Humble Opinions

Rushed for the first part but wonderfully relaxing after. The 3:30am start to drive 300Km to Abu Simbel was a pain. Wonderful temple, incredible feat of engineering to move it up the hill away from the waters of the Aswan dam an' all, but was it worth the time and heat and fatigue? Not really. Still, I suppose I can now say that I've done it and seen it. The two day ride down the Nile in a felloucca was just magical. I was so tired after the train ride and the early start the day before that I was exhausted so time spent just lying about and watching the scenery and chatting with some very interesting fellow travellers, or learning from our host, Captain Mohammed, and his regular visits with mates along the way. An interesting side trip was a visit to the once-a-week camel markets in Darow - the largest in Egypt - where camels are brought in from Sudan 1500Km over 45 days for sale to traders, farmers, racers and butchers. (A young eating camel goes for LE4000, a racing c

Tired and dehydrated after a drive out to Aswan damn and to the Kiosk of Qirtassi which had to be moved 100 metres, piece by piece, to make way for the damn waters. Fabulous history surrounding the structure, which is in remarkable condition considering that this Roman-Egyption trading post (at least that not covered in sand for most of the last 2000 years) has been graffitied by all sorts of Coptic Christians from about 60AD who didn't like the pagan images, to French, German and English explorers and soldiers in the 18th and 19 centuries. But their lettering is copy-book. Tomorrow up at 3:30am for a three-hour drive out to Abu Simbel. Armed convoy, just to be sure there's no trouble. Then back early afternoon in time to board a Falouca for two nights afloat on the Nile. So I probably won't be posting for another three days or so.

Pretty tired so I'm making this a brief one. It's end of day two and I've had a fabulous day tripping around the Saqqarrah pyramid and the Pyramids of Giza. They're old. Nearly 5000 years. And some of the paint is still on some of the relief paintings, and the hiroglyphs are amazing in their clarity and beauty. I'll tell more of the story accompanying the some of the pictures in my gallery (links to the side of my blog: http://winzar.blogspot.com)

It's been a fairly full last few days. Of course I shoulda' coulda' woulda' several things but I didn't. Fortunately I have some friends who are so generous and so gracious. Despite several checks with the post office I couldn't send my suitcase full of winter clothes back to Australia, but Kurt and Barbara are taking care of it for me. Dennis helped me to pack by sitting there Sunday morning repeating over and over "that's interesting... now pack your bag... Focus" Robin and Dennis and I enjoyed a last lunch at the Ironwood before Dennis drove me to the airport. "Always the airport driver - never the driven." Hopefully Dennis will be taking one of those drives for a flight to exotic climes soon. It's sunset on my first day in Cairo. It's already been a full day. I arrived in my hotel at about 2:30 this morning slept and after breakfast of bean stew, bread, cheese and fig jam washed down with very sweet tea I visited th

What great day of golfing! Dennis had booked a foursome at Kananaskis months in advance for Saturday. So the four was made up of Dennis, me, Kurt, and Patrick, the owner of the Ironwood Stage & Grill. It was the first time I'd had a chance to talk properly with Pat, since he was always at work when I saw him but, like his friends, he's a smart and engaging guy but with a razor wit. Kananaskis surely is one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world. It takes up a small valley between snow-peaked mountains. It's also regarded as a "challenging" course. Almost every hole runs alongside or over the beautiful fast-flowing river. People don't just talk about their scores but of the number of balls lost. I feel quite proud that I lost only six. The course is so popular that bookings for the season are filled within a week, and the course marshals keep close ties on how long any group takes on the holes to ensure everyone keeps to the schedule.

I'll claim it a sort of farewell for me. Dennis and Robin hosted yet another fabulous party. Only a week late for the Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) celebration, we made up a perfect mole negro , Robin prepared guacamole, bean salad, salsa and a superb turkey-taco green salad. There was way too much to drink. One highlight was the piñata - well two piñata - Robin & Dennis had prepared one and then Kurt & Barbara also arrived with one. We had a ball taking turns to be blindfolded and then try to smash them with a stick. When eventually they collapsed and scattered sweets and toys and, from Dennis & Robin's creation, miniature liquor bottles, everyone dived to the grass to collect the treasures. Very childish... It all went very very late. Sunday, what little remained of it when we got up, was spent very quietly.

Saturday was a great day but the wind was just too temperamental for us learners. We met up at 8:00am at Muller WindSports in Cochran, just North of Calgary, for final briefing, and to practice the basics. I had a chance to inflate the kite and practice basic control manoeuvring and was all set to fly. Unfortunately only a half of the group had a chance to actually leave the ground for their two minute ride 100 metres down and 1.5 Km along. The remainder were to fly the following day. Unfortunately I had plans for that night that didn't involve an early morning rise. Ironically, it rained on Sunday so my truancy didn't matter. Sigh, I'll have to try the flying part when I get back to Australia.

Saturday was yet another fantastic night in Calgary. We started the evening with a simple but delicious meal chez Dennis & Robin, then primed with several beers, wine, and a solid shot of Absinthe, the three of us walked the long four blocks to the Ironwood Stage & Grill . There we took up posts at the bar - the rest of the place was packed - to listen to legendary Canadian composer/ guitarist, Gaye DeLorme . To be honest, I hadn't heard of Gaye DeLorme before but it turns out that he has been nominated for Grammy awards several times and worked for a long time composing and producing music for Columbia Pictures. He is the inspiration for performers like Mark Knopfler and Stevie Ray Vaughn, creating tunes 15 years before these artists appropriated them and made them hits. Gaye started the evening with a classical guitar style version of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time that made me feel like I was listening to the music of Joe Pattane, an old friend of my father wh