I'm sitting in a sandy cafe just outside Abu Simpel. We were up well before the crack of dawn this morning, on the bus at 4AM for the 4 hour drive from Aswan. I slept most of it, stretched out on the bus floor, and thinking it's gonnna be a long drive back. All for a 2 hour visit of the temple. Worth it though. A very impressive temple, carved in to the side of the mountain by the ancient Egyptians, which the modern Egyptians then painstakingly took apart and reassembled into a fake mountain on higher ground when they built a damn and flooded the old location to create the largest lake in Egypt - Nasser lake.
This marks almost exactly the middle point of my Egypt tour, and my thumbs are feeling a bit better so it's time for an update.
- they say you shouldn't discuss the political situation here but I didn't get off the ground in Nairobi before I was already deep into it with my seat mate Moustafa. A well educated 33 year old regional manager for a packaging company, his views surprised me how, even as a Muslim he still wished for a separation of church and state and was disappointed with the parliamentary election results, but thinks they will change a lot in 4 years when people have time to organize for it better. He did admit though that is just the view of the educated people. 40% or so are uneducated and think otherwise.
- Cairo is an amazing city. I'd shoot myself before I'd live here, but as an experience it easily ranks in the top 5 for cities I've visited in terms of history and character.
- I arrived late at night Friday, went through the laughable arrival visa process, and got up and moving from the hotel just before the crack of noon. Needed to hit an ATM and after the first one said thanks for using our services without dispensing any money, twice (note to self - check bank statement thoroughly this month), I met Tommy, the self proclaimed king of Cairo. He pointed me towards a nearby HSBC ATM and then told me of his tourist services. We had been warned about scams from locals who did this, but his prices seemed really good and he had a bunch of video and written testimonials from other happy customers, including 5 Brits I knew were going to be on my tour, so I bit. He even gave me free coffee, mango juice, and two incredibly delicious falafels (apparently here it's made with fava beans instead of chick peas) while we waited for the driver.
- got a 5 hour tour of Cairo city for 180 Egyptians pounds (about $30), which was just about perfect, as I saw exactly what I wanted to see: the Egyptian papyrus museum, the citadel, a large mosque, tahrir square (there's like 5 tents and a construction site there now, our news and travel advisories are so overblown), a drive through a local furniture bazar, the Cairo tower, and the famous Cairo traffic. That is incredible and worth the trip alone. However many lanes are painted, add at least 50% more to get the actual number of lanes used. Bumper to bumper, with more honking, pedestrians, donkey drawn carts, and aggressive butt-clenching maneuvers than your senses can absorb, yet almost zero road rage. In fact, you soon realize the chaos is actually everyone working together and helping each other on their way. Very impressive.
- the people here are so incredibly friendly and welcoming, extending Egyptian hospitality at every turn - especially in their shops and after a good bakshish (tip). I've been very pleasantly surprised, not at all what I was expecting relative to the news we get at home. I've had children run up to talk to me and welcome me to their country, including some high school girls who wanted to tell me I was like sugar and honey, and people often want to make sure I am happy with my visit and their service. Tourism is way way down, and they are working very hard to make good impressions and get people to come back. That and the lack of crowds, and hence lower prices, makes it a fantastic time to be here. I've felt perfectly safe, even in tahrir square and on the dodgy side streets in Aswan when I went ice cream hunting alone yesterday. If you were thinking of coming here sometime, book it NOW.
- that said, the street vendors are probably even more desperate, aggressive and annoying than usual. I'll likely avoid any more tourist shopping areas.
- herbals teas here are delicious and strong. Black teas are as strong as coffee. Coffee is almost like espresso. Turkish coffee is unreal. Like drinking straight grounds, even with the very small cups it still leaves me jittery for hours. Delicious though, at least until you hit the sludge at the bottom.
- not too much to say about the pyramids and sphinx, other than it is a must see. No matter how many pictures you've seen, it's still cooler live. Also do the trip inside, especially the smaller pyramid. Just not between 12-1 when they lock it without explanation :P
- did the egyptian museum in the first morning with the group. So much to see, you can't possibly take it all in in one day, let alone 2 hours. 2000+year old beautifully preserved papyrus scrolls that are 20 feet long, as well as ostracon and some early codexes from the roman era with copies of psalms and ancient hymns. Tools and weaponry, mummies, tombs, and statues of more pharohs and kings then I can keep straight... except for the Tutankhamen displays which were tremendous in-spite of him being a relatively insignificant king. It definitely makes one wonder how rich the more important figures tombs would have been if they had ever found another unraided. Incidentally, it occurred to me that whats more incredible than all the stuff they've found here is the fact any of these treasures were ever able to be lost and forgotten in the first place. Highlight for me was the 7500 year old artifacts of the earliest known attempts to render the human form in Egyptian art. I heart really old stuff, especially when you can almost glimpse the human lives behind it.
- overnight sleeper train to Aswan was really fun. There's only 4 of us traveling alone in the group, the other 3 being girls, so I got to share a joined double cabin with my very own personal harem for the night. Girl talk is nasty. But being rocked to sleep and waking up an hour from your destination is a much better way to travel for 13 hours than a bus. Even if I did wake everyone up yelling in my sleep :S
- last night was by far the best of the Egypt tour yet. A cruise down the Nile, then we were kidnapped and taken to a Nubian village on the back of a truck (complete with locals hoping on and off the tailgate), and a traditional home cooked meal in the courtyard of a Nubian home while stretched out barefoot on pillows and mats on top of pristine desert sands. Entertainment was listening to the husband and wife converse, and then fight, and then converse again, with no discernible difference in volume or tone other than the guide telling us when it changed. Undoubtedly the highlight was the walk back to the trucks when we were surrounded by locals boys playing drums and singing loudly and dragging each of us into the circle to dance with them. Video available upon access to a sim card reader. The evening was capped off with a night cruise back, Venus and Jupiter bright and close together in the sky, then an Egyptian beer and some more sheesha before hitting the sack.
- incidentally, not everyone wants to try the sheesha here (I need to cut back, starting to get a smokers cough), but we finally got Soshi and Jackson, our amicable Japanese group members, to give it a hilarious go after a couple large Stellas (local brews, not Artois). Soshi kept hacking up a lung, then handed it over to Jackson who masterfully nailed it on his first attempt. They don't speak much English so we were all splitting our sides when Soshi unexpectedly uttered "ya, f@!$k you" at him in his heavy Japanese accent. It's a great group yet again - an interesting mix of ages and accents. 2 of the guys are also going on to Petra the same days I am so it will be nice to reunite with some friendly faces there also. After seeing how impressive the 2 temples at Abu Simpel were, we are very much looking forward to seeing an entire city carved into mountains.
- highlight for me of Abu Simpel was an finished room where you could see one of the art carvings partially etched in stone, with the remainder of the drawing still sketched out in the original black paint. Not only was it cool to get a glimpse into how they did this almost 3000 years ago, but that may very well have been the exact moment when the workers heard of Rameses II's death, and decided to pack up shop and go home since they would not have a royal patronage to pay them any more. A virtual snapshot of history frozen in time. Unfortunately, no photos allowed. You'll have to come see it for yourself.
- the one good thing about this loooooong, bladder-busting, bus ride is that I can cross "see a big desert" off my bucket list. Sand everywhere. Even getting the distant heat sheens. Also, glad I didn't not chose the tour with 4 or 5 days driving through it. I'm having an uncontrollable urge to roll around in some grass right now.
- Aswan is blimey hot. Mid 30s. Me and the Irish guy are struggling to survive. He's kept covered up but I've had to drop to shorts and am running precariously low on sunscreen. Actually it's still surprisingly enjoyable weather given how much I hate being uncomfortably hot, and the evenings are a taste of perfection.
- free evening tonight, then we spend our last 3 days, sailing on a feluca, touring around Luxor, and resting my thumbs again.
Shokran
Ps. I felt like such a schmuck in Dubai without being able to speak any of the language. May as well just get off the plane and declare "I SPEAK ENGLISH, CATER TO ME!!!" I've made it a point since then to learn how to say hello and thank you in the local toungue as soon as I arrive. More would be better and I do pick it up as I go, but you should be able to at least greet and thank people in their own language. Doing so opens a lot of hands and doors to enhance your trip.
PPS. Our tour guide Michael is the best guide I've had on any trip yet, and I've liked all the ones I've had so that really says something. He's super nice and accommodating, has humored my questions about local life and touchy politics (the revolution, inter-religious tensions, and Israeli relations), and willingly shows us around during our free time, which should be his chance to unwind. Egyptian hospitality has greatly surpassed my expectations. Again, book your trips now!
PPPS. One last interesting tidbit I've learned here, you can tell a person's religion just by their names (it's 85/15 split between Muslims and Christians). If you think about it, you should be able to tell which group either Michael or Moustafa fall into.
Pppps. Sorry one more insight, I've been surprised by the amount of poverty here. It's puzzling because it's not a country you hear about through any charitable organizations and it's very well developed, but from the salaries and costs I've heard, many of the people are actually poorer than in Tanzania.
P5s. Under the category of first-world-problems, I'm starting to get cold sores where the bottled water always rubs against my upper lip.
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