Two of my friends gave me a ticket to the sneak preview of this movie, and I walked right in without having any idea of the plot. When the story started unfolding I came to realise that it is a cast based on the theory of Lucid Dreaming, which is something I have been researching on since April. Well, INCEPTION is a must watch movie, with a nice plot that draws you deeper and deeper. The movie applies quite a bit of lucid proven facts, with a fair amount of fiction to bring the plot to a greater height. I shall not kick off a spoiler before you catch this movie, so go watch it for yourself.
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Taiwan has always been well known to Singaporeans for a few things:
Well, beside all these well known delicates and infamous stigmas, Taiwan do have many interesting draw points that are worth you packing for a holiday. Before I find time to do so, this section will be reserved for my travel review on Taiwan. Unlike our previous trip in 2009, this trip to Taiwan is for the sole purpose of our Pre-Wedding Photo Shoot, and lots of shopping with endless eating (literally 走到哪, 吃到哪). Both of us find Singapore a place too boring, and I never like the idea of having buildings as my background. That is why we decided to sign an oversea package with Julia Wedding News. For those wondering what’s with us taking Pre-wedding photos when we are already husband and wife. Well that is because we went through ROM and is legally so in the name of law, but that’s about it. We are now doing the photo album and whatever the need to come. We chose our gowns & suits in Singapore, and have to bring it over as part of luggage. Oh, these items add up to more than 10kg. Fortunately we found a hotel that is only 5 minutes walk from their Taipei bridal boutique. 友春大飯店 – Friend’s hotel, which is just across the MinQuan West Road Station (民權西路站), making it very convenient to travel around Taipei. There are many hotels that are situated near their MRT stations, and they are always a good choice if you plan to travel so. Taipei is approaching Summer at this time of year, but we were experiencing cool temperature of around 25deg even at 12pm noon, making it very comfortable to walk from streets to streets. We were once again excited on leaving Singapore (sounds like I really dislike this country, but to a certain extend I do), and I was so excited when I saw this big box of Marlboro cigarettes after crossing the check-in area. Seriously that was the very first time I saw such boxes (check out their size as compare to Amber’s face) and for that moment I thought that was new, only to find out later from my friends that it has been around long enough to make me a sua ku. Each of these big box of Marlboro contains 10 packets of the normal size packets. Nevertheless I found that 10 boxes of cigarettes at SGD22 is too cheap (at only $0.11 each stick) to be missed. These are duty free and only allowed to be consumed out of Singapore, so I bought a packet as souvenirs. 
We met the photographer, Mr Louis, and had a brief discussion on the style and location for the shoot. The day started with the usual make-up. Honestly this is the FIRST time in my life that I ever had a make-up (to me a guy having make-up is so gay – with exception with male celebrities since that is required of them), and thus I had no idea of what to except. I gave the make-up artist total free play on my slightly not-so-short hair. I ended up with a hairdo that looks like some Taiwanese uncle in their 40+ (such hairdo should have been popular during the 70s or 80s). Maybe I can get to post some of those when we received the negatives from Julia. I didn’t really like it but being dumb, we proceeded with the studio shoot. Throughout the entire shoot, the crews addressed us as GeGe (哥哥) and JieJie (姐姐). We were joking that they should have called me Uncle (大叔) instead. Before we head out for the outdoor shoot, they gave Amber a new makeover, and I asked for my hair to be comb down (so that I look younger). Nevertheless I failed in my mission to lose weight, so I was shot in an overweight condition with double chins and rounded face. So I doubt I would look good regardless of what kind of hairdo. We decided to bring a MUA (Make-up Artist) along to help Amber with some touch-up and outfit changing. It cost NT5,000 to bring along this MUA. First destination was a flower nursery that I have absolute no idea how to pronounce. The entrance fee is NT800 at time of writing. More than 50% of the photos were shot here, with mostly flowers as the background. 
Next we visited a commemorated temple (not a temple but I can’t find any word to describe such a place) where I got my shoe stuck in mud, and my head knocked against a tree trunk. Not to mention plenty of mosquito bites. However I kind of like the serenity of that place, so I am hoping that the photos turn out well and make all the “suffering” worth it. Amber was pretty exhausted by then and so we went to the last destination, a simple jetty in Dan Shui (淡水). We ended the photo shoot and reached the studio around 6pm, which is considered as pretty early. The rental of transport for the shoot cost another NT3,200. Thinking back, I kind of regretted not going to the lake for some cliffs and mountains. We were tired but not willing to end the night just like that. Took a bath to freshen up and off we went to NingXia Road (寧夏路), a recommendation by our photographer Louis. This stretch of road is in between Nanjing West Road (南京西路) and Minsheng West Road (民生西路), walking distance from both the ShuangLian Station (雙連站) and ZhongShan Station (中山站). The stretch of road light up during the night with food stalls, which is known as XiaoChi (小吃). The must try at this place will be the Bean Curd from 豆花莊. The price ranges around NT30. Next is the Yam Cake that even has a blog on it. Unfortunately I have forgotten the name of this shop, but just an example of how good it is. We saw a queue of around 20 people when we walked past, but decided to proceed to other stalls. We took 10 minutes to finish walking all the stalls (it is actually a very small stretch compared to other night markets), and there were still around 20 people when we went back. We were in the queue for another 20 minutes before it is our turn to order, and by the time we were ordering, there was another 20 more people queuing behind us. So if you get the idea, what I am saying is they have endless people queuing up for Yam Cake. Each piece cost around NT20, with fresh yam wrapped around salted egg and meat ruff, produced through deep fried. 
Should you feel too tired to walk, you can always get a cab back to hotel. Cabs are reasonably priced in Taipei, running on meters with a starting price of around NT60. We decided to walk back to our hotel, hoping that the foods get digested. Took us around 1 hour to cover that 2km, I guess. Starting from today will be our shopping and eating tour. We had our lunch (or rather breakfast) at Man Tang Hong (滿堂紅). This restaurant is famous for its steamboat (麻辣鴛鴦鍋), and is located along SongJiang Road (松江路), in between Minsheng East Road (民生東路) and Changchun Road (長春路). It is on the 2nd level and next to a Party World KTV. If you are not familiar with Taipei’s roads, the best way to get there is by a cab. This buffet steamboat cost NT440 per head, and in my opinion this is worth every cent (I will explain why). Firstly you get good quality beef, a must try for beef lover. Secondly you get endless Haagen Dazs Ice-cream. In a Taipei Haagen Dazs shop, one scoop of ice-cream cost NT100, and 3 scoops goes for NT300. Therefore even if you are not interested in steamboat buffet, you can head down to 滿堂紅 for ice-cream buffet. I had at least 10 scoops of Haagen Dazs, and that would have cost me NT1,000 in a Haagen Dazs shop. I only paid NT440 for that with quite a lot of other food from the steamboat. So tell me, is it worth every cent? 
After the filling lunch, it was time for some walking. We walked around the area, and bought some lottery 
The rest of the day was spent at Wu Fen Pu (五分埔), a place where clothes wholesalers are found. Just grab any Taipei map and you will surely find the marking on it. It is walking distance from HouShang Pi Station (後山埤站). I would suggest visiting 五分埔 around 4 ~ 5pm. The place is quite huge and you are likely to spend at least 2 to 3 hours shopping there. I wouldn’t be surprised if my female friends can end up 4 to 5 hours at this place. Do note that these wholesalers would never give you the whole-sale price. You would not get it even if you buy in bulk, simply because they know that you aren’t Taiwanese the moment you open your mouth (unless you could mimic their slang). With that in mind, it means that you end up buying at almost the same price (if not, maybe even more expensive) from other shops in Taipei. Why then is it worth visiting? Well, I would say go take a look at what kind of fashion they are producing, and do a gauge of the pricing. Typically you will always see “on sales” clothing starting from NT100, which is really reasonable. On average Amber will spend around 15 ~ 20 minutes in one shop, while I will take less than 5 minutes to walk out of it. She will spend 30 ~ 40 minutes when buying something, but I will take only 10 minutes to make payment. 3 hours of walking and I was getting really annoyed but she kept going. I had to show her my anger from my “empty stomach” (oh yes, I get angry when I am hungry), before she reluctantly leave 五分埔 for our next destination, the Raohe night market (饒河街夜市). 
Oh man, 饒河街夜市 is freaking big! It is even bigger than 士林夜市. In 饒河 you will get a good combination of stalls selling food and non-food. The first food stall that caught my attention was this Tepanyaki stall, Da Ban Shao (大阪燒). I am not too sure what I was eating except that it is a must try at NT60. I missed out on taking a photo of the stall since the night market was so crowded and I was reluctant to bring my bulky SLR from my camera bag (at that moment I began to appreciate a point-and-shoot). You should finish 五分埔 latest by 8pm, so that you have at least 2 hours to walk 饒河街夜市. I highly recommend this night market as one of the must visit. There are really a lot of stuffs, so bring along your money and a big stomach. As usual, we wake up nearing to lunch time, all ready for another round of shopping and most importantly eating (at least to me it is more important). Today is a distance trip to DanShui (淡水). Just take the MRT (Red Line) and you can reach 淡水 in a while. It took us 30 minutes from 民權西路站. 淡水 is quite a nice place to relax, and is often frequent by Taiwanese during their holidays. If your itinerary permits, it would be good to stay in 淡水 for a few days, and maybe a few days in 陽明山. There are nice scenery and plenty of old streets for walking. We only have a few hours to spare, and thus only able to walk around the old street (淡水老街), which is just next to the MRT station. Again we start our 走到哪, 吃到哪. Just take a look at the photos. 
These are a few things that you must not miss in 淡水. Try their Iron Egg (鐵蛋) NT60, Ah Ke (啊珂) NT30, and the long ice-cream NT20. You might have heard that one of the well known tourist attraction in 淡水, the Fisherman’s Wharf (漁人碼頭) and its Lover Bridge (情人礄). So definitely we do not want to miss this venue, so we paid NT200 (NT100 each) for the boat ride. Let me tell you this. DON’T WASTE your time and money, and DON’T even bother going over. There is nothing there, just a jetty with a boring bridge that you will cover in less than 10 minutes. And really if you are considering taking your wedding photos there, just strike it off from your itinerary as you will be better off somewhere else (unless you have a personal liking for jetty and fishermen). 
We were at XiMen Ding (西門丁) in 2009, but only to check in and out of a hotel for an assignment. Therefore we did not really take a good look and have no idea of this place. Likewise, any Taipei map would show you the XiMen Station (西門站). This place is somehow like our Orchard Road, with entertainments such as cinemas, billiards room, KTV etc. There are plenty of shops that sells clothing and of course food as well. This place is filled with the youngsters, and you might be able to spot some gangsters as well. We didn’t really like what we see and so we left after having the shaven ice. This is also a must try when you are in Taipei (although we have it in Singapore recently). We ordered the mango flavor that cost NT120, rather pricy but this is the standard price range. 
Having left 西門丁 so early, we decided to visit one of our favorite night market, ShiLin Ye Shi (士林夜市). Do note that士林夜市is just outside JianTan Station (劍潭站), not ShiLin Station (士林站). As usual we ate the must try HotStar fried chicken (豪大大雞排) NT50. Clothing are generally cheap around here, trendy t-shirts ranging from NT100 ~ NT150, and shirts going from NT300 ~ NT600. Female clothing are all around the place from NT100 ~ NT500. Men shoes are almost the same price in SG but I managed to find a few that are cheap and nice. However we ran out of money (due to my over eating), and had to shortlist the items until next day. We spent a total of NT4,000 that night buying 10 clothes. That makes each piece an average of NT400, which is around SGD18 (Oh my God, so cheap!!!!) This is our final day in Taipei, so we were determined to go on a shopping spree. We started at the MRT underground shops, something like our Singapore underground link from City Hall Station to Suntec. There are two of such stretch in Taipei, one stretch between Taipei Main Station (台北車站) and ZhongShan Station (中山站), while the other stretch between ZhongXiao FuXing Station (忠孝復興站) and ZhongXiao DunHua Station (忠孝敦化站). We went for the latter. Amber bought 8 pairs of shoes, average NT150 a piece, which is around SGD6 each (Oh my God, so cheap!!!!), cheaper than a McDonald’s meal in Singapore. 
We are supposed to head back to 士林夜市 and pick up what we have shortlisted, but decided to visit another night market first. We took the MRT and head down to TaiPower Building Station (台電大樓站), and walk the ShiDa night market (師大夜市). This stretch of road is next to the National Taiwan Normal University, and we could see that the crowd is made up mostly of young adults in their 20s. Without saying, it was time for me to fill my stomach. 師大夜市 is not as big as 士林 or 饒河 but it has its own flavor, which I would recommend visiting should you have the time. Some of the good and interesting foods worth trying are the 小A起司洋芋 (fresh potatoes with various toppings) NT50 and the 啊諾法式麗餅 (fancy creeps) at NT50. We order mango ice-cream creep and was expecting a very nicely filled creep, but turned out having only two scoops of ice-creams in it (we ordered the wrong one), which still taste very good. 
After a quick round of eating, we took the MRT to士林夜市, determined to finish up all the shopping and fill any remaining space in our stomach. We had our 豪大大雞排 once more (look at how huge it is), together with some other nice food. I grabbed 3 shoes, average of around NT600 each. Amber bought some more shoes and clothes as well. Eventually we clocked midnight and have to head back to our hotel for an early flight in the morning. I am sure Amber will miss all the shopping in Taipei. As for me, I definitely miss all the non-stop eating, and the endless Taiwanese babes. Yes, there are so many pretty ladies in Taipei. They are all dressed trendy and with a tint of Japanese fashion (curly hair and curly eye lashes). On average, I get to spot a pretty lady every few steps (I am serious) in the night markets, and some of them really having quality to match a Taiwanese celebrity. Below are the total amount of shoes and clothing we bought, and all the duty free cigarettes that I had to discard (what a waste). Oh yes, I bought the empty big Marlboro box back, and it is now sitting in my bookshelf as a souvenir. 
We signed up the package with Julia Wedding News in 2008, and are finally utilising it after 2 years. Our last trip to Taiwan was packed back to back, spending significant amount of time on the move. Although we stayed in Taipei for 4 days, we hardly experience the gems of the city. This time round, we will just be staying and exploring Taipei, and venturing to places like Yangmingshan and Danshuei. Combining this trip, we would have visited bits and pieces of Northern, Western, Eastern, and Central Taiwan. The next time I step into Taiwan after this will most likely be from the Southern Kaohsiung, and I hope to bring my parents along. We most likely have seen less than 1% of Taiwan tourist attractions. It is unlikely to fully explore this country, and furthermore there are other parts of the world that is waiting for me. Nevertheless, we are looking forward to this trip – getting our pre-wedding done up in nature (yes, I still hate brick and mortar, developed cities, and whatever that is man-made. I doubt my perspective will ever change in the future) and having a leisure tour around Taipei city. Amber and I will be in Taiwan again from 10th May to 15th May, which means I will come back with more photos of this country Egypt is usually categorised under exotic travels. It might not be on the top of your holiday wish list but it can surely find a place in the something-different list. In my opinion, it is a country worth visiting at least once in your lifetime. Pyramids and camels are the first things whenever Egypt is mentioned. However I assured you that they have more things that just these two. It is a country with more than 5000 years of history, considered one of the richest in the world, and definitely one of the best preserved. The country is kind of “divided” over two continents; Sinai sitting on Asia and the rest of Egypt sitting on Africa, with the Gulf of Suez sitting in between. Studies have shown that Egypt used to be a single piece of land. Platonic movement caused the spilt and appearance of the Gulf of Suez. This theory was reaffirmed as they found corals dated millions of years back in the Gulf of Aqaba, but only thousands of years back in Gulf of Suez. Anyway the main places of intersts are in Cairo (the capital), Alexandria (which I didn’t get to see), Aswan, Luxor, and Sinai. I am sure that there are other places of interests that my tour did not covered, such as the Sahara Dessert. Some of the places could be off-tourist attractions and you are likely only to experience on a free-an-easy backpacking trip. Thus I am in no position to comment on those areas. I will touch on the experience from these places and what you could expect from Egypt. However I would not be covering areas such as visa requirements, transportations, pricing of tour packages etc. Before the tour First of all, you need to decide if you are travelling on a tour package or a free-an-easy trip. You will definitely benefit from having a tour guide. The most interesting part of Egypt lies in their ancient Egyptian history, which date back to the Kings and Pyramids eras. Most of the preserved temples have cravings on the walls and pillars. Unless you have spent more than 5 years studying those symbols, you will not be able to make any sense out from those cravings. This is where the guide comes in with their comprehensive history lessons. A good guide will also protect you from being cheated by vendors. Places of interests Your itinerary should be pretty fixed should you travel with a tour. If you are going free-an-easy and without a tour guide, I would recommend you spending time on the highlights. There are too many temples in Egypt to cover, and they look almost the same after you have seen a few. Unless you are somebody who has deep passion in studying their ancient history, I would suggest that you visit only a few interesting ones. Philae Temple (Aswan) is a small temple sitting on an island. Edfu Temple (Edfu) is the most well preserved temple. Karnak Temple (Luxor) is the biggest temple. The Valley of the Kings (Luxor) is worth a go only if you are visiting the Cairo Museum. Reason being that everything in the tombs has been shifted and placed in the Museum, thus it won’t be complete to just visit the tombs. A visit to any Red Sea resort is a must. This should also be one of the places you spend your time while you are over in Sinai area. Many beautiful resorts can be found in Sharm El Sheikh. Since you are in Sinai, you would most likely not want to miss the climb up Mt Sinai. Refer to my Mt Sinai Guide for climbing this mountain. Weather Egypt is a land of sand so you should expect the humidity to be extremely low. It is a great thing for people who hate to perspire, but rather a concern for those who have dry lips. A lip balm is one of the necessary items for this country. The best time to visit is during its cooling season from December to February. Temperature in cities like Cairo and Alexandria can range from 10 ~ 20⁰C for the day. Aswan and Luxor being nearer to the Equator will thus experience warmer temperature from 20 ~ 38⁰C. If you are travelling outside the cooling season, be prepared that the day can hit more than 45⁰C. Food I can’t give a universal comment since we all have different taste buds. As much as Asians or Singaporeans are concern, I would say that get used to their food and bring along some snacks. People who love Indian and Mediterranean cuisine should have lesser problems than those with Chinese or Europeans taste buds. I can’t comment on the safety issue of food since all my meals were arranged by the tour, which have factor in the quality control. You need plenty of water to go around, and the best choice would be bottles of mineral waters. Bear in mind that their tap water is in no drinking condition. Shopping and Money matters Both USD and EGP are accepted in Egypt. Their money changers do not accept SGD, and likewise our money changers do not have EGP. So for Singaporeans, you have to bring USD as the middle currency. It is a golden rule to bargain when buying most things, but you have to accept the fact that a tourist will never get the same pricing as the locals. Obviously places with fixed prices such as hotels and restaurants do not require bargaining. I am referring to buying anything from the streets, especially those vendors selling souvenirs. You can use the 50/70 formula. Whatever price you are quoted, slash 70%. They would most likely declined and ask for something higher. You could then try a 60% slash and hopefully you get the stuff. Should they still decline, you can choose to walk away and they will most likely call you back for the offer. In the event that you really like the item, try to get at least a 50% discount. Paying anything more than that range will grant you entry into the “chai tao” list. There are some basic items that you will definitely need, such as water. I experienced vendor quoting me EGP15 (USD3 or SGD3.75) for a bottle of 1.5l mineral water. The cheapest price I could go down was EGP2 (USD0.40 or SGD0.50). Locals will be able to purchase water at an even cheaper price. So you could imagine how much they jacked up the pricing. Soft drinks such as Coke will start from EGP15 and all the way to EGP30 (SGD7.50). The cheapest packet of cigarette I gotten was for EGP6 (SGD1.50) and the most expensive same packet at EGP30. The amazing part was I bought a lighter for EGP8 (SGD2), which is damn freaking expensive and could only be used less than 10 times. Entry for places of interests normally cost between EGP30 to EGP60. People and Languages People in Aswan are generally friendlier and more sincere. People in Luxor are scheming and greedy. Overall Egyptians are pretty nice people. The above does not apply to their vendors that target tourists. Those vendors have given me quite a bad experience and caused me to be jaded over their presence. You will understand if you read my entire Egypt travel log. Safety is a concern when travelling the streets during night time, especially for women. Most Egyptians understand English. The vendors are good with English and Japanese. Tour guides can be speaking of all languages. I strongly recommend travelling Egypt with a guide. You can consider my guide, Mr Khaled Afifi, whom can be contact at (+2) 010 68 65 201 or khaledafifi2004@yahoo.com Photography If possible, you would want to travel with a SLR. A compact camera is light and easy, but you will be having limitations with bokeh for portraits, and wide angles for landscape. Every tourist is holding a camera, either a compact or SLR. Thus it is not a concern if you are flashing your expensive body and lenses. I bought with me a Canon 5D II, 17-40L, and 24-70L. For the first few days I was mounting mostly the 17-40 as I wanted wide angles. In fact 17mm is not really wide for some perspective. I would recommend going for 14mm. I found the 24-70 on my body for most of the days, even though 24mm is not wide for most cases. Changing of lenses has to be done with extreme care. The air is filled with such tiny sand dust that is invisible to naked eyes. Never ever leave your sensor on while changing lenses. Doing that calls for suicide. I changed lenses only in the rooms and inside air-conditioned vehicles. Yet I realised that the dust amount on my sensor has increased at least 2 times. After the trip, my camera body was desperately in need for a service by Canon. Do bring along a tripod for low lighting scene. One more thing to take note. Never ever take a photograph of Egyptian military or security posts. That is highly prohibited and you can get into some serious trouble for doing that. Also don’t try camera-phone in places like The Valley of the Kings. One of my group mate had to bribe his way out when he was caught. Places I enjoyed Most likely I would not visit Egypt again. Not that I hated it but rather I have seen most of it. If I do go again, it would be for the Red Sea. The days I spent in the Reef Resort were the best experience I gotten from Egypt. My friends would know that I am a nature lover, and I hate holiday trips to cities such as Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur. Therefore the snorkelling in Red Sea, trekking thru Colour Canyon, and Dinner in the Dessert are really stuffs that make me happy. However my most memorial experience would be Mt Sinai. Read my travel log for Day 9 and you will know why. Necessary items
With that I wish that you have benefits from the brief introduction of Egypt. I hope that you would put this in your wish list if you have yet to visit Egypt. Cheers! We boarded the SQ around 18 Mar 2010, 10pm. It was a 13 hours flight to Cairo, capital of Egypt. Upon arrival, we were walking into a blowing wind of 11⁰C at their 5am local time. After boarding the coach, we headed for a local coffee shop (they spelled it as cofe shop) recommended by our tour guide, Mr Khaled Afifi. We ordered some Egyptian coffee and Sheesha. After the warm up, we headed to The Great Pyramids of Giza, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World (or rather the first and only one we have seen in our life). According to history, these three Great Pyramids were built by Cheops (the father), Chephron (the son), and Mycerinus (the grandson). They were completed around 2650 BC, which make it almost nearing to 5000 years of existence. There are many “friendly locals” who will strike a conversation with any foreigner. Some might offer to take a picture for you. They will not run away with your camera, but will definitely demand a tipping before you can touch your camera again. Others might be selling some postcards, souvenirs, ornaments etc. These locals start the conversation with English, and I even heard a few speaking Japanese! Next we were on the camel, which is hell lot of fun for me, but hell lot of pain for Amber. It is a different kind of experience compare to riding a horse (I fell when riding a horse). Well the camel we were riding is kind of bigger size than the rest, and I could imagine how painful it will be should we slip and fall. The tour on Giza would not be completed without viewing the Great Sphinx (father of terror). The Great Sphinx is symbolic for the Egyptian in a way, but I could no longer remember what Khaled told us. 
Khaled then brought us to a shop that sells Essence, a natural type of perfume with no chemicals. It is said to be made from different type of flowers over Egypt. What is interesting is the way the Egyptian tries to market these Essence. They have a list of 10+ Essence that are made according to the smell of brands such as Hugo Boss, Channel, Calvin K, Gucci etc. We bought a small bottle of Essence for our mother, which cost EGP100 (SGD25). The next destination was Cairo Egyptian Museum. This place holds the treasures of King Tut. No camera is allowed in the museum as they claim that flashlight would degrade the colour of those treasures. I tried to hide my camera in the bag but still could not get pass the security. The museum provides a safe keeping area for the cameras but I just refuse to part with my gears. I heard rumours that things got mixed up due to the large crowd. So Amber went in with the group while I hang around the entrance, getting my tan under the sun. I later hear from her that there are statues of all the Kings of Egypt, 4500 treasures of King Tut, and mummies (which I wanted to touch). Amber told me that one of the treasures is a condom of King Tut. I nearly flipped when I heard that it was made of cloth with a string attached. I was thinking what on hell could you protect with cloth, plus I can imagine that it must be painful for the female to get rub by those cloth (not silk, mind you). Before checking into our hotel, we visited another shop that made papers from papyrus plants. It takes around 14 days to produce one sheet of paper. The process involves cutting of the papyrus plant, smashing the stalk, soaking them into water for 7 days, following by crushing them under stones for another 7 days, with drying them under the sun as the last step. Amazingly such papers are of great flexibility and toughness. You could apply lot of strength yet not being able to tear it. You could soak it in the water again, and squeezing it dry to be reuse. As of all cultural tour, the people end up trying to sell those paintings to us. A small piece of a A4 size cost like SGD100, and a big piece like the size of a door cost around SGD1,000. Of course we politely say thank you and walked up our coach. We were dead tired when we checked into our hotel. The day ended with an early rest as we need to wake up at 1am for a domestic flight to Aswan. |
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