A Word a Week Challenge: Dance

Skinnywench of ‘A Word in Your Ear’, has asked us to post a photo showing dancing. This one was taken at a fancy dress party on a Nile River cruise, and I had a lot of fun that evening, dressed as a Belly Dancer. The real belly dancer spotted me on the sidelines of the dance floor, and beckoned me to join her. I hadn’t a clue what to do, but just tried to follow her steps and movements.

After a few minutes, she let go of my hand, and I was on my own. At times like these, one just has to go with the flow; don’t you agree? So I carried on and did my thing, and even though I’m quite a shy person, well sort of, 😉 it wasn’t too scary being in the spotlight, and the other passengers were very appreciative. The outfit did help a lot, and I felt like the real deal, with all those fringes swaying around. 😀

Here’s one dancer I wouldn’t even consider trying to emulate. This ‘Whirling Dervish’, made me dizzy just watching him perform. His frenzied, ecstatic dance, accompanied by weird howling utterances, was quite sight to behold. In the photo, he looks like he’s not moving, but I can assure you that he was twirling around very fast indeed. The dance is called the Sema, and has been performed for over 700 years by the Sufi, which is  a rather mystic order of Islam. If you would like to read more about it, click here.

To see more interpretations of Sue’s challenge, click here to be taken to her blog.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Forward

Michelle’s challenge this week is to share a photo that says, “Forward.” I love her pic of a 12th century path at the beautiful Alhambra Palace.

Now, unless you’re new to my blog, you will know that I can rarely stop at one photo, except maybe for ‘Wordless Wednesday’. 😕 So here are a few pics from my travels which say “Forward” to me.

This massive unfinished obelisk was discovered in the stone quarries of ancient Egypt near Aswan. If it had been finished, it would have been 42 metres high and would have weighed nearly 1,200 tons. It was being carved directly out of the rock when cracks appeared in the granite and it was abandoned, still attached to the bedrock. Just imagine all that hard work for nothing! I found it really thrilling to be able to walk forward along the entire length of it, and imagine those quarry workers chiselling away with their small Diorite stone tools. What a mammoth task.

We were on a Nile cruise in Egypt, and here is a photo taken whilst our ship was waiting patiently to go forward through the Esna lock, on our way to Luxor.

From the heat of Egypt in July, to the freezing cold of Wyoming in early spring. We stopped in a lay-bye  to take some pics, and then it was time to press on forward to our destination, which was Yellowstone National Park.

In the park, there was so much to see, but the temperatures were well below freezing. Hubby had left me in the relative warmth of the car whilst he went off to explore, but when he returned with tales of icicle-ringed hot geysers, my curiosity got the better of me. I wrapped myself up so well that even my own mother wouldn’t have recognised me, and bravely sallied forth to see for myself. Here I’m shivering my way forward over the slippery boardwalk. The amazing sights I saw were definitely worth enduring the cold for.

To see links to more bloggers’ interpretations of the theme, Just click here.

Wordless Wednesday on The Nile

We won! 🙂

To see more interpretations of the theme, click here.

AD the ‘Belly Dancer’, rises to Tilly’s challenge. ;)

Hi again, everyone. Last week, I happened to mention in one of my posts, that when we did the Nile cruise, I got the chance to impersonate a Belly Dancer. Funny-lady blogger, Tilly Budd, demanded that I put up some proof in the way of photos, so here are a few pics from my Egypt experience, included in which is the required proof.

Of course, as soon as we stepped off the plane in Cairo, we were cajoled into trying out the local transport. It was a bit scary, as the steed my son and I sat astride, suddenly spotted a mate of his,in the distance, and started galloping off to have a chat, and a bit of a spat into the bargain. The minders really didn’t seem to have an awful lot of control over their charges, and I don’t know if I would do it again.

The most photographed icon in Egypt, has to be ‘The Sphinx’, which stands on the west bank of the Nile, at Giza. This gargantuan statue which has the body of a lion and the head of a human, was much bigger than I had ever imagined. It is 73.5m long, 6m wide, and 20.22m high, and dates back to between 2558 and 2532BC.

The Colossus of Ramesses, an enormous statue carved in limestone, is about 10m (33.8 ft) long, even though it has no feet, and is located near the village of Mit Rahina. This piece was discovered in 1820 by an Italian traveler Giovanni Caviglia, and was donated to the British Museum, but because of it’s size and extreme weight, they were unable to transport it over there.

Here is the Muhammad Ali Pasha, or Alabaster Mosque, which is situated on the summit of the citadel,  the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th century, and the most visible mosque in Cairo. It is one of the first landmarks to be seen when approaching the city from no matter which side.

Even though I considered myself to be ‘modestly’ dressed, One of the officials, obviously judged me to be showing too much flesh, and rushed over to cover me up with this green cloak.

On the river cruise, there was a fancy dress evening, and during the day, many traders along the river bank, were trying their utmost to sell us Egyptian attire. They would throw it up onto the deck for the passengers’ perusal, and then if it was considered suitable, the money would get thrown down in a plastic bag. Both hubby and son bought their Galabeya (long shirts), this way.

I decided to go to the costume-hire boutique on board, and the guy there insisted on kitting me out as a belly dancer. He even stuck a jewel in my navel to complete the look. Later in the evening, during the entertainment, the authentic belly dancer, spotted me, and press-ganged me into dancing with her.

Our dual act met with so much applause, that I was persuaded to do a bit of a solo, and surprised myself when I quite enjoyed it.  I  wasn’t however, tempted to take it up as a full-time career. We all had such a lot of fun that evening.

Here is one entertainer I wouldn’t even consider trying to emulate. This ‘Whirling Dervish’, made me dizzy just watching him perform. His frenzied, ecstatic dance, accompanied by weird howling utterances, was quite sight to behold.

I hope you all enjoyed the photos, especially you Tilly.

Have a great day, everyone. Chat again soon.

 

 

Ships and boats from my travels.

Hi again, everyone. Whilst I was looking for photos for http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/sunday-post-vehicle/ “Vehicle,” and before I’d read the guidelines properly, I found some pics of boats that I’d seen or been on in the course of my travels. Sea-going vessels didn’t qualify for the theme, but I thought I’d just do a post about water transport. Of course I have a great variety of pics, but here are just a few of my favourites.

This is a Nile cruise ship just in front of ours, on our  trip which took us from Aswan to Luxor to see many of the temples, most notable of which were the Temple of Queen Hapshepsut, the Karnak temple complex at Luxor, and of course the Valley of the Kings, which was spectacular. Here, we were alongside the Kom Ombo temple. We spent a very happy and entertaining week aboard, and I even got to impersonate a belly dancer at the fancy dress party.

The hydrofoil across Lake Titicaca took us from a resort outside La Paz to Copacabana, with stop-offs at Moon Island and Sun Island on the way. As you can see, we were the only passengers, apart from our guide. It was a wonderful sensation, speeding across the glittering lake in the bright sunshine, with the snow-capped Andean mountains to our right

These long-tail boats, known as ‘Ruea Hang Yao’ in the Thai language, are on the beautiful Phi Phi Island in Thailand. We did a day trip to this paradise, from Club Med Phuket, which also included a visit to Kho Phi Phi where the film, “The Beach” was made. We didn’t see Leonardo diCaprio, or a giant Marijuana plant. We have another trip booked there for early next month, and I can’t wait.

Our Venetian gondola ride last year, was a real highlight of our Italian tour, mainly because it was so funny. As you can see, our gondolier doesn’t look like the happy, singing type, and certainly wouldn’t pass the audition for Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta, “The Gondoliers.” We set off under the Bridge of Sighs, and as we sailed along, we asked our boatman to sing to us, but he said that would be extra. LOL! The guy in the gondola in front of ours started to sing “Buona serra senorita,” and ours joined in, albeit somewhat halfheartedly. A local man walking along the path, called out to us in Italian, “He can’t even sing. Why don’t you just tell him to shut up?” We creased ourselves laughing, but ‘Mr Sourpuss’ did NOT look amused.

Here is a vessel we intend to take a trip on when we return to Florida. We went boat watching one day earlier this year and saw the luxury motor boat, The Lady Delray, which takes one on a leisurely two-hour narrated tour from Veteran’s Park through the calm waters of the Intracoastal Waterway, and past some of the area’s most beautiful mansions. We’ll be able to see a variety of marine life in its natural habitat, and learn a little about the area’s history, all this whilst snacking on tasty morsels and sipping cocktails. I’m so looking forward to it.

This vessel in the play area of our local mall in Florida, might not be a real boat, but it does contain my two gorgeous little granddaughters, so I thought I’d put it in anyway.

Have a great day everyone. Chat again soon.

Photo Challenge. “Unusual” mother and son photo. ;)

I see that there’s a weekly photo challenge on WordPress. As the theme for this week is “unusual,”  I decided to post my most unusual Mother/Son photo, taken whilst on a Nile cruise many years ago. What a fun evening the Saturday night fancy dress party was. I even got to do a bit of Belly Dancing. 

There was a competition which involved wrapping a person in umpteen yards of toilet roll, until they were completely ‘mummified’. Our teenage son was the chosen ‘victim’ of a pert young lady who was at that time the reigning ‘Cotton Queen’ in her Texan home town. They won first prize, and I got to be the ‘Mummy’s mummy’.