Got to sleep around 4am, friggin dog tired. Have to be out by noon or they'll charge us for another day here. I'm definately wanting a hostel to meet more people. Robert, the guy I'm sharing a room with, tells me that I completely slept through my alarm. Hard as hell to wake up this morning. We got down to turn in our key a couple minutes after noon. Mission accomplished. Our cabbie from last night was going to call this morning to take us (Robert) around today -- we unplugged the phone :oPWe got the idea from our neighbors to share a room with Bill and Edward to save on cash -- only drawback is that two of us don't have beds... So we go up and propose this to them, and at least stow our bags in their room. They are still sleeping because they stayed for dawn at the celebration; I guess that was pretty awesome. Maybe I should have stayed...
We walk all over looking for a Lonely Planet: Egypt (travel tip guide, Lonely Planet rocks!) with no luck. Finally around 4pm (we told Bill and Ed we were going to walk down for about 15 mins around noon, oops) we spied a guy in the mall adjacent to the Hilton reading the book, I swooped. After picking some info out and chatting for a bit it turns out it belonged to his friend and they were heading out the next day back for England. Sweet, I wait for his friend to return. About an hour later (Robert and I tried to figure out their phones with no success) the friend returned and after chatting for about 45 mins I bought his book (score!). Book is marked US$19.95 and I got him down to US$20.00 and he gives me 20 egyptian -- works out to about US$14.00, cool :o) The book has a number for hostels that I went up to call, again no luck (damned weird phones). I saw a couple folks with backpacks in the lobby (still in the hilton) so I approached them about the phone. They had no clue but pointed us to the Hostel Ismailia just acrossed the square, only 15 egyptian per night and breakfast is included -- score again! We head over, secure a couple beds and decide on a cab back to The Rose for our bags (about a 5 min cab ride that we didn't want to walk again). A nice egyptian helped negotiate our cab from 20 egyptian down to 10 egyptian (round trip). Summary, we're in Hostel Ismailia, now to look for food (about 6pm).
The guys we're sharing a room with (canadian) recommend an egyptian place called Fafalia or something, way cheap and very good food. We were on our way there (kinda wandering, we may not have found it) and met a local named Osama ("Os"). I'm still not sure if he's a good guy or the best scam artist I've ever met, but at this point I don't care cuz I'm havin fun :o) I got a bowl of macaroni with rice onions and "stuff" for 2 egyptian and a tenini (pita sandwich with an unspecified meat and some green stuff I'm taking as vegetation) for 50 piastres (half an egyptian pound) -- whole meal was under US$1.00 -- nice :oP
Edward was talking about seeing these whirling dirvish dancers and Os said we were in luck as they only dance on saturday and wednesday at 9pm (it's 7:30pm saturday, FYI). Rock on. Because we just got into town Os asks if we'll do him a favor and buy some stuff for him at the duty free shop -- sure, whatever. This turns out to be a bit of a hassle, especially for some of us, but we get through it fine and Os has done a major favor for his cousin (with our help). He's in our debt for the night (or maybe he's taking the sheep to slaughter, again, whatever) and we're off to the dervishes. They dance in Islamic Cairo, a maze of very narrow streets, high buildings, and tons of people and markets. We got to the show at exactly 9pm and it was sold out. There is another show at midnight, so we go to a coffee shop.
Ok, I kinda glossed that over. The coffee shop was deep in the maze of Islamic Cairo, we saw nary a single tourist after the first minute of walking. Waayyy cool. We've gone native (kinda). Anyway, at the coffee houses they drink turkish coffee (very strong, sludge in the bottom, yum -- but don't drink/eat the sludge) and smoke sheesha, a very strong form of tobacco (no more a drug than standard cigarettes -- smoked all over cairo, even in this internet cafe right now). I told them I didn't smoke tobacco, but was convinced to try it. It's in a large water pipe and has a three foot tube on it. Wow, it was great stuff. This was easily turning into the best night yet.
We left for the dirvishes about 11pm and got there in plenty of time. The show started at 12:30 and was nothing if not amazing. I can't believe they can spin as long or as fast as they do. It is performed by men, many musicians, and the main dancer wears very colorful skirts that he spins in many many ways. Very cool.
It was 1:30 by time we left there, and Os stopped off at the papyrus factory that he worked at (he's an artist studying at the university and paints images on small and medium papyrus). We were very impressed and I was able to buy three pieces (one of which Os painted himself -- the Judgement Day story) for less than I had seen one of them in a store earlier.
Finally, sleep at around 4am again...
Got to bed late, but had to get up at about 10:30am so I could meet Os at 11am to go to the pyramids. Had a delicious shower, got the free breakfast (two rolls, a boiled egg, jam and coffee) and was half hour late to meet Os. It's ok, he was still sleeping as he was up 'til about 7am. A couple other locals met us and tried to lead us to the pyramids but we didn't like the sound of their story so we ditched 'em and sought out on our own. Robert found another local named Morad(married to a chicago girl turned Islamic). He was very nice and took us to his house for tea as he lives in Mina Village very close to the pyramids (he has a view of them from his rooftop!). He set us up with a camel ride (Robert walked as he's allergic to fur, but I rode) for 90 egyptian. It took us around all 9 pyramids, into the pharoh house, and gave us a great background and some awesome shots. Our guide was Adai and the camel was named Michaelangelo after one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles :o) Camels, Pyramids, the Sphinx, Pharohs, the Sahara Desert... woohoo! Egypt baby!Oops, first, before the camel tour, Morad took us by another papyrus shop where things were much more expensive (an actual shop). They also sold scents that are actual flower extracts. This is the stuff that the french add alcohol to to make their perfumes. What's most cool about it is that I'm allergic to perfumes, but these scents gave me no problems. Morad knew the owner and insisted that we get a good price. I've spoken with a few locals after this and standard is 3 or 4 egyptian per gram for tourists, good price is 2 egyptian for locals. We got better than 1 1/2 egyptian per gram (not that I bought any... ;oP).
Oh, I should note that we are on the 8th floor (9th to americans since everything over here is zero-based -- ground floor is 0, second floor is 1, etc) and have a great view of part of Cairo. It's amazing how much rubble is on the rooftops of the buildings. Very odd I thought.
Well, it's midnight. I saw a huge bathtub in my hostel with my name all over it, I'm thinking I'll get me that bath now. Internet here is under US$3.00 per hour, which is the best price I think I've found so far. I'll probably be in Cairo for a week or so. In 5 more days Ramadan will be over and they'll have a festival. From what I gather Ramadan is an Islamic holiday where they fast and only eat, drink, smoke, or think about sex a couple specific times per day.
Omg, I almost forgot! On our way back from the Pyramids on the bus Robert and I were quite the attraction (american and canadian). Anyway this family gets on the bus and the kids were all saying "hello" and stuff. Kinda cute. So I had a small chocolate bar that I hand to the girl (she is about 13 I gather). Next thing I know, all going from gestures, she's asking if we're to get married! Whoa, next time I'm keepin' my sweets in my pants!! Stranger in a strange land...
Finally a day to be a bit leasurly. Woke the first time at about 10:30 and got up around 11:30 to eat my free breakfast. Hung out for a while getting things organized, getting laundry together, sewing a seam on my pants pocket, junk like that. Finally left the hostel around 2pm with Edward, Robert, and Faeez headed towards food and the American University. Faeez is a black australian guy that we met last night -- he'sonly 15 but looks much older and is quite world wise as he travels quite a bit with his parents. Food was the same as last night (cheap and good). The American University was nice but nothing special (we were hoping for an exhibit or something but no such luck). After that we walked for about half an hour in search of a colonial bar Robert had been to the night before -- but we didn't find it and got a cab back so Faeez could eat with his family at 5pm (he's muslim and is fasting during the daylight hours for ramadan).The days are too short (ok, arguably I could get up earlier) and the night life is stagnant here. I plan to stay for another 5 days though to enjoy the festival after ramadan. Well, off in search of entertainment...
Ok. I found it :o) We (Brittan, a nice german girl we just met, Robert, Edward and I) decided to head over to the Winsor Hotel (again). We didn't find it last time we tried, so this time we decided to take a cab (now that we know how little to pay -- bastards!). We found one guy that said he knew where it was -- which he of course didn't. Brittan had a guide book with her and was able to explain to him where it was (she speaks arabic - score!). On our way our little cab (the smallest fiat known to man) was hit by a large fruit truck, which gave me ample opportunity to learn new and interesting arabic words :oP No insurance information was exchanged (yeah, right), just foul language. The car wasn't hurt much as it basically bounced off the front of the truck because it's so light. We got to the hotel winsor with no other notable distractions *sigh*. Once there I ordered egyptian brandy, which was surprisingly smoothe.
Later that night, after returning to the hostel, Faeez was sitting around with me and we decided to go find a coffee shop. We walked to one that I remembered seeing but it was just closing (like 2:30-3:00am or something). We asked him where we could find another and of course he said he was closing -- duh, we could see that. Through much work we were able to get across that we wanted to find another, at which point he became helpful. Through gestures and very little english he was able to tell us to "take a left, go two blocks, take a right, and ask someone else" -- I shit you not. Ya gotta love egypt man :o) The beauty is that they were perfect directions. The next guy we asked (after taking a left, going two blocks, and taking a right) told us that there was one just around the next corner to the left -- very cool :o) There were a couple kids (probably around 8-10) working there with an older guy. We were able to have somewhat of a conversation with the english that they knew. Because Faeez is Muslim we got a very good price -- maybe I should become Muslim for a few days... ;oP Well 4am rolled around making it beddy-bye time.
Today I was less than motivated to do much. I went over to see the Egyptian Museum around 2:00 since my book says it closes at 4:30. Turns out that because of Ramadan it closes at 2:30. Bummer. I headed over to the Hilton and bought some american coffee and a doughnut -- both were awesome but cost me 8.44 egyptian. Not a bad price by US standards (just over US$2.00), but way high for egypt. I didn't care, I just wanted to be someplace "familiar" (ie: western, clean, civilized, boring). As I left the hilton a couple hours later things definately looked up -- it began to rain :o) It was just a light rain, but was very nice to see. The egyptians were all scurrying about with their coats up over their head like it was a meteor shower or something. A cabbie couldn't understand that I was fine to walk across the square (a couple hundred meters or so) to my hotel. I told him I was from Seattle and that I loved the rain and he looked at me like I was utterly insane. It was wonderful.That evening I met a couple guys from Bristol, England named Steve and Tarmey (Tarmey is his last name, dunno his first name since he just goes by "Tarmey"). They're more laid back than I would expect a couple of brits to be. Steve's a carpenter and Tarmey works in a bank -- just a couple regular guys.
Tip: if you want to find a pub in any city in the world, hook up with an english bloke.
We headed off for an english pub a couple miles off. Threw back some lager and had a great time. They were playing 80's balads that I had forgotten existed -- some of them were even kinda good :o) On the way home we found a couple coffee shops. The first one didn't feel right, but the second one was really comfortable. We smoked some sheesha, had tea and played dominos. It was "brilliant" (as Steve would say). We also had a conversation with a couple locals that wanted to see us in their travel shop tomorrow -- the conversation was fun anyway :o)
Tarmey and Steve are headed down to Luxor tomorrow. That was in my plans anyway, just a few days down the line, so I'm headed there with them. Should be fun. Problem is that I got to bed at 4:30 and we're getting up at 7:30 so we can get to the bus for tickets early. Should be a bear.
Oh, did I mention that the water shut off in our building this evening? They expect it back in the next day or so...
Ok, I actually got up by 8am, I was impressed. I wasn't even tired until around noon. I ate my free breakfast and headed off with them and Carrie (an aussie woman also headed south, but to Aswan instead of Luxor). We found the bus station in a round about way by about 11am. All sold out for today's bus, so we got a ticktet for tomorrow for 55.50 egyptian (about US$15 or so). We leave at 9pm. All busses going south are night busses so that we pass by a couple towns in the dark. If the nationals see a bus full of tourists they're more likely than not to blow it up. We will probably get an armed escort through there. These guys are so nice to us tourist types :o) After all, if we die then who will they overcharge for services and general information??We got to the Egyptian Museum around noon, and the lack of sleep hit me like a load of bricks. The museum was great, and the Tutankhaman exhibit was spectacular! Sorry, no pics here either. I'd have to pay an additional fee to take a camera into the place, I think it's 20 egyptian just like the entrance fee. We were hurded out beginning about 2:10 and got out around 2:30. Our quest for food lead us to the egyptian pizza place -- Steve and Tarmey hadn't tried it yet. I tried the "meat" variety (I had fish before) which I didn't like as well as the fish. Back to the hostel for a lazy afternoon of half sleep. The weather is getting cold and they don't heat there.
Well, the plan is food and bath and bed as it's 12:30 now.
Well, the food was McDonalds, by choice ;o) That meal (a Big Mac, 2 hamburgers, large fries) cost me more than any other meal in egypt by far: 13.80 egyptian pounds which works out to be about US$4.00. The bath was less than spectacular. I got about 3 4 inches of hot water in the bottom of their very large cast iron tub -- somewhat disappointing as I was hoping for a couple feet of depth. What the hell, I sat in it anyway and it was good.
Fact: A city has a cathedral, a town doesn't.I walked around looking for a DHL office for most of the day. I figured I had plenty of time and was able to see most of downtown. Turns out the danged place closed just as I got there at 4pm. Bummer. It worked out ok, though, because my 1/2 kilo package was going to cost US$100 to ship. Dear lord! I collected some cardboard and bought some nice packing tape on the way back to the hostel and built a nice box to ship. As I was taping it up an american guy came by and we chatted about the outrageous price at DHL. Turns out he's retired from the army on disability and has shipping rights from the US embassy for US rates. I trusted him enough to give him US$20.00 (more that twice the rate to ship, to which he objected but it was worth it to get it sent so I insisted) and the package. In theory he'll send it out tomorrow with a package he's shipping.
Tarmey, Steve and I and a couple germans headed out for the bus around 8:00 by cab. Got there in plenty of time as the bus didn't actually pull out until 9:30. Sheesh. The seats were too close together and although they stopped quite a few times (6 I think) they didn't let us out once to walk around. My knees may never work the same again :o( We rode the bus on through the night...
We got to Luxor at 7am and were greeted by a throng (yes, an actual throng) of agents from nearby lodging. Steve tried to read through the book as Tarmey and I attempted to block for him. We finally ended up in the Hotel Saint Mina for 7 EL -- which they tried to change to 8 EL once we got settled. I highly recommend that you never stay there if you have the choice. They tried to up prices on us at every turn and, although they assured us that there was hot water all day and all night we only saw luke-warm water a couple of times in the three days we were there. On the up side (and there always is one), they had Stella Premium beer for 5.50 EL, quite the good price for Luxor.Enough of that. We began a search for food and actually found some a couple hours later (around 10am I think). There's this shop that sells bread sticks with things stuffed inside. I got one with liver, another with a sausage of sorts (it tasted good, that's enough for me), and one with egg (boiled, seasoned with something) -- not bad for a few pounds egyptian. The sky is blue, it's about 70 (farenheit), and there is no smog -- a clear bonus over Cairo :o)
We went back to have a sleep until about 2:30pm. Still having much pain with my knees, but only if I bend them... Steve was up first and headed down to the train station to secure passage back to Cairo for us -- they have to go back for a flight on monday. First class seats on the train were 60 EL each -- not bad, it leaves at 11:30pm monday night and takes 9 or 10 hours I think.
Began the search for food again and notice that everyone is all dressed up -- must mean the end of ramadan. We bought something cheap off the street to eat and began our walking tour of town headed towards Karnak along the nile. We were able to see most of Temple Luxor without paying admission as it is in ruins and quite small (score!). We came across a group playing football (soccer for you american readers) and paused to watch that for a bit. Steve asked in his best arabic (ie: hand signals and loud/slow english) if there was a city or national team that plays there, and when. The kid assured us that there would be a game tomorrow morning at 10am. Too bad we booked our tour of the west bank for that time...
We continued up the road and came upon the Hilton -- of course we had to go in. Right on the nile this place is nothing short of spectacular. We bought a pint of beer for 18.50 EL (dear lord!) and watched the sun set over the nile. Wow. Turns out they have a minibus that leaves every hour for Luxor city center -- excellent :o)
We found chicken at a stall just down the road from our hotel. 15 EL each for a whole roasted chicken, pita bread, and something that passes for salad. I thought the chicken was really good, but later we found that 15 EL is a bit high, even for Luxor. (The attentive reader will note that this chicken meal passed McDonalds which was at 13.80 EL for my most expensive meal in Egypt, I don't count beer at the Hilton as a meal -- at least not beer as thin as Stella.)
Big day tomorrow, so we had a beer at our hotel, threw some cards out, and got off to bed before midnight.
Got up at 7:30am ("half seven") to be ready for our tour of the west bank at 8:30. A guy on a bike came by at around 9am and told us that the tour had 45 and asked if we could move to the 9th -- no problem since we wanted to see the football match today and would prefer a smaller tour tomorrow (as they assured us it would be).Let me begin this section by saying that until this point I was notably optimistic about the locals. I would speak freely with anyone that approached me (but had to refuse firmly most of the time when they tried to sell me their wares, take me to their shop, or request backshish). Note the past tense verb.
We got down to the football match at about half 10, with a game already underway. There no spectators in the stands as the match was just as we had seen yesterday, just local kids playing. We sat for a look anyway. Immediately some kids came up to us and began chatting -- one of them was quite a character and we were having a good time. An invitation was offerred to join the game, and Steve accepted handing off his pack, vest and sandals to Tarmey (he injured his foot, which became somewhat bothersome for him as we walked around during the next few days). The kids now were sitting with us and getting more familiar. Tarmey joined the game a short while later, making me the keeper of the goods. The kids became more invasive, asking for money and presents, being very persistant. At one point I had to remove one hand from my pocket, block another, and physically move them away from me. The constant poking at my pockets, pulling at my things, and pointing and saying "present" and "money" really started to wear on me. Just as I was about to call to Steve and make my retreat the game ended and we were able to leave. By far my worst experience with egyptians of any age.
The temperature got up around 75-80 I think, with a fairly intense sun. I thought it prudent to buy sunscreen and only got very slightly pink.
Next stop was the Luxor Museum for 30 EL. Steep considering that the Egyptian Museum of Cairo was only 20 EL and had much much more in it. The Luxor museum was nice though, and had a nice assortment of items.
A carriage driver approached us as we left the museum, not a noteworthy event in itself, but we actually wanted a ride this time. We told him to go jump at his price of 20 EL and began walking towards the King's Head Pub (a few miles down the road). He paced us and the bartering began. After much negotiation he reluctantly accepted Steve's firm price of 2 EL each (6 EL total) and we were off.
The King's head pub was pretty nice, but the beer was outrageously priced. A Stella Lager was only 8 EL, but a Stella Premium was 13 EL. ouch! The premium being a bit darker I drink it. I liken Stella Lager to Budweiser - gack! They wanted 10 EL for half an hour of pool, which we stretched to 10 EL for 45 mins. Some local guys arranged a tournament of sorts with us. We all put in 5EL, paid for the table, and the winner walked with 15 EL. Steve choked (I'm thinking he plays the best of the three of us right now) and was out first, I placed 3rd out of 5 and Tarmey got 2nd (he very nearly won). All in all it was very fun.
We hoofed it back to the hotel for more clothes as the sun had gone down and with it the temperature, pausing only for a look around in Club Med (another very nice place right on the nile). We again went looking for food and found a nice restaurant that told us 12 EL for a chicken, salad, and bread. It was much nicer so we sat down. As we ordered the waiter told us it was 12 EL for half a chicken, not a whole chicken. We were outraged at an obvious scam and headed out none too quietly. The owner became involved and assured us it was a misunderstanding and that the price would hold. The dinner was quite nice (although Tarmey is not a fan of eating chickens) and we paid the owner himself on the way out -- who apologized once again for the confusion.
We dove into the market place. Steve bought a robe (seen on many Egyptian men) for his brother (price started at 60 EL and he bought it for 28 EL). Tarmey saw a man selling fezz hats and wanted one. The guy was asking 8 EL for them so Tarmey offerred 4 EL. The guy said ok, 4 EL tomorrow, but 8 EL tonight. No matter what negotiating Tarmey tried he couldn't get the guy to budge on price tonight. We walked away frustrated. A few paces down the road Tarmey decided to just buy the thing. He went back to the seller and asked if he'd take 9 EL (asking price was 8 EL). The guy looked confused but said "ok 9", to which Tarmey responded with mock outrage "only 9 EL?! I'll pay no less than 10 EL!" -- this confused the man even more who smiled and said "yes, 10 EL!". Tarmey is now the proud owner of a fezz :o)
- Side note on Steve and Tarmey:
- Tarmey and Steve have a friend named Spencer back in England who is afraid to fly. This guy even won a trip for two to New York and couldn't take it because of the flight. So, being the nice chaps that they are, they made some life-sized masks of spencer's face and take pics of him at various places (pyramids, nile river, train stations, etc). We got the guy who sold Steve the robe to wear it and I took a picture of Steve, Tarmey and "Spencer the robe seller". It was brilliant :o)
Tarmey is also known around the world as The Great Tarmundo, magician extraordinairre. Truth is he can do one magic trick (I still don't know what the danged trick is). The fezz is for him to wear during his magic act. These guys are quite the characters. It was excellent travelling with them.We got back to our hotel and had a beer and threw the cards about again. After which we decided to get some Ouzzo (anis seed (licorice) flavored liquor, knock-off of Ouzo from Greece). We each had one nightcap of ouzo and sprite and off to sleep for our early morning.
Up around half 7 to 8am, got downstairs at around 8:25 to meet for our 8:30 tour and were told we were checking out today. I thought it was a question so I said "no, staying until tomorrow", to which he said again that we were checking out today. A young Egyptian woman came in at that time to work the desk and explained that the hotel had been booked by a group of Egyptians coming in for the post-ramadan feast, we had to leave. She had a beautiful smile, lovely voice, and kept saying "my friend". I don't feel that those words mean the same thing to her as they do to me. I asked for my laundry that I had given them the day before. It came back dirtier than when I dropped it off and they wanted 20 EL for it -- I only had 10 EL worth of clothes, total, and they weren't dry either. Sheesh! I became irritated. We headed up to pack and left our bags at the desk as we had to board the van for the tour. We tried to put it out of our mind so as not to ruin the tour -- it worked.
- Tour of the West Bank:
- Our first stop was the Colossus of Memnon, a couple of huge statues that were in partial decay. Still quite impressive.
On to the Valley of the Kings, very cool. We saw the tomb of Ramses IV, the entrance of K.V. (5) which is the tomb for 105 of Ramses II children. Although the children were not found in here there there was a room for each with a name plate. Next was Ramses IX and finally Ramses II. The tombs were quite impressive as much of the color from the pictures and heirogliphics was still fairly vivid. We saw no mummies in the tombs, but Tutankhamen's mummy is still in his, though that tomb cost like US$100 to view -- we passed on it. We saw the temple to Queen Hatshepsut in the Valley of the Kings. Her temple is there because she ruled as a man, going so far as to wear a fake beard.
We stopped at an alabaster factory next and were shown how alabaster is made. It was kinda cool, but the main point was to try to get the tourists to buy some of their wares -- can't fault them for trying.
The Valley of the Queens contains the tomb of the child king Amen Khapshef next to his mother Titi -- he was the son of Ramses III.Back to face the overly friendl Hotel Saint Mina staff. How friggin annoying. To recap, they told us at 8:25am that we were checking out -- our tour left at 8:30. My laundry was dirtier than when I gave it and still wet -- I packed it away that way knowing I'd have to re-wash it. They wanted twice the price for the laundry (20 EL) and we owed 42 EL for our two night stay during which we had no hot water and were kicked out a day earlier than we had planned. After being fully pissed for the better part of an hour we paid the 42 EL for the room (we weren't renting hot water after all) and nothing for the laundry (I drug it out piece by piece to show that it was indeed very dirty and still wet). We walked to our next hotel as it wasn't that far.
The Anglo Hotel is pretty nice, I would recommend it except for the price. I believe you can find cheaper (nice) accommodations at Happy Land Hotel or Oasis Hotel (we heard that from people after returning to Cairo). We got a triple room for 10 EL each per night, still a good price compared to the 15 EL I'm paying in Cairo, and the water is hotter than I'm used to in the states. I rewashed my clothes in the sink, and I was impressed with how clean they came out :o) We left in search for food once more, ending up at a restaurant just around the corner from our new hotel. The food was reasonably priced at 8 EL for chicken casserole (more of a soup if you ask me), bread, rice, and soup.
After dinner we went for my and Tarmey's first cutthroat shave (straight razor), old hat to Steve. I was going to have the guy shave my head, but it seemed that it would cost a bit more, so I just had him buzz it (for those who know I've got a 0 on the side and a 1 on top with a clear weight line -- no fade this time). The shave was quite close, and our skin is more tender than the locals, we bled in dots for about half an hour (ouch) -- this says nothing for the barber's skill, he didn't nick a one of us, it's just the closeness of the shave and our thin skin.
Finally off to a coffee house where we met a couple locals. One of the guys joined us for a game of Dominoes and we had a great time. Steve had his fill of smokey rooms (ironic in that he's trying to quit smoking, on his 10th day now), so we headed out taking a couple beers and a bottle of Ouzzo back to the hotel with us. The beer went quickly at which time Steve headed off to bed. Tarmey and I decided to dent the Ouzzo and had a couple nightcaps before turning in much more relaxed after our interractions with Hotel Saint Mina.
Steve woke up first again (go figure) and watched a couple vendors selling breakfast to the locals below our balcony. The three of us headed there for an interesting (but good) breakfast of beans, a whole raw green onion, and bread -- I got an additional boiled egg to round it out.Our target today is the Temple Karnak, supposedly massive and quite the spectacle, and then the Hilton in Karnak again (we hear that it is supposed to be full for the post-ramadan feast). On our way we were sucked into a local elementary school. We went in thinking there would be kids in class but alas, it was empty. We did get a decent little tour of it. I found it to be very cramped, extremely run down (would be condemned in the states), and I believe that they had power, let alone a computer room of any sort. It was good to see, but it's too bad that their schools are in such a state. They requested backshish (of course) so Tarmey gave 2 EL.
We looked for water along the way to Temple Karnak and found it for between 3-5 EL for 1.5 litres (too much, principle of the thing). The sun is warming up and our tour of the ruined temple complex will undoubtedly leave us thirsty, but we can't allow them to take us just because we're tourists. The Temple Karnak is simply massive. Very impressive and a must see if you are ever in this area. Ok, so it's all ruins, but it's friggin huge! It's amazing to see that they could erect pillars and monoliths of that size so long ago.
We are close to the Hilton in Karnak again (about 2 km) and quite thirsty, so we head that way. Since it's our last day in Luxor we decide to buy yet another 18.5 EL beer and graze on their peanuts and crisps (potato chips). We took our beer out to the edge of the nile to sit and watch the sun fall into the far bank -- again, it was breath taking. Steve went up to buy the second round (what a swell chap) and made a new friend ;o) The bar tender asked him if he wanted to learn some arabic. The phrase he chose was "I wanto to $%#! you". Tarmey and I had quite the laugh when we heard (and for quite some time after :o), but Steve was less amused. heh :oP
Once the sun was safely down we caught the Hilton minibus back to Luxor where we met our friend from the night before along the street. He showed us a great restaurant called "Restaurant El Tahed" (I need to make a page of restaurants and accommodations). It's on Station Street: head straight out of the Luxor train station and it will be on your left about 100m up the road 3 shops past the El Baraka Internet Cafe (don't go there, 25 EL per hour!). We had a beef stew like substance, soup, rice, salad, bread and tea for just a few egyptian pounds each. Wish we had found this place before...
- Quote of the day (Tarmey playing cards):
- "That could have been a whole lot better!"
We stopped off and bought 2 beers each and another bottle of ouzzo (we had like 2/3 bottle left from before) and went back to our balcony to play cards (Steve and Tarmey felt it worth it to pay for the extra night so they could leave their bags in our locked room and relax before leaving tonight on the train). We're playing a game called "3 card brag". It's quite fun. Well the beer and the ouzzo is gone so we have to go back and see our good friend at the local liquor shop -- he quite likes us by now. We gave him 16 EL for a 18 EL bottle of ouzzo that he was asking us 15 EL for (gotta love Egypt). We went back up, collected our things and got ready to go to the train. I should mention that we are about half a block from the train station, so we could easily walk. We've been joking for a while that it would be great fun to barter the price up instead of down to confuse the local trying to fleece us. This was our chance. At 10:30 we went down and just stood in front of our hotel with our bags (drunk of course). It took about 15 seconds for a carriage to notice us (we wondered at the long wait) and packed all of our bags into his buggy (this is the typical horse and buggy thing). Steve is up front and guides him to go twice around the round about in front of the train station -- the driver thought it curious at best. When we got out and asked how much (half a block and twice around the round about, then stop) he said "no money" -- to which Tarmey was outraged and would pay no less than 2 EL. Not to be outdone by a mere brit I made a stink about paying 2.50 EL for because I'm an american. This went on until Tarmey finally exhausted our small bills at 8.50 EL. The great part is that once he caught the gist of it the driver would grab me and say "American better than English" whenever Tarmey or Steve would up the price. It was brilliant! Definately worth the 8.50 EL just for the fun we had with the guy :oP
I must say at this point that, for as dirty as their cities are, their trains and train stations are extremely clean. Very nice and quite comfortable.
We got settled on the train right on schedule at 11:30pm. Being in first class our seats were nice and comfy. Because we purchased our tickets so early we were in the last car for first class, clear at the back of the train. Seeing there was little traffic in the causeway we headed back with our bottle of ouzzo and a bottle of 7up to mix in (yum) for more brag. Steve commented earlier in the evening that he would show us how to drink. In retrospect it would have been better for him to show us how to hold one's liquor (snicker, hiyas Steve ;o). After a few hands (and a couple drinks for steve) he decided that the door to the train was very nice and commenced snoring. A train worker asked what was up with the passed out brit in the door and as we explained that he had a seat inside he leaned over and curled up -- it was classic. Tarmey, being the nice pal that he is, scooped Steve up and poured him into his seat inside (it looked like trying to pick up 200lbs of taffy - rofl). After he returned Tarmey and I thought it best to finish off the Ouzzo "just in case Steve woke up and wanted more" (how kind of us). No danger there though, Steve slept well all the way to Cairo :oPWe arrived in Cairo at 10am and took the metro to the Sadat stop right in front of Ismailia House Hotel -- home sweet home :o) Again I need food. On our way there we met a couple locals, one of which lived 8 years in toronto giving him an interesting accent and a good handle on canadian slang (gave me a good chuckle). He pointed us at a restaurant that had better food for less money even than Falfella. Very good place (sorry I don't recall the name of it). I took the food to the other guy's perfume shop (of course) and we all drank a free cup of tea (hospitality while they give you the sales pitch). Steve and I both bought 50g of scent for 50 EL each (excellent price), but Tarmey abstained (I got Kashmire and Steve got Lotus -- it's cool that I'm not allergic to this stuff). We had plenty of good conversation and left with our wallets only slightly lighter, not a bad afternoon.
After quite some time we were able to locate the local bowling center and billiard hall -- maybe they would get more customers if anyone knew where the hell it was. We bowled one game (I lost) and played an hour of pool (I played miserably but had a great time). Onward to Pizza Hut. I was still full from my meal so only had coffee while Steve and Tarmey enjoyed some pizza and diet pepsi (which comes in the old fashioned pull-top cans, btw). They had actual american drip coffee so I had 3 cups. The waiter thought it was quite odd that someone would order that much coffee. I wanted more. Steve was talking about a nap, but said he would stay awake if we played some snooker (can be found at the Nile Hilton). That was cool with me since I hadn't played before. Turns out to be quite a fun game, but harder than billiards since the table is larger and the pockets and balls are smaller. The felt is very fast too. We found out after over 3 hours of play that the table cost 20 EL per hour - ouch. Even in our Nile Hilton haven we were accosted by local kids wanting money - that gets quite old.
We found a shop in Cairo that sells Stella Premium for 4.50 EL each so we got 9 bottles and headed up to the hotel to play more cards as Steve and Tarmey leave tomorrow at 5am (sniffle, sob). We played brag, rummy, concentration (pairs), and even go-fish :o) It was a good time.
Insomnia last night. I recall seeing the clock at 5:08am (that'll teach me to look at the clock). I was in a room with 4 people that all left this morning -- I'm sure it wasn't me ;o) Got up at 11am and packed up as if to leave. The plan is to get a bus to Dahab for tonight.So much for plans. As I was eating breakfast an english chick named Paula came up and asked me about an Egyptian coin she had. Her hair is about a clipper 2 :o) This is her first full day in Cairo, coming in from Dahab. I showed her where the new restaurant is and we traded tips on cities. After which we began a quest for stamps (she wanted to mail some stuff). No luck, but in the mean time we came acrossed a local meat market. Definately an interesting experience. We saw fresh (very) meat of all sorts, animals soon to be meat, and noteably cow tongue, brains, pig's head, and assorted hooves for sale. After recovering from there we met a kid saying he could get us a Student ID for a good price. Cool. Well that took a while, in the process of going to three people we met up with Mariwan, a local I had met before, who pointed us to a fellow that sold us each a card for 50 EL (pretty good price, down from the 60 EL each he wanted). We then had to spend 10 EL each for small photos (used 1 of 4).
The four of us went to a coffee shop and Mariwan and Paula played backgammon, we all drank tea, and I tried apple sheesha (smoothe but not as strong - nice). After that we headed over to a friend of Mariwan's to hang out for a bit and got separated near Islamic Cairo. We ate an unknown variety of meat in a pita that was quite tasty, and every bite tasted different! :o) Well, still no Mariwan at 8:30pm. As I say there's an up-side to everything. We were a block from the Sufi Dancers (twirling dirvishes). Paula had never seen (or heard of) them, and I wanted to see them again, so we watched that free show. The one I saw weeks ago was better, but it was still spectacular.
Back to the hostel where we chatted with a couple british girls that we came acrossed. Turns out Paula had met them in the hostel in Dahab as well. They had to leave shortly for a plane back home but had wonderful things to say about Siwa Oasis in the west. I'm thinking I'll go there before Dahab...
I miss working late and going home mentally exhausted to watch a movie I've seen too many times. I miss not being able to find a single movie I want to watch in a large video store. Most of all I miss my couch, my stereo, and my friend.Awoke around 11am today. Sat in the hostel reading about Dahab, Alexandria, and Siwa Oasis trying to decide where to go. I see no reason not to go to Siwa Oasis via Alexandria then come back to Cairo to extend my visa (runs out on 31 Jan) and onward to Dahab. While in Dahab I'll have to climb Mt. Sinai (of course) and then forge on to Petra in Jordan for a couple days. Ultimately I'll need to explore Israel for a while and then use my return trip back to Athens via the 2 1/2 day ferry from Haife. Sounds like a plan anyway, we'll see what happens tonight and tomorrow ;o)
After writing all of that I began the search for food. Ok, it wasn't much of a search as I headed straight for that restaurant that I still don't know the name of *grin*. Got 2 Egyptian hamburgers and some fries. I must say that the burgers are better than the plain ol' McDonald's burger, and much cheaper. It's in a soft bun with ketchup (they don't believe in mustard -- go figure), tomato (thickly sliced), a fried egg (yes!), and a slab of cucumber. All in all a very tasty experience. Their fries, on the other hand, leave a bit to be desired. They are done ahead of time so are cold. They are not fried to crispness, and are barely done at all. So what you end up with is a cold, limp, greasy "french fry" -- and they were still good :o)
After food I met my friend Mariwan and relaxed with him at a coffee shop for some tea and sheesha. I'm wondering why these "coffee shops" haven't been introduced in the states (at least Fremont). The problem would probably be that they are a place for people to just sit and do nothing but sip and smoke -- not an american concept I guess.
Right, back to Ismailia House and met Paula, an aussie, and an american. Paula and the aussie were hungry so we went back to the restaurant I was just at and we americans drank tea and watched them eat for a while. I'm getting better at doing nothing :o) Back to Ismailia House where I met a nice German woman named Claudia, also travelling alone. She'd just returned from Siwa Oasis and our conversation tipped the scales more in the Siwa direction. I'm definately going there via Alexandria now.
Editorial note: "definately" was probably a bit strong considering tomorrow's entry :oP
Woke up around midday (I'm seeing a pattern here ;o). The usual Ismailia House free breakfast just didn't cut it for me. Don't get me wrong, a boiled egg, two lumps of bread, some strawberry jam and a cup of tea is a fine free breakfast, but it's not very substantial. Paula (the gay british chick I recently met -- it's possible I didn't mention she was gay, but that's because I just found out) was also hungry so we went for egyptian pizza. I went back to the "big" size fish pizza, which turned out not to be as good as I remembered. I must have been exceptionally hungry the day that I had it the first time. My plan was to go to the train station for a ticket to Alexandria. I didn't make it. After pizza I was feeling a bit lazy, and truth be told I was feeling like I was coming down with something cold related. Paula also felt a bit lazy so we went back to the oh so luxurious ismailia house and just hung out -- ok, fine, we (at least I) slept the day away.Paula had arranged to meet with Mariwan at 7pm, so I decided to tag along. We were fashionably late for the appointment and missed him. Good enough excuse for me to look for more food, so we headed down to the new restaurant, then went to a coffee shop for some tea. That turned out to be a good call since most of my friends happened by there that evening. Mariwan was the notable show in that he invited us to go with him on a safari starting at Baharia Oasis. Three days and two nights sleeping in the desert. We'd see the white desert, black desert, crystal mountain, a few oasis, and enjoy the company of our friends, our bedowin guide, and a couple japanese tourists. The clincher for me was that the trip was paid for and they simply had a couple extra seats so all we had to pay for was what we ate and drank. Sounded like a winner to me so I officially blew off Alexandria and Siwa Oasis. Desert ho! I was kinda nervous about trusting these guys, but figured it was worth the risk.
Right. I got to bed at around 1:30am and my bus leaves at 8am for Bawait. I woke at 6am, 6:30am, and finally drug my ass out of bed at 6:40am to rinse my head (definate shaved head benefit) and wolf down yet another free ismailia house free breakfast (that's definately getting old). We made our connection with Mariwan at 7:15 and got the bus at 8am for a mere 12 EL. Our group consists of: Me (duh), Paula, Mariwan, Osama, Aziz ("Aziz, light!" - The Fifth Element), our driver Ahmed, his helper Walit, and the two japanese girls Sami and Yuki. Not a bad crew for such a trip. Our bus stopped once somewhere in the middle of nowhere (just outside of B.F.E., and don't ask me what that acronym stands for ;o) and arrived in Bawait at the driver's sister's house for a bedowin lunch sometime in the afternoon (like 1pm I think). The lunch was great by the way. We had pita bread for dipping, a couple sauces with beans and stuff in them, and another dish with vegetables chopped up in it -- oh, and tea of course. The bedowin guide and his helper are very nice. This has all the makings of a great trip.Walit drove us off to English Mountain, which isn't really a mountain at all, but more of a bluff. And the only reason it's called English is that there is the ruins of an english stone house up there. We timed it so that the sun set while we were there. My Seattle sensibilities were stressed as the egyptians among us flung their beer cans off the bluff to rest at the base below. So much for nature's beauty... Paula was also aghast and picked up the remaining beer cans. Interesting the disregard for the environment. I guess they figure they have plenty of desert to go around.
We drove for about an hour and arrived at our "camp site" well after dark. Basically we drove to a spot in the desert and stopped -- not your standard state park camp ground. When the sun goes down in the desert the temperature drops dramatically (yes, we've all heard it, but this is my first experience so I figured I'd write it). I figure it was in the high 30's. We were in need of fire. There are some trees around (we're near the oasis) so we took a rope and went hunting wood (yes, a rope). We came upon a dead tree not too far away. Walit flung the rope up over one branch and we all grabbed on. Turns out that tree wasn't as dead as it appeared as the branch bent down considerably but would not break off. The next tree over was a much better candidate and the 6" branch broke off with a nice crack. We were in business!
Ahmed had brought a rice and vegetable dish, bread, and some chicken along for our dinner, which we all ate around the fire and enjoyed very much. He then made some bedowin tea. Aside from having mint in it in addition to other herbs, it has many (I chose not to count) heaping tablespoons of sugar. The flavor grows on you. By the time we left them I was actually liking the stuff.
Ahmed played his sumara (a bedowin wind instrument, sounds like a high pitched oboe kinda) for us and also sang a bit. All in all it was a cool night. They brought some thin mattresses for us to sleep on and we all bedded down for the night. It was a bit cold and my first night in the desert, so I didn't sleep as well as I would have wished.