Living on a Narrowboat
Or water puppets, as they call them.
First developed from bored peasants in the paddy fields of north Vietnam, this is one of the unique attractions you might find in Hanoi.
The main stage is locate by the north corner of Hoan Kiem lake.
Showings start at 3pm, so there is no point in showing up any earlier.
You’ll find the Huangshan Hot Springs a short ride down from the west entrance to the park.
Buy a ticket on the bus for 8 yuan. Alternatively , walk down , it’s 1.5km and signposted.
I’d done enough walking for the day.°
These springs are run by Best Western. A hotel chain that Franchises residences worldwide.
They aren’t the best hotels, but they do have a good general standard. Some of them are in unusual locations, like this one, and the quality is generally good.
There were a selection of 8 different pools, all fed from the natural hot springs at the foot of the mountains. Each spring had a different property introduced by the owner. There was —
Citrus Spring – Infused with lemon and other citrus. The spring was said to introduce the natural vitamin C through the skin. 38°C
Tea Spring – Infused with green tea. Didn’t see any leaves. Felt like a normal spring. Said to aid the dissolution of anti-oxidants in the skin. 40°C.
Sand bath – Basically, pebbles of sand in a deep pool of hot, sulphourus spring water.
Fish Spring – Filled with tiny living fishies. The fishies come up and eat your dead skin. You have to be careful as not to stand on the little blighters when you get in. Tickles at first. This was definitely fun, and something I’ve not seen before. 40°C
Hot Spring – Just a normal hot spring. 40°C.
Monkey Spring – Hot with a large monkey pouring out water on the Chinese below… Hot 40+°C.
Roman Spring – In a Roman style. Large and opulent. 38°C
Roman Bath – In a circular ‘bath’ style. 30+°C
As well as the facilities which included a steam room and sauna, (my favorite).
Came out of here feeling a lot better for my soak. Took the taxi down to town which cost another 20 yuan.
Comes well recommended if you happen to be up that way.
Nice.
I intend to keep this up to date; giving clear GPS fixes of the most important religious sites in Egypt.
Mount Sinai
Where Moses received the ten Commandments.
Located: 28.539 33.975
Monastery of St. Anthony
The oldest surviving monastery.
Located: 28.936 32.352
Towns of Sodom & Gomorrah
God’s destruction upon early buggers.
Dead Sea Scrolls
Testament by the Essenes to the Second Coming of Christ. 
Located: 31.77369 35.2039
Church of the Nativity
Site of the Birth of Christ
Located: 31.70431 35.20736
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Site of the death of Christ
Located: 31.77802 35.22980
KML 31.70431 35.20736
Or Bet Lehem if you are catching a bus.
This is one of the most sacred cites for X-tians as it represents the spot where Jesus was brought into this world through the virgin Mary.
I travelled up here by taxi which cost 60Nsi.
There are no buses all the way and the taxi driver tells me it’s violent compared with Jerusalem a 10 minute journey away.
History
Again, like the Church of the Sepulcher, this was built in the rule of Constantine.
The site demarks some caves on which the initial basilica was built and further expanded and embellished at the time of the crusades.
Again, like the Sepulcher, it is divided up and in generally poor condition.
Doesn’t stop the tourists.
Downstairs you have a star demarking the actual site of Christ’s birth, then you have a marble shelf right representing the manger where the child was situated.
It’s all very interesting and touching, and after a while of reflection, I make my way upstairs.
The church is situated in the West Bank and is Palestinian.
You will need a passport if you want to travel here.
So much to see within the City Walls, it’s an experience in itself.
Old City is built in a valley, made up of a series of walkways, divided to 4 quarters reflecting the religious persuasion of that sections inhabitants.
I’ve devoted my attention to visiting the three most important sites in Jerusalem Old City:-
Jews – The Wailing Wall or Western Wall
KML 31.77607 35.23377
Originally making up part of Temple one for David, this Western wall is all that remains of the structure after being sacked by Titus Caesar of the Roman Empire, leaving a small part of the temple wall to give camp to his troops.
It is said that God offered his protection to the Temple in Midrash saying it would never be destroyed for when water ran from between it’s cracks, it symbolised the coming of the Messiah.
Jews approach the wall whilst bowing and kissing, some place hand written notes in the cracks. When they are finished bowing, kissing and praying they must back away still facing the structure.
This is tradition.
Christians – The Church of the Sepulcher
KML 31.77802 35.22980
Built on Golgotha site of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ around 333 by Emperor Constantine and the Bishop Saint Macarius. The church was fully destroyed in 1009 Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah and Control of Jerusalem, and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, continued to change hands several times between the Fatimids and the Seljuk Turks (loyal to the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad) until the arrival of the Crusaders in 1099.
The church fell back under Muslim control after Saladin who assigned responsibility for it to two neighbouring Muslim families. The Joudeh were entrusted with the key, and the Nusseibeh, who had been the custodians of the church since the days of Caliph Omar in 637, retained the position of keeping the door. This arrangement has persisted into modern times. Twice each day, a Joudeh family member brings the key to the door, which is locked and unlocked by a Nusseibeh.
Status Quo
In 1555 the Franciscan monks completed a transformation and a power struggle broke out within the various Christian factions for overall control of the site.
Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic, Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syriac Orthodox all jockeyed for power and rights, resulted in common area’s becoming a ‘no mans land’ where Status Quo reigned, no work is undertaken, and conflict, often violent, is regular.Divided into different sections, you may want to take a guide, although the church still has impact without it and is graced with many thousands of visitors every day.
Muslims – Dome of the Rock
KML 31.77607 35.23377
This Golden Dome is only accessible by Muslims. Heavily guarded, you will find most of the hostility surrounds this structure and it’s construction on one of the most holy sites of the Jews.
It is the oldest extant Islamic building in the world built in 691 on the spot where Mohammed is said to have ascended to heaven.
The dome is said to have been inspired by the other basilicas around the city, and initially built using 20,000 gold pieces “whose shine could not be witnessed by the bare eye”.
Non-Muslims are not allowed into this section.
These are the main sites, though there are many, many more.
You should spend a few days trying to discover them all.
