dustytrail9

This was one heck of a good time! From the town of Luxor, we managed to catch a last minitue opening on a crusie ship heading to Aswan. There are occasional stops along the way for historical sites of interest.

Whenever I have traveled in countries that rely heavily on the tourist industry, there always people around offering their goods and services… Egypt was no different, however, I was suprised to see this operating on the Nile! In the picture, you can see the row boats (filled with mechandise) connected to other row boats tethered to the cruise ship.

I applaud their efforts, and was coaxed into buying a rug.

Every year in the summer, Scandinavians mainly (but really people from everywhere) gather in Roskilde, Denmark for the ‘Roskilde music festival.’ It’s generally a four day event and tent camping is included in your ticket price. When I went in 2004, there were about 70 000 attendees and four stages playing music 12PM – 4 AM. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t hold up - we had A LOT of rain. As shown in the picture, one can imagine what that many people walking over the same area will do to the ground… :|

We realized that in arriving late we were actually quite lucky, as we camped some distance from the main traffic, and thus avoided our tents becoming engulfed in the mud (others were not as fortunate).

Nonetheless, everyone was in high spirits and enjoying themselves and it was the best music festival I have been to. I would love to go back!

What a neat place! A friend and I went here in May 2003. Our boat was relatively small (about 10 tourists in all) which I think was an advantage because we were able to land places that the larger (more party orientated) boats couldn’t. If you are just there to look, the ‘guide level’ is less important. We were also interested in the history, as well as learning something about the animals, so we opted for a level 4 guide.

The picture is of a sea pup playfully chasing a water iguana from the sea onto land (you can just make out the sea pup tugging on the iguana’s tail)

Obviously rich in history, culture, and religion (and unfortunately conflict). I often feel I know so little about a place until I have actually gone. I tried to get a flight over when I was in Egypt, but the representative at Egypt air looked at me like I was insane and replied ‘There are no flights from Egypt to Jerusalem.’

What’s better than a complete life-sized army made out of stone (around 8000 in all) rediscovered in the 1970’s after 2200 years? It makes me wonder what else awaits discovery…

I have always enjoyed wine tasting, and Napa Valley is reasonably close. I also found this somewhat interesting article which reviews a (blind) Californian vs. French wine taste test:

http://www.montelena.com/our_winery/paris_1976.html

...and a follow-up some 30 years later:

http://www.winedine.co.uk/page.php?cid=1034

From what I remember, the only man made object visible from space.

Very friendly, curious people! Unfortunately, the mystique of the Potala palace was somewhat ruined – due to the Chinese billboards – which essentially surround the palace.

Picture is of me and a bartender. The drink is some sort of Tibetan wine, but slightly bitter, and served warm… I’m struggling to remember the name of the drink, but it was certainly unique.

I want to climb Kilimanjaro before the glaciers melt… I’m not sure, but I think they only have 20 years or so left.

I backpacked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with my Dad and sister when I was 15 (it’s been awhile, but I believe we were on the ‘Bill Hall Trail’). Little did we know what we were in for. After growing up and hiking in Colorado, we were in for a much different flavor – instead of sucking oxygen, we were sucking water. About 3 miles from the bottom, we had used twice as much water a we had budgeted, and my Dad had heat stroke. The intelligent solution would have been to heading back, but my Dad – being who he is – wanted to push on. We managed to reach the bottom, (after I carried my pack down, backtracked, and carried my Dad’s pack down too). We made it out, after supplementing our water supply with boiled river water. It was a lesson in humility, and taught me not to leave all the planning to my Dad! I’d love to go back today and check out the putatively more scenic South Rim.