Jodhpur

Where we stayed - Devi Bhawan

Meherangarh Fort

After our mammoth train journey we were glad to finally arrive in Jodhpur. Unfortunately for us, the tuk tuk driver we got at the train station took us to a hotel of his choice rather than the place we had pre-booked. This dude was a friggin' egg and I could have seriously kicked his ass! Grrrrr...! These mongrel tuk tuk drivers blatantly ignore your destination request and take you to a hotel that will give them commission if you stay there. It's bloody ridiculous!

Jaswant Thada

Once we figured out what was going on, we grabbed our backpacks (and the kids) and shot the driver some seriously evil looks, while muttering swear words under our breath, before setting off to find another driver to take us to our hotel.

Umaid Bhawan Palce

Our hotel was divine. It had great staff, huge beautiful rooms, wonderfully tendered gardens and a huge swimming pool area. It was perfect!

What the best curry in the world looks like...

When we could bear to tear ourselves away from the hotels swimming pool, we went and visited Jodhpur's beautiful Meherangarh Fort, Jaswant Thada and Umaid Bhawan Palace. We also went to lunch at a fabulous restaurant called 'On the Rocks', when Alain and I both had the best curries of our lives. OMG, they were delicious!!

Jodhpur - The Blue City

Staff at 'On the Rocks'

Class photo at the Fort

Dallas' new friend at the Palace

Mumbai

Where we stayed - Hotel Suba Palace

We literally didn't do anything in the 3 days we had allocated to Bombay, Dallas got a bad case of jet lag and spent 2 days recovering. We did however get to know the room service attendants from our hotel pretty well...


From Mumbai we caught the overnight train up to Jodhpur. It is only 930km from Mumbai to Jodhpur, but it took just over 18 hours to get there. Thankfully we were in one of the 2nd class sleeper carriages, so at least we had beds and managed to get a few hours sleep.

We passed some quite pretty scenery along the way, but the most striking thing you notice is how much poverty there is here. Families live right next to the train tracks in makeshift housing, which is surrounded by mountains of rubbish. The kids play in puddles of filthy water, whilst dogs and cows scavenge around them... It's an extraordinary sight, and one that I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing. The poverty is just so 'in your face' it's quite startling.

Cairo

Where we stayed - Sara Inn Hostel

Several people we'd come across during our time in Egypt warned us to be prepared for Cairo. They told us their horror stories of the city, stating it was really polluted and the touts were super pushy, Alain and I however really enjoyed Cairo, we took an instantly liking to it. Yes, it is pretty grotty and the air quality is really poor, but Cairo is still charming nonetheless.


Obviously, we took a trip out to the beautiful grand old pyramids... They're amazing and should be on every ones 'must see' list.


No trip to Egypt would be complete without a visit to the Egyptian Museum. This place is literally overflowing with ancient relics and the collection is pretty astonishing actually. By far the most interesting displays were the Royal Mummies and Tutankhamen's burial mask, coffins and the loot from his tomb.

Aswan

Where we stayed - Keylany Hotel


From Luxor we caught the train down to Aswan... for free! We tried to buy tickets at Luxor train station, but they told us just to purchase them aboarded the train. So, we hopped on the train and waited for the ticketman to come, and well... he just didn't appear. We thought perhaps we'd have to pay upon arrival at Aswan, but nope, noone even asked, so we just waltz out of the station after a 3 hour train trip... Choice!!!


Aswan is a lovely city, it is a total contrast to Luxor. You can walk down the souq without every Tom, Dick and Harry harrassing you, which was a pleasent surprise. The Nile is also spectatular here, it's so wide and moves swiftly, and its actually pretty clean.


We booked onto one of the early morning trips down to Abu Simbel. The minibus picked us up at 3.15am, so we could join the 4am convoy down to the site. It was well worth it too. Abu Simbel is amazing and definitely worth the effort to get down too.

Luxor

Where we stayed - El-Gizera Gardens


Luxor was a bit of a shock to the system after Dahab. The touts here are so aggressive and persistent, they really do get on your nerves. They follow you constantly and vigorously try to get you to buy whatever it is they are trying to sell, it's annoying to say the least... If Luxor didn't have the touts, it probably would be a nice place to visit...


We visited the beautiful Luxor Temple, Karnak and the Valley of Kings. Valley of Kings was definitely the highlight of Luxor for us, we really enjoyed visiting the tombs, especially the tomb of Ramses V and VI, it was beautiful.

Dahab

Where we stayed - Seaview Hotel


Dahab is a funky little town nestled on the Gulf of Aqaba coast, it's best known for it's excellent scuba diving/snorkeling and it's chilled out relaxed atmosphere. It has a promenade which runs along the coast and it is lined with restaurants and bars which have really cool lounging areas. Its the perfect place unwind after a long day at the beach with an ice cold beer... We loved it here!


We originally planned to stay at the Penguin Village, but after a quick stroll down the promenade we found a hotel with a swimming pool and much better rooms for cheaper, so of course we moved... The kids befriended a little French girl at the hotel and had loads of fun playing with her.


We took a trip out to the Blue Hole for a bit of snorkeling. It was my first time, so I was pretty bloody nervous... It was beautiful though and it's totally like another world down there. The reef was so colourful and the variety of fish was just amazing, we even found Nemo!


If you ever find yourself in Egypt, be sure to make your way to Dahab.

Tel Aviv

Where we stayed - Hayarkon 48 Hostel

It was a very welcome breath of fresh air to finally arrive in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv appears to be everything that Jerusalem isn't. It's modern, it's young and it certainly isn't conservative! It has beautiful long white sandy beaches packed full of people tanning their bodies with the smallest amount of swimming costumes on as possible and it is also home to the most expensive McDonalds we've ever had (AU$50 for 2 happy meals and 2 combos).

We spent our days in Tel Aviv at the beach, swimming the the warm Mediterranean sea and playing in the sand. It was a lovely break from the monotony of travelling and the kids had a great time just chillin' out.

From Tel Aviv we headed south to Eilat. We spend the night in this uber expensive resort town before crossing the border into Egypt.