Off Topic Discussions

[BigAl01]

I won't be too active soon in the Red Team forum once I head out on a long, long flight to Dubai and then Cairo to begin a two-week land / river boat cruise in Egypt.  We leave Thursday, 04 January 2024.  This will check off one of my bucket list items, which is to see the Egyptian Pyramids near Cairo.  We will then cruise down the Nile River and see things like the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.  At the end, we head back to Dubai and explore Abu Dhabi.  Might as well go big before we go home!

There are plenty of volunteer moderators here though, so if you need help with something, there will be someone able to address your concern.

Maybe I'll even get to ride a camel. That might be fun. I've been on an elephant in Thailand....

[BigAl01]

We have seen so much, from Cairo to Abu Simbel.  The cruise is over, and today we fly from Cairo to Dubai for a few days there before heading home to Virginia on Friday.  My favorite thing?  Riding a camel near the Pyramids at Giza!

 

[Vynski]

My son was stationed in or near Dubai in the USAF.  They had very rigid travel requirements when they left the base, for safety concern.  However he did take a few tours out.  

Hope you had a great time.

[BigAl01]

We had a great time.  I just completed my web page documenting the trip.  Give it a look; I do this for every big trip since 2008 when we went to Spain.

So many beautiful chandeliers were hanging in the Grand Mosque in Dubai.

[Dragokar]

Are you the camel xD Just joking please don't be angry 😉

[BigAl01]

I'm not the camel, but I am sitting on a camel.  The photographer held a stone above the lens of my iPhone to get that shot.

[Vynski]

Did they give you any kind of lessons or manuals to read hieroglyphics.  I can only imagine the stories on those walls.

[BigAl01]

No, but we did have an Egyptologist with us as a tour guide.  He was able to read many of the symbols.

[Vynski]

Was all of your adventures as wonderful as the photos.   What was the feeling of going back that far in time as you viewed these tombs and especially the Valley of Kings.  

[BigAl01]

It was very strange to think that these people were so advanced for their time.  You really got a sense of what mankind has been able to accomplish, even back then with primitive tools (compared to what we have today).

[eebiii]

First off, I would just like to say that the webpage you designed was awesome!! I felt like I was there. Great Job!

It looks like a dream vacation. What a cool experience.

[BigAl01]

Thanks.  I've been doing this since 2008 for our major vacations.  It helps with sharing the photos in a big way.

[BigAl01]

This was just posted today (15 Feb 2024); if we ever make it back to Dubai, I'd like to dine at Ossiano. 

The 50 Best Restaurants power list has unveiled its 2024 list for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) — and one city is dominating the rankings.

Dubai has 18 restaurants in the top 50, while Amman, Cairo and Tel Aviv tie for second place with five each, and Marrakech and Beirut take joint third with three restaurants apiece. The list, voted on by more than 250 food and beverage industry experts across the region, includes restaurants in 14 cities across the region.

The Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants list was launched in 2022, reflecting the rapid growth of the region’s restaurant scene. With a booming culinary landscape of more than 13,000 eateries, Dubai has dominated the list since its inception, with 15 out of 50 restaurants on the list located in the city for the past two editions.

Other Dubai restaurants in the top ten include Trèsind Studio (a fine-dining restaurant specializing in experimental, modern Indian cuisine), Ossiano (the iconic “underwater” seafood restaurant at Atlantis, The Palm), Moonrise (an intimate Japanese and Middle East-inspired restaurant), and 3Fils (famed for its casual Asian-fusion fare and seafood specials).

I wonder if the fish are watching you eat one of their own?

[Vynski]

It sounds like the cuisine is world wide in origin.

[OriginalGreyWolf]

Thanks for sharing and really neat pictures. Some I wish had as description as I was wondering about some of them.

[BigAl01]

I think you mean in my web page.  I have descriptions in the section headers, but it would have taken me forever to add descriptions to each image - I put 30 hours of my time into the web page already.  If you have a question about a few of them, copy those pictures from the web site and post them here.  I will then attempt to answer your question(s).

[OriginalGreyWolf]

What are we looking at here?

[OriginalGreyWolf]

[BigAl01]

That's the mummy of King Tut (Tut Ankh Amun).

King Tut's tomb.

[OriginalGreyWolf]

[BigAl01]

That's in the back room of the Philae Temple complex.  I think it was a rose-colored granite table where they would bring food for the gods, but I'm not sure.  I took the picture and wasn't listening to our guide (it was very crowded in there).  My wife thinks it was basically the sanctuary and there would have been small god-like statues to which the food was offered. 

[BigAl01]

That's a 3-dimensional map of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.  It was impressive.

[lowteck]

[BigAl01]

The cone heads from SNL.