Jo Hikaka

2006-11-24T03:34:00.000-08:00

SOME RANDOM PHOTOS

Paul found a friend - gentle tap on the leg to beg for food, then...

...cheesy grin!

The night of my birthday party - we faked it so that the whole tour group would get free cake - no one told me that the birthday girl has to get up on the tables and belly dance though! (photos may follow later...)

Simon samples some of the local delicacies

Workers at the alabaster factory

Our bus in the police convoy. These were started during times that were dangerous for tourists but now the government has decided that it is a good revenue earner and the convoys are now compulsory when travelling through a lot of parts or Egypt, whether you are on a tour or travelling as tourists in private transport

2006-11-24T03:09:00.000-08:00

OVERNIGHT TRAIN TO ASWAN

From Cairo the transport was overnight train around 13 hours on this... another experience... especially with around a 3rd of the tour group coming down with 'upset tummies' (extreme euphemism). We did manage to pass the night away with a cabin party though - at one stage there were around 15 of us in a 3-person cabin with Peter's neon flashing cellphone providing the lighting.

On arrival in Aswan we went to Phillae temple which was on an island. Here Hani (the tour guide) gave us a brief history lesson which involved great role playing from a number of the tour group.

Phillae Temple

Recreation of the birth of the god Horace

Sunset at Phillae temple

From Aswan we took an early morning flight to Abu Simbal which was amazing - definately the best temple we saw. Abu simbal was created for King Ramses II and was carved entirely out of one mountain. The hyroglyphics and colours that are still present are mind-boggoling. What is even more amazing is that this entire mountain of temple has been moved. 6 years ago it was moved because of the flooding of the land in this area due to the Aswan dam. They cut the structure into 7000 enormous blocks and moved it about 100m further up the land.

Temple for Ramses II at Abu Simbal

Sharyn with the Ankh(key of life)

'Recipies' for medicines from another temple

From Aswan we took a felucca cruise down the nile for 2 days. i left it up to the boys to take photos of this leg of the trip so will post those when I get a copy. It was so much fun though - we just lay in the sun all day long then sat round campfires at night.

2006-11-24T02:33:00.000-08:00

CAIRO

I loved Egypt! It has to be my favourite country, and we had an awesome tour through here. Our guide was fantastic - he knew so much and delivered the information in interesting and creative ways... you'll see the photos of this later. It was great to catch up with all my NZ friends and meet new ones along the way too.

I got to Cairo a couple of days before the tour started. On the first day there we decided to create our own walking city tour. Our first stop however was the office of student ID cards. Apparently a 'legitimate' ISIC student ID is the "Egyptian government's gift to you"... for the handsome sum of $NZ 20... This gives you half price entry to all the sites which was a great saving during the trip and you can be sure that I'll be using it for cheap movie entry afterwards.

We then headed to the Citadel and mosque of Mohammed Ali. It is supposed to be a recreation of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey but actually enjoyed this one more.

The Citadel from the outer wall

In the courtyard outside the Mosque of Mohammed Ali

Sharyn was wearing 3/4 length pants so had to wear this to be more covered up... we could still see her ankles though...

Inside the mosque

After spending a couple of hours at this complex we decided to negotiate our way to a few of the other mosques which surrounded the area...

Luckily(?) the boys had a compass...

It turned out to be holy Friday so all the mosques were closed for prayer. We ended up walking through the city of the dead which was an experience and one we would not have got if we had taken taxi's through the area. This part of Cairo is built on old burial grounds and is also surronded by current cemeteries.. well if you can call them that. Apparently the bodies are put inside the tombs and are continualy filled with new bodes. The only specification is that the same tomb cannot be used for 6 months after a body has been put there - to cut down on the smell of the area.

With the help of some locals we made it to a local market where a 'friendly' man gave us falafel and then said that we should go to his place "which is just around the corner" for a cup of tea... We werent fooled by this scam but this same man did reappear several more times during the day.

We had a look through the markets and then headed back to the hotel swimming pool - great way to end the day!

The first day of the tour we went to the Egyptian museum which is perhaps most famous for housing the tomb of Tutankaamen (sp?). Apparently this is the most famous tomb not because of who lay to rest there but because it is the only tomb that was found in recent times intact. We were able to see the gold death mask, the series of different vaults that were inside the tomb and all the jewellery that was there as well. Later on in the museum we saw mummified animals, including a 9m long crocodile.

That night we went to the nighttime laser show at the pyramids. It was quite cheesy - a brief story of Egypt was told.. the sphinx 'narrated' it, and the voices used were those of Anthony Hopkins and Omar Sherif - but it was still great to get our first glimpse at one of the ancient wonders.

After the pyramids we went for dinner and our first sample of Egyptian shisha

The next day it was off to see the pyramids in day light. We got to go into the pyramids which was actually quite claustrophobic and smelt of muggy BO, but still an experience.

Johnny proposed to Bex and she said yes!
It was so lovely - I had tears in my eyes and I'd only met them the day before!

2006-11-22T07:30:00.000-08:00

ATHENA

We did not get off to a good start in this city - we arrived for a cold snap and spent the first morning walking around, miserable in woolen hats and rain jackets. After half a day of trying to be good tourists and see the sights despite the weather, we gave up. We retreated to our dorm room after passing by the supermarket to pick up snacks and a 3litre bottle of the local wine, retsina (just 3 Euro for 3 litres!). Once back at the dorm we turned the heating on full and then proceeded to dress for the occasion - we couldnt visit Greece without having a toga party could we??

After a failed first day sightseeing the weather turned it on for us the next day and we had a fantastic day in the sun at the Acropolis and Roman Agora. After visiting the most expensive 'flea' markets in the world, we had a great dinner at a Greek Taverna complete with fire and folk singing.

View over Athens from the Acropolis

Parethenon at the Acropolis

Catnap at the Acropolis

2006-11-22T06:53:00.000-08:00

SANTORINI

This was an amazing island which we were able to explore on rented scooters. It is only really built on with white buildings, and here is an example of one of the many Greek Orthodox churches that can be seen. We had quite restful days (especially me as I was a passenger rather than driver of the scooters). One day we some how managed to turn a time passing stroll into a few 4 hour hike up into Ancient Thira - its at the top of the mountain behind this church. It was fun though - I learnt that jandels can indeed make good climbing shoes!

I actually fitted on the back of this bike as well

Here is the Caldera of Santorini - what was left when the island was blown apart by a volcano thousands of years ago.

The port of Oia - we walked around the rocks here to find a secluded swimming spot, past octopus and other sefood being roated on BBQs

Secluded swimming spot - crystal clear water

One of the houses we passed on the scooters

Sharyn in a cave during our 'stroll'

Peter's face sums up what we thought of our purchase of the local wine

2006-11-22T06:44:00.000-08:00

FERRY RIDE TO GREECE

We did a fleeting visit to Mykanos.... and we almost didnt make it. Firstly there were errors with booking tickets through an agent in Turkey. After resolving all that we had been told that Mykanos was the last stop the ferry would make. So, 6 hours later we were sitting on the ferry, waiting for everyone to get off the boat at Mykanos (thinking the locals knew something we didnt), just to hear the final call for exiting at Mykanos. After scrambling to get our packs and having a few turtle who has fallen upside down onto their shell moments, we made it to shore. Mykanos was lovely - white imported sandy beaches and amazing crystal clear water that was rather 'refreshing' at this time of the year.

Passing time on the ferry

View from our Hostel room in the morning

View back from the beach to a restaurant at night

2006-11-22T06:30:00.000-08:00

SELCUK AND EPHESUS

We stayed in Selcuk in a great little hostel, met up with people we had met in Istanbul, smoked Shisha, received massages and visited the Ancient city of Ephesus which is still remarkably well intact.

A tablet from a 2000 year
old pharmacy (note the mortar
and pestle)

Outside the house of (Virgin) Mary
Tying wishes to the gates, written
on pieces of material

Shisha

This boy works in a
Turksih bath and gives massages
to people staying in the hostel

2006-11-22T06:23:00.000-08:00

PAMUKKALE

This is an area with large ancient burial grounds and terraces of calcium carbonate rock pools which you are allowed to walk in and around. They look amazing and take up the entire face of one cliff.

2006-11-22T06:22:00.000-08:00

TROY

Went to the Ancient city of Troy - saw some ruins and of course the horse....

Not very impressed by either Im afraid... The 'older' looking horse is the one from the movie 'Troy' - gifted by Hollywood to the city of Troy

2006-11-22T05:47:00.000-08:00

GALLIPOLI

We had an early start, leaving Istanbul then travelling down to Gallipoli Peninsula. We had a great guide for Gallipoli who spent 7hours explain different aspets of the battle to us. We visited Anzac cove, the beach that the allies landed on as well as 4 different memorials for the different countries involved. We also saw trenches and got a greater appreciation of just how close together the fighting had been - as litlle as 8metres distance between the trenches in some parts.

The width of this road is the only distance that separated the Turkish and Allied trenches at this part.

Trenches at Night

Forgiving -
Open this and read

NZ Memorial

Australian Memorial at Lone Pine

Turkish Memorial

2006-11-22T05:39:00.000-08:00

ISTANBUL

Well this is my favourite city on my travels so far. Unfortunately I have no photos to demonstrate how lovely it was - I managed to delete all these using a computer in Turkey - aparently the Turkish words for copy and delete are similar...

We did all the sites we could in our only day there and topped it off with a Turkish bath. Will post photos when I get them off Peter...

2006-06-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

LONDON...... FINALLY!!!!
Well, these photos span 2 months of being in Europe (I know its a pretty poor effort but internet costs a fortune over here!)

After 2 months in South America both Katrina and I were very tired on arrival in Madrid. WE spent most of the time in our hostel room despite having the best intentions to get up after our evening nap and check out the Madrid nightlife. In fact there was even the neccesity to have a quick nap at Madrid's airport before hopping on the plane to London.

This is me striking a pose full equipped with all the gear I took round South America. It wasnt too bad - this was the most full my pack got (at this stage it was home to 3 llama blankets as well.

And now for the touristy London things.

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament from the London Eye

A Bridge (Ive forgotton which one...but there are lots to remember)

Double date with the young royals

On Sunday I went with myflatmates Vic and Freia to Windsor and Eton. It was a great day out learning about all kinds of royal things... but I can see that this may get tedious castle after castle (for those of you from the Tucan tour think 'this is a fine display of an Incan doorway; you can tell this by the double frame...')

Outside Windsor castle

Me and Vic on the bridge from Windsor across to Eton. We didnt go into Eton College but we did hear the choir boys singing and see lots of men in morning suits and women in hats going to church.

Picture with one of the Royal Guards taken just before the changing of the guards.

Me, Sharyn and Robbin underneath my street sign. Robbin was my Canadian flatmate. She left to go back to Canade yesterday though and we were on the way to her going away drinks (you may notice our sneaky bus drinks . Yes we are all class; moved on from the wine bottles in Dunners to much more subtle drinks, cleverly disguised in Red Bull cans)

And what would a night out in London be without the close up selfportraits as we step on to the tube. What this photo does not capture however is the fact that while we were waiting for Robbin to catch up, Vic got caught halfway between the tube and the platform and was left behind when the doors shut. But all was well - we eventually caught up with each other later on in the evening (at 5am when our 2 seperate groups finally made it home)

Will try to take and send more photos!

Love Jo.

2006-04-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

Cultural Pub Crawl....Take Two...

Well I think I told you all of our failed mission to do a museum, church and pub crawl on St Paddy´s day... We decided we would try again in Cuzco and to make the most of the free days we had post-Inca trail. And this time were much more successful.... We managed to visit 3 museums, 1 cathedral and 5 pubs and 3 night clubs! The day started with a big breakfast at our ´local´ and progressed from there, ending at around one in the morning. Halfway through the night we aquired team T-shirts from Paddy Flaherty´s Irish pub - the highest Irish pub in the world. The say ´No Gracias´ which is useful both on the streets when hawkers are trying to sell their wares, and later on in the evening in the bars when tourists are trying to give away their wares :-)

This is a gold panel dipcting Inca times in the Temple of the Sun

The smallest stone that has been found in an Incan building - at the Temple of the Sun

The Cathedral in the main square of Cuzco

2006-04-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

Chicharia

Visted a traditional brewing place for Chicha - a corn based beer.

There was a ladies version as well which had straberries in it. Both were very drinkable....

The coin throw frog game is typical to pass the time at these places.

Lamp posts outside a chicharia have red plastic tied around them.... kind of reminds me of the shoe posts over the power lines in NZ...

Guinea pig farm at Chicharia

View from bus on the way home from Chicha drinking... and the man selling aniseed liquor.... we got a taste test of that too

2006-04-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

Colca Canyon and Mummy Cemetry

Colca canyon has condor birds flying on thermal currents. 3m wing span. We had to wait 1 hour to see one bird so it was a good chance to take a couple of pictures to show how high up the canyon actually is. The bus that drove us there drove on a road with a sheer cliff drop to one side - quite nerve racking and I didnt really stare out the window that much!

Trying to get a picture with llamas...they ran away...

These mummies are from over a thousand years ago. They have been preservewd well by being dried out in the sun. Many of the tombs surronding them have already played victim to tomb robbers... The hair on these women was in dreads and 2-3m long.

2006-04-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

Nazca Lines

We went up in a four seater plane to get a better view of these. It was great - the pilot did a few tricks both to insure the best views, and a bit of air sickness. Luckily only one person in our whole group was actually sick...

The humming bird

Nadine got to be co-pilot

Us and the pilot

2006-04-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

Food diaries

Have had some great and interesting meals....

Paella with fresh seafood

Local specialty - guinea pig

Alpaca stirfry

2006-04-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

BALLASTAS ISLAND and SAND BUGGYING

It was Claires birthday today and we had a fantastic day! It all started with a trip to the Ballastas Islands which are famous for the extensive birdlife (and droppings) and sealion colonies. The sealions travel in harems and the biggest male out there is called Mike Tyson.

We visited at a good time of year - there were lots of calves as well as full grown adults. The islands are harvested for birddroppings once every 7 years. This is a huge export market for the country as it is sold to Spain and Italy for garden fertilizer. The island has been the centre of a war between Peru and Chile over the rights to harvest the bird droppings. There were pictures in the sand on the islans on the way out. It is unsure the origin of these but it is not thought to be linked to the Nazca lines.

We then drove to a desert oasis which was the base for sandbuggying and sandboarding. This was sooo much fun! It was about 45 degrees outside but we were going so fast in the buggies it didnt matter. They went over huge dunes, with big drops and we got air a number of times. A few times there we felt like we were actually free falling. They were also the perfect vehicle to drive us to the top of really step sand dunes which we then slid down on snow boards.

Then it was off to Nazca in old American cars, a late night swim in the pool and birthday cake.

2006-04-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

Chan Chan - the biggest mud brick city in the world

Just out of Huanchaco we visited Chan Chan. It is a city made up of 11 palaces and we visited just one of these. It is in the middle of the desert and there were huge systems developed to bring water in to the cities. See the picture below for the wells that were in the middle of the cities. The reeds that are growing in the water are those used for the reed fishing boats. Lots of the bricks were sculpted with different designs, reflecting things like fish, waves and nets.

2006-03-28T12:47:00.000-08:00

Beach Paradises

From Cuenca we caught a bus to the Ecuadorian-Peruvian boarder. On arriving at the boarder we were shown our next means of transport - a minivan that looked impossibly small to fit the 17 of us. After 30mins of positioning packs on top of the van and tying them in place by their handles, we all squeezed in. Suprisingly enough we all fitted and it was then off to the immigration office. A speedy trip through customs and it was time to pile back into our transportation and start the 2 hour trip to our promised beach resort. Well, the ride was worth it. We ran out of teh cart at 6pm and straight into the sea for a quick dip before dinner.

The next day was spent relaxing on the beach. The Brits amoungst us went red, and I must admit that despite constant reapplication of sunscreen, the backs of my knees were a bit worse for wear too.

We then made it to the next beach resort of Huanchaco, to see fisherman still using the reed boats that they have for thousands of years. Unfortunately the stoach bug which has now made it through most of the camp had struck me on this day, and I didnt take up the opportunity to hire one.

2006-03-28T12:35:00.000-08:00

Our First Ruins

We flew from Quito to Cuenca on St Patricks day. The city promised a few churches and museums worthy of viewing, so after our preliminary walk around the city we formulated a plan worthy of celebrating the day. It was decided that we would do a museum-church-pub crawl. We started off by having lunch and beer then headed to the first museum. Unfortunately this was shut so we decided to go and get a drink. Next it was off to the New Cathedral which was built in the 18th century. It holds 10,000 people and is the largest church in South America. The sheer size from inside was quite impressive. Next stop - the pub. Now it is unclear from here where our great plan fell down - I personally am tossing up between the rain that started bucketing down 30mins after arriving at this pub, and the 3L beer towers which enabled selfservice from our possy. Whatever it was, we didnt leave our positions for some 7 hours and had a good old time! Jenga and Connect 4 were brought out - the pub had a great selection of board games. They also made the best papas fritas (fries) I have had so far (and thst is saying something considering that almost every meal comes with fries!).

The next day it was off to Ingapirca to see some ruins here. All the buildings seemed to have shrines to the gods in them, which the sun shone on only at specific times during the year.

2006-03-25T14:28:00.000-08:00

The Amazing Race

On arrival back from the jungle we were told that there were bus strikes in Ecuador and we were no longer able to continue on to our original destination. The tour guide said it was hoped that they wouldn´t last any longer than a few days but that the longest strike had gone on for over a month. We were however told that there were activities around the area we were stuck in, and it was decided that canyoning would be our next great adventure.

We started our day at 8am, loaded 15 of us on to the back of a ute and set out for our first roadblock - abseilling down 7 different waterfalls ranging from 7-35m in height. There were a few other waterfalls along the way which we had to jump off as well. It was a day full of challenges, mosquitos, snake sitings and scratches from rock faces. At 7pm that night with the last abseil over and done with we made it back to our starting point. The ute which had been smoking on the way out was now completely out of working order. Luckily for us there was a huge dump truck (the wheels were much taller than me) there and we all climbed into that for the 1 hour journey back into town. The ride was relatively comfortable, as long as you positioned yourself correctly on top of the sand pile. Half way through the ride, the ute that had been out of order was now trying to pass us on a slight inline... 5mins later there were 9 happy canyoners in the back of the dump truck, star gazing and chuckling about the fact that as well as us, the dump truck was now also towing our original means of transport.

The next morning we were told that we had 20mins to pack our bags and be on the bus, ready to head back to Quito so that we could hop on a plane and leave the strike area. So after 7 more hours on a bus, we were back at our original starting point...

Amazon Jungle

2006-03-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Time for a bit of an update. We left Quito and headed down country to the Amazon jungle. We were staying at a jungle resort for one night, then headed into the jungle the next day. The first step was to take our passports to the boarder control office where they were stamped to give us permission to be on the waterways. This extra step is because it is only 7h from the Coloumbian boarder, and I guess the Amazon is a good place to grow cocaine.

Armed with gumboots and insect repellant that was strong enough to remove nailpolish, we headed by motorised canoe into the jungle. Here we visited an animal sanctuary (most animals were there because they had been rescued from the locals dinner plates). We also then got our faces painted (unsure how traditional these were) and visited a local Indian family. Here we also witnessed a native priests blessing ritual. That night we stayed in a jungle ´lodge´consisting of bamboo huts with bunk beds. Luckily for us they were covered with mosquito nets for sleeping - unfortunately these didnt keep out the cochrocahes...

The next day we went for a walk in the jungle - the path was cleared for us by our guide with a machete. After three hours of walking and wildlife spotting we got to inner tube back down the river. That was lots of fun - dont worry alligators are only present further upstream...apparently...
Keep an eye on this page - will put more photos on later...

Breakfast at the jungle resort

Our jungle lodge (right in the Amazon)