Abu Dhabi: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the Louvre

Posted on April 29, 2022 by Bryan Keith

How did Ferda and I end up in Abu Dhabi anyway? The idea started because I flew through Dubai on the way back from Sri Lanka. A number of people had chastised me for traveling in the UAE and not visiting Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. I figured I could just extend my stay in Dubai a few days and see a couple things that I missed my first time in the country. Well, flight ticket fares being what they are it was actually cheaper to come to the UAE from Turkey rather than extend a stopover. That seems hard to believe — it must have had something to do with the bicycle — but I kind of remember that it cost less to fly from Colombo to Istanbul than Colombo to Dubai.

Anyway, here we are. We left gritty, dusty Cairo in the morning and were walking around sparkling, green Abu Dhabi in the afternoon.

IMG_20220321_143105 by bryandkeith on flickr

From our downtown hotel it was a short walk to the corniche

Continue reading →
Posted in Traveling, United Arab Emirates | Tagged | 1 Comment

The Necropolis at Giza

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Bryan Keith

After snorkeling in Makadi Bay, the plan was to fly from Hurghada to Abu Dhabi. As I recall now, I guess there weren’t direct flights — most itineraries went through Cairo. Rather than fly, I figured, why not take the bus to Giza and visit Egypt’s most famous site?

IMG_20220320_101202_5 by bryandkeith on flickr

I had visited the Giza pyramids on my only other visit to Egypt 24 years ago. It was a foggy November day, and we practically tripped over the corner of the pyramids before we could see them. The poor weather and the constant harassment from camel ride touts made it a very disappointing day of sightseeing. For this visit I had low expectations. I’m glad I went back.

It was after dark by the time we got to our hotel in Giza (after spending perhaps three hours in Cairo’s traffic). Our room wasn’t ready so the man took us up to the rooftop balcony to wait.

Continue reading →
Posted in Egypt, Traveling | Tagged | 1 Comment

Snorkeling Makadi Bay

Posted on April 9, 2022 by Bryan Keith

Most tourists who come to Makadi Bay stay in all-inclusive hotels, sit by the pool all day drinking watered-down beer, and overindulge in huge mediocre buffets. Egypt is more expensive than Turkey for lower quality — generally a poor value for money. So why bother with Makadi Bay? The snorkeling!

20220317_114859A by bryandkeith on flickr
Continue reading →
Posted in Egypt, Snorkeling | Tagged | 4 Comments

A couple days in Hurghada

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Bryan Keith

It was after 2am when Ferda and I arrived at our pre-booked accommodation in Hurghada on flights from Antalya via İstanbul. Nothing really looks good after traveling all day (~11 hours) and arriving in the middle of the night, but Ferda and I really enjoyed our short stay with Adam at his Bob Marley Homestay. He made us yummy breakfasts every day — at about 11am the first day (we really managed to sleep in) and much earlier the following morning so we’d be well fed before our snorkeling excursion. We also ate dinner with Adam two nights.

No one has anything nice to say about Hurghada, but I’m glad we had a couple days there. It was cold and windy when we got off the plane and ended up being cold and windy our entire 11 days in Egypt. Blowing sand was a problem at times.

We walked around dusty Hurghada a bit, stopping at the Coptic Church near our hotel.

IMG_20220310_141257 by bryandkeith on flickr
Continue reading →
Posted in Egypt, Traveling | Tagged | 2 Comments

Wrapping up Sri Lanka: Unawatuna to Negombo

Posted on March 20, 2022 by Bryan Keith

alternatively titled: It’s All About the Food

The closest thing I had to a guide book in Sri Lanka was one page of a website written by Yulia, a Russian woman who writes in English and is married to a Sri Lankan. The page is called The Ultimate Guide to Sri Lankan Food: 50 Must Try Dishes. When I first arrived in the country, I was sort of using the page as a reference to get some names of dishes and see what I recognize. After a couple weeks in the country, without even trying, I realized I had made it more than half way through Yulia’s list. It was only during my last week in Sri Lanka that I really started making an effort to find dishes on Yulia’s list that I hadn’t tried already.

For example, why bother ordering biryani when it’s a pretty standard rice dish in so many South and Southeast Asian countries? It was on Yulia’s list so I tried it one evening in Aluthgama:

chicken biryani by bryandkeith on flickr

Surprisingly good.

After the biryani dinner Yulia sent me on a fun expedition to track down homemade toffee. Did I find kiri toffee?

Continue reading →
Posted in Bicycle touring, Sri Lanka | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments