MY LATEST ADVENTURE AROUND EGYPT: Suez

941 The Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge-DeSoto Fluid Drive.

1941 DE SOTO , http://www.allpar.com/mopar/fluidrive.html,

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Yesterday evening moon

crow on my balcony at 6.30 this morning acted as my wake up alarm

then the skies started to cloud over as I was leaving for Ismalia,

O K it was a cheap room , but the only other hotel was the red sea hotel, and they wanted 110$ for a back room. or 120$ for a Suez canal view, I only want to sleep in it;- not buy it I said and left.

the room i spent the night in was 95le could have had a room for 45le with no air con, so opted for air con. not until I lay on my bed did i see the ceiling above my bed was caving in but seemed ok at the moment. then started to look around at the rest of this room I had rented for 95le

paint peeling off the walls from damp , rotting door any way this was a palace to the one they wanted to rent me in my next stop Ismalia,

you can rent this room for 35le per night, but they do not tell you about the hassle from the cleaners, at first look this place seemed OK at 35le , I was all enthusiastic about getting to see 270 species of bird to stay, just leave my backpack and get off with my cameras.it was rather a pleasant walk along the canal mostly it was parks with e few shelters for courting couples even foursomes as is the way here unmarried girls cannot go out on their own always with a friend so the friend does the same. and its a foursome.

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there was also some bees and wasps in the park and as usual it was only I who took any notice of them. on one of the splendid water fountains there was this potters wasp nest. even thought I was within a few inches of them I had no probs,

ONLY PROBLEM I HAD WAS WITH THE SECRET POLICE, It seems that mercure hotels have taken over the Island on the lake, II can understand the signs no photos because the suez canal runs through Lake temsan

no photo in this area as there are naval warships on the lake no entry here either but I paid a secret police 50 and he let me through, next thing 100 yds down the road another one jumped out from nowhere, he must have had a call from his pal there is a meal ticket coming, so I put myself in reverse and headed back to the hotel, one does not argue with these pricks just back off its the best policy. the only birds I saw was a whoopoe and a bulbul. on leaving thge island I saw a fan tail crisolis

too far to get a good shot,

two species of the jacanoinse tree in bloom

all this beauty and man has to spoil it this is the fresh water canal fed from the Nile river here there is 2 locks before it enters the lake Tamsen , there is a huge bottle bank here

some kind of air display 12 fighter jets also had a fly by. nothing to get exited about they have 550 fighter jets, now if the all had a fly by. it would have been exciting. but noisy.,
then on entering the hotel more excitement. excuse me mister your room is 50 le per night.
do not try doing a Luxor on me:- I said" and marched upstairs already I was in a bad frame of mind after the fracass with the police, first thing on entering my room was a filthy moggy on my bed, and i needed a toilet bad,
on lifting the loo seat up it was full of crap and urine, the water cistern was none functional;- no water, so i packed all my stuff and left the filthy place, on leaving the hotel to go birding i asked if the cleaner could clean my room. yes , but left it till i came back. I know someone had been in my room as they left the cat in there, good job i took all my kit with me. camera computer etc.

all she did was throw a bucket of water in the bathroom as there was water still dripping off the door and walls including the mirror, i just put my hands in the air and said my good buys. to the hotel and Ismalia

I got a taxi with 7 other people to Port Said yhat cost 7le one hours journey and it was hello port said, see you all later, next bit of the adventure will blog tonight

SUEZ CANAL ,PORT SAID, EGYPT

the new road bridge over the canal

container vessel on the canal

this is the suez canal rail crossing bridge its as close as i could get to it with the police restrictions in the area,here is a model from the steam museum Cairo.

one of the villages near the railway tracks

tak-taks this form of transport is not allowed in the cities,

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Rice fields near Ismalia

new orange grove being planted

tell you about my hotel later

Another crow and a raven

I LEFT CAIRO AT 5,15 THIS MORNING ON THE ONLY TRAIN THAT LEAVES RAMSES STATION FOR SUEZ, ALL THE TRAINS AFTER THIS LEAVE FROM ANOTHER STATION ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF CAIRO,

Cairo (Ain Shams station)

depart

06:30

09:20

13:10

16:15

18:45

21:45

IT WAS ANOTHER PLEASANT TRAIN JOURNEY EVEN THOUGH IT WAS 3RD CLASS WITH WINDOWS OPEN OR NONE EXISTENT AND PLASTIC SEATING TAKE A PIECE OF CARDBOARD TO SIT ON WAS THE ADVICE I WAS GIVEN BY A GUY IN THE HOTEL. NOT FOR COMFORT BUT TO STOP MY CLOTHES GETTING DIRTY, AND HE WAS RIGHT,

THE FLOOR HAD A GOOD LAYER OF DUST, NO SOIL ENOUGH TO GROW SPUDS IN.

TOWARDS THE END OF THE JOURNEY IT BECAME APPARENT WHY THERE WAS SO MUCH DUST/SOIL. THE LAST 40 KILOMETERS INTO SUEZ THE TRAIN PICKED UP SPEED ALSO MOST OF THE DUST FROM THE TRACKS THAT CAME IN THROUGH THE NO GLASS WINDOWS AND OPEN CARRIAGE DOORS.

THERE WAS ONLY A FEW MEN AND ONE WOMAN IN THE TRAIN UNTIL WE GOT TO THE NEXT STATION, THERE IT FILLED UP TO STANDING ROOM ONLY. MOSTLY SOLDIERS HEADING BACK TO BARRACKS IN ISMALIA. THE ONE SITTING BY ME KEPT A CLOSE EYE ON MY CAMERA, HE SAID NOTHING UNTIL I PULLED THE CAMERA TO MY EYE AS WE ARRIVED ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE TOWN, THEN WITH A SARCASTIC VOICE OF NO CAMERA CAME FROM HIS NO SMILE FACE, WE WHERE IN THE MILITARY ZONE BARRACKS TO BOTH SIDES OF THE TRAIN, ARMY LORRIES PARKED IN ROWS AND LOTS OF TANKS, NOT CONTAINERS BUT MACHINES WITH LONG GUNS ON THEM,

STRANGELY ENOUGH NONE OF THESE GUYS CARRIED ANY WEAPONS AT ALL NOT EVEN THE ONES IN UNIFORM.

AFTER 5 HOURS TRAIN JOURNEY WE ARRIVED IN SUEZ,

the train I traveled on is the longest one,with now window its what they call fully air conditioned. as luck was I went from one carriage to another

to get on the platform.others had to get off by jumping from the static carriage.

these two women make the one on yesterdays blog a dwarf, they where lifting and carrying 500kg on the head when boarding in Ismalia , but now the poor donkey has to carry them and the goods,

NO WONDER EVERY ONE THAT WAS GOING TO SUEZ TOWN GOT OFF WHEN THE TRAIN STOPPED ONE MILE FROM THE STATION. THEY EVEN HAD TIME TO LOAD UP THE DONKEY AND CART WITH FRUIT THESE FOLKS GOT ON THE TRAIN IN ISMALIA LADEN WITH GOODS ON THEIR HEADS,

ONCE I GOT OFF THE TRAIN AT THE STATION IT WAS ANOTHER 6 KILOMETERS BY MICRO BUS BEFORE I ARRIVED NEAR THE CANAL ITSELF. (SUEZ TOWN CENTRE)

QUITE A PLEASANT TOWN BIG CHANGE FROM ALL THE HASSLE ONE GETS IN LUXOR.

AFTER MY TRAVELS I MAY THINK ABOUT MOVING FROM HASSLE CITY.

AND GET SOME NORMALITY IN MY DAILY LIFE.

AS MOST OF MY FOLLOWERS KNOW I PHOTOGRAPH BIRDS AND ANYTHING ELSE THAT MOVES. AND SOMETIMES EVEN IF ITS DEAD,

I HAVE PHOTOS OF 77 DIFFERENT SPECIES OF BIRDS, AND TODAY I HAVE ANOTHER 2 FROM THE CORVUS (CROW) FAMILY AND ONE DRAGONFLY. THIS TRIP IS MAINLY TO PHOTOGRAPH EGYPT'S WILD LIFE AND ADD TO MY PHOTO COLLECTION THAT I ENJOY SHARING WITH YOU , ITS A PITY THAT GOOGLE IS NOT AS AMENABLE, MAKING THINGS AWKWARD DOWNLOADING PHOTOS FOR THE POSTS!!! SO I WILL GET UP EARLY IN THE MORNING AND BLOG BEFORE I HEAD OFF TO ISMALIA WHERE I SHALL TAKE AS MUCH TIME AS I NEED TO SEE AND PHOTOGRAPH WHAT WILDLIFE THERE IS THERE.

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THIS SCOOTER SEEMS TO BE PURPOSELY MADE FOR THE CROW.

EVEN FOR A GUY DOING A BIT OF MICKIE JACKSON MOON WALK

THE SHOT WAS OF CROW. STANDING ON THE WALL.

HOI" GOT SOME FOOD FOR ME . PEEKED THE CROW AS I WAS HAVING MY CHICKEN SALAD LUNCH, THIS IS THE HOUSE CROW,CORVUS SPLENDENS. MY SECOND FIND OF TODAY.

THE FAN-TAILED RAVEN ,CORVUS RHIPIDURUS

TUG BOATS IN SUEZ ,SALEM 9, IS WITH A BUOY CRANE THESE BUOYS ARE THE CHANNEL GUIDES FOR THE LARGE SHIPS THAT TRAVEL UP THE CANAL FROM THE RED SEA, SALEM3 IS BELOW

THIS HOTEL IS 400 METERS FROM THE CANAL.AS I WAS GOING DOWN THE HALL STAIRS OF THE HOTEL I SAW THROUGH THE WINDOW THIS HUGE CONTAINER VESSEL. MOST HOUSES HERE ARE 6 FLOORS AND I COULD SEE THE LAST 5 TIERS OF CONTAINERS,