Blogs from Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 106

The great pyramids of Giza..what can you say? It is such an amazing sight as you catch your first glimpses from the taxi window. Standing there and looking at them for the first time, you can’t help but think you’ve waited your whole life to see them with your own eyes. Everyone says they are much smaller than they imagined, we thought they looked bigger. In America (or Europe for that matter) if there was something like the pyramids in a town, it would be surrounded by nothing but world class hotels, fine restaurants, condos, etc…not here, not in Giza. The pyramids are literally next door to dilapidated buildings, places you would never dream of staying the night-even with the best view ever. We always imagined the pyramids to way out in the desert with nothing ... read more

We started our day by going to the Citadel.-which is the big walled complex on top a hill overlooking Cairo with the big Muhammad Ali Mosque (tomorrow we are going to the George Foreman Mosque…lol). It was home to Egypt’s rulers for over 700 years. You have to take off your shoes before entering the mosques, and I was proud not to be one of the women they had to shroud in cloth to cover up their bare legs, arms, and “chests.” (where’s the respect?? Or are they just plain ignorant?) So then we were off to walk down to the famous Ibn Tulan Mosque (we walked because the taxi driver wanted to charge us $3 instead of $1-too much!). We passed a ton of school kids on their way that were heading for a field ... read more

Egypt…I still can’t believe it! It’s one of the places you dream about seeing as you are growing up when you are learning about pharaohs and mummies..but to really go there and see it! How many people (especially Americans) get the chance to see one of the 7 wonders of the world? Not many…but not many have the “guts” either (Thank you China for upping our confidence for “adventure travel”). I can’t tell you how many times in conversations over the past month when I’ve said we are going to Egypt that I was looked at like I was totally insane. But it didn’t stop there…not only did they look, but they told me we were crazy. “Its not a good time to go?” “Aren’t you scared?” “They hate Americans.” (they don’t hate Americans-they love American ... read more

Still no luggage. I think by now the baggage handlers have finally had the hangover wear off after drinking the Captain Morgan’s and Parrot Bay Rum in my missing luggage. We got to meet everyone in the group this morning. There are a total of 10 others in our group. Three of the gentlemen work at Intel in California doing chip design. Six are Taiwanese, five of whom go to UPENN, and the sixth the brother of one of the others. The last is a Brazilian woman who works at the US Embassy in Brazil as a country expert. We met our tour guide for the day, Mina. Mina really has a good heart, but if you could imagine an Egyptian dork…that would be Mina. He was overly melodramatic...which just added to his charm. He would ... read more

Introduction Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to Egypt I go. Another year, another part of the world to explore…four continents down, three to go. After the success of my trip to China, I decided to sign up for a tour to explore another of the world’s great civilizations. Ever since one of my friends from college decided to go AWOL during a Spring Break trip to a Model UN conference in Cairo to explore the rest of Egypt, I have wanted to go. I’ve packed up my computer, Milkshake (my stuffed cow), 2 liters of Duty Free liquor (since it is hard to find in Egypt), a bunch of cheesy Hawaiian/Caribbean shirts, and Team America (to help me with my understanding of Arab culture). I’m ready to go. Flight/Immigration The flight over the Atlantic wasn’t ... read more