Aswan,Egypt - December 20, 2010

We woke up on the train and had a lazy morning watching the country side and the Nile go by.  We were several hours still until we reached Aswan.

Once at Aswan we went to our boat (home for the next three days) to drop off our stuff.  The first picture is of Wayne and the kids in the lobby of the boat.  The next is them boarding the first boat and then we had to pass through two more boats before reaching ours.

After we had settled in and had some lunch we had a free afternoon and decided to relax and explore the boat.  We did take a little walk along the corniche to check things out.  Later this afternoon we decided to go for a camel ride on the other side of the Nile.  Samantha and I shared a camel while the boys rode by themselves.  Our camel ended up being a bit stubborn - he kept wanting to go his own way and the herders had to keep bringing him back.





Below is an old church and some scenery from the boat.

Tonight we set sail for Luxor.

First day in Egypt - December 19, 2010

We were all very excited about our Christmas holiday.  Our first day of vacation was actually a travel day - time spent in the plane, airport, taxi, wrong hotel, taxi and finally the right hotel.  It was early to bed and then early to rise the next morning. 

We met our group and were pleased to learn that it was just us and another family of four with the kids at 10 and 7 years of age; perfect for our two.  Today was touring in Cairo.  First stop was the pyramids of Giza.  It was very awe inspiring to see them up close and realize the amount of time and work that went into them.  The work is started as soon as the person becomes king and takes upwards of 20 years or more to complete.

Look guys, I am squishing the pyramid! :)



The boys in the picture with Samantha and Patrick are James (10 year old) and David (7 year old).

Once we had a go around the pyramids we went down to see the sphynix.  This was the guardian and where they prepared the body for burial.

Next stop was the papyrus "museum" (basically a store but they show you how they make the paper).  What a neat place.   The kids are watching as they do our names in hieroglyphics.  Wayne and I bought a few large pieces to be framed and hung on the wall as our Christmas presents to each other.

We then went for some lunch (street shwarma) and were off to the Cairo museum.  We were not allowed to take pictures here but there were some amazing things to see.  We got to see King Tut's things from his tomb, which included: his gold funerary mask and sarcophagus, four huge gilded boxes that fit inside each other, thrones, jewlery, beds etc.  We also got to see hundreds of statues, mummified animals and what not but the museum is so large that we didn't see all of it.  On the way back to the hotel to get our things we did a little tour through the back allies of the city and saw some pretty culture shocking things (dirty and destitute).
We picked up our things from the hotel and were off again for the sleeper train headed to Aswan.  It was a late night for the kids and they ended up falling asleep on us while waiting for the train.  They thought it was neat on the train to be able to sleep on bunk beds though.

This ends our first full day in Egypt!

Wadi Madbah - December 2-4, 2010

Wadi Madbah was our camping destinition for the weekend.  Our friends (Katie, Nate, Meghan and Jad) thought they would join us and give camping with the kids a try!  We got there and got our camp set up and then went for a hike up a mountain to see what we could see.  All that we could see was the other side of the mountain with the sun shining down on it! :)

In the morning the kids were up at their usual ridiculous time so we went for a hike in our PJ's.  Once back at camp we played a bit of cards while waiting for breakfast to be ready.  After breakfast we were off to explore the wadi.  We came across a very "cool" pool and much jumping in and swimming ensued (not me - it was toooo cold!).  We had a picnic lunch at the pools and then off for a hike up the wadi.  Nate found a rock that he decided must come out and got all the boys in on the action throwing other rocks at it to try and knock it out.  Alas the rock could not be dislodged; better luck next birthday week Nate...

A view of our lovely camp and the guys making a fire for supper (seriously - how many guys should it take to make a fire?).

UAE Day at school - December 1, 2010

We had a fun filled day at school today for the UAE national day.  There were all kinds of activities to do and see.