Egypt diaries continued..

 Day 5( 28th)

We started the day at 4.20 am along with another Scottish Family ( A teen, A primary school kid and their parents) on a minivan with packed breakfast. There were two drivers one took over the other at regular intervals. The roads were smooth and the sandstone hills on both sides with the dawn sunlight on them made the drive ethereal.

We reached crowded Luxor around 9 am as we had rest stops in between. Our tour guide , Sara took us straight to the Karnak temple and it was heaving to say the least. But we managed to enjoy the magnificence of the avenue of the Sphinxes, the open bud and closed bud columns, the magnificent statues with lively eyes, the sacred lake and of course R went around the Scarab 4 times to ensure her dream comes true ;)

From there we went by river Nile on the good boat ‘Titanic’ (!)for lunch where I promptly caught mild food poisoning. The veg fare was horrendous and the toilets in Luxor were a nightmare. 

We visited the Colosseum of Mennon ( mistakenly named by the Greeks as it was later discovered to be of Amenhotep iii), took some pics.

We then went to an alabaster factory, the translucent material which was used to make the canopy jars to store the organs, food etc. Made a small purchase for our memory.

We then travelled to the valley of the kings.  this was the best part of our trip. We visited King Seti,King Tut’s tomb, Ramses iv and Vi and Ramses ii’s  sons.

The vivid ochre, malachite, red and navy blue hues still impressively enchanting after nearly 3000 years was fascinating to say the least. It was wonderful to look at the images, enjoy the stories being told, the mythology represented etc.  Thankfully, because it was December, the tunnels were relatively ok, though we did sweat given the time we spent inside.

The frequent shuttles took us back to the entrance and from there we made our way to Hatshepsut’s  mortuary temple.

One of the lions at the entrance still has its lively eyes that look like they are gently observing the goings on around ! The day was getting cooler, so we enjoyed the open complex and got back to our 4 hour ride back to the hotel.

We were warned earlier not to make any eye contact with any of the sellers, so we successfully managed the multitude everywhere but what to do with those inside the tombs who insisted on taking our pics from our phones and then asked for baksheesh? The photos weren’t good either! Another sad state of affairs as otherwise the tombs were clean, well maintained with glass barriers keeping the visitors away from the reliefs on the walls.

Reached the hotel around 9 pm, deposited our bags in the room, changed and had the buffet dinner. My tummy was still not ok and I just wanted to get into bed and which is what we did.

Day 6 ( 29th)

We had booked a submarine and snorkelling for 10.30, so we whinged and complained and got up, had breakfast and got on to the ever prompt mini van. This time there were 2 Swiss couples who joined us. K and I had gone on a submarine to see the marine life , first in 2005 in Mauritius. Then, the sea was rich with colourful reefs and fantastic aquatic life that lifted your spirits. I went to Maldives with my colleagues in 2007 and it was equally good.

Since then, in the past decade, We have been to submarines in Rhodes, Andaman  and now here and sadly the coral reefs are all washed out, there is minimal colour and the acquatic life half of what we saw then.

R and K went snorkelling in the middle of the ocean as always but they said Madeira ranked first ( thanks Maththias!) followed by Rhodes, Mykonos ( Stephane’s beach) and only after that Hurghada. 

Came back had our first lunch in the hotel ( we had missed all lunched till date) , went back to the beach, lazed around in the sunbeds, I came to the room whereas dad and daughter lunged in the library. I wrote my blogs, caught up on news etc and we all went to dinner and I crashed after. K and R packed some of their stuff as they wanted to wrap up some rides in the aqua park in the morning while I tidied up the rest of the packing.

Day 7 ( 30th)

K had extended our check out time to 5 pm. We had a restful sleep, got up around 8 pm finished breakfast. R and K went to the rides, I tidied up packing. Around 11.30 I joined them on the beach. The water was crystal clear, I could see the fishes and the water was dense enough and warm enough for me to thoroughly enjoy floating and swimming. R being the little fish she is ,went back and forth till the end of the line and floated blissfully on her back in between. K went snorkelling again. The weather was perfectly warm and it was the   Exact relaxation needed on the last day. 

We got out of the water, had pizza , fries and ice cream from the beach snack bar and K and I left for our message. R wanted to lounge longer at the beach so we left her to it.

After our 90 minute massages, we rushed to have some snacks, took a shower, packed up and checked out of the room.

Out in the shuttle bus and reached airport by 5pm. 

After a really uncomfortable 5.30 hour flight starting at 9.30 we landed at 12.45 am and drove home to reach at 5pm.

Mind bogglingly, our dear R woke up and started studying again! She is really keen to do well and we really hope her efforts pay off! She is not a natural academic but only relies on her tremendous work ethic. Fingers crossed , she achieves her dreams.

Egypt diaries continued..

 Day 3 (26th)

Got up late, had lunch and lazed around. R has her manicure and pedicure and K and I just checked out the beach and library. R did 2 .5 hours of Chemistry first thing in the morning ( even k and I were impressed!). I Went to bed early, these two checked out the entertainment in the hotel.

Day 4 (27th)

R and I chatted and had breakfast. K skipped and slept in. We then went to the beach that was a 3 minute walk across the hotel. It was fabuluous! The water was rich in salt but crystal clear and we could see shoals of fishes. I floated on my back and these two went as far as they could snorkelling and swimming. The food at the beachside bar pizza, hot chocolate etc was anmazing! We changed and went to the other end on the floating sunbeds and read our kindles under the sun for a while.  

It was then time for our massages and her facial ( ready for Luxor the next day). We did the same, had our hairs washed and blow dried , ate a nice dinner at the aGusto restaurant and packed for the 4.20 am start the next day.

Some thoughts about Egypt. Everything is old and rickety but relatively clean and in working condition. The roads are smooth. Lots of sparrows everywhere which I believe indicates a good ecosystem. People are prompt and for cities and beaches with so many tourists, there is no garbage and the sites and beaches are very clean. The economy is interesting as even the tiniest stores accept euros, dollars and Egyptian pounds. The camel riders accepted cards! Smoking is widely prevalent and most women wore headscarfs and relatively conservatively dressed. The roads were smooth and well built as well , be it Cairo to Giza or Hurghada to Luxor.

In all it sadly seems like a wonderful infrastructure and  a citizenry with civic sense and a once great infrastructure, now all beginning to decline. 

Also surprisingly for a country that was under the British, English was not easily understood. There were fun moments where ‘dms dimples queen’ was described as a ‘dumbled queen’ and laundry collection ‘ day after tomorrow’ was replied with ‘ of course, tomorrow’ ( This happened a minimum of 5 times!)

Weather in December is dicey as well, as the wonderfully warming heat hits between around 11 and 3 pm but before and after it is like England in April. The sun is deceptively out and bright but the chill wind makes it unpleasant.

Egypt Diaries

 I slept early that night but woke up at 4 am to do my usual pre travel cleaning, mopping, dishwashing ritual.

All sorted and left to M?a Chester airport on time. Parked the car, checked in and had a lovely lazy brunch at G!raffe. Flight was slightly delayed but reached ‘Sinba£d Club’  Hu£rghada around 12 am as it was only 15 minutes from the airport. ( R spent 3.5 hours of the 5.30 hour flight studying her biology b!ble !)

Had late dinner , checked in to the room and crashed.

Day 1 (24th)

Just spent lazing around, checked out the hotel and booked spa appointments while R wrapped up some maths . They then went on the acqua par!krides while I relaxed by the pool. We all went swimming, K went for massage and R and I for hair. The Xmas eve celeberationsxwere on, so we just enjoyed the drinks, music, lights, decor and wound up around 10.30 as pick up to Cairo the next day was around 7 am.

Day 2( 25th)

We got ready bright and early, had the packed breakfast. The tour guide was on time and we were picked up in a Van where there were already a French family of a mum and two daughters. We boarded the flight to Cairo which was delayed and reached only by 11.30. Our guide Salamek was on time and we had the driver, car and guide to ourselves. The guide was an old gentleman, who was slow but very pleasant. We drove to Giza braving the Egyptian traffic.

We reached the pyramids. First R wanted a camel ride to the photo point but when she saw that the camels were flogged, she preferred the horse cart. The horses were not flogged as much, at least. We went by horse cart and reached the point where the pyramids were behind us. 4500 years of history was our background as we took some pics. It was breathtaking.

We went by shuttle nearer the pyramids and K and R went inside one of them. It was too claustrophobic for me so ai turned away at the entrance. K and R said they did not enjoy it either. It was too steep, dark and narrow  a climb and there was nothing at the end of it. Only K ended ended hurting his ankle and hobbling for days after! That was £20 euros per person we could have saved!

We then went to the sphynx. Once again it was an amazing view. Since the time I had read the ‘River God’ by Wilbur smith, I had wanted to visit Egypt and this trip was a dream come true. We took some pics and moved to the GEM.

As we drove from the sphinx to the GeM it was surreal as the entire drive we had a view of the pyramids at dusk. 

We opted to skip a sit down lunch and visits to the papyrus factory and perfume shops as we wanted more time at the GEM. We just had some packed croissants, juice and chocolate on the go in the canned instead.

The GEm as expected was fantastic and I saw live everything I had read. The ushabtis, the Ba and the Ka, the steales , the mask of Tut, the pectorals, the faience jewels, the beads, the thrones, the beads, hatshepsuts beard, the sarcophagus it was mind blowing to say the least! The cartouches in the statues, Ramses at the entrance etc were magnificent.

We wrapped up the GEM, had a sit down dinner at the cleopatra restaurant and went on a feluccacride on the Nile by ourselves. R  got some music played and it was a fabuluous experience with all the posh hotels around the Nile lit up for the new year! ( Foyr seasons, Sofitel to name a few)

We said bye to Salamek and drove through old town Cairo to the airport. It was a very painful 3 hour wait and we boarded the flight at 30 past midnight and landed at 2 past. Unbelievably the guide was waiting for us and whisked us straight to the hotel so we could crash gratefully.

December 2025

 Following K’ s recovery, he developed a slight impatience which we all noticed. The famously ‘ impressively patient’ K was developing chinks in his armour.  This term was busy too with R going for medical placements in W£arwick hospital and GP placement in N&ewtown hospital. These were busy days and the first time I saw her in a surgeon’s scrub shifted something inside me.

I still remember the struggle to keep her alive ‘in utero’ and my promise to God - if she was allowed to live we will make her save other lives one way or another.

She saw one hip replacement, two c sections, 1 rectal surgery and spent a day in A&E. She also spent a day with the GP and MSK services. She thoroughly enjoyed it all and would take the cab to the station, come back by train, get picked up by her dad and rush to me, excited to narrate her day.

As usual it was very entertaining - especially the one who blacked out and revealed haltingly ‘ I only had a pint, every half hour, for 7 hours the day before!’ ( in A & e) and the doctor who made the same ‘joke’ word for word in all his c sections :)

She also studied really hard, getting up early and doing late nights. In the parents meeting with her teachers her teachers advised we need to take her away as she is putting too much pressure on herself. 

She wrapped up her grade 7 singing but the tutor was going to be busy with her own performances so we had to find an alternate tutor for the final grade.

Thankfully we found one, but this term she promised would need a lot from R. 

R also went for a day long Xmas choir service, so the weekend was equally long as well.

I had moved from perm to contracting so once again, all 3 of us were in the phase of stretching ourselves and working our hardest.

So, we described at the very last minute to travel. We had one of our friends’ daughters half saree function in Tanjore and most of the gang was going. We would have loved to go but R said she could only spare a week so that plan was dropped.

We booked Egypt at the very very last moment and she had her GP placement wrap up the day before travel. She also studied for 3 hours after coming back from her GP work experience!Thankfully she had packed  the weekend before so at least that stress was spared!

The travel diaries to follow..

Letter to my princess - 16 years old!

 Dear Kuttima

Your GCSE results arrived on 21st August. You had just finished your fantastic Kenya- Masai Mara trip with V, S, R and K and 5 other families from France and India and you were back in Chennai just the night before. I went to collect the results and daddy landed as a surprise at C and V's house to support you.

They had sweetly taken you to the temple, helped you meditate, distracted you with jokes etc. Appa logged in to see the results as we agreed and we got on a conference call, so I could open the hard copy results at your school. What a celebration it was! All A stars - 8s  and 9s  ( absolute high A *) and in subjects like Chemistry which is your firm favourite. English literature you were barely a few marks away from the full available mark set. The 2 subjects that were a grade below expected (not 9 but 8 still A stars!)also were only 1 and 3 marks away, so we have applied for reval.

We immediately applied to 3 schools and you got immediate offers from all schools including the one that is notoriously difficult to get into and one of the best in the country!We were so delighted but you insisted on staying in your current school - to our massive disappointment

You landed on your birthday morning and had a lovely party with 10 families - you went on a sleepover with all your teen girls gang, went for breakfast the next morning with them and came back home in the evening. This, after being away from mum for 3 weeks!

You did your dentistry work experience with Uncle S and N here in the UK, your surgery work ex in Chennai at Ap* Creams road and went on this africa trip. You also visited the Cambridge Law graduate's (S stayed with us when she was studying here and you were jealous because you thought I liked her more than you!)  family and went shopping with her for your safari. They pampered you as well. All of them universally praised you for your discipline (!), confidence, smartness and most of all your 'joie de vivre' and how you work with and actively engage with everybody including the nurses, receptionists, residents, student doctors, surgeons and chief of departments - all with such ease. The africa families loved you so much that they arranged a small birthday celebration for you and dinner for your GCSE results.

C and V could not have taken care of you more or celebrated and loved you more if you were their own eldest! Of course, you were pampered by your grandparents as well. R and K and the new Parisian friend you made on your trip A - you are inseparable across continents and are always chatting with each other even now!

However, when it comes to us - it is a wholly different story. We argue all the time, we have flaming rows and say the most hurtful things to each other. You take us absolutely, completely and fully for granted and it infuriates me to no end! You talk/argue even before we can complete a sentence with you and the pattern is that you will always argue with us but will not let us avoid you/be silent either. You have to continuously evoke a reaction from us - please R, atleast this year, spare us the trauma!

You are becoming more independent, making your hair, cooking dosas, purchasing on your own etc. Interacting with people and making friends, we have to hold you back sometimes! But atleast with us - lack of punctuality and packing at the last minute and arguing are still issues. (Though the africa families said you were dot on time for all the safaries, even if it was at 5.30 am in the morning!). I see a girl I need to be really worried about whereas others see a confident, happy, lovely young lady we should be proud of! 

I have lost count of the number of people who make it a point to let me know how much they think you have a wonderful personality when you were not here. Why the different versions kannamma. Amma, appa paavam da!

It is the critical A level years for the next couple of years. Please take care of your health, be punctual, be nice to us and continue to spread joy and have a ball!

Love you to the moon and back rajaathi!

Love,

Amma

PS

Appa has been hospitalized a couple of days after your birthday and he is still in the hospital as of now. Did not want your annual letter to be distracted, so have not mentioned it. As always, with our friends rallying around us, let us hope and pray appa is back home with us  hale and hearty soon. 

Summer 2025

 Day 0 

As usual K was working till the last minute, bless him, I had taken the Friday off to pack and clean the house, R waited till the morning to finish packing. There was a row between R and I as usual and as has been happening of recent, I did not speak to R on the way to the airport. As always , she bounced back to normal and started conversing and compelling me to converse.

Day 1 

Reached Amsterdam in the nick of time to the connecting flight. Landed at midnight at Split only to find that R and my luggage had not arrived, customs and airport officials  were notvery  pleasant, rental car guy had closed his cabin and gone , despite us having a booking for the slot.  Fortunately, there was another rental agency guy, Djan, who had smartly made it his business model to capture such disgruntled customers. So, drove back with djan to hotel split, podstrana and made a pact to move our booking to his rental for the rest of our stay.

Day 2 

Had a so,so morning breakfast, ( R and I in K’s shirt and me in his horrible manly shorts, looking like a lesbian but with horrible taste in clothes! I took an executive call that we will enjoy irrespective first, so went down to the beach, had a lovely swim, did a cringe Dame un Grr reel/video, collected Djan’s car , went to city centre mall and mall of split shopping and that took our entire day. The cost of clothes were at least double that of England, to our utter astonishment! Clothes cost double the UK, only sanitary items cost less. Had a tortilla in the food court and Dubai chocolate ice cream and wrapped our day wondering when we would get our luggage. K had raised a PR with the airlines so we can track our luggage , if they found it.

Day 3 travelled to izletiste luka rafting in ku ice at 8.25. Boarded Christian’s raft with Paul, Lena, Toya and Marie from Denmark. Verona river and canyon. Stopped next to a dark small cave. Swam into the ice cold water of the cave, climbed the rocks for 6 minutes and boarded the raft again. Though weather was around 28degrees there was a gentle breeze and the shrubs and trees on both sides made it a pleasure to navigate the crystal clear cetina river , even the few rapids! 

What was touching was that R being a strong swimmer, knew how tricky it would be for me and the cave climbing for her dad, so she went first, checked the lay out and hung around to guide K and I. She then let us go first and followed us to ensure we reached safely. One of those ‘ really, she does love us I guess’ moments!!

Went to restaurant epitium for a lovely meal of sphagetti Sophia loren and sea bass. Also had the traditional Rozata dessert. By then the status had updated that the luggage had arrived in Split. But, it being a Sunday, it would not be delivered that day and the receptionist warned us that just the week before some other client of his did not get it delivered till the end of their holiday! So, IKand R went to the airport (49 minutes one way!) to collect the luggage. R was too knackered and wanted to have a lie in, so left her and K and I visited the Diocletian palace and the lovely promenade. Surprisingly parking ewas easy and weather, though 35 plus, with breeze from the waterbody along the promenade, very pleasant.Bakeery items, fruit salad and smoothie for the night packed, we went back to the hotel

Day 3

Had a morning swim at hotel split, breakfast, packed, checked out, drove to Zadar( with delightful views of ravines, kric national park). Stunning oromenadecwalk alongside emerald sea. Sea waves playing the sea organ by Nicola Basic via pipes and chambers underneath the sea. It was magical. Had lunch at the Restaurant Groppo ( iced tea and Greek salad for me, spinach tagliatelle for R and sea bass for K), grabbed Dubai chocolate and Peruvian chocolate ice creams and made our way to Plitvice. Reached Patar , checked in, two 3 bed capacity rooms, two spacious bathrooms, living cum dining room and kitchen, lugged the luggage upstairs and all 3 of us promptly settled in to the hot tub!

Day 4

Blueberries,Avocado, coco pops , orange juice and banana breakfast and out of the door for Plitvice lakes by 7.30 am. Entered entrance 1 for programme C that included a scenic ferry and a panaromic train (ish, a van of types) ride.

The landscape was Green, no flowers, lush green trees of all kinds, lower lakes crystal clear water see through, absolutely still. Upper lakes , hues of green, gentle lapping water in the wind

Lush waterfalls gushing through, moss covered stomes eeminiscent of tge welsh vallues, sun light dappled fresh green leaves on the trees that are a throw back to the english country side, emerald hued still lakes a copy of the swiss alpine lakes, gentle lapping lakes of ble to topaz and all hues inbetween that reminded me of rhodes and mykonos with a unique croatian brush of ethereal  green on top of everthing. It was a 5 hour walk. R walked ahead by herself, making American and Japanese friends along the way.K and I took our time really relishing the bounty on sight.

Pljukanci with black truffles ( a pasta), sea bass for the boss and cold coffee for the young one. We also backed a mortadella and pistachio pizza from Degenija restaurant

Came home after noodles and fruits purchase from the maxi market nearby, flopped into the sofa with pajamas and watched ‘thug life’ by logging into our Netflix. Packed later, had some food and went off to sleep, knackered. R of course inveigled a noodles from her dad for dinner.

Day 5

 once again after an avocado, orange juice, pizza and walnuts and cashew nuts, packed, cleaned and checked out. Landed for our second day, in a drizzle, in rain coats for programme E in entrance 2. This time the view was from the other side but absolutely no clouds due to the weather. So had the park almost to ourselves. This time it was a 3 hour walk.

Made our way to punta rata, post a lunch at the Poljana restaurant. It was a 3 hour drive but what a breath taking view it was- both the Dalmatian coast and the absolutely stunning Punta arata beach! The mountains, the beautiful  promenade with its leaning canopied trees, the Brela rock and the picturesque sea were mind blowing. Spent a bit of a walk there and made our way to Park makarska . No onsite parking but a young lad helped us download the luggage and went with K to help organise a parking spot some distance away.

The room was awesome with a view to the stunning sea from the bed. K and R went for a walk around the old town and came back with Pad Thai noodles from Pana Thai street food restaurant. I had a nice long soak in the tub and washed my hair.

K and I had dinner in the room balcony with a view of the night sea and the twinkling blue stars., chatted a while and went to bed. It was two king sized beds put together , so quite spacious.

Day 6 

Got up early and went for a nice long walk along the pebbled beach with ilayaraja Melodies in my headphones. Sat in the bench at the beach she of the pier and watched the small white boats bobbing in the azure sea. The pebbles were smooth and big unlike the small, sharp ones in England.

Breakfast was a good spread. It was a relief as one of the reviews said it was mainly pork. As it turned out, there was barely any.

Rested awhile and went down to the crowded beach. R went the length first, bought a doughnut for her and joined K in the ice cold water. It became alright after some time. Had a good swim for half an hour and went in to the hotel pool which was deliciously warm. Spent another half hour there and then in the jacuzzi. Showered, changed and went up to our room.

Rested and went down for lunch at Po and Po right below the hotel. Vegan poke bowl, pumpkin soup for me and some fish thingie for K was good. Tagliatelle and veggies for R not so much.

R went up to relax. K and I took a promenade walk and returned with ice creams and snacks for the 3 island tour the next day. R went out on her own a bit and came back and packed for the early boat tour.

Day 7 

Got up early, relished a quick breakfast and rushed to the 15 minute walk along the promenade to Palladian rent a boat tour that covered the Pokrivenic ( Hvar), little blue cave ( Hvar), blue lagoon (Zecevoisland)and Jelsa island (Hvar).It all started well with the speed boat but only when the choppy waters did a number on our backs I recalled we did a speed boat and parasailing in Paphos and decided speed boats were not for us! There are no toilets or changing areas, so I stayed in my swim suit and coverall. R and K enjoyed swimming up to the blue cave (only R as the entrance was way too narrow and the waters way too choppy) , the blue lagoon ( K, R and I)  and the Pokrivenic ( K and R).

We did have Frank Sinatra crooning and Bob moreley jiving gently, stunning visuals and just 2 other couples, so those as pecks were indeed nice! Lukaz, the sailor was a nice guy.

The Jelsa island stop was cute. As always in Croatia, the public toilet was sparkly clean and I changed in to comfy clothes after and before the boat. We had Dubai chocolate ice cream yet again, hazel nut ice cream and the island’s famous lavender ice cream!

R as usual made friends with a danish couple ( a dentist lady and a gent who was a bio medical professor) and a Cornish couple.

R and K enjoyed a lot but no more speed boats or swimming from the boats for me!

The views were stunning as usual though. We walked back from the boats and I went straight to the 1.6 m deep hotel swimming pool and did some confident laps!

R finished off the tagliatelle and veggies from the room fridge, K and I went to a promenade restaurant and I had a veg enchilada and K a sea bream. Had some vegan dark chocolate and walked back. K fell fast asleep, so R and I went down to the beach, spread our mat and read our kindles , watching the beautiful sun set. K joined us after 2 hours. R went up, K and I walked the opposite length of the promenade, bough lt some watermelon and kefir, spent some time pool side and then came up to pack for check out the next day

Day 8

Had a relaxed good breakfast enjoying the spread at Park Makrasja, packed and left for Dubrovnik. Found the baggage’s weighed slightly more, so stopped at Toni Supermarket and bought an extra suitcase and repacked at the parking! Enjoyed the drive through the bridge to Dubrovnik. The entire two and a half hour ride was scenic. Went up to the observation point at Dubrovnik and enjoyed the absolutely stunning views of the old town and the bay( GoT was inspired by this view I believe). 

Rushed to the Dubrovnik airport ( huge but pathetic food choices!), returned the car, checked in and boarded the flight back to Schipol Amsterdam and from there on to home!

In all, a wonderful trip. Croatians could come across as brusque but in the end they are really helpful and honest. They do stare a lot if you are non white but they don’t mean to be intimidating I think! Like Portugal, this country too is impeccably clean, even the public toilets in the remotest of islands. Not a single beggar or homeless to be seen and infrastructure is flawless! In all, a delightful country, but you need to be secure and confident to enjoy the place, especially if you are non white!