Amazing Egypt

We were a little travel weary by the time we got to Egypt, and Cairo was the perfect place to sit an relax for a while. We checked into the Nubian Hostel downtown and chilled out pretty agressively for a couple of days. We sat at the sidewalk cafe positioned directly under our window, chowed down at the Egyptian fast food joint on the corner and milled around in surprisingly cool weather.

A SNAFU meant that our pre-organized tour was no more, but no worries. Our hostel guys whipped up a tour for us in a matter of minutes that was essentially identical to the one we found online for about a third the cost. I suspect that just about everyone in Egypt can hook you up with a tour if pressed. Our guys did not disappoint. We went to the pyramids first, of course. I actually missed them my first time around, so it was a natural place to start.

The pyramids are absolutely amazing, truly among the wonders of the world. If you ever get a chance to see them, do. We were actually surprised by how few tourists were there when we were. Sure there were people all over, but not so many as to diminish the experience. Most of the tourists were domestic school groups full of kids eager to put their English lessons to work. In addition to the regular hellos and how are yous I got a "you are nice." I am nice. Thanks for noticing.

Now, maybe you can go all the way to the pyramids and not get a camel ride, but I can't. The charismatic rider of the esteemed (and famous) Charlie Brown convinced us to give it a go. I seem to remember my Dad saying something about riding Charlie Brown at the pyramids. I don't remember the story ending with broken bones, and Charlie seemed pleasant enough. That Chris' co-rider demand that he scoot back and mine that I scoot forward didn't strike me as coincidence, but it didn't really bother me. I actually enjoyed my camel ride, though Chris claims that he almost fell off his camel numerous times. The view from camel back was defintely worth the price and the bumps. One of our travel buddies was hoodwinked into climbing on a camel's back for a picture. The camel jockey then ordered the camel to rise and proceeded to charge our poor friend twenty times the normal price for a camel ride. Without thinking our friend leaped off and rolled his ankle. It didn't really occur to him until too late that camels stand about seven or eight feet off the ground. Charlie Brown and his jockey weren't such unsavory characters.

Our next stop was Aswan. We were shuttled around to a few pretty mediocre sights including the Aswan dam proudly proclaimed by our guide to be the second biggest dam in the world. Behind it lay lake Nasr, the second longest lake in the world, supposedly teeming with crocodiles, hippos and all sorts of other nasties. Seemed fine to me.

The highlight of our time at Aswan was our trip to Abu Simbel. At three am we were stuffed into a small bus and driven at extreme speeds through the desert. We arrived at Abu Simbel at about 7 or so and cast about for our promised free guide. The free guides were all hiding under rocks somewhere so we guided ourselves through two of the most amazing temples in Egypt. Self guided tours based on faded memories of my fifth grade Egypt unit and Discovery channel programs leave a lot of room for the imagination. Somehow I doubt that Ramses II was offering the god Horus a hamburger, but what do I know? Fifth grade was a long time ago.

Unlike Cairo, Aswan was not pleasantly cool. It was quite a relief to climb aboard our felucca, Egyptian sailboat, and sail down the Nile for a couple of days. Sadly, the tummy wobbles struck again and I was often in dire need of a bathroom on a boat that had none. However, the ride was still enjoyable and a real highlight of our time in Egypt thanks to our Captain, Zak, his mate, and our awesome boatmates, John, Diana, Ron, Xavier, Domie, and their two boys. The days were hot, the nights and the Nile quite cold. It was perfect.

After sailing for two days and two nights, we arrived in Luxor. The temples of Luxor and Karnak are really awe inspiring. Karnak is the longest columned temple in the world and boasts over 200 columns in the hall of columns. I can only imagine visiting that place in the time before multistoried buildings became commonplace. It makes one feel so small.

My stomach trouble did not subside, so Chris went to the Valley of the Kings without me. He really enjoyed the tombs, but was too cheap to pay the 80 pounds ($15) to see King Tut's tomb. We chilled out the rest of the day, swam in our hotel swimming pool, got up early and went to Dahab, a resort town on the Red Sea.

Dahab sneaks up on you. There are miles and miles of sandy, rocky wasteland. You see the occasional camel, the occasional shrub. Then there are a few shabby houses and then, bam! A resort town. We stayed in a camp--which is kind of like a motel arranged around a central, open lounge area covered in cushions and carpets. Nice. The air and the water were completely still--perfect for diving. On our second day my stomach decided against diving, so we just paddled out into the water. The Red Sea is saltier than the oceans, so we floated with ease, and the water was so clear that we could see straight to the bottom--which was maybe 10 meters away--through the surface with no mask or snorkel. Fish and jellies (eep!)swam and floated lazily past. Delightful. The diving was amazing. Coral and sea life the likes of which we have never seen abounded. But resort towns are resort towns, and we burned through too much cash and finally had to leave.

We headed back to Cairo by minibus in the dead of night. The minibus was virtually empty and the road clear. We were assured that our driver was good--not crazy. I guess our Dahab go-to guy and I have very different ideas of what crazy is. See, I think that driving up to 120 miles per hour, (180 kph), is dangerous. As is taking curves at 70-80, and driving on any side of the road that's free at the moment. Maybe it's just me. Looking out the windshield was like watching a video racing game, except for the fearing for my life bit. That was different. Stopping in the desert 60 km from Cairo and being bundled into a cab before dawn wasn't very fun either. It did, however, give us the opportunity to witness a very strange form of car-to-car communication. Drivers would flash their lights and beep their horns in a most exotic and artistic fashion. Our cab, "honk, brights, dims, brights, left, right, honk." Minibus ahead of us, "Brake, brake, left, right, brake, hazard, brake." Cab, "honk, brights..." Ah, well. The minibus was new. The roads were good. We are, after all, still alive.

Back in Cairo we took up lounging with renewed vigor. Chris particularly liked the sheesha (hooka) cafe downstairs and we spent a lot of time there smoking sheeshas, playing backgammon, drinking fruit juice and lounging around. We took a short break from lounging to take in more sights. The Muhammad Ali (not that Muhammad Ali) mosque in the citadel was breathtaking, inside and out. I can only imagine what it would be like full of men touching their heads to the carpeted floor in prayer.

I will end this entry with a shameless plug for our hostel in Cairo. If you're ever in Egypt and on a budget, stay at the Nubian Hostel. These guys treated us like kings. It's in an old British building so ceilings are high. The walls are an awesome shade of pinkish-orange, and the staff will make anything happen. Thank you Tamer, Ayman and everyone at the Nubian.

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