Kiwiblog

Got to Tel Aviv at 11 pm Saturday night and crashed briefly at a place provided by Yani. Then had to taxi to airport at 3 am. The taxi did not turn up though, so Ebba and I ended up dragging out suitcases down the road onto the main street, where we managed to hail one.

At the airport, went through much much tougher security than I have seen anywhere else in the world. In one sense it was very reassuring that they take security so seriously, meaning you have a safe flight. On the other hand it meant I only hit the lounge 15 minutes before I had to go to the gate. The security process was:

1. A 5 – 10 minute interrogation by a young female airport official while waiting in the queue for first x-ray. She asked me detailed questions about why I went to Turkey, Egypt, Kuwait, Dubai and Iran. When I said I had a friend working in Kuwait, she asked why was she working there and she didn’t even smile at my response it was because she earns three times what she would in NZ. Also asked me several times if anyone had given me anything to carry for them, as it could be a bomb.
2. Then went through first x-rays of all luggage.
3. Then had a total search of my suitcase (presumably based on my suspicious itinerary to date) which took ten minutes
4. Then passport control. More questions
5. Then a x-ray of my hand luggage
6. Then a search with a wand of not just me, and the hand luggage, but also my shoes, my camera, my books etc.

While all the security was a hassle, it did mean at least I could be confident we would have an incident free flight. And Israel, of all countries, does need to be vigilant. If interested, see Wikipedia on El Al security.

Was sad to leave Israel, as it was such a fascinating place. There is a wonderful blend of racial backgrounds. Another country I am definitely going to return to. Very grateful to Davidi and Young Likud for their first class hosting, and to my European friends who made the trip so fun.

Flew to London, which took almost six hours. My ticket conditions meant I had to continue around the world, so could not take the much quicker eastern route back.

I had a standby upgrade request for the 11 hour leg from Heathrow to LA, but the flight was full. Annoying that one had to go through security scan, even in transit. The lounge there was quite nice, and got some work done.

Then landed at LA after 11 hour flight. They no longer allow you to access the Koru Club, if you are Star Alliance Gold, due to security restrictions. Very peeved as really wanted a shower. Then a 13 hour flight to Auckland.

Did get an upgrade to Premium Economy, which was my first time trying that section out. Biggest boon for me was a power supply as I worked on laptop entire flight catching up with emails, writing blog posts (including most of this one) etc.

Having the seats recline back more is useful, but also proved a hassle as the person in front put their seat so far back I could not use my laptop in front of me. But by chance luck was with me as I was in a window seat (despite a standing request for aisle seats). In premium economy they had a foot wide ledge (with storage space beneath them) next to the window. Not only is it great for storing papers and books (and even the laptop so I did not have to get it from overhead after takeoff, but it allowed me to use the area as a work station by balancing the laptop on my arm rest and a cushion propped up on my shoes on the ledge – a real no 8 solution

So my advice for travellers if to go for the window seat if in premium economy (or at least the upstairs section).

Got into Auckland at 7 am Tuesday and stayed overnight.

Went to the famous switching on of the Franklin Road Xmas lights. 99% of the houses on the 1 km long road put up extensive lights and decorations. It’s a wonderful community initiative and the entire road was a party zone. They were even giving away free food.

I attended one of the parties, which was great fun. Damien Christie spent the night introducing me as David Farrier from TV3!

Woke up with a hangover around 10.30 am and almost missed my flight to Wellington.  I blame xxxxxxx.

Is good to be home, but have had wonderful month in a region I have long wanted to visit. And I must be one of a very few people who have done Iran and Israel consecutively in the same trip!

On the sabbath we had brunch in the Hula Valley in the Golan Heights. We had “local” food pretty much every day, and I have to say it was damn nice. It’s a shame to eat your normal diet, when you are in other countries, but often you end up doing so if staying in hotels. Having a local guide really helps.

That sign is not just for show. The Syrians left a huge number of mines behind, and Israel decided it was better to just fence off some areas than try and detect them all (hazardous to the detectors)

Sweden doubles its defence force capability

One mine field has these cacti in them. I mentioned to the group that I would plant a mine at the bottom of the cactus so that if the mine doesn’t get you, then you’ll still be hit by hundreds of pieces of cacti. One of the others said they hoped never to have to go to war against NZ with that mentality!

A fairly major strategic battle happened on this hill. 20 Israelis died taking the hill against a mortar and very well defended trenches. They Syrian soldiers were very young and inexperienced and eventually fled a superior position. Our host mentioned that the Syrians were very much innocent victims in a conflict not of their choosing.

One of the trenches on the hill

Nearby was Fort Nimrod. Now this has nothing to do with any modern conflict but was established as a Muslim fort in 1300 AD or so. There are extensive ruins to look at, if you make the drive up to it.

More of the fort.

Down to the secret tunnel

Used the zoom lens to snap this little creature on a ledge below the fort. It looks like the little critter is about to jump!

We then went to Mount Bental. On the path at the top, they have entries from a competition to design children’s toys out of former military weapon. I asked if there was also a competition to design weapons out of children’s toys

And another

At the top they have a former bunker a a very nice café. The Hebrew word for in the clouds is Annan and for coffee is Kofi, so the café is called Kofi Annan, a nice play on the former UN Secretary-General.

Again this is regarded as a very strategic hill. You can actually see a Syrian city, and Lebanon is not far away. Contrary to what might assume, there is no border fence.

At one stage we we driving next to the Jordan. In fact we got so close my cellphone told me I was now receiving Vodafone Jordan.

Going down into the bunker.

This is at Qatsrin, and is the remains of a very early Jewish synagogue from 2,000 years ago.

At Janhnun we saw a great audio-visual show on the history of the Golan Heights, beamed onto a replacia model of them. Then afterwards we had a beer tasting of local beers. Yum.

A sunset over the Sea of Galilee. Beautiful.

Finally we visited Hamat-Gader where we saw some animals, had dinner, and dipped into the local thermal pools. Those leaving later on Sunday stayed the night at the Kefar-Ha Nassi Kibbutz.

We had an interesting debate about whether that fence was high enough to stop a determined crocodile.

We also saw a nine metre python.

A photo of the pool area. The main pool was hot enough, but the inside pool was an uncomfortable 43 degrees – maximum time recommended 10 minutes.

On Friday we went up north. First stop was the Caesarea National Park, which has the ruins of the city set up by King Herod.

The park has lots of ruins, and also a good museum explaining the history of the area.

A group shot by the harbour. It was constructed to be a major port – around 100,000 square metres in size. The constructed a reef by dropping bales of volcanic ash into the sea, which turns them into solid concrete.

We then went to the Aaronsohn House. They were a family who operated as a spy network in WWI for the British against the Turks.

27 year old Sarah Aaronsohn was captured and killed herself after four days of torture, so she would not reveal her colleagues.

Despite being way north of Jerusalem, we ran into a Cabinet Minister. She is with the Labor Party, and I think has the commerce facility. Despite Davidi being with Likud, he is very good friends with the Minister – they were hugging each other when they ran into each other. Israel is a very small place, like NZ.

We then went to the old city of Tsefat (aka Zefat and Safed). On the way we visited a couple of war memorials. At most tourist sites they have a machine which will play an audio recording in Hebrew or English. They were really good to listen to – giving you a five minute history of what happened there.

Tsefat is a very old city, and many Orthodox Jews live there. Almost every second building is a synagogue. It is one of four holy cities, along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias. We saw the (outside of the) former home of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who left in 1948.

The rest of Thursday was learning about some of the history of Zionism and Likud specifically.  The first stop was the Menachem Begin Centre. Begin, who signed the peace treaty with Egypt, was effectively the third leader of the revisionist zionism movement. The modern founder of zionism was Theodor Herzl, and then Vladimir “Ze’ev” Jabotinsky led the revisionist faction, which Begin then led.

Begin died in 1992, and usually tops the polls of most admired former prime ministers. However for most of his career he was a terrorist/freedom fighter (depending on point of view) and was very much a political outcast until the 1970s.

The centre in his name, obviously is very favourable to him. They have a very nice set of displays, and audio-visual effects. The tour guide, who works for the centre, was a young Canadian girl who emigrated to Israel just two years ago, leaving her family behind.

Begin was a leader within the Irgun, and there is no doubt by today’s standards some of what they did would be called terrorism – especially the murder of the Sergeants. The British response was not much better.

There was also the infamous bombing of the King David Hotel, and to this day, there are bitter different points of views between the UK and Israel on it.

Not once in my time in Israel did I hear any demonisation of the Palestinian Authority. The two countries that were always criticised were in fact Britain (for former acts) and Iran (for current support of Hamas, Hizbollah etc). Britain was as much the enemy in the mid 1940s, as was the Arab states.

After the war of independence, tensions between the Ben-Gurion Government and Begin’s Irgun were massive, and in fact led to some bloodshed. Begin’s decision not to retaliate is said by his supporters to have prevented a civil war. Ben-Gurion seemed to despise Begin and would not even mention his name for several decades.

In 1977 Begin broke the 30 year monopoly of the Labour Party on power and became Prime Minister. His entire career had been as a hard liner who was against turning over any of the occupied territories to its neighbours. Yet he signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, which set the precedent of land for peace, handing over the entire Sinai peninsula. He won the Nobel Peace Prize along with Anwar Sadat and Shimon Peres. His peace treaty was bitterly opposed my many in his own party.

The signatures on the final page of the peace treaty.

He also bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, and in 1986 approved the invasion fo Lebanon, which eventually led to him retiring in 1983. He was a recluse until his death in 1992. One of the reasons for his popularity is he was seen as a simple man of the people – and refused to be buried on Mount Herzl, but instead on the Mount of Olives next to two young Irgun fighters who killed themselves in jail to avoid execution by the British.

A view of old Jerusalem from the Begin Centre.

After the centre, we went to the West Bank. It was fascinating to see first hand parts of the occupied territories. Two things struck me. The first is how big the West Bank is, and how much room there. It is not some crowded area like Gaza. The second is how close many Palestinian and Israeli cities and settlements are to each other. Don’t think there is some nice straight line you can draw between the two.

Much of the West Bank will form a future Palestinian state. But it is not as simple as just going back to the 1967 boundaries. Even the Palestinians say they are not expecting Israel to abandon major cities in the area. What is likely to happen is that any area Israel keeps, might be replaced with some territory elsewhere from sovereign Israel. This can be made into a win-win but the devil is in the details.

A typical shot of the West Bank.

This is at the top of a strategically important hill in the 1967 war. The military are very reluctant to give up this area, as they say they could not prevent an invasion from reaching major cities without it. That is of course their point of view.

Below is a Palestinian town.

A photo of the group, in the West Bank. Regardless of the politics of the area, it was a fascinating place to view.

Then we headed to Tel Aviv where we visited the Jabotinsky Institute. This was the only part I did not enjoy much. It mainly consisted of a lecture on Jabotinsky, and the presentation was too zealous – mainly about how all the other Zionists turned out wrong and Jabotinsky was right. Was interesting to learn about him (I had never heard of him before), but what should have taken one hour took two and a half.

We then checked into out hotel in Tel Aviv. Now the hotels generally in Israel had been three star ones to keep costs down. The total cost for the six days was only 500 Euros, and that included hotels, food, travel, driver, and entry tickets.

Now the hotel in Jerusalem was very basic (probably a 2 to 2.5 star in reality) but okay to sleep in. But the hotel in Tel Aviv was a 0 star. You opened the door and immediately saw a cockroach. Not in just one room, and the first three rooms we opened. We gave up after that. Also I noticed the beds had just sheets on them, no sleeping covers. We eventually worked out based on the neighbourhood that this is one of those hotels that you normally rent by the hour.

We staged a walkout and found a much nicer one down the road. The owner actually got offended we were leaving. She was lucky we did not report it to the health authorities for demolition. Yuck. On the plus side it allowed us to hassle our host greatly about how he tried to book us into a prostitute hotel.

Then Thursday night was night clubbing until around 2 am in Tel Aviv. It has a active party scene. I had to cut out early to write my NBR column

What I gained most from the day is understanding that the issues around Israel did not start in 1948 or 1967. The zionist movement grew out of the late 1800s, as a response to the discrimination and worse of the Jewish populations in almost every country on Earth. People will disagree on whether or not the response was the correct one, but it is simplistic to see it as merely to provide a homeland after the events of the Holocaust – the move for a homeland had been steadily underway for some decades. Most of the planning happened when there was no Palestine – when the area was part of the Ottoman Empire.

Today Israel is an established fact, and there is little doubt there will be a Palestinian state at some stage. But under what conditions, and what boundaries is a long way from being resolved.

Thursday morning we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Church is a sacred site for many Christians, who believe is the site of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Apart from the spiritual aspects, it is a magnificent ancient building and is a must see.

This is the entrance to the Church, which was constructed around 300 AD.

This is the Stone of Annointing, claimed to be the spot where Jesus was prepared for burial.

One of the many artworks on the walls.

Upstairs is the purported site of the crucifixion, You go up a narrow winding rock staircase to get to what is called Golgotha. You can see the rock the cross was placed in, and down below is also the rock that sealed his tomb.

Whether or not you are a believer, the church is a sacred place, and was a real highlight for me.

Catching up on the last few days, as have had no time to blog.

Wednesday afternoon we visited the Knesset, and were very fortunate to not just have a private tour, but also hosted by the Knesset Chairman, Speaker Reuven Rivlin. We met in his private offices until he had was suddenly summoned to a meeting with the Prime Minister, to be told the PM was recommending a 10 month freeze on settlements.

The Speaker with the Swedish contingent, and Davidi (our host from Young Likud).

Rivlin was the Likud candidate for President in 2007, and has a reasonable chance of becoming President at the next election. His family have resided in Jerusalem since around 1800.

Just as Israelis are very proud of their Supreme Court, they are also proud that they have a universal democracy. There are no electorate seats in Israel – it is proportional representation for every party that gets over 2%. The threshold used to be 1%, then 1.5% and now is 2%. Some advocate it should keep going higher to prevent the small extremist parties. There are 18 parties in the 120 member Knesset, but they stood under 12 lists only.

Of the 120 Knesset members, 13 are Arabs. Some of them have been elected Deputy Speaker, and one has served as Acting President.

We also went and observed the Knesset in session. It is quite different to the NZ Parliament. The MK speakign does so from a platform next to the Speaker. The MKs themselves sit in four horseshoes (in the shape of the symbol on their coat of arms – its formal name escapes me).

Their debates are not just confined to passing laws (as NZ is except for question time and general debate). They debate many varied issues every day. However where it is like NZ, is that few attend at any one time.

The visitors gallery is behind soundproof glass. We were told that no matter what we said, no one would hear it. I was tempted to jump up and start yelling out Allah Ackbar to test that assertion, but luckily my common sense won out that this would be a very bad thing to do

The artwork in the Knesset is stunning – some of them took a decade to complete. It is a building well worth a tour.

As I mentioned in my NBR column, I was surprised at the degree of pragmatism I encountered amongst some of the politicians. You realise after a while that so called bottom lines are initial negotiating positions. We saw that the day we were there with the freeze on settlements (which is a good thing).

After the Knesset we had a meeting with Yigal Palmor, who has one of the more difficult jobs in Israel – he is the Spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Again fascinating discussions about prospects for peace agreements, and it was during that discussion the idea of both Israel and a future Palestine being part of NATO (to guarantee secure borders) was discussed.

I asked if the settlement freeze will make his job easier, as it will be popular internationally and he (correctly) predicted that the Palestinians would reject it as inadequate. He stressed the US reaction is very important. Paraphrasing, if the US supports Israel on something, then most of the rest of the world will offer mild or muted criticism only. But if the US itself is critical (even mildly), then Israel will face harsh denunciations around the world.

Also talked Iran with him, and asked outright if he thinks Iran would be more willing to drop its assumed nuclear weapons programme, if Israel disposed of its nuclear weapons. I was somewhat amused that he didn’t even try and deny Israel had nuclear weapons – he just said that he thinks Iran would want them regardless due to Pakistan and India.

We also have two impromptu meetings in the streets. One was with the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem. He is a very close friend of Davidi, the Young Likud Chair, despite the fact he is also the Young Labour Chair.

We also ran into Davidi’s former army commander. He is now a General, and his job is head of counter-terrorism for the Armed Forces. Only had a brief chat to him, but we had dinner the next night with a former Deputy Chief of General Staff, who was in charge of the Northern Command.

A very interesting day all up.

Our first day in Israel was sightseeing around old Jerusalem. On our second day, we did a mixture of history and current affairs, thanks to our hosts, Young Likud.

First up we went to The Greats of the Nation on Mount Herzl. Theodor Herzl was the founder of modern Zionism, and seen as the seer of the State of Israel even though he died in 1904.

This is the memorial to Herzl, whose remains were moved to Israel in 1949.

On the tomb on Yitzmak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister who struck peace with with the PLO through the Oslo Accords, and was assassinated in 1995.

And Golda Meir, one of the first elected female leaders in the world, when she became PM in 1969.

We then went Yad Vashem, which is the Holocaust Memorial.

This is a photo of a photo taken from a liberated concentration camp. At this stage we were told no photos are allowed, which is a pity as so many of the scenes there need to be shown as widely as possible.

The museum is very moving, and very detailed. There is a huge amount of documentation, plus audio and visual displays. Allow two hours at least. I thought I knew a lot about the Holocaust, but I learnt a lot more at the museum.

At the very end you can search their database of holocaust victims. I spent a while searching for various relatives, which made it very real.

The museum covers well not just the Holocaust, but the conditions that led to it, and also the many people who risked their lives to help the victims.

A Holocaust monument in the exterior of the museum.

Female soldiers are a very common sight in Israel as military service is compulsory for both genders.

This is a picture of one of the Supreme Court courtrooms. The Israeli Supreme Court is much hallowed in Israel, as the vision was to found a country based on the rule of law.

The Supreme Court is unusual, in that it is not just an appellate court. It does hear appeals from District Courts (akin to our High Courts) but also is the High Court of Justice and has original jurisdiction on some matters such as petitions against the state. So rather than be a leisurely few cases a year supreme court, it hears over 5,000 cases a year.

The reasons for this is the British, it seems. When the British ruled the area, they did not want the lower courts hearing petitions against their actions, so they

It can and does strike down laws that conflict with the Basic Law. Rather controversially it just a few days ago declared a law allowing for private prisons (I think owned not just managed but am not sure) to breach human rights for prisoners. It tends to be seen as an activist or liberal court, but in a country with no constitution and no existence until 1948, they have been forced to create their own law, relying on overseas precedents where possible.

The Court has 15 members (was 12 until recently) and normally sits in benches of three. More important cases can have bigger benches, and one case had 11 Judges sit on it. There must be an odd number.

We also went to the Knesset, which I will blog about in a new post.

The Supreme Court Building is quite magnificent – a mixture of old and new. Definitely worth a tour.

My weekly Dispatch from St Johnnysburg at NBR, has become a Dispatch from Tel Aviv, on Middle East politics.

I discuss Iran and nuclear weapons and Palestine.

Comments and feedback can be left at NBR.

On Tuesday I flew from Tehran to Tel Aviv via Turkey. Iran will not let you enter if you have been to Israel previously, so I guessed they would not be that keen on me heading there straight afterwards, so I had been very careful  not to mention the Israel part of my trip publicly.

I got a bit nervous at the airport though when I realised that as I was on the same airline from Tehran to Istanbul and Istanbul to Tel Aviv, they could see the next leg, as they asked me if I wanted to check my bags all the way through. I very quietly said yes.

The flight to Istanbul was a nightmare as the airport fogged in, and we circled for an hour then diverted to Ankara, refueled and then went back to Istanbul. A two hour flight took almost six hours, and I missed my connecting flight. Got transferred onto a later one okay though.

Just as Iran is not that keen on visitors who have been to Israel, Israel is not that keen on people who have just flown in from Iran. At the gate in Istanbul, I was taken aside and questioned for around 10 minutes about why I had been in Iran, how long would I be in Israel etc.

Eventually got onto flight. When we went through passport control at Tel Aviv, I thought it would be even worse, but the officer accepted my story straight away, and took only a couple of minutes.

Met up with the rest of the group. We have five Swedes, two Finns two Austrians, a Swiss and one Kiwi.

Around 5 pm we went to the Shrine of the Book. This museum houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Aleppo Codex. Most people will have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but now the Codex, which is basically the oldest existing bible – around 3,000 years old. It isn’t a bible per se – more the authoritative source for the bible. So you get some idea of its historical value.

This is a photo of a model of old Jerusalem at the Shrine of the Book. The model is huge – only a 50:1 ratio.

Then went to the Mount of Olives and saw some of the 150,000 graves there, plus the superb view of old Jerusalem.

At 8 pm we hit Old Jerusalem. I can’t describe how wonderful the city is – such a sense of history. We visited the Western (or Wailing) Wall, and also had tours through the Generations Centre and best of all though the tunnels underneath the wall.

This is the base of the Western Wall. All day and night many Jews go there to pray.

The original temple here was the Temple of Solomon. After that was destroyed in 586 BC, a second temple was constructed by Herod in around 19 BC. The wall is part of the remains of that temple. Judaism believes a third temple will be constructed there when the Messiah comes.

The original temple was on the Temple Mount, which is the holiest site in Judaism as it is taught as the place where God created Adam. It is also sacred to Islam as the site where Muhammed ascended to heaven.

The tunnels under the Western Wall are incredible. So much history down there. Not one for claustrophobics though. Also a bad place to be if there is an earthquake!

Also did a walk through the alleyways and bazaars of East Jerusalem. This is basically Palestinian/Arab area, and is likely to be officially part of a future Palestine state. While there has been violence in the past, things were generally very relaxed in this area, with people from all religions and races walking about.

This is me outside the former US Embassy. It is a huge compound in the middle of Tehran. You can get arrested if you take photos of Government buildings, or police officers, and I wasn’t sure whether this could get me in trouble, so did the photo quickly. Probably didn’t help that through a timing error with the laundry the only shirt that was dry was my Martha’s Vineyard shirt, which might have people conclude I was from the US. I made sure I kept my passport with me at all times.

The walls are covered with anti-US artwork.

And the compulsory reference to the Great Satan.

The above is probably what most people view Iran as being about. In fact most Iranians are very warm and hospitable I found, and I enjoyed my stay here more than some of the other countries – partly because the taxi drivers do not rip you off, no touts, and the merchants are not overly aggressive (they encourage sales but not harrass you – even in the bazaars).

But there are some downsides, which now I am out of the country, I should cover:

• The Internet is seriously filtered and almost as bad is dialup in most places. Kiwiblog is blocked for example (for politics). Amusingly Whale Oil/Gotcha is not. Cactus Kate is blocked (for sex). Many Iranians get around the filter through the use of proxies. They seem to be common knowledge and as they get blocked more new ones get circulated. They block almost anything relating to the old Shah, including some Wikipedia pages.
• No external cellphone coverage. Local cellphones work, but not ones from outside. No phone calls or text messages.
• No ATMs. Well they do have a few, but they only work with local cards for the bank they are located in. Combined that with almost no credit card facilities and you need a lot of cash. On the plus side you get 7,500 Rials to a NZ$ and a lot of things costs under 10,000 Rials
• The dress code is strict. Unlike every other country to date, all women must wear a hajib – including tourists. And all men must wear trousers/jeans. I was even a bit nervous about having a t-shirt as only saw one other person with short sleeves in my whole stay, but I am told they are a bit more common in summer.
• While most locals are not at all anti-Western, they are very anti-Israel (to be fair as is most of Middle East). I got asked over dinner which countries I had already visited on this trip, and I accidentally said Israel instead of Egypt, and they looked shocked. Of course if you have been to Israel, you are not allowed entry to Iran, so it may just have been that.
• The normal Police were quite helpful and friendly, but I am told you want to avoid the religious militia.
• Women have to travel on the back of the bus. Seriously. Even if you are married, men sit and stand in the front half, and women in the back half.
• Foreigners are relatively rare. I understand only around 200 Kiwis a year go into Iran, and you do feel very much the stranger at times. I was lucky Paul speaks some Farsi, which helps.
• The traffic in Tehran is terrible and their flights are often delayed, which makes internal travel challenging.

Again though, while I was a bit nervous at times, it was a very enjoyable experience. While I never heard any criticism of the Supreme Leader (and was careful not to offer any), many locals were happy to share their thoughts on the President (and generally very uncomplimentary).

Oh one amusing story. As you can imagine Iran can be a difficult posting for a diplomat if their partner is of the same sex as them. I got told that one Commonwealth country’s Ambassador (not NZ) had his partner officially registered as his butler to avoid any issues. All the expats knew they were a couple of course, and they went to functions together. One wit said to the partner, that he was the only Butler he knew, where it was spelt with two “t”s

If the Iranian Government stopped scaring people so much, I think Iran could become a great tourist destination. It’s a wonderful country, with a huge amount to see, and in many sense feels relatively “Western”. But I think it will be sometime away. If you are visiting the region though, I would advocate that you do try and get a visa and pay a visit – you will probably be pleasantly surprised by the experience. And the NZ Embassy is extremely friendly, professional and helpful.

Around half an hour from Shiraz, is Persepolis. It was the capital of the Persian Empire from around 550 BC to 330 BC when Alexander the Great destroyed the place.

Around 12 km before Persepolis is Naqsh-e Rustam, which has the tombs of four of the Achaemenid Kings. Two of the tombs are in this photo. The tombs are a fair way up.

One of the tombs closer up.

The artwork is well preserved generally.

They also have on the walls, seven scenes. This is celebrating the victory of Shapur I over Emperor Valerian. Valerian is the only Roman Emperor to be taken into captivity.

This artwork is thought to be pre-historic – around 9,000 years old.

Just a km away is Naqsh-e Rajab. Entry to both places is around NZ67c. The site has four inscriptions. In this inscription you can see a noble holding a curved finger up behind the King. This was a sign of respect. Of course today with two fingers it is taking the mickey.

Talking of signs, be aware that giving the thumbs up in Iran, is akin to giving the fingers.

This is the main gates. The ruins are on a 125,000 square meter terrace.  Those horse like figures were actually bulls.

Some (rare) grafitti. I’m sure the British Consul-Generals are no longer encouraged to inscribe their names on World Heritage sites.

These were quite common on the site

More artwork survives here, than on most Egyptian sites.

The quality, as you look close up, is wonderful.

They showed visitors and gifts from over a dozen different countries.

One of the many palace ruins

One of the palaces has been restored and turned into a museum, with various pieces on display.

Up the mountain somewhat, are three tombs.

Inside the tomb.

When we were up there, one family asked our guide for a photo. We thought they wanted one of the whole family, but they wanted it with Paul and I. In some areas they have obviously never seen a westerner.

Another group were noticeably filming us on their mobile phones.

Paul, with Layla, our guide. Layla was great. Very talkative, and very knowledgeable. She has been guiding for the last five years, since she was 18.

One amusing thing, was the literal translation of some phrases. It seems in Farsi, saying “If you look closely” in English is “Pay attention”, so all day Layla was telling us to pay attention. The first time she said it I thought I was being told off, until I worked out it was just a translation issue.

If anyone ever does wish to travel there, just contact me for Layla’s contact details if you want a great guide. Very reasonable priced, and makes a big difference.

The sun spoilt our panorama shots of the site from up by the tomb, so to give you a better idea, this one from Wikipedia gives you an idea of what you can see. You can click on it for a larger image and a second time for fullsize.

If this site was outside Iran, I would say it would have 20,000 people a day through it at least. But here there were barely 100. Now it makes it very nice to have no crowds, but it is a pity so few people get to see such magnificent ancient ruins.

On Sunday, we took an internal flight to Shiraz, which is in the South of Iran. Despite leaving home at 7 am, we missed the 8.30 am flight as traffic was jampacked, but they got us on a 9 am flight so no big deal.

The flight down was with Iran Aseman Airlines. I try and avoid non-international carriers, but the flight was fine. No idea what the meal was, but it tasted fine.

Parts of Iran, currently have s snow cover, as the photo from the plane shows.

Shiraz, is over 4,000 years old and is where Shiraz wines originated from, but today they have no grapes there. It is known as the city of poets, wine and flowers – and has significant Jewish and Christian communities. It was the capital of Persia for 30 years in the 18^th century.

This is Qavam House. It was the domicile of the Governor in the late 1800s. It was also later the home of Professor Arthur Pope, an American professor who lived in Iran for 50 years and was buried there. A museum is also on the grounds. This is well worth a visit. Lots of thousands of year old artefacts.

A typical mosaic in the House.

The famous room of mirrors

Victorian images on the ceiling

The Governor’s meeting room

This photo is taken from the local bazaar. That picture is not a painting. It is actually a carpet. Amazing artwork. Sadly they cost too much for me, but there was some incredible items on sale. I did manage to buy a fair few presents though. The bazaar merchants are not at all as pushy as in Turkey and Egypt, and it was very pleasant doing business. Hardly have to haggle too, as the prices are very reasonable.

This is the tomb of the poet Hafez, who died in 1390. A very popular place for locals to go on dates etc. Hafex is the most beloved poet in Persian culture.

And the actual tomb.

This is the other very famous poet’s tomb – Saadi, who died in 1291.

Hard to see much at night, but surrounded by massive gardens, so again a popular site.

The tomb also has a natural fishpond in the grounds. You go down a flight of stairs into a chamber (which is also a café now) and a local river flows through the middle of it, with many fish to be seen in the carved out pond.

By this time it was 7.30 pm so we had dinner at a popular restaurant. Iranian cusine (a mixture of Turkish and Lebanese is how best to describe it) is quite wonderful. I had many dishes without knowing what they were!

Got to the airport to discover the 1045 pm flight back to Tehran was delayed until 1 am. Groan. But managed to get transferred onto an 11 pm flight so got back home just before 1 am. Around a 90 minute flight.

Had got up at 6 am, so it was a 19 hour day, but a very enjoyable one. The middle part of the day (which was the highlight) is a separate post.

Flew out of Dubai at 1.15 am and landed in Tehran at just after 3 am. To my surprise I flew through passport control and customs. Of course it helped that I had an entry visa. If you try and get one on the spot, you will often be turned down.

Got to Paul’s place around 4 am, and caught up on some sleep. Then just after lunch, I headed into Tehran.

This is the NZ Embassy. Not quite on the same level as NZ House in London!

And in the reception area, a photo of the supreme leader

We then headed up to the Saadabad Palace, which was the Shah’s summer palace.

This is a statue or Arash. A mythical legendary archer who was reputed to fire an arrow 1000 leagues!

The décor is very 1970s, despite being a palace. The most valuable thing in the room would be the carpet.

The Shah’s bedchamber

The Shah’s carriage

This was a statue of the last Shah, but it got chopped off in the revolution

These are the old city gates.

The city of Tehran is huge – around 10 million people if you include the outlying area. Surprisingly it looks more like a western city than any other so far in the Middle East. The cars, the streets, the cleanliness, the architecture etc. However what is noticeable is the lack of any global franchises.

The highlight was going to see the Iranian Crown Jewels. This collection of gems and treasures is unsurpassed in the world I would say. The British Crown Jewels do not compare. If you ever are in Iran, this is a must see. They are displayed at the Central Bank of Iran.

No cameras allowed in, so photos are from Wikipedia.

This is the Kiani Crown. It has 1800 pearls, 300 emeralds and 1800 rubies. It was used in coronations from 1796 to 1925.

This is known as the Globe of Jewels. It consists of 34 kgs of gold and has 51,636 gems in it.

And this little diamond is the Darya-ye Noor or Ocean of Light and is the largest pink diamond in the world. It is 182 carats. That would impress the fiancée!

And the legendary Peacock Throne. Again you could not even begin to try and calculate its worth. The jewels are actually used by Iran to back their currency up.

Locals have been very friendly. Several, upon hearing you are from New Zealand, mention the All Whites beating Bahrain to make the Football World Cup and how pleased they are. This is more because they hate Bahrain than love New Zealand, but was still very nice and amusing.

There was a large group of school girls visiting the Crown Jewels at the same time as Paul and I.  I think they were from outside Tehran as their reactions indicated they don’t see a lot of western men. Lots of pointing, staring and giggling.

Even in Tehran, there are very little noticeably foreign people about – quite different to the other Middle Eastern countries. No surprise to a degree. It is hard to get in – you have to list in the visa application everyone you plan to meet etc.

The Dubai Mall was only completed in 2008 and it is superb. You could spend a week there. Not only are there 1,200 shops, but also many other activities. There are over 100,000 visitors a day. You definitely want to go there if in the neighbourhood.

The Kinokuniya bookshop inside is also huge – I suspect it was around the same size as the Piccadilly Waterrmains which is the largest in Europe. The only thing that stopped me buying more than four books is that I have to lug them around with me for a couple more weeks.

This is a spectacular waterfall inside.

A typical section. It doesn’t look huge but There are scores of segments like this.

A must see is the Aquarium. I would say it rates above any other one I have been to. Part of what made it great is that in many of the displays, the fish are not entirely walled off – you can peer in from above.

They have 33,000 marine animals on display.

You can also photograph them from above

The turtles

They had a dozen otters or so. Hard to get a good photo with the glass.

They had three 1.5 metre crocodiles. Luckily they can’t jump the wall!

I love these fish.

And he’s so cute

Pretty spectacular coral

That is actually a squid. It is gross in real life. The main area of it pumps up and down, reminding me of the alien in Alien!

The seals having sex. Well actually play fighting but you never know!

They had penguins also.

I guess this is a crab even though it looks like a mutant spider

One of the many sharks. You can pay to get lowered in a shark cage

And another star from Jaws

When I saw that fish, I commented that it was a motherf**ker of a fish. Imagine having that on your fishing rod.

The only downside of the mall, was that I spilt a very hot pasta onto my arm while carrying it to the checkout, and let out a string of profanities that seemed to survive the translation barrier. The arm actually got mildly burnt.

Met up with a friend, Paul, and his niece and mother who were visting. We did a bus tour around Dubai.

That isn’t a museum but actually a Egyptian themed shopping mall.

And that pyramid is actually an apartment block.

This is one of the few ancient sights – is now a museum.

When the sun hits that building, it can almost be blinding

An Iranian mosque in Dubai. Generally not many mosques visible.

The real highlight was the Dubai Mall, which I’ll cover in a separate post.

Only in Dubai briefly, as a transit point. However can’t complain about the view from the hotel!

Had a great time at the Dubai Mall which is the world’s largest with 1200 shops. It costs US$20 billion and is the size of 50 soccer fields. It only opened last year. Have lots of photos from the mall which I will blog later,

It has been interesting seeing the different “dress codes” in the countries so far. In Turkey the vast majority of people are in western dress – suits or casual clothes. A lot of women didn’t wear hijabs at all, or combined them with western clothes – think leather boots, tight jeans an a hijab! Of course Turkey is a secular country.  Almost no one in a burqa.

In Egypt, almost all women wore a hijab, and you started to notice the occassional full burqa.

Kuwait shows off its arabic heritage. Well over 20% of local men wear robes with a keffiyeh. There were very few dressed like that in Egypt.

This is where we had lunch. While Kuwait in places is very dirty and dusty, it does also have some beautiful areas.

These are the Kuwait Towers. Certain expats have given them an unofficial nickname of the Kuwait a**l beads

The towers are primarily water towers, but the large one (187 metres tall) has a viewing platform also.

They have photos up of the damage done to the towers by the Iraqi invaders in 1990. Yep, they even smashed the toilets up.

And they are labelled barbarians for attacking the air conditioning! I would have thought they were barbarians for beatings, electric shocks, burns, mock executions and sexual torture including rape that some locals were put through by the Iraqis.

Most of the photos from the tower are crap, due to the dirty windows. But this one of the water theme park below is ok. I so would have gone, if I had more time.

I had earlier on noted how funny it was that Police cars had the URL of the Police on their sides. And then noticed this car with an e-mail address on the boot. I asked ehy would you do that, and Emily explained quite a few guys do it as a way of picking girls up! The idea is the impressed girls will e-mail them!

On Wednesday night, had dinner and drinks with the netball team.Now alcohol is banned in Kuwait – no sales and no importing, but as this photos shows you can smuggle it in in small packets.

That got me thinking that selling those outside the Wellington Sevens could be a great money making opportunity!

Incidentally pork is also illegal in Kuwait. If you have it with you, it gets confiscated on arrival.

Armed Police behind these are a common sight in Cairo. They are to protect from bomb blasts primarily.Terrorist attacks are fairly regular in Egypt – around once a year.

Flew to Kuwait on Tuesday. Had a couple of hours in the Egypt Air lounge so thought I would kill the time by playing an old computer game, I hadn’t played for a few months – Desert Hawk.

It’s a typical shoot up game. You have a helicopter and blow up buildings, tanks, planes and other choppers with around a dozen different weapons. Anyway I’d never taken much notice of what I was blowing up before – you basically destroy everything.

After quarter of an hour or so playing the game, I had a nagging feeling something was not good. So I looked more closely at the buildings that show between stages. Hmmn they have those skinny tall towers on them. What I now know to be minarets. Oh so that means all those buildings are mosques. Hmmmn. Maybe playing this game in the middle of Cairo Airport is not such a good idea after all!

Flight to Kuwait was pretty ugly – packed full, and the guy next to me fell asleep in a way he was leaning into my seat. It was a very long three hours on board.

Purchased my Visa after getting some local currency. I love how you can just stick your credit card in an ATM in almost any country, and get out cash. I did miscalculate though. I just assumed the Kuwaiti currency was equal to or less than the NZ dollar, so figured 200 Kuwait dinars would be enough to cover any incidentals for a couple of days. Turns out you get five NZ dollars to every Kuwaiti dinar so that is way too much. I’ll exchange some back when I leave. I did actually note all he currency values down before I left, but didn’t have the info on hand.

Emily, whom I’m staying with, met me at the airport. She has adapted well to the local customs – especially the aggressive driving manoeuvres and assorted curses.

This isn’t the car before it rained, but afterwards. There is so much dust here, than when it rains, well it almost rains mud. Yuck. Normally I find the rain refreshing, but not in Kuwait. Have met quite a few Kiwi expats here and they do like it here, but that is one part that takes some getting used to.

Em was playing netball last night, so I went along to that. Mainly expats, but some of the local girls play also. There were five games on, and they ran short of officials, so I ended up scoring one of the games. I enjoyed twittering last night how I went to the netball and ended up scoring

I almost ending up refing also. I actually used to manage a netball team, when I was at university (long story) so do know the rules pretty well.

This is the view from the apartment, which I think is pretty damn good. So much prefer crashing with friends than hotels. Not too much to see in Kuwait, but going to some sightseeing this afternoon.

What better way to spend a Monday than looking around the sole remaining wonder of the ancient world.

The pyramids are in the desert, but at the very border of Cairo. So it is very easy to get to them.

These are the three main Giza pyramids. The one on the left is actually the largest – known as the Great Pyramid of Giza. The pyramids are far older than the tombs at the Valley of the Kings. They date back to around 2560 BC, so are around 4,550 years old.

Rather than just drive up to the pyramids, I got dropped off in the desert, and enjoyed a walk through the desert. You really soak up the atmosphere that way.

This is the Great Pyramid of Giza up close. It is estimated to have around 2.3 million blocks in total, weighing 5.9 million tonnes. You wouldn’t want someone to drop it on you!

It is thought to have taken 20 years to build, which meant moving 800 tonnes of stone a day. And they were not just dumped down. The four sides have a mean error of only 58 mm.

The blocks have got worn over the years, but for 4,500 years of wear and tear they are holding up pretty good.

You can climb up the first few layers, but are not allowed to ascend to the top anymore.

A lone camel crossing the desert behind.

I declined to go on the camels as I had been warned that the price you negotiate is only for getting onto the camel, and that afterwards you also have to negotiate a price to be helped off, and by then you are in a weak bargaining position.

This is the smallest (but still large) of the three – the pyramid of Menkaure. The Great Pyramid is Khufu’s

And this is the Pyramid of Khafre.

At the apex of Khafre’s pyramid, its “coat” is still in place. The Pharoah’s didn’t actually want people climbing their tombs, so they smoothe rteh pyramids out. But over time much of the outer layer has disappeared, exposing the surface below.

I think most people can identify the Great Sphinx. It is within walking distance of the three main pyramids. It is 74 metres tall. There is great debate about when it as created. Most think at the time of the pyramids, but some say it pre-dates them and may be over 5,000 years old.

These shops are within 200 metres of the Sphinx. Sacrilege!

This is the Pyramid of Djoser, over at Saqqara. It was the first Egyptian pyramid and is 4,700 years old.

In the sand, you can see many fragments of pottery and other artefacts from the Pyramids.

This is the general Memphis area, famous for its palm trees. Memphis was the capital of Egypt until 2200 BC.

On the way home, went past the Saladin Citadel of Cairo. Ran out of time to look around it, so will keep for my return trip!

On Sunday took the train down from Alexandria. Only had to “tip” two police officers today. I have learnt that the worst question in the world you can hear in Egypt is “Hello Sir, what country are you from?”.

In New Zealand, you ask somewhere where they are from as a genuine conversation starter. Here it is a prelude to a mugging. You see they have craftily picked a question that is hard to avoid without being rude. You are obviously from somewhere and your instinct is to say where from.

The moment you do, it is all over. Like a limpet the person attaches to you talking about how good New Zealand (land of milk) is and how much they like New Zealanders and just for you they will tell you something about the local facility. Never mind you didn’t want to know, or already did know. You are then obliged to hand over some money for this favour.

My suggestion is to carry lots of small currency.

Anyway once I got to Cairo, checked in at the hotel, and discovered the swimming pool is one of those ones with a bar in the middle of it. Nice.

I’m not sure I have mentioned this before, but to respect local customs I have not worn shorts outside at all. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Now I have avoided the very hottest months but it has still got up to around 30 degrees, and even in shorts that is hot – especially for me who still has an internal thermostat attuned to Dunedin climate. So swimming pools are a welcome relief.

This is the view from my room.  What a great location to be staying. Met up with a friend, and we enjoyed the view from the balcony for hours.

Decided to go to the famous National Museum of Egypt. Even better learnt it was only a couple of kms away, so could walk there, avoiding a taxi driver negotiation.

The bridge over the Nile has these lion statues at each end.

The Cairo International Film Festival is very highly regarded, and a source of pride to many in Egypt.

The Cairo Tower. It is 187 metres tall and has a restaurant at the top. It is mainly used for TV signals

This is the famous Egyptian Museum. The sheer amount of artifacts is staggering, and you could easily spend days here. The treasures from King Tut’s tomb are amazing, as are his two gold coffins. The wooden outer coffin and the mummy itself remain in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

Everyone says this is a must see, and they are right. Both the quantity and quality of material is vast.

Alexandria is a lovely city – most of all it is clean, unlike Luxor and much of Cairo. It makes such a difference not having dirt and dust everywhere.

The hotel arranged a driver and car for only NZ$12 an hour. Unlike Luxor where there are formal tours, Alexandria is more the place where you just go the places you want to. I also did not want to be a full day tour, as the reason I chose Alexandria was partly just to have a nice place to relax for at least half a day. Holidays can be very exhausting!

This is the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which is Latin for Library of Alexandria. It is to commerorate the original Library of Alexandria whose loss is one of history’s tragedies.

The ancient library was thought to be the largest in the world, The exact size is unknown but most estimates are that it was in the hundreds of thousands. The world would be a different place today if that knowledge had survived. Knowledge is what separates us from the cavemen.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is near the site of the original Library, and has shelf space for eight million books. It is also unique, being the only facility that has a copy and external backup of the Internet Archive.

This is the Citadel of Qaitbay. The citadel is around 550 years old, but prior to that the site was the location of the Lighthouse of Alexandria – one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.The lighthouse was built just after 300 BC and as destroyed in earthquakes in the 1300s.

The citadel is a pretty cool fort to look around in its own right also.

A view of the harbour and Alexandria from the Citadel.

This is Pompey’s Pillar. It is so named as legend had it that Pompey’s ashes were sprinkled at the vase of the pillar. This is unlikely though as it turned out it was constructed in 293 AD for the Emperor Diocletian.

Pompey was murdered by Ptolemy XIII in 48BC. The King thought doing so would please Caesar, but in fact Caesar was appalled that such a great Roman (even if his opponent) was killed in such a way.

The Pillar is 30 meters high and weighs 396 tons. and surrounded by various other artifacts, and also the subterranean remains of a Serapeum. This was a must see.

This is a photo down in the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, one of the seven wonders of the Middle Ages. You go down a large spiral staircase to get to them.

Technically cameras are banned from the Catacombs but technically a Blackberry is not a camera

The planks are quite wobbly and trust me you don’t want to find out what the water is like!

These are horse bones – possibly killed during the razing of Alexandrina by Emperor Caracalla. The Catcombs were actually discovered by a donkey in 1900 when it disappeared down a previously unknown shaft. My guide told me that the donkey owner was very upset, and tried to get his donkey back, and only when they realized it had fallen 20 metres did they realise it was beyond help.

Also went to the Alexandrina National Museum. It isn’t a huge museum but worth checking out. This is a bust of Emperor Hadrian – one of the better Roman Emperors.

Also ran out of books to read (I’m onto book eight already) so managed to track down a bookstore that sold some English books. Like everything else, one had to haggle the prices. Managed to pick up three old Egyptian detective novels by Elizabeth Peters that kept me occupied on the train.

I left Luxor Thursday night. The Palace Nile hotel was very good value – only NZ$40 a night for a very good hotel room. Both Turkey and Egypt have cheap hotels. Interestingly though the food is not that cheap – for example the dinner would cost more than the accommodation.

I took the sleeper train to Cairo, and then a day train the remainign two hours to Alexandria.

At Luxor train stations I spent several minutes telling various touts no I did not need their assistance. But then as I get to the train track, a Police Officer politely asks what train I am on. I tell him, and he (so I thought) kindly took me down to the right carriage. Just as I am thinking how nice that was, he tells me that I can “reward” him if I am grateful.

I couldn’t believe it – even the effing Police want a tip. And yes of course I gave him one – you don’t generally say no to armed police. I’m not sure if this constitutes my first act of bribery of a public official!

This is my room. Was pretty reasonable for US$50, when you compare to the cost of flying.

A typical rural scene. The train windows were very dirty. While the train inside was actually very nice, the exterior looked like it was 50 years old and had never been washed.

Most areas though are like this. Makes you realise how lucky we are in NZ.

The hotel in Alexandria is on the Mediterranean Coast, and you can see the Mediterranean Sea in the background.

And the actual beach is only one minute away. Alexandria is not so much a tourist city (even though there is stuff to see) but a holiday destination for many in the Middle East.

As great as it was to see the sights from on high, there is nothing like getting up close and personal also, so did a tour of the West Bank also. I thought this was exceptionally good value – for NZ$100 I got a car all to myself, a driver, a guide and entry to the major attractions.

First we had a look at the Colossi of Memnon. They also date back to around 1350 BC, even though the Romans upgraded the top of the right hand one later on.

That track up there is where you go if you take the Donkey option to get over to the Valley of the Kings. I’m not kidding – you see packs of tourists on donkeys heading up that hill.

This is the reconstructed temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Up top parts of the original walls and artwork remain. Hatshepsut is viewed by historians as one of the most successful female Pharaohs. She ruled around 1500 BC.

Her step son, who was nominal co-ruler with her when alive, seemed to resent her as during his reign many pictures of her were literally scratched out – you can see the vandalism still today.

This is artwork on the original walls of the temple. You know you can see numerous pictures of this stuff, but there is nothing like seeing it in real life – knowing it is 3,500 years old. Amazingly well preserved.

This is Anubis – God of the Dead. All Stargate fans will know him 

This shows boats on the Nile. They also show many different fish and goods.

Again the quality of the artwork is superb. What a civilization it must have been back then.

And this is the house of Howard Carter – the finder of King Tut’s Tomb.

After this temple, we went to the Valley of the Kings proper. Now earlier this year they banned cameras which is a shame, so this image is from Wikipedia.

There were 62 tombs in the Valley of the Kings but in 2006 they discovered a 63rd. Don’t think archaeology is last century – there is still so much to find.

It has been a tourism site since Roman times. Sadly even by then, most of the tombs had been looted.

I went down KV57, the tomb of Horemheb. It is a relatively deep tomb – you descend a considerable way underground. This is what you see down there. Image from Theban Mapping Project.

Also went into tombs of Ramesses IV. This tomb was very shallow but very colourful.

This is from the tomb of Rameses III. You get to do three tombs in total. You have to pay extra to see KV62 or King Tut’s tomb and I decided to skip it as I have heard the tomb itself is nothing special – what was special was the contest which are now if the Egyptian Museum in Cairo – I hope to visit them on Monday.

The combination of this, plus the balloon ride has made this a great day. Now about to head north tonight.

Going up in a hot air balloon was never something on my list of must dos – partly because I always wondered why they don’t catch fire more often, but when I saw a balloon tour over parts of the ruins on the West Bank of Luxor, I figured that would be a view worth paying for.

Cost is around NZ$200 which I thought was reasonable value for 90 minutes actually up in the air. The only hassle was having to meet the driver at 4.55 am to get me there!

This is the view we had as we got to the takeoff strip. It was still well before 6 am, and we had crossed the Nile by boat by then. Ou pilot told us that group was being reckless going up while dark as if there is an emergency it helps to be able to see the ground. I agree!

This is our balloon having the air heated up

This is taken inside the basket as we rise up. Yes you stand close to the flame and yes it is bloody hot.

This is the Temple of Queen Hatshsesut.

A view of the crops on the side nearer to the Nile.

I just love this photo (and the view). The sun rising in the East over the Nile, with a balloon in the foreground. Magnificent.

These are some of the Tombs of the Nobles.

You get some idea of how high up we were at this stage. You don’t even notice until you look down, as you move so fluidly.

In ancient times the Nile meant life or death. You can see why with this photo – the areas that get water from a high Nile flourish, while areas further away do not. Almost all of Egypt lives near the Nile or on the coast in more recent times.

Some other balloons starting to rise after us.

I’m sure the safety briefing said nothing about leaning out of the basket so someone can get a better shot of you!

Again we went pretty damn high up.

This is taken on the maximum zoom lens. You couldn’t even see these guys working away except for the moving crops that alerted us.

And as we came back down to land, the support crew ready to hold us down. We were told how to brace ourselves for the landing but one could have remained standing it was so gentle.

This was an absolute highlight. I recommend it to anyone who visits Egypt.

On Tuesday flew into Cairo and then did a domestic transfer to Luxor. Landing at Cairo was spectacular as you can see the desert and pyramids all around Cairo as the plane goes low.

The taxi drivers in Luxor were marginally less dishonest than those in Istanbul. In Istanbul I had one driver try to charge me 90 Turkish Lira (around NZ$80) for a 10 km trip which had cost me only 20 TL in reverse. I simply refused to pay and told him I wanted the Police as he was trying to rip me off. I finally gave him 40 TL. The next day I made a point of watching the meter every few minutes. But then another driver added 50 Lira on at the end of the trip. Again I refused and said I saw it at 30 Lira just two minutes ago so am not paying 80. The thieving bastard then said I had given him a 50 Lira note when I gave him 100.

Don’t get me wrong – loved Istanbul, but the taxi drivers are criminals.

Luxor was marginally better. The airport has a sign up telling you the cost into Luxor – around 30 Egyptian Pounds or NZ$7. The driver tried to tell me the sign meant US$30. Again I refused and we settled on US$15.

Later when heading into Luxor Temple from the hotel, I negotiated the fare in advance. He started at 50 EP and I started at 10 EP and we settled for 35 EP which was reasonable. I don’t mind a robust negotiation in advance- but I do detest meter fiddling.

Anyway staying at the Nile Palace Luxor. It is a very nice hotel, and one I would recommend.

There is a large courtyard in the middle of the hotel where you can dien and drink, and every night they have entertainment. This is a photo of the dancing girls from my balcony.

Some remains from the Temple of Luxor, which is in the main town. It was built over 3,000 years ago.

The hotel swimming pool, and that is the Nile behind it. It was 30 degrees today so the water was just lovely. My only problem has been I have already read all the books I brought with me, so had to buy some more books to read while sun bathing.

The Nile. The river is the longest in the world, going from Southern Rwanda to Egypt stretching just over 6,500 kms.

The central courtyard area during the day.

The sun chairs at the edge of the Nile. Very relaxing to see the many boats go past.