Egypt: Luxor to Cairo

Day 8 (March 16, 2007): This morning we board our flight to Cairo. Upon arrival we head for the fascinating bazaar Khan El Khalili and the opportunity for some last minute bazaar shopping. (Breakfast included)

I had set my alarm for 9:30, but woke up at 9am and wasn’t feeling so great. I took a bunch of drugs and layed down for a bit. At 10am Tara and I went down for breakfast. Breakfast was pretty good and even had fresh made-to-order omelets. Tara and I sat alone (except for the birds that wouldn’t leave us alone) until we eventually moved to share a table with Jason (NY) and Karen. People floated in and out of breakfast, eventually I was just hanging out with Jacqui soaking in the sun. After a bit I went upstairs for a shower and to pack up. Just as I finished getting ready Tara came in, which was handy because then she would be there to put the luggage out while I went to use the internet. I’ll digress for a minute... Egypt is a Muslim Country and the Muslims pray several times a day. Periodically throughout the day there would be a call to prayer – over the loud speakers they would broadcast prayers (I think) throughout the cities. It’s fairly loud and very distinctive. When I was ready to go use the internet the call to prayer was still going on. I thought the call to prayer meant people were actually praying, but it actually means they're supposed to go to whereever they are going to pray so they can pray. Since it hadn’t really affected anything we had done so far I didn’t think much of it.

While I was walking over to the internet, which was just around the block, many men said hello to me and that I was beautiful, I have to admit that that made me feel more uncomfortable then good. When I got to the internet place I asked the guy how much for half an hour, he said it was 10 LE, but he had to close up to pray. I probably made a face turned on my heel and left, I was not happy and was having an ignorant tourist moment. So if you’re that guy – I’m sorry I was rude. Then I had to walk past the same people who said hi, and that I’m beautiful, which is even more fun when I'm grumpy. Back at the hotel I ran into Jacqui and hung out with her for a few minutes before going back to the room.

At 1:15 we all met in the lobby to take the bus to Karnak Temple. The temple is HUGE and so is everything in it. The colonnade room alone could hold Notre Dame Cathedral. There seemed to be a lot of excavation and work being done. The temple was built on top of another temple, which they can’t get to without destroying Karnak temple. In one area they had a pool, which was looking really disgusting, and was used to cleanse by the ancient Egyptians. Sherif said that when the Nile would rise it would clean the water out, but I wasn’t convinced it was a place to cleanse. Across from the pool was a scarab that after the Egyptians came out of the pool they were supposed to run around – for good luck. Adam and Tara skipped the pool but they did run around the scarab.

After Karnak we had a chance for a gourmet lunch – McDonalds. I learned on my last trip that when everyone gets off the bus at McDonalds and you actually want to eat lunch you have to be quick, I was one of the first people on line. For that I got to eat in the McDonalds. I guess the anti-supersize thing didn’t transfer over to Egypt because the fries and soda were huge. But the place did have a nice view of a new courtyard and Karnak Temple. After lunch we went to the airport.

We arrived at the airport around 4:00 for a 5:00 flight, before we got off the bus Sherif told us to take our own luggage and inside it would get scanned by security. When I got my suitcase some guy tried to take it for me (naturally he would have wanted baksheesh for the trouble), I had to pull it away from him to get him to let go. Hey, I don’t mind when people take my luggage but I can handle taking it 20 feet by myself. On our flight to Cairo I sat next to Jason (SLC) and Jen (on the other side of the aisle). The flight was only about an hour.

When we were back in Cairo we had a brand new Spring Tours (the company that manages Contiki tours in Egypt) bus, the plastic was still on the seats, which naturally prompted a plastic fight. Our first stop was the Khan el-Khalili Market, for an hour and a half visit. Sherif told us that he doesn’t take the Trafalgar Tours to the market since they don’t seem to enjoy it, I have to say that I couldn't picture my parents here. The market is one of the oldest, biggest markets in the world, but we stayed in the touristy area of it. While I had done most of my traveling in Egypt with a guy (husband) around, Jen, Tara and I spent most of our time there together without a guy and had no troubles, or at least no more then we had anywhere else when guys were around. But it was insanely crowded here and everyone was calling to you to get you to look at there stuff, some asked why you didn’t want to look at thier stuff, some shoved stuff in your face. After about 2 minutes I thought that I might go insane and become an angry woman, but I made it through the market ok. I even bought some stuff; a singing camel for my nephew was my best purchase. Ed wasn’t so happy with being there either, but in the end he bought a chess set so I guess it worked out ok for him too.

On the bus back I mostly sat with Sherif in the front and got to discuss the US and Cairo with him. Apparently they have some different traffic laws here, you can put extra lights on your car, you have to wear a seatbelt, but they don’t seem to have laws, or simply don't enforce them, regarding emissions. And have I mentioned that the lines on the road are only there because they thought it was a good idea?

We got back to the Oasis hotel around 10pm, it was sad being back, it meant that the end of the tour was near, and I was having too much fun for it to end. Back at the hotel everyone went by the pool for some dinner. I had a burger and poor Tara had the worst/weirdest cheese sandwich (who new you could screw up grilled cheese?). I don’t think the rest of her dinner was any better. Went back to the room at 11:15, it was a long day, and I was exhausted.

Egypt: Luxor 7

Day 7 (March 15, 2007): We visit the Valley of the Kings where King Tutankhamun was burried We continue to the Colossos of Memnon. This afternoon we check in to our hotel before leaving for the magnificent temple of Karnak. Later why not enjoy a camel ride through a local village in Luxor. (Breakfast included)

I was up at 4am so I could make sure I had enough time to shower and do my last minute packing. I had woken up in the middle of the night yelling, "No, No, No" then I woke up and was disoriented and asked, "hello? is anyone there." Tara told me I was fine and I went back to sleep. I had had a dream that I was at a market and someone was trying to all but drag me into a shop and I didn't want to go. I think that expresses how I feel about the markets! At 5:00 we had to have our bags outside our rooms and had to be in the lobby at 5:10. Once everyone was downstairs we were driven to a boat that was to take us to the West Bank of the Nile. Then we were driven to the hot air balloons, we were taking a green one. While on the boat we were given a little information about the ride. We were told there are 3 types of landings. I don’t remember what he called the first one, but it was where you slid into the next town. The second landing was where you kinda bounced a bit until you came to a stop. The third, Egyptian, is where you come to a gentle stop.

The balloon has 5 compartments, the pilot is in the middle one and the other 4 hold 5 people each, though 4 would fit more comfortably. I was with Natasha, Anton, Jason (SLC), and Karen. When we got there the balloon was mostly filled and we boarded while they continued to fill it. Then they unhitched the balloon from the truck (yes, we were being held down by a truck) and the guys working jiggled us a bit and we quietly floated up into the sky. I remember it as being quiet, but any time they turned on the propane it was really loud and hot. The hot was nice since it was chilly out, but it was annoying when it was loud. We got to see the sunrise over the Nile, people’s roofs, farms. It was fun and interesting, a totally different view of the city then you would get any other way. The workers followed us to the other side of the Nile by van since where you land depends on the winds. Our pilot pointed things out from time to time, like Karnak Temple. After 45 minutes we landed (second type of landing) in a sugar cane field (the sugar cane was already cut). When we landed we saw a couple kids running to us, along with the guys who work on the balloons, I would think since they do this pretty much everyday the excitement (for the kids) would wear off, but apparently not. We had to wait inside the basket until they had the balloon down and off. At first I think it was incase we weren’t totally stable, then I think it was because the workers were busy cleaning up the balloon. After we were all out and cleaned up they sang and played us music, not forgetting to collect baksheesh. After that we were driven to the place where we were supposed to meet Sherif and the 5 people who didn’t go on this optional.

At 8:00 we met up with everyone at Colossi of Memnon, took some pictures and then boarded the bus. Sherif told us a little about the excavation there and that every week when he returns they have found new items. This has made me realize that while everyone thinks of Egypt as a “once in a lifetime” vacation, you could come back here in 10 years and there will be new things to see.

Our next stop was Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple which was built for Hatshepsut. As part of seeing the temple we had to take a tram (a new mode of transportation for the trip), which wasn’t totally necessarily as the walk isn’t that long. Unfortunately, Hatshepsut pissed her husband off by kicking him out of Egypt, he returned years later. She disappeared not too long after and her body has still not been found. Her husband attempted to erase her from Egypt by destroying or erasing anything that referenced her. In many spots in this temple there are areas where a figure (Hatshepsut) was erased off the walls. Otherwise the temple was good and seemed to be in good shape, it also seemed like the Egyptians were taking more then the usual steps (they roped off areas of the temple so you couldn’t touch things) to protect this temple.

On the way into the temple Adam got one of the guys in the market to agree to 2 scarves for 20 LE and the guy found Adam and I on the way out. However, the guy wouldn’t give us the scarves we wanted for 20 LE, he would only give us the cheap ones. After about 10 minutes of going back and forth with the guy we just got back on the bus, without scarves, and left for our next stop, the Valley of the Kings.

Along the way Sherif told us how thousands of years ago, during the bad periods of Egypt people would rob the Pyramids, to cut down on that they tried to hide the resting places of the Pharoses so they used tombs in the Valley of the Kings. But they were still robbed. When people found tombs they would build their house on top of the tomb so no one else could get to it and they have been there for thousands of years. In an effort to reclaim the tombs (and other parts of Luxor) Egyptian officials are moving entire villages of people, this year they are moving a village from the Valley of the Kings area. Last year they moved a village from the area of Karnak Temple.

The Valley of the Kings is an absolute highlight of the trip. When we got in Sherif bought us our admission ticket which includes admission to 3 tombs and gave us the option to purchase a separate ticket for King Tut’s tomb. Unfortunately, we were not able to take photos inside the tombs and since there were guards inside, it would have been pretty hard to take them without having to pay someone off. The first tomb we went to was tomb #2, KV2, Ramsses IV. Inside the tomb was exactly what I pictured a tomb being like, it had beautiful pictures and a bunch of rooms for the Pharoses stuff. The second tomb we went to was tomb #11, KV11, Ramses III. This one also had beautiful pictures and lots of rooms. What was unique about this tomb is that Ramses III died while they were building it so at the end there are rooms that were dug out, but were left unfinished.

Along the way we saw KV5 which was built for Ramses II’s children (he had about 100 – they were adopted and from around the world). When they initially found this tomb they only found a small part of it. In 1995 after massive rain (and flooding of the tomb) they found the whole network of rooms inside the tomb, unfortunately the tomb is still being fixed (most of it was collapsed from the floods) so you can’t go inside, but it's supposed to be really big with lots of passage ways and rooms. Our next stop was tomb #34, KV34, Thutmoses III. This tomb was designed to be well hidden to prevent grave robbing, the entrance was high in the mountain, we had to climb a large set of stairs, then climb down in what was intentionally designed to be a dangerous walk (they’ve found the bones of many who died trying to steal from the tomb). Inside it was really hot and smelly (I think one of the guards was to blame) and the pictures (which were covered with plastic) weren’t as detailed. The theory on that was that it was too hot to work for long periods inside so they made the designs simpler then was usual. Inside there were some guards and the one in the burial chamber was “helping” people by shining a flashlight inside the coffin. Naturally he wanted baksheesh and he didn’t give change. I know this because someone from tour got sucked into this and couldn’t get change. At that, he made the guard show everyone else from tour inside the coffin and got mad when the guard tried to ask other people for baksheesh.

It was pretty hot and people were getting really hungry so Sherif took us to a shady spot and spoke to us about King Tut’s tomb (KV62). In 1922 his tomb was found by Carter and is the most complete of the tombs that have been found. King Tut died young and there wasn’t time for a proper tomb to be built, they only had the 70 days it takes to mummify the body to make create the tomb, so they used an already existing tomb, which is one of the reasons it is so small. At the Cairo Museum we were able to see all the stuff that was inside the tomb and all I have to say is that it was probably worse then my storage unit is! Never mind that the body was inside 3 different coffins that were inside 4 or 5 gold boxes. But King Tut’s body is still inside the tomb and has only been out of the tomb twice, once when the tomb was discovered and once in 2005 to do a body scan on him. I can remember learning about King Tut as a child, that he was the boy King, he died and 16 and was probably poisoned. When they did the body scan of him they found out that he in fact died at 19 years old and that he died from gangrene caused by a broken leg. After our little talk we went inside the tomb. While the tomb was significantly smaller then the other tombs we had been in, this tomb was just as decorated and grand inside as the others and it had his mummy inside too. After that we left and finally had some lunch around noon.

We got to our 5 star hotel a little after 1:00 and the hotel was awesome! We had balconies in our room and used a few minutes of my free time to take some pictures of people on there balconies. Then it was time for a much needed nap.

At 4:00 we met in the lobby to take a camel ride. Sherif had told us to try and get smaller bills for our tips, but the money exchange place was closed. I somehow ended up talking to the car for hire guy, who exchanged some money for me. Then after about a minute of conversation he told me he loved me. Luckily Sherif showed up right after that so I could bail out since I was NOT in love after a one minute conversation. Sherif took us to a boat to take us to the other side of the Nile where we were meeting the camels. We had the option of taking a camel, donkey or a horse. Since I had ridden a camel and a horse I opted for a donkey, as did many other people. My donkey’s name was Bob Marley and my guide was Mohammed. Mohammed was 10 years old who showed me the different trees and sites, along with saying to me, “no woman no cry.” Previously Sherif had told us that in Egypt a couple years ago they had tried having woman Police Officers, but after 2 years they abandoned it because the men didn’t respect the woman enough. I thought that was sad and that I should send over some scary ass woman cops to kick some ass. So I asked Mohammed if I tried to arrest him if he would laugh at me and he said, “Yes.” I was shocked and horrified as you might imagine, and acted it, at which point he patronized me by saying he wouldn’t really, but I know he probably would. How sad that woman get so little respect. On the donkey ride we went through a little town, it was funny because many of the locals came out to see us and some of their doors were open so you could see in. While the houses seemed like simple mud brick, most seemed to have satellite dishes, which cracked me up.

After the donkey ride we stopped at a local house for tea and bread. I have to say I didn’t really like the bread even though it was ancient Egyptian bread, but the tea was good. We got a tour of the house. We saw the kitchen with the ancient (literally) oven and modern stove, the TV room, the other kitchen with the sink and fridge and the bathroom. I took a picture of my traveling giraffe on a couch and the grandmother there laughed at me – crazy Americans! Back by the Nile waiting to go back to the hotel we had the option to stop for 3 LE sodas, the local price, as opposed to the 10 LE that we usually had to pay in the tourist places. Apparently the guy tried to charge Anton more, but Anton told him that he was only paying 3 and he won.

Back at the hotel we had a few minutes until Gary (who decided not to go on this camel ride) met us at 6:30 to go to Luxor Temple. We got to take horse and buggies to the temple, my partner for the ride was Jacquie. Our driver offered to take our picture, which we both accepted. The picture he took with Jacquie’s camera was blurry and mine was crooked and then he had the nerve to ask for baksheesh. We told him our guide would tip him. Then some little kid handed me a flower and having a blonde moment I accepted it, then had to give him baksheesh for some dinky little flower I didn’t even want, Owell.

Once we got to the front of the Temple I recognized it immediately from Las Vegas, except something was off. The real Temple only has one Obelisk; the Egyptians gave it to the French in exchange for a broken clock, the French really made out on that deal! That obelisk can be found in Paris. The lighting at the Temple was great, too bad I didn’t have my tripod. The temple had a part in it where the Christians had cut out an area for use in religious ceremonies, we didn’t see anything like this in any of the other temples and it even struck me as a Christian type of design. The other thing that stood out was the god of fertility… At 8:00 we finally left the temple, Sherif had us come during dinner time so that the temple would be less crowded, so everyone was starved when we got back to the hotel for dinner.

Sherif arraigned for us to have table set up at the hotels Italian restaurant for dinner since dinner wasn’t included. I had pizza, which was surprisingly good. Jacquie and I explained a lot about the typical Contiki tours to Jen, who had never done a Contiki before, and we also gossiped a bit about the tour.

After dinner we all went back to our rooms to get ready for a big night out on the town which was to start in Adam and Craigs room. Tim, Ed, Tara, Jacqui, Sherif, Jen, Sharon, Alan, Kelley, Craig and occasionally Jenna and Adam were in Craig and Adams room. Adam and Jenna at one point decided they were going to go collect glasses for drinking and I gave them my key to the room and told them to be careful because Tara’s key was in our room (you had to leave the key in a slot in the room so there would be power in the room to recharge the battery for the camera I had lent to Adam), except they didn’t come back. After a while Tara said we had to go out to the bar so we left a note for Adam about our key and everyone went out. The bar was pretty much across the street – an Irish Pub in Cairo which didn’t seem all that Irish. Everyone danced a bit, but there really weren’t too many people there. Around 11:00 Tara asked if I wanted to go out for Sheesha, I decided to do that, with the intention of going back to the bar. We wandered for a few minutes and ended up at the hotel. First Tara and I got new keys while the guys went to find out about Sheesha, which they had just stopped serving. In the meantime we ran into Adam. When Adam got back to his room he saw the note about the key and thought it said to leave the key in our room, but when he got to our room he was afraid we were asleep so he just slid it under the door. When he got back to his room he realized he was supposed to leave the key in his room so he went back to our room and spent 20 minutes trying to get it back out for us. After all that I couldn’t even tell you if he did get the key back and it didn’t really matter since we had new keys anyway. Ed, Adam, Tara, Craig and I went to a Sheesha place that the guy at the hotel recommended. We hung out there until about 1am when Tara and I went back to our room, the rest of the guys went back to the bar where the rest of the group was. Apparently they didn't stay out much longer, something about Craig being drunk and a transvestite at the bar – I’m sorry I missed it.

Egypt: Edfu to Luxor

Day 6 (March 14, 2007): Today starts with a visit to Egypt's best preserved temple dedicated to Horus, the Falcon God. Casting off, we spend the afternoon on board watching Upper Egypt slip by. We arrive in Luxor (the ancient city of Thebes) in time to view the temple of Luxor. (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner included)

This morning we were meeting at 6:45 to go to Edfu Temple. Edfu Temple was built for Horus, the falcon god, and is the best preserved temple in Egypt. We were running a few minutes late this morning so we were not the first ones inside, but Sherif rushed us through so we were ahead of some other group and could get a picture of the inside of the temple before there was anyone inside. We were beginning to realize that Sherif made us get up early sometimes so that we could beat the crowds. While it’s nice to sleep late, I would rather be up a little earlier and not have to deal with as many people, by the time we left there were tons of people there.

Inside the temple Sherif showed us how the ceilings were dark and dirty, which we saw in other temples in Egypt. When the Egyptian religion fell the temples were no longer cared for and the poor often lived inside the temples, the smoke from fires is what has damaged the ceilings. The temple had a colonnade room, like every other temple, and an intricate maze of rooms. There is also an area where the priests could go to monitor the rising Nile (so they could predict when the land would be fertilized). The walls were full of hieroglyphics and Sherif read us a story about a town in the North that was fertilized by the Nile.

When we got back to the ship we had breakfast, which was really nice since it was the first real full breakfast we had in a couple days. There was fruit and meats and omelets. After breakfast I took a nap until noon when I woke up and thought we were going through the locks at the damn in Esna. I threw on some clothes and went up on deck, but no one was there and there was no damn in sight. I did however get a text message on my cell phone that my credit card had rejected the charge by my cell phone company which freaked me out and sent me in a bit of a tizzy to get it fixed. I ended up paying 45 LE for 30 minutes on the internet to fix it (in Aswan I paid only 3 LE for 30 minutes) but I thought this would be cheaper then calling the phone company. In the meantime we docked in Esna. Sherif had told us that if the damn wasn't too busy we would dock in Esna, apparently it wasn’t too busy. While I was on the internet and we were docking Sharon came over to tell me something about us going into town, but I was only half listening since I was having issues getting into my cell phone account, eventually I updated my info and signed off with a few minutes to spare and could finally find out what was going on. I felt bad that I had been a bit rude to Sharon, but I just couldn’t deal with more then what I was doing at the time.

Shortly before we got off the boat we noticed Sherif having a “lively discussion” with one of the managers on the ship. We guessed that he was trying to have lunch extended so we could go into town since we were going into town during the normal lunch time. Esna is a much quieter village then the other places we had visited. It is right before a damn so visits there are dictated a lot by how traffic is at the damn. If there is a lot of traffic there may be no time to stop, fortunately it was a quiet day. Yet there were only 2 boats docked here, compared to 10 or more at the major stops. Needless to say it’s not as touristy here. There was a market we walked through, but it wasn’t as intense as the other places we had been. Naturally there was a temple here, but we didn't go in, just took some pictures. You could also get a peek as to what village life on the Nile is really like. There were quite a few kids around; we think they were on there way home from school. Tara found a kid that she wanted a picture with, but apparently he was nervous and didn’t want to take one. Then some other kid wanted to be in a picture, but he didn’t have a backpack so she didn’t want his picture. We ended up with some kids following us around through the village. Most of the houses here were mud brick houses, the roads were all dirt and instead of cars people use donkeys. Sherif told us that people here would have donkeys like we would have cars. There were a couple motorcycles around too. Sherif took us to a building where a man showed us how he makes oil like they did 3,000 years ago. It was interesting and Adam got to help him, though I guess it’s a lot of work because Adam didn't last long. Eventually Tara relented with the kids and ended up taking a whole bunch of pictures with whatever kids wanted and then gave them the much asked for baksheesh. If it wasn’t so obviously important to Tara it would annoy me. I generally believe that by doing that you reinforce the behavior of the children and they will continue to do it to other tourists and eventually they will grow up and become the annoying people in the market, but Tara was just so excited to get these pictures that I really couldn’t let it bother me. Eventually we stopped at a little café for Sheesha and tea. I opted for some cinnamon tea, as I like cinnamon and it’s not as bad on the stomach. The cinnamon tea was actually quite tasty. I tried Sheesha again, and after giving it an honest try, I still wasn’t into, but I was finally "getting it."

After that we went back to the ship, by then it was about 1:30 and time for lunch, then we went out on deck for the afternoon. It seemed every time we went on deck a small group of people would have a table and then people would come and eventually we would end up with like 3 tables and 10 chairs around it as a big group. Meanwhile everyone else on the ship would be sitting in small groups at little tables. This afternoon was no exception. Around 3:00 we went through the old damn canal, which has the canal, but no locks. It was slow going through so some of the locals would be on the side trying to sell towels. They would throw the towel up and then you were supposed to throw down the money if you liked it. It was quite entertaining watching them throw the towels up, some made it and some didn’t. Only one ended up in the water – I hope they were taking that one home to wash it, but somehow I doubt it. We ended up being stopped for a few minutes in the canal. It seems someone had taken a towel and didn’t want to pay for it and we didn’t move until it was thrown back down. The poor guy was flipping out (and then people were laughing at him - I wont even go into the fact that the money he makes off the towel feeds his family...) until they found the towel, which I heard Alan had, though never confirmed.

We went through the normal Esna Canal between 4:00 and 5:00, it was interesting to watch the water quickly go down and then the locks in front of us opening, which accounts for the extremely large number of photos I took of it. But it also felt like it took forever to go through. On the other side of the locks you could see little boats of people swarming the boats waiting to go through, trying to sell them stuff. It was kinda funny since it wasn’t us getting swarmed.

After that we relaxed up on deck, but that didn’t last too long once the sun was setting, it was starting to get pretty cold and people were running out of extra layers to put on. After a while of being cold we went downstairs to the bar until it was time for dinner. Since I had finally caught up on my journal it was time to do some post cards. I got Sherif to write in Arabic on one of my post cards. He told me what it meant, but now it’s a total blur, I guess I should have written myself a note about that, but I remember it was really sweet. At dinner the staff had a little Happy Birthday celebration for Gary. They had him up dancing, made him a cake and then made him a baby out of napkins at the table. And to think that Gary never planned to tell us it was his Birthday! After dinner I went to the store to pick up my cartouche that I had ordered the day before. I bought one for me and one for each of my nephews, and a t-shirt for my father – all with our names on them.

After dinner a belly dancer came to perform, before she started they talked Tara into dressing up, to make the belly dancer jealous. First a guy came to do a dance; I think it was a whirling dervish. Then the belly dancer came, she was ok, I expected it to be a little better, but she got everyone into it by the end. After they left the staff put on music for us to dance too, but their selection was kinda lacking. Dancing Queen seemed to be one of the staffs favorite songs to play after hearing Dancing Queen for the 10th time in two days Kelley and I decided that Dancing Queen should be our Night Song (every Contiki tour, except this one, has a Day Song that is played at the start of the morning) and it should be played before we went out. I never really worked out, but it sounded good. Eventually I asked if they could hook up an ipod, which they could, which sent me running around to get my ipod so we could have some better music, like Walk Like and Egyptain. At 11:30 they shut the music off so most people, myself included, went up to bed. Tomorrow was another early morning for almost everyone since we were going on a the balloon ride optional.

Egypt: Aswan to Edfu

Day 5 (March 13, 2007): This morning why not join our fantastic optional excursion to Abu Simbel - the most complete example of ancient Egyptian architecture. Built by Pharoah Ramses II more then 3,000 years ago, the temples were moved over a period of years to their new site safely above the waters of Lake Nasser. After lunch, we cruise to Kom Ombo to view this unique temple, shared by two gods. Continuing, we reach Edfu, where we spend the night on-board. (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner included)

This morning our wake up call was at 4:30, we had to leave at 5:00 for Abu Simbel. Sherif arraigned for box breakfast for us, it consisted of a couple types of bread, some with cheese, a banana, cucumber and a drink. Our flight to Abu Simbel was at 6:30 and was supposed to take a half hour but we didn’t land until 7:20. I had a little trouble with security (as did bunch of other people), they didn't seem to care about the bottles of water I had, but they picked up on the hand sanitizer I had. It took me a minute to figure out the issue and then they didn't understand hand sanitizer. Finally I just said hand cleaner and I was set. On our flight we got drink service, they flew down the aisle giving us juice boxes and then collecting them just as fast – I guess you have to be quick when you only have half an hour. When we got to Abu Simbel we had to take a bus from the plane to the terminal, which was about 20 feet away. Apparently there is a rule that you can’t walk on the tarmac; however, it would be much faster if they let you. They were so strict that you couldn’t even walk to the bus that was waiting behind the bus that was loading.

When we arrived at the entrance we went through metal detectors and Sherif walked us to a shady spot and told us a little about Abu Simbel. There are two temples: one is for Ramses II the other for Nefertari. Ancient Egyptians thought quite highly of there Pharoses, Ramses II even more so. Not only is he considered one of the best Pharoses, he also lived twice as long as the average Egyptian - into his 90’s. I’m sure his portrayal of himself in temples didn’t hurt either. One of his wives, he had many, was Nefertari.

The Small Temple was built to Hathor (a goddess) and Nefertari, the Great Temple was dedicated to Ramses and 3 gods: Amun Ra, Ra Harakhti, and Ptah. The temples were built into a mountain over 20 years. When the Egyptians built the High Damn the temples were at risk of being flooded and the Egyptians approached several countries for assistance in saving the temples. The Swiss and Germans proposed to move the temples by cutting it into smaller pieces and guaranteed the safety of the temple. Between 1961 and 1964 they moved the temple; they even maintained the integrity of the axis of the temple. The temple was designed on an axis so that on February 20 and October 20 the sun would shine into the back of the temple and illuminate 3 of the 4 figures on the back wall (Ramses, Amun Ra, and Ra Harakhti), the 4th figure, Ptah, would not be illuminated because he represented darkness. The other thing of note about this temple is that is was intended to greet “visitors” from the South, the 4 Ramses II in the front were intentionally HUGE to scare away any would be invaders.

First we went inside Nefertari’s temple, which was quite amazing; the engravings in the wall were pretty cool and showed scenes from Egypt. Ramses II’s temple was even more amazing with a lot of little rooms and scenes from wars and showing Ramses II’s victories. Sherif was not allowed to guide us inside, but had told us a few things to look for inside so while some things were just cool pictures, other things had a lot of meaning. We were not allowed to take photos inside, though I managed to sneak a few little videos with my camera.

At 9:40 we met by the exit/entrance and even though I had my little videos I still bought the professional photos they were selling. Our flight was at 10:30 from the airport and we were back at the ship with time to get Tara's ATM card back.

Tara, Ed and I went straight to the bank since we only had an hour until the ship was leaving Aswan. The guy at the bank was giving Tara a bit of a hard time. First he didn’t think he could do it within the hour and made it sound really hard and complicated. Then he started with needing a copy of her passport (she had her passport, but not a photocopy on her). So we had to go across the street to get a photocopy, which was fun since they were doing construction and there was a bit of ditch in the middle of the road. Then when we got back he had her right down her info and sign for it. Then he takes the card out of the ATM machine and realizes he needs to photocopy that. But now he wanted to count a stack (over an inch tall) of money first. Ummm, hello, our boat is leaving soon! So Tara talked him into doing the photocopy first. The whole process should have taken 5 or 10 minutes, but he managed to drag out it, it was like he was punishing us for HIS ATM eating Tara’s card. After that we tried a different ATM but Tara wasn’t able to get money out of that one either. We were back at the ship with plenty of time to spare.

After that we hung out on deck until it was time for lunch at 1:30, which was just enough time for me to get a bit of sunburn on my shoulders. After lunch it was time for a nap! Tara had fallen in love with the beds on the ship, they were comfy and the bedspread was even better. I slept until 3:20 and we had a stop in Kom Ombo at 4:00.

We were the first group inside Kom Ombo Temple, which allowed us to get some really good pictures. By the time we left there were people everywhere. This temple was built for the crocodile. Ancient Egyptians were afraid of the crocodile and people could come to this temple to make sacrifices to the crocodile. The Temple was built in two different stages, the first phase around 180 BC by the Egyptians and the second phase around 30 BC. The later stage has a Greek influence in the Temple. The front façade of the temple is missing; apparently it fell into the Nile. Despite the lack of façade and the fact that the roof is missing in places, I thought it was in pretty good shape, it’s probably in better shape then any of the building we’re building now will be in 2000 years. The last thing that Sherif showed us was a room with mummified crocodiles, they’re just as pretty as mummified people, I took an obligatory picture and left. After that I walked back to the ship with Tim through the market. I noticed a lot of belly dancing outfits that were nicer (and less revealing) then the one I had bought. Other then that I wasn’t too interested in anything I was seeing. Besides, every shop you walked by, the guys (there aren’t any women selling stuff in the markets) were hounding you to buy their stuff. It made it a bit intimidating to even look at there stuff for fear that they would try to suck you into something you didn’t want. They might sell a lot more stuff if they didn’t hound everyone who walked by. I’ve never been a fan of high pressure sales techniques; it only makes me think they are trying to sell me crap before I realize it is crap. Needless to say, I probably didn’t spend nearly as much as I could have in Egypt because of this. It’s a shame; I’m usually a sucker for cheesy souvenirs.

After that I went out on deck and worked on my journal. On my past Contiki trips I would use time on the bus to write in my journal, but we spent so little time on busses that I found I had to make time to write in my journal. Anyway, I worked on my journal until dinner, which happened to be around the time when it got cold outside. It was really nice during the day this time of year, but at night it got fairly cold. While I was downstairs waiting for dinner to start I noticed Tara going to the gift shop. She had tried on the top of her belly dancing outfit and it simply didn’t fit her right and she went to buy a scarf to use in place of it.

After dinner it was time to get ready for the Egyptian Party. I pulled out my belly dancing outfit and went into shock when I realized that most of it was see through. Tara suggested I just wear my bathing suit bottom and bra underneath it, which is a look that I hate, but at this point was my only option and it was all for fun anyway.

Everyone from our group dressed up and even a lot of the Germans (the other tour groups on our ship were older Germans) were dressed up. One thing that Sherif didn’t mention to us was that we basically were the entertainment for the party. There was a lot of dancing with the staff to start. Had I known how the night was going to go, I would have had a drink before coming to the party. It took me a little while to warm up to the party, but once I was forced to do some dancing and the guys played Egyptian soccer I was starting to get into it. Even some of the Germans got up and danced by the end of the night. At 11:30 the music was shut off and we headed up to our room. Apparently the plan was to go up to the pool, I resisted for a minute or two and then finally relented and went up with everyone else, except I didn’t bother with my bathing suit. Jenna, Ed and Reid all went in the pool and as I already knew, it was freezing cold. Tara was sorda pushed in the pool too. I ended up talking to some German guy; I don’t remember what was said, though it wasn't much since he didn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much German. I did try to say to him (with the German my sister taught me when I was like 8 years old), “my name is Crissy,” he laughed at me, so god only knows what I really said. After that Tara was frozen and I was ready to go to sleep so we went back to the room.

Google Update

I haven't totally sorted out my issues with Google, mostly because they don't seem to have any solution. However, I have found an alternative way to go around them and created a reasonable solution for me. Hopefully this will work out the way I want it to...

In the meantime I will continue to post and have a couple things ready for this week and am working on some stuff for the future.

I'm disgusted with Google

Blogger blogs are managed by Google. Google seems to have screwed up my log in. It did it against my wishes and as far as I can tell there is no way to fix it. I find the problem unacceptable and unless it can be fixed I am going to move my blog. I haven't yet chosen a new platform, but am open to suggestions while I do research. In the meantime I will not be posting because I feel as though it would be a waste of time to post here and then move to another site.

Sorry and I hope this is sorted out soon.

Egypt: Aswan

Day 4 (March 12, 2007): Arriving in Aswan mid-morning we view the unfinished obelisk and visit the High Dam. We sail on a felucca to the Botanical Gardens before joining our cruise ship for a sumptuous lunch. (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner included).


I woke up around 6am and heard Tim talking, I was never able to get back to sleep so I worked on my journal and enjoyed the scenery a bit. At 7:30 we got our wake up knock and then a few minutes later breakfast was served, a variety of unimpressive breads, it was a good morning for snacks. Tara and I managed to get ready in our cabin with both beds open. Overall the overnight train experience wasn’t too bad. The bathroom, while not great, was ok and the rooms were about what I expected. Jacqui has traveled on overnight trains in Turkey and Russia; she rated Egypt as worse then Turkey but better then Russia. After getting ready we hung out in the hallway and watched the little villages go by. Rumor has it that someone drank too much last night and got sick in the bathroom, unfortunately the guy assigned to our car had to clean it, which explains why he wasn't too happy this morning. A lot of the land was lush and green for farming and there were a lot of mud brick houses. Apparently, the mud brick keeps the houses cooler in the summer, so while they may not be pretty they probably make daily life tolerable, especially since many of them looked like they had been built before air conditioners, not that I happened to have noticed any air conditioners in the houses. Anyway, many didn’t seem to have roofs, or if they did they were made of palms or something like that. I guess if it doesn’t rain you require a lot less out of your roof then we do at home.

We pulled into Aswan at 9:45 and were taken to a bus that we would use for a tour of the city. Sherif told us a little about Aswan: since it’s in the South it is used as a winter resort area and it’s an industrial city. I thought it was a nicer city then Cairo and had some pretty landscaping around the city.

On our way to the Aswan High Dam we passed the Aswan Low Dam which was built by the English between 1899 and 1902. I think that was the first time I realized how much the English had colonized around the world and I have the distinct feeling the Egyptians liked it as much as the Americans did – don’t the English know when to take a hint??? The Low Dam didn’t really cut it for the Egyptians so in the 1950’s they started work on the High Dam just a few miles up the road, which was our next stop. Most people on the tour weren’t really excited by this, but I found it interesting enough to be worth the stop. Perhaps it is because I had seen the Hoover Dam a few years ago, and this one was quite different, shorter and more sprawling. On our way out of the Dam complex we stopped at the Soviet-Egyptian friendship monument (the lotus flower tower) and this was, at least for the guys, a highlight of the trip. Inside the monument was packed with teenage girls (Sherif says they are on school trips and many are from little villages where they don’t see tourists) and they just LOVED us. They were all crowding around the guys to take pictures, like they were movie starts. I was hanging back just
watching it all go on when I was “swarmed” by a bunch of girls, they immediately started asking me questions about where I was from?, where I had been?, did I like Egypt? And then they wanted to take pictures with me, it was really sweet, but overwhelming at the same time.

Our next stop was a stone quarry where we saw what was to be the largest obelisk, except that it was broken in 3 pieces and had to be abandoned. It’s really big but it’s hard to picture it as an obelisk since it’s lying down. It was pretty this day, probably the low 90’s, which was stunting my imagination. Near the exit from the quarry there was a market that you had to walk through and it was a little intimidating. The guys were yelling out to everyone to try to get them to buy thier stuff. Fortunately we were walking out at the same time as an older group (who were apparently from Austria) so they took the brunt of the attention. I guess we looked like poor young people The last shop in the market sold books about Egypt that Sherif recommended as the best book about Egypt. At this shop I found a puzzle for my nephew Lucas (who likes puzzles) and a book for my nephew Max so this was a fruitful stop. What I didn't realize was that pretty much every tourist attraction here is setup this way - with the market by the exit (which is sometimes also the entrance) so that you basically can't hide from them. After that we finally got to go to our Nile cruise ship.

Our cruise ship, Nile Sapphire, was a bit like a hotel. The rooms were designed like hotel rooms instead of traditional cruise ship staterooms. There was a lobby, bar, gift shop and restaurant. On the top deck was a pool and lounge chairs. The staff was very excited to have Contiki onboard. After we boarded we had a few minutes to drop our stuff in our rooms and go to eat lunch. Meals are served buffet style and offer a wide variety of food.

After eating lunch I decided to go into Aswan to use the internet. I went with Jason, Chi and Gary. The first place we tried was closed (apparently siesta isn’t only for the Spanish) so we tried some other random place, a few minutes after we got there Adam showed up. The internet was really slow here and we complained so the guy took us to another place. First he tried the first place we had tried, which was still closed, so he took us through some dirt alleys to another place, I was a little nervous on the walk over, but this place was cheaper and the internet worked. After 30 minutes we left and went back to the boat. Back at the boat I went out on deck for a few minutes where Adam and Tim talked me into changing and going for a swim, when I got back upstairs only Tim was around and the water was really cold, actually more like frigid. Adam apparently decided to take a nap. I decided it was time for a shower, I took a really long relaxing shower, one of the best in my life.

At 3:30 we met for our Felucca ride. It was so relaxing, we just sat and talked (Sherif did most of the talking) and sailed along the Nile. Sherif tried to convince us that the Nile is clean here, no one believed him so he had the Captain get a glass and filled it with water from the Nile. I have to admit that it looked clear. But I drew the line when Sherif suggested someone drink it. We all said we would drink it if he did, but then he was claiming his body wasn't used to the water, excuses!!! But the Captain drank the water and seemed fine after. Brave man! Anyway, Aswan looked even nicer from this view. Eventually we stopped at what is best described as a little café by the desert, here we were able to walk up a dune in the Sahara. The walk was a little tougher then it looked, but worth it for the great view of the city. Adam decided it would be fun to go sand surfing, only he didn’t have a board. Instead he found some cardboard and wanted to try that. So about half way up he tried and basically did a header into the sand. After coming down off the dune Sherif bought us drinks and had a baby crocodile and turtle brought to us. Since I’m not much of a fan of animals and have seen crocodiles and turtles I didn’t really jump on the opportunity, though they were really cute.

After that we sailed back to Aswan and were dropped off by our ship and had some free time before dinner. A few people went to use the internet but I went with Tara, Ed and Jason (SLC) to try and get money from the ATM. Tara had previously been unable to get money and wasn’t really sure why, when she wasn’t able to get it again Reid suggested checking her account on the internet. When she did she was locked out, apparently her account was totally locked by her bank. She got the phone number for the bank and bought a phone card. The 4 of us went to a phone booth and after a couple tries figured out how to get the card to work, but she couldn’t get the bank on the phone with the number she had gotten. Then we were trying to figure out the phone numbers on the back of the ATM card, at which point an Egyptian boy came to help us, too bad he was telling us what we already knew and wouldn’t take the hint. I guess 4 Americans in a phone booth on the side of the road for an extended period of time screamed “tourists who don’t know what they are doing.” Eventually we gave up and tried using Ed’s cell phone, but after trying a couple different ways that didn’t work. So then she tried my cell phone (which is $3 a minute) and finally got through to the bank. Apparently there was a fraud alert on her card and they deactivated the card, it might have been nice if the bank had mentioned that when she was at the bank on Friday to tell them she was going to Egypt. After 20 minutes she finally convinced them that she was starving in Egypt and needed money and got them to reactivate her card with a $200 a day limit. It had gotten late and it was almost time for dinner so we went back to the boat.

Back at the ship we had a few minutes before dinner so Tara, Tim and I looked around in the gift shop, the guy dressed the 3 of us up in an attempt to sell us stuff for the Egyptian Party the following night. Tim bought his outfit, but Tara and I had something different in mind.

After dinner Sherif took us to the market and showed us where to go. Then Tara, Ed and I went back to an ATM so she could get money, the ATM ate her card. Yup, sucked it in and wouldn’t give it back! Fortunately there was a guy inside the bank, but he couldn’t give her back the card, he told her to come back the next morning when the bank was open. Very handy since we were leaving for Abu Simbel at 5am and were sailing out of Aswan in the afternoon. Tara took the news like a trooper and we went shopping. Almost immediately Tara saw a belly dancing outfit that she liked and bargained the guy down to 200 LE. However, she didn’t have much cash and wanted to pay with a credit card and ended up having to pay an extra 20 LE to use the credit card. Then when we went back to the shop the top didn’t fit her right (no matter how hard the guy tried to insist that it would fit when she didn’t have clothes underneath), he gave her a different outfit, I thought the bottom was nicer, but the top wasn’t nearly as nice and was actually kinda goofy looking. The market is a little intense with everyone trying to sell you crap from both sides. In one shop I saw something, but when I looked closer it wasn’t really what I wanted. I found something else at another shop that I kinda liked, but then found a second one I liked better. I tried it on and the bartering began. The guy was putting a Cleopatra hat on me and trying to sell me that and wanted 350 LE. I managed to get him down to 200 LE without the Cleopatra hat thingy, but I had heartburn and was in a sweat by the time I left. It was much more stressful then I thought it would be to bargain and I probably wasn’t thinking totally clearly, I was hearing prices in the hundreds and it sounds like so much but 200 LE is only about $35 (350 LE is $61). In hindsight 200 LE was really low and according to bargaining etiquette you’re supposed to find a price that both people are happy with so 250 LE to 300 LE was probably what I should have paid. The American bargain hunter in me is proud the worldly side of me I thinks I went to far. Either way, I was the proud owner of a belly dancing outfit. After buying that the guy kept trying to get me to buy the Cleopatra hat thingy and I just wasn’t having it, he was trying every ploy I had heard they would use. Telling you 5, but meaning $5, not pounds. I was too freaked out by how much I thought I had just spent (and really had no idea how much I had spent) to think clearly and all but ran out of the shop. The guy followed for almost a block trying to sell the dopy thing to me but I just ignored him. Next time I would have to have a better idea of what I should/wanted to be paying before I even started.

Back at the ship we ran into Sherif and told him about Tara's ATM card and we were told by one of the staff members that the ATM's get hungry at night, gee thanks! Sherif said we should go right over when we get back from Abu Simbel. We went up to the top deck of the ship after to see if anyone else from tour had gotten back yet, but it was just the 3 of us, but slowly people started to come up. Jason (SLC) was the first person to come up, a bunch of other people were still out at the market looking for Karen. Karen had told people she was going to go with Jason, except Jason didn't know and never saw her. Shortly after they found Karen safe and sound and a bunch of people hung out on deck. Tara and I went to our room around 11:00 since tomorrow would be an early day.

Egypt: Cairo and the Overnight Train

Day 3 (March 11, 2007): Cairo to Aswan: First the Egyptian Museum where our guide will take us back back to ancient Egypt and the time of the Pharaohs. From her to Giza for a guided tour of the Great Pyramids and Sphinx. In the evening we board our overnight train for Aswan. (Breakfast and Dinner included)


I was up at 6:00 and got to breakfast by 7:00. At 7:30 we boarded the bus and went to the Great Pyramid Complex. There was a lot more traffic this morning then there had been when I came in on Friday. We went through a roundabout that had people standing all around it, apparently this is where people wait to be picked up by local transportation to take them to work. We got to the pyramids at 8:00 and got tickets for the Great Pyramid (built for Cheops (AKA Khufu) in 2560 BC). Sherif told us that they only sell 250 or so tickets for the pyramid in the morning and then another set in the afternoon so if you’re not there early enough you won’t get tickets. The tickets were 100 LE (50 LE for students, which I managed to get with my expired student card – go me!).

No cameras are allowed in Cheops Pyramid, but we could have easily gotten one in, security consisted of occasionally asking people if they had cameras, they didn’t even look in people’s bags. When we were waiting on line Adam and I tried to convince each other to go and get a camera, but neither of us did. Walking up to the entrance was a little scary since you had to walk up part of the pyramid and while there were stairs, there were no railings and the stones were each almost as tall as me.

Inside the pyramid was initially like a cave but then there was a narrow (wide enough for about one and a half people but was designed for one person going up and one person going down) passage with an incline and low ceiling, a challenge for claustrophobics. When we were waiting to go up this passage people were coming down and they looked a little shocked, it had me a little worried. At the top of this passage there was a bigger room with a high ceiling (I think the top of the pyramid) and a steep incline to climb. After that you went under two low pillars from the ceiling and were finally in the burial chamber. It was a big dark room with an empty broken coffin type thing in the middle. I, like many other people, were a bit disappointed. We expected a bunch of painted rooms, and this was not that. And then we had to go back down, which wouldn’t have been so bad except that there were a ton of people still coming in, and now people who had gone up after us were starting to come down, needless to say it was getting really crowded inside and it was quite hot to add to it. I think they need to get rid of a number limit on the people going in and just have better control of the number of people inside the pyramid at any one time.

After the pyramid we got our cameras from the bus and took pictures of ourselves on the pyramid. As we moved around the pyramid Tara wanted to go look at a tomb on the side. The tomb was for Senegemib, who was a Chief Justice. This tomb, while above ground, was more like everyone had expected in the pyramid. It was a couple different rooms and carvings in the walls. The guy inside was really friendly and wanted to take our pictures. Tara quickly handed her camera to the guy while Tim and I hesitated expecting him to run off with the camera. But he was nice and in the end we all gave him our cameras and he even gave them back before asking for baksheesh (tip).

After that tomb we started to walk over to the second pyramid but didn’t get far before a guy started to demand Karen’s camera because she was taking a picture of the policeman on a camel with the 2nd pyramid in the background. I guess his “job” is to take people’s pictures with the police and the pyramid. She almost gave the camera to the guy before Tim pretty much dragged her away.

By the time we got to the second pyramid (Khafre’s Pyramid) it was 9:30 and we didn’t really have time to go inside since we were meeting Sherif at 9:45. While we were standing around there were quite a few kids walking around trying to sell us stuff (mostly cheesy replicas of the pyramids), but it wasn’t overwhelming or nearly as bad as I expected.

The bus then drove us to a look out spot past the third pyramid (Menkaure’s Pyramid). Everyone jumped out for pictures and some guy harassed Tim and I to take a picture with him. We tried really hard to avoid him but these guys all stand in the way of the view so you can’t, it culminated with him pretty much plopping a thing on my head, handing me a stick and Tim taking the picture. Then Tim had to get in the picture. In the end I sorda wandered away a bit while Tim told him he didn’t have any money on him. The picture was free, but he wanted baksheesh and since we made every reasonable effort to avoid this guy, I didn’t feel bad about not giving him anything.

After that Sherif took us to the camel guy for our camel rides. I must admit I was really excited to ride a camel and despite all the bad things I heard about camels. I did not get peed on and it didn’t spit!

My camel was attached to Reid and Jacquie’s camels and our guide was on a donkey, so our camels went faster then everyone else’s. Getting on wasn’t the easiest and when he stood up I was a little freaked out since he did the back legs first and I felt like I was going to take a header. And camels don’t make for the smoothest ride, but it’s a camel and that’s cool in its own right, even if it made me nervous. So the camels took us from the area of the 3rd pyramid through the desert to the Sphinx. Along the way I noticed a lot of garbage in the desert, which is disappointing; I wanted to see miles of clean sand. As we came around a corner you could see the head of the Sphinx sticking out of the ground. There were also areas being excavated in the pyramid complex, a reminder that there is still a lot to be found in Egypt.

Near the Sphinx we got off our camels and Sherif talked to us about the complex, embalming (which takes 70 days) and the Sphinx. Then he pointed us in the direction of the embalming building which would lead us to the side of the Sphinx, and told us where to meet him. At the front of the embalming building there was insanity! Holy people trying to sell crap! Ok, it wasn’t all crap, I thought the singing and dancing camels were kinda cute (my sister wasn't so enchanted by the one I bought my nephew), but I was not ready for these people, you couldn’t take a step without walking by one of them. Inside the embalming building there were a ton of people, you could barely walk around. I went up to see the Sphinx which was pretty cool. I had recently seen a show where they talked about the Sphinx and how they are doing restoration work on it, so the bottom of it seemed to be in better shape then the top. It would probably help if someone hadn’t chiseled off the nose of it. After that we met for our group photo with the Sphinx and Pyramids in the background then we walked to the bus.

Our next stop was the Egyptian Museum. On the way we drove through downtown Cairo which wasn’t looking much better then the other day. Though maybe the buildings weren't quite as bad as I thought, they were just ugly and the city is dirty. What I did notice was a lot of garbage, everywhere. Along one of the roads there was a small river and intermittently there would be heaps of garbage in it. And generally the roads and sidewalks would be a littered. I started to wonder what type of organized trash collection they had. As a general theme throughout the trip I noticed a distinct lack of garbage cans and when there was one it was hidden/small or not very garbage can like. I think this lack of garbage can thing makes it difficult for well intentioned people to throw garbage out properly, adding to the liter in the city. Sherif showed us where the nice part of town is, in Giza (on the West Bank of the Nile) on the Nile where a 1 bedroom apartment costs about 2 Million Egyptian Pounds. While this area did seem a bit nicer, it was NOT Park Avenue, though I’m sure the view from these buildings is amazing.

Sherif told us we would not be able to bring our cameras into the museum, which is true and disappointing. After having been to the Louvre and the Hermitage (which were both originally built as palaces) this museum wasn’t nearly as fancy as I am used to. Apparently after having been to two of the most famous museums in the world and maybe a handful of other museums I have become a museum snob. But I saw more pieces here then I saw in the Louvre and I stayed awake here which I couldn’t manage to do at the Hermitage, so I guess this was a better experience. Actually, it was a great experience. Sherif gave a great tour, he didn’t try to overload us with info, but chose some select pieces related to our travels in Egypt and gave a good explanation of them and Egyptian art in general. We saw pieces from Hatshepsut, Ramses II, King Tut and others. We finished up with the items from King Tut’s tomb, and based on the amount of stuff in his tomb (which is the only tomb they have found intact) I couldn’t even fathom what they would have found in Ramses II’s tomb if it had not been raided. Sherif directed us to the King Tut room and the Mummy room. We all went in the King Tut room which has his coffins (his body was inside 3, 2 are displayed in the King Tut Room, the 3rd holds his body in his tomb at the Valley of the Kings), his famous mask and other items. No one was in front of the mask when I walked in so I went there first and just stared at it for a minute. It was amazing, even by today’s standards. I would have to say the same about the coffins, they’re incredibly ornate.

My next stop was the Mummy Room; I went with Jacqui, Adam and Jenna. I tried to get the student rate again, but I was busted. Though the guy gave me a student ticket but charged me 80 LE instead of the full 100 LE, so I wonder if he pocketed the 30 LE (the student rate is 50 LE). Mummies are weird looking and freaky, but since I doubt I’ll have this opportunity again, I had to do it, besides they are a couple thousand years old so I guess they can look weird. With our last 20 minutes I went to the Hilton with Jacqui, Adam and Ed to get money. The most exciting part of this trip was the bathroom, they have a really nice bathroom here and the woman wasn’t asking us for baksheesh either.

We met at 2:30 outside the museum and were finally going to lunch. When we arrived the waiters put a bunch of stuff on the table, hummus, green stuff that tasted like cold pea soup, salsa, kosheri, pitas and falafel. I should mention that I am really picky with food and was nervous that I would starve while here. But with the encouragement of my tour mates I tried everything and I survived, I even liked most of it. Then we had a main course, I had chicken, which was very good.

Back on the bus after lunch were on the way to the papyrus store. When the bus went to turn around, we were hit by a car with a female driver. The bus driver got out and tried to help her put her headlight back in, but they couldn't get it in so she put it in her car and she drove off. Apparently, no one really has car insurance and when you get in an accident you just help each other out and go on your way. At the papyrus shop a girl did a little demo of how papyrus paper is made, how to tell if it’s real and showed us a couple popular pieces. I bought 2 different pieces. One was of my sign (cancer) with my name on it and the other had camels walking through the desert past the pyramids. I would have liked to get one with more Egyptian type of art on it, but I couldn’t honestly see myself hanging any of it in my room. The two pieces I bought are hanging in my dining room.

Our next stop was a perfumery in a Nubian village near the pyramids. Here we got to experience some Egyptian hospitality. When we came in they served us all the drink of our choice, told us a little about themselves and then brought out some samples. I had heard they do this in Egypt, and that it's not just a ploy to get you to buy stuff, it's just their hospitality. Before going I swore I wasn’t getting any perfume. Needless to say the samples they had us try were quite nice and I bought a bottle of Lotus Flower for my mother. I think the part of this stop was that was funny was that just as many men as women were trying the perfumes, it was funny to look across the room and see all these guys smelling perfume. Towards the end they offered a second round of drinks and sheesha. There was another tour in another room at the place and a couple people were leaving when we were leaving. A woman saw the sheesha and thought it was pot and asked about it. Someone told her it was a water pipe with tobacco, she was basically horrified and said it was disgusting. At this point I didn't totally get the whole sheesha thing and even I knew she was being an ignorant tourist. Then it was time to go to the train station.

I had heard a variety of stories about the overnight train to Aswan. They ranged from being ok to hearing that people didn’t use the bathroom for 20 hours because it was so gross. We arrived a little past 8:00 and Sherif arraigned to have our bags brought over to the platform where our train car was (since we were 20 people we would have a whole car to ourselves). While we waited for our train (which was leaving at 8:45) we had time to buy some snacks in case dinner wasn’t enough for us, I bought some chips. Our room was really small but had two seats and two fold down beds (the seats were also the fold down bed) and a sink. It wasn’t fancy but it was clean and more modern then I thought it would be. We had dinner in our cabins, which consisted of a burger that I think had peppers in it, something unidentifiable and cake. It’s best described as bad airplane food.

After dinner people hung out in the hallway for a bit then went to the club car. I didn’t stay there too long since it was smoky. Then I hung out in our train car talking to people and eventually made my way back to the club car since that was where the action was. At some point Ed spilled a drink on himself, which really sucked for him, especially since most people had there cameras with them. I went back to my room around midnight.

Egypt: Cairo 3

Day 2 (March 10, 2007): This morning time to explore Cairo before meeting our guide and fellow travelers at 7pm.


I had set my alarm for 9:30 this morning because breakfast was served until 10:30 and I wanted to have breakfast. Breakfast was ok, nothing to write home about. But they did have the tasty tang drink I had the night before so it was worth it. After breakfast I decided to hang out by the pool, get a little sun and read my book - it was so nice being out in the sun after the below freezing weather I had left in New York. While I was at the pool a girl came around from the spa selling spa treatments. Being a sucker for a spa treatment I got a 30 minutes reflexology message for 110 LE, which was a pretty good deal.

After my trip to the spa I sat by the pool reading and eventually ordered lunch. While waiting for lunch Gary showed up and sat down to have lunch with me. After lunch I went back to my room to rest and watched some TV. I got to watch an old episode of Days of Our Lives, which highlighted how bad the acting on Soaps is (now that I am back home I continue to watch), and some other shows on TV.

At 7:00 I went to the lobby for our pre-tour meeting. I met Sherif (our Tour Manager) and Jacqui in the lobby, and we went to a conference room where everyone else was. A few minutes later Karen arrived and the meeting started. There are 20 people on tour, 10 girls and 10 guys.

Sherif told us that the next day we would go to the pyramids and the museum - the highlights - in case people weren't feeling well by the end of the tour. After 10 -15 years of doing tours, I guess he knows what he's talking about. He also told us that this was not a holiday, this was a tour and we would have some early mornings. Sherif showed us some pictures and talked about the optionals. He then sent us to eat dinner together by the pool.

Just as we went to sit down my roommate, Tara, finally arrived from Austin. I showed her to our room so she could freshen up before dinner. Sherif commented that I looked very happy (and I was happy to finally have a roommate) and I had looked uncomfortable at the meeting, but I guess I looked a little unhappy at the meeting, probably because it was really cold. At dinner my end of the table had Chi (NY), Jason (NY), Karen (NY), Gary (Singapore), Jason (Salt Lake City), Natasha (Aus), Anton (Aus), Kelley (NY) and Jacqui (Aus but living in UK). As the night went on people started going back to their rooms for bed, and table started to shift, so I got to met Sharon (Ireland), Tim (New Zealand) and Craig (Canada). Craig was telling me who other people were, but as he was calling Adam, Adam and Alex, I didn't entirely trust his memory at that point. But in fairness, it is hard to learn 20 names in one night. A couple people were smoking Sheesha, I didn't totally get the Sheesha thing (it's a water pipe with tobacco in it) so they explained that it was a social thing. Apparently people like to go to the cafe, smoke sheesha and hang out. I gave it a try, but wasn't really feeling it. At 11:00 I went back to my room, already sensing that this would be a good group.

Egypt - Cairo 2

Day 1 (March 9, 2007): Today I arrive in Cairo in the afternoon, hopefully I find my way through customs and will have some time to relax.


My flight landed in Milan a little early and when I finally got off the plane the line for security was HUGE, I found myself wondering if I would make my flight to Cairo. Then some guy said he had been in security like this before and it took him 4 hours. I'm sure Milan is lovely, but I really didn't want to spend the day there. Luckily it only took an hour. I think the problem is that more people have connecting flights here then actually fly to stay in Milan. After getting through security I wandered around the airport a bit but stayed out of the shops since most were very Milanesk (expensive designer shops), instead I had pizza at 9am and bought some water so I had some before getting getting to Egypt, which turned out to be a smart move as there were any obvious places to get water when I first got to Egypt. Boarding for my flight from Milan to Cairo involved taking a bus to the plane and boarding from there. My theory on this is that they are either building or refurbishing a terminal and in the meantime board lots of planes from the tarmac.
At this point I was so exhausted that I could hardly stay awake for take off or for the food. I had opened my tray table and at one point I woke up and my food was there. Unfortunately the food sucked, I ate what was decent and went back to sleep. When I opened my eyes again, it had magically disappeared.

When we were over Cairo I woke up to look out the window and see the city. Years ago I had flown to El Paso, Texas and was struck my how much dirt was there and was expecting to see the same thing. Cairo was totally different, for the first time I was struck by how immense and sprawling the city was, it didn't look that big in my guide book. However, everything was dirt colored.

When I got off the plane there were people along the side of the walkway with signs, after walking a bit I found Hashim with the "Contiki" sign, relief. He put me on the line for passport control and told me he would meet me on the other side. I had no trouble getting into Egypt. On the other side I was alone for a few minutes waiting for Hashim and I felt like some people (men) were watching me. I'm not sure if I was just paranoid or if they really were. Either way Hashim found me, we collected my luggage and were on our way to the hotel.

On the ride to the hotel Hashim told me that it was Friday, which is the holiday (weekends are Friday & Saturday) so the roads would be quite since most people were at the Mosque praying. The driving wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I was assured it would be worse on Sunday. When we first left the airport is was really nice, kinda reminded me of Florida, with grassy medians and palm trees along the road. Did I mention it was toasty warm here, I was overdressed in my long sleeve shirt, YES! As we got further into the city it started to fit into what I had pictured it to be. Buildings that looked like tenements, some looked like they were crumbling, a lot had clothing hanging outside to dry, and generally the city seemed quite dirty. I also saw a lot of half built buildings, which I had heard about before coming, I'll talk about them later. There were people hanging around on the side of the road, and not local roads, highways. And then to the left I saw the pyramids. I looked at them for a few seconds before it clicked, that they were the pyramids, the things I came all this way to see. I grabbed my camera and the driver slowed a bit so I could get a picture. Shortly after that we arrived at the hotel.

The hotel I was staying at was the Oasis Hotel and everyone there was sooooo friendly. The guy at the counter immediately recognized my last name as being German and even pronounced it right, I had to come all the way to Egypt to have my name pronounced right. At this point someone shoved my welcome drink in my hand, for a second I wondered if it was ok, but then figured Hashim would have told me if I couldn't drink it. It was orangey, like tang. Then I had a conversation about German and the couple words of it I knew. It was all happily overwhelming. I was told my room was 1601 and that my roommate would be coming the following day, then I was sent with a bellman to my room. What kind of Contiki tour is this, I don't have to schlep my bag everywhere?

The hotel had an interesting layout, it was an outside design (though the hotel was fenced in) with greenery everywhere, it sounds hokey, but it was a little Oasis in Cairo. I freshened up and went to the lobby area to get money and see if I could find anyone from tour. I had trouble getting money from the ATM, at first it said that it didn't have enough 10 LE (Egyptian Pounds), so I tried a lower amount - 60 LE, which I got, but that's only like $10. I ended up going across the street to the exchange place and exchanging some of the money I had brought with me. On the Contiki website Ed, Gary and I had discussed meeting up for drinks, but I didn't find anyone. I asked at guest relations about Gary and Ed's rooms, but was only able to get Gary's room. I decided to give him a call and we met up for dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Gary told me that Karen was going to Alexandria the next morning, it was $100 for her to hire a taxi, but the taxi was leaving at 7am. I decided that I was too jetlagged to do it, on top of that I had felt like I was getting a cold, so I decided I was going to have a more low key day before the tour started. After dinner we went back to our own rooms and by 10:00 I was out cold.

Egyptian Travelogue - Pre-Tour

Thought I would start up with my Egypt Travelogue, I'll go back to the Scandi and Russia Travelogue at a later date.

Pre-Tour (March 8, 2007): Today I fly from New York to Cairo, via Milan, on Alitalia.


I was up at 7:20 this morning because my house was too hot to sleep in, it worked out ok since I didn't want to sleep too late today and then not be able to sleep on the plane. I spent my morning doing some last minute things and reading part of a travelogue about Egypt. The travelogue wasn't the most positive (while the writer loved Egypt there were some issues along the way), adding to the anxiety that had slowly been rising in the past few days. Mostly I was worried about the water being gross, Egypt being really dirty, the people in the markets driving me nuts and not getting picked up at the airport. Even though I had been to Europe alone before, this was going to be the most culturally different place I had been to and I could already feel myself resisting it.

I went to lunch with my Mom, my sister Heidi and my nephew Alex. All week my Mom was telling me that a camel would pee on me, not sure where that came from, but it cracked me up. Before Heidi took me to the airport my Mom had some words of wisdom for me, "don't eat, drink, or breath anything."

I got to the airport at 3:15 and easily checked in and got through security. I was flying Alitalia and was a little worried about what to expect, I had read a lot of mixed reviews about them. When boarding started the line quickly got really long and I was at the back of the plane. They were only boarding rows 30-45, yet there were people from all rows on line. The airlines should either give up on the boarding from the back, or actually enforce it. I called a few days earlier to confirm my flight and I got my seat assignment, I had a window seat at the back. What I didn't realize was that it was the second to last row. What I also didn't know was that the seat would have a box for the entertainment system. I quickly grabbed the things I thought I would need for the flight and the people next to me put my backpack in the overhead compartment.

The people next to me seemed like a nice couple, but they didn't speak any English. In one of my blond moments of this trip it never occurred to me that on Alitalia they would speak Italian and there would be Italians on the flight, duh! If I had realized it I might have tried to remember a couple words of Italian, like thank you, but I didn't. The woman I was sitting next to asked me where I was going and had a horrified face when I said Egypt. She seemed relieved when I said Milan to Egypt, but I think she thought I was going to Milan and Egypt. Who cares, I would never see these people again. During the flight they wore there headphones, but never plugged them it, I thought that was really weird.

While we were taxing to take off the flight attendants asked some guy in front of me if he would switch seats with someone who had a middle seat. Apparently they weren't able to fly in the middle seat, and if they couldn't switch them then they would have to go back to the airport to drop the person off. Are you kidding me???? I really wanted to turn back and drop them off, but more importantly I wanted to make my connecting flight to Egypt. The guy switched and we were off. But really, who does that? My guess is liars who think that someone will switch out of fear of taking off late.

The flight was ok, I watched The Departed until I fell asleep. For dinner they were serving chicken and fish, but they were out of chicken by the time they got to me. Since I don't like fish, dinner wasn't my favorite meal. Actually, the only good thing was the dessert. I guess the rumors about Alitalia are true.