Blogs from Cairo, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa
April 27th 2012
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain Cairo is a city that wants to make a good first impression on tourists. Exiting the shiny new airport, the first suburb you come to is where the "rich" live. Palaces, converted to museums, sprawling well lit gardens, home to many government employees, ex-home to ex-president Mubarak. Impressive and modern. Not the city of antiquities that most come to see. Driving through Cairo at night is overwhelming. Next to its shining brightness, the cities and monuments of the last two weeks in Morocco appear a poor cousin (though not without ... read more
April 11th 2012
It was another early departure to make the 10 hour drive from Dahab to Cairo. Due to the same security risks on the Sinai, our route had to be changed, adding an additional three hours to the drive. As we chugged along slowly around the winding, mountainous roads the smell of burning fuel blew through the bus and we came to a sudden holt. I had to laugh, we had only been on the road for about 30 or so minutes and were already having engine problems. Our driver thankfully got the bus moving again quickly, so there was no major hold up. After a long and hot ride, we eventually made it to the outskirts of Cairo. Driving through the chaotic and packed city, it was easy to see just how populated the Capital is. ... read more
April 8th 2012
Dear All First of all, a Happy Easter to everyone reading this! Hope it is being celebrated well wherever this is being read. Greetings from Cairo! Humungous and hot metropolois of 20 million, the largest both in the Arab world and on the African continent, and a teaming, stressful, polluted and chaotic place. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great place to visit and has some seriously stunning sights to see, but after 3 days here I am ready to get out. Yes, the city Cairenes call “The Mother of the World” has seen enough of me, and tomorrow morning I catch a bus to hopefully quieter destinations. I must admit, I am a little hot and bothered right now, as the temperature has hit just under 40 degrees every day since I’ve been here, so ... read more
March 18th 2012
Wow - still can't sleep in this hotel! It's crazy loud and was up every hour. Up at 6am for breakfast; paid for our optional excursions to the Spring Tours rep, Mohammed and then bags to the bus. By 8am, we were off to the museum. It took awhile just to get down our street as there was a mad rush of cars trying to get into the gas station which apparently was the norm. Got to the Egyptian museum for our first stop of the tour. I'm surprised that we dont have a separate local guide and that Sherif is our local guide combined with a TM. He was so knowledgable he blew me out of the water. The highlight of the museum for me was definately seeing the mummy of Ramses! I had seen ... read more
March 17th 2012
Well it was prob about 2am before we fell asleep as its very loud with cosntant honking outside our bedroom window. Oh yes, and then the call to prayer at 4:30am was something unreal. I dont know how these people can stand being woken up like this. On top of the normal call across the city- we actually have a mosque right outside our bedroom window with speakers blaring directly at us....meant for the rest of our neighbourhood to hear. It seemed to go on forever and once it was over, we were so awake that it took us forever to fall back asleep again after 5am or so. We had the alarm set for 9am for breakfast as it was included with our extra night accommdation that we'd booked. At breakfast we met 3 other ... read more
March 16th 2012
So excited to start this next adventure to Egypt! This is a first time for me being on a Contiki with my boyfriend so we are interested to see how we the group dynamic will work with us, etc. We booked flights with KLM so normally flights connect quickly in Amsterdam and continue on but we purposely booked flights with a 10 hour layover in Amsterdam so that I can see the city for myself! We boarded our flight from Toronto last night about 6:30pm. Not sure how many hours I slept but I did manage to pass out for a good portion of the 7 hour flight to Amsterdam. I am not going to blog about my Amsterdam sightseeing but the gist of it is that we walked the majority of the time; saw the ... read more
February 18th 2012
Aloha, Marhabah and Salaam!!! Well, I have been in Egypt for a little over a week now. Internet access took awhile to show itself. Possibly because there were other things I was supposed to be doing besides being online. :) There have been so many changes within me so fast. Every day is like two or three days all wrapped up into one. Some days, to the onlooker, it may look like I (or we) am doing nothing, but the reality is that there is so much energy work being done just by my being here, it's astounding! I already was shown that I am traveling about re-activating a grid I laid many, many years ago and by the feel of things, there is no denying it! I spent my first two days in Egypt in ... read more
February 1st 2012
I arrived back in Cairo at about 6 a.m. and walked back to the Canada Hostel I had stayed in before. I went to bed for a couple of hours and then got up to go try and get my Sudan visa sorted. The Sudanese Embassy is in an area of the city where there had been a few clashes the night before so some of the roads in the area were closed off. When I got there, the Embassy was pretty full, mostly of Sudanese people I think, but there was nobody at the service desks. After waiting around for a few hours, I was told I wouldn't be able to apply for a Visa that day and that I should come back tomorrow. They also told me it would take at least three days. ... read more
Back down the Nile to Thebes and Cairo
Published: February 9th 2012Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Cairo
January 27th 2012
Woke up in Aswan to a beautiful warm day, perfect for a slow sail down the Nile to Luxor aka Thebes. The Felucca was quite a bit larger than I had imagined, room enough for 13 passengers on the covered deck and a crew of three below. Since it was a cross wind we had to tack back and forth, not making much headway. Not really a problem since we weren't in a rush. That evening we moored on the shore and made ready to spend the night on the Felucca. Interesting to say the least. The next morning it was a short sail and a bus ride to Luxor. The Luxor museum was the next stop. Containing the best of the best it had statues that could take your breath away. After that it was ... read more
January 25th - The Revolution
Published: February 5th 2012Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Cairo » Nasr City
January 25th 2012
No one really knew what was going to happen. Were the military going to unleash a violent force crushing the revolutionists? or was it going to be a day of celebration? Were the Muslim Brotherhood and Liberals going to clash in the streets? or were they going to unite, forcing an end to emergency controls? As the people of Egypt prepared for another standoff with their military dictatorship, many feared for the worst as unprecedented numbers gathered in Tahrir Square, demonstrating, sending shock waves around the world. "CAIRO - Tens of thousands of Egyptians rallied Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of the country's 2011 uprising, with liberals and Islamists gathering on different sides of Cairo's Tahrir Square in a reflection of the deep political divides that emerged in the year since the downfall of longtime ... read more
