TravelStream™ news feed for member chicagogal on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/chicagogal en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:45:56 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1195476780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1195476780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1195476780/tpod.html Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:45:56 -0500 Egypt to Jordan 2007

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Chicago, Illinois, United States

On Saturday, we spent the morning looking at the beautiful mosaics that Madaba is known for - the most famous being a 6th century map of the various holy places for pilgrimage. We then spent the afternoon in Jerash, the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Antioch that was founded under Alexander the Great. It is always amazing to me to see Roman cities as they never fail to impress with their grandeur and ingenuity. In the theater, we each stood in the very center of the stage where the narrator would talk and the acoustics were amazing, it sounded as though there was surround sound system. After walking around the ruins, we went to the Roman Army and Chariot Experience that is done in the actual hippodrome of Jerash. All of the costumes are made using the same techniques of the time down to the leather shoes. They showed various military formations of the time, had some gladiators fight it out and ended with a chariot race. It was fun, but the best part about it was that I got to do a turn around the hippodrome in one of the chariots. It was a bit scary (making sure I stayed in it when we turned the corner), intense, and a blast! It was a great way to end the trip.

On Sunday, we flew home - it was quite an ordeal to get on the flight as when we arrived at the airport we were told our flight to Heathrow was delayed 1.5 hrs which would mean we would miss our connection to Chicago and have to stay overnight in London to get the next flight. So, they said that they had a direct flight to Chicago leaving in an hour and that they were put us on that. Well, 20 minutes later they came back and told us that because we used miles for our trip that American would not allow them to put us on the direct flight. What? Well after almost an hour of arguing with them, trying to get them to call American so I could talk to them, and us resigning to the fact that we would have to stay overnight in the UK they finally put us on the direct flight. I don't know how it happened or why they finally did it at the very last possible minute (10 minutes before the flight was to take off), but we were quite happy about it. So, we flew 13 hours direct to Chicago and got in 3 hours earlier than we were originally scheduled to arrive. Unfortunately, I got sick towards the end of the flight - but at least I avoided it during the trip and can be much more comfortable at home. Here are some final thoughts on the trip:

Thoughts on Jordan:
Jordan is a mixture of old and new. It is very modern/westernized with cell phones everywhere, kids wearing jeans, western hairstyles, a good many speak English, etc. But, it also still has the side of it that is from the old ways. Migrant Bedouins that roam the area tending to their sheep and goats, living in tents, following their traditions. Even with the government giving them housing, they still choose to follow the old ways. One of our drivers explained that there are three types of Bedouins, traditional Bedouins, half/half Bedouins (that live in tents for part of the year and then live in buildings in winter), and then Modern Bedouins that still cling to tradition but have embraced modern technology and comforts. It was quite interesting to hear him talk about it. He also talked about the difference between Jordan Jordanians and Palestinian Jordanians that now make up 53% of the population. He said that they keep them "under control" as according to him, Palestinians often make problems wherever they go. We also asked him what the Jordanian viewpoint is about Iraq. He said that Saddam was a bad man but that hundreds of thousands Iraqis have been killed or displaced and does not believe it was worth it. Additionally, he does not understand why the US is still there even now that Saddam is gone. His thoughts was that it was about "Petrol." Amen. He also said something that was curious - he told us that he knows the Iraqi people better than anyone in our car (I believe that to be true) and that they are strong-willed and need a stronger leader to keep them in check. He said that Saddam did that even though his methods were not good and until they get another leader that is stronger than the Iraqi people they will continue to fight and kill each other. It was very interesting to hear him talk about it all whether you agree with his perspective or not. He also mentioned that Bin Laden is not a good Muslim as the Koran prohibits killing of innocents and that he was sorry for what happened on 9/11.

General thoughts:
One of the big takeaways for us is just how warm and friendly the people of Egypt and Jordan are. The stereotypes that the US has about the Middle East and specifically Muslims of the Middle East are way off the mark. We felt safer there than we do in many parts of Chicago and the US. There was always someone there to help us if we needed directions and what not. Americans are treated well and with some curiosity. As one Egyptian man put it, I like America just not American politics. Our sentiments exactly. It's such a shame that our govt uses fear to paint the region. We would not think twice about going back and encourage anyone that is thinking of going to do so as you will not be disappointed. We are so glad that we went. What a trip!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194544380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194544380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194544380/tpod.html Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:23:17 -0500 Egypt to Jordan 2007

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Cairo, Egypt

Ok, so where were we:

Weds (Nov 7) - We woke up early and headed to the Valley of the Kings across the river. We saw the Collosus of Memnon (named because of Greek graffitti carved into one of the legs relating the statues to their gods). Afterwards, we got onto donkeys, and tried to stay on donkeys as we rode up the side of the mountain to get to the valley. Kristi had a great donkey that she called "donkey" but pronounced it like Shrek does... Kev's experience was once again so, so... let's just say that he prefers camels. On the ride, we saw the worker village as well as many other ruins. After we got most of the way up the mountatin, we walked the rest of the way just as the ancient workers did to get into the valley. We had the same fantastic guide from the day before. We visited four tombs - Ramses I, Ramses III, One I can't remember the king, and then King Tut's. They were each so different it was great to see the contrast, and only about a week ago or so they had put Kin Tut's Mummy on display inside the tomb so we actually got to see his mummy. Very cool. We also visited Hebu Temple (I think that was the name) which is the most complete temple prior to any restoration that they have found. It still had so many of the original colors, it was beautiful. We also visited an alabaster factory to see how they make the various pots and carvings by hand as well as a papyrus shop. Cool to see. We ate lunch at our guide's house. His wife did all of the cooking - it was fabulous food! And, it was neat to see the inside of a house. Very, very simple but adequate. We chose not to go into the Valley of the Queens as we were all templed out for the most part (hard to believe but it does happen). Since I was able to see Hatshepsut Temple from the mountain when we were on our donkey ride I was ok with not actually going into it. So, we kicked back on the roof of our hotel and put our feet in the pool. It felt good cause it was HOT. Finally, we caught the sleeper train to Cairo.

Thurs (Nov 8) - We arrived in Cairo at 6am and hoofed it for 10 minutes to the hotel. After a shower and a nap, we had a free day. So, we chose to visit Coptic Cairo and go back to the Khan al-Khalili bazaar. Coptic Cairo is so interesting. Churches that date back a thousand years or more. Some built on top of roman ruins. We visited the Coptic Museum and saw some of the earliest paintings and images of Jesus and the bible. We also went to the famous Hanging Church and another that claims that the Holy Family hid in a cave there during their escape through Egypt. And, we then walked around an old christian cemetery which was just really cool. Afterwards, we haggled for a taxi (got out of one cab cause he wanted 50 egp, and another taxi driver said he would take us for 15 so we went with him). Our driver was great because he took us by the City of the Dead which is this area that the poor have moved into - it was a cemetery with all of these monument buildings that they have moved into and taken over. There's at least 5000 people living there. We had wanted to see it but our guidebook said that it was a bit iffy during the week, so to be able to go by it was a nice surprise. We also went around the Citadel which is just amazing to look at. Finally, we made it to the bazaar and proceeded to shop and haggle. In the end we only bought one thing, but it's still fun but tiring.

Okay, that gets you caught up to this point in time. We leave tomorrow for Mt Sinai (7 hour drive - yuk) with a stop at the Suez canal along the way. We are hiking up to the top of the Mt after our drive - I'm sure our legs will need it. Then, Sat and Sun we are at a beach camp on the Red Sea for just some pure relaxation and snorkeling - can't wait! The next time we will have internet is when we are in Jordan on Mon. So will do our best to write then. Will try for one more entry with some observations as long as internet stays around!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1195260360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1195260360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1195260360/tpod.html Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:16:51 -0500 Egypt to Jordan 2007

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Madaba, Jordan

On Weds and Thurs we were at Petra. It was beyond belief. For those of you not familiar with Petra, the "Treasury" in Petra and the Siq was used in the end sequence of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Basically, Petra contains hundreds of tombs carved out of the rock the most famous being the Treasury followed by the Monastery. To get to the city of Petra, you walk through the Siq which is an extremely deep crevasse in the rock that makes for just an amazing experience especially when you get to the end of it to have the Treasury revealed. Petra was first built by the Nabateans aboout 2100 years ago. It was a main stop on the caravan route as it is situated half way between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. They were heavily influenced by Greek, Egyptian, and Roman architecture and religious beliefs - basically, combining all of them along with Arab to create their own version of it. In 106ad, Trajan annexed Petra and the Romans then added onto it with a Collonade, aqueduct, and other stuff. There are remains from later periods as well such as a church from around 500ad and Byzantine periods. People lived in Petra up until 1988 when Jordan persuaded the inhabitants to move out into a village and provided many other incentives as well.

Petra is amazing and quite vast. We walked and hiked all over. It's 4.5 km one way just to get to the end of the main path. That doesn't include additional hikes to the Monastery and the High Place of Sacrifice. By the end of the second day, we were completely beat and our newish sneakers were officially oldish sneakers from all of the red dust and sand.

On Friday, we drove from Petra to Madaba with stops at an old crusader castle, Karnak Castle, the Dead Sea, and Mt Nebo. Karnak Castle was really cool as we wandered down into the narrow passages and dark paths in the depths of the castle - quite neat. Afterwards, we spent a few hours at a resort on the Dead Sea where we got to float around trying our best to sink with no luck. I also got covered in Dead Sea mud which is supposed to be very good for your skin. The mud is pitch black and it looks so funny on. The Dead Sea is weird because you really can't sink even if you try. You can stand perfectly straight in the water without touch the bottom and the top half of you body just sticks straight out of the water. The water does start to sting after awhile and if you have any cuts or scrapes, it starts to sting quite quickly. Kev, of course, never had any stinging and stayed in the water longer than anyone. A friend on the trip had psoriasis (sp?) on her arms and tonight, it was all gone. She had been battling it for the past two weeks of the trip - so, I guess the water and salt really does heal. After you get out, you feel as though you are covered in oil as the water is very slimy and once it dries you are literally left with chunks of salt all over you. We rinsed off and jumped in the pool at the resort to get an even better rinse before heading off to Mt Nebo.

Mt Nebo is where Moses saw the Promised Land. He must have been there on a good day as today it was all hazy so we couldn't see much. We did see Jericho but I was hoping to see Jerusalem as well. Oh well. We have seen Israel from a distance in a few places while traveling through Jordan so at least we have that. At the top of Mt Nebo, there is a church that was built in the 4th century. Mt Nebo is considered the most holy place in all of Jordan. I initially thought it would have been Jesus' baptism spot on the River Jordan but it makes sense that it is Mt Nebo as all three religions of the area are linked to Moses.

The next two nights we are staying in Madaba which is a predominantly Christian section of Jordan. Tomorrow we are going to see some of the old mosaics that Madaba is well-known for followed by a trip to Jerash, an ancient Roman city and watch some chariot races while there. Sadly, it will be our last day. We fly home on Sunday morning arriving in Chicago on Sunday night. The trip has flown by!

Well, I'll try to post at least one last entry before we leave but if not, we'll see you back in the US!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1195084920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1195084920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1195084920/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:20:06 -0500 Egypt to Jordan 2007

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Petra, Jordan

We've had an exhausting day at Petra. We are both just beat, but it was another amazing day.

But, I'll start with our amazing day at Wadi Rum yesterday. Wadi Rum is a dessert land with ancient and recent history. Moses spent 10 years there as a shepherd and it is mentioned in the Bible. The ancient Nabateans also inhabited the area and we saw several carvings left by them. T.E. Lawrence lived here as well for 3 years during the Arab Revolt. We saw the "house" that he lived in - an old tax collection stop on an ancient caravan route. The land is beautiful - it reminded us of Utah expecially Arches National Park. We stopped at several sites throughout the area including giant sand dune the Kev and I climbed - wow, it was a lot higher and tougher than we thought it would be. But, it was fun to run down it. To get around, we drove in 4x4's in the sand as there is no road that goes throughout the area as you typically would find in the US. It was a blast and a bit scary at times - it felt like we would roll at any moment :) At the end of the trip, our driver went over this giant sand dune like you might see done in the movies. It was crazy fun!!

We stayed overnight at a Bedoin camp and had a traditional Bedoin dinner that had been cooked 4 ft underground. The head of the camp, Mohamed, was this really crazy, tiny man. He wears his robes and traditional Bedoin head scarf (you know the one, red and white checked that I'm sure you have seen in some photographs before) and these platform shoes (LOL). He served up his Bedoin Whiskey - really, really sugary sage tea. All of our Aussies take sugar in their tea as well as Kev so they all opted for the traditional with sugar. After one sip, they all had this look of shock as the tea was so sweet. KEv said that he needed some insulin after it. I luckily opted for unsweet from the beginning and most everyone did a 1/4 sweet, 3/4 unsweet afterwards... We slept in Mash like tents under heavy blankets as it gets really cold here at night! It was a good time.

Ok, gotta get ready for dinner. Stay tuned for Petra as it was amazing.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194922080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194922080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194922080/tpod.html Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:31:21 -0500 Egypt to Jordan 2007

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Aqaba, Jordan

Ok, so here's hoping this internet connection let's me post this. I think I'll give it a quick save just to see...

Yea! It saved. So, I shall continue. As most all of you know that it is me, Kristi, writing these blogs, I'm going to stop with the attempt at bi-partisan language and just use first person. So much easier...

Well, when last we chatted, we were in Cairo about to head to Mt. Sinai. On Saturday morning, we took a 7 hour drive from Cairo to Mt Sinai with stops at the Suez Canal and an oasis in the middle of the desert. They were both really cool and the time driving flew by. You don't get to see too much of the Suez before the guards make you turn around, but we did see it. What you see mostly are ships that look like they are sailing on sand because you can't see the water. The oasis was neat as well as we were in the middle of very barren, mountainous desert and all of a sudden there were palm trees all around and a young Bedoin boy that came by to hang out and watch us. Nice.

The Sinai peninsula just looks biblical. Desert and desert mountains everywhere. Just what you would imagine. Shortly after we arrived at our hotel in St. Katherine City, we headed over to Mt Sinai to hike up to the top for the sunset. I had been planning all along to take the camel up but I decided to just do the hike as everyone else was doing it. Yikes. It was tough. They call it the "3700 steps of repentence." Believe me, Kev and I have nothing left to repent and I'm sure that we have a surplus in the bank. It took about 2.5 hrs to get to the top. Most in our group were wishing they had done the camels. We watched the sunset with freezing hands as it gets very cold up there and then hiked back down the mountain in the dark, but after the first 700 steps we were able to cut over to the camel path and walk down. Even that was tricky given it was pitch black with only a measly mini-mag flashlight to help your through. Which reminds me, my mini-mag died right when we started down... note to self- next time you hike Mt. Sinai, check the batteries of your flashlight before starting to prevent embarrassing and frustrating moment when flashlight decides to stop working in the dark. Kev's worked, but barely so we relied on some of our group mates for extra light. I only fell once! That was a feat considering others with flashilights (or Torches as they call them) fell several times. And one more note, the night sky was just plain beautiful. You could see every star in the sky, the milky way, and I'm sure there were planets up there too. Amazing.

On Sunday, we went to St Katherine's Monastery which is said to have the only descendant of the Burning Bush, the well where Moses met his wife, among other things. It was crowded beyond belief. I think every Russian Orthodox along with their tour guide was there. So, we saw what we needed to see and got out of there. We did both touch the "Burning Bush" just because everyone touches the burning bush... but, as our New Zealander funny guy noted "the bush is not burning." You had to be there. It does have an amazing church that is really beautiful, but honestly, with so many people, it's hard to really enjoy it.

After we finished at St Katherines, we hopped in our van and drove to our beach camp on the Red Sea. This was the most amazing place! Here's how our couple of days went:
Wake up and watch the sunrise over the Saudi Arabian mountains on the other side of the Red Sea, eat a lovely breakfast with strawberry juice to drink, go for a morning snorkel at an amazing reef just offshore, lounge around reading a book and occasionally look up to admire the Red Sea and the Saudi desert, eat lunch, take a stroll along the beach and watch the crabs scamper, chat with friends, snorkel some more, chat some more, read some more, eat a fantastic seafood dinner (they had BEST fried calamari that was caught overnight), have sahlab (warm custardy milk type thing) for dessert, chat some more, then go to bed. It was heaven. We could easily stay a week, maybe a month. We slept in simple beach huts with a mattress on the floor and a mosquito net around the mattress - and we slept well. The snorkeling was amazing - eels, lion fish, giant clams, seahorses, tons of different other fish, beautiful coral... just fantastic. It was just beautiful and a great break from our busy schedule. I would take it over any 4 star resort any day.

So, that brings us to today. We left our beach camp at noon to get to the ferry terminal for our trip over to Jordan. Then, we basically sat around for 4 hours while the Egyptian ferry people took their time getting the ferry ready to leave. It never leaves on time. You must have a good sense of humor on this day otherwise it will drive you crazy. We finally arrived in Jordan around 6pm but then we had to wait another 30 minutes to get our passports back. But, we made it and all is well.

And how did we know we weren't in Egypt anymore?...
1) the cars actually stop to let you cross the street
2) the cars are much nicer
3) it is obvious that the country is much more affluent and has a strong western influence (lots more fast food chains and western brands
4) it doesn't have trash everywhere

And how did we know that we were still in the same region as Egypt?
1) cigarettes are still everywhere even right now as I sit in this internet cafe.. it wreaks.
2) pictures of the King are everywhere (in Egypt, pictures of Mubarak were everywhere)
3) the food is the same - falafel, hummus, salade, pita, shwarma. Still good food, but we are starting to get a little tired of it (I must confess that we did eat KFC on our train night out of Luxor - a guilty pleasure.)
4) and the obvious... arabic

Well, that wraps up this installment. Stay tuned. We head to Wadi Rum tomorrow to do some 4x4, see some amazing stuff, and stay overnight at a Bedoin camp.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194959460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194959460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194959460/tpod.html Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:48:47 -0500 Egypt to Jordan 2007

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Aqaba, Jordan

Ok, so since I have a bit of time this morning and I found this much nicer (no smoke at this point) internet place, I will post some things that we have noted along the way in no particular order:

1) Donkeys - they are the hardest working animal in all of Egypt. Everywhere there are donkeys. I don't think there is anything funnier looking than a grown man riding a donkey - legs hanging down to where they almost touch the ground - and you see it everywhere in Egypt. I feel sorry for the donkeys - most of them appear to have a rough life.

2) Cats and Dogs - Cats are everywhere in Egypt, just everywhere. Very hard for me to not pet them, but except for the ones at our beach camp which were in good health and very friendly, I stay away. You rarely see dogs. I expected to see them all over the place just as we had in Peru, but evidently they are not popular animals with Muslims so you don't come across them too often.

3) Housing in Egypt - when you are in the Nile Valley, you see all of these unfinished houses. Basically, concrete with metal rods sticking out of the top like they are still working on building the home and have another level to go... but, they don't really have another level to go. See, in Egypt, you don't pay taxes on your home until it is finished, so to get around paying taxes, no one ever completely finishes building their home.

4) Corporate America has not completely overtaken the world - we have not seen a single Starbucks since we left London. But, we did just come across a Gloria Jean's coffee in Jordan.

5) Hotel door locks - one of our biggest frustrations has been the locks on all of our hotel rooms. They are the most annoyingly finicky things. At each new place, you have to figure out just the right touch to get the damn door to lock or unlock. It becomes quite comical.

6) Laundry - one of the greatest joys when traveling for any length of time is when you get to do laundry. It is also one of your greatest fears as you are always uncertain as to what condition your clothes will be when you get them back from the hotel. Well, up to last night, we have had god luck in all of our travels with laundry... but, this time one of my shirts came back with a big hole in the middle of it. Oh well. I never bring anything to wear that I would be heartbroken if it got destroyed, so it's not the end of the world, but I was ticked.

7) Money - small denominations in Egypt are hard to come by and must be hoarded as much as possible. It seems that no one can make change for anything more than 10 pounds (about $2), and that is if you are lucky.

8) Aussie - We are being transformed into Australians. I now say torch instead of flashlight and biscuits instead of cookies. Our Aussie trip mates were spouting off some Aussie language to see if we knew what it was and of course we had no clue, so I tried to stump them on something American which is extremely hard to do since they get all of our tv shows and movies, but I was able to stump them with "Smore."

9) Sheesha - water pipes are very popular in Egypt. Haven't seem them so much yet in Jordan but I'm sure they are popular as well.

10) Toilets - bring your own toilet paper. It is rare that a bathroom has it, and when it does you will need to pay a pound to get some and use the toilet. Also, don't flush the tp, you put it in the trash can next to the toilet as the sewer system has a hard time handling it.

11) Egyptian cars - using headlights appears to be optional in Egypt as maybe only 1/3 of the cars actually use them in Cairo at least. It makes crossing the street at night extra fun. And, the cars in Egypt are not traded in everywhere couple of years. These things are run into the ground and then repaired and run into the ground again, again. Car parts shops were everywhere.

12) Flies - Whatever species of fly that exists in Egypt, it is certainly the most persistent and peskiest of any I have ever come across. And, they seem to come in large quantities.

Ok, well, that's it for now. We head out for Wadi Rum today (Lawrence of Arabia fame) and a night in the desert. Tomorrow is Petra, we can't wait!! Will write again soon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194571500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194571500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194571500/tpod.html Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:38:08 -0500 Egypt to Jordan 2007

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Cairo, Egypt

Ok, here are more observations, favorites, and funny stuff:

Dress - women dress in all variations, mostly with a headscarf, but not always. There are full Burkas around as well. On the young girls, make up seems almost mandatory. I think they are trying to make up for not having as much adornment on their clothes in many cases, or more likely to attract a husband. There are a lot of young girls (I would guess 16-20) with babies. They marry young here. Our guide said that if they are not married by 23, it will be hard for them to marry. Kristi has gotten asked several times if she is married and if she has kids. They want to know why no kids... even in Egypt... :)

Bazaars - If fou want an ego boost, visit a Souq (bazaar). You are the prettiest or strongest or handsomest they have ever seen. And, if you are American, the classic joke is "Welcome to Alaska." We've also heard "Hey now brown cow." There are many \others as well. Oh, one guy in a small village said "ah, Cheeecago, you Mafio?"

New favorite drink - Lemon Juice (It's fresh squeezed lemon juice with just a touch of sugar) Delicious!
New favorite dessert - Coconut Baklava, Delicious!
New favorite food - anything Tagin (cooked in clay pot), Delicious!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194560340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194560340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194560340/tpod.html Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:23:53 -0500 Egypt to Jordan 2007

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Cairo, Egypt

Ok, let's try this again. We haven't had internet for the past 4 days as it was down while in Luxor, and then, when we finally get internet in Cairo, the power goes out to the power grid and we lose the entry in progress... Here's hoping that this one goes through!

So, here's the rundown of the past four days:

Monday (Nov 5) - we sailed down the Nile on a felucca - it is the only way to travel down the Nile in our opinion. We did not once envy those on the cruise ships as it just did not seem like a very authentic Nile experience. Our felucca had a matress type pad covering most of it with pillows and a tarp above so that we just lounged around with our feet at the edges of the felucca, sometimes dangling over if desired. We had a two man crew, one cooked while we sailed and the other managed the sailing. It was wonderul and we both could have easily done another day just lounging, reading, viewing down the Nile. The toilet situation was not a problem. We had a pit stop during the day and then when we stopped for the night one of the Aussie guys in our group dug the toilet pit and put up the western style toilet seat bench and a canopy around it. It was no big deal. In the evening the crew built a fire and we sang Nubian songs and "danced" around the fire. It was a lot of fun. Favorite memory - our crew putting on music while we sailed - pink floyd and bob marley. :) It was classic. There is definitely a bit of rasta culture fascination with some of the Nubians.

Tuesday (Nov 6) - After we woke up, our crew made us these crepe like pancakes (yummy) and boiled eggs for breakfast. We then sailed across the river to pick up our van for a 3 hour drive to Luxor. Once again, it was the "caravan." This time, we ended up having an Egyptian guard riding with us for about an hour and then he jumped out and we had a police truck in front of us and one behind us. Each time we went into a village they would sound their sirens - just to let any would be bad guys know exactly where we were... ha. Just kidding - we have never felt unsafe at all.

After we made it to Luxor, we had a free afternoon but almost all of us wanted to see Karnak temple so our leader organised a guide for us who was fantastic. First, we visited ACE - Animal Care in Egypt that is a non-profit organization that provides free animal care to anyone that brings in their animal. Our tour company, Intrepid, is one of the sponsors. It was really interesting and they do good work. They are doing their best to educate the community on how to properly care for their animals. Next, we went to Karnak Temple. For those movie buffs, if I'm not mistaken, Karnak temple was featured in James Bond's The Spy Who Loved Me or On Her Majesty's Secret Service, I cannot remember which... but, I do remeber Jaws chasing Bond around all of the columns at Karnak. I won't go into the history of it, but it was really cool and I think the pictures are going to look great. In the evening, we also strolled around the Luxr Temple which is in the center of Luxor. If you have been to Paris, you may have seen the Obelisk they have that was a gift to France from Egypt. It's pair is at the Luxor temple.

Ok, I'm posting this now as we just had a brown out and I luckily had just saved. So, since electricity seems iffy, I'll at least let you all know that we are here.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194286740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194286740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194286740/tpod.html Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:20:01 -0500 Egypt to Jordan 2007

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Luxor, Egypt

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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194213360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194213360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chicagogal/egypt-jordan/1194213360/tpod.html Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:38:56 -0500 Egypt to Jordan 2007

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Abu Simbel, Egypt

Today has been a fantastic day even with the 7 hr drive [round trip] in a slightly cramped van bus that started at 3:30am and the scorching heat this afternoon. Yes, we were up at 3:00am this morning. Kristi was finally getting her first night of good sleep and poor Kev hadn't slept a wink when the wake up call came. But, it was so worth it.

We left the hotel at 3:30am to get into a convoy going to the Abu Simbel temple. We got to the convoy sight at 3:40am and proceeded to wait until 4:20am to leave. I had assumed that we would be one big line of buses and vans heading there as they had all of the vehicled lined up waiting to go... but no, as soon as the drivers got the signal, they all hopped back into their vehicles and sped off in no order whatsoever. It was a free for all. As it turns out, it seems that it is less of a convoy and more of just passing through several check points along the way where they logged every vehicle to make sure that all of them made it down there and back. Amazingly, we were one of the first to arrive at the convoy site but one of the last groups to arrive at the temple [so why did we have to get up at 3:00am?]. It worked out ok though as towards the end of our stay the crowds had thinned out and we were able to get some better pictures.

Anyways, about Abu Simbel... It is the temple of Ramses II. You have probably seen pictures of it, 4 big sitting statues of Ramses II adorn the front. It was carved out of the rock along with another temple that Ramses II had built for his favorite wife, Nefertari. They were simply magnificent. When you walk into Ramses temple there are several more standing statues [floor to ceiling] that line the walkway that just make you awe struck and know that you are in a great and meaningful place. In one of the rooms, you could see where they outlined the relief that was to be carved into the wall but never finished it. Unfortunately, we could not take pictures inside the temples, but think we got some good ones of the outside. The temples were actually moved from their original site in the late 60s by Unesco as they would have been lost to Lake Nasser when they built the High Dam. They now sit a couple hundred feet above where they were originally built. It is hard to believe that they were able to accomplish this task because you wouldn't really know it to look at the temples.

After our visit at Abu simbel, we headed back toward Aswan and stopped off briefly at the High Dam and then went to the Philae Temple which is the Temple of Isis. We had to ride a felucca out to the island that the Philae temple is on, also moved due to the High Dam. It was great, hardly any tourists, and had fantastic reliefs and architecture. There is a fair amount of graffiti at the various sites, mainly from the 1800s where visitors would carve their names and year. At Philae, there were Greek crosses carved into the walls in several places as it was used as a church around 500AD. So, very interesting.

Did I mention that it was hot this afternoon at Philae? It easily was 100 degrees if my Texas internal thermometer is right. I can't imagine how anyone could do this trip in the middle of summer.

As for Kev, his throat is still bothering him, but he was a trooper today. Hopefully, it will go away soon. Tomorrow, we are spending the entire day and night on a large felucca floating north towards Luxor with a few stops along the way. We will have no bathroom facilities except for a toilet tent [hole in the ground and with western toilet on top] they constuct at our night stop. So, should be interesting but very relaxing we hope.

Well, probably will not be able to post again until Tues at the earliest since we will be floating on the Nile all day tomorrow.
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