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Yesterday I left Egypt :( But on the bright side, the internet is working in Ost (knock on wood)!

After the massive train ride back from Luxor, we had the whole day free in Cairo, so we went to the big souk/market (Khan el-Khalili) in town. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos, but it was enormous. And Brady, Sara and I picked you up a hookah (and it survived the flight)!

After that we had a dinner cruise on the Nile.


A friend (Akhmed) of one of the young guys from the hostel (also Akhmed) accompanied us on the ship. I had a lot of fun, even tho parts of it were really weird.


Entertainment included not only an S&M belly-dancer (complete with cane and black lingerie), but also this whirling dwarf/small person/midget/insert correct PC-term here.

Dinner was buffet style, and it rocked. Over dinner we talked with Akhmed, but his English wasn't good, so for the first and only time the entire trip in Egypt MY ARABIC CAME IN HANDY! Now if that isn't incentive enough to learn what the US Dep't of Defense ranks as one of the most difficult languages in the world!

After dinner Akhmed was supposed to drive us back to the hostel, but we decided instead to say we were "taking photos of the Nile," and Akhmed cruised us around downtown Cairo while blasting a mixture of American and Egyptian music, including the original Aicha (or watch my favorite verison)! - this made my night!

The next day (yesterday) all we had time to do was wander a bit more around our part of Cairo. Then we said our good-byes (Alex and Vera get to stay in Egypt for a while longer), and Sara and I headed to the airport. Three hours and fifty minutes after boarding our plane, we were in Zurich, where the two of us separated, and the quartet was down to one.

Back in Constance I was immediately confronted by the stark contrasts: It had apparently just rained, and everything was shiny, cool and fresh, compared to Cairo's dry, hot and dusty It was absolutely silent on my walk home except for the random chirping frog or songbird, the exact opposite of the insane level of noise near our hostel (honking, yelling, muezzins' calling to prayer).


snail on the sidewalk in Constance - Another difference is the pace of life ;)

While Egypt was quite possibly my favorite trip ever, it is good to be "home" …for now!

last leg in Luxor - معبد الأقص ومعبد الكرنك

I'm gonna jump right into photos:


Our first stop today was the Temple of Karnak. It was another one of my favorite things in Egypt. It towers like a Gothic church. (Each of these pillars is thicker than a tree!)


the first peace treaty in the world, between Egypt (Ramses II) and the Hittite Empire (Hatusili III)
(hieroglyphics in the Temple of Karnak)


that forest of pillars again, with Vera, Alex, Sara and the best tour guide ever - Doaa!


goats outside of Karnak


Vera is skeptical as our evil driver hands us what is apparently a train ticket to Cairo for three people. It is indecipherable even for native Egyptians and is written with pen on torn blue paper. That's what I call "official."


Next up was the Temple of Luxor. It wasn't as cool as Karnak, but it was still pretty sweet.


Roman-era painting of (possibly) the Last Supper
Notice how the newer, Christian stuff has mainly worn away, while the thousands-of-years-older Egyptian stuff has remained. This supports my theory that people are so fascinated by the ancient Egyptians because they have come closer to permanence than anyone else.


Alexander the Great, depicted as a pharaoh and remembered by the Egyptians as a liberator, being given the key of life (Ankh) by the sun god Ra


We asked some man and his wife to take a photo of us. While we were positioning ourselves, the wife walks in front of us, ready to be photographed (by my camera?!). Then he snaps this award-worthy portrait. After that she walks right up to him so her face covers the entire shot.
(Notice I'm not even ready for the photo, because he gave us absolutely no warning.)

And we just got back into Cairo. The overnight train again took 12 hrs, partially because we were stopped next to some green, lit-up minaret for literally an hour and a half! Bleh. I hate the trains in Egypt.

Oh, and before I close, I want to address two comments/questions on my last post:
1) Shockingly, Luxor manages to defy natural law and maintain an extremely hot temperature right through midnight.
2) And as to the "Welcome to Alaska" thing: We actually got three more "Welcome to Alaska"s in Luxor, so we decided to start asking around. But no one knows for certain. A friend of Sara's says it's because of the ironic temperature difference between the two places. The wonderful Doaa suggested that they just don't know what they're saying. Our tour guide from the day before (Menan) said she thought Alaska was a well-known city, and that the Egyptians just assume most Americans come from there.

SO COOL! but SO HOT! - في الأقصر

First off, happy belated 50th, Mrs. Toft!

"So, just how hot is it in Luxor these days?" you ask. Well, today it was 110°F - painful. Tomorrow it's only supposed to be 97°, tho. Being basically in the middle of the desert if you step more than five feet away from the Nile, it's also pretty ungodly dry.

And now, PHOTOS! (way too many, just to warn you)


Breakfast at the Nubian Oasis Hotel is included in the approximately $3 I spend a night staying here! This is about the best breakfast I've had in weeks. The hotel, however, isn't air conditioned, which kind of sucks.

Today we saw some of the coolest things so far, which is saying a lot! First we went to the Valley of the Kings.


It's a good way into the mountainous desert (in order to prevent grave robbing, tho it didn't do a very good job), so we had to take these little carts to the different tombs.

We saw the tombs of Ramses I, III and IV, but couldn't take photos inside. They were amazing! This is the stuff you see in movies and on archeology TV shows (what? you don't watch archeology TV shows?!). It was covered in hieroglyphics and paintings of the gods.


Next we went to Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple. It was really cool. And here you are allowed to take photos. (For those of you who were wondering, Hatshepsut is the pharaoh who married her half-brother, dressed up like a man, and sort of usurped the throne from her son.)


hieroglyphics in Hatshepsut's Temple


sphinxes around Hatshepsut's Temple

Next up we went to the Valley of the Queens. Here we also went into a few tombs, but they weren't as cool as the King's tombs. And again, no photos allowed.


doorway to one of the Queens' tombs


Next we drove to the Colossi of Memnon. They were huge. But I was so hot in the car, that I'd taken off my shoes (thinking we were done with the trip already). So when we had to jump out of the car, I had to skip across the burning tar to the comparatively cool sand in order to get a good view.


the Nile at Luxor


This was my lunch. It cost less than $2 and was delicious. (tomato soup with lemon and falafel - delicious!)


Luxor seems like it's a lot poorer than Cairo to me, but it might just be that we're living in a low-income area. For example, there is a flock of goats that lives near us and wanders the streets.

the unending train ride - أو ذهبنا إلى الأقصر

I'm typing this in Luxor! Plus (more good news) a friend of mine back in Constance just let me know that the internet is finally working in our dorms!


Last night we walked down to the Nile and decided to take a felucca ride.


This was our view for an hour and $2/person! It was awesome. (Oh, PS, a felucca is an Egyptian sailboat, in case you didn't know.) We also grabbed some shawarma and had a little picnic on the boat.

Then today we took the train to Luxor. I was told it would take about 6 hours, but it turned out to be closer to 12! We spent our entire day on the train, but at least we were in first class (it cost $2 more than second).


And it's Vera's birthday today, so we bought her this delicious, massive tray of goodies in Cairo.


The ride was very pretty, but God knows I would rather have done something else.


And our "lunch" was terrible. We grabbed pretzel sticks, which were soggy and had chunks of pepper in them. Left from the "pretzels" you can see our Chipseys, which tasted more like tomato juice than chips, and left of that our very decent pack of cheese.

Anyway, Luxor is way different than what I'd expected, but keep in mind I've seen just about nothing so far. It's also ungodly hot here. I just took a shower 20 minutes ago, and I still feel like I could use another right now. And our hostel is right next to one of the places where they blast the prayers on load-speakers - about every half an hour. But I'm very excited to be here, and tomorrow we're going to some very famous sites, so be sure to stop by again!

An imam, a rabbi and a priest walk into Old Cairo…

So yesterday after the pyramids I saw what was probably my favorite thing in Egypt so far: the 2005 horror film Boo (rated R), which was just released here April 30th of this year. Brilliant can't even begin to describe it. An example of the masterpiece is the following quote, powerfully delivered by the thespian Dig Wayne:

You shoot me in the face, I'll kick your ass!

Okay, so it wasn't actually any good. In fact, it was near par with such spectacles as Fear Dot Com and The Carrot Monster from Mars (alright, so I don't actually remember the name of that last one, but it was on the Sci Fi Channel at around midnight, so you get the gist).

But it was quite the experience to go to a movie in Egypt. Someone brought her baby to the movie, and it cried and screamed a lot of the time; several people answered their cell phones and held conversations during the movie; and there was even a 5-minute intermission (right in the middle of a high-tension scene)! Tickets were $3, so it was still worth it. In fact, parts of it were so funny/awful that I was crying.

Alright, so onward to the photos and the more serious stuff:


We had dinner last night at Gad, a restaurant just a few blocks away from our hostel. This was our dessert (Egyptian pancakes with honey, nuts and whipped cream). My entire meal cost under $3.


Then today we went first to the Saladin Citadel, where there is the above building: the Mosque of Muhammad Ali.


Vera and Alex had to wear green robes in the mosque because their arms weren't covered.


inside the Mosque


Two men get a panoramic view from the citadel looking out over Cairo.


the citadel walls

Then we went to Coptic Cairo, part of the Old City. Here we visited a Coptic Christian church and a synagogue. This area was really cool and extremely old!


The streets in Coptic Cairo were loaded with shops containing (presumably) antiques.

Alex and Vera then went to the Egyptian Museum, but Sara and I just mulled around the streets. I bought 1001 Nights and Sindbad at a book shop. We went to Felfela, an Egyptian fast-food place recommended to me by Chris Hanley (who studied here first semester), and grabbed lunch - a shawarma sandwich (like a gyro sub) and a taamiya (like a pita-pocket with a falafel inside). It was extremely good and also very cheap - around $2.


And again following Chris's recommendations, we went next door to a juice shop. I had a mixed fruit and ice cream drink, which was very nice after a day in the sun!

Then tomorrow we're off to Luxor!

Memphis, Saqqara, and Giza - الأهرام وأبو الهول

So today was about the best day ever! First, Alex and Vera joined up with us in Cairo (they both just got done with their semesters abroad in Namibia). Then we went to Memphis, Saqqara, and Giza - spectacular! And our guide was extremely knowledgeable and funny.


First we drove out to Memphis and saw this giant statue of Ramses II (the one who didn't get along with Moses, in case you forgot).


Then we went to a school where they learn how to make carpets.


And then we started with the amazing PYRAMIDS! This is the step pyramid at Saqqara, which was designed by Imhotep, whom you've probably heard of. This pyramid is also the first one ever built.


It was so ungodly hot, tho! Ahh! And there were these giant bursts of wind that chucked sand in your face every once in a while.


the Pyramids at Giza (and a tractor)
This photo cracks me up.


Then I went to take a photo of a camel (the first camel I've seen in Egypt), and this Egyptian guy started pushing me towards it, and he even wrapped his turban-deal around my head while I was trying to get on. In this photo I'm almost falling off and dying as the camel stands up.


Pyramids and the Sphinx
We went inside the pyramid on the right. It was extremely muggy, and we had to bend in half to squeeze down the tiny shaft to the burial chamber - BUT WE WERE INSIDE A PYRAMID!


and another photo of the pyramids
I took about 80 photos…

So today I saw the only remaining wonder of the world, and yesterday I saw the place where another wonder (the Lighthouse of Alexandria) used to be. I love my life.

Alex w/o Alex - ألكس بدون ألكس

So today we went to Alexandria, about a three-hour drive from Cairo, and right on the Mediterranean!


Alexandria


the Mediterranean


some fishers
It was here that we got applauded by a group of young boys, apparently for being from the same country as Batista, for whom they loudly proclaimed their love.


Sara and I waded into the Mediterranean - for a photo-op, not in order to escape the heat: Alexandria (or Alex, as it is called by the locals, I think) was only high 70s for the whole day. Right after this photo was taken, a little boy came up and shook my hand… and then asked for a dollar.


This is the Mosque of El-Mursi Abul Abbas. Sara had to go in a different building, because she's a girl, and they're not allowed in here (boys' club!). I also had to tip the guy I gave my shoes to. I'm pretty sure this is actually the first mosque I've ever been in.


And my favorite part was the LIBRARY (Bibliotheca Alexandrina)!!
It's amazing. The original was destroyed by the Romans in the last century BCE (we took a tour). The library we went into was built in 2003, was designed by the Norwegian architect Snøhette, and is amazing. Above is a statue of Ptolemy II (who built the original), and the facade of the modern building, which is engraved with words in over one hundred languages.


interesting sculpture inside the Bibliotheca


And this is the inside of the library proper.

And before I close: Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers!