Advertisement
Published: October 3rd 2009
Edit Blog Post
Hi Everyone!
The atmosphere in Egypt is quite different from anywhere I have ever been. I wonder if Egyptians would find cornfields as exotic as I find camels. Walking down the street is an adventure. I am glad that I came with a tour group because traveling in Egypt is very difficult without private transportation. Not to mention that everyone sees a tourist as a giant money bag waiting to be ripped off. I went into a shop yesterday to buy souvenirs and the owner said he wanted 350 Egyptian pounds for a small plush camel and a small stone statue. I totally laughed in his face, because that equals out to about 70 USD. I ended up paying 10 and I still think I got ripped off.
The tour itself has been really busy. It lasted 9 days officially. The first day we spent in Cairo and the pyramids, that night we took a train to Aswan and the next day we saw the Aswan Dam and Philae Temple and the unfinished obelisk. Apparently obelisks had to be cut out of one single piece of granite.
The next day we boarded the felucca which is a 30 ft sail boat
that is sailed down the Nile by a two person crew. About half the boat is a large bed and pillows for the passengers. We could sit or lie down but it is difficult to stand up because a large canopy covers the bed to keep the sun off us. We spent two days on the boat and we ended it with a bonfire at night. On the fifth day we saw three temples in Luxor, and I went by myself to see the Luxor museum. On day six we visited Valley of the Kings and saw the tombs of three Pharaohs. They don’t allow pictures but I bought some great pictures in the souvenir shop. We also saw Karnak and the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt’s first female Pharaoh.
On day seven we took a ferry across the Red Sea to Sharm El Sheik and then took a bus to Dahab were we stayed at a four star resort. We had an all inclusive deal so there were free drinks and three buffet meals a day. On day 8 most of the group went snorkeling in the Red Sea, but I don’t like snorkeling so I stayed back. That
night at 11pm we took a bus to Mt. Sinai and spent 3 hours hiking up to the top of the mountain to see the sunrise. It was breathtaking. I was actually shocked at how many people were there. Thousands of people come every night to hike up the mountain in the middle of the night. There were also a lot of camels there. You could make the whole journey on camel back, but the last 7500 steps are impassable by camel. By the time we made it back it was 9:30am on Day 9. Most of the day was spent hanging out with the group by the pool and generally recovering from a midnight marathon.
Modern Egypt can be an interesting place. As a tourist it is difficult to penetrate beyond the façade in which everyone wants a piece of the wealth you represent. I wish I could explain that back home I work at Wal-mart and it took me years of penny pinching to save the money that they want to con me out of. I am sure most tourists don’t care to understand any more than that. Egypt has one of the most well preserved ancient civilizations.
The amount of engineering and labor to make a single obelisk alone is staggering, much less the pyramids. Abu Simbel is absolutely colossal. Ancient Egyptians had a stable government, writing, and religion thousands and thousands of years ago. Then they were invaded by the Greeks, and the Arabs and now their economy relies heavily on tourism and still the average person barely makes 150 dollars a month. It is legal to have up to 4 wives, as indicated by the Quran but who can afford more than one? In parts of the country it is considered honorable to kill your daughter if she is not a virgin on her wedding day. At most you would get 5 years in prison for killing you own daughter. Egypt is a crazy fascinating place but when you visit do yourself a favor and come with a group.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.051s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.029s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Denise
non-member comment
beautiful photos
Jen, It is hard to believe you are still gone on this trip! When do you return? I applaud you for trying so many new foods - I am reluctant to eat anything I havent tasted before. Are you lugging all your souvieners with, or do you ship them home? Any wi-fi in Egypt? Denise