Six Degrees of Former Leaders of Non-Aligned Nations, Egypt, June 2004

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There is a sea of black streched out beneath me. It is 2:30 in the morning, I am flying at about 500 miles an hour, and all I see is black, with one exception. There is a giant spotlight on the water. Why? Why am I seeing a giant spotlight in the middle of the Meditterenean? Where is it coming from? Our plane, some other plane, outerspace? Why is it that I awake to the sight of a giant spotlight on the sea? Then I look up and notice that there is a full moon tonight and that it is about as bright and clear as I have ever seen it. I look down at the spotlight; I look up at the moon; CLICK! I get it now; the grogginess from napping must have slowed down my brain. I look out towards the horizen and see a faint light. It can't be sunrise so we must be close to the coast. I am about to fly over a new continent.

Slowly the dull glow becomes a bright glow, then a series of bright patches of light, then a bunch of individual lights. We fly over the Nile Delta and it is an amazing contrast. Alexandria is awash with light, even at three in the morning, and all of the roads leading to and from the city spread out like tentacles from an octopus. They attach to other balls of light, run through them, then move on to the next city. The giant spotlight lights up squares of farmland and in the distance I can see the desert(or more appropriately, the complete lack of light which I assume is the desert) stretch out forever. A few minutes later we get to Cairo, which is a vast city of anywhere from 12 to 16 million souls. It is different than Alexandria. There isn't light everywhere. Why not? Do some areas not have electricity? I see buildings so either
that is the case, or they have the common sense to turn off their lights at this God forsaken time of the morning. But other areas are just dark. Perhaps that is the desert spreading its sandy fingers into the city. I guess I will find out tomorrow.

The Nile is everywhere. I see it cutting its way through the city and then the plane banks sharply and turns, and I see it again. We fly a little farther and this the time the Nile has turned and is going the in opposite direction. It twists and turns and moves and bends into itself. I know it can't be everywhere, and their is probably a logical explanation(there is an island in the middle of the river) but it seems like there are two or three rivers here, not just one. When the plane banks I get another view of the desert beyond the city. It is not something that gradually creeps up on Cairo; there is not any forest or field or farmland seperating the teeming life of the city and the desolation of the Sahara. It is simply right there. The light ends and the darkness begins.

We make our way towards the airport and away from the center of the city(if there is such a thing). There are still lights, but not as many, and now I really hope there is some one there waiting for me. I am not looking forward to the next four hours of walking and the search for Hana that will follow. But I am in Egypt and that is the important thing. We slowly descend towards the dark continent, land, and head towards the terminal. I pay the 94 Egyptian pounds it costs to get a visa(which is about $16), grab my bag, go through customs and head towards the exit. There are Egyptian families standing around, women wearing long
dresses and scarfs covering their hair, kids in jeans and t-shirts. I look across the foyer and see a flash of white skin, blond hair, and see someone running towards me. Nicole comes barreling at me a mile a minute and almost knocks me over in her excitement. She gives me a big hug and starts talking about drivers and servants and house boats and "How was Budapest?" and all of the Egyptian families look at us and shake their heads and I know they are wondering what these strange white kids are doing. After a minute or two I figure out that Hana's family has a driver, who is going to take us to their houseboat to sleep because Hana's house is too far away.

For those of you doing a double take, yes Hana's parents have a driver, and a cook, and assorted other maids, etc. It is the norm here in Egypt; but it is still strange for me to see everyone leave the table covered with dirty dishes or to be able to call someone and have them pick you up where ever you are. Hana's parents also have a house boat on the Nile; ON THE NILE RIVER! There other house is very nice and I enjoyed my time there, but I cannot think of a better way to spend my first night in Egypt than on a house boat on the Nile. Nicole and I sit on the porch and talk until about six. We watch the sun come up and I talk about Budapest and she talks about the last three days in Cairo. We finally go inside and lay down on the mats they have in one of the offices.

Nicole and I wake up at about 11:00. Hana, Karlien, and Dennis come by to pick us up and we are off to Zamalek to eat brunch with one of Hana's friends who had just graduated. Now, there is something you should know about Hana's friends: some of them are rich. We are talking Egyptian high $ociety. Someone had called Nicole the night before and asked her if I had gotten there all right. When I asked who it was, this was here response:

Nicole: "That was Zied . . . Nasser's grandson."
Me: "Nasser's grandson! Holy crap!"

That would be Gamal Abdel Nasser, leader of Egypt and of the Arab world during the 1950s and 1960s. He is only one of the most important figures in the Muslim world of the last one hundred years. ALong with Nehru and Tito, he was one of the few world leaders who didn't succomb to Cold War pressures and view the world in bi-polar terms, but instead thought there could be any number of other ways. Not only did Nicole have his number, but I was going to meet him at the brunch we were going to. I was a little disappointed to find out later from Hana that he wasn't Nasser's grandson after all(his sister was marrying Nasser's grandson, so he was going to be his brother-in-law, which would make him Nasser's nephew-in-law or son-in-law-twice-removed, or something like that) . . . but still, I did get to shake Nasser's grandson's hand later on. So that was cool.

At the brunch, we eat until we are stuffed. They had fruit and cookies and cakes and fish and fired-up-egg-roll-like-things and any number of other fancy finger foods. It was delicious. We stayed for a couple of hours, then went to get a massage. After that, we went to Hana's house and got ready to go to Basata, which was on the north Red Sea coast. We left at 10:30 at night and got there at 5:00 in the morning. Which was just in time to see the sun rise. Fantastic.

So, let's recap. My first twenty-four hours in country I have slept on a house boat, eaten snack food with uppper caste Egyptians, gotten a massage, ridden on a bus that played loud Egyptian music for seven hours, and watched the sun rise over the Red Sea. Am I going to enjoy my stay in Egypt . . . I think so.

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