Luxor

After a week of hanging out in Cairo with our couchsurfing friend Mostafa, Hala and I boarded a plane down south on the Nile. Luxor was our destination. It was actually cheaper to fly than to take the 20+ hour train. Who knew?

Luxor is a city built for tourism. The famed valley of the kings is just across the Nile and over a ridge from the center of town. There are numerous temples, tombs, monuments and other things to attract tourists from all over the world arriving en mass in huge buses ready to take a picture and head to the next packaged tourist site. Needless to say, Hala and I didn't really like Luxor too much.

Our hotel room was another in a string of disappointments with bathroom doors not closing because they weren't measured properly and bedroom doors not opening because the doorknob is missing. Couple this with a permanently flooded bathroom floor and its a hassle. However our room was nowhere near the hassle we received from around town. As with any other tourist dominated city, the touts are out for blood. People hawking trinkets, taxi or carriage rides, tours of all kinds or rides on the Nile, everywhere we looked we were hounded.

Despite the hassle, Hala and I had ourselves a couple decent trips. For all our hotel's downsides the staff was pretty helpful, especially one young man named Riggi. He sold us on a donkey tour of the West Bank with all its temples and tombs. Early the next morning we headed out intending to finish our trip before the extreme heat of the day. We met our donkey guide, Mohamed at our hotel and followed him to the ferry across the river. Then we met our donkeys.

Hala's was Mini Ha Ha and my stead's name was Cici- which is a little too close to Sissy for my liking. I've never ridden a donkey before and verbally expressed my doubt beforehand that these diminutive creatures could carry my ass up a mountainside. Well they can. Their strength and endurance is quite impressive actually even if I do look ridiculous riding an animal that is a couple feet shorter than I am. I had to be careful on the long rode from the Nile towards the mountain because we rode next to the curb, and my feet were only a few inches off the ground. At least if I fell I wouldn't hurt myself like I did on my camel trek last Christmas.

It took more than an hour or so for our trio of donkey jockeys to make it down the road, up a few hills and finally up and over the crest above the Valley of the Kings. It was by then 8am and Mohamed waited for us in the shade of the ridge as we descended in search of Pharonic treasures. Instead we found a massive horde of European tourists in shorts and sunhats with video cameras filming the undramatic scene.

They had all arrived on dozens of giant A/C tour buses and had tour guides speaking the whole range of European languages. Hala and I tried to escape their masses and we were successful for awhile. With the ticket to the Valley, we are allowed entry into 3 tombs. Our first was a short hike up and around from the crowded center and we found ourselves isolated and alone with enough time to enjoy the ancient tomb, its well preserved wall paintings and its giant stone sarcophagus. After that, it went to shit. We joined a short line to get into our second tomb after our attempts at entering others which we had picked from their descriptions on our guide book were thwarted because they were no longer open to the public. This tomb was sweltering from all the visitors and it was less than enjoyable sharing our experience with a bunch of nasally Brits.

By the time of our escape from the second tomb we were running way late from the time we had told Mohamed. In the interest of finishing quickly, we made our way to what turns out to be the most popular and therefore crowded tomb in the valley. A trip through a literal assembly line of tourists down the entrance of the tomb, around the end and back finished our time in the valley.
I didn't really care for the site, even without the other tourists I think it is an overrated tourist trap as every tomb is empty, few are decorated at all, and the price of admission is larcenous.

But, we made it back up to the ridge to meet Mohamed, Mini and Cici. Mounting our noble steads we headed once again into the heat of the desert. Down another path from where we had come, the sights were amazing. We could see down to the Nile from our vantage, and the craggy desert around us looked like the lunar surface, but scorched by the sun. It was gorgeous and the best part was we were alone to enjoy the views away from hawkers, touts and tourists. On our way around the other side, we had a great view down onto the valley that houses the temple of Hatsepsut. While previously we had wanted to go in, we figured our vantage point was the best we would get and that way we could avoid the cost, the crowds and the heat stroke by calling our trip short.

We stopped to snap a bunch of photos and headed down the mountain stopping at an alabaster shop on our way back down the road to the taxi.

Truthfully, this trip saved our time in Luxor. Those short donkeys are my personal saviors. Any other tour or even renting a taxi for the day would have left me completely disappointed with my time among the temples and tombs of the west bank. But the experience of riding the donkeys away from the crowds and with views that no one else was getting with a friendly young man guide made the day very fun and a total success.

The only other thing worth mentioning in Luxor was our sunset cruise of the Nile. We didn't have to look hard for a boatman to take us out and we settled on Mahmod and his felucca the Endeavor. The trip was quite enjoyable and the sunset over the west bank of the Nile orange and gorgeous. We didnt even let our captain spoil it when he tried to con us out of money we know we didn't owe him. I was talking to Laura on Hala's cell phone when he was pushing us and so she got a small glimpse into my "I DONT TAKE SHIT" persona. In all this was another memorable experience.


We cut our time in Luxor far shorter than we expected, hoping to capitalize on more time on the Sinai peninsula where we are now. We took a short but expensive ferry from the Eastern coast of Egypt across to the southern point of Sinai and are now in the relaxed hippie-ville city of Dahab doing out best to enjoy ourselves despite our (really just my) distaste for other tourists. We are being pretty successful and are enjoying ourselves a lot, more details to come. However, this much tourism makes me impatient for my upcoming trip to Cameroon to visit my friend Brian who is on his way into the Peace Corps. Hopefully next year!

Cairo

Travel Journal 9/4/2007:

I've split my time in Cairo between being a local, being a tourist and being lazy. I'm not proud to say the latter two have been more common than the former.

The first night in the city, Hala and I joined our couchsurfer host, Mostafa, and his friends at a screening of films by the local film shool students and then to a cafe downtown for tea, food and sheesha. Mostafa speaks perfect English as he studied in America and has spent time in the UK. His friends don't really speak English at all but we communicate well with gestures and though out host. That night we stayed up until 530am playing cards. The next day we woke up so late that we ended up not doing anything more productive than checking our email.

The Egyptian Museum was disappointing. There was nothing I hadn't seen a half dozen times already in the great museums of Europe. Instead of going to the pyramids that night, we ended up hanging around Mostafa's apartment trying to beat the heat, a common practice for everyone. The days are so hot and we stay up so late usually that we rarely get up and out of the house much before sunset.

Hala and I did make our way to the pyramids for sunset a couple nights ago. Unfortunately we were rushed since we were misinformed of the closing time. We didn't get a chance to walk around them for a view of the structures lit up by the golden lights of the setting sun and we ad to settle for a backlit view.

On our way out we feigned ignorance and headed down the wrong path in hopes of double backing for a few more minutes with the great stone giants. We were confronted by a guard. Instead of sending us away he assured us we were okay and offered us to climb a little on one of the giant pyramid and even took our picture and posed for one with Hala. Of course a small baksheesh was necessary as payment for his extra service.

I was less disappointed after this friendly encounter because we got to touch the limestone mammoths, had a few unrushed minutes alone with them and got a few decent pictures because of it.

Late that night, Mostafa escorted us to the old Islamic city with sections of the original city walls, 9th and 10th century mosques and a friendly bazaar open long after 11pm.

Our trio strolled the narrow lanes of the bazaar shopping for nothing in particular and chatting and joking with the amiable shopkeepers. As we hadn't eaten much that day we stopped at a cafe and our host ordered us a couple warm and creamy desserts, like a milkier Egyptian version of creme brulee.

With our appetite's curbed temporarily Mostafa led us on a late night tour among the towering minarets of te old main road of Islamic Cairo. e was an incredibly knowledgable tour guide and we walked for hours in the early mornin stoppin to gaze at another gorgeous mosque facade or to ask or answer a question.

The black and white marble of many of the mosques reminded me of the Duomo in Siena which was designed to incorporate influences of many cultures including the Arab world in order to exhibit their multinational importance.

As we passed on of these mosques a tourist police came up, chatted with Mostafa for a few seconds until our host turned guide looked to us and asked if we would like to go inside the large mosque complex in front of us. The smiling policeman gave Mostafa history and architectural information that was passed on to us and we were encouraged to explore the corners of the stone courtyard in the center and to take pictures. He even instructed us to stand in a far dark corner from where the giant dome of the other side of the mosque was visible out of the center courtyard. It was all so peaceful alone in the giant gray structure at 2am and was an inspring experience.

On our last day in Cairo Hala and I made our way to the Coptic area of the city. We visited some churches and made our way down narrow alleys in search of more monasteries and chapels. Many of the buildings were very old and were built on ancient Roman structures that were sometimes visible below the floor.

That night Mostafa met us for some culture. A few hours of beautiful folk singing and dancing at a cultural center was an unforgetable experience. I believe the style is called Zar and is a mix of many folk styles from around Egypt. In it the women play the central roll and the men are secondary. During our show the old costumed women sang gorgeously in Arabic and gracefully and slowly slipped around the small room connecting with the audience. Some of the fun moments included a man with sunken cheeks playing a flute. When he would blow, his cheeks would puff our like a frog croaking. For another song, a thin man with a huge pot belly strapped on a cumberbun of goat hooves and mimicked the "Twist" dance while essentially acting as a human marraca. That was my favorite.

The next morning we flew to Luxor where we are now. Our time in Cairo was varied and maybe we spent too much time doing too little. However I again didn't mind enjoying the hospitality of a new friend and relaxing with him and his crew playing cards, drinking tea and pretending the heat didn't bother us.

North Coast Beach House

Travel Journal 9/1/07:

Nader Pickd Hala and I up and we reached the beach house with Mustafa and Umnea around 3pm. There we were me byUmnea's parents, younger brother, Ali (21), twin brother and sister (14) and a range of cousins young and old and a handful of aunts. Everyone seemed very friendly and happy we came. The house was small but very nicely decorated and quite beautiful architecturally. When I told the father this in a down point in the conversation, he seemed very pleased and gave me a tour.

After a small feast of meat, salad, pasta and other dishes we changed and headed for the beach. No one told the Egyptians to wait to swim an hour to after eating.

I zipped the legs off my cargo pants, smothered myself in SPF 50 sunblock, changed my t-shirt and was ready to go.

At the beach a lot of us headed to the water right away. There must have been a dozen or more in our group and they all looked at my funny when I kept my shirt on in the water. How to explain to 2nd degree sunburn to an Arab?

After about 5 mnutse of splashing in the waves I felt I'd had enough. Salt water in your eyes, up your nose and in your throat and stomach. Half standing half floating in water while the rough sea's swells batter you around for a few hours. Polluted water conspiring to seep into your body any way possible. And sand finding trespassing in every crack and orephus you newer knew existed until you had to rinse it our a tenth time.

In my head I saw, "What's the point? Where's the fun in this?" Though, ever the international diplomat, out loud I say "I'm havng a great time! So much fun!" I plant a smile firmly on my face, throw out a few thumbs up and grit it out. Nader couldn't believe I hadn't swam in the sea for 6 years. He and Hala were the last two out of the water, while I might wait another six.

One of the tiny cousins plays volleyball on a team. When her ball materialized after the sun was nearly set and the group and finally emerged from the primordial ooze, Hala suggested we go play. It started as just a cuople of us but after some time we had a decent 4 on 4 noncompetitive game going. The fun ran until well after the sun set and the light gave way to dusk then finally to dark.

It was after 10 pm when we made it back to the house and had washed most of the sand off of us. A short time of sitting around doing nothing prompted the little cousins to suggest playing a game.

Twister and Jenga were produced. Although Twister never made it out of the box, thank Allah, we played 3 rounds of Jenga each with around seven participants teasing each other and laughing incredibly loud until the inevitable moment someone poked or pulled too hard and sent the tower toppling over in slow motion as everyone reached out to stop it.

Hala introduced her favorite card game, Egyptian Rat Screw. Everywhere she goes in the world, which is a lot places, she teaches the people this game. She is quick ad takes the game very seriously so she always wins. Last Christmas our young boy camel guide in the Thar Desert beat hala and she freaked out and still denies it.

We had aroud 10 players playing at the beach house, all around a small table leaning over hands ready to slap the central ple of cards when necessary. It was chaos, a jungle of arms and fingers. When I was eliminated I went into the living room and chatted with some of the old cousins for an hour.

When I returned to the table, the game was still in progress, Hala was still in it, and a little later she had won, beating out 9 others.

Around 2AM we had a small meal, only our second of the day, of bread and cheese. We gave our thanks to the parents and owners of the house and when I told her mother sincerely that her house and family is incredible she seemed a little taken aback and embarrassed by the compliment.

We also had to say goodbye to Mustafa since he and Umnea would not be available the next day and we hadn't decided whether we would leave or stay anyway. We gave heartfelt salutations and promised to stay in contact and that I would repay their hospitality one day.

Nader drove us home and, to keep us from leaving the next day, promised to hang out with us.

The following afternoon we returned to the fancy beach bungalo and while I was sitting outside relaxing the prime minister's entourae drove by and parked on the one narrow road. I didn't see the man himself because it was around the corner but I was told that he has a bunaglo just down from their own.

Nader and Hala were excited to eat at Quizno's that day and so we headed to a mall's food court. We all ate, myself included and I made them promise not to tell anyone I ated American fast food. It was pretty bad like I thought it would be anyway. The other two enjoyed it a lot.

Lastly we saw the new Harry Potter movie in a different mall. Nader hated it and was bored throughout but I like it somewhat.

He drove us home and we all shared a heart felt goodbye. He, his cousin Mustafa and Umnea had done so much for us, and for me although we had just met. It still amazes me, the hospitality of strangers. I've also learned first hand the benefits of having friends around the world, or in my case, friends of friends. But now, thaks to Hala and the openess of her contacts in Egypt, I too can say I have friends in Alexandria.

Alexandria Part 2 of 3

Hala and I leave for Cairo tomorrow but here is my travel journal entries for the past few days.

August 28 2007:

Saturday was supposed to be very busy. Finally Mustafa, Nader, and the cousins were all available, and we discussed hwo to juggle seeing everyone.

Instead, in the early afternoon the cousins said they had no plans for the day and to plan on hanging out the next. This seeming contradiction was cleared up when Hala explained that their father probably prevented them from seeing us.

At the same time Mustafa's availability seemed doubtful and we still couldn't reach Nader by phone. We know he sleeps in very late and so at 4pm, Hala texted Mustafa about Nader's lack of answering his phone. Mustafa called Nader's grandmother who woke him up and he called saying he was still at his beach how but would be back in town by 8 or 9.

Nader being out only plan, we got a light snack and waited for him. At 9:30pm we caleld again and introduced him to the English slang of being a "flake." He said he was still coming, but would meet us at 11pm.

Hala and I sat for a sheesha and ice cream at a cafe on the harbor. At 11:30pm, when the smoke and constant watching for Nader's car on the busy highway in front of us finally became unbearbale we called again.

He said he had to pick up Mustafa but they were on their way and would be meeting us in a half hour at midnight. At this point we were very annoyed not only because we were kept waiting but they never bothered to let us know they would be later than said. I realized we were holding them to an American standard of punctuality- which I would never do in India- but I was unaware that Egyptians also had a sense of time different from my own.

At 12:30 am we had waited long enough and were headed up to our hotel room from the cafe below. A few minutes after, and only a few before 1am we got a call, they were finally downstairs.

They had brought two ars -probably another stop which had to be made - and after a few minutes of chatting with Mustafa and his wife, Umnea, we were left with Nader who wanted to cruise in his car. We ate some more fuul and falafels at about 2 am and drove around the city. Alexandria never sleeps. Something is always open and people are always about socializing and having fun all hours of the day.


When I first met Mustafa, he seemed very jovial. About 6'2'' and now probably around 280 lbs, he played basketball competitively for a long time, but ahd to cut back during Medical school. At 26 years old he is now in his residency and married to another doctor and working on getting their apartment together before they can move in. His wife is shot with a huge smile which she shows often because Mustafa is very funny. She doesn't wear a head scarf, which is up to the woman, although 95% of the women choose to wear one after hitting puberty. Secretly, I like the fact she doesnt wear one because the modesty which the scarf symbolizes would make it difficult for me to converse openly and joke with her. I am very used to being unable to socialize with young women as this was teh case throughout India and for the most part I feel it applies also here in Egypt.

Mustafa contrasts with his cousin, Nader, in some ways. Although both live modernly and their families are well off- if not locally famous- doctors and engineers, Mustafa speaks boistrously while Nader speaks very slowly and quietly although not as if lacking confidence. I have realized that Nader is very deliberate in everything he does but were I to meet him in America I would guess he was a stoner, his demeanor is so relaxed.

Before Mustafa and his wife left us on Saturday night, we discussed the things which we had done in Alexandria already and those we wished to do. A list was made and Mustafa said we could check all the boxes the next day, although I had my doubts due to their problems with punctuality we witnessed that day.

However the next afternoon at 3pm the trio arrived at our hotel and whisked us south first to Pompey's pillar- a large Roman column on the site of Alexandria's first settlement and that of one of the two original famous libraries. The site is under rennovation but we walked around teh debris and through some tunnels where were ancient hallways formerly full of nearly a million papyrus scrolls, available for all to read.

As we were entering the gate my appearance as the only white guy turned some heads and warranted a few questions from the guards and ticket takers. "How do you know him?" "Where is he from?" etc. Apparently I look very dangerous. The questioning ended abruptly when they asked to see Mustafa's ID, saw his last name, Hisab, and asked if he was a member of that family which apparently owns or operates a famous hospital which does very well by the community. Of course he was a member of that family.

Our next stop was a complex of Roman catacombs nearby the pillar and we rushed through the impressive site which was discovered in 1900 when a donkey fell through the ground, because they were closing. Out hosts had not been to either site before and I think sincerely enjoyed themselves.

For lunch we had some options. I had treid most of the local staples except one- liver. (I also found out that they eat cow brains but we decided I'd save my brain eating for Vietnam). Umnea was afraid for our health and wouldn't let Mustafa take us to what she thought was a dirty establishment, although it was Mustafa's first choice. After a short drive we dined in teh car on liver sandwiches - pretty tasty actually. A short stop for juice- mango, date, and other nameless concoctions- and we were off again.

We stopped briefly at the largest mosque in the city which is actually a complex of 5 mosques. Nader took me through one quickly while Mustafa waited with the women who had not dressed appropriately enough to enter. There were a few men inside praying but hte architecture and decorations were really beautiful. Just like the great churches in Europe, I feel I could spend a lot of time enjoying myself tranquilly in a giant mosque.

Down the street is the fort on the site of the famous lighthouse which is the main sight from our hotel balcony. The area around the fort is a popular spot to hang out as its a beautiful location out on a spit of land in the middle of the sea. We walked around a bit and hung out before deciding to see a movie on the other side of town.

A quick race amond traffic saw us reach the theater 10 minutes too late for the 7pm show. No matter, to kill time before the 10pm show, we hung out in a Costa's coffee shop (around the corner from Starbucks) across teh mall from the theater.

Mustafa asked us poignent questions about our travels- a very rare occurence- and was not satisfied in our brief answers forcing us to really thing and reflect on our time. This memory of him alone is enough to make him stand out as someone special.

We shared our views on who was REALLY responsible for 9/11 (Mustafa= Russians, and Umnea= the US gov, Nader was too relaxed to participate). To them Arabs couldn't have done it, not because they wouldn't do such a barbaric thing but because they are too unorginized. RACISTS!

We had many laughs- maybe too many at Hala's expense- and enjoyed ourselves until it was ready to start the movei. Everyone really like The Bourne Ultimatum and on they way back to our hotel, now after midnight, we were invited to Umnea's family's beach house which is out on the North Coast near the other two we never got to. We graciously accepted the offer and [at the time of writing in my journal] are awaiting word on when we leave. Although Hala's family might not accept me, her friend's- despite a few setbacks with timekeeping- are making our trip to Egypt an immense success.




I finished writing that yesterday and the spent all day and into the next morning at the beach house. It was an incredible time and I will be able to report back on it soon. Today we should be meeting Nader for another trip to his beach bungalo and then are setting off for the insanity of Cairo tomorrow. I'm going to see the freaking Pyramids of Egypt! I miss and love you all.

First Days of Egypt

I have been in Egypt now for about three days. Those of you expecting some great revelation, advanced insight, or incredible encounter or adventure at this point should stop reading now. No such thing has come to pass yet.

We arrived very early in the morning, flying through Athens, Greece and Hala's strict uncle and two cousins picked us up at around 330 AM and took us to our hotel. We got checked in and slept until around noon. The next day we were up and about when Hala tried to call her friend, Nader, who she though might be in Greece with his family for a week or so. However, due to some problem with his visa/passport, he had to stay behind and was willing to take us swimming.

I dont really like swimming for a few reasons, not the least of which is that I'd be bright red after about 10 minutes under the Mediterranean Sun. But we went to Nader's families private beach bungalo in this fancy club that is reserved for families of politicians. Apparently Nader's grandmother's sister's husband was a former ambassador to Russia back in the 70's and so now he is able to come out to this private club bungalo place. So while Hala and Nader spent an hour in the sea, I sat in the shade, did crosswords puzzles in the cool breeze and relaxed listening to her Ipod. What a life.

After a dinner of kebabs, he dropped us off and we went out to a waterfront coffeehouse for some water and a sheesha- the water pipe with flavored tobacco. I'd tried this a few times in America and I really enjoy sitting and puffing on these. Very relaxing before bed.

The next morning Hala's two cousins, Eptisam and Mohammed picked us up and took us to a cafe on the water where we had mango juice and waited much too long for food to be available that never was. So we went and had some fu'ul which I guess is a staple middle eastern dish that is basically refried beans in a pita. Someone might argue there are spices or other things in it, but I would respond by saying "WELL THE STUFF WE HAD WAS SMASHED PINTO BEANS IN PITA!" Sorry for the outburst.

To beat the heat, we went back to the hotel, took another cold shower and took a nap until around 4pm. At this time we got up and walked to teh famed library of Alexandria where we spent a few hours walking around admiring the architecture and reading books on the middle east. I read a few chapters in a book about Saddam Hussein written after the first Gulf War. Another sheesha before bed capped the night.

Today we somehow slept until noon, and only then got up, showered and dressed and went looking for what turned out to be lunch. I got shaved in a barber- since India I have realized shaving yourself is for losers- and the guy murdered my face- in a good way. At one point after finishing shaving me, he said "Water?" with which I assumed he would rinse off my face. Only he didnt supply any water, but instead pinched the hell out of my face and even ears with two tautly held pieces of thread. It seriously hurt. And my face is still on fire an hour later.

So now we await further word from Hala's friends or cousins on what we will do today and with who. Maybe a trip back to the beach with Nader is on the agenda, we aren't sure yet. Either way the good life is being led here on the Sea, and only the heat is bothersome.