Poker (I HATE YOU), BBQ (I LOVE YOU), and a time in the pits!

Well my first weekend chilling in the backyard turned out to be a pretty decent one...Friday afternoon I even cut the lawn...I'm very domesticated...but it actually was really cool to take advantage of the backyard, finally feels like summer is here!

Long and short of this weekend:

Friday night - had a few friends over and Chef Roberts and Chef Scutt whipped up some killer curry in the kitchen for everyone while putting a serious dent in a big ass bottle of gin...also played some poker...well everyone else did i was out as usual in ten minutes...i hate poker...dont have the patience for it...hate hate hate...anyways that was Friday...rather pleasant

Saturday was wicked...spent the day in the backyard in the sun, putting together the bbq, reading, listening to music and getting stuff ready for the bbq...oh and had a glass of gin and tonic in my hand for pretty much the entire day haha...had some peeps over that night and proceeded to quite well boozed and ate tons...oh yeah, Mooney you are never EVER borrowing my clothes again you sick bastard, WEAR UNDERWEAR FOR CHRISTS SAKE!!!!! But yeah sat night was fun was plenty fun...Sunday morning was rough tho...

Sunday was up at 730am to head to the Rockingham Racetrack with Mooney...his brother in law is racecar driver on the British touring circuit so we got passes to go to the pits and stuff...saw a few crashes which were entertaining...sucked tho cause Gareth's (Mooney’s brother in law) car was having serious problems so he never finished a race...I attached a video tho...his car is the blue and orange one...ps racecar drivers pull hotties!

Anyways that was my weekend...actually felt like a good summer weekend and hopefully will be the first of many to come!

Heading to London this weekend to see the terrible twosome...Josh and Pat...assuming Pat hasn't died...hope you get better soon son!

K I'm out!


M J S

“Welcome to Alaska”

E G Y P T

Pictures 1
Pictures 2

Well I did it, I survived a 9 day whirl wind tour of Egypt, and wow it was definitely one of the most amazing trips I have ever been on!

I wasn’t really sure how to write about the trip so what I have done below is just broken up the trip by the different places we went to…I think this is the best way to go over things…I have a feeling this is going to be a long post…I have also added wikipedia links to all the places we went so I don’t have to explain them…and you don’t have to be bored hearing about them in detail haha…

So the trip started off on Friday with both Danae and I making our way to Cairo from our respective home cities (Reading and Alicante)…14 hours later (including a 6 hour lay over in Istanbul and Budapest) and we were both in Cairo…at 3am…

We had our trip organizer Aladdin meet us at the airport which was cool and he gave us the run down of how our trip was gonna go down…very cool dude and did a wicked job setting everything up… this is his company: www.egyptealacarte.com definitely recommend it if you are planning on going to Egypt! Anyways the trip went as follows:

Cairo
Video of Crazy Traffic in Cairo

We spent the first day in Cairo checking out the pyramids and all the ruins and stuff…even got to ride a camel…very fun but they are pretty angry animals and are a real pain in the butt to get on and off of…apparently people fall off quite often…the guy who was taking us on the camel ride asked us about Baksheesh…this means tip…we didn’t know that…Danae thought he was trying to sell us Hash haha great start to the trip…but yeah the pyramids were amazing...they are so bloody massive it’s hard to comprehend how the hell they managed to build them...but yeah spent the rest of the day checking out a papyrus place and a perfume “museum” and then finished things off at the national museum seeing king tut’s hard ware…he truly is the king of bling…Diddy’s got nothing on Tut…we then got a ride from our driver to the train station who told us lots about his life and stuff…”that’s beautiful” (Danae are you sure about that???)…we then caught our sleeper train south to Aswan (12 hour journey)…we managed to keep entertained tho…see the pics haha..

Aswan
Video of Aswan

Aswan is a really cool city in the south of Egypt (or the Upper Nile as they say there)…but a very chill place and it never rains…well that is a lie cause it actually rained for the first time in 3 years for a couple minutes when we were there…I guess I brought the rain with me from London…but yeah we spent the afternoon chilling by the nile having lunch, then saw the Aswan Dam and the island of Philae…oh yeah and that night we went back to the same restaurant on the Nile and spent about 5 hours smoking shisha, eating, drinking mint tea, and polishing off a couple bottles of wine…very fun night…the locals in the restaurant were very entertained by our drunken antics haha…as a result of our drunkenness we did not end up making the trip in the morning to Abu Simbel because the convoy left at 3am…right around the time we passed out haha…but we did get some rest before our Felucca trip that began the next day…

Felucca
Felucca boat Video 1
Felucca boat Video 2

Wow so the Felucca was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done! So much fun and so so so relaxing…basically you spend two days and two nights sailing up the Nile in a traditional Egyptian sail boat…well at night the bost stops on the shore and you eat and sleep on the deck of the boat under the stars…we had a Kiwi couple with us on the boat (Sophie and Phil) and they were really cool, had a good laugh with them…we also had the raddest felucca captain ever..CAPTAIN FANAN…he is a Nubian dude who has been sailing the nile for 11 years…www.niledancer.blogspot.com…one of the most genuine people I have ever met, he cooked us awesome traditional food on the boat, taught some Arabic and Nubian…KABOOOSH (inside joke sorry)…he also is a total regae fan and loves the lifestyle and “special” cigarettes that come with it…mashmun alatoon (ask danae what that means)…let’s just say by the second night we had a serious case of the munchies haha…anyways, the Felucca was fantastic and if any of you ever go to Egypt and go for the felucca ride you HAVE TO GO WITH FANAN, he made it the best part of our trip by far!!! Some quotes include:

“Welcome to Alaska”
“Cheers big ears, same goes big nose, like wise peace eyes, how come big bum”
“Egyptian Whiskey”
“Ankaboot”
“Mashmun Alatoon”
“Canada Dry never die”
“CheersehMate”
“It’s very good Sudanese weed”
“Kaboooooosh”
“Smile for the Nile”
“Keep smiling”
…k too many to list haha


Kom Ombo and Edfu

So after our two days of relaxing on the Nile with Capt Fanan on the Felucca, we met up with our guide and were taken to Kom Ombo and Edfu to see the temples there…very cool temples and absolutely massive, those Egyptians did not mess around when it came time to build temples that’s for sure…oh yeah also saw a couple 2100 year old mummified crocodiles…kinda gross/cool I guess haha…anyways spent half the day checking those places and then made our way in a convoy up to Luxor…even had our own police officer in the car with us, complete with an AK 47…makes you feel safe!

Luxor

So I guess Luxor is probably the most famous or second most famous (to Cairo) city in Egypt and for good reason…its located right on the Nile and is surrounded by relics and ruins…some really really incredible views and things to see there…when we first got there we were put up in our hotel which was right on the Nile with a spectacular view of the west bank…after check in we then met up with our guide who took us to see Karnak…Karnak is the biggest temple in the world (over 100 acres)…it is totally unreal to see in real life…the columns and obelisks are huge…you can fit something like 100 people on the tops of the columns…according to our guide of course…but yeah spent some time checking Karnak then made our way to Luxor Temple just as the sun was setting… this made for some great lighting for photos of the temple (see pics)…after checking out the temple and taking lots and lots of pics we went for supper down by the Nile…once again we had to hit up the old Shisha pipe…god I love that stuff haha…then we had an earlyish night cause we had to be up at 5am for our hot air balloon ride over the valley of the kings…

Hot Air Balloon
Hot Air Balloon Video

At this point I think we were getting used to really early mornings cause we actually got up fine…might also have to do with the fact that we were both so excited to go on the hot air balloon ride!! …They take you out to the sugar cane fields on the west bank and load you and a few others in the basket of the hot air balloon…next thing you know you are 1500 feet above Luxor, the west bank, and the valley of the kings…the sun had just come up so the lighting was fantastic and it was really quite and peaceful (except when the pilot fired the engines to fill the balloon with hot air)…most likely the best way to start a day…spectacular views and just really relaxing and mellow, I will never forget it that is for sure…about an hour later you land in the sugar cane fields and are bombarded by little kids asking for backsheesh (tips) even tho they haven’t done anything for it haha…we were then taken to meet up with our guide at the hotel…

The rest of the day was spent in the valley of the kings checking out the tombs of Ramses, Tut, and some others…we also saw the temple of “hotchickenssoup (Hatshepsut) and the valley of the workers…by the way tombs are cool and everything but god damn do they stink and are very humid…it’s kinda gross but what can ya do…after all this we headed to the bus depot to catch our bus to Hurghada for our snorkeling trip the next day…

I know this is getting really long, sorry, but I like writing haha anyways now might be a good time to grab a glass of milk or something...a little intermission, don’t worry I’ll still be here when you come back!

Better?? I thought so! K on we go…

Hurghada
Bus Ride Video
Underwater Snorkeling Video

So we ended up having to be on a bus for 7 bloody hours!! With the help of an ipod and a good sense of humor, Danae and I managed to keep ourselves entertained so it was all good…we also met a really nice guy and his sister on the bus who was showing us some Arabic music and pics and stuff…cheers Ahmed…but yeah we got into Hurghada that night and had some dinner and Shisha…next day was more fun for sure!

We had to be up and out the door at 8am to catch our snorkeling boat…yet another early morning…but definitely worth it…we met some really nice people on the boat and had a lot of laughs…we also got a chance to chill on a beach for a bit and I got to finally use my camera in the water!! Check the pics…it was so wicked to be able to take photos of the reef and fish!! Oh yeah it was really windy that day…nearly got washed overboard…haha good times…after the boat trip we had to jump on a bus back to Cairo…another 7 hour bus ride…good god did it suck…that night Danae had to catch her flight back home….very sad to say good bye and realize the trip was winding down :( but it’s all good we had an amazing time and I still had one more day left in Alexandria…

Good Bye Danae Video

Alexandria

Alexandria was an interesting city…had a very strong European feel to it…I got to see the catacombs, Great Library, and where the lighthouse used to be (one of the 7 wonders)…so the library was pretty amazing I think it was finished being built in 2003 and is quite the impressive piece of architecture…check the photos…anyways Alexandria was a pretty quick day and not quite the same without miss Danae but what can ya do…that night I chilled in the hotel for a couple hours and then made my 12 hour journey back to jolly old England completely exhausted…


So yeah that was our trip in a nut shell…k a very big nut shell…if you have made it this far then good for you, you have my respect and admiration cause this was the longest post ever haha…anyways I hope you enjoy the pics and the video’s…Hope you all had a great Easter!!

Salem

M I C H A E L

quick recap and off to the land of the pharoahs

Hello my friends,

How is everyone doing?? Any big news?? Give me some dirt over here on what is going on back home, you all clearly know what I've been up to due to my inability to be able to write concisely...aka my overtly long blog postings!! I’m gonna try to make this one quick and dirty…so here goes…

1 – Fred CONGRATS on getting signed on to the best Italian club vball team, u are my god and saviour of volleyball…keep it real over there!

2 – Was back in Holland last week to see clients…I ate as many croquettes as possible…I now have an ulcer…playin..they only made me blind in one eye for a couple days…gotta love deep fried mystery meat!

3 – KLM airlines rule…they run on time, have great snacks and lots of leg room....

4 – Did some shopping for Egypt…I caved in and went to H &M…you really can’t beat the prices there….yes I am cheap…deal with it!

5 – Played vball on Saturday and met a very cool Greek girl Nadia (see told ya I’d get ur name on here!)... went out with her and her friends on Sat night for some dancing…saw some drunken English dudes get in fight on the dance floor (its what the English are best at, drinking and fighting)

6 – HAHA forgot about this one…there was some 70 year old dude by himself at the club ripping it up on the dance floor…so so so funny…he was even up on the stage at one point dancing to ice cubes “put ur back into it”….i think he “put his back OUT” ...k that was a terrible joke...

7 – Sunday was chill.…though we had steves mate, also named steve, from Scotland crash at our place…the guy is effing funny…when you can understand what exactly he is saying…

8 – Oh yeah we made a feeble attempt at a pub quiz on Sunday as well…we sucked so we quit and left…

9 – So much for being concise this is getting long so I’m gonna cut it short here…

Alright I guess I'll have to go back to the drawing board and figure out another way of making these things shorter…actually forget it I LIKE WRITING LONG POSTS so that’s what I’m gonna do and if it is a problem for you then go watch tv!

Oh yeah one more pretty big thing…well to me at least…you no longer have to type in www.euroscutter.blogspot.com anymore cause I bought my own domain names… www.michaelscutt.com or www.euroscutter.com is all you have to type…what a nice guy I am for making ur lives easier :P

Anyyyyyways I’m gonna cut things off now…I probably won’t be posting on here again till I get back from Egypt so wish me luck…hopefully I wont fall off the hot air balloon or into the Nile, but you all know me and I’m sure ill find some way of getting myself into trouble, so if you don’t hear from me in a few weeks assume I’m in some Egyptian jail or wandering around the desert looking for an oasis…and on that positive note…PEACE IM OUT

t t u c s s e m a j l e a h c i m