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Halloween is 'round the corner, and you have no idea how to scare the living daylights out of your creepy guests? Here are some fun Halloween food ideas which will surely make you the ghostess with the mostest! Blood and Bone Cheese And Crackers This is a super easy appetizer to make, consisting of just 3 ingredients - Ritz crackers, cream cheese and pepper jelly. It is so effortless to prepare that you can assemble it just minutes before your guests arrive. DIRECTIONS Bring an 8oz block of cream cheese to room temperature. Lay the block on wax paper and using the paper, so the cheese doesnt stick to your fingers, mold the block into the shape of a bone. Place it on your serving plate, pour some red pepper jelly over it, and arrange Ritz crackers around the bone. Voila! There you have your blood and bone cheese and cracker dip! Wendy The Witch Guac Dip INGREDIENTS Guacamole (store-bought or homemade) 2 plastic eyeballs (from Dollar store) 3 -4 black olives Long green chillie for the nose Red bell pepper Cheddar cheese slices Black tortilla chips DIRECTIONS Make a guac dip using your go-to guac recipe or use a store-bought dip. Spoon it onto a rectangular platter and shape it in the form of a witches face, with an elongated chin. Use halloween eyes from the Dollar Store, black olives for eyebrows and mole, a long green chilli for the nose and a strip of red pepper for the witches lips. Cut cheddar cheese slices into thin strips to frame the face in the form of hair. With purple or black tortilla chips (found in grocery stores during Halloween) create a hat. And there you have it - an evil witch good enough to gobble up! Oozing Mummy Brie INGREDIENTS 1/2 package (1 sheet) frozen puff pastry, thawed 1/4 cup raspberry or other red jam 1 round (8 oz.) Brie cheese 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp water 2 olives and pomegranate seeds DIRECTIONS Heat oven to 375°F and line a baking sheet with wax paper. On a lightly floured surface, unfold puff pastry and roll into a 14-inch square. Cut 2 inches off, making a 12-inch square, then cut off the corners to make a circle (save scraps for later). Spread jam into a 4-inch circle in center of pastry. Place Brie on top, Cut pastry sheet into strips and wrap around Brie, trimming as necessary. Brush with egg wash. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. For eyes, place two olives on top. Use two pomegranate seeds for eyeballs. Serve with fruit or crackers. Used Band-Aids INGREDIENTS Graham Crackers Vanilla Frosting or cream cheese Strawberry Jam DIRECTIONS Cut/break each graham squares lengthwise to mimic shape of band aids. Put vanilla frosting or cream cheese in a squarish shape in the middle for the gauze thingy Add a small dollop of strawberry jam for oozing blood. Have a camera ready to capture the grossed out look on your guests faces! Burnt hands INGREDIENTS Box of Trader Joe's Vegetarian Masala burger patties (4 patties in a box) 1 cup of bread crumbs White onion for bone and nails Provolone or cheddar cheese slices Ketchup Mashed potatoes (optional) Pasta sauce (Optional) Plastic hand mold (Optional) DIRECTIONS Thaw the veggie patties to room temperature. Once thawed, crumble them completely and mix with bread crumbs. On a greased baking sheet, shape the mix in the form of a hand. I shaped them without a mold, but you can use a mold instead. Using a paring knife, cut finger nails of different sizes out of a single layer of white onion and press them onto the finger tips. Cut a round section of the onion and push it at the back end of the hand to form a wrist bone. Layer a few slices of cheese over the top of the hand, without covering the finger tips or the wrist bone. Cover the cheese slices with tomato ketchup. Bake the hand in a preheated oven, at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. For the last one minute, change the oven setting to broil, to give the burnt look on the hand. Take it out of the oven and pipe mashed potatoes or ladle cooked pasta sauce around the hand. Place it at the dinner table and make cannibals out of your guests (atleast for a night)! Bleeding Brains Jello This is yet another easy Halloween dish to make. This is sure to spook your guests, young and old. INGREDIENTS 1 large package cherry gelatin Hot water 3/4 cup cold water 9ounces fat-free evaporated milk (must be fat-free or it will curdle) 1 brain mold 3 tbsp strawberry syrup DIRECTIONS You can find brain jello mold in party stores or on Amazon here. Use 2 small boxes or 1 large box of strawberry or Cherry Jello . Mix gelatin and hot water according to the package directions. Stir in the cold water Stir in the evaporated milk. Mix very well. Expect some small lumps to remain. Spray the mold with a nonstick spray. Pour gelatin mixture into the mold. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. Invert the mold onto a serving tray. Gently remove solidified gelatin from the mold. Pour the strawberry syrup in the brain crevices and around it for some fake blood effect. Enjoy! Lychee eyeballs garnish for Halloween cocktails INGREDIENTS 20 Oz can of lychee fruit 20 oz can of pitted black olives Handful of pomegranate seeds DIRECTIONS Strain the lychee can to drain off the syrup or juice; rinse if packed in syrup. Do the same with the olives. Let both dry out for about 30 minutes. Gently insert an olive in each of the lychees without tearing the flesh of the lychee, to form the innards of the eyeball. Next push in individual pomegranate seeds into the olives to form red iris for the eyeballs. Poke a cocktail skewer through the back of 2 lychee eyeballs. Serve it as a garnish for a martini or your favorite Halloween cocktail. Sole Food This is very similar to the "Burnt Hands" recipe above. INGREDIENTS Box of Trader Joe's Vegetarian Masala burger patties (4 patties in a box) 1 cup of bread crumbs White onion for bone Garlic pods for the toe nails. Mashed potatoes (optional) Pasta sauce (Optional) DIRECTIONS Thaw the veggie patties to room temperature. Once thawed, crumble them completely and mix with bread crumbs. On a greased baking sheet, shape the mix in the form of a foot. I shaped them without a mold, but you can use a mold instead, if you find one. Using a paring knife, cut toe nails of different sizes out of garlic pods and press them onto the toes. Cut a round section of the onion and push it at the back end of the foot to form an ankle bone. Bake the foot in a preheated oven, at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Take it out of the oven and pipe mashed potatoes or ladle cooked pasta sauce around the foot. Pair this with the "Burnt Hands" and add more gruesomeness to your menu! Blood & Bones INGREDIENTS 1 can Pillsbury breadsticks dough Garlic and/or parmesan seasoning Marinara sauce DIRECTIONS Bring Pillsbury breadstick dough to room temperature. Roll it out on a floured baking pan and cut it into 4 inch long strips. Use scissors to snip the ends into 2 pieces and roll them down to make the bone shape. Sprinkle garlic or parmesan seasoning for added flavor Bake as per instructions on the Pillsbury can. Serve with "bloody" marinara! Witches Broomstick INGREDIENTS 5 string cheese 10 Pretzel sticks 10 fresh chives DIRECTIONS Halve a string cheese and use a small knife to fray the bottom half. Insert a pretzel stick into the top and tie with a piece of chive. Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy! Frankenstein Guac INGREDIENTS Rectangular serving dish Guacamole - readymade or homemade Black tortilla chips Shredded mozzarella cheese Paper printout of Frankenstein pumpkin carving template. Printout must be an inch or two smaller than the size of your serving dish. Here is a template. DIRECTIONS Place guacamole in the rectangular serving dish and smooth out the top. Crumble the black tortilla chips into a coarse powder consistency. Cut out the dark portions of the template and size the paper to fit into rectangular dish. Place the paper over the guac, and sprinkle the powdered tortilla chips in the cutout portions of the design. With fingers, gently press the black powder into the guac. Slowly remove the paper, without disturbing the design. Frame the entire dish with the shredded cheese Dig in with your tortilla chips and slay the Monster! Pomegranate jack-o-lanterns October is also the month when pomegranates are ripe and ready for harvest. If you have a few still on the tree, or if you want to bring your jack-o-lantern to the dinner table, these are a breeze to make and also serve as unique table centerpiece. DIRECTIONS Take 3 or as many pomegranates you have at hand and draw different jack-o-lantern patterns on each with a felt tip pen. With a paring knife, make a shallow cut along your design and pull out the skin, along with the white membrane to reveal the red seeds underneath. Use the juice which seeps out while you cut the fruit as fake blood for your evil centerpiece Watermelon brains INGREDIENTS Small oval shaped watermelon INSTRUCTIONS Using a sharp knife, cut the bottom of the watermelon, so it can sit flat, as shown in the picture. Carefully remove all of the green peel, so the white/yellow skin is exposed, which is a layer above the red flesh of the watermelon. With a fine tip pen, draw the pattern you want to cut to fashion the watermelon into a brain. Make sure to draw a line in the middle of the watermelon first then draw designs on either side. With a paring knife, cut out the design by going deep enough to expose the red fruit. Collect the juice as you cut the melon. Once done, place the "brain" on a platter, surround it with the water melon juice and stick a knife into it to horrify your ghouls and goblins. Brains and Gut Vegetarian Chili Prepare chili (vegetarian or not) using your favorite recipe. Simply wash and drop Dollar Store eyeballs to it. Skeleton scopper shown in the picture is also from the Dollar Store. INGREDIENTS 2 tablespoons oil 2 boxes of vegetable stock from Trader Joes (you can also substitute with chicken or beef broth) 1 cup dry pinto beans 1 Red or white onion 1 red bell pepper 1 yellow or orange bell pepper 1 carrot 1 tomatoe 1 zucinni 1 celery stalk 1-3 jalapenos (depending on your spice level) A few sprigs of cilantro 1 cup grated cheddar cheese (optional) DIRECTIONS Soak pinto beans overnight and pressure cook until soft. Drain and set aside. In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil, and saute chopped onions and finely chopped red and yellow bell peppers. Once onions and bell peppers are partly cooked, add a pint of vegetable stock (found at Trader Joes), along with chopped carrots, zucinni, celery and tomatoes. Also add chopped jalapenos for the spicy kick. Add salt to taste. Once the vegetables are almost cooked, add the cooked pinto beans and cook for a couple more minutes. Sprinkle chopped cilantro and grated cheddar cheese before serving hot.

Portland in springtime is renowned for its cherry blossom trees sprinkled all over the city and surrounding areas. In late March and early April, Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland is a photographer and selfie seekers delight with thousands of blooming trees lining the waters edge. But if you miss this amazing sight for any reason, dont despair. There is yet another lesser known park which offers the same stunning views, on the outskirts of Portland. Blue Lake Regional Park in Fairview, OR, about 30 minutes drive from Portland, offers an impressive array of sakuras throughout the park. The varieties of trees grown here bloom slightly later, towards mid-late April, but look just as magical as their sister variety at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. As always, sunset is the best time to capture these beauties.

Eating on a banana leaf is a tradition followed by South Indians during festival and auspicious days. There are numerous health benefits from eating on a banana leaf, using only your fingers. The leaf is packed with antioxidents which aid in digestion. Along with it being eco-friendly and hygenic, the food is extremely favorful when eaten hot on a banana leaf. Tirupati Bhimas in Milpitas, CA, offers this banana leaf lunch experience on a handful of occasions such as Onam Sadya, Pongal, Tamil New Year, Navaratri and Deepavali. We look forward to it every year, as it reminds us of the life back home and the times when family would come together over a meal. The Onam Sadya meal is characterized by the Kerala Red Rice or Matta Rice, accompanied by various Keralite side dishes. For all of the other occasions, the menu follows Tamilian cuisine, with the usual sambar, kootu, rasam and vada. Year after year, the food never disappoints, and each morsel is literally finger-lickin’ good!

Pismo Beach, a seaside town on the Central Coast of California, is located exactly midway between Los Angeles and the Bay Area, and is an ideal stopover for road trips to or from LA. We love the place for its food, the pier and the great sunsets. This summer, we decided to spend a few nights at our favorite beach town and soak in the beachside charm and some pure O2, while the air quality in NorCal plunged due to the wildfires. Places to Stay Pismo On The Beach Vacation Rentals have one and two bedroom units located directly on the beach. The place can be booked via VRBO or AirBnB or directly on their website. We stayed in Unit A with direct access to the ocean. Each unit comes with a fully equipped kitchen and strong wifi. It was nice to work remotely for a few days with the ocean directly in front of us. I even took a few work calls while lounge on the beach. That is what I call LIFE! Shore Cliff Hotel is a couple of miles away from the main strip and is situated in a pelican sanctuary with the best ocean views from your private balcony. We could see, smell and hear the pelicans as long as we were there, but it didnt bother us after a couple of hours. This hotel also comes with a decent sit-down breakfast, a luxury during these days of Covid. We stayed in a deluxe Ocean View room, which complimented my photography hobby very nicely. The grounds are beautifully kept with cozy swings and benches sprinkled all over the property. The gazebo, carefully situated at the edge of a cliff, is a great place to watch the setting sun and the pelicans return home for the day. Where To Eat Cool Cat Cafe - American diner serving burgers and milkshakes, which is very vegetarian friendly. The milkshakes ("adult" shakes available too) are delicious and BIG! Rosa's Italian Restaurant - Fancy, upscale dining offering large portions of Italian goodness. Pizmo Cafe - A no-frills pizza restaurant on Pomeroy Street, just a couple of blocks from the pier, that dishes out the usual Italian fare. Chipwrecked - A local favorite because of which the lines are sometimes long during tourist season. This hole-in-the-wall joint, just off the pier, serves different flavors of chips, along with salads and sandwiches. Chips range from savory, such as the garlicy, peppery, Santa Maria to sweet, like the cinnamon spiced Victoria. Cowboy Cookie & Icecream - Icecream store close to the Pismo Beach sign which specializes in yummy icecream served over warm chocolate chip cookie. Every ice cream lovers delight! What To Do ATV on the Beach - The top rated activity in Pismo Beach is to ride 8 miles of sand dunes at Ocean Beach, on an ATV. Riding those dunes on a four wheel ATV is sure to get your adrenaline pumping and is a thrill not to be missed. There are various ATV types and configurations to choose from, but you need to be 21 to ride solo. The outfitter we went with is Steves's ATV. They followed all Covid protocols and made sure our ride was fun and safe. Avila Beach - Just 30 minutes north of Pismo Beach is the welcoming paradise of Avila Beach. This seaside resort town welcomes its visitors with a charming little downtown, natural hot springs and oceanfront restaurants. The newly paved, 6 mile Bob Jones Trail starts and ends at the beach and is great for hikers and bikers. Off the beaten track, a little further north of the beach, is the historic Harford Pier which is mainly used for commercial fishing. It is fun to walk out on the pier and watch the sea otters swim underneath. Pirate Cove Cave - Pirate cove cave is a hidden gem in Avila Beach which can be accessed via a short trail at the end of Cave Landing Dr. The cave, or rather, the tunnel of rock , overlooks the San Luis Bay and is a perfect vista spot during sunset. Morro Bay - Morro Bay is yet another charming seaside town about an hour north of Pismo Beach. Like any other seaside town, it has a long line of oceanfront shops selling souvenirs and trinkets, along with coffee and ice cream shops. Along the water, it is lined with rugged cliffs and tucked-away sandy beaches, all of which overlook the great Morro Rock. Shell hunting on Pismo Beach - The long stretch of Pismo Beach is a shell hunters paradise. We found dozens of almost perfect clam shells during our early morning walks on the beach. Our intention was to only take back memories with us. So the shells went back into the ocean to thrill another shell hunter. Watching Surfers at the Pier - Pismo Beach is surfers paradise. At any given time, you can see a number of surfers, from beginners to professionals, shredding the waves. You can spend hours "surfer watching" on the pier or on the sandy beach. A surfer calls it a day as he heads home at sunset. Explore Sea Caves during low tide - The northern end of Pismo Beach is lined by a number of interesting sea caves. The walls of the sea caves seem unreal, and are colored yellow or white with grey striations. It is fun to explore these caves, some over a 100ft deep. During high tide, these caves can only be reached via a kayak. There are a number of kayaking outfitters in downtown Pismo that offer sea cave exploration tours. During low tide, the caves can easily be explored on foot. The landmark to see these caves during low tide is the steps leading to the beach from the Seacrest hotel. View of the ocean from inside the caves Unique rock formation and blue striations on the walls of the sea caves.

Let your imagination run wild in this museum of Illuminations. The Museum of Dream Space or MODS for short, is an immersive digital art experience made popular by influencers on Instagram. It is currently located in Beverley Hills, Hollywood and Las Vegas. On our last trip to Los Angeles, we decided to checkout this place and find out what the hoopla was all about. MODS Beverley Hills is located inside the Beverley Center mall, and consists of 6 unique rooms which will make the Instagrammer in you go into a frenzy. Tickets are easily available at the counter, but look out for online discounts (ie. groupon) as well. The place was almost deserted when we went on a Saturday afternoon in late July. Each room is magical in its own way and provide you a gazillion photo ops. Its a fun spot to spend an hour or so with your girlfriend or with the teenager in your life. All in all, this place can be summarized in two words… “So LA!”

I found this charming European village straight out of a fairy tale in Berkeley. It is on Spruce St and is called Normandy Village. It is now an apartment complex, but looks super cute from the outside and great for photo ops. "Originally called Thornburg Village after the East Bay property magnate Jack Thornburg for whom it was commissioned, Normandy Village was designed in 1927 by William Yelland, a UC Berkeley graduate whose love of European culture was directly borne out of his imaginings of a pristine landscape untarnished by war." You can read more about this village here : https://www.dailycal.org/.../happily-ever-after-normandy.../ Who knew an old French village lived in the heart of Berkeley! This Normandy village feels like you stepped right into a fairy tale today. Does a fairy live in here? There are so many magical corners of this village to get lost in. The architecture is more fantasy than reality, an imagined dream of a French-English village straight out of "Beauty and the Beast." Now this village is a collection of a few dozen apartments, homes and condos but the storybook architectural style brings out the magic of Europe of a bygone era. Rustic stairway with bright red bottle brush flowers to match. This village was designated as a Berkeley landmark in 1983.

Carmel-By-The-Sea is a small seaside resort south of Monterey, CA. Renowned for its scenic sandy beaches, historic Spanish mission and enchanting village ambiance, this charming town attracts many daytrippers from the Bay Area. Most tourists stick to the coffee shops and window shopping along Ocean Avenue, and are unaware of the storybook cottages that are sprinkled around town. There are 21 such fairytale cottages tucked away in the streets of Carmel-By-The-Sea. These adorable little cottages were built in the 1920s by Hugh Comstock, for his wife, Mayotta, who made and sold rag dolls that she named “Otsy -Totsys”. When her dolls outgrew their home , she asked Hugh to build her a Doll House to use for her sales and as a showroom. And so he built. And built. And built. Until there were 21 of them scattered all over Carmel. After much “sleuthing” I found where/how to locate these whimsical little cottages and with our modern day princess in tow, we spent an “enchanting” afternoon identifying them. And as we drove/walked around Comstock Historic District, we saw many more cottages just as charming as Comstock’s. You can get a map for the location of the Comstock cottages at the Visitors Center on Ocean Avenue. You can find more information about Hugh Comstock and his fairytale cottages here : https://www.mentalfloss.com/.../town-storybook-houses-and... This was the fifth cottage built by Comstock. Most of the house built in the Comstock Historic District dont have any house numbers. Instead, they are identified by their name, giving each house a character. This one is called "Our House", built in 1928 for $1900. Comstock fairytale cottages look so dreamy and well maintained, even after a century. They still look like how they did in the 1920s. Some of the cottages have been turned into candy shops and boutiques. This one looked liked one of those Micky / Minnie cottages you'd find on Main Street USA in Disneyland. Loved this window with the heart shaped cutout in the wooden shutter Many of these historic treasures are secluded behind grape stake gates and high shrubs. This one is called "The Studio". This particular cottage started off as the doll display studio for Mayotta Comstock and her doll-making business These cottages are the epitome of charm and character. This old world lighted lantern added to the beauty of this place. Comstock’s architectural signature can be seen in the steeply pitched roof and Carmel stone fireplace. This "Storybook Cottage" looks like a cute gingerbread house. Notice the Carmel stone fireplace - a signature of Comstock's architecture. This cottage which looked deserted and slowly going to disrepair, felt like a wicked witch would pop out of that door anytime. The hand-carved trim made each of these magical cottages look so inviting. Pretty, well maintained gardens added to the whimsy of this place.

Egypt had always been my numero uno country to visit, partly because I grew up romantizing Cleopatra. And having lived in Abu Dhabi for a few years and seeing all the beautiful Egyptian ladies with their flawless skin, it was a place I had to visit, even more so than Paris or Rome. So when I hit a milestone birthday, hubby dearest decided that Egypt was a destination we had to go to! Preparing for the trip After perusing through his favorite travel related portals, Trip advisor and Virtual tourist, hubby decided that unlike our previous vacations in Europe and in North America a trip to Egypt would have to be an organized tour. Meaning, he would have to book a guided tour to Egypt. We wanted a tour (operator) that would include all major tourist destinations and also provide us the flexibility of customizing the tour to our needs and requirements. He started by looking at some of the itineraries that popular travel agencies/operators such as Trafalgar and Thomas Cook had for Egypt. As he looked for more such travel operators, he was surprised to find that there were some pretty well reviewed travel agencies that operated right out of Egypt. Most of these Egyptian travel agencies had decent web sites and were pretty good with responding to email queries and available on skype as well. Based on the responses he received through skype and email, we decided to go with Memphis tours to book our tour.. The sales guy from this tour company Abdo Shwakey was quite friendly and was available to chat with hubby regularly on skype. He was even able to talk to him over the phone a few times to nail down the dates and final changes to our trip plan. Once the reservations were made it was time to get educated about Egypt and its ancient civilization. There are tons of videos on this. Netflix and Wikipedia provided all the ancient Egyptian civilzation fixings that we needed or should I say craved for. Quickly all three of us were becoming amateur Egyptologists and hubby in particular became a huge fan of Dr. Zaahi Aawas! Heading out on the D-day The D-day quickly approached on us. All our planning and reading was preparing us for this day and trip. Everything was happening as per plan. My job workload had been quite low and things moved so perfectly without a hitch that it even made me a tad nervous. We had booked our flight with KLM and had a stop over at Amsterdam for 9 hours one our way in to Cairo. So we even had planned a mini excursion for 5-6 hours in downtown Amsterdam. Amesterdam Stopover Our flight from SFO landed in Amesterdam on time at 11:15 AM local time. We had packed light for our carry on luggage and just had one back pack for our day trip to Amsterdam. Heading out of the Airport was a breeze. The subway/Metro comes right into the airport. We bought round trip tickets to downtown Amsterdam and before noon were on the train heading down town. The trip to downtown by train was about 20 minutes. We got out at the Central train station and found ourselves in the busiest part of Amsterdam. We had researched before hand the location of the canal tour operators and quickly located the one we wanted to take, to be just across the train station. We bought tickets for the immediate next hour long canal tour of Amstedam and by 12:30 we were cruising in the canals of Amsterdam. Amsterdam is quite a picturesque and pretty city with plenty of quaint dutch architecture and artistry on display. This kept our camera busy and clicking most of the time. Once we completed our hour long introduction to the city of Amsterdam, we hopped off the canal tour boat and hit the roads of Amsterdam. The famous red light district was just a few block away. Although I would have loved to saunter along those streets of which I had heard so much of, we decided against it as we had a ten year old impressionable girl with us. We were getting quite hungry and to our luck stumbled upon a crowded road side stall called Maniken Pis selling the famous French fries of Holland. The fries here are served with Mayo and Ketchup and onions and other fixings. This was really good and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Next we headed towards the famous coffee shops of Amsterdam and walked on streets that are famous for their shops that sold weed and ganja stuff. We had regular coffee and hot chocolate on the patio of a coffee shop on Dam square, enjoying the sight of all the people milling around us. It was a bright day with not much clouds and the streets were crowded. We were quite amazed by the number of cyclists in Amsterdam. We walked around more such streets and finally headed towards the shops that carried touristy trinkets. We picked up a wind mill, a pair of wooden display shoes and a kitchen magnet among other things and headed towards a restaurant for an early dinner around 5 PM local time. We enjoyed Pizza and an appetizer of garlic bread although the garlic bread was a bit of a disappointment. We then slowly headed back to the train station. It was already dark by then and the holiday lights were out and the streets looked very pretty at that time of the day. We were glad we spent that time in downtown Amsterdam that day. We were also lucky as the predicted light showers in the evening never really occurred and that kept our spirits dry and up. The flight on KLM to Cairo was again a pleasant one. The Indian vegetarian food that was served on the flight was awesome! Day 1 The airport in Cairo is quite modest. It was not bigger than the airports in Bangalore or in Hyderabad in India. As soon as we got out of the plane, we first had to get our Visa to enter Egypt. We had read before hand that we would need to buy a $15 voucher from the bank booth there for each visa before heading to the line to get the Visa. I gave $200 for the 3 Visas and requested to change the remaining money to Egyptian pounds. After that, getting the Visa did not take more than 5 minutes as the lines were not long. Next we headed towards the baggage area. It took forever before our luggage finally showed up. I picked our luggage up fending off potentially porters who approached me speaking Arabic asking if I needed help. The only Arabic I knew was La-a Shukran (No Thank you). I used this sentence firmly each time some one approached me. Once we walked out of the luggage area as we were walking under the sign that said nothing to declare, an official looking gentleman approached me and spoke rapidly in Arab. I gave him a blank stare and said excuse me? He immediately changed to English and asked where I was coming from. As soon as I said US, he said sorry please continue. As I walked I noticed that most local Egyptians were being stopped and their luggage were given the third degree :(. Only then that it struck me that all three of us could easily be mistaken for Egyptians! Once we were out of the customs area we found our Memphis tours rep The person who came to receive us was Abdul. Abdul seemed very business like and did not seem personable to me at all. He only answered to any questions we asked to the point briefly. Our van quickly showed up and our luggage was loaded into our car by the driver and we headed to our hotel in Giza. Giza is exactly at the opposite side of Cairo from the airport across the river Nile. Even though it was early in the morning with literally no traffic we had to travel a good 35 minutes before we reached our hotel. The deserted streets and the few people milling around all looked so familiar to us. It was like we were on one our trips back home to India! Abdul checked us into the hotel and quickly disappeared for the day. Since we could not sleep much due to jet lag, around 8:30 Am we decided wake up. After freshening up we hit the breakfast buffet. It was a full breakfast buffet with an Omlette station and a crepe station chefs. In addition they had plenty of other items as well. I was quite happy with the breakfast spread. After breakfast the rest of the day was a free day for us. Daughter wanted to hit the pool right way so I took her to the pool while hubby decided to explore the stores close by. I discovered a grocery store and bought some supplies of snacks and bottled water. We had lunch at the hotel that day and even enjoyed a short nap in the afternoon. In the evening around 5 PM we decided to make it to the Pyramids to watch the sound light show in the evening. The sound and light show at the Pyramids was not included as part of our trip and we had decided to do this on our own. The pyramids were just about 20-25 minutes of walking distance from our hotel. Against the better judgement we decided walk hoping to enjoy a cool evening breeze. The walk unfortunately was anything but enjoyable. The roads in Giza were crowded and buses cars and people were coming along in all directions. It was like any typical Indian street :) After a stress full walk of nearly 30 minutes we finally found the entrance to the Sound and Light show. Cairo Traffic in the evening - the city reminded us of Bangalore in ways more than one ! It was not yet dark as we got in to the viewing area and we had our very first sight of the Pyramids and the Sphinx. As it got darker before the show started I was able to click some good pictures. The sound and light show was quite good and it met our expectations. Omar Shariff narrated the story of the Pyramids providing a background of ancient Egyptian civilization. The night desert air started to chill us as we sat and watched the show. The sound and Light show After the show, right outside the entrance we had spotted a Pizza hut and we had decided before hand that we would eat dinner there. We hurried in there and enjoyed a Vegetarian Pizza. We took a cab back to the hotel. The cabie first quoted 30 Egyptian pounds but later settled for 20 Egyptian pounds for the ride back. I had read elsewhere that we should not pay more than 10-15 Egyptian pounds for the ride. I was too tired and wanted to hit the bed and was in no mood to haggle with the cab driver :) Day 2 Sites: Egyptian museum, Hanging Church, Ben Ezra Synagogue, Saladin's Citadel, Alabaster Mosque This was the day our tour in Egypt formally started. We were asked to be ready in the lobby by 9 AM the previous day by Abdul our overall tour leader. The jet lag had ensured that all three of us only got sketchy sleep during the night. We were finished with breakfast and ready to go by 8:45 AM itself. Abdul showed up promptly a few minutes before 9 AM at the lobby. He introduced us to Basant our personal tour guide for the next 2 days and to the driver of our van Hamid. Basant was a cheerful young girl who could not have been older than 21 or 22 years. She wore the traditional Muslim garb with a head gear (hijab) but spoke good clear English with us. She took to instantly and always made sure her explanations were clear and simple that even my daughter could understand everything she explained. Hamid spoke little or no English at all. In spite of this we were able to communicate quite easily with him even when Basant was not around. Our first stop was at the Egyptian Museum at Cairo. The museum building was quite big and the displays were numerous, Basant however knew how to exactly navigate us through. She took us to the primary locations and explained us sometimes better than descriptions on the displays. We found statues of Pharaohs, ancient Egyptian Gods and their queens from all dynasties of the ancient Egyptian civilization. We also saw some impressive miniature art work from one of the earliest dynasties as well. Unfortunately photography was not allowed inside the museum. In Front of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo King Tuts' Exhibits The best part of the Museum were the room of King Tut with all its exhibits and the room of Mummies. King Tut was a young boy Pharaoh who died rather unexpectedly at a young age. By his time the Egyptians had already stopped building pyramids but were still building tombs for the dead Pharaohs for their journey to after life in a place called the Valley of the Kings at Luxor. King Tut's tomb was discoverd in the valley of the kings at Luxor around 1920s. Until then King Tutenkhamun (1341-1323BC) was virtually an unknown figure. What made him famous was the findings at his tomb. Almost everything there, including his mummified body was found intact and provided valuable information about the Pharaoh, his life, his death and much more. The exhibit room had numerous items including his clothes furniture oils and perfumes (mummified of course). There were a lot of gold and other precious stones there on display as well. I was totally impressed to find a box with hinges on display. In thirteen century BC they knew how to make boxes with bronz hinges! The Room of Mummies There is an extra charge of 100 Egyptian pounds per person for this room. This price is not included in most tours. Buying the tickets and entering the room was chaotic! People rarely follow queues there. Anyhow, after some jostling around and even exchanging some sharp words with another frustrated tourist I managed to get our tickets and we entered the mummies room. Although seeing the mummies up close can be a bit unnerving especially for the younger kids, I found that it was a must see experience. The hair and nails on most of them were still intact! The cloth that is wrapped on them is still the original wrappings! Overall I felt having a personal guide saved us more than a day there. What we would have probably taken a day or two to see and explore on our own, our guide expertly navigated us through in 3-4 hours. Next we headed to the Hanging church and Ben Ezra Synagogue. The hanging church gets its name because the whole church is built on an ancient gatehouse of a fortress built during the Babylonian times. This church is located in ancient Cairo. During the time of the Coptic rule in Egypt this Church was further expanded. The Church itself is quite impressive in its architecture and is quite unique. Left : In front of the Hanging Church in Cairo. Right : Inside the Hanging Church, Cairo. The church had Coptic architecture which later on influenced much of the Islamic architecture.. Left : A side panel in the Hanging Church at Cairo Center : A stained glass window, Hanging Church in Cairo Right : Another stained glass window showing the papyrus plant inside the Hanging Church, Cairo After the church we headed to the Ben Ezra Synagogue which is also located in Coptic Cairo or ancient Cairo. According to local beliefs this was the place where baby Moses was found! This was our first visit to a Synagogue and we were quite impressed with it. Apparently there are a few hundred Jews who still live in Egypt. The Ben Ezra synagogue, is no longer used for prayers and is treated more as a Museum. After the Synagogue it was nearly 3 PM and all of us were quite hungry for lunch. Basant took us to this local restaurant that was serving buffet lunches to tourists like us. About 60% of the food in the buffet was vegetarian and we were able to find something that we could fill ourselves with. Egyptian food is quite bland compared to the food we are used to, however as a traveler one cannot be too picky :) After a late lunch we headed to the Citadel of Cairo also known as Saladin's Citadel or fort. This is an imposing fort that can be seen from most parts of Cairo as it is built on top of a hill in the center of Cairo city. The fort was built by Saladin in 1173 AD to defend against the crusaders. The main attraction to see here are the 2 mosques. The first one which is the older one is the Mosque of Suleyman Pasha which is built in Ottoman style. Here we saw pillars/columns that were taken away from ancient Egyptian temples. One of the pillars even had the sign of Cross etched on the stone which probably was done when many Christians were hiding in ancient Egyptian temples to escape Roman persecution and using those temples as Churches to pray in. Inside the older mosque in Saladin Citadel The second mosque was the grand Mosque of Muhammad Ali also known as the Alabaster Mosque. This was the first time I was ever visiting a mosque and was totally impressed with the architecture of the Alabaster mosque. Basant being a very religious girl used the opportunity to do her prayers while we relaxed under the huge domes of the Alabaster Mosque. Alabaster mosque in Old Cairo - built in the style of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. We walked around Saladin's Citadel for a bit long taking pictures to our hearts content and the time was close to 5 PM already. Most tourist sights close by 5 PM in Egypt and it was time for us to head back to our hotel. Basant who lived at the other end of Cairo, got off at the center of the city as it was closer for her to get home. Hamid drove us back to our hotel. Later that day we spent a quite evening enjoying the evening entertainment by the pool side. We enjoyed the dinner sitting on a traditional Egyptian furniture in an elegant tent like structure by the pool side. Day 3 Sites: Memphis, Sakkara, Carpet weaving factory, The great Pyramids of Giza, Papyrus Factory Today as well our day started at 9 AM like the previous one. Our jet lag had us up and ready well before that time. Since, we were going to take the train to Aswan that evening, we had to check out of the hotel room as by 9:00 AM itself. Memphis Our trip to Memphis took a good hour or so to get there and we enjoyed watching the country side and chatting with Basant and learning about Egyptian culture and people along the way. Memphis is more like a small village with one main road that was filled with pot holes and plenty of flies around!.Our brief journey to Memphis ended at the open air museum at Memphis. The museum has a number of stone statues of King Ramses II. I believe we even saw a highly disfigured statue of King Narmer there as well. Memphis was established as a capital city by Narmer (king Menes) sometime in 3100 BC. Narmer is considered to be the first Pharaoh and most lineage from ancient dynasties start from him. He was the first ruler to unite both Upper and Lower Egypts and establish Egypt as a country/kingdom for the very first time. Memphis was later abandoned as the capital city but it continued to be as an administrative city. Memphis was revived back during the rule of Ramses II in ~1300 BC. Left : Statute of Ramses II in Memphis outdoor museum Right : The famous standing pose of Ramses II in the out door museum at Memphis. After we finished the tour of the out door museum, we headed to Sakkara. Sakkara was a bigger city compared to Memphis. The roads were better maintained too. In Sakkara we first visited the step Pyramids. The theory is that the Egyptians learned the art of building pyramids by building Mastabas, rectangle burial chambers, one, on top of the other. The very first architect of such step pyramids was Imhotep who was commissioned to build a step pyramid of Mastabas for his king Djoser. The Step Pyramid of Sakarra. This was the first pyramid built by architect Imhotep for King Djoser. The Great Pyramids of Giza were later designed from the Step Pyramid. It was quite hot and humid even in late November at Sakkara. We worked our way around the ruins there trying to stick to shaded areas as much as possible. In Sakkara we also saw early models of columns. Even though the Greek architecture is famous for columns, one must mention that the Greeks did gain much of their knowledge from the ancient Egyptians. From the step pyramids we headed to a carpet weaving factory also located in Sakkara. It is standard practice for all tour guides to take you to these factories where it is quite expensive to buy anything. We were impressed with the carpets that they were weaving and the designs as well. A 3.5"X5" silk carpet was quoted at $7,000! We also saw a number of kids being employed to weave the carpets. They called it a Carpet weaving school. Carpet weaving in a factory at Sakkara.. The silk carpets there were just out of the world! In this picture, the weaver was a 12 year old girl. The Pyramids of Giza Next, we headed back to Giza to finally see the great Pyramids at Giza. The Giza Necropolis contains 3 Pyramids and the Sphinx statue. Only the largest pyramid which was built to host the tomb of King Khufu is the ancient wonder of the world. Incidentally this is the only remaining ancient wonder of the world. Our first look at the pyramids took our breaths away. They lived up to our every expectation we had of the pyramids and much more. Even though the pyramids now appear as steps of stones, they had a smooth limestone finish on their surface before. We could see the smooth parts still on the tips of the second pyramid. The Great Pyramid of King Khufu, the largest pyramid in the Giza necropolis. It was way bigger than what we had imagined it to be. The second pyramid was built by Khafre son of king Khufu. Out of respect to his father, he had his pyramid built slightly smaller. He also had the sphinx built to stand guard to his second pyramid. The third pyramid was built y Menkaure, Khafre's Son. The third and the smallest pyramid, which is the pyramid of Menkaure For an extra ticket, at each of the Pyramids, one can enter the Pyramids through a small opening that will take you down a passage way to the possible locations of the tomb (Sarcophagus) and other mummified artifacts. We decided against going inside of any of the Pyramids as we were told that there was not much to see inside there. All artifacts had already been either robbed or had been moved to the Egyptian museum. Also the lines were long and with the limited time we had on hand we wanted to enjoy taking pictures and let the site soak into our memories. The Sphinx originally had the face of King Khafre and it even had the typical Pharaonic beard too. Now however much of the face has been disfigured due to weather and passing time. The Sphinx was carved out of a single slab of lime stone. Since the time of the Romans attempts have been made to save the Sphinx from getting destroyed by the cold desert winds. As we headed out evading the hawkers all selling their wares we learned some valuable lessons on how to avoid them. Most of these hawkers quote prices 3-4 times the actual price of these wares and one would be better off buying these trinkets at a regular market place called a Souk. We were quite hungry now as it was close to 3:30 PM and headed to have a late lunch. We had the best seat at the restaurant where we had traditional Egyptian style food served with the Pyramids overlooking in the background! Having a late lunch with our tour guide Basant withthe pyramids to view. Couldnt have asked for a better window seating anywhere in the world ! After lunch we were taken to the Papyrus factory. It was quite impressive to see how the Papyrus was made from the stems of the Papyrus plant. We avoided buying the Papyrus there as we were warned that the prices at these factories were quite expensive. We had already planned one day for shopping at the largest Souk in all of Africa called Khan-El-Khalili in Cairo on the final day of our trip. Our final stop for the day was a store that sold Egyptian cotton clothes. Here too we did not buy anything as we did not find anything special in the cotton clothes there, except that they were quite pricey! We headed back to our hotel around 6:00 PM. It was the last day we would see Basant as our trip was taking us to Aswan by train that night. So we said our good byes to her and tipped her generously for all her time and patience with us. As per our plan, we were to leave to Aswan by train at 8 PM in the evening and we had already checked out of our hotel room. Since we still had an hour or so on hand we decided to hang around in the lobby area and use the Hotel facilities to freshen up before our train ride. Around 7:15 PM, Hamid who was hanging around tracked us down in the lobby and drove us to the Giza train station. The train was to arrive around 8:15 PM from Cairo central station at Giza. We reached the station which was just a short 10 minute drive from our hotel and were at the station well in time. The train station itself was quite dinky and nothing much to write about. Abdul our over all tour guide came to see us off in the train. Before the train arrived he gave us a cell phone with some prepaid minutes to use in case of an emergency. Train ride to Aswan The train arrived on time and Abdul tracked our wagon and we were helped in out our cabins. Each cabin in the car was for 2 passengers. Since we were three of us we were given two adjacent cabins that had a shared door between them. The cabin itself was quite comfortable with all basic amenities in them. Here are some issues that we experienced on the train and would advise against using the train for some one planning to travel. 1. The restroom is quite basic. No flush system, just a hole and a toilet seat. It can get very dirty as ours did by morning time and can be literally unusable! 2. The train itself runs on a meter (or maybe a narrow) gauge track. This means that as the train picks up speed the it shakes quite violently. Both hubby and I got very little sleep because of this. 3. The train frequently runs late as ours did! We reached Aswan at 10:30 AM instead of 8:00 AM. The train used to stop in the middle of the night and the power would be turned off for 20-30 minutes at a stretch. With no light and no A/C in the cabin we were quite uncomfortable. Left : Inside one of our cabins in the overnight sleeper train to Aswan from Cairo Right : The walk way inside our train car. Other than this we did not have much issue. The food was adequate although there was no vegetarian choice. We had a piece of Chicken, fish, some rice and roll and a desert for dinner. For breakfast we had breads and jams and butter with coffee/tea. The countryside was quite picturesque as we realized this in the morning. Day 4 Sites: Aswan dam, Temple of Philae, Quarry of Hatshepsut, Perfume and Oils factory Our train pulled into Aswan station at 10:30 AM. As soon as we got out of the train we were received by our locally assigned tour guide Dr. Salem. Yes he introduced himself as Dr. Salem, as he had a PhD in geo-physiology from the South Valley University in Aswan. Dr. Salem was very personable and entertaining tour guide. He was quick witted and enjoyed keeping my daughter intrigued and happy with plenty of antics and stories. Since our train arrived late, he informed that there would be a slight change in our itinerary. As per our original itinerary we were supposed to join the 11:00 AM convoy to Abu Simbel on day 4 and spend day 5 viewing the sites in Aswan. Since we were already late to join the 11:00 AM convoy our itinerary was changed so that we were going to do the drive to Abu Simbel the next day and take the early morning 4:00 AM convoy and do the sites in Aswan today. This worked perfectly well with us as we had even tried to make this change before we left SFO itself. However, at that time we were told that it was too late to make changes to our itinerary. Not having to hurry to Abu Simbel we mentally relaxed and followed Dr. Salem to our waiting transportation to see our first site at Aswan, the High dam of Aswan. The drive to Aswan dam was about 20-30 minutes long. Along the way I realized Aswan was a much better city and by far the best looking city that we had seen in Egypt. The roads were broad and better laid out and the air was not at all smoggy like it was in Giza and Cairo. The crowds and traffic was far lesser too. Aswan Dam There are two dams in Aswan. One is called the Low Dam and the other the High Dam. Before either dam was built the Nile river regularly flooded the regions and caused numerous losses to the regions. After the British occupied Egypt they started construction of the low dam. The low dam was raised and reconstructed to handle increasing water flow three times before it was realized that building a newer and higher dam would be a better approach. The high dam was built by the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser with help from the Soviet Union. The high dam created a huge man made lake now called lake Nasser which submerged a number of historical sites under water. With funding and help from UNESCO many such submerged sites such as Abu Simbel and Temple of Philae were relocated to their newer locations. We drove on the low dam as well as the high dam and stopped briefly on top of the high dam to savor the view and take some pictures. Atop the High Dam in Aswan, overlooking Nasser Lake Temple of Philae The temple of Philae is on a separate island on river Nile. The original temple was on a different island that was submerged when the high dam was constructed. We took a local ferry to get to the island. Most boats were navigated by the Nubian people. Yes the Nile was really blue it was of a deep blue hue. Splashing the cold water on each other playfully on a hot day while on the boat was really refreshing. Feluccas in the background as we sail in one to the Nubian island in Aswan The temple at Philae was built by the Ptolemic Greeks. Even though the Greeks were the occupiers, they completely accepted the Egyptian culture, their Gods and even built temples just like the ancient Egyptians did. Temple of Philae in Aswan Philae was also a sacred place for the ancient Egyptians. They had built a temple there for Osiris. The Greeks also constructed a temple for the Egyptian God Hathor. Both ancient Egyptians and later Greco-Romans maintained an army garrison in Philae to defend against the Nubians down south. Later Byzantine also called Coptic rulers destroyed most of the temples as Pagan temples. Christains even established a Church there which later on was closed by the Muslim invaders. More pictures from the Temple of Philae We were able to see works of the Greeks and later destruction by the Byzantine rulers there. Oils & Perfume Factory After the temple of Philae, our next stop was at a factory for Oils and perfumes. Since the ancient Egyptian times, Egypt has been famous for producing aromatic oils and perfumes. In Aswan during the time of Queen Hatshepsut plants and trees from different parts of the worlds were brought in to be grown exclusively to extract oils and perfumes. Many of these oils and perfumes were claimed to cure various illness and ailments. Enjoying a shoulder massage with some therapeutic oils. The one factory that we visited impressed upon us so many different fragrances, that they had a fragrant oil for every perfume one sees on the counter at Macy's! In addition to the perfumes they also had therapeutic oils that could be used for pains, aches and even common illnesses such as cold and head aches. We ended up buying the perfumes at this factory. Aswan Quarry & Unfinished Obelisk Queen Hatshepsut, in ~1500 BC, while returning from one of her expeditions down south was relaxing/camping in Aswan when she came across the granite stone formations here and decided she must commission to use these stones. She commissioned three obelisks to be made of that quarry. Two of these Obelisks that were successfully carved were shipped down stream to Luxor and can be found in the temple of Karnak with a lot of details and hieroglyphic insc riptions. A third obelisk the unfinished one, was abandoned after the obelisk developed a huge crack and split the stone. This unfinished obelisk and the quarry where the stone to create the other two obelisk can still be seen here. The third (cracked) Obelisk that did not make the cut is still in the Aswan quarry that was once carved during the time of Queen Hatshepsut. Two of the good Oblesiks adorn the temple of Karnak. Queen Hatshepsut on her way from one of her expeditions down south was resting in this area of Aswan and liked the quarry and quality of granite found here and commissioned the 3 obelisks to be done here. Around 3 PM we had completed all the sights and we reached our hotel, Hotel Basma, that we were to stay for the night. My I could not resist the exquisite pool that they had in the center. After a quick dip in the pool around 6 PM we decided to go to the down town area in Aswan. There was a Souk (marketplace) in down town Aswan that the concierge at the front desk had informed us about and we ventured to check it out on our own. The hotel had a shuttle bus that ran to the down town area and ran at the top of every hour until 10 PM in the night. Souk in Aswan Shopping in the Souk is not for the faint of heart. The shops are usually tiny and many of them are street side vendors. They try to get the attention of the tourists quite aggressively. They used to call us "Hey India" or "Hey Amitabh Bachchan". Apparently Bollywood movies are quite popular in Egypt as well. We spent well over an hour browsing some of the wares and even purchased a few trinkets. One needs to bargain and negotiate the price for everything. Typically if you pay more than a third of what they initially ask for, you are paying too much! We spotted a Mc Donald's and daughter wanted to have her dinner there! Hubby and I decided to go back to the hotel and have dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. Once we returned to the hotel, we were quite tired and wanted to retire early that night as we had to be up by 2 AM the next morning. So grabbing a quick bite at the hotel restaurant we hit the bed by 9 PM. Day 5 Sites: Abu Simbel, Check in Cruise boat, Nubian Village Our day started quite early on day 5. By 2:30 AM we had packed and checked out of the hotel. our breakfast was packed for us and each of us had huge box of bread, pastries and sandwiches to carry. We had a new guide Mohammed specifically assigned to us for our trip to Abu Simbel. Our luggage was loaded into our Van and by 3 AM we were headed out of the hotel to join the convoy. Trip to Abu Simbel Abu Simbel is located close to the the border of Egypt and Sudan. The trip from Aswan to Abu Simbel is along a road in the middle of the Sahara desert. There is pretty much nothing in between the two places. The distance between them is about 300 Km and Abu Simbel is less than 100 Km from the border with Sudan. Although I could not figure out the exact reason for the need for police convoy, I guessed the safety of tourists in harsh conditions was theie primary reason for using a convoy instead of letting each car/van/bus travel and cross this desert region on their own. The cars were sent out in 2 batches. The security checkpoint has a process of documenting each vehicle their occupant count and the operator company. It took a good 45 minutes before our van was cleared to go in the second batch. The added bonus of this trip was seeing the sun rise across the Sahara desert as we neared Abu Simbel. Most buildings in Abu Simbel, even homes are built in Nubian style or architectural design with curved domes on the top as roofs. This was quite elegant to see. Before our van parked we had nibbled into our breakfast boxes and were eagerly looking to see the temples of Abu Simbel. It was a little after 7 AM in the morning when we started the trek to the temples of Ramses and Nefertari. From the parking lot we had to walk about 1-2 km. There were so many tourists there that we were just following everyone else who were walking there. The long walk to Abu Simbel temples, in the hot, desert sun. Where are those huge statues we have heard so much about ? Will this long journey across the desert sands to the borders of Egypt be worth all the trouble ? Seeing the huge statues in the early morning sun for the first time as we walked in was truly an unforgettable experience. And Lo and Behold there it was in front of us....After waking up at 2am and driving through the desert in a police convoy of over 100 cars buses and Vans, we finally reached the grandest structures of alll...The temples at Abu Simbel consisting of stone statues of Rameses II and his beloved wife Nefertari. This whole temple complex and the statues were relocated from an island that was submerged in Lake Nasir when the High dam was built. The whole temple was built from a single rock. King Ramses II considered himself God and built the temple all about himself. This was the most self-glorified structure I've ever seen ! There are two temples in Abu Simbel one fore King Ramses II and the other for his beloved queen Nefertari. Ramses II was quite possibly the most powerful of all the pharaoh's to ever rule ancient Egypt! He was also very good at self glorifying his achievements. He not only had a firm control on all his regions he also took extra pains to build temples with his statues and edicts glorifying and some say even exaggerating some of his accomplishments. That said among all the temples and statues of his creation, the temples of Abu Simbel are his master pieces. The statues there were originally carved out on an existing hill. The UNESCO team that relocated both temples took lots of pains in constructing a man made hill with caves dug out for the temple and all. Next to the Ramses Temple, was that of his beloved queen, Nefertari. He built this temple at a smaller scale than his. Althought dedicated to his wife, the entrance to the temple for Nefertari consists of 3 statues of himself, followed by 2 for Nefertari and the last one on the right of God Hator, but in the guise of King Ramses II. Blatant self-glorification, I tell ya ! We spent well over an hour enjoying the art work and admiring the hieroglyphics on the wall. After that we slowly headed back to our parking area once again avoiding the aggressive hawkers as much as possible. During the ride back we got to enjoy seeing the Sahara desert in daylight and saw some naturally occurring pyramid structures in the sands. Naturally occurring pyramids in the Sahara desert are seen in the background at Abu Simbel By the time we got back it was past noon. We were driven straight to the river boat where we were supposed to spend the next three days on. The River boat The boat we were on was one of the biggest sized boats that sailed on the Nile measuring at 110 meters in length and had 5 levels. Our cruise ship against the setting sun. We were on the 3rd level and the 5th level was actually the top of the boat and there were no rooms there. The rooms on the boat were quite spacious and we felt it was bigger than the rooms on a typical cruise ship. Since it was time for lunch as soon as we completed checking formalities, we freshened up in our room and headed for lunch. The food was served in only one location which was the dining hall for the ship. Even though we had assigned seating, the food was all buffet style for all meals. We were quite happy with the quality of food served there and they had plenty of dishes to choose from. Nubian Village For that evening as per our itinerary we had a free evening. Our guide Dr. Salem had arranged for a trip to visit the Nubian village which is on a separate island on the Nile for an additional cost. We were escorted with another family (a mother and daughter pair) who also was touring with Memphis tours to a waiting felucca boat. The felucca boats are sail boats and have been used on the Nile rivers since the ancient Egyptian times. We enjoyed the cruising experience on the Nile as the Sun was setting across on the desert watching the camels and locals go about their life in a leisurely and timeless manner. At the Nubian island, as soon as we got out of the boat Dr. Salem took us to a particular Nubian house. Nubians are tall and have the African features except that they are slightly browner than their darker African brothers. They speak their own language. Some of them do speak Arabic. The particular house that we visited had a crocodile pit and had about 7-10 crocodiles in there. Both my daughter and I posed for pictures holding the crocodile while hubby passed on that opportunity. They also had hookah called Sheesha and both hubby and I tried the Sheesha for the first time. Not used to smoking we did not really care too much for that experience :) We were also served traditional black tea with mint. The Nubians were quite friendly and there was this old man who played some of their instruments to which my daughter and the other girl (Diana) danced to. After thanking the Nubian hosts for their kindness we next walked around the streets of the Nubian village which had many small shops selling the usual Egyptian trinkets. It was already past 5:30PM and the sun was setting and we headed back to our boat to get back to our cruise boat. Later that night after dinner we enjoyed the cool breeze on the top deck for a short while before retiring for the night. Our boat was still docked at Aswan and would leave for our next port stop only early in the morning the next day. Day 6 Sites: Kom Ombo, Edfu It was around 6 Am when I woke up in the morning. The boat was already moving towards Kom Ombo which would be our first port to dock at. By 7:00 AM we had reached Kom Ombo. We were asked to be done with breakfast and be ready by 8:00 AM by Dr. Salem who was also travelling on board with us. Temple at Kom Ombo As soon as we got out of the boat we were introduced to another family from NJ area. They had a 10 year old daughter and my daughter found an instant companionship with her. They were originally from Pakistan and also had a precocious 5 year old with them. The temple we visited was right on the banks of river Nile where the boat had docked. This temple like the temple of Philae was built during the Ptolemic Greek time. We saw an image of Cleopatra II there. At the ruins we saw a deep well which was used to measure the rising tides of Nile. Before the Greek there was a temple here for the Crocodile God of the ancient Egyptians. King Tuthmosis III has some hieroglyphics inscriptions here. Kom Ombo was also a garrison town that the Greek and Roman rulers used to keep the Southern regions under control. Enjoying a brief moment at the base of a destroyed column at the temple of Kom Ombu Our stop at the Kom Ombo temple was brief for about an hour. After that we were boarded into the boat and we set sail to Edfu. Edfu After our lunch our first stop was at Edfu around 1:30 PM. As soon as we got out of the boat we were mobbed by the local horse carriage drivers to ride their carriage. Dr. Salem took control of them and arranged one carriage per family. We were a group of 3 families all travelling with Memphis tours. We were told beforehand that we had to pay the carriage driver. Our driver was very friendly and helped us take a few pictures with us sitting on the horse carriage. After a ride of around 15 minutes we arrived at the temple of Edfu. The temple of Edfu is also a temple of the Greco-Roman time. The main God is Horus here and it is the second largest temple of ancient Egypt. The whole temple complex had been buried under sand deposited by the over flowing Nile and the local people had all built homes over them. In 1798 a French Egyptologist discovered the temple and the whole temple complex which was down under 12 meters of sand was dug out. Striking an Egyptian pose at the Edfu temple We were explained by our guide, the meaning of some the symbols of ancient Egyptians. Here too it was very obvious about the fact that the Greeks were only copying what they had learned from the ancient Egyptians about architecture. We returned back to our Carriage and as we feared was harassed by our carriage driver who was not satisifed with the tips we gave him. Adding another 5 Egyptian pounds to the 30 I had already given him did not still satisfy him! We walked away leaving him unhappy and later learned that the others had similar experience as well.. Evening on the Cruise boat We enjoyed Tea and snacks on the top deck while enjoying the beautiful scenery of Nile around us. We made many friends in the process as well. We were totally surprised with the number of travelers of Indian origin there. Many of them were from India and some of them were just travelling on their own without a tour company! There was some entertainment promised inside the lounge in the evening but it was a huge disappointment. They had fliers saying that it was a Galabea night and were even encouraging everyone to buy traditional Galabea costumes for the evening. Luckily we never bought the costume. The entertainment that was for around 45 minutes was weaker than what a bunch of 10 year old kids could come up with. They just had some lame party games, basically asking us to entertain ourselves! We felt overall the quality of entertainment on the boat was pretty weak. Day 7 Luxor, Valley of the Kings, Queen Hatshepsut temple, Alabaster factory We had reached Luxor around 8:00 AM early morning. Luxor is also referred to, by the name Thebes. Thebes was the name of this area specifically where the temple of Karnak is currently located, as documented by the Greeks. However the ancient Egyptians called it by a different name and the name Luxor was given by the Arabs which has stuck to this day. In arabic Al Aksar means many palaces. During the middle kingdom Luxor was a magnificent city with many temples and palaces. After we had breakfast our first stop was to be at the Valley of Kings. As soon as we got out of the boat a van was ready waiting for us to take us to the Valley of the Kings which was a 30 minute drive away. Valley of the Kings For nearly 500 years from 16th century to 11th century BC the ancient Egyptians buried their Pharaohs, queens and some noble men and women in a naturally occurring valley creating tombs by digging deep caves inside the sandy hills. Some say the reason for choosing this place for tombs was that the hill at the top looked like a natural pyramid! By around this time for reasons that are not clearly known the ancient Egyptians had stopped constructing pyramids for their dead noble people. Instead they used to create tombs here at this location which is now called the Valley of the Kings. In the last 100+ years a number of tombs have been unearthed here. Since, this place was forgotten over time and got covered by fresh deposits of sands it may have escaped grave robbers. When present day archaeologists started to dig up the tombs they were pretty much surprised to find them to be intact. The most famous tomb discovered here is that of King TutenKhamun. We were told that there was no point visiting the tomb of Tutenkhamun here as everything was taken out and all the artifacts from his tomb are now are in the Egyptian Museum which we had already been to. So our guide suggested that we visit three other tombs instead. They were tombs of Ramses III, Ramses VI and Ramses IX. Incidentally our tickets only allowed us to visit 3 tombs in the entire complex. We would have to pay additionally to visit other tombs. The tombs that we visited still retained some of the original colors of the paintings on the walls and ceiling. There were tons and tons of hieroglyphics all over the place and it was quite obvious that they were narrating the stories of the life of the noble person buried there. It was truly a treat to see them. Each tomb was deep inside the hills and usually ended where the sarcophagus was buried. None of the sarcophagus that contained mummies are there any more. All the mummies and the sarcophagus have been moved to the Egyptian museum. Archaeology is still live and continuing here and discoveries of tombs and mummies are still being made here! Unfortunately photography was not allowed inside the valley of Kings. The hills that make the Valley of the Kings Temple of Hatshepsut The next stop for us was the temple of Hatshepsut which incidentally has been carved into the same hill that houses the tombs on the opposite side. The temple of Queen Hatshepsut built into the valley of Kings. The hills behind the temple referred to as the valley of the kings contains the tombs of King Tut and a host of other famous Pharaohs. Hatshepsut was a queen and a Pharaoh who ruled Egypt for around 22 years in 15th century BC. She was first a co-regent for her son but managed to rule as a Pharaoh in her own right as it was common practice in ancient Egypt to have women regents rule the land until their sons were old enough to become a Pharaoh.In order to show to her subjects that she was as powerful as any male could be she portrayed herself in the image of a man. She was also successful in battles and made the country rich with a number of treaties and trade agreements with neighboring Syria to the north and Nubia to the south. She built this temple as it was common practice for Pharaohs to build temples in the image of God for themselves during their life time. The statues here are Hatshepsut in the God Osirian form. She had the temple built in such a way that the internal passageway connected to her tomb where she was later buried. It was a hot day and was also a long walk and climb in the hot sun to reach the top of Hatshepsut's temple. We were all very tired and sticky and eagerly looking forward to the cold ice-cream as we exited the temple complex. Alabaster Factory Alabaster is a calcite mineral that is found in Egypt. It has been extracted from the rocks and used to make utensils and ornaments since ancient times here. The factory we visited demonstrated how alabaster is separated from other rocks and polished by hand. They also had many machine polished alabaster samples which looked way nicer than the hand polished ones! We passed on the opportunity to buy anything there as we were forewarned that buying anything in these factories would be expensive. We returned back to the boat for a late lunch and were free the rest of the afternoon and evening. That evening, as part of the evening entertainment, in the lounge we had a belly dancer and young lad who danced the whirling dervish. The latter was much better than the former. However the entertainment was short and left us wanting more. That night hubby had a surprise birthday celebration arranged for me during dinner time. The cake that the cooks on board had made was out of this world! Day 8 Luxor, temple of Karnak, Luxor temple This day after breakfast we had to pack up and check out of the boat and by 9:30 AM we were all packed up and ready to leave. We boarded a waiting Van and made our way to the temple of Karnak. Temple of Karnak The temple complex of Karnak is a vast conglomeration of temples and buildings and structures dedicated to ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. The temple was originally started for the ancient Gods Amun Ra and Mut. This temple complex is acknowledged as the largest temple complex in the world and the second most visited site in Egypt after the Pyramids of Giza. The construction of this temple complex is believed to have started in 21st century BC and construction/renovation was continued to even the Greco-Roman periods of occupation of Egypt. A number of temple structures had been constructed and renovated in a span of over 2000 year which can be seen to this day here. The most notable structures are the ones installed by Queen Hatshepsut and King Ramses II. Hatshepsut had two large obelisks, that were quarried and carved at Aswan, installed in this temple. Since Hatshepsut ruled with a firm hand and she was a lady, some of her statues and works commissioned by her were later on destroyed by her successors who did not like her. One of the Obelisks was destroyed later but another one still stands tall. The reason for the one to be left alone is that she had images of one of the sacred Egyptian Gods in there. So instead of destroying this obelisk it was just covered up by a wall built all around it! The destroyed and broken obelisk still lies there. The Obelisk installed by Queen Hatshepsut in the Temple of Karnak King Ramses II was responsible for extending and renovating the Hypostyle hall of columns, which is a a massive structure of columns there. This hypostyle hall of columns contains about 134 columns and supported a roof over 5,000 square meter area. There is no such structure ever built anywhere else in the world! We had a great time taking pictures here especially at the hypostyle hall of columns and at the avenue of Rams. This is the row of ram headed Sphinx in the Karnak temple. This part of the temple structure was built by Ramses II Temple of Luxor Next stop was at the temple of Luxor. The temple of Luxor is also another ancient Egyptian temple. The building and extension of this temple was completed chiefly by Amehotep III, TutanKhamen and Ramses II. Amenhotep III first built the temple. However his son Akhnaten abandoned some of the ancient temples and Gods of Egypt and started a new city called Amarna with temples for Sun God. After him his son TutenKhamen and later Ramses II renovated the abandoned temple of Luxor. King TutenKhamun in Luxor temple Ramses II had two large obelisks installed at the entrance to this temple. One of the obelisks was given to France and can be found in Paris. The other still stands there. The lone standing Obelisk in the temple of Luxor. The second Obelisk that adorned the doorway is now in Paris, France. This was built by Ramses II The avenue of the Sphinx is a long path way in front of the temple complex with rows of sphinxes on both sides. According to most current archaeology the avenue of sphinx connected all the way to the temple Karnak. Efforts to uncover this complete path and the sphinx is under way although the busy city of Luxor engulfs most of this area. This is the Avenue of the Sphinx in the Luxor temple that is believed to have once led to the Karnak temple. Now the busy city of Luxor engulfs this temple on all sides. By the time, we were done with the temple of Luxor, we had completed our tour in Luxor. It was still around noon time and we were shuttled to a day use hotel room. We had a relaxed lunch and later in the evening freshened up for our train ride back to Cairo. Train back to Cairo The train ride back to Cairo was pretty much uneventful. We enjoyed the trip back a tad better as our cabin car/wagon was in the middle of the train and the train ride was a little smoother. I still feel that if I were to do this trip again I would not choose the train ride instead fly into and out of Aswan. Day 9 Free day, trip to Khan El- Khalili On our return to Giza station, Abdul showed up to receive us at the station once again. We were taken back to the same hotel in Giza. Even though we reached the hotel just by 5:30 AM the folks behind the desk made us wait in the lobby a good 2 hours before giving us a room. We were quite sleepy and frustrated with the wait. Abdul had conveniently left us and was not of much help in checking us in! Since there was no tour planned for this day we decided to visit the famed market place of Cairo Khan-El-Khalili. Khan El Khalili Later in the morning we took a cab right out of our hotel to the famed market place. It was a good 30 minute drive to the market place from Giza. Since it was an election day some shops were unopened. We did enjoy the shopping experience at Khan-el-Khalili though. They were not as aggressive as the folks at the Souks in Aswan or in Luxor that we had been to. The market place was really huge and we may have only walked around 20% of the whole market place before we got tired. We were, however, able to pick up a number of trinkets. By 1:00 PM we were hungry and decided to have lunch in the square there. The square had a line of restaurants serving food at tables on the streets. There were 3 huge mosques with some impressive architecture around us. We enjoyed the food although the experience of being harassed by a number of restaurants to eat at their place was a bit unnerving. Waiting for our lunch to be served at the busy Khan el Khalili market place in Cairo. Mom unhappy that its now time to fly back home and daughter tired from all the last-minute shopping. Around 2:00 PM we headed back to our hotel. We rested in the afternoon and started to pack our bags for the journey back home late in the Evening. Day 10 Our flight out of Cairo was at 4:00 AM in the morning. Needless to say we had to check out of the hotel by 12:30 AM and barely slept that night. We had a different rep from Memphis tour who came to take us to the airport. There were a lot of hustle and bustle on the streets even at that late hour as election results were being announced. Our journey back on KLM was again enjoyable. After a short stopover in Amsterdam we were on the plane heading back home to SFO! Final Impressions Tourism is clearly one of the main drivers of the economy in Egypt today. The good thing about it is, that there is extra security provided at all touristy places. We felt pretty safe walking around the streets in all the cities we visited even well after dark. The downside though, is that tourists are looked at as "priced catches" at most of these places. The prices quoted for the service provided or for the shoddy pieces of work being peddled as art work can be astronomical and ridiculous! It is expected that you bargain for everything and sometimes even for a bottle of water! There is also the expectation of giving out Baksheesh or tips. You are expected to tip everyone from the guys who handle your luggage, to your driver, to your tour guide to even the conductor on the train. Some may find this a bit annoying as may times some of the people blatantly ask for Baksheesh and will even ask for more if not satisfied! Egypt is definitely a place to visit if one enjoys ancient history and wants to learn more about ancient civilizations and enjoys visiting ruins. As just a destination to vacation, where you would want to kick back and relax it may not be the ideal place to visit. I'm sure one can find sea resorts or river boat cruises in other parts of the world too and one need not have to travel all the way to Egypt for that. Personally we were very happy with our trip as we enjoyed every bit of archaeology and history that we saw and learned there. The only thing we missed out was a desert safari. Apparently you can do a 2-3 night safari out into the desert where one gets to stay with the Bedouins and sleep under the starry skies on the desert! Something to consider for the future I guess.

Of all the probable destinations for a tourist to visit in South America, Peru is quite possibly the most intriguing of them. Having never been to this continent before, we decided to get our first taste of south America through Peru. Of course, Machu Pichu rated as one of the wonders of the modern world did help us in deciding on Peru among all other South American destinations. As we later discovered and explored Machu Pichu, we realized that it was the Andean mountains and the enamor of Inca civilization that appealed to us more than anything else about Peru. Before we started to plan our trip, we had heard enough and seen quite a number of pictures of Machu Pichu from friends and acuaintances who had been there before. We had also conversed with some of them who had actually done the Machu Pichu trek, to get a clear picture about what we were up against as we started to plan in great earnest. Planning for Machu Pichu Initially we were two families who were eager to do the entire trek for 4 days to reach Machu Pichu. As we planned along, a third family joined us and we soon became a group of 11 with 6 adults and 5 kids. The kids were aged between 11 to 14 years and most of our initial planning involved in making considerations for the kids. Our first step was to identify a reliable English speaking travel agent that operated out of Peru, with whom we could meet and plan our expedition. Of the many travel agents that we screened, we decided on S A Luxury Expeditions, as they came recommended through a common friend who had used them before. The trails of Machu Pichu There are 3 popular treks or hiking trails that are frequented by travelers to Machu Pichu. The most popular of the three is the Inca trail. This is also called the classic Inca trail that has existed since the Inca civilization and was used by the Incas to reach Machu Pichu. This trail leads directly into Aguas Caliente starting from a trail head which is a few miles out of Cusco. There is a daily limit of 200 hikers and 300 porters that are allowed on this trail and no animals (like horses/donkeys) are allowed on this trail. The porters have to carry all the gear and personal luggage. We were reluctant about this trail chiefly because we wanted to have a spare horse or two in case any kid or adult needed one and also had heard some negative feed back about the trail being too smelly (yeah someone even called it the poop trail!) and crowded at all times of the year. The second trail we considered was Salkantay trail. This trail like the third one, Lares trail, was a trail that takes you away from Aguas Caliente the base town of Machu Pichu. What this meant was that at the end of the 3 day trek we would end up a few hundred miles away from Aguas Caliente in a place called Olliantaytambo. On the penultimate day of the hike we would take a train to Aguas Caliente. We rejected Salkantay trail as the trail that took you at its the highest elevation close to 15,000 feet and this trek was mostly in the wilderness and was also a day longer than the Lares and Inca trails. The third trail Lares turned out to be the one for us as it was at a slightly lower elevation although there was a pass that was well over 14,000 feet. This trek was 4 days and 3 nights long and included the 4th day in Machu Pichu. This trail took you through typical Andean mountain village settlements and the opportunity to see and interact with the local people intrigued us. After much discussions we (the 3 families) voted on doing the Lares trek. In order to reach to Machu Pichu one has to typically fly into Lima, Peru and take another flight for about an hour long to Cusco Peru. Since Cusco and the Machu Pichu is bang in the middle of the Andean mountains and at considerable elevations (8000 to 11000 feet), it is recommended that one acclimatize to the thin air (low level of Oxygen in the air) by staying in Cusco for 2 - 3 nights. With kids and all, we decided it would be safer to stay for 3 nights in Cusco. Cusco Day 1 Our day 1 of the trip started on a Friday early morning from Lima Peru. We (the 3 families) had also included a relaxing 6 night stay in Costa Rica as part of this trip. Our flight to Cusco was scheduled at 6:00 AM from Lima. The flight was initially delayed by an hour and half and it was closer to 8:00 AM before we were allowed to board the plane. Upon boarding the plane we were told that the airport in Cusco was closed due to bad weather and we could not get back to our Gate as it was already filled with passengers for another flight! Cusco is nestled among a bunch of peaks of the Andean mountain range and landing a plane in bad weather is not easy and can be quite risky too. As the airport in Cusco lacked some of the modern ATC equipment that could guide the pilots to land in any treacherous weather conditions, they frequently take the easy way out and just close the airport! Having little choice, we waited for about 3 hours in the plane. We could get off the plane and walk about on the tarmac and nobody objected to that! The kids had the most fun as the airline crew were quite relaxed and let them get into the cockpit and play pretend pilots! First view of Cusco from the air. We had to stay here for 3 nights to acclimatize to the high altitude. Cusco sits at 3,300 m (10,800 ft) above sea level. It was finally like noon before the plane took off. When we landed in Cusco and got out of the airport with our baggage in hand it was closer to 2:00 PM. We hailed a taxi to our hotel. We had to bargain the fare for our taxi ride as we were told that typically we should not pay more than 10 - 15 soles for the ride. One USD conveted to more like 3 PEN (Peruvian Nuevos Soles) It was raining in Cusco and apparently it had been raining the past 3 days continuously even though it was in the middle of the dry season! July was supposed to be dry winter weather there however it had been raining and snowing in higher elevation there. As we drove along, we noticed many mountain peaks some covered with snow all around. Ninos Hotel Outdoor patio at our quaint little hotel called the Ninos Hotel in Cusco. We had booked our 3 nights of stay at Ninos (children in Spanish) Hotel. This hotel was recommended by another friend who had been to Cusco. This was a quaint little hotel that one would typically find as a Hacienda in a typical Spanish town. We all instantly fell in love with the decor, the rooms and the always ever helpful staff at the hotel. The hotel is run by a German lady who uses all the profits in running an Orphanage adjacent to the hotel. There was a daily tour to the Orphanage run every week day. Some of us got to par take in the tour and liked it immensely. The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the confines of the hotel. The hotel had a small kitchen and a restaurant. Although we had our lunch and dinner the first day there we realized that we had run out of Vegetarian options in the menu to eat there again. Also the portion sizes were ninos in size :) Day 2 We woke up to a wet Saturday morning on day 2. Although the rains were not hard and not even as incessant as it was the previous day, there were drizzles on and off and it was damp and wet all around. We decided to explore Cusco by foot. Armed with a map to the tourist center of the town called Plaza de Armes we headed out into the cold wet morning with umbrellas in hand. Plaza de Armes Plaza De Armas and La Cathedral. After a quick stop for breakfast on the way we found ourselves in the middle of the most touristy location of Cusco. There were plenty of shops to buy the local wear especially alpaca wear and other arts and crafts (trinkets) there. There are also many tourist operators that sell you tickets for the City tour. After shopping in a few of the stores and buying ourselves some alpaca wear we purchased tickets for the 3 of us for a partial city tour for the same afternoon. We were informed that a guide would pick us up from the hotel and walk us to the closest bus stop where we would board the bus. Raghu and I in alpaca caps and sweaters. City tour of Cusco A half city tour consists of visiting four primary Inca ruins. I have described each one in detail below. We purchased half a city tour for 70 soles( 2.7 soles= 1USD) per adult that included entrances to 3 of the four ruins mentioned below. We also had to pay another 45 Soles for the bus ride and the tour guide. We were asked to board the bus at a location close to our hotel at 1:30 PM in the afternoon. A full city tour would include entrance tickets to Moray and a few other things. Since we were not planning on making a trip to Moray the next day we opted for the half city tour. We were boarded onto comfortable buses. There were many such buses but since our Spanish was weak we were on a tour that was bi-lingual with the guide frequently stopping to summarize his complete Spanish narration into English. CoriCancha Left : The courtyard within Corichancha (Temple of the Sun). Right : Cool thing in the garden of Corikancha. The puma, at the top, represents the Inca people’s connection to the Earth and land. The snake, on the left, symbolizes their connection to the underground world (some Incan temples, such as the temple of the moon, were built around natural caves). The condor, at the bottom, represents their connection to the heavens. Our first stop was Coricancha which means Golden courtyard in Quechuan. This was originally a temple complex built by the Incas to worship the Sun God. Even though Sun was the primary God that the Incas worshiped they had temples built for other Gods as well in CoriCancha. When the Spanish conquered Peru, most of CoriCancha was looted and destroyed by them. From Spanish writings of that time, it has been learned that there was great opulence in CoriCancha. The Spanish went ahead and built a Church for Santo Domingo at the same location after destroying the Inca temple. The entire Inca temple complex was completely forgotten until a devastating earth quake struck that region in 1950. After the earth quake most of the Spanish construction came crumbling down and it uncovered walled structures built out of large stones and rocks that were unaffected by the earthquake. These structures were built by the Incas and further excavations at the site revealed the entire original temple complex as we can see today. It was our first introduction to the inter-locking stone architecture of the Incas. They had mastered a technique where they used only stone to inter lock with another stone (rock) with out the use of any mortar to hold them together. Walls and structures built in this style has withstood many earth quakes and these structures stand tall even today 500- 700 years later! SacsayHuaman Even though this is pronounced as Sexy-Woman, there is hardly anything sexy or even feminine about this place. This was a huge fortress built on surrounding steep hill that overlooks Cusco. It also was a ritual place as it contained a Sun temple in the complex. What struck us most about his place was the huge boulders that was used at the bottom of the wall structures. These stones were moved from their quarry a couple of miles up the steep hill and it is not an easy task to accomplish this, even in this day and age! Ruins at Sacsayhauman. Each stone is held together without mud or mortar and has withstood numerous earthquakes. We also got to soak in some of the breathtaking scenery looking down into the metropolis of Cusco from here. The Christo Blanco (White Christ) overlooking Cusco was on a hill top right next to this one! View of Cusco from the mountain top at Sacsayhauman Q'enqo This place was used primarily as a ritual and a sacrificial place. There was an amphitheater that can be seen even to this day, in spite of the Spanish destruction of the sites. There was an underground chamber that had a sacrificial alter stone which was quite impressive. Q'enqo means twisted maize in Quechuan language. We were quite aptly introduced to a local corn delicacy called Choclo by the local vendors. It was simply boiled corn on the cob dished out with a huge chunk of local qeso (cheese). It was simply heavenly and we devoured it ravenously as were were quite hungry. Choclo, a simple delicious Peruvian snack : Boild corn with cheese. It was yummy! Tombo Machay It was getting dark by the time we came to this last ruin of the city tour. In Spanish this place is called El Bano del Inca as it was used by noble and royal people of the Inca as a place to kick back and relax. One can go to the extent of saying that it was like a present day spa! The place consists of aqueducts, canals and waterfalls that run through terraced rocks. The source of the water is a natural spring which flows to even this day. Alpaca Factory Llamas and Alpacas - Nature's lawnmovers. Our final stop for the day was this supposed Alpaca factory, but was more like a huge warehouse that had all types of Alpaca gear and other local handicrafts. A kind old gentleman there gave us all a lecture on how to tell real alpaca from synthetic one! We had purchased most of the alpaca gear we needed for the trip and to take back home too earlier in the day in Cusco. So we really did not buy anything there. It was around 7:30 PM closer to 8:00 PM when we were dropped of at the tourist center of Cusco again. Dinner at Chicha We were suggested this place by many friendly Cusco locals (including our tour guide) with whom we had struck casual conversation to inquire about a good places to eat local food. I'm glad to say we were not at all disappointed. The food was prepared by a well known Chef and every dish including the drinks that we ordered was something we will remember for a long time! Left : Peruvian potato soup with ravioli...one of the most memorable comfort food I have ever tasted ! Right : This appetizer was a delicious array of various types of Peruvian potatoes. After a long day we were totally exhausted and longed to get back to our hotel and rest up for the night. Day 3 We took day 3 easy. Got up really late and headed out for brunch at a place called Jacks which was also heavily recommended for American style breakfast and lunches. Even though there was a line to get seated, we were not disappointed with the food here either. We next walked towards the plaza de Armes and were pleasantly surprised to find a huge celebration with a long parade in progress. Our trip to Machu Pichu had coincided with centenary celebration of the scientific discovery of Machu Pichu. To the uninitiated, Machu Pichu was discovered by Hiram Bingham a professor of Latin American studies from Yale in July of 1911. One of the numerous street parades in Cusco to mark Machu Picchu's centenary celebrations. The celebration in the plaza kept us engrossed most of the afternoon. We were thrilled to see that many colorfully dressed dancers and floats on the street. We ditched the idea of going on a road trip to Maras & Moray. Another family in our group decided to do this trip. Maras is famous for salt pans and Moray is known for the concentric circles of farming terraces. The salt pans collect dried salty water from a salty water spring source that waters the hillsides near Maras. In Moray the farming terraces were constructed by the Incas to experiment various techniques of farming on hillside. In the evening we had our first meeting with our guide for the hike. The hike was completely arranged by Wayki Treks. The original travel agency, S A Luxury Expeditions, was only the middle men and the hike was conducted by a local trekking company there. The lead guide with whom we met was Freddy. He was a very affable person and got along well with everyone instantly. He first explained what the plans were for the next 4 days and patiently answered all our questions. The rest of the evening was spent in packing. We divided our belonging into two set of bags. One that we intended to carry for the hike and the other that would stay back in the hotel. The hotel had a convenient luggage room where we could store all the luggage that we did not intend to take with us. After an early dinner we quickly retired for the night as our day started quite early the next day. Day 4: Our day 4 of the trip began on a cold dark and damp morning around 3:45 AM. As we were asked to be ready to leave by 4:15 AM by our guide the previous evening. Our initial goal was to reach the trail head at Lares driving in our Van by noon. Once there we were to have lunch and then start our hike. We had to first drive about 4-5 hours long and cross a pass where there was heavy construction going on. As the road would be closed by day break we had to cross the region where the construction was happening before day break. Hence the early start we were told. We were on a 16 seat Mercedes van arranged for exclusive us. Including two guides, two cooks and one driver we completely filled up the van. All our luggage together with the camping gear was bundled on the top of the van and we were on the road well before 5:00 AM. As we drove along, we saw first rays of Sun light after 6:00 AM and it was closer to 7 AM when we made our first stop. It was a tiny mountain town called Calca. It was here that we got to see some really tall snow capped peaks of the Andes mountain for the very first time at really close proximity. Even though it was a pit stop on our drive up the mountains the picturesque location of the tiny town in the midst of snow capped peaks was unforgettable. We next passed ManchaCancha a tiny settlement famous locally for its hot spring. We may have traveled about 45 minutes beyond Macha Cancha when the terrain started to get really tough. At the elevation we were there was snow all around and there were snow flurries too. We may have gone another half hour or so when we hit a major traffic halt. Basically it was single lane road with snow piled up a few feet deep on either side and a long list of vehicles stuck one behind the other. Apparently a vehicle ahead of us was stuck in deep snow and there was no room for another vehicle to pass by it! It was not clear how long it would take to get the stuck vehicle out of the snow and the traffic to clear. It was pretty cold outside and it had started to snow quite steadily as well. The pass we were supposed to walk through, at 4400 meters, was completely snowed out. Freddy our tour guide considering the group he was leading, with kids and all, made a decision to not pursue the road toward Lares. Even though at that time I felt it was a bit quick to make that call, on hindsight, it was the best decision made. We backtracked our way and decided to hike at a lower elevation instead. The plan was still to hike for 3 days but at slightly at lower elevations. It was around 9 AM and we were all getting hungry since we had been up for more than 6 hours now. So we decided to make a stop at Mancha Cancha at the hot spring location. We were amazed to see the quickness with which the cooks and the guides got to work. They pitched up a tent and setup kitchen and quickly prepared a breakfast of warm bread, hot chocolate, tea, and sandwiches. Our trekking support team whipped up the most delicious meals in a matter of minutes. After breakfast we did a hike up a nearby mountain while lunch was being prepared. We got to see some local farmers farming on the hillside up close. We were introduced to some of the local crops like quinoa (which is a staple grain in our house now!) and a various kinds of potatoes. Peru has over 3000 different varieties of potatoes still farmed since the Incan times. Left : A quinoa plant Rigth : Our dining tent Just as we returned from our hike up the mountain, it was time for lunch. The cooks had prepared an elaborate 3 course meal with soup and dessert. Our meal inside the tent After lunch we were informed of our modified plan. We were to drive down to Ollyantaytambo and then head to our destination where we would camp for the night. Given the cold weather we had changed plans to camp for just one night in tent instead of 2 nights as per the original plan. The second night would be spent in the hostel at Aguas Caliente. After a ride of about 3 hours we reached Ollyantaytambo around 4 PM in the evening. Before we headed off to our campsite we wanted to do another hike up a mountain that skirted the downtown area of Ollyntaytambo. This mountain hike had many Inca ruins. They were primarily storage structures built on steep hills. These storage structures were used to store granaries and ammunition too. The hike up the mountain provided unbelievable views to other Inca ruins of terraced farming on surrounding hills. Left : Birds eye view of the town of Ollyantaytambo Right : Ancient granaries of the Incas embedded in the mountains. It was about 6:30 PM by the time we got back to our van parked in the plaza of Ollyantaytambo. Even though we wanted to get to our camp site before it got dark, it was already dark by the time we reached our van! It was good 40 minute drive on an unpaved road up a mountain to our campsite. Complete darkness had settled in by the time we reached our camp location. Even in the darkness the tents were setup and a hot meal was cooked for us. By the time we had finished dinner it was past 9:30 PM and we were all tired. While some of us retired for the evening a few of us enjoyed a few minutes by the campfire making smores. The local rum was a welcome drink in the cold for some of us. Night in the tent was quite cold to say the least! Even though we had enough clothes and a good sleeping bag and inflatable mats to sleep on, the elevation we were at, the cold mountain air and the surrounding snow made it a long cold damp night for us. That night made us appreciate a good warm bed that we take for granted daily! Our group tent scene. Day 5 Our day started at sunrise. Having got little sleep I was out of the tent at the break of dawn to see a wet tent top. The beautiful sight of the snow capped mountains all around was probably the most comforting sight next to the individual basin of warm water provided to us to freshen up. Our cozy tent. The warm water in the tubs was all what we had to wash up before we trudged along another day, another mile. It was quickly time to wake everyone up and start to pack. The plan was all our luggage would be transported on horseback while we would hike down to Ollyantaytambo. Before we hit the trail to hike down to Ollyantaytambo, we were provided a sumptuous breakfast. There was omlettes, pancakes bread butter, jelly and to drink we had tea, coffee and hot chocolate. The hike down to Ollyantaytambo was scenic to the say the least. The trail meandered through tiny mountain villages. We stopped to hand over small trinkets from our world like school supplies to little kids that we met on the way. We also handed over some of the calorie rich candies and sweets that we had on us too :) The kids in our group sharing trinkets they brought from home, with the village children they met along the way. This little guy not older than 5 was trundling along all by himself home! It was surprising to see little kids no older than 6 or 7 years walking all by themselves feeling completely safe in the open mountain countryside! By the time we reached Ollyantaytambo it was around 11:30 AM. We had started to hike around 8:30 AM. We were quite tired and were aching for a rest by the time we had reached a local hotel in Ollyantaytambo for our lunch stop. Lunch was cooked by our team of cooks once and once again was a greatly relished by everyone. This was the last meal cooked by them, as from here on we would take the train to Aguas Caliente and stay at a hostel there. After our lunch we headed to the local train station at Ollynataytambo and made it just in time to take the train to Aguas Caliente. We were on a glass top carriage and had a great view of the Andean mountain range all around us. The The snow capped mount peaks and the colorful country side was totally out of this world. It was evening around 5 PM by the time we reached Aguas Caliente. From the train station we had good hike lugging our luggage to our hostel. From Ollyntaytambo on, only the two guides traveled with us. Aguas Caliente is small tiny right on 2 or three steep hills. It is also the only town that had access to Machu Pichu. From here one could either hike or take a bus ride to Machu Pichu. Our plan was to head out to Machu Pichu early in the morning the next day. Before dinner some of us managed to hike the hills around Aguas Caliente, while others chose to rest up in the hostel room. The hostel accommodations were very basic. Each family had a room with either 3 or 4 beds in them and a bathroom as well. We all assembled for dinner in a local restaurant down the road and enjoyed the local food there. Since some of us wanted to hike up to Machu Pichu, while others wanted to ride the bus to the top. So we decided to break into 2 groups and meet up at the entrance at top. Those who hiked had to wake up early around 3 AM and those taking the bus could wake around 5 AM. There were two reasons to get up early to reach the entrance of Machu Pichu. The first was to catch a glimpse of the rising sun while the second was to get a pass to climb Huyana Pichu. Huyana Pichu is the larger peak seen in the background of Machu Pichu ruins. Only the first 200 visitors are allowed to climb this peak. Day 6 We chose to ride the bus to get to the entrance of Machu Pichu primarily because one or two in our family was fighting off a fever and were too tired to hike up. There was a steady stream of buses ferrying the thousands of visitors up the mountains as we sat in engrossed in the unbelievable sight of the Urubamba river encircled around the peaks of Machu Pichu. Couples dressed in Incan and Quechuan garb participating in a parade to mark the 100th year of the Scientific discovery of Machu Picchu. We had timed our visit to Peru just right....the whole nation was in revelry. By the time we made it to the ticket booth, the limited 200 passes to climb Hyana Pichu mountain top was long gone. The other team which hiked up the mountain however were lucky and were able to get the pass. Since one of them fell sick while climbing up I got his pass. Our guides who had made it to the top with us, suggested that we first finish the Hyana Pichu hike which would typically take about 1.30 to 2 hrs long, since it would be harder as the sun came out. So it was around 8 AM by the time we started on the Hyana Pichu hike. The hike up Hyana Pichu was as it was promised and more. The sights across into the Machu Pichu ruins and the Urubamab river at various elevation was absolutely gorgeous. The trail was quite hard in many places as we had to pass through narrow ridges and even had to scramble on all four at certain places. We reached the top which consisted of a few larg sized rocks on which we could barely rest for a few minutes, before we had to keep moving down as there was steady stream of climbers coming up for whom we had to make room! The Incans planned the city of Machu Picchu in the shape of a Condor, their sacred god. You can clearly see the Condor in this view from Wiyna Picchu. Once we reached back the ruins we joined with others in our group and started our official tour of the ruins. As the sun slowly rises over Machu Picchu. There are many theories about Machu Pichu. At first this was considered the "last city" and not the "lost city" of the Incas. The last city was the city where they made their last stand against the Spanish invaders while the lost city was the city that was supposed to contain all the Inca hidden gold but was never found. Now, the latest theory is that Machu Pichu was the lost city. Left : A view of the house of the noblemen from one of the numerous trapizoidal shaped windows. Middle : Birds eye view of the ruins Right : Busloads of tourists enter the sacred site as soon as the gates open at dawn. Machu Pichu was constructed as an estate of the most famous Inca ruler Pachacuti around 1400 AD. There are many theories on the purpose of constructing such a place at that elevation and location. It is in a quite secluded location and must have provided natural fortification against all attackers. After spending a long memorable day in the ruins of Machu Pichu we reluctantly headed back to Aguas Caliente as it was close to closing time. We rode the bus back to Aguas Caliente and enjoyed our last glimpses of the river Urubamba and the peaks of Machu Pichu as we descended down. Dinner was at a location where we had live music playing. Some of us were daring to try the local delicacy called Cuy which was roast guinea pig. Tired after a long day we headed back to our hostel. Cuy (guinea Pig), a Peruvian delicacy. It came with teeth, claws, the whole nine yards ! Day 7 We were supposed to take an afternoon train back to Ollyantaytambo. So we had the whole morning to spend around in Aguas Caliente. We got busy shopping in the market streets of Aguas Caliente. We found many interesting local artifacts there. Our train ride back was quite memorable. The train was a single carriage with a glass top that included a driver cabin at the front right corner. The train included a meal that was served. But the best part was the entertainment that was provided. The Peruvian railways were selling their wares in the train and cabin attendants got busy modeling the items on display that were for sale. They were quite entertaining and danced and walked to music as they showcased them. Most of the items there were quite expensive compared to what we had shopped at Cusco and Aguas Caliente. We took the VistaDome train of Peru Rail. The Vista Dome train is only for tourists, not locals, and with a cultural dance and a fashion show, and awesome views, was one of the most entertaining rides of my life ! When our train reached Ollyantaytambo, we had our van waiting for us to take us back to Cusco. The ride back was about couple of hours and it was evening time around 6 PM by the time we reached Ninos Hotel in Cusco. After a quick early dinner we packed to head back home the next day. Day 8 We had a morning flight at 10 AM out of Cusco. We checked out early after a quick breakfast and made to the airport in good time. We flew to Lima to take a flight back home to San Francisco. Thoughts about our trip Peru is a wonderful country rich and vibrant in history and culture. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there. The people were quite friendly. Even in the market place stores that we visited in Cusco the vendors when we would bargain and negotiate prices, they always seemed friendly and never aggressive. If I were to do this again, I would plan to spend some time in Lima the capital city and also make a trip down to Lake titicaca the birth place of the Inca civilization. Of course Peru is also famous for its Amazon river and forest. We would include that in our trip as well. Amen to that!

This is the one which re-kindled my love for sarees. In my college days, I loved wearing sarees. I used to diligently design, embroider and stitch my own blouses, making each drape extra special with my own personal touch. When I got married and came to the US, there were only a few of my wedding sarees which I brought here with me. Given that, and the fact that I got busy going to college here and not seeing anyone wearing sarees in my limited social circle back in the 90s, I completely stopped wearing them. When I went back home for the first time, I even left all my wedding sarees behind and asked my mother to give away the ones I had collected over the years, as I no longer cared for them (much to my moms horror!). College life turned into work life and then to motherhood, and my aversion to draping 6 yards of cumbersome cloth continued to grow. I would get annoyed everytime my parents or inlaws visited me laden with sarees as gifts, to coax me to start wearing them again. My mom's cajoling about how fashionable saris had become, fell to deaf ears. Sometime in the mid 2000's when my daughter was no longer a toddler, when I visited my parents in Bangalore, my mother talked me into visiting a saree store, just to checkout what was in trend. I went just to please her. And there I saw this baby pink number. I fell in love with it right away. And that rekindled my love for sarees. I bought 3 sarees on that trip, and I have never looked back. Now I borrow space in my now college-bound daughter's wardrobe to accommodate my ever-growing trousseau of sarees. But this one is the one which holds a special place in my heart, and the one I go back to, everytime I cant decide what to wear. And for those interested, I found this at Ladies Wear House in Gandhi Bazar, Bangalore. And I have bought many more favorite sarees there, ever since.

Ever so often, when the mood strikes, I pack a saree (or two) with me while traveling or while on a hike. Here are a few tips on how to prepare for a saree photoshoot while on an outdoor adventure. 1. Leave your inhibitions behind ! Dont be uncomfortable wearing a saree in a foreign land or in a setting you are not familiar. This was one inhibition I overcame at the very beginning of my sareeing journey, and I made sure my family was ok with it too. I learnt earlier on that the looks strangers gave me were either out of curiosity or admiration, not out of animosity as I had initially feared. 2. Decide your game plan ahead of your trip. Make a mental note of how far the restrooms are from your photoshoot location. If no restrooms are available, be prepared to change in your parked car. When we visited Sintra in Portugal, I checked the map of the Penna Palace on Google to identify a handicap accessible bathroom, so I had enough space to drape my saree. 3. Plan out the color and type of saree. Since it is outdoors, the color of your saree should contrast the place you are trying to showcase in your pictures. Wear colors that will enhance the surroundings and not something where you will blend into it. When I visited Antelope Canyon, I wore white to bring out the orange and red hues of the canyon. If using a prop, match your saree color to the color of the prop. While visiting Monument Valley in Arizona, I had researched ahead of time and found out there was a red wagon with yellow wheels at the lodge we were staying at, that would make a great photo op. So I packed a yellow saree to contrast the red. 4. The material also matters! That perfect shot of your pallu blowing in the wind is hard to get unless it is a breezy day. And if the wind happens to be in your favor, you dont want to spoil your chance of that perfect shot by wearing a heavy saree . I always recommend a lightweight chiffon or georgette that will fly effortlessly in the wind. 5. What to wear under the saree? On many an outdoor adventure, you will not have the luxury of a restroom to change in. In such cases, I plan my hiking outfit ahead of time. I wear tights and a crop top I bought on Amazon that doubles up as a blouse, underneath my tshirt. I carry pins and the string of a petticoat in my backpack, and when we reach the designated spot, I drape the saree over my tights. Large rocks and trees come in handy as nature's dressing room! I also wear my hiking boots underneath my saree. 6. Keep everything else to a minimum. Be it jewelry or makeup, it will not be seen, as pictures will be shot via a wide angle lens highlighting the beauty of the outdoors. So dont stress on it. I have taken many pictures with salt deposits from my sweat baked into my skin. Hope the above tips help you get that perfect shot on your next outdoor adventure. Do drop me a line if you have other suggestions, and I will incorporate it in this blog.

When you think of LA, you think of Disneyland, Universal Studios, Rodeo Drive and Hollywood Walk of Fame, all BTDT for most of us. Here is a curated list of not-so-popular, yet fun things to do the next time you are in LA. The Butcher, The Baker, The Cappuccino Maker - Located in Sunset Plaza on Sunset Blvd, this is a great place for a weekend brunch and to people watch. And for "Selling Sunset" fans, this is right across from the Oppenheim real-estate brokerage office. But the one item this place is most famous for is its colorburst lattes. Painted with organic, edible colors, they just add a "pop" to your Sunday morning routine. This place gets booked weeks in advance for a weekend brunch. So plan in advance. 2. Little Damage - A hole in the wall ice cream joint in downtown LA made famous by Instagrammers. This place stands out from other creameries in and around LA by serving unique creations in their signature charcoal activated black cone. The ice cream I had was black chocolate yogurt which was delicious. The black cone didnt taste any different from the regular cone. But I was secretly happy that I was doing something good to the body(activated charcoal has health benefits) while licking away the calories! 3. Urban Lights at LACMA is arguably one of the most popular outdoor artwork in Los Angeles. Located in a small area next to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Downtown LA, this "sculpture" is made up of 202 cast iron lamps which once lighted Los Angeles, placed in a grid. The lamps run on solar energy and turn on automatically at dusk and off at dawn. Obviously, they are best viewed at nigh time. The place is usually crowded in the early hours of the evening by selfie seekers and photo enthusiasts. Parking is free and can be found on city streets. 4. MODS (Museum of Dream Space) : This special place has its very own blog here. 5. Smorgasbord : This is the largest open-air food market in all of North America. They have a great lineup of food trucks of every imaginable cuisine. It is totally foodie heaven and a great way to spend a Saturday or Sunday morning. Go early in the day if you want to find parking. 6. Griffiths Observatory Peak Trail - This hike deserves a blog of its own, located here. 7. The Last Bookstore - This is a one-of-a-kind bookstore and an old gem in downtown LA, with a whimsical and artistic decor. Located in an old bank, this is truly a playground for bibliophiles - you can explore the stores for hours on end.. Books are organized and arranged in such unique fashions, like a lighted tunnel of books, a "frame" made of books, the checkout table supported by, what else, books! It is an amazing place and I highly recommend a visit when you are in Los Angeles next. 8. Warner Bros. Studio tour : Universal Studios Hollywood may be the most famous studio tour in LA, but did you know that almost every movie house has a backlot tour ? One such tour is offered by Warner Bros Studio in Burbank. It consists of an hour long backlot tour in an open air "bus", which takes you to many popular sets, such as that of Gilmore Girls, the famous fountain in Friends opening scene, and even the sets of Ellen. After the tour, you can further explore the sets of Friends and Big Bang Theory, to name a few. 9. Porto's Bakery and Cafe : There are a number of locations of this Cuban favorite, but no matter which location you go to, expect to see long lines that snake around the block. The bakery seems popular for cakes and savories, but we went for some breakfast savories, like empanadas and cream filled croissants. Everything tasted crispy, flaky and buttery goodness. The inside is huge and spacious with plenty of seating.