Why Would You Want to Visit Egypt? - The Nile

The Nile River is 6,650 km or 4,132 miles long. The only longer river is the Amazon, which is 7,062 km or 4,400 miles in length. An excellent way to travel Egypt is to take a river trip down the Nile. Take some binoculars to spot the many birds that live on the river and its banks. Egypt is also on the migratory path of hundreds of bird species, and millions of birds pass through each winter on their way south, and return each summer.

About half way between Luxor and Aswan is Edfu and The Temple of Horus. The main tourist spots are Cairo and Luxor; fewer tourists come further south to this part of Egypt. Crowds can be avoided by visiting the temples and monuments early in the morning. It's best to be there as soon as the gates open to visitors. It is a wonderful experience to wander through the ancient monuments with only a handful of fellow tourists.

The Temple of Horus is huge, something akin to a large cathedral. Buried under the sand for centuries the temple is well preserved. It is a magical place and its hieroglyphs and statues seem like a giant newspaper proclaiming ancient news to the world. Every stone wall and pillar is covered in pictures and writing. The Pharaoh Ptolemy, who was Greek, built this vast temple. He used it to convince his subjects that he was the rightful ruler descended from the god Horus. It seems his strategy was to cover the place with plenty of propaganda to assert his dynasty.

Just a little further south down the Nile is Kom Ombo and its temple. The temple at Kom Ombo is often quite empty too. It is located right on the banks of the Nile and in the afternoon light it is simply beautiful. There is a very unique hieroglyphic of a woman giving birth in the temple; a must see. Feral cats fill the place. It is easy to imagine they were descendents of ancient Egyptian cats. They still slink around the stones much like their ancestors must have thousands of years ago.

Backpacking Through Khao Sok in Thailand

Wanting to experience nature at its finest, I was advised by a few friends that the Khao Sok Rainforest is one of the best places on the planet to experience nature and an abundant of wildlife. I would also be trekking through the most diverse Rainforest in the world which is in Thailand.

Khao Sok is only a few hours away from Phuket and is located in the Surat thani province in Southern Thailand. Khao Sok has some great resorts and a lot of the accommodation are tree houses. It just makes the experience that much better because it feels like you're even closer to nature.

I did a jungle trek for 2 days and one night through the Rainforest, the first day we saw some really amazing thing, a lot of birds, some really rare species and many that I have never ever seen before. I had a guide with me who took me through the jungle as it's not a place you want to go alone if you don't know the area well. My guide was really good as he could spot an animal that you could not see with your eyes, he knew where the animals were by looking at the tracks and movements in the bushes, he was amazing.

We camped in the jungle with a tent and you could hear the animals and birds, it was really great experienced to sleep with the animals. The next day we did some more trekking and even did some swimming and canoeing down the Khao Sok river. I don't think I have seen so many animals in the wild as I have seen in these 2 days than anywhere else in the world.

While trekking was a little tiring, it was well worth it. Some of the things I saw, the limestone mountains, the amazing birds, the plants plus so much more was a great experience that I will never forget. This is one of those places they you will want to and will come back to again. It is just that amazing and everyone should experience this amazing place once in their life.