Secrets of a goddess
Last night, we jumped ship to another vessel, the MV Antares, reportedly one of the best boats on the Nile, rivalling the Zara, which staff say just has a better […]
NOTEBOOK
Canter past Patagonian icefields. Sail the tranquil waters of Lake Como in Italy. Sip coffee in a Palestinian village. Listen to the ancient voices of Australia’s Arnhem Land. Climb the mountain paths of northern Albania. Let’s go!
Luxor: temples and tombs
Luxor, land of temples and tombs, is completely at ease with its tourist population…as long as the tourists buy their dodgy necklaces, suspect pashminas (um, from Peshwar?), faux papyrus or, […]
Blame it on the rain
Of course we missed the train to Luxor. Blame it on the rain. It rains in Cairo around six times a year – just enough to settle the dust and […]
Pigeon English
‘Begoon,’ it reads on the menu. I’m getting pretty good at menus, but this one has me stuffed. And stuffed it is. Begoon is the Arabgleeze for ‘pigeon’. (is there […]
City of the Dead
In the City of the Dead, Turkish generals sleep under marble slabs, while the children of their former subjects live, breathe, work and play above ground, alongside the tombs. Some […]
The lovely Sabah
Here’s Sabah, my cleaning lady. She does her washing at my apartment and waits for it to dry, watching TV and drinking tea, apparently. I think she also washes my […]
Stop Press!
I have an apartment *victory dance*! The trawl through Cairo’s dirty streets has been long and arduous, especially when today I got shown the same apartment, TWICE. In fact, I […]
Horsing Around the Pyramids
I don’t gallop, I tell Mido. Ok, he says soothingly. We pass through the gate and into the pyramids, and it’s a full five minutes before he whacks my little […]
treading on camel toes
This morning, Juan and I went to the Birqash camel market, about 45km out of Cairo. We did a very good deal with a smooth-talking guide with car, Tarek, who […]