http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Egypt en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:46:21 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:46:21 UTC Happy Thanksgiving to all...I am at a cafe right now where once again I am procrastinating on my homework by planning my trip to Lebanon. I leave in 5 days will return to Cairo 9 days later go through the violence that is finals week then I make my final trip out of Egypt to Pakistan. I am scheduled to land in Chicago on January 2nd...ish.I had Thursday off for Thanksgiving so myself an two http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Sinai/blog-349716.html Visited the Citadel and Mohammad Ali Mosque Not that Mohammad Ali today. Big mosque made out of marble and has a crypt with the body of M.A. who is known as the man of modern Egypt as he was around only a couple of hundred years ago. Went to Cairo museum saw Tutankhamen but no photos from here as not allowed. Spent a long time stuck in traffic and visited the Bazaar of Old Cairo. Then so http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/blog-349449.html As I struggled through the bustling crowds of Cairo's Ramses Station and squeezed onto the 10 p.m. train to Luxor I was struck with a rather unpleasant sensation. I would liken it to the feeling of dread one might have shortly before stumbling intentionally into a bear trap that they can quite plainly see. All farfetched metaphors aside however the trap I'm speaking of at the moment is one for http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-349357.html Cairo is maddest place we have ever been to. The traffic is absolutely unbelievable. The population is somewhere between 18 and 22 million people everyone you ask gives a different number and I donrsquot think anyone really knows anyhow and theyrsquore all trying to drive somewhere at any given time. It seems to be anarchy rules with everyone honking horns cutting in and out and basical http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-349097.html This weekend adventure on November 21st and 22nd takes place in the Black and White Desert and stars Andy Wolf Mitch Chelsea Casey Trish and myself. We left Cairo at 11pm Thursday night in what is commonly known here as a minibus but what might be called a Mormon van back home. Basically it's a big white 13seater van. We drove 5 hours to where we slept from 4am10am which was this in http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Western-Desert/Baharia/blog-348103.html I apologize for not posting for a long time and yes I am still alive and well in Egypt. Some of you have been asking about my work with the Gerhart Center and so I thought it would be good to talk about in this post. Right when I got to Cairo and started work I was helping out with the conference that occurred in midOctober. It was Exhausting This conference took every ounce of energy I had bu http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-347918.html I just noticed that I have a plethora of pictures on my hard drive that I have been too lazy to put up. Also I have an exam tomorrow which involves me procrastinating by watching videos on YouTube and apparently uploading pictures on my blog. http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-347861.html Hello EveryoneSo we have just spent two lovely days sailing down the Nile on a Fellucca . . .relaxing eating and sleeping . . nothing beats watching the sun go down on the Nile. We have come to the last day of our middle east trip and so tonight we go over night to Cario and tomorrow we will see the Pyramids . . .something Paul is looking forward to very much. We will then be going to Athens fo http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-347844.html Ten days in Egyt resulted in several bursting note books. So I have decided to break it down a bit. On the first day after some hot coffee we head toThe West Bank Hundred's of Tombs and a TempleStill half asleep looking through a dirty van window at 6am dreams of Pharaohs and gods fade away to the dawn lit dust of the West Bank here in Luxor Egypt.Letrsquos kick this off with three inte http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-347802.html This past weekend was the last one left. Well 'last one'. However if you think about it... yeah. We now have next weekend American Thanksgivingweek after Eid break a big holidayweek after finalsthis is ridiculous What happened to everything Well... hospital time took up a good portion of my trip I feel but I'm not talking about anything medical this post because yeah there is nothi http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-347730.html Asia to EgyptHi guys for all of you planning to visit Egypt from Asia it shall be appropriate to take a Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor.By this you terminate the cruise a lot closer to Cairo The pyramid destinaton.The best of ancient Egypt the Temples and the Tombs are around Nile...or the Neel.The cruise package should take care of all the related sight seeing.abu Sinbel is way out but wo http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-347695.html It's been a long while since I last posted anything and for this I apologize. Its been a long last couple of weeks with finals creeping up on me and not to mention getting over a mild case of food poisoning the ironic part I got it from Pizza Hut that seems mandatory for anyone spending a considerable amount of time in Egypt. A couple of weekends ago my friend Brendan and I took a trip to Sa http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-347547.html This was one hell of a break.As some of you know I left for Germany before I made it to Egypt to visit my aunties. Itrsquos been around 13 years since Irsquove last visited them in Germany they would come to America instead during those 13 years and all the memories I had as a kid came flooding in the moment I entered their apartment complex. The same sights and smell were still therehell http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/blog-347377.html Day 219After some tearful farewells and chaotic cleaning and packing After a fuse blew on our final night meaning most of the cleaning and packing was left to the morning. We passed the inspection and we loaded up Vicky's car who had kindly offered to store our stuff whilst we set off traveling around Africa and dropped us at the bus station lifesaver. We caught the bus to London and staye http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Red-Sea/Sharm-el-Sheikh/blog-346907.html Hello EveryoneSo we are sorry for the lack of updates but computers seem to be few and far between and over priced and we seem to be speeding around with not a whole lot of free time . . .so much to see.So we left Jordan and went onto Egypt it took a whole day to get across the border everything in the middle east seems to be so difficult and slow. After a few days in Dahab of snorkling and eat http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-346626.html Hello everyone Here are finally our Egypt Jordan photos. It took a while to go through all 1200 pics but here they are almost a month after we got back.You will find that you may need a couple of days to look at all of them after all it was a month trip and we got a bit carried away. We did our best to prepare a good selection but couldn't do it with less than 202 photos.We had the best time. http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/blog-346317.html On Friday we saw the pyramids and the Sphinx we even got to climb down one of the shafts in the pyramid to an actual tomb where one of the queens was buried. We went on the best tour ever we lucked out and got a tour guide that used to be an archaeologist that worked in the pyramids. His name was Ragab and had hair growing out of the top of his nose. He knew so much stuff it all started to so http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-346308.html The best revenge is good livin.So to combat the ongoing 'Pharoah's revenge' in the form of the 10 plagues of Egypt that have been unleashed upon me I have to decided to go with the flow and therefore take control of my very bizarre destiny here in Cairo.I have made the executive decision to drop all but one of my classes the one being on Sunday. Strangely enough this decision has made me more http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-346167.html Pyramids and historic sites are breathtaking. Peddlers and those around the historic sites take away from the experience if you let them. Once you appear interested in anything you will be swarmed by multiple vendors who do not know the word no or no thank you. Best way is to avoid eye contact and be polite but firm and never give your camera to anyone to take your photos. They will keep the c http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-345876.html I took an exam early this week so I could skip out of town on Thursday and go climb Mount Sinai with a couple of friends. I was afraid I wasn't going to get a chance to do it what with the plans I've already made for upcoming weekends and holidays but I found a window and took it. After an eighthour bus ride Steve and I arrived in alMilga a village nearby Mt. Sinai or what the locals call Geb http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Sinai/blog-345337.html Day 32 Ships ahoy. We board at Aswan.I was going to be spending the next three days of my life aboard an Egyptian Felucca surrounded by 12 of my fellow tour group members with no hope of escape solitude or immediate access to my backpack more on that later. How hard can that possibly behellip.A felucca is one of those traditional wooden sailing boats that are now mainly used by the touri http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/blog-344459.html Watch out for those beer goggleshellip..and the resulting hangover After our afternoon lunch in Luxor we immediately made our way back to the campsite in readiness for our 2pm convoy to Hurghada where we would be spending the next two nights.What can one say about the town of Hughada Nothing in fact It is what I would call the Costa del Sol of Egypt filled with tourist resorts tacky s http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Red-Sea/Hurghada/blog-344450.html We celebrated Halloween in Cairo on October 30th. The day before I went shopping for a Halloween costume with my friends Luke and Andy. Under the 26th of July bridge and continuing down the road are vendors with racks of clothes out on the streets and hanging on the walls in little shops. The first place we came upon my friend Luke was trying on a pair of pants and handed his own pants to one http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-344325.html The entire group with one exception joined in a tour of Cairo and the Pyramids at Giza along with the Sphinx. The day dawned warm and partly cloudy and everyone was excited to see one of the great wonders of the World.Unfortunately our 1000 AM arrival ended up being 1045 as Princess decided to bring boxes freight and several local folks onboard before clearing the vessel for passenger disem http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Mediterranean/Port-Said/blog-343491.html Monday October 27 2008After going to bed around 10pm was only able to sleep until 6am strangely. After eating breakfast and journaling I decided to take advantage of the still empty streets and go for a quick run around the neighborhood of our hotel in pants and a tshirt. Our tour was to depart at 8am. At 7 people now we were such a large group that we got our own van and tour guide. Our g http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-343222.html The weather improved today for our port visit to Alexandria Egypt. We had partly cloudy skies and a temperature in the mid 70s. This is a big sprawling city of perhaps five million persons was named after Alexander the Great and is a thriving container port for the country. In the summertime it is a favorite beach resort for many Egyptians wishing to get away from the desert heat. The city i http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Mediterranean/Alexandria/blog-343129.html I've been less than diligent with the blogging my apologies. I didn't think I had much to post on here until I realized that I have some Jordan photos and videos stashed away in my camera so I'll put them up. Also I wanted to tell you all about my upcoming trip.I've been spending the past few weeks mulling over travel options for Eid alAdha Feast of the Sacrifice which is a Muslim holiday t http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-342948.html Last night my Egyptian friend Rana and her boyfriend took a group of nine Americans out to the desert to ride horses. We left Heliopolis at about 11pm in three cars and headed out towards the pyramids. Driving up the pyramids you go through this slummy town and it was on the edge of this town that the first group of horses trotted past us on the street. I don't know if people actually ride the http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-342712.html I've only just realised how long it's been since I've updated I haven't covered Alexandria or the desert safari let only Dahab and the Red SeaSo I am going to make this update probably in dribs and drabs or it will all take far too long a post. First the really bad news. My camera is broken in a serious way It got dropped in Luxor then taken away for fixing in Cairo for over 3 weeks bef http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Sinai/Dahab/blog-342680.html