END: Mobile's #, Switz: +41.78.8290989 - Italy: +39.333.3102034
Hello, we got back to GVA "safe and sound" last Friday. We would like to thank all the people that came to the airport and to Collex, and all of you for visiting the website during this amazing year of travelling.
BACI BACI to all of you.

The red carpet and welcome committee.

Ducks on a sea of chocolate.

Decapitation of birds to get to the cake.

ALEXANDRIA, CAIRO / EGYPT, DAY 366:
The day of the bloody livestock was the last day of our World Tour 2004. Today is the day Muslims slaughter sheep, goats, cows, anything vaguely fitting that description. And most of them do it on the street, so visiting Islamic Cairo was like swimming through a pool of blood and viscera. At every corner dismembered animals stared at the clear sky. A first, lets add, because never before have I seen so many cadavers, or cows heads being skinned, hoofs being shoved into bags, skins taken away by horses, or in fact so many people covered in blood or so many houses, buses, cars, clothes with red hand prints on them.
Lovely.
And in sharp contrast with our visit of wonderful Alexandria when we spent time with some herders commenting on the beauty of their animals - fat tails, not like we have at home!
Putting the horror behind us, we still managed to visit our first mosque and have reverted back to being vegetarian (me) well up for a fresh kebab (myfriendcris).
But enough of all this as we will see you all very soon, providing BA has not rerouted or cancelled the plane (impossible to know since all the offices are closed...)

After the Red Sea, here is the Med.

Our hotel in Alexandria.

Sipping coffee with Bob (the hat).

Big tailed dancing sheep.

Not aware that this was its destiny...

Another first on the last day.

HURGHADA, SHARM EL SHEIK, DAHAB, SINAI / EGYPT:
One week to go... what more can I say?
Hurghada and Sharm are ugly, Dahab is nice. The wind is cold but doesn't stop the northerners from dipping into the Red Sea. The Egyptian touts are maddening, but some helped us get our bank card out of the ATM machine. The Bedouin camels were literally a pain in the bum, the experience unforgettable. Life is great, even now the local shesha-smoker has a high-pitched voice ;-)

Mecca Cola vs Coca Cola, Mecca wins when you are so close to Saudi Arabia.

Camping outside the ATM that swallowed the card.

After driving ox carts, elephants, horses and tractors, camels were a piece of cake.

The Red Sea: kitir jamil = beautiful.

Shesha pipes at sunset.

ASWAN, LUXOR / EGYPT:
After gambling with egyptian meat, myfriendcris (taxi? caleche? kebab? my friend?)finally hit the jackpot with some bacteria-infested chicken and dashed to the loo to celebrate in true exorcist-style (the one where the sick shoots across the room). What clearer cue could we have needed to leave beautiful Luxor and try our luck in the tourist capital of Hurghada? Here goats roam in hundreds of unfinished buildings whilst tourists seeking the sun freeze their limbs off in the frosty wind.
Prior to that, we got adopted by a bromie family on our way to Aswan's gorgeous Temple of Isis, skippered a fellucca boat down the Nile, foamed at the mouth with falafel, and marvelled in Luxor. The ancient Egyptians really did a great job with their tombs and buildings, shame we can't say the same of Mubarak and his cronies - must be because they are too busy carrying kalashnikovs around...

Cruising the Nile on a Fellucca, Aswan.

Iris Temple, Philae Island.

Cris wants the same haircut as this statue in the Temple at Karnak.

The Egyptian's recipe for canard a la cafard.

No photos inside the tombs of the Valley of the Kings, we discovered later...

Free-riding to the Valley of the Queens.

Followed by myfriendcris.

CAIRO /EGYPT/AFRICA:
Dopo essere partiti dall'Europa alla volta delle Americhe, guidato in Australia e bestemmiato in Asia (vedi India) siamo sbarcati nel continente Africano, non male.
Al Cairo aereoporto ci ha accolto la sabbia del deserto e 2500 tassisti con le loro vecchie Fiat 131. Sconbussolati dalle 14 ore di volo con tre fusi orari da stabilire, volo Delhi, Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, ci siamo piantati sul fuso e abbiamo celebrato il nuovo anno alle 11 ora locale. Niente di grave tanto lo spumante comperato al duty free di Delhi era andato a male. A mezzanotte ci siamo rifatti con il Gin, da veri inglesi (io acqusito). Abbiamo pensato di iniziare il nuovo anno perche' no, con una gita alla piramidi. Peccato che il vento incessante del deserto ci abbia riempito tutti i buchi (vedere l'ultima foto per credere) ma lo spettacolo delle piramidi sotto la tempesta di sabbia valeva il colpo. Il pranzo di capodanno e' stato pure degno delle aspettative, dopo 30 giorni di simulazione forzata di essere vegetariano (in india se non vuoi morire di tifo devi esserlo visto che non hanno i frigoriferi dove conservare le carni) mi sono sparato un cosciotto di agnello, ansi due con quello di Olivia, ansi tre con quello di ieri sera. Oggi per cambiare mi sono fatto il Kebab e finalmente sono a posto con la mia razione di carne. Olivia invece sofre la cucina egiziana, lo sformato di verdure qui fa pena. A presto da Aswan dove andiamo stasera con il treno di notte.

New Year's Eve Celebrations Kit.

Next day hangover juices maker.

Cairo reflection on the Nile river.

Cheope pyramid and the Sphinx.

A very popular means of trasport in Cairo.

A former Versace model with a local Beduin lady.

DELHI, AGRA / INDIA:
INCREDIBLE INDIA - the promotion campaign chosen by Indian's government: very appropriate.
Now let me tell you what happened at the Delhi International Airport on the 31st.
At 5.40am, three hours before our flight, we turn up at the terminal to clear all the formalities, only to be told that the check-in counter opens at 6.40 and that the plane is delayed. We battled for over an hour with Indians trying to push in front of us and ramming their trolleys into my legs, eventually we check-in and clear immigration. With 2hours on our hands and some rupees to spend, we decided to hit the duty free. EASY? Of course not... None of the duty free shops accept rupees.
"Please, can I pay in rupees?" I asked. "No, only dollars or euros"
"Why? Are we not in India?" "Because it is illegal to leave the country with rupees"
"Well! Let me spend them then." "Not possible. You change them." "OK, but where?" "Not here. No bank here. Go back past immigration"

Hurdle 1: getting from immigration to the bank. I was told I could not pass because they were changing shifts and the new officer had not yet arrived so the formalities of letting me get to the bank could not be completed. 10 minutes later the new guy rolls in. The "formalities" consisted in keeping my boarding pass... (far too difficult for the intermediary to do??) Who cares that I had a flight to catch and that it is illegal to leave India with rupees.

At the 1st bank, T (them):sorry sir we open at 9, check the corner one. 2nd bank T:come back in 20 minutes. 3rd bank same company as 1st bank 50 meters away, same time table. T:we are still closed. 4th bank I lost my patience, screamed, and got my money taken, but: T:were did you get the money from? M:a bank! T:can you prove it? M:I have the receipt, T:fine give me the money. M:10.870, T:give me the receipt, Oh this is from an ATM, I can only change 10.000 rs with an ATM receipt, M: but the receipt says 20.000. T:not possible. M:fine only change 10.000 now and then I'll give you a second order for the next the 870 separate. T: Humm. Ok, I change them all in one go.

Finally with my dollars, I went back to the immigration desk were a long queue was now formed. I walked past everybody and sprinted directly to the desk of the man with my boarding pass, ignoring the shouting of the guards saying to stop. It worked. 1 hour later I was finally back at the Duty free to buy 1 bottle of gin (that I felt like downing straight) and 1 of champaign that, I found out last night, had gone off... INCREDIBLE INDIA, what better slogan??

Incredible India.

I am sure you have seen this small marble thing on other pictures before.

Agra Fort is what you need if you are followed by thousands of touts.

A carpet maker in Agra.

PATNEM, PANAJI, OLD GOA / INDIA:
Buona Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo. Noi abbiamo fatto il cenone di Natale sulla spiaggia di Patnem nei bamboo huts Parvati. Io e Olivia abbiamo messo insieme una decina di persone e obbligato il gestore a passare ai fornelli. Ci siamo fatti fare una aragosta a testa (vedi foto) con patatine alla belga (non male). Per innaffiare il tutto e dare un po' il feeling natalizio ci siamo inventati un vino caldo a base di Rhum e succo d'uva (non c'era il vino) fantastico. Dopo cena fuochi di artificio, musica indiana (mantra per chi conosce) e con Kingfisher (birra locale). Per il giorno di Santo Stefano da bravi ragazzi siamo andati a visitare le tante chiese di Old Goa, fatte dai portoghesi. C'era pure esposto il corpo di un santo, Francesco Xavier, con una fila di pelligrini che a colpo d'occhio andava per 1,5 Km. Io sono passato alla larga e il santo l'ho visto in foto, faceva troppo caldo. Tanti AUGURI.

Il mio ragalo di natale e' arrivato da Zurigo con Andre.

Una decina di queste hanno passato la serata con noi.

Il gruppone del cenone di Natale.

I bambini della spiaggia alla caccia di regali di natale.

La lunga fila per vedere il miracolato San Fr. Xavier.

La imponente cattedrale dalla carina Panaji, citta' portoghese.

THANK YOU NOTE, GRAZIE MILLE /INDIA:
Just a quick note to thank you all for your emails and sms. We are still alive and have not been affected by the tsunami. The quake was not felt in Patnem, although the beach got covered by a big wave just as we left to go to Panaji. The water only go to the tree level, so no damage over this side thankfully.

Si siamo sani e salvi, che fortuna. Ci siamo ritrovati nella costa giusta al momento giusto. Nella nostra spiaggia si e' verificata solo una marea anomala che ha coperto tutta la spiaggia, quasi 300 metri, ma non ci sono stati danni a cose e persone. Qui le notizie sono arrivate molto in ritardo e la gente che guarda la TV non prestava veramente attenzione, mi hanno detto che era coinvolta solo l'Indonesia e il Bangladesh, ma si sbagliavano. Poveretti.

PALOLEM, GOA/INDIA:
Our corner of Paradise in India. Maybe you have to start with Bangalore and take over a week to come to Goa to fully appreciate it. Palolem, our stretch of palm-fringed, moon-shaped beach, feels like lightyears away. We are not being hassled or stared at, the spitting has reduced considerably, the climate is great and food tasty. What more to ask for??? Less toursits? No problem, Agonda, the next beach along is so quiet even the cows come over in herds to rest.

This is what happens early in the morning b4 the Westerners wake up.

Fisherman in action, Palolem.

The huts in Palolem are right on the beach in the middle of the palms tree.

The beach is huge and full of many things, like stars ...

... cows ...

...tummies and tea cups.

HASSAN, BADAMI, HAMPI, (KARNATAKA)/INDIA:
Hurray, found a place to upload the pictures. So here is a quick illustration of what we have been up to:
From Hassan we visited the Jain temples of Halebid and Belur, wow, superbe stone carvings, lovely. From there we caught a night train to Hubli in superdooper top class and found the cleanest toilets of all India, yes, in the train... says it all?? We arrived in Hubli at 4.30 am, just in time to feel the temptation to use the pepper spray again. We got the worst tuck tuck driver on the surface of the earth. He drove like an idiot, did not take us where we wanted him to and then demanded twice the fare we had agreed. He then started to get all stroppy and pushy - all this in a dark corner - so we coughed up (not because of the pepper spray, but it could have been if we had not had our packs on). Safely inside the bus station we boarded the bus to Badami. We were already shaken by the autorickshaw experience so having a guy pick my pocket, feeling it, and subsequently having to go ballistic did not help. You may have heard me yelling from Europe. My vocal cords are still vibrating and the whales of the oceans have not recovered. The bus driver and assistant however found it amusing that someone would try to steal from us... ohhh we love India.
In Badami, we visited its fine caves and ruined fort, and were again confronted to lots of staring unfriendly men. Even the kids only approached us because they wanted money or something. We are now calling each other Chocolate and Schoolpen.
Hampi: beautifully set amongst lots of temples, hills and boulders. Food? to faint for, literally. Cristian knows, he passed out in the locked bathroom - did you hear me shout then??

Hassan parking lot.

Ape Piaggio, the local taxi, an Italo-Indian technology miracle.

This is where the old Vespa are: Badami.

Two little goats at the Hindu temple, Badami.

Two little girls at the mosque, Badami.

Schoolpen with her new Indian family (interesting addition to their picture).

One of the cave temples in Badami.

The Indian equivalent of Migros.

Two Jain monks wafting incense.

Schoolpen at the Lotus Majhal temple, Hampi.

The swimming pool of the Maharajas.

Gipsy selling peanuts on the train to Hospet.

Calling the President.