15th Nov - Excellent Quad Bike Tour

Quite a few of us opted to do a 3-hr quad bike tour of the area surrounding Dhahab. Glad I was in cause it was one of the best tours I've done on my whole trip. I quickly realised, as did others, that I had a flair for quad biking, as I screamed off ahead of the pack. We went to a place in the desert, not too far out, & walked up a hill (not really sure why), then walked back down. Anyway, we jumped back on the bikes & headed back towards Dhahab & the leader let us take off on these sand flats. And I really took off, overtaking him at full throttle & hooning down the beach. Then we all stopped at the beach & I convinced the leader to let me have another ride. So I went off & raced him around the flats again. I had found my inner quad demon! But people were really quite pissed off that I'd gotten the extra. When we finished the tour, they even let me take a bike back to the resort. Absolutely LOVED IT!!!!!

Pretty Good Italian Lasagne

After the light show, I was absolutely exhausted. I nodded off a few times in the van coming back, much to the detriment of my neck as my head was rolling around all over the place. A group of us had kind of started an early bonding process, & when we arrived back at the hotel we headed straight for the bar for a drink & food. In the group were Kirsten, Kristen (Kris), Kym (her man), Kylie, Amy, Kath, & I - all Aussies. It was weird hanging out with a group of Aussies after so long away from home, but comforting too. About 80% of the tour group of about 45 people were Aussies or Kiwis. We got into this in-depth conversation about an argument Kristen had with her (now ex) best friend over their wedding venue. Kym just tuned out - a man in a sea of women. I’d ordered the lasagne, based on Kristen’s recommendation, & it was really quite good for an Egyptian lasagne.

7th Nov - Arrival in Cairo

After being one of the first to depart from the plane, I waited in a queue at customs for only 10 mins before being served. Then was promptly turned around again to get my visa stamp from one of the bank windows. When I lined up again, the queue was huge - about 25 people, & the wait was at least a half hour.
Anyway, I got through customs relatively quickly & without fuss. The On-The-Go rep, Shady (as in Slim), was there to greet the 3 of us flying in at that time. He escorted us to the van outside & it took us only 40 mins to reach the Oasis Hotel where we’d be staying the first night.
A 3-hour wait for a room, a great conversation on Middle-East politics with Shady, a quick (5-min) freshen up, & I was ready at 10am for my first optional tour day

The 100 Bus in Berlin

I had promised myself that I’d get up early, but that just didn’t happen. I finally got out of the hotel at about 9:45am then skipped across the road to grab a quick breakie. I then jumped on the Metro up to the Zoologischer Garten stop, then found my way to the bus stop to catch the 100 bus. This bus is a popular tourist bus (as is the 200 bus), even though it’s a regular bus, because it stops at most of the major highlights in Berlin. Much better than those very expensive sightseeing buses. And it was even a double decker!!!

Touring the Provencale Countryside

This morning I went on a half-day tour of the local Provence region (cost 50 euros). There were only 3 people on the tour (myself & two women from HK), so the mini bus we rode in wasn’t at all full. The tour guide, James, had come out from London about 33 years ago & settled in a town outside Avignon. We had some great chats about the culture, wine, food, & everything else about France. On the tour we were meant to see the lavender fields, but unfortunately, the pretty fields were not yet in bloom. A type of lavender used for other purposes (antiseptic, arthritis, etc) was in bloom, so at least we saw one field of those. But the trips around the villages were cute.
Our first village, Gordes, is known for building no-window houses with dry stone (no cement between). Still to this day, some of the old houses still stand with locals not being allowed to tear them down, only allowed to build beside them in the same type of style. We didn’t stop in the village, but drove through & had a look at examples of the old houses (Bories) & walls.
We stopped at the second village, Lacoste, for about 25 mins - enough time to browse through the local market & have a croissant. The village was sprawling with wealthy locals out to buy their cheese, salamis & olives for the week.
The other notable village, in which we strolled for an hour was Roussillon. The Romans were first to mine the ochre in the hills used as dyes & colourings. The hills are a red earth colour, similar to the Australia outback earth, & stand out boldly against the green surrounds. The town itself was gorgeous, little laneways weaving up toward the peak of the town, with small shops tucked away for tourists. The coffee I had - not so good.