Egypt, 8-13 February 2010

After experiencing a good chunk of the coldest winter in London for a loooong time, we craved some sun that would give us some warmth... There were a lot of January travel sales and so finding a place to go wasn't easy. In the end the cheap all-inclusive hotels in the resort of Sharm El Sheik drew us in, and we picked a hotel with a massive water park.


We arrived at about 4pm on the Monday and were a bit disconcerted to find that it wasn't far from getting dark, because of course it was winter in Egypt. Summer gets up to 45 degrees so winter's the best time to go if you want a nice late 20s type of temperature. The hotel was huge, and our room very nice, with a view over the pools.

After we gorged ourselves at the buffet we went to the bedouin tent where they had events every night, and that night happened to be a magician... For some reason we both got picked to go up and help and so got treated to him pulling ribbons out of nowhere and disappearing coins.
The next day in amongst swimming and sliding and soaking up the sun, we organised the rest of our week - quad biking and camel-riding on Wednesday, flying to Cairo on Thursday and going on a glass-bottomed boat on Friday (our flight home was on Saturday).

Wednesday afternoon we were rearing to go at reception, and after a minor incident involving the guide asking us where our scarves were (to protest us from the dust), and us saying we thought they would be provided - well, they aren't! The guide obviously thought we were stupid foreigners, and pointed out that he'd showed us photos of people on the trip, and they were wearing scarves! So Rob raced back to grab my sarong and some money to buy another one. Unsurprisingly, after we'd already given the guide the money and arrived at our destination, they were giving everybody scarves without any money changing hands... That behind us, the guys put our scarves on for us, showed us how to operate the bikes, and after an age we were finally off!

We were surprised at how many people there were around. There were several different companies operating out of the same patch of desert, with quad bikes, arabian horses and camels. In our group there was about 15 bikes, and we had to go single file. We went at the back, so had the opportunity to slow down a bit then go for a real blat to catch up to everyone. We got to an "authentic" bedouin tent were we stopped and an old man came out with a chilly bin full of beers and soft drink. Unfortunately Rob got the wrong end of the stick and the old man had opened 2 beers before we realised we had to pay for them, and that we didn't have enough money. There was a bit of a belly-churning awkwardness before a British couple sitting next to us gave the man the rest of the money we owed...
We were the only ones in our group to go on the camel ride, so while everyone else chilled out for a bit, we got on our camels and got led around the "block" a couple of times. They were well behaved and it was a nice little novelty.


I would've loved to ride the Arabian horses, but was fully aware that my muscles wouldn't be up to it and could well put me out of commission for the rest of the trip. We got back to the group, and drove our quad bikes back to the start, taking in the sunset on the way.

When we got back we had a drink with the nice British couple, Jenny and Phil, who had given us the money for the drink. It turned out they had some insider knowledge of the resort and had figured out how to use tipping to its full advantage to get glasses rather than plastic cups and get drinks brought over etc (which, being kiwis, we still had to get to grips with. Especially tipping the bathroom people at the airport who hold the door open for you and give you paper towels to dry your hands. I mean, I can do that myself?!).
We had to get up extremely early the next morning to catch our flight to Cairo, so it was an early night.
The next morning we were up bright and early, and picked up our little "breakfast box" from reception. At the airport I was extremely tickled to see all the tourists with their breakfast bags, all from different hotels. We got into Cairo uneventfully, and met up with our tour guide who was very nice, and talked and talked all the way to our first stop at the Ancient Egyptian Museum. Much of what he said drifted past us as we dosed in and out of sleep though...
The Museum was amazing, but so so packed with people and artifacts that it was almost overwhelming. Because we only had a couple of hours there, the guide took us only to certain artifacts, but we did have free time to look at Tutankhaman's mask and coffins, and whatever else we could manage to look at. I had to look at the animal mummy room.
Next on the agenda was lunch, which we got to by taking a boat trip down the Nile.
Lunch was a buffet, very similar to that at the hotel. An older couple with their son from our hotel must have had something bad, as the next day we saw them again and they were very under the weather...
After lunch was time for the pyramids which Rob had been extremely looking forward to. They are actually in Giza, which is across the Nile from Cairo, but still really part of the same city. We drove for ages and finally, over some houses we got our first glimpse of the pyramids.

When we finally pulled up at the base of the pyramids we were shocked at the proximity of the city.
We'd both imagined them as being out on their own in the middle of the desert. Instead, you could stand at the base of the pyramid and see the city of Giza stretching out beneath.

Unfortunately, there was a terrible dust storm and it was very unpleasant getting big gusts of sand in our faces, as well as watching all the rubbish and plastic bags being picked up by the wind. We had a look at the Great Pyramid, and climbed up it a bit, but things were definately cut short by the wind.

We decided not to pay extra to go inside the pyramid, as other people had told us it was pretty much just a stuffy, empty room.
The guide told us to explore a bit and meet back at a prearranged time at the bus. As we were wandering around we had to ignore the persistant people around wanting us to buy stuff. Our guide had warned us this would be the case and told us to not talk to anyone, or make eye contact. We were a bit surprised though when we were posing for a photo by one of the pyramids and a tourism policeman came up to us and basically grabbed the camera off Rob and told us where to stand so we could reach over the top of the pyramid. Surely he wasn't going to ask us for money - he was the police! Luckily he got a phone call and we ran away, but he followed us for a good distance calling out that he could take more photos...We both decided that he was after a tip after all...
The next stop was the Sphinx, who has unfortunately lost his nose and his false beard along the way (we learned this is because he's made from limestone which crumbles over time) and looks a bit the worse for wear. There were so so many people there it wasn't funny, and we found it difficult to get a great shot.


We all eventually piled back onto the bus, and while we were waiting for the last stragglers the couple in front of us got seduced into buying a set of a wooden sphinx and Egyptian cat. I liked the look of the cat, and when it transpired someone else wanted the Sphinx I couldn't resist. I was able to bargain the kid selling them down to 40 Egyptian pounds for both, which is around 4 British pounds.
The bus was back on the road, with one more stop to make. This was at an Egyptian essential oil perfume makers. By this time I had had a bit of trouble with some mozzie bites that were starting to get a bit serious. So I wondered if they had anything that would soothe the bites. In desperation I bought some lupin oil on the man's recommendation, but was highly suspicious the whole time after the man had said they would be gone in 3 days. They would be gone in 3 days anyway... But anything for some instant relief. Unfortunately the relief didn't come and my feet were swelling to alarming proportions. By the time we arrived back at the resort I could barely walk, and wrangled some ice off the barman. Anyone squeamish about feet should not look at this next photo... and yes, that right ankle is twice its normal size

The next day thankfully I could walk, and even make it up the stairs to the waterslides.


In the afternoon we had booked our glassbottomed boat ride. While we were waiting someone was feeding the fish potato chips off the pier and the fish were loving them, and Rob's toes.



Once on the boat we got a beautiful view of the ocean depths and we could see how Egypt is such a diving mecca, even if we were both too wussy to do it ourselves :-) Unfortunately the photo doesn't do it justice.

Saturday was our last morning and we were both reluctant to leave the beautiful weather, the waterslides and the copious amounts of food. Cairo was a wonderful place to visit as well to see so much history in one place, but it is not nice in terms of the desperate people, and the harassment they give to tourists to buy their stuff or even just to give them money. The crowds and crowds of people also detract from the atmosphere of the place, but that's just what happens at tourist attractions...

Jobs and Flats

The place we found to live in temporarily was a kind of hostel/hotel in Shepherd's Bush ("She-Bu") - the obligatory stop for Kiwis and Aussies on their OE. We liked that breakfast was included in the deal, and although it was more expensive than a flat, we knew it was only short term. They only had a bunk room to start with, but assured us a double room was available in a few days. When we arrived, we hardly knew what to think - the room was tiny! And although we had our own bathroom, it was up half a flight of stairs. We decided to suck it up though, and when we got our double room it was a real Hallelujah moment with the sun streaming in and illuminating the huge room. There was an ensuite bathroom with this one, and all the rooms had a wee kitchenette with stovetop, fridge and microwave and a TV.









As it turned out, earning money was just around the corner. After giving up on my decidedly average recruitment company, I accidentally joined another one when I applied for a job online. This recruitment company had an extremely enthusiastic recruitment officer who would have done well working with the hard-of-hearing. She wrangled an interview with Village Vet - a large company with practices all around London. I must have impressed in the interview as they offered me work straight away (well to start in a few days) - at one of their branches at which the vet had fallen ill. The practice was in Ealing - very West London, working 9am-7am days. The work... lets say very quiet. But at £200 a day I was not complaining.

Rob found it a bit more difficult, probably due to the time of year - not many companies are looking to hire just before Christmas. But like a good little house husband he fed the starving beast when she got home from work.

Unfortunately the touristy aspect of our travels dried up at this point as I found myself either at work or travelling to and from work much of the time. We did manage to go and see our friends Katherine and Neill's new baby though - little Solomon, a real wee cutey! We also found time to go and see Buckingham Palace, unfortunately though on the alternate day to when the Guards did their Changing.

So we went round the corner to St James Palace and harassed the guards there... This day was the first day it snowed in London, which we got very excited about!








There was also the odd pub trip and trip to the movies in amongst this. Georgia invited us to a christmas party her extremely talented baker friend was putting on, and we managed to mix almost every drink known to man and end up pretty crook the next day. In fact, that Sunday was a write-off which was annoying as I didn't have that many days off to waste!
We went to see comedy in Chiswick which was very funny, went to see the christmas lights in Oxford Street and Regent Street, saw the amazing hippy balloons down Carnaby Street, went to the Hyde Park Christmas market with Debs and Mike and Mike's brother Andrew and his wife Tracey, went to Harrods (so packed we couldn't move), went to a rock and roll pub in Soho.

We saw the massive O2 arena when I went for a job interview in Greenwich and it actually had a christmas fair inside it, as well as tennis and exhibitions and all sorts of other stuff...

Over Christmas Georgia had planned to go home for 4 weeks and asked us if we'd like to take her room while she was away. We agreed and so ended up back in Bethnal Green. I had the serious job of looking after the 2 fish, because I was "the most qualified". This went well until the day before Georgia was due home. The little fish decided to get extremely ill and start floating on his side... Unfortunately he didn't make it until she got home :-(

Christmas day I had off, fortunately, and Debs and Mike generously invited us to their place to stay Christmas Eve, and go and have Christmas lunch with Mike's brother Andrew and his wife Tracey in Wimbledon on Christmas day. Debs and Mike are living in Wokingham, which is about 45 minutes train ride from Waterloo. It was a lovely day - there was still snow on the ground and we had a yummy croissant and bacon breakfast and then a roast turkey with all the trimmings for lunch, and played Wii afterwards to try and work off the yummy dinner.














Christmas day was the only day I had off between 21st of December and the 2nd of January - so unfortunately Rob and I spent a very quiet New Years Eve in front of the telly as I was exhausted from working so much and had work New Years Day... I went to bed at 10.30pm after watching a couple of DVDs. Ah well, next year will be better... It was worth it this year for the time and a half. £300 can buy us a trip somewhere!

We had great fun living at Georgia's with her flatmate Marianne, and her other flatmate's "replacements" Surani and Sarah, but of course we knew we needed to find somewhere to move on to. Rob had had a few interviews for jobs similar to what he was doing in New Plymouth (tertiary education marketing), and he had been hired by Kingston University, which is in Kingston, SW London on the border with Surrey. Because of the proximity he was really keen on living southwest. We looked at a few flats in Fulham, one really cheap one in Tooting, and the Putney Palace in Putney - a falling down old flat above a kebab shop featuring a kiwi artist who was a little eccentric. Finally we found a flat with a nice big bedroom, a lounge, a dishwasher, and Sky TV - and full of kiwis and Aussies! The main reason we took the flat was the lovely area (just by the river) and the nice flat - And it meant a 30 minute bus-ride to work for Rob. It meant an hour long journey for me but it was the same as what I'd already been doing so no great change. And I was still locumming, so could end up anywhere.

We moved in on the 16th. There is a kiwi guy who does IT, a kiwi girl who's a teacher, an Aussie couple - both teachers, a Polish girl who's a pharmacist, and us. And I mustn't forget Lola the Cat...


Its crowded but there are 2 bathrooms and 2 toilets so it works fine. We do stuff as a flat too which is fun - we went to the movies last Tuesday (cheap movies) and a pub quiz Tuesday just been. Rob's job is going well, and I am hating the long journey to and from work each day but still looking for somewhere closer to home. Village Vet seem to like her and keep giving her more work, which would be fine if they had any practices in South London...


Next on our agenda.... Egypt!

Arrival in London - week 1

The 13 hour flight to London was one we thought we were prepared for – I had planned to get a certain amount of sleep, watch a certain amount of TV and movies, and read a certain amount. Unfortunately the sleep part didn’t happen. By the end of the flight I was feeling very worse the wear. Even the Hugh Grantesque voice of the pilot wasn’t enough to make her giggle by the end of the flight.

Flying over London upon the descent we were struck by how flat it is. Finally we touched down – land never felt so good! We entered Heathrow, travelled on several escalators, and picked up our bags, all set for customs. But to our surprise we exchanged pleasantries with the customs man and before we knew it we were free! We turned the corner and we were almost out of the airport. Strangely enough we found a continuing theme – in Hong Kong and now in London there were always several cops with huge guns standing around. Our first step was to get to Georgia’s house. We decided to get a cab as neither of us felt like we were in the right frame of mind to negotiate the tubes, especially with our life packed into four suitcases and several bags. Georgia had suggested a cab would be about £40. Unknown to us though there are 2 types of cab in London. We chose a black cab, so ended up paying twice that much… But we thought it was almost worth it. Our cabbie was the typical London cabbie – full of all sorts of interesting facts, and if he took us a little out of the way in order to give us a little tour, well, good on him. He asked us what part of Australia we were from. We told him New Zealand. “oh, yeeah…” As an interesting aside, Black Cab cabbies have to sit a full-on test covering the streets of London in order to get their license. It’s called “The Knowledge”. The cabbie took us through the City of London and showed us the little dragons that marks the outskirts of the City. He showed us Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Pall Mall... It was surreal for us passing through all of these iconic places and I couldn’t help relating them all back to Monopoly.

We reached Georgia’s place and the cabbie gave us a little background into the area of Bethnal Green – namely Brick Lane and its alternate name of Curry Lane, because of all the Bangledeshi immigrants. We were pleasantly surprised to find out how close Bethnal Green is to the City. Georgia was shocked and amused when we told her how the cabbie had taken us on the little tour that he had – and she wondered how that was a remotely sensible route to take from Heathrow to Bethnal Green.

It was great to see Georgia and stay in her lovely warm (and big – for London) flat. The next day she went to work – and we lazed around and slept. It probably took about a week to fully adjust to the time difference. Up until then I would get extremely tired at about 6pm then again at about 9. Rob would get tired around 4pm then perk up after that. We tried to develop a pretty normal routine though and so it didn’t take too long.
On the Thursday (we had arrived on a Tuesday, did nothing on Wednesday) we went out. We decided to get out of the tube at St Pauls, and make that our first sightseeing experience. It is, of course, amazing.
We had a look inside but to get past the reception you have to pay. We decided we’d wait until we were showing someone round before we would pay to have a look inside.

From St Pauls we wandered and found the Millenium Bridge. I was keen to find the Tower of London (unbeknownst to me this was not the way to go...), so we crossed the bridge and – lo and behold – we found the Globe Theatre, of Shakespearean fame. We decided to buy a ticket for a guided tour. It was completely worth it. The tour guide was very passionate and knowledgable about the theatre and we felt like we could imagine exactly what it was like. It made us quite enthusiastic about going to a play in the summer, but also it made us quite keen to sit in the seats, and not be “Groundlings”... Shakespeare wrote his plays with the theatre in mind so it is apparently a very different experience watching a performance in this theatre.

The exhibition hall was also very interesting, and has a lot of information about theatre in medieval and renaissance times, and what happened to all of London’s old theatres (they mostly all burnt down).

In the exhibition hall there are a couple of tapestries from New Zealand! A club in NZ had got together and made these tapestries for the Globe's re-opening.

When we were wandering around after that we came across The Clink – One of London’s first prisons. They have made it into a little museum. There are graphic descriptions of the punishments dealt out to the lawbreakers – including the stocks, ball and chain, drowning, beheading, and of course, hanging. If the prisoner was lucky enough to live he/she would just have to go without food, warmth or bedding.

The rest of the week we pretty much spent flat hunting – as Georgia’s flat was pretty crowded and we were taking over her bedroom...

Interestingly enough we came across some obvious scams while looking for a short-term flat on Gumtree. Places would be advertised in Mayfair and Notting Hill for £100 a week (this is about a quarter of what you would expect to pay in these areas), and we contacted a couple of them, only to receive emails back detailing how the owners of these flats were Reverends, and were off travelling on Crusades for children, and how they were pleased that such upstanding citizens such as us would find it in our hearts to take extremely good care of their places. We never got to the stage where they got our account details for the “security deposit”...
Finally we found a reasonable looking place in Shepherds bush that didn’t require any deposit, and were so sick of looking by this stage that we snapped it up.

Now that we had that sorted we were able to relax a little and we went out Saturday night to a friend of Georgia’s birthday – unfortunately we didn’t last very long due to the lingering jetlag... The next day we went to Brick Lane market – a short walk from Georgia’s place and brilliant. The main bit is indoors and packed with trendy clothes and amazing food. I couldn’t resist and bought a handmade necklace, and dreamed of the day that I will have made some money to shop with... Rob stuck to lamb curry.