Different places to travel » Transport

Trip to Egypt – Moving out of Cairo without visiting the Pyramids and the Sphinx, going off to Aswan – Part 4

Traveller — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 07:52:35 +0000

In the previous post on my trip to Egypt (Visit to Saladin Citadel and Khan el Khalili bazaar), I had written about a visit to the wonderful Khan el Khalili bazaar. After this, the trip had been planned in such a way that we were to proceed without actually visiting the Pyramids and the Sphinx for now, with the visit planned for later in the trip after we had done with visiting many of the other places of interest such as Luxor, Aswan Dam, Abu Simbel, etc. So, soon after visiting the market, we moved toward the airport (we had already checked out from the hotel in the morning), since we had a flight to Aswan planned in the evening.
The trip to Cairo airport took the same amount of time, around 1-1.5 hours in the Cairo traffic, and the trip to Aswan was in a much smaller plane (seating maybe something like 60-80 passengers). The flight was not very long, and there were no refreshments during the flight.

Photo of the sunset skyline as taken from a place above Aswan in Egypt

The wing of a place in the sky over Aswan, with brilliant colors of sunset

And then we reached Aswan, where there was again somebody from Sakkara travels to pick us up (with a total of 8 people, including 2 kids and 2 elders, such guidance was a luxury that we needed). They took us to the hotel, called the Basma Hotel in Aswan (reviews), and we checked in.

Basma Hotel in Aswan in Egypt – view of the sloping entrance to the hotel from the road

Basma Hotel in Egypt – a view of the front porch and the structure

Basma Hotel in Aswan – the front entrance of the hotel

Basma Hotel in Aswan – Tourist vehicles parked in the driveway

Basma Hotel in Aswan – view of the slightly small lobby from a higher position

Basma Hotel in Aswan – beautiful stained glass window near the lobby of the hotel

Basma Hotel in Aswan – view of the inside of the hotel room

Basma Hotel in Aswan – a view of the beautiful swimming pool with chairs all around

Basma Hotel in Aswan in Egypt – view of the outdoor dining area with a great view

Basma Hotel in Aswan – view of the river Nile and its bends along with greenery

Basma Hotel in Aswan – hotel staff at the reception handling guests

Basma Hotel in Aswan – view of neighboring burial ground (1 Km away)

Basma Hotel in Aswan – view of hotel rooms from the swimming pool

Basma Hotel in Aswan – view of the city of Aswan from the front of the hotel

Basma Hotel in Aswan – view of Nile, church, and many boats on the river

The hotel was fairly fine, located on a small hill at seemingly one end of the main road that runs through town. While moving from the airport to the hotel, the kids were positively hungry, and there was a need for them to visit a McDonald restaurant (being fond of burgers and chips like other children), but the McDonalds was at the other end of the town, and the tour guide and vehicle was not willing to take us for this distance (a black mark in the otherwise comfortable services provided by Sakkara Travels). So, once we reached the Basma Aswan Hotel, we asked for a taxi to take us up to the McDonalds (right on the riverfront), and come back after 30 minutes once the kids had been satiated. The McDonald’s in Aswan was very busy, being crowded with teenagers. Eventually, we ordered the required amount of food for kids, ate a bit ourselves, and took some for the rest of the family at the hotel.
The plan for the next day was to do a visit to the world famous temple of Abu Simbel (actual description and details will be in the next post of this series). Because of the isolated location of Abu Simbel (located 280 KM from Aswan, towards the border), and to prevent any problems in terms of security, there are only 2 trips that are allowed to Abu Simbel per day. One trip starts early morning at 4 AM, for which you need to reach a common location at around 3:30 in the morning, and the other trip starts at around 11 AM. When I say that only 2 trips per day are allowed, it means that convoys head out at these teams, with a number of buses and other vehicles moving on the same route escorted by police vehicles (this is a controlled route, you cannot take a vehicle and start driving to Abu Simbel on your own). Because of the timing at which we had reached, as well as a general state of inertia, we decided that we do not want to take the early trip, and instead go in for the 11 AM one. This also necessitated a change in the arrangement after that, since we had to check out of the hotel in the morning, and check in along with our luggage to the cruise ship, which would take us from Aswan to Luxor. So, we decided to carry out luggage first thing in the morning to the ship, then do a bit of local sight-seeing and use the ship as a place to keep luggage while we do more places to see in Aswan (some of the places to see in Aswan were the Unfinished Obelix, the High Dam, and of course, the trip to Abu Simbel).
Some comments on the Basma Hotel in Aswan. We found the hotel overall very comfortable, with clean room, clean washrooms, and decent food in the morning buffet. The hotel also gives a good view in the morning, with immediate surroundings that seem open (and also a view of the city). The size of the hotel is fine, the rooms did not seem cramped, they had a nice swimming pool, and overall a nice place for the rest we needed.

Location of Basma Hotel, Aswan, on Google Maps:

View Larger Map

Route from Cairo, Egypt to Aswan, Egypt on Google Maps:

View Larger Map

How to see London as a tourist

Traveller — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:02:43 +0000

A huge number of tourists visit London every year, and follow the regular tourist cycle of visiting the sights of the city. This post is my experience of the same.
We had gone to visit some relatives living near London, and thought about doing a visit to some of the sights and beautiful places in London. We were living in Dulwich, which was some distance away from Victoria station, from where we wanted to start the tour. Now, we had a choice, whether to do the tour using the tube, or using a bus. If you are looking for convenience and a bit of speed, then the tube is the way to go, since it is fast, avoiding London traffic. However, one of the main problems with the tube is that you would feel like a bit of a rabbit, suddenly coming up from a hole to view some great building, and then diving underground to see another building. You do not get a feel of the city, and that is what we were trying to do. So, it was the bus that we are going to use, but there was the realization that London roads can get crowded and traffic would cause a journey on the bus to take time.
There are tourist buses that do the rounds of most of London’s tourist sites, with the buses being of the hop-on, hop-off type. You take a ticket for the bus, get on, get down at any of their stops to see the tourist location, and then get onto the next bus that comes on, and it can be very convenient. These buses come by every 5-10 minutes, so there is not much waiting that needs to be done. Our journey started by taking a train first to Victoria, and just outside Victoria Station, there were these buses ready to start. We had an option to buy take a ticket to Madame Tussaud’s while buying our bus ticket (the bus ticket cost us 21 pounds each), and given that the Madame Tussaud’s ticket allows one to bypass the regular queue, it was well worth it (and did I mention that the ticket was also available at a discount ?). The bus ticket also entitles you to a small cruise on the Thames, which was also great fun.
What are some of the tourist places that this bus tour covers ? There are several different tours, so the actual places covered are different in each tower, but some of the places to cover are:
Buckingham Palace,
Westminster Abbey,
St. Paul’s Cathedral,
The Tower of London,
Big Ben,
London Eye,
Marble Arch,
TrafalgarR Square,
Waterloo (and more places)

A map of the tour is available at this link.

So, you get started on the bus (and it was a double decker bus); I quickly climbed to the upper level even though it was windy, since you get a great view. We got down at several stops on the way, with the places that we spent a lot of time being:
London Eye (you cannot go away from London without doing a spin (1 hour) on the huge ferris wheel),

A view of London Eye at night from outside the entry point

London Eye straight ahead – view from the path right in front

Big Ben and surrounding areas (the whole area has many great buildings, where you get a great view of the architecture)

Photo of Big Ben by night – Well lighted up and an important tourist attraction

Thames (go for a cruise on the Thames, you get a short view of the history of London along with seeing the numerous bridges on the way)

A cruise ship on the Thames in London (similar to the one I was traveling in)

Passing under one of the Bridges across the Thames in London

The Hungerford Bridge over the river Thames in London

Tower of London (the place used by royalty earlier, and also used as a detention and execution place)

Part of the Tower of London as seen from the Thames

The Tower of London – A beautiful lawn replaces the moat now

The beautiful architecture of Tower of London

Buckingham Palace (the current residence of the queen, there is a great changing of the guard ceremony every alternate day at 11 in the morning)

A closer view of the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace

Close up of marching formation at Buckingham Palace changing of the guard

Front facade of Buckingham Palace when it is less crowded

The beautiful autumn at the Green Park just outside Buckingham Palace

Madam Tussaud’s (A world famous wax museum, but I got bored after around 30 minutes)
Trafalgar Square (A great open place, with a water attraction, big lions, and mermaids)

Admiralty Arch and adjoining building near Trafalgar Square in London

One of the fountains of Trafalgar Square in London

People enjoying on the bronze lions in front of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square

The Tower Bridge looks incredible and one should visit it atleast once.

A beautiful view of the Tower Bridge in London against a blue sky

A photo of London Bridge in a beautiful setting

Photo of Tower Bridge and the buildings to one side of the bridge

Some other photos from London

Bus that takes tourists on a trip around London to the major tourist points

A beautiful view of a partially cloudy sunset over the Thames and Westminster in London

A beautifully decorated London store near the Chinese New Hour in the evening

A close up of the glass dome of the London City Hall

A glimpse of the exterior architecture of Westminster Abbey

A jetty on the Thames used to drop and pickup passengers of cruise ships

A more detailed view of the dinosaur skeleton in the central hall of the Science Museum in London

A view of the London skyline with the top of the Gherkin (Swiss Re building) in the background

Constitution Arch with the largest British bronze statue on top in Belgrave Square

You can see photos from my trip to London at this location (link)

Being a tourist in San Francisco

Traveller — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:52:14 +0000

I have had occasion to go to San Francisco a few times, basically due to work related travel. The first time, I got a chance to travel on a type of tram (a cable car running on the ground). Lots of fun and very enjoyable. Later, on different occasions, I got the chance to see some more sights in the city (tourist places, not the night life / clubbing culture). San Francisco has an incredible reputation as a very liberal city, with a very mixed population (it is apparently the first city in the US where the white population is now less than 50%). Plus, it has pretty good weather; visitors not from Iceland don’t freeze to death in the winter in San Francisco, unlike many other cities in the US .
So, as I mentioned, I got a chance to travel to San Francisco in the month of December. I like weather with a nip in the air, and that was exactly what I got. The first few days were spent in San Jose doing the usual company related drudgery, and then the first weekend came. There were a group of us, and we decided to spend a bit of money (although you can use a combination of the usual bus / BART / Caltrain stuff) and hire a cab that will take us out for a period of around 8 hours through the city and nearby places (imagine hearing from your friends again and again about the scenic Pacific Highway !).
The cab arrived sharp at 9 in the morning, and off we went. Given that we were somewhat of a novice to the whole area, we asked the cab guy to take us around a few of the places (of course, we did mention a few of the places we knew about such as – Golden Gate Bridge, Pacific Highway, Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz). Off we went first to the Golden Gate Bridge (wikipedia) and then the highway beyond that. The Golden Gate Bridge is a mighty structure, worthy of admiring, and wondering how much time and effort went into building such a structure.

Moving beyond that, soon we reached a beautiful stretch with a great view of the water (from a height) and some distance beyond the Golden Gate Bridge we reached a small township and a beach where there were a number of people surfing (when asked about how cold it was, the cab driver told us about the wet suit that the surfers were wearing which insulated them to some degree).

None of us knew anything about surfing, so we just sat and watched for some time; then we returned back to San Francisco for some more sight-seeing. We came to the Harbour, and could see Alcatraz from a distance; however, tickets for Alcatraz needed to be booked earlier and it took more time than we had. So, we settled for a cruise on the Bay (there are several cruise ships that take you for a 1 hour tour of the Bay). The cruise had a running commentary, and the ship took you under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz (was very pleasant).

1 hour over, I dragged my colleagues to the cable car station (wikipedia) of Fisherman’s Wharf. This is more of a tourist attraction, but it is fun travelling on an open tram that runs on the up and down roads of San Francisco. The best place was to sit on the outside plank, so that you had the most fun. This takes you to Union Square, and then back. On the way, people can many times get on and off when it is running, and on several streets, cars have to follow because there is not enough space to overtake.

Next, we went off to the Crooked Street (a portion of Lombard Street). This is a section of the street that is one-way and has many sharp turns (8 in all as you head downhill). From the top of the street, you get a great view of the downhill sections of San Francisco. It was fun going down this winding road, and wondering about the people who actually live there. And then, before you know it, our trip to San Francisco was over (we exhausted our allotted time and had to head back to our hotel in San Jose).