Ah...Jen...when will you learn?

Well, we survived the desert and although there were no camels (except for a baby one that sorta resembled a hairy embryo on four legs), I did run into some trouble with another Egyptian laddie!

First off, the White Desert is by far one of the most tranquil, beautiful, stunning, romantic places I've ever been in my life. It consists of a beige sandy floor covering the bases of and flowing around huge calcitic (chalk-like) monoliths of many different shapes. The structures were formed by wind erosion as the wind picked up the sand and basically made a natural sand paper effect on the rocks. We were lucky enough to have a full moon on our night sleeping under the stars and by the moonlight the desert looked like an arctic or lunar landscape. It friggin' rocked and I wanted to stay much longer.

We hooked up with two Kiwi gals (gotta love the flightless, nocturnal birds) and an American for the trip and had a friggin' blast. The trouble came when, of course unbeknownst to me, our guide Shaban took some sorta liking to me and it wasn't until later speculation about his actions did I realise how creepy he really was. We all slept in a row, but I was at the end, so he moved his mattress beside mine, and then every time I tried to roll over he would be looking at me, and THEN he kept tapping me. I seriously thought this was all innocent and that maybe he just wanted to make sure I was still there under my fourteen blankets (it was COLD in the desert), but after a lot of retrospect his true lecherousness became apparent. Of course, this was after I had given him my e-mail address. What am I, 13 years old???!

So, there you have it...my luck with the Egyptian men continues!!! Luckily I was too stupid to realise what was going on at the time so it didn't detract from my wonderful time.

We have gotten the heck outa Cairo and are way down south in Aswan now. Maybe I'll do a little better here.

Love ya all.

Jen

Pyramids and Scams!

After two full days in Cairo, I sorta feel as though I've established a feel for the place. I have learned some very hard lessons about trust!!

The first night I got here I was alone and was befriended by a man named Sam who claimed I was part of his family cuz he has a friend who used to live in Toronto. The next thing I know, I am in his tour agency drinking mint tea and talking to the friend on the phone (he is telling me that I should never trust Egyptian men). Suddenly I find myself in a cab with Sam heading to some far off duty free store so I can boot for him cuz (and I'm gonna blame it on my jet-lagged stupor and my Canadian-ness) I had just agreed to use my passport to get the guy liquor and smokes (which are unavailable to Egyptians at that price).

Now, of course I realise that the people here are just trying to make or save money and I likely have more money to spare than they do, but at the same time, I will admit to getting a little pissy when finding out that I paid 4 times what I could have paid! It is entirely my fault for not educating myself and it really is all part of the experience, but you'd think I'd be a little more savvy. For example, if a rather nice looking lad claiming to be a doctor of botanical research at the National Museum walks up to you and tells you the museum is closed until 11:30 so you'd be better off going to the bazaar for a while cuz they are having a sale (his wife and daughter are going to be there too!!!), you'd think some bells might go off saying that 'maybe there wouldn't be a botanist working at a museum dealing solely with antiquities'. But no, we let the guy show us to the 'government' store, assured him we would definitely come visit him in his museum office, and proceeded to buy the bleedin' place out (convinced that we were saving a bundle!!!). The moral of this story: never trust a botanist!

Now don't get me wrong, Aman and I are having a blast, but we have found that we need to readjust our personalities a little (okay, maybe only I have to readjust cuz Aman has adopted a full on Zen attitude about everything).

We thought we'd start things off big, so yesterday we went to the Giza Plateau to check out the only surviving Wonder of the Ancient World. The Pyramids were humblingly huge and very claustrophobic inside. It is unfathomable to me that they have been around for over 4500 years. We were able to go in the biggest one (for the Pharaoh Cheops) and were treated to a very steep and long climb up a passageway about the size of a TV only to find pretty much nothing at the top! Still, you gotta go inside, don't ya? Even if your thighs are really paying for it today!!! We also went to see the first pyramid ever made, called the Step Pyramid, at a site called Saqqara). There were far fewer people so it was a much more serene experience.

My favourite part of Giza was trying to convince one of the local salesmen that there were indeed fossils in the rocks. Even after I showed them to him he kept telling me "No animals, lady, only rocks." and he was even more incredulous when I tried to explain (as we stand in the middle of the desert) that these were marine animals so these rocks were originally in the ocean. Ah... the tough life of a paleontologist!

Today (after an expensive detour to the 'government' shop) we made it to the National Museum and were treated to an overwhelming array of artifacts. There were so many things stuffed in that building that it was hard to really see any of it. All of the stuff from Tutankhamen's tomb (including his death mask and tonnes of jewelry) was very well preserved and really cool. I went in to the Royal Mummy Room alone, as Aman refused and was in a state of interest, mixed with disbelief and a little of the heebie geebies if I stared too long at the faces of these long dead kings and queens.

Tomorrow we are heading into the desert for three days where I am likely to die of APC (or Asphyxiation due to Proximity to Camels), so I'll let you know how that goes!

Love y'all!

J

Lilliputian Dinos!

I'm a zombie wandering around the Vienna airport at 5AM after the 12 hour flight from Bangkok. The flight was okay. I was pretty frickin' excited that I got my own TV with many movie choices, but as it turned out, the movie options weren't great, except for a Dinosaur Planet show about an 80 million year old Pyroraptor from southern Europe that gets swept away to an island inhabited by dwarf dinos. It was very Gulliver's Travels!!! The big downside of the flight was my neighbours. First there was the unbelievably loud talker behind me. I was very pleased when she finally fell asleep...until I realised that she is a bleedin' sleep-kicker! Then there was the older gentleman next to me...despite the fact that he had a bladder of steal (the man did not go to the bathroom once-in 12 hours!), there was one point where he jumped in his sleep, hit my arm and made me spill my water all over myself! I was a little too tired to really care (truthfully, I was too into the Pyroraptor!) and he didn't even bleedin' wake up! So between the kicker and the jumper it was quite an interesting flight. Hence my state of torpor.

Okay, kind of another boring update...but that is just cuz I haven't really done anything yet!!! You should all be very thankful that I don't have enough time left on this computer to go into great detail about the Pyroraptor!!!

Love you all,

Jen

...and the world's your oyster

Good afternoon and welcome to our first official update!

I arrived in Bangkok on Saturday night and after being picked up at the airport by my big bro, we preceeded directly to the pub for a few pints (in true Duffy fashion)!

Today is my last day in Thailand and I have spent my time here just hangin out. I saw a very bad movie in the theatre yesterday, Ladder 49. My apologies to the few of you who might have enjoyed it (Leah!) but in my humble opinion it kinda sucked the big one!

WARNING: I'm gonna blather on about soccer for this whole paragraph...

Last night I was treated to what could have been a beautiful personal moment and huge triumph for Canadian Women's soccer. The Under-19 World Cup is being held in Thailand and Canada was actually one of the favourites (after losing 1-0 in extra time to the bleedin US in the final of last U-19 World Cup). Canada was playing China in one of the Quarter Finals. Our team is actually pretty good although it is not beautiful football by any stretch of the imagination. Anyhow, I said 'could have been' a beautiful personal moment and huge truimph for Canadian Women's soccer cuz it is pretty friggin' difficult for a team to win after their goalkeeper gets red-carded and gives up a penalty for taking down a Chinese striker in the box in the first minute of the game. Yeah, the first minute!!! I was bleedin' in shock. So they lost 3-1 and then had a big cry afterward. It was all very sad. On a more exciting note, in the other Quarter Final of the night, Brazil scored a wonderful header in the last second of regulation time against Germany and went on to beat them 4-2 in extra time! That was pretty.

OKAY, FOOTBALL DRIVEL OVER!

Well, that is my update-my day consisted of a movie about nothing and a lot of unluckiness on the pitch. One night in Bangkok!!! If you are in fact still reading, you are defintely to be commended.

I head to Vienna tonight and then off to Cairo where things shall get much more exciting (unless of course I witness another football match, in which case you shall all be subject to some more highly detailed football talk!!!).

I hope you're all well.

Jen