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Sharon and Grant MacauleySharon and Grant Macauley
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traveled in 9 countries Read more Victoria, Canada
  • TravelerAfrica
    Day 44

    Camel Ride at Sunrise & Snorkeling

    November 13, 2019 in Jordan ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Up at 5:30, we left the Bedouin camp for a 45 minute camel ride. The camels were gentle and well taken care of. We rode for nearly an hour, stopping to watch the sun rise. Then we met up with the rest of our group that didn’t do the camel ride; a man from China in our group took the most amazing Photo of the sun rising with our camels silhouetted in the foreground on his cell phone! After settling at our hotel for a while, we did a 4 hour boat excursion with lots of snorkeling on the RED SEA!!! We saw amazing colours, shapes, sizes and varieties of fish, including two puffer fish and two lion fish. The coral was incredible with all shapes, colours and textures. One of the crew did some line fishing and Grant helped but no luck. They served a delicious BBQ lunch of chicken and fish with salad.Read more

  • TravelerAfrica
    Day 43

    4x4-ing in the desert to Bedoin tents

    November 12, 2019 in Jordan ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We went to Little Petra, a site close to where we were yesterday, and saw more tombs and temples. Then we drove to a Bedoin site for lunch and rode in the back of 4 x 4 trucks in the desert, for four hours. We stopped at a Bedoin tent where we learned about their marriage, saw the sunset while we drank tea made over a fire from the sticks we had gathered in the desert, and saw amazing expanses of sand and mountains erupting in colours and textures similar to Arches National Park. We ate dinner at a Bedoin camp: salads, vegetables and a combo of rice, chicken, goat and carrots, cooked underground for a few hours. It was a full moon, which was bright and illuminated the desert but meant we could not see many stars though we were fortunate to see one shooting star very clearly.Read more

  • TravelerAfrica
    Day 42

    Petra & Turkish Bath

    November 11, 2019 in Jordan ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Today we spent 8 hours at Petra, and walked about 18 km. It was extremely windy much of the time but not too hot. We walked along an old roadway that went through a slot canyon with much the same colors in the rocks as is found in some American national parks such as Zion, Capital Reef and Arches. Suddenly it opened up to a magnificent Temple entrance carved into the sheer rock face. Continuing on, there are many palaces, buildings, tombs and a Colosseum. Most of the group climbed up the 800 stairs to the monastery. It was a very long climb on the uneven stairs and pathways carved into the side of the mountain, and donkeys carried a few people up. The Monastery was spectacular, and the viewpoint beyond it revealed rugged dry mountains beyond the deep valley. Returning to the bus proved to be a long slow climb up hill and we were very tired! A perfect recovery was the 75 minute Turkish Bath which included a steam bath, scrub down, and massage.Read more

  • TravelerAfrica
    Day 41

    Mt. Nebo, Karak Castle & driving

    November 10, 2019 in Jordan ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Today we had a lot of driving but it was broken up with some interesting stops. Very cool and windy, we visited Mt. Nebo, where Moses ascended to view the promised land, which he did not enter. There were a lot of marble tile mosaic pictures and floors. Then a stop at a workshop and store of many items made by handicapped people. Lunch was from a clean takeout restaurant in a poor area: pita pockets with falafel balls and vegetables. The Karak castle, built and occupied by various people’s over the decades was an interesting stop; the Crusaders were the main occupants. Only 10% of the castle area remains, the rest has homes on the land. From there, it was a 3 hour drive to our hotel near Petra. With great Wifi on the bus, it makes travelling easy. Our guide is doing a fantastic job. Jordan is dry but has enough water for many crops, numerous plantings a year due to the excellent growing climate. Energy in Jordan is interesting. They have a huge number of windmills and solar panels. The goal is to change to electric vehicles by the end of 2020 to reduce dependence on neighbouring oil producing countries. Garbage is a big problem in 25% of the country that they are trying to address. We were able to catch the sunset!Read more

  • TravelerAfrica
    Day 40

    Jarash and Dead Sea

    November 9, 2019 in Jordan ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Today we left the hotel at 7am, and it was well worth the early start because when we got to Jarash, the remains of a city built around 200BC, there was nobody else there. The guide was very helpful in teaching us to identify Roman vs Greek parts of the city architecture, and the highlight was the coliseum, which is nearly fully intact. The sound is incredible; even the smallest whisper carries so far. After locally made ice cream, we took two hours to drive to the Dead Sea. It was hot, so we enjoyed the activities there after a great buffet lunch. The salty Dead Sea is so easy to float in, and in fact its a bit hard to right oneself once lying on your back. Sharon, like many of the people there, opted for a mud covering, which dried in 20 minutes, when she washed off in the Sea, and then showered. The pools at the complex were clean and relaxing, as we visited with our group members. The hot sun today tired us out so we had a low key evening.Read more

  • TravelerAfrica
    Day 39

    Flights to Jordan

    November 8, 2019 in Jordan ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Up at 4:30am, a flight to Cairo and then Amman, we said goodbye to Michelle and “Em”. I will include the photos from yesterday’s visits to the Temple and Palace.

    Jordan is amazing! Our guide, Khared, is excellent....more about Jordan tomorrow!Read more

  • TravelerAfrica
    Day 38

    Hot Air Balloon Ride and more history

    November 7, 2019 in Egypt ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    Sharon went on a hot air balloon ride this morning with 3 other ladies from our tour group! We took a short bus ride, a boat ride across the Nile, then another bus ride and finally arrived at the start point. The ride was 45 minutes long, and smooth sailing 100% of the time, including a soft landing! We saw temple ruins, Valley of the Gods, agricultural crops, irrigation channels, homes and farm workers. Although nervous at first, the ride turned out to be a delight. (US$85) Afterwards, we met up with the rest of our group and we went to the Valley of the Gods, and entered three underground burial areas, which had lots of sculpting on the walls, including a lot of colour which stayed since it was protected from the sun. They were much more impressive and beautiful in colour! After that we went to the Palace, which again had some protected areas with colour, but massive sculptures and columns. We ate lunch at a local family home: chicken, beef, mixed cooked vegetables, salad, tahini and bread, rice and potatoes. It was the best meal we have had in Egypt. We took a boat back across the Nile, then a bus back to the hotel. The rest of the afternoon was free time so we showered and went for a walk in the local market, but honestly, it is so unpleasant with vendors hounding you, they are so aggressive. We tried walking up a street for the locals, to see if we could find a shirt for Grant, but instead, found 3 young men who Grant struck up a conversation with about our cell phone, which started acting up this morning, only working occasionally, otherwise frozen. It ended up that Carlos, who spoke excellent English, told us he was a Christian, as were his friends, so we had quite an in-depth conversation about the Islam faith of Egypt, the women’s clothing, etc. He went with Sharon and got a new battery installed in her watch for only $2. Then he took Grant in a taxi to a cell phone store that has Apple phones, and it was finally determined that the phone was not fixable, so Grant bought a refurbished one, and they transferred some of the data onto the new phone, total cost was $300. It took 3-4 hours though. While waiting for the data to upload, Grant, his new friend, “Koko” and the taxi driver, had a beer and cigar while in the taxi! Grant says that this may be his most memorable and favourite story from our whole trip! Our tour group was supposed to have a Farewell Dinner but since most of the group was still full from the excellent lunch, that really didn’t happen, so Grant brought some home with his new phone.Read more

  • TravelerAfrica
    Day 37

    Crocodile Museum & Karnak Temple, Luxor

    November 6, 2019 in Egypt ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    We had to get up just after 5am, it was a bit chilly still on the Nile! We had breakfast and then went by bus to Luxor, a four hour drive. We passed through a lot of rural area, and saw many people farming sugar cane, corn, cabbages and cauliflower. It seems that all work is done by hand with little mechanization. There were many carts along the sides of the roads, pulled by donkeys, and stacked with sugar cane, a cash crop. We saw some kind of smelter from the mining done in the area. There were many villages along the highway, where there were enormous speed bumps to slow the traffic. The men mainly wore the long robes, and the women wore headscarves or complete burkas. Most of the homes were not completed, with one or two floors completed and occupied, with another floor started, but apparently most of them never actually get finished. Again, the garbage and plastic along the sides of the road was very noticeable. When we arrived at our hotel in Luxor, we had a shower and got settled. We went to the Crocodile Museum and Temple which created crocodile mummies, (the whole idea of appeasing the evil gods by mummifying crocodiles can’t be comprehended) and there was a huge temple with excellent sculpting. Again, the way it is at any temple or palace, there are older men who wear their long robe around and try to show us things and then want money for it. Then after a break, we went to the Karnak Temple, which is HUGE, with so much sculpting, and columns, and all kinds of amazing things. Outside every pyramid and historical spot, there are vendors trying to sell things from T-shirts and sculptures to trinkets and sculpted anything. They drive Sharon crazy because they are so persistent and bothersome and rude. We stopped at a perfume and essential oils factory, but after having to listen to the man talk and show us the products for half an hour, our group left without buying anything. We went to dinner on the 6th floor of a restaurant, overlooking the Luxor temple across the street, with a row of amazing sphinx. The history here is quite staggering.Read more

  • TravelerAfrica
    Day 36

    Felucca down the Nile

    November 5, 2019 in Egypt ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    We had a slower start, and drove to the felucca, a type of sailboat active on the Nile River. We were divided into two groups, and each felucca had two men who worked it, moving the sail back and forth as we tacked down the river. We were accompanied by a motor powered boat that had washrooms, and a long table where we ate our lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning. We lay around all day on the foam mats, which was relaxing and made a stop at the beach were we waded in the Nile River! We enjoyed our time on the boat. The food on the mother boat was really good, but our sleep overnight was not wonderful, although it was better than we expected.Read more

  • TravelerAfrica
    Day 35

    Abu Simbel

    November 4, 2019 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We were all to receive a wake up call from the hotel front desk at 3:45am, meet for coffee or tea on the second floor, and leave at 4:30am. Unfortunately, we didn’t get our wake up call, until they wondered where we were at 4:35. We rolled out of bed, and checked the time at 4:40, and its a good thing we had all our stuff laid out because we were able to get down to the bus by 4:50. After a 2 1/2+ hour drive, we saw drove across the Aswan Dam, and then got to visit the amazing reconstruction of Ramses II, where in the 1960’s and 70’s they cut and transported two amazing structures that were going to be flooded by the dam. It was easily the most amazing thing we have seen....the actual art and sculptures in sandstone, but also to know that they had been cut up and moved and reconstructed into what we viewed today.Read more

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