Temples, Tombs and Tourist Touting

While listening to the Italian music that Stefano left behind for me, I have time review the 10 days that my mom spent here. It was really nice to welcome her into my new life, to take her on the boat while I was working (although she came off the boat coloured like the logo of my previous employer - ok, Dutch metaphore -, seasick as hell), to introduce her to my Gounie friends and, last but not least, to travel to Luxor with her. I believe she felt right at home here in Gouna, being her old bubbly self, getting along with everybody.

The trip to Luxor was fantastic too. What a sight, what a history, what an archeological grandeur... At the end of our 3-day trip, names of kings, queens & temples were making my head spin and to think that I haven’t even seen the tip of the iceberg... Aswan, Alexandria, Edfu, the desert, the bedouins, the oasis... so much more to discover! But for starters, Luxor was of course fantastic, aside from the extremely annoying tourist touts. Where you from? Wherever. What’s your name? Not important. Where you go? None of your business. Taxi? No thank you, I’m walking. Taxi? Shokran, lah. Taxi? NO, damn it! You want buy t-shirt? No thank you. You know how much, really cheap! I don’t care, I don’t want it anyway! Come look in my shop! No, I don’t want to buy anything!! Everything very cheap! I said no, khallas! Ah you speak Arabic? Very good, where you from? At this point, to ignore the leech and to keep walking is the only option, only to go through the same process 10 meters ahead... Nevertheless I was very impressed by the sometimes 4000 year old constructions and pieces of art, the beauty of the desert and the green of the Nile.

At the dive centre, we have a rule: if you don’t have a picture, it doesn’t count. So you may very well have seen a pod of 25 dolphins making summersaults and juggling with pieces of coral, if you don’t have a picture to prove it, we don’t believe you anyway.

Underwater I may not be such a happy snapper, but above water, believe me, I click away faster than a morse-code specialist. So I present to you a selection of the pictures I took, it includes some of my mom’s too, just to prove I was there. Taking lots of pictures is genetically predetermined in our family, I think.

Luxor Temples:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73481&l=9036c&id=523210814

Luxor Tombs:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73616&l=7060d&id=523210814

Luxor, All but Tombs & Temples:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73855&l=65c56&id=523210814

So Cairo, check. Luxor, check.

Next on the agenda is Nina, visiting from Holland again (first repeater of the lot) and a few days later, Siobhan is coming back too. I warned you, Gouna is addictive!

And then, in less than a month, I’ll be on my way, escaping the winter in Egypt, fly to my babe in Thailand. It turned out that what we thought was the end of it, was not the end of it at all... On the contrary, it was more the beginning of it really. Fantastic how life is always full of pleasant surprises. Although..., I just remembered something I wrote in a previous blog, let me look it up.

I quote myself: “Just to be clear, I have every intention of doing this as a temporary break, meaning I will return to my tracks. The bank is even considering to offer me 12 months unpaid leave, practically unheard of here in Asia, so I must have done something right! But hey, who knows what tomorrow may bring! Who am I to turn down a tanned, muscular, intelligent, fun loving diving instructor who speaks 6 languages, wants to discover the world with me and pledges to love me till eternity? Hihi, dream on girl…”
(So, what exactly did I do then, blog d.d. 19 march 2008 )

Guess what... Tanned, check. Muscular, check. Intelligent, check. Fun loving diving instructor, check. 6 languages... hmmm, maybe not, but together we speak 5, that’s near enough! Wants to discover the world with me, check. Pledges to love me till eternity, we’re working on it, and besides he cooks like heaven and that’s even better :-)

Minchia, this girl is going to keep on dreaming!

Sweet dreams to all,

xYx