Showered quickly and headed out for dinner at an Egyptian-African house. These people are called Nubians and we had to take a boat to see them.


Our boat ride home was more lively as the Nubians took out their drums and started to sing, and before you know it they drag us to our feet to start dancing in circles! The only thing I can remember is 'Yipee yipee yai yo' and Zizo doing the egyptian dance! Was hilarious.

As usual, here are the photos and videos =)

After our lovely buffet breakfast, we headed out to our first pyramid which is the pyramid of Saqqara, first ever built in Egypt. It was build by an 'engineer' called ImHoTep for King Joseph. Apparently, this pyramid has 6 uneven steps because it wasn't intentionally build that high. Took 20 years.


Our next Pyramid, is the Great Pyramid of Giza, which consist of 2.3million stones, so much so that these stones can surround France at 3m high and 1m wide.


We then went to check out the Sphinx that actually guarded the Great Pyramid of Giza, called God of Fear and took a fun Camel ride down from the panoramic area.


Had pizza hut for lunch hehe. As you can tell, fast food is perhaps the cleanest food available. We were advised not to even brush our teeth with tap water...you could imagine how much I was missing my salad and fruits through this whole trip...


Our final stop was the perfumerie factory where they sold oil scented flowers. Served with a drink of our choice, the owner told the story that a long time ago, egyptologist found a tomb consisting of 4 large vases and a papyrus paper intact. These vases contained lily flowers soaked in oil.


He then further explained how the process of making scented oil based on the papyrus in which one does not need to use alot but a mere drop around the neck to last for the whole day. First you pluck the petal, then you squash it with a wooden machine til the oil comes out. After that, it gets kept for 70 days.

This is so much stronger than the perfumes you buy and also they export it overseas to expensive brands in which is mixed in alcohol to 'water' down the smell. So we are pretty much in a place where the 'raw' materials are produced.

We then head back for a shower before heading out to catch our overnight train. Apparently trains were not frequent and ours was delayed by 2.5 hours! Weather got cold really quickly as it was a high of about 27deg and low of 9deg.


Gosh, the night in the train was an experience. Especially when it comes to going to the toilet, where I felt literally like I was in a garbage truck. Bring on the sanitizerrrr...


Click here for the whole picture album and videos too

Hello hello and yes I'm back and in for a week's worth of updating on the trip. It was superbly a magical, eye opening event with extremes coming from all angles. Absolutely love it and I do highly recommend Zizo and Travel Talk tours altogether if you want to head to Egypt.

Let's start back from Day 1 (28/11-29/11):

We had to wake up early to catch the 9am flight at Heathrow. Checking in online was worthwhile as we manage to get the front seats. All we needed was our boarding pass which we collected at the machine near the luggage counter and check in our bags. As we board the plane, we both were amazed at how much space we got and food and entertainment was also provided during our flight.


As we arrived Cairo at about 4pm, we were greeted by a guy who was holding the Travel talk signboard and a really funky luggage machine where it spits out luggages from 2 sides. It also had some sensors to only shoot the bags when the conveyor is free. Quite cool. We then got on to the van to our hotel. First hotel: Cataract. We were briefed at 6pm from our tour leader, Zizo and I'm starting to like him from the beginning. He spoke fluent english and knew how to break the ice from the start. Well, we all had to introduce ourselves and which country we were from. Heh. It was then off to dinner before we head straight to our room for an early start. Can't complain when you get a buffet breakfast!



Click here to view pictures of Day 1

It was one of those weekends where you just don't want to go outside.

Wind blowing up at about the miles per hour in which you get blown off if you open up your umbrella, in fact even if you didn't open your umbrella up, you get blown away...

Rain pouring in and out, puddles, damp, cold. At times like this I am usually at home either on my laptop or in the kitchen coming up with some special recipe infused or making something from the internet.

But my childhood friend aka next door neighbour was here and was in London over the weekend. I took the opportunity to bring her out to my favourite markets.

So this was the attempted itenary or the previous itenary seeing that the weekend has passed already:

Went to try out spanish tapas food at La Tasca. Yuuuummm, we then headed out to capture a few nice night photo around Westminister area (where Big Ben is). First time I actually was up close to the London Eye. Took really cool pics. Check this one out ;)


Slept in (yahoo!) and didn't wake up till lunch time. When I peaked out of the window, it was pouring and the wind was blowing like craaaazzieee so we took our sweet time leaving. We headed out to the tube, only to find that the station we want to get off was closed! So we had to stop one stop before (where we started heading to the retail shops and had coffee at Starbucks). We only had like half an hour before we arrived and saw Portobello market lol. But yea, it was all good since the shops CY liked didn't close till later.

We went back to the restaurant to grab our forgotten umbrella, only to take a line which didn't pass through Kings Cross! So we had to bus back. We were home early as I needed and early start the next day.

Went to Liverpool Street station, whereby I showed CY 3 different markets in that area. Had my yummy Rainforest Roti Wrap and finally bought this dress I have been eyeing for since last year but didn't bother to buy it because it was £45! That designer was vietnamese though although his clothes looked Japanese to me. I sort of baked some banana cake and sold it at a friend's stall.

Sent CY off in the afternoon, came home and clean the place up before I headed back to the market again to see how things are. Manage to get nice deals at the food stalls towards the end of the day hehe. But gosh, I spent quite abit over the weekend and it has been awhile.

Tonight (Tuesday) am heading to watch a show called Dirty Dancing with my galfriends :). Will write about it next!

Short and sweet re-cap:

• Came straight home, iced my cupcakes went out to Zebrano. Took nice Xmas photos of Carnaby Street. Different one from last year :)

• Went to have supper at our good ole 1997 and came home at 4.30am

• Only woke up in the afternoon, played badminton till 5pm
• Had lasagna before heading out for an engagement party somewhere in Portobello area
• Came home, started writing up my blog entry

• Slept for 10 hours =)
• Walked all the way to Camden to check out a Warehouse looking shop and got carried away in shopping. Bought myself a pair of flats for 75% off (not gona tell you the price :P)
• Headed back for grocery shopping but I bought another dress on the way haha
• Pop by one of the bakery stores that was selling off their sweets and sandwhiches for cheap. Got myself a nice fruit tart (YUM) for 50p and shared it with D.
  
• Came home and we had yummy tortelleni pasta for dinner.
  

Nope, no costume party or nothing. It's not that I didn't want to get involved but dressing up in funny costumes in the cold weather ain't my cup of tea. Yes, I really dislike dressing up against the cold weather. Perhaps I need a new wadrobe (HINT). But hey, all I need is just to snuggle up in bed reading or writing or watching with a cup of tea or hot chocolate by my side. Peaceful. Or maybe I'm growing 'old' lol.

Anyway, weekend was packed with FOOD again. Haha, can't run away from it and it sticks by my side when the cold and dark weather kicks in. There was a last minute gathering occasion and so I took the opportunity to make something again and I made Kuih Serimuka for the first time as well as to get rid of the pandan leaves that is taking up alotta space in the freezer. I too decided to practice on my 'photography' skillz.

Apparently food photos are the hardest of them all so if you master this, you can master anything. Cheh wah. Here's my 'attempt'. I briefly read on some tips online and see how it worked. More info here on my experiences making this Kuih.


Was also focusing alot on my cupcakes for Monday. My first batch sunk, which made my hard sunk 10x more. Sigh, it tasted good regardless so I'm gald I didn't have to throw it away. So I decided to try them again. I know, more you make mistakes, more you learn. But I did feel like I went round in circles by not following instructions but then again, it does clarify things much more just like life. Can't be too perfect, have to try something you don't want to in order to know what you want to do in life. Heh.

Anyway, Friday night was serimuka, sat day was cupcakes and Saturday evening was gathering at friend's place. Ate lotsa KFC and carrot cupcakes made by a friend and played Wii. Coming home was quite scary as I was surrounded by people all dressed up in costumes. Feels really eerie as everyone is hiding their identity that night, brings a good chance for someone to take the advantage and do something evil. Either that, I am getting paranoid these days of watching too much tv and movies.

Sunday was cupcakes again and headed out to dinner at the York & Albany (one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurant) with my group of girlfriends. Thoroughly enjoyed the experience even walk to the restaurant as it was a whole different atmosphere altogether as you get off the touristy streets.I bumped into an organic shop where they sold proper organic fruits and veges. The apples were 3 times larger than normal and the chocolate bars were way cheaper than anywhere else I found. Apparently celebreties hang out in this area too since it's very close to Regent's Park (one of the largest in London town).