journey thru my world...

Lost in nature! Gros Morne, Newfoundland

2010-07-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

I don’t remember exactly how and when I came to know about Newfoundland, may be across some internet promotions and TV tourism ads, but it was in 2009 around the month of September I learnt about Gros Morne National park in Western Newfoundland and the Western brook pond boat tour inside the park. The Videos and pictures of the Western brook pond had affected me so much I was forced to find a way to go and experience their beauty. It did not take long for me to start planning for the trip to Gros Morne. It started with searching for flights, transportation and stay options and at last when I contacted the boat tours I got the response that they are done for the year. It was then I realized that weather and season plays an important part planning for travel. Newfoundland experiences very harsh winter and the tourist activities happen only during summer months mostly from June to September. Well I was let down, but I then knew I will make it there someday.

During the last week of March this year I came across some Air Canada flight deals to various destinations and it was then I was triggered again to visit Gros Morne. The closest airport to Gros Morne was Deer lake and there were some flight deals costing around 250$ less than the normal price or the price which I would have paid if I had gone there in Sep 2009. Well I was all happy to see the deal, but the problem is I need to find days to go there. I don’t have much vacation days left as I have already used them all, so the only option is to look out for long weekends and see if I can monetize them for my trip. A long weekend of 3 days is for sure not going to be sufficient to see all Newfoundland but at least I can cover this national park which was the main inspiration for me. Checking the holiday calendar, airfare deal calendar and the weather conditions and tourist attractions calendar I had 2 choice of dates to pick from and I decided to settle for July where I got a holiday on Thursday, so taking one day off on Friday I would get four days to spend. Well that seemed to be a good option and I Immediately booked my flight through air Canada from June 30th to July 5th, going on June 30th evening after office hours and returning back on July 5th morning before office hours with 4 full days to spend in Gros Morne and nearby areas.

The first major step of flight booking has been done; the next was to search for accommodation and transportation. After spending some time with google I was convinced that it is going to be a costly vacation as the prices for everything was way over my expected budget and it made me raise my budget for the vacation from around 800$ to 1200$, well this budget if for an economic bachelor backpacking vacation, double or triple this figure for a comfortable luxury vacation here. After learning the cost conditions there I had to spend another couple of weeks over internet to find something fitting my raised budget. The search paid off and I was able to find a hostel inside the park which was offering a 4 day stay and play package for around 300$ including the western brook pond boat tour, a half day sea kayaking and a full day biking, transportations between attractions and airport pickup and drop. Transportation too is a problem there as there seems to be no public transportation available and even the ones running are very scarce and not frequent. Considering all the facts I was well convinced to book it as I did not find any other better option as this package is going to take care of all my transportation needs as well along with the stay. Enquiring with them I was told to book as soon as possible as it was peak season and I did the same as I didn’t want to take any chances this time already missing once last year.

Now that the second major step of accommodation and transport was also booked, I am all set to go there and take the boat tour. But I have 4 days to spend there so I had to look out for more things that can be done there. Again it was the internet I went to find more fine details about the places to see and things to do in Gros Morne and I had a big list which no way will fit in to my 4 day schedule. After carefully going through each one of them and filtering them out to my taste, choice and importance of the place I ended up with a doable list. The list had the following 5 activities which will fill full 4 days
       - Day hike to the Gros Morne Mountain overlooking 10 Mile pond
       - Day hike to western Brook Pond overlooking the pond
       - Visit to Gros Morne Tablelands (Which was once part of Earths Mantle)
       - Western Brook pond Boat tour of the fjords
       - Travel 400 Km north to St Anthony to take the Northland discovery boat tour to see the whales, icebergs and visit L’Asne aux meadows ( The only Vikings settlement historical site in NA)

On mailing my plan to the hostel guys I was told that they can arrange for all the other activities as well with an additional cost. They also informed me that my plan is cumbersome and too tight for 4 days. Well even worse is that when they confirmed me that I can not take the day hike to western Brook Pond overlooking the pond as that was a 4 day hike. Oops. Actually I wanted to take this hike to go to a location behind the western brook pond in to the fjord from where the opening of the fjord and the mountains can be seen with a mesmerizing view and this is the picture being featured in all Newfoundland ads related to Gros Morne and I have attached the same here. I wanted to go this point somehow and get that picture. In order to go to that point I need to take the Western brook pond boat tour and get off at the other end of the pond and hike up 6 km to reach that point and the hostel people confirmed that it needs special permit from the Park which was not a problem for me to get but the 6 km hike up to the pond itself it a 4 hour hike because of the landscape conditions there. After so much of thinking and after convincing myself I had to give up on the hike to that point. Though I was disappointed I was consoled that I can still hike up the Gros Morne Mountain to see the 10 Mile pond from its peak and get a nice picture of the scenery there. The rest of my plan remained in tack with no additions or removals. The hostel guys also agreed to arrange for my trip north to St. Anthony combining with a couple more people for around 150$ transportation alone so I was contended.

As everything was pre booked I had nothing much to plan and I was expecting a good vacation this time as against backpacking thrill trips, but just before a couple of days of my trip I was informed by the hostel that the trip to St. Anthony was cancelled as the other people backed off and if I wanted to take the trip I had to pay the full price of 400$ which I was not willing to. Though I wanted to go up there I can not afford to spend that much, I decided to go there first and find some local transportation after reaching Gros Morne in the first two days as I was planning to go to St. Anthony only on my third day. I know it is going to be a bit challenging now but I was all prepared to go for it. Everything is planned now and I was waiting for the date to fly and experience Gros Morne.

The day of my flight on 30th June 2010, I had packed my backpack last night and took it along with me to office as I was going to go to airport directly from office. I checked for the weather forecast for the next 4 days in Gros Morne and was a bit let down as it showed rain for 2 days and cloudy the other two days with partial sunlight. Well nothing can be done now, I hoped for the best and left office at 4:30 PM, Caught the bus at 4:45 PM and reached airport at around 5:15 PM. My Flight was scheduled at 6 PM and I was there well before time.

1st July 2010:
The flight took off on time and with a short transit in Halifax I reached Deer lake airport at around 00:30 AM midnight. My pickup from Airport to hostel was at 7 Am in the morning and I had already planned to stay at the Airport for the night. It was a pretty small airport where we had to walk down the plane to the open airport grounds and in to the airport. If I remember correctly, that was the only flight that was in the airport that time and after landing the airport was almost empty in the next half hour but with a few people waiting for next flight. I wandered around looking for a lounge which did not exist and ended up on a chair browsing through some tourism booklets which were seen all around and there were few racks of them besides where I walked up to see if there is anything interesting to do apart from my planned activities. I was soon feeling sleepy, sat on one of the chair in the row of waiting chair and was soon asleep with some difficulty sleeping while seated. I tried to turn, bend, twist, and maneuver myself in to a position where I can sleep comfortably but could not find one. Somehow I lied down occupying 3 chairs and with my backpack supporting my head I went to sleep soon. Sometime around 3 AM my uncomforting bedding woke me up and I put some newspapers down and tried to sleep on the floor which was too cold and I dropped the plan in seconds. I was back to my original bedding position and went to sleep soon again for the second time. I woke up at around 5:30 AM in the morning and to my surprise I felt fresh with proper sleep. Well that does not happen often for me after sleeping on a chair, I was glad it did that day.

By that time I could see some crowd inside the airport which was empty till then. The only washroom in the airport helped me freshen up for the day and by around 6:15 I started to wait for my pickup. With nothing else to do I started wandering around the only gift shop which was seen inside the airport. Soon within minutes the airport was empty again and I was wondering why.. oh ya all the people who were there have already boarded and their flight was on the runway ready to take off, and as usual that was the only flight which was there in the airport that time, I watched it take off gently and disappear in the fog shortly. The time was around 6:30 and I started taking some pictures of what interested me around.

At around 6:45 someone entered the airport and he was heading directly towards me as I was the only person waiting there and I could easily guess it was the hostel owner daine from the Gros Morne hostel picking me up to the hostel. We were out of the airport and after short introduction to his girl friend (I believe) we were in his car. He handed over to me a printout with the quotation of price list for activities which I wanted to do which read like
      - Day hike to Gros Morne - $120
      - Day Trip to Table Lands - $120
      - Trip to St Anthony - $400
Oops, that’s shocking to see how much I have to spend again. After thinking for a while I decided to take only day hike to Gros Morne with them and do the rest myself somehow. After negotiating he agreed for $100 for the hike and the hike was happening the same day at around 9 AM. So I was mentally prepared for the hike which was a 16 Km loop of 6 to 8 hours.

We were on the way driving and in 15 to 20 minutes after leaving the Deer lake airport we entered the Gros Morne Park. The Sun started to come out and it was a beautiful weather and I was so pleased that it is a good day for hiking. The hiking trail usually officially opens for the year on July 1st every year and I was there on the very first day to hike the mountain. The scenery around the road started changing soon after we entered Gros Morne. The never ending stack of Pine trees started to accompany us along the side of the roads, the never ending chain of the Gros Morne Mountains started accompanying the Pine trees, then came the beautiful landscape of the lakes with the background of the tall green mountains, the mesmerizing reflections of the green mountains, blue sky, white clouds, pine trees on the crystal clear pure waters of the pond, the winding road going up and down this beautiful landscape with each bend and turn giving a different view of the never ending beauty of nature, I was all lost at first sight of Gros Morne, I now believe in love at first sight. My hands were searching for my camera while my eyes were busy admiring and lost in the nature’s beauty, I decided to leave the camera alone. I anyways have 4 days to capture the beauty I see there that day. I did end up taking a lot many pictures of the pristine nature in my 4 days but the first view what I saw was captured only by the lens of my eyes and not my camera. I feel confined as I could not post that scene what I saw that day here, it still lingers in my eyes, may be I need to pick up my painting brushes which I had dropped off years ago and try to recreate that image which nature has produced that day. But for now it is just the description I have got. I have got a picture taken later during my stay there which is 25% close to what I described here and I am posting it here just to help with the imagination of the actual view ( Please add virtually sunshine, clouds, blue sky, reflections in the water :) )

After another hour of driving along the amazingly painted artwork of nature we reached the hostel which was located in a small community of 17 people which I learnt later with a few houses. Each community is almost that small inside Gros Morne and is separated by at least 20 km. Glad it is that way that we are able to still see the pure nature untouched by humans. It was around 8 AM in the morning I reached the hostel where I will be staying for the rest of my 4 days in Gros Morne. It was a small hostel with the owner, and the guide staying there with a couple of guests. The Owners kid was there that day and they had a nice dog Sierra. As told by the hostel owner Daine it came and recorded my scent at the first encounter and from then on it never barked at me and considered me as a well known person for the rest of the 4 days. Sierra was my first interaction with a Dog in my entire life apart from a small puppy which I had for a couple of weeks in my childhood and lost it later. I was bit scared of its size(doesn’t look so in the picture because of the angle but it was big enough to scare me ) in the beginning, added to it I was told that it was half coyote, but later got used to it as it was a very friendly nice dog. At around 8:30 the hostel owner Daine and his girl friend were packed Lunch for all the hikers that day and handed over to the guide Dave and at around 8:45 AM I was out with Dave in their car with my hiking backpack (just for name sake, it just had a water bottle and an umbrella and a t-shirt, nothing more). It was then I remembered that I did not have anything for breakfast in the morning and will not be having anything till noon. I didn’t know if I am going to survive till afternoon and I did not feel like asking him to stop somewhere as there were no shops around and we have to start the hike by 9 AM. Mostly it was like I did not feel like bothering him to be precise. He drove to a location where we picked up 3 more persons who joined us for the hike and headed to the parking lot Gros Morne hiking trail. One more person was waiting there to join us and we six including the guide started off with the hike at around 9 AM. As it was cold I was with my full shirt on with a jacket over it to protect myself from cold weather.

From the trail starting point it was a 4 KM initial hike to the Gros Morne mountain base where we had to hike through the trees. On the way our Guide Dave explained us and showed examples of how their forest was getting destroyed, strangely this time not by humans but by nature itself, the winds uprooting the trees completely or breaking them off and the Moose munching off the budding leaves on the branch edges limiting the trees growth etc. He also pointed us a bear marking on one of the trees. Well I was scared now, that was huge and I am glad I was not hiking alone which I once thought of doing and later decided against because of the same reason. At the early part of our hike we crossed a small wooden bridge over flowing water, the music of which could be heard for a long distance, it also made a great sight too. Within a small distance we could hear the sound of water falls but could not see it anywhere nearby, may be it was hiding in the bushes somewhere. We went on chit chatting amongst us and with the trees around us. The day was getting hot with the rising sun and with our hike I had to first remove my jack and then change to t-shirt, it was really getting hotter.

After almost an hours hike we reached a higher spot from where we could see the tableland mountain of Gros More which can be clearly distinguished from the other mountains because of lack of vegetation there as it was once a part of earths mantle filled with minerals not suitable for vegetation and had emerged out during tectonic collisions. We stopped for a while and took some pictures there with the tablelands at the background.

After another half hours hike we reached the base of the Gros Morne Mountain from where we could see the full view of the majestic Gros Morne Mountain standing in front of us waiting for us to conquer. Though it knows we have come to conquer it, it did not pose a threatening look but posed a pleasing welcoming look exposing its majestic beauty inviting us to conquer it. We stopped for a while to gain some energy and soon we were heading to it. Out guide soon pointed out a warning board which we almost ignored because of the weather that day ( read the board and you will understand why)

We continued our hike towards the Mountain. I could already hear my hungry stomach shouting at me even before reaching the mountain base but I turned deaf to its musings. We were going at a medium pace as we had an elderly guy as well in our group. There were many other apart from our group doing the hike, some on their own and some in groups who kept passing by with a greet. We kept going in our pace. The trail was a rocky path which must have been the water flow path during rainy season and that was clearly visible. We were walking on the stone pieces and had to be extra careful not to get our ankles twisted as they were all loose rocks and stones. We kept climbing and climbing and climbing and climbing, the mountain which looked not so big from the base as you could have felt seeing the picture started growing bigger and taller as we were climbing up. It was catching up to our Guides statement “Don’t underestimate our mountains”.

We were stopping all along for short breaks every 15 to 20 minutes and enjoying the view behind us and taking some pictures all along. We also came across a couple of ice patches ¾th of the way up and I was using the ice to cool of my face and hands. I was the only one who was cooling off with the ice and others did not bother about it and kept walking, and I did not bother about them, I just followed my instincts. At each pit stop the view behind us was getting better and beautiful with the vast land, steep mountain slope, mountains blocking the horizons, lakes filling the valley. It was a picture perfect view in every direction and every angle you can take.

If someone wants to learn photography Gros Morne could probably the place to start from, no matter what you click even with eyes closed it is going to be an amazing shot. It was all rocky paths all through the hike till we reached the top and at the top it was even worse, there seemed to be no sand but stones all over everywhere. We soon reached the peak point which was 806 m above sea level; we almost started from sea level as the sea is just bordering the Gros Morne Park.

We sat nearby the peak overlooking a series of mountain with picturesque view and had our lunch there. Well my lunch was just a box of spinach leaves as they did not have anything vegan for me expect for that that. With no breakfast that is surely not going to suffice me as expected and I filled my stomach with some juices and apples which our guide was carrying. We my stomach was happy for the time being. We rested there for around half hour enjoying the view and started to walk again towards the 10 mile pond view point which was the one I was eagerly waiting for asking my guide all along.

Within 15 minutes of walk we were there at the spot overlooking the 10 mile pond and that was one awesome view, it was a dream come true for me to be there. I just stood there for a few minutes impressed by the view and immersed in the beauty I was not taking any pictures strangely. A picture is worth a thousand words, see it for yourself. Soon seeing other busy taking pictures I realized I had to get some and started with it. I also got my trademark picture of Gros Morne Hike taken and I was all happy at the moment living my dream. Though we spend around 20 minutes there I did not feel like going away from there even though my group started walking ahead to the descent. Though my legs started walking my eyes and mind were left behind at the spot and every step my legs took me away from the view, my heartbeat was raising and started wanting to get back and it continued for the next 5 minutes after which it finally stopped bothering my legs. That was one magnetic view I have ever seen in my life, I still feel the pleasing sensation when I am writing this and I could hear my heart pumping hard with excitement, well as I had already written I had fallen in love with Gros Morne and it was just getting stronger then.

On the way down we could see a hanging lake on top of adjacent mountain with a waterfall, it was a bit far away to have a closer view. I should have had a binocular that day. We continued our descent down and it was a different path down as we can not take the stone path which could be dangerous while walking down. Even this route had so much to offer for our eyes.

Almost half the way down it started to drizzle. Oops we are going to get drenched in rain if it does not stop, but luckily after few minutes it stopped and we got relieved. Though out guide has told that we would be able to see moose during the hike as there are more moose in Gros Morne per km than humans. There are thousands of them with 6 to 7 Moose per KM as per records and all of them came from just 4 moose which were introduced in to the park some years back.

Finally our guide spotted one of them high in the mountain. That was the first time I got to see a moose in it s natural habitat but it was far away. One of our group members had a binocular and I borrowed it to have a view of it, I also tried to take a picture of it with my camera pointing to the binocular lens which turned out pretty bad. Passing though a small pond where I cooled off my face again we reached the base of the mountain where we started climbing the mountain. Our guide took a picture of us, trust me that was the toughest thing to do posing for a camera than the hike there as we were surrounded by black flies and they were all over our faces it was getting difficult to stand steady even for a second. We had to resist all those flies sitting on our face to pose for the camera and it was not just once, it was for 5 times for everyone’s camera. That was a hard job compared to the hike, it was when I realized how bad the film artist’s job would be, and I have to start respecting their profession now.

My right knee started to feel some pain and the pain started increasing with every step I took, we still had 4 km to walk and it was hard to make it with my hurting leg but I had no other choice. I did try to manage limping and adjusting the walking angle and with some fine-tuned walking reducing the pain. Soon we were in to the trees passing the roaring unseen waterfalls, passing the bridge over the water flow and at the end of our trail. It was almost 4:30 PM and we took a short rest there before going back to the car signing off the person who joined us there. Our guide dropped the other 3 where they were picked up in the morning and we were back at the hostel at around 5 PM. By that time my right knee was screwed up and I was growing super hungry.

I was shown my room and I put my backpack there and soon after changing my clothes I was thinking of going out and having some food and only then realized there is no restaurant nearby. I browsed through the hostel kitten to see if I find anything vegan there. I saw some stuff which looked like a mix of cake and pie, though I was reluctant to have it as I doubted it might have egg my hunger could not prevent me from having it, I just grabbed few pieces of them. Gladly I did not feel any smell or taste of egg or may be I was just too hungry to feel it. My hunger was temporarily fixed. After taking bath and resting for a while I got bored again at around 6 PM not knowing what to do. I went to the lobby where everyone whom I have met till now were there and soon I was told I can freely take the bikes standing outside it I want. What more do I need after hearing that. In a couple of minutes I was out changing my clothes to take a ride in the bicycle, I didn’t know where I wanted to go, but I any place around there is going to be fine as everything there is just new to be and looked interesting. They were busy with the BBQ making something non-veg.

The bikes which they had were different from mine and I was even finding it difficult to get on it as the seats were too high and handle too low, totally different gear system and surely not the kind of ones I have ever used. With some difficulty getting on and balancing and getting clarification about the gear system and checking the brakes I was on my way to somewhere. The hostel was facing the seashore and some storehouses were lining the coastline making a pretty view.

I started from there and as the road ran along the coastline it was anyways going to be a nice ride. I know the sunset was around 9:30 PM during this season and I had 2 to 3 hours to spend enjoying the ride. Not soon I started I was pulled towards the seashore and I left my bike besides the road and walked down towards the mild waves of the sea. Though it was not a shore made of sandy beach it was a shore of pebble stones. They were found all along the coastline as far as I could see. This is the first time I have been to this kind of seashore formed by thousands and thousands of smooth, shiny, curvy pebble stones of all sizes. I was impressed by the sight and feel of the stones I started to make some stone tower out of them by placing one over the other. I thought it should be simple but.. oh man! It was not.. The smooth and curvy surface of the stones will not allow to get stacked up so easily, but I managed to stack 3 of them after some fight. Well the play did not last long, as I started feeling some tiny insects or black flies all around my hair and some really tiny red colored insects less than one tenth the size of a small mosquito running between the stones. Though initially I was ignoring them soon I felt them sucking my blood without me feeling any pain. They are like mosquito bites but without pain, you can just feel them moving on your skin which indeed was annoying. I had no idea if it was the flies or the red insects which were annoying me, but when I accidentally crushed a couple one of them behind my neck and saw a full drop of blood in my fingers, I was scared of these tiny little creatures I ran away from there in minutes.

Back to biking I could now really feel the pain in my knees, my body was asking me to go back to hostel, but my mind was no way close to hostel wandering away to whatever sight it received from the eyes. I continued biking away from hostel and came across a small food store but was not hungry enough to enter in. I continued cycling across some nice houses lines along the shore and found a small view point of the ocean a bit inside from the road. I rode in, dropped my bike and walked down again towards the pebble stone shore. The first thing I checked was to see if those tiny stupid insects were there. Satisfied they were not I started to stack up the pebble stones again. There were some rocks a few meters inside the sea which were inviting me to walk over and sit on them. Though the incoming waves managed to make me stay away, my brain coordinating with my eyes found ways to reach those stone by walking atop the small rocks leaning to the big ones. Since the waves were very mild it did not seem risky and I was soon sitting on the rock a few meters inside the sea taking a seat besides one of the many sails already occupying their seats there.

Well I was all alone there sitting and watching the waves and hearing the sounds of ocean and clicking some pictures. As far as I could see there was no one around in all direction. I was all alone. Though I was enjoying the sights and sounds I was getting to hear the bells ringing in my head reminding me the time. It was getting colder as the sun started to hide behind the clouds and I was not able to withstand it. I left the place biking back to hostel. On my way back I went to the food store to see if I can get any vegan dish for dinner, but none. I went back to hostel with empty stomach. It was around 8 PM and I was getting hungry again. I had an apple with me in my bag which I took from the guide during lunch. The apple along with some more of those cakes came to my rescue again to fill my stomach. I tried to call up the Gros Morne centre to enquire about the guided tableland trail for next day but could not reach them. My Original plan was to take guided tableland trail that day but since the Gros Morne mountain hike was being done the same day I decided to do the Gros Morne Mountain hike first and postpone the tableland trail to the next day. After checking my mails using one of the laptops lying in the hostel lobby for a few minutes I went back to my room and was soon asleep.

2nd July 2010:

It was silent and cold and I was sleeping sound when suddenly something huge and heavy fell on me and I woke up shocked and terrified with a scream. I even could not scream loudly as it fell directly on my stomach. It was Sierra, the big dog. After a couple of seconds of terrified feeling I got out of the shock as soon I saw the dog. Mostly it would only be the alarms or the sunlight which used to wake me up in the morning and never a dog jumping directly on me and then lying besides me in the bed looking at me with a friendly look and trying to lick my face. I had no idea how to react and what to do, it took a couple of minutes for me to get used to the dog lying on the bed, and couple more minutes to be easy with it. The dog seemed so friendly I did not feel like chasing it away, I just let it lie there and I was so sleepy to get up as well. That was a experience of lifetime I can never ever forget. Soon it heard some noise outside jumped out of the bed and was on it way out opening the door with its head. It was 7 AM in the morning when the dog woke me up, and by the time I took bath and got ready it was 8 AM and went to the hostel lobby where I was told that the dog used to wake up everyone last summer.

I called up the Gros Morne visitor centre that I was trying yesterday and was told that the guided tableland trail does not happen that day. I decided to take the Western brook pond boat tour instead which was included in my hostel package. I informed Daine the hostel owner and he called up and reserved the 10 AM tour and soon around 8:45 AM Dave the guide dropped me at the parking lot of the western brook pond trail. To reach the boat tour we have to take the 3 km trail to the pond from the road. There were many cars parked there and I was sure it is going to be a full boat. I was informed that the return pickup back to hostel will be around 1:30 PM. The 3 km trail will take around 45 minutes and the boat tour is for 2 hours.

It was a cloudy day unlike the day before and the sun was still hiding behind the clouds. The western brook pond is a huge fjord surrounded by mountains. From the trail starting point, the huge opening of the fjord and the surrounding mountains were covered by mist at the top and only the lower portion was visible. Though the full beauty of the fjord could not be seen, the mist gave a special look to the mountains and I started walking towards the pond taking the trail. There were few people already walking before me and could see few more joining behind me. The trail was getting better and beautiful with wildflowers lining the trail, passing through vast coastal bogs, few stretches of wooden pathway making the walking a bit easier wishing it to cover the entire trail, with the view of the huge cliffs of the fjord and nearby mountains growing taller and taller.

Somehow even when covered by mist there was a ray of sunlight at the opening of the fjord adding a pinch light to the mysty view. The sprain in my right knee was still not cured and the pain which was negligible at beginning of the trail started growing and with a km of walk it started to worsen. I cursed myself for not taking any medication or spray last night to fix it. I had to tilt the angle of my walk, almost limping to reduce the pain and continue the walk, a few ups and downs along the way made it tougher. I slowed down my pace and with a numerous pit stops I kept walking seeing even the elderly people passing by overtaking me. I did not get a chance to have my breakfast again and I had to once again rely on the apple which I picked from the hostel fridge before getting out. The intensity of my pain was getting shadowed by the beauty of the view in front of me and I was taking pictures all along the way and soon I reached the end of the trail at the visitor centre where I have to get my tickets for the tour.

A photo session was going on there with everyone taking pictures with the hoisted Canadian flag with the fjord at the background. I too joined the crew (the picture here is digitally post processed with another picture taken at the same location as in the original picture the photographer has cut out half of the flag). I could see the tour boats docked there with the background of the majestic fjord cliffs and the beautiful pond. I went and got my tickets from the visitor centre. I was so happy to see a coffee stall there and grabbed a cup of hot chocolate to fill my stomach. There was still 30 minutes left for the tour to start and everyone was waiting outside taking pictures and enjoying the drinks, so did I. A seagull caught everyone’s attention as strangely it stood still at a single location for a very long time posing for pictures until it was chased away by a kid.

I saw some kids playing in the sands of the pond’s beach and I went down the stairs to the ponds sand. It was quieter out there as there were only a couple of persons there and sat on a stone there enjoying the sight displayed in front of me. After spending around 15 minutes there I saw the crowd moving towards the boat, I realized it was time for the boat and hurried up to join them. I went to the upper level of the boat and sat there. There were around 50 people in the boat and the tour started sharply at 10 AM.

As I was one of the last persons to get in, I saw all rows of seats occupied in the upper level except one where only one person was sitting. On confirming with him that the seat is free I took it and started a friendly chat with him. I learnt that he is from Quebec and traveling alone all the way with his own car. He had been in Newfoundland for almost 8 days covering the eastern part and going to cover east for the next 4 days. He also told me that he is traveling up north to L’Asne aux meadows the next day hearing which I was super happy. Immediately I asked him if I can join him, I also told him that I will share the cost for the trip. He thought for few seconds and told me that he is going to take a ferry from there to Labrador and will be coming back only after two days so I need to find some other way to return back. He also told me he does not have enough space in his car as he has filled it up with all his stuff. As I told him I had just a small backpack and will find my way to return back he agreed and I was so happy. All the chatting happened before the boat even started and though I had no idea how I am going to return back from St.Anthony I was glad I found someway to go there first. I had been trying for almost 3 months to find a way to go to St.Anthony but found no options. I felt like he had come there just to take me there.

The boat started and with narration we were being told the history and geography of the pond and the boat tour, we past the tiny island in the pond and across another one and after around 15 minutes it was on it s way going closer to the fjord opening. The boat will eventually enter the fjord opening and travel 16km down to the other end of the pond. As we were getting closer and closer we could realize the height of the fjord cliffs standing majestically in front of us. The sight of the mist covering the cliffs and the appearance of the pond penetrating through the mountains in the form of fjord made everyone on the boat impressed even before entering the fjord. I also learnt from the narration that the Western Brook pond is one of very few pure water ponds in the world with Ph value of 0. Because the water is so pure, it lacks nutrients for life to survive. It is also classified as UltraOligotrophic. There was also a story that once some engine to pump up water did not start up as it could not recognize water in the pond as water as it was working on identifying water based on its mineral and iron contents. All these small information and story along with the sights surrounding the boat made it special.

For the next hour our boat passed through many of the tall standing gigantic fjord rock cliffs covered with green vegetation, a few water falls all along the way cutting the fjord rocks making a pristine look, a lion face shaped rock, and various interesting rock formations and waterfalls along out way deep inside the fjord to the other end of the pond. It was not a straight line ride, the 16km water route was full of twists and turns and bends, with each turning opening up to a totally different view and the view of the other end was visible only after taking the last turn in the fjord welcoming us with a waterfall falling from the cliff walls above 2000 ft with a funny name.

The end of the pond where the fjord started closing up formed a spectacular view with layers and layers of rocky mountain walls sliding on each other forming a zigzag pattern which was wonderful to see. The entire fjord has been formed billions of years ago by the glacial action. Though it is named as fjord, it actually is not a fjord anymore since after the glacial period the land rebounded and raised above sea level separating the pond from the sea and for the next billions of years the entire sea water has been drained from the form and the pond was fed by the pure spring waters from the surrounding cliffs and mountains. Sometimes it was threading to imaging that the pond is deeper than the surrounding cliff walls.

On reaching the other end of the pond a few people on the boat were let out. They had their backcountry permits to hike the mountains for the next 4 days. If one had to get that iconic photo (the first one in this blog) one has to get down here and do that hike. Though I wanted to get there but did not work out, I was happy to reach till this point to see the mesmerizing views. Immediately after dropping off those passengers the boat turned around for the return journey which is going to be another hour. So for those who have missed the views in the forward journey here is another chance to catch up and for those who have seen it all it is never enough to stay satisfied. The boat ride was like entering in to the core of nature’s wonderland and coming back, like slowly opening and closing the picture book of nature. The memories and sights of the fjord cliffs, waterfalls and everything around the boat is going to stay for a long in the minds of everyone who had ever taken this boat tour which puts everyone on the natures lap. After almost two hours of ride the boat returned back to its starting point where it started where we got to have the last close view of the fjord.

Me and my newly met friend, Kevin is his name, decided to go to the tablelands together immediately after the boat ride as both of us had the same plans for the day. The return trail took another 40 minutes and we were back at the parking lot, As he told his car was filled with stuff, event he seat next to the drivers was filled. He had to clear up things for me. The time was just 12:50 PM and I did not want to wait till 1:30 PM to inform Dave who was about to come for my pickup. Both of us did not have phones and even if we did it would not have worked, I decided to inform the hostel people on the way back as we had to pass the hostel to reach the tablelands and did the same. On the way to tablelands he made a pit stop to fill his car tank where I got a chance to get to the store to pickup something for me to eat and drink, I had been really starving for till then from when I landed in Deer lake airport.. I bought so much stuff so that it can suffice me for the next couple of days. Making my tummy happy we started our drive towards tablelands.

Though the tablelands was nearby it was lying on other side of the bay and we had to drive 80km all the way around the bay, out of the park and then take the other way to the tablelands on the other side of the bay which took almost a hour and half to reach there. Instead there is a water taxi which can be taken to reach there in 15 minutes but can not take the car in the water taxi. On every turn of the road I was looking for the unique sandy mountain amidst the greenish mountains of Gros Morne. Finally we managed to get a glimpse of where we were heading. There were many cyclists on the road.

Within few minutes after the initial glimpse we were at the parking lot of the tablelands trail. It was suppose to be a 2 hour trail leading to a viewpoint of the tablelands bowl. Well I was doubting myself if I can make it as my right left was half dead already and every step I was taking on was hitting the peak of pains. I did not want to stop but proceed further as far as I can. I had to keep up with the pace of my temporary travel mate as well. I was happy to hear from a couple of returning hikers that it was not a long trail. Hearing that my energy doubled. After almost 30 minutes of walk we came to the end of the trail which had a eye catching picturesque view of the tablelands bowl, it was interesting to see the barren land and sandy mountain at a place which was surrounded by miles and miles of greenery and greenery only.

Though the Gros Morne tablelands are very significant in terms of geology and research, to the naked eyes it just a interestingly looking barren land with yellowish stones, orange sand and glittering mountain slopes. After taking a few pictures at the end of the trail we headed back to the parking lot. All along the trail we could see some strange wildflowers. Another 40 minutes of walk we were back in the parking lot. Well that was a short hike which I managed to make with my 11/2 legs. From the parking lot we could see an eye-catching view of the road piercing between the barren Gros Morne Tableland Mountains and the otherwise greenish Gros Morne Mountains.

As we finished this trail much earlier than expected we decided to take the road and see what’s on the other side and started driving. On driving for around 15 Km we ended up at a significant tourist point called trout river though we did not have much to see there apart from the seashore where we took a couple of pictures and returned back (no idea why it was named as a river, may be we missed something). All along the way there were many trails going in to the mountains. The return drive was even more picturesque as now we were driving down the slope with a clear beautiful view of the partition between the lands. We stopped to get a few pictures taken and we continuedto return.

On the Way I asked him to let me off near woody point from where I can take the water taxi to other side of the bay till Norris point. I paid him for the ride he gave that day and we decided to meet at 7:30 AM next morning at the hostel where he would pick me up for the ride to L’Asne aux meadows. From the point where he dropped me off it was a 10 minutes walk to woody point and with the views of the bay all through the way I did not realize I had walked that far. The woody point view of the bay is just awesome. After enquiring a couple of locals I managed to find the location of the water taxi. It was 5 Pm and the water taxi was scheduled for 5:30 PM. I had half hour to wander around woody point.

I saw a lighthouse nearby located in a setting which just looked like a film set, that was the perfection of the surrounding and the lighthouse. Though it was a small Lighthouse, it was perfectly painted and standing on a small cliff surrounded by grass and flowers of all colors with the background of bluish waters of the sea and the Greenish Gros Morne Mountain ranges. It was a pretty sight and my camera started its work.

Soon the Water taxi boat arrived and everyone got in. The boat started its 15 minutes journey to Norris point which is located on the other side of the bay. Though the waves were mild the boat was tilted right and left and I got the taste of the sea water a couple of times when it splashed over my face. The bluish green pure waters of the bonnie bay surrounded by the majestic gros morne mountains is something just still says in my eyes. The View of the houses lining the shore at the Norris point too made a pretty sight to photograph. After 15 minutes the boat reached Norris point. I thought I could find some taxi or bus from there to reach my hostel but no. I could just see a restaurant, few hotels and parked cars. At least I was able find something spicy in 2 days, Tomato soup and fries in the restaurant which filled my tummy. With no way to reach the hotel from there I was wandering outside not knowing what to do. There were few people near the waters with the lobster catching traps ready to pack and go. They give me the number of the taxi, but I did not have exact change to call up. I then asked one of them to drop me at the nearby Rocky Harbor which is 10Km away and he agreed for 10$. He dropped me at a hotel in Rocky Harbor and I went directly to the hotel reception to ask for any taxi service. Only there I came to know that it was only one taxi, not one taxi service but only one taxi runs in the region and it is difficult to get that. The reception lady called up the taxi for me and waiting for another 30 minutes the taxi arrived and I reached the hostel in Sally’s cove which was 20Km away from Rocky harbor. It was around 7:30 PM, I went to sleep directly after checking my mails as I had to get up early next morning.

3rd July 2010:

This time it was the alarm which woke me up at 6 AM and I was ready by 7 Am waiting for Kevin. I was sitting on the table outside the hostel facing the road and the ocean waiting for him, as he can see me easily from there. The hostel guys also had a cat which was lying there and when it saw me it started to come towards me and sit besides me and was trying to cuddle and climb on me. Though I tried to resist I can’t control but chase it away, I don’t like cats and their screechy roars. I had to keep moving inside and outside the hostel just to keep away from it. At last it gave up and I was glad. Sharp at 7:30 AM Kevin was there with his car and we started our 350 km long journey north towards St.Anthony.

It takes around 4 hours to reach there and I had booked the Northland discovery boat tour to watch the icebergs and whales in St.Anthony at 1 PM. I was expecting to reach there by then. But Kevin had other plans. He had planned to see a couple of places on the way and then go to L’Asne aux meadows; he was not going to St. Anthony. I did not think of it as a big problem as I can catch a taxi from L’Asne aux meadows. So we started. On the way we stopped at the Arches provincial park which is just a viewpoint of arches holes formed in the rocks carved out by the waves of the sea. We stopped there for 10 minutes to go inside the arches and experience the sight of the sea from inside the arches.

We then continued our journey and on the way we saw a couple of moose crossing the road. This time I got the chance to see the moose in close proximity at last. It is also dangerous to hit the moose as they have tall slender legs and once hit the entire body of the moose will enter the windshield of the car and crush the passengers inside. So one has to be extra careful while driving in these roads, especially during poor visibility as the moose can jump in anytime.

After almost an hour drive we reached half the way and we stopped at Port Au Choux which Kevin wanted to see. It was around 10:30 AM. This site was of some archaeological significance and he was interested to visit it. I started to wonder if I can reach St.Anthony on time and it seemed impossible now as he was about to spend next 1 hour there. I had no choice than to spend the time with him. Inside the visitor center we saw a short movie explaining the significance of the place and excavations and study being done there. On advice from the person there we drove 2 km down the road to the site where the archaeology students were on field work doing some study, one of them came and explained about their study and about the site.

The location was besides the sea and also had a big Lighthouse nearby with cold breeze freezing us all the time we were out. After spending some time there with we were back to the car and towards L’Asne aux meadows. He stopped at a gas station and I went to call up the Boat tours in St. Anthony to postpone my reservation from 1 PM to 4 PM. I was told that there is not enough people for 4 PM departure and it might be cancelled, but still they asked me to come and check. Though I was a bit let down I was hoping I would get to take the tour. We continued our journey and at around 1 PM we reached the intersection which diverts to St.Anthony and L’Asne aux meadow. L’Asne aux meadows was 25 Km from there and St.Anthony was 10 Km from there. Kevin asked me if I want to get down there, but the time was already up and I can not make to the 1 PM tour so I decided to join him and go and visit the L’Asne aux meadows site which also was there in my plan.

The 25KM drive took around 45 minutes. On reaching the visitor centre we were given instructions and shown way to reach the site which was just a km away and after parking our car we went to the site. L’Asne aux meadows are a historically significant site. It is believed to be the only Viking settlement site in NA and is being promoted by the Canada tourism industry a lot and I also learnt from Kevin that the Canadians had a interesting chapter about the Vikings and about this site in their school days and he was always interested to visit this place of such a significance. Though I was also interested to visit the place, I was there just for the sake of knowing what it is significant for.

Again the site was located on the seashore with a beautiful view of the ocean and surroundings. A guided tour explaining about the site and study which had been done there also started at the same time we reached the site and we joined the tour. After the initial 15 minutes of the tour we felt we did not have enough time to take the complete guided tour as it was going in a very slow place. Kevin had to return to his port to catch his ferry to Labrador and I had to go to St.Anthony by 4 PM. So we decided to explore the surrounding and the site on our own. We went on a small trail along the seashore and as it was going on and on we returned back half the way and decided to spend time at the actual Vikings sample dwelling which has been constructed there based on the excavation study. Inside there we saw people dressed as Vikings and explaining about the site. We listened to them here and there and had a glimpse of the entire dwelling. Though it was cold outside, we felt comfortably warm inside the dwelling because of the lit up fireplace which kept the entire dwelling warm and the materials used to make the dwelling kept the heat inside.

We also went out and checked around the sample dwelling. At Around 2:45 PM we decided to leave. By 3:30 Pm we reached the intersection where we had to depart. As Kevin was getting late for his ferry he could not take me to St.Anthony but dropped me there. I paid him for the ride and waited there to see if I can get a ride to St.Anthony or find a taxi. After waiting for 5 minutes I thought it’s not going to work and went to a motel nearby to ask if I can get a taxi to St. Anthony. The lady called up a taxi for me. I was all tensed as I was not sure if I can make to 4 PM boat tour and that was the last tour for the day and I was planning to return back to Gros Morne the same evening after the tour. The lady acknowledged that though it is just 10 minutes ride to reach there it is not possible now as I was late. After waiting fro another 10 minutes the taxi arrived at 3:50.

I entered the taxi to see a 66 year old driver and I immediately told him I have 10 minutes to travel 10 Kms to take the 4 PM boat ride. I really doubted seeing him if he can drive that fast to reach there on time. He said to me put on your seat belts and get ready for the rough ride. Well I was half minded but he did drove that fast and after 10 minutes of drive we were still not there but close by. The Clock struck 4, we were still in the car, he got the number of the Boat tours from me and called them up and told them we are nearby and will reach there in a couple of minutes. The boat tours confirmed that they will wait for me and I was so super happy. Within couple of minutes he took me to the boat tours centre and I could still see the boat there. I happily paid him and ran inside to get my tickets where the lady welcomed me with a smile and gave my tickets. I AS I was more eager to sea the icebergs I asked her if the icebergs are there and she replied she can’t guarantee as they are far away but she said there are many whales. I was inside the boat at 4:02 PM. Thanks to the Taxi driver and the tours, if I could not have made up to the tour my entire struggle to travel from Gros Morne to St.Anthony would have been a waste as my only aim to reach there was to sea the whales and the icebergs.

It was a cloudy and cold day and along with the strong winds from the sea it was getting harder to sit on the upper deck of the boat with my lightweight jacket. But the eagerness to see the icebergs and whales made me sit there. The boat started and did the narration and I was confirmed that there are no icebergs in the vicinity for the boat to reach. I was disappointed big time as that was one of the major reasons I struggled to reach there. But there came some whales soon to patch up my disappointment. The person in charge narrating the tour pointed out some whales in the beginning of the tour and soon we were able to spot it ourselves as the boat took us closer to them and for the next hour we were surrounded by whales. We were entertained with all kinds of shows from the whales which were busy trapping the fishes, playing with the fins and at sometimes popping their tail up outside the water.

We also could hear the sounds made by the whales and every sighting of the whale was special and new. We kept looking for more and more and we were never contended. After sometime the waters around us became calm and there were no sign of any whales around. While the boat was turning to return we could see a greenish patch on the bluish water which was the whale and it passed right below our boat. Though we could not see it clearly we could feel it moving under us as we could see the big greenish patch moving below us from one side of the boat to the other. While returning the whales also seemed to follow us and they came up again entertaining us with another show of their flapping fins and tails and popping heads. The narrator also pointed us to a small whale with its mother. We were able to spot the smallish green spot and the big green spot nearby moving along the water besides our boat and yes they had to come to the water surface to breathe and they did for a couple of times when we could get some sneak peak of their back. It was fun to watch them in their natural habitat. We were also pointed to an iceberg at a far distance deep inside the sea which looked like an tiny ice cube at that distance. Though disappointed with icebergs I was happy I could see some good show from the whales in their natural grounds. After two hours of the tour the boat returned to the shore.

On arrival it was around 6:00 PM and everyone headed to their car and was out on their way. I was standing there alone thinking how to go back now and what to do. I had to go to the public hospital nearby to use the washroom there as that was the only public facility available there. On enquiring I was reconfirmed that there is no transportation service till Gros Morne from St.Anthony and I had to hitch hike, this was the same information told to me by the boat captain when I asked the same before getting out of the boat. I was prepared to hitchhike and I had a piece of paper with me with the destination written on it which I packed before starting to travel. At around 6:40 PM I was standing on the road towards the direction of Gros Morne with the piece of paper in my hand trying to get a ride. The paper read “I need ride to Gros Morne, Will pay”. It started to drizzle on and off and the paper was getting wet drop by drop. There were many cars going for the next 45 minutes in the direction with everyone reading but no one stopping. I started to think that might not be the right spot to hitchhike so I decided to go to the intersection where kevin dropped me as I know that the road from there is the straight road to Gros Morne. But I have to reach there and I need a ride or taxi at least till there which is 10 KM away. I again went inside the hospital and asked the reception lady for taxi details and she informed me that there is only one taxi running and getting the number from her I used up the hospital public phone to call the taxi. I was getting late so I though if the taxi guys are ready to travel till Gros Morne (350 Km away) but they were not. They said they are busy that day for a wedding and they can not come, but they agreed to drop me at the intersection 10 Km away. Within 120 minutes the taxi was there and it was the same 66 old man who was there inside the taxi driving. Well now I know for sure it is only one taxi running here as well. He also advised me to hitchhike and told that someone will give a ride. He dropped me at the intersection and wished me luck and left.

I again stood there on the road from 8 PM. There were not many cars going that way. All the cars which came till the intersection took the road towards L’Asne aux meadows which confirmed that I was previously standing at a wrong location. There was one car going in the direction of Gros Morne in approximately 5 minutes and none seemed to even read the paper I was holding, or at least stop after reading. It was almost 8:30 and I started to loose hope and was planning to stay in the motel just in front there if don’t get a ride till 9:00 Pm ( I know it will not be dark till 9:30 PM). At around 8:35 PM another car passed by and as usual without stopping. I put my head down again and casually turned back after a few seconds to see the car passing by. To my surprise the car was stopped a few meters away and was slowly reversing back. Though I was happy to see that I was not sure if they stopped for me or for some other reasons. I rushed to the car to see if they stopped for me and even before I could ask a man stepped out of the car and said I can get in. When I said I will pay he said “You can get in and you need not pay”. There were 4 people in the car and chatting with them I learnt that they are fishermen coming back after their catch returning to their home in Port Au Choix (which I and Kevin visited earlier during the day). They saved my day, as I told the same to them that I had been waiting for more than 1 hour at two different places. All of them were very friendly. Though they were speaking English they had a strange accent which I am not used to, it more sounded like a cowboy accent from old English movies and pretty fast. I was able to catch up to the accent slowly. They were funny and talking about many things on the way. They told me that they are going only half way till Port au Choix and I need to find a ride from there again. I was glad I could cover at least half the distance hitchhiking.

They told that they had a good catch of 65000 shrimps in 4 days. They had traveled 150 miles inside the sea to get the catch and when I told them I could not see any icebergs they said there were many icebergs on the fishing grounds and there was one very big one near to the shore which could have been visible from L’Asne aux meadows site. But I don’t remember seeing any when we were there, or may be we did not look for it. Well it was not my day to see the iceberg. They stopped for snacks and I got to get a drink. On the way few moose crossed the road and I got a chance to see them once again, this time there was a huge one with horns. After around 2 hours of drive we reached Port au choix and it was almost 10:30 PM and dark. They advised me to stay in a motel for the night as it would be hard to get a ride at this time at night. So I was prepared to stay in a motel for the first time. One of the four was the head and it was his car. Everyone seemed to be happy to get back home after the short trip to the seas and was dropped at their homes one by one. At last me and the head were there in the car and I thought he is going to drop me at a motel, but he told me I can stay in his home for the night if I wanted as there is no one at his home that day except him. From the conversations we had all along the way I had a comfortable feeling with those people and I accepted his offer to stay at his home and he drove to his home. On reaching his home, he informed me about his Labrador dog which is friendly and will come and smell me out. The first sight of the dog was scary as it was so huge, almost twice the size of sierra. Though scared I did not show it to him. It was a pretty house of his and he showed my room for the night and after chatting for a while about his family and friends I was yawning which he noted and asked me to go and sleep. I was just waiting to go and lie on the bed, I was so tired. I just know the moment I laid down on the bed I was soon asleep.

4th July 2010:

I got up at around 7 AM in the morning. As soon as I got up I washed my face and was ready to head out. I went downstairs where he was waiting for me. Soon he served me with cereals and we had a small chat again during breakfast. We soon exchanged our contacts and he told me that he will drop me at a place from where I can find some ride back to Gros Morne. At around 8 AM we started from his home. On his way he was explaining about many things including fishing Salmons, hunting moose etc and he also stopped at a bridge atop a flowing river where there were few people fishing the salmons and he also pointed out some Salmons which were swimming against current. I had seen that only in National geographic channel. Though I was expecting to see a reddish Salmon as seen in National Geographic I could only see normal colored fish. And I know that they turn read only after they reach their breeding grounds way up in the river and I was just seeing them near the sea. He soon dropped me at a motel nearby and told that I would be able to find a ride from there. It was better as if it rained I can go into the motel which had a restaurant as well. I thanked him wholeheartedly and he wished me and left. His name was Larry Plowman from Port Au Choix.
I started to wait there trying to get a ride and for 20 minutes I was not lucky. There were very few cars going that way and none stopped. I then went inside the motel to ask for any taxi service but none was the reply. I again came out and started to wait again on the road. It started to drizzle and I was standing in the rain. Soon along with the drizzling rain the black flies too invaded me and it was getting difficult to stand there out on the road. These black files are so small but annoying files. I had to keep waving my hands over my face to keep them away of my head. Cars kept passing by and did the time. I was loosing hope slowly but was still standing there trying all the cars. No one seemed to stop, but after 45 minutes a car stopped and a lady came out. It seemed she knew I was hitchhiking and even without asking me she opened the door and made room for me. She already had two kids in the car. I was surprised to see someone with kids in the car stopping for hitchhiker but I was glad she did. I told her I need to go till sally Cove and she was to drive passing that area. The kids too were friendly and we started chatting about many things on the way. Her name was Caroline, She was a very nice lady and she seemed to know Larry Plowman as they were friends from Childhood, and she too was from Port Au Choix. Port Au Choix. Should be really filled with nice people.

On the way to Sallys cove we had conversations about many things including the economy, tourism industry, Newfoundland, Gros Morne, Toronto and hitchhiking etc. She gave me a couple of interesting stories about hitchhikers whom she had met. She also told that she had given ride to a lot of hitchhikers from many different counties and she was doing it as she knows there is no transportation for visitors like me coming to see their country. She works for the government She also told that her family thinks she is crazy. I was humbled but I was so thankful to her. She had met many different kinds of hitchhikers including a guy who was planning to travel Newfoundland and Labrador with 0 dollars with him and when she asked how he is going to pay for the ferry to Labrador he had replied her “God will take care”. She also had met a couple who on arrival could not find any rental car which gets booked up months before and they were hitchhiking all the time during their stay in Newfoundland and they covered from east to west of Newfoundland hitchhiking. It was interesting to hear all these stories and the time passed by pretty quick. After about 1 ½ hours of ride we reached Sallys Cove and she dropped me right in front of the hostel. I thanked her from my heart and she waited there till I entered the hostel. I had met two really wonderful people in the last two days who stopped by to help someone in need. They are going to remain in my mind for a long time whenever I see someone in need.

It was around 10:30 AM I entered the hostel, I soon took bath and came to the lobby where Daine’s kid was playing with Sierra. It was so lovely to see them sharing so much of trust in each other and playing so friendly. They were literally physically fighting over a rope to see who wins the battle. I was so surprised to see a dog fighting with a kid and knowing its limits, it was trying to pull the rope with its mouth and the kid with his hands. I was worried one of them is going to get hurt but they seemed to share so much of trust between themselves that though for me it seemed like fight they were actually paying and enjoying with themselves. Just then I realized how friendly a dog can be as I had never been so close to a dog being so friendly. I never had any idea of having a dog but after seeing Sierra and the dog at Larry’s place I don’t mind having one in future. They had left such a big impression on me. Soon Daine arrived and I asked him if I can go for sea kayaking that day which was included in the package. That was the only thing which was left for me to day and I had a full day left. The weather was not good that day as it was windy, cloudy and raining. He told that it can get better in the evening and he will try to get me kayaking in the evening. I was wondering how I can pass time till then as it was just 11 AM.

I have heard about Green Point there which has significant rock formations, I asked him about the distance and he replied that I can ride there with bike and his girlfriend Angela was going that way and she can drop me and the bicycle there and I can ride back one way instead of both ways. I was glad I can see something in that time which I had. Soon I changed my dress and with my backpack I was out in the car and Angela dropped me and the bike at the Green point trail starting point. First I took the wrong route and after being helped by a couple camping there I got directed to the location of the rock formations. The site was located down the road in the shores of the sea. As usual there was no one except me when I went there. There was a board explaining the significance of rock the formations there.

Green Point Rocks: The Vertical layers which you see here are originally the ocean bed, due to tectonic forces they have been tilted vertical. Each layer is from different time period with the younger ones on the left and older ones on the right. The right most extreme layer is more than 550 Million years old. By walking across this section of vertical rock layers you actually have walked across the ocean bed back from today to 550 Million years ago and it was so thrilling to do that. Just the feeling of it was awesome. The roaring waves hitting the rocks and the fact that I was the only one around, it was like I own everything there including the seas and it felt great. The nature has the power to make you feel anything when you are in its hands. The layers or rock formations there kept me stitched to the place and I was there for almost 2 hours just walking across the rock formations hearing the sound of the seas and seeing the roaring waves hitting the rocks.

After spending enough time at the Green point I decided to head back to the hostel. All along the way I was biking along the seashore and could sea trees and grasses and flowers lining the road making it a pretty sight and the sight of the everlasting ocean just besides the road was some view.

After biking for almost 30 minutes I reached the hostel but headed to the shore directly opposite to the hostel to pick up some pebble stones which I wanted to. I saw an inukshuk in a motel reception earlier that day made of pebble stones and I was inspired to make one myself. So I was there on a mission to collect some pebble stones to make it. Though I though it would be easy to get the right pebble stones when thousands of them where lying there, it was getting tougher and tougher to find the right sized , right shaped stones to form the inukshuk of the right size and proportions. I could see the pebble stones everywhere but I was finding it hard to find the stones I wanted. After struggling for almost an hour I managed to collect two sets of stones and backpack became heavy already to let me thinking about carrying it along with me. I stopped taking more stones and headed back to the hostel and reached hostel by 3:30 PM

At around 4 PM Daine said Dave is ready to take me out to sea Kayaking. I soon headed out with enough wind protection wearing 2 t-shirts and a jacket with gloves and ear muffs to make sure the winds from the sea do not free me out while kayaking. We reached the kayaking spot after 20 minutes of drive and kayaks were lying there already. Dave had carried the paddle and life Jacket. After putting the life jacket we took a two person kayak in to the sea. Though I do not know swimming I was exited to kayak in the sea for the first time. I somehow believed that the lifejacket will keep me alive, though my mind kept telling me you are going to be dead in 20 minutes if you are in that cold sea waters. But still I headed out with Dave in to the sea with out kayak. We started to paddle towards the ocean and we went 50 to 60 meters inside the sea when the winds started to gain strength and was increasing the height of the waves. I was seated in the front of the kayak and I could feel the waves hitting the kayak. Though I was scarred inside it was a thrilling experience and I wanted more of it. The first wave hit the kayak and passed over the kayak. The second wave was a bit taller and it too passed over the kayak after splashing water on our faces wetting our clothes. Before the third wave could hit us, Dave told me that he was not expecting that big waves and he was all set to head back. As he was seated at the back, he has the control over the kayak and he soon turned the kayak to return back to the shore. I was so disappointed on seeing him do that. We were there not even for 10 minutes and we are heading back. On reaching the shore he told me that he did not wanted to risk lives and though I was disappointed I started to think that what he did was right. He has much experience with kayaking in the sea and he knows better than me in deciding what is good and what is not. We headed back to the hostel disappointed and I went directly to my room to change my wet clothes. Only when I was changing my clothes I could feel how wet and cold they were and were thankful to Dave for turning the kayak back. If we had been out there for few more minutes I would have started to shiver and what would have been the condition if our kayak had given up to the waves and tripped us in to the water. Thanks to him for making a wise decision.

It was 6 PM and started to think if I should go out for a walk but decided to stay inside as it was cold outside and my jacket was still wet. I sat with the internet for sometime. I informed Daine about my flight next morning and he agreed to drop me at the airport early morning. and then headed to bed directly at 7:30 PM as I had to get up at 4 AM next morning, my flight back to Toronto was at 6 AM from Deer Lake airport.

5th July 2010:

The alarm once again woke me up at 4 Am and after taking bath I got ready by 4:40 AM. I woke up Daine at 4:45 AM. He made his tea and we were out in his car at 5 AM after getting a pictutre of him taken. I know we are late and I was wondering what Daine was thinking, that is when he told me that he thought I wanted to be in airport by 6 AM , he was surprised to hear that the flight is at 6 AM. Though it was an hour ride to the airport from hostel he convinced me that with his driving he can get me there on time to catch the flight. I was all nervous but something kept me telling as usual that I will be able to catch the flight. As time kept passing by the conditions of driving was also worsening with the mist covering the road and limiting the visibility. Don’t forget the moose in these roads which can be life threatening to hit. He did slow down in those regions of poor visibility only when to see a herd of moose standing right besides the road and on nearing them they started to cross the road right in front of the car. The entire moose family was there from big old ones to small young ones. I guess there were five of them and even it surprised Daine as they are not seen in groups during summer. For the first couple of days I was wondering where all the moose went, but for the next couple of my days in Gros Morne I had seen enough of them to believe there are many of them. It was a 80Km distance to cover in 1 hour, but remember we need to reach at least 20 minutes before the flight time to catch it. He was driving at speeds well higher that the limits.

He made it to the airport entrance by 5:50 AM. Thanking him I ran inside to counter to get my boarding pass when I was told by the attendee there that I can not make it to the flight as there is only 8 Minutes for the flight departure. I know I was late and I apologized to him asked him to check if I can somehow make it. He called up the gates and after confirming with me that I had no check in baggage he gave me the boarding pass and asked me to run to the security and reach the gate before it is closed. He said I have 5 Minutes. Well you would have heard of people running to catch a bus or for that matter a train, that day I was running to catch a flight. The security check was on other end of the building, I ran up there and passed thorough the security scan. As I was expecting my bag caught their attention while scanning and I know it was the pebble stones. They started to check my bag and I know it would happen but I did not know I would end up with the time constraint. I helped them open my bag and showed them the stones lying at the bottom of the bag. After having a close look of the stones they cleared me to board the plane. Immediately on their approval I ran towards the gate which was still open and I could still see the plane standing in front of the gate. I ran past the front of the airplane having a look at the pilot’s windows and to the stairs leading to the planes door and I was inside at last. Remember this is a very small airport and that was the only plane at that time. I entered the plane at 5:58 AM and once I entered the door was closed and the flight started the taxi sharply at 6:00 AM sharp just after I sat down and put my belts on. It was like they were waiting for me to come in, but I know that mostly is not the case, I was just able to make it on time. I don’t think this would happen more frequently. The flight started its journey to Toronto.

The 4 day planned vacation which was suppose to be a relaxing cool one with everything planned, remained that way for the first couple of days and then took a u turn to turn it in to a complete thrilling adventure till the end. Thinking of it I feel glad it did turn that way making it more interesting. Gros Morne is a place one can feel being in the heart of nature and I had just experienced it, it’s going to hold the top place in my journey list besides Kerala for a long time. Let’s see if I could make to some place in future which can beat these two pristine destinations. The result will be left to be decided by my conscience!

27th June 2010: Niagara plan executed at last on 3rd attempt

2010-07-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

After 2 failed attempts in the last couple of weekends we were all set to make it this week no matter what. The mission was to see Niagara from above and to take the Jet boat thrill ride on the Niagara Lake. After two weeks of overcast weekends which failed our plans this weekend too continued with the same weather, but this time we decided to go for it rain or shine, we ignored the forecast and took our chances.

Till the night before no bookings were done in advance as we were not sure if we will make it at right time as we do not have a way of transport to reach Niagara from Brampton. After some search and information from friends we were told about a Casino bus which goes up to Niagara reaching there faster than the other way of transport, at comfortable time of around 9:50 AM compared to 8 AM of the alternate one and a bit cheaper as well, so we decided to go with the Casino bus though we were not members. We know we would be allowed and we can get membership on reaching the Casino. One of us called up the bus and reserved our spots on the bus. The bus is scheduled from the go train station carpool area at 9:50 AM the next day near some intersection.

The next morning after a good sleep till 7:30 it was time to get ready and catch the bus. All 4 of us assumed that the bus departs from the nearest go station to us and none of us paid much attention to the exact location. I cycled from my home to the station as I was a bit late to take the transit bus; it was just around 4 km ride of 20 minutes. At around 9:25 AM all of us met as planned at the Go train station where we were supposed to catch the bus.

The other 3 of my friends were already there waiting for me and they were in a confused state wondering if this is the right station as the taxi driver with whom they reached there informed them that it was not the right station. We still thought this must be the station. I saw a group of people waiting nearby at a parking lot while I was cycling so we went to enquire them to see if they were waiting for the casino bus as well. On reaching them by walk we learnt that they were there for some other reason and we had to head back to the taxi. The time was already 9:35 AM by the time we reached the taxi. After calling up the casino bus again getting the proper intersection we informed the taxi guy to take to that location, he was not sure of the location but we had no other choice to find it on the go as we were running late and we took our chances. We know that if we missed this bus we can take the next one at 10:50 so we were kind of ok with it.

After around 8 minutes of taxi ride we almost reached the place but could not find the carpool location were we had to go. While everyone was wondering still in the car, we spotted the Casino bus on the road waiting for the signal, we just asked our taxi driver to stop the car and wait for the Casino bus to come and to follow the bus to go to the stop. Somehow it was the right bus and we followed it to the stop which was nearby. The bus reached on time there at 9:50 and following it we reached there. By the time we reached there the bus was about to start and we had to run to catch the attention of the bus service people and we finally made in to the bus at the last second. Wow, what a way to start the day. That was a pleasant surprise for all 4 of us to catch the bus after a mishap.

We were on the bus for around 1 hour 15 minutes, our identity proofs were checked to confirm our ages and we paid for the ride. On reaching the casino we enrolled for the Casino membership and we were soon inside the casino. But our plan was not the casino, after having some refreshments we headed out. The Niagara Falls was just a couple of hundred meters walk down from the Casino. The Casino was at a higher elevation to the falls. Our plan was to first take the helicopter ride and then the wet jet boat ride as we know the forecast called for rain during the later half of the day. It does not matter if it rains when we are in the jet boat ride as anyways we are going to get soaked in water taking the thrill ride.

We could see the falls covered with fog and visibility was low. Our hopes went down again as we can not take the helicopter ride with the fog covering the falls as nothing will be visible from top. Well, it seemed to be a bad day for the ride. Though a bit disappointed we decided to go down to the falls and do other things which we can there and spend some time around. We had an option to take the Niagara adventure pass which included few attractions but we decided to take just the people mover day pass which takes us around the Niagara region and went down the slope using the incline railway included in the pass from the Casino to the fall. It was a just about a minute ride down the slope.

On reaching down we headed directly to the falls viewpoint passing through the small business area. One of our friends was seeing Niagara for the first time and he must have been much exited to see the falls, but even after reaching the view point we could not have a clear view of the falls due to fog and mist and for sure it is not the right day to go for the helicopter ride. It was cloudy and seemed its going to be the same all day. The time was around 12 PM. After spending some time at the falls and after knowing helicopter ride is not a good idea we decided to call up and make the reservation for the wet jet boat ride for the 1 PM. I called them up and the conversation was like “I want to reserve the 1 PM ride” She said”Sorry it is full”, me “What about the 3 PM”, She “Sorry it is full too”… oh no not again… me “is any other time left with a spot for us”… She said “we have spots for 5 PM”. I was relieved at last that we can at least make this one. I went ahead with the booking and made the payment with my card on phone. We were happy we can make to one of our two planned activities for the day. We were told to be at the location by 4:15 PM.

What now the time is just around 12:15 PM. We still have around 4 hours left for the ride. Well after some debate all of us agreed to go for the maid of the mist boat ride and we headed there directly using the people mover.

Taking a few pictures on the way and after getting the tickets we were out to the boat. On reaching the boat we could see that sun was coming out and the fog clearing away making a clear view of the falls. That’s a great sight and the first thing which came to our mind was the helicopter ride. Yes with this view the ride is going to be awesome but we were not sure how long the sun is going to be out and if it will be out till we make it. We decided to first complete the maid of the mist ride and then think of the helicopter. It was around an half hour boat ride taking the visitor close to both the American falls and the Canadian Falls with the mist from the falls making us all wet.

Though I have taken this ride already it was a pleasant experience to do it again, witnessing the smooth flow of water down the falls in gigantic amounts, hearing the thundering sound it makes, with the birds flying all around the falls escorting the boat on the way to the falls. Passing the American falls we saw a lot of birds on our way to the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. On reaching the Horseshoe Falls we were actually taken to the centre of the curve and we were at the centre of the curve surrounded by the curve of the Niagara Falls on both sides with the mist of the falls falling all over us as rain and drenching us. It was a nice half hour ride we were back. The Sun was still out and we decided to try our luck with the helicopter ride.

We took the people mover again and reached the stop from where we have to make a small walk to the Niagara helicopters location. We were too hungry to walk; we ordered for a pizza at a nearby eat-out and filled our tummies before walking to take the ride. After our pizza lunch we walked a few minutes and reached the Helicopters location at around 3:00 PM. We were so exited about the ride, one of our friends stared deleting old pictures from his memory card to make sure he has enough memory to get pictures of Niagara from above. After paying for the ride we were in and waiting for our helicopter. The helicopter arrived soon, dropped of the passengers, took a few meters flight to the gas station nearby, filled its tank and was back to the passenger pickup area to pick us up for the ride.

We were thrilled to get in to the helicopter. I guess I was the only one of us who had already been in a helicopter once before this one. Other 3 must have been more exited than me. Soon after getting seated, belted, head phoned, we took off. The lift from the ground was slow and steady, the turn was slow and steady and then it was a zoooom, the speed and turn of flight swung our body backwards and side wards. This was thrilling to me even as my previous helicopter ride was slow and steady for the entire period I was in, this seemed more thrilling and I was exited too. We flew over the Niagara whirlpool area were the Niagara river makes a full 90 degree turn, over the hydro power stations, over the American falls and over the Canadian Horse Shoe falls. The view of the falls form above is for sure a different experience compared to the view from the ground, The mightiness of the falls can be easily realized from above and a full clear view of everything.

The sun was still out and the view was crystal clear and we could not ask for more. The ride of 15 minutes though short gave us a glimpse of Niagara with the sights which will remain in our eyes for a long time. With a few pictures to remember the moments we were back to the landing pad. We all were so happy we did it. Our pictures with the helicopter were taken before our flight by the Helicopter Company but were priced so high we did not end up buying any. We were out in minutes and the time was almost 4:15.

Till that time we were so filled with the thrill of the ride and on realizing that we were late for the wet jet boat ride we started to feel the thrill again but in a different way. We headed to the people mover stop to go to the jet boat location which was 3 kms away. We were waiting and waiting but the people mover bus never arrived. We were getting late every minute. We started thinking its our hands now and talking about refund and doing something else as we were asked to be there at 4:15 and it was already around 4:30. At around 4:32 the people mover arrived and our hopes were raised again. We reached the jet boat location soon at around 4:45 running to the kiosk. We were somehow allowed to take the ride and after filling the agreement forms in a hurry we headed to the bus which was waiting to take us to the boat down the river. We were the last ones to make to the bus. Everyone inside the bus was prepared to get wet with proper clothing on for the wet ride. We were the only ones who entered the bus with our regular clothes on as we did not get time to change. We reached the boat location in a few minutes and after getting our life jackets and some advice we were on the jet boat.

The ride was about to start and it would last for 45 minutes. The beginning of the ride was slow and smooth to cross the residential zone and soon it gained speed and it was a zoom again. I had never traveled so fast in water. The jet boat was yet in the calm water of the Niagara River and has not entered the rapids and we were still dry. After a few initial little rapids of class 1 and 2 we could feel the water entering the boat and crawling around our shoes making our feet wet and that’s when we realized the chillness of the water. Oops this is going to be a real bone chilling thrill ride, we were looking at each other and giving that desperate look. Though scared we were all prepared to feel it. Our captain steered the boat in to few more rapids of class 3 and the water started splashing all over the boat with a splash of water over us, but we were still dry. While we were thinking its going to be like this, the instructor came down to inform us that that was just a trial to make us get prepared for the real picture. Now that’s something to worry about. Soon the captain started showing his skills and making u-turns and hitting class 4 rapids which soaked the boat in water and everyone on board were fully wet and we were officially wet every inch. It is always the first step that is difficult and it was the same here as well, once we were fully drenched we were all set now and were looking forward for more thrills. The next 30 minutes were filled with more water splashing and more u turns and a few bumps in to the class 5 rapids. It was a thrilling and chilling experience of a lifetime. Though we were all pumped up to go on a class 6 rapid which was found at the Niagara Whirlpool area where the river takes a full 90 degree turn our instructor told that is it too dangerous and they don’t have permit to do that, even if done the boat will turn upside down downing everyone and the force from the rapid will pull everyone one inside the whirlpool and it does not matter even if u know swimming and wear a lifejacket, you are not coming out of it alive. After hearing that we were good to stay with class 5 and leave alone class 6. After half our of thrill ride our boat came to the starting point and we got off the boat with water dripping from our clothes. Got in to the bus, reached the centre and changed our clothes. At last we have executed our 3 week plan successfully. It was a great feeling to fell success after a couple of failures and that too with such a nice day filled with thrilling experiences we can not ask for more. As no cameras were allowed on the boat because it will get wet we did not get a chance to take any pictures of our thrill ride, but who cares, we had a blast. The picture attached here is the one picked up from their website.

It was around 6:30 we went to a totempole park nearby which was closed, but we got some picturs taken through the gate holes. we left from there to the Niagara Falls when it started raining as forecasted. We spent more than an hour taking pictures and enjoying the beauty of the falls in rain with an umbrella in one hand and a camera in the other hand.

We went back to the casino to catch the 8 PM bus but decided to stay there for few more time so reserved the 9:30 bus and went inside the casino. After taking some snacks we headed directly to the slot machines were we ready to try our lucks. The limit which we set was just 5$. So as known 3 of us ended up losing 5$ each, I lost them in just 3 button pushes while the others lasted longer. The fourth guy lost his 5$ too but decided to play with 5$ more. He picked up a game which he knew and he did well to gain 5$ and neutralize his loss. So at the end it was good for him. By the time it was around 9:15, I had to push him for 5 minutes to leave the machine to catch the bus and succeeded. We had 10 minutes to catch the bus but we could not find the other two who were gone by now. We could not track them in the big casino. Even they were not picking up their phone. After searching for 5 minutes we decided to head to the bus as we expected them to reach the bus at 9:30 as they knew the timing. We reached the bus at 9:28 PM with 2 minutes to spare but we did not find our other two friends. We called them again and this time luckily they picked up and they were still inside casino. We asked them to hurry up as the bus was about to leave in 2 minutes. On asking the driver how long he will wait, he turned towards the clock which read 9:29 and answered us “one minute”. Well, now it’s up to our friends to run back on time, and they did arrive there at dot 9:30. Again we were in the bus. 3 of us took one bus and the 4th took another bus as it was going near to his residence. In a hour at around 10:45 we reached the location from where we started in the morning. We found a transit bus there which two of us can take to reach our home and one of the three had to take a taxi to reach his place. As we had only one phone we called up a taxi and left the phone with him and two of us took the bus. The bus dropped us at the city centre where we had to catch another bus to go home. We waited for 15 minutes for the bus and reached home at around 11:15 PM. It was a great feeling to go to bed that day when everything you have planned actually happened and that too happening after some or the other bottlenecks. Well everything went well. It is when I realized that it was not because of luck everything happened, it was because of our willingness to try to the maximum extent possible within our reach even when we had lost hope. “Well done!” said my Conscience!

26th June 2010: A day with Roses, Batteries and Buses

2010-06-28T13:20:00.001-07:00

The day for me started at around 6 AM on a day trip to Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) to capture some good pictures of the Roses at the two weekend long Rose Celebrations which just started that day. I started from home at 7 AM and reached RBG at around 11 AM. The travel map was something like Home -> Brampton transit bus -> Go transit bus -> Go Transit train -> Burlington Transit Bus -> RBG.
I had already been here twice during their Tulip festival, Iris and Peony Celebrations so I know the place well. Showing my membership card and getting my hand stamped with their logo I was inside in minutes. By then it started raining and I can not head directly to the Rose Garden. I decided to spend some time inside the main building which had a couple of indoor gardens/regions dedicated to some special collection and display. Was busy taking pictures as usual.

There were some cute stone statue placed between the plants which caught my cameras attention besides the flowers which it was busy clicking till then. After about an hour inside the main building the rain seemed to have stopped so I headed to the Rose Garden which was a 5 minutes walk.

But before I could reach there the rain started pouring again, but this time I was not ready to stop, I took my umbrella out of my backpack and started walking with umbrella in one hand and a camera in the other. So it started there and for the next 3 hours I was just taking pictures in rain. I don’t know how but I felt the umbrella in my hand only for the first couple of click but after that it was virtually out of my mind. The flowers especially the roses were having a shower it the rain and the droplets of water which stayed back on them were not just photogenic but was truly a special show which was running in the ‘Nature’plex that day and I was taken away, so did my camera. I was almost taking every possible angle shots of every flower. I was all alone that day and so I had no one and nothing to worry about; I was all free for my own.

I also got a chance to see a few water lilies which were on bloom and some nice picutre of some other flowers as well.

At around 2:30 PM the Rose venture for the day was almost over. I had two batteries for my camera. One went down already. I had another one but I know it was not charged. I was so worried, you may wonder why; I had another mission for the day apart from the roses, it was to get a couple of pictures of a tree. I wanted to make a picture showing the 4 different seasons seen in Canada in a single picture collage. I had many other places and themes but this was the first ranked in my list as the picture which I took there spring was striking. I already had one picture of the tree in spring, so now I wanted a picture of it in summer. I will come back again during fall and winter hopefully to complete my collage. Though I was worried I went on taking a few more shots of roses and there it was, the 2nd battery too went down in a short while much before my prediction. Well now what, hmm, I don’t know what to do but from my past experiences with these batteries I knew that they will allow me to take at least another picture after the first shut down. So I still had hope that I would be able to take at least one picture of that tree.

I left the Rose Garden to catch the RBG’s shuttle bus to go to the other Garden where the tree is located. I was 5 minutes late for the shuttle and I had to wait another 20 minutes to take the next shuttle. I was not ready to wait there doing nothing so entered the main building again walking the indoor gardens. Well now I found another one in the series of that cute stone statue and I could not control my hand going towards the camera and I could not control my legs to go out of that place. Grrrr why did I not charge the 2nd battery, I was cursing myself. I was thinking was about a minute whether to switch my camera on or not. Well, I decided to follow my heart and it said to go ahead and do what u want and before I could convey the message to my hands it was already ready focusing the camera to the statue. As already said I might get maximum two no minimum null pictures one I switch on the camera now after the first shutdown. So I switched on the battery, captured the statue which I wanted and immediately switched it off. Well I guess before I switched it off. Well I was happy I was able to take the picture I wanted. But now am I going to get the picture of that tree. Hmmm the chance was only 50% before taking this picture, but now it is only 5%. I convinced myself saying that anyway the sun is not out and the picture is not going to come good for representing summer, so I was already preparing to come back again taking the long ride. Though it is just to take a single picture I might have to come back again.

It was almost 3 PM and the shuttle took me to the Garden where the tree was and I went directly to take the picture I wanted. I took my camera out and hoping it will switch on I switched it on focusing it towards the tree and in fraction of seconds I was about to click a few people were crossing between my camera and the tree, but I cant wait I just clicked. After I clicked, my camera was showing “Progressing” may be to store the picture to the card, but without showing the result it shutdown again. First of all I don’t know if those people came in between and secondly I was not sure if the picture was saved to the camera. I have done all my best and now I don’t care what happens. I just put my camera inside and took a couple a few more pictures with the tiny camera in my phone which I know is useless to use for the collage. The photo session was officially over for the day and my hands were free from then on.

I had some time to catch the shuttle back and I wandered over the Garden for sometime listening to the tunes of the birds and starring at their bright colors. The shuttle was there at 3:30 and on my way back to the main building I stopped at another garden to spend around half hour for a small walk. I was back in the main building by 5 to catch the transit back to home which would be RBG -> Burlington Transit -> Go Train -> Go Bus -> Brampton Transit -> Home

It was virtually the end of the day. I took the Burlington transit and reached go station on time to catch the go train. There were many people waiting there. A board displayed the platform for my train and I headed there, but soon before reaching the platform I decided to go to platform later and headed back to the station building. Only then I realized that all those people who are waiting there were waiting with a question mark on their faces reading a display which I did not see the first time. The display read “All go bus service has been stopped immediately for today on police advice and will resume shortly …… “. Well I was shocked. I have no other backup plan to reach my home from there; it is far away from there. I went to the ticket counter and was confirmed that there won’t be any more service for the day. On enquiring the reason I was told that it is due to G20 summit which I doubted and my day pass was reimbursed. I was filled with questions of what to do. It was 6 PM and I was thinking whether I should call my roommates to come and pick me up with the car or I should take a taxi back home.

After standing there for around 15 minutes and thinking what to do I could not make up my mind but started walking towards the bus stop where I can get Burlington transit. But I don’t know where I wanted to go from there. I was all looking at other people and seeing what they are doing and hear what they are talking about to see if any of them are going to Brampton but no luck. Some of them were just standing there not knowing what to do like me, some dispersed of with solutions which I don’t know, some called their friends who came to pick them up, etc etc…

A Burlington transit bus came and went to the driver and asked about how I can reach Brampton from there and he had no clue. Hearing my conversation with the driver one of the Chinese lady who was waiting there. She said there is a way and she started telling me. I was so happy to know I have a way out I was not hearing to the details which she was telling. She was with one of her friend and both of them found another guy who was going to the same destination where they wanted to go. They were three. She asked me to just follow her and I joined the gang of 3 to go back home making it 4. So out transit venture started there. Which went like Go Station -> Burlington transit Bus -> Another Burlington Transit Bus -> Yet another Bus -> Oakville. The other 3 reached their destination. She told me that I can go to Mississauga from there and told me the bus number. I was not sure if I can reach but I assured her that I will as she was concerned and thanked her. After waiting for another half hour the bus came. So the second leg of my journey back home went catching different transit and enquires. Oakville -> Oakville Transit Bus -> Missisauga Transit Bus -> Brampton Transit Bus -> Yet another Brampton transit Bus -> and finally Home.

Finally I reached home at around 11:30 PM. After having dinner I tried to charge my camera battery and switch on the camera to see if the last picture was stored and not spoilt by the persons blocking the view. I was too sleepy to wait till it gets charged, I went to sleep. Next morning the first thing I did was to turn on the camera to check the picture. Guess it, it’s a happy ending, the picture was stored. It was a cloudy day with no sun, but I can use it for representing summer in my yet to be made collage. The people too were found at one end of the frame but I can crop them, they did not block the tree view.

I was overwhelmed, I need not take the long transit trip back again to RBG, but only till fall and wait " How are you going to reach there and come back alive in winter" asks my conscience!

Failed weekend Plans to Niagara!

2010-06-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a week long plan to go and spend a day around Niagara region to take a fast boat and helicopter ride and spend some time near the falls with friends. A Simple plan for someone staying nearby Toronto as it’s just around 2 hours to reach Niagara from here. But it remained simple just in the plan.

Along with my 3 other friends we decided to take on this plan ASAP and getting some cool 50% discount offers we were more exited to do it before the offer ends, so we were all set to hit the Niagara region that Saturday. But Weather Forecast had some other plans, it was a forecast of rain with heavy thunderstorms for both Saturday and Sunday and we had no other choice to postpone our plan to next week. But the disappointment came when we saw just some drizzling of rain which lasted just for around an hour on both days. Well we were cursing the forecast but can’t do anything about it rather than spend the weekend playing some games and visit a small picnic island nearby Toronto.

The next week we had few more friends planning to join because of the 50% discount which will save us around 100$ to do both the boat and helicopter ride we planned. We had to buy some lays packs to get some points to grab the discount. So the week went in collecting enough points and planning. Finally on Friday we had enough points for all of us and a plan to do it on Saturday.

But again one of our friends mentioned about forecast showing rains again on Saturday, oh No! Not again. After so much thoughts the plan was shifted to Sunday with no forecast of rain that day, but the tricky part is we had to be back in Toronto by 7 PM for a concert( AR Rahman’s Jai Ho Concert ) we had bought tickets a couple of weeks back and we don’t want to miss it. Though it seems possible it is not easy to reach back on time if we don’t have a car, so we planned to rent a car and do it. The plan was set Friday evening and everyone was ready to do it on Sunday after taking enough rest on Saturday.

Now again, we saw not much rain on Saturday, against the forecast, disappointed again. I guess from next time on we should be ignoring the forecast, but that would be the time its going to come true and drench us all. Well at least we can make it the next day. We had to rent the car by Saturday as there won’t be any rentals open on Sunday, but due to our miscalculated timings and miscommunications we were late by 2 hours to rent a car and everyone was closed. We just had one option but the price was too much. We had one car but not sufficient for 6 of us that was the reason we were looking for a rental 7 seater car. By this time the new persons who joined us were in double mind and were making other plans already for the next day. They decided to drop the rides and just spend time around the Niagara region. Also 3 more of our friends were also showing interest to join with their spouse and all of them had a car. Well, now at least the problem of transportation can be solved and we don’t need to rent a car any how. We, the original 4 were happy that we are going to make our boat and helicopter ride the next day which was in planning for a long time now.

By evening on Saturday more change of plans came. All the new people who showed interest went double minded and doubtful and with different plans of their own. After chatting, calling and coordinating for around 2 hours it was clear that everyone who joined us later backed out or in double mind. We four were left alone to decide on our own and we do not want to be dependent on others to make our decision. The rental option is ruled out for us as none of us have a license to drive here. After tracing the possible transit to reach there and return by 7 PM we found that it is still possible. But we had to leave home by 7 AM and return from Niagara by 3:30 PM. With the transit times of around 4 hours one way we just had around 4.5 hours at the location to take our tours, but still was possible. Well now it is up to us 4 to decide whether we have to go for it or drop it.

It could have been easier for us to postpone to a later date, but one among four of us was leaving back to India coming week and he was the one who was much interested in taking the helicopter ride and was so eager to do it. The other 3 of us had no problem to postpone it but we don’t want to disappoint him, so we were ok to go with it. The final decision was to be made by him for “go” or “no go”. Well, everything was happening through IM and Phone calls and he went out of reach for an hour. At last somehow I managed to get him on line and after thinking for a while and other possible work he could get that day he decided to drop it and just stick with the Concert for that day though he badly wanted to take the helicopter ride. Hmm well, at last at around 10 PM on Saturday we had to cancel our Niagara plan again for that weekend. We were at least happy that we can make to the concert on time.

The next day morning, bad news again, the concert got postponed. Oops now we don’t have enough time to start to Niagara, it was already 11 AM. All of us were down with disappointment. Well what can we do when things just don’t happen with whatever we try after our best inputs? So finally it was concluded that our plans still stay as plans and not knowing when it will be executed. Our friend who is traveling back is mostly going to miss the concert too along with the helicopter and boat ride, hope he comes back again to take the rides at least.

Though disappointed we decided to go to a movie and booked tickets online to make sure we do not get another disappointment of tickets getting soled out at the venue. 3 of us made it for the 6:30 show that day, almost the same time of the postponed concert. It was Toy Story 3 in 3D and finally we had some good time after 2 full days of disappointments. Thanks to Toy Story 3 makers who gave a cheerful end to our lifeless weekend.

But again the question comes to my mind, “When are we going to execute our Niagara plan which failed twice already?” , “Don’t worry, you will do it” is what I hear from my conscience!

Digiscoping ! hmm interesting...

2010-06-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

Being a travel and nature enthusiast, it is always difficult to experience the beauty of wildlife in their natural habitat with naked eyes and I have been living with this limit for sometime now. A simple solution for this is to get a binocular which I have been getting and getting for a few months in plan, but never went out to get one. But finally when I had bought tickets for a concert with the seats at the farthest end I have to buy one at least now, else I am never going to buy it. So there it started with a Google search venture to get a perfect compact travel binocular. While researching and reading reviews about few models the internet quiet efficiently introduced me to Spotting scopes (if u had never heard of it before, don’t worry even it was the same for me a week back). To put it simple they are kind of Binoculars but for higher magnifications mostly used to watch wildlife. From Binoculars my interest now shifted to learning and researching about spotting scopes.

Researching and reading about spotting scopes and their reviews I hit on some great close-up pictures of birds. Pictures in a spotting scope review? How is that possible? I was wondering, but soon I was introduced to an interesting word "Digiscoping". Yes, the picture was taken using the concept called Digiscoping, One of the latest emerging photography techniques. Well, to make it more interesting it is the word coined with the combination of Digital Camera and Spotting Scope. Being an amateur photographer I had never been able to get a close-up picture of a bird, and obviously this concept interested me and my interest now shifted towards learning about Digiscoping.

It seemed to be a simple stuff just requiring a Digital Camera and a Spotting Scope, but on reading more and more about it the fine details of the technique was too much for me to take. To put is short, every single piece of equipment involved in the digiscoping process has to be perfect and compliment each other. Now that’s tough. There were too many fine details to be looked at to get a perfect digiscoped picture. But the disappointing part is that whatever you try you simply will not get a professional level picture. But the greatest advantage is that you can get a good quality picture for 1/10th the price of what you can do with a professional camera equipments and reach out to distances which the cameras can not reach. I am not in to professional photography or I am not going to sell my photographs, I just want to make a little collection for myself with some fun time playing with the equipments and so I decided to give it a try.

Though the cost of taking those kind of pictures is going to be 1/10th of the professional capturing device prices, it was way high for me as it was just a trial experiment for me. The Spotting Scopes ranged from hundred dollars to Thousands and so did the cameras. But more than these there were many other accessories to consider about like tripod, Camera to Scope adaptor, etc etc… it seemed I still have to shell out some money for my experiment. The only advantage I had is that the camera used for digiscoping can be only a compact point and shoot camera with less than 4x zoom. This gave me something to cheer about to start with as I already have two of them.

My intention was to keep the cost as low as possible and the lowest cost which someone had put in to make the digiscoping work was around 600$. Oops this made me think again. Should I really spend that much for a trial which I am not sure will work or not. Well I decided to give it a try as I am going to go for the least possible option. After Spending some hours reading about the experiences and technique I found that the core logic is to keep the Camera Lens dead parallel to the Spotting Scope lens. Saying is easy but this one in practical is not so easy under budget. Let’s see how it went for me.

I started searching the internet for the best, compact, good optics, easy to use spotting scope and of course with so many goods the price was not so good for me. So I stopped searching for best and started searching for the one which had good customer review and after some hours of search found a model with very good customer reviews and in my budget. It did not have the best optics, it did not have recommendation for digiscoping, but it had good reviews which made me go for it though one review mentioned that the eyepiece is too small for digiscoping. Being on a budget e3vey small detail needs to be given much attention and I measured the lens diameter of my camera to see if there is a chance for it to fir the scope and it seemed one of my cameras might. Well it is just a possibility which can turn against me. Being on budget, I have to risk it and I did. Went on and ordered for the Scope online. It is Tasco World Class 20608045 Model, costed me $150 with shipping. I did not bother to get a good tripod which is as essential they say “The scope is only as good as the tripod” because this scope came with a small tripod obviously not good, to be precise bad and I knew that from the reviews. But I though this is sufficient for my initial experiment and settled with it for now.

This was my first scope of any kind and it took a while for me to figure out how it works, same went with the tripod and after a while managed to fit the scope on the tripod and after some fight managed to focus the scope on a still object inside the house successfully. Well, was happy it worked, but I already realized the truth in “The scope is only as good as the tripod”. Now the next stage is to see if my Camera can fit the Scope. The Scopes eye piece diameter was small as mentioned and I was worried. I grabbed my camera and tried it on manually to see if there is any chance of using it.

The scope and Camera has to be compatible with each other, it has to be a marriage between the scope and the camera with the ring being the Adaptor, if the couple are not compatible the marriage just fails, so do the digiscoping, it just fails with nothing left to do!. Though my setup had some alignment problems and fringing effects it worked….. Yes it worked.. and I was so happy that I can at least integrate the Scope to my Camera. The Camera I use is Kodak M1093 IS which I got for 100$ a year back. This has been a wonderful camera for its price and it had put my higher priced much hyped Sony as a backup. Not to mention I tired my Sony camera and it was not compatible with the scope and can not be used with it in whatever matter I try. I was glad at least one of them works for my experiment. But wait that’s not all, none of the equipment should shake to get a good picture and forget about capturing moving objects which I can think of only after getting a better tripod.

The first thing is to get an adaptor to fix the camera to the scope. The adaptors were costing around $50 minimum and by chance I landed on a video explaining how to make it at home with just a plastic bottle. It was mush better option for me and decided to give it a try. After fighting with the plastics, tapes, scissors for around 3 hours and lot of mess-up I managed to make one adaptor that just fits for now. But soon I realized that I can use it only for taking pictures of fixed focused objects, as it was made to fit over the zoom ring of the scope and after fitting it I can not use the Scope’s zoom to focus the object. And there is no way to get over it with homemade adaptor which made me sad. But I wanted to give it a try to see if my Camera can take some pictures with the adaptor. After making some fine fitting adjustments I was able to place the camera on the scope with the use of the adaptor hands free and in focus. All I have to do now is to click the button to get the picture. Well this was a long process to make sure the cameras lens is exactly parallel to the Scopes lens and even a slight error is going to make the digiscoping impossible. But somehow with some tweaks the adaptor just worked with them to give proper focus. No matter what you do the image you see with your eyes in the scope will not be the same captured by the camera. Tough I was happy I made it work; I can only photograph a stationary object without a proper tripod and a proper adaptor. So I decided to put it aside and go to sleep.

But soon while having my dinner I realized that I can capture the moon !!! to check if my setup works. Lucky the moon was out there visible from our window and it was a clear night. After some time focusing and learning to use the scope I managed to focus at the moon and my first impression was… WOW, that is so amazing, I was stunned with the view I got through the scope. I never imagined of this and I had never seen the moon so close live. That was an exiting moment for me. I forgot about taking the picture and stated watching the moon for sometime. I was so exited I even showed it to my friends with whom I share the house. It was a stunning view. I would have been happy with the scope even if the digiscoping thing did not work out . Soon I put the adaptor on and attached the camera to the scope to see if I can click that stunning shot. After trying different settings and adjustments with the camera and refocusing the scope for around an hour I managed to get some. As I knew this limitation I was able to accept it. I had used all possible combinations Timer, Focus, ISO, and Shutter Speed in the camera to make it steady and take a good shot.

I was so exited to see the results and so I transferred the pictures from the camera to my laptop at midnight. The moon was gone by that time. Out of around 30 pictures one, just one reproduced half the quality of what I saw with my eyes through the scope. But I was so happy and impresses. My experiment succeeded and now I can take some more digiscoped pictures though I need to buy a proper tripod and an adaptor to continue with better digiscoping. I just spent $150, the cost of the scope and it worked out for me somehow which made me more exited. Now its time for me to go and Google out for a better adaptor and Tripod. Here is the unaltered picture directly from my camera of the digiscoped moon. I know there are lots of software’s out there to make it look even better after post processing, I will try them out for my future journey in digiscoping, but for now I am very much happier in posting the unaltered original picture here which is also what is being suggested by my conscience!

6 days of Backpacking experience in Egypt

2010-03-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

Warning: a never ending blog ahead, can't help - 2 much 2 write about

It started with a decision to take a vacation to visit my home country, India. I know I have a maximum of 17 days to spare. I decided to spend a week in India and a week backpacking in some country which I had never been to. But now the big question is to which country this time? I opened google maps, drew a virtual line between Toronto and Bangalore and there I got my options. Crazy isn't it, but ya thats how the flights fly and a legitimate way to visit the country on my return journey from India to Canada. I had many options ( obviosuly I have not visited many countires ), with no much thinking the decision was Egypt and I think a justification is not required here...

It was easy to get an Egyptian Visa. After sending my documents by e-mail for approval from consulate and getting their approval I had to send my passport to the embassy in ottawa with Money Order for C$26 and it was all done in a week or so. After getting my vacation dates confirmed it was now time to seach for the right airways and it was emirates which had the flights matching my time, schedule and route YYZ-BLR-CAI-YYZ ( Costed me C$1525 ) . I am all set to explore egypt now.

I know I have a limited time to spend in egypt and i cant spend it searching or waiting or finding a way out, so after investing a lot of time in google I managed to make a very detailed plan, detailed to each hour ( I mean it ) of things I can do with all the information required, in an excel format printed to a single page. Now all I have to do is just not loose the print out and follow what is printed, I know it is not going to be easy. Lets see how it went...

My Vacation started, I flew from YYZ to BLR, spent around 9 days in India and flew from BLR to CAI on 2-Mar and reached Cairo airport by 11 AM and it starts here...

Day 1: 2nd March 2010: Cairo
Before clearing the customs I went to the National bank of egypt money exchange counter and exchanged my Canadian dollars(C$420 to LE2180 (Egyptian Pounds). It is adviced to do the exchange after arriving in egypt as the rates are way better here than what you can get in your home country. After clearing the customs I collected my 2 big luggages which I have to take to Toronto. I already have a backpack with me with all the stuff required for 6 days, but now I need to find a place to store these luggages for 6 days. To my luck there was no luggage storage in that particular terminal and I was adviced to check in the other terminal. I dragged my luggages till the next termial to just find out that ther is no luggage storage available in any of the cairo terminals. grrrrrrrrr. first blow in the plan. its already 12:30 PM. Now instead of heading directly to Pyramids I had to first find a solution for my luggage. I read somewhere about this while googling so I had a plan B to go to downtown and store the luggage in one of the hostels (Australian Hostel ) and go to pyramids from there. I took the airport shuttle to the airport bus stop. With the help of the Arabic Numerals noted in my printout I managed to read the bus numbers and get in to the right bus which takes me to downtown - First Mistake ( Why did I not take a taxi instead... well I was thinking of saving some money and you will eventually come to know I screwed up). I just paid 2 LE for the bus but travelling through Cairo traffic the bus dropped me at my stop at around 2:00 PM. There was a very kind lady in the bus who was the only one who spoke a little bit of english and helped me get down at the right stop and even after getting down she helped a lot by convincing the taxi guy to take me to the hostel ( he refused to me since it is just a few couple of streets away ). I thanked the kind lady and got in to the taxi thinking of reaching the hostel in 10 mins and I was wrong again... :( the streets of downtown cairo are so much crowded and crooked up even the taxi driver could not find the hostel so easily, after so many enquiries with the people around and the police he managed to drop me at the Australian hostel at 3:00 PM. ooooh, though late I was happy I reached the hostel somehow and now I can be free of my two big luggages.
I entered the hostel, dropped my luggages with the compromise of taking a tour from them to the pyramids facilitate storing my luggage. I know that the Pryamid area closes by 5:00 PM so I though I can reach there before 4:30 but to my shock the hostel guy told me that the ticket counter closes by 4:00 and I might not reach there before 4:00 even if he arranges the tour. I had no choice but to go with him atlast I can have a glimpse of the pyramids before it gets dark. While I was waiting for the taxi I used his computer to send a mail to inform my home that I reached safely in Egypt. The private tour taxi (LE180) arrived at 3:30. It takes 30 mins from downtown to reach the pyramids, I got in to the taxi with the hope that I can reach there on time to get in. I still thougth I can get in till 5:00 PM.

On the way we had to cross the Nile River where the driver stopped for a couple of minutes to let me have a glimpse at the nile river and the cairo city.

After the short stop we headed to Giza Pleateau and well before reaching the location, while still on the highway, suddenly the Pyramids appeared to the sight from nowhere rising between the cairo buildings, it literally seemed as if the pyramids are between the buildings. I was delighted at the first sight of the pyramids.

The driver instead of taking me directly to the pyramids entrance he took me to the horse stable saying that the entrance will be closed and I have option to take the horse ride around the giza plateau from where I can have good panoramic view of the pyramids. I was not convinced, he took me on top of the nearby building to show me the pyramids view from top of that building. It was a nice view but i insised him to take me to the entrance so that i can get in to the plateau near the pyramids, after a while he tool me there and by the time I reached there it was 4:20 and the ticket counter was closed. I was so disappointed, the very first site visit in my printout failed bigtime :(. I was so desperate to atleast have a look at the pyramids from closeby. The driver and his friend somehow convinced the desperate me and made me take the horse ride ( 250 LE ) around the giza plateau promising I will have a gr8 view. I soon relalized they trapped me in to this but I had already paid for it and I had no other choice. Even entering Giza Plateau ( 60LE ), entrance to each Pyramids ( 100 LE + 30 LE ) and the solar boat ( 50 LE ) totally would have costed me less than this horse ride which took me outside the fences of the giza plateau to have a view of the pyramids from far far away.

I was not happy at all, but still I wanted to make the most of it. The guide (horse owner) talked about everything than about Pyramids, atleast I was happy that he was speaking english and was courteous enough to make me comfortable on the horse and took some pics (though they were not so great).

From the entire ride I just took away a couple of pics with the Pyramids, a horse ride in the deesert, sunset in the desert and a friendly chat with the guide. It was a nice experience but not for that price which I paid....

Since the first item was a flop I was so keen in making up to the second item, the sound and light show(LE75) of the pyramids which starts at 6:30 PM. I made sure that the horse guide takes me back to the entrance on time eventhough I did not complete the full route. I managed to get the tickets this time on time and watched the show which was I wont say awsome but nice and colourful with the lights luminating the pyramids in different colours. I could not enjoy mush as I was already totally tired as my day started at 2 AM midnight to catch the flight.

But the colours of the lighted pyramids and the show kept me awake, it was also so cold out there that day I was shivering and was waiting for the show to get over soon, it was a situation where I wanted to see more of it and wanted to see less of it at the same time :).

The Show ended around 7:15 and I went back to the taxi directly so that the driver can drop me off at the airport for my Flight to Luxor scheduled at 9:30 PM. This time I am glad the driver took me on time to the airport and left me there at 8:15. I had enough time to check in, have dinner and got in to the Flight. It was a 1 hour flight and I landed in Luxor at 11:00 PM. I was so desperate to sleep. I went directly to the airport taxi service and took a taxi( LE50 ) to Nubian oasis hotel in Luxor. The travel guy also informed about the tour which takes to all the places in Luxor which I had in my list in one day for a reasonable price lesser than what was mentioned in my printout. I decided to take it and paid for it. The pickup was at 8:00 AM the next day morning. I had no other choice I made the decisions, and I have to live with it... I know that after some sleep I should be fine. I checked in to the hotel ( a backpackers hotel - LE 35/night ). Though I was told LE30 when I enquired by mail I dit not negotiate much on the new price. I did not have the change and the guy asked me to pay the next day. I went to my room and slept at around 00:00 midnight. Since I could not enter the pyramids area and have a good view I deicided to change my last day plan to come back to the pyramids instead of going and seeing a famous mosque and bazzaar. At last the longest day of my life ( as far as I could remember ) came to an end with many lessons learnt.

Day 2:   3rd March 2010:   Luxor
          Woke up at 7 AM after a sound sleep before the alarm rang, got ready, had so-called breakfast priovided by the hotel and by the time I was wondering whether the pickup will actually show up since the booking was just oral without any receipt after making the payment, my pickup was there at the hotel lobby sharply at 8 AM, I was happy that I was not deceived. From the hotel I was picked up by a car and dropped at a common place where a minivan was waiting which is the one in which I am going to spend the entire day. A couple from South America were inside and after picking me up we headed to a hotel nearby to pickup 6 more chinese tourists and then we headed out for the tour. We had a tour guide who started briefing about the tour and all the time throughout the day he was expecting us to listem to him when he speaks but never did he got any attention from the chinese group execpt for one guy who atleast cared not to make him feel bad and tried to listen the bla bla's from the guide for the sake for it :). The plan for the day was to cover The Valley of Kings, Valley of Queens, Hatshepsut's Temple & Colossi of Memnon on the Luxor West bank and Luxor Temple and Kanark Temple on the Luxor east bank.
           Our first stop for the day was at the Valley of the Kings. At the ticket counter I learnt that the tickets are half price for students with Id'sall over egypt.. wow thats a great price for students. All of the Chinese gang in my tour were having the student ID card and all of them looked same. I had no idea if that was some generic card. I asked them where they got it and I was told that they got it in their home country. Even the couple had their cards but unfortunately the Id's had expired dates and they informed that since they are in their march break they will not get the new ID until they go back to school after it opens, but the funny part was they had a hard time explaining this to the ticketing person and most of the times they had to get it solved with the superiors there and this happened at most counters all throughout the day. I was feeling sorry for them as atleast I could feel that their card is a original one compared to the cards which the chinese ppl were holging, I really doubted them, but who knows they might be real as well. We got the tickets for teh Valley of the Kings (80LE) with admission to 3 tombs. There were more than 50 tombs of the kings and if you need to enter more than 3 tombs you have to get more tickets. and also there were some special tombs which require special tickets, one of them costing LE100-King Tut's, another LE50-RamsesVI . I decided not to get any extra as the guide informed that all tombs are almost the same inside. The chinese gang went ahead and got extra ticket for RamsesVI tomb. Well, they have their discount they can offord it. We paid LE 4 for the train-shuttle to take us up the hill, but it was just a walking distance which we did not bother to walk under the burning sun.
         Our guide advised us to elave the camera in the van since the camera is not allowed inside which we ignored and we had to leave it near the entrance where they were collected to be returned back when leaving the site. One of the guys selling the photograph's pack handed over one pack to our guide. Its a marketting gimmick I learnt later. Our guide used these photographs to explain about the things which we could see and which we should note inside the tombs. The photographs were gr8. Since we can enter only 3 tombs our guide took us to the tombs which are the closest and before enteing each tomb he woudl explain us about the tomb and things to see and would leave us all alone to explore inside ourselves and he would wait outside for us to return. He did the same for all the three tombs, we explored the tombs ourselves trying to figure out the patterns which we saw in the photographs used by our guide, I was able to figure 3 or 4 of them :). It was hot and sweating inside the tombs with tourists crowded everywhere. We spent nearly 30 mins in each tomb trying to figure out what was painted on the walls. But most of them are worn out, and its the same condition almost everywhere in egypt. But even then they looked so good and mystic, I used to wonder how beautiful and colourful they would have been when they were in their initial days. All the 3 tombs which I entered were of the Ramses's. after 2 tombs our guide gave us option to choose any tomb of our choice and visit it, Since I have already been inside 2 of them and both them were not much different I picked up the one which is closer and which had a double tomb, I guess it was of Ramses IX. Anyways even that was not so different except for having two tombs. The chinese gang explored the extra tomb which they wanted and bought. I was happy I did not spend that extra amount. We were now done with the Valley of the kings and all of us were already sweating under the scrotching Sun. On our way outside we collected our Camera's ignoring the Baksheesh(Tip) request by the keeper and headed to our Van.

The only picture I could take there was of the tiny bazzaar selling egyptian artworks. On the way back the guide handed over the postard pack to the one who gave him while entering and asked if anyone is interested to buy that. Poor guy, he did not find any buyers...

We headed to our next stop, Hatshepsut's Temple, a mortuary temple. After paying for the tickets(LE30 ) and entering the campus we were amazed by what we saw. We decided to walk instaed of taking the train-shuttle to the top. The temple seemed to have been built at the footsteps of a mountain and the sight of it was mind blowing. We looked so tiny in front of this magnificient site. As usual our guide explained about the temple and let us on our own to explore the temple. We spent around 1 hour there exlporing the temple and taking some snaps.

The Next stop was suppose to be Valley of the Queens, but one of the Chinese guy asked if we can visit Habu temple which is nearby instead of Valley of Queens. Our guide also suggested us to visit that as Valley of Queens is similar to Valley of Kings with Similar tombs just that they are for Queens. After seeing the tombs in the Valley of Kings it was a unanimous decision to go to Habu Temple instead of Valley of Queens and I was happy about the decision. We headed to habu temple, mortuary temple of Ramesses III (LE30) and entered the site. The temple entrance was attractive with inscribed reliefs. Pylons after Pylons, Big Pillars with Paintings is what I could recollect. It was another great site on the west bank.

Our guide took us to one of his friends shop who sell small stone statues made of different types of stones including alabaster, they explained us how they are made and the difference between hand made and machine made items, though the motive behind it was to sell some pieces which failed anyways. They also showed us souvenirs made of special type of stone called moon light stones. They swithced off the lights in the store to demonstarte their effect. it ws impressive to see the stones glow like a radium in dark. I used to be fond of radium stickers which glow in the dark in my childhood, the glowing stone tempted me to get one souvenir made of it but the tempt was not sufficient enough to buy one. After the breif stop at this shop we headed back to the Luxor east bank and on the way we stopped at Colossi of Memmon, the biggest standing statues in the west bank of all egypt. Though it felt like they are going to fall apart at any time, they were huge.

It was alreaddy 2 PM we left the Colossi of memnon site to the east bank. We were dropped in downtown near the hotel were everyone was staying and was given an hour time to get back after lunch. I wandered aroudn to find some restaurant, I saw many but most of them were crowded, I went to a one with less crowd and later after having my lunch realized why the crowd was less there.

We all gathered back at 3:30 to continue with our tour for the day. 4 more joined the tour. The first stop after lunch was the Kanark Temple, the biggest temple in egypt. After getting the tickets(LE65) our guide tried to explain us the history and geography of the temple with only a couple of us listening, while he was explaining all throughout the temple.

The first thing that strikes while entering the temple is the series of sphinx lining both the sides of the entrance to the massive gate. it is also said that there was path of 3 to 4 km which conencted the kanark temple to the Luxor temple and the entire path was lined with these sphinx. we could still see the linking of Sphinx near the entrance of both kanark and Luxor temples and now excavations are going on to recover the rest of the path and the sphinx linig. Once inside the temple after passing thorugh the massive entrance and the pylons the huge columns of pillars just take ur breach away, there are almost 132 majestic pillars and I was so impressed by them I spend most of the time walking and sitting between these humongous pillars. They were really huge and impressive. The temple also had two huge Obelisk's still standing tall and impressive. We spent around 2 hours in the temple marvelling at the structures. I met an egyptian school gang and couple of them were interested in taking a pic with me ( I had no idea why, but I was happy to pose and a pic with them as well ).

From kanark Temple we headed to Luxor Temple which was our last destination for the day. The tickets costed LE50 but the person at the ticket counter volunteeringly issued me a student ticket for LE25 on knowing that I am from India, he saved me LE25 at right time and whispered to me not to tell anyone and gave a smile (So forget the previous sentence after reading). By time we reached there is was around 6:00 PM and the lights were on. Luxor temple is best viewed at night with the lights on and we were there at the right time. There was a huge Obelisk at the entrance and the temple looked awsome with the lights. As seen in others temples this temple was also filled with paintings, pillars, huge statues, inscripts etc etc but this time the lights made the difference and it was a lovely sight. The golden colour filled the place all around where your eyes can see and it was a feast for the eyes. The Sphinx linings along the road could be seen at the entrance of the temple. Our guide left us at the temple as all the hotels were walkable distance fromt he temple. I was happy with the guide as he gave so much of information, which earned him a tip.

After spending enough time at the Luxor Temple I decided to go back to hotel at around 8:00 PM. My printout reminded me of booking a train ticket back from Aswan to Cairo. .So I went to the station and booked the ticket. It costed 60$, a sleeping train from Aswan to Cairo for my last day return to Cairo. I was happy I got it reserved as it mostly get full and sometimes difficult to get one. If not the other plan I had is to take the normal train with only seating which would have been uncomfortable at night. After booking the ticket I decided to explore Luxor by foot. Before that I went to my hotel which was nearby to ask about booking Hot air balloon for next day early morning, I was offered a price of LE450 which was way more than the price mentioned in my printout. I noticed several advertisement on the walls about their tours and other services and one of them was to issue a student ID card for LE110 :). I was not interested in getting one but I enquired about it and got to know that I can get it within a day and I could have got it if I had told them the previous day while checkin. I decided to try at the travels near old winter palace as mentioned in my printout. I wanted to pay for my stay and the guy was not the same as previous day. He quoted LE40/day saying that was what had been noted down by the preson who was there the previous day. On his request I went to speak to his boss who was there at the roof and he was fine with me paying what I felt appropriate, I went down and paid what I agreed on the prevous day, LE35. Sometimes it is not about the cost, it is about how you are treated and interpreted, I hate when these kind of things happen when people say one thing and do something else. I paid and went out. I staretd walking and managed to reach there, foudn many travles but all of them closed. A bit more of walk took me to the only open travels at taht time, it was around 9:00 PM. Enquiring there I was offered a price of LE400 for the hot air balloon tour. I tried to bargain but soon accepted the quoted price and paid for it. I was happy I saved LE50 by not booking at the hotel. There were many traditional caleche/horse carraiges all along the street. I always wanted to take a ride in one of them. This time I just did not think, I went up to them and bargained to drop me nearby the station for L10 and I won the bargain this time. It was a nice 10 mins ride which I always wanted to take in horse carriage and and I did it at last. I had my dinner at one of the restaurant but was not satisfied with the food which I could not finish. I bought some fruits ( a couple of big apples and few bananas) from the fruit vendor nearby and filled my stomach. Went back to hotel at around 11:00 PM and went to bed straight away as I have to get up at 5:00 AM the next day morning for the hot air balloon tour. I was glad that the second day went as planned and smooth. I did everything mentioned in my printout within budget and I was happy about it.

Day 3: 4th March 2010: Luxor - Edfu - Aswan

Minutes before 5 AM I woke up, and again before the alarm rang, how did I? dont ask me, I am still wondering... I got ready in a hurry packing up my backpack to checkout. Since I will be leaving directly to station to catch the train on time I wont have time to come back to hotel and checkout. I checked out of the hotel when my pickup arrived sharply at 5:30. I was taken to the Nile River bank where a boat was waiting. tehre were already aroudn 15 people in the boat and I am sure all of them are going to be on the same balloon. We were provided with some snacks and tea and I could not take any of them as they had egg and me not giving my eating habits though hungry did not take them. I dont even take tea... Saaaaaad.... but no worries I had an apple and a few bananas left which I bought last night and that would suffice for a while.

After waiting for around 15 mins a few more people joined us. Since the boat did not get the green signal from the authorities to cross the river we waited another 10 mins and finally at around 6 AM we left the Nile's east bank at Luxor to go to the west bank. All the balloon tours take off from the west bank. It is a short boat side across the Nile. The View of Nile river in the early morning with the water shining like silver under the mild bluish grey sky with the moon still in sight was pretty beautiful and I got some nice pics too.

Within Minutes we were on the west bank and there were two vans waiting for us which took us on a 15 mins drive to the balloon takeoff location. When we reached the spot they were still preparing the balloon for the takeoff and got a chance to see the huge balloon growing to its size in form of my eyes. It was already 6:15 and the sun started peeping out. Oh No! I was expecting to see the sunrise during the balloon ride but not before taking off, I was sad for a momemnt. But soon I realized what big deal I saw the sunsise and now I can enjoy the balloon ride in a serial manner instead of doing them parallely, its all just conection and interpretation right :)...

It took another 10 minutes for the balloon to get filled and ready to lift up. the box were divided in to 4 sections with 5 of us in each section and our pilot was at the centre controlling. Before take off our Pilot gave us the safety instructions, the same kind of stuff in any aircraft. Though this time I guess everyone was paying attention as it might have been their first balloon flight, and it was my first as well and I was exited. I had no idea how it is going to be and how much turbulance I am going to experience during takeoff, flight, landing...oooh... It was a mixed feeling but I was eager to go up soon... After the instructions and trial landing position exercise we were set to take off. Just before take off more the pilot starting pumping hot air to the balloon with everyone standing inside and the heat was so intense I staretd feeling that my clothes are on fire and I was checking them literally. We could see the blues flames just above our head filling the balloon, I had no idea what would have happened if the nozzile would that turned down instead of facing up.... scary... so was everyone. This hot situation continued for another 5 mins with little breaks here and then and atlast we took off slowly and softly.

We were surronded by many other balloons which were already in the air acompanied by the rising sun and the clearly visible moon. We were near the location of the Luxor west bank singhts which I visited the previous day. When the balloon started gaining altitude the scenary around and below us started to zoom out right in front of our eyes and it was an amazing first time experience. Its differnent seeing the same from flight. Here u just go vertically up almost straight and slow. The sights of balloons, Nile River, Greenlands, desert and the clearly visible line of division between the greenlands and the seset, egyptian rural houses below us, the shining sun and the clearly visible moon. the temple runis, the valleys, everything around us were just awsome, it is an experience which deserves to be on the top of the to do list in Luxor,egypt. it was WOW...

The pilot took us to an altitude of around 3000 ft, and after around 40 mins of flight he decided to land and got permission from the controllers with the walky talky which he had. Getting the permission we are free to land now. Just 40 mins of flight, it could have been more longer, hmmm, but wait it is not over yet we are yet to land and we are still at high altitude, then I recollected what was told during takeoff that the balloon can not land anywhere, the pilot needs to find a proper place amd proper position and wind direction to land. We were flying over the greenlands of egypt with palm/date trees everywhere below us, even other balloons right below us. The balloon started coming down and we were just a coupel hundred feets above the gorund and pilot can land anytime. now we were flying above the rural houses nearby and we could see children and even grown ups waving hands and we too were exited in returning the happiness back.

At Somepoints the balloon was too low I used to think its going to crash in to one of the palm trees nearby as the pilot does not seem to have noted the trees, I soon realized its of no matter he knows whats under and within seconds he can raise the balloon to a highert altitude by pumping flame. Wow thats amazing, flying so low over the trees,plantations, rural houses donkey carts ( yes ) was an experience difficult to forget. After two attempts of landing the wind started taking the balloon to a proper spot suitable for landing away from teh houses in the desert. The pilot was happy and even most of the people were as it was already more than 1 hour in the balloon. The pilot found the spot and was ready to land, the landing crew were following the balloon and were ready at the landing spot to help smooth landing of the balloon. Once the balloon came close to the land the crew holded the balloon and made sure it was a soft landing and our pilot even excused us from taking the landing position which we exercised before take off, thanks to the crew. I got my pic taken with teh hep of one of the crew member ( just as a proof of my flight for showoff :) )

Once down the crew started folding the balloon forcing the air out and they were fighting hard to do it and it seemed to bea tough job. We left them in our vans which were waiting for us back to the boat. On the way a small boy riding his donley kept following the van looking for anything we can give him. One of the lady in the van offered him a choclolate and he was more than happy to take it. Soon another boy riding his donkey appreared from nowhere signing to give him chocolate as well. He kept following for some distance and then left in vain. I could see both these boys riding their donkeys like horses and they were so well tamed for riding, and this was the first time I saw someone riding a donkey. A certificate for the flight and a T-shirt was given to us as a souvenir. The boat dropped crossed the river and dropped us back at the east bank and from there we were dropped at the required destinations where we wanted to go, I decided to head directly to the station as it was already around 8:30 AM and over my time schedule.

At the ticket counter I was informed to get the tickets inside the train. Though there were only 2 platforms I could not figure out which is the right one myself and had to take help from a policeman. The policemen can be seen every 100 ft all over egypt wherever you find people, they are very friendly and helpful as well. When I was waiting for the train a young man came and asked-signed if I rememberd him. Yes, ofcourse he was one of the guys whom I met in Kanark temple the day before. He was so happy be chatting with a foreigner, he shared some pics of his friends in his mobile and played some songs for me to listen. It was a nice chat with him though he did not understand english what I was speaking and I did not understand arabic what he was speaking :), it was sign controlled converstaion.

I need to go to Aswan today visiting temples in Edfu and Kom Ombo on the way. After waiting for around 30 mins a train arrived in the direction I need to go. After confirming if it will stop in Edfu I boarded the train signing off from my just-met egyptian friend who was waiting for another train with his college gang. I found a seat in the car but was not comfortable with it, so decided to check the another class and started traversing the train. I got in to another class car which seemed the same. After sitting for a while I realized it did not have AC, I thought I can adjust but the heat took over me and I went back to the original car where I sat but jsut to find no proper free seat. Then I traveresed in opposite direction to see any other class and came to another class car. Even before entering a fellow egyptian traveller signed that it is a higher class car. Though it did not seem to be of any much difference apart from having private cabins. All the classes were similarly dirty looking , the only difference I could find is that the the lower one did not have AC and the higher had private cabins. The Ticket issuer inside the train quoted me a price not matching my printout assuming I am going till Aswan, then after clarifying that I need to go only till Edfu he quoted a different price slightly lower. Still it was double the Printout price, I did not bother as I thought it might be because of the class. I paid for my tickets(LE42) and went to the seat he assigned to me in the private cabin where a lady was sitting with her little child. All these search just for an hours travel from Luxor to Aswan. The windows of the train was so dirty I could not pass time looking the flow of Nile River and the crop fileds on its banks. The child kept on starring at me even without any eye blink continuously for minutes. I donk know if he was scared of was wondering what creature was I...who know. Time passed both of us starring at each other.

Soon the ticket issuer came to the cabin and sat there to make sure I get down at the station I wanted to. There came my station in minutes and I got down. The station was like just another Indian rural town train station ( as seen in my native town :) ). I went straight to the taxi stand, bargained hard to get till Edfu temple for LE5. I started barganining hard started now since I realized I did not have much cash left with me to spend the rest of 4 days.

After paying the entrance fees (LE50) I entered to see just another similar temple entrance which I have already seen thrice in Luxor. Pylons, Pillars, columns, Paintings, inscripts.. etc etc... But soon I realized that this temple seems to have so much of inscripts which were very sharp and clear and well preserved though the faces in most of the inscripts have been destroyed by the invader ( it is the same story all over egypt). Throughout the temple the structures, inscripts, paintings were very well preserved and could be easily seen. Nowhere else in egypt I saw this much well preserved temple and later learnt that this is the most well preserved temple in egypt. The temple is full of inscripts, it also had a solar boat - ( This is the only one I saw all over egypt, Check google to learn more ) , and also had a nilometer ( again check google ). Though the temple architecture looked the same these specialties of this temple consoled me. The temple also had Statue of Falcon God Horus at the entrance of tow of its pylons.

An egyptian local guide inside the temple pointed out some special inscripts and tried to explain their importance in arabic ( I was @@@ ). He was helping since he guessed me as Indian and after my confimation he was happy. Not only him all through egypt this happened to me, once they guess I am Indian and get it confirmed they are happy and they take the name 'Amitabh Bachan' and hindi. Interesting, it was surprising for me in the beginning, but soon I got used to it, well I was happy I got good treatment being an Indian in egypt from the locals to my advantage. Almost all of the locals whom I interacted with considerd me as a special friend from india, I was glad. Afer being in the temple for a while I gave some baksheesh to that guide and deicded to leave after taking a pic of the only solar boat which I saw in egypt at the centre of the temple, waiting in queue.

Outside the temple I was looking for taxi which I could not find, following which I went to take help from teh policemen. By the time I was enquiring about taxi with the police a couple of persons from the caleche/horse carraiges stand came forward to take me to the Railway Station. I know it was far away to go by a Caleche but I did not have any other choice. After bargain they agreed on LE5 to drop me till the station and took me. But after 5 mins of ride they stopped at the end of the street and asked me to get in to the shared local van which goes to the station. I was confused, I didn't knew what to do and I could not argue as well as no one speaks English. I was desperately trying to understand what they are telling , and thankfully there was a guy in teh van who spoke english and he explained me that the van will take me till the station and I need not pay anything extra. On his words I paid the Caleche man and got in to the van. I was also happy that i will reach the station faster. On the way everyone got down and I was the last one to be dropped at the station and the driver demanded for money... ooopss.. I did not understand whay and he did not udnerstand why. I tried to argue for sometime saying I already paid to his friend (Caleche man ). But he said in sign language and some engligh that that was for Caleche and I need to pay for the van ride. I got angry as I was not suppose to pay anything to this guy as told by the Caleche man. But stil even after 5 mins of fuming agrument (though both us did not fully understand what the other guy is saying) I decided to give up and gave him LE5 and left the van closing the door with a very force intentionally showing my anger :) and walked away even without turning back, thank goodness he did not reciprocate :) for my behaviour. It was alredy 12:30 PM

Enquiring at the ticket counter I was told that the next train will arive soon and went to the appropriate paltform. The station had just two platforms and a couple of people including me waiting for the train and couple of persons sleeping peacefully in the waiting slabs there. A typical Indian rural train station scene in Egypt :). one of the local tasking rest informed me that the train will arive in 10 mins. I waited and waited, 10 mins beame 30 mins and still there was no sign of the train. I became impatient and started asking others including the person who worked there and he confirmed me that the train was late and will arrive after 1 hour. I had no other thoughts than to wait. I had few fruits and a biscuit packet in my backpack which temporarily fixed my hunger. And most importantly I made sure that I had enough water with me starting the time I landed in egypt till I left ( Thanks to the reviews I found in google). Even before the water bottle gets empty I used to get a new one. This is the first time in my life I took so much care for water and it paid off. I never went in to a situation where I had to search for drinking water or a store to buy. I even had lended the same to a couple of locals who had emptied their supply :).

Few more people joined me waiting for the train. There were few kids playing nearby. After waiting for an hour more I was out of patience and I went to enquire when I was told the train is later by another hour....ooooopssie..... I got impatient and went out of the station to see if I can get any taxi/sahred shuttle to Aswan. Yes, was the answer and it came with a quote of LE250. Obviously I went back to wait in the station at a double pace than I came out. To my astonishment even before I crossed the overbridge to go to my platfrom, I could hear the train and it was there in 5 mins. I had no clue what happened, I did not bother but got in to the train.

This time I just sat in the car where I got in. I think they do not have sweepers in egypt (Not only in trains, everywhere in hotels, parks, roads, stations, taxi, bus, etc etc a lot of waste garbage can be seen lying around). Dont know whom to blame, the people or the Govt. I atlast had found a place worser in cleanliness than Indian slums and I was glad I can now be happier back in India. Seated besides an egyptian young man we started to talk, again in partially sign language. It is very rare to find english speaking locals in egypt and at the same time it is very rare to meet a local who did not knew Amitabh bachan. Yes even he knew about him and mentioned some of the hindi movie names, songs, hero names. I smiled. He happened to be just another poilcemen on vacation which he tried to convey me desperately and I understood only after he showed his police Id card. He also offered me bananas which e had as a friendly gesture, though I refused to take initially I ended up taking one not to make him feel bad and put it in my pocket. I decided to skip the Kom ombo temple as I was already late and I lost almost 1.5 hours waiting in Edfu, so that I can reach Aswan on time to vist the Philae temple which had a higher priority in my list. Soon, the Ticket checker came and was surprised to hear that the cost of my ticket till Aswan was just LE5.5. I did not think much, I just paid, I was happy it saved me some bucks. In this train the windows were open, I was able to get fresh air and the train route ran on the banks of Nile river. I was enjoying the egyptian countryside, riverside scenary. The river banks are the only place where I could see green stuff, everywhere else it was just stones, sand and desert.

After around an hour of journey time the train reached Aswan and as it was the sounternmost tip of the egyptian railways everyone got down with me. It was already 3 PM. I was hungry but decided to first checkin to the hotel and then take lunch. My Printouts told me it was a walking distance to the hotel ( Hathor hotel ) and hence I started walking, but soon I realized that SUN factor was not considered there. After walking for nearly a km I decided to ask someone the location and take a taxi, but I was told it is just another 5 mins walk down the street and they were right. The hotel receptionist told me a price of LE 75 + LE 10 for Breakfast against the price of LE65 which was mailed to me when I enquired booking and he was not willing to bargain.

As I was already short of cash I decided to check in the nearby hotel as there were many nearby. I walked in to Horus hotel which was besides Hathor to get a price of LE80 and after bargain settled with LE70. The room was clean and the hotel located in the banks of Nile had a great view of the Nile, Feluccas, ships etc from its windows and the balcony. It was a great view of Aswan. My Plan was to visit Philae temple that evening and the receptio guy alarmed me saying that the ticket counter closes by 4 PM. It was already 3:30 Pm. Oops. Immediately after paying and entering my room, I dumped my backpack, washed my face and headed straight down to catch a taxi. I couldnt even lock the door which I foudn difficult and left the keys in reception in a hurry and asked them to close it.

After waiting for a couple of minutes on the road a taxi stopped on my sign and after hard bargain once again he took me to Philae temple for LE10 from Aswan downtown. I had to pay another LE5 at the entrance for the taxi. I found a family nearby who just got the tickets and they informed me to hurry as the counter is getting closed. By the time I reached the ticket counter it was 3:48 but the counter was closed. oh No not again. This time I did not give up, I convinced the security that it is not 4:00 yet and I am coming from a long distance to see the temple. Somehow I was taken inside the ticket booth and a ticket(LE50) was given to me, I was the last one to get the tickets for the day. Well, what more can I ask for. I would have been very upset If I had not made it as it was the temple which I was eager to Visit in the entire egypt. The main reasons for it being the entire temple complex had been moved from one island to another (Check google for history and geography) and for being located in an island in the Nile River waters with a beautiful view.

The family were also happy that I got the tickets and they looked more like Indians, egyptions look somewhat like Indians. On knowing I was from India, they starting talking about Hindi movies, Amitabh bachan as usual and had a short chat. To reach the Philae temple I had to take a boat ride but since I was alone the boatmen took it advantage and was quoting a price which was 5 to 6 times the normal price. But the guys in the family convinced the boatmen saying I was with them and helped me to take the ride to and back for the nominal price of LE20. On the way to the island crossing the beautiful clean nile river the view of the temple suddenly appearing behind the stones where it was hiding took over my eyes. It was a classic view of the temple that can be seen in all the photographs.

Philae temple is a special temple for its location, history and movement and appearance compared to others temples I have seen in egypt. Apart from these its formula was same as others temples. I had an hour to explore the temple before the closing time and getting back to the boat. The temple's complex is pretty big and I for sometime did not realize that this entire complex has been moved, and if you do not know about this it is not possible to figure out as it looks so natural. The island had great vews of Nile. After spending enough time at the temple and its surrounding I went back to meet the family with whom I came and spent sometime chatting with them and they took some photographs with me ( ya I was special to them as an Indian :)) . They had a cute kid ( the pic shows the kid with mom ). After a while we decided to leave as it was getting dark and went to our boats which took us to the entrance. On the way we could see many birds ( I have no idea what their names are, I have no interest for learning about birds apart from admiring them ).

         It was 6:00 we reached the main ticket counter and I said goodbye to the family who left for the day. I stayed back since I have to see the Sound and Light Show in the Philae temple. But to my luck the English language Sound and Light Show that day was at 8:30 PM. I could have decided to go back to hotel and come back, but anyways I would have lost 1 hour on the road and I did not have anything to do in hotel so I stayed back to spend time near the ticket counter. I found a canteen nearby and went inside to see if I can have any thing. I was surprised to see the canteen being run by a couple of adults. I could see only vegeterian stuff there and I was happy. I tasted the authentic egyptian local food for the first time that day. It was some baked beans, cooked eggplants, some vegetables and pita bread, They call it falafal, Tamaya, etc... I dont know what is the name for what. I just pointed out what I wanted and had them. I dont know if it was because I did not have proper food the entire day the food was so good though it was just basic. I liked it. It just costed me around LE10 and was my first satisfactory meal in egypt. The persons inside were so friendly and they too started talking about Hindi films and amitabh bachan. They even changed the TV channel for me to see and I was surprised to see a hindi movie playing with arabic subtitles. It was then I came to know how poeple knew about bollywood in egypt. I watched TV for around an hour (though I can only understand a bit of hindi. Though from India my mother tongue is a different language ). I came out for sometime on advice from the person running the canteen to check the timing again as a toursit bus arrived, but it was spanish this time, So I went back to the canteen to wait for another hour. He sarted to close the canteen for the day but the building was open. It seemed as if everyone who worked including the wokers, staff and the security come here in their free time and have some snacks, smoke and chat. And all of them seemed to know each other and whenever someone comes in they noticed me and someone else introdcued me to the new person. It was the day I interacted with so many locals in a short time and was chatting with whomever were comfortable with a little english. One thing I noted is that everyone knows Amitabh bachan, everyone happens to smoke all the time, and everyone seemed to be very very friendly and helpful. It was a nice cultural experience. I was also offered a Nubian tea for free which I frist denied but later volunteered and took it (I felt bad for denying their hospitality). The tea was the best I had ever had in my life. They even offered me to try their traditional smoking Shisha. But this time I decided not to try it out as I strictly dont smoke and did not feel bad either. I was chitchatting with the security guards for a while and then it was time for me to say good bye to the person running the canteen after handing over some baksheesh. These 2 hours gave me a memorable expereince with the locals, it was something which I can never forget. It was different.
             I went to the ticket counter to get the tickets(LE75) and went to the boat landing zone to get a boat again to the island. This time I definitely know that I am going to get screwed since I was alone and it was night. There was a guy who was speaing good english and he started chatting with me. He happened to be a boatman but was not willing to give any discount for me and since I was alone I had to pay for the entire boat myself which will be around LE100, he was business minded I suppose. But though he told me that if any groups would allow me to join them I can go with them. So I started the first group whose guide agreed, but this boatman told something and then the guide said otherwise and left. I doubted the boatman was playing a doublegame and asked him direclty. But then he refused saying that he just reminded the guide about the rules, and he also felt bad that I mistook him and felt guilty, and kept saying it again and again. There came another group and he encouraged me to go and ask them and there I went to be accepted and he too was happy this time. The guides in this group had only two guests and they took me with them as I told them I will pay my share.

The boat ride to the island this time was totally different, It was pitch dark and all that was visible were the street lights and their reflection in water until we passed the stones to see the stunning view of the temple with lights and the reflection in the water. It was an awsome view. It was the same temple but looked so beautiful and different at night. The Sound and Light show was very nice with inforamtion about the temple and its inscripts. The show was a new Kind i had not seen before. Dont miss it if you get a chance to Visit philae temple . The show lasted for around 1 hour and I was out at around 9:30 PM. Since the temple is located remotely there was no taxi service availble and I went to take help from the policemen. The couple of tourist buses which were waiting for the toursits who attended the show turned me down and I was left all alone. everyone left and I was standing there thinking what to do. The Security guard then asked me to go and sit in the only van which was standing there. Soon I realized that that was for the peopel who work for the sound and light shwo and since it was the last show for the day they leave in that van. After waiting for around 20 mins in the van, everyone came and we left.Chatting with them on the way we reached downtown and they dropped me near to my hotel and guided the way to each the hotel, when I came forward to pay them they refused saying I am their friend from India and they wont take money from me. I felt moved, I thanked for their great help without which I woudl have mostly walked from the temple location till I got some taxi. I walked in the direction they pointed me and reached my hotel in 10 mins. I went to my room and noted that I was getting out of water. Went down to buy some water but soon felt hungry and bought a couple of stuffed falafals(LE10) and they were tasty. Now I know what to eat in egypt. I went back to the hotel at around 11:00 PM and could see the lighted tombs of Nobles located on the western bank from my balcony. It was a nice day filled with overflowing experiences. I was soon asleep.

Day 4: 5th March 2010: Aswan - Abu Simbel
This time the alarm woke me at around 5:30 AM, I got ready and was out by 6. Aswan is the best place to see Nile at its best and to take a leisurely felucca sail. Feluccas are traditional Egyptian boats with a single triangular sail put on wooden masts. During the sail one can visit the two islands between its banks, the Kitchner and the Elephantine Island. I headed directly down and the customer support guy of the hotel was interested in knowing what I am up to and on informing him about the felucca, he took me to the felucca team just opposite to the hotel on the eastern banks of Nile at Aswan. It was early morning and I did not see any feluccas in the river. I was all alone I did not have any company to share the price, So I had to pay for the full price. The Felucca captains quoted a price of LE80/hr and came down to LE60, but this is not the price I can offord. After some bargain I felt the place looking out for some other docking station to check the prices there as I know there are many. I thanked the person wo helped me and started walking along the bank. Along the way I was offered prices which did not suit me and after 15 mins of walk I enquired someone who seem to speak english. He was not the Felucca person, but he negotiated the price with me and introduced me to the Felucca captain. After some hard bargaining we settled for LE40/hour. Since I was all alone I dont have much option and this is the best I can get. I decided to to go on sail for an hour.

To get to his felucca boat, we had to pass through many other feluccas and boats which were docked along the river bank. It was like walking over a boat bridge in water. The felucca was quite big and can easily hold 15 people, but I was all alone with the Felucca captain. It was a private sail :). The captain had to take help from one of his friends to untie the rope of the sail as it was stuck, the person climbed up the mast and freed up the sail and we were all set to start. The winds are the only fuel to move the felucca and the captain has to adjust his sails to point to the right direction depending on the direction we need to go and the direction of the wind. I have not seen something which can be moved in any direction regardless of the direction of the wind, just simple basic mechanics.

The captain started the sail and I was enjoying the nile view for sometime after which I decided to take the role of the captainand started steering it. Well it was tricky and did not seem to be as simple as when he was doing it. I moved the steer in one direction and the felucca moved the opposite and its how it seems to work. I was getting confused most of the time as thats not how our instincts react. I was in control for around 20 minutes with his guidance and I got tired soon and retired from my new job handing it over back to him. The only disadantage is that the felucca can not go in a straight line to go in one direction, it takes the zig zag path as it depends on wind flow. So it took a longer time to cross a distance than I expected and soon I realized 1 hour is not going to be sufficient. I was expecting to stop at Elephantine Island to visit the museum and the nubian villages but it needs longer time and I would have to pay more for making the felucca wait for that time.

The Kitchner Island is a small one and is basically a botanical garden, so I deicded to go there instaed of next day as per original plan. The felucca Captain dropped me on one end of the island and said he will wait on the ohter end to pick me up. The entrance ticket costed LE10 and I spent around 20 mins in the small Island which seemed to have all kinds of trees from all over the world. It also had a nice view of the western bank as it was nearby from this island. I also got a chance to glimpse at some birds in the island and as well during the felucca sail. The Captain was waiting on the other side and took off immediately on my arrival on the other side.

It was already 1.5 hours sailing. Soon I could see a few other feluccas and boats around. The sight of felucca sailing in the nile is magnetic, it is something you dont get to see everywhere and it was my first experience and I enjoyed the sights. I could also see the Mausoleum of the Aga Khan closeby which I wanted to visit the next day. But since I had a good sight of it from the felucca I decided to skip it the next day to save some time.

During the Sail I saw two small kids with their private boat rowing with help of a small pad to the western bank, I was surprised, they were really very young. On the way back to the east bank we had to pass by elephantine island and I could see some elephantlike formations in the stones of the island which gave its name. Soon our felucca reached the starting point and was time to pay the captain and say bye. Since i initially asked for an hour sail but it became 2 hours I started to negotiate but its not his fault either. I had to pay LE80, I paid him LE70 and he was fine with it as he too knew I was expecing only an hours sail. I thanked him and left the place. He was a Nubian and speaking with him it seemed he was proud to be Nubian and expressed that they are well mannered people who stick to their words and wont charge more (oviously this info came during bargain talk :)). Aswan is the place where I first met Nubian people and is the starting point of the upper egypt. Ironically the Upper egypt lies on the sountern part and the Lower egypt lies on the northern part and Why? i found out later that the division is based on the flow of the Nile River and not based on the geography. The Nile Flows from south to North and hence the ironic names which had confused me for a long time.
By the time I finished the felucca sail, it was 8:30 AM. I was not left with much cash to spend the next 2 days. I had around 176 USD in my walet, left over from my previous trip to US which came handy. I went to the bank and got 120 USD converted to LE657. Now I had some cash to rely on. I have the hobby of coin collection and whenever I visit any new country I collect one piece of all denominations and paper currency which are in circulation. Thats the reason you find the list in my prinout :). Since I have more cash now I kept aside those currencies for my collection and this reduced my cash limits even after exchange.

               I went back to the hotel and packed my backpack and headed to have breakfast in the hotel canteen. The canteen located on the top floor had a nice view of the Nile River through its windows and I had a nice breakfast overlooking the Nile enjoying the views. After my breakfast I checked out of the hotel and went down to catch a taxi to bus stop. I got in to a taxi before fixing a price and within some distance he stopped near a shop for one of his other passengers, there I asked him for the price and he was not agreeing on the price of LE10 which I quoted. I got down to find some other taxi. The point were I got down had a medical store, I was badly looking for one as I was having cold for the last one week and now sore throat and dry cough added to it. I went straight inside to get some tablets. While the shopkeeper was searching for some tablet I found Strepsils lying down there and I was more than happy to forget the tablets and pay for a big strip of strepsils for LE10 approx. On my way out I was approached by a taxi driver and he agreed to take me to the Aswan bus stop for LE10. On the way were chatting and he was a friendly guy who on knowing I am going to Abu Simbel took me to exact stop where the bus for abu simbel stops, but there was no bus at the time and hence suggested me to take a mini vans used by locals and took me to them who were steps away from the busstop. He asked them to help me and left.
                On seeing me they agreed to take me but soon they realized that I am from India and they were afraid. Wondering why? :) I knew they are going to react like this. The route from Aswan to Abu Simbel goes through a desert and foreigners are not allowed to travel without police convoy and the convoy goes only twice daily at around 4 AM in the morning and at 5 PM in the evening. Some tourists were attacked in the past and thats the reason for the security measures. I knew about it. There are many tours going from Aswan to Abu Simbel and all of them are day tours, they start at 3 AM in the morning, join the convoy, reach abu simbel at around 7, spend 2 hours thers and return back to Aswan. But my plan was to stay at Abu Simbel and watch the Sound and light show in the night at the temples which is highly recommended. I was hoping to take the 11 AM pubic bus but later learnt that there is no bus at that time and I had to wait till 5 PM in the evening to take one which left the only option on the mini vans used by locals. After spending around 30 mins trying to convince them saying I look like Nubian and the police wont recognize me and even if caught I will take the blame on myself the driver agreed to take me. Another egyptian local also helped me to convince the driver. I had to pay double LE50 but I did not bother, I just wanted to reach Abu Simbel on time for the show.
                   I took my seat and we waited for another 30 mins for the van to get full and then we started. I was happy I found some way at last. My happiness lasted just for 20 mins by when we came across a security checkpost. Just a second of glance inside the van a policeman identified me and picked me up and started enquiring about my country, passport etc. The other policeman were condemning the driver for taking me. The polciemen were discussing among themselves of what to do and even they seem to be confused. But one guy asked me to step out and told that I can not go in the van and I need to wait till evening for the convoy. He started askking me why I did not take the convoy. I then explained him that I need to see the Sound and Light Show and I cant make it if I take the convoy and my willingness to stay there overnight. He was not convinced and was not ready to allow me. The pocliemen even got back LE50 which I had paid to the driver and gave me back. They asked me to take my backpack and I was out of the van with my backpack wonderng what to do now. I was just desperately starring at them. There came the last question from one of the policemen "are you muslim?" I answered "No", the other one asked "are you christian?" I answered "No", wondering what the first person again asked what my religion is, I answered "Hindu". On hearing that their reactions turned positive and they said "You can go ahead in the van and wished me to enjoy their sound and light show". They were happy to hear my answer and I was totally surprised. Within a couple of minutes all the policemen surrouning us dispered wishing me and I was just so extremely happy. I thanked the policemen, and the driver started the van with a big sign of relief in his face. Everyone at the scene were happy :). This is the first time in my life my religion had any impact in my activities either it be positive or negatie and it still is the only time.

It was a long 3 to 4 hour journey through the extreme egyptian desert. All I could see was sand and piles of black sand, and the straight road in front of me and the tourist buses in the opposite direction returning from Abu Simbel. During this long journey it was just at one location I found some greenary and trees and I guess it was some kind of research centre and a couple of persons got down here. On the way we had to stop at a couple of more sectiry checkposts and though they reognized me as a foreigner, they did not bother much. On reaching Abu Simbel town the driver went inside the town to drop passengers at their home as some of them had huge luggages. I had the opportunity to traverse through the local streets sitting inside the van. Soon we reached the Abu Simbel bus stop and everyone got down and I was the last one. I had informed the driver earlier to take me to a hotel and so he asked me to sit so that he can take me after dropping everyone. A polieman noticed me inside the van and asked where I had to go. I informed him about the hotel where I had enquired before and showed him the phone number and name. On seeing it he said it is nearby and told me that he will take me there. I thanked the driver and got out with my backpack. It was just 5 mins walk to the Nobaleh Ramses hotel which was right infornt of the bus stop. The policeman seemed to be very happy helping me and knowing I am Indian, he was pleased. he also asked me how much I paid for the taxi and on my answer he said I had paid more and guarenteed that next day he will find a van for me for LE30 to return back.
It was around 3:30 PM when I reached the hotel. The hotel owner took me to show the room and quoted a price of LE180, but I was expecting a price of LE140 and he agreed to my price without any bargain. I went to the room and left my backpack there to go out and have lunch. Though the hotel Owner informed me that they serve great food, he could not find anyone to serve me when I went to the resaurant inside. I decided to try out somewhere as I was very hungry and started walking. With the help of locals there I went to a small foodshop and was happy to see vegetarian local egyptian food on display there. I pointed out and took 4 of them including falafal, tamaya, pita, vegetables. The food was really good and tasty and I ate to my stomach full. It costed me only LE15 compared to the unsatisfactory continental food I had in Luxor for LE50 twice. I decided to stick with this menu for the rest of my stay in egypt. After having food and getting some water I went back to the hotel to take some rest. I took a short nap for 30 mins and at around 5:00 PM decided to head to the temples.

The hotel owner informed me that the temples are walking distance only and said that I have to just follow the mountain wich wass visible from the hotel. I had plenty of time and I started to walk as it was a pleasant evening and was relatively cool. These temples too were moved from another place to save from the rising waters of Nile river after the construction fo Aswan dam same as Philae temple. The mountain where the temple reside now is an artifically built mountain which is not identifiable by naked eye. The credit foes to UNESCO. After 20 mins of walk I reached the temple entrance. On the way I witnessed some beautiful views of the Nile River as the temple is built on the river bank. I could not find the ticket counter and was adviced by the secirity to get the tickets in one of the shops nearby who sold the tickets for the sound and light show. I went to the shop and got my ticket which costed LE75. Though it was printed LE60 there was a manual correction in the ticket to show LE75. When I clarified about it a local guide confirmed me that they changed the price and even he paid the same for the tickets for his guests. He wittingly told "You are in egypt and they do not waste anything and reuse everything possible".

Since the first Sound and Light show for the day at 7:00 PM was of french language I had to wait till 8:00 PM for the english show. I spent the time wandering around and viewing the Nile. I could also see a few tourist ships docked in the Nile and tourists emerging form the ship towards the temple. These ships start from Cairo and travel all the way down south till Abu Simbel stopping at all the major sites in between. All the major sites are located in the banks of Nile River and a ship cruise would be a luxurious way of sighseeing in egypt sailing in the beautiful Nile River. Definitely that demands lot of time to spend and lot of money. I did not have both and hence I took the roadway instead of the riverway, mine was a backpacking trip and not a luxory tour. My time came and I entered the temple campus. On entry we faced the bak side of the mountain. We had to walk all the way around the mountatin to go to the front side where the temples were and not visible from behind. The colossal statues at the entrance of the temples were lighted by that time and it was a wonderful sight. There are two temples there.( Check google for more info ). I went and took a good seat to watch the show. Before the show started I just turned my head towards the sky like that and the sight blew me down. It was a clear night sky filled with stars all over, believe me they were all over till my eyes can reach . I have never seen so many stars in the sky. For few more minutes, eventhough the show started I was glancing at the skies and there I saw a shooting star :), yes a shooting star for the second time in my life (The first time was in my childhood , most probably 20 years back, when I was playing with my friends in bangalore near my relatives house ). It was visible for a long time for me to confirm that it was a shooting star. Only a couple of flights land at Abu simbel in a day and the airport is so close by, it can not be a plane at such a height.

The show lasted for around 1 hour and this was the best of all the 3 sound and light shows I saw in egypt. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a feast to the eyes and ears. The music used for the show was mesmerising. After the show I headed back to the hotel walking down the same path back. The sound of the birds in the nearby trees filled the way. I reached the hotel at around 9:30 PM and went to bed at around 10 PM. It was a good day. I have to get up at 5:00 AM next morning to go to the temple again to see the sunrise at the temples which is the next thing on my list.

Day 5: 6th March 2010: Abu Simbel - Aswan

The alarm woke me up at 5 AM and by 5:30 AM I was out on my way walking towards the temple. The sunrise will happen soon after 6 AM and I need to be inside the temple campus by that time to witness the same. It was dark when I started, I know its a 20 mins walk and while I was walking the sky started changing colours expecting the arrival of the sun. I reached the site by around 6 AM since I had some brief stops on the way to view the changing colours of the sky and the view of the Nile just before dawn. It was dramatic to see the colours changes and by the time I reached the ticket counter it was no more dark. After getting my tickets (LE80) I walked on my way around the temple to have a close view of the colossal statues from nearby. Last night we did not get chance to go near the statues as the sound and light show seats are located at some distance away from the temples.

The first sight of the temples in the morning was impressive and there were just few people at the site against the thousands of tourists who reach there by 8 AM from Aswan. I was glad to be there surrounded by just a few tourists and I had the temple for myself most of the times. I was so impressed by the sight and size of the statues, I took so many photographs of them, I also took help from many other tourists to get my pic taken with the temples there :). The sun was yet to comeout and the statues were lit by the dim morning light giving it a different view. As the Sun started rising the colour of the temples started to change reflecting the colours of the Sun and it was absolutely awsome, It was the reason I decided to stay overnight when compared to thousands of tourists who visit the temple on a day trip.

The temples were on the banks of the Nile river and face the Sun and twice during the year the sunlight enter the temple thorugh the main door and illuminate the 4 statues of gods seated at the interior of the Big temple, this is celebrated as a festival there. Does is sound impossible, yes it does happen. This year it happened once on Feb 22nd, 10 days before the day I was there. After sunrise I went indise the big temple to see if I could get a glimpse of it, atleast the sunlight should fall somewhere inside the temple. To my astonishment it seems to be true, the light did enter the temple and that day it did not reach the gods but besides them. Though it was restricted to take a pic inside the temple I could not resist taking one there as I was the only one inside the temple and the security were not there. I felt guilty but still cant help clicking one.

The small temple on the other hand gave me a magical experience. I was all alone inside when I entered. There were many inscripts on temple of different animals, brids, etc.. as seen in all other temples. I just moved my fingers genlty over one of the inscripts of a parrot/bird. Believe me or not withtin seconds a parakeet entered the temple and started flying around me. At first I thought its a coincidence, but soon I moved from that place to other part of the temple inside and it was there again following me. I started moving all around the inside of the temple and the bird just followed me flying around me all the time from one end of teh wall to the other end. I was shocked and at the same time feared. This kind of thing had never happened to me. I dont know what to so, sometimes if was flying so close to my face and with so much speed my heart started pumping hard. Now I really felt I am linking two things unnecessarily ( me moving my fingers over the inscript of a bird and the bird entering the temple and as I was the only person inside it must be flying around me ) so I thought to give it a test. After deciding to test it I moved to another corner of the temple and soon the bird was not there, it went away. I didn't leave I went again to the same inscript and moved my hand over again :))), the bird appread again ( hehe I am lying this time). It did not come back and now I was convinced it was all my interpretation ;). Soon I left the temple

On my way out I decided to get a pic taken with both the temples together, I went to a spot from where both the temples can be captured in the camera frame. But there was no one to click a picture of mine, so I timed my camera and kept it over a focus light there to get my picture taken myself. After a couple of attempts I succeded. After all I need a photo to display and show that I had been there :)

As I wrote before the temples were on the banks of the Nile and I was also served with the best sunrise scene ever. After the entering the Temple complex in the morning, the first thing I noticed after the temples was the beauty of the Nile river at dawn. The Sun not only changed colours of the temple but also the Nile and its surroundings. The sight of the Nile waters, the mountains behing them, and the rays of the sun starting to rise up behind the mountains are just cinematic. These 10 to 15 mins were among the most beautiful sights of nature I have seen. The colurs of the scenic nature around me too started changing drastically every minute and it was a treat to the eyes and soul. The flock of early birds crossing the river in starting the search for their prey was another interesting sight. All of these happened within minutes and by the next hour all the colours were gone and all that was left was just blue.

I spent enough time at the temples and decided to return back to the hotel. It was around 7:45 AM and I had the best 2 hours of my egypt trip. When I started walking around the mountain towards the entrance, the tourist crowds started to arrive and they flocked the place. On my way back to the hotel I saw many more buses on their way to the temple. I was so glad I made a wise decision to stay at Abu simbel than taking the day tour from Aswan. All these tourists have missed the best part of Abu simbel by taking the day tour. I went back to the hotel to have my breakfast but the hotel ownere informed me that they do no provide breakfast and henvce I had to go out to a nearby hotel to get my breakfast. I have a stuffed falafel in Pita and it filled my stomach. When asked for the price after having I got a shock, he said LE1... what just LE1. I cant believe. That was the cheapest best food I had in egypt. I happily paid him, returned back to my hote, packed my backpack and checked out at around 8:15 AM.
I went directly to the buststop in front of the hotel to check if there are any buses to Aswan, but none. I then asked the locals there about transportation to Aswan and they guided me to a place from where I can catch a mini van. The van was the same kind I took the previous day from Aswan. I was told a price of LE30, I was happy this time they told the right price and I got in to the Van. I waited in the Van for 10 mins and there were just 3 persons inside including me and I was told that there is no timing for the van and it will go when full. I did not want to take any chance waiting. I knew that there are lots of tourist buses and vans which came from Aswan and will leave back around 9 AM back to Aswan. I started walking towards the temple as thats where I can find the tourist buses along with the police convoy. On the way I saw a few buses parked but when I asked them if I can get in to one of them they mentioned that they are of company's and they can not take me, instead they guided me to try near the temple. I tried again with another one and was turned down again. After walking for another 5 mins towards the temple there was another tourist Van waiting, the driver started to look at me walking towards him and I enquired if he can drop me in Aswan. He was ready to take me but quoted a higher price. I negotiated with him for LE50 but he was stuck at LE60. As I did not have any other option I settled for LE60 and got in to the Van. This was much more comforatable and luxurious compared to the one I took the day before. After picking me up the driver went to the parking site at the temple to wait for his guests. After waiting for 15 mins his guests came back and within 10 mins, sharply at 9:00 we started with the police convoy to Aswan. There were atleast 20 to 30 vehicles there and I could not imaging how much the temple complex would have been crowded.

On the way it was again the never ending view of the egyptian desert. By 12:00 noon we reached the outskirts of Aswan and my plan was to see Aswan dam and Kalabshah temple on the way. But I knew that both of them are of not that impressive and I decided to skip them as I had seen enough in egypt already. The other reason was that the vehicle did not pass through that route as I thought. By around 12:30 PM I was dropped near the Aswan railway station. I started walking along the west bank of the river to find ferry to go to elephantine island. I know that the ferry costs only LE2. But first two attempts failed as they quoted a higher price of not less than LE10 so I stared walking furthur and found the place where the actual public ferry starts. I waited for 15 mins and I met two English men waiting for the ferry. They too were backpackers like me and they were carrying the Lonely Planet guide with them. They said thoug the ferry is just LE2 they are cahrging LE5. Yes LE2 is for locals and for tourits they charge more. When I paid my fare, I happened to see small denomination coins with in the currency holder of the ferry guy. I asked about them and he was more than happy to give them to me exchanging for a higher denomination. I was not able to find the smaller denominations anywhere so I was happy and two more denominations added to my collection. Though I still need to collect 4 more small denominations.

After waiting for 10 mins the ferry boat arrived and we got in to it to go to elephantine Island. inside the boat one local english speaking egyoptian clarified us that since the locals have to take the ferry very frequently they charge minimal rates for the locals and more for the tourists who visit once or so. I felt this explanation was reasonable. Within 5 mins the ferry dropped us at the elephantine Island. I have plans to see the Nubian village, Aswan Museum and a temple's runis at the museum site. Getting down from the boat I started walking in the narrow walkway of the nubian village. I was expecting to see some colourful painted houses with bright paintings in the frontside of the house as I read in the web but to my disappointment I did not find any such type of house in the village. The village resembled like just another Indian Village so it dit not make any impact on me. Since the village was not that interesting I started walking towards the museum.

Getting directed in proper direction by a couple of locals on the way I managed to reacch the Aswan Museum whichwas on the southern side of the elephantine Island. it looked small from outside. I was already out of cash and I was expecting a lesser ticket price, but it was LE30. I had to pay for it and enter inside. From outside it looked small, but inside it was very small, actually tiny. Ther were just 3 small rooms but I saw a mummy ( the only mummy I saw in entire egypt as this was the only museum I went in egypt). A person started guiding in that tiny museum eventhough I didnt wanted and i had to pay him baksheesh at the end. The museum had two buildings and both of them had just a couple of rooms. It just took around 30 mins to visit the museum. There was also excavation works going on at the museum site.

Besides the museum was the temple complex which was in ruins. It was mid afternoon and very hot, I was sweating already. The temple complex seemed to be a big onebut in runis. I started exploring the complex the way my eyes took me. I managed to reach the view points at a higher elevation which gave a good view of the Aswan city and the surroundings. The Complex also had some temple which had been restored from runis and it can be clearly seen. They had tried to recreate the original view of the temple by fixing the actual parts and painting the missing parts to give the visitor and idea of how the temple and the interiors actually looked like. This is the only palce I saw this kind of restoration trial in egypt. I could see excavation works going on all around the complex.

I Spent around 45 mins at the site. I was searching for the Nilometer which is found at the site but even after much of search I could not find it. I was tired and sweating as well and hence decided to leave the site back to the east bank. On my way back a local who was taking rest nearby asked me whether I saw the Nilometer. I said no and he pointed me the location of it. It was outside the complex at the banks of the River. I thanked him and walked towards it, but to reach there I had to go inside teh campus and and take a route around the fence and outside. I was very tired by that time I reached the Nilometer. This one was well preserved and I walked down the steps and sat at the bottom of the steps facing the Nile River. I also saw some feluccas passing by and I could see people wondering how I reached there. I washed my face and hands with the cool nile water and sat there for sometime as it was soothing and cool. After around 15 mins I left the museum and this time I got a ferry at a different place and he charged me just LE1 to drop me at the east bank of Aswan in less than 10 mins. On reaching the east bank I went directly to the bank to convert some cash as I was out. I converted 50USD to LE274. After converting this all I was left with is 6USD and 25CAD in my walet. I was hungry and went to the hotel were I had tried befor and had the same local egyptian stuff and paid LE10. It was around 2:30 PM. I was wondering what to do as my return train to Cairo was at 7 PM only. I had skipped a few sites in Aswan mentioned in my printout and I though I can go and visit one.

I picked up Unfinished Obelisk. After bargain I got a taxi for LE10 to the site and LE30 at the ticket counter to enter inside. It was the peak of my tiredness when I reached there. Egypt has taken out all the jucie in me and it the sun was scrotching. My backpack started weighing more and I was not even allowed to keep it at the ticket counter for pickup after I come back. I had to carry with me all along and this site has nothing to offer apart from the huge unfinished Obelisk which would have been the biggest if completed, but was abandoned due to the formation of a crack. It took just 15 mins to explore the site and I was out waiting for a taxi. Again after hard bargain I got a taxi to drop me back at the Aswan Station for LE10. I decided to get down near the river bank on the way as it was only 3:30 PM and I wanted to take some rest at the riverside.

I sat on one of the many seating tables and relaxed for a while taking pictures of whatever I saw around me. Soon a local egyptain came by and sat besides me and we started chatting. It was around 5 PM and I decided to walk towards the station. As I felt hungry I went to a hotel nearby the station and had the same egyptian food to my stomach full for just LE15 and went to the station and sat there for my train to arrive. Again a local egyptian boy helped me to identify the car and seat mentioned in my ticket and the train arrived at around 6:15 PM. After showing my tickets to the checker I entered the car and went to my cabin. That wass a sleeping train which I reserved to go back to Cairo from Aswan which was a nights journey. I freshened up myself and put on my night clothes to have a comfortable sleep. Dinner was served in the train and since it was non Vegetarian I had to skip it and I was not hungry too as I just had food before entering the station. In a while bedding was done by the train staff and I went to sleep. The cabin was for 2 and the other person did not get in to at that station. After two hours in Aswan the person got in and woke me up. He was from Chile if I remember correctly, we chattted for a while and after he had his dinner and his bed was ready I went to sleep back again. It was a long day.

Day 6: 7th March 2010: Cairo
             This time it was the train staff who knocked at the cabin doors and woke us up as early as around 6:30 AM. Soon after waking us up he came to remove the bedding supplies even before the train stopped, but anyways they were no more needed. Breakfast was served around 7 AM and thankfully it was vegan and I finished almost everything except for an orange and a bun which I could not finish and stored it in my backpack for future use if any need arises (I managed to finish off the bun but sadly the orange ended up in a dustbin after a week in Canada, well atleast it had a chance to travel abroad before its lifetime :)). After the breakfast I had a chat session with my cabinmate.
              The train staff informed us that that we would reach Cairo at around 8 AM and the first stop wsa the Giza station and then Cairo City Station. I got my some change of small bills from the train staff as I knew I had to do a lot of bargaining today and its not possible without carrying small currecny bills. My plan for the day was originally to get down at City Station nearby the Australian hostel where I had kept my luggage and take a day tour with them covering Memphis, sakkara, Citadel-of Salah Mosque, Egyptian Museum and a bazaar. Since I had a bad first day I decided to skip the Mosque,Museum and bazzar to go back to the pyramids again. Yes I was completely disappointed
with my first day trip to Pyramids. I decided to get down at the Giza station which is nearby to the Giza pyramids. I changed my clothes, packed my backback and was ready to get down and venture to the Pyramids on my own this time without any tour as I now have enough experience surviving in egypt. At around 8 AM the train reaached Giza station. Bidding adieu to my cabin friend I got down at the Giza station and went out to find some way to reach the Pyramids site which is around 15Km from there. As usual I went to a policemen to ask about the transport as I could not find any buses or public transport nearby, but before he answered I was approaced by a taxi driver and he was ready to take me to the Pyramids Site. And as usual again the next thing in the process is the bargain which was at its peak this time as my cash limits are pushed to the minimal extreme on the last day. I bargained hard and did not giveup to pay more than LE10 and I won. He took me to his taxi which was parked at some other place and I had a hard sight seeing his car. That might have been the oldest running car I had ever seen. Though it looked so old, it was neat and clean and all I wanted was to reach the pyramids and did not think much about the car. I had a nice chat with the driver on the way, he sounded friendly as other taxi drivers I had encountered throughout my trip and I thought he would take me to the right spot. His name was Mohammad. Actaully I do not remember his name exactly but it should be Mohammad/Mahmoud as 70% of the locals whom I intereacted with had this name only.
               It was about an half hours ride after which we almost reached there. But instesd of taking me to the ticket counter directly he took me to one of his friends camel stable maneuvering through the narrow streets. I reminded him to take me to the ticket counter but he ignored. I tried to explain him that I had already taken a horse ride around the pyramids area but he did not understand. he introduced me to his friend at Camel stable who spoke good english. I explained him that I had laready taken a ride and why would i do it again. he seemed to understand I had been plundered already and I am not his customer. He told the driver and we left the place. Now I thought he will take me to the ticket counter direclty, but he did not bother my reminders and still took me to another horse stable nearby. Even there I had to convince the horse guy saying that I had alreday done it and I ignored him as he did not seem to understand. When I asked the driver to take to the ticket counter, he said that was the ticket counter and asked me to get down there and pay the fare. I know he is lying, but he was disappointed as he could not make money out of me by getting a part of what the camel guys would take from me. On insisting again he asked me to pay LE5 extra to go to the ticket counter. I refused and he left after I got down as I knew that the entrance is nearby somewhere as I had already been in that area. Even after he left the horse guy kept touting me and I lost my patience and shouted at him. He too shouted back at me, but both of us were not in a quarrel mode so it ended up we ignoring each other. Getting directions from a local there I walked to the ticket counter in 5 mins and I reached there by around 9 AM.
              At the ticket counter I was helped by a security to get tickets(LE60) though I could have got it on my own. he just tried helping me wihout my approach. I did not have proper change for the tickets and the ticket issuer took out some old torn LE1 bills which I refused to take and hence had to ask the people besides for change and got it after a couple of attempts. After getting the tickets this security guy started telling me about others tickets to Enter the pyramids, boat musem etc which I already knew and he was insisting to get one of those tickets. He also said that those tickets needs to be purchased at another entrance which is on the other side and far away and they have only limited tickets per day. I previously was thinking to enter the small pyramid but that was closed that day. I didn't want to enter the great Pyramid as it needs more time, more money(LE100) and more energy. I told him I dont need any but still he insisted. After sometime he gave up and asked me to go through he other entrance to decide there. I didn't understand why I should go to the other entrance while I was standing just few feets in front on this entrance. I started doubting him and immediately grabbed my tickets from him which he was holding tight. He too happened to be a tout who must have been trying hard indirectly to make me go to the other entrance by means of a camel or a horse. I ignored him soon and went to the security check post which was few feets away. Though the real security guys were seeing all these they did not seem to say anything to him. Well I guess it is all mutual understandings, and as I am from India I can understand these mutual understandings. Atlast I am actually inside the official Giza Pyramids area ( yes, the sound and light show happens from a different entrance though just seperated by a small fence)

The first sight was the view of Sphinx proudly standing ( or rightly sitting ) in front of the 3 pyramids. Though I had seen this view already from top of a building on first day, seeing it from a closer distance was a different feeling. I headed straight to the Sphinx, the most acclaimed structure of all to have a closer view but it has been fenced and the tourists were not allowed to go near. The road to the pyramids was besides the Sphinx and I had to pass it to go to the pyramids and the side view of the Sphinx was more impressive than the strain view, it was so long and huge. Actually in real I did not feel its hugeness as I guess the sight of the pyramids behind it were suppressing it but when I saw the pic which I had taken it clearly shows its mightyness. I wanted to get my pic taken with the sphinx and requested a person from the tousit gang of white people besides to help me. They seemed not to know english that well and they refused to take a pic of mine misunderstanding me for a tout :). I had no idea from which country thery were, most probably from somewhere in europe and their english were at the egyptian standards. Not their fault, I would have looked more like an egyptian to them. A couple of more trails failed with the same reason and I gave up and tried taking my pic myself which is not publishable :).

Passing the Sphinx I walked straight to the great pyramid ( Pyramid of Cheops ) which was on the right. I had read it but really it looked smaller than the centre Pyramid ( Pyramid of Chepron ) though this one was the tallest from the ground. The reason being that the Centre pyramid is on a higher altitude. The Pyramids were truly majestic and they stand to their hype. As I started going closer and closer to the great pyramid it started growing taller and taller and at the closest distance the peak was no more visible. Admiring the size of it I started walking around it. I was not able to walk at the footsteps as there was a roap fence a few feets away from the pyramid and security guys were guarding it to make sure no one cross the rope. Well, but I wanted to go and touch one of the mighty stone which formed the part of the pyramid. I started walking along the rope to see if there is any way inside somewhere and soon I found one where there was a opening for people to enter inside and go close to the Pyramid stones, but it is prohibited to climb. I was happy and went as much close as possible and put my hands on the stones to experience the magical moment, though no magic happened, it was just another stone but with a magical history. The stones blocks were huge. I walked along the bottom for some distance trying to have a glimpse of the peak but no success and after a while I came out of the rope divided area.

My main mission within the Pyramids area was to capture the panoramic view of all the Giza Pyramids from two points makred in the picture besides in my camera. One from the right of the great pyramid with a view of all the pyramids and one from the left of the smallest Pyramid ( Pyramid of Menakure) overlooking all pyramids. This is the time to venture out for the first mission photograph. I started walking in the direction where I have to go to get the view. I walked for sometime and checked to see if I had the view I wanted, but no. The great pyramid and the three small pyramids of queens in fron of the great pyramid was all I was able to see as they were blocking the other pyramids behind them. I need to walk north-east furthur down to get the view but the fenses were nearby and I realized that it is not possible to get the shot I wanted even from the fence as the distance is not sufficient enough. The first mission failed. Though I felt bad I still have the chance for the next one. I am not going to give up on that. But that point is far away and I ned to cross all the pyramids and walk in to the desert for a distance, So I thought of visiting everything on the way so that I will have enough time to take that perfect photograph. I started walking towards the great pyramid again and took some photographs from its bottom which turned out to be a picture of a flat stone wall.

There were too many camels with their owners offering ride and approaching me all the time. I had to keep saying "La Shukran" ( No ThankYou). But one of them insisted much and got down from his camel, took the camera from me to take a photograph of mine for me and handed over the stick which is used to control the camel and asked me to pose. Though I refused first, it was tempting and I accepted. While Posing he was not able to operate the camera and when I went back to explain him how it works "booom" he dropped my camera down on the hard land. I was shaken. For a moment I though I need to take out my other camera now. But he picked it up soon to check and I grabbed from him to see that no big damage has been done and it was still working though it was covered with sand dust. When I was cleaning he was still insisting to get the photograph taken and all I was interested in was to clean the camera and get away from and exactly did the same.

From the great pyramid I walked towards the Centre Pyramid of Khafre and on the way I requested a while european guy to take my pic with the great Pyramid, he too misundertood me for a tout, refused and left, but his wife seem to know english better understood my request and took a pic for me and I was glad. I started walking along the footsteps of the great pyramid and reached one corner which gave a different view ( meeting of two plain stone wall ). I saw some tourists climbing the stones and posing for the picture even though it was forbidden. I was tempted to climb but stopped at a level much lower than them and acceptable by the secutiry guys there. I got some picture taken and walked on top of the lowest level stones of the great pyramid for some distance before heading towards the Pyramid of Khafre.
Besides the great pyramid was the entrance the solar boat museum with the entrance tickets priced at LE50. It has the puttogether part of a solat boat found at the pyramid. I was in a double-mind to decide whether to get in or not and decided not to thinking of my cash limits. I am still in a double-mind thinking if I should have entered there or not. Mey be next time if at all I get to go there.

Passing the Solar boat museum I headed towards the Pyramid of Khafre and many camel owners volunteeringly posed with their camel for a photograph. Though I ignored a few I took a copule of photographs of those who were standing at a right spot in front of the pyramids make a good shot. The Kahfre pyramid is the most attractive of all for many reasons. It is the one which is at the middle, it is the one which looks taller to the naked eye since it is located at a higher elevation, it is the one which still has some leftover white limestone coating at its summit giving it a special attractive looks. The sight of Khafre pyramid was more impressive and attractive than the great pyramid simply because of its white peak. I went to the footsteps of the Khafre pyramid for a close look and started walking along its side in a diagonal direction towards the Small pyramid.

On reaching the small pyramid I realized there is nothing special about it except for the sun sitting on its summit posing for a nice photograph. Although each of the three pyramid is made of three different type of stone I could not differentiate it and all looked same for my eyes. I need to pass the small pyramid to the other side to go to the desert for my second photographic mission. I walked left along the footsteps to go to the other side and soon realized that there was no way as the place wad undergoing excavation and I could see runis of old structures there. I felt tired under the sun and sat for a few minutes under the shade provided by those structures. I need to go back and take right from where I started to reach the other side of the small pyramid and on the way I got some interesting shots of the Khafre Pyramid. I walked at the footsteps along the right side of the small pyramid and soon passed by the pyramid of queens which lie besides the small pyramid. There are three small pyramids for queens besides the great pyramid as well but they are mostly out of shape as their upper part were destroyed and hence the were not complete looking pyramids. These pyramids for queens besides the small pyramids seemed to be in good shape.

After passing the small pyramid and the pyamids of the queens I was out in the desert. Now I have to find the point to get that perfect shot of my second mission. There is a road inside the Giza area which the tourist bus takes and almost all the tourists coming by the bus go by the road to visit each pyramid and at last the bus takes them to a view point in the desert to show a panaromic view of all the pyramids. That must be the viewpoint I was looking for. I saw all the buses on the road heading to that point and many were already there with a lot of tourst crowds. It looked atleast a km of desert sand distance away from the point where I was standing. I started to walk towards them under the scrotching mid day sun in the egyptian desert, sweating all over with energy just to survive for the walk. I was happy I can make it and get that perfect shot I wanted. On my way I was periodically turning back and checking to see if that was the view and it seemed to be and I continued. After a few more lookbacks I realized that it was not the view I was looking for. I though May be a bit more walk will do, but even after walking for some more distance the view was getting worser. I decided not to walk furthur towards the buses and turn bacl and walk in the opposite direction folloing my insticts and the giza area map I had in my mind.

I started walking in exactly the opposite direction and in about 20 mins I was getting the partial view of what I was looking for and I gained confidence. I started walking at a faster pace with high hopes of nearing the mission. After about 10 more minutes of walk I was reached a point with the magnificient panoramic view of all the giza pyramids (9 of them total). Mission accomplished with a big satisfaction :)

[This picture also won me a small facebook group photo contest :) ] I had to walk more than a km in the desert to get to this location where only a very few ppl get to, those with the regular tour buses never get here... if one want to experience this view it needs a camel ride or a venture on one's own as I did, and I was so happy to get those camels in the frame :). I sat there for sometime admiring the view of the pyramids which I was searching for. There were also a few tourists who were pasing by on a camel back. A couple had stopped with their guide near the point where I did and were taking photographs. I too wanted my photograph with the panoramic view and their guide took a photo of mine gladly on my request. They left the place soon. I stayed there and wanted to stay longer.

There was a peak nearby in some distance and I was wondering what view I might get from there and wanted to explore that as well and started walking towards the peak. I just meat a security guy over there watching the area but the views were not that great as my previous stop. On the way I saw many pebble stones and I had no idea how the pebble stones came there in the desert. I had no clue but I took some of them and still have them. I need to seach in google now to see how they went there first of all. Not satisfied with the new view I went back to my previous viewpoint and sat there for a while. I wanted to take one more photgraph of myself but no one was around. I put my camera on timer and after a few attemps I got a somewhat satisfactory shot. I did not feel like trying more and gave up settling on this one. [ Even after reaching back home and filtering the good ones I skipped this one as it was not striking. Later after few days when I was going through the photographs again I saw this one and tried to edit a bit and see if it is useful. Opened in Picassa, did a bit of editing, straighten, crop, auto-contrast and partial colouring and wow I had a great pic from nowhere. I was amazed at the picture picassa gave me and that is exactly what you see when you open this blog :). The original picture is attached here as well just in case if you are interested to check out ( and I know for sure you would be curious to check out ). ]. The time was around 12 noon and I decided to go back and started walking back. This time as I could see where the entrance was I took the straight line path. On my way there was a lady whom I felt was venturing on the same mission, I asked her and yes she too was, I was happy to direct her in the right direction and started following my eyes towards the entrance.

On my way back a man on his donkey approached me and starting chatting and soon offered me his stick and took my camera to take a picture of mine with his donkey and he placed his turban on my head. He took a photoograph of me and asked me to get on top of the donkey which I refused knowing that if I get on top of it it would start walking and I have to beg him to stop it and he would ask for money. He did not insist and took the picture of me standing besides it and I was happy he had taken a great picture with the view of pyramids at the background. On his signs I gave him some baksheesh though he was looking for more, but I did not have money for myself that day and how would I give him more. (This is one of my fav pics :) )

Reaching the Sphinx I saw people getting a bit more closer from inside the fence and i could not find a way to go there and asked one girl was already inside the fence for the way. She gladly showed me the way to enter inside and to reach there I had to walk across the fence down and inside a small temple through a narrow pathway flocked with the tourits and there I was. This view was closer than the others but still not at the footsteps. The sphinx did not look that huge as I though even from this point. From there I saw some tourists with a guide at the foot of the sphinx and i had no idea how they got there. I also was interested in getting closer and went outside here to check if I could get a chance. But on going outside I saw few other tourists trying to enter but refused entry to reach there. Might possibly be that they had some special permission to go there, and I did not have any. From there I went straight infront of the shphinx gate and saw some guys taking photograph through the steel gate bar holes. I went there to see if it had a better view and for sure it was. I got a closeset possible straight view of the Sphinix with the white peak of the Kafre pyramid at its background and a nice shot as well. I saw many school kids playing near the area and the entire area was filled with people and a kid also helped me in taking a pic for me with the sphinx. I was satisfied with my time at the pyramids and decided to leave the area to Memphis and Saqqara, my next stop.
I went to to the guards to enquire about taxi and a guy approached soon on seeing me looking for taxi and said he can take me there. I was sweating all over and refrehed myself and went back to him. After bargaining hard he accepted to take me to Memphis and Sakkara for LE40 and I was agreed and got in to his car which was parked a few metres away. He was a nice guy who was tryig hard to chat even without knowing english and I was trying to help him understand. He was also interested in learning a few words in Hindi. Before passing thorugh the busy giza streets filled with traffic he got a call from his preferred customer I guess. Since the customer was speaking in english and the taxi driver did not understand it clearly what he was saying he asked me to help him, speak to his customer as his friend and fidn out where he wants to go and what time he wants the pickup. I eradily agreed and spoke to his customer over phone and learnt that he wanted to come to Gizxa pyramids from his hotel and return back and needed the taxi within an hour and gave his address. On telling this to the taxi driver he infromed me that he had to go and service him and requested me to take someother taxi at the end of the street. I had no probs. But even before dropping me he stopped a taxi and explained him where I want to go and left me in the new taxi and left. The new one was a metered taxi and I was free from bargaining for the first and last time in egypt. He too did not know any english and was trying to understand what I was telling and signing. It was 30 mins drive from Giza area to Sakkara area and On my request he took me directly to Memphis passing the Saqqara area.

Memphis is a small town which hosted a famous museum with the big colossal well preserved statue of Ramses II. I asked the taxi driver to wait till I return back, Paid for the entry tickets (LE35 + LE3 parking ) and went inside. I went staright inside the building where the colossal statue was placed. Yes, it was buge in lying down position and only till knees as the rest of leg part might have been destroyed. The Statue was gigantic in a well preserved state. I went around it twice and had some good view from both the bottom and top floors and went out in 10 mins.

Outside the building there were some statues and inscripts for display. I had a quick walk around taking some photographs, seeing the status. I was also insisted by a local to get hsi pic taken with along with one of the statues there and I did so. Soon within 30 minutes of entering the museum I was out to the taxi and left for Sakkara.

Saqqara is the place of the oldest Egyptian pyramid, the step pyramid of Djoser. Even much before entreing the area the step pyramid was visible from a long distance away. All I wanted it a closer view of teh pyramid. On reaching the entrance the taxi driver drove directly on top of the till to the location of the pyramid. he parked the taxi and I asked him to wait there as I had no other choice of returning back as it was a long distance away from the entrance and over a hill. I went directly close to the Step pyramid and there was no security there. I was hesitant to go closer as I did not have a ticket and I do not know if one was required. On enquiring a guard there he came to know that I did not have a ticket and asked me to go down, get the tickets(LE60) and come back to enter the fence and get a closer look. he also told that the area is big with many temples and many more things to see. I was wondering if that was really required to get the ticket as I was just intereted in seeing the step pyramid and I had no energy left to roam around under hot sun to explore the area. With the help of a worker I got my photo taken with the oldest pyramid. I went to the taxi driver who was waiting for me to take me to the ticket counter but I asked him to go out as I am not interested. He was very happy as he was not required to wait ( he had infromed me earlier he wont charge for waiting at saqqare if i would go with him back ). The Visit to Saqqara step pyramid came as a freebie to me and that was the last site I visited in egypt.

          The time was around 2:00 and we headed directly to the Autralian hostel which took around 45 mins to reach. After getting guided by some locals the taxi guy managed to drop me in the right street though he could not drop at the hostel entrance. The total cost for the taxi was LE100, but I just had LE80 left with me. I had to pick up the LE100 bill from my collection to pay him. The hostel was just a few metres away from where he dropped me. After paying him I went directly to the currency exchange nearby and converted my 20CAD to LE104 and got the LE100 bill for my collection back. I was hungry and had my local egyptian lunch for LE10 and headed to the hostel directly. At the hostel I met the same guy who was there when I left my luggage but he did not seem to recognize me. But who cares when he was ok to give me back my luggages when I told him that I had left it there few days back. he took me to the luggage room and mine were the only ones left there. I took my luggage, used his computer to send a departure mail to inform my home that I am leaving egypt shortly. At the reception table I had seen many currencies and coins for display there on the first and was thinking that I would get my 4 denominations there to complete my collection which was my last mission in egypt. He searched for a whiel with help of this another friend but could not find the denominations I was looking for. I anyways thanked him and left the hostel with my big luggages at around 3:30 PM.
            I went down straight and waited for a taxi. A taxi with another passenger already inside stopped and I got in without any bargaining this time. I have around LE80 and I knwo for sure that it is sufficeint to reach airport and I had nothing else to do. My Flight was at around 7:00 PM. After getting in I asked about the cost and as he did not know how to say in english took help from the lady passenger and told me that it woudl cost around LE50 ( Which I misunderstood as LE15). The lady also called up someone to find proper english words to tell me that I need to pay extra LE10 for entering the airport for taxi. I was ok. The lady got down soon and we headed to the airport and on the way I had a very nice and friendly chat with the driver. He was the best of all taxi drivers I interacted with there :). After knowing that my flight is only at 7 PM he stopped at a petrol bunk nearby to fill petrol and soon we were back on road to airport. Along the way I saw many nice mosques but was already done with taking photos. In approximately an hour at around 4:30 we reached airport and he was confused with the terminals and took me to some terminal whcih he though was the right one. On confirming with a security guy he was sure that was the right terminal. I asked him for price and he said LE50. Though I though LE15 I was watching the meter in his taxi and it showed more than LE50. By then I knew I heard it wrong and I paid him LE50 on getting down. He also reminded of LE10 and I gladly paid him.
            Soon after I got down he got a customer to go back and I headed inside. I found that was not the right terminl and had to walk across the build with my big tryooly luggages to the right terminal as I did on my first day searching for luggage storage. I had enough time so I was not worried. On reaching the terminal and after a long wait at checkin quere I finally checked in and on to the gates. At the back of my mind I still had a mission which has not been accomplished. My coin,currency collection. I went to the shops which I saw there near the waiting area and none of them seem to have those denominations. I saw an antique store and on enquiry he shoed me a pack of coins which seemed to have 2 of the denominations and another pack having one of the other. But the price he quoted was $10 for one and LE20 for another. i started to bargain and he was not that flexible. There were also other Indians who were bargaining there and they were also checking for these packs. I was also worried if they will pick it up. Since I was not satisfied with the price I left and started to search the denominations in other shops around but no success. I lost hope and sat near my gate. I then realized that I had around $6 USD + LE20 + 5CAD + some CAD coins. All I wanted is 3CAD from now on to reach my home from airport which is the fare for the bus from airport to my home in canada. I decided to go and get the coins as I know it is difficult to get them once out of egypt, that was my last chance there. I went back to that antique store and he was quoting a lower price this time to other people who were already bargaining on it, he was ready to give one for $5 USD and the other for LE10. He was not ready to accept canadian currency in coins which I offered first. He wanted a paper bill. I paid him what he wanted and happily took those sets ( he was not ready to give jsut the 3 denominations). one more denomination (a 20 Piastry coin ) was missing to complete my collection. Well I had done everything possible to get it and now its time to give up on it as the boarding has already started. I boarded and took my seat.
           Goodbye Egypt, it was a wonderful trip altogether with so much different experiences which I gained by backpacking than taking a tourist route, though tiring. I got chance to see the actual egypt from top to bottom as I was interactiving closely with the locals and taking the public transport all the time and going remote places which are not done by regular tourists. It was an awsome adventure as it was my first all-alone-out-of-country backpacking experience and I was so happy I completed it with most of my plan achieved. But still something in my mind keeps reminding me that I could not get the 20 piastry coin. Its not a big deal , I still have a chance to find it somewhere else and these reminders are afterall just a result of the job being done regularly by our conscience!

A Day in Waiting List

2007-05-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

33 was the waiting list status when I booked my train ticket around 2 months back to go to my native on vacation for just more than a week. At Waiting list 33 , I can possibly get the seat confirmed or atleast can get RAC. I did not hesitate to book my ticket as I did not find a better deal, I had no other choice, I booked my tickets.

Days went and I was to leave the next day, so i had to check the status, it was at WL 18. Cool, by the time the chart gets prepared I will atleast get a RAC seat, I slept peacefully that night. D day, 2 hours before the start I checked the status, by then the chart was prepared and I was eager to find my coach... surprise !!! status still WL 18. No change. How could it be, I could not believe my eyes, How can this happen? I tried refereshing the page again and again, cleared the temporaray internet files and pages and tried again. Hmm... Things wont change just beacuas I try again and again, I had to accept my situation. But wait.... How can I manage 24 hours inside the train without a seat for me to even sit? No ways. Just then I decided to stop bothoring my brain and start following my heart. Ha Ha.... how can it have any another thought than going home to experience once again... my own hometown...my own family.. my own friends.. my own places where I have spent the best of my life..... Thats enough I am going. I do not have the ticket confirmed, When I have My will with me, what should I be worried about. I stopped thinking... about the ticket... about 24 hours... about sleep... about a place to sit... about the checks... So I started peacefully from my office, with no much tension I reached the station... waited for some time.. the train arrived and I got in to one on the reserved coaches. To my luck all the coaches were fully loaded... peak season. I was finding difficult to find a place to stand even... gr888... I just knew I am going to have the fun of my life... I was actually laughing, I am going to experience something which I have never experienced before... I was filled with thrill, eagerly awaiting for the next minute to see what it holds for me. The Journey just started, A Happy Journey hopefully.

I found a place to put my legs just besides the door, thankfully I normally do not carry heavy luggage with me. Well, What next, what am I going to do. I started to look here there and everywhere..... at people... at empty seats... at the poor people standing besides me in the same situation as I am. Seeing some of them I felt I am far lucky enough, they were carrying loads of luggages. hooh... I can not even thingk of. how are they going to manage. Anyways not my headache. Just then a good looking beautiful girl got in (he he) and occupied the seat just besides the door just opposite to where I was standing. And within few minutes a few more than a couple of eye contacts accidentally happened with her. My luck was just getting better... Isn't it... ofcourse, It would have been if I was still in my college days wandering wihtout anything in mind. But now many things have changed. I have many other things to think about... I have a comitted job... I have my family whom I have to hold... persons who rely on me... persons who trust me and who need me... I am already occupied with many more things in life and committed to many more things. I have to move on, she can not hold me. By that time the crowd in that coach was growing and I decided to go away from there to look for a better place, atleat a bit lesser crowd. I went wandering indise here and there and found a place for me to stand in one of the other coaches, this time too.. near the door, but wait no good looking girls near by. You know that Doesn't matter for me now. Not only with me, this would be the same with many of the just started working youngsters today who were wandering like a free bird in their college days a few years back.

Nearby i found a family with a couple of kids and they were not occupying the upper births. I have a chance to sit for sometime till the night falls. But I was reluctant to ask them, I was not sure if they will allow me. I was bit too reluctant to give away. Then I asked to myself, what if they dont accept.... I am not going to loose anything. What if they accept, yes... a bulb was glowing above my head. What is there in trying what I can so that I will not regret for it later. He he... I just did and i got a place to sit and relax for some time.

When u r relaxed u start thinking about all the wanted and unwanted things and the same just happened with me. I started thinking about something which was not going my way and it was over occupying my mind and I was stuck to think of anything else. I know I had to come out of it but I was not able to . I know whatever happened and whatever will happen is not in my hands and I can not do anything to change something which is not in my hands. I felt like crying, I went to the wash room... cried as much as possible... when I came out... I felt realy good. The thing which was occpuying me looked different to me now. I felt light. Not only laughter... even cying does gets out of all the pain and stress. I did realize it. I was back to the seat with a fresh free mind.

I was just wondering at a little cute kid just sitting opposite to me. The kid's mother was having a small quarell with the fellow passenger and this kid was shouting at her mother "Why are you fighting, stop it". kids are more mature than the grown ups... seems so they dont worry about anything. The other cute kid was playing and having fun and was enjoying... the kid was playing with nothing ... actually nothing.... there was no one awake around, nor there was any toy, the kid was playing with just a iron rod to prevent him fall down. Hmm... How good it would have been if I had never grown up this big and remained as a kid... playing with everything I can... not worrying about anything which i get or which i do not get... with no worries... with no pain... with no pressure... with no limits.... with no fear... with no commitments... with no wishes... will that ever happen again in my life? see again i am wishing for something.... This can never happen, I have to convince myself, I have travelled a bit too far from my childhood, but still I can go back. I have to just make up my mind to go back and when I have my will with me I need not care about anything else. After all I do what I think and what I want, why cant I think to do something which can make me feel better, I know I can, everyone can. Just that the first barrier of making up the mind to do what the heart feels needs to be crossed and when it is done the world is a playground. Winning and loosing doesn't matter when it comes to a game, all it matter is how much I have enjoyed the game. Thats what exactly I am going to do, atleast I will try to do.

It was night and I had to leave the seat, I has no other place to sit than at the door steps, I did not have a second though I went and sat there. I could see a beautiful view oustide.. It was midnight... wonderful breeze... bright moon.... snow white clouds playing hide and seek with the moon and the stars... just the music of the raging train was audible and nothing else. I had never experienced something like this before, so pleasing... so beautiful... so fresh... so new... gr8 I am happy I did not get a confimed ticked, I would have missed all these for for just sleeping comfortabley in my birth. There is a good in everything. After a while i felt very sleepy and just besides the door I started sleeping. A thought came in to my mind just then, A software enginner earning so much sleeping like this like a no commentable guy, cant even think of it , But wait why should I think... This one is all I have right now and where would I have been if I was actually not who I am and just like one other un-commentable poor chap who was not previleged enough to get the facitlites which I have got in my life, I would have been sleeping at the same place only. Hmm thats absolutely right. It was just about making up the mind, It was just about accepting the actual truth. I am not the owner of whatever I am holding right now, I am just using them... so why should I consider myself big about something which came to me from nowherere and nothing, May be a bit of my efforts which I was previleged enough to use them properly, I did not do anything special to feel big. So I did sleep there peacefully for sometime. Later a person offered his seat as he got up and I had a seat at last to sleep, but there was no difference in feeling by heart, just a bit more physical comfort was there in this new seat and nothing else.

The night passed peacefully and so the day, I managed almost around 24 hours with nothing in hands but just with the will to reach my native as I wanted. It was time for me to get down at my native, a very small town which people would not have heard of. Not many people will get down here. I was happy to get down and I am there as I wanted at the time I wanted to be there.

I just took a few steps forward to go out of the station and surprise !!!! that girl, that good looking beautiful girl whom I saw when I got in to the train was walking in front of me. I had to believe what I was seeing, may be this is her native too. I continued to walk my way, she was just another girl I met in my daily life. Is this called life?... Where Interest keeps changing as the life moves on... the things which interested me the most once upon a time now seemed to be of very less significance. Actually nothing has changed, but only the way I am thinking. So, Why can't I think of what,where and how I want to be? I know I can.

What should I be worried about when I know I am responsible for whatever happening to me. What I think is what I am ... and... I am what I want to be. This is my life and I am going to live it my own way. Who on earth has the right to question me? except myself any my conscience!

I do believe in GOD. But...

2007-04-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

GOD...
I used to wonder who this Person is. But before I could find out myself I was told that this is the person who created the world, who created life, who created you, who created me, who created everything and controls everything. I could not belive... this world is so big, how did this single person manage to create this big world, these many people, these many wonderful things around me. I dont know anything about this person, I dont even know the gender of this person who knows everything. How does he manage these many people, how does he punish or reward good and bad, how good he his to give me everything even without asking for it, how bad he is in not giving me what I wanted. The list of incredible things about this person kept increasing in my diary and I had no other choice to leave everything to him. My God will take care of me. He will take care of me.
Later, by his mercy when I was able to use little part of my brain, I used to think.. Hmm... One of my friend says his god is Jesus and he is powerful, the other one says his god is Allah and he is more powerful. If some one asks me "Who is your God"... oh my God, what will I answer, I have so many gods in my religion, which one should I choose to answer. Before answering the question, I have to decide myself who is powerful among all the gods in my religion. Oops I am stuck. But sooner I was taught that there is only one GOD and people use their own names to call him. But that still raised an unanswered question "If there is only one god, then why is there a fight to find out who is powerful"
Days went on. I used to go to him for everything I wanted and which I didnt wanted. But soon too many questions came in to my mind which could anger my parents but i couldn't resist asking them. If god knows everything and can control everything, why are there bad people, why can't he make everyone good. why is there poverty, why can't he make everyone rich. Why are people dying of hunger, why can't he give food for everyone. Why are people fighting with each other, why cant he make them love each other. There were too many questions. and i had no problems in finding out answers for each one of them. But even after finding out answers for all the possible questions which came to my mind about God, I am not able to figure out who exactly he is.
One day i found him out from nowhere, I decided to test him to find out if he is the real god or the real god is somewhere else. I could see myself that if he decides he can create anything or destroy anything, he is more powerful than anything else, he can make me feel rich, he can make feel poor, he can me love others, he can make me good or bad, he can make me help others, he can make me others rich, he can make me what i want, he can punish me for all my faults, he can encourage me for all the things which I wish for, he can help me come out of my difficult situations, he can apprecaite me when I did something good, he can give me strength when I need it, he can give me life when I lost it, he can walk with me for the entire life of mine, he can make my life as beautiful as love. He knows everything about me and I can not hide anything from him, even if I mange to hide it from anyone else. He knows me well even when I am not in my sense. He knows everything I do and will punish me or reward me for sure for my actions. But just that I have to trust him for whatever he says and he used to tell me the truth always. I thought this is enough and if I still dont start believing in him after these many proofs I wont believe in anything in this world. So atlast I was convinced that someone named GOD is there who knows everthing and who can control everything. I started believing in the GOD whom I found out. This person with the name of GOD...was with me always... is with everyone...is everywhere... it is just that I had to accept him and trust him. Its hard to belive and accpet simple things in life that we tend to make them complex and that was what exactly happened with me. I was searching for GOD everywhere thinking he is someone who is difficult to find out and will be visible only for the deserved ones. But I managed to find him and accept him. Yes I could see him everywhere, in everyting, in every person around me, in every good thing around me, in you, in me.
Now, I do belive in GOD. But I have a different name for my god,
I call him conscience!