Aswan, Abu Simbel, etc.

After a grueling 20 hour overnight train ride from Cairo to Aswan, we chilled out in town and went to bed early, in anticipation of our 3:00am wake-up call to catch a 4:00am mini-bus ride down to Abu Simbel.... 280 km away across the desert. The only way for tourists to get to Abu Simbel from Aswan is via armed police convoy.




Though departing for a sightseeing excursion at 4:00am is not my preferred way to travel, I did have the privilege of watching the sunrise over the desert. Quite spectacular.

One of the two great temples at Abu Simbel, commisioned and built by Ramses II in the 13th century B.C. to honour and immortalize himself and his wife Nefertari, who was the most beloved of his over a dozen wives. It is said that he conceived over 200 children with his various wives.

Some illegal photography of two striking statues inside the first temple at Abu Simbel. I got busted taking photographs inside the second temple and the guard forced me to delete the photos as he stood there. Luckily he did not see the ones I had taken earlier!

Standing above beautiful Lake Nasser. The lake was created as a result of the construction of the Aswan High Dam. It runs 350 km through Upper (Southern) Egypt and 150 km through northern Sudan.

The Greek-built temple of Philae, constructed between 380-280 B.C.

Cairo - Part II

Ahhhh.... nothing like a little Pocari Sweat to get the electrolytes back up!



Domtron -- ever the resourceful one -- strung his underwear up to dry on the rotating grill of the fan in our room. His boxers were saturated with salty ball sweat and swamp ass. A true U.F.


Approaching the great pyramids at Giza. Breathtaking. I never thought I would ever see these incredible structures in person.


OH SHIT LOOK OUT FOR THE SPHYNX!!!!!!!!!!




After fighting my way past about 90 MILLION overly-eager camel jockeys, I reached the base of the Mykerinos pyramid, and bowed down in awe of it's thunderous presence. Thunderous I tell you.





Domtron takin' a stroll in front of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. You can barely see the little guy.



FEASTOR!!!!!



The barren desert wasteland.

I once seen a hawk....swoop down from the sky.... "CAHHH!!!! CAHHH!!!!!" and it PLUCKED A MAN'S EYEBALLS OUT OF HIS SOCKETS!!!! The fella was screaming: "AHHHH I'M BLIND.... I CAN'T SEE!!!!! AHHHHHH......."

That's all for today. Onto the southern Egyptian city of Aswan tonight on the overnight train (14 hours!!! Ahhhhh!!!)

Cairo - Part I

Cairo. The Middle East. Finally. Holy Shit. What an experience so far. I have constant goosebumps walking through the streets. What an incredible and fascinating and chaotic and dusty and hot and beautiful place this is. And this is only the beginning....


We arrived in Cairo at 1:00am. Thankfully not too much trouble finding a reasonably priced taxi from the airport to our hostel -- which happens to be called "Canadian Hostel". Very friendly staff, and as you can see, 5-star luxurious accomodations! Also, it is warm here. And by warm, I mean HOTTER THAN A CAMEL'S BALLLS!!!!


Enjoying some "tofah" (apple) flavoured shisha and fesh mango juice at a local cafe in the middle of the night. As it is the holy month of Ramadan and the Arabs haven't eaten, drank or smoked all day, they stay up all night breaking the fast and celebrating. At 5:30am, as prayers rang out over Cairo from the loudspeakers, they closed up shop and sent everyone home as sunrise was near and another day of fasting upon them.


Within less than an hour of our arrival, one of the locals was harassing Dom. He just doesn't fit in here.


This was a sight to behold. "Ask us about timeshares in Mosul!"


Dusk on the Nile. Dom and I ate dinner at an Egyptian/Lebanses cuisine restaurant at the "Nile City" complex seen above (it's actually a permanently moored ferry converted into restaurant space). Right next to our restaurant was a Chili's. Lolz

Kiev - Part II

"This is statue of Ukranian woman" ~ cab driver. Actually, it's the monument and memorial for the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 (a.k.a. WWII). A pretty cool sight. Many Soviet aricraft, artillery, etc. to look at.


War... what is it good for?


"In Ukraine, tank drive YOU!!"



A beautiful Ukranian monestary.


Just cruisin' down the streets of Kiev with a road soda. No big deal. Road sodas are tolerated -- nay -- encouraged. There are beer vendors everywhere and you can take your "traveler" with you on the bus, into shops, etc. It works over there, so why can't we do it back home????

But alas, that evening it was time to say farewell to the land of road sodas and move on.... next stop, CAIRO!!

Kiev, Ukraine

I was completely caught off guard by the charm and beauty of Kyiv. Truly an amazing city. Dom and I have already vowed to return on an annual basis. Annual General Meeting of DOMTRON, INC. to be held in Kyiv.

I never found out the name of significance of this structure, but it was pretty awesome... half brick and mortar, half logs.

Dom: "I'm going to have a bust like that when I'm older."

T.G.I.W.T.F.

DOMTRON!!!!!!!!!!!

"Pre-Gaming" in Florida

For a little "warm-up travel" before our overseas adventure, we headed down to West Palm Beach, Florida for a few days of awful weather, bad company and pure misery, as evidenced by the following photos.....


We spent 4 days in this slum :-p

A little underwater photography...


LANDSHARK.



Sexy fish.

Loungin'



Dom and the ladies decked out in some nice threads for dinner at the beach house on our last night....



The perfect end to a perfect Floridian sojourn.