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Published: June 18th 2007
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for the past week and more I've been roaming up and down the Nile with 3 other travelers and 1 tour leader from intrepid tour. it's been quite good since the activities focus more on local culture immersion than the usual traps, and it's a nice break from worrying about logistics. sorry about not replying to emails since gmail is tempermental, but thanks for all the family and friends checking in on me. when internet connect gets better I'll send personalized emails. if you are wondering about the lower case, blame it on the keyboard.
below are day to day breakdowns of what i saw in different locations, quite a bit since we are on the road every day. before that, however, i highlight few things about Egypt:
1. with Suez canal providing the most national income, followed closely by tourism, Egypt as a developing nation lag behind many other emerging countries. people here live in unfinished buildings (outside un-painted, iron reinforcement bars still visible on the roof, etc.) to avoid property tax
2. modern Egyptians like to associate themselves with Pharaonic time Egyptians. yet the only people with possible link with the ancients are Coptic Christians, which are
few and far in between. it's interesting that the history touted by this Islamic republic doesn't truly belong to the masses.
3. while it's extremely safe for tourists to travel here, social conditions is harsh for locals. in luxor's train station I witnessed two policemen beating a local in the back of a pickup truck. it happened next to the main entrance, facing crowds and tourists. i don't know what the guy did, but the policemen did rounds and combinations on him, while locals either watched in excitement or scurried away quietly. the policemen didn't curb their aggression even with the tourists around. it's was bare, brutal, and truthful.
now onto the actual trip. many things happened in the past week, so i'll be listing them out with some personal comments. hopefully the photos will do better justice.
day 1 - introduction to rest of the group, which includes a psychiatrist from england , a podiatrist assistant from australian, and a non-profit worker from england. the tour lead is from new zealand. i'm the only guy in the group, which secured me a single room for rest of the trip, at no additional cost. in the afternoon we
got a good dose of islamic history at an important local mosque, and we spend few hours in the bazaar area battling through peddlers and shops.
day 2 - finally, the three giza pyramids and the sphinx. one thing off the list of to do's in life. they are unbelievable. later on we spend few hours in the egyptian musem, where i saw the treasures of Tutankhamen, the only king's tomb that's fully undisturbed by robbery.
day 3 - after an overnight train, we arrive in the southern town of aswan, which is in nubian territory. we went up and down the nile, visiting amazing sites such as elephantine island, where supposedly eratosthenes measured earth's circumference with a well. on the left side of the bank is the beginning of sahara. of course, when there is desert, there are camels.
day 4 - waking up 3am, we drove 3 hours south to the temple of abu simbel, which is only ~30km away from the sudanese boarder. the temple is amazing in 2 realms. first, the original construction of this colossal temple for ramese ii. second, the modern relocation of this temple in 1960's when aswan high dam
was built. the whole temple, which is carved insides a mountain, is teared apart, moved 22 meters higher and 60 meters inland, then put back together with $46M. wow
day 5 - the entire day was spend on a felucca, or a nubian sail boat, heading north from aswan to luxor. it's nice to get away from the pollution and chaos and sit in the warm nile breeze
day 6 - touching down in luxor, we visited temple of carnake. it was the holiest pagant temple during ancient times, dubbed by locals as the the jerusalem of ancient gods. the grandeur of the pillars, the detail of the carvings, and the intricacy of the architecture still screams the abilities of ancient egyptians. no wonder ancient egyptian symbols are still prevalent today, representing power and authority.
day 7 - 2nd day in luxor was a day of tombs. the valley of kings housed 63 pharoh tombs, the last one discovered in 2006, the one before (king tut) back in 22's. there are some painstaking details in the carvings, which still have original colors. too bad no photos are allowed inside the tombs. if you are ever in luxor,
skip valley of queens.
day 8 - taking another over night train back to cairo, we jetted up to alexandria right away on another 3 hour train ride. definitely a more Mediterranean feeling city.
day 9 - driving east through the sinai desert and across the suez, we arrive at the foothills of mt. sinai. it was a fairly easy climb with good views on top. can't say it's a religious experience given all the peddlers and teahouses around.
day 10 - after seeing the burning bush at st. catherine church, we headed to the beach town of nuweiba, which is next to the red sea. finally some time to relax.
day 11 - red sea has to be the best place that I've scuba dived so far. the marine life is abundant in number and species. unfortunately with expanding tourism the corals are slowly dying
day 12 - full day of in taxis, buses, and ferry, finaly touched down in Jordan. Tomorrow we are headed to the desert camp, and then spending 2 days at petra!
tomorrow we will be heading to mt. sinai, followed by red sea, and time for jordan.
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