I would include viewing Mt. Everest as one of my "top" four sites on this trip so far. The others, in no particular order, would be: 1) the Pyramids in Egypt, 2) Baalbek, the Roman Ruins, in Lebanon, and 3) Taj Mahal in India. Close seconds are: 1) Petra in Jordon, 2) Abu Simbel in Egypt, 3) the White Desert in Egypt and 4) the city tour in Mumbai, India. My top six favorite activities during the trip so far have been: 1) scuba diving in the Red Sea (by far the best), 2) balloon ride in Cappadocia, Turkey, 3) playing with the elephants in Chitwan, Nepal 4) white-water rafting in Lhasa, Tibet, 5) camel safari in Bikaner, India), and 6) climbing Mt. Sinai in Egypt. I'll update these when the trip is over.
1 comment:
Barb,
I agree with your parents. The focus of the Egyptians, at least near the tourist sites, was to extract the most amount of money from the tourist. Tourism has been a significant part of the country's economy for a number of years and its ingrained in their culture. Also remember the Egyption shouldn't take all the blame, there is a huge number of RUDE tourist (of course, not your parents)that also visit Egypt each year and perpetuates such tourism culture.
On the other end of the spectrum, are countries like Syria where the tourism industry isn't that developed, and the people were very friendly and helpful.
There is definitely an inverse relationship between the helpfulness of the people in relation to tourist attractions. We has some of the best times while traveling in small towns where there was nothing much to see. What made the small towns so special was the helpful, friendly people, not always focused on ripping off the tourist.
Mike
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