Egypt

Hello everyone....

Just wanted to give you one last update before I head home, which is in two weeks from now.

At the moment im in luxor, the valley of the kings and queens. Kar has gone today on a bike to explore the valley, but unfortunately I've had to give it a miss and nurse my sore stomach instead. I don't know if it was the water or all the street food that i've been eating, but last night I spent a significant portion of my time hunched over the toilet and now the only thing i can do is hide in this internet cafe and kill my time online. I've probably caught up with everyone on facebook and googled all the latest events in the world. I would have preferred to have read a book somewhere, but its hard to find a peaceful place in this town and escape the constant hassling from the locals. Luxor is considered to be the hassle capital of Egypt, and I think I would go as far as to say it is probably up there in terms of being one of the top places you will always be hassled in the world. So when your not feeling well, I couldnt think of a worse place to be. However, when your feeling well it can extremely entertaining to sit in the numerous cafes and watch the tourist loose their cool on the locals who have been following them forever, "madam, why not a carriage ride, madam"...and so on.

Before coming to luxor we spent a couple of days in a town just outside of Cairo. We stayed with a friend of Kar's, who provided us with great hospitality. He cooked us our meals, organized everything for us, and provided us with amusement as he is probably the biggest talker I have ever met- he has a story for everything. The town is very neat and it gives you a good perception of the true Egyptian life. There are tons of apartments with a few streets intertwining between. The kids stay up late playing ball on the streets,while all the men gather at the one tea house to drink tea and smoke hookah. A number of the girls stopped by the apartment to meet us when we were there. I personally felt a little awkward with the girls because they idolize the western world so much, and look up at you as if you were some celebrity.

Cairo is such a cool city. I really loved it. Its the kind of place where you can walk the streets all day and eat yummy food on every corner (i would be afraid if I had to spend any more time in egypt as the street food is so good- its hard not to always have some kind of food in your hand). You cant find a single beer in cairo, but there is plenty of tea and hookah to smoke.

Tonight we are heading back to Cairo and then making our way slowly to the oasis to spend a couple of days in the desert, and then we will head on through to the red sea to go on a diving excursion. I think the next two weeks will be very enjoyable, and will be a perfect way to end our trip.

I cant wait to see all of you!!

All the best

Malawi

hey,

I know its been a while since I have updated anything, but the internet hasn't been very accessible here in Malawi. We have spent the majority of our time on islands, mountains, and secluded beaches away from any means of contact.

Anyways, we have been in Malawi for a couple of weeks now, and so far I think we both would agree that this place has been the highlight of our trip. We've managed to see tons of cool places and have met so many travellers (I think the biggest surprise about malawi was how many backpackers there are here, particularly canadians).

The reason I have loved Malawi so much is because I was finally able to complete my scuba diving certification which I have longed to do for so many years now. It was a great place to do it because it is the cheapest place in the world and we were able to do get lots of open water dives in...5 in total. Im pretty stoaked for Egypt and diving in the red sea!!!

Last night we got back from hiking Mt Mulanje. We went up there for three days with a group of people that we have been travelling with for a while now, but unfortunately we got rained out on the second day and were unable to do the summit. It was rather disappointing as the views off the Mt are suppose to be spectacle. On the bright side, the rain provided us with a very eventful walk down. All of us resembled turtles as we spent the majority of the time on our backs falling down the steep terrain. Luckily there were no serious injuries except for very sore bodies today.

We have 5 days left here and then were off to Egypt. I'm feeling somewhat sad about leaving this country as it has been so unbelievable, but I'm sure I'll make it back here someday.