Dancing 65 year old hippies and the 5 Tibetan rights

On our second last night in Istanbul we decided to head out for a nice meal and some drinks. For dinner we chose Pasazade on recommendation from TripAdvisor. There are heaps of ordinary over-priced restaurants in the tourist area (Sultanhament) but this restaurant was way better and much better value. Highly recommended – for great Ottoman cuisine (think Turkish but a bit more Middle Eastern).

After dinner we headed to the Sah Bar – again a TripAdvisor recommendation.

It was pretty quiet when we got there (around 9.30pm), and we were thinking of leaving after our first drink. But this older guy who was the only other person on our side of the bar, started chatting to us.

Whenever an older guy by himself starts chatting to you in a bar, it’s not normally a sign that things are about to get crazy. But that’s exactly what happened thanks to Stolp, our new friend. He proceeded to be great value, telling us lots of stories about his various escapades from his days as a hippy (he used to hang out with Bianca Jagger at Studio 54 apparently), to his 30 minute dance-off with a 24 year old Brazillian in Ibiza (he won), to his various businesses in Istanbul through the 70’s and 80’s (selling antiques and rugs). He was lots of fun and later on he set the dance-floor on fire with some amazing James Brown moves – no mean feat at age 65. (We took a few videos of his dancing, but sadly none of the footage came out).

His secret? The 5 Tibetan rights – a daily exercise routine he had learned back in the 70’s from some monks. He and his very droll friend Bernard have been doing these ever day since then, and despite probably a lot of drinking, they certainly both looked great for their age.

We were joined at various points of the evening by Stolp, Bernard, a very dramatic but lovely South Korean lady having a weekend break from her “fucking boring” job at the Korean embassy in Azerbaijan, and a very intense Swedish girl, who despite being attached to her Turkish boyfriend, seemed to fall intensely in love with Nikki in around 5 minutes. The kind of random fun night you can only ever have when on holidays.

Goats cheese-stuffed Chicken at Pasazade restaurant, Istanbul

Stolp the Magnificent, Nikki, Bernard and our South Korean friend (sorry can’t remember your name!)

The latinas breaking out at the Sah Bar

Sailing down the Nile

In January 2013 we went on a fantastic 4 day/3nights Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor.

We’d booked through a travel agent in Cairo – but due to the low numbers of tourists in Egypt at the moment, there’s no real need to book in advance. There are dozens and dozens of boats – they are all very similar (most claim to be 5 star) and offer similar prices. We were booked on a boat called the “Grand Princess” which was lovely.

It was only US$55 per person per night including all meals (in a double room – all rooms have river views).

Like most of the cruises this leaves Aswan on Friday evening and arrives in Luxor on Saturday evening, but most people seemed to stay for 3 nights, and head off the boat during the days in Aswan and Luxor to do tours.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all pretty good (buffet style) and entertainment was offered every second night. There was also a great bar (expensive drinks) and a very cool rooftop with sun loungers and a pool.

When the boat was travelling down the Nile, it was lovely to just spend time in the room, which all have sliding glass doors which you can open to the amazing Nile views. The rooftop was also a great place to watch life on the Nile go by.

On the way to Luxor all of the boats stopped at the temples of Kom Ombo (and crocodile mummy museum) and Edfu, giving you time to head off the boat and check them out. Both are worth visiting, and despite turning up at the same time as about 6 other boats, were not crowded.

The Nile is a beautiful river with amazing history and this stretch of it is relatively quiet and not too developed – most of the scenery was farmlands and small villages. It was a very relaxing way to spend 4 days and a highly recommended trip!

The top deck of the Grand Princess, complete with sun loungers, pool, bar and minimalist gym!

Nile cruise boat in Aswan

Amazing sunshine in the cabin on the Nile

View of Luxor Temple from the boat

Sunset on the Nile in Luxor

The temple of Kom Ombo on the Nile River

Mummified crocodiles at Kom Ombo. Crocodiles were worshipped by ancient Egyptians as they were believed to be powerful beings, strongly connected to the all-important Nile River.

The massive temple of Edfu

The English in Luxor

Luxor was definitely the most touristy town we visited in Egypt – actually it was the only place we visited in the country where we saw a lot of tourists.

Strangely it also seems to be a big base for expats, in particular the English. There’s a major street in town full of English restaurants (ie. Indian food) and pubs and we came across quite a few older expats during our week there.

Across the road from our hostel was a great bar (one of the few in town), where they held a quiz night twice a week, for the local expats. Think lots of beer, red faces and crazy hairstyles and you get the idea.

You have to love the English though – everyone we spoke to was very friendly and down to Earth – even though we were clearly the outsiders. We got lots of Egypt-related advice, from a very paternal older English guy (imagine Donald Trump with a better tan) – who was there with his wife, who was channeling an 80’s tennis star in her choice of fashion and hair. Mostly about what not to see and what to see. There wasn’t much cultural insight, even though they’d been coming here regularly for the last 15 years.

The other great English people we met were Ian and Julie – a couple who we shared a table with at each meal on the Nile cruise. They were lovely – middle aged and very adventurous travellers, who head overseas every year and always seem to make friends with random people. Although one area they weren’t adventurous was food – they refused to eat the local food, and I think were surviving on a diet of chicken, potatoes and chips.

I’m not really sure what the appeal of Egypt is to the older English couples. Sure it’s cheap so I’m sure as a retiree you could live relatively luxuriously for not much money. But very few people speak English (none of the expats spoke Arabic), it’s not very tourist friendly, and if you’re after the comforts of home (beer, cottage pie and quizzes), Luxor seemed to be the only city that fit the bill. Even then, it seems to pale in comparison with other expat havens like South East Asia where foreigners are treated with a deference that you don’t find in Egypt.

In light of the recent revolution, you’d also have to think Egypt has dropped even further down the list of destinations for English ex-pats to spend their time. But I suppose as long as the pub keeps up the twice a week quiz night, and doesn’t take cottage pie off the menu, it’ll all be OK.

It would have been great to get the stories of these expats, and find out how they ended up there.

Dining at the Greenhouse in Cape Town

Winner of the best meal we had on this trip, and probably the best restaurant experience of all time, was our degustation at the Greenhouse restaurant in Cape Town.

We went there in December 2012, on recommendation from a friend in Australia. It is without a doubt, a must do if you have the time in Cape Town.

We’ve eaten at quite a few degustations in Australia (ezard, Jacque Reymond etc), and while they were great, this was definitely superior overall when taking into account the service, atmosphere, quality and value for money.

The restaurant offers a couple of tasting menus/degustations as well as ala-carte. We went for the seafood degustation, which was around AUD$100 including matched wines! Incredible value – the same meal in Melbourne would easily be $200.

Every course came with a matched wine – as we had seafood these were almost all white, and most came from local Cape Town wineries, which produce excellent whites.

The restaurant is not Michelin rated, as South African restaurants apparently can’t meet the standards required. Bizarre as this was superior in every way to 2 and 3 hat restaurants we’ve dined at in Australia. But it’s certainly getting more well-known internationally – the New York Times were in the restaurant the night we were there, photographing it for a review. Sadly I don’t think we were featured.

Here’s some photos from the amazing meal…..

Bread and amazing house dip

The incredible “soil” dip

Course No. 1 – Sea Bream Tiradito

Course No 2 – Crayfish Custard

NIkki in the dining room

Course No. 3 – Perlemoen & Smoked Snoek Broth

Course No. 6 – Rosemary & Honeybush

Course No. 5 – Fruits de Mer – sous vide fennel, squid ink garganelli, tomato-star anise veloute

Course No 4 – Cape Malay Kabeljou. Labster dahl, aubergine ragout, coconut jelly, crispy onions, Cape Malay spiced bisque

Course No 7 – Raspberry. Basil and Lemon Mousse

Petite Fours

Oliver our amazing waiter

Vin de Constance, a dessert wine made specifically for the Greenhohuse

 

The Shosholozameyl Train from Johannesburg to Cape Town

Back in December 2012 we caught the Shosholozameyl Train from Johannesburg to Cape Town.

At only $300 per person (in a double sleeper, including all meals) – it’s great value. There is also a local sleeper train you can get for around $70 – or the much more expensive Blue Train – check out Seat 61 for more. So this is the mid-range option). The trip is around 26 hours – leaving in the afternoon from Jo’berg and arriving the following afternoon in Cape Town.

We bought our tickets a few months in advance through the website – which was necessary at that time of year as the train sells out during holiday periods.

The journey has some fantastic scenery and is a much more relaxing way to travel than bus or plane.

The food was good, not great, but there was certainly plenty of it. We seemed to get fed every 2 or 3 hours. We also purchased some of the on-board wine which was good and reasonably priced. We bought a bottle and were able to leave it aside for the next meal as we didn’t finish it.

There is also a nice lounge car where you can get drinks or coffee at any time of day.

The sleeper rooms were very nice and the staff turned them over for you during dinner and you could come back and be all ready for bed. There are shared showers and toilets in each carriage and they were good and seemed to have plenty of hot water.

Overall the service were excellent – and it was an excellent way to get to Cape Town. If you have the time we highly recommend it!

Here are some photos.

The premier classe train in Jo’berg station

Sunrise on the train

The dining car

A double sleeper cabin

Drinks in the dining car

Wedding in Puerto Vallarta

We hadn’t originally planned to go to Mexico on this trip – but got invited to a friend’s wedding a few months before we left, so decided it would be a great excuse to visit!

We spent 2 months in Mexico before travelling to Puerto Vallarta (PV) for the wedding. I think we both thought the town would be similar to Playa del Carmen – very touristy and perhaps a bit soulless. But we were very wrong!

PV was one of our favourite towns in Mexico – it is touristy but has been a popular destination for much longer than Playa, so it has a lot more character, and has more of a local feel. It’s also much prettier – nice beaches with dramatic mountains running along the coast.

A lot of Americans apparently come here to get married, and so there are quite a few all-inclusive resorts like in Cancun and Playa. But they are stretched out along the coast, so you don’t really notice them if you stay in town.

Our friends got married in an amazing wedding venue/hotel right on the beach – Playa Fiesta. We had drinks and dinner there with the wedding party the night before, and then came back the following day for the wedding. It’s all-inclusive for guests staying there, which means it’s pretty hard to not get really drunk.

We had amazing service from all the staff there – the location and facilities are excellent. Overall it was an incredible wedding – thanks so much Brian and Sarah for inviting us!

Accommodation at Playa Fiesta

On the beachfront at Playa Fiesta

Pool at Playa Fiesta

The Happy couple

Wedding Fireworks!

Snorkelling in cenotes

One of the most incredible water experiences I’ve had so far has been snorkelling in some of the cenotes in Tulum. A cenote is ‘a deep natural pit or sinkhole, characteristic of Mexico, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that expose groundwater underneath’ according to Wikipedia. This part of Mexico has more than half of the world’s longest underwater caves – all of the cenotes connect up through the underground river system.

The Grand Cenote was by far the most spectacular, with turquoise blue water flowing through an amazing cave surrounded by lush green garden. There’s not much point in me saying any more about it, as the pictures say it better  …

PS 24 Sep – We’ve just added in some shots from the Maya Cenote just outside of Chichen Itza – amazing!

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Sustainable tourism in San Cristobal

Beyond looking at hippies there are lots of great things to do in San Cristobal de las Casas – most tours take you out of the city to visit indigenous villages, and natural wonders. We did a tour with a sustainable tourism company called Tienda Experiencias. Their website is currently only in Spanish, but they have two staff members that speak excellent English, and they are currently creating an English version.

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They have over 60 experiences currently, varying from mountain bike riding, to bird watching to canyoning to visiting indigenous villages. We went on a tour to the nearby village of Zinacantán, where we visited the home of Maria, one of the few remaining traditional weavers.

She continues to weave using mostly natural fibres (cotton, wool and a special type of plant I can’t remember the name of), using the same techniques her ancestors have for hundreds of years. She showed us how she made all of the various creations she produces (which includes traditional outfits, table cloths, wall hangings, blankets), then we both had a go at doing it.

She learnt her craft from her parents and she has taught her two daughters and their children as well. Her goal is to keep passing down these skills to future generations.

First she showed us how to create balls of wall from the raw material (very hard) and then how to weave. NIkki was pretty good at that one (see the photos below). Most of the items take a couple of weeks to create – some several months! It was fantastic to learn about this as there are so many women and children selling these wares in the street, and you have no idea who has made them or whether they are genuine (for the record Maria said a lot of the weaved products sold in town are from Guatemala, and some are second hand from deceased people!).

During all of this we were accompanied by Maya, our lovely tour guide. She translated the many questions we had for Maria (who spoke Spanish).

After the weaving, we sat down for a traditional meal of tortillas (all hand made), beans, pumpkin seeds and salsa – all cooked over an open fire.

It was a fantastic experience – gaining an insight into the daily live of an indigenous family, who is able to continue to sustain this lifestyle thanks to the income she is earning from these tours (80% of the tour fee goes to her and her family). We’d highly recommend the company if you’re in San Cristobal. They also organise experiences throughout Chiapas – particularly in the national park zone south east of San Cristobal.

Cost: 350 pesos each
Time: Around 4 hours