18 hours in North Africa

    Flying over Burma, India, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Wadi Rumm and the Nefud Desert, Sinai and Aqaba... reaching Cairo at 8:30 am after 10 hours in the air. We fly over the Nile before landing...below, the city spans only alongside the great river, completely surrounded by desert on all side. Soldiers with Uzis stand throughout the disconnected airport grounds. We exit the plane and descend onto the tarmac....it is still early and the sun has yet to arrive in full force. The air is frigid compared to Thailand.

Bedouin Style

    An old man standing outside of customs holding a sign with Dylan's name inscribed...we had booked a hostel in advance to avoid hassle - the first time on the whole trip. We raced thru traffic to the city center, arriving at the King Tut hostel - a trashy building with a trashy elevator that takes you to floor 8 where all of a sudden everything appears much classier and distanced from the chaotic street below. We meet the owner and a fellow that works there while enjoying Egyptian hospitality: a cup of tea. Artif arranges for Dylan an entire tour set to last 3 weeks whereby he will venture all the way down the Nile to Abu Simbel and back up to either Alexandria or Sinai. As for me, one day is all there is to work with. Our driver arrives and off we go to see the pyramids. First up, the Saqqara pyramids, the oldest in all of Egypt. We drive south past Giza and make a turn racing haphazardly down the valley passing dozens of carpet schools, hang a right amidst kilometers of swaying tall dusted palm trees driving for another few minutes and wham! We begin to ascend and emerge amidst the emptiness of the desert. The beginning and the end of the Sahara. For miles just sand and dunes and scattered pyramids of different sizes. We climb down into the interior of one, walls poetically cluttered with ancient heiroglyphs. Bedouin dressed arabs beckoning us for baksheesh (tips, cash, pounds)...they all want it, the hound you. We find Marv, our driver, and head back to Giza to see the greatest of all pyramids as well as the mystery that is the Sphynx. Egyptians left right and center begging and hounding, selling and haggling...but the pyramids themselves, the only true remaining of the original seven world wonders as ascribed by the Greeks, are awe-inspiring. The singlemost wonderous sight I have ever beheld. They are massive and thrust into the sky with unquestionable authority. In one direction the entire city of Cairo populates the horizon below...in the other the desert stretches into nothingness, for an indeterminable distance. The Sphynx is captivating but the pyramid of Cheops is beyond anything speakable. Who built these and how? Why? So unique, there are virtually no historical precendents before the Egyptians. We managed to hop on a few camels to further spice up the day.

Saqqara Step-Pyramid

  After such a dizzying experience we went for a classic Egyptian meal of kebabs and hummus and bread...then good ole' Marv took us to a Papyrus "museum" which turned out to be a store with aggressive, yet friendly salesmen who would not give up. I kind of wish I bought one now...but no matter. The day wasn't through. It was time for a Nile cruise in Cairo, complete with a belly dancing show on board (truely entertaining).

   Cairo was captivating with its chaotic traffic, 1,000 mosques, the calls of the muezzin broadcasted by megaphones throughout, and endless numbers of muslims walking the market-like streets at night. I took a taxi back to Cairo International at 1:30 am and caught the 4:10 to Milan. Dylan was to continue trekking through Egypt. For me, however, it was time to return home, however temporarily, in order to make a few dollars and find a decent job.

The Giza Plateau

The Nile

The Plateau, once again