West Bank in Photos

Karnak Temple In Photos

Not so Luxor-ious

Luxor is great, don't get me wrong, but (as mentioned in the previous post), it is just too hot (and sandy, and dirty). Reid actually prefers the heat here to SE Asia, where he was constantly drenched in sweat. But I just feel like it's really hot (thank goodness for A/C and showering 3x a day). Anyways, we've taken it a little slow here, between the heat and jet-lag it's been hard to keep hydrated and keep up our energy. Here's what we've done here in the Nile Valley:

DAY 1:

Our train scheduled to arrive in Luxor at 7:10, got in at 9:00. We easily found our hotel and settled in. After lunch, we tried to head to a museum to avoid the heat of the afternoon, but it was closing in an hour. So, we headed back to the hotel and took a nap to rest up for our sunset horseback ride through the desert (pictured). It was very beautiful and we both enjoyed traversing through some Egyptian villages and seeing the sun set in the desert.

P.S. The first photo is of our guide's donkey, he might look cute but boy is he loud! I think I've figured out why they call them asses :)

DAY 2:

We signed up for a "mini-tour" of the West Bank sights that started at 8 am. After collecting all the other participants, we finally arrived at the Valley of the Kings at 9 am--when the sun had just about reached overhead. Luckily, the tombs (being underground/in the mountain) were pretty cool--temperature and otherwise. We then visited Queen Hatepshut's Temple, Habu Temple, and the Collosi of Memnon before getting back at around 3:15. Whew was it hot! Sightseeing basically consisted of looking at stuff for a few seconds before making a bee-line to some shade to cool down before heading off again.

After a shower and a little rest we grabbed some food before heading off to the small Luxor Museum. It was pretty expensive, but well laid-out and had some neat artifacts and we even got to see a couple mummies (which we skipped in Cairo because it was $20 usd each). We then took a walk around Luxor Temple, had a quick beer, and returned to the hotel for an early bedtime.

DAY 3:

We woke up at 7:00 and headed directly to Karnak Temple (we did not stop at GO! and collect $200, oh wait! We did stop at an ATM to re-up on cash. Oh well!) in an effort to avoid the blistering heat of the day. We paid a guide $8 to show us around for about an hour and a half and then we spent another hour taking photos in the Hypostyle Hall. It was one of the coolest things we've seen so far. We returned to the hotel at 11:00 for a late breakfast.

We're scheduled to take a sunset cruise on a Feluca on the Nile at 4:30 and after than we're headed to the airport for our 10:15 flight to Sharm el-Shiek. From there we'll get a car to drive us to Mt. Sinai and clamber up the hill at around 2 am to watch the sunrise before heading down, taking a peak in St. Katherine's monastery, and then heading on to our hotel in Nuweiba (on the Red Sea) and getting some sleep.

More photos soon after we download them. And there are many more photos in our albums, if you want to see more of our adventures.

The Hendersons of Arabia

We opted to explore the pyramids of Giza in the traditional (ahem! touristy) fashion and road in on camels. I think it was worth it just for the photos and to avoid walking around the desert in the middle of the summer in the middle of the day. People, it is HOT here. HOT, as in, try to avoid going outside between 10:00 am and 7:30 pm because you will burn up in exactly 5 seconds. But, I digress. We spent one day visiting the pyramids of Giza (pictured), Saqqara, and Memphis. Saqqara is where the step pyramid of Gozer, a temple designed by Imhotep, and some colorfully decorated tombs. There isn't much left of (Ancient Egyptian) Memphis other than some statues. We also saw many many statues at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which was... awesome, but overwhelming. Basically, it's like walking into a storeroom of antiquities. Very few items were labeled and the organization was sketchy. There was a lot of really neat old stuff, but we weren't exactly sure why it was so cool (other than because it was really old). We also visited the bazaar and had tea and a sheesha at a 200 year old tea shop. After two days in Cairo, we hopped aboard the overnight train for Luxor.

Snorkeling Dorkeling

While on the beach in Amed and Lovina we took some time to do some snorkeling. In Amed, ther was amazing fish and coral just a few meters off the beach in front of our hotel. It was pretty amazing to see all that colorful life right under the water. We took a day trip to Menjagen island from Lovina and went to a couple snorkeling sights with more amazing coral, blue starfish, and many other colorful fish. We even saw Nemo (a clown fish playing in the reef)!

On the Beach in Amed

Here's the view at sunrise from the balcony of our lovely little beach front bungalow that we were lucky enough to find in Amed.

Dolphins in Lovina

One of the things to do whilst at Lovina Beach (Bali) is to get up super early and head out on a traditional jukung (an outrigger canoe) and watch the dolphins. Our first morning it was pouring down rain, so we cancelled and went back to bed. The next morning we headed out with about 99 other boats. Basically, some dolphins would pop up and all 100 boats would motor to where they were effectively scaring them off. Oh well!! We saw some dolphins and I don't think any were harmed in the experience. Plus, it was pretty cool to watch the sun rise and the moon set over the water.

Cairo: Arrived

Well, we arrived at Cairo Airport without incident very early this morning and had a driver from our hotel waiting to pick us up (I know, we're not the best budget travelers). We have eaten breakfast and are getting ready to shower and start our day. It's a 5 hour time-difference here, so we're hoping to keep jet-lag at bay. This morning we're planning to head to the Egyptian Museum (conveniently located across the street from our hotel) and then visit the bazaar this afternoon (probably after a nap). We're planning to see the pyramids tomorrow and then get on an overnight train bound for Luxor.

Bye, Bye Bali

Well, we've had fun, but our time here is just about finished. We had a jam-packed day today: we went bike riding in the rain, went to a yoga class, made some silver jewelry, attended a traditional dance performance, and ate some Balinese cuisine. Tomorrow we head to Egypt and, hopefully, will update with a blog post with more pictures and stories from our time in Bali soon.

Thai Street Food

While in Bangkok, Reid got to fulfill a life-long dream of eating Pad Thai from a street vendor. His wife was sweet enough to capture the moment in photos and post them here for you to enjoy.

To My Sister-in-Law

Dear Tory,

I saw this shirt on the street in Bangkok and said, "we should get that for Tory."



Reid said, "now you're thinking like a Henderson."

Love, Dyanne

Bali

After being disappointed in Kuta, we found a lovely B&B in Seminyak, just up the coast, and stayed for three nights. Reid took two surfing lessons (see the middle photo) and Dyanne got a great message and pedicure. We arranged a driver to take us up the coast to Amed tonight, but right now are sitting in Padang Bai for lunch, a slight detour, to await a cremation ceremony that was blocking the road.

We are planning to stay in Amed for a couple nights before continuing to Loving (on the north coast) and then to Ubud (familiar to those who have read Eat, Pray, Love). If we still have a couple days left we might head to the Gilli Islands. If not, we'll just head on to Egypt for our whirlwind tour of the Pyramids, Valley of Kings, and Petra (to name just a few of those sights).

We'll try to post again soon, but internet has been spotty. 'Til then, trust that we are enjoying some R&R on the beach and maybe doing some diving or snorkeling between sitting on the beach, doing some yoga, and getting massages.

Beautiful Bali

We arrived in Bali this afternoon, but it took several hours to get our visas on arrival. We settled in Kuta for the evening, but it's VERY crowded and expensive (ugh! high season travel!), so we're planning to move on to Lomok and the Gilli Islands tomorrow or the next day.

Where in the World are Reid and Dyanne? The Updated Itinerary

After hours on the phone with United (including explaining to a lady at the rate desk that overland does not count as two flight segments) and a hefty sum (change fee plus.... increased fuel surcharge, because I guess these things go up in the summer) we finally have an updated ticket. Here's the new itinerary:

7/19 - 8/1: Bali

8/1 - 8/16: Egypt & Jordan

8/16 - 8/26: Istanbul and Mediterranean coast of Turkey

8/26 - 9/9: Meeting up with Reid's parents for a one or two week sailing trip in Turkey/Greece and celebrating Reid's 30th birthday.

9/10 - 9/15: Finding some romantic spot to spend our anniversary in Turkey, seeing Capidoccia

9/16 - 9/22: Italy (Rome, Cinque Terre)

9/22 - 9/25: Croatia (Dubrovnik)

9/26 - 10/15: Munich for Octoberfest and Dyanne's 30th birthday. We're thinking about finding a cheap flight somewhere else in Europe so we don't wear out our welcome at the Kunklers' (Free) Guesthouse before returning to Munich for our flight back to Chicago.

Dyanne is supposed to start work in DC on October 27th, so we'll probably head down to DC around October 20th.

Angkor Wat

We spent four days in Siem Reap--three days exploring the temples and one day recouping and doing a little recon on our next few stops. Seeing "Angkor Wat" actually means going and exploring many temples including the Angkor Wat. We booked a guide for our first day who took us on the "Small Tour" which includes Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Bayon, and Ta Prohm (the temple from Tomb Raider with the trees growing on it). The next two days we just went out ourselves with the same tuk tuk driver who drove us around to the various places we wanted to stop. It was definitely a highlight of our trip and I'm sort of sad that it's behind us now, but we have a lot of amazing stuff yet to do...