More “Hubbly Bubbly” please!

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Riding a camel in Egypt should be on everyone’s bucket list!  Although it was a unique experience, once is enough.  Having ridden on a donkey and an elephant, I discovered a camel is more awkward and uncomfortable.

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Your Egyptian experience is also not complete (in my opinion) unless you partake in smoking some “Shisha” aka “Hookah” aka “Hubbly Bubbly“!  A few of us…the restless rebels…would stay up past bedtime…drink Turkish Coffee and smoke the flavored tobacco!

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We spent one night sleeping on a felucca sailboat on the Nile River.  After dividing into two groups of about 7 each, we boarded separate boats for our adventure.  It was quite obvious they split us according to age.  The other boat held the 25-34 age group and our boat was the 35-65 age group.  What’s interesting to me, is that the “restless rebels”, as I mentioned earlier, consisted of the older age group.

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A separate boat called the “service” boat was available for mealtimes and use of the bathroom.  The “restless rebels”…stayed up after the others went to bed and were talking on top of the service boat when it became noticeably windier.  Out in the distance a huge black mass was approaching quickly…

when we queried the workers, they said it was a sandstorm.  The sense of danger and exhiliration resulted in an immediate rush and feeling of…aliveness!  We were engulfed in sand for a few minutes.  I still remember the sand pelting my skin, leaving a tingly feeling.

We rode donkeys to the Valley of the Kings and if you wanted your donkey to go faster you would say “hopa hopa”.

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My donkey liked to go fast…just like me…and every time someone else would say hopa hopa – my donkey would run.

I raced one of the guys and almost fell off.

The Karnak Temple is located in Luxor, Egypt.  The entire complex which spans 1 mile x 2 miles, was built over a period of 1300 years, beginning in the 16th century BC, and is the largest ancient religious site in the world.  The last three photos are a portion of it…

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Next installment tomorrow!

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18 thoughts on “More “Hubbly Bubbly” please!”

  1. What an awesome trip. It’s on my bucket list to do so I really enjoyed the pictures from Jordan and Egypt. Was the GAP group mostly women? I might look into it.
    What’s up next in 2012?

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    • I’ve done three trips with them. 1-Egypt/Jordan – 14 people (more men than women) 2-Peru – 11 people (more women than men) 3-SE Asia – 7 people (6 women/1 man). I’m not sure what’s up this year yet. Thinking about an around the world trip or teaching english in a foreign country. Stay tuned to my bog… How about you, any upcoming trips?

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  3. I love those little feluccas! very relaxing
    and somehow considered out of egypt (a local’s tip;) ), for a small tip to the sailor guy, you can do any thing legal/illegal on the felucca, and its 100% safe unless you’re really REALLY unlucky 😛

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  4. Hi,
    One thing about riding a camel was the height, my first time on a camel and the camel stood up, I was very surprised at how high it seemed to be. 😀
    Fantastic photos.

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  8. I’ve always wanted to go to Egypt, and riding a camel is most certainly on my bucket list! So is riding an elephant, though I’ve technically done that already. I was little and it was the LA Zoo. I remember it, but I want to ride one SOMEWHERE. This trip looks fabulous!

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