Egypt Travelogue-7: Sight seeing trips: Day 4, 5, 6 and 7-Sharm-el-Shiekh: Snorkelling and Scuba Diving

Sharm-el-Sheikh is at the southern most tip of Sinai peninsula where, in a few square kilometers all natural wonders come togther-sand, sea, corals, mountains. Its also one of the best places for holidaying with exotic locales, quaint resorts and fashion hot spot. The main attractions in and around Sharm are beaches, snorkelling, scuba diving, trip to Ras Mohammed, glass boat trip, early morning trek to Mt Sinai, desert driving and so on...

Day 4-Booking for scuba diving and Mt Sinai trek
While planning the trip, we had put scuba diving and trek to Mt SInai in our must do list(these were the main reasons why we left our then 1 1/2 years old kid at home) ..We have read a lot about red sea and its magnificient under water life with rich flora and fauna.. Its a diver's paradise with crystal clear water and good visibility under water.Trek to Mt SInai and watching the sun rise is also supposed to be an equally splendid experience. 

There are lot of diving centres through out Sharm..We enquired in 3 to 4 centres. Camel driving centre offered us diving in Ras Mohammad one of the best places in the world for suba diving. Generally beginners and people without any prior experience like us are not taken to Ras Mohammad.. When Camel offered us that, we readily accepted and paid the advance. We also chose our diving suit and shoes that fitted us. We had to wait one more day for the trip. 

Next we had to book for Mt Sinai trip. As our resort has been converted to a disco club, we did not get any help wrt sight seeing trips..But there were so many other resorts having their stalls for various tour packages..Trip to Mt Sinai is generally available only on fridays.. We booked in one of the resort's stall(forgot the name of the resort) We had to wait 3 more days for the trekking trip..

We then had a stroll in the main road of Sharm to experience the night life. It has starbucks, lots of ice cream shops, many restaurants offering variety of cusines and of course night clubs...We just had coffee in starbucks and we felt we are spending a fortune on a cup of coffee. 

Day 5-Just snorkelling
We did not have any planned activity for the day..So we just went to the beach to do some snorkelling. Snorkelling equipment was available for rent for the whole day for 20 EGP per equipment. My husband did a quick calculation and felt that buying the equipment would be cost effective(we had already enquired the price) than renting for another 5 days at 40 EGP per day for both of us. So we bought the equipment for around 120 EGP per piece.(of course after bargaining). We did a lot of snorkelling in the beach..It was a very nice experience. I was so happy to spot the same fish which was animated in Finding Nemo as the lost kid. Once we go a bit away from the shore, we could see colorful live corals being habitated by different varities of fish. 

Back at the resort, we packed for the next day's suba diving trip.

Day 6-Scuba Diving
Camel driving school's van picked us up at the resort at around 7:30 AM. We met a Russian scuba diver who saw a shark the previuos day he went for scuba diving..The instructor in the van told us that we would not be able to do the diving in deep areas as we do not have any prior experience. We were a bit disappointed. In the next half an hour, the van was full of Russian divers and all of them were experts. They had dived more than once in the red sea. We realised how funny it was that we were disppointed that we would not get to dive in deep sea. We also felt we did a big mistake by choosing ras mohammed as there was no beginner for our comapny. 
Once we reached the quay, we boarded our boat. Within few minutes, I felt sea sick and had to take a pill. I was just lying down for the most of the journey cursing myself for choosing ras mohammed. Then came the first deep sea destination for diving. All the russian divers changed to diving suit, tanks and dived into the sea. The guide offered us to go for snorkelling till the time the divers come back. My husband accepted immediately and I backed off at the same pace. I was really scared that my husband was going to snorkel in the deep waters of red sea. I know he has never done anything like this before though he had always wanted to. He is a good swimmer too, but he is not going to swim in a swimming pool or pond...its the RED SEA. I just kept my fingers crossed. The boat was always following him while he circled the sea reefs. Finally he signalled for the rope by raising his hands in the sea. The boat went towards the shore and threw the rope so that he can be guided. He reached the boat safely and was just elated to have seen so many fishes,corals. it was indeed a happy event for him though the memorable one was yet to come. 
After few more diving by the Russian experts in deeper areas, we headed back towards the port. I thought may we might not dive today and I was really happy about it..But the boat stopped at some place and my husband was supposed to dive first ofcourse with the guide who would handle all the operations. The guide explained to us some of the sign languages with which we need to communicate when underwater. 
My husband dived, and I started worrying. Atleast during snorkelling I could see him, but diving is entirely different. He was below the water for what looked like a very long time to me. He came up safely after fifteen minutes or so and he had loved every minute of it. Then it was my turn. I don't even want to say anything about it except that after going 1 foot under water, my ears started paining like anything(due to pressure difference), I got panicky and I just remebered one sign language that is to tell the guide to bring me to the surface. I felt terrible and ashamed of myself...But I was really happy for my husband that he could do it. We came back to the resort in the evening. For lunch, we had brought some noodles. The too provided lunch on boat for 20 US $ per person.

Cost per person for scuba diving: 100 US $ for one dive

Day 7-Just snorkelling again
We spent our time in the beach snorkelling. I forgot to mention that we did buy an underwater camera in one of the shops in SHarm to take snaps while scuba diving. as if diving was a child's play. We did not even take out the camera there. We used it to take snaps of the fish in the beach while snorkelling. .We developed the photos in a studio in Sharm, half of the photos were good..Back at the room, we got ready for the Mt Sinai trekking for which we were supposed to catch the tourist bus at 10 in the night.

To be continued...

Srirangapatna travelogue - A day's trip

We had been to Srirangapatna last weekend. Here is an account of our trip.
Srirangapatna is a small island near Mysore in Karnataka surrounded by river Cauveri. Tipu Sultan, known as the Tiger of Mysore and his father Hyder Ali ruled the Southern part of India with Srirangapatna as the capital city. The main attractions of the city now are the Sriranganatha temple from which the city gets its name and some really good monuments of Tipu Sultan's period.
Our itenary consisted of visiting the ranganatha temple, some of the monuments related to Tipu Sultan, ranganthittu bird sanctuary and balmuri water falls. We had planned to return to Bangalore by 7:30 PM as we had a dinner invitation from one of our relatives. So we decided to cover as much as possible before 4 PM, without over doing.
We started from home at 7:15 AM in the morning in our Hyundai accent. There were 5 adults and a kid. We took the nice road and reached kadumane restaurant on Mysore road at 8 AM. The mysore road is pretty good though there are some traffic jam points. We went past Ramnagaram of Sholay fame, mandya, maddur and finally reached sriranapatnam at around 9:45 AM. An arch welcomes the visitors once they enter Srirangapatnam. We went past the arch and crossed the bridge and there was another arch to the right welcoming again. We took that right and went straight. We then went past the fort entrance. "The sword of tipu sultan” serial's famous title music lingered in my mind. We kept going straight..On the way to the temple, there were some historical places of interest which we decided to visit on our return from temple.
SriRanganatha Temple

We reached ranganatha temple at 10 AM. The temple is a small one and unlike its counterparts, the gopuram was yellow in color.. The inside of the temple was simple without elaborate carvings. I guess belur and halebid has one of the best carvings, not even an inch is left without a carved figure.. We had the darshan(Vishnu in sayanam posture, goddess lakshmi, hanuman, garuda, narasimha to name a few) and left the temple premise at 11:45 after having our packed breakfast.

Obelisk

Of the many historical places, tipu's summer palace and tipu's mausoleum are the only 2 places that are covered in a tourist package..The first not very touristry attracton that we visited was the Obelisk. After seeing the obelisk in Egypt, we really could not dare to miss this one. From the temple, we kept going straight in a very narrow road, after getting confirmation from the local people that the road is indeed motoroable. We parked the car when we could not go any furhter. We saw the obelisk from a distance. It was a small one. The surrounding was more fascinating than the obelisk itself..The whole area is enclosed within a fort, though destoyed now. Once we climbed an elevated road, we reached the fort wall from where we saw river cauvery flowing away to glory. It was very scenic with lots of trees dotting the banks of the river. There was also a railway bridge to give it a modern touch.

Dungeon

We spent sometime there and then headed towards the main road. On the way to the main road are a dungean and tipu's death place. There was nothing much to see in the dungeon. It was a big hall with pillars. There were some stones fixed to the dungeon wall. The prisoners were suppusedlt tiesd there and beaten..
Tipu's Death Place

Then we headed towards tipu's death place. It was here they found tipu's body during his valiant battle against the british. Tipu's own men betrayed him by showing the water gate to the british through which they breached the fort.
Then we saw the remains of tipu's palace which was completely destroyed by the British. Apparently, the summer palace of Tipu, our next destination, stays intact and after tipu it was occupied by Lord Wellesely.
Dariya Daulat

The Summer palace known as Dariya daulat(wealth of sea) was built by Tipu to commemorate his victory over british during one of the battles.
The entrance to the palace looks beautiful with trimmed pine like trees on both the sides with a passage for water in between. The walls of the palace are extensively painted mainly depicting the wars that Tipu had won. There were also paitings of Hyder Ali's victories. There were fighting scenes depicting both the locals and the british. The paintings are colorful and well preserved.. It is more like a museum now, with the furniture used by tipu displayed. It also has some potraits of Tipu, Hyder Ali, Tipu's seven sons. There was also a full size portrait of Tipu at the entrance in his war attire which looked really nice. It has a 3D effect in the sense that, you would feel as if the picture looks at you from any direction you see..

Outside the palace there is lot of open space with lawn where we (me and my parents with the kid) rested for a while when my husband and MIL were busy enjoying every detail of the paintings..
Mosque

Next we visited the mosque. I somehow liked the architecture of this mosque. It looked very elegant. One fascinating aspect of this mosque was the presence of 2 pillars that resembled their counterparts in hindu temples..
Mausoleum

Our last historical destination was the masaouleum. It was built by Tipu to rest his father Hyder Ali. When Tipu died, he was also put to rest there. The shape of the tomb reminded me of the citadel in egypt. :-) The place were the bodies are resting has some beautiful colorful paintings.

Sangam

That was the end of our historic trip. Now was the time to spend some time with mother nature. Our first destination was sangam where cauvery from south and north join. I expected some nice scenaries here. But nothing much to see. The water was dirty.
Balmuri Falls

Next we headed towards our last destination for the day( we cancelled ranganthittu wild life santuary due to lack of time), the balmuri falls. The falls was playing hide and seek with us. Finally with local help we reached the spot at 3:30 PM. August is supposed to be the best season. Best season is synonymous to crowd. There was lot of water and people. The sight of water flowing in steps was a treat to the eyes. We did not get into the water. Spent some time there. Had a late lunch at 4:15 and left the place at 4:30.
Scrumptious Dinner

We reached bangalore at . We were invited for dinner at a relatives place near koramangala. Had a scrumptious dinner and left their place at 9:30. Reached home at 10:30 PM.
It was a trip to remember. We have read about Tipu Sultan in our history class during school days. Visiting the place were the great Tipu built forts, patronaged art, ruled and fought various wars and finally died like a great warrior was like truly reliving history. This is also one of the best places to see river Cauvery at its best.

Weekend getaway-Innovative film city(IFC) in Bangalore

We had been to Innovative film city this Sunday. This post is an account of our trip.
Firstly I really don't know how I came to know about this place. I think I got to know while searching in the internet for Wonderla, a theme park in Bangalore. I read a lot of good reviews at mouthshut about IFC. They also have a very good website which gives a full account of the place. Wonderla and IFC, both are located off Mysore road within 3 KMS of each other. I wanted to go either to Wonderla or IFC. Wonderla is an amusement park with lots of land and water rides. There is no concept of entrance fees here. You got to pay around Rs 700 per person and you get unlimted rides. There are separate charges for senior citizen and childern.(a bit lesser than Rs 700) We(me and husband) are not great lovers of rides so felt paying Rs 700 upfront is not worth it. On the other hand, IFC charges an entrance ticket of Rs 50 and then pay for the attractions that you want to visit. Unlike Wonderla, IFC is not exactly a theme park. There are so many different varieties of amusements and attractions, mirror maze, 4D movie experience, riplye's believe it or not, cartoon city to name a few....There were 6 of us, one among them being a senior citizen. There were also 2 kids(2 years old) and we mainly wanted to go to some place where the kids also can enjoy.. So IFC suited our bill the best..There is nothing in this place that is associated with films. Don't know the reason behind this name.

Location, Timings and Entrance ticket
We started from home at 8:45 AM. Took the NICE road to reach mysore road. Once you enter mysore road there are lot of boards providing distance and direction for Wonderla. Once wonderla passes by, direction for IFC starts. Its pretty easy to follow the directions and reach IFC which is in Bidadi Industrial area near Kirloskar factory. We reached IFC at around 9:40 AM. I read in their website that it opens at 7 AM and closes at 10 PM. What a big mistake they have done and what a big mistake we did by believing the timings. The film city actually opens at 10 AM and closes at 7 PM. We waited outside for 20 minutes. At 10 AM, after security check, we entered inside. We were not supposed to take eatables inside the city. So they checked that too. But thankfully, water bottle is allowed.
As soon soon as you enter, an IFC representative takes you to a lounge to explain about the packages available. Seeing that there were 6 of us, she suggested the family package for Rs 5000. They would give 50 coupons and all the attractions except for roller coaster and carousel is included in the package. We need to give one coupon for each attraction per person. We felt, it might not work out economical for us for we would definitely not use up 50 coupons.(though there is a validity for 1 year for the coupons) So we politely declined the family package and the lady was kind enugh to show us the counter to get the entrance tickets. We got the entrance ticket for 6 of us(no ticket for 2 years old kids) plus Rs 100 for still camera.
As you start walking, you will reach the main street. The main street is buillt in ancient roman architecture with lot of roman statues on both sides of the street. It was definitely nice, for they have tried to do something different.

Attractions and Amusements IFC's website gives good information about all the attractions and amusements available, though cost details are not provided. I have given here a small review of the attractions that we visited along with the cost for each attraction.

Mirror Maze
I read in the reviews that mirror maze and 4D movie are the top most attractions. So we first went to mirror maze. Entrance ticket Rs 75 per person. Free for the 2 year olds, for that matter everthing is free for them. Mirror maze experience was amazing. You enter a room fulll of mirrors, find a way and come out at the exit. As soon as you enter you try to turn right and bang hit on a mirror. Fun starts from that point onwards. You keep walking trying to find out the way and always end up near the entrance. It was real fun.. We were roaming here and there for around 10 minutes, then with the help of an assistant, we came out through the exit suucessfully..It was a real fun filled experience for all of us.(Kids were also allowed inside.)

FunPlex-4D movie
Then we went to Funplex where 4D movie was shown. Entrance ticker Rs 100 per person. We enter a room like a mini movie theatre, an assstant gives us the special spectacles. We sit there expecting something special. We got more than what we expected. This is the best attraction in the whole of IFC. The 4D effect was just mind blowing. We felt nice when some cute little school of fish passed over our head, got scared when a big snake came in front of us and spit some water on our face, disgusted when a group of rats came running towards us and excited when he had a deep dive into the deep sea. The whole of 15 minutes for which the movie ran was enjoyable. You need to experience it to believe it. There were also video games in the FunPlex which we skipped.

Ripplye's Believe it or not and Roller Skates
After this each one of us had different attraction in mind. I wanted to go for mini golf. Husband wanted to go to Ripplye's believe it or not. Mother-in-law just wanted to sit somewhere. The other three(husband's brother, his wife and husband's niece) wanted to go try their hand or rather leg at roller skates. So husband went to Ripplye's with the kid. Entrance fees Rs 100. We all with the other kid went to roller skates. Myself and MIL sat there watching the other 3 try to skate. Ticket Rs 100 for unlimted time. But once you get out of the room, you can't get back with the same ticket. The three of them without any prior experience did some skating with the help of a trainer available there. We had a nice time watching them trying to walk with the skates and tripping down every now and then. It seems the trainer said, if you are good enough you can learn to skate decently within 1 hour. If you already know skating, I think this place is for you..You can just be there skating away to glory. By the time we came out, husband also came out. He was not very happy with Rippley's stuff.

Food
It was 12:30 PM and we were all hungry. We just had a breakfast of scones which was not very filling. We went to the food court. We being vegetarians had fod at Udupi Ananda Bhavan and Jain foods. The food was good. There are also few other food courts and some chains like McDonalds and Pizza corner.

Attractions and amusements continued
Karoake
Then there was this Karoake section where you can sing for free of cost. Husband's niece being a good singer sang a song in the mother tongue. It was a very good performance. We had a nice treat to the ears. She got recorded her song for Rs 50.
Cartoon City
It was high time that the kids got their much needed chance to have fun. So off we went to the cartoon city. The entrance to the cartoon city was quite pleasing. There were many rides for the kids. All the rides costed Rs 30 per person. Since our kids could not do anything alone, we accompanied them. (So it was free for the kids.) We did some "dashing car" and "hit the shark"..Kids had fun. They were already feeling sleepy. We kept thier spirits high and eyes open by informing every now and then that we are going to the beach..(Yes, there is an artificial beach too in IFC..And kids just love to play in water..)

Roller Coaster and Haunted mansion
We wanted to keep acqua world our last destination. Elders excluding MIL had a ride in the roller coaster for Rs 100 per person. Ride was good, but it was too short for Rs 100. Then three of them went to haunted mansion for Rs 100 per person. Each one had a different opinion about the attraction. Husband said it was OK. Husband's brother and his wife did not like it that much.
Mini Golf
Then me and husband tried our hands at mini golf for Rs 100 per person. There were totally 18 holes. We really did not have much fun there as most of the area was sloppy and slippery and the ball was just not stopping. But we had fun in recollecting the days when we used to play golf in computer each one trying to excel the other and were literally addicted to it.
The time was now 3:30 PM. We were too tired to go anywhere else. Also the reviews for the other attractions was not that good like Lady Thussads, Miniature city, Dinosaur park, wannbe city. There was also a bowling aisle and go karting track.
Acqua World
We straight went to acqua world. Entrance fees Rs 150 for adults, 100 for kids. Our kids were too small to be charged. And the best part, entry was free for senior citizens..We left our belongings with MIL who was sitting in a shade. There were also lockers availble for Rs 50 per locker. Acqua world consists of an artificial beach with real sand. Though there is a 1 feet wall dividing the sand from the beach. You can't enter the beach with muddy feet. There is basically no dress code to enter the beach. Kids had a really nice time there. We missed the artificial waves which happens every 1 hour or so..There was loud music and a DJ. It was good. It would have been good if there were some water games. We came out of the beach at around 5:00 changed clothes and left acqua world at 5:30.

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We had some snacks and left IFC at around 6PM. Reached home by 7 in the evening. Overall it was a nice getaway. It was a bit tiresome as IFC is built in a huge area. So had to walk a lot. It was nice going as a family. We had a nice, enjoyable time. I would surely not say "What a place" (IFC's slogan), but defintely it is a place worth visiting atleast once.
I have posted some pictures too which just gives an idea about how IFC looks. For the real experience, do visit once

Egypt Travelogue-6: Sight seeing trips: Day 3-Sharm-el-Shiekh: Naama Bay

Sharm-el-Shiekh is our destination for the next seven days

We arrived at the bus stop in Sharm-el-Shiekh at around 7:00 AM in the morning. We took a taxi for 30 EGP(we knew it was a bit expensive) to reach our resort, situated in Naama Bay. After some inital hitch, we checked in at 8 AM. We had reservation for 7 days stay in the resort. The resort was quite nice with all amenities.. TV, telephone, air conditioner, kitchenette to name a few. The room was clean and house keeping personnel cleaned the room almost daily and changed the beds every alternate days. It was situated in a very posh area of Sharm-el-Shiekh called the naama bay where some of the famous diving schools are located. The whole area is nested with a lot of resorts and clubs.
Each resort has it own private beach(around 200 to 300 metres stretch for each resort or sometimes more than one resort shares the small stretch of the beach)Our resort was around 200 metres from the beach. We had to take a pass for the beach from the manager at the resort(thankfully, entry to the beach was free of cost) and provide the pass to an attendant at the entrance to the beach. Once you enter the beach, you can just walk/swim/snorkel the whole stretch. There are some man made partitions, but you are free to go wherever you want.
In the evening we went to the ticket office to get the tickets back to Cairo. The gentleman at the counter was very friendly and helpful. We emquired him about services to Mt Catherines, but came to know that we need to arrange for the trip through tour operators only, especially the tourists
To be continued...

Egypt Travelogue-6: Sight seeing trips: Day 2-Giza, Saqqara, Dashur and Memphis

PYRAMIDS TOUR
We booked the pyramids tour for 120EGP per person in a private taxi.We covered giza, saqqara, dashur and memphis city. Needless to say, it was a wonderful and memorable trip, the biggest pyramid in giza being the highlight.
Our first destination was Giza, in the outskirts of Cairo where the biggest pyramid is located. There are totally three main pyramids and many other small ones scattered here and there. We were very excited and happy beyond words to see the huge pyramid that we were seeing all these days in TV or photos. We went inside the big pyramid. There was nothing much inside the pyramid, just empty rooms. But the walk/crawl through the steep passage makes us realize how the pre historic people would have entered the pyramid to keep the mummy and the treasures. The area is very fast and we need to walk a lot to go from one pyramid to other. After seeing the other 2 pyramids and other monuments(following the rough guide book), we finally saw the sphinx. This ended our tour of giza.
We then visited the step pyramid in Saqqara. This is considered to be one of the oldest pyramids built by the famous archotect Imhotep for Djoser, a ruler of Egypt's 3rd dynasty. We had around 45 minutes to go around this place.
Our next destination was Dashur, the village where Red Pyramid and bent pyramid are located. The drive through the village reminded me of Indian villages.
Our cab stopped near the Red pyramid. We went inside the pyramid. It was same as the big pyramid in Giza, but there was a very bad smell inside the chamber. We were literally breathing through our mouth to avoid inhaling the smell. We could only see the bent pyramid from a distance as it was a bit far from the red pyramid and we did not have enough time.
On the was back to the hotel, we visited the city of memphis which is now more like a museum. There was a huge structure of I think Ramses lying flat inside a big room. Other than that there were some more statues. Memphis is supposed to be the city from where the pharoahs ruled.
We were quite content with the day's trip and it was a memorable experience to have relived history.
In the night we boarded a bus at around 10:30 PM to sharm-el-shiekh, a coastal city in the Sinai peninsula.
To be continued...

Egypt Travelogue-6: Sight seeing trips: Day 1

We arrived at Cairo airport at around 11 in the morning. After immigration checks, we boarded the cab that we had pre booked through Nubian hostel in which we stayed in Cairo. It costed us 70 EGP for airport pickup. On the first day, we just went to the most famous market in Cairo, Khan-el-Khalili in the evening. We went by taxi by paying around 15 EGP.(ofcourse after bargaining)We just roamed about the market to the shouts "Hey India", "Amitabh Bacchan", "Sonia gandhi is inside my shop, come see her" etc, by the local shop keepers. I did not buy anything on that day and just took stock of the items available that is worth buying. We had anyway planned to visit the market once again for the actual purchase. I should say that most of the items that are available in those markets are available in India too except for few things that are unique to Egypt which I will cover in Shopping section.

We were back at the hotel in the night. We booked for the pyramids trip for the next day through our hotel manager. Our first day ended with an anxiuos wait to visit the Great Pyramids the next day.

Egypt Travelogue-5: Inter city travel

The colored circles that I have shown in the map are the cities that we visited, in the order in which they are numbered.We travelled once by bus, twice by train and once by cab.Booking bus and train tickets is not very difficult, atleast, it was not for us. From the day we landed people of Egypt were very kind enough to help us in every possible way which made it easy for us to do our travelling independently. They especially treat Indians as their friends.

Intercity booking details

Cairo to Sharm

The hotel manager at Nubian Hostel booked us the bus tickets for a commission of 10EGP for each.The bus was at 10:30 in the night. He was also kind enough to arrange a taxi for us to reach the bus stand..The bus was very comfortable. It had a very good push back.If you are used to travelling overnight by volvo bus in India, you should not have any problem.The journey was 11 odd hours. We boarded the bus from turgoman garrage.
The cost of the ticket for two of us one way was around 160EGP.

Sharm to Cairo

We booked the tickets ourselves by going to the booking office in Sharm at Super jet office. There are service taxis in Sharm that run for 2 EGP per person. We took that taxi, reached the booking office and booked our tickets.Don't forget to take your passports while booking the tickets or for that matter, its better to carry the passports always with you. We boarded the bus from Super jet office where we booked our tickets.

Cairo to Luxor

We tried to book the train tickets through the hotel manager once again. But he was ready to book the tickets only if we took the luxor-aswan package from him. We decided to book the tickets by ourselves. When we came back from Sharm, the bus stopped near ramses station in the morning. We decided to book the tickets by ourselves.We were wandering to locate the station when one gentleman was kind enough to accompany us till the railway station.(eventhough he did not have any work in the station)The booking counter was not crowded. The person sitting at the booking counter was kind enough to clarify all our doubts regarding tourists travelling in trains. He gave us the tickets in second class AC as first class was completely booked. He also assured that tourists are allowed to travel in 2nd class AC. We boarded the train from Ramses station.

Luxor to aswan

We did this travel by booking a cab in luxor. The original price that the driver quoted was 500EGP. After bargaining, the price came to 250EGP + 24EGP tip to the driver. En route to aswan, we stopped in kom ombo and edufu and visited the monument. The local mobile connection that we took as soon as we landed in Egypt was very useful in contacting the tour operators, taxi drivers, hotel managers. More on getting the mobile phone connection on Communicating within and outside Egypt

Aswan to Cairo

We booked the train tickets to Cairo on the same day when we booked our tickets to luxor from Cairo. One important thing that has to be noted is, train tickets can be booked only 7 days ahead of the date of journey. There is a website for Egypt rail. But it does not allow non Egyptians to book the tickets.

We were somewhat worried about the intercity travel while planning. But everthing from booking the tickets to travelling went on very smoothly.

To be continued...

Egypt Travelogue-5: Accomodation and food

Our motto was "Enjoy Egypt economically". We stayed in budget hotels in all the three cities(Cairo, luxor and aswan) that we visited. We chose the hotels that were near the city centre. We covered most of the sites by walk that way. Only exception was Sharm, where we stayed in a resort that we booked through our club membership. (RCI through club mahindra)

Hotel and resort details

We booked the hotels through hostelworld, one of the best sites to search budget hotels in a city. As soon as you book the hotel, you would recieve an e-mail from the hotel welcoming you and giving you the tour details that they offer.In all the three hotels we booked a room with double bed and a private bathhroom.

In Cairo we stayed in Nubian hostel located very near to Cairo museum. The rooms were quite decent and spacious. The manager was very friendly and helpful. More about the hotel on day wise trip.

In luxor, we stayed in Hotel Nefertiti, one of the hotels reccomended by lot of travel guides. Its a bit expensive when compared to other budget hotels in luxor, but again it was at a walkable distance from Luxor museum and corniche and if you have strong legs, you can even walk to the world famous Karnak temple from the hotel, which we did. Again the hotel was decent, though the room was a bit small.The manager was very friendly and helpful. These managers know how to handle the tourists. Egypt being a tourist nation, its in their blood to be friendly and polite. More about the hotel on day wise trip.

In aswan, we stayed in Hotel Keylany, the best hotel of our trip. It was like a 3 star hotel at the price of a budget hotel. Moreabout the hotel on day wise trip.

Accomodation in the resort was a different story. We were shocked to hear from the receptionist that his computer does not show any booking and the resort has been converted into a pub sometime back. My husband handled the situation so efficiently that after a couple of phone calls to the resort manager by the receptionist, he was able to locate our booking details and finally handed over the room key to us. Though the resort was clean with all facilities and very close by to the beach, we would not recommend this resort because it becomes very noisy because of the disco that continues till early morning. More about the resort on day wise trip.We stayed in a resort called Sanafir Vacation Club now renamed to Pacha.


Food

This is one section that I would not be able to give much information on. I being a strict vegetarian, stuck to the MTR ready to eat stuff that I carried with me. My husband did not have any other option but to give me company, though he tried I think pita. I did have karkady(hibiscus tea) once and that was the only time in our entire trip that we were conned. More on it on Shopping. I think the hotel manager would be able to guide you if you give your preferences with respect to cost etc.

To be continued...

Egypt Travelogue-4:Visa and Travel

Indian citizens need to get an Egyptian tourist VISA to travel to Egypt. You don't get a visa until you book your tickets and attach a copy of it with the visa form. But it is not necessary that you will definitely get the VISA which means you will have to cancel the ticket and and bear the cancellation charges., if you don't get the visa. We have to just take our chances and be ready to loose some money if the unfortunate thing happens.

Non Indian citizens can checkout this site for details on Visa.

Tickets

As of now (March 2009) Oman Air is the only airline that has direct flights from bangalore to Cairo, capital of Egypt.There are also other airlines like Egypt Air and Air India that fly from Mumbai. Oman airways worked out to be the cheapest for us and we went ahead with it. There is a change over in muscat, but overall it is quite comfortable.

We planned to book the tickets through oman airways site in the internet. But we came to know from my brother-in-law that an agent in Delhi was quoting a much lesser price than the internet. We booked the tickets through the agent about two months ahead of our travel date.

Flight Details

Airline: Oman Air
Destination: Bangalore to Cairo and back(stop over at muscat)
Cost of the flight tickets(to and fro for 2 of us): Rs  56000(almost half of our entire trip cost)
This is November 2008 prices.

Visa

Indian citizens residing in India can get Egyptian visa from the Egyptian consulate in Mumbai or Egyptian Embassy in Delhi.One good thing about getting Egyptian Visa is, we need not go in person to get the visa. So we submitted all the relevant documents to a travel agent and got the visa through him.

We got our VISA through Charter Travels and Tours. The only reason I chose them was because their office was very near to mine. Their service was quite OK.

Its better to call them (or any other agent) first and find out the documents that have to be submitted to them to get the visa. We applied for visa around two weeks before our travel. I think its better to get the visa a month ahead to avoid uncertainity.

The following are the documents that we gave them

1.  Filled VISA form(I downloaded it from here, the agent will help you in filling the form)
2.  Passport
3.  1 passport size photo with light background
4.  Confirmed air tickets
5.  Hotel booking
6.  Cover letter
7.  Salary slip for the past 3 months
8.  Leave letter from the company
9.  Last year's filed IT return
10. Credit card copy
11. Brief Itinerary

The agent gave us a call after 3 days to collect our passports stamped with Egyptian toursit visa valid for 3 months. I was overjoyed to collect the passports that officially stated that we are elligible to travel to the land of pharoahs.

To be continued...

Egypt Travelogue-3: Introduction and brief Itinerary

Egypt is a gifted country. Its rich unparalleled history, world famous live corals and colorful fishes, mesmerising beaches, long trekkable deserts, sites of religious importance and most important of them all, warmth of the people makes it a perfect destination for vacation. These are reasons enough for us to plan a trip to visit.

We chose November to start our enthralling vacation as it fulfilled most of our expectations with respect to weather, crowd and availablity of sites for seeing. According to rough guide

"Deciding on the best time for a visit involves striking a balance between climatic and tourist factors. Egypt's tradional season runs from late November to late February, when the Nile valley is balmy, although Cairo can be overcast and chilly. However, at these times, particularly during the peak months of December and January, the major Nile resorts of luxor and aswan get unpleasantly crowded. This winter season is also the busiest period for the Sinai resorts, while Hurghada is active year round.

With this in mind, March or April are good compromise options, offering decent climate and fewer visitors. In May and June the heat is still tolerable but, after that, Egyptians rich enough to do so migrate to Alex and the coastal resorts. From July to September the south and desert are ferociously hot and sightseeing is best limited to early morning or evening-though August still sees droves of backpackers. October into early November is perhaps the best time of all, with esily manageable climateandcrowds."

November suited us the best.

After exploring a lot using rough guide and other internet materials, we came up with the following itinerary.We could almost stick to the itinerary except for few misses which we would definitely cover in our next trip.

Brief Itinerary

Day 1
On the day of arrival, overnight stay in Cairo

Day 2 Cairo sight seeing
Overnight bus to Sharm-el-shiekh

Day 3 to day 10
Stay at Sharm for 7 days(We booked a week's stay in a resort through our club membership.)
On day 10, overnight bus to Cairo

Day 11 
Cairo sight seeing
Overnight train to Luxor

Day 12 
Luxor sight seeing
Overnight stay in Luxor

Day 13 Luxor sight seeing
Overnight stay in Luxor

Day 14 
Edufu,komombo and esna sight seeing
Aswan sight seeing
Overnight stay in Aswan

Day 15 
Aswan sight seeing
Overnight stay in Aswan

Day 16 
Aswan sight seeing
Overnight train to Cairo

Day 17 
Sight seeing in Cairo
Overnight stay in Cairo

Day 18 
Morning flight to Bangalore

To be continued...

Egypt Travelogue-2

I have divided this travelogue into 11 sections..

Introduction: I have given a brief about why we decided Egypt as our destination and our brief itinerary.

Visa and Travel: I have given details about Egyptian Visa for Indian citizens and information about flight tickets from Bangalore(India) to Cairo(Egypt) and back.

Accommodation and food: This section covers details about accommodation available in Egypt and a brief review about the hotels where we stayed and how we booked those hotels.

Inter-city travel: I have given information about traveling between different cities within Egypt. This has information about getting bus and train tickets within Egypt.

Sight seeing trips: Here I have covered in detail about our daily sight seeing trips.

Pack list: A detailed list of things to be packed is covered here. Since we traveled in the month of November, the climate was quite conducive for sight seeing. The pack list here pertains to things that are needed irrespective of the weather and things that are specific to the month that we traveled.

Shopping: No trip is complete without shopping. Information about the places best for shopping and the things that are worth shopping are covered here.

Photos: I would upload some good photos that we clicked touring Egypt.

Research Materials: Information about the internet matrials and books that we referred for making this trip a successful one.

Others: This section covers information about things that are not covered in any of the above sections and also some info about some more places that one can visit in Egypt that are not covered in this travelogue.

Conclusion: Our feeling about the overall travel to Egypt.

To be continued...

Egypt Travelogue-1

My husband and me had been to Egypt last Novemeber(2008) as tourists.We did a lot of research and planning for the trip as we were travelling independently. I used internet extensively while planning for the trip. I was amazed by the amount of information available in the internet. Even the minute details were not missed. All credit goes to the huge amount of publishers who have taken time to put the information in the net for the sole purpose of helping/guiding others...(Ofcourse, no information gets the status of information unless google searches it and gives for you..So hats off to google..)

Thats when I decided that, as soon as I return from my Egypt trip, I should also write travelogues and publish it in the net. Its been 4 months since we returned from our memorable trip to Egypt and I have not done anything to that end. Better late than never..So here I am with my Egypt travelogue, to start with.

Hope the readers would benefit from this travelogue. Feel free to put forth any question that you have in your mind which you think I have not covered. I will be more than happy to answer.

To be continued...