Mina met us at Giza station and took us back to the hotel. I took my mobile telephone out of my bag to check if anyone had sent me a message – unfortunately the battery was dead as a doornail and the thing wouldn’t even turn on. I put it back in my bag and zipped up the pocket. I would never see that telephone again.
Back to the hotel to dump our bags in our rooms and then it was back to Khan Al-Khalili to finish up the shopping which Shelly had still not completed (unbelievably). To be fair I still had a couple of things I wanted to buy, in particular a Mounir CD featuring my new favourite song and the song of the tour, “Soo ya soo”. I ended up with a swag of stuff – the CD (I drove a hard bargain and got it down from 85 pounds to 20) earrings (from 35 pounds to 5) a silver key of life (he wouldn’t budge from 25 pounds), a papyrus for Tania (don’t remember how much I paid for that one) and some delicious lotus flower perfume (about 25 or 30 pounds I think). Since one euro is about 7.5 Egyptian pounds all this stuff was laughably cheap. From the market back to the hotel via a delicious kebab shop we’d discovered when we were first in Cairo and Rob came knocking on our door to see if we had any plans for the night. We didn’t, and were more than happy to piggyback on theirs, so we played cards with them a while (I was crap as usual but was helped by very good hands, so my incompetence at cards was not displayed for all to see) until it was time to wash up and go to the Hard Rock Café to meet the others (who had gone to the buffet restaurant next to the pyramids that we’d had lunch at). We headed out and got into a taxi. As usual we agreed the price before we got in (standard practise in Cairo) but started to worry a little when the cab driver stopped to ask a pedestrian directions. It soon became abundantly clear that the driver didn’t have the remotest idea where the Hard Rock Café was, and neither did most of Cairo. The driver refused to let us out of the cab however, and I was beginning to wonder if we’d be held hostage inside this taxi driving around Cairo all night. After repeated pleas to stop the taxi and let us out fell on deaf ears, we finally grabbed the opportunity while he stopped at a set of lights to jump out. Free from our despotic conductor, we found another cab complete with driver who knew where he was going, and things began to improve from there.
The drinks at the Hard Rock cost as much as a three course meal at most of the establishments we’d been frequenting, but since it was my last evening in Egypt I wasn’t about to let that stop me from having a fabulous time so bring on the margaritas said I! We chatted, betted on which band was coming up next on the video screen, and killed time. At one point the waiters got up on stage next to where we were sitting and began to line dance – when one of them motioned for me to join them I could hardly refuse! We did some easy Macarena-like movements to “YMCA” which was good fun, and afterwards I asked the waiter dude if anyone who had a brother named Sam worked there. Sam used to bartender at the Hard Rock and his brother (whos name unfortunately escaped me at the time) still worked there. The waiter didn’t know but pointed me towards the manager dude who might have been able to help me out. The manager had never heard of anyone called Sam, Samir or Sim-Sim so I resigned myself to not meeting his brother, until Andrew offered me his phone (mine was lost or stolen somewhere in Khan Al-Khalili) to text Sam and ask him. Next thing I knew a handsome Egyptian man tapped me on the shoulder and said “Hi, I’m Joe, Sam’s brother. Here, he wants to talk to you.” and handed me a phone. I talked to Sam a little and to Joe, who couldn’t sit and have a drink with us (“Sorry guys, I can’t, it’s my workplace!”) but insisted on getting us drinks on the house and must have asked me five times if I needed anything and if I was ok. What a gentleman! He went home and soon after so did we – Shelly and I were going back to the hotel just to grab our bags and then directly to the airport to catch our flight back to Dublin.
This trip exceeded all my expectations – I had lots of fun, it was relaxing, I learned loads (sorry if I’ve bored you with all the Egyptology but that’s why I visit places, to learn about them!) and I made very good friends who I hope and intend to keep in contact with. I loved Cairo, Aswan, the Nubians, the Egyptians, the Nile, the feluccas (most people I feel would agree that the feluccas were the highlight). I will return to Egypt one day, there’s no doubt about that. Not just to see the Red Sea but more importantly to visit the friends I made and also Cairo which I fell in love with despite (or maybe because of ) its chaos. A big hug and kiss to Budget Expeditions Egypt, the staff at the Havana hotel, the guy at the market that I bought the dance CD off, the little girl from the Nubian village, the felucca crew, the smiling bartender at Murphys and especially Sam and Rami, without whom none of this would have been possible.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Egypt - Day 10 - Goodbye Budget Expeditions, Goodbye Luxor
This was a bit of a nothing day. Having got to bed at 04:00 the previous night I didn’t get up until late, just in time to say bye to Sam, Rami and everyone. I think there were a few tired and cranky faces thanks to the night before – also probably more than one hangover. We said a hurried goodbye with lots of hugs, email swapping and “take care”s, and the 15 day tour people headed off for the Red Sea. I was still tired as anything so while Shelly went shopping yet again (I really have no idea where she finds this endless reservoir of shopping motivation) I slept all afternoon. I knew this was probably a bad idea as we would be catching the overnight train back to Cairo that night, and an afternoon nap usually equals a sleepless night, but the sharp pains in my stomach precluded other activity. I slept and slept all afternoon and evening until it was time to catch the train. Budget’s Luxor rep met us at the hotel and took us to the train station; thank goodness he was there to make sure we got on the right train because the train announcements were a) in Arabic and b) made on a typical scratchy and unintelligible train station PA system. On to the train where Shelly and I were again seated next to the bloody door – thank goodness this time it wasn’t broken and led to the WC rather than the smoking area. Unbelievably, I dropped off to sleep almost immediately and barely woke until Shelly shook me to let me know we were almost at Giza station.
Egypt - Day 9 - The Valley of the Kings and an Irish Pub
It was with a bittersweet feeling in my heart that I woke up on the Saturday morning. We were going to see the Valley of the Kings – one of Egypt’s brightest jewels. But that night would be the last one I would spend with all my fellow travellers – the next day most of them were heading off to Dahab to spend a few days diving and relaxing at the Red Sea. I wasn’t fussed about the Red Sea to be honest, but was disappointed I wouldn’t be able to climb Mt. Sinai, which I had thought was included in our part of the tour, but in fact was later. The worst part was the fact the group was splitting up – only ten of us were heading back to Cairo the following day, which meant for everyone else tonight was practically goodbye. I was sad about that but I had been gearing myself up for it for a few days now, and so was pretty much prepared for it. Anyway before I could be sad I had the Valley of the Kings to explore!
The Valley of the Kings began construction because the Pharoahs started to catch on to the fact that pyramids were not a fantastic idea when it comes to making provision for your afterlife. A pyramid is like hanging a giant sign on the door of your tomb saying, “Treasure here! Come and steal it!”. The Pharoahs didn’t like this as all the stuff the pyramid robbers were taking were the things they were going to need in the afterlife. So one of them (I don’t remember which one) had the bright idea of making his tomb underground, in an enormous cavern. They liked this much better than the pyramids because not only were they harder to find, but now instead of having just one burial chamber, they could make their tombs as big as they desired, with the main burial chamber, an antechamber, and another storage room filled with all the things they were going to need for the afterlife, like food, cups, tables, clothes, hairbrushes, everything. What a nightmare if you ask me – I have enough trouble packing for an 11 day trip, let alone packing for eternity. The reason they had liked the pyramids so much is that they thought the pyramids would bring them closer to the sun (and therefore Amoun-Ra), but the geography of the Valley of the Kings affords natural mountains which resemble pyramids, which is thought to be a main reason that location was chosen as the necropolis.
The first tomb we saw was (I think) Tutmoses. The figures on the walls weren’t very colourful but I found them interesting as I guessed (correctly as later confirmed by Sam) that they were inscriptions of The Book of The Dead, which was basically a step by step guide of all the rituals and spells to be performed to ensure the dead king would have no troubles getting to the eternal life.
The second tomb we saw was Merentah, and that one was much more colourful and impressive, and I recognised Isis on the head of his sarcophagus. My memory of this tomb is a little hazy as it got drowned out by the grandeur of the third one – unfortunately I can’t remember who it belonged to (one of the Ramses?) but it was amazing. Rows and rows of hieroglyphs covered the walls, colours as vivid as if they had been painted three days ago not three millennia ago. The Egyptians used natural paints – sulphur for yellow, iron oxide for red, lapis lazuli for blue (which was the most expensive colour). After they finished colouring they covered the walls in beeswax to preserve the paints. The ceiling was blue with white Pole Stars painted all over it (the Pole Star was thought to guide the way to the afterlife) and also some kind of counting that I couldn’t quite figure out. There were also pictures of ordinary things, like a mill grinding wheat into flour and behind it some bread. There were rooms leading off the main chamber with gods and goddesses on the walls, all in vivid technicolour. Anyhow it’s impossible to describe all this even nearly adequately in words and photography within the tombs is strictly forbidden (not that that stopped a portly Nubian man from snapping with flash! If all those colours fade in a generation or so people like him will be solely to blame) so you will all just have to go yourselves and check it out. Do what we did though, and go early in the morning, as those tombs are really really hot, and must be unbearable around midday.
That afternoon was a free one in Luxor – unfortunately, other than the Valley of the Kings and Karnak temple Luxor doesn’t really have much to recommend it. We went for a meal at a Chinese restaurant (I think Shelly was missing Chinese food) but none of the staff including the chef were Chinese, so you can imagine the quality of the food. The rice in particular tasted as if it had been boiled in tap water, but (probably stupidly) I threw caution to the winds and ate it anyway. I was later to regret that as it caused a minor digestive upset from which think I still have not fully recovered. After the meal Shelly wanted to do some “quick shopping” which, translated from Shelly-speak into English, means hours of poring over papyrus and bargaining with proprietors. The situation isn’t helped much by the proprietors themselves, who, if they haven’t got what you’re looking for right there, will spend “just one minute” (one Egyptian minute = approx 45-60 regular minutes) looking for the item which they know they have in the back room somewhere, or occasionally they will even send a friend home to get it. I got sick of this after a while, and, tired from the sun, the food and the accumulated lack of sleep I headed back to the hotel for a snooze. Sam had promised Shelly to take her to a perfume shop that afternoon at five – I had intended to go with them but I was out cold until it was time for dinner.
I tried to make myself look acceptable to go out that night – since it was basically the last time I would be seeing these people I thought I’d try and leave them with a half-decent impression. This was made difficult due to the fact I’d left all my makeup in Dublin (I like to take holidays from makeup as much as anything else), my skin was dry as a bone and I had big red mosquito bites all over the right side of my face from the felucca. I put on my cleanest pair of jeans, a cool singlet and my favourite badass fake leather jacket (still after two years my favourite wardrobe item and at six euro the best bargain I ever found) and hoped for the best. While we waited in the lobby we had a photo fest and tried to snap ourselves with everyone around us in all kinds of silly poses. Eventually we headed off to the restaurant which turned out to be, of all things, an Irish pub. I could barely believe it but they had the authenticity down to every detail – Guinness mirrors, a Dubs flag, leprechauns, an Irish dancing dress on the walls, a chalkboard reading “Live Football”, and Westlife CDs. We probably could have done without the last one, but live and let live I say. It was a little while before the food arrived, so we passed the time playing pool, dancing, talking, buying jewellery (don’t ask) watching the football and generally having a great time. I tried to talk to as many people as possible and tried not to let my resentment at going home early show through (too much). Eventually the food came and we sat down to a raucous meal, followed by much singing and dancing. There were two tour birthdays that day, Tracy and Marcella, and since my birthday was the 19th and after I had left, Sam decided we would celebrate my birthday too. The group sang Happy Birthday to the three of us, and we continued to dance until they cleared us out of the pub into the club below. Then the fun really began as for the first time everyone really got into it and danced the night away. The DJ was quite good, better than most of the DJs here in Dublin to be honest. Not only that but he actually plays requests – imagine my surprise when I asked for “Gasolina” and it came on the very next song! I always love that song as it reminds me of the time I spent in Buenos Aires with my family. Sam had the brilliant idea of requesting “Soo ya soo” and everyone went mad, especially me. I didn’t leave the dance floor all night (every time I tried, which was only once or twice, someone came over to drag me back) and while people began to drift away a few of us stayed until the very end, reluctant to draw the night to a close. Finally it was time to leave as we were all exhausted, but someone (either Andrew or Sam, I don’t remember who) had the insane idea of stopping off at a coffee shop on the way home for a last shisha. We chatted at the coffee shop for a while, had something to drink and Rami paid without telling us (I was too tired to argue). Afterwards we walked home with our hearts heavy.
The Valley of the Kings began construction because the Pharoahs started to catch on to the fact that pyramids were not a fantastic idea when it comes to making provision for your afterlife. A pyramid is like hanging a giant sign on the door of your tomb saying, “Treasure here! Come and steal it!”. The Pharoahs didn’t like this as all the stuff the pyramid robbers were taking were the things they were going to need in the afterlife. So one of them (I don’t remember which one) had the bright idea of making his tomb underground, in an enormous cavern. They liked this much better than the pyramids because not only were they harder to find, but now instead of having just one burial chamber, they could make their tombs as big as they desired, with the main burial chamber, an antechamber, and another storage room filled with all the things they were going to need for the afterlife, like food, cups, tables, clothes, hairbrushes, everything. What a nightmare if you ask me – I have enough trouble packing for an 11 day trip, let alone packing for eternity. The reason they had liked the pyramids so much is that they thought the pyramids would bring them closer to the sun (and therefore Amoun-Ra), but the geography of the Valley of the Kings affords natural mountains which resemble pyramids, which is thought to be a main reason that location was chosen as the necropolis.
The first tomb we saw was (I think) Tutmoses. The figures on the walls weren’t very colourful but I found them interesting as I guessed (correctly as later confirmed by Sam) that they were inscriptions of The Book of The Dead, which was basically a step by step guide of all the rituals and spells to be performed to ensure the dead king would have no troubles getting to the eternal life.
The second tomb we saw was Merentah, and that one was much more colourful and impressive, and I recognised Isis on the head of his sarcophagus. My memory of this tomb is a little hazy as it got drowned out by the grandeur of the third one – unfortunately I can’t remember who it belonged to (one of the Ramses?) but it was amazing. Rows and rows of hieroglyphs covered the walls, colours as vivid as if they had been painted three days ago not three millennia ago. The Egyptians used natural paints – sulphur for yellow, iron oxide for red, lapis lazuli for blue (which was the most expensive colour). After they finished colouring they covered the walls in beeswax to preserve the paints. The ceiling was blue with white Pole Stars painted all over it (the Pole Star was thought to guide the way to the afterlife) and also some kind of counting that I couldn’t quite figure out. There were also pictures of ordinary things, like a mill grinding wheat into flour and behind it some bread. There were rooms leading off the main chamber with gods and goddesses on the walls, all in vivid technicolour. Anyhow it’s impossible to describe all this even nearly adequately in words and photography within the tombs is strictly forbidden (not that that stopped a portly Nubian man from snapping with flash! If all those colours fade in a generation or so people like him will be solely to blame) so you will all just have to go yourselves and check it out. Do what we did though, and go early in the morning, as those tombs are really really hot, and must be unbearable around midday.
That afternoon was a free one in Luxor – unfortunately, other than the Valley of the Kings and Karnak temple Luxor doesn’t really have much to recommend it. We went for a meal at a Chinese restaurant (I think Shelly was missing Chinese food) but none of the staff including the chef were Chinese, so you can imagine the quality of the food. The rice in particular tasted as if it had been boiled in tap water, but (probably stupidly) I threw caution to the winds and ate it anyway. I was later to regret that as it caused a minor digestive upset from which think I still have not fully recovered. After the meal Shelly wanted to do some “quick shopping” which, translated from Shelly-speak into English, means hours of poring over papyrus and bargaining with proprietors. The situation isn’t helped much by the proprietors themselves, who, if they haven’t got what you’re looking for right there, will spend “just one minute” (one Egyptian minute = approx 45-60 regular minutes) looking for the item which they know they have in the back room somewhere, or occasionally they will even send a friend home to get it. I got sick of this after a while, and, tired from the sun, the food and the accumulated lack of sleep I headed back to the hotel for a snooze. Sam had promised Shelly to take her to a perfume shop that afternoon at five – I had intended to go with them but I was out cold until it was time for dinner.
I tried to make myself look acceptable to go out that night – since it was basically the last time I would be seeing these people I thought I’d try and leave them with a half-decent impression. This was made difficult due to the fact I’d left all my makeup in Dublin (I like to take holidays from makeup as much as anything else), my skin was dry as a bone and I had big red mosquito bites all over the right side of my face from the felucca. I put on my cleanest pair of jeans, a cool singlet and my favourite badass fake leather jacket (still after two years my favourite wardrobe item and at six euro the best bargain I ever found) and hoped for the best. While we waited in the lobby we had a photo fest and tried to snap ourselves with everyone around us in all kinds of silly poses. Eventually we headed off to the restaurant which turned out to be, of all things, an Irish pub. I could barely believe it but they had the authenticity down to every detail – Guinness mirrors, a Dubs flag, leprechauns, an Irish dancing dress on the walls, a chalkboard reading “Live Football”, and Westlife CDs. We probably could have done without the last one, but live and let live I say. It was a little while before the food arrived, so we passed the time playing pool, dancing, talking, buying jewellery (don’t ask) watching the football and generally having a great time. I tried to talk to as many people as possible and tried not to let my resentment at going home early show through (too much). Eventually the food came and we sat down to a raucous meal, followed by much singing and dancing. There were two tour birthdays that day, Tracy and Marcella, and since my birthday was the 19th and after I had left, Sam decided we would celebrate my birthday too. The group sang Happy Birthday to the three of us, and we continued to dance until they cleared us out of the pub into the club below. Then the fun really began as for the first time everyone really got into it and danced the night away. The DJ was quite good, better than most of the DJs here in Dublin to be honest. Not only that but he actually plays requests – imagine my surprise when I asked for “Gasolina” and it came on the very next song! I always love that song as it reminds me of the time I spent in Buenos Aires with my family. Sam had the brilliant idea of requesting “Soo ya soo” and everyone went mad, especially me. I didn’t leave the dance floor all night (every time I tried, which was only once or twice, someone came over to drag me back) and while people began to drift away a few of us stayed until the very end, reluctant to draw the night to a close. Finally it was time to leave as we were all exhausted, but someone (either Andrew or Sam, I don’t remember who) had the insane idea of stopping off at a coffee shop on the way home for a last shisha. We chatted at the coffee shop for a while, had something to drink and Rami paid without telling us (I was too tired to argue). Afterwards we walked home with our hearts heavy.
Egypt - Day 8 - Luxor and Three Temples In One Day
I had a restless sleep and woke at about 05:30 to find Marcie awake and staring out onto the Nile. Sam had told us the night before that the crew would start sailing at 05:00, so I wasn’t surprised, but poor Marcie wasn’t listening and had woken up busting to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately when she went to step off the felucca she found we were already afloat! Mike was also up shooting and the three of us gazed at the East waiting for the sunrise, me in a semi-catatonic state. We watched the sun rise over the tree tops, and then waited for everyone to wake up so we could have breakfast. The funniest was Rami, who woke with a dopey look on his face and his hair sticking up in all directions.
Later breakfast, check out of the felucca, and we said goodbye to the crew in whos capable hands we had made it safely to Luxor. We’d already been up for a few hours but the day was only just beginning. First on the list was Kom-Ombu temple, a large and impressive temple dedicated to two gods, Horus and Set. If you remember from the story at Philae temple, Set is the god of evil who tried to kill Osiris, and Horus is the protector of kingship, son of Isis and Osiris. The two gods originally shared the temple, and the Egyptian people would give offerings to each. Horus wasn’t particularly fussy about his offerings, fruits, little carvings, things that are easy to get would be just fine for him. Set however, being a little more greedy than Horus, insisted that his offerings be made of gold, which had to be brought from many miles away and carefully crafted into gifts for him. Naturally people loved Horus best and offered him many more gifts than Set. Set got angry and staged a takeover of the temple and booted Horus out. Now the people were forced to make all their offerings of gold. They spent more and more time looking for gold, bringing it back to the temple, and making gifts. Eventually they had to spend so much time pleasing Set that they had no time for farming, sowing, irrigation, harvesting and so on. Soon the fertile lands they had always farmed had turned into barren, unkempt fields. When Amoun-Ra (the supreme and sun god) saw this he was disappointed. He asked the people “Why did you ruin the best farmland I gave you?” and the people told him how Set had taken over the temple and about his outrageous demands. Amoun-Ra was extremely angry about this, and he asked the goddess of justice (I don’t remember her name now) to divide the temple exactly in half. He told Set he could keep one half and he gave the other half to Horus. Now, on one of the back walls of the temple you can find a depiction of the temple with a line drawn down the middle. Set is on one side and Horus is on the other, with the goddess of justice above. So things went back to how they were before, and the world was good again.
After Kom-Ombu we drove straight to Edfu temple, another large and impressive temple with exquisite carvings of which some of the colours still remain. Unfortunately although this is one of the more important temples in Egypt, I don’t remember any of the stories about it. By that point I was extremely tired, having had only a short, fitful sleep and having been on the go since 05:30, so I wasn’t really absorbing a lot of information. Not to mention I hadn’t had a shower for nearly 72 hours, which makes more difference to one’s state of mind than you might think.
After Edfu we had time only for a super-fast lunch (McDonalds unfortunately, but it was the closest and easiest option) and Shelly managed to shower before we had to be downstairs. On to our horse and carriage to Karnak temple, the largest temple in Egypt and the largest temple complex in the world. When Sam told me that I thought it couldn’t possibly be bigger than Machu Picchu, but on seeing it I had to re-evaluate that opinion! The horse and carriage ride was fun but a little cheesy – but we already stick out so much as Western tourists I guess it doesn’t make any difference if we fall into all the tourist traps. The façade of the temple isn’t that impressive really, compared to say, Abu Simbel, but it’s pretty amazing once you get inside. There’s a couple of reasons why it’s so big: firstly, it’s dedicated to Amoun-Ra, the supreme and sun god, so obviously he has to have the biggest temple. Secondly, because it’s Amoun-Ra’s temple all the kings wanted to please him, so while most temples have been built by only one king, Karnak was continued over many generations. Plus, it’s located in Luxor, which used to be part of Thebes, the old capital of Egypt (not to be confused with Thebes in Greece). The most striking part of the temple was the colonnade hall, featuring about 130 enormous columns bedecked with inscriptions and carvings. We only had an hour or so to look around, not nearly enough to even quickly look over the whole temple complex, let alone really get to know it. Sam pointed out a long wall graphically depicting Horus taking revenge on Set (remember the Philae temple story?) for the killing of his father. In the end Horus managed to kill Set but I have a feeling that won’t be the last we see of the god of evil. They usually find some way to come back to life.
We took the horse and carriage back to the hotel, the drivers hassling us the entire way for tips, from the moment we got into the carriage to the moment we got out. As we knew that Sam had already tipped the drivers along with their fees we were deaf to their pleas. So insistent and repetitive were their cries of “Backsheesh, backsheesh, backsheesh” that we resorted to drowning them out with a very loud rendition of “You’re the One That I Want” from the movie “Grease”. When we got out without tipping them they shouted something at us in Arabic (probably obscene). Although it’s customary to tip in Egypt it’s never compulsory and the drivers had already been tipped by the tour company anyway, so I was a little annoyed at the cheekyness of the drivers. I think it might be a Luxor thing – the Luxorians seem to be more sneaky and money hungry than in other parts of Egypt.
Back to the hotel to grab a jumper and I finally (oh the joy!) managed to stand under the shower for two minutes. My first shower in three days and although I had to make it very fast it was lovely and I felt like a new woman afterwards. We (Marcie, Mary and I) were actually heading back to Karnak temple for the sound and lights show. When Sam first mentioned it I wasn’t very excited by the prospect – flashing lights and that sort of thing don’t really interest me. But when he said “You probably won’t like it, the effects are not that great and it’s quite heavy on the history” I decided it was definitely worth a look. The temple was gorgeous lit up at night and standing in the colonnade hall looking up at the stars was a fabulous experience. To be honest there was more drama in the show than hard historical fact but we still enjoyed it – I learned more about the actual rites and rituals that the high priests and kings would have performed inside the temple, which I found fascinating. On the way home we saw Luxor Temple lit up which was beautiful as well.
Dinner that night was a relaxed and civilised affair; no doubt due to the marathon day we’d just had. We went to a Western-style restaurant called Maxime’s where I ate a passable moussaka but the service was abysmal – the waiter practically threw the food at us. Compared to the service at all the other restaurants we’d been to in Egypt where everyone had been so friendly and helpful this was a surprise. After dinner a lovely walk home in the balmy air to the hotel, where we had a brilliant night’s sleep in an actual bed.
Later breakfast, check out of the felucca, and we said goodbye to the crew in whos capable hands we had made it safely to Luxor. We’d already been up for a few hours but the day was only just beginning. First on the list was Kom-Ombu temple, a large and impressive temple dedicated to two gods, Horus and Set. If you remember from the story at Philae temple, Set is the god of evil who tried to kill Osiris, and Horus is the protector of kingship, son of Isis and Osiris. The two gods originally shared the temple, and the Egyptian people would give offerings to each. Horus wasn’t particularly fussy about his offerings, fruits, little carvings, things that are easy to get would be just fine for him. Set however, being a little more greedy than Horus, insisted that his offerings be made of gold, which had to be brought from many miles away and carefully crafted into gifts for him. Naturally people loved Horus best and offered him many more gifts than Set. Set got angry and staged a takeover of the temple and booted Horus out. Now the people were forced to make all their offerings of gold. They spent more and more time looking for gold, bringing it back to the temple, and making gifts. Eventually they had to spend so much time pleasing Set that they had no time for farming, sowing, irrigation, harvesting and so on. Soon the fertile lands they had always farmed had turned into barren, unkempt fields. When Amoun-Ra (the supreme and sun god) saw this he was disappointed. He asked the people “Why did you ruin the best farmland I gave you?” and the people told him how Set had taken over the temple and about his outrageous demands. Amoun-Ra was extremely angry about this, and he asked the goddess of justice (I don’t remember her name now) to divide the temple exactly in half. He told Set he could keep one half and he gave the other half to Horus. Now, on one of the back walls of the temple you can find a depiction of the temple with a line drawn down the middle. Set is on one side and Horus is on the other, with the goddess of justice above. So things went back to how they were before, and the world was good again.
After Kom-Ombu we drove straight to Edfu temple, another large and impressive temple with exquisite carvings of which some of the colours still remain. Unfortunately although this is one of the more important temples in Egypt, I don’t remember any of the stories about it. By that point I was extremely tired, having had only a short, fitful sleep and having been on the go since 05:30, so I wasn’t really absorbing a lot of information. Not to mention I hadn’t had a shower for nearly 72 hours, which makes more difference to one’s state of mind than you might think.
After Edfu we had time only for a super-fast lunch (McDonalds unfortunately, but it was the closest and easiest option) and Shelly managed to shower before we had to be downstairs. On to our horse and carriage to Karnak temple, the largest temple in Egypt and the largest temple complex in the world. When Sam told me that I thought it couldn’t possibly be bigger than Machu Picchu, but on seeing it I had to re-evaluate that opinion! The horse and carriage ride was fun but a little cheesy – but we already stick out so much as Western tourists I guess it doesn’t make any difference if we fall into all the tourist traps. The façade of the temple isn’t that impressive really, compared to say, Abu Simbel, but it’s pretty amazing once you get inside. There’s a couple of reasons why it’s so big: firstly, it’s dedicated to Amoun-Ra, the supreme and sun god, so obviously he has to have the biggest temple. Secondly, because it’s Amoun-Ra’s temple all the kings wanted to please him, so while most temples have been built by only one king, Karnak was continued over many generations. Plus, it’s located in Luxor, which used to be part of Thebes, the old capital of Egypt (not to be confused with Thebes in Greece). The most striking part of the temple was the colonnade hall, featuring about 130 enormous columns bedecked with inscriptions and carvings. We only had an hour or so to look around, not nearly enough to even quickly look over the whole temple complex, let alone really get to know it. Sam pointed out a long wall graphically depicting Horus taking revenge on Set (remember the Philae temple story?) for the killing of his father. In the end Horus managed to kill Set but I have a feeling that won’t be the last we see of the god of evil. They usually find some way to come back to life.
We took the horse and carriage back to the hotel, the drivers hassling us the entire way for tips, from the moment we got into the carriage to the moment we got out. As we knew that Sam had already tipped the drivers along with their fees we were deaf to their pleas. So insistent and repetitive were their cries of “Backsheesh, backsheesh, backsheesh” that we resorted to drowning them out with a very loud rendition of “You’re the One That I Want” from the movie “Grease”. When we got out without tipping them they shouted something at us in Arabic (probably obscene). Although it’s customary to tip in Egypt it’s never compulsory and the drivers had already been tipped by the tour company anyway, so I was a little annoyed at the cheekyness of the drivers. I think it might be a Luxor thing – the Luxorians seem to be more sneaky and money hungry than in other parts of Egypt.
Back to the hotel to grab a jumper and I finally (oh the joy!) managed to stand under the shower for two minutes. My first shower in three days and although I had to make it very fast it was lovely and I felt like a new woman afterwards. We (Marcie, Mary and I) were actually heading back to Karnak temple for the sound and lights show. When Sam first mentioned it I wasn’t very excited by the prospect – flashing lights and that sort of thing don’t really interest me. But when he said “You probably won’t like it, the effects are not that great and it’s quite heavy on the history” I decided it was definitely worth a look. The temple was gorgeous lit up at night and standing in the colonnade hall looking up at the stars was a fabulous experience. To be honest there was more drama in the show than hard historical fact but we still enjoyed it – I learned more about the actual rites and rituals that the high priests and kings would have performed inside the temple, which I found fascinating. On the way home we saw Luxor Temple lit up which was beautiful as well.
Dinner that night was a relaxed and civilised affair; no doubt due to the marathon day we’d just had. We went to a Western-style restaurant called Maxime’s where I ate a passable moussaka but the service was abysmal – the waiter practically threw the food at us. Compared to the service at all the other restaurants we’d been to in Egypt where everyone had been so friendly and helpful this was a surprise. After dinner a lovely walk home in the balmy air to the hotel, where we had a brilliant night’s sleep in an actual bed.
Egypt - Day 7 - More Nile, feluccas and Nubians
I woke up kind of early the next day, and since Russell was on his way to climb the nearest sand dune, I volunteered to accompany him while everyone else lay snug inside their sleeping bags. The climb to the top wasn’t long, but walking on sand is always a challenge for me. Huffing and puffing we made it to the top and admired the view of the sand, the Nile, the feluccas, and the power lines (damn technology always ruining the vistas). After the descent it still wasn’t time for breakfast and I fancied a dip in the Nile. Sam confirmed it was ok to swim in there so on with my bikini and I plunged into the icy water. It was so cold I could almost feel my heart stop when I dived in. There were reeds all around that part of the river which made it difficult to move, but I had a little splash about and then got out for breakfast, happy that I had swum in the Nile and also that I’d been the first to attempt it. I must be more careful about the movement of my swimmers though – at one point I was slightly more exposed than is considered modest in most modern cultures which the girls on Felucca C thankfully pointed out to me. How embarrassing! I hope they were the only ones that saw it.
More sailing after breakfast and we passed a tranquil morning reading, listening to Ben’s iPod, getting totally sunburnt (despite the factor 50+) and generally doing not much. We stopped for lunch on a semi-deserted island and the boys set up a game of beach cricket. It was bound to and did end in tears when one of the boys achieved a particularly spectacular run out and the stumps (fashioned from empty beer bottles) smashed and shrapnel went flying. One piece flew directly into Dave’s finger which was immediately looked after and bandaged by one of the girls on board who happened to be a nurse. Beach sports abandoned for the afternoon I had another swim in the river before we headed back to the boat for the afternoon’s sailing. Before we got away though, Sam handed us a piece of paper outlining our challenges for that evening’s entertainment. The questions were thus:
1. What is the capital of Ethiopia?
2. Who is the president of Egypt?
3. What are the names of your crew?
4. Produce coins from four different countries
5. Come up with a song for Budget Expeditions (I have a feeling this one was Rami’s idea)
6. Come up with a group dance
7. Dress one of the girls up as a boy, and one of the boys up as a girl
We were to present the first four to Sam before sunset, and the last three after dinner. The rest of the felucca ride was given over to discussion and planning. I had thought the capital of Ethiopia was Mogadishu – of course my geography is at best appalling and at worst abysmal but thankfully Ben’s isn’t. He pointed out Mogadishu is the capital of Somalia and that the capital of Ethiopia is Addis Ababa. I knew the president of Egypt was Mubarak (easy to remember since I used to work with a guy by that name) but Rami informed us that wouldn’t be enough for Sam, we’d have to give his first name too. That stumped us for a while but in the end after some poking Rami told us what it was – Muhamad. I should have guessed that – every second guy in Egypt has that name. I had made a point of remembering the crew names when Sam first called them out to us (I hate saying “hey there” or having to ask names a million times) so that one was easy. The coins were a piece of cake as we had most of the nationalities on the tour – we ended up with Australian, Euro, Canadian, and a Bahrainian dollar contributed by Mike (worth about three Aussie dollars).
The last three parts were more of a challenge, particularly the last one. I knew it would be nearly impossible to dress the guys up and Rami absolutely refused to wear a bikini. But I was surprised by the level of interest with which the challenges were embraced on the boat, everyone really got into the spirit of the occasion and we had a great time coming up with the song. Ben turned out to have a great knack for writing lyrics, and this is what we came up with in the end (to the tune of "Summer Holiday"):
We’re all going on an Egyptian holiday
Shisha, mummies and feluccas too
We’re all going on an Expedition
Budget Expedition with you
We’re all going on an Egyptian holiday
Singing on the Nile with the Nubian crew
We’re all going on an Expedition
Budget Expedition with you
Simple and easy to sing along to. We were sorting out the music for the dance when we got distracted by the dancy music on Katrina’s iPod – Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin (I love “The Cup of Life”). I leapt up in tremendous excitement (this received a slightly bemused look from Rami) and we turned felucca B into an all-dancefloor nightclub until it was announced we were mooring for the night – disaster! How could we come up with a dance and practise without espionage from neighbouring feluccas? We handed in our questions and coins to Sam who was suspicious that Rami had helped us. He had in fact, but not for the questions that Sam was suspicious about. We said, “Well, Rami is part of our felucca, right? So he can help us answer the questions?” “No, no” replied Sam. “He’s not supposed to help”. “That’s a pity,” I said, feigning disappointment. “We were kind of hoping to get him to wear a bikini to dinner tonight”. At which point Sam roared with laughter and insisted “Okay, okay! Rami is part of the group! Rami is part of the group!”.
We went ashore to answer the call of the wild and then the girls of felucca B had a quick confab. We resigned ourselves to the facts that a) there was no way any of the boys were going to volunteer to dress up as a girl, and b) the dream of seeing Rami in one of our bikinis was going to have to stay just that – a dream. The only solution was for us to pick one of the boys to do it, and present it to him as a fait accompli. No arguments. In the end we chose Ben, as his slim figure would fit best into Marcie’s dress. Then we rounded up the boys and dragged them off into the desert for dance practise. We came up with a pretty cool dance (well, pretty cool for totally uncoordinated people to invent in half an hour) and we had it down great. We informed Ben of his fate, and to his credit took it all in his stride with minimal fuss. Very impressive, especially for an Australian male, usually so super-macho. Done. We were ready for showtime, so until then we chatted idly. I went to sit by the shisha fire with the boys – not to smoke, but because I like watching flames (there’s a little pyro in there somewhere). I got chatting to Rob, one of the Perth boys, and we talked until we realised it was pitch black and everyone else had abandoned us and was eating dinner on the feluccas. Rob was a felucca A boy, so we bid a fond farewell and went to find our food. We had another lovely candlelit dinner, and Marcela told me my fortune (she’s very good at it – or at least very convincing). Russell told us the story of the Egyptians vs. the Hixos (very entertaingly but not very accurately – but never mind, Sam to the rescue later to fix all his historical errors) and then it was time for the games and competitions.
I went off to find the player and cassette tape that had been seized earlier after our practise session, which Ziggy assured me was somewhere on felucca A. I asked him for the same tape we had been using earlier – he hadn’t a clue which one it was, they all looked the same. This despite the fact we asked him specifically earlier to please remember which one it was – but it was kind of them to even lend it to us in the first place. He led me down into the dark under-cabin of the ship with only a small candle for light, and we tried a few different cassettes before we gave up and I just picked a random one. When I made it back to the fire it was time for the felucca B song; I must say we totally rocked the house. I might be biased but our song was the best, loudest and sung with the most spirit. Then the dance – again we were first, who knows why. The different music messed us around a bit, but we got through it. Unfortunately thanks to the film crew that probably totally crap dance is now recorded for posterity on high definition film. Felucca C totally cheated by doing the time warp (stolen dance moves) and changing the words thus incorporating the song and dance into one, which Sam had told us earlier was not allowed. I don’t think felucca A even had a dance, so again I felt we were the clear winners. Felucca C caught up with us after that though – they won the bellydancing competition by a mile, did well in the mummy-wrapping contest and made it to the last stages of “pass the bottle”. I never found out who won the cross-dressing part of the evening – I really hope Ben’s efforts weren’t in vain. In the end feluccas B and C tied for honours in the evening’s fun and games. We won equal shares of a bottle of red, so not bad going if we got a glass of wine out of it.
After the competitions the Nubians treated us to some more fireside singing and dancing. I had a little try of the drums; one of the crew tried to show me how to do it, but I couldn’t get the same sound they were getting. They hit the drum with the pads of their fingers and the drum says “Duf!” – short, sharp and bass. I tried the same and it emitted a shrill, long “Draaaaaang!” sound – not very rhythmical. But they’ve been playing these things as long as they’ve been walking, so I can hardly expect to be an expert in five minutes. I sat with them for as long as they continued to sing; slowly people began to drift back to the boats. I stayed right until the very end, as I was having a quiet conversation with Sam which I was very reluctant to leave. Eventually it got late and we went back to our respective feluccas for some shut-eye.
More sailing after breakfast and we passed a tranquil morning reading, listening to Ben’s iPod, getting totally sunburnt (despite the factor 50+) and generally doing not much. We stopped for lunch on a semi-deserted island and the boys set up a game of beach cricket. It was bound to and did end in tears when one of the boys achieved a particularly spectacular run out and the stumps (fashioned from empty beer bottles) smashed and shrapnel went flying. One piece flew directly into Dave’s finger which was immediately looked after and bandaged by one of the girls on board who happened to be a nurse. Beach sports abandoned for the afternoon I had another swim in the river before we headed back to the boat for the afternoon’s sailing. Before we got away though, Sam handed us a piece of paper outlining our challenges for that evening’s entertainment. The questions were thus:
1. What is the capital of Ethiopia?
2. Who is the president of Egypt?
3. What are the names of your crew?
4. Produce coins from four different countries
5. Come up with a song for Budget Expeditions (I have a feeling this one was Rami’s idea)
6. Come up with a group dance
7. Dress one of the girls up as a boy, and one of the boys up as a girl
We were to present the first four to Sam before sunset, and the last three after dinner. The rest of the felucca ride was given over to discussion and planning. I had thought the capital of Ethiopia was Mogadishu – of course my geography is at best appalling and at worst abysmal but thankfully Ben’s isn’t. He pointed out Mogadishu is the capital of Somalia and that the capital of Ethiopia is Addis Ababa. I knew the president of Egypt was Mubarak (easy to remember since I used to work with a guy by that name) but Rami informed us that wouldn’t be enough for Sam, we’d have to give his first name too. That stumped us for a while but in the end after some poking Rami told us what it was – Muhamad. I should have guessed that – every second guy in Egypt has that name. I had made a point of remembering the crew names when Sam first called them out to us (I hate saying “hey there” or having to ask names a million times) so that one was easy. The coins were a piece of cake as we had most of the nationalities on the tour – we ended up with Australian, Euro, Canadian, and a Bahrainian dollar contributed by Mike (worth about three Aussie dollars).
The last three parts were more of a challenge, particularly the last one. I knew it would be nearly impossible to dress the guys up and Rami absolutely refused to wear a bikini. But I was surprised by the level of interest with which the challenges were embraced on the boat, everyone really got into the spirit of the occasion and we had a great time coming up with the song. Ben turned out to have a great knack for writing lyrics, and this is what we came up with in the end (to the tune of "Summer Holiday"):
We’re all going on an Egyptian holiday
Shisha, mummies and feluccas too
We’re all going on an Expedition
Budget Expedition with you
We’re all going on an Egyptian holiday
Singing on the Nile with the Nubian crew
We’re all going on an Expedition
Budget Expedition with you
Simple and easy to sing along to. We were sorting out the music for the dance when we got distracted by the dancy music on Katrina’s iPod – Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin (I love “The Cup of Life”). I leapt up in tremendous excitement (this received a slightly bemused look from Rami) and we turned felucca B into an all-dancefloor nightclub until it was announced we were mooring for the night – disaster! How could we come up with a dance and practise without espionage from neighbouring feluccas? We handed in our questions and coins to Sam who was suspicious that Rami had helped us. He had in fact, but not for the questions that Sam was suspicious about. We said, “Well, Rami is part of our felucca, right? So he can help us answer the questions?” “No, no” replied Sam. “He’s not supposed to help”. “That’s a pity,” I said, feigning disappointment. “We were kind of hoping to get him to wear a bikini to dinner tonight”. At which point Sam roared with laughter and insisted “Okay, okay! Rami is part of the group! Rami is part of the group!”.
We went ashore to answer the call of the wild and then the girls of felucca B had a quick confab. We resigned ourselves to the facts that a) there was no way any of the boys were going to volunteer to dress up as a girl, and b) the dream of seeing Rami in one of our bikinis was going to have to stay just that – a dream. The only solution was for us to pick one of the boys to do it, and present it to him as a fait accompli. No arguments. In the end we chose Ben, as his slim figure would fit best into Marcie’s dress. Then we rounded up the boys and dragged them off into the desert for dance practise. We came up with a pretty cool dance (well, pretty cool for totally uncoordinated people to invent in half an hour) and we had it down great. We informed Ben of his fate, and to his credit took it all in his stride with minimal fuss. Very impressive, especially for an Australian male, usually so super-macho. Done. We were ready for showtime, so until then we chatted idly. I went to sit by the shisha fire with the boys – not to smoke, but because I like watching flames (there’s a little pyro in there somewhere). I got chatting to Rob, one of the Perth boys, and we talked until we realised it was pitch black and everyone else had abandoned us and was eating dinner on the feluccas. Rob was a felucca A boy, so we bid a fond farewell and went to find our food. We had another lovely candlelit dinner, and Marcela told me my fortune (she’s very good at it – or at least very convincing). Russell told us the story of the Egyptians vs. the Hixos (very entertaingly but not very accurately – but never mind, Sam to the rescue later to fix all his historical errors) and then it was time for the games and competitions.
I went off to find the player and cassette tape that had been seized earlier after our practise session, which Ziggy assured me was somewhere on felucca A. I asked him for the same tape we had been using earlier – he hadn’t a clue which one it was, they all looked the same. This despite the fact we asked him specifically earlier to please remember which one it was – but it was kind of them to even lend it to us in the first place. He led me down into the dark under-cabin of the ship with only a small candle for light, and we tried a few different cassettes before we gave up and I just picked a random one. When I made it back to the fire it was time for the felucca B song; I must say we totally rocked the house. I might be biased but our song was the best, loudest and sung with the most spirit. Then the dance – again we were first, who knows why. The different music messed us around a bit, but we got through it. Unfortunately thanks to the film crew that probably totally crap dance is now recorded for posterity on high definition film. Felucca C totally cheated by doing the time warp (stolen dance moves) and changing the words thus incorporating the song and dance into one, which Sam had told us earlier was not allowed. I don’t think felucca A even had a dance, so again I felt we were the clear winners. Felucca C caught up with us after that though – they won the bellydancing competition by a mile, did well in the mummy-wrapping contest and made it to the last stages of “pass the bottle”. I never found out who won the cross-dressing part of the evening – I really hope Ben’s efforts weren’t in vain. In the end feluccas B and C tied for honours in the evening’s fun and games. We won equal shares of a bottle of red, so not bad going if we got a glass of wine out of it.
After the competitions the Nubians treated us to some more fireside singing and dancing. I had a little try of the drums; one of the crew tried to show me how to do it, but I couldn’t get the same sound they were getting. They hit the drum with the pads of their fingers and the drum says “Duf!” – short, sharp and bass. I tried the same and it emitted a shrill, long “Draaaaaang!” sound – not very rhythmical. But they’ve been playing these things as long as they’ve been walking, so I can hardly expect to be an expert in five minutes. I sat with them for as long as they continued to sing; slowly people began to drift back to the boats. I stayed right until the very end, as I was having a quiet conversation with Sam which I was very reluctant to leave. Eventually it got late and we went back to our respective feluccas for some shut-eye.
Egypt - Day 6 - Feluccas on the Nile
The next morning was free so we took advantage and got up late. After breakfast it was time for some hardcore lazing by and in the pool. I felt kind of like I should be seeing more of Aswan, but I didn’t think I could really see anything but more markets on foot. Anyway I’m always wearing myself out sightseeing – sometimes I would do well to remember I am on my holidays and spending time relaxing is what I’m supposed to be doing!
In the afternoon we got our stuff together and headed down to the Nile where we boarded the three feluccas which were to be our home for the next two nights. Shelly and I were on felucca B, which, just quietly, was the best felucca both in terms of fun had and comfort. It wasn’t the biggest felucca but the biggest one had about 12 people on it, while we only had eight, and our boat wasn’t much smaller. We met our crew (Nubians), Ramadan (the skipper), Mohammad and Khaled, and sailed away on the Nile. The crew were the nicest and most helpful guys in the whole world (continuing in the general Egyptian tradition).
We didn’t get far before we stopped for a simple but delicious lunch, and then some more relaxing sailing, We lazed about in the sun reading and chatting idly until Shelly asked Rami to teach us the Egyptian Olympic song Sam had sung earlier. He refused at first but once we began he had no choice but to continue. In fact he didn’t know all of the words so we rang Sam on board felucca A and sang to him over the phone. He wouldn’t teach us the song over the telephone though, so later he abandoned his boat temporarily and we finally learned all the words:
Have you seen the beauty of the Nile?
Have you seen Egyptians when they smile?
We are the Pharoahs, you must know the name
We like to be heroes, when we play the game
Since long ago, we are friendly people
I’m sure you know, I’m sure you feel it
Cheesy, huh? But fun to sing. The Nubian sailors took a break from the boat and pulled out the drums and we had a great sing along while sipping ice cold soft drinks out of the Esky. Rami made us laugh when Shelly was having trouble counting the Egyptian money (it can be quite old and hard to read). She tried a couple of times to figure out if she had the right amount for her drinks and gave up – so she held the bills out to Rami and demanded “Count!”. He grinned and replied, “Yes, Princess Shelly” at which point we all fell about laughing and from then on Marcie called Shelly “Princess Shelly”. Sam tried to teach us Soo ya soo – but that was less successful! We had the chorus down pat “Soo, ya soo, habibi habe soo” but the verses still required a lot of work! The wind picked up towards the evening, the water became choppy and the skipper decided we should moor for the night. We sorted ourselves out with regards to “the call of the wild” ashore as the feluccas didn’t even have a motor, let alone a toilet. Ah, the joys of camping. To be honest, going to the toilet in a hole in the ground is usually much more pleasant than use of public toilets, so I was as happy as Larry. We ate dinner on the boats by candlelight and after dinner gathered around the fire for singing and dancing with the Nubians. They sang some songs in Nubian but it soon became endless repetitions of “She’ll be coming round the mountain”. If I ever hear that song again it will be too soon. I enjoyed the primitive feel of the campfire and the rustic style entertainment. Who needs a TV, Xbox or iPod when you have a voice to sing and feet to dance? This is why you don’t need possessions to make you happy – when happiness can be found in the simplest of situations, buying cars, flat screen TVs, state of the art computers and fancy fridges with ice dispensers seems totally barking up the wrong tree. We went to bed kind of early considering we had a day of very hard and difficult lazing about to do the next day on the boat.
In the afternoon we got our stuff together and headed down to the Nile where we boarded the three feluccas which were to be our home for the next two nights. Shelly and I were on felucca B, which, just quietly, was the best felucca both in terms of fun had and comfort. It wasn’t the biggest felucca but the biggest one had about 12 people on it, while we only had eight, and our boat wasn’t much smaller. We met our crew (Nubians), Ramadan (the skipper), Mohammad and Khaled, and sailed away on the Nile. The crew were the nicest and most helpful guys in the whole world (continuing in the general Egyptian tradition).
We didn’t get far before we stopped for a simple but delicious lunch, and then some more relaxing sailing, We lazed about in the sun reading and chatting idly until Shelly asked Rami to teach us the Egyptian Olympic song Sam had sung earlier. He refused at first but once we began he had no choice but to continue. In fact he didn’t know all of the words so we rang Sam on board felucca A and sang to him over the phone. He wouldn’t teach us the song over the telephone though, so later he abandoned his boat temporarily and we finally learned all the words:
Have you seen the beauty of the Nile?
Have you seen Egyptians when they smile?
We are the Pharoahs, you must know the name
We like to be heroes, when we play the game
Since long ago, we are friendly people
I’m sure you know, I’m sure you feel it
Cheesy, huh? But fun to sing. The Nubian sailors took a break from the boat and pulled out the drums and we had a great sing along while sipping ice cold soft drinks out of the Esky. Rami made us laugh when Shelly was having trouble counting the Egyptian money (it can be quite old and hard to read). She tried a couple of times to figure out if she had the right amount for her drinks and gave up – so she held the bills out to Rami and demanded “Count!”. He grinned and replied, “Yes, Princess Shelly” at which point we all fell about laughing and from then on Marcie called Shelly “Princess Shelly”. Sam tried to teach us Soo ya soo – but that was less successful! We had the chorus down pat “Soo, ya soo, habibi habe soo” but the verses still required a lot of work! The wind picked up towards the evening, the water became choppy and the skipper decided we should moor for the night. We sorted ourselves out with regards to “the call of the wild” ashore as the feluccas didn’t even have a motor, let alone a toilet. Ah, the joys of camping. To be honest, going to the toilet in a hole in the ground is usually much more pleasant than use of public toilets, so I was as happy as Larry. We ate dinner on the boats by candlelight and after dinner gathered around the fire for singing and dancing with the Nubians. They sang some songs in Nubian but it soon became endless repetitions of “She’ll be coming round the mountain”. If I ever hear that song again it will be too soon. I enjoyed the primitive feel of the campfire and the rustic style entertainment. Who needs a TV, Xbox or iPod when you have a voice to sing and feet to dance? This is why you don’t need possessions to make you happy – when happiness can be found in the simplest of situations, buying cars, flat screen TVs, state of the art computers and fancy fridges with ice dispensers seems totally barking up the wrong tree. We went to bed kind of early considering we had a day of very hard and difficult lazing about to do the next day on the boat.
Egypt - Day 5 - Abou Simbel and the Nubians
Next morning up at the crack of dawn (well, before that to be honest) to catch the bus convoy to Abou Simbel, an amazing temple south of Aswan. Egyptian law says you must travel in a convoy for security reasons, and the convoy leaves early to ensure you’re not out at Abou Simbel in the unbearable midday heat. We slept most of the bus ride to be honest, and woke up when we’d arrived. There are actually two temples there, one for the King Ramses and one next door for his wife, Nefertary. Sam suggested we check out the queen’s temple first, and he was right. Nefertary’s temple was beautiful, but next to the awesome colossus that is Ramses’s temple it kind of pales in comparison. The façade features four enormous statues of Ramses, the second of which is partially destroyed. The statues show the progress of his life – in the first he is young and looks happy, in the second (before it was destroyed) he was a little older, a little wiser, prosperous and even happier, but in the last two he is getting older and begins to look sad. The most impressive part of the temple is when you walk in – either side of the walkway is flanked by a colonnade of gigantic statues of Ramses, probably about six times the hight of a tall person. Lots of carvings adorning the walls of course, apart from the usual ones of the king smiting his enemies there were a couple of nice ones of Ramses hunting and Isis, Neftis, and Amoun-Ra. We spent some time looking and not taking photos (as usual, not allowed), then back onto the bus to make the convoy back to Aswan.
The afternoon we had free to roam Aswan. Shelly was at a shop recommended by Sam for papyrus buying up big, meanwhile I headed to the markets behind the hotel to have a look around. I’m not really big on buying souvenirs – generally I find their only purpose is to gather dust. I did buy some postcards though, and was looking out for a CD stall, as I’d really enjoyed all the Arabic/oriental style music I’d been hearing on the radio, and that the DJ had played the night before. Sam had warned us to cover down to our elbows and knees while wandering the market in order to avoid the inevitable catcalls of the stallholders, but to be honest I had planned for summer weather and my pack was full of strappy singlets and little t-shirts. I didn’t mind the hassle that much, you learn pretty quickly not to turn around or even blink when someone calls out to you, but it does get wearing after a couple of hours. Finally I did find a music stall blaring just the kind of music I was looking for, but unfortunately only on cassette. He did manage to sell me another “dance mix” CD, which on returning home I found to be more electronic-style-dance than boogie-style-dance. A little disappointing, but such are the problems of buying from a salesman with sketchy English, even if he means well. Then the long walk home past all the market stalls again “Welcome back beautiful lady!” “Hello! Come over, I’m free tonight” (as if, jerk!).
After a bit of a clean up it was time for our evening adventure – a visit to a Nubian village. The Nubians and the Egyptians have a slightly strained relationship. Nubians are a mix of African and Egyptian origins and traditionally lived close to the Nile in Aswan and places around there. They were, along with the Asians, the traditional enemies of Egypt because they were always revolting and trying to secede from Egypt. Now the Nubians are up in arms over land rights – the aforementioned engineering feat that is Lake Nasser now covers vast tracts of land previously occupied by Nubians. The Egyptian government kindly offered to rehouse them – in the middle of the desert. For a community used to living close to water and a large number of which are fishermen by trade, they are justifiably furious. Still, the ones we met seemed very happy and jolly (a show for the tourists I assume) and politics were not really on the agenda anyway. We visited the school where the children are taught both Nubian and Arabic. Nubian is a strictly oral language with no written form and is completely unlike Arabic in any way – Sam and Rami were just as much in the dark as us about it. The teacher tried to drum some numbers into us – unfortunately I can only remember wahid (one) etneen (two) and telete (three). That’s in Arabic – I don’t remember any of the Nubian ones except that one of them sounds like whiskey! Then we went to visit a Nubian house where we drank hibiscus tea, checked out some baby alligators (they were so cute!) and got henna tattoos. I had been thinking of getting one earlier, but changed my mind. I just felt kind of strange, invading someone’s house, drinking their tea, having them tattoo me, and without any chance of getting to know them, or even having a real conversation or being able to say thank you in a sincere and convincing fashion. They open their house to tourists willingly and meet them every day, but I still felt uncomfortable invading their privacy without being personally invited. The best part of the visit happened when we were just leaving – I struck up a conversation in Spanish with the girls of the house – one 12, one 10, one 8. The children are amazing, since they spend all their days with tourists they have picked up loads of languages, so as well as Arabic and Nubian they speak quite passable English, Spanish, Italian, French, and probably German, Chinese and god knows what else. Children’s brains have that sort of “sponge” effect for languages, where they kind of absorb them without apparent effort. Their Spanish, considering they’d had no formal training, was impressive. The girls showed me their houses, told me about their families, siblings, what they like to do. One of the girls has a little crush on Sam – so cute! He’s my man, she informed me. We ran together back to the felucca and they kissed me goodbye (such sweet girls – but again, they are used to dealing with tourists and you have to wonder how much of that sweetness is genuine).
From the village to the restaurant where we enjoyed a singing, dancing Nubian show where we got to participate and dance like the Nubians. I had a great time – the Nubians have a fabulous sense of rhythm like the Africans or the Brasilians, and are amazing drummers. After we’d worked up an appetite dancing, we ate dinner sat on cushions on the floor, very bohemian and lovely. Actually the decoration of the place was beautiful, lots of bright colours, rustic, wooden carvings, draped tapestries and such. Dinner was delicious, and I drank my first Stella, the Egyptian beer and I must say it’s not a bad drop. After dinner back to the hotel where we crashed into bed.
The afternoon we had free to roam Aswan. Shelly was at a shop recommended by Sam for papyrus buying up big, meanwhile I headed to the markets behind the hotel to have a look around. I’m not really big on buying souvenirs – generally I find their only purpose is to gather dust. I did buy some postcards though, and was looking out for a CD stall, as I’d really enjoyed all the Arabic/oriental style music I’d been hearing on the radio, and that the DJ had played the night before. Sam had warned us to cover down to our elbows and knees while wandering the market in order to avoid the inevitable catcalls of the stallholders, but to be honest I had planned for summer weather and my pack was full of strappy singlets and little t-shirts. I didn’t mind the hassle that much, you learn pretty quickly not to turn around or even blink when someone calls out to you, but it does get wearing after a couple of hours. Finally I did find a music stall blaring just the kind of music I was looking for, but unfortunately only on cassette. He did manage to sell me another “dance mix” CD, which on returning home I found to be more electronic-style-dance than boogie-style-dance. A little disappointing, but such are the problems of buying from a salesman with sketchy English, even if he means well. Then the long walk home past all the market stalls again “Welcome back beautiful lady!” “Hello! Come over, I’m free tonight” (as if, jerk!).
After a bit of a clean up it was time for our evening adventure – a visit to a Nubian village. The Nubians and the Egyptians have a slightly strained relationship. Nubians are a mix of African and Egyptian origins and traditionally lived close to the Nile in Aswan and places around there. They were, along with the Asians, the traditional enemies of Egypt because they were always revolting and trying to secede from Egypt. Now the Nubians are up in arms over land rights – the aforementioned engineering feat that is Lake Nasser now covers vast tracts of land previously occupied by Nubians. The Egyptian government kindly offered to rehouse them – in the middle of the desert. For a community used to living close to water and a large number of which are fishermen by trade, they are justifiably furious. Still, the ones we met seemed very happy and jolly (a show for the tourists I assume) and politics were not really on the agenda anyway. We visited the school where the children are taught both Nubian and Arabic. Nubian is a strictly oral language with no written form and is completely unlike Arabic in any way – Sam and Rami were just as much in the dark as us about it. The teacher tried to drum some numbers into us – unfortunately I can only remember wahid (one) etneen (two) and telete (three). That’s in Arabic – I don’t remember any of the Nubian ones except that one of them sounds like whiskey! Then we went to visit a Nubian house where we drank hibiscus tea, checked out some baby alligators (they were so cute!) and got henna tattoos. I had been thinking of getting one earlier, but changed my mind. I just felt kind of strange, invading someone’s house, drinking their tea, having them tattoo me, and without any chance of getting to know them, or even having a real conversation or being able to say thank you in a sincere and convincing fashion. They open their house to tourists willingly and meet them every day, but I still felt uncomfortable invading their privacy without being personally invited. The best part of the visit happened when we were just leaving – I struck up a conversation in Spanish with the girls of the house – one 12, one 10, one 8. The children are amazing, since they spend all their days with tourists they have picked up loads of languages, so as well as Arabic and Nubian they speak quite passable English, Spanish, Italian, French, and probably German, Chinese and god knows what else. Children’s brains have that sort of “sponge” effect for languages, where they kind of absorb them without apparent effort. Their Spanish, considering they’d had no formal training, was impressive. The girls showed me their houses, told me about their families, siblings, what they like to do. One of the girls has a little crush on Sam – so cute! He’s my man, she informed me. We ran together back to the felucca and they kissed me goodbye (such sweet girls – but again, they are used to dealing with tourists and you have to wonder how much of that sweetness is genuine).
From the village to the restaurant where we enjoyed a singing, dancing Nubian show where we got to participate and dance like the Nubians. I had a great time – the Nubians have a fabulous sense of rhythm like the Africans or the Brasilians, and are amazing drummers. After we’d worked up an appetite dancing, we ate dinner sat on cushions on the floor, very bohemian and lovely. Actually the decoration of the place was beautiful, lots of bright colours, rustic, wooden carvings, draped tapestries and such. Dinner was delicious, and I drank my first Stella, the Egyptian beer and I must say it’s not a bad drop. After dinner back to the hotel where we crashed into bed.
Egypt - Day 4 - Aswan, Philae Temple, and Sam's Birthday
We checked into our hotel (complete with balcony and swimming pool, yay!) and had some free time to look around until half one when we were supposed to be heading off to see the temple at Philae, which is located on an island. Shelly and I went off to do some housekeeping matters (changing money, buying insect repellent, etc) and returned to the hotel at 13:30 by Shelly’s watch – unfortunately it was slow and we were nearly half an hour late! The bus had already left and Sam had just come back to ring our rooms when we walked into the lobby. “Where have you been?” he asked anxiously. “I came back to get you. Come on, the bus is down the street.”. We ran to catch the bus and got on with flushed faces. I was so embarrassed – I absolutely hate being late and it was even worse since so many people were depending on us to be on time. On the way to the temple we checked out the engineering wonder that is Lake Nasser – not a highlight touristically, but a strategically important dam for Egypt. Then onto a small felucca to bring us to the temple.
Philae was the first temple we saw, and although it isn’t even nearly one of the biggest or most impressive, I think it was my favourite out of all of them. Perhaps that is because it was the first and therefore before I began to suffer “Temple Fatigue”, but also because generally I tend to like smaller, simpler things rather than opulent, enormous things. Somehow the more impressive temples overwhelm me – they are so awesome my brain can’t take in how fabulous they are. The temple at Philae is dedicated to the goddess Isis, goddess of beauty, magic and healing. Isis is one third of the most famous triad in Egyptian mythology – Isis, Osiris and Horus. Sam told us the story:
Back in the day there were four siblings – Isis, Osiris (god of the afterlife), Neftis (goddess music and entertainment, or maybe birth? I don't remember) and Set (god of evil). Isis was the most beautiful sister and married Osiris (marrying your siblings, parents and such was allowable in those days, and even desirable for kings in order to keep the royal blood “pure”). Set married Neftis (poor girl), but was annoyed because Osiris got to marry the more beautiful sister, and also because the people loved Osiris more than him. This was because Osiris was generous and kind, and Set was evil and greedy. So Set hatched a nasty plan to kill his brother. He threw a huge party and announced that one lucky person was going to receive a great gift of a sarcophagus for the afterlife. The gift was for the person that fit in the sarcophagus (Cinderella style). Set was clever and had made the sarcophagus with Osiris’s measurements, so no matter who tried to enter the sarcophagus none of them fit. Finally Osiris tried and he fitted inside perfectly. Before he had a chance to climb out, Set closed the top of the sarcophagus and threw it in the Nile. The sarcophagus floated on the Nile with Osiris inside until finally it washed ashore onto the gardens of the King of Lebanon.
Isis was too good a wife to give up on Osiris just yet, so she flew up and down the continent looking for him, but she couldn’t find him anywhere. She enlisted the help of the goddess Haithur (the oxen-headed god) to help out. Haithur and Isis together eventually found Osiris, but they were afraid to try and smuggle Osiris out of the gardens in case they were caught by the King. But Isis knew that the Prince of Lebanon, the King’s son, was very sick. She went to the King and told him she could heal his son if he would give her Osiris. The King agreed, Isis healed the prince, and she found Osiris in the garden. He was dead but she gave him the kiss of life and then brought him back to Egypt where they tried to live happily ever after. This didn’t last long as Set was still jealous of Osiris and wouldn’t give up trying to kill him. Set got a sword, killed Osiris again, and this time cut him up into fourteen pieces and scattered them all over Egypt. The most important piece (the “babymaker”, according to Sam), Set cut in half and threw in the Nile. Isis was very determined though, and flew all around collecting the pieces and putting poor Osiris back together. But no matter how hard she looked she could not find the last piece – the babymaker was missing. So she made one out of wax and stuck it to his body, and so they were able to have a son, Horus, (protector of kingship). Haithur raised Horus until he was a man and old enough to take on Set and get revenge for his father. But that part of the story comes later!
There are beautiful carvings of the triad all over the temple, and inside there is a chapel with an altar for offerings to Isis. There used to be a statue of Isis behind the altar apparently, but it is now gone. I wanted to know how you can tell the temple is dedicated to Isis when there are pictures of many gods on the walls. Sam pointed out the carvings on the façade – although Isis, Osiris and Horus are all pictured, Isis is the one handing the sceptre (symbolising power) to the king.
The temple was absolutely beautiful and peaceful. There were not many people there besides us and the twilight gave it an especially serene quality. Towards the end of our visit I even managed to find a quiet spot in the temple with nobody else around. I tried to imagine what it might have been like for the people of ancient Egypt to come here and try to communicate with Isis, or for the priests to go inside and perform the rituals and the offerings. We had a short time to look around, and then back to Aswan for dinner.
While in Cairo they are used to tourists and most places are pretty clean, outside Cairo you eat where Sam says and avoid digestive upsets. So that night we went to a pizza joint in Aswan that overlooked a square with a fountain not entirely unlike Piazza Navona in Rome. I was intrigued by the mention of “Egyptian style” pizza on the menu – what on earth could that be? I asked Sam but he just smiled and said, “order it and see”. It turned out to be a pizza encased, calzone style, in turkish-style flat bread. Very delicious.
That night was Sam’s birthday, the first he had ever spent on tour, so we had to spoil him. We went to a cool, bohemian style coffee shop to drink “Egyptian Tequila”s (a half-solid, coconut based drink served hot) and have some fun. Rami had organised cake and sparklers in Sam’s honour, and there was a DJ playing what I thought was great dancing music – unfortunately nobody else seemed in the mood to dance and it was a while before anyone had a bit of a boogie (thank god for Stella). We had a good time and it was a short walk in the balmy night back to the hotel.
Philae was the first temple we saw, and although it isn’t even nearly one of the biggest or most impressive, I think it was my favourite out of all of them. Perhaps that is because it was the first and therefore before I began to suffer “Temple Fatigue”, but also because generally I tend to like smaller, simpler things rather than opulent, enormous things. Somehow the more impressive temples overwhelm me – they are so awesome my brain can’t take in how fabulous they are. The temple at Philae is dedicated to the goddess Isis, goddess of beauty, magic and healing. Isis is one third of the most famous triad in Egyptian mythology – Isis, Osiris and Horus. Sam told us the story:
Back in the day there were four siblings – Isis, Osiris (god of the afterlife), Neftis (goddess music and entertainment, or maybe birth? I don't remember) and Set (god of evil). Isis was the most beautiful sister and married Osiris (marrying your siblings, parents and such was allowable in those days, and even desirable for kings in order to keep the royal blood “pure”). Set married Neftis (poor girl), but was annoyed because Osiris got to marry the more beautiful sister, and also because the people loved Osiris more than him. This was because Osiris was generous and kind, and Set was evil and greedy. So Set hatched a nasty plan to kill his brother. He threw a huge party and announced that one lucky person was going to receive a great gift of a sarcophagus for the afterlife. The gift was for the person that fit in the sarcophagus (Cinderella style). Set was clever and had made the sarcophagus with Osiris’s measurements, so no matter who tried to enter the sarcophagus none of them fit. Finally Osiris tried and he fitted inside perfectly. Before he had a chance to climb out, Set closed the top of the sarcophagus and threw it in the Nile. The sarcophagus floated on the Nile with Osiris inside until finally it washed ashore onto the gardens of the King of Lebanon.
Isis was too good a wife to give up on Osiris just yet, so she flew up and down the continent looking for him, but she couldn’t find him anywhere. She enlisted the help of the goddess Haithur (the oxen-headed god) to help out. Haithur and Isis together eventually found Osiris, but they were afraid to try and smuggle Osiris out of the gardens in case they were caught by the King. But Isis knew that the Prince of Lebanon, the King’s son, was very sick. She went to the King and told him she could heal his son if he would give her Osiris. The King agreed, Isis healed the prince, and she found Osiris in the garden. He was dead but she gave him the kiss of life and then brought him back to Egypt where they tried to live happily ever after. This didn’t last long as Set was still jealous of Osiris and wouldn’t give up trying to kill him. Set got a sword, killed Osiris again, and this time cut him up into fourteen pieces and scattered them all over Egypt. The most important piece (the “babymaker”, according to Sam), Set cut in half and threw in the Nile. Isis was very determined though, and flew all around collecting the pieces and putting poor Osiris back together. But no matter how hard she looked she could not find the last piece – the babymaker was missing. So she made one out of wax and stuck it to his body, and so they were able to have a son, Horus, (protector of kingship). Haithur raised Horus until he was a man and old enough to take on Set and get revenge for his father. But that part of the story comes later!
There are beautiful carvings of the triad all over the temple, and inside there is a chapel with an altar for offerings to Isis. There used to be a statue of Isis behind the altar apparently, but it is now gone. I wanted to know how you can tell the temple is dedicated to Isis when there are pictures of many gods on the walls. Sam pointed out the carvings on the façade – although Isis, Osiris and Horus are all pictured, Isis is the one handing the sceptre (symbolising power) to the king.
The temple was absolutely beautiful and peaceful. There were not many people there besides us and the twilight gave it an especially serene quality. Towards the end of our visit I even managed to find a quiet spot in the temple with nobody else around. I tried to imagine what it might have been like for the people of ancient Egypt to come here and try to communicate with Isis, or for the priests to go inside and perform the rituals and the offerings. We had a short time to look around, and then back to Aswan for dinner.
While in Cairo they are used to tourists and most places are pretty clean, outside Cairo you eat where Sam says and avoid digestive upsets. So that night we went to a pizza joint in Aswan that overlooked a square with a fountain not entirely unlike Piazza Navona in Rome. I was intrigued by the mention of “Egyptian style” pizza on the menu – what on earth could that be? I asked Sam but he just smiled and said, “order it and see”. It turned out to be a pizza encased, calzone style, in turkish-style flat bread. Very delicious.
That night was Sam’s birthday, the first he had ever spent on tour, so we had to spoil him. We went to a cool, bohemian style coffee shop to drink “Egyptian Tequila”s (a half-solid, coconut based drink served hot) and have some fun. Rami had organised cake and sparklers in Sam’s honour, and there was a DJ playing what I thought was great dancing music – unfortunately nobody else seemed in the mood to dance and it was a while before anyone had a bit of a boogie (thank god for Stella). We had a good time and it was a short walk in the balmy night back to the hotel.
Egypt - Day 3 - Giza, The Pyramids, and The Sphinx
Up bright and early for what was really the first day of the tour. No time wasted here, we were heading straight for two of the major Egyptian icons – the Pyramids and the Sphinx. On the way Ben and Mike (the film crew) informed me they had chosen me to be their victim – ahem, I mean subject – for the day. We were travelling along in the bus when Mike pointed out of the window. “Look, there it is!” Sure enough, poking out of the tops of the suburban sprawl was one of the Wonders of the Ancient World.
We hopped off the bus and onto a less conventional (well, for us anyway) form of transport – camel. Mike wanted to do a piece before we got on the camels, so I was running a little late and had a camel leader all to myself. The camel ride itself was pretty fun, if a little uncomfortable, but getting up and down was a little scary – if you don’t lean riiiight back you are quite likely to fall off head first! My camel leader took me to where all the other camels were waiting, meanwhile teaching me some Arabic and trying to get my phone number (good luck buddy!). Everyone in Egypt (like everyone else in the world) has a mobile phone, even the kids. I must admit it’s a little strange when you’re looking out onto desert and pyramids from the back of a camel led by a man in a galabaya, and suddenly he pulls a mobile out of his pocket – somehow it’s incongruous with the rest of the scenery, like someone wearing jeans in a Jane Austen period movie.
Soon we were traipsing around the pyramids on camelback under the strong Egyptian sun. They were pretty awesome – giant structures raised out of the sand and stones. It was even more amazing after Sam explained a little about how they were built – some of the stones had been brought from 2000km away by felucca on the Nile, and then dragged on sledges from the Nile banks to Giza. The Sphinx was carved out of a single, enormous block of stone, no assembly required. It was smaller than I expected, but a totally amazing statue. We then had the option of going inside the pyramid – Sam told us it wasn’t very exciting, just caverns and a sarcophagus, but I just couldn’t pass up the chance to go inside a pyramid. All credit to the designers, they didn’t make the things very easy to get into. You go into a tiny hole and walk crouched down through a descending and very low and narrow passageway until you get to a cavern with blank walls. Further descent brings you into the burial chamber which is bare save for the sarcophagus at the back. I did get into it though, and lay down “mummy style” with my arms crossed over my chest. That was pretty cool and a total Kodak moment – pity they don’t let you bring cameras inside the pyramids. No need to pay for a hammam afterwards though - it was literally like a sauna in there, really really hot and the air was moist – how, I don’ t know as we were in the middle of the desert. It must have been everyone sweating so much, or perhaps rain that had run in there and found it impossible to evaporate.
After we came out of the pyramid it was lunchtime, so we headed off to a buffet style restaurant a short bus ride away. We sat down with our food and looked around to find we were eating with a pyramid backdrop. Cool. The food was really good, but it tasted so much better as we stared at the amazing view.
In the afternoon we were in for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It was built by a French man (can’t remember his name) who had pleaded with the King of Egypt to build a museum. The king refused and insisted that the treasures of Egypt remain in his private gardens, although he opened the gardens for the public 6 days a week. One year the Nile rose so high that the palace was inundated along with the garden and all the treasures within were destroyed. The French man told the king, “Look what has happened. Thanks to your greed all these beautiful artefacts have been ruined.” The king broke down and agreed to build a museum, and now a statue has been erected in front of the museum to commemorate the contribution of this French man to Egyptology. The man requested to be buried in Egypt but since he was such an important guy the French government asked for his body back and he is buried in his homeland. A bit cheeky if you ask me, considering how many Egyptian artefacts have been stolen and put into French (and British and other) museums.
Anyway Sam led us through the museum pointing out the most important pieces, including a replica of the Rosetta stone (the original is in some museum in England), some Canopic jars (one piece with the organs still inside, cool) and lots of things (golden chairs, walking sticks, an umbrella thing) belonging to the Golden Boy King (Tutankhamun). Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus and lots of things found in his tomb are displayed in a special section of the museum as well. He was only 17 or 18 when he died of a blow to the head – archaeologists suspect homicide. My favourite piece was the only known statue of King Cheops – at about seven centimetres high it wasn’t the most imposing statue we were going to see, but the miniature was very well executed, and it’s the only way we know anything about what King Cheops looked like. The ancient Egyptians were very careful to make the faces on the sarcophagi look as much like their inhabitants as possible; that would make it easier for the king’s soul to recognise his body after his death and they would then be able to live an eternal afterlife together. The faces of the statues were also as made as lifelike as possible, although often idealised (since the kings were to be gods in the afterlife and were therefore perfect).
We learned about the symbolism around the unification of upper and lower Egypt – the symbol of Upper Egypt was the vulture and of lower Egypt the cobra, the plant of upper Egypt was the Lotus flower and of Lower Egypt the Papyrus, and the crown of upper Egypt was white and differently shaped to the red crown of lower Egypt. The symbol of the new unified Egypt was a sun disk (I guess to symbolise Amoun-Ra, the supreme and sun god) flanked on either side by two cobras and two vulture wings. You can find this symbol all over the place in Egypt. In front of the museum there is a small pond with lotus flowers floating in it and papyrus growing in the middle – another symbol of the union between upper and lower Egypt. The confusing part is that they defined Upper and Lower Egypt according to the flow of the Nile; so as it flows from the south, Upper Egypt is actually the southern part of the country, and Lower Egypt the northern part.
After this banquet of information coupled with the after-effects of the heat of the midday sun, we were all just about ready to head back to the hotel for a rest and a shower. I cleaned up and then did another audio piece for Ben and Mike. It was a little less scary this time as I wasn’t supposed to be on video, just talking. They asked me a couple of questions about what I’d done that day, why I was travelling, why I had come to Egypt, etc., and I tried to say intelligible things. If they can make something sensible out of what I said that would really be an achievement.
That night we were catching the overnight train to Aswan, from which we were going to take the feluccas up the Nile. We headed down to the train station early, as Sam informed us that not only do the trains arrive and leave late on occasion, if they arrive early they are just as likely to leave before their scheduled departure time! On the way we had a singing festival – each country represented on the tour was asked to sing a song. Well, to be more accurate, Sam demanded each country sing a song! The Aussies and English were appropriately reluctant, practically refused to sing. One of the English girls, Marcella, was brave and sang “Happy Birthday” into the bus microphone, and the Aussies did a pathetic and barely audible rendition of “Waltzing Matilda”. I sang “Arroz con Leche” (short and sweet) and Shelly did “Frere Jaques” in Chinese. Sam tried to get away with a song in English (the theme song for the Olympics when they were in Egypt, so you can imagine the cheese factor) but I requested he sing something in Arabic, so he and the other Egyptians aboard the bus sang “Soo ya soo” which later became for me kind of like the theme song for the tour.
Lots of time to kill at the station, just randomly chatting to various people. Some of the Aussie boys took out a mini football and were playing kick to kick to the amusment of some of the locals, to the chagrin of others. I had forgotten that about Australian men; they can’t sit still for more than 30 seconds without starting up some kind of ball sport. Earlier that evening waiting for the bus to the train station they set up a makeshift cricket game in the lobby of the hotel – I dare say the reception staff were not impressed but they said nothing.
Our train finally arrived and we climbed aboard our first-class seats. Shelly and I were right next to the carriage door leading out to the smoking area. A particularly unfortunate position due to the fact the door was broken and slammed continuously throughout the night, not to mention the smoke and the sound of people spitting all night. The carriage was freezing and we had only a fitful sleep – you couldn’t really say we were rested when we finally pulled in to Aswan. We had breakfast on the train – Shelly in one of her many moments of madness had insisted we purchase a watermelon at the supermarket the night before and now proceeded to attempt to cut it (on the train mind you) with my tiny pocket knife. I had a little piece and she ate some, but we had half a watermelon left over at the end that we hadn’t a clue what to do with. In the end we gave it to one of the train staff – he seemed happy enough.
We hopped off the bus and onto a less conventional (well, for us anyway) form of transport – camel. Mike wanted to do a piece before we got on the camels, so I was running a little late and had a camel leader all to myself. The camel ride itself was pretty fun, if a little uncomfortable, but getting up and down was a little scary – if you don’t lean riiiight back you are quite likely to fall off head first! My camel leader took me to where all the other camels were waiting, meanwhile teaching me some Arabic and trying to get my phone number (good luck buddy!). Everyone in Egypt (like everyone else in the world) has a mobile phone, even the kids. I must admit it’s a little strange when you’re looking out onto desert and pyramids from the back of a camel led by a man in a galabaya, and suddenly he pulls a mobile out of his pocket – somehow it’s incongruous with the rest of the scenery, like someone wearing jeans in a Jane Austen period movie.
Soon we were traipsing around the pyramids on camelback under the strong Egyptian sun. They were pretty awesome – giant structures raised out of the sand and stones. It was even more amazing after Sam explained a little about how they were built – some of the stones had been brought from 2000km away by felucca on the Nile, and then dragged on sledges from the Nile banks to Giza. The Sphinx was carved out of a single, enormous block of stone, no assembly required. It was smaller than I expected, but a totally amazing statue. We then had the option of going inside the pyramid – Sam told us it wasn’t very exciting, just caverns and a sarcophagus, but I just couldn’t pass up the chance to go inside a pyramid. All credit to the designers, they didn’t make the things very easy to get into. You go into a tiny hole and walk crouched down through a descending and very low and narrow passageway until you get to a cavern with blank walls. Further descent brings you into the burial chamber which is bare save for the sarcophagus at the back. I did get into it though, and lay down “mummy style” with my arms crossed over my chest. That was pretty cool and a total Kodak moment – pity they don’t let you bring cameras inside the pyramids. No need to pay for a hammam afterwards though - it was literally like a sauna in there, really really hot and the air was moist – how, I don’ t know as we were in the middle of the desert. It must have been everyone sweating so much, or perhaps rain that had run in there and found it impossible to evaporate.
After we came out of the pyramid it was lunchtime, so we headed off to a buffet style restaurant a short bus ride away. We sat down with our food and looked around to find we were eating with a pyramid backdrop. Cool. The food was really good, but it tasted so much better as we stared at the amazing view.
In the afternoon we were in for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It was built by a French man (can’t remember his name) who had pleaded with the King of Egypt to build a museum. The king refused and insisted that the treasures of Egypt remain in his private gardens, although he opened the gardens for the public 6 days a week. One year the Nile rose so high that the palace was inundated along with the garden and all the treasures within were destroyed. The French man told the king, “Look what has happened. Thanks to your greed all these beautiful artefacts have been ruined.” The king broke down and agreed to build a museum, and now a statue has been erected in front of the museum to commemorate the contribution of this French man to Egyptology. The man requested to be buried in Egypt but since he was such an important guy the French government asked for his body back and he is buried in his homeland. A bit cheeky if you ask me, considering how many Egyptian artefacts have been stolen and put into French (and British and other) museums.
Anyway Sam led us through the museum pointing out the most important pieces, including a replica of the Rosetta stone (the original is in some museum in England), some Canopic jars (one piece with the organs still inside, cool) and lots of things (golden chairs, walking sticks, an umbrella thing) belonging to the Golden Boy King (Tutankhamun). Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus and lots of things found in his tomb are displayed in a special section of the museum as well. He was only 17 or 18 when he died of a blow to the head – archaeologists suspect homicide. My favourite piece was the only known statue of King Cheops – at about seven centimetres high it wasn’t the most imposing statue we were going to see, but the miniature was very well executed, and it’s the only way we know anything about what King Cheops looked like. The ancient Egyptians were very careful to make the faces on the sarcophagi look as much like their inhabitants as possible; that would make it easier for the king’s soul to recognise his body after his death and they would then be able to live an eternal afterlife together. The faces of the statues were also as made as lifelike as possible, although often idealised (since the kings were to be gods in the afterlife and were therefore perfect).
We learned about the symbolism around the unification of upper and lower Egypt – the symbol of Upper Egypt was the vulture and of lower Egypt the cobra, the plant of upper Egypt was the Lotus flower and of Lower Egypt the Papyrus, and the crown of upper Egypt was white and differently shaped to the red crown of lower Egypt. The symbol of the new unified Egypt was a sun disk (I guess to symbolise Amoun-Ra, the supreme and sun god) flanked on either side by two cobras and two vulture wings. You can find this symbol all over the place in Egypt. In front of the museum there is a small pond with lotus flowers floating in it and papyrus growing in the middle – another symbol of the union between upper and lower Egypt. The confusing part is that they defined Upper and Lower Egypt according to the flow of the Nile; so as it flows from the south, Upper Egypt is actually the southern part of the country, and Lower Egypt the northern part.
After this banquet of information coupled with the after-effects of the heat of the midday sun, we were all just about ready to head back to the hotel for a rest and a shower. I cleaned up and then did another audio piece for Ben and Mike. It was a little less scary this time as I wasn’t supposed to be on video, just talking. They asked me a couple of questions about what I’d done that day, why I was travelling, why I had come to Egypt, etc., and I tried to say intelligible things. If they can make something sensible out of what I said that would really be an achievement.
That night we were catching the overnight train to Aswan, from which we were going to take the feluccas up the Nile. We headed down to the train station early, as Sam informed us that not only do the trains arrive and leave late on occasion, if they arrive early they are just as likely to leave before their scheduled departure time! On the way we had a singing festival – each country represented on the tour was asked to sing a song. Well, to be more accurate, Sam demanded each country sing a song! The Aussies and English were appropriately reluctant, practically refused to sing. One of the English girls, Marcella, was brave and sang “Happy Birthday” into the bus microphone, and the Aussies did a pathetic and barely audible rendition of “Waltzing Matilda”. I sang “Arroz con Leche” (short and sweet) and Shelly did “Frere Jaques” in Chinese. Sam tried to get away with a song in English (the theme song for the Olympics when they were in Egypt, so you can imagine the cheese factor) but I requested he sing something in Arabic, so he and the other Egyptians aboard the bus sang “Soo ya soo” which later became for me kind of like the theme song for the tour.
Lots of time to kill at the station, just randomly chatting to various people. Some of the Aussie boys took out a mini football and were playing kick to kick to the amusment of some of the locals, to the chagrin of others. I had forgotten that about Australian men; they can’t sit still for more than 30 seconds without starting up some kind of ball sport. Earlier that evening waiting for the bus to the train station they set up a makeshift cricket game in the lobby of the hotel – I dare say the reception staff were not impressed but they said nothing.
Our train finally arrived and we climbed aboard our first-class seats. Shelly and I were right next to the carriage door leading out to the smoking area. A particularly unfortunate position due to the fact the door was broken and slammed continuously throughout the night, not to mention the smoke and the sound of people spitting all night. The carriage was freezing and we had only a fitful sleep – you couldn’t really say we were rested when we finally pulled in to Aswan. We had breakfast on the train – Shelly in one of her many moments of madness had insisted we purchase a watermelon at the supermarket the night before and now proceeded to attempt to cut it (on the train mind you) with my tiny pocket knife. I had a little piece and she ate some, but we had half a watermelon left over at the end that we hadn’t a clue what to do with. In the end we gave it to one of the train staff – he seemed happy enough.
Egypt - Day 2 - Cairo
Despite the late bedtime we were up the next day at 0900 – we couldn’t waste our first day in Cairo. At breakfast we stumbled across Amy, another girl doing the same tour as us, so we chatted a little and she filled us in on the two guys that would be filming our tour, who she had met the previous day. Basically they work for a production company in Canberra and Budget had commissioned them to do a promo video for their Egypt tour – also they were making a programme called “Earthwalkers” for one of the Sky channels about the experiences of Aussie travellers. Since usually at least 90 per cent of people on these tour groups are Australian or at least Antipodean, they’re going to make one on the tour.
After some breakfast and a shower, the five of us (Shelly and I, Amy, and Ben and Mike, the camera crew) set off for Khan El-Khalili, the biggest and most famous market in Cairo. Not only is it bloody huge, but around it are other, Egyptian markets, where the locals would be buying their necessities, rather than simply tourist traps. We didn’t realise it at the time but we started off in one of the less touristy parts of the market, but even so the din of all the stallholders hawking their wares began to wear after a while, a ceaseless cacophony of
“Come inside and look, I have everything you need!”
“Looking is free!”
“Scarves! Beautiful scarves for a beautiful lady!”
“Smell my perfume, I give you good price!”
“Spices madam? I have cinnamon, aniseed, cumin, saffron, fenugreek...”
“Where you from? Australia? Aussie Aussie Aussie! Spain? Hola señorita! Italy? Ciao bella! France? Bonjour jolie femme! Welcome to Egypt!”
We wandered among brightly coloured cotton galabayas (standard Egyptian dress), perfumes, spices (what gorgeous aromas), silk and cotton scarves, costume and real jewelry, and of course stuffed camels, “Egypt” t-shirts, mini pyramids and other souvenir keepsakes. The heat and sun were strong and welcome for me after the Dublin winter, and we drank sweet and fresh orange and sugar cane juice in the shade while we shopped. Once we wandered even further off the beaten track and found ourselves in a shady part of the market where it appeared we were the only foreigners . There were no hawkers here, most of the stall owners were watching the Chelsea/Tottenham match and were perfectly content to let us look around without hassle.
Eventually we tired of the markets and Shelly and I had planned to go to Cairo Tower, which the hotel reception had pointed out as an “attraction”. The five of us went along to check it out and a typical tourist attraction it turned out to be; undergoing reconstruction and overpriced but at least affording decent panoramic views of Cairo. There wasn’t a queue anyway which puts it a little ahead of the Empire State Building in my book. After that we tried to walk along the bank of the Nile which looked quite pretty, but unfortunately it was all fenced off, so eventually we caved and decided to go back to the hotel where we were to meet our tour leader and tour mates at 18:00.
The meeting was pretty standard, Sam our tour leader introduced himself and also Rami, the Ops manager who was also coming along, and we started to meet each other. Mostly Aussies of course but we also had a smattering of English and Canadians, a Kiwi and an Austrian, Shelly and I who were Chinese and Argentine respectively, and Sam and Rami, the Egyptians, so we had a little variety. After all the introductory paperwork and handing over of cash (*sniff*) we all went down to a local Egyptian restaurant for dinner. Sam recommended a typical Egyptian dish for me of rice, pasta, vegetables and meat which was delicious, although I can’t for the life of me remember the name of it. I also smoked a shisha pipe for the first and only time – I don’t smoke, in fact I’ve never smoked a cigarette but I figure when in Rome...I always want to try the traditions of each country I visit, and one shisha isn’t going to kill me. Basically what it is is a enormous freestanding pipe with a big bulb at the bottom full of water. The flavoured tobacco (it comes in all kinds of yummy fruit flavours, I had apple) goes at the top with the coals and the smoke goes down the pipe, through the water and you suck it up through a tube thing and that’s how you smoke it. I wouldn’t do it again but it was fun to try. I don’t think I know how to smoke properly anyway – I don’t get the buzz you’re supposed to get from it, only just enjoyed the apple flavour. We had a nice civilised dinner and chat, and eventually went back to the hotel and to bed. Given we’d only had about five hours of sleep the previous night, we were quite eager to make it an early night and make sure we were bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to take on Giza the following day.
After some breakfast and a shower, the five of us (Shelly and I, Amy, and Ben and Mike, the camera crew) set off for Khan El-Khalili, the biggest and most famous market in Cairo. Not only is it bloody huge, but around it are other, Egyptian markets, where the locals would be buying their necessities, rather than simply tourist traps. We didn’t realise it at the time but we started off in one of the less touristy parts of the market, but even so the din of all the stallholders hawking their wares began to wear after a while, a ceaseless cacophony of
“Come inside and look, I have everything you need!”
“Looking is free!”
“Scarves! Beautiful scarves for a beautiful lady!”
“Smell my perfume, I give you good price!”
“Spices madam? I have cinnamon, aniseed, cumin, saffron, fenugreek...”
“Where you from? Australia? Aussie Aussie Aussie! Spain? Hola señorita! Italy? Ciao bella! France? Bonjour jolie femme! Welcome to Egypt!”
We wandered among brightly coloured cotton galabayas (standard Egyptian dress), perfumes, spices (what gorgeous aromas), silk and cotton scarves, costume and real jewelry, and of course stuffed camels, “Egypt” t-shirts, mini pyramids and other souvenir keepsakes. The heat and sun were strong and welcome for me after the Dublin winter, and we drank sweet and fresh orange and sugar cane juice in the shade while we shopped. Once we wandered even further off the beaten track and found ourselves in a shady part of the market where it appeared we were the only foreigners . There were no hawkers here, most of the stall owners were watching the Chelsea/Tottenham match and were perfectly content to let us look around without hassle.
Eventually we tired of the markets and Shelly and I had planned to go to Cairo Tower, which the hotel reception had pointed out as an “attraction”. The five of us went along to check it out and a typical tourist attraction it turned out to be; undergoing reconstruction and overpriced but at least affording decent panoramic views of Cairo. There wasn’t a queue anyway which puts it a little ahead of the Empire State Building in my book. After that we tried to walk along the bank of the Nile which looked quite pretty, but unfortunately it was all fenced off, so eventually we caved and decided to go back to the hotel where we were to meet our tour leader and tour mates at 18:00.
The meeting was pretty standard, Sam our tour leader introduced himself and also Rami, the Ops manager who was also coming along, and we started to meet each other. Mostly Aussies of course but we also had a smattering of English and Canadians, a Kiwi and an Austrian, Shelly and I who were Chinese and Argentine respectively, and Sam and Rami, the Egyptians, so we had a little variety. After all the introductory paperwork and handing over of cash (*sniff*) we all went down to a local Egyptian restaurant for dinner. Sam recommended a typical Egyptian dish for me of rice, pasta, vegetables and meat which was delicious, although I can’t for the life of me remember the name of it. I also smoked a shisha pipe for the first and only time – I don’t smoke, in fact I’ve never smoked a cigarette but I figure when in Rome...I always want to try the traditions of each country I visit, and one shisha isn’t going to kill me. Basically what it is is a enormous freestanding pipe with a big bulb at the bottom full of water. The flavoured tobacco (it comes in all kinds of yummy fruit flavours, I had apple) goes at the top with the coals and the smoke goes down the pipe, through the water and you suck it up through a tube thing and that’s how you smoke it. I wouldn’t do it again but it was fun to try. I don’t think I know how to smoke properly anyway – I don’t get the buzz you’re supposed to get from it, only just enjoyed the apple flavour. We had a nice civilised dinner and chat, and eventually went back to the hotel and to bed. Given we’d only had about five hours of sleep the previous night, we were quite eager to make it an early night and make sure we were bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to take on Giza the following day.
Egypt - Day 1 - Getting There
True to form, I hadn't even packed a pair of socks before Friday morning, the day we were due to leave. I’d been mad at work finishing up odds and ends before leaving, and anyway why do something now when it can be left until the last minute? Even though Good Friday isn’t an official Public Holiday in Ireland (odd considering how Catholic this country is) our bosses were kind and generous enough to give us the day off, so I had the morning to throw some clothes and things in my backpack for the trip. I made sure to pack a lot of books as the tour included two days on a small craft floating down the Nile, which screams “downtime” to me, something I was sorely in need of. I brought “The Master” by Colm Tóibín, Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath”, Greene “Travels with my Aunt”, a crappy looking (but don’t judge a book by its cover) love story by Vita Sackville-West, Homer’s “Odyssey”, and “The Diary of Virginia Woolf, Vol I”. It sounds like a lot, and it is, but in my defence I was already part of the way through “The Master” and the only reason Ms. Woolf was included was because Chapters bookstore from across the street rang me as I was leaving the apartment for the airport to tell me it had arrived, so I picked it up on the way out. Thank goodness for Chapters – when I went to Eason’s to look for it I asked the girl for “The Diary of Virginia Woolf” and she asked me, in all innocence, “Who’s the author?”. I nearly laughed in her face – even most people in non-English speaking countries have heard of Virginia Woolf, so someone who lives across the English Channel from her homeland ought to have an inkling no?
I met Maria at the airport, she was just finished a marathon shift and looked totally exhausted. We caught up on recent weeks over some coffee, and I wished her a happy birthday early as she’d be celebrating it while I was in Egypt. I really wish I could have made it to her party, but I think Egypt is a pretty good tradeoff! The flight to Amsterdam was uneventful (just continued with “The Master”. It’s a pretty good book by the way, though some parts are more engrossing than others. Tóibín does a good job of sexual tension – I could feel myself physically tensing at times reading those passages – and new characters are always introduced with an air of mystery which successfully intrigues you into wanting to find out more about them. But essentially it’s a portrait of a selfish, lonely, somewhat unhappy man, whom I didn’t find it at all easy to relate to, though this didn’t dull my enjoyment of the book, which is very well written, interesting, and partly true to life to boot (although which parts are truth and which are fiction are ambiguous).
On arrival at Amsterdam Schiphol we found the flight to Cairo already boarding (it would have been nice of KLM to let us know the flight time had changed) therefore initiating a mad dash to the departure gate. We needn’t have bothered as there was (yet another) security check at the gate with a nice long queue for us to wait in. At least there were one or two cuties in the line ahead of us to give us something nice to look at while we were killing time!
I was seated between a Dutch woman and an Arabic looking man, both of them nearly completely silent save for one or two choice phrases; the woman said nothing but “I need to use the bathroom” (she was in a window seat) and the man’s conversation extended to, each time in a clipped, sharp voice, “Can I have some water?” “Can I have some more bread?” and “Very Slow” (referring to the food service on the aircraft). Either he was having a bad day or he’s just naturally as sour as a lemon. Anyway I watched “Mulan” for the first time and bawled like a little girl.
After the movie my eyelids were heavy but I only got a very restless sleep until we touched down at Cairo airport at about 01:10. After some unexplained delays at passport control we had our first taste of bargaining catching the taxi to the hotel. They started at USD$19, we got them down to 10. 10 including tips and luggage charges, which we found out later was a very good price. We were going by a guidebook from 2001, so their prices may have been slightly antiquated, but we got away with it in any case! We got to the hotel about 02:30 and the hotel staff were tripping over themselves to help us out and answer all our questions, even though it was the middle of the night. I wasn’t expecting that level of service from a three star hotel, but I was soon to learn that this super-helpful attitude is a general attribute of the Egyptian people. Stand on a street corner and look lost; three or four people will rush to direct you or call you a taxi. Smile at someone and they’ll flash you a wide, toothy grin. Order a kebab and smile at the chef – he’ll give you a felafel for free. The trick is distinguishing those that are helpful out of the kindness of their hearts, and those which have a hidden agenda, usually related to separating you and your Egyptian pounds. The men also are not shy about staring, calling out to you, trying to sweet talk you or offering the men you are with “one million camels” in exchange for you. They all do it and they learn it young – one boy of about 10 or 12 blew me a kiss from the back of a camel. It’s all in good fun but you have to be careful to keep your distance, it can get quite creepy.
We were pretty wrecked by the time we’d made it to the hotel, so all we managed was the trip up to our large, comfy, air-conditioned room for a hot, refreshing shower and to tumble into bed.
I met Maria at the airport, she was just finished a marathon shift and looked totally exhausted. We caught up on recent weeks over some coffee, and I wished her a happy birthday early as she’d be celebrating it while I was in Egypt. I really wish I could have made it to her party, but I think Egypt is a pretty good tradeoff! The flight to Amsterdam was uneventful (just continued with “The Master”. It’s a pretty good book by the way, though some parts are more engrossing than others. Tóibín does a good job of sexual tension – I could feel myself physically tensing at times reading those passages – and new characters are always introduced with an air of mystery which successfully intrigues you into wanting to find out more about them. But essentially it’s a portrait of a selfish, lonely, somewhat unhappy man, whom I didn’t find it at all easy to relate to, though this didn’t dull my enjoyment of the book, which is very well written, interesting, and partly true to life to boot (although which parts are truth and which are fiction are ambiguous).
On arrival at Amsterdam Schiphol we found the flight to Cairo already boarding (it would have been nice of KLM to let us know the flight time had changed) therefore initiating a mad dash to the departure gate. We needn’t have bothered as there was (yet another) security check at the gate with a nice long queue for us to wait in. At least there were one or two cuties in the line ahead of us to give us something nice to look at while we were killing time!
I was seated between a Dutch woman and an Arabic looking man, both of them nearly completely silent save for one or two choice phrases; the woman said nothing but “I need to use the bathroom” (she was in a window seat) and the man’s conversation extended to, each time in a clipped, sharp voice, “Can I have some water?” “Can I have some more bread?” and “Very Slow” (referring to the food service on the aircraft). Either he was having a bad day or he’s just naturally as sour as a lemon. Anyway I watched “Mulan” for the first time and bawled like a little girl.
After the movie my eyelids were heavy but I only got a very restless sleep until we touched down at Cairo airport at about 01:10. After some unexplained delays at passport control we had our first taste of bargaining catching the taxi to the hotel. They started at USD$19, we got them down to 10. 10 including tips and luggage charges, which we found out later was a very good price. We were going by a guidebook from 2001, so their prices may have been slightly antiquated, but we got away with it in any case! We got to the hotel about 02:30 and the hotel staff were tripping over themselves to help us out and answer all our questions, even though it was the middle of the night. I wasn’t expecting that level of service from a three star hotel, but I was soon to learn that this super-helpful attitude is a general attribute of the Egyptian people. Stand on a street corner and look lost; three or four people will rush to direct you or call you a taxi. Smile at someone and they’ll flash you a wide, toothy grin. Order a kebab and smile at the chef – he’ll give you a felafel for free. The trick is distinguishing those that are helpful out of the kindness of their hearts, and those which have a hidden agenda, usually related to separating you and your Egyptian pounds. The men also are not shy about staring, calling out to you, trying to sweet talk you or offering the men you are with “one million camels” in exchange for you. They all do it and they learn it young – one boy of about 10 or 12 blew me a kiss from the back of a camel. It’s all in good fun but you have to be careful to keep your distance, it can get quite creepy.
We were pretty wrecked by the time we’d made it to the hotel, so all we managed was the trip up to our large, comfy, air-conditioned room for a hot, refreshing shower and to tumble into bed.
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