| Israel Sun. July 25th. Finally - Israel (Haifa). We said our
farewells to Steve & Kelly and muddled our way to the bus station after first
accepting a ride to a hostel then jumping out of the van at the last minute when we
decided it might be a bit noisy for us after 2 nights of interrupted sleep. We bought a
ticket (and got ripped off - welcome to Israel!) before boarding a bus to Tel Aviv. We had
originally planned to go to Nazareth but changed our mind at the last minute deciding it
would be little more than churches and religious sites. We got to Tel Aviv - a big confusing
bus station, and settled on the 'Sun & Sea' Hostel by default. The hostel was newly
refurbished, and missing many of the promised facilities, but only 2 minutes to the beach
- a really good surf beach - better than any beaches we had seen in Greece. Our first
errands were to change some money and post a couple of letters before calling home to Oz,
the U.S, Suzie & A+J. After that, our first impressions of Israel - or Tel Aviv was of
a place with apparently all the same technology of the west but lots of extra bureaucracy
- forms to change money, and showing a passport to send a package. Helen did spot a 'Subway' sandwich
shop so that was our first meal - not very native but delicious all the same. The writing
- Hebrew, takes a bit of getting used to. Actually it's impossible to understand, but most
signs are in English with the exceptions of shops. Fortunately, the numbers are normal, so
I can figure out most prices. A couple of other things which surprised us a lot - there
are soldiers with guns everywhere. Compulsory military service still exists for 18 year
olds so there are kids with guns on the buses and wandering the streets. We still had wobbly legs from the
boat so we took it easy in the afternoon, relaxing in the hostel Mon. July 26 Today we got out and did a bit of
sightseeing. First to the Ben Gurion home - the home of Israel's first prime minister - a
funny little guy who we didn't recognize. It was probably the best preserved 'famous
person's house' we had seen. From there it was off to the market - or 'shuk' as they are
called here. Israel has the best and cheapest fresh fruit and veg. we have come across. A
result of all the kibbutz's. For lunch I had a shawarma and Helen
had a falafel - both stuffed pita bread with lamb/turkey & deep fried chick peas. In
the afternoon we met a guy we named 'the weasel' for his persistent and constantly
annoying drivel he talked (real name Jason). To get away from him we walked to Old Jaffa -
a port area and site of a town for several thousand years. Quite amazing all the history
the place had seen. Unfortunately everything was closed, we when our legs started tiring
we headed back. Tues. July 27th In the morning, our last tourist
sight was the Diaspora Museum, an excellent, state of the art museum tracing the dispersal
of Jews around the world. We decided it was time to head off so after another Subway
sandwich for Hel's and a falafel with too much hot sauce for me, we caught a bus to
Jerusalem and checked into the Lutheran Youth Hostel then we set out to explore some of
the new town, in search of money we failed to find as all the ATMs spat out my card. We did find a wonderful market fully
of fresh fruit and veg - like in Tel Aviv only better - so we bought lots of grapes, sweet
corn and oranges. Wed. July 28th. A full day of tours today. We went to
the Israel museum first and were given a guided tour of the archaeological section and the
section containing items used by Jews. We picked up bits and pieces of history along the
way but found we were bombarded with all sorts of Jewish words we had never heard of
before. It made us feel ignorant about the Jewish religion. The history of the area shown
in the archeological section is incredible. Jerusalem for instance is 3 or 4 thousand
years old! We had to race back to the old city
after the museum as we were booked for a walking tour which we made with a few minutes to
spare. The tour was given by a funny old Jewish guy who wanted to hold all the girls
hands, but was very informative. We saw all four sections of the old city - Armenian,
Jewish, Moslem and Christian. Not much to see in the Armenian section as it is closed to
tourists. The Jewish section is full of winding little streets which have been completely
rebuilt not too long ago so it lacked character. The Moslem section is where we came
across the Temple Mount - sacred to Jews as the site where Abraham was going to sacrifice
his son before being stopped by god. Called the Temple Mount because of the temples which
once existed there. It is also the site where in Islamic religion Muhammad was sent to
earth. It now has a huge mosque on top. In the same area is the Western or Wailing Wall of
the Temple Mount - where Jews come to pray. We wound our way through lots of
funny little alleys with Moslem children and people selling all sorts of stuff. Then it
was into the Christian section of the city where we came to the Sepulcher Church - site of
Jesus' crucifixion and burial. The most important site of Christian faith and the place
which is claimed by many different religions including Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Egyptian
Coptics. Because of this, the place is a mess - no religion may decorate the walls and no
agreement can be made on how to keep the building maintained so the place is literally
supported by scaffolding. Not at all as it should be in such an important place.
Considering the importance of the place it should probably have the worlds biggest
cathedral on top of it - not some dinky little church like they have there now. It's
incredible that some agreement cannot be reached between civilized religious who all have
pretty much the same beliefs. After the tour we haggled with a shop
owner over a t-shirt Helen wanted and as usually we felt like we had paid too much. It
cost 23 sheckles ($9) but as we were leaving they offered them to us at 15 sheckles $7) so
that was the real bottom price. We'll know for next time. Thur. July 29th A very early morning for us. 5:30a.m
rise to catch a bus to Bersheva in the Negrav desert south of Jerusalem, site of a
Thursday Bedouin market and major Kodak moment. The first time we were able to see lots of
Moslem men and women with veils and long black dresses. Most of the market was just the
usual stuff - clothes and new things but the edge of the market had dozens of sellers
sitting on the ground selling little bits and pieces. There were also sellers of Bedouin
clothes and handicrafts. We decide to buy a couple of
souvenirs and haggled quite successfully over a brass coffee set and an oil lamp which we
decided would make unusual talking points. The coffee set was 25 shekels ($10) and the
lamp and another pot was $12. In the afternoon we relaxed in the hostel and over diner we
had a very interesting discussion with a Dutch guy who knew a lot about Israel and it's
history with the neighboring countries. He had traveled in Syria as well. He told us that
there is compulsory military service for boys and girls at the age of 18 - 3 years for
boys, 2 years for girls. Holland has some compulsory military service also for 30% of boys
for 1 year. He is due to do his service shortly. There is so much to see in Jerusalem we
are having trouble deciding which to choose. We could easily fill another 5 days I expect
but we will probably get the urge to move in a few days. Fri. July 30th A strange day. We moved hostels, from
the Lutheran to the King George in the new town. The Lutheran Hostel was good but because
most people there were German pilgrims we didn't meet people like we expected to. Also, we
are doing the tour to Masada tomorrow so we need to be able to leave early in the morning.
After checking in we were going to catch an Arab bus to Bethlehem but we caught a taxi
instead - only 2 shekels each (80c). This was our first foray into the area known as the
West Bank, but better known as Palestine - occupied by Israel since 1967. Let's Go gave
all sorts of warnings but things must be far more peaceful now than when the book was
written as we got no warnings from the Tourist Board the day before. So, with Hels a
little nervous, we visited the 'Church of the Nativity' - scene of Jesus' birth 1993 years
ago. As in Jerusalem, the church was not a
grand affair - actually it was a crumbly, ugly thing - suffering the same squabbling
between various religious sects which has prevented any restoration. There was a brass
cross marking the supposed birthplace and another area which was the site of the manger.
Not very impressive, but very moving just the same. After we saw the church in Bethlehem
we had mint tea with a shopkeeper nearby who told us about his time with the U.N before
finally getting around to what we wanted to buy from him. We quickly decide that we could
probably do something with another little brass oil lamp so we bargained a little while
and bought a lamp. There was little else to do in Bethlehem and the place was a bit of a
mess so we left and returned to Jerusalem. We arrived at Damascus Gate - the
main gate to the Muslim Quarter just as something was finishing - we're not sure what, but
there were thousands of people leaving the old city which made a spectacle - especially
the Arabs in their robes and headgear. After pushing through the crowds at Damascus Gate,
we browsed through the souvenir shops around Jaffa Gate. Helen particularly wanted a
nativity scene so we look at a few before settling on a big set. The guy wanted $80 but
got down as far as $55 before we walked out. Later he met us on the way back and we
finally bought the set for $46 which made Helen happy. The lowlight of the day occurred
later when we got a bit lost while trying to find a parade of Franciscan monks. We were in
the Moslem quarter and came to a point where the alley was blocked by men and boys sitting
and standing around. They tried to convince us to pass through but I didn't like that idea
so we turned to leave when somebody threw a huge piece of bone which hit Helen on the
head, shaking her badly. A very unfortunate incident which spoiled on an otherwise very
good day. Sat. July 31st We had hardly got to sleep (as usual
Helen said 'I didn't sleep at all') but that's hardly surprising as we got up at 2:00am
for an organized tour to Masada, Ein Geddi and the Dead Sea. We waited for the tour bus in
the New Town along with lots of young kids who obviously hadn't even gone to bed yet. We
boarded and slept for about 2 hours till we arrived at the base of Masada - in the pitch
black. Helen hadn't eaten dinner yesterday and, with no sleep, not surprisingly she didn't
feel well and decided not to climb. Being the sympathetic sole I am, I went anyway. The climb went up the 'snake path'
which weaved back and forth up the dry, crumbly mountain side. The sky brightened
gradually and when we reached the top we did see the sun rise. The deal with Masada is
that it is a rocky mountain in the middle of the Negav desert and was the place King
Herrod built a couple of palaces back about 2B.C. In about 70AD the Jews were being killed
by the Romans and some of them hung out on Masada (after kicking some Romans out), and
hung out for a couple of months while the Romans surrounded the place, built a dirt ramp
and were about to break in when the Jews decided to kill themselves rather than be
captured. The mound now has some partially excavated, partially restored ruins of various
things and these round boulders everywhere which may or may not have been used for the
catapults (or been catapulted in ). Fortunately Helen was feeling better
so by the time we reached the Dead Sea we were both able to have a float. I had Helen take
a picture of me floating and reading a newspaper. It was warm and kind of like lying on a
water bed. It was difficult to lie on your front as the buoyant water pushed your legs
right up. As soon as we got out we took showers to get rid of the slat and we were off
again to Ein Geddi - a nature reserve/oasis in the desert where we spent 3 hours walking
upstream through pools and streams and waterfalls which was really refreshing as the
temperature must have been 35 - 40degrees Fahrenheit. The reserve supposedly has leopards
in it but they are obviously smarter than us - wandering around in the sun as we didn't
see any. For lunch we stopped in a dingy
little restaurant on the outskirts of Jericho where we stuffed our faces with humus,
falafel balls and pita bread. Jericho is the pace which supposedly had walls which fell at
some religiously important moment. anyway, Jericho is on of the oldest cities and is also
one of the lowest being about 300 meters below sea level. The last thing we saw was a cool
monastery - St. George Monastery, built into a rock face in the middle of nowhere where
self sufficient monks still live after hundreds of years. We slept well that night. Sun Aug. 1st Today was supposed to be a day off
but we never really have days off, we just have days where we do no sightseeing. First stop was the post office to
send home all of our Israel souvenirs. Then to book a hostel and attempt to get bus
tickets to Eilat for tomorrow. We did some sightseeing too and visited the 'Dome of the
Rock', the third most important religious site after Mecca and the Medina in Saudi Arabia.
It's the site where Muhammad took his mystical night journey from and his ascension into
heaven. It is the same site as the Jewish Temple Mount, so it is was easy to see why
fights occur here. In the evening we had an enlightening
discussion with a Canadian girl, and American guy about Jerusalem and Jews. We heard about
all sorts of weird stuff - including the fact that men must make love to their wives on
Friday - if their wives want it! And that there are 600 other rules which must be followed
by those that consider themselves 'orthodox'. All the weird dress codes - such as the
black hats, the long curls the guys have , the shirts with the fringes etc are really just
traditions of various sects rather than requirements of the church. Mon. Aug. 2nd Bus to Eilat today and checked into a hostel. It's hotter than hell here. The newspaper said 41 degrees today - which really hits you when you hop off an air-conditioned bus. Hels broke down and had pizza for dinner. Eilat is Israel's largest resort. It is right in the south of the country about 10 minutes from the Egyptian border and judging from the map it must be very near a border with Jordan although the only sign of Jordan is the Jordanian T.V which we have watched on the hostel T.V . Very weird local productions and surprisingly, English language programs and news nightly. The news reports look like they were done on home video. We watched an episode of Golden Girls one night (U.S sitcom). The reason for the resort existing is
the Read Sea and it's spectacular coral reefs. We spent the day snorkeling at Coral Beach
which I reckon was pretty good. Lots of different and colorful fish and wonderful coral
formations. Helen wasn't her usual careful self with the suntan lotion and consequently
ended up with a very very red back which she is now nursing. In the evening we stoked up a
supplies for a bus trip tomorrow - with essentials and non essentials such as grapes and
nectarines which we've been enjoying all the time we've been in Israel. Wed. Aug 4th Today we caught a bus to the Egypt
border where we had to get off to go through Israeli and Egyptian border formalities which
included paying exit tax for Israel and entry tax for Egypt - even though we already had
to pay for a stupid visa! Our first dealings with Egyptian business was waiting for the
town's only bank teller to come back from the toilet so we could change money. Then we had
to wait for every Egyptian looking person to be served first before any of us group of
tourists would be served. Once through the borders (and after
the Egyptian border guard asked "No baby?", we found the bus station which was
nothing more than a wooden shelter and a group of Arab taxi drivers. We were the only
people going to Cairo so one by one all the tourists joined up and shared taxis to go down
the Sinai Peninsular - mainly to a place called Dahab - a small town with apparently very
little to do but sit on the beach.The hours ticked by. We had arrived at about 10:30 and
depending on who you believed, the bus was due at 1:00, 2:00 or 3:00pm and would take
7,8,9 or 10 hours to get to Cairo. The taxi drivers all wore big white jalabalas and a
couple even had red head things like a table cloth from a pizza hut. We laughed when a
couple of camels strolled by like stray dogs. It was really hot!! The bus - a great air conditioned
job, arrived promptly at 2:00pm (or early or late depending on who you believed). It cost
65 Egyptian Pounds (abt $20) each for the 8 hour trip. We even had 'in flight' music -
drinks service and movies. Helen described the loud Arab music as making her want to shoot
herself. We arrived at about 10:00pm and after serious haggling with a taxi driver who
agreed to 7 E. pounds for the ride, off we went to our hotel which the taxi driver tried
to tell us was closed. The hotel 'Pension Roma' was up a dark stairway on the fourth floor
and was actually a lovely surprise. The room we got was huge - as big as the dormitory
rooms in most hostels we stayed in, and the place has a sit down restaurant where to a
free breakfast (rolls, jam and tea) which was a bonus. Thurs. Aug. 5th We got up at a leisurely hour and set
ourselves a few easy errands to enable us to wander around. We were immediately pounced on
by people trying everything they could to get us into their shops. It began to make us
reminisce about the horrors of Morocco. Our immediate reaction was of a big busy city.
Dirty as people had said, but like Athens, it feels like a real place, not a plastic town.
The drivers are mad bastards who lean on their horns and pedestrians are suicidal -
running or walking in front of oncoming traffic, ignoring completely the 'walk' signs. The
traffic police don't seem to care and are very lenient. One of our taxi drivers didn't
even stop at a couple of red lights and just honked his horn as he merged with the
traffic. We also saw millions of old kombis
being used as mini buses. there were streams of them in the evenings ferrying people
around. We spent a couple of hours in the Egyptian museum and were astounded by the amount
of ancient stuff. for a normal museum to even have a couple of these pieces would be very
impressive but this museum is literally full of stuff that is several thousand years old.
The Egyptian civilization was very big between 3000 and 500 years B.C and this museum
contains this period exclusively. The highlight is certainly the treasures of Tutenkamans
tomb (in Luxor) which was discovered untouched only a hundred years ago. There is a solid
gold death mask and sarcophagus and hundreds of pieces of jewelry that were buried with
him. There is a whole wing just for the stuff from his tomb. After that cultural experience we
were ready for lunch and both had pizza-like meals called fatir which were delicious and
including 4 Pepsis the bill was 17 E.P ($5.10). In the evening we went along to the sound
and light show at the pyramids. Our first glimpse of the pyramids was from the bus as we
got nearby. We arrived at the wrong entrance and after some confusion we caught a taxi to
the right place and coughed up an exorbitant fee for entrance (by Egyptian standards).
(About $5 each). The show was a bit cheezy but Helen enjoyed it. We fiddled around after
the show and finally got a taxi back about 10:30. Fri. Aug. 6th Today was the day we would see the
pyramids properly. We decided to take a camel which was at first quite uncomfortable but
fitted in with the whole feel of the place. We were led by a guide on horseback who later
decided to give Helen a good feel up while taking her for a gallop on the camel. On the
way to the pyramids we passed by the same very poor areas built within a couple of hundred
meters of the pyramids themselves. After getting rid of our guide we finally got to see
through the Chephren and Cheops pyramids. The 3 main pyramids at Giza were built by
successive pharos - father, son and grandson over 3 hundred years. Inside there is little
to see, just very low little passage ways which gave us a workout. It was difficult to
appreciate that we were actually standing inside the pyramids. We padded around in the
dust for a couple of hours taking more photos and making the most of some quiet moments. Back in the new town we had lunch at
a funny little restaurant where we had Kushari - noodles, rice and spaghetti all for
1.5E.P each (45cents each!) We dropped film in for developing and had a delicious
cappuccino before returning to the hotel for a rest where we chatted to an English and
Australian girl for a whole. A couple more observations that I
forgot to mention - The people here are quite the friendliest of any country we've
visited. It's as though a giant campaign has just finished to get the local s to be extra
friendly because as we walk through the streets people constantly say 'Hello' an smile or
'Welcome' and wave. The children are particularly friendly and they get a thrill if we say
'Hello' back. It happens so often that it is almost overwhelming and it becomes a real
pleasure to sit somewhere that you don't get hassled. Of course, walking around the
pyramids, people hassled us to take camel and horses and to buy dumb souvenirs and drinks,
but there are lots of genuine people out there too. Sat. Aug 7th. We walked miles today on our way to a
market, passed dozens of little shops selling bits of hardware, funny T.V antennas and the
weirdest collection of stuff you've ever seen. We found the marked and were immediately
accosted by people selling cheap T-shirts, alabaster pyramids and cats made of stone and
brass which Helen took an immediate fancy to. W spent about an hour in one shop with a
couple of young guys before buying tow (non identical) stone cats. Later, we had a not so interesting
lunch and collected some photos. Sun. Aug. 8th Our first errand this morning was to
attempt to get student cards e had been told were easily available from Cairo University.
We went to the medical facility and after wandering around in circles for a while a guy
eventually pointed us to the little booth which issues the cards. It seemed like you could
show anything to them and they would accept you were students but we had nothing suitable
and because of our ages, they turned us down. We had been told that the Engineering
facility also issued them so with little hope, we went there and once again someone kindly
showed us to the right place where the guy believed that we really were students and gave
us cards in exchange for 25 E.P ($6). We were delighted as this will save us loads of
money. Our next stop was the train station
where we got (student) train tickets to Luxor. The funny bit was watching Helen go to the
front of a long line of men. This is apparently acceptable practice for some reason. We
don't understand the reason as in every other respect women seem poorly treated. The
difference in men/women relationships here is weird. Men walk around holding hands
(straight men) - and kiss each other when they meet. We were told not to hold hands in
public although occasionally we see progressive couples arm in arm - but not hand in hand.
The women in general of course are well covered in loose, non revealing clothes. Many wear
full veils with a very small slit for their eyes. Helen gets an amazing amount of
attention from men, but they seem to leave her along pretty much while I'm around and
we've heard that they do respect women who say they are married. Single women traveling
alone get an amazing amount of unwanted attention and we feel very sorry for the ones
we've met. It is tiring even when there are two of us to deal with it. Anyway, after the station we walked
to the Cairo Tower to check out the view which made us appreciate the size of the city (15
million people) but the pollution kept us from a very good view of the pyramids which is
what we really wanted to see. For dinner we had another pizza fatir which was delicious
and we followed up with cake and cappuccino at a pastry shop frequented only by rich
Carienes. Mon. Aug. 9th. Today was a travel day. We bought a
few things for our train ride and caught a taxi to the station from where we got a train
to Luxor which was approx. 12 hours along the Nile. The Nile flows down to Cairo from
Southern Egypt so we were actually traveling to the Upper Nile which confused us for a
while. Helen got talking to a couple of guys and as the train pulled in she exchanged
addresses with them so if we ever get a letter from someone we don't know in Egypt it will
be from them. The train was uneventful but the view from the train was wonderful. The
train tracks the flow of the Nile all the way so we saw children swimming, people washing
clothes and all sorts of agricultural stuff going on . There were donkeys, dogs, camels
and water buffalo all around. In the distance we could see the arid desert but the entire
valley was green because of the river. There is an amazing amount of farming dependent on
the river and because people live right on the rivers' edge I imagined the devastation it
must cause if the Nile floods. The horses appear to be made of mud bricks and they all
look very crumbly as if the slightest tremor would bring them tumbling down. We arrived at
Luxor at aobut11:30pm and were met by Ahmed, someone who worked for a hotel, before we had
even stopped at the station. he told us the hotel we planned on visiting was closed and
after confirming that he was telling the truth we followed him to his hotel which I never
did learn the name of. Tue. Aug 10th We hired bicycles and decided to roll
around Luxor's main sights. First stop was Luxor Temple, a fairly impressive structure,
built between 1500B.C & 500B.C. It has huge status of Ramses II in front of it and a
sphinx lined avenue leading away. Next stop was Karnak Temple, a whole collection of
temples and structures erected over centuries. Also impressive. For lunch we went to a
Let's Go recommendation where we had omelet's and salads an chatted to some Aussies/Poms
and an Argentinean couple we had me earlier in Cairo. After a rest the next stop was the
Luxor museum which was not huge but was well laid out and well documented. As the sun set
we rode the bank of the Nile, passing all the people trying to get us to take a felluca
ride. For dinner we stopped in a place that
Hels fancied, a huge place with few customers where we had salad and chicken and a free
glass of mint tea from the cook who fancied Helen I think. We went back to the hotel and
told Ah Med that we would be leaving in the morning and he was less than thrilled but we
feel the place is a little bit empty and isolated. Wed. Aug. 11th Helen didn't want to get out of bed
but eventually we got going and checked into the Oasis Hotel in the center of Luxor, after
which we rented some very old bikes and wobbled off to catch a ferry across the Nile. It
took about 15 minutes before we pedaled to the student ticket office where a guy talked
our ears off about various things we didn't understand. Then in the blazing sun we went to
the Valley of the Queens, sight of various tombs of Queens and children of Pharos. We
looked inside a few and then pedaled away to a temple dedicated to Ramses II called
Medinat Habu - a number of courtyards and a huge piles of stone called pylons. By the time we had finished the
temple we were both knackered and fried from the sun so we turned around and cycled back
to the ferry where we came across an enormous queue of buses waiting to cross. The ferry
could only take a couple at a time so obviously they were going to be there hours and
hours. All the locals were cutting the line too which wasn't helping. We came back and
crashed out for a while and chatted to some kiwis who were staying here. Then when it got
cooler we took our first felucca ride which was extremely relaxing. We actually watched
the sun set and chatted to the captain about his women in England and Kentucky. Then he
gave us a sob story about not doing any business all day or for the previous 10 days which
we thought was a load of cobblers. The ride was a bargain at on $4.50 for the two of us. Thur. Aug. 12th We actually did get an early start
this morning and pedaled off to the ferry before 7:am. A good thing too as by the time we
had cycled the 8km to the Valley of the Kings we were exhausted. We joined up with a kiwi
and a Dutch guy and wandered through the tombs of several pharos. With the exception of
some well preserved paintwork there was little to see in any of them. Almost all tombs
were robbed of their treasures centuries ago. The exception to this was Tutankhamens tomb
which was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Except for his sarcophagus and mummy, all
the treasure is now in the Egyptian Museum. It took him 10 years just to catalogue it all.
He had spent 6 seasons looking for the tomb before finding it in the area of the workers
huts (actually under them). King Tut's tomb is smaller than most as he was only a pharo
for a few years. We parted company with the other guys
and after buying some postcards ("What's your best price?") we cycled back down
the hill in search of the tombs of the nobles. The tombs are located on a hill (scattered)
with a little village surrounding it so we were immediately accosted by people telling us
to go one direction then another. It's a bit scary in that situation because you don't
know who to believe and of course they all want us to come near their shops etc. There
were also little kids everywhere with funny handmade dolls. We left our bikes by a little
old man who had a alabaster shop, and we scrambled up a slope to the tombs which turned
out to be well worthwhile. Of course the guards were after 'baksheesh' (tips) and one
fanned us as we studied the tomb and in the other tomb the guard used mirrors to send
daylight inside. Very clever. That was the end of our sightseeing
and like yesterday, we crashed out for a while before lunch. We tried several times to buy
a newspaper but the little paper boys refused to sell an English newspaper to us a face
price (50 piasters - abt 15 cents) and insisted on extra so we refused to buy. Fri. Aug. 13th After an early start to get to the
train station by 7:15am for our train to Aswan. We should have stayed in bed as the train
was 10 Egyptian minutes (1 hour!) late. We arrived in Aswan about 1:pm and fended off
hotel touts only to find our hotel of choice was closed again! We checked out a 5 star
hotel but balked at $US 67 a night and settled on a hotel with a Nile view and swimming
pool on the roof. In the evening we ate at our fanciest
restaurant ever - a floating one actually on the Nile. Very attractive especially as the
sun was setting. The food was pretty good too and we even had our first beer since being
in Egypt. Sat Aug. 14th. We got up at 3:30am to do an early
tour to Abu Simbel to see yet another enormous temple belonging to RamsesII. The one is
particularly famous not just for the huge statues out the front, but also because the
temple was moved 30 years ago when the High Dam was created which would have drowned the
temple forever so it was cut in pieces and moved up the hill, taking 7 years and costing
millions of dollars. Not only that, a huge rock dome was built over it to protect it.
Nasser Lake and the High Dam enable Egypt to control the water flow of the Nile -
preventing floods and droughts but when it was built 100,000 villagers (Nubians) were
displaced - 35 towns. The temple was not overly thrilling although the facade is
impressive. The dome and the feat of moving it is amazing. We spent the afternoon relaxing
and in the evening at another nice restaurant as the sun set. Sun. Aug. 15th. Our train back to Luxor was due to
leave at 5.30pm so as usual our travel days we were tempted to fritter away the day
waiting. Instead we caught a local ferry felucca across to Elephantine Island and felt
conspicuous wandering around a Nubian village of mud brick walls. The locals were very
friendly - even the women, saying hello as we passed by. A little girl came up to us and asked
for a pen which we gave her as a present. Later in the day several other kids asked for
pens too. I'm not sure if there is a shortage or whether there was some sort of trade
going on with tourists pens. It may be that tourists are more likely to hand over a pen
for free than they are to give money. Lots of kids asked for money but we were quick to
refuse. After wandering the island for a while we did a deal with a felucca man and went
for an hour long sail which was not nearly as enjoyable as the last partly because of the
time of day and partly because we didn't actually seem to go anywhere other than about 200
meters upstream. After lunch we went off to the train
station and caught our train to Cairo. The journey was to take 17 hours so we made
ourselves comfortable with bags of underwear for pillows. A stupid old lady refused to
shut up and seemed to talk all night. Mon. Aug. 16th We arrived without any hassles
although we were both tired and of course Helen claimed she hadn't slept at all. We got a
nasty surprise when we arrived at Pension Roma to find the hotel in Luxor hadn't actually
registered our passports so we rushed down to the passport office to pay our $7 fine
before paying for our ticket to Athens tomorrow and having a sit down lunch of macaroni,
vegetables, bread & rice. Helen slept most of the afternoon
while I went to the post office and bought a newspaper. Then in the cool of the evening we
had coffee and cake at the same restaurant we had eaten lunch. At night we got talking to
an Aus. / U.S couple like us which was a first, then I went to see a movie just for fun -
Nowhere to Run starring John Van Dame. Very violent and all the sex scenes censored. I was
very conspicuous - all the locals wore trousers and I had shorts on. Tues. Aug. 17th Our last day in Egypt. I didn't want
to sit around and waste a day waiting for time to pass. So it was my brilliant idea to go
and visit a mosque. Lets Go had about 10 pages on the mosques so we picked the one it
recommended and spent two hours getting there. We took a minibus which didn't get very
close to it at all, then we walked for ages and doubled back when we finally asked someone
where it was. The mosque was crappy too. Not worth the trouble so we got a taxi back to
the main square and had our last pizza fatier before collecting our bags and heading off
in another taxi to the airport. We were pleasantly surprised by the
airport not as backward as we expected. We were flying Egypt Air so we expected the worst.
It wasn't that bad. It left late but we got a meal and free English newspapers so that was
O.K. It only took 1.5 hours after taking 56 hours (7 days) on the boats to Israel it was a
shock but good too to be back in a semi civilized country. We checked back into our campground
'Camping Athens' but Vanessa wouldn't start so we roll started and wheeled into our old
spot amongst the Italian convoys. Wed. Aug. 18 Nearly a proper rest day today. I
collected lots of mail from Amex while Helen did washing and tidied up. I got a letter
from Nick and Lorna and a letter & postcard from Mum and also a birthday card from
Robyn in Tas. Hels was a bit disappointed with only a short note from her Mum and that was
all. Thurs. Aug 19 Another rest type day. Another car
expense - $80 for a new battery as the garage claimed it was no good. good old Vanessa. We
paid our bill - $200 for a month parking and 7 nights camping. Fri. Aug 20th Left early and drove for 4 hours
before arriving at the monasteries at Meteora, situated spectacularly on high rocky knolls
and cliffs - quite amazing. we visited the first 2 we came to then hopped back into
Vanessa for another few hours. When we got tired we stopped in a service station for lack
of a better alternative. It was noisy but we both slept surprisingly soundly. Sat. Aug. 21st Continued towards Turkey and finally
arrived about 2.00pm at the border where we got out to have our passports stamped. Our car
insurance place told us to get insurance at the border but a border guy said we couldn't.
We finally stamped our passports and we were on our way into Turkey. On the bridge across
a Greek soldier all done up in a white dress and red hat (with tassles), waved at us so we
stopped and he told us he was Australian doing military service which we didn't even know
existed in Greece. The border is one of the most guarded
we have come across. This is because the Greeks and Turks do not like each other. It seems
as though the Greeks are still pissed about Cyprus being invaded. We even saw a billboard
which said something like 'Done forget - Cyprus' with a map of Cyprus half covered in
blood. Anyway, once in Turkey we headed
straight for Gallipoli (Geliboule in Turkish) where, after wandering around a bit, we
found a quiet campground. So quiet that we were the only guests. A bit weird, but right on
the water front which was pleasant. In the evening and again in the morning sheep herders
bought their flocks along with their bills jingling. We also had some cows and few goats
go by and there were some tame rabbits in the garden. Sun Aug. 22nd We asked about storing the van and
agreed to 20,000 Turkish Lira a day. Sounds like a lot but it's less than $2 a day -
bargain. Vanessa doesn't sound like she will make it around Turkey. I can hear knocking
noise and the Clutch pedal shudders badly so it's not looking good. With luck we will make
it back to England. I don't expect her to manage much more. We bit the bullet after much
deliberation and went on an organized tour of the battle sites and war cemeteries along
the Gallipoli peninsular. We jumped into a minivan full of Antipodeans on a pilgrimage
like me I guess. Despite the strained English of our guide we did learn quite a lot about
the events of 1915. It definitely sounds like a big screw up of a battle - 6 months spent
in trenches, gains of a small strip of land - less than one kilometer was actually won
-then lost. Thousands died. Things got screwed up form the beginning when the initial
landing was made on the wrong beaches and nothing went right the whole campaign. ANZAC day
as I found out is to remember the landing of the first troops at Gallipoli - April 25th
1915. We saw cemeteries at Anzac Cove and
Lone Pin there is also a big Australian memorial. Further on the ridge is the N.Z memorial
which now has a big Turkish memorial only 20 feet from it constructed only a couple of
weeks ago. Seems like a bit of awful planning by the Turks but apparently several
important events occurred at the hill - stuff to do with Attaturk the guy in charge of the
Turkish forces and later to become the rule of Turkey for a very important part of Turkish
history. One of the more interesting things we saw were the actual trenches dug and used
by the troops 75 years ago. Quite amazing being able to climb around in them after all
this time. Once we were all Gallipoli'd out we
went back to our little campground to prepare to backpack tomorrow. Mon. Aug. 23rd We packed up, disconnected the
battery so it doesn't go flat again and headed off to the bus station where we caught a
bus to Istanbul. Our first impressions Istanbul was of an amazing bus station. We didn't
even actually get to the station in our bus as there was a queue of about a kilometer of
buses waiting to get in. Bus travel is very popular here it
seems and the bus stations very badly designed - obviously not able to cope with the
volume. We got out of there as soon as we figure out how. There is a great tram which must
be new as it is not in the books, which whizzed us into the center of town from where we
found our Youth Hostel. The prices had doubled since the book was written! We did get a
nice room however and it has a beer garden which is quite pleasant. In the evening we took
our first proper look at Istanbul which seems remarkably clean at least in the tourist
areas. We had Kebabs and ice-cream for dinner. Tues. Aug 24th Our first day which we intended to
spend sightseeing was spent doing everything but that. We got money from a substitute
American Express office on the Golden Horn, then we spent hours continuing north and
wandering around the suburbs in search of the Australian Consulate which was hidden in the
middle of nowhere. The son of a corn seller ended up walking us there. We were going to
the consulate so that I could get a replacement passport as mine was full. But after all
that trouble they told us the passport would have to be issued in Ankara. Our only sightseeing was a visit to a
Roman water cistern which was actually an enjoyable and very different experience. Wed. Aug. 25th Today was a full day of sightseeing.
We started at the big Topakai Palace which would have been enjoyable if not for the huge
number of tourists and the very long waits to get in then to get into the Harem - the
quarters of all the sultans women. The palace also had a very impressive collection of
jewels and some sacred Muslim objects like Muhummed's footprint and hairs from his beard.
I felt sorry for the Muslim pilgrims as the palace was swarming with camera clicking
Italians in tour groups. For lunch we did something a bit
different and went to the Istanbul zoo which was funny as they have cages of common
households animals such as dogs, cats, pigeons and rabbits alongside bears, big cats and
monkeys. In the afternoon we visited the Hagia
Sophia Church / Mosque / Museum which had the worlds largest some until St. Peters was
built. In the evening I went for a walk by myself which was fun especially after I bought
my Turkish hat & vest which I had been threatening to do for my whole trip. Helen
seemed a bit shocked. Thurs. Aug 26th Our last day in Istanbul. We finally
visited the 'Blue Mosque' , a stunning design with 6 minarets. Certainly the most
interesting building in Istanbul from the outside. Not so interesting on the inside then
it was our first wander together through the grand bazaar where we got Helen a new ($10)
dress. In the afternoon we walked into our
first carpet shop where we were told a bit about carpets, drank apple tea and had the old
demonstration about how a match could burn these carpets (which still proves nothing to
me). We looked at a lot of carpets but saw nothing interested us enough to start haggling.
Later we saw some more carpets in another slop but again we didn't see anything which got
us excited enough to start haggling. In the evening we went to the train
station (on the Asian side of Istanbul) where we met Donna, Aoloc(?) and Indiana also on
their way to Ankara to visit the Embassy where we were going to collect my new passport.
We got the 7:pm train and spent a fitful night getting 10 minutes of sleep at a time. We
arrived in Ankara at 7:am. Fri. Aug. 27th. We walked through and out of Ankara
before getting a taxi to the Australian Embassy where we waited for hours till my passport
was ready. Donna et al arrived later and had a passport issued to replace one of theirs
that they had stolen. In the afternoon we all caught a bus
together to Goreme in Cappadocia where we checked into the peri pension. Our room is in a
fairy chimney - a weird rock formation. The whole area is full of towns where villages
have been dug into the soft rock, or whole underground cities have been made. We had a
great dinner at our pension before sleeping like house bricks. Sat Aug. 28th In the morning we visited the
Goreme museum where we climbed around inside churches and monasteries which were pretty
interesting despite the tour groups. The afternoon was taken up in a
carpet shop where we saw a carpet we really liked. the style was 'bohara' but the carpet
was used (30 years old) and looked it so we didn't start the old bargaining routine. We
did get our apple tea and chatted to the guy for a long time. Sun. Aug 29th. First stop was an underground city at
Derrinyu. On the way we got talking to a couple of Aussies - Erica and Matt and we
clambered around the 8 levels of city with them for a couple of hours. 10,000 people once
lived underground here. Pretty amazing. For lunch we had omelets with a tour
guide / carpet selling guy called Mustafa who fortunately left us alone. We have found the Turkish, like the
Egyptians, to be very friendly, but they so often seem to be out to sell us something that
we tend to be a bit reserved and skeptical about them. In the afternoon we ended up in
Zelve. Not really by choice but because the mini buses were going there. It is like the
Goreme Museum but with more houses to climb around in a with fewer tourists. Amazing rock
formations. We bought our first apricots on the
way back to the Pension. (Elsewhere in the world it always seems that the dried apricots
have come from Turkey so we though it was fitting to eat apricots in Turkey!) Mon. Aug. 30th Our last day in Goreme and
Cappadocia. Helen was very sick last night and had things coming out of both ends. he sat
up most of the night talking with a woman next door who had similar problems (also called
Helen), and it seems a French guy below us also had problems as he was seen running to the
toilets also. Fortunately Helen seemed better in the morning so we made our way to another
small town nearby called Urgup where we sat under a tree and read a newspaper for a couple
of hours before heading into a carpet shop to look at some more Bohara carpets which we
finally decided were our favorites but too expense for us - $750 for the one we liked
(about 2meters by 1 meter). We went back to Goreme and caught our
overnight bus to Pammukale. Not much leg room so we struggled to find a comfortable
position to sleep in. Tues. Aug. 31st We were woken abruptly at
6:00am when we pulled into Pammukale and were immediately accosted by hotel touts. We went
with the cheapest ($7 for the night) for a double room with a bathroom and balcony. We
crashed out for a couple of hours (Helen had a couple more than me) and then braved the
sun to climb up the hill to see the travestines or calcified falls & pools which this
place is so famous for. the cliffs are cool, but the rock pools where you can sit were not
as good up close as we expected. It was still good to see though as it is on e of the few
sights we knew about Turkey and that we remembered from my brother, Andrew's travel
photos. On recommendation of Cathy Houlihan
and because we had seen the photos everywhere we went to the Pammukale Motel for a swim in
the thermal pool which has an old Roman Road at the bottom and is naturally quite warm. Wed. Sept. 1st. We got a 9am bus south to the
Mediterranean coast to a little place called Dalyan by a river. We found a pretty
reasonable hotel for what is fast becoming a standard price for us of 80,000 TL for a room
with it's own bathroom. The bus ride - a minibus actually
stopped at every tin pot little town and took 6 hours, finally arriving early afternoon.
We chatted with a couple of English girls for a while who were on the same bus. Turkey
seems full of English - both tours and individuals which we have only seen in Egypt - not
really anywhere else in Europe. Dalyan is a quietish town which
appears to be flourishing with the tourist trade and a few minor sights nearby. Thurs. Sept. 2nd The day was spent mainly doing
a boat trip along the Dalyan canal. First up to a mud bath which was fun - covering
ourselves from head to toe in a grey mud then drying in the sun before jumping into a
couple of warm springs to clean off. Next we had a quick swim in the fresh water lake
followed by lunch and a visit to some ruins at Kaunos - forgettable. A nearby fish farm
with leaping fish was more interesting then we spent a couple of hours on turtle beach
where large sea turtles apparently breed despite the hundreds of tourists which stomp
around on the beach no doubt destroying some of the nests. A big shame but one of many
effects of mass tourism. It seems that Turkey is becoming more and more popular and there
will be big conflicts between the environment and tourism as it grows. Turkey has a lot to
gain from the tourism but there is much that may be lost if it's not managed carefully. In the evening Helen had her long
awaited fish dinner - whole grilled fish which she enjoyed despite being squeamish about
the head and eyes looking at her. Fri. Sept. 3rd Another travel day. we got a
dolmus to the next big town then a big bus to Seljuk - after sitting around for hours and
missing the bus we were supposed to catch. It was not such a pleasant ride as we were
amongst a whole group of smokers and we must have smoked a packet of cigarettes during the
journey. We got to Seljuk and bargained hard to get a nice room in the center of town.
Seljuk has a big Antipodean presence - with the Australian Pension, the New Zealand
Pension, the Australian New Zealand Carpet shop and a handful of other shops and places
with very prominent Oz/N.Z flags. In the late afternoon we visited the
archeological museum which contains many of the finds from Ephesus. The most memorable of
which is a statue of Propios - with a huge dick (a fertility symbol). There is also a few
statues of Artimos - another god with 2 dozen breasts or eggs on his front. Pizza for diner. Sat Sept. 4th I had a haircut in the morning
for which I paid the tourist rate of $4 instead of $2 which pissed me off no end. We find
the Turkish to be generally more honest than the Egyptians but there are always people out
to make extra money out of dumb tourists. This is another place which is pretty
cheap when you pay the same locals but can be like any other European country in the big
tourist areas. We try and avoid some of the extortinate prices as our way of protesting -
like paying 50,000TL o hire an umbrella and chairs on a beach when a night in a reasonable
hotel costs 80,000TL. In the early afternoon we visited the
much talked about ruins of Ephuses which is considered as one of the most significant
sites anywhere, and compared to Pompeii in our books. The site has a couple of
particularly impressive pieces - the big amphitheater and a library facade are the most
interesting but the original Roman roads are pretty good with lines of columns and
shops/buildings beside hint at what it looked like once. We didn't find it as interesting
as Pompeii but it may have been our mood at the time. Sun. Sept. 5th Strangely we didn't feel like moving on. We are getting a little travel weary after 3.5 months on the move. We find it very difficult to do
nothing so we caught a minibus to Kusadasi - a nearby touristy seaside town where we
wandered amongst the carpet and leather shops and the cruise ship passengers. I forgot to maintain our visit to the
Temple of Artemis - formerly one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was a big temple
that was built and demolished several times, the last time being about 200A.D. Little
remains today as I think most of the good marble was carted off to be used elsewhere.
There are a few excavations and a single column that has been restored and virtually no
tourists either. What a change. While we were there a Turkish guy appeared and offered to
sell us some ancient Roman coins supposedly found in the excavations. I'm no coin expert
but I expect they were fakes. If not they belonged in the museum so I wasn't tempted. Mon. Sept. 6th A long tiring day of bus rides.
Selchuck -> Ismir -> ˇ where we caught a taxi to see the ruins of Pergamon which
were less impressive than Epheses. Helen was worried about getting about us out of there
so we got another taxi down the hill again. From Bergama it was buses again to
Anlick -> Enterim -> Cannukale. We did meet a couple of interesting
people on the buses. In the morning we sat on a bus with a Turkish guy who said 'America
is rubbish' which got Helen fuming made. It's the first openly anti-American sentiment
we've come across really. Anyway, in the afternoon we rode a
bus with an amazing couple of Polish guys who were doing Turkey on the cheap - really
cheap. They planned to make $150 last 5 weeks. We are spending $450 a week on average!!
They never stay in pensions and usually hitchhike everywhere. It certainly made us
appreciate what we have. In Cannukale we stayed in Anzac House
- another supposedly Australian / New Zealand deal but owned and run almost entirely by
Turkish - crap room - pretty average facilities but for the same amount as the nice hotel
rooms we've become used to. Full of Antipodeans which was nice but as we were there for
only one night we spoke to no one. Cannukale is the main point which people do their Anzac
tours hence the Oz / N.Z restaurant and hotels. Tues. Sept. 7th We went to Truva, better known as Troy to see the complex, though not interesting to look at, excavations on the famous site of Troy. Actually it is the site of 10 different cities which were built one on top of another over the course of 4000 years. Only uncovered late last century by a treasure hunting German who is constantly blamed for screwing up the excavations by the current team of scientists. Back last century there wasn't the
techniques, technology or methods of excavation that exist today so it seems odd to blame
the guy - especially as he used his own money to go searching for it in the first place.
Anyway I thought it was interesting reading about the squabbling a blaming which is not
something you usually read about at a historical site. The only photos we took was of a
mock up of the famous wooden Trojan horse and of the 'Helen' restaurant (remember Helen of
Troy) just near the entrance of the site. In the afternoon we took a boat and
bus back to Gallipoli to say hello to Vanessa who was waiting for us and actually started
when I re-connected the battery. Wed. Sept. 8th We packed up and drove out of
Gallipoli to the town of Erdine where I will attempt to get a Bulgarian tourist visa
tomorrow. Vanessa doesn't sound any worse than I remember but we were a bit disappointed
to see a small amount of oil dripping when we stopped. Our fingers are crossed!! Thurs. Sept. 9th Last night we spoke to a guy in
our campground driving a funny little Citron with TinTin cartoons all over it. He is young
and British and is just beginning a drive from England (well he's part of the way through)
Hungary -> Romania -> Bulgaria -> Turkey -> Iran! -> Afghanistan ->
Pakistan -> India! We don't know if he is brave or stupid but he's doing it solo which
is even more foolhardy and I expect lonely too. This morning I linked up outside the
Bulgarian consulate with a bunch of Turkish truck drivers and elderly guys. I was
pleasantly surprised - they took my money - 550,000TL (about $45) and asked how long I was
going to stay then an hour later I had my visa. While I waited I chatted to a truck driver
who knew a few words of English and I guess the rest. We drove straight to the border after
filling up (the guy who filled up was puffing away on a cigarette!) where we got through
the Turkish stuff in about 10 minutes despite the lack of sighs to help us and then to the
Bulgarian side. While I had the passports stamped Helen changed some money and Helen spent
the rest of the day kicking herself when we discovered the guy shortchanged us 80 Leva
(about $3.50). No big deal but it is the principle. Welcome to Bulgaria. Once through we didn't look back - 5
hours on the motorway which more often than not didn't look like a motorway. The other
thing I nearly forgot which happened at the border was - just after we change our Turkish
lira into Bulgarian Leva we came to a booth where a guy was collecting a motorway toll.
The sigh said 22 Deutchmarks to Sofia. We said we didn't have any DM - and asked how many
Leva. He pointed to the bank and told us to change our Leva into DM to pay him. We were
flabbergasted and asked a couple of times 'What country are we in?' They wouldn't take
their own money! We parked near his hut to talk it over and I went back with my Leva and
said 'how much'. He didn't want to know and in the end he just said 'Go'. So we did and
saved ourselves $15. A good thing too as we were shocked
to discover the Sofia camp ground cost $15 or 415 Leva which is awful for an Eastern
European country. Bastards. Really primitive campground too. The woman on reception looks
like a hockey player as Helen said. She looks like a discuss thrower to me. A starving mongrel of a dog cam
sidling up to us so we fed it half a loaf of bread which it wolfed down. Our first
Bulgarian friend! We nicknamed him Ivan which seemed appropriate. Fri. Sept. 10th. Originally we had planned to drive
straight through Bulgaria and only get a transit visa for me but it was one of those times
when we said we may never be back here (likely) so we may as well spend a little more time
than we planned. So today our one day in Sofia. We caught a couple of buses and got
off when told by another passenger. Bus tickets were 3 level each but I didn't see a
single person validate one and neither did we. One of the books said that people have
stopped buying tickets in protest when they went up to 75 stonkis - they are now 4 times
that price but that is only 11cents each. Once off the bus we had no idea where
we were. There was no obvious center that we could see. We walked for a while and stopped
now and then to translate the Cyrillic place names into English to check against our
books. After ages we found where we were and we even did our only sightseeing for the day
when we visited a church which wasn't too old but looked it. Sofia seemed remarkably like any
other western city and not very poor or depressing at all. Food was cheap - lunch for 2
pizzas and 2 coffees came to about $1.25. We bought a box of chocolates for fun for about
50cents. They were pretty awful but it seemed like the eastern European way to line up
like that. We spent a couple of hours finding the post office, calling home to Oz and then
looking for ages for tourist offices and Amex office which both had moved or never
existed. I changed a travelers cheque into $US and paid a $7 commission - incredible
considering the cost of living here. It's another country which is really cheap when you
pay the prices that the do but is bloody expensive in other ways. We chatted to a young Bulgarian at a
sidewalk café for a while then went to the cinema to see Steven Spielberg's new film -
Jurassic Park. The tickets were 65 cents each. The sound was pretty crappy but that is
understandable as the Bulgarian audience really only want to read the subtitles not hear
the words. Getting back to the campground at
night was an experience in itself. We found a tram OK and we were to change to a bus at
the end of the line according to the tourist office but Helen got talking to a woman who
tried to help and asked other passengers where to get off. Pretty soon about half the tram
were asking and helping us out. As the woman Helen was speaking to , got off, she old
another passenger to make sure we got off at the right sop, then as they got off they told
the next person and so on. When we did get off a woman walked us to the spot and asked
when our bus would go!! We waited an hour and everybody else got their bus so we stood
there in the dark. It did come eventually and we got back safely. I nearly forgot, we bought a few
groceries - some sausages for us and some for Ivan - our newly adopted dog - who has eaten
bread and weet-bix for breakfast this morning. Helen even cooked his sausages! Sat. Sept. 11th A leisurely morning - goodbye
to Ivan and then off to the border of Romania. We were expecting the worst but hoping for
the best. The Bulgarian side wasn't too bad except for a bunch of obnoxious buys who were
very insistent about washing our car. One big bastard grabbed my neck and said something
threatening in Bulgarian. meanwhile Helen was outside standing in front of them yelling no
an she even hit one of them. Fortunately they gave up but we couldn't get away fast
enough. Once through the Bulgarian
formalities we joined another line for what we thought was the Romanian passport checks.
It was actually a wait for a ferry to take us across a river. The boat cost $32 (or 56D.M)
which was a price that seemed to vary considerably depending on your nationality. After 3
hours we were across on the Romanian side waiting for the Romanian passport checks. This
is the longest border crossing in history! We talked to a couple of Argentineans in a
French car who were doing a quick one month highlights tour of Europe. They told us Chile,
Argentina and Uruguay were countries worth visiting and that parts of Brazil were good
too. Somehow we ended up right near the front of the line. We bought our transit visas,
changed $20 into 1600 Romanian Lei and headed through the border - 6 hours later! Our first impression of Romania was
not good. The roads were bad and there were virtually no street lights and hardly a sign
to be seen. It was 9:30pm by now and we drove a couple of miles - amazed at the incredible
line of cars waiting to go the other way. The truck line must have been 3 or 4 miles at
least. There was a big queue for what we thought was our road so we stopped at the end of
it. It turned out to be the car line to the ferry back to Bulgaria and we were told that
some people had waited 24 hours to get to the front of the line - purely because of crappy
organization on the Romanian side. Some of the boats were leaving only half full as the
cars couldn't get passed cars coming off the other way! We decided it was as good a place
to spend the night as any so we stayed in line and moved around the corner when it appear
we may have to spend the whole night moving forward five feet as a time. Sun. Sept. 12th. We had a sleepless night -
mosquitoes, trucks, the humidity and a thunder storm made sure of that. We moved on
without breakfast and drove north for hours, stopped for lunch and breakfast along the
way. Most of what we saw of Romania was depressing and bleak - not helped by the rain
which persisted all day. we did find watching the people and animals interesting - more
horse and carts than we've seen anywhere in Europe & flocks of geese constantly
appearing on and by the road. Romania is the poorest country in
Europe and even from our short glimpse that seems apparent. We decided to spend the night
in a campground in a town called Arad near the Hungarian border. The worst campground ever
- the toilets were absolutely filthy - a foot of shit in one! I bargained down the manager
from $12 -> $8 which is still a rip off. We strolled through town and bought a
bottle of red and a bottle of white wine for less than $2 then we got ripped off when we
sat down for a couple of beers - "Sorry we are all out of that cheap Romanian beer
you wanted - how about some expensive Hungarian beer instead?" We learnt another
trick to rip tourists off! Nearly forgot - we filled up at a
petrol station and I paid in $US - 50 cents a liter and that was the expensive tourist
rate - locals pay 30 cents a liter if they can get it. Seems like they are much more keen
to sell for $US or SM than Romanian Lei. Mon. Sept. 13th Not a bit sorry to leave the
Arad campground. We drove to the border and I attempted to spend the last of our Romanian
Lei by filling up at a petrol station but they had no super - just low octane petrol which
would have been no good for Vanessa so we got to the border and I had a wad of useless
Romanian money. The border crossing was uneventful - a little slow as usual. We had to wait for no apparent reason but were finally through. We both breathed a sigh of relief having made it out in one piece. Next stop was Budapest - after stopping to fill up oil twice - 2 hours to a sump full of oil (2.25 liters) - about the same rate as our oil leak in Italy. We got
to Budapest but spent ages trying to find a campground. One was closed for the season but
we found one open - Sport Camp - at a sports club. We camped by some tennis courts.
Friendly (almost too friendly) owners but cheap $6.60 a night. Bargain. Tues. Sept. 14th Our first day of sightseeing .
Before anything else we collected mail - one letter for Helen. Then we walked to the
palace hill with cool views of the city then to a wax works museum for an individually
guided tour and there were no other English speaking tourists. For lunch Helen had a Big Mac craving
and I tried to find a cheap Hungarian place which had closed - as had another restaurant
we tried to find later. Our first sightseeing was the museum of fine arts - which had lots
of Spanish renaissance art with Helen and I both dislike. Budapest is a lovely surprise after
so many ugly cities over the last couple of months - especially with the Danube which
flows through it. Much more attractive and modern than we had expected - ever more than
Sofia. Wed. Sept. 15th First thing we called Archies
in London to find out if they would have a mechanic at Oktoberfest to help us with our oil
leak. They will so we've decided to drive there - 690km - at least 10L of oil as I
couldn't stand dealing with mechanics here as the changes of them speaking English is nil.
Even the people here at the campground don't so we can't use them for translations. For lunch we had a reasonable meal at
a sit down vegetarian restaurant and later some lovely cake. The rest of the day was spent
looking for things that didn't exist - restaurants, markets and coffee shops. Thurs. Sept. 16th Today Helen had her thermal
bath which was an experience in itself. She managed to have a bath and massage despite the
lack of English speaking staff or signs. We had a young Hungarian lunch at a fast food
restaurant called Paprika. In the afternoon we visited the national museum for a long
boring walking historical torture tour. Then a delicious coffee and cake again - 2 cakes
and 2 cappuccinos for about $2. As yummy as we've had anywhere and cheap. we stocked up on
some fresh fruit & veg before heading back to the van. Nearly forgot. We have 20L of oil in
the van to get us to Munich tomorrow. Our fingers are crossed. Fri. Sept. 17th. Very early start today - 6:00am we
were on the road to Munich where we are to have Archies (the London V.W people) check
Vanessa out. Once we got going we found we could only last 1.5 hours before having to
refill the oil. After an hour on the road Vanessa began shuddering - particularly up the
hills. Things weren't looking too good. After a couple more hours all of a
sudden we had to refill the oil every 45 minutes instead of every 1.5 hours. Things began
looking worse. We had to buy more oil in Germany as
we had used all our cheap Hungarian stuff. The hesitating up the hills became a
lot worse and we had to will her up in 2nd gear with the trucks honking at us.
We began to wonder if the day would ever end. Munich got closer and we finally
arrived - at about 7:pm with Helen on the handbrake and me revving the van to stop her
from stalling with some horrible noise coming from the motor. The Oktoberfest freecamp was there
but not so free - 20DM a night but we were just relieved to finally make it and Archies is
here as promised. Sat. Sept. 18th We were determined not to miss
the opening parade at the Oktoberfest this year so we were at the fairgrounds early. At
11:00am all the beer hall bands and float paraded past. The huge draught horses were very
impressive. The n we went into the Hoffbrauhaus to have a liter of beer each and chat to
some American servicemen. After lunch of chicken and pretzel we
had a siesta and walked back to the camp. Avery much more peaceful and relaxed opening day
compared to last year. Sun. Sept. 19th A complete rest day today. Mon Sept. 20th Archies was supposed to look at
the van so we waited most of the day but they didn't get to us, so we had another rest
day. Tues. Sept. 21st Happy second wedding
anniversary. Archies took a look at Vanessa. It
only took about an hour to pull the engine apart, replace the stupid seal and put it back
in. There was a lot of free play in the crank shaft which they can do little about. It is
probably the cause of the oil seal going so quickly. there are other noises unexplained
and still a vibration through the clutch which they didn't really explain. If they weren't
being nice to us I think they would have told us the engine is knackered. I think it is. We had a very nice anniversary dinner
at a pub / restaurant in Munich. Pork and Vienna Schnitzel. Wed. Sept 22nd Left Oktoberfest. Only a
handful of other vans still there. We stopped for a rest and saw oil still coming out of
the engine. I presume it is the same oil seal as before. We are on our way to the ferry at
Ostende - Belgium. The sight of more oil is incredibly frustrating. Freecamp at a motorway
rest stop near Mainz on the Rhine - though we only saw one quick glimpse of it from the
motorway. Thurs. Sept. 23rd Kept driving using 1 liter of oil
every 3 - 4 hours so things could be worse. Freecamp at a motorway near our next
stop - Gent. Fri. Sept. 24th. Had to push start Vanessa which is
very unusual when starting from cold. Drove into Gent and spent ages trying to find the
poorly marked campground. Stopped at the train station to ask for directions and had to
push start again! Found the campground which was quite luxurious after the last few weeks
of crappy / makeshift campsites. Wandered into Gent and ate pastries and drank coffee.
Called A + J to let them know we'd be back next week. Helen wants her birthday in Belgium. Postscript This is where my diary ended. Obviously we made it back to England. We left many liters of oil on the road on the way. Incredibly, despite all the problems with the van we actually managed to sell it (to a deaf guy) which was pretty hard to believe. |
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