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18 augustus All ChangeI've finally finished sixth form college. I've got my results - a brilliant A in history and a near miss B in Classics [near miss off an A =(] and a steady B in English, despite my fears that my coursework and Milton paper would drag me down. My crap teacher gets to teach another year. ¬¬ I've had mixed emotions. I wasn't too nervous about my results - well English I was, but I was pretty confident with History. I never thought I'd get full marks in 2 papers though. That was a shock. For which I got £10. Yay. Kinda an anti climax since I got money for each individual grade for GCSE back in the days when I didn't need any money.... Oh well. Logic doesn't work with economic crises. Right? Now I'm just finishing off all the loose ends at home. I've just to open a new building society account so I can easily transfer money in and out of it, sort out how I'm fitting my stuff into the car and when I've got to go. I'm pretty much sorted, which seems rather scary. I'm going to Lancaster - which I'm pleased about, since it's my first choice. Lanky One pulled through as well - I told him he would - and is going to bloody Bournemouth. =P That's a bit of a long way away. Which leads to stress on my part. We can work it for a while, I'm sure, but I don't want to drag it out to a sticky ending. We've promised to stay friends whatever happens though. Yay. ^_^ Had a weird day yesterday. Tears all morning, then on facebook an old friend - he went to primary and secondary school with me till he moved away - started talking to me, and now somehow, he's coming to mine on Wednesday. Just a bit whirlwind-like, but it can't hurt. Actually. Yes. It DOES hurt. Cause even though I had a massive tidy up before Egypt, I've got to tidy up again. >.< It's not as bad as it was - I just need to put away some papers in appropriate places [official stuffs mostly >>] and put away my dvds and clothes. Woot! 08 augustus Egyptian AdventureJust got back from my holidays, and like the sad sad person I am, I actually documented each day I was away and what we did. WOW. Woot. E.G.Y.P.T 2008 27th July Lanky One dropped round to say goodbye, cause he used lame excuses to get out of seeing me yesterday, despite my insistence that we wouldn't ask him over if we weren't finished packing. =P We left at 11 and got to Heathrow about 30minutes late, because loads of these stupid foreign passengers of the National Express had to buy their tickets at Stansted. Terminal 5 was underwhelimg - initially reminds you of Stansted, but less crowded. Also like a huge shopping mall - even had a Harrods. I was not impressed. Who goes to an airport and spends £500 on a diamond necklace for christ's sake? The useful shops were lacking - Boots had a VERY limited selection of food, but did, I noticed, sell both Relentless and Rockstar. ....... Going to land soon - hope I have everything o_O Didn't sleep because I was too busy watching Cloverfield [WAY better on the cinema screen] and Son of Rambo, which was an odd but touching film. I can' t believe I cried at Cloverfield though >> I tried to watch Friends - the episode where Monica and Chandler are in the bath at the beginning. I've never seen it all the way through and the damn pilot announcements kept skipping the whole thing forward so I had to keep starting again to fast forward. >.< Miss the Lanky One already dammit ._. The flight took off 1hr 15mins late which was annoying. They made up for this with a touch screen t.v which was useful since the person next to me - a not so small woman - was leaning on my arm rest which had the controls. 28th July Arrived at about 3am (1am SBT) and were met by "Mido" or Mohammed and he was nice - he gave us a bouquet of roses each and declared us [my gran and I] were sisters. He also kept going on about how he'll sleep with his clipboard tonight, because I had to hold it for him for a while. Ah to be blond. The Four Seasons is HUGE. Bigger than in Jordan, and the room is massive. Got up at 9.15 and had a light breakfast. Then we strolled along the Nile (only after managing to cross the road. If any of these drivers attempted the A1307, there'd be a national emergancy, not just a mult-pile-up.) and then we went to the zoo. Lots of the locals treated us - me - like animals on display. I should have charged baksheesh for the photos they took ¬¬. There were lions and hyenas, hippos, lots of barbara sheep, gazelles, ostriches, goats, cockatoos, love birds, canaries etc. And, apparently, mosquitos, cause I got bit. >:( At the pool now - looks weird. 4th floor outside with the two towers of the hotel each side. I miss the Lanky One. But the weather is lovely and hot. Just finished dinner with Mohammed - my gran's friend - and it was nice. He's very smiley and rather cute ^^. Leaving for Luxor tomorrow - leave Four Seasons at 6am >.< That's 4BST... It's not 10.10 here and I'm rather sleepy. The street outside is absolutely teeming! The cars are all practically at a standstill both sides, hooting and honking as per usual. 29th July Woke up at 5am and we got ready. Left at 6 and took 20 mins to the get to the airport, leaving us with 2 hours to do nothing =D Saw many people - tourists and muslims and a Coptic Priest. He didn't look like either of the guys in Indiana 3, instead a long black robe, black head dress and an interesting shaped hat and a large cross. He was very tall with a bushy sean connery-type face. So far I've had less than 13 hours sleep in Egypt >.< On the Oberoi Philae - the Nile Boat. Luxor is very hot, and the boat is lovely. It's small and cosy, and the shower is puny. Can't put paper in the toilet either...ew. Lunch soon then visiting the temples of Luxor and Karnack. Karnack: Massive = 60acres. Our feet hurt. Took pictures: perhaps I can make a blend for the comp on the forums. Made friends with Dot and Dhaji from Nigeria. Luxor: Smaller with a more obvious historical shift: Romans painted over Ammun Ra! How dare they? Oberoi Philae reception party: very nice. Talked with D + D and the Greco-Israeli Californian and her Israeli mother, followed by a big dinner. The weather is hot and I'll be glad to cruise more so I don't need jeans everyday. Missed the Lanky One a lot tonight. ._. There are only 27 of us on the boat, and about 3 waiters per table. We weren't allowed to do ANYTHING. We got our food from the buffet table, and then they carried it for us. In the end we played a game where you had to get to the table before a waiter found you. x] I won once. Woot. They also topped up your water glass after one sip >.< I only finished a whole glass ONCE in 4 days. Well proud I was. =P 30th July 5.30 we got up for breakfast and at 6.30 drove to the valley of the kings. First stopped at the Colossi of Memnon or, "the singing statues" and I saw the 2000 year old grafitti by Hadrian! I was well chuffed x] Just jumped up and down pointing it out going "I can see it I can see it!". [we couldn't get more than 5m close to it]. Then we went to the valley of the workers/artisans and visited two tombs. I couldn't get down the second one, cause the stupid man at the entrances of them insisted I hadn't been down the first one yet. =/ So I gave up. At the valley of the kings, we could go down 3 tombs. We split from the group and went down Tutmoses IV, then Ramses III and Mereruka. Tut's sarcophagus was beautiful as was Ramses's walls. Next we went to Medinet Habu, a funeral tempel for Ramses III and at 12ish we set sail and spent the afternoon doing what we liked - relaxing mostly! Around 3pm, we were approaching a lock, and a swarm of rowing boats attached themselves to the side of ours and plagued the ship with "helloooo! Hola!!" and we got "this is for you my darling! for a good price" and the bloke lobbed it up at us on the top deck with impecable aim. We chucked it back, but what would they have done if they'd not got money for it? Idiots. 31st July It's been announced that central bank of Zimbabwe is to introduce a new currency. About bloomin' time. Today we visited the Temple of Horus at Edfu, and the Temple of Sobek at Kom Ombo. They were wonderful - the carving was exquisite and well preserved, except for some which were chisled by stupid christians and muslims later on. The Galabea party was cool - fortunately I had danced BEFORE my gran got her camera from the room. Missed Lanky Ones at the end when soppy songs played >>. The pug-faced waiter acted as a sort of Jiggalo, making the older people dance and feel good x]. One woman of about 35 was bloody brilliant. She had had dance lessons on video and could really move. After that though, hardly anyone wanted to go up and dance lol. 01st August This morning I woke at 4.45 to the bloody call to Prayer but went back to sleep till 7.30. We visited the Dams of Aswan and the temple of Isis on the Island of Philae. It was wonderful, except for the destruction of the religious sects that wanted to end her cult. =/ Narrow-minded fools. It had been rescued, the temple, after the building of the Dam, as it went under water - along with some other temples. But they put metal fencing round or something, drained the inside and moved it as they did Abu Simbel and Wadi El Souba etc. We also finished the unfinished obelisk, which was a bit of a waste of time since our guide, we now know, is rather naff. She is a novice to the job apparently, and not very knowledgeable. ._. I'm all packed for Lake Nasser tomorrow. Too bad we're moored against another boat =(. It's horribly noisy. 02nd August Our little group of 7 left for the Kasr Ibrim at 11.30. It's a lot bigger and more modern and less intimate feeling. The receptionist is very nice, and the staff is too, but it just feels more like a hotel. The toilets are nicer but everything feels more corporate: the different travel company groups are sectioned off in the dining room. We even have to pay extra for our water whereas on the Oberoi, it was free-flowing and included. We took a motor boat to Kertassi, Kalabsha and Beit el Wali. The guide, Ahmed, was much better. He was enthusiastic and made his talks more interactive. The extras from Thomas Cook weren't too friendly - the children were, until a fidgity boy had to be told off by my gran for scraping a stone in a hyrogliph. It was very hot. Tomorrow we get the whole day off. I might swim and sunbath a little. I'm getting into my books again. Woot. 03rd August Had very little sleep - the bed was rock solid and cause my gran was tired, she snored a bit. >.< We've now got extra duvets folded double under our sheets, and extra pillows to lie on if we choose. Because of an air lock, there was no hot water, but they've fixed it now. I felt very homesick today - Ellis, a 16 year old in our group, wished we'd just flown to Abu Simbel cause one cruise was enough. I've got very nasty bites on my leg - 4 which are all sore and itchy and are leeking yellow/clear ooze. Yuk. I've had to put plasters on to stop me scratching. Miss Lanky One a lot. I hope I can see him before his birthday, but it seems unlikely unless I, shock horror, go round/out 2 days running >.< The boat is noisy when she sails. Very. We've stopped now at Wadi El-Souba. We'll have to take that damn motor boat again. >.< I might have to see the ship's doctor if they don't get any better. 04th August Went to Wadi El Souba and Dakka and Meharakka at 8am. We had to walk a kilometer from WES to the other two. At Dakka there was a man with a scorpion, which my gran held. At Meherakka, there was another man with two crocodiles - small ones - the bigger of the two [which was about 30cm] had his mouth tied shut. I held him. He was sweet. Apparently they grow to 10m here. Dot and Hilary made a fuss about viper tracks in the sand. Honestly. My leg alternates between sore and very itchy. At 5, we had sailed to Amada, Derr and the tomb of Penout which was awesome. I had to tell the fidgity boy - Mitchell -'s grandmother to stop touching the paintings with her sweaty fingers. >.< For someone telling her grandson to respect the monuments, you'd think she'd not touch either. It is very hot down here and I can't wait to get free-flowing juice at home. I am so SICK of water! It makes my mouth dry =( 05th August 8.30 and we're sailing past Kasr Ibrim, a castle. Unfortunately, it's made of mudbricks so we can't go into it, so of course it doesn't look very impressive. I drew sketches, but they're in my diary. x] We're to reach Abu Simbel at about 4.30. Lucky Lanky One isn't here - we just played Boggle followed by some VERY half-hearted card games. Can't wait to go home - which makes me feel guilty, what with this being my birthday present. I'm enjoying myself and it's a good holiday, I just need a better night's sleep I guess. We're approaching Abu Simbel and it's beautiful. Still far off and you can make out the detail of the 20m high statues. Amazing. My gran had previously stayed on the sister ship, the Eugenie in 1996 and 7 and knows the manager [then the assistant], Sayid. We went to the Eugenie, even though Sayid is in Cairo at the moment, and I have to say it was much more charming. It's noisier in the cabins cause they're built at the back, with the engines, unlike the Kasr, but it's smaller, has more traditional decor and is more cosy in atmosphere. We drank with Sayid's assistant, Hossam, and he invited us to dinner tonight. o_O So after the sound and light show - which was really cool - we went to the Euginie, and didn't get back till very late. 6th August Packed and ready; we had 4 hours of doing nothing. So I slept. :D The airport wasn't far away so we were hanging around for about 2 hours >_<; Bored and a little hungry. The plane took off over an hour late - first the pc system broke so they had to handwrite our boarding passes, then there was a further delay with an engine. This meant that we couldn't meet Sayid on time - he cancelled for us, cause he thought we'd want to change and we see him tomorrow instead. Before we left Cairo last time, my gran was told we'd been booked into the same room, but cause of the noise, my gran asked if we could have a Nile view. So this time, we got a room on the 16th floor, where before we were only on the 6th. After the 8th floor, you have to pay extra. We were upgraded. For free! 07th August We went to Memphis and Saquarra with a new guide, Randa. She was very very pink, but very nice. She also was good at what she's supposed to be doing. Yay. We went to the market by ourselves - the hotel got us a taxi which only wanted 25 Egyptian pounds for the 30minute drive [that's £2.50 - less than my bus fair 4 miles down the road one-way] and then we went about for 2 hours. We had to hail our own cab back, and the driver was VERY relieved when he actually found the hotel, cause he had no idea where it was. Was reluctant to do it for only 30 EP, which was the recommended price stop by the hotel. That evening we met Sayid and had dinner - he's sweet. 44 and very smiley and nice. 08th August Pick up time was 5.45, but the damn luggage wasn't collected from our room on time, so we were hanging around too long. >.< Then the plane was horribly full and very very noisy. Horribly brats screaming on the other side of the plane. I watched Iron Man again <3 I really want that for xmas. :3 I had a monster of a headache when we landed and we had horrible traffic from Heathrow to Stansted on the bus, which fortunately we managed to get earlier since BA actually landed on time! =o |
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