Dusit Thani LakeView Cairo

... taken far out into the desert on a camel, and not being let off the camel until a much higher price is paid for the ride.) We got to the Sphinx just in time, as the heavily armed security guards started pushing people out right after we took a few pictures and did a bit of appreciating. I tried not to linger, as it's never a good idea to annoy anyone in the desert in the late afternoon who has an AK-47 and hasn't had a drop of water or ...

... headlights. People sometimes just don't use them at night. Stop lights: always blink yellow and I have not figured out how they work. I actually don't think they do. Crosswalks always blink "walk" and getting across the street depends on your ability to dodge cars, because they won't stop for you. People tend to get across busy intersections in cars by starting to drive and hoping they don't get T-Boned. Once an adventurous car or two makes it halfway across the intersection, it is ...

... cattle, necessary due to the large number of tourists who frequent the area. Contrast this to some
of the temple areas around Aswan, where we were one of only a few small groups visiting the area.

As such we were free to wander through the temple areas, exploring as we wanted. The local tourism police were a great source of information (often in search of a tip), and as such it was much easier to appreciate the area for what is represented.

Day tour to Cairo from Ein-Sokhna Port 145$

Go Egypt Travel representative will pick you up from your Ship Cruise by air-condition modern van to visit Giza Plateau, the three Pyramids of Queops, Quephren & Mykerinos. Visit the Great Sphinx and the valley temple. Have lunch at local restaurant, and then proceed to visit the Egyptian Museum which contains the world's ...

... be authoritarian goverments? Because there must be stability and there is no peace. Why should Iran have a Nuclear bomb? Because Israel has one for protection. Why should Israel man its checkpoints? Because the Palestinians ar fighting? Why should there be a blockade in Gaza? Because the Palestinians have too many weapons? Why should the Palestinians have so many weapons? To defeat the blockade of course!

It's all a mess. Obama recognized that it's a ...

... but taken into consideration that the Saccara pyramids were about almost 500 years older its pretty freaking cool. The dynamics seen at this site is very appreciative of hard labor and the efforts of many (slaves I'm sure) but the end result is so advanced for what little they had. For simple people living in this heat its amazing! The city of Memphis was reduced to rubble but a few small artifacts were left at the site. The great ...

... eventually managed to squeeze onto a carriage that was largely occupied males, Anne was subjected (unknown to me at the time) to some petty, but quite unpleasant harassment by some young men.  To cap it, when we got off the train, I managed to head off in the opposite direction to the one I should have done and we ended up having to get a taxi (no easy task) back to the Kelly's' house, which should have been a short walk.  Even crossing the road after the ...

... Simbel to build the temples some 200 to 400 kms away. Then you have to run the gauntlet of souvenir shops, who want you to look in their shops. Then on to the high dam, very high dam, height fright starts to take effect now, much to say I didn't stay too long I just jumped back on the bus LOL, though Ray got some good shots. Back to airport for the next flight to Abu Simbel and the cruise terminal.

Well here we are at the cruise terminal, a short walk ...

... leads one to sympathize with the poor, the rule to donate 1/10 of income to people in need, and the discipline to not have sex outside of marriage, etc. etc. He argued that the prayer position is a good physical exercise (akin to a yoga pose). He also discussed the financial difficulties of making a pilgrimage to Mecca (the hajj). It was an enjoyable cultural exchange.

The school sponsors trips to different places. That's good. They are usually interesting places, at a good price. That's good. But it's frustrating to be a sheep in the herd. It's nice to not have to worry about all the structural things - where to sleep, where to eat. But if I have be nervously checked ...