Summer 2007 Week 3 ::: Egypt

Days 16 & 17 ::: All of Thursday was spent getting from Antigua to New York via Guatemala City and Houston. I finally got to Zac's place in Chelsea (thanks again!) around 11:30pm and after chatting him up for a while I left and went to Bar 13 for Taimur's Blk Market Membership party with Stadenco and some of the Crosstown Rebels crew (Jamie Jones and Matt Tolfrey). I stayed until sometime just before 3am and then went back to Zac's to organize my things and pull a blog all-nighter.
I slept from 7-10am and then got up to do some last minute shopping. Needless to say I was very rushed and wound up re-packing my bag with way too much stuff! I caught the flight out of JFK at 4:45pm, landed in Rome 7 hours later and then sad around during my 2-hour layover. For the first time in a long time, I actually couldn't sleep...which wasn't fun since I hadn't slept much the night before. After hanging in the Rome airport for a bit, I boarded the flight to Cairo and then had to sit on the plane for three hours before taking off (first a fight between an Italian and an Arab and then mechanical problems). Lovely. The flight itself took another three hours, which meant I finally arrived in Egypt around 4:30pm local time. The bad news - I missed the opening dinner cruise. The good news - I got to hang out, eat and sleep at my incredible FIVE STAR hotel with a view of the Pyramids of Giza (-: I met my roommates for the trip - Meegen and Melissa, both Aussies living in London - and then passed out. PS - check the map above for my 17 day route through Egypt and Jordan.

Day 18 ::: After an incredible 11 hours of sleep, I woke up, ate breakfast and got the Middle Eastern adventure underway! I met the rest of the crew - 18 Aussies, 1 Brit and me and then we got the trip started with a bang. We went straight to the Pyramids of Giza and spent some time at each of the three - Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus. The first of the three and largest, Cheops, was built around 2600 BC and needed 2.5 million limestone blocks (weighing in excess of 6 million tons) for completion. The pyramids are even more awe-inspiring than I could have imagined. Simply enormous, stunning and majestic. Despite numerous explanations, it is still really hard to comprehend the construction process. We also rode camels (mine was a bit loco) and visited the lion-headed Sphinx. After the first set of spectacular sights, we went to a government supervised papyrus emporium to buy souvenirs. Papyrus is an early form of paper produced from the pith of the papyrus plant (the rind is stripped, then the sticky inner fiber cut into strips, and last the strips are weaved together then soaked and dried under pressure). After the paper is made, it is used for writing and painting. The art is stunning so of course I picked up a few gifts and one for me. I choose a scene depicting the Goddess of the Sky, Nut (pronounced Noot), swallowing the sun. How appropriate for my vampire lifestyle!

Riding a Camel at the Pyramids of Giza:





That afternoon we grabbed a traditional Egyptian noodle and rice snack, kushari, and then drove to the ancient necropolis of Saqqara where we explored tombs, temples and the very first pyramid, Zhoser's step pyramid which was constructed in 2650 BC by Imhotep, the Pharaoh's chief architect. After a full first day, we stopped at a resort for Egyptians, where we swam, showered and changed before heading to the overnight train to Aswan. In case you're wondering what Muslim women wear in the swimming pool... all their clothes. And in case you're wondering what music was being played poolside... Sharam's "Party All The Time", Green Velvet's "Shake and Pop" as well as a variety of dance hits from 2006 with a smattering of 50 Cent! I was DYING!!! I spent a long time talking to one of our young tour guides about Egyptian love, life and marriage - so interesting!! And he happened to be one of the very small minority of Christians. After that, it was a relatively uninteresting night spent on the overnight train... don't worry, I upgraded to the sleeper car.

Day 19 ::: Let me take a quick minute to tell you about Egypt. The majority of the country sits on the African continent (above Sudan and to the East of Libya), however, the Sinai peninsula is actually in Asia. Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The vast majority of its 78 million people live near the banks of the Nile River, the only 4% of the entire country that is non-desert and arable. Well over 90% of the population is Muslim, although there is a small Coptic Christian population.

Back to Day 19. We got off the sleeper train and made our way to the Basma Hotel in Aswan to check in, sunbath and eat poolside. While I was hanging out, I met a 30 year old guy from Sudan who is currently living in Virginia. He married an Egyptian woman a few years ago and just returned to the country for the birth of his first son, Abdul. (He lives and works in the States, but his wife remains in Egypt.) We spent some time talking about the US, the Middle East, Darfur and a bunch of other interesting topics. Then he brought his 40 day old baby outside to meet me (-: That afternoon we went to see the High Dam of Aswan, built to avoid flooding on the banks of the River Nile and to harness the power of the water for electricity. The dam created Lake Nasser, the largest artificial lake in the world, which extends all the way to Sudan! During our visit to the dam, I started speaking in Arabic (I've picked up a few words), to the guards and they quickly responded, trying to chat me up. The conversation quickly turned to religion. In fact, they asked if I was Christian, which made me slightly uncomfortable so I lied and responded "yes". One said, "me, too" but then I quickly said goodbye and walked away. It made me feel horrible to lie and to feel awkward, but I felt saying yes was better than admitting my lack of faith. Traveling here is definitely a new experience!

After taking in the view from the dam, we took a short boat ride to an island in the Nile, home of the Philae temple, which was dedicated to the god Iris. That night was devoted to shopping in a local market where I bought a bag of Indigo (the best whitener you can find for laundry) and Hibiscus flowers (for tea). I also made a stop at the pharmacy and bought the antibiotic, Cipro, for the amazingly low price of $6.

Day 20 ::: The wake up call came at 5am so we could catch a flight to Abu Simbel, 30 minutes south of Aswan and only a few km from the border of Sudan. Abu Simbel is home to a gargantuan rock temple of King Ramses II and another of his wife, Nefertari. The four main statues are each 20m high! Ummm, that is huge in case you are wondering! As a side note, it hasn't rained in this region in 6 years. It's dry and it's hot. Like really hot. After the quick visit and return flight, I went back to cool off at the pool and quickly made friends with four young Egyptian kids, who I taught how to do cannonballs despite the language barrier.




After a swim and shower, we made our way to the banks of the River Nile four our 2 day, 2 night felucca cruise. A felucca is a very simple sailboat with a flat top and cushions for lounging. Ours held 8 people and two captains - no bathroom, no frills, just the wind in the sails. We sailed for a bit that evening then tied up on the river bank to eat dinner and visit a traditional Nubian house. Nubians are the dark-skinned Egyptians from the south, who have their own distinct language and culture. The house we visited was that of the local mayor and has a very large open air courtyard that is used to entertain guests. We enjoyed some beverages, smoked sheesha and listened to stories from our beloved tour guide, Sharif. If you can possibly imagine it, Sharif is part Egyptian, part Derek Zoolander, part Rainman, part Borat... hysterical!!! That night, the bug nets came down and we slept aboard the felucca on the shore of the river. It actually got quite cold, but as soon as the sun came back up it was HOT HOT HOT!



Day 21 ::: The day got off to a leisurely start so we didn't set sail until 10am. We spent the entire day cruising the river, alternating between sleeping, reading, snoozing, snacking and sunning. Sometime around sunset we pulled to the embankment to hang for the evening and before we even knew it, we were engaged in a locals vs. tourists sand soccer match! We scored the first goal, but needless to say, the locals were too much for even the Aussies and me to handle. We climbed back aboard the felucca for dinner and then had a camp fire complete with songs, games and a mummy contest. Sometime around 11pm, we pushed back out to the water and coasted along throughout the night, landing at our final destination the next morning. Night sailing on the Nile - unforgettable!!! Well except for the part when Kent held on to the rope in the back and left a present in the river. Ewww.





Day 22 ::: Another early morning, this time 6:30am. We got off the felucca at Kom Omo, said goodbye to our captains and then boarded a bus for the Kom Ombo Temple and then the Temple of Horus at Edfu. We actually had to use a police convoy for this part of the trip - more for tradition and police overtime $$ than for safety. We finally arrived in Luxor at 2pm and checked into another five star hotel, the Sonesta St. George. I'm starting to get spoiled! After some pool time, an Egyptian Mezze lunch plate (7 different foods) and a Mai Tai at the swim-up bar, I went back to the room for a shower and wound up catching Laguna Beach on TV with Arabic subtitles. Pretty funny!

Our tour guide spent an hour that evening telling us about modern Egypt - everything from the dating/courting procedures (two coffee dates and then a proposal) to politics. It was great to hear his perspective on the current state of affairs in Egypt, since we had been focusing most of our time on the ancient periods. We then took a horse and carriage to the Temple of Luxor for an incredible night viewing and then grabbed dinner and did some jewelry shopping. I used dinner to probe Sharif further on issues related to modern Egypt - admitting some of my preconceived notions of the Arab world and pushing him on issues related to religion and gender. Despite all of the warnings everyone gave me about coming here, I must say, I have had a very positive experience and great interactions with the locals. They have been extremely friendly, especially when I have tried to speak in Arabic.


Day 23 ::: 6am AGAIN! But as with all of the previous early wake-up calls, it was well worth it! We hit the Colossi of Memnon, the Valley of the Kings (tombs, mummies and buried treasure of all the kings hidden deep beneath massive rock formations), Queen Hatshepsut's Temple, the Valley of the Queens and Temple Karnak (a complex of sanctuaries, pylons, chapels, halls and obelisks - the largest place of worship in the world). Now is probably a good time to note that Luxor is home to 1/3 of the world's monuments... and Egypt has 2/3!! I'd also like to mention that the afternoon temperature reached the mid 40s, (approx 110 Fahrenheit). After a full first half of the day in the ridiculous heat, I rewarded myself with poolside meal of shwarma before we set off for an 18 hour bus ride to Dahab (which involved a police convoy of 110 buses!!).