So now the big question is: where to next?

I'm hoping for an autumn camping trip. We're considering Central America, or the Canadian arctic in the next year or so. However, the place that has really fired my imagination is Kyrgyzstan!

Check out this article by some guy called the Frugal Traveler (note: you may need to register with NYTimes to see it.)

I'm a bit miffed that this guy is getting paid to travel around the world and write about it - and he's only going for a measly 90 days. Geez, had I been getting paid I would have written more.

I may have to modify the blog a bit. Instead of it being single trip journal, I'll be turning it into a forum to indeed ponder that next trip over yonder.

Check out this nifty link I found:

A 360 degree photo of the hypostyle hall at the temple of Karnak in Luxor. Be sure to look around, and up and down. It'll give you an idea of the scale of the place.

Exodus from Egypt - the epiblogue

My apologies for not writing a post sooner. I forgot that people were reading the blog and wondering if we ever made it home. We have indeed returned to Canada, and are settling into our home in Toronto. So, I will try to recall our last few days in Egypt.

We did indeed ascend Mount Sinai. We climbed it by the light of the almost full moon, and were there to watch the sunrise from the summit. It was a relatively easy trail, but was occassionally disorienting in the moonlight - no help that our guide ran off without us, so we did the climb solo. If you ever find yourself at Mount Sinai, I'd recommend taking a camel to the top. The summit of this sacred mountain was littered with the garbage of thousands of visitors; everything from blankets and foam pads, used batteries, and dozens of handwritten prayers all discarded on top of the rocky peak. Moses wouldn't be impressed.

After the sunrise, we walked back down the way we came. The famous St.Katherine's monastery at the base of the mountain was closed to tourists for some random feast day that no one had been told about, so that was a bit of a disappointment. No Well of Moses, no Burning Bush. Just a lot of eastern european tour groups who had a videographer in tow to capture every precious moment.

We spent a couple more days in Dahab before hopping onto the bus for Cairo. An uneventful trip, except for the security check when we passed under the Suez Canal. We all had to get off the bus and get our luggage inspected before we could pass underneath. After a long day of looking at a lot of sand, it was great to be back in cosmopolitain Cairo and see the Nile again.

On June 15, we flew back to Montreal, and were greeted by my parents. A few days later we were in Toronto, back where we had started in November 2004. We had successfully circumnavigated the globe.

Before we set out on this journey, I had a couple of goals. The first was to go travelling for 100 days. We arrived back in Canada after 105 days on the road, tired but happy. The second was to travel from Osaka to Bangkok overland - no airplanes. Again we pulled this off.. We missed going to Cambodia and Angkor Wat, but went to Egypt instead - a decent compromise I reckon.

More photos of Egypt. Of all the places we visited on our trip, Egypt is the country where I took the most photos. The scenary was stark and stunning, and the ancient monuments were astounding. Here are some of the highlights:


The Temple of Philae at Aswan. This shot was taken during the sound & light show at Philae. The overly-dramatic music and narration were cheesy, but the opportunity to walk around the illuminated temple at night was incredible.


We hopped onto a 5-star Nile cruise ship for the one day trip from Aswan to Luxor. We were the only people who came aboard carrying backpacks, and who weren't part of a tour. We enjoyed the luxury for 24 hours.


A detail of some hieroglyphics that have lasted thousands of years. Temple of Kom Ombo.


An afternoon break, Egyptian style. A mint tea and a sheesha (water pipe filled with apple flavoured tobacco.)


We arrived at the Temple of Horus at Edfu before it was open. We watched as the tourist police went to work. When we were let in we had the entire place to ourselves for about half and hour before the tour buses started arriving.


The Valley of the Kings. Here we are outside the tomb of some minor pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty.


The Temple of Hatshepsut. A grand building carved into the rock face, not far from the Valley of the Kings.


The Temple of Karnak at Luxor. The biggest temple complex in Egypt. For thousands of years rulers added to the temple to leave their mark.


The Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. Stone pillars 21 meters high.


The view from the summit of Mount Sinai. We climbed the mountain by the light of the full moon, and watched the sunrise over the desert.


In the footsteps of Moses, and millions of pilgrims - the path up to Mount Sinai. This shot was taken during our descent in the early morning. The pilgrims that day seemed to consist of Russian and Polish tourists in bad footwear


A view of Dahab. A windblown town surrounded by desert, sea, and mountains.

This morning we flew out of Luxor to Sharm El Sheik. We are happy to leave modern Luxor behind. It's the hassle capital of the world as far as I'm concerned. The absolute worst, most aggressive, and obnoxoius cab drivers and caleche jockeys on the planet can all be found on the Corniche el Nil.

Sharm itself, we never saw. All traveller reports list it as an over-developed, overpriced resort town, so we hired a taxi straight away and headed an hour north to Dahab. After a series of police checks we were on our way through the Sinai desert. The sight of two dead camels at the side of the road made us a touch nervous, and we were thankful for our big bottle of water.

The drive was stunning. Nothing but mountains grew from the sand as we wound our way through the jagged landscape. We thought of the Israelites wandering through the desolate land for 40 years. I doubt we could last 4 days.

Dahab was recently in the news as the site of a terrorist bombing. It's hard to imagine it happening in such a beautiful relaxed place, often described as the Ko Samui of the Middle East. The only indication of the attack is a small memorial on the boardwalk, and the high security. People continue to visit Dahab, and we even overheard a bit of conversation about people who were interested in buying investment properties in town.

As I type this post I'm looking over the Gulf of Aqaba and can see Saudi Arabia in the distance. The breeze is strong and there are whitecaps on the water before they break over the reef. The wind surfers are zinging across the water. The reef is so close to shore here that people get into their scuba gear in their hotel rooms, and walk into the sea. For us it'll be 4 days of snorkelling and seafood, and a pilgramage to St. Katherine's monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. Now, it's time for a sheesha and mint tea.

Greetings from Luxor, aka Thebes, ancient capital of Egypt. This was the centre of thousands of years of civilization, and dynasties of pharaohs built their monuments, temples, and tombs here.

Walking around the surreal valley of the kings, amid broken limestone cliffs, was unforgettable. The cliffs rise from the lush, flat plains around the Nile, and nestled within are the tombs of the pharaohs. Seeing the carvings inside the tombs, some still covered with vibrant colour thousands of years old, was a glimpse into the earliest human empire.

The highlight of Luxor was the temple of Karnak. The scale of human achievement is impressive even today. It was mindblowing to walk amongst the gigantic columns of the hypostyle hall. Check out the 007 movie "The Spy who Loved me." It's where Bond and Jaws were chasing each other around.

Tomorrow we cross the Red Sea to wander around Sinai for a while. We'll make the trek to St. Katherine's monastery, but spend most of our time snorkelling and relaxing before the trip back to Cairo, and then onto Montreal. After 20 months away from Canada, it'll be good to get back home.

We are in Egypt. It's hot, noisy and crowded with people hungry for baksheesh. Traffic in Cairo is insane.

But then there's the Pyramids, Saqarra, the sand that drifts and glitters like snow. Green fields on the edge of the Sahara, feluccas on the Nile, Pharaonic temples, Islamic mosques and ancient Christian churches in Coptic Cairo. Palm trees, camels, horses and donkeys, carts of watermelons, apricots, limes, and that wonderful feeling of returning to an air-conditioned hotel room after it all...

Still ahead are the Nile cruise, Luxor and the Sinai peninsula: St. Katherine's Monastery, the Burning Bush, and a camel trek into the desert.

Thanks for all the comments. See you this summer.

Old islamic Cairo. 44 degrees in the shade. That's 111 F!


Local transport - a ship of the desert. Smelly, temperamental, lumbering.


The only remaining wonder of the ancient world, and us!

Photos of Thailand.

The Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Bangkok's most famous site.


Me and a couple of friends at the Grand Palace.


Sunrise on Ko Pha Ngan beach.


The full moon party starts while the moon is still waxing gibbous. We prefered the parties beforehand, because on full moon night all the tourists from Ko Samui arrived, and packed out the beach. Here are some dancers at dawn before full moon night.


We would usually arrive at the beach around 11pm, and party it up until about 4am. Then we'd go back to our hotel to clean up and shower, before heading back to the beach for sunrise, then breakfast. Here we are all spiffy looking as the party winds down.


Had Rin was full of trauma centers and doctors clinics. The most common injuries among tourists were wiping out on their rented scooters or stepping on broken glass. It was ridiculous how many people we saw bandaged up or on crutches.

We're back in Bangkok. We took the boat from Ko Pha Ngan to Surat Thani, and then the night train to Bangkok. We picked up our tickets to Cairo/Montreal this AM. We paid $750 CDN each for a one way trip from Bangkok to Montreal with an 18 day stopover in Egypt. Holy smokes, what a deal!

OK, plans for Egypt include Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel, and the Sinai peninsuala. We are keen to check out the burning bush of Moses fame.

Thai beaches are a fine place to plan a trip of biblical proportions. Bangkok is an exciting place to prepare. Photos soon.

Cookbook photos on the world wide internet!

As some of you may know, Hania took cooking classes in Japan from a friend of ours, Sugako Kusakabe. They cooked, I took photos of all the food, and then we all ate.

Now those recipes and photos are appearing in the Nikkei newspaper. You can view them in the online edition on May 21, 28 and on June 4, 11, 18, 25. Check out:
http://www.nikkei.co.jp/kansai/

You’ll need to navigate to the specific page, but the newspaper is all in Japanese, so treat it as a game when you try look for the page. This is what life in Japan was like for us – a big puzzle to solve. Happy searching.