Blogs from Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 103

Day 9, Part 2: Wednesday, May 31. After my last email, in fact, shortly after.. I got sick.. Really sick.. That food poisoning/travelers sick that just hits you. It happens when you've been eatting strange food for a while, prepared differently than home with different water. If there was a night/day to get sick, this was it. If I had gotten sick on the falucca, I would have been in serious trouble. If I would have gotten sick just a day later, it would have been a mess as we were in a bus for hours, then a ferry, then a van.. but I'll get to that later.. Day 10: Thursday, June 1 This morning, I got up, sort of, i didn't really sleep, mostly in the bathroom, so coming down for breakfast was not really ... read more

Hi from Cairo. The title will be familiar to any Madness fans (thanks Andrew for the prompt!) Having a great time. Saying goodbye to Lauren was very emotional and I felt very low for a few days. Thankfully we'd made a few local friends in Marrackech by then and they helped me get through it. For that reason, I decided to stay in Marrakech until I left for Cairo. The weather has been fantastic and I'm blending in well with my tan. I've been on a tour of the Giza pyramids. Took a camel which, after I'd got over my initial fear (bordering on panic) was great fun! They name all the horses and camels here Michael Jackson because of the screams female tourists make when they first get on them - and I was no ... read more

"It's like I learned as a young guy on Western Avenue. You don't sell a guy one car, you sell a guy five cars over twenty years. But these guys they think they can go out and rob everybody blind, like no one's ever thought of it before. But they kill the Golden Goose." Somebody needs to give Egypt a copy of Glengarry Glen Ross , and quick. No country during this trip has had a larger negative gap between what we expected and what we've experienced. To call travelling here a hassle is a gross understatement. Even countries like Laos and Vietnam pale in comparison to the daily onslought of hawkers, taxi drivers and "guides" you must navigate in order to get around. Much of their economy is based upon tourism, which has suffered greatly ... read more

Arrived safe in Cairo early Sunday morning. Perfect amount of time to just hang around and write some postcards... That evening a few of us from the boat got together for a couple of drinks at the hotel just behind. They have a bar on the top floor with a wonderful view of the city and the river...sigh...so relaxing. True the L10 Pound beers make it even better (Egyptian Pounds...L10 is about $2)! OK...lounge time...this lounge was a stinker. Crowded, grubby, TV with crap reception (yelling...always yelling), snacks were eh...on the plus side...it had coffee. 2/10. OH so harsh! Spoilt or what!! Frankfurt next then Cape Town. ... read more

I had to take Iberia Airlines to get to Cairo, so I first flew to Madrid and then on to Cairo. I was detained shortly at Egyptian immigration but it was nothing...although for a brief moment I thought about Midnight Express and I began to sweat. But I was cleared to enter and off I went....into the wild, busy world that is Cairo. I was immediatedly accosted by the very aggressive cab drivers who wanted my business. I chose instead to take the free bus to the car parking lot where I found a cab driver to take me Downtown for about 35 Dirham ($7). I was very tired as it was 11:30pm and I headed to the Cleopatra Hotel as was recommeded by an internet site. It was too costly at $50 per night so ... read more