Walk Like An Egyptian

Hello everyone!

What I should say is, SWEAT like an Egyptian. Except that sweating doesn't seem to phase them much here, while I remain in a constant state of discomfort. Everyone sweats so much that I don't even really smell anyone. So, either I have gotten so used to the B.O. smell that I don't even notice, or perspiration actually recycles itself so often that it doesn't have time to stink. Like Tracy says, you should listen to anybody that tells you to avoid this place in July/August! I actually think this place would be a lot more paradise-like in December or March.

So we started our Egyptian tour a few days ago. The way that tours work is that they not only take you to the most popular tourist locations, but they also try to expose you to snippets of the culture, and arrange for you to have typical tourist experiences but under the safety and guidance of a group leader. Our group leader's name is Mudi, and he speaks English quite well and has a Masters degree in Egyptian History & Culture, which comes in handy.

Amidst seeing the pyramids and museums and temples, he also has arrangements with certain places that sell tourist souvenirs. For example, yesterday we went to a papyrus shop. They did a demo and explanation and then they try to sell you stuff. It can seem a bit annoying to have someone give you a sales pitch, but it's actually really informative and you know that the stuff is good quality and you aren't getting ripped off. Having said that, I haven't bought anything yet - my bag is heavy enough as it is!

One of the first activities we did with our group was to have an authentic Egyptian dinner called a Koshary - I think it literally means "mixture" - which is what it is, a mixture of stuff. Pasta, meat, lentils, chick peas, tomatoes... and you mix it all up with garlic sauce. It was YUM. I Loved it. It was awesome. And tasty. And flavourful. And... I woke the next morning sick to my stomach. And so begins my love/hate relationship with Egyptian food. It's REALLY good - but I try to mix it with a fair amount of bland stuff (breads, buns, rice, plain pasta, french fries etc.) so that I am not upsetting my delicate system too much, hehe! It's been 5 days in Egypt and everybody in our group except 2 have been less than 100% at one point or another.

On our 2nd day of the tour we went to the Egyptian Museum (got to see mummies, King Tut's stuff,and about a million/billion other mind-boggling pieces) and the pyramids at Giza. Oh, it was amazing there! Talk about fulfilling a dream. We rode camels down closer to the pyramids, and that was really really cool - definitely a highlight for me so far. LOVED the camels. You gotta lean back when they stand up/sit down though, cause otherwise you will flip right off of them. :P We also got to go right inside a pyramid, which was awesome - how many people can say they have been inside a pyramid?? And the sphynx too - was very impressive.

That night we went straight to an overnight train, which was kinda awful because we had been up since 6am or something and sweat all day. Then we get on the train and Mudi says to make sure we use bug spray. So now we are covered in greasy sunscreen, oily sweat, and sticky putrid bug spray. There was a train attendant who was the Egyptian-equivalent of Mr. Bean - except that he was creepy, too. And just for future reference... train food = bad. And then we had to try to sleep on the train. It was... bleh.

So we arrived in Aswan the next morning and we went straight to our hotel to shower. Tracy & I discovered that the A/C in our room was leaking through the ceiling. We told them, they said they would fix it. We had some lunch, and then met our group for a Felucca ride down the Nile. Very majestic. We stopped at a Nubian village for lunch (again, it was very yummy but...) and we got henna tattoos from a local artisan. Then we went back to our hotel and we noticed that our A/C was still leaking so they came to fix it again. Then we spent the evening at the pool. It's less hot when the sun goes down, but doesn't cool off as much as you hope.

While at the pool we chatted a bit about the blue fluorescent lights they had up, that zap the mosquitoes when they land on them; we have them at home too. A few minutes later, we noticed that there was smoke and flames coming from somewhere across the Nile. The quiet order of the night erupted into frantic shoutings and boats going back and forth to put the fire out. It was quite the scene. Amidst all this, I became distracted by the noise of the mosquito-killing-machine, and muttered, "those little buggers can fry!". Uhhhhhhhh, that was an untimely remark. Luckily Tracy figured out that I wasn't talking about the Egyptian people in the burning building, and cleared it up quickly. For a minute though, the people in my tour group were probably wondering, though. We all had a very big laugh at that one. After that, we watched some Egyptian National Soccer (thanks to you Ted I knew more of what was actually going on!) and went to bed.

Day 4 of the tour we went to Abu Simbel, which is this huge, amazing temple that is basically built into the side of mountain. It was optional, but everyone in our group went. Most people had heard of it or had it recommended to them by someone. In order to go, though, we had to wake up at 2am, and be on the bus by 3am. You cannot go to Abu Simbel on your own; you must be part of a convoy, and there are only 2 convoys a day - 330am and 4am. You basically drive 3 hours, spend 2 hours at the temple, and drive 3 hours back. The temple is fantastic - and totally worth seeing, but holy crow that was a tough day. No sleeping on the bus for me and we were all crammed in there and the only thing to drink is pop.

On our way back from Abu Simbel we were taken to an aromatherapy shop and given lunch. Of course, after lunch we got a sales pitch about the aromatherapy oils and essences (not to be confused with perfumes) and given free 5 min massages. I didn't buy anything. When we got back to our hotel, the A/C was STILL LEAKING. By that point we didn't care and were totally used to dodging the 2 buckets that we had to have at the foot of our beds. We went to sleep for the rest of the afternoon (had to use earplugs at this point to block out sound of dripping).

That night we had Shawarma for dinner (kinda like a donair) at the Aswan markets. The markets are crazy, they remind me of HK - people yell all sorts of things at you to try to get your attention. We heard, "hello lady," "g'day mate," "hola!," "moins chere," and our personal favourite, "everything free! everything for nothing!". They also jump right in front of you and follow you around. Mudi says that sometimes they can be very touchy too, but I haven't experienced that yet. Perhaps it was because he was with us. Basically you just avoid eye contact and ignore them and they give up.

Yesterday (Day 5) we checked out of our hotel, and went on a Felucca again... this time all the way down the Nile on our way to Luxor. We stayed overnight on the Felucca, which was another special brand of Egyptian torture. It wasn't too bad when we were moving, but when we stopped (for Lunch, Dinner, or Breakfast this morning) it was a dead heat and totally awful. The worst was at night, because it didn't cool down at all like we expected. There were 12 of us all sleeping together on this big boat, 10 out of 12 of us were sick in one way or another (and some in our group are really, really sick), and the food wasn't exactly... well, as Tracy puts it, they probably don't have Foodsafe standards to live up to. The toilets overflowed, the sinks didn't work, and most people didn't sleep at all. I chose to stay up all night (wasn't sleeping anyways) with 2 of the sickest girls - keep them company, brought them tissues, bottled water, sympathized through their dashes to the toilet or barfing over the edge. I am not feeling well, but I am nowhere near that bad; somehow I manage to stop feeling sorry for myself when I see that others are suffering worse than I am. Despite that, it was lovely to see the stars overhead and besides, how many people can say that they have slept on the Nile? (At least it wasn't IN the Nile!)

This morning we woke up, had Breakfast on the Felucca (ick) and took a 3 hour bus ride to complete our journey to Luxor. We stopped at a public toilet halfway there, and all I can say is, have you seen that movie Trainspotting? 'Nuff said.

Upon arrival, all of us headed straight to our hotel rooms. We showered and went to bed and aren't meeting up again until dinner tonight. So, Tracy and I had a nap and decided to catch up on some emails! So that's the update on Egypt. It has been amazing, fabulous, once-of-a-lifetime, breathtaking experience so far. But there have understandably been some very trying days. Still, we have a really great group and we are having fun and staying positive despite the heat and the food, hehe. :)

When the days are tough it's really nice to hear from home so feel free to send me a message when you get a chance. :) I have posted 4 photos on my Facebook account so you can see a few highlights. As expected, we haven't had regular access to the Internet, so sorry that this message was SO long! Hope all is well with you!

Cheers,
xo
Elaan

The Journey to Cairo: Trials & Tribulations (and a few bits of Awesomeness!)

Oh, the trials and tribulations of travel...

When we got to the airport in Milan, we couldn't find our flight to Cairo on the departures list. Turns out it had left that morning - we had the wrong time written on our itinerary (who made our itinerary? I DID!!). There's a small chance that it might be Expedia's fault, cause there are a few things that don't quite add up, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it might just have been my own error. @#$%!! Very pricey mistake.

So, we had 2 choices; take the next flight to Cairo with Alitalia (Italian Air) which left the next day or take the next flight to Cairo with Egyptair which left in a couple of hours. We chose Egyptair - we'd keep our hotel booking in Cairo, we would only be an hour behind schedule, we were already at the airport... although truthfully, we didn't much want to be flying with them. I think we were quite comfortable in our little Italian bubble and weren't quite ready to be gawked at by the Arab men. Turns out the Arab men gawked no more or less than the Italian men did. :P

While waiting in the very long line to check-in for Egyptair, we got pulled out and told to go stand in the Business Class lineup. A bit strange, we thought - kinda like reverse discrimination. All went smoothly though. When we got on the plane we realized that we were assigned 2 of the best seats in Economy - lots of legroom and space. And, to our mild surprise, the flight was actually enjoyable - as far as flights ever are, that is. We were feeling very lucky.

Going through security, I set off the alarm (of course). I kept taking things off - my watch, my ring, my sunglasses - but was still getting the alarm. It was my hair clip that was causing all the commotion, but we only discovered that after the female security officer gave me a few raised eyebrows and vigorous pat downs. Sheeeeesh.

Upon getting off the flight in Cairo there were many, many checkpoints, the first of which was a health check. I didn't say anything about my sore throat - in fact, it seems to have completely subsided. We had to buy a Visa, go through immigration, get our photo taken, passport check, luggage area and final secuity check. They're nothing if not thorough!

As soon as we go through all that, we got accosted by a young man who wanted to drive us to the hotel. Tracy tried unsuccessfully to bargain him down from his seemingly ridiculous price. We went with him anyways, and when we got to the parking lot we realized that it was just some guy with his car... not a taxi like we had thought. He seemed like a nice enough guy though so we went with him anyways. As soon as we got to an airport checkpoint (kinda like a toll booth-ish place), he wanted more money. I was choked, but I didn't know what to do since we were stuck in this guy's car! Tracy was much more straightforward and pleasant with him than I was - at least at first.

It all worked out ok, actually. The drive to our hotel was worth the seemingly ridiculous price (given that it was an hour and a half), and even though that extra $$ at the checkpoint was definitely a scam, we didn't care - he was pleasant, cheerful and really personable. He chatted with us and pointed out landmarks, practiced his English and played the popular local music (he kept turning it up and saying "now, practice listening" - it was cute). He was only a kid, about 25 years old, and there was nothing creepy or smarmy about him. He called Tracy "Treezee" and he called me "Chicken." Perhaps it was because I sat in the front and had a much-too-close view of the style of traffic here. As he said, there's "no system" - cars wedge themselves anywhere - drive centimeters apart - don't generally heed pedestrians (and pedestrians don't heed them) - people use the horn as a reminder instead of a warning - it's total insanity. We passed by numerous breakdowns and accidents, and it was a miracle that we didn't hit anybody on the street.

But, we made it to the hotel unscathed, at about midnight. We got told that there was good news and bad news. The bad news is that our room only had one King bed. The good news is that it was one of the Royal Suites on the top floor - and once we got up there we saw why it was Royal. We shrieked and danced around and high-fived each other and lamented that we were only staying one night. It's a huge suite, with a living area, kitchen, patio, bathroom - and we had a view of THREE PYRAMIDS right outside!! I still can't believe it. We got up early this morning just to take photos. It's amazing. Seeing those pyramids in person has been a life goal for as long as I can remember. I am excited to start our tour tomorrow so I can see them more up close.

Today, we go to our new hotel and meet up with our tour group. Emails from me will likely be more sparse from now on (I know this will be a relief for some of you) since we'll be on tour and there are several points where I am fairly certain that there will be no internet available (like when we stay overnight on a felucca!). The tour starts in its entirety tomorrow. Yay, Egypt!! :)

Hope all is well, miss you guys.
Elaan

Milano to Cairo

Buon Giorno!

Killing time at our hotel in Milan because we are a bit ahead of schedule - Tracy is uber-organized and it means that we have time to relax, check messages, enjoy non-rushed meals, take lotsa photos.. and we don't feel like we are missing out on anything. I like it!

When we arrived at the hotel yesterday I noticed a card in our room that read, "so that you can plan your day tomorrow, we have included the weather forecast for you" and it listed highs of 32, lows of 26. It also marked sun\cloud and an X next to a picture of what looked like lightning. I thought to myself, "what a waste of paper if they print this out every day for every room!"

After we checked in, we quickly headed out again to get the most out of Milan while we were here. We went to the world-famous Duomo (3rd largest church in the world!), a huge Castello (medieval castle), navigated the subway and ate baaaaad food for dinner (which was oh so good at the time). A great evening, in our estimation, given that we only had a few hours.

When we got back to the hotel we relaxed a bit, checked messages, and treated ourselves to hot chocolate and fresh fruit in the hotel lounge. The hot chocolate was the thickest richest drink I have ever had in my life! Seriously, we were dipping our fruit in it like our very own personal fondue.

We went to bed early last night - today is another heavy travel day - and planned to be up fairly early this morning. I woke at about 3am, a little disoriented and having dreams about nightclubs, strobe lights and Spanish children (who knows... dreams are crazy). It wasn't a strobe light though, it was a lightning storm! The rain was SO loud it woke us up, and the lightening was flashing over and over into our hotel room. I have never seen a storm like that before; no thunder really, but lightning every 1 or 2 seconds. Torrential rain - the streets were flooded. There was so much lightning that I was able to get a photo of it after only a few tries (albeit not a very good one since I was not willing to open the window)!

Anyways, we got back to sleep and this morning it looks as if nothing ever happened. Go figure.

On the health front, I have had a bit of a sore throat for about a week now and yesterday it got particularly bad. Strange thing is, it's only on one side of my throat! And I don't feel sick in any other way. Online-diagnosis, anyone? I was thinking that maybe it was just the pollution or something, but it's really been persisting. I do NOT want to have to see a doctor in Egypt. Hopefully we can find some lozenges today before we leave Italy and that will do the trick. Now I know why I have been drinking so much pop!

We are flying into Cairo this afternoon. Going to spend time getting to know our hotel. Take a crack at the pool, maybe (ack! bathing suits!). We meet up with our tour group tomorrow night so we don't want to do a bunch of sightseeing that we will end up repeating with them, anyways.

Hope y'all are well,
Elaan