Egypt

Egypt

Hello everyone! After a few months' hiatus, here we are again, with The Travels of Adrian and Carrie. We are still enjoying ourselves and we greatly appreciate your emails of interesting news and feedback on our newsletters. This time you can win win win with a pullout quiz section at the end of the message (details on the 'prize' there also).


And the summary: Lots of felafel and pita bread, calls to prayer resonating over the rooftops, filth everywhere, camels outnumbered only by donkeys, filth, fantastic Islamic architecture, intricate hieroglyphics, and did we mention filth?

regards,
Carrie and Adrian

Egypt
Cairo (7th to 12th February, 18th February, and 5-7th March)
by Ms. J.

We loved Cairo, which was far and away the most exotic place I had ever been and was completely new in so many ways that it was a constant experience just to be there. We were amazed by the sincere friendliness of the people, who everywhere greeted us with cries of "Welcome! Welcome to Egypt!" Even when I reluctantly admitted to being from the U.S. (having decided it was wrong to lie and claim Canadian citizenship) nobody gave us any flack. The children were far more outgoing than any we'd encountered in South America but, in Cairo at least, they were interested (rather than invested) in saying hello to us. "Which country?" they asked as we passed, or "What's your name?" We felt quite witty when our answers reduced them to gales of giggles. Just try and continue the conversation with a return question and their eyes grew very big. Many of the adults seemed to speak quite good English and, as our Arabic was limited to words such as "baksheesh" and "fatwah", this was a good thing too! I found it rather perplexing at first to be in a place where not only could I not communicate, but I could not even read the letters on the signs, but this contributed to the excitement of being someplace truly foreign.

We spent several days in Cairo in the course of our trip, and will follow the example of Darwin, who in his Voyage of the Beagle (our bedtime read aloud during this part of the trip), combined his several visits to one place into a single account, and do the same. Cairo is an immense city and it is crowded with lunatic drivers. There seems to be even less regard for lanes than in Ecuador, and the drivers do not turn on their headlights at night (except if they have fancy (and dim) blue ones which are quite popular). Crossing the street was probably the most dangerous thing we have done on our trip so far (eating blueberries belonging to a grizzly in Denali not excepted). While there were crossings and even signal lights, these were completely ignored by drivers, who careened along and around each other blithely. Pedestrians dodged their way across the street in a dance or a semblance of one of those early video games. Honking however was reserved as a means of communication rather than to signal irritation.


Standard Camel and Pyramid shot


A souq in Cairo, with Carrie in full theft avoidance mode

We spent hours and hours walking around the streets, listening to the arabic, attempting to distinguish voices raised in anger (uncommon) from voices raised in mock anger (much more common) or merely excitement (frequent). We puzzled over the arabic letters, and Adrian actually deciphered some; we noted a few different fonts, one of which was relatively plain and one of which we dubbed the "smelly" script because it had little accents/fumes rising from it. Adrian figured out the numbers by looking at the car license plates which displayed our "arabic numbers" as well as their's, and taught them to me.

The attire of the Egyptians varied quite a lot in Cairo, a modern city much influenced by the west, so we saw men and women in quite contemporary clothing (but with very little skin revealed) as well as many dressed in more traditional outfits. Many women wore headscarves, and quite a few had their faces covered demurely as well. We noticed that, although public displays of affection between men and women were all but nonexistent, it was quite acceptable for couples or trios of men or women to walk about hand in hand, or arm in arm.

After the rather unsatisfying fare (pastries notwithstanding) of South America, we were happy to find some good grub in Egypt, notably the local versions of felafel, tahina, pita, and babaghanouj. We ate out cheaply (spending around 24 egyptian pounds, or 4 u.s., or 2 English, per feast, including a generous tip) most nights, and devoured delicious oranges and bananas, and a date or two, during the day.


Inside the (relateively new) mosque of Muhammad Ali


Inside the old mosque of El Azar


Minarets over Cairo

In Cairo, we were the most awed by the beautiful Islamic architecture and designs. We spent several days wandering around in the streets of Islamic (or Fatimid) Cairo, where there is a warren of alleyways consisting of souq (or bazaar) after souq and ahwa (coffee house) after ahwa. Along these streets are many mosques and a few old houses, and we stopped into some of these. We visited the Mamluk era house called Beit Suyhami (beit meaning house) and gazed entranced at the intricate woodwork and especially the detailed repetition of tile patterns covering the floor. At the Citadel, on a hill above the city, we saw the enormous mosque built by the 19th century leader Mohammed Aly, and another, smaller mosque the ceiling of which was covered with beautiful painting, elaborate arabic letters entwined with designs and shapes to make a wonderful tapestry above our heads. Islamic art cannot have depictions of animals or people, and the resulting abstractions are quite enthralling. We also spent a long time in the mosque of Al Azhar, where the oldest university in the world (founded in 970 AD and hosting learning to this day) is located. We were proselytized mildly by our tour guide there, and I was provided with a head shawl for the duration of our visit inside. Every day, of course, was punctuated by the regular calls to prayer by the local muezzin, who now rely on amplification rather than standing in the minarets to sound the chant across the rooftops. The cacaphony of different melodies was magical, particularly in the evening as the lights came on.

We went as well to Coptic Cairo, where the oldest bit of the city still remains, surrounded by remnants of the ancient Christian church. Nestled close by a few very ancient chapels and monasteries was a Greek orthodox church, a gorgeous synagogue, and several mosques. Coptic Christians believe the holy family spent quite some time in Egypt after fleeing Herod, but have not cashed in on the tourist possibilities yet. We were not so wowed by the Christian architecture as by the Muslim work.


Up a minaret of a small mosque in Cairo

Of course we also visited the Egyptian museum in Cairo, and were impressed by the sheer number of artifacts there, if not by their presentation. Some of the rooms in the place resembled warehouses, or somebody's attic, with statues lying about, a nose or an arm missing here or there. We spent six hours wandering amongst the sarcophagi, statues, and jewels, lingering a long time amidst the truly fantastic treasures of King Tuthankhamun's tomb. The mummies, while fascinating, did not lure us so much.


The "Step" pyramid of Zoser - one of the earliest constructed

Of course, no visit to Cairo would be complete without a visit to the pyramids at Giza and the sphinx, but we also had time to go to the less-well-known Step Pyramid of Zoser, in nearby Saqqara. We found the three pyramids at Giza (Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure) rather disappointing up close, as their limestone covering was removed in the 19th century for building in Cairo, leaving them vulnerable to crumbling. From a distance, across the haze and with the sprawl of Cairo in the background (they are pretty much part of Cairo now), they are quite monumental, and we were able (read: suckered into) to appreciate them from the vantage of camels' backs as we wandered the dunes with our faithful camel driver whom we will call Ali. We found Saqqara and the pyramids nearby, the Bent and Red pyramids, much more interesting. As these are a little bit off the tourist track, we hired a taxi for the day to take us around, and were very happy with the excursion. Our taxi driver was called Hassan, and he was very friendly and quite entertaining. A newlywed, he dismissed his muslim brethren with more than one wife (they are allowed as many as four) as not being capable of sincerely loving each of them equally. He was quite a romantic and an enthusiast, and we felt lucky to have landed in his rattly car for our trip. Saqqara is the oldest pyramid in the world, dating from 2667 (or so) B.C. and showing early pyramid technology. The neighboring Bent period is remarkable as an example of architects switching gears halfway through, and also notable because it retains most of its original covering and thus shines smooth in the sun.

Port Said and Suez (13th and 14th February)
by Adrian


French style building in Suez


The Suez canal

We had intended to have a look around the Sinai peninsula, but only got as far as Port Said and Suez, both next to the Suez Canal, and neither of them were attractive places we thought. The canal itself did not have any impressively dimensioned ships going up and down either, and it was cold, so we left after only 2 days.

Alexandria (15th to 17th February)
by Adrian


Our balcony in Alexandria


In Alexandria, again

This city was reckoned by most people we spoke to, and the books we read, to be a bit of a disappointment, but we quite liked it! Notably, it was the site of our betrothal (outside a complex of catacombs), but we also felt it was a pleasant sort of a Mediterranean town with a very attractive seafront. It was very important in ancient history, and Alexander was supposed to be buried there, but very little remains of the old city at all. We did explore an underground cemetary used by the romans - and discovered when a donkey fell into it; a common method of ruin discovery it would seem - and tried to find the old lighthouse, but could not. Most of the tourists here were Egyptians from Cairo, but it was a group of Alexandrians for some reason that wanted to have their picture taken with us, standing next to the very fancy new library that has been built there. We stayed in a wonderful old pre-revolution hotel with a lobby full of stuffed pelicans and the like, and a faded old room with wicker furniture and a balcony on the corniche with a blue view of the Mediterranean spreading below.

Luxor (19th February to 24th February)
by Adrian

Luxor is in the middle of Egypt, on the Nile, and is the center of the tourist trade and used to be the center of the ancient world when the pharaohs power was at their greatest. Most of the large, well preserved temples and tombs are here, and its easy to visit them. We had intended to visit the city of Asyut, midway between Cairo and Luxor, but on getting off the train, the Tourist Police were present (with guns), and they very politely, but firmly, suggested that it would be a good idea not to stay in Asyut, but to go elsewhere. We were sort of expecting this, as there have been religious troubles in the town and the government is terrified of tourists getting hurt, so it was not a surprise. Our personal guard sat with us in a cafe for 4 hours and made sure we got on the next train. This was an interesting experience and we hypothesized that the danger to tourists was really not great, but had to be taken seriously by the Egyptian government as tourist money is such a pillar of the economy.


In front of the impressive-from-a-distance Temple of Hatcheput


Carrie (R) and Horus


Some hieroglyphics, closeup


People are always not allowed on the antiquities

The city of Luxor itself was very irritating. Buying anything in Egypt involves haggling, and we came to the conclusion that everyone in Luxor is out to rip tourists off, which was not very pleasant. This was not the case in the rest of Egypt as a casual conversation might be just that, but anyone saying anything in Luxor turned out eventually to be a ruse for selling a taxi, a tour, a boat or what-not. This was even the case for buying water or an orange, where the price would always start at say 10pounds, and eventually get down to 1pound, but only after a lengthy bargaining period. I suspect the locals do not have to go through this procedure.

Anyway, we embarked on an arduous week of tomb, temple and remains visiting, which got a bit much after a while. The temples and tombs are fantastic, and I shan't try to describe them - you've seen the pictures - but could go on about some of them at length in more personal correspondence. The tombs of the lesser people were a little more interesting to me as I thought the subjects were more humane, not just "person with head of bird gives round thing to jackal headed person with sun on head" type thing of the pharaohs. In fact, the art is not what I'd call beautiful at all, but the larger sites are quite moving, especially when the sun goes down and the hieroglyphics which cover every surface become shadowy and much more visible. We're now able to spot some of the gods and identify what might be going on in some of the scenes depicted in the friezes, but it's all a bit baffling. We saw many new excavations, including a massive underground tomb complex right next to where Tutankhamoun's tomb was discovered.

Cruise on the Nile (25th to 29th February)
by Carrie "Agatha" Johnston

The characters: A young engaged couple too cheap to buy any of the tat offered on board and thus regarded with suspicion; a loud, boisterous tour hostess; an unctuous, affected guide; an older, South African couple, a Dutch pair, and a large group of British package tourists, among whose number are a pair of ruthless Scrabble mavens

The boat: The Nile Commodore, a jaunty green and white affair with four star accommodations and enough goofy after dinner activities to drive anyone to drink (in plentiful supply aboard, for only three times the going rate)...or worse!

The setting: Egypt, the Nile, between Luxor and Aswan, four nights at the end of February. Lighting should be bright and merciless during the midday hours, ambient and cool in the evening, with the dark of the water lit up by gentle reflections of the boat's lights...

The tension: Develops as a result of a heated Scrabble game one twilight on the deck, as the waters swirl softly by and the papyrus sways in the breeze. A great blue heron alights in some alarm as voices are raised over the legitimacy of the word "benj." But when a camel-bone letter opener is purchased later on board a feluca, the Scrabble victor feels a stir of fear...


Carrie Agatha Johnston

Thanks to my parents, we were able to take a four-day trip aboard a Nile Cruiser, and it was a bit of luxury in our otherwise budget existence. We continued our schedule of temple-visits with less rigor than is our wont, and found time to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and friendly conversation aboard the boat. We were delighted (not to mention stuffed) by the yummy, ample food, and less impressed when we were charged for any drinks consumed at lunch or dinner. It was fun to hear a bit more detail and background on the ancient sites than our guidebooks were affording, although our guide was more than a bit campy in his presentation. It was a treat to take a break from independent traveling, and a treat to return to it again.

Aswan and Abu Simbel (Feb 29-Mar 1)
by Adrian


Abu Simbel

Having got off the boat full of food we reverted to our usual meager existence, but were able to go for a day or so without further eating, living off the reserves from our time on the cruise. Aswan seemed to be like a smaller and more pleasant version of Luxor, with some of the hassling but also some places to escape from it. We saw both the Old Dam (built 100 years ago by the British) and the High Dam (built by the Russians in the 60's). Neither of these was as spectacular as the Hoover Dam because they are very wide and not very high, but the Egyptians are very proud of them. The High Dam was built to contain the annual flood of the Nile in Lake Nasser, and provide a steady year around supply of water to the Nile Valley. This has worked, but the Nubians - the inhabitants of where Lake Nasser is now - were not very pleased about it as their villages all got covered up. However, the government "kindly" moved them to new villages and paid for things for them, so there doesn't seem to be much ill-feeling, although such nuanced political issues were beyond our understanding anyway, since we could not pick up anything through eavesdropping or scanning newspapers.

Several ancient sites would have got covered up also had not the international community stepped in. Many of the temples were taken apart and resited above the level of the lake, and as recompense a couple of smaller temples were given away to countries that helped out. We saw a museum that made out that this rescue operation was a great success and that it was to the credit of the Egyptians that the temples were "saved". We saw Abu Simbel, which is close to Sudan and the largest of the resited temples. It is huge, and was carved directly into a mountain. Four 20m high statues of Ramses II sit outside a temple - which is inside the mountain - and the whole lot was moved to a new site. Even an artificial mountain had to be built to provide a backdrop. This temple was perhaps the most impressive we saw in Egypt.

The Western Oases (Mar 3-4)
by Adrian

We'd had enough of the Pharaohs by this stage, so wanted to see some of the desert that takes up most of Egypt. There are several oases, and we went to Bahariyya, which is the one closest to Cairo, as we didn't have time to go to Siwa which is reckoned to be the best. We got a bus from Cairo which drove across 300km of sand with nothing in it at all to arrive at the oasis in the afternoon. It was hot and somewhat windy, but depressingly, it looked just the same as the rest of Egypt! Not quite so many dead animals, but there were some, and plenty of plastic and cardboard blowing around. Not even big sand dunes or views of palm trees around small pools, but instead dust and sand blowing everywhere and insects swarming around. Not impressed at all, so we decided quickly to get out and return to Cairo. This turned out to be difficult as the bus was "late" and we sat about in the street getting covered in a protective layer of dust waiting for any form of transport willing to take us, and several other foreigners, out. Never did we think that Cairo would look like a clean place to be.

The editors are pleased to introduce a new feature section of the Newsletter(TM)

Contest rules: All participants in the quiz who write in with their answers will be remunerated with the correct answers. The winning entry will receive a beautiful and topical prize, to be delivered when we have completed our trip (at some future date...).
1. Who was King Tuthankhamun's mother (probably)? a) Hatshepsut b) Cleopatra c) Siobhan from the Bangles d) Nefertiti e) Kiya
2. What is a felucca? a) an Egyptian snack served in a pita b) a small devotional statue with the head of an owl c) an olde-style sailboat d) none of the above, in which case you supply the correct answer
3) 10% of Egyptians are... a) Coptic Christians b) illiterate c) taxi or carriage drivers d) descended from the pharaohs
4) A woman's headscarf is called: a) a naos b) a midan c) a higab d) a galabiyyah
5) Place in order of date of construction: a) Great Wall of China b) Pyramids at Giza c) Stonehenge d) Golden Gate Bridge
6) Which of these was not associated with an ancient Egyptian god or goddess? a) crocodile b) hippopotamus c) marmot d) jackal
7)The streets of Cairo are covered with: a) crap and filth b) gizzards c) cats d) dead cats e) all of the above
8) Elvis is buried in a) Giza b) Sinai c) Alexandria d) Memphis
9) A typical Egyptian breakfast consists of: a) A big fry up, with plenty of strong coffee b) Fruit salad with fresh yoghurt and muesli/granola and orange juice c) Belgian waffles, whipped cream or maple syrup d) A couple of bits of dry hotdog bun with a segment of Laughing Cow cheese