This gal is a little hard headed. Humour's a little too dry. Also cold, stone-cold.

Well, what more can I say about Egypt? There’s the pyramids, of course. The sphinx and the mummies. The pharaohs and their temples for the old Egyptian gods. Cleopatra and her dalliance with the consuls of Rome. And throughout all of its history winds the Nile River, blessing irrigation and fertility to the soil. Egypt’s definitely on everybody’s bucket list (it certainly was on mine) and touring Egypt had been a whirlwind of emotions. 

Sunlight breaking through the dark clouds and shining down on the pyramid

The old world charm was much alive and well in Cairo - when our group touched down, our local guide was waiting with fresh roses for the ladies in our group. He guided us through customs, and using official documentations and no small amount of charm, we skipped past the metal detectors and baggage checks. 

No one was quite as stoked as me when we reached the Egyptian Museum and saw the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun. The tomb held particular historical significance: discovered in 1922, it’s the only tomb of a pharaoh that had been found intact, with all the treasures that were buried together with a pharaoh. Aside from the sarcophagus and the golden funerary mask of Tutankhamun (located in the photograph free zone of the museum), there are collections of hieroglyphs carved in stone tablets, and finished products made from sculpting and metallurgy techniques that had been perfected by a civilisation from over 5000 years ago.

And what’s a trip to Egypt without going to the pyramids? The Great Pyramid of Giza stands at 139m, a considerable flex of architecture feat. Estimated to have been built in 2600-2500BC, it is the final resting place for the Pharaoh Khufu. The two smaller pyramids are the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure, both housing his descendants and pharaohs in their own rights. It’s mind-blowing how far the ancient Egyptian dynasties stretched back. We think of Cleopatra as a being from ancient times, but in context to Egyptian history, the pyramids were already over 2500 years old when she was born. Her own archeologists were possibly exploring the Great Pyramid of Giza during her lifetime. On the grand scheme of humankind, Cleopatra (69-30BC) lived closer to the age of iPhones (AD 2007, 2000 years later) than the building of the Giza Pyramid (2600 and 2500 BC, or 2500 years earlier). When each square boulder in the pyramid comes up to your chest, it’s an inexplicable sense of wonder to look up at the structure and be amazed at the human ingenuity that it took to accomplish it. 

We also visited the Pyramid of Djoser, the OG pyramid, or officially, a “proto-pyramid”, with the experience gained from building these going into building the future generations of pyramids that we’ve came around to recognise instantly. 

When in Cairo, one also simply have to explore the sprawling marketplace that is the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. Like Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, it is virtually impossible to walk down every stall. And just like Chatuchak Market, haggling is expected. One TripAdvisor review mentioned that even after bargaining the price of his souvenirs down by 80%, he found that the ones sold at the airport were still cheaper. But the best thing to do in Khan El-Khalili bazaar didn’t involve any haggling. In one of the alleyways, at a small corner shop, I had my best meal in Egypt: a stuffed roast pigeon from Kababgy El Azhar Farahat. I mentioned in passing to our guide about trying local cuisine, and he promised to bring me to the “best roast pigeon in the whole of Cairo, Luxor and Aswan.” And he was as good as his word. The pigeon meat was fork-tender and perfectly seasoned, the roasted skin crisp with each bite. Even the bones can be eaten, and the bone marrow sucked from the long bones. Tearing off pieces of pita bread, we scooped up copious amounts of Salata Baladi (Egyptian Arabian salad) and tahini (pronounced Tah-hee-nay), and drank deeply from our cups of pigeon broth. Afterwards, we cleansed our palate afterwards with a hot spiced ginger drink - a zanjabeel, the drink that the Quran calls “the promise of paradise”. And yes, by serendipity, these are the very alleyway tables that Anthony Bourdain sat at.

The Egyptian language is no longer used and is considered a dead language. The people speak Arabic, and Islam is the predominant religion in Egypt today, about 80% of the population. The Citadel of Saladin is a 12th century Islamic fortification built to protect the land against incursions from the Crusaders. The citadel stood, and 700 years after, the region had been pacified sufficiently that the Sultan of Egypt commissioned a masterpiece to be built within the fortification: the Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha, or more simply the Alabaster Mosque. 

Coptic Hanging Church

The other 20% of the population is Christian. There are two attractions in Cairo with Christian influence. The Coptic Hanging Church was one, which had been named for the way the church was built between two towers of a pre-existing Roman fortress. Around the corner, and slyly hidden below ground, was the Church of Abu Serga, an underground room where purportedly Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus Christ stayed in for three months while fleeing Palestine.

Somewhere along the busy main street, I capped off my tour of the neighbourhood with my first taste of Arabic coffee (also known as Turkish coffee). Stir in a bit of sugar if you like, let the sediments settle, and voilà!

One quirk of touring Egypt is the near-constant police presence, but I found myself getting used to them rather quickly. Exiting the airport on our first day, we were met by armed policemen, which was customary for overseas tour groups. As we drove from one city to another, a different policeman would board our coach and escort us along our way through the country. We passed checkpoints, both ones made of concrete as well as temporary ones made of stationary police cars parked across the road. YouTube Vloggers speak of how they would get harassed by the police as they are filming. But for us, we had nothing but positive interactions with the Egyptian police, who were helpful, friendly even. While in Khan El-Khalili, some of us lost their way in the sprawling maze of alleyways, and was guided by a helpful policeman back to the designated meeting point. On another occasion, when one of us fell and broke her ankle in the city, they were at her side within minutes and had called for an ambulance. During the long drives, it was pretty funny how the coach driver was blatantly playing bootleg DVDs in front of them.

We made the 6-hour long journey from Cairo to the coastal town of Hurghada, powered with a latte from Vasko (great) and popcorn from Kukuruza (not great). Hurghada borders the Red Sea, and is popular with both locals and tourists alike.

It might have been my imagination, but the sea seemed bluer than all other waters that I’ve encountered. From the shore, we took a motorboat out to the sea to reach a floating platform where our submarine was waiting. We made a circuit around the seabed of the Red Sea, and it was a pretty incredible experience looking out at the marine life from our submarine.

Another popular day trip was a desert safari in the Eastern desert, which was found between Nile and the Red Sea. Scaling the sand dunes was plenty of fun, and even more when we shimmied our way down. All the sand dunes look identical to me, but to the Bedouins who live in the desert, we knew that we were in capable hands and there was never a doubt they knew their way around. 

From Hurghada, we travelled to Luxor, the capital of ancient Egypt. We visited Karnak and Luxor temple, both of them landmark discoveries in the world of Egyptian civilisation, and capped off our Luxor leg with a horse-drawn carriage through the streets of Luxor in the evening sun.

Boarding our cruise at Luxor, we spent a delightful few days sailing up the Nile river. We woke up every day in a different city, and disembarked to see the sights scattered along the Nile. We visited the Valley of the Kings, the Hatshepsut Temple, Kom Ombo Temple, Philae Temple, and of course, the Abu Simbel Temple.

Which modelling agency did these three people learn from in order to walk like that?

 

On the cruise, entrepreneuring peddlers were never far behind, and in the daytime, they lashed their boat to the side of the cruise to sell their wares to the tourists up on the sun deck. With uncanny accuracy, they tossed their products up the 5-storey ship. If you’re happy with the product, you place your money in the bag and toss it back down. The transaction’s built on trust (and a terrific right arm), which clearly have been working well for the sellers.

Sweets are a big part of the Egyptian diet, and throughout the trip, we filled up on dates and baklava. Egypt is still much of an agrarian economy, producing much of the world’s strawberries, eggplants, rice, beets, sugar cane and dates. Which most of us could probably guess, as these products feature heavily in their diet. But we didn’t quite realise how abundant strawberries are, until we went into Carrefour, and did a double-take when we found trays of huge red strawberries going for about $1 per kilo. We bought trays of strawberries back to our hotel that night, and we ate to my heart’s content. 

Touring Egypt may be brutal for some. The experience can be loud, crowded and disconcerting, especially to foreigners who do not know the language. Arabic can sound harsh. Egyptians are also used to standing in closer proximity, speaking in louder voices and gesturing as they speak, all of which may come across as a little confrontational. There is a tipping culture, and even in museums where we had already bought tickets, we’ve had a restroom cleaner drop everything that he was doing, stand in front of you and bar your way into the restroom, demanding a tip before letting you pass. But I find that many of the locals genuinely want you to have a good time, and would to go out of their way for you. Back at the roadside stall with the roast pigeons, they didn’t serve zanjabeel, but when I told the runner that I was looking to try some, he quickly disappeared into the maze of the bazaar and came back afterwards with cups of zanjabeel. Most of the people here are friendly and warm, and are making the most of what they got. وداع Egypt, you brilliant, charming, wondrous and complicated country. 

As we close the chapter on 2022, and left the coronavirus pandemic hopefully on the other side, there’s no better way to look ahead and say farewell to the years endured in lock-downs than to travel with family. My brother-in-law’s family invited us to a cruise in the last week of 2022, and I couldn’t say yes fast enough. The cruise includes a stop in Klang, a region of Malaysia that’s renowned for their cuisine but which just happens to be a bit out of the way for most travellers from Singapore.

I boarded Dream Cruise in anticipation. It may not be as polished as Royal Caribbean, but for large family-sized units comprising of many kids, the value of Dream Cruise is hard to beat. We splashed around in the pools, sunbathed and skidded down their formidable network of waterslides. At night, we watched magic shows and cabaret performances, and listened to live music performances into the wee hours of the night. Each day on board was blissful, with nothing more stressful than trying to fit as much fun into each day as we could.  

When we reached Klang, disembarkment was a pain-free affair. We didn’t even need passports; our Dream Cruise room card got us through customs within the hour. Just a few years ago, before the Port Klang Cruise Terminal came into operation, cruise guests came ashore on boats. As things stand now, entering Port Klang is just a short walk away. Port Klang has a convenient store to load up on fresh lobster crackers, ones that come in brilliant shades of purple and orange. From the terminal, the ride-hailing app Grab will get you to wherever you want to go. 

A trip to Klang isn’t complete without going to one of their renowned bah kut teh joints. As we walked into Kee Heong Bah Kut Teh and saw that the restaurant was completely occupied by locals on a weekday at 1pm, I knew we came to the right place. Kee Heong used to have a franchise in Singapore’s Chinatown, but that was unfortunately one of the pandemic’s casualties. It was nice that after all this time, we were finally able to patronise the original store. We ordered claypots of dry and soup-based bah kut teh, poured ourselves rounds of kongfu cha, and had a really pleasant lunch. We enjoyed the meal so much, we bought an entire carton of their spice mixes on our way out. 

Klang is a royal city and used to be the capital of Selangor, and wherever you go, you see much of that old-school Southeast Asia charm. Old towns tend not to be pedestrian-friendly, though Grab makes travel much simpler. The mall Aeon Tinggi is just a short ride away, and across it is GM Klang, a wholesale outlet. Malaysia has its laid-back easygoing charm, and it’s easy to see why Malaysians are fiercely proud of their country. In seemingly no time at all, we returned to the ship for our journey back to Singapore, and towards 2023. 

To a brighter future. 

Nothing quite prepares you for New England’s fall foliage. Here and there along stretches of the highway, you can see strikingly brilliant red leaves, interspersed with shades of yellow and orange. One area for 'leaf-peeping' on the locals' radar is Lake Winnipesaukee. Found in New Hampshire, Lake Winnipesaukee is a popular destination for summer retreats. In autumn, the fall colours are quite something else. 

Many idyllic small resort towns dot the landscape surrounding the lake (Please don't make me type out Winnipesaukee again), and the numerous places for photography makes the trip a worthwhile one, even if it is the next state over. 

We visited the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad, snacked by the lake, ate some of the best ice cream I've had over at Kellerhaus Ice Cream, and caught the sunset at Abenaki Tower. I've had a blast going a circuit around the lake, driving past the most beautiful fall scenery. 

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Even in the suburbs itself, incredible fall colours can also be seen. Just a quick drive away is the Minuteman Historical National Park. Along this stretch of the land, the first armed conflict of the American Revolution raged between the Colonials and the British forces. The annual Patriots' Day commemorates their fight for independence every April, with reenactments of the key events of the battle.

  

There are a few hiking trails in the area, and we spent a pleasant afternoon exploring the area. 

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Near the tail end of my Boston trip, we made a spur-of-the-moment trip to Shelburne Farm, and that was  one of the best part of my trip. Fall season brings with it the annual harvest of apples and pumpkins, and there's no shortage of either in this farm.

The minute I walked in, I knew I was in for something wonderful. As we approached the orchard, there’s a sweet apple scent in the chilly autumn air that only got stronger as we got closer. The apple farm produces a couple dozens of varieties of apples, and we could pick any that catches our eyes. We were given a cloth bag to collect our apples, but between the seven of us, we hauled back a giant IKEA bag filled of apples by the end of it. 

Unlike the rest of the rubes who picked apples willy-nilly, I went in with a clear apple-picking strategy, one that had been refined from my years of berry picking in Melbourne. I ignore the appearance of the fruits, no matter how and red and enticing they look (and believe me, they pretty much all looked great.) I just sample the apples as I walk through the orchard, until I come to a tree that produces particularly sweet apples, then I try to pick that tree clean:)

I could scarcely believe how much apples they were growing. Apples were produced here in such abundance, it seems that there were more apples than anyone knows what to do with. For every one apple that we picked, there must have been hundreds lying on the ground under the trees. After we finally brought in our apple haul, I spotted they were also selling apple donuts and apple cider (both hot and chilled). And out of their unassuming shed, I’ve eaten the best donuts in my life - not a hyperbole. Their apple cider donuts had a beautifully crisp exterior and a soft pillowy interior, and generously powdered with cinnamon and granulated sugar. We ate a dozen of their intensely-fragrant cider donuts between us, and washed it down with mugs of apple cider. 

Playground made from repurposed farming equipment

I went for a hayride with my nephew and niece, which involves sitting on bales of hay at the back of a pickup trailer as it meanders through the farmland. This ride brought me past the most beautiful autumn colours that I'd seen. It was plenty of fun, and sitting on hay, as my niece and nephew informed solemnly, was much more pleasant while you have on thick clothing on at this time of the year than while you're wearing shorts in the summer. 

Shelburne Farm, a truly magical place

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The apples sat in the living room, with the sweet fragrance of just-picked apples waffling to all corners of the house, smelling like yellow sunshine, fallen leaves and the turning of the season.

As it turns out, we picked and brought back about 10 kilos of apples. But no fret, because I had the perfect dessert in mind: there's nothing quite as American as apple pie. I tried three different recipes: from David Lebovitz, Jacques Pépin, and Bill Yosses. The chilly weather makes rolling out dough easy as … pie. I'd not tried any of the recipes beforehand, but with a dosing of good ol' American optimism, I went against all common wisdom and doubled the amount of dough I was making for all three of the recipes (don’t be like me). But I figured, since I I had to measure out all these ingredients and knead the dough together anyway, so why not make twice as much, and freeze the other halves for use at a later date? Lady Luck is on our side this holiday, all went along quite smoothly. And the second set of dough sure came in handy, when I whipped up an apple pie for breakfast using leftover filling and dough one weekend morning. Fresh apple pie, all day everyday, available on demand. 

We spent a lot of time in my sister's kitchen throughout my holiday, which was a joy to work in. It was chilly enough, where mulled wine was a perfect accompaniment at night. The immense quantities of short ribs that we hauled back from our frequent Costco trips made great Sticky Spare Ribs, which I’d braised the previous day and finished into a glaze over a fire. The spare ribs went fantastically with Ashley Pooles’ Mac and Cheese; I did this mac and cheese true to form with no alterations - heavy cream, broiler on, the whole works. It's truly the best mac and cheese that I had. 

And I wouldn't have been able to say that I came to Boston if I hadn't taken every opportunity to indulge in its fresh seafood. I ate my fill of freshly steamed lobsters over the weeks. Lobsters at Market Basket were going for $8 a pound, or roughly $10 each. We ate lobsters several times a week, and each lobster was just as juicy and fragrant as the last. Unlike my California trip where I clocked in ample amounts of fast food (I wanted to try every fast food chain once), I didn't go to any in Boston. When each lobster costs just as much as a McDonalds meal, it's hard to justify stepping foot into a fast food restaurant. 

A day without desserts is a wasted day. There’s a huge Italian community in Boston, as Italian immigrants have settled in Boston since the 1800s. Today, North End remains a significant Italian enclave, and all the best food that the Italian cuisine has to offer. On the days that we were in the city, we would pick up boxes of cannoli and Italian sweets from Mike’s Pastry and Modern Pastry, which makes some of Boston’s best cannolis. Every flavour of cannoli that I’ve had from them were delightful, with a shattering pastry shell and a cold ricotta-filled interior. Mike’s Pastry’s fluorentine cannoli, made with a sweet lace-like fluorentine cookie instead of the standard cannoli pastry, was a particular delight.

Like clockwork, we prep a nightly cheese platter for after the kids have been put to bed. We paired our nightly platter with Costco wine (like the wine connoisseurs that we are), and also anything that we could scourge up, such as fruits and biscuits (also from Costco), cured meats from Italian delis, local beers and once, a half-eaten apple pie. 

A particular memorable occasion one supper was a blind-tasting of the whiskies from the "Travel-size" section of a liquor shop, which sent the best of us groping for our cups of water. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been quite so adventurous, although it was interesting to compare how the composition of grains in the mash bill affects the final outcome from the same maker. Bourbon, with its slight notes of sweetness, came mainly from corn. Wheat was surprisingly smooth and easier to drink, while the rye was particularly harsh.

It was a dream holiday, and before I was ready to say goodbye, it was already time to go.