Spring was here...

It’s freezing today which is disappointing since it's been very Spring-like the last few weeks. Well ok it's not literally freezing but it is definitely quite cold outside. Plus we are in the process of having the central heating boiler replaced we’ve been without heating and hot water for 24 hours now and the house has cooled down significantly. So I thought that I’d try to warm up with some photos I took earlier this week. The first snow drops I've seen this year.
A tree. I like the way the sun lights it up.
I've been thinking of this photo for weeks now...every time I walk through the park and while I'm quite happy with this shot I think I need to take the bigger camera down there and do it properly...and without the guy on the bike!

But there was more...

Egypt wasn’t all tombs, temples and pyramids tho. There were heaps of other things going on. The Nile was an amazing river, full of life and activity. The countryside was beautiful, the towns were full of life, the food was gorgeous (we ate so much!), the culture was exciting and the people so, so friendly.

We spent a day just wandering around the Khan al-Khalili market in Cairo. It’s massive and has different sections to it. We bought spices (hibiscus tea…yum) and some touristy trinkets, scarves and the obligatory shot glasses for the collection.
Mostly it was just great to walk around. People calling out, colorful scarves and clothing fluttering about and everywhere you looked something new to stare at.
The Mosques were extremely beautiful both inside and out. The call to prayers which we heard at various times immediately evoked a feeling that you were somewhere different. Somewhere exotic and gave the cities an amazing atmosphere. The Felucca ride along the Nile was one of the most relaxing things we’ve ever done. Drifting along with the wind and the sound of the waves lapping up against the boat…lovely!
Gorgeous scenery of contrasting environments. A ribbon of green farmland hugging the Nile and surrounded by the red and tan sands of the desert. Hmm that was nicely poetic!!And of course the donkeys. They were everywhere…even in the middle of Cairo! Carrying massive loads on their backs or pulling carts piled incredibly high. Gotta love the donkeys!

Finally.....some knitting!

It feels like forever since I spoke about knitting but strangely it just hasn’t been a priority so far this year. I think that after all the frantic Christmas knitting I needed to take a break. Plus I’ve had no projects lined up after my Le Slouch hat.
In fact inspiration didn’t grab me until I ventured into the LYS on a completely unrelated mission and found a new Sirdar yarn called Juniper displayed on their wall. I went back the next day and bought the yarn in the Ginger colour and a pattern (8969) for a jumper.

It’s for me. I don’t have enough confidence in my abilities yet to knit something so big and fitted for anyone else. The best thing about this yarn is that it’s chunky and knitted on 7mm needles which means that even though I’ve only been working on it for a week I’ve already got the back finished and the front is ¾ done too! I should (fingers crossed, touch wood etc) be wearing it by the end of the month. It’ll be the quickest ‘large’ project yet!

Above is the front. Very nearly done as you can see.
This is the back....just waiting for me to pick up the stitches and knit the rib around the neckline.
The usual arty shot of the wool.
And another arty shot....cause you know I can't resist getting all arty with wool!!!

Where I am very happy with myself!

Ok I could go on and on about Egypt and I might later in the week but for now I’m too excited about other stuff. Like the goals and resolutions we all set for ourselves at the start of the year. Two months in and how many of you have forgotten them already? A few of mine have quietly faded away but I’m rather pleased with myself as yesterday I ticked one off my list!I can make sushi!!!!! Yesterday afternoon I attended a sushi course and surprised myself with how easy it is…once you know how!

There are quite a number of sushi places in Brighton but the one I pass by regularly is called "Okinami" and they frequently have a board out on the footpath advertising their lessons. So Sunday I went along and it was great!

We learnt how to make the sushi rice, how to shape the rice and how to roll with the mats. We made Inari, Nigiri, Temaki, Maki rolls and California rolls.
An arty shot of the sushi...
Another arty shot of the sushi that I made.

Yes I am rather happy with myself at the moment! Just wait...I'm sure I'll do something stupid to repair the balance any minute now!!

What lies beneath

The Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens were two of the most impressive places we visited. To get in the complex’s themselves you had to run the usual gauntlet of stalls selling touristy junk and within the complex’s the crowds made getting around hard. But to see…to actually go down into these tombs and to see the vivid colors still on the walls, to contrast the unfinished caverns with the mirror smooth corridors and to comprehend the amount of work that went into covering every available space with carvings, both stories of life and assistance for the afterlife, was truly awe inspiring.

The valley is all rocks and stone and cliff edges. It’s remote, dry and very dusty. It’s overlooked by the pyramid-like mountain peak of Al-Qurn.

The entrance to the tomb of Ramses 4th (KV2). All the entrances were equally unassuming. Just holes in the ground with no hint of what lies beneath.

The entrance to the tomb of Ramses 9th (KV6). The entrances and corridors were much bigger than I thought they would be. Not like the Pyramids at all. All the corridors and chambers were covered in carvings and paintings, much of which looked as vivid as if they were new.

Digging out the entrance to another tomb. To see the amount of effort it takes just to excavate a tomb puts things into perspective when you try to imagine the scale of work involved in carving a tomb out of the mountain side. I doubt there's any one person today who could inspire so many people to work so hard.

By comparison the Valley of the Queens (above) was dead (excuse the pun!) We were pretty much the only people there, which although nice, made us fair game for the tomb guides who followed us into the tombs explaining the hieroglyphs and holding out their hands for baksheesh!!

Gateways to the Afterlife

The pyramids have to be one of the main reasons I wanted to go to Egypt. Who wouldn’t want to look at the only remaining survivor of the Seven Wonders of the World! They were definitely one of the highlights of the trip and I feel really privileged to have been able to see them. Still have to keep pinching myself!
We also went to the sound and light show that goes on at night. It was very touristy but it did gave us time to sit and take it all in...ponder the meaning of live and think about the enormity of these monuments!
Saqqara is the massive cemetery complex of Memphis which was the capital of Egypt for much of the Pharaonic period. It was actively used by Pharaohs and other important people for more than 3500 years. The Step Pyramid (photo above) is the earliest stone monument in the world, built in 2650 BC. Before this tombs were underground rooms covered in a mudbrick slab or 'mastaba'.
This pyramid belongs to Zoser and was designed and build by his chief architect, Imhotep, who developed the mastaba style tombs upwards and built them out of stone to deter grave robbers.
So this is basically the forerunner to the pyramids. Perhaps that’s a bit too much info for a blog but I thought it was worth sharing.

Although there are many other pyramids in Egypt the ones at Giza are the most well known and live up to the hype that surrounds them. They are Massive and awe inspiring and amazing and unbelievable and very surreal. Although there is a bit of space around them the city is quite close and that does add a touch of the strange to it all.

The oldest is the Great Pyramid of Khufu (above) which used to stand 146m high (now shorter by 9m) and it’s reckoned that it was built with 2.3million limestone blocks…weighing on average 2.5 tonnes each.

The Great Pyramid in front with the Pyramid of Khafre behind. Near the right corner you can see a person which gives some perspective on the size of the blocks used.

The Pyramid of Khafre stands at 136m high and is still capped with the limestone casing that all the pyramids would have been covered in. It gives you an idea of what they would have actually looked like when first completed.
We actually went into this one and it was not really a fun thing. Very hot inside and loads of people in a very small space. The tunnel in is very steep and even I had to bend double so as not to hit my head. The sarcophagus is still there but there is little decoration on the walls. I would not recommend going inside to those who even think that maybe one day they might be claustrophobic.

And this is a camel that was camera shy. I waited for ages but it wouldn’t turn around!!

No Hassle Free

Well we are home and things are returning to normal now. Although the trip to Egypt was short I can honestly say that its effect and memory will be lasting. The place, the culture, the people….they get right under your skin.

As I said in my last post we started in Cairo and spent our first day pinching ourselves as we stood in front of the pyramids. I still can’t quite grasp that I’ve seen them. I wish we had of had time to go back again because it all seems so surreal now. They are massive beyond anything I expected and that’s on a physical, mental and spiritual level.

We also visited the Cairo Museum which is stuffed full of amazing things, not least of which are the items from the tomb of Tutankhamun. We wandered around old Cairo, visited synagogue and church and mosque, did a little shopping, ate some fantastic food and generally walked around with our mouths and our eyes wide open in amazement!

We took an overnight train to Aswan. I shall only say this about the train…if you can organize it…fly instead. Aswan was a different world. Admittedly we were a little dazed after our train ride and very little sleep however after Cairo, Aswan was quiet, peaceful, brighter, cleaner and the Nile was blue. Here we visited the Philae temple complex, Abu Simbel, spent an afternoon on a Felucca, haggled our way through the market and wished we could reorganize the trip so we could stay longer!

But we had to keep moving and so we made our way to Luxor by way of the Kom Ombo and Edfu temples…both were amazing with vivid carvings covering every inch of their massive structures.Luxor was much more like Cairo than Aswan with more traffic and plenty of hassling. Whenever we passed by a shop people would appear out of nowhere calling, "Come look in my beautiful shop" and "Come look at my rubbish!" Horse and carriage drivers would walk slowly beside you on the street and taxi drivers would call out "Hey lucky man....you want to rent my taxi?” Luxor didn’t let up on the amazing though. With the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens and both Luxor and the Temples of Karnak we were kept in a constant state of “gob-smacked-ness”!!

It is possible for someone to get ‘templed-out’ and I’ve been there before but not this trip. In fact the more temples we saw the more information started to sink in and we were able to recognize hieroglyphs and what they meant or understand why things were built the way they were and get a taste of the culture back then. It's hard to equate the civilization that was with ruins that are left behind, but every now and then we'd turn a corner or come across a painting or carving that for a second would give you a glimpse of the sheer scale of what used to be. It just took your breath away.

After Luxor we, somewhat reluctantly, caught another overnight train to Cairo. This one was better than the first but it’s still a rough trip. Our last day was spent wandering around the Khan al-Khalili market…a great place to wander around. So many sights and sounds and colors, so much to buy, so many people trying to talk to you and get your attention. By now we were at ease with the aggressive nature of selling and this was one of the highlights of the trip. I love markets!

Egypt is a fascinating place so full of contrasts that it makes your head spin. The people are friendly, the sights are amazing and neither of us wanted to leave when our time was up. We only had a whirlwind tour of 8 days or so and it was nowhere near enough to see and do everything we wanted but what a brilliant ‘taster’. We’ve already decided that we are going back…tomorrow would be good for me!!

Over the next few days I’ll post some photos of the places we saw. As per usual we took quite a few photos and I’m still in the process of sorting them out….