Egypt

EGYPT October 1993

Egypt was a fun trip, it was an adventure starting in Cairo then making our way up to Aswan and back to Cairo. Our accommodations were in third class or worse Hotels, and when not in a Hotel we were camped in Tents.

After a very long flight from Idaho, my traveling companions Norma and Peter Walker and I finally arrived in Cairo. We were met by a representative from our tour and taken to the Hotel Indiana, which was really run down. My room is at the very top, and the elevator only goes to the 10^th floor, so I had to walk up the next two flights. The air conditioner was not working so I called the maintenance man; it was over 100 degrees in the room. The Walkers room was much the same but they could not open their door, so they called the repair man and he had to take the entire door knob and lock off in order to open the door. This was not an expensive tour and now we know why.

The next day was a relaxed start and we have a guided tour of Cairo and the Egyptian Museum and later on we drive to our Giza Campsite. The Museum is marvelous, we saw the King Tut collection and much more. It is over 100 degrees today and unfortunately the Museum was not air-conditioned. After a true Egyptian lunch which was excellent, we drove to Giza and put up our tents. All of us were ready for an early bedtime this night and we slept very well, until the Muslim chants started and seem to go on all night long. They come from the various Mosques in the area, and were not in tune with each other, so sleep did not come easily.

(A pyramid with a camel driver))

Now, we are off to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx, I had not seen pyramids before, so I was excited to go down into the bowels of one of them. It was steep down and up, and we went to see a tomb with nothing in it. The area of the Pyramids is very barren with no vegetation, and there are numerous souvenir hawkers, and lots of tourist busses. The people selling are really aggressive, especially the Camel and Horse drivers. I avoided these animals; I do not care for camels or horses. After lunch we went to see the Sphinx, and then to Sokara, and saw the partial monument of Ramses 2^nd, then off to the Step pyramids. Again the day was very hot.

The Egyptians for the most part are Muslim, and the call to prayer from the Minarets start at 3 p.m. until 5.30 a.m. this is done five times a day.

We have a very good bus driver, coming home it was dark and he only turns the lights on just to see if anyone is on the road and then he turns them off. Actually there were lots of people on the road, on donkeys and camels, pulling carts and just plain walking; I often wonder how he knew where everyone was.

This morning we were up early, packed up all our gear and the tents, then onto the bus and we head out of Cairo. It was rush hour traffic and at one point we had to pull over to the curb and let a convoy of police and armed guards and two vehicles with political prisoners, all with their arms out of the small windows waving the Koran, go by us. Later that day someone told us these prisoners were going to be shot. We went through the tunnel under the Suez Canal, then on to the Sinai desert. Here we saw lots of off-shore oil rigs and big oil wells all with burning gasses. When we finally came to the road to St. Catherine’s and Mt. Sinai, we found out the road had a wash out so plans changed and we went to Sharks Bay on the Red Sea, it is located right at the very bottom of the Sinai. It was raining when we got there with lots of thunder and lightening, after the storm abated we went down to the beach and managed to get our tents set up, even though the wind was still blowing hard.

Sharks Bay is a wonderful relaxing place we had an Egyptian breakfast, thin pasta in hot milk with sugar. The surf is big and there is an undertow, so we did not venture out too far in the warm water. Back on the bus we are going to try for Nueweba, the road guards did not want to let us down the road due to wash-outs, however our driver has convinced them to let us try. So far the road has been really bad, the two days of rain has covered it with mud and undermined the blacktop resulting in wash outs.

We did however make it to City Park Beach Camp and set up the tents. We have been eating some really greasy food and washing our bowl and spoon in cold greasy water, I think this is catching up to a few of us, me included.

To-day is the camel ride into the desert, I started out with the group but after a quarter of mile I departed the camel and walked back to the tents.

I absolutely dislike camels, they spit at you and try to bite you and actually I am a little afraid of them. My stomach was really upset so I spent the rest of the day in camp. In the afternoon we went to St Catherine’s and I made the decision not climb Mt. Sinai during the night, I stayed down with a few other people who were having the same symptoms as me. I am really convinced everyone is getting sick due to the terrible kitchen conditions, our wash up of the eating utensils is a real foul system. Next morning I felt better so I went with the bus up to the Monastery, and then hiked up the trail until I met the group coming down. Norma had the same illness as me except hers started at the top of the mountain, which was really crowded with people coming and going all night and everyone was waiting for the sunrise.

We are now on our way to Safaga, a long but interesting drive, and we have just passed by Ferango Oasis; we went back through the tunnel under the Suez Canal and up the East side of the Gulf of Suez and stopped in Suez city. Here we purchased fruit and ‘Egyptian Take Out’ which consisted of three kinds of pasta with sauce, it was good and we ate it on the bus.

We got to the beach camp at Safaga at 8.30 p.m. and we are sleeping directly on the beach. It is very warm out and big crabs come out of their holes in the sand, but dive right back in when they hear you. The beach sleep was great and during the day there was a very warm wind was blowing, we are now going snorkeling. What a marvelous day, after breakfast we got on a motor boat which took us out to an island which had a white sandy beach and a reef. This was the first time I had snorkeled and once I got the hang of it, I had a great time. We saw all sorts of exotic fish and beautiful coral gardens. The island had a bamboo type roof shelter, so we could sit out of the sun and eat the lunch which the boat crew made while we snorkeled. They made rice salad and little fishes and it was good.

We are back on our bus now heading for Luxor and this city was much bigger than I expected, we walked in the tourist bazaar that evening and each merchant wants you to come into their shop. We are learning to "dicker" for the correct price.

Next Day, I went with a few others to the Egyptian Bazaar (not the tourist bazaar) and did a little shopping, then we were off to the ruins of the Karnack Temple which I found very interesting. The weather has turned hot again and there was not too much enthusiasm for a lot of walking around, so after eating dinner on a boat called 'the Nile Explorer' it was time to return to the Hotel and bed.

We are up very early this morning driving to the Valley of the Kings. We took a small Ferry boat and arriving on the other side, we were all issued a donkey, what a hoot, we rode the donkeys for an hour to the tomb sites.

Here we saw fabulous tombs with unbelievable colored paintings still on the walls and ceilings, and here our guide gave a good talk about grave robbers.

After we came out of the tombs we climbed to the top of a very steep hill, where the donkeys were waiting for us. We rode along a long ridge for an hour and then got off and walked the donkeys down a very steep hill. It was all great fun; we rode the donkeys back to where we started, but on a different route through a village (we actually galloped).

At one point Norma fell off her donkey, it stepped into a hole and she went right over the donkeys head, she was lucky she did not get seriously hurt. In the afternoon we went shopping and learned how to dicker some more, it is a little exhausting but fun. We are now staying in a 5 star hotel, had a great dinner and went out to see the Belly dancers.( so so )

Next day, after a noisy night with dogs barking, roosters crowing and Muslims chanting, we drove to the Nile River and the next leg of our journey, the Feluccas - a single-sail boat.

There are seven people on our boat and we are going up the Nile River against the current and with no wind. So we hitched a tow from a large barge hauling white rock, and then we were towed until dinner time, the boatmen entertained us playing the drums and singing. I managed to stub my big toe on the barge and it is now black and blue and hurts. After dinner we all lay head to toe on the deck of the Felucca which is a flat board and we eat and sleep in the same spot. It does have a canopy of sorts over our heads to protect us from the sun. Next morning we still do not have any wind, so we went across the river to visit the crocodile temple. The boatmen have been pulling and pushing the boats and now we see another barge coming, so we all yell and wave towels to get their attention and again we are now tied up to a barge.

We stop for the night, and the next morning there is wind, so we start sailing immediately and arrive in Aswan at 9.30 a.m. We check in at the Oscar Hotel which has very welcome hot showers, and lots of fruit and an air conditioner that works.

We went to visit the Aswan Hi Dam and the reservoir that it created is call Lake Nasser, this Lake reaches into Sudan. After lunch we went on the Feluccas again and sailed around a very pretty harbor to Kitchen Island and Elephant Island. These were some of our original boatmen, and they took us to a Nubian village for tea at one of their homes. We saw one lady making bread using an outside brick oven. We saw the paintings on the houses, the painting meant the man had visited Mecca and when he returned back home he drew a picture of what he saw. Most times it was a drawing of an airplane and a temple.

Early wake up at 3 a.m., we are off to see Abu Simbel and see the two temples of Ramsey 2^nd and his wife Nephrites. They were excellent and I was impressed, these temples had been moved in the 1950’s when the Hi Dam was put in. It took five years and 56 million dollars to do this and the Dome they created to hold all these huge monuments is a feat of engineering, the outside looked just like a sand and dirt hill.

We are now back at the hotel and packed up and ready to get on the overnight train to Cairo. It was an uneventful trip and we are now back at the Indiana hotel, and again everyone is complaining about their rooms. We did some shopping and next day we are off to the airport for our flight to Athens and our next adventure, a trip to the Holy Land.

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