15 hour busses, Reunions, Backgammon, and Free Buffets

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Ah, Africa, technically. I've made it to Egypt after the most rediculous bus ride of my life. I left Jerusalem at 8:30 in the morning for Egypt by way of Eilat-Taba border, through Sinai past the Suez Canal to Cairo, wow.

I got on the bus with room for 20, but only 4 people were aboard, myself and three Muslims that were speaking only Arabic, not even Hebrew. SHIT! So I sulked to the back of the bus to read, sleep, daydream, etc. But in Tel-Aviv the bus filled up every seat. Nice. On board were some really amazing people that made the 15 hour trip a lot of fun (WHAT?!) There were 2 arab-israelis kids learning to speak English, that were going with this 55 year old man on a bike journey up and down the Nile river for 5 days (something like 500 km!). They wanted to know everything about me and America, what I do, why I'm here, but I learned just as much about them and their lives.
Let me cut to the chase. Why it was so cool was their hospitality and good energy, maaaaaaan. I only brough water and pringles on the bus, so they fed me pita, cheeses (jesus?), olives, chips, bisli (israeli chips), spices, cucumbers, drinks, everything. We feasted as if there were no tomorrow. We taught each other card games, and sang Arabic folk songs for 3 hours straight, no joke. At one point I took an hour nap, and when I woke up they were still singing the songs and clapping in this small bus.
I made it to Egypt and met up with Adam London, Mr. Lloyd (lyod) Peter West, and Addy Hearst, all friends from California. As I got in at 1 am, we decided to make a night out of it and go stragiht to the nightclubs. Sangria was open, so we got a beer and a hooka (shisha around here) and straight chilled. Hookas cost about 1 dollar to get, so normally people order their own, we shared for health purposes mostly.

Today, we plan to go see the pyramids if I ever get off this computer. What I have seen so far in the day I've been in Egypt was the Khan El-Khalili markets. Spices, shirts, boxes, gold and silver, games, tobacco, hookas are on sale everywhere and the marketeers love to speak English and chat it up. I was offered "something I've never seen before", but I wasnt feeling like being forced into seeing his entire shop. So I said I've seen everything, and he said "I've got a long monster with one head, and one eye to show you." I replied, "I've already got one pal." He liked that response, so he laughed and let me off the hook. Most people like to chat in English and make jokes to get you to talk more and stay and peruse their shops, but saying something funnier gets them off and they let you walk away with no real problem.

Haggling is new to me, so I asked Lloyd and London for some tips on how to bargain. I managed to get a 20 dollar backgammon set, really beautiful red wood with mother-of-pearl shells (like abalone). I beat Adam 4 games to 1 yesterday (including one backgammon (basically a shut-out)).

At 3 in the morning one night we walked into the Conrad Hotel a nice hotel to see that a wedding was taking place on the ground floor convention hall. We walked straight in, and then straight to the buffet line to eat all kinds of food. Adam London to the max. See pictures. A nice man from the United Arab Emirates started talking to us, and we talked about the state of automobiles today, including gas prices, new hybrid models and natural gas fueled cars and more. We managed not to get kicked out of that party.

Anyways, alls well, write me an email friends and countrymen. I want to hear from you all. Grachelson@gmail.com

Peace in the Middle East

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