Author Topic: Travel Culture  (Read 6425 times)

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Offline msj

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #195 on: January 21, 2020, 07:56:51 pm »
Finally we arrived in Aswan and some nice warm weather.

We visited Philae Island which, due to the creation of Nasser Lake from the building of the dam, the government moved temples and artifacts from a now sunken  island to here.

We then checked into our hotel on another Island, freshened up, and then were off for a home cooked meal to experience Nubian culture.

The family was lovely and the food excellent. Got the recipe for the lentil soup and have made it at home since.

The next day a few of us (as in 3) agreed to go with our guide (who I should point out is practically an Egyptologist) to see the High Dam and the Unfinished Obelisk which was amazing - because it **** twice they just left it and it has helped us to understand how they built them.

Then we moved from our hotel to the Nile river cruise boat - probably holds about 150 people plus many crew. 

We went for a felluca ride in the late afternoon/early evening and then headed out for a night on the town. Visited the local markets and a spice shop before finding some booze to sneak onto the ship.

The next morning we got up early and bused to Aswan's airport for a short flight to Abu Simbel. We flew over Lake Nasser and landed at a very small airport and got on another bus to see Ramses II and his favourite wife's temples.

These also were moved due to the High Dam and they are really cool old poop!

But didn't have much time so back to the bus, back to the airport, and back to the cruise ship. Greta Thunberg would hate us and our carbon footprint ways.

Got on the boat for lunch and we set sail towards Luxor.

On the way we stopped to see Kom Ombo Temple - a mirror image designed temple from the 2nd century BC. Half of the temple is dedicated to the crocodile god (Temple of Sobek) and the other to Horus, the falcon god.

 Then back on the boat ....

« Last Edit: April 22, 2020, 12:18:32 am by msj »
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Offline kimmy

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #196 on: February 02, 2020, 11:56:02 pm »
Las Vegas TRIP REPORT


We had a wonderful time!

We stayed at the Excalibur, which we chose because it's the cheapest hotel on the strip.  In some ways it shows.  But we didn't go there to hang out in our room.

We lost about $2.96 gambling.

We went to two shows. We saw Cirque du Soleil "Zumanity", which was quite racy.  During parts of the show when they're changing the set, some of the performers (the host, a drag queen, and a bawdy middle-aged couple who did comedy) brought members of the audience up on stage to participate in some skits and stuff.  We were quite terrified of being called up on stage.  The show had amazing acrobatics and sensual dancing.   We also saw "Vegas: The Show!" which sort of told the history of Las Vegas through song and dance and skits. It was very good. Some of the cast members performed in skits as notable Vegas stars of yesteryear, like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Elvis, and more.  The girl who performed as Gladys Knight (and Lena Horne, and Tina Turner) had an astounding voice. She was really really good.

Before we went, we'd agreed that having a threesome with a Vegas showgirl was on our list of things to do.  At Vegas: the Show! we did bump into someone who just had the look of a showgirl, though she wasn't dressed up for it.  Linz went to work chatting her up: "Hi! Are you in the show?"  "Well, not this show. I used to be in this show, though! One of my friends is in the show! I'm here for his birthday!"  "Oh, that's great, maybe we'll see you later!"   We did see her later, but her tongue was so deep in Frank Sinatra's tonsils that we realized there was no hope for us.

We rented a car. We went around town for some shopping and to get to some of the places off the strip.  We spent a day hiking at Red Rock Canyon, which was a nice change from all the glitz and glamour.  We also went to Chinatown to see the Golden Tiki bar, and we went to the Neon Museum, but there was a Tim Burton book signing going on there so we didn't get to see it. I don't know if the car was worth it in terms of money saved on taxi fares, but the convenience was worth it, and being able to go out to Red Rock was very nice as well.

Fremont Street was amazing!  The light and sound show was pretty cool, but the amount of unusual characters and strange activities going on was what was really interesting.  There were two different concerts going on in different parts of Fremont St.  We accidentally crashed a party. The "Stage Magicians Society of America" or some **** like that was having a party in the lounge on the 2nd floor of the Gold Nugget casino on Fremont, and we went up there to have drinks and watch one of the concerts from the balcony.  It was great watching the street from up there. Also, I had no idea stage magicians were so lame. I think we made their lame party about 2000% cooler when we arrived.

The Bellagio fountain show was really wonderful. We saw that 4 different times, and were delighted each time.  Seeing videos of it just doesn't do justice.

Some of the downsides...  there was a lot of smoke.  People smoke cigarettes while they're gambling, and the gambling floor at Excalibur had crappy ventilation, and you have to go through the gambling floor to get anywhere in the building. So I did quite a bit of coughing.   There was also a lot of hustlers. Everybody coming at you trying to sell something.  Hi pressure time share sales masquerading as discount show tickets.  Yuck. Go anywhere on the strip and people are trying to thrust something into your hand.   Often little flyers for escorts.  We passed a group of young women who were laughing as they traded escort flyers back and forth as if they were trading hockey cards. And everything was quite expensive. 

One of the other things that made me a little sad is that it felt like some of the character and history is being lost.  Instead of "The Sands" and "The Dunes" new buildings have names like "Aria" and "Encore".  "Stardust" was torn down in 2006, and construction of a replacement was delayed for years by the economic downturn of 2008.  Now that the new property is finally being built, it's going to be called... "Resort World".  How bland and depressing.  On the bright side, The Sahara was rebranded as SLS in the early 2000's... but about 5 years ago it was re-rebranded to The Sahara again. 

Also we spent too much time having sex.  I know this sounds like first-world problems, but spending 2 hours having sex each morning really eats into how much time you have to get out and around town.  We were often not out of our room until 10am.  Of course by the time we got back to our room at night, we were too exhausted to do anything except sleep.

Overall we had a great trip.  My favorite part of the trip was the amazing spectacle of everything. So many amazing things to see and do. I really loved it.


 -k
Paris - London - New York - Kim City
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Online Michael Hardner

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #197 on: February 03, 2020, 08:21:32 am »
Well great...

And the sex thing (besides being an obvious set-up to a joke in there that I will NOT go for) is beyond first-world problems.  You are blessed that you are still at that point and I am happier for you than I am jealous Kimmy
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Offline msj

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #198 on: April 19, 2020, 12:14:37 pm »
Ok, so now that we may not be able to travel ever again let’s go on with the Egypt/Jordan tour:

Back on the boat and steaming towards Luxor.

Hit Edfu in the morning but not allowed to take the horse and buggy as there is controversy over the care for the horses (they looked undernourished for sure). 

Edfu is another Horus Temple and it’s pretty cool. One section of stairs spirals up like a falcon (Horus) while another section of stairs goes straight down like a falcon diving for the kill.  Sound ludicrous but it actually is like that.  Except there is Egyptian art all over the walls.
This was Xmas so we headed back to the boat for a nice Xmas lunch and then a leisurely cruise through the locks to Luxor.

On the way various small boats approach ours to offer their wares (beach towels/clothing/etc).

They display it and throw the items up to the decks. Another bag is thrown so money can be exchanged.

Seemed dangerous compared to the reward especially when they followed us through the locks.

But obviously skilled at sailing and selling as numerous people bought their goods.

And then we arrived in Luxor...

(ugh photo is sideways)
« Last Edit: April 22, 2020, 12:07:14 am by msj »
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Offline msj

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #199 on: April 24, 2020, 12:06:13 am »
Ah Luxor.

Warm even in December.

Home to Karnak, the Avenue of the Spinxes, and the Valley of the Kings.

Today is Karnak which is massive. Built and unfinished over 200 years.

Columns and obelisks.

They would build columns, fill in with sand, build higher, fill with sand, repeat.

Then paint. Then remove sand and paint, remove and paint, until you have painted all the columns and removed all the sand.

No aliens here as you can tell at the unfinished wall in the picture. 

« Last Edit: April 24, 2020, 12:09:19 am by msj »
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Offline msj

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #200 on: April 29, 2020, 12:28:15 am »
The reason to go to Luxor is to visit the Valley of the Kings which we could see from our hotel room as we looked west (the sun sets over the west bank hence where the dead poeple get buried). 

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But before heading over there lets talk shopping: papyrus art and jewelry. We went to a jewelry store to get the wife some scarab pendants and lo and behold, that buddy from our 2018 Bolivia trip, who we bumped into at the train station in Cairo several posts back, enters the store with some people from his tour group.

This is Dec 26, 2019 whereas on Dec 25, 2018 he and I were biking the “Death Road” in Bolivia....

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Anyway, it was nice to catch up with him again. His G adventure tour was not as comfortable as our Intrepid tour.

He’s Aussie so he was cold as he slept on a felucca while we were on a decent river cruise liner and toasty warm.

For now lets consider two more things:

1] The Avenue of the Sphinx’s.

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Several kilometres long and now only one church stands in the way of its path from Karnak to Luxor.

2) A look back towards Luxor from the Temple of Hatshepsut.

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Lots of green near the river but very dry once away from it....



 
« Last Edit: April 29, 2020, 12:30:12 am by msj »
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Online Michael Hardner

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #201 on: April 29, 2020, 02:29:48 pm »
Looking forward to Travel: Kitchen to Living Room  :D
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Offline wilber

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #202 on: April 29, 2020, 05:11:08 pm »
New Airport Codes

LVG                              OFC
Living Room                  Office

MBR                              BKY
Master Bedroom             Back Yard

DNG                             PAT
Dining Room                  Patio

OFC                              WNC
Office                            Wine Cellar

BTH                              MNC
Bathroom                      Man Cave

"Never trust a man without a single redeeming vice" WSC
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Online Michael Hardner

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #203 on: April 29, 2020, 05:26:36 pm »
Clever. ;D

Offline wilber

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #204 on: April 29, 2020, 06:34:06 pm »
Clever. ;D

Not mine but I thought it was cute.
"Never trust a man without a single redeeming vice" WSC
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Offline msj

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #205 on: May 02, 2020, 07:21:10 am »
Valley of the Kings: poor mans pyramids? Or Egypt in a time of budget cuts?

Who knows, but on the western side (again, sun sets over there so associated with the dead -we get it) in the hills/mountains is a hidden valley with a ton of tombs carved deep into the mountain.

Really can’t do this place justice:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Kings

We went into several several tombs. Skipped King Tut’s as it is small and costly (guide recommended against it).

This is one of those experiences where you can’t believe what you are seeing while realizing that your presence is helping to destroy what everyone comes to see.  Now that I have seen it time to close it down! No more human perspiration and humidity to destroy these ancient wonders!

J/k: can’t wait to go back. 





I've gotta have more cow bell! -Bruce Dickinson
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Online Michael Hardner

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #206 on: May 02, 2020, 08:02:41 am »
I have forgone the travel bug out of necessity on several levels: Covid, Cool kid, and $

It will come back someday.  I am very happy you have found edification in seeing the world's great works.  :)

Offline Boges

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #207 on: June 03, 2020, 01:42:20 pm »
Home Renovation and Contracting will be the boon to Travel's demise.

If I have the time or money, I may travel out east late in the summer. Or visit someplace in this country.

I don't see how travel recovers from this 100%. The travel industry is built on scale. If you can't guarantee regular full flights to Cancun or Cuba, then the price will climb and be unaffordable to most.

Ditto with Hotels.
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Offline Omni

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #208 on: June 03, 2020, 02:25:34 pm »
I loved being able to travel in my day but I'm also happy not to be having to sit in a triple 7 for 17 hours anymore these days.

Offline JMT

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #209 on: December 09, 2020, 06:59:33 pm »
Any of you West coasters ever been to the Queen Charlottes?