The land of the Pharaohs
Trip Start
Oct 31, 2006
1
6
18
Trip End
May 2007
Where I stayed
Cairo, Egypt
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Eygpt was incredible...the 5-day nile cruise was spectacular. The temples and pyramids were unbelievable. Standing admist the towering stone structures you can't believe that [wo]man actually built such treasures. We tried to learn some hieroglyphics, even bought a few books, but it was pretty challenging.
During the cruise we ended up on our day tours with a group of older jordanian women--5 friends on a 14 day egyptian tour. They were a lot of fun. Only one really spoke english well...so you can imagine the stress of our daily tour guide having to explain the history of the temples in arabic and english. We ended up spending a lot of time with them talking about middle east politics, american culture -or the lack thereof-and why it is important that uddy and I have babies very soon. The one who spoke english, Mrs. Kailani, did most of the talking given her fluency in english. Her husband was in King Hussein's administration and close friends with him. The women LOVED to smoke their shisha; in fact, they (ended up being Uddy and I) carried their hooka pipes every day on the temple tours and would often skip out so they could smoke under the shade. Mrs. Kailani did not smoke and would accompany us on the tours. One morning at the Temple of Philae I actually smoked some with them since I felt it would be rude to turn down their invitation. The cruise took us from Aswan to Luxor. Along the way we visited the Philae Temple, Temples of Karnak and Luxor, the Valley of the King, Queen Hatshepsut's Temple, the Temple of Edfu and the Temple of Kom Ombo. We had an incredible guide in Luxor and Karnak, Mr. Badway, who emails us still. Anyone planning a trip to this part of Egypt should contact him. He was knowledgeable and fun. OK-no more plugs.
After the cruise, we spent a few days in Cairo. We stayed at the Nile Hilton, the first US hotel in Cairo where many foreign leaders once stayed. It is obvious why they do not stay there nowadays. Upon our arrival, we felt somewhat overwhelmed given the enormity of the traffic congestion and the fact that so few streets actually have traffic signals. Crossing the street makes you feel a bit like 'frogger' from atari [I realize I have just dated myself]. However, we quickly learned that for a small amount of remuneration...a friendly financial thanks if you will...the kind police officers with the big guns would assist us in stopping traffic so we could cross.
We had a private tour one day in Cairo where we visited the Pyramids at Giza. Cheops is the biggest of the three. To see these in person was out of this world. Amazing! We also visited the Citadel of Salah-al Din and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha. Our guide Ola was a young woman who personified the modern Muslim woman. She has lived overseas on an off over the last 15 years and spent a lot of time with us talking about life in Egypt as a young modern women, everything from clothing (abaya, hijab, nigab--the head scarf debate), prayer, fasting, abiding by the 5 pillars of Islam, Muslim marriages, etc...it was a brief but insightful glimpse into Muslim culture. We finished our day at the incredible Egyptian Museum. That evening we strolled around the Zamalek-a trendy upscale neighborhood where we had dinner at La Bodega. We loved this restaurant! On our last morning, we headed to Khan a Khalili, the famed Egyptian bazaar with its tiny hookah smoke-filled alleyways. We left empty-handed, but not for want of trying. We haggled hard for a silver, engraved plate from a store where Hillary Clinton once visited. Apparently, a store owner feels he or she can command high prices with a signed letter and photo with a former US President or his spouse. The celebrity factor if you will. We saw this in many places, including the papyrus-making store we visited in Luxor with their photo and letter from President Carter. And the blue ceramic pottery store in Jaipur India with its photos of President Clinton. The Democrats are hugely popular...hum, come to think of it; no Republican presidents on view.
In spite of the smog, pollution and traffic we would have loved to spend more time in Cairo. It's a city whose landscape is dotted with satellite dishes and minarets. From our perspective, it turned out to be a fascinating and modern city with a cool blend of bookstores, good restaurants and cultural venues. We even caught a movie at the Cairo International Film Festival. Getting there though, was a near death experience with the cab driver. But hey, who needs headlights at night anyway. Better to save that car battery juice for things like the purple neon light strip flashing above the back seat of the car, right?
The people we met in Cairo were friendly and open. Whether at the pyramids of Giza or the Mosque, we had fantastic conversation with our guide (talked a lot about Islam and women in islamic societies and cultures) and met plenty of highschool students who wanted to practice their english with us and have their photo taken...but not with us, with themselves. Of course, we were happy to oblige.
