Alexandria

Fill every available space in a car! 

Alexandria Library

King Farouk's Palace  

Ahmed our driver for today picks us up at 8 am after taking “Mr Tom” to school, he’s taking us to Alexandria today. The journey will take 3 hours and we are kept entertained by the egyptian driving, sofas being transported on bikes, men travelling along the motorway in the open boot of a car, men travelling to work on the back of open flat bed trucks or horse and carts travelling the wrong way along the carriageway. Ahmed keeps us informed what we are passing and what some signs mean. It’s interesting to talk to an ordinary Egyptian about daily life, politics and his aspiration. Once we reach the outskirts of Alexandria the traffic builds and progress again slows until we pull up outside our first stop The Alexandria Bibliotec, the biggest in the world. It is impressive a huge sloping roof covering a vast hall with central steps leading down through the centre. When we look back we can see blue and green coloured glass strips set into the roof all glittering in the sunshine.Our next stop is Montaza Palace Gardens and. King Farouk's  Palace. We can only walk round the outside of the palace peering through the railings. Our final stop is The Citadel reached by driving along the Corniche and over Stanley Bridge. We are the only white people there and certainly the only people in shorts through out Alexandria. The Citadel is wonderfully preserved and restored and from the walls has amazing views of the bay which is vast and from one tip to the other lined by tall buildings.

A lot of the buildings along the bay of Alexandria are extremely dilapidated. The plasterwork is falling off, balconies often broken or missing, patio doors that open onto fresh air. The apartments are obviously occupied but look like death traps.

Alexandria bay and fort

Meal at "The Tap"

I must admit the journey back passes me by as I fall asleep in the car only waking briefly at the speed bumps that seem to be randomly placed. After a quick shower and change we set off with Tom for The Tap in New Cairo City an area that isn’t a dry city so we can all have a beer while we eat and watch the Arsenal game. And so to bed

Flight to Egypt

Dave & Jan at Birmingham Airport

There’s someone singing in the room, oh I know why, it’s 3 am and we’re going to Cairo to see Tom. By 3.30 am we’re on our way to Birmingham airport soon checked in and waiting for the gate to be announced. Our flight to Cairo is not direct we go via Frankfurt. No sooner has the flight taken off than we’re being given pecan pastries and coffee by stewardesses and then the flight is landing. Now the fun begins! We only have an hour till our next flight and this time is being whittled away by the non arrival of steps. When we’re finally released from the flight we march smartly through the airport following signs for flight transfers and specifically B32, it’s miles of corridors up steps down steps a mono rail and finally a dead end at a security check point. We have to go through security which seems to be taking ages before finally running to find gate B32, we arrive there breathless just in time before they shut the gate. A long coach drive across the airport tarmac before we finally reach the plane only to be told the flight is delayed as 15 people checked in for the flight but haven’t made the flight! “no wonder” I say but on the bright side there are 15 people slower than Dave and I.

The rest of the flight and journey goes smoothly and at last we’re about to walk out of the airport into a sea of taxi drivers who look like paparazzi, oh to be famous. Ahmed our driver meets us with a large sign saying "MORSE" which helps us identify him, but unfortunately for him, as Morsi the deposed President, was to say the least unpopular, he had many suspicious looks from fellow taxi drivers holding up that sign until we arrived. He drives us to Al Rehab and our apartment home for the next 10 days. We are met by the owners who don't speak much English but do their best to show us around and explain everything. Fortunately Ahmed, who is Tom's regular driver helps out with translation. The apartment is very Egyptian and spacious with 3 balconies and beautifully cool. Tom has also kindly stocked up the Apartment with essentials, including beer and wine, as Al Rehab is a dry city this may come in useful.

Tom, Dave & Jan at City Square, Al Rehab

We catch up with Tom before setting out with him as tour guide to show us Al Rehab, the mall, the food court, the souk and city square before we eat at a local restaurant, El Dehany. A lovely meal of traditional Egyptian tajin and stuffed vegetables before walking back to the apartment and collapsing in bed...

La Orotava

I've wanted to come to the Corpus Christi celebrations here in La Orotava for several years now and after a mistake in the date last week, we've finally made it.

The town is gently humming with anticipation and preparation is going on everywhere. The streets are being swept, no parking barriers erected, pop up bars set up, lawns receiving their final trim and the flowers dead headed so they look their best. We enjoy a relaxed tapas lunch in La Duquesa bar in front of the Inglesia de la Concepcion. As we enjoy Ropa Veijo and red wine we watch a floral display being made from carnations in the shadow of the church. A trip inside the church late reveals this was only a tiny part of the stunning floral arrangements.

After checking into the beautiful Hotel Rural Victoria, all old Spanish wood, galleried walkways and an enclosed courtyard, we stroll to the town hall. This year's "sand carpet" has the theme of mercy. The design and size are amazing and best viewed from upstairs in the town hall. We stand on the balcony, speechless trying to take in the details of the picture in front of us. As we walk back through the Town Hall we're equally impressed with the lovely Spanish building, the Victoria Gardens beyond have been manicured to perfection.

After a fiesta in the hotel we join the crowds, perambulating in their finest and it appears tightest most blingy clothes, stumbling across a wine tasting/tapas fiesta with Spanish salsa music. The crowd is a happy mix of babes in arms to old folk walking with sticks, all enjoying fiesta.

Sandstorm

It’s so dusty when we first open the curtains this morning we can’t see the other side of the marina, not what we’d hoped for. The plans we had for today have to be changed, no point sightseeing in a sandstorm when you can only see 200meters away. To occupy the morning we walk to the marina mall, the air is thick with sand so we’re forced to cover our nose and mouths with tissues. By the time we get there our skin is carrying a film of dust. The meander around the mall is pleasant in such a spacious, marble clad and air-conditioned environment. By lunch time the sandstorm is just beginning to show signs of abating, we move on to the food court and purchase a kebab sandwich each. After this we can’t shop etc in the mall any longer, a dust walk back leaving us looking like something out of Lawrence of Arabia. By evening time the air has cleared, the rest of the marina has reappeared, a Lebanese restaurant has seduced us tonight and the food is certainly good, vine leaves and cheese to start followed by lamb koftas and chicken kebab with a salad. However, the service was more of the Basil Fawlty style so instead of lingering we leave quickly and head for the Yacht Club for a final drink.

Malls, Burj's and Fountains

After a much needed night’s sleep, it’s time to hit the beach, the hotel shuttle bus takes 15 minutes to get there not because of distance but due to road development works. The beach, like the rest of Dubai is broad and flat golden sand with a calm waveless sea, perfect for swimming. To one side of the beach there are some vast building works and on the other side the edge of the Jumeriah Palm can be seen with speed boats going in all directions out to sea and sea planes landing and taking off. The beach is busy, but not overcrowded and always with plenty to look at. We set off in plenty time to catch the shuttle bus back to The Pearl Marina Hotel as we haven’t really got our bearings yet and I really don’t want a long walk!

For the afternoon we’ve decided to go to The Dubai Mall so suitably cleaned up and dressed we set off to find the metro. The entrance to the metro – which runs high above the 7 lane motorway – is very futuristic and grand. It’s easy to buy tickets and find our way around, the ride to the Dubai Mall gives us a great view of the expanse of Dubai, it’s impressive. Now the walk to the Mall from the station is via air-conditioned walkways and goes on for miles with travellators covering much of the distance!!! Then there’s the Mall, shopping heaven for many vast, glitzy, impressive but that’s not really why we’ve come here. First stop the Aquarium and Under Water Zoo. The tank is visible from the shopping centre and at first we’re underwhelmed, yes the tunnel through the Aquarium is impressive with 18cm thick glass and Tiger Sand Sharks and Rays swimming round you but it can be seen from the outside. We’re directed up 2 escalators to the Zoo and this is amazing, lots of great displays (some a little small for big animals) and high level walkway. Now for the second and third stops, The Dubai Fountains and The Burj Khalifa, we’ve decided not to pay extortionate amounts to go up the Burj as it is not clear today and the amount we would see would be limited. There are huge crowds of people round the lake waiting for the lights and music display that happens each night every half hour, we are just in time. The display starts and is amazing all with the backdrop of the Burj complete with flashing lights. The Burj is so tall you almost have to lie down to take a full picture of it. The whole are is awe inspiring. A short meander through the Dubai Souk which in itself is amazing and then back to see another display of  lights and music, this time at night, wow!

The walk back to the metro takes 40minutes! And so to our evening meal at a local restaurant recommended by a local. The restaurant is a vegetarian Indian and the food is incredible,  salad & poppadum’s to start, garlic & vegetable rice with Kadai Paneer Punjabi, Channa Marsala and butter nan and to finish fresh fruit. We finish the day with a drink at the Nell Gwynne pub within the Marina Byblos Hotel, very bizarrely British except for the smoking inside. The attraction of course was a live band and true to form they do 3 numbers before taking a break, our timing has not improved during our travels!

Dubai First Impressions

Such an early morning start today to catch the flight to Dubai, the taxi ride takes us past the herd of cows sleeping near the main village, in the middle of the road of course and on to the airport. There’s mist around this morning and as soon as we take off Hong Kong disappears. The arrival into Dubai couldn’t be more different, a vast flat, sandy landscape with a dust haze stretching into the distance making everything hazy and somehow secretive. We’re met at the airport and start the journey to the hotel in a luxurious car. The driver does his best to point out the sights as we travel along but frankly we’re just amazed at the size of the roads, 7 lanes each way on the main motorway only going down to 1 lane just as we reach the hotel. There are cranes and building work everywhere, no sign now of a global crisis here.

The hotel is in a great position at one end of the marina so we can see both the marina and through the other buildings the sea, it is air-conditioned luxury. We set off to discover the marina area, it boasts 7Km of waterside walkways plus numerous shops and restaurants. To be honest at first everything looks to be either under construction or closed for renovation, an area in its infancy but as we walk we begin to find places that are open, they’re just hidden inside vast buildings accessed by a discrete door. We pass the yacht club and find the Dubai Marina Mall with all the glitzy shops. From here we discover Pier 7, a huge round tower like building overlooking the marina. Each floor is one restaurant some funky urban spaces, some very dark, another very modern, we decide to come back tonight to try one of these. A walk back to the hotel makes us realise we’re hungry now so a quick snack and a refreshing drink at Angelo’s sorts that out.

The restaurant we decide on is on the 4^th floor, a choice made mainly due to very loud thumping music coming from 3 of the others, it’s only as we go into “Scene” that we realise it’s Simon Rimmer’s restaurant. We join the small queue at the desk to ask for a table, there appears to be 2 young ladies and they’re both busy. “Can I help you?” says a male voice, it appears that Dubai has speaking reception desks! Not sure how to respond we look at each other, the voice repeats the question “Can I help you?” and a head appears round the side of the desk at about hip height. “Could we have a table for 2 please?” “Of course, this way”. What appeared to be someone on his knees turns out to be a dwarf, who leads us to a table talking as he goes. Now it’s very difficult to hear someone talking away from you, over loud music and 3 feet below you, do you crouch down and ask him to repeat all that or smile politely and hope this is the right response, being British we do the latter. The restaurant is a funky mix of distressed mis-matched furniture, low lighting and beano wallpaper! The view of the marina is amazing and the food is pretty good too, slow roast lamb, crispy leek, mushroom and  smoked cheese pancake followed by sticky toffee pudding to die for, yummie….

Richmond and Aberdeen

We have a slow leisurely start to the morning with breakfast on the gorgeous rooftop terrace before driving to HK across the bridges that join Lantau to HK. The drive takes us over the mountains of Lantau through the cloud and down the other side towards the airport. We meet a wild water buffalo on the way ambling its way up the road, they along with some cattle have been released in the National Park and are free to roam where they like. The drive across the bridges is amazing, past the huge container port with vast cranes and 1000’s of containers waiting to be moved. On past the high rise buildings of HK and looking out over the sea to Kowloon and on to the road to Richmond. We get a fleeting glimpse of Happy Valley where the horse racing happens – this is a national sport and there’s meetings every week. The road continues to climb past Ocean World where the rides are set high on the mountain cliff edge for maximum scream value and the sweeping down towards Richmond. We pass tall skyscraper blocks with huge empty spaces in the middle, for the dragon to fly down the mountain to the sea in the morning and back up to the mountain at night.

At Richmond Steph and Gary guide us through the shopping mall and down to the promenade by the sea, it’s a place for posing in cars and walking your dog, the Porsche and Morgan cars passing us reinforce this impression. The Pickled Pelican is the place for lunch and upstairs by the windows offers great views of the bay and surrounding mountains. Of course it has to be fish for lunch, fish and chips and a salmon salad. Afterwards the exploration continues to a small market area which opens out onto the area’s one remaining beach. It’s really quite small backed by beautiful old beach houses and with an Indian almond tree overhanging the beach framing the view of silver sand, sea and islands, only one word for this gorgeous.

Our day trip is only halfway through, we continue on to Aberdeen, an old harbour area that’s great to explore by boat. The sampan is expertly steered by the lady owner, weaving us in and out of the moored and moving boats. There’s houseboats laden with people’s lives, small fishing boats, large fishing boats for deeper sea fishing, new expensive gin palaces, traditional boat building on the banks, the problem is not what to see but where to look next. The tour ends all too soon, but there’s more to discover as we land at Jumbo’s Floating Restaurant in the middle of the harbour. It’s hard to put its impression into words, huge, colourful, ornate all apply but none are adequate, there’s 2 huge golden dragons at the main entrance chasing the golden pearl of wisdom the endlessly rotates in a stream of water just out of their reach, there’s the phoenix on either side of them and ornate carvings painted in every colour covering every spare inch of space. The boys go off to explore the Tai Pak restaurant that’s closed for renovations, though it looks like nothing will be happening too soon, while us girls investigate the live fish tanks and pictures of the rich and famous visiting the restaurant in the past.

The inside of Jumbo is just as opulent and impressive, the double sweeping staircase paved in marble, the ornate lighting and huge colourful Chinese wall friezes are amazing. And then when we reach the 3^rd floor the huge dining room opens out before us and once more luck is with us we have the last table by the window and settle down to enjoy a Cantonese banquet. It’s arranged differently to banquets Dave and I have had in the past, the most prestigious food being served first – crispy suckling pig, crispy duck skin and pancakes, followed by steamed prawns, prawn, celery and cashew nut followed at the very end by special fried rice to fill us up – as if we have any room left! It’s a meal to linger over and savour before taking the ferry back to Aberdeen central.

The drive back to Lantau is almost in silence, saying goodbye to so many places and sights we’ve seen, a little sad but I’m sure we’ll be back after all Gary and Steph have come up with so many more great ideas for days out and places to visit a further 2 weeks might not be enough! We really can’t thank our excellent hosts enough for their warm welcome, time and enthusiasm to help us discover the real Hong Kong, where East meets West and the rich and poor rub along together on different paths. Meeting and reconnecting with old friends is great, discovering new deeper friendships is equally great, thanks Gary, Steph and of course Wilson.