Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

Bedstemor's 85th Birthday ( 13 - 20 Nov 2004 )

Dansk oversættelse

Ancient Egyptian stories and legends have long made their mark through movies such as "Cleopatra", "The Mummy" and wowed us women with Omar Sharif's performance in "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago" and more recently in cartoons such as "The Prince of Egypt". There is a certain mystic about middle east portrayed to us from a very young age when we hear bedtime tales like "Ali Baba the 40 Thieves" or "Sinbad the Sailor" - most of us have a dream of seeing the pyramids.

I was very lucky to have the opportunity 20 years ago to come to Egypt with my parents and at 10 years old, there's only so much a child can remember. But this year, the Pallesen Family once again get together for the Matriach's 85th birthday. It is tradition for the family to come together and travel to an exotic country - in the past Tunisia, Morocco, Gambia and for Grandmother's last wish, to see the pyramids of Egypt, that her husband saw 45 years earlier.

The Matriach's three children, six grandchildren (Nikolai could not make it), four greatgrandchildren and respective spouses all came together for a week in magical Egypt. It is autumn with warm days and cool nights - a contrast to the approaching winter in Denmark.

Saturday 13 November 2004
Departure for Egypt

Our family had to leave Falster at 2:30am to catch a 6:30 flight, 4½hr later we arrived at Cairo Airport. I have dim memories of a very warm airport in complete chaos, with people pushing to get their luggage through, shouting over a mad din. Instead we found a rather clean and uncrowded airport. We were met by the AB Travel Agency representative, taken to a Hotel Pyramisa, left in a closed piano bar Pallesen familie venter på værelser

and promptly forgotten until one of us had the bright idea to ask for our keys.

Our family shared a two-bedroom hotel room with a large living area. Our first afternoon was spent walking around the streets of Cairo trying to find a place for the family to have dinner. Our hotel was located across the river from downtown Cairo, so there was not a lot to see, combined with the fact that many shops were closed during the day over Ramadan, the Islamic period of fasting from dawn to dusk. Sunday heralded the last day of Ramadan, so many were preparing for the final feast.

In the end, the whole family had dinner in the hotel's "Oriental" restaurant of Egyptian style. We figured we would get some decent Egyptian food but were disappointed to find most of our food luke-warm. The rice was very dry, little meat on the lamb and rather bland food. To our surprise, after our comment about this, we were presented with a complimentary platter of fruits native to Egypt such as fresh dates and guava. To our amusement, no matter what kind of Egyptian wine we ordered, they all tasted the same. There was plenty of Egyptian beer and of course the danes lived up to their drinking prowess and Bedstemor ("grandmother") treated us all dinner.

Sunday 14. november 2004

On the first night we didn't sleep very well - sleeping in a different bed combined with quranic prayers coming from a nearby mosque didn't exactly leave us with a peaceful sleep. However we were all up early to get together in Bedstemor's room for a "surprise" get-together - to sing the danish birthday song amongst a flutter of red white flags, and present her with a small gift. This family "surprises" the birthdayee and all sing in unison this rather cute birthday song.

The Citadel Muhammad Ali Mosque

Udsigten fra Citadellet

Our first destination was the Citadel. It is the city's fortress that once housed the royal family and although most of the complex is open to visitors, the military still have a foothold and some areas are out of bounds. It takes a half day to explore all areas of the Citadel but we didn't have the opportunity to do so, and instead spent most of our time in the Muhammad Ali Mosque.

<== There is a magnificent view of the city from the Western Terraces - magnificent had most of Cairo not been filled with the same shade of mud-bricked buildings. What was most notable about Cairo was its lack of colour or rather its ability to blend into the desert.

Mohammed Ali Mosque

Our guide Adam/Mohammed provided little insight to the function or history of the Citadel, and instead sat the group in one corner of the Muhammad Ali Mosque like a bunch of school children, and gave a lecture on Islamic laws and behaviour.

When René ventured to ask more about the Citadel, he was scolded for interrupting and told to listen. We never got the opportunity to find the number 7 Napoleon's troops had painted above one doorway to avoid using the unfamiliar Arabic names or the twin half-round towers because our guide simply didn't know where they were.

Ind i Mohammed Ali Mosque

During this time, I had the opportunity to wander off and walk the beautiful alabaster-lined arcades of the mosque. the soaring central prayer hall was a glimmer of hundreds of lights hanging in concentric circles. Arabic inscriptions in gold were painted on the ceiling. Women had to be suitably attired and could not wear sleeveless tops or short skirts or shorts. In one corner lay the sarcophagus of Muhammad Ali - the builder of the mosque and an albanian mercenary who was the founder of the dynasty that ruled till the revolution in 1952.

Cairo Egyptian Museum

I have memories of wandering around this museum, peering into smudged glass cases, staring into the shrivelled faces of some once well-known pharaoh like Ramses II and wondering if the ancient Egyptians were giants in their large coffins.
20 years later, it was almost impossible to push through the crowds of tourists - only useful because their guides provided more information than ours. With only two hours, there was no way that we could view the whole museum or see the royal mummies.
The museum was celebrating its centenary and there was a special exhibition dedicated to TutAnkhAmun - the most famous archaeological find. With travel guide in hand, we oohed and ahhed over the gold treasures found in his tomb - a gold throne featuring the famous scene of TutAnkhAmun's queen anointing him, chests made out of ebony ivory, cheetah-skinned hunting shields, bows, arrows, alabaster canopic jars holding King Tut's mummified organs, gold sarcophagus - if Howard Carter had found such treasures for a little known boy-king, imagine what the tomb of a pharaoh like Ramses II would have been like? King Tut's inner coffin of solid gold and the famous mask of gold that everyone wants to see and is portrayed in many egyptian images.
The museum has become another money-making expedition for the Egyptians with an exhorbitant price to view the royal mummies. We had to content ourselves with the animal mummies - cats, dogs, birds, goats, Nile perch (yes, fish as well!) and most amazing was a 7-metre crocodile mummy.
The exhibitions were arranged by themes on the upper floor and chronological on the lower floor, going clockwise from the Old Kingdom, to the Middle and finally to the New and later kingdoms. There were rooms full of giant sarcophagi that would've weighed a tonne each, a room full of miniatures showing the egyptians' daily lives, a room full of ancient papyrus long faded and rooms full of bits and pieces from ruins, statues, palace floors - a place where one needs a days to spend with a decent travel guide.

Khan Al-Khalili

På gaderne af Ægypts største bazar, Khan Al Khalili

After a stop at an egyptian perfumery and some lunch, we headed to Khan Al-Khalili - the oldest bazaar in Egypt that has lasted since the 1300s. Ancient buyers visited the khan for goods brought in on merchant caravans. No longer do we find slaves, silk, jewels or diamonds, but wooden guitars, brightly patched pouffe covers, clothes, t-shirts, crappy papyrus paintings, bongs/water pipes, bright bolts of cloth, the aroma of spices is very much present and stalls are heaped with bright red, gold and blue powders and sacks of seeds pods. Coppersmiths hammer out platters, tureens, coffeepots and enormous crescent-shaped tops for minarets. It is a ritual of the bazaar to expect to bargain - locals or foreign visitors - usually a 10th of the offer price - if you have paid a third, you have paid too much. We had only an hour to spare but many of the shops were closed for a siesta after lunch. Ulla I pointed to bags of multicoloured spices. He wanted £50 (AUD$10, 50DK.Kr) and after I said "da ketir awi" (it costs too much) and walked away, the shopkeeper doggedly followed us for a kilometre reducing the price from £40 to £30, £25, £20 and after we shouted £10 in jest, he offered £15, £10 and finally £5 before finally giving up on us. After much haggling, we managed to bargain for two ornate glass perfume bottles for £20 (AUD$2.50; 20DK.Kr)

Bedstemor's Birthday Feast

Bedstemors fest

Irene Ole had organised a private room for Bedstemor's birthday party. A single long table in a room of egyptian style. Small silver pots lined in two rows in the middle of the table kept the food warm.

We feasted on cumin-flavoured fried fish, chicken fillets egyptian-style, cinammon-flavoured ravioli, rice, mashed potatoes and beef steaks in pepper sauce, sang and toasted with bottles of egyptian wine and beer to Bedstemor.

Whilst the children played in one corner, there was much chatter througout the table and the evening finished off with chocolate and fruit cakes topped with "Happy Pirthday" (note, it's not an error) and we laughed in amusement in a plethora of egyptian sweets - baklawa, semolina tarts, rose-water flavoured tarts, and tarts that tasted like liquid honey... Ulla almost wanted to take the rest of the desserts with her (except for the rose-water flavoured ones - it was funny to watch her expression - rosewater almost smells like cosmetics). The waiters were extremely attentive, coming by every two minutes to serve us.

Best of all, Bedstemor turned 2 years old, as she blew out each candle on the cakes. As the danes would say, "det var meget hyggeligt!" (it was cozy)

Monday 15. november 2004 (7:30am start)

From the brown buildings and streets of Cairo, we travelled 24km southeast of the city to Saqqara, changing from a uniform brown to lush green fields of large cabbages and hundreds of date palms. It was like an oasis, a gentle mist gave a surreal sense of the fertile plains of ancient Egypt. Women in full-length black abeeyas squatted in the fields, the odd man walking around - such a contrast to the intense crowds of central Cairo.

Saqqara's Step Pyramid

Founded as a necropolis (burial city) for the Old Kingdom and is one of the richest archaeological sites in Egypt.

The Step Pyramid is less that ½ the height of the largest pyramids at Giza, but this monument served as a predecessor of the smooth pyramids. Previously tombs were made of mud brick, rectangular slablike structure covering a burial pit. But the architect Imhotep had the bright idea to construct in stone and Zosers trinpyramide i Sakkara

build the slablike structure 5 times one on top of the other, creating the first pyramid.

We entered through the Great South Court - the size of a soccer field, down a corridor of 40 pillars inspired by bundles of tied reeds. Whilst Adam was making another one of his speeches, I was tempted by a turbaned egyptian in a dress who took me to the top where I managed to get one shot of the magnificent pillars up top, before being scolded by Adam and being asked for baksheesh (tip). I was gratefully rescued by a couple of Italians when the egyptian would not let me go without a baksheesh. However, once I surfaced from the building, I was blinded by white sands and the immense pyramid sitting solitary amongst a few ruined stones, with a much smaller triangular heap of stones in the background. Although the morning had been cool, the sun soon warmed us up as we wandered round to the north.

Memphis

Once the capital of ancient Egypt, it remains unexcavated due to villages built on top of it and a high water table as a result of the Aswan Dam. There is a small garden with small finds - bits and pieces but the most exciting thing to see is a colossus of Ramses II lying on his back as the lower legs are missing. The colossus would've been 5 stories high had it been standing. Nearby lies the largest alabaster statue ever found - 80 tons of sphinx - imagine what treasures that could've been found if Memphis could've been excavated, especially as this ancient city lay halfway between Upper and Lower Egypt.

Our final stop before lunch was a papyrus museum - another place of commission for Adam. Bedstemor purchased a papyrus of egyptian alphabets. Some of the paintings cost a massive £3,500 (AUD$900, 3,500DK.Kr). For lunch, we had a splendid egyptian meal in the middle of nowhere that served excellent mezza (egyptian tapas) of baba ghanoush (roasted eggplant dip), tzatziki (cucumber dip), hummus (chickpea dip), fuul (beans) served with freshly made pita bread, warm vine-leaf rolls, lamb kofta and freshly roasted chicken in thyme. It was feast fit for a king and the most egyptian meal we had on the whole trip.

De store fantastiske pyramider i Giza. Her ses vi den største pyramid - Cheops/Khufus pyramid

Pyramids of Giza

From air the desert pyramids were right on the edge of the city, 16km from Cairo.

I remember vaguely, as a child, hunched over, walking up a surprisingly warm shaft lit by a single light bulbs and emerging into a very chilly dark room that held a single stone sarcophagus, the room empty except for occasional square holes in the wall where food was left for the afterlife.

I had entered the Queen's chamber in the largest pyramid and 20 years later, only the first 300 can enter these pyramids - for an exhorbitant fee.

The largest of the three, Cheops' pyramid was the largest, standing at 146metres at one point, took 920 metres to walk around it and contained 2.3 million blocks! Each block was at least one metre high, so you can imagine how massive these pyramids were.

Den anden største pyramid - Chephrens pyramid

Den anden største pyramid - Chephrens pyramid

The 2nd largest, Khefren's (Cheop's son) pyramid still had some of the smooth shiny limestone casing that once used to cover all these pyramids.==>

The massive solar boat that once carried the pharaoh's body from Memphis to Giza and the three smaller Queens' pyramids stood at one corner of the massive Cheop pyramid. We didn't have the opportunity this time to enter the tombs, but I feel priveleged that I did and that I still have some memories of the event.

The Sphinx

Sfinxen

The pyramids loomed in the background as it sat silently on the hot sand under the glaring sunlight for 4,000 years. Napoleon's troops once used it for target practice, so its nose and pharaohs beard and long fallen off and lies in a British museum. The Greeks called it "the Sphinx" as it was based on a mystical creature with the head of a man and body of a lion, which would stop any traveller along the way with a riddle - if the riddle wasn't answered, it became the sphinx's dinner. Throngs of crowds surrounded the sphinx and we could only enter in single file. Over time, it seemed that tourists could view it from further and further away. 45 years ago, Bedstefar's (grandfather) could touch the Sphinx and even climb to the top of the pyramid; 20 years ago, it was simply surrounded by a small wire fence but I could stand close up to it; now it lay in a very large pit where visitors could only view it up close if they zoomed in on their cameras. 4 millenia later, it still manages to awe all of us.

Tuesday 16. november 2004 (2:30am start)

Yes, you did read that right - we were all waiting in the lobby at 2:30AM. Last night, Bedstemor's grandchildren treated the family to a Spanish-Egyptian Italian dinner, which was followed by a Familien i en

cacophany of tambourines, oboes and drums played for an Egyptian engagement couple in the lobby.

This morning we were flying to Aswan, to board a 3-day cruise up the Nile, sailing up to Luxor. When we arrived, we were taken for a short felucca ride along the Nile with a fantastic view of the Tomb of Nobles. When we returned we were given our rooms onboard a four-storey cruise ship that had an indoor games room, a pool and sundeck at the top. Even from our rooms right at the bottom, we had a magnificent view of a small white mosque-like structure on top of huge sandy mountains dotted with small caves.

In the evening we had the opportunity to visit a small souq (local bazaar) selling t-shirts, papyrus paintings, mounds of saffron and dry scented lotus flowers, brown, red, yellow indigo mounds of fragrant spices - all of which some of us bargained for - the most expensive £25 papyrus painting (AUD$5, 25DK.Kr) to cheapest £15 embroidered t-shirts with hieroglyphics (AUD$3, 15DK.Kr). To top the evening off, we took a £5 horse carriage ride back to the ship.

Wednesday 17. november 2004 (7:30am start)

It seemed some of the family had succumbed to a tummy bug. The rest of us steered clear of unwashed fruit, fresh salads, raw vegetables and drinks made with local water. However, this didn't stop us from going out to see a few sights.

The Unfinished Obelisk

Had this obelisk been completed, it would've been the largest and heaviest ever made standing at 142 metres. It sat in a granite quarry, perfectly complete on three sides but abandoned when a flaw was found in the stone. It is almost impossible to imagine how the ancient egyptians could've moved even a single rock made from this quarry as it stood a great many miles from any of the monuments ever made. Unfortunately for Egypt, most of its obelisks have been spirited to other countries - to Italy, Britain, France and even Argentina by foreign archaeologists in the last centuries. Most of us didn't have the chance to view the complete obelisk before Adam rang a bell that he carried (to annoy us I suppose)

Den ufuldendte Obelisk De meste familier kom ikke så langt til her

High Dam

For centuries the Nile controlled the Egyptians' lives - either flooding or insufficient water levels were disastrous for the people who relied on this huge water source for their livelihood. When the Aswan Dam was built, some of the villages in the south lost their water supply.

30 years ago, a new High Dam was built which resulted in the man-made Lake Nasser to the south being created ==>

This meant many people had to be moved as villages were buried, as well as some of the ancient egyptian monuments such as the Temple of Philae.

At its highest point, the High Dam stands at 111m high, 3.8km long and 980m wide at the base.

Three times the number of stones used for Cheops' Pyramid was used.

Videoing isn't allowed as it is a high-security military area - should there be an attack on this Dam, then much of Egypt would be submerged under water and would be a disaster for the country.

Given only 10min, Adam "rang" us back to the bus.

Temple of Philae

Vi sejler til Philae templet

After Aswan Dam, the Temple of Philae was submerged for six months a year and tourists had to view it through the murky waters of Lake Philae. When the High Dam was built, it threatened to submerge the Temple permanently, so was moved stone by stone to a new island similarly landscaped. Philae is special in that it's only accessible by boat and the sunset forms a spectactular backdrop. A temple dedicated to Isis (goddess of women, sex purity), it was one of the last outposes for paganism and due to the popularity of Isis, was also used by the early Christians. The Temple walls and many pillars were filled from top to bottom with hieroglyphs and images of Isis - many defaced by the early Christians who considered ancient Egypt's gods to be "pagan". I had a fantastic afternoon walking in and out of all the nook and crannies - visiting the Birth House, Nilometer, the "Pharaoh's Bedstead" and much to the amusement of the family, I was the last to emerge.

Kom Ombo

The ship set sail from Aswan at 3:45pm after an afternoon spent sunbaking and drinking beer (typically danish to make the most of sunshine and beer). We were sailing 48km north of Aswan to Kom Ombo - the site of an ancient city devoted to the worship of a crocodile god, Sobek. The ancient city is long gone and crocodiles existing on nearby sandbanks have been hunted to extinction.

At sunset, we visited the Temple of Kom Ombo, dedicated to both Sobek the Crocodile god and Horus, the falcon-headed sky god Isis' son. Although we didn't have the opportunity to explore this 2 crocodil mumie på Kom Ombo temple

temple, it was both spectacular and eerie at sunset, with large light illuminating it. There existed a pit filled with water, with a platform halfway down, where crocodiles were lured in from the Nile with human flesh, and the largest crocodile was caught and mummified as a tribute to Sobek. At the Chapel of Hathor (Horus' wife), an American shouted "Geez, I thought I was supposed to see crocodile statues!" *laugh* It contained two of the mummified crocodiles found at the Temple.

We returned to a small cocktail party before dinner, provided by the ship to introduce all the staff responsible for making our trip enjoyable.

Thursday 18. november 2004 (7am start)

We sailed overnight past Kom Ombo to Edfu, a small regional center for the sugarcane trade, visited the Temple of Horus and sailed on to the Lock-crossing at Esna.

Temple of Horus

Den smukke Horus temple i Edfu

This is the most complete of its kind, a Greco-Roman temple that conforms exactly to ancient egyptian principles of architecture ie visit Edfu to see what almost every other temple in Egypt would've looked like in its original form. We were awed by the massive walls of the pylons at the entrance, distince reliefs showing mirror images of Horus and the pharaoh grasping the hair of his enemies. It was built by Cleopatra's father around 50yr BC. Standing in the forecourt of this well-preserved temple we can see mud-brick houses lined up at the top of the compound walls because this temple was once buried right up to the ceiling with a village built on top of it. Many of the temple relifes capture the cataclysmic battle of Horus with his brother Seth. We entered a small Nilometer - a dark, dank tunnel that smelled of pee and was once used to measure the level of the Nile. Again I was the last to emerge (a couple of minutes late only) to the loud applause of everyone (and a huge glare from Adam).

Returning to the ship in time for the 9am sail, we set off for Esna, 48km south of Luxor. Whilst the family tanned on the sundeck, I sat in the sun at the front of the boat, enjoying sense of peace and tranquility. It was truly beautiful to sit on a boat not too big or small, to watch the changing scenery on both sides, passed fields of giant palms and lush green fields, a smoking metal, the ship moving at a leisurely 16km/hr and passing some incredibe mountains of sand and cliffs. Ole joined me for a chat - he Irene are moving to Greenland on Tuesday. Later in the morning, I joined René and Ulla by the pool, gossiping about Bedstefar and family resemblances, watching Vinnie's kids and Sebastian splash about the pool, Lonnie, Sarah Birit stripped down to the minimum to get a bit of colour.

We reached Esna and used the few hours to get off the ship and stretch our legs after a morning of lazing around the pool. I was itching to walk around Esna, away from tourists and see how the locals lived. René and I headed for the quieter streets avoiding the busy streets around a souq. We were followed by a few children clad in long grey or white robes, who guided and annoyed us. Most of the narrow streets were unpaved, some very muddy and smelling of manure. Skinny, skeletal donkeys balanced again flat wagons, many shy girls waving from the darkness of their doorways or 2nd-level windows, whilst little boys came out to say hello and mill around us. Most houses were simple of mud bricks, with tiny wooden shuttered windows to keep the intense summer heat out. Some had extremely ornate wooden doors, reminiscent of colonial days. Occasional peek in doorways revealed empty mud-lined rooms as most people lived in the upper floors. Eventually René shouted imshee! (go away) as the kids got noisier, more aggressive, pulling on our arms and throwing pebbles at us. When I stumbled over a whimpering black and white disease-ridden puppy in brown paper, it was kicked aside - making me almost reach out for it if René hadn't stopped me.it was wise not to even make contact witht the children, who were dust-covered and clad in the long egyptian grey robes. It was such a relief when they finally left us even though we knew they were hiding in in alleyways watching us wind through the streets. There were goldsmiths glittering with ornate rings, earrings and necklaces; tailors still sewing by hand on the steps of their shop; coffee houses filled with solitary men smoking their water-pipes - their eyes following us down the street. We had spent so much time just sitting around that it was good to get away.

Crossing of the Lock

We set sail at 3pm and many ships like ours got together near two bridges just north of Esna. For one hour of the day, a bridge opened up for the ships and cars were ferried across the Nile instead. In the meanwhile, the ship had organised a special Egyptian "Oriental" dinner where guests could dress up in egyptian attire. It was a traditional egyptian feast of flat bread, baba ghanoush, warm stuffed zucchini and capsicum, warm cabbage rolls, chickpeas, lentils, fish, and traditional dish of okra, and a dressed up rice-stuffed whole lamb with a foil-covered head, small skinny eggplants for ears sitting upright on a silver platter. To finish it off was a plethora of egyptian dessert - semolina tarts, almond-milk agar (jelly) and the tartlets that tasted of liquid honey. Between 10-11pm we all gathered together for the lock-crossing.
Canal lock-crossing involves ships moving from a one water-level to another, usually where a dam is involved. Two cruise ships moved into a channel that is closed off and the water in the channel gradually reduced - in our case approx 10 metres. Once we reached the new water-level on the other side of the lock, the door in front of the ship opened and we sailed out. The lock-crossing took approx one hour, although all the waiting took a few hours. It was well-worth staying up even though we had an early start the next day. What was most amazing was the way the ship travelled with such expertise through such a narrow channel with barely enough space on each side.

Friday 19 November 2004 (7am start)

Overnight we had sailed from Esna to Luxor arriving at approx 2am - the last port for us. We were awoken by efficient wake-up calls and we could hear phones ringing in all the rooms going on early tours. We had a long day ahead, cramming four different sights.

Valley of the Kings

Builders of the great pyramids realised that hidden entrances and false shafts were not going to protect their dead pharaohs or the riches buried with them from tomb-robbers, so from the 18th dynasty, the ancient egyptians started digging underground. Rolling hills and valleys of sand, rubble and solid limestone - it is amazing to think that the ancient egyptians managed to bury something like possibly over 300 pharaohs of which only 62 have been found (last was TutAnkhAmun).

The mountain under which many of the tombs were found has a pyramid-shaped peak.

Our tickets allowed us to visit three tombs only and only a handful were opened on the day with long queues at each.

We visited the tombs of Ramseses III, IX and V/VI - all of them relatively small tombs, some partly excavated, others quite madly damaged by humidity from all the tourists and from oily fingers.

There was a variety of hieroglyphs and images, of the pharaohs, how they treated their subjects, even the ceilings were beautifully adorned with dark blue skies, thousands of stars and the sky goddess Nut, stretched above. Tomb of Ramses III was like a picture book of "Better Homes Gardens" with images of hundreds of pots, furniture and food preparation. In the tomb of Ramses V/VI was a large shattered giant pharaoh-shaped sarcophagus eerily illuminated by silver light - Ramses VI unusually sharing a tomb with his predecessor brother. It is truly amazing that such images have lasted thousands of years, hidden away in dark low-humidity tombs that are quickly disintegrating since they have been excavated.

Colossi of Memnon

Colossi af Memnon

Just past the Valley of the Kings, we stopped to view the Colossi of Memnon - twin 18-metre figures of Amenhotep III that once stood in front of what was believed to be Egypt's greatest temples, even larger than the existing Temple of Karnak. Each carved from single pieces of stone, once famous for bell-like tone emitted each sunrise. The Greeks believed these sounds were made by the immortal Memnon greeting his mother. After an Roman emperor made restorations in 170AD, the sounds ceased.

To our amusement, Adam made another one of his commission-based stops at an alabaster factory. He couldn't understand why we broke into laughter. Instead of boycotting the trip, we all went rushing in for free cups of coffee. René led a race with Sebastian and Vinnie's boys sliding across the smooth alabaster marble floor. At the other end was Ulla being approached with a small £10,000 alabaster hippo, to which she jokingly said yes and the shop-assistant went away to put it aside.

Temple of Hatshepsut

Dronning Hatshepsuts terrassetempel

Lying next to the Valley of the Kings is this temple of the only female pharaoh who ever ruled in Egypt. Due to a botched job by an Egyptian-Polish archaeological team, the ruined temple was recreated to resemble a bus depot, with much of the original artwork covered over or destroyed. The sucessor to Hatshepsut's brother/husband was stepson Tuthmose III who had to wait 20 year to get his throne, hence when she died, she was not mummified and her temple destroyed as punishment. The temple was at the site of a Coptic monastery and fantastic limestone cliffs. There may not be much of the temple to look at but the view, from up close, far away or even from the sky is definitely worth the trip.

Then we had lunch and a brief rest. I was surprised to find that a humorous member of housekeeping had set up towels, blanket lettuce leaves to resember a man and his snake. I thought René had played a joke on me until I found out something similar other family members' rooms!

134 kæmpe-søjler af Karnak temple - verdens største tempelkompleks

Temples of Karnak Luxor

Karnak was known as "Ipet-Isut" - The Most Perfect of Places.

Much of it is in ruins but is possibly the largest temple complex ever built anywhere and created over 1,500 years by successive generations of pharaohs.

It was the residence of pharaohs, place of worship, wealthy treasury, centre of administration and employed thousands.

Karnak is most famous for its giant columns - 134, each 15m high, centre 12 columns were 21 metres tall. It takes six adults to stretch their arms out around a column's girth.

Between the columns there once stood statues of pharaohs and the whole effect would've been intimidating, as though passing through a hall of giant gods.

<== Ramses II was responsible for a lot of the restoration of the temple and his signature is etched deeply in certain area so no other pharaoh could take credit.

Den højste obelisk i Ægypt - Hatshepsuts Oberlisk i Karnak tempel

Den højste obelisk i Ægypt - Hatshepsuts Oberlisk i Karnak tempel

Past the giant columns stood the tallest obelisk existing in Egypt at almost 30m high. Although made out of one piece of granite, the Obelisk of Hatshepsut looks like it's made of two different stones as the lower half was covered up for many years by Tuthmosis III in his resentment towards his stepmother's usurpment of the throne. There once existed 17 obelisks but these now lie in various parts of the world.

The further we walked into the temple, the older the temple and the more ruined it became so when we reached the other side, it was a mass of ruins.

The most beautiful aspect of the temple to me were the images of a queen embracing her pharaoh.

It was considered taboo for such displays of close affection that for many years it was covered up with a gold plate.

Near the Sacred Lake - a body of water used for priests' ablutions - stood a giant scarab beetle. Adam told us to walk around it seven time and our wishes would be granted. It would've been very comical to see a large group of people all walking around this large beetle.

After 1½hr, it was time to move on... to another commission-based stop - a cotton t-shirt shop with template-printed t-shirts costing five times more than what I bought them for.

Finally our last tour - the Temple of Luxor==>

There was once an Avenue of Sphinxes that joined the Temple of Karnak to the Temple of Luxor for 2.5km.

In pharaonic times, Luxor Temple sat at the heart of the ancient capital of Thebes and was well-preserved because it was once buried under the village of Luxor and even had a 13th-century mosque built amongst its walls - which the villagers demanded it remain during excavations of the site.

It is a temple that doesn't seem to be flooded with tourists and at the diminishing lights of sunset, the temple casts an eerie but beautiful shadow through the city.

After the tour, the rest of the family returned to the ship whilst our little family decided to walk through the city - a short walk along the Nile. Like the walk around Esna, we were interested in walking through the streets, taking photos and seeing how people lived - old men smoking bongs, tailors mending clothes, a man cleaning cups in small coffeeshop, an open butcher with carcasses hanging by the roadside, little kids all vying for a shot on a photo, women clad from head to toe in black, children happily waving from all corners - these people were smiled more and seemed friendlier - and none asking for baksheesh (tip), and a sharp contrast to the streets of Esna. We stopped for a drink on the rooftop of a hotel and watched another fantastic sunset over Luxor.

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4. March 2008 02:07
by Rene Pallesen
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Cusco - Peru

4. March 2008 02:07 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Sunday we flew from Santiago to Cusco in Peru via Lima.

Lima is very dry...almost a desert whereas the flight into Cusco was spectacular surrounded by tall green mountains. The hotel came to pick us up from the airport and the hotel is very centrally located in the middle of the city. It is a spectacular place, the people are very different from elsewhere (indians) and you can buy craftmanship everywhere really cheap.

You can see the remains of the inca buildings everywhere. Cusco is located in 3500 meters altitude so we decided to take it easy on the first day to acclimatise (none of us have got any headaches so far)and then head up an see Macchu Picchu in a couple of days time. So on the first evening we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner where we got the most important menu items out of the way...alpaca and cuy (Lama and Guinea Pig). The lama was really nice (like a tender beef) but the Guinea Pig was a bit tough (especially the skin) and there wasn't much meat on it (but tasty).

Tuesday we bought a train ticket to Macchu Pichu (USD 96...so quite expensive and then on top comes bus up to the site $12 and the entrance to the site itself $40...so a good $150 USD per person) which is a 4 hour ride each way. Despite the expensive trip there it would be a shame to come all this way and not go there...and believe me...it is worth it. Just the train trip there is pretty spectacular between deep gorges and roaring rivers. The first hourin the train is spent climbing the hillside in Cusco...the train rides along for one kilometer and then stops, changes direction and then goes another kilometer before doing the same again...in total it takes the train 7-8 direction changes to make it to the top of the hill.
And the Macchu Pichusite itself is really spectacular in itself. We spent close to 6 hours exploring the area and had we known earlier that they closed access to one of the peaks at 1pm then we could easily have spend more time exploring.

Wednesday we checked out of the hotel in Cusco and booked ourselves a night bus to Copacabana in Bolivia. The remainder of the day we spent visiting other Inka sites around the area by local bus. Some of the sites especially the one closest to Cusco called Saqsaywaman is pretty spectachlar.

We had a really scary incident where we got attached by two really vicious dogs. The first dog went for me an I kicked ouut after it and just missed it, but it was just enough to surprise the dog and make it back off. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the second dog attack Kim and I saw her try and kick it as well whereafter it also back off (probably because the fist dog got scared). After that they kept their distance...a close encounter but walked away unhurt but with our hearts pounding. Click here to see more photos from Peru

2. March 2008 10:14
by Rene Pallesen
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Santiago de Chile

2. March 2008 10:14 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The last couple of days Kim and I have been in Santiago de Chile. Kim arrived a day late due to mechanical problems with the aircraft from Sydney and I arrived 6 hours late with Chris (my colleague) at 3am in the morning. Chris and I got ripped off by the taxi due to us not having studied the local conversion rates...but after that we had no other problems.

The first day we spent sleeping and familiarizing ourselves with the area around Providencia and Bellavista. There are some gorgeous little bars and restaurants in these areas. Santiago is a very modern city. It is very clean and you don´t see the same problems as for instance in Buenos Aires with street kids. I can see why my cousin Ulla decided to live in this city for a while.
The Metro in Santiago is really good...there are trains every few minutes and they cost about $1 USD regardless of where you get off...a lot cheaper than catching taxis and a lot faster too.

Next day we went sightseeing around Santiago city centre. The highlight was Cerro Santa Lucia which is an old castle converted into a lovely park area used very much by couples out for a romantic afternoon.
As for food...it seems that most locals eat hotdogs and pizza for lunch so we had a hard time finding something reasonably healthy.

We spent a lot of the late afternoon and evening sorting out luggage storage. We are staying in a serviced apartment with no storage facilities so we had to go to the bus terminal on the other side of the city to store it. When we got back we received an email from the lady renting us the apartment saying that she´d store it for us. I feel a lot more happy about her storing it than in the terminal especially as my work laptop is in the bag.

Next morning it was again time to go to the Airport...this time to fly to Peru.

23. February 2008 08:13
by Rene Pallesen
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Buenos Aires - Argentina

23. February 2008 08:13 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This week I am in Buenos Aires in Argentina for our annual International Partner Conference and sales Kickoff meeting.

I arrived Thursday night after a long flight with my colleagues and early Friday morning we started our meetings with new product introductions as well as briefing on what is going to take place the next week or so...and as the week progresses I will keep you up to date here.

Friday night we went to a restaurant called the winery and had finger food and tasted a range of different wines. Afterwards in the late evening I decided to go for a walk through the streets of Buenos Aires. It seems to be a very cultural city with some of the normal problems for a large city. There are a lot of people in the streets in the evening especially around the pedestrian areas.

It is interesting that all the tourist maps here display the Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands) as belonging to Argentina. I think the Argentinians really should move on and start accepting that the islands belong to the UK and that they cannot claim them just because they captured them for a few months back in 1982 or because they are closer to Argentina than to the UK.

Buenos Aires is not a place to go for a beach holiday. The water is brown and muddy...I though it was because of the recent rain, but looking at other photos it seems that is is always muddy.

On the first evening we had an opening party at the local Yacht club. Two girls were singing and providing some pleasant entertainment and the morning opening ceremony also provided entertainment.

On the official opening night we went to a restaurant displaying some extremely good tango dancing. It is some of the fastest and most impressive dancing that I've ever seen live.

And of cause I needed to have a try as well.

On the closing night we went to a local restaurant and one of the sponsors provided the entertainment in the form of some dancing girls.

Click here to see more photos from Argentina

11. February 2008 12:49
by Rene Pallesen
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Mexico - Mexico City

11. February 2008 12:49 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This week I am in Mexico City assisting some of our partners.

I flew in Saturday evening and had Sunday to do a bit of sightseeing before meeting up with our partners in the evening. I took a tour to the big pyramids outside Mexico City (Pyramid of the Sun is the third largest pyramid in the world...apparently the largest is also here in Mexico). It was fantastic seeing the Pyramids and it is one of the few things that I've always wanted to see in Mexico...so now: been here done that.

The whole complex is huge it is 3-4 kilometers long so it takes a fair amount of work to walk from one end to the other...especially with all the stairs and sections.

We also saw the most holy cathedral in Mexico...a place where they keep a piece of cloth with an image of Virgin Mary that was left after someone carried flowers in the cloth. It is a beautiful piece of cloth...but I don't buy the flower story.

Monday to Friday was work days and the first couple of days were spent training with our partners and customers. Here in Mexico they don't start work until around 10am...but also don't finish until after 6-7pm and then followed by dinners etc. with the partners mean that some days go on until around midnight.

I find that Mexican food here is very different from the Mexican food that we get in Australia and elsewhere (but I already knew that). The food is still very unhealthy and full of meat and cheese...but much more tasty and much more variation. Our partners were very impressed on the first evening with them that I was able to eat whole chillies in the tacos...but when I explained to them that I was used to Asian food and to chop up fresh chillies into my day-to-day food then they understood.

In the big intersections in the city there are children dressed as clowns doing tricks to earn a few pesos. The other day I say three kids standing on each others shoulders which was very impressive...I also saw an older woman dressed as a clown walking around with a bucket with a dark cloth in it and throwing it at the cars...very freaky and I think she needs to change her tricks if she want to make any money. One of the more disturbing was a mother with a three year old kid who lay down on the street in the middle of the traffic while the kid was making somersaults on top.

On the last evening we went to Plaza Garibaldi. This is the place that all the great Mariachi bands came/come from. The whole square is filled with bands that you can hire to play music for you. When you drive to the square the Mariachis line the streets and run alongside the car trying to convince you that you should hire them to play some music for you.

We went into a restaurant where they besides the Mariachi also had other entertainment such as cockfighting and lasso dancing. Afterwards we went this cantina where a lot of bands were playing simultaneously at various table. All very Mexican and a great tradition. I wonder if the Mariachis will still exist in 20 years from now...but seeing the reaching of the mexicans they probably will. The food was excellent and I tried another couple of great traditions such as beer with lemon and chili in it as well as the mandatory Tequilas (El Tequila Loco).

The hospitality of our partners here has been excellent. They have taken me out every night and made sure that I tried everything Mexican.

Here's some videos:

Cockfightting
Indian Dancers
Lasso Dancing
Plaza Garibaldi
Mariachi

Click here to see more photos from Mexico

1. February 2008 12:04
by Rene Pallesen
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Travelling

1. February 2008 12:04 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I haven't blogged much this year yet. Mainly because not a lot has happened this month (January traditionally is a quiet month) but also because it has been very hot and wet which is not a good combination for outdoor activities.

The next two months however are going to be really busy as I will be traveling in Latin and South America.

I am looking forward to the trips as it will take me to most of South America such as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.

As I travel I'll start posting pictures and entries in this blog.

4. January 2008 12:50
by Rene Pallesen
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New Years Day

4. January 2008 12:50 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I was glad that I didn't have too much to drink on New Years Eve, because the day after turned out to be a busy one.

In the morning we had breakfast with Kims family at the cemetery where her mum is buried.

Right after this we went to the golf course at the coast and played 18 holes. It was a pretty hot day, but there was a nice breeze along the coast and the course is in such a spectacular location.

Click here to download video of Playing Golf #1
Click here to download video of the Golf Course #2

Most of the beaches in Queensland and New South Wales were closed due to dangerous surf conditions. There is a hurricane off the coast of Queensland creating some huge waves along all of Australia's east coast.

In the evening we had dinner with Kims family having steam boat and those rice paper things that you roll up (not sure what it is called)...and it was yummi.

They have this fermented fish that has been fermented over 3-4 years and it is really nice as a dipping sauce with a few chillies mixed in. Click here to see more photos from New Years Day

4. January 2008 12:31
by Rene Pallesen
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2007 has ended

4. January 2008 12:31 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The year 2007 has now ended and it is time to start some new adventures in the new year.

2007 was full of traveling and other adventures and I expect 2008 to be much of the same.

Take some time to look at what is happening in 2008 as well as what happened in 2007.

Click on this link to see the events of 2007

Also please bookmark this page and also have a look at the RSS feed features of this page.

28. December 2007 09:56
by Rene Pallesen
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Jervis Bay

28. December 2007 09:56 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

After Christmas Eve we went a couple of days to Jervis Bay. Jervis Bay is about 3-4 hours drive south of Sydney and is not part of New South Wales, but belongs to ACT (Australian Capital Territory, Canberra). Hyams beach at Jervis has got a reputation of having the whitest sand in the world.

The house we had rented was right on the beach so it was easy to go for a swim. Unfortunately the water was quite cold, so Kim and I instead opted for a trip to the local golf course.

In the morning we went fishing and although we did catch a few fish they were all too small to keep. The most annoying was that we kept catching stingrays.

Click here to download video of fishing at Jervis Bay #1
Click here to download video of fishing at Jervis Bay #2

I know that the area has got a lot of Port Jackson sharks and on the beaches we found a lot of shark eggs.

In the evenings we played Mah Jong and 21. I decided to stay out of the Mah Jong game until I've got a better grasp of how it is played (some of the numbers on the bricks are in Chinese and it therefore took too long time to compute and I felt it was a disadvantage). I had a lucky night in 21 and won $20.
Click here to see more photos from Jervis Bay

25. December 2007 09:47
by Rene Pallesen
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Christmas Eve and Day

25. December 2007 09:47 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The Australians celebrate Christmas on the 25th December where we in Denmark celebrate it on the 24th in the evening. I still like to celebrate on the 24th and it is the day of the year where I most miss family (and the only day of the year where I miss the cold in Denmark).

Most of my friends were either out of town or have kids and therefore not very mobile on this evening so this year I decided that it should just be Kim and myself.

I cooked the traditional Christmas dinner with duck and ris-a-la-mande and we had a very nice evening.

In the morning next day we went over to Kims family for lunch and there was a lot of people and kids there. Again this year I took on the duty of being Santa's local ambassador and hand out presents to the children...all good fun.

22. December 2007 12:28
by Rene Pallesen
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Climbing at Mt Keira - Wetting my pants

22. December 2007 12:28 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Last weekend Andy, May and myself went climbing at Mt keira near woolongong south of Sydney.

May had never really done any outdoor climbing before and Keira is a good place to go and try your first lead climb.

The weather forecast didn't look promising but we decided to go there anyway as in our experience the forecasts are never very accurate here. Besides it said that there was a chance of one or two showers in the afternoon.

As soon as we arrived to the cliffs in the morning we started feeling the first few drops. The rocks were still dry so we decided to put up an easy route anyway.

Click here to see bigger photo

Once we finished it was raining more steadily and the rocks started getting slippery. There was a climb in the corner that was still dry so we decided to quickly also do this. And afterwards we put up a top rope on a climb that also still was dry.

Before we got onto it it was raining heavily and there was a storm with lots of lightening approaching.

> Click here to see bigger photo

Click here to download video

After a couple of not very motivated (and wet) attempts on the climb I volunteered to clean up the climb. As I approached the top the water was coming down like from a waterfall and by the time I had cleaned up the anchors I was drenched (and yes...my pants were very wet).

Climbing wise a really disappointing day...but we still had fun.

*Egypt - Pallesen Family Holiday 2004*

~ Travel Journal ~ Read about our journey with links to an amazing photo gallery


*~ Photo Gallery ~*

What We are All in Egypt for


The Sphinx ~ Half Man Half Lion ~	Saqqara's Step Pyramid	Valley of the Kings

Pyramids of Giza	Kheop's Pyramid ~ the Largest Pyramid ~	Khefren's Pyramid

Aswan Dam	Memphis ~ Capital of Ancient Egypt ~	The Unfinished Obelisk


Temples


Karnak ~ 120-metre Columns ~	Hatshepsut in a Cliff	Horus ~ Greek "Egyptian" Temple ~

Philae - the Island Temple	Kom Ombo Crocodile Mummies	Luxor


The People Way of Life


Streets of Luxor	Khan Al-Khalili ~ an Egyptian Bazaar ~	Horses


The Pallesen Family


Bedstemor's Fest	Egyptian "Italian" Dinner	Coffee-shop

On the Roof-top		In Cairo


The Nile


On the Boat	Felucca on the Nile	Tomb of Nobles

	Egyptian Sunset


Things to Buy


Papyrus	Perfumery	Alabaster


Other Places We Saw


The Citadel in Cairo		Lunch on the Nile

Home

Open day photoshoot - Sarah Lucien

Open day photoshoot - Taylia Lopez

Lucas with a snotty nose

Aiden toilet training

Aunty Irene in town

Family Photo at La Perouse

St Patricks Day Spike Hair

Playing at the park

Aiden pedalling his bike

Super hero

Home

Egypt - Pallesen Family Holiday 2004

Bedstemor's 85th Birthday ( 13 - 20 Nov 2004 )

Home

Cusco - Peru

Santiago de Chile

Buenos Aires - Argentina

Mexico - Mexico City

Travelling

New Years Day

2007 has ended

Jervis Bay

Christmas Eve and Day

Climbing at Mt Keira - Wetting my pants

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Newsletter

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