Egyptian Rendezvous ~ June 2008

I'd like to put up stories about our past travels....perhaps the tales can be a guide to others....bak kata Mrs Nordin. Well I'll start with our short Egyption Tour in 2008 ie on our way to do our umrah.

First long distance travel with the whole family...plus the maid!! (well...she has been with us for the the last 11 years). What a challenge.... the distance, the group, the time zones, the food...so many things to consider, planning was so crucial.

It was June 2008 school holidays, our travel path brought us from KL to Mumbai to Cairo to Alexandria to Cairo to Jeddah to Madinah to Mecca to Jeddah to Cairo to Mumbai and finally back to KL...took us 2 weeks to cover that distance! Fisrt time flying Egypt air....not too bad.

Why Egypt??? Hey...why not, so much history there, so many things to see, very old city...prophet Moses, the pharaohs especially Firaun (Ramses II), King Tut (Tutankhamun), the pyramids, the Sphinx, the Red Sea, the Nile, Al Azhar, the Egyptian pound, bazaar Al-Khalili, the Mamluks, the Catacombs, belly dancers, the carpets, the papyrus, the perfumes, the neighbour of Palestine...just not enough time to cover all.

Overall it was really good and nothing too complicated to handle except for....maid sangkut at Cairo airport (Thai nationals hard to enter Egypt), kids demam sikit2, the heat, the jet lag, altitude sometime caused minor irritations, Egyptian breakfast...tak sedap!! But why complaint...just make the best of what you have!!

If you are visiting Egypt, enjoy it...so much to see, just take note that.....it's not a rich Muslim country, not so modern and not so clean and not so disciplined people, you need to buy drinks in restaurant (tak boleh bawak sendiri), people around Al Azhar & Al Khalili knows Malaysia and knows Bahasa Melayu...that shows a really long bond between Al - Azhar & the Malay world.

We did our umrah after the Egytian rendezvous....first umrah for many on our trips.

No place is perfect...it's only you yourself who can make it fun, make it work, make it memorable.

Roof top of Delta Pyramid Hotel, Giza

By the Mediterranean sea, Alexandria

Dini at Citadel

Us at the Spinx, Giza

The boys at Giza Plateau


At Bazar Al Khalili and Al-Azhar Mosque