TOPDECK Thursday 3rd May - Luxor

A horse and carriage ride at 6.30am to Edfu Temple was a grand way to start the day. We were the first people there which was great to get some people free shots however they soon came streaming in. Judging by the huge line of buggy's, the carriage ride seemed to be the best way to get there.

This Temple seems a lot larger than Kom Ombo from last night and is still largely intact. A couple of the "guards" with machine guns took it upon themselves to be showing me some of the more interesting highlights however I wasn't sure whether I should be tipping them or not... so I didn't... This decision was later reinforced when one of the cretins tried to bust a move on me!!! Not cool!!!

Back on the safety of the boat at 8am to continue on to Luxor and the rest of the day until 5pm was freetime to eat, drink sleep etc once again... After a nap I decided to take advantage of the lovely mid morning sun to catch some rays and found out the hard way that the sun cream I got in Turkey sucks... I got more pink bits that white bits right now and am in some degree of pain... Ouch...

At 5pm we docked at Luxor and went to Luxor Temple, another huge place belonging to Ramses. Our guide Sam was a lovely fella who was very passionate about Ramses but had a habit of foaming at the mouth so we weren't quite sure where to look... The Temple was beautiful however the afternoon heat and humidity was pretty full on so we were all happy when we returned to the airconditioned comfort of the boat and the towel swans on our beds...

We were entertained by a belly dancing show tonight and a whirling dervish guy also performed. This fella was so huge his head was only about an inch from the ceiling. We all thought he was the belly dancers body guard until he came out on stage in a huge skirt and started spinning!


Another early start tomorrow at 5am to do the East and West Banks before boarding the train back to Cairo.

TOPDECK Wednesday 2nd May - Aswan

At 3am this morning we joined a convoy of around 50 buses to be escorted by the Egyptian Tourist Police to Abu Simbel. There were buses of all shapes and sizes making the almost 4 hour journey which is done twice a day with the assistance of the Police. Our tour guide had arranged a nice big bus for us today so we all had at least two seats each and we bought our pillows so could could sprawl out, get comfy and hopefully get some sleep as it would still be dark until we arrived. I got lucky and had the whole back seat but it didnt really help me in getting some sleep.
We arrived around 7am. The sun was just starting to come up and with a predicted top of 45, it was already starting to get warm. We had to be back and ready to leave with the convoy at 9am so we started the short walk to the temples straight away.

This place is amazing!! Its the temples of Ramses and his wife and what is equally amazing is that this is not the original place they were built it.

When the High Dam was constructed, the original temples had been flooded so they Govt of Egypt had the temples moved and re-allocated to where they are today. Judging from the size of the temples and the exact directions they had to face, this would not have been an easy task. You can go inside both of the temples however once again no photo's are allowed. Basically the rooms inside are covered wall to wall with carvings and hyroglyphics.





From here we rejoined the convoy and returned to our boat for an afternoon of leisure (sleeping, eating, drinking etc) while the boat started its cruise towards Luxor. At 8pm we stopped at Kom Ombo Temple for a quick look before returning to the boat and discovering the "towel men" had struck again...


Our boat will be continuing on to Luxor through the night.

TOPDECK Tuesday 1st May - Aswan

Well... After over 12 hours on the train (1st class recliner seats) and hardly any sleep, we arrived in Aswan just before lunch. This really is desert country. The streets are hot and smelly, the buildings are old and runs down and donkeys are a common form of transport. Our new bus picked us up at the station and delivered us to our new hotel for the next few nights - the Nile Star, a four star cruiser!!!

After stopping just long enough for lunch we continued on to the High Dam and Philae Temple. From what I can gather, when this huge dam was made, it flooded a couple temples and a Nubian Village. The Philae Temple is another impressive sight with its walls still covered in carvings and heiroglyphics.

The temp today was 39 degrees but it's a very bearable heat, not dry or humid. But, it was time to take advantage of the heat...
Upon returning to our hotel/boat we got into a much smaller one and went upriver to find a "beach"for a swim in the Nile!! While the water was probably in no way clean, it was cold and refreshing and just what I needed before my camel ride. (I also needed one after my camel ride coz the little bugger stunk so bad it rubbed off on me but it didn't happen...)...

My camel was a nice friendly monster who just plodded along following the track until we arrived at the Nubian Village where we were to meet the others from the tour for some hibiscus tea and a henna tattoo. The house we went to had a shaded are over the entire roof of their building which was open and well ventilated from the heat. They also had three baby crocodiles and two little turtles! Soooo cute!!


Tonight the "towel men" invaded our rooms while we were at dinner. There's a Nubian dance show on upstairs tonight but I'm gonna try get some sleep as I hardly got any on the train and we're up at 3am tomorrow to join the convoy to Abu Simbel. Eeeek....

TOPDECK Monday 30th April - Cairo

Today began with a trip to Cairo Museum to have a look at the goodies from Tutankamens tomb and various other artifacts. This museum has over 150,000 items exhibited and you could easily spend a day in there if that sorta thing floats ya boat... Be warned though - no photos allowed. Our cameras were confiscated on the way in!!


After the musuem we were on the road again to one of the biggest highlights of Egypt - The Pyramids of Giza and The Sphinx!! I honestly thought they would be bigger but thats not to say that they weren't big or impressive. At the end of our tour we will be attending a sound and light show here. Should be fantastic!!

We returned to the hotel late afternoon and had a quick rest before grabbing some dinner at the local KFC. This KFC is the first KFC run by the hearing impaired. You point to what you want on the menu and the staff are so full of smiles its contagious. Tonight we are packing our gear and catching a train to Aswan - a mere 12 hours away...

Saturday 28th - Istanbul & Sunday 29th April - Cairo TOPDECK

I said farewell to Istanbul and a few straglers from my tour on Saturday morning and caught the transfer bus from my hotel to the airport. I may have already mentioned this but Turkish drivers are CRAZY and I assumed the crash position more than once on that trip...
Finally making it in one piece at the airport I checked my stuff in and boarded my flight on route to Cairo. The cheapest flight I could find a few days earlier went via Milano first and I had a four hour stopover there before flying out and getting in to Cairo at 3am on Sunday morning. If you ever have a stopover at Milano, be prepared to be bored. There's nothing there and every internet terminal I found was broken...
On my flight from Milano to Cairo I was lucky enough to score a window seat on the exit row but was soon silently freaking out during and after takeoff as everytime we hit a bump or turbulence, the emergency exit door would creak louder and louder until I was sure it was gonna open...


Safely back on land in Cairo, the Topdeck rep met me at the airport, arranged my visa and transferred me to the hotel. I plonked into bed at about 4.30 am and have been handwashing clothes and sleeping for most of the day. The rest of our tour group met this evening to discuss the finer details of Egypt and the tour. It's gonna be a busy week but looks excellent!!

Friday 27th April - Istanbul

Most people from my tour have left today for their various destinations however I don't fly off to Egypt until tomorrow so I slept in and have had a quiet day catching up on emails and booking flights between Cairo, Amsterdam and London.
It will be sad to leave Turkey but I've been tld Egypt is even better so I'm excited to be moving on too.

Thursday 26th April - Istanbul

Well, today is the 2nd last day of the tour but technically the last day we do anything as a group. We were booked in for another Bosphorous cruise today however as we'd already done one earlier in the tour, we decided to boycott this one and go to Taksim Square and do some shopping instead.


This area of Istanbul has a much more modern style of shopping (i.e popular dept/retail stores) instead of the tourist type souveneir shops crowding the streets where we are staying and everywhere we have been. We spotted the shop above and thought it almost sounded like my name so was worth a photo... sad huh?... =) Below is a pic of a street just off Taksim Square.

We had free time in the arvo so Ange and I went to the grand Bizarre again for some souveneirs and presents before meeting up with the group again for dinner and drinks. After dinner we went round the corner for some hubble bubble and beer before calling it a night as most of us were still stuffed from the Gallipoli and some had planes to catch first thing in the morning.

Wednesday 25th April - Anzac Cove to Istanbul

Oh my god... What an incredibly awesome and humbling experience. I was wide awake from 3am onwards and just as the sky was beginning to lighten ever so little, the ANZAC service of 2007 commenced. I've been to several dawn services in Perth before and am familiar with the format and atmosphere however todays had me spellbound and captivated from the very start. The highly emotion charged atmosphere, the intense level of respect and the complete silence of approx 10,000 people all culminated in creating an unforgettable moment in time. The service wasn't long or boring and easily held our attention all the way through. Even before the last post sounded, the tissues were out. I recommend every Aussie, Kiwi and Turk make the pilgrimage to Gallipoli at least once in their lives. You never have a better perspective or appreciation for your history until you've been there.

After the dawn service at Anzac cove, we repeated the ceremonies at Lone Pine (top) for the Aussies, and Chunuk Bair for the Kiwi's and passed some trenches on the walk between the two. We stopped in at the Turkish service as well and were amazed at the formality and solomness of this service as well as the hundreds of children all waving the Turkish flag.


Before taking the 5 hour drive back to istanbul, we stopped in at the musuem. This is only a small museum but contained a lot of little exhibitions. Below is a pic of one of the exhibits.

And, now that we're back in our hotel in Istanbul, I'm looking forward to a long, warm sleep...

Tuesday 24th April - Ayvalik to Anzac Cove

Today was a huge day. In the morning we stopped at the very ancient city of Troy before driving on to Gallipoli. Truthfully, Troy was a bit of a let down. It's only a small place now and it's mostly all overgrown however there is still quite a bit to see and the replica horse is pretty cool too.

We arrived at Gallipoli mid afternoon and already the crowds were starting to build up for tomorrows Anzac action. After being denied access to most places due to the preparations for tomorrow and deciding to bypass the rediculously long queue for the museum, we went down to Anzac Cove to set up camp for the night.

On the way we passed the place where the Anzac service used to be held. The memorial above is there and it reads as follows:

Those heroes that shed their blood
and lost their lives...
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
here in this country of ours
You the mothers,
who sent their sons from far away countries
wipe away your tears.
Your sons are now lying in our bosom
and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land they have
become our sons aswell.

Ataturk 1934

As fortune would have it (or Buddah belly luck maybe) we scored a front row position right next to the Fanatics. After a brief wander round the area for some sight seeing and orientation of the loos and food stalls, we settled in for the long, cold night ahead...


To keep those of us who couldn't or wouldn't sleep occupied during the night there were various doco's shown as well as the Army and Navy Bands playing the hits of the early 1900's. This year they had a complete alcohol ban and the crowd seemed kinda subdued however you couldn't shake the eerie feeling lingering in the atmosphere. Snatching short kips here and there, I managed to accumulate a couple hours of light sleep, staying toasty warm inside my sleeping bag and wearing thermals, jumpers, jacket and beanie...

Monday 23rd April - Kusadasi to Ayvalik

Today we called in at the Acropolis of Pergamon and once again we treated the other visitors to our little song while we were in the theatre. Below is a group shot taken just after singing...

Tonight we are in a sunny little coastal town called Ayvalik on the west coast. Ange and I were thrilled to be so close to the beach and sprawled out on our towels for most the afternoon soaking up some sun. We're all having a quiet night tonight as the next two days are gonna be HUGE!!!

Sunday April 22nd - Kusadasi

Today was a pretty leisurely day and our first place to visit was Ephesus, another ancient city dating back to around 300BC. Ephesus was quite a large city and the area of the ruins is quite vast. We spent a lot of time just wandering round and looking at various areas of the city while Naci our tour guide filled us in on what the buildings and rooms used to be for. We were even shown some ancient public loos!!!

A couple hours later we were standing on stage in the enormous ampitheatre performing our lovely little Tininaninum song. The other visitors all applauded us and the Turkish people there were so happy to hear us, they requested an encore!! After all our bus rehersals, how could we refuse?...














After lunch we went up to Sirince, a former Greek village, and bought some of the lovely fruit wine. Angela and I got three bottles between us - Apple, Peach and Cherry - as it was cheap and we're soooo over beer. On our way back to the bus we found out Peters wallet had been stolen from his shorts pocket. We were surprised this could happen in such a pretty little place but was also a timely reminder for us that although Turkey is beautiful and friendly, there are always those nasty buggers out there...Upon returning to the hotel Ange and I sat out on her balcony and guzzled the wine together with Anne until dinner then mosied on to Jimmy's Irish bar for a few drinks and some inter-tour socialising. This time of year is very busy for the western side of Turkey. There are so many tours full of Aussies and Kiwi's going to the same places and keen to be at Gallipoli for Anzac Day that we often keep bumping into each other as we get closer to our destination. We even got a lift back to our hotel on a competitors bus!!

Saturday 21st April - Fethiye to Kusadasi

Another long day of driving but as always worth every minute of it. On our way to Kusadasi we stopped in at Pamukkale and the Hierapolis.

The ruins at Hierapolis are of an ancient Roman resort city. There was a lot of graves and crypts we walked past on the way in however once you get to the beautiful calcium pools at Pamukkale you can see why it would have once been a resort city. These pools are shallow and warm and the mud is heaven for the feet.

In the afternoon we went to a leather clothing outlet and were treated to a leather fashion show. I went in with no intention to buy anything - not even a handbag - however after some master bargaining, I walked out with a stunning leather jacket I got marked down from EURO595 to a measly EURO120... Lets see ya do that anywhere else!!!

We're staying in Kusadasi tonight and our open air concert is tomorrow... Bugger...

Thursday 20th April - Fethiye

OH MY GOD!!! Today has gotta go down as one of the best days of my life!!!

This mornings paragliding adventure was totally AWESOME!!!

I met up with about 15 people from Robbies tour group (Robbie chickened out) early in the morning as I was the only one from my tour going. Our first stop was to check out the LZ (a cute little beach) and collect our gear and pilots.
Once we were all piled into the back of the dodgy trucks, we started the scary trip up the rocky mountain road to the 2000 metre site... The wheels were so close to the edge, I honestly thought we'd roll off before we even got there!!

But, get there we did and while it was perfectly launchable for a hang glider, it was too windy for a paraglider so we drove back down to the 1800 metre mark... I wish I could have gone in a hang glider instead but I was soon to find out paraliding was just as much fun!!

I got lucky with my pilot in scoring a national paragliding and skydiving expert and felt comfortable placing my life in his hands. Turns out he even knows a few of the hang gliding pilots I know and have met. For the next half an hour we just floated around and he threw in a couple spirals to make me squeal. The view was awesome, the flight was brillant and our landing was perfect.

The only downside to my fantastic morning was I missed getting back in time for the island boat cruise with my tour group. No worries tho, Buddah belly came through for me again and Robbies tour leader was kind enough to ask me to join the TopDeckers on their cruise. Their boat was already waiting at the beach we had landed at and it gave me a chance to have a good catch up with Robbie so on I went.

I didn't have my swimmers or anything with me but luckily I had enough cash in my pocket to buy lunch and a couple of beers. It was a hot sunny day and when we stopped at the first bay, I was dying to join the others in the water but since I didnt have my togs I decided against it... For now anyways...

Later in the afternoon we moored at Gemiler island - also known as St Nicholas Island. Medieval sources claim that Santa Claus came and lived here once upon a time... There are still ruins on this island and after geting off the boat and exploring them for an hour I really, really needed a swim... Swimmers or no swimmers I had to get in that cool, refreshing water so, once again, there I was getting round in me undies and thankfully- to my knowledge anyway - there's no photo's of that getting round...

This evening we had dinner in town and sat down to watch the Australia and New Zealand cricket match at a local pub with a big projection screen. Our tour is pretty much half Kiwi's, half Aussies so we had some good competition going. We're off to Kusadaci tomorrow and we'll soon be singing our little Turkish folk song at Ephesus... Eeeek....

Thursday 19th April - Antalya to Fethiye

Another day in this beautiful and surprising country. Today we put on our swimmers and drove down to Saklikent Gorge where half of us went tubing down the river and stopped halfway for a mudbath/fight.

As I had a wetsuit on I didnt bother changing from my undies into my swimmer shorts but soon realised I should have thought ahead... Turns out when we stopped to play in the mud, we had to take the wetsuits off... Well, I wasn't gonna miss out on that sorta fun so, as embarrassing as it was, I ended up running around in my Miss Piggy undies... Sorry guys - no photos for that one...

After lunch we visited a carpet weaving factory and learnt how to tell the difference between wool and silk rugs and how to spot a fakie.

I fell in love with a pretty flowery one (not pictured) but at approx AUD$1200 before shipping, I had to let it go...
We're in Fethiye tonight and tomorrow. It's a cute little town on the coast surrounded by huge mountains which I'm gonna have an aerial view of tomorow when I go PARAGLIDING!!! WOOHOO!!

Wednesday 18th April - Cappadocia to Antalya

We left our pretty little hotel today and headed south towards the Meditteranean. Basically it was another whole day of driving except for a couple quick stops along the way. The first place was a 13th century hotel, Sultanhani Caravanserai.
Upon getting off the bus I got a nice surprise seeing my Topdeck tour guide Robbie waiting to get into the same place as us. Turns out he's on holidays and is doing a tour of Turkey with Topdeck and will basically be going to all the same places as us. After promising to catch up somewhere, my group continued on to Antalya stopping at a pretty little lake on the way.


In the afternoon we had another brief stop at Tinaztepe Cavern which is one of the biggest cave systems in the world. Most of it is underwater and has been explored by divers like Jacques Cousteau. We only got to see about 1.5km's of it 22km total.