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I love Egypt. The food is inexpensive and delicious. The people are beautiful and friendly. The landscape is colorful and diverse. The history and archeological sites are fascinating and intriguing. Feel free to read about our travels in chronological order, or choose a location below. CAIRO: APRIL 18, 2000 - APRIL 21,
2000
CAIRO: MOTHER OF THE EARTH. EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, PYRAMIDS, CAMEL MARKET AND LOADS OF CULTURE!! Wednesday, April 19, 2000: First Full day in Cairo We are really enjoying the city of Cairo. We are staying in Central Cairo, which is a cosmopolitan area close to many sites and the Nile river. We woke up early this morning and headed over to the American University of Cairo to look for some cheap guide books and breakfast. We found both. We then made our way to the Egyptian Museum. We were amazed by the thousands of tombs, statutes, jewels, and other artifacts which date back thousands of years to the Ancient Egyptian culture. We were particularly impressed with the large collection of artifacts from King Tut's tomb, including the famous funerary mask (see 2 Go Cairo Photos). After a full morning at the Museum, we ate a delicious meal of Kushari, which is made of noodles, rice, tomato sauce, lentils and chick peas and caramelized onions. Later in the afternoon, we walked into Islamic Cairo to look around and see if the famous cultural Sufi dancing was still going on for Wednesday and Saturday nights. As we were walking, we came across a friendly Egyptian man who now lives in Germany, but was spending his holiday back here at home. He knew where the Sufi dancing was and offered to walk us there. We enjoyed our walk through the alleys and markets of Islamic Cairo. I particularly enjoyed walking past the jail. Hundreds of inmates were hanging their arms out the barred windows calling out to us. It was amusing. We soon learned that this friendly man was only taking us to a papyrus shop so that we could buy some goods and he could thereby earn himself a hefty commission. We felt cheated and used. However, we left the shop empty handed, and so did he. It took us a while to ditch him, but when we did, we finally made it to the Sufi dancing location. However, he had monopolized our time too long, and we were too far back in line to get in. Since the next dance would not be until Saturday night, we were to be denied this cultural treat. We will not let that particular experience with the phony man ruin our attitudes about the friendly Egyptian people. We enjoy their welcoming gestures. Yes, many of them want us to buy their perfumes and art, but when we politely decline, they politely accept. Friday, April 21, 2000 Another full day in Cairo. After visiting the Pyramids at Giza and Coptic Cairo yesterday, you would have thought that finally, today, we would relax. However, once again, the day began early. We had to be at the Sun Hotel at 6:00 am to catch a van to the famous camel market which is located about one hour outside of Cairo. Thankfully, we only stayed at the camel market for 2 hours. Although, it was interesting, we have seen many camels already. Furthermore, the camels here had one leg tied, and they looked like they were not too pleased with the prospect of being sold for tours, carrying loads, or.....dinner. We did, however, learn a lot about the camels and how they walk all of the way here through the Sahara desert from Sudan. We also had the thrill of running away from the camels that managed to break free from their shackles. Later in the afternoon, we explored Islamic Cairo once again. This time, we avoided any friendly solicitations and managed to see the Citadel and the Mosque of Mohammad Ali, as well as the famous Khan-al-Khalli market.
LUXOR: THE ANCIENT CITY OF THEBES. FASCINATING TEMPLES AND TOMBS Monday, April 24, 2000 Luxor is a magical place. The town itself is situated along the Nile. It is fun to walk around and talk to the local Egyptians. We have also explored the ancient tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. We were amazed at the wonderful carvings and paintwork. It is all still very well preserved. The Luxor Temple (built 1414 B.C.-323 B.C.) which is located in the town is a magnificent sight when it is all lit up at night. I had a mysterious and grand feeling as I roamed through the massive pillared courts and the small sanctuaries. Our final day we explored the Temple of Karnak, which was dedicated to the God, Amun-Re. It was much larger than Luxor, yet not as magical. We believed that this was probably due to the fact that we were seeing it during the day, instead of all lit up at night. This is why we decided to return in the evening for the light show. It was a delightful presentation. The temple looked so beautiful all lit up, and we learned a lot about the Pharoas who constructed and added to the temple, as well as about the festivals that took place within the temple and the deterioration that occurred after the fall of Egypt to Alexander the Great. After the light show, we took a horse and carriage back into town. It was a very pleasant evening.
ASWAN: HAPPY NUBIAN PEOPLE AND THE RIVER NILE Friday, April 28, 2000 We are now on our train to Cairo. I feel very fortunate to be on this train. However, I will get to that later. Let me begin this entry with an introduction to the friendly Nile town of Aswan. Aswan is a small city that lies along the Nile and was, at one time, the end of the civilized road. The Nubian people occupied the land for thousands of years, until they were taken over by the Ancient Egyptian kingdoms who saw the potential for making a lot of money. The Nubian people to this day, however, have still held on to their traditions and sincere friendly attitudes. We had a wonderful time living in the small city of Aswan for several days. We walked along the busy market streets, visited the amazing Ancient Egyptian Temple of Philae which was dedicated to the God of Isis and learned more about the Nubian culture at the very well organized Nubian Museum. However, our favorite Aswan activity was our daily felucca ride with our friend, Captain Abdula. See Meet Captain Abdula. As we walked down the streets tonight with our heavy backpacks on towards the train station, all of the shop owners were waiving goodbye to us as if they were truly going to miss us. I was touched and energized by their warm gestures and so happy to be in the friendly country of Egypt. The good mood continued as we entered the train station ready to board our night train back to Cairo. We had ourselves some warm Kushari to eat on the train and an ice cold bottle of coke to wash it down. We arrived at the train station at 7:45 pm with plenty of time to board our car and find our seats for the 8:00 pm train. While searching for car #3, we were stopped by a man who was wearing a sloppy blue jumpsuit offering to help us find our train car. We showed him our tickets and he hit the front of his head and said, "Your train has already left. This is the 9:15 pm train!" Now, we have been traveling for 7 months and we were not going to fall for this scam. The scam goes like this: the so called "porter" takes you to a so called "train official" who will require that you pay an extra "fee" in order to get on the train for which you already have a ticket.So we grabbed our tickets and walked off in a different direction in search of car #3. On our way we checked with people to make sure that this was the train to Cairo. They all confirmed that yes it was the train to Cairo. We soon reached car #3 and successfully boarded. We were so proud of ourselves for outsmarting the con artist on the platform. However, before we could take out our Kushari, the big man ran onto our train, sweating and panting. He was yelling at us and telling us that this was not our train. Our bags were already on the luggage rack and the time was now 7:50 pm. Rich decided he would follow the man outside to settle the matter once and for all. I stayed on the train with our bags. Frustrated, I turned around and pleaded with the people on the train to help us. However, they all looked at me with blank faces as if they did not understand English. Moments later a young gentleman boarded the train. I asked him what time the train left and he responded "9:15 pm". I shrugged off his answer, thinking that he was just getting his English mixed up, because why would all of these people be on the train if it did not leave for over an hour. And so I sat, frustrated and now tired. My energy and enthusiasm from before was drained out of me. The frustration quickly turned into fear when all of a sudden the train began to move. I jumped up and exclaimed, "Stop the train! My husband is out there!" The train man in charge of my car told me that this was not possible. My worst nightmare was coming true...alone in a foreign country without a passport or money, as Rich had been carrying those critical items. Even worse, poor Rich! What would he do. The next train did not leave until the next morning. As I continued to yell at the man, the Egyptian parents were trying to explain to their children why this crazy American was ranting and raving. Then, the crazy porter came into our car from the adjoining car and once again told me that we were on the wrong train, but that we could now stay. Rich followed close behind him. He apparently had managed to jump onto the train just at it was leaving the station. As it turns out, we were on the 9:15 pm train. Today was the day in Egypt where everyone was to turn their clocks forward for daylight savings time. As travelers who do not have televisions and do not read the newspaper everyday, we were not aware of this important piece of information. I was embarrassed and ashamed of myself. It was our distrust in people that caused ourselves and the others a lot of unnecessary grief, The poor porter had really gone out of his way to help us out. Lucky for us, the train was not full and everything worked out in the end.
Here he is...the porter who tried to help us out.
And that is about it for our return trip to Cairo...except for my visit to the Anglo-American Hospital to make sure that my stomach cramps were not anything serious (they were not) and our visit to the mall for McDonalds and a movie! Monday, May 8, 2000 We just arrived back to our nice little beach hotel after a night climb of Mt. Sinai. Mt. Sinai is the spot where Moses is said to have received the 10 Commandments from God. The climb itself was a little rough at 2:00 a.m. However, when we arrived to the top, we were rewarded by the brilliant twinkling stars which were soon followed by a brilliant and colorful sunrise. The sky changed colors so many times before the sun peaked over the mountaintops in the distance. Rich has expressed his desire to stay yet one more day in Dahab, the great little beach town in which we have been living for the past 8 or 9 days. I can hardly blame him as we have been having a great time. We have done some great snorkeling and we visited the canyons and an oasis in the desert and even swam with a wild dolphin named Oline who has befriended a mute boy and returns to his boat almost daily to see her friend, Abdola. One of our favorite activities has been the competitive card games that we play down by the waters edge. It is very difficult to leave this place. Although I have been maintaining the hard line and demanding that we get back on the road, I feel myself being sucked into the beach life and sharing Rich's desire to stay just one more day. Why not!!! But eventually we had to get back on the road. On to Jordan.
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Yesterday, at
the pyramids, we met a nice Canadian man by the
name of Gersh. He invited us on a felucca ride with his ex-patriot friends
who live in the city. We decided to take him up on it, and we met them
today at 4:00 along the river Nile. We had a great time with Lorra, Massy.
Andy, Mike and Gersh as we sailed on an Egyptian sailboat along the Nile, as you
can see by the photograph.
