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Published: April 15th 2010
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I hated and and loved Egypt. I'm not sure if I hated it more than I loved it but while I didn't hate to love it, I didn't love to hate it neither. Two weeks is certainly not enough to understand this country and its population. Two years might have been better for that purpose. Would I stay two years in Egypt? Nope! Even if it would have certainly been more relaxing to be part of the 99%!w(MISSING)ho cruise it in an organized tour instead of backpacking it. C'est le plus grand choc culturel que j'ai connu durant tous mes voyages et c'est exactement ce que je recherchais. Leurs moeurs sont completement differents de ce que j'ai vu ailleurs dans le monde et c'est ce qui rend les voyages interessants.
What I really liked?
When I landed in the middle of the desert in South Egypt during some kind of sandstorm and when I came out of the place and it was +40C outside, I really felt that I was no more in Europe and far away from home. The Imans calling for the prayer from the top of the minarets really increased this feeling. J'ai vraiment apprecie
Kids at Karnak Temple
Kids were the greatest in Egypt. They always wanted to talk to you to show they could speak english. cette impression d'etre litteralement en train de faire mon chemin autours du monde. Ce fut un pas de geant en quelques heures et le depaysement a ete total. J'ai aime!
It was nice to be surrounded by new people, new sights, new odors, new tastes. As much as I enjoyed these new unknown feelings, I moslty appreciated the old reknown monuments. Je m'arretais des fois en plein milieu d'une visite pour prendre conscience ou j'etais reelement et pour me rendre compte de l'importance de ces monuments il y a quelques millenaires de ca. J'ai toujours ete un amateur de l'histoire de l'Europe medieval (GEEK!) mais il faut dire que l'Egypte pharaonique ne laisse pas sa place. D'autant plus qu'il y a encore beaucoup d'informations presents sur les lieux malgre le fait que ca se passait quelques milliers d'annees avant le Moyen-Age.
There is no doubt in my mind that Egypt was the site of one of the greatest civilization ... at that time.
Finally, it was nice to meet some great people along the way with who I shared good and scary moments (felluca trip down the Nile, crazy mini-van driving up to Luxour, etc).
What I On Whiskey...
...this was the name of my camel! She didn't like me and I didn't like her but we made it. I was the only tourist who wanted to ride my own camel without any help whatsoever. Almost got hit by a tourist bus but for the time it lasted, I really enjoyed it! hated?
The way they do business. Everywhere! They don't stop, they are like flies around you. Hasseling, grabbing and following you is only the beginning of it. Even if I hated it, I learned to ignore them all. Because if you don't, they jumb on you like scavengers on a dying animal. And when you finally buy something and they don't call you "my freind" anymore, it is because they probably ripped you off. You always buy stuff at around 10%!o(MISSING)f the initial proposed price and you always learn afterward that you've paid too much. You get tired of it because you have to bargain every single thing, from the taxi ride to the toilet paper in public bathrooms. But you have to experience it to believe it. Apres il y a les arnaques, les pieges, les mensonges. Ils emploient toutes les astuces inimaginables pour vous avoir. J'ai quelques histoires assez croustillantes que je ne conterai pas ici par peur d'effrayer ma mere et ma grand-mere. Finalement tout le monde demande des bakshish pour rien, les adutles comme les enfants, en passant par la police et les douaniers au detecteur de metal ...
There are two more things I didn't like. Less ennoying than the previous subject but still deserved to be mentioned.
Homeland security of Homeland sleeping? As you all know, Egypt has been the scene of many terrorist attacks on tourists in the past. So they use "military convoies" to bring you to remote sites and they have "metal detectors" and "guards" at Temples entrances. I fell asleep in the bus bringing me to Abu Simbel near the Sudanese border and when I woke up, we were the only bus on the road even if this was supposed to be a military convoy. Wrecks of burned autobus could be seen along the road. Regarding the security at entrances, needless to say that I could have visited most of these places with a bazooka on my shoulder as the guards were or reading the newspaper, or playing cards, or simply sleepling.
Finally but not the least, the driving!! Like most things in Egypt, there is no structure regarding driving rules. Rare are the times I wasn't scared on the road. But I was more affraid for the the others as elderies, kids and mothers with babies were crossings streets, roads and highways as if
Aswan sunset from felluca ... and young sailor's butt
After this sand dune, it is the desert. And wind coming from that side was so warm compared to when we were still at the docks. their eyes were blinded and their sakes were in the hands of God with cars flying at less than inches from them. Je pensais mourrir en Crete lorsque notre chauffeur d'autobus ivrogne nous bardassait cul par dessus tete aux sommets des falaises en soiree, mais ici la conduite releve de la folie et c'est un miracle si j'ai vu aucun mort.
That's about it for the hating part!
I'm now in dusty and unique 20 millions people Cairo where i feel like nothing in this imensity of nonsenses. I also realized that in 100 days, I slowly went from red haired, blue eyed, pale white skin english speaking population to black haired, brown eyed, tanned skin arabic speaking one. Anyway, it was nice to observe the progress along the way.
Later today I'm heading to Cyprus for a few days and then Turkey.
By the way, for the birthdays I've been missing and will eventually miss, happy birthday to all of you.
Nik xx
PS : Si quelqu'un reussi a parler a Banko avant moi, dites-lui que je me pointe a Tokyo a la fin du mois. Merci!
PS2 : I'm now in Nicosia, Cyprus. Could not upload photos from the Commodore 64 in the only internet cafe in Cairo.
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