Egypt travels part two

Well have done a bit since my last post when I got here.
On the 26th travelled from Cairo to Ain Sokna. We drove to Coptic Cairo before leaving the city and visited the Hanging church which was named this as it was built on the top of a Roman Gatehouse.
Coptic services were still being held when we visited so it was a really funny feeling to be able to enter church and take photos.

Hanging Church out and inside

We also visited a Jewish Synagogue in this area that had been bought off the Coptic church and converted to a synagogue.
Travelling to Ain Sokna we went through the Eastern Desert stopping on the out skirts of Cairo for a rest and snack stop.
Much of the Eastern Desert has been claimed now by the Army and used by them.

Eastern Desert

On arriving at Hotel in Ain Sokna we were shown to our rooms. Rest of afternoon was free so I went for a wander down to the beach and around the hotel grounds.

Main building and pool at Ain Sokna

That night we were lucky enough to see a belly dancer performing, she was very good and I had to drag my self away at about 10.00pm as we had an early start the next day when we were to visit two Coptic monasteries.

Two Monasteries we visited were Saint Paul and Saint Antony, both are situated in the Eastern Desert on the Red Sea coast and amazingly both have water supplies that seem to come from nowhere.

As it is heading in Easter season we were lucky to see one of Monastery churches being decorated for Palm Sunday.

Old dining room and church being decorated at Coptic monastery

Our journey the next day took us to Alexandria via Cairo and El Alamein.

At El Alamein we visited military museum and the Commonwealth cemetery. It is at this site that my Great Uncle who died in WWII is buried so I was looking forward to finding his grave. On getting there it turned out that book had been stolen that gave you locations of graves and it turned out in to quite a mission to find Uncle Allan's grave, but thanks to the persistence to our tour director we finally did and I was able to place NZ flag and poppy on it.

Commonwealth cemetery

Cairo finally!

Finally I'm here, it Egypt!!! After 26 hours of no sleep in was good to get here. Discovered I Still can not sleep on planes. Other than this flights were good. A bit of turbulence during second one between Singapore and Cairo but thats all.
Had transit of 6 hours at Singapore airport and spent most of it travelling between terminals 1, 2 and on the sky trains and wandering around terminals for something to do.
Arrived in Cairo at 8.03am this morning and was met my tour rep who helped me at various stages entering the country. Was then taken to my hotel where thankfully my room was ready for me. Shower and straight to bed. Slept for 6 hours not waking up till 3pm.
Went for a wander around the hotel and then had dinner at one of hotel restaurants.
Shall now add some photos

Singapore Girl during flight from Auckland to Singapore

View of Australia from the air

Singapore Airport

View of Cairo and Nile from the Air

 My hotel room at the Fairmont hotel by Cairo airport

 Various views of hotel

Well this time on Wednesday I will be winging it to Singapore on my way to Egypt.

Have been meaning to restart blog for a while but had little inspiration to do so.

Inspiration back, I wonder why!!!

Last night at home tonight, and staying at mum & dad's tomorrow night and we will leave from there. My sister Kimberley is also flying out of NZ on Wednesday to Aussie so two in our family are heading out of the country.

Am really looking forward to my trip. My bags have been packed and unpacked a number of times as I decided what I needed and didn't need.

Roll on Wednesday :)

 A couple of developments to add
Finally 2013/14 preview has come out so I can at least see how much I will be spending on the tour part of my trip and that the tour date I was wanting is actually available.
None of tour details have changed and extras are still the same.
Have more ideas for the last few days in Cairo too. Discovered a few weeks ado that the area in Egypt between Cairo and Luxor has re-opened after many years of being off limits to tourists due to civil unrest.
I have now discovered a couple of full day tours.
The First a trip to (all 16 hours of it) Tell El Amarna, El Menya and Beni Hassan which would be great to do. 
The second is a day tour to Fayoum Oasis which is slightly shorter than the first but is still about 12 hours long.
Decided is I did one of the tours, perhaps the first longer one, on the Saturday after my tour finishes and do the second on the Monday before I leave as I would get back a few hours earlier and have a few more sleeping hours before my long flights home. 
This would leave me with only Sunday to fill, as I would be going to church in the morning I could fill in the rest of the day exploring Gezira Island where my last hotel is situated.

Am rather glad that I discovered these two day tours though as it will be great to visit another part of the country I have not seen. And Tell El Amarna has always been fascinating to me as that is where Tutankhamen was born when his father Akhenaten was Pharaoh.
Fayoum is my second choice as it looks like I could have some great photo ops here with waterfalls, water wheels, lakes and ancient ruins.
Even better both tours include lunch which means that would be one meal I wouldn't have to worry about both days.


Fayoum Oasis

By cynic zagor (Zorbey Tunçer) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 Te El Amarna

By en:User:Markh (English Wikipedia) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Well, my passport has arrived. Unfortunately the same can not be said about the new Insight Vacations 2013/14 brochures which I had originally been told by my travel agent were due out at the start of this month. Now apparently they are not due out until the end of August start of September, so I still am unable to officially book my tour. As they say patience is a virtue, but is the waiting for this hard or what!!!
Have also been following the news in Egypt. Is good to see at the moment that the country is not appearing in the news too much. Hopefully things will continue that way now that their Presidential elections are over and done with. 
I have seen a few reports saying that Mursi wanted to stabilise the country enabling tourism to increase again, hopefully it does. Just not too much that I can't get onto the tour I want!! lol
Have a new Egypt map and Cairo road atlas on order at present from book depository in the UK.  Cairo atlas I hope will be of help to me on my final days in Cairo after tour has finished. Am hoping that I will be able to locate things and places I want to do during this time especially on Gezira Island where the Marriott hotel is located.

Anyway as I don't really have much else to ass at the moment shall add a bit more of my artwork.

 Gold Mask of Tutankhamen

This famous gold mask was made from two sheets of gold joined together by heating and hammering.
It is inlaid with obsidian and Quartz (the eyes) and lapis lazuli (brows and stripes on Nemes) and coloured glass.
The mask is 39.30cm wide, 50cm high and weighs about 10kg.

 lid from painted chest

painted ivory plaque from the lid of a chest showing Tutankhamen being offered flowers by his queen Ankhesenamen in a garden

 Detail from back of gold throne

The gold throne is a mixture of the two periods during Tutankhamen's reign. The early part of his reign under his fathers God Aten is shown by the rays of Aten that can be seen between Tutankhamen and his queen and the relaxed poses they are shown in. Their names are also shown in their Aten forms and in their more recognized Amun (Amen) forms from the later part of Tutankhamen's reign.

Nothing new to add at the moment to thought I would find links to hotels I will be staying in while in Egypt for some interest

On arrival in Cairo
http://www.fairmont.com/heliopolis 

St Catherine
http://directrooms.com/egypt/hotels/morgenland-hotel-st-catherine-saint-catherine-12936.htm 

Ain Sokena (Red Sea Coast)
http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel_Review-g297545-d642569-Reviews-Palmera_Beach_Resort-Red_Sea_and_Sinai.html 

Alexandria
http://helnan.com/HotelPage.aspx?HID=17&HLID=78&SelID=69 
or
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/dining/index.html?propertyID=438

Cairo

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-deals/caieg-cairo-marriott-hotel-and-omar-khayyam-casino/

Nile Cruise
http://www.nilerivercruise.com/view_riverboat.cfm?shipid=381

or

http://www.nilerivercruise.com/view_riverboat.cfm?shipid=413

Well finally got the passport papers couriered today after going and getting my photos taken. As usual they are not the most flattering of photos. 
So hopefully it's not to long until passport arrives.
Also have permission to add another three days leave onto the three and a half I had asked for as planes only fly out on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. 
Next week I should be able to find out exact details of tour costs and flights then I can do a bit of planning on what to do in my extra three days in Cairo on top of going to church at the Cathedral. Have already pretty much decided that one of the things I will do is get a guide to take me around the Khan Al-Khalili as I didn't get there last time. Another option is to take a fellucah ride from Cairo on the Nile which would make a nice contrast to the ride that I would already be doing in Aswan on south. Then I'm pretty sure I could fill in a day on the Island that the Marriott is situated on as there are formal gardens an aquarium and Cairo Tower there, not to mention some good shopping spots.
Then I found out that the Marriott has a wave pool and I have to admit that sounds like fun. :)
So hopefully it won't be long before I can start adding a few definite details here.

Shall finish by adding for more of my drawings of the very famous Gold mask of Tutankhamen