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After 10 months in the desert of Kuwait I was very glad to be home despite it being mid winter. I saw much of the country and most of my family and friends. Certainly a change to see green grass, open spaces and mountains, as opposed to sand, palm trees, flash cars and shopping malls.

My trip started with a two week stop in Sydney to visit my brother. I also stopped over at Singapore airport for 7 hours and managed a free tour of the city. This was really my desensitising stage and readjusting to colder temperatures and a western culture.

Then I went to New Plymouth for 3 ½ weeks. Apart from visiting family and friends I played heaps of golf – about 3 times a week. This is what I have really missed living in Kuwait. Although I managed to have a game last week at a brand new course. While in New Plymouth I took a bus down to Wellington to see some friends I hadn’t seen for a long time. After my time in New Plymouth came to an end I headed down to Christchurch to see more family, and then onwards to Dunedin.

My time in Dunedin was more like a working holiday. There was heaps of work to do on my mother’s small farm mostly moving branches to burn or mulch piles and general tidying of the place. The weather was great and I managed to play a lot of golf too. I also caught up with more friends and family and even did a couple of day’s relief teaching at Waikouaiti School. While in Dunedin I took a trip to Central Otago. Here I played golf with my friend Nathan. I also took a day trip to Milford Sound (including a scenic flight!) Lastly I spent a day skiing. What an action packed weekend.

It was a little difficult leaving NZ but I am happy to be back in Kuwait and back into work. I have lots of friends here and there are heaps of new teachers in the school to hang out with. The saving potential is excellent here as are the travel opportunities. Speaking of holidays my next one is in a month and I have a trip booked to southern Egypt – Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel. Going to be a jam packed 5 days, and should be great. Until next time.

Egypt Trip

Well another holiday and another trip. Egypt was fantastic -so much to see and do besides the pyramids, which I wasn’t aware of. I had five days and was based in downtown Cairo. Three of the days were filled with activities on a private tour I booked. Had a driver, tour guide, accommodation and all transfers sorted before I left so no worries. All at a very reasonable price – around $600NZ, although this didn’t cover admission – another $200 or so. The slightly budget motel had only 15 rooms, therefore I got to socialise in the evenings with the other guests and owners. The motel also had breakfast included, but bread, jam and yoghurt doesn’t quite fill me up.

Cairo’s streets are madness. Three lanes turn into four as vehicles weave between each other, although I saw no accidents and it flowed amazingly well. The majority of the cars are small and very old (20-30years) – Fiat 1300’s, Pergoet 206’s and Lada’s which suit the type of driving of squeezing into tight spots. Surprisingly the streets weren’t full of people as I expected despite being right across from the Cairo museum in downtown. Maybe it was due to the ash cloud disruptions as even the tourist spots I visited were quieter than normal. I felt very safe the whole time as there were tourist police everywhere, and metal detectors at all the major sites. It was like being at the airport.

On the second day (first full day) I visited the pyramids, Sphinx, Memphis and Sakkara, as well as other stops on the way. Memphis was my first stop and the place was founded around 3,100 BC, At the site were Egyptian monuments, including an impressive 10 metre long limestone statue of King Ramses the 2nd. After that it was off to Sakkara, the place of the Bent Pyramid. This was the first building to take the pyramid form. There was also site where ceremonial acts were held. Next we stopped at a carpet school – a place where orphan children are taught to weave carpet in order to make a living. There are around 20 of these schools and was an amazing experience. The work was incredible with some carpets taking up to a year to complete and costing upwards of $25 000! The last stop for the day was at Giza – the sight of the famous three pyramids. They are so impressive and really make you wonder – HOW! Spent about an hour wandering around the site, hearing the guide tell about the myths and thought facts about them and then went inside the Great Pyramid. It was very cramped walking up to the burial chamber but worth the treck just to be inside the last remaining ancient wonders of the world.

The following day I was up and away by 6am heading up to Alexandria. There wasn’t much to see on the way but the seaside city itself was great – named after Alexander the Great. In the township were the catacombs of Kom El – Shokafa. These roman catacombs are underground down a spiral staircase in three tiers at a depth of 100 feet, and date from late first and early second century A.D. They are basically like a morgue where bodies of mummies were stored. After this we stopped at Pompeii’s pillar which was erected in 297 A.D in memory of the Roman Emperor. Next stop was the Alexandria Library – the biggest library in Africa. It was also a museum with many exhibits to see. We had an amazing seafood lunch, with fish cooked in a range of spices plus a seafood soup. Lastly I had a swim in the Mediterranean. The water was warm but no waves.

On my last full day I went across the road to the Egyptian Museum. What an amazing place. So much to see and so little time – 4 hours. Thousands of items, some still in fright containers with nowhere to go. The Tutankhamen Room was great as was the Mummies room, despite costing an extra $25 to enter. After that it was off to The Coptic Church, Ben Ezra Synagogue, the first mosque built in Egypt and the Mohammad Ali mosque at the Citadel. These are Cairo’s lesser known attractions(compared with the Pyramids) but where so much history and culture stand. I also visited the Khan El Khalili bazaar to get a few last minute purchases.
Lastly I went to the Papyrus Institute – where they use the Papyrus plant to make a paper like material. This is very tough and can be screwed up or have water poured over it and still maintain its form. It is then painted with Egyptian designs or scenes of Egypt. I couldn’t resist buying a few of these to hang on my walls.

Well that’s about it – tried to make it brief but very hard to do. So much to see and do and so much more I could have done. I plan to go to the southern end of Egypt next year and visit the sites around Luxor and Aswan. One quarter left of school so the countdown is on until I return home for a couple of months. Bye for now.

National + Liberation Day

Kuwaiti people are very patriotic. Our school had a celebration day before the holiday where almost all of the children dressed up and many of the teachers too. The entire school was decorated with flags and the colours of Kuwait. The students reenacted some of the heritage and past events of the country, bridal ceremonies, the war, etc. Afterwards a giant blow up slide was put into the recess room (playground) for the students to play on. A great day was had by all.
On one of the main roads – Arabian Gulf Street was where most people celebrated with a giant traffic jam! Apparently this is a tradition. People have cans of foam and water pistols and shoot at each other. The street is full of teenagers and kids, and inside the cars, windows are being pulled down and shots fired. It’s a lot of fun and mostly in good spirit. Although I heard some people were arrested as they were opening car doors and firing inside them. Many cars were decorated as you can see in the photos, with even some people completely painting their $150 000 cars the flag’s colours. If you look carefully you can see the Hummer had a bubble blowing machine out the top. Amazing! Unfortunately there were no other events on (that I knew about) to celebrate this day. Not like back home. The last pictures are of the effects of the dust over the past few weeks and what happens if you don’t wash your car. It hangs around like fog and comes and goes making it difficult for some to breathe however I haven’t found it that bad. Will try to get a picture of it sometime soon.

I have booked flights to Egypt mid April for 5 days instead of Beirut. I’m going by myself and got a good deal on a flight and am planning on doing a five day tour of the pyramids and historic sites around Cairo and Alexandria. I am really looking forward to it. 6 weeks to wait.

Oman

Mountains, forts, wadis (canyons) and friendly people – these were my experiences in Muscat. First my friend and I had 4 days in Muttrah, which is close to the old original city. There we explored the famous Muttrah Souk and went for walks to museums, government buildings and forts, etc. We also spent a day on a private beach and went on a guided kayaking trip. On the trip we went through caves and saw turtles swimming in the water, and countless fish. Unfortunately the coastline of Muscat was having its annual 2 weeks of algae so the sea water was very green in places and not suitable for snorkeling.

After Muttrah we rented a car and went to Sur. (about 300km south along the Oman coast) The newly built road was fantastic – two lane highway all the way and a 120km speed limit. Also petrol is very cheap like all of the Middle East – only 40c a litre! On the way we stopped at a wadi and walked for about 45minutes through the canyon (mostly on boulders) and stopped for a swim in one of the pools. The scenery is amazing and the weather was in the high 20’s which made the water a perfect temperature. While at Sur we went for a drive to old fortified villages which were in fact still being lived in, even in some of the old rundown 500 year old buildings. Some people didn’t’ always seem happy to see us there so some visits were quick, although many more were interested by our being there.

The last three days we were back in Muscat and while there took a day trip to Nizwa (the formal capital of Oman) and also to the surrounding areas. Nizwa was great with an awesome fort, castle and souk all next to each other. There was so much to see and so much history. It was really a great place to visit.