Malta.... Yalta...

Maltese falcon is the first thing that comes to my mind, when I hear the word Malta.. and to be honest I had very little idea about Malta until I visited Malta... Interestingly Malta has a rich history and has had lot of influences from different cultures across the Mediterenean. Smack in the center of Mediterenean it has always been a strategic location for all the powers of Europe, Africa and Persia in olden times. A place known for clear and sandy beaches is a great tourist location.

After sailing for almost 10 days and having finished our work, it was time to get off the boat. The boat was going in port to Malta for a crew change and supplies in Valetta in Malta. So that was our opportunity to get off before the boat sets sail again towards the North sea. It was then I realised Malta is such a small Island. You can easily drive along the coast of the country easily in a day or so. Since I had the opportunity, I took a couple of days off and stayed back in Malta to do some sight seeing. My bad luck, a depression set in mediterenean and it was cloudy and raining. and more depressingly.. my camera broke down... and I had no way of fixing it until I reached Oslo...

Malta is a very nice Island with lot of influences from the Romans, Byzantines, Phoenicians, Templar knights during the crusades, Napolean's French army and later became a British colony. It was heavily attacked by Zeee... Germans during WWII due to its location between Italy and North Africa. Most of these history is seen in its language 'Maltese' which is a heavy mix of Arabic and Italian. Quite frankly it is a very funny sounding language. Neither here nor there... They also speak English very well due to British influence. It has lots of beach resorts and tourism is a big money generating industry. Scuba diving and water sports is a great attraction.

Since I had very litle time, I explored the historic places of Malta, old chappels, factories from the last century fully preserved, catacombs from the Roman times etc. I went and checked out the night life in St. John's bay and St. Julian's bay which are known for the trendy bars and night clubs. These places thrive with huge crowd of college crowd hitting the bars late at night.

All in all it was a good and relaxing break for a couple of days before I headed back to Oslo.

I only managed to take a few photos.

More info on Malta: http://www.visitmalta.com/main

My date with ancient Egypt

Egyptian civilization, as they say, is one of the most ancient civilizations in the history of human beings and is well recorded too through heiroglyphics and no trip to Egypt is complete without a trip the great pyramids and sphinx. The pyramids, mummies and sphinx are the outstanding examples of the their culture, civilization and their architecture. Being history lover, I would love any opportunity to go and see lengths and breadths of Egypt, travel across river Nile, go to Cairo, Memphis, Abu simbel, Luxor etc etc... This time I atleast got a chance to visit Cairo .. the rest will have to wait...
I had to travel to Cairo for work. This was the best oportunity for me to see Cairo. I had a day off before I join the crew. So I took off with a pre arranged taxi to go and see the pyramids of Giza. I had imagined that these pyramids would be quite a long way off from the city. But it was actually not too far, just half hour drive to south. My taxi driver took me to a Perfume shop (Its the oldest trick in the book :) who fixed me up with a horse and guide. All of this is a big hoax. They take u on a ride, take u back to perfume shop and make u buy perfumes at a ridiculous price and also for the horse. Anyhow, This guide who knew very little english started with his usual monologue... "My friend, First time to Cairo... I show you around Giza.. I make you happy, you make me happy" and I can't remember how many times he would have said that...
Having come from cold,dark and cloudy Oslo in March to Cairo and seeing the bright sun was a welcome gift for me... and on top entering the historic Giza was a great experience... Once we entered the main area of pyramids, there they stood.. three huge pyramids... I couldn't tell which was bigger... They say 2 of them are almost the same sizes, but look a bit different bcos of the level ground they stood on... It was just amazing... Standing in front of the historic monument, some 4000 years old, standing symbol of an old civilization, just felt really great... I came across this on the internet... "Soldats! Du haut de ces Pyramides, 40 siècles nous contemplent" (Soldiers! From the top of these Pyramids, 40 centuries are looking down upon us) - Napolean to his soldiers before the battle at giza against the mameluks... How true!!
No wonder all the greatest empires there after always had ties with egypt due to the pharoic ages... Alexander created his own Alexandria in Egypt, Romans had their Cleopatra, Arabs conquered Egypt, Salahuddin of Egypt was a leading figure in the holy crusades and finally even the British empire saw Egypt as a strategic location due to the Suez canal and a way to travel to the East quickly...
I had a slow horse ride all around the pyramids and then I walked on foot a little bit around the pyramids and even climbed a little bit.. Over the years, they have definitely lost some sheen off them, rocks stolen away by people to build their houses, the stones eroded due to sand and wind, but they havent lost their beauty or glory... It was just an amazing experience just be there among these pyramids. You wonder how they built these huge structure so many thousand years ago, when rest of the human world was still living in caves fighting the animals for their survival. If one wondered how the mankind could built a magnificient structure like coloseum in the Roman era, you would have to reserve some thoughts for these pyramids and the Egyptians who built them...
Since I didn't have enough time to go inside the pyramids, I just wandered around and moved onto the Sphinx. I wonder who came up with this mythological creature with the head of a human and body of a lion(just like Lord Ganesha I suppose). The one in Giza, for sure, is the great sphinx... It is huge and beautiful... It was quite a sight to see the huge sphinx stand tall with the great pyramids in the background...
With that sight registered in my mind, I had to move on to the Egyptian national museum in Cairo to see the old artifacts from the era of pharoahs.. I even skipped lunch so I have some time in the museum before they close for the day. The highlights of the museum were the Royal mummy section (preserved mummies of great pharoahs few thousand years old) and King tutenkhamen's (a.k.a King Tut) tomb artifacts. The museum was full of old artifacts from the Ancient Egypt. The Royal mummy section was quite chilling literally... 1. bcos they maintain a very cold temperature and 2. well preserved bodies of people who died few thousand years ago and you can still see the nails, black skin and hair(very creepy)... King Tut's burial chamber artifacts shows how much wealth is placed inside the king's burial chamber in the pyramid and no wonder the robber's were constantly at it to steal it all... The inner coffin of king were made fully of gold and so was the king's pharoah mask.. and rest of the coffins and ornaments had gold platings.. Also makes you wonder how much time it took to complete the project of a pyramid(the whole burial, making of these coffins in gold, building the pyramids etc....
All in all it was a tiring, but a great day for me... having been to the pyramids and Sphinx and seeing the King tut's burial chambers and the royal mummies... I couldn't have asked for more on a day's trip... I finished my day with tradition Egyptial Kushari from the best Kushari shop in town. Oh... I loved that Kushari... I would love to go back to Egypt for a week long or maybe 2 week long trip and travel along the Nile to see the historic sites....