Bonita Suez

... the canal it was amazing. The western side was well irrigated and very green, growing mangoes and grasses, much the same as on the side of the road going into Cairo. The eastern side was very sandy and had lots of military posts and lookouts with guards well armed. There were also a lot of tanks in certain areas. We passed a pack of wild dogs that looked very much like the mongrels that we see on the farm. Some of the houses on the western side were quite palatial and others ...

... in Bitter Lake to allow a south bound convoy to pass and then we headed north again. From both the front and back of the ship we stood and looked out on the canal which serves as a continental divide between the continent of Africa and the continent of Asia. In 2005, 18,193 vessels passed thru the canal. While yesterday, we were in 110 plus degrees, today if is much cooler. It was 72 degrees during our transit of the canal. The ship moved slowly in ...

... Damietta - I had expected us to anchor until tomorrow. I was able to get Egyptian TV, and very pleased to watch almost the whole of Bolton v Chelsea, live, even though we were outclassed. The first match I've seen with this team. This was followed by a showing of The Two Towers - another three-night performance of The Lord of the Rings is in progress.

2008.10.22 Suez Sun 10/20 From the vast port of Alexandria, we hired a taxi to take us around. We finally agreed on a price of $80, aobut 75% of the 80 Euros the shiop wanted for a tour. But it was a change of scene, and the taxi ride itself was plenty of local color as the driver braked hard to avoid the center meridian, pedestrians, other cars, and otherwise raced along honking at donkey carts and ...

... fierté egyptienne. Pas grand chose à voir tout de même : la superbe Bibliothèque il est vrai, retapée en 2002 par des norvegiens, et puis quelques jolies mosquées. Qu'importe ! Je pris un grand plaisir dans les rues d'Alexandrie, dont le vent maritime adoucit l'atmosphère.

... a group of Chinese people randomly enough, who we spotted coming a mile off due to their slight builds and nice clothes. We then met Ahmed (have given up hope of meeting anyone called anything else), a recently qualified neurosurgeon who took us to his flat and showed us his skulls and books full of pictures of cut up bits of brain injected with dye before making us tea. Ismailia is famous for being built by the British, hence the ...

We ignored advice from the guy at the hotel front desk (who wanted us to take a cab, claiming that even he catches a cab to the bus station because it is so difficult to find... right, what a load of BS) and walked to the bus station after checking our planned route with Samir (who was waiting for some Spaniards and told us we would find it no problem). Anyway, we got to the bus station and were herded to a waiting hall by a bunch of guards with big dogs. I went off to scavenge some food ...

... over them. After we saw the site, we got back on the bus and had communion. It was neat to be sitting where the first Passover took place while taking a remembrance of the final Passover. From there we drove to the Suez Canal. It was pretty big. We got on a ferry boat and rode across it. You're not allowed to take pictures of it (I'm not sure why), and there are undercover military police on the ferries to make sure you don't. Some people did ...

... They wanted currency, and hard currency at that. No Egyptian pounds here, just Euro thanks very much. Unfortunately for them, we were the wrong nationalities.

Also of note along the way back across the Sinai Peninsula were various memorials celebrating Egypt’s victory over Israel in their most recent skirmish for this territory in the 1980’s. But this doesn’t seem to mean much to the Bedouin ...

... Our 'bus' has shrunken into a car similar to the one in Ghostbusters. We were waiting with a tall German guy who was to be the fifth passenger. As the car waited for us to load up our luggage and we wondered where we were all going to sit, Perry spotted a hand sticking out of a seat at the very back. Apparently there was a man sitting pack there with the bags who was passenger number six! It didn't even look like a seat, but there he was ...