Giza, Memphis and Saqqara Egypt

We arrived back in Cairo around 11am yesterday and got checked into Marriott Cairo Hotel and Casino around 12:30. We had a dinner cruise down the Nile River last night and spent the day catching up on emails and IM'ing with friends & family. The dinner cruise was very nice and had some good entertainment (singers - not so great, belly dancer & Egyptian dancers - great).


We had an all-day tour to Giza, Memphis, and Saqqara today. Giza is only 30 minutes away from Cairo by car and is best known for the Pyramids of Giza, situated high on the desert plateau immediately to the west of the urban district. Kim and I took a camel ride through the Sahara desert to see more of the pyramids. It was truly a once in a life time experience.

Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Kim and I landed in Sharm El Sheikh late Friday night and headed straight for our hotel (Sol Sharm). We planned to dive 3 days but only dove 2 days due to very windy weather and rough seas on day 2. Instead, we looked around the "old town" before leaving for Cairo Tues morning.

Sharm, as its normally called, is a well-known port and resort town at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula and is popular with divers. Its a hot spot for Russian and Italian vacationers since its close to both of those countries (only about 2 hours from some parts of Italy).

The Sinai Peninsula is a remote desert mountain range. The rocky mountains are parted from the deep-blue sea by a flat desert strip. This combination of desert and sea is an incredible sight and makes you believe you are on a different planet.

We dove at both the reefs of Tiran and Ras Mohammed which are known as two of the best diving-spots in the world. It took between 1 to 1-1/2 hours to reach them from Sharm by boat.

Ras Mohammed is the name of the southern most point of the Sinai peninsula. There, the current of the Gulf of Aqaba meets the Gulf of Suez. During the summer dive season the increase of plankton in the water results in huge amounts of fish. Unfortunately, its winter now so we didnt see the huge schools of Barracudas and Sharks but saw several Murray Eels, Blue Spotted Rays, Napoleon Fish, Lion Fish, and many others.

Cairo, Egypt

Kim and I landed in Cairo this morning around 6:30am after a 10 hour direct flight from Singapore. We were lucky to get bulkhead seats which made the flight much more enjoyable. We visited the Egyptian Museum and the Khilaly Market today.

The Museum was massive and had stuff dating back ~3000 BC. Its pretty impressive looking at statues, figures, drawings, and carvings that are ~5000 years old.

The Khilaly Market was also pretty fun. The constant "Where are you from?", "I have what your looking for", "take a quick look" gets annoying fast but everyone is pedalling the warez in hopes that you buy from them.

We didnt brave the food at the market and opted for a nice, relaxing lunch outside at the Marriott. It was 75 degrees F and dry as the desert and made for a very nice day outside.

We're currently sitting at the Cairo airport waiting for our flight to Sharm El Sheikh to go diving. We'll dive for the next 3 days then return to Cairo to visit pryamids in Giza, take a tour down the Nile, and see the rest of Cairo.

Singapore Zoo

Kim and I took a trip to the Singapore Zoo this morning since our trip to Bangkok was cancelled due to anti-govt protests at the Thailand airports. That was the 2nd time we've tried to go to Thailand this year - both trips cancelled due to protests.

Entry fee was $18 SGD and zoo tour took about 3 hours. As expected, we saw tons of animals, a water show featuring penguins and sea lions and an elephant show.

The Singapore Zoo occupies 28 hectares of land on the margins of Upper Seletar Reservior within Singapore's heavily forested central catchment area. The area is also very popular with moutain bikers.

The zoo was built in 1973 and cost $9M SGD. Its operated by Wildlife Reserves Singapore which also manages the neighbouring Night Safari and Jurong Bird Park. There are about 315 species of animal in the zoo, of which some 16% are considered threatened species.

From the beginning, Singapore Zoo followed the modern trend of displaying animals in naturalistic, 'open' exhibits. It's very nice since you can get very close to the animals (see pictures below). It also houses the largest captive colony of orangutans in the world and you can see them walking above you in several different areas in the zoo.

Getting Settled in Singapore

Well we finally got "most" of our boxes unpacked after receiving our shipment 2 weeks ago. I was very motivated to get them all unpacked and get rid of the boxes, but the momentum tends to dwindle after a few days of non-stop unpacking...Here are some updated pictures of our house with our furniture in it. We hosted our first dinner party at our house on November 9th and were very excited to have some old friends from Houston, currently living in China, to come and have dinner with us. Overall, everyone seemed to enjoy all the good food and wine. We will definitely be making this a reoccurance since it's much cheaper to invite friends over for dinner than to go out and eat/drink in Singapore. It starts to add up!!!

HCMC Day 2

We took a day tour first to the Cao Dai temple, had lunch at a local restaurant (great Pho) and then to the famous Cu Chi tunnels used during the Vietnam War.

Cao Đài is a relatively new, syncretist, monotheistic religion, officially established in Tây Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. The term Cao Đài literally means "high place." Figuratively, it means that highest place where God reigns. It is also the abbreviated name for God, the creator of the universe, whose full title is Cao Đài Tiên Ông Đại Bồ Tát Ma-ha-tát - Within the title are representations of the Three Teachings: Saint, Sage and Buddha.

Caodaiists credit God as the religion's founder. They believe the teachings, symbolism and organization were communicated directly from God. Cao Đài's first disciples claimed to have received direct communications from God, who gave them explicit instructions for establishing a new religion that would commence the Third Era of Religious Amnesty.

Adherents engage in ethical practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, and vegetarianism with the minimum goal of rejoining God the Father in Heaven and the ultimate goal of freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Estimates of the number of Cao Đài adherents in Vietnam vary, but most sources give two to three million. Some estimates are as high as eight million adherents in Vietnam. An additional 30,000 (primarily ethnic Vietnamese) live in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

We were able to view a ceremony take place from the balcony at the temple (2nd picture) This was very interesting to see how it was conducted and how the rituals were carried out.

The tunnels of Củ Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Cu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War. The tunnels were used by the Viet Cong as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The role of the tunnel systems should not be underestimated in its importance in resisting American operations and protracting the war, eventually persuading the weary Americans into withdrawal.

Seeing the tunnels was very interesting, but definitely hit a soft spot when hearing/seeing the videos of Vietnamese that were praised for killing Americans. The American Pride took over and I was finished seeing the tunnels after the first few. Overall, it showed how terrible war is and can be, no matter what side you are on.





This entry into the tunnels was only big enough for a Vietnamese person. There is little chance an average-sized American could fit in it.

Trip to Ho Chi Minh City

Hotel: Liberty 1 Saigon
Price: $60 USD/night inclusive of breakfast
Transportation: Lots of walking & Taxi -->avg ride = $2 USD

We landed in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday night and did some exploring, but were caught in the rain and headed back to our hotel to rest up for the next day. We spent all day Saturday walking around the city to visit the War Remnants Museum, Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Ben Thanh Market.

The War Remnants Museum is a war museum thatprimarily contains exhibits relating to the American phase of the Vietnam War, and is a major tourist attraction.

Operated by the Vietnamese government, the museum was opened in September 1975 as the "The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government[of South Vietnam]." Later it was known as the Museum of American War Crimes, then as the War Crimes Museum until as recently as 1993. Its current name follows liberalization in Vietnam and the normalization of relations with the United States, but the museum does not attempt to be politically balanced. The museum comprises a series of eight themed rooms in several buildings, with period military equipment located within a walled yard. The military equipment include a UH-1 "Huey" helicopter, an F-5A fighter, a BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter" bomb, M48 Patton tank, and an A-1 attack bomber.

Reunification Palace, formerly known as Independence Palace, built on the site of the former Norodom Palace, is a historic landmark in Ho Chi Minh City. It was designed by architect Ngo Viet Thu as the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War and the site of the official handover of power during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. It was then known as Independence Palace, and an NVA tank crashed through its gates.

The Ben Thanh market was a great market for shopping. Cheap house decor (the same as what you can get at Pier 1) and your usual knock-offs: handbags, jewelry, clothes, and shoes. Kaes and I were able to both find "NorthFace" rain jackets for $30 USD a piece...beats the $300 USD you pay back in the states :)

There are TONS of motorbikes everywhere here and to be able to cross the street, you must start walking right in the middle of the traffic. Luckily the riders of motorbikes are cautious of pedestrians and do a good job of driving around them to avoid any accidents. We are heading to Cu Chi tomorrow to see the elaborate tunnel system used during the Vietnam war.

Mabul, Sipadan, and Kepalai

Hotel: Seafest Hotel
Price: $ 30 USD/night inclusive of breakfast for 2
Duration: 6 days/5 nights
Transportation: Walking 5 mins. to Scuba Junkie, then diving!

Kaes and I took a trip to the islands of Mabul, Sipadan, and Kepalai to dive and get our Advanced Open Water Dive Certification. Sipadan is one of the top dive destinations in the world.

Sipadan is the only oceanic island in Malaysia, rising 2,000 feet or 600m from the seabed. It is located in the Celebes Sea east of the major town of Tawau and off the coast of East Malaysia on the Island of Borneo. It was formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct volcanic cone that took thousands of years to develop. Sipadan is located at the heart of the Indo-Pacific basin, the centre of one of the richest marine habitats in the world. More than 3,000 species of fish and hundreds of coral species have been classified in this ecosystem.

Normally rare diving scenes are frequently seen in the waters around Sipadan: schools of greenback turtles and hawksbill turtles nesting and mating, schools of barracuda & big-eye trevally in tornado-like formations, pelagic species such as manta rays, eagle rays, scalloped hammerhead sharks and whale sharks.

A mysterious turtle tomb lies underneath the column of the island, formed by an underwater limestone cave with a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers that contain many skeletal remains of turtles that have become lost and drown before finding the surface.

Trip to Brunei

Kim and I went to Brunei last weekend and stayed at the Empire hotel. It was a quick trip to see the Empire hotel and look around the Brunei Capital of Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB). Unfortunately, we never made it (well honestly couldnt find directions to it) so we enjoyed ourselves at the hotel. We saw a movie, played tennis, and relaxed before heading back home and then on to KL for work.

Langkawi with Rob and Teri

Kim and I were going to meet our friends Rob and Teri from Houston for a nice Thai weekend in Phuket but things didn't quite work out like we planned. Anti-government protests closed the Phuket airport for 3 days and we went to Langkawi, Malaysia instead. We had a lot of fun, weather was nice during the days, and it was great having good friends visiting.

Mulu National Park - Sabah, Malaysia

We went to Mulu National Park this weekend and walked around in the largest cave in the world. We watched 2+ Million bats leave the cave at dusk in search of foods. Surprisingly, we didnt get bitten by one mosquito or bug even though we were walking around in a rain forest - must be the bats! The last thing we did before leaving was a canopy walk across the top of the forest which is quite amazing.