EGYPT TRAVEL DIARY. Actually a series of emails that I wrote about Egypt.

 

Part 1. Tel Aviv to Cairo by land. Saturday Oct. 15.

 

I have to say that my trip was impressively fluid yesterday. Bus to Eilat was super-crowded, but ok. At the Eilat bus terminal, a lady on her way to SInai heard me asking about the bus to the border, so we shared a taxi there, and sort of went through all the checkpoints at the same time. She was Israeli, but had traveled extensively. The border was like the Consulate in New York... scruffy but friendly and functional. Coming out of the border crossing reminded me of Zimbabwe... there was a head taxi guy greeting you, and lots of drivers hanging out. After I refused his initial offer, and waited for about 15 minutes to see if anyone else was crossing, I decided to go for it and agreed to a private taxi to Suez for 80 US dollars.

 

The trip through the Sinai was amazingly beautiful. Almost totally abandoned countryside, often blazing desert, sometimes harsh mountains. Weird police checkpoints every 100 kms or so, where they would usually try to convince us to take a policeman. Not for safety, I think, just a ride! My driver was nice, and it was interesting when he stopped at a strange little roadside collection of seemingly abandoned buildings. It was actually a tiny mosque, where he prayed for a few minutes. Also it was funny, on the radio they had a little "BOOM" for sundown (everyone fasts during Ramadan days), and we stopped right after that by the side of the road for a couple of dates and figs.

 

At a big road circle near Suez my driver found a service taxi going to Cairo, so after lengthy negotiations, I joined a bunch of other folks for the last 130 kms to Cairo. The arrival in Cairo was INSANE. I have never seen such crazy driving. Makes New York seem like Halifax. My 2nd driver was not so nice, and tried every trick (noted in my guidebook!) to get me to go to another hotel. He told me the Grand Hotel (where I wanted to stay) was expensive, like 75 dollars a night. Of course when we actually got there, the rate was a whopping 29 dollars for a double room with bath!!!! And it's a lovely place. Slightly faded, but very clean and right in the center of things. Overlooking major market streets, teeming with crazy Ramadan shoppers. It is actually like Christmas after sundown... there's colourful lights everywhere, lots of noise. But I had no trouble sleeping for 9 hours!!!!!!

 

Anyway, it is major culture shock. Trying to adapt and not feel worried. It doesn't really feel dangerous, but there's just lots of human hassle everywhere. Friendly hassle. Last night some guy chatted to me for a while, trying to become my tour guide or something. Very persistent! But he let go finally.

 

So first today I'm going to try and make travel plans for Luxor.

 

PART 2. Cairo. Sunday Oct. 16.

 

I've been feeling pretty up and down about Cairo. It's certainly an energetic, pulsing place, where people are somehow still quite courteous and friendly. Funny things are everywhere, especially the strange traces of colonialism that turn up in both French and English. Like the laundry form at the hotel was in French, for no particular reason. The Railway Museum was one of the best examples of the contradictions... a gorgeous, high-ceiling, two floor display area with many signs in Arabic plus English or French. But most of it was from 1931!!!! When the museum opened. Light bulbs usually didn't work, everything was dark, cracked or shabby. And yet the man in charge gave me a fabulous guided tour, since I guess I was their only visitor all day.

 

I've been getting used to some of the craziness. Walking in the street is the only way to get around, so thank goodness I have a bit of New York experience. The cars will never actually run you over, so you just boldly stride out in front of them. Most of the time, the traffic just kinda streams around, and everyone honks at you anyway. Actually honking about once a second seems to be the norm, even if there's no one. At big intersections, it's complete chaos, unless there happen to be traffic police. Even then, it's pretty crazy, as the traffic police seem to enjoy stopping cab drivers for on-the-spot fines (or baksheesh, as bribing is called here).

 

Mainly though it's very difficult to relax anywhere. At any touristy place you'll be accosted by instant "friends", and even just walking in the street downtown people will often try out a little English. I think it's mainly friendly! And it's been fun getting away from the main streets, where spontaneous hellos seem more real. Tonight I just had one of the more hilarious experiences at a little food court, where four young guys behind the counter were trying out their English. I took their picture!

 

Anyway, let's see if I can remember exactly what I've seen. After the last email, I tried out the Cairo subway, which is super-impressive. Quite new, with French- style ticketing. I took it to the main Ramses railway station, and wandered a bit, trying to find the correct ticket counter for buying my trip to Luxor. Behind the counter were all these hilariously antique machines, although the ticket they printed out for me was quite nice-looking. Then I went to find the Railway Museum, where I probably spent a couple of hours!!! Wandered back to the hotel for a little rest. With the idea in mind of finding the El-AL ticket office, I walked quite a long distance to the Zemelek area, where I actually saw LOTS of foreigners and bought a Herald Tribune. Of course the El-AL office was closed, because office hours are so screwy for Ramadan. But there are lots of fun Ramadan things, which all turn up after nightfall, when the city goes nuts. Lights everywhere, and people seem to be in a fabulous mood. Often there's huge banquet tables set up, for people to start a massive feast the minute 530pm hits!

 

After all the walking, I rewarded myself with a stop in the lobby bar of the Ramses Hilton hotel, for a nice gin + tonic while reading the "Trib". Kind of fun, although I'm not sure it was worth 60 Egyptian pounds!!! Back to hotel, and one final outing for ATM money-withdrawing (no problem) and a super-yummy chicken schwarma type thing at a place nearby. Fun Arabic ads on TV later, interspersed with Friends and Frasier, on a station from Dubai.

 

Today was Pyramids! I didn't get up quite as early as I should have, but I did manage to find the bus that goes to Giza. I'm starting to learn Arabic numerals, since the buses don't have Western numbers. It was a special higher-priced bus, that had A/c, but it was still packed! And the ride was insane. Most of the time the bus doesn't actually stop, so people just jump off or on. And we did an amazing job of honking and swerving our way to Giza. Right past the main university, and it was nice to see lots of normal-looking students. Normal meaning not religiously dressed. Most women do wear a sort of partial head covering.

 

Suddenly it seemed incredibly hot when the pyramids were in view, and walking towards them is quite deceptive, because they look smallish and close at first, then you realize your brain is just not accepting the hugeness possibility!!!! Really really really pushy and annoying camel-ride sellers aside, it was pretty amazing. I took the little passage into the 2nd pyramidä very claustrophobic. Walked all over the grounds, saw the Sphinx of course! And took the bus back, with this weird imam (priest?) who was mainly blind and couldn't seem to understand that I did not understand Arabic. Stopped at a travel agency to try and buy my ticket back to Tel Aviv, which was another example of Egyptian bureaucracy. It may have worked, but they have to send my reservation to the airport, and Ramadan blah-blah-blah... well we'll see!

 

Late afternoon trip on the subway out to "old" or Coptic Cairo. An interesting neighbourhood, with a beautiful old circular church, everything written in Greek! And I walked over to the Nile and walked up and down before returning just as sundown hit.

 

Off to Luxor tomorrow!

 

 

PART 3. CAIRO ≠ LUXOR - CAIRO. Thursday Oct. 18.

 

On Monday I caught an early train from Cairo to Luxor, a 10- hour odyssey that follows the Nile south into "Upper Egypt". It was pretty fascinating, as the small-town life of Egypt comes into view almost immediately. Little markets in every town, ramshackle vehicles, donkeys with carts, women doing their wash in the river. In general, the impressions are always contrasting... gorgeous lush fields, followed by dusty lots filled with garbage. Colorful mosques, decorated for Ramadan and then apartment blocks that look barely finished. It seems to be a habit here to not finish your top floor! Maybe so that you can easily expand your family, if needed!

 

Ist class travel on Egyptian Railways follows that same contrast. Big comfortable seats, air conditioned, and seemingly luxurious, except that maybe it looked nice in 1957. Many of the seats were actually broken, and the porters would come by and try to jam them back into place. There was a big English tour group in my car, but Egytians also. It was fun to observe other trains going by, as the 3rd class is more like what I would imagine in India, with people hanging out of every opening.

 

Arriving in Luxor was crazy and annoying. As predicted, every foreigner was immediately swooped down on for taxi, hotel, all that jazz. I managed to escape, although one guy followed me halfway into town! I started learning how to deal better the next day, as it becomes a sort of game. Basically the problem is that tourism is down, ever since 9/11 and the various Middle East worries, and I gather that ANY tourist money is tons more than they would get any other way. Luxor, in general, is a pit. Dirty, noisy, crowded.... and then suddenly there's a huge Middle Kingdom temple down the road that looks like it must have been airlifted in by aliens.

 

My hotel was quite nice, again inexpensive, and I went to a lovely (tacky) "oasis" type outdoor place for a Middle Eastern feast. Super-yum. Excellent hummus, roast chicken, best pita ever. One of the waiters was quite friendly, and STUPIDLY I let my guard down, because I was so pleasantly stuffed. He started on this whole story, la la la, my friend has his birthday tomorrow, and could I help him buy some alcohol at the duty-free store. My first reaction was sure, no problem, but of course then I immediately regretted it. The duty-free store didn't actually open for another few minutes, so he took me for tea at an "ahwa", one of these places where everyone is smoking Shisha, in those hookah-type things. It was actually fun, except that my "friend" had this shifty look going, as if at any moment the police would arrive and nab him. Then we hit the duty-free store, which felt like a pawn shop on Church Street. Obviously my friend was a well-known character there, as he struggled to come up with enough cash for his three bottles of alcohol. Afterwards, after thanking me profusely, he then asked me to pay him back for the tea!!!!!!! I told him to get lost, and felt thoroughly exploited for my passport status...

 

Next day was a magnificent day of touring the ancient sites. First I walked up the Nile Corniche to Karnak Temple, and wandered around in these amazing pillars and rooms from 3000 years ago. Having read quite a bit about Ramses II, one of the most powerful and famous Egytian pharaohs, it was interesting to see so much of his influence. There were TONS of tourists at Karnak, interestingly they seemed to be mainly from Russia/ Eastern Europe! But it was also easy to wander off and feel totally alone in the ruins. I walked back into the centre of Luxor, to take in the Mummification Museum. They had a mummified crocodile! Very weird.

 

For the afternoon, it was my first major haggling experience, as you need to hire a taxi to get to the Valley of the Kings. He started at 250, I started at 50, and we ended up at 130... and it took quite a while! He seemed to relish the bargaining, but then of course it turned out that he was not actually the taxi driver, but a sort of guide, who then proceeded to hire a taxi. Valley of the Kings was stunning... quiet and majestic, and because it was the hottest part of the day, there were no tour groups!!! Pretty darn hot though. Very Indiana Jones- feeling, as you groped down these long hallways and emerged into gorgeous temple chambers, highly decorated. And surprisingly unguarded! It's supposed to be very bad to take flash pictures, but most of the porters would happily let you do anything if you gave them some money. Demanded money, I should say, most of the time. I visited the tomb of Seti I, and also the tomb of one of his wives.

 

Later we also visited the Ramsseum, another amazing but very ruined site, where I was the only visitor. Naurally this made me a major target for an unauthorized guided tour, where we clambered up rocks, over walls and past ropes. This guy was so desperate for a bigger tip that he started kissing me as I was leaving!!!!!

 

Okay, well, pictures will do a far better job of describing Luxor than these paragraphs.

 

I'm writing this now back at my Internet place in Cairo... only a few hours left before I head back to Tel Aviv. Should be interesting to fly El-Al from Cairo! I'm supposed to get there three hours in advance! I'm going to try and walk a bit in old Islamic Cairo before heading back to the hotel.