Tuesday: December 21, 2010
Words cannot accurately describe the past three weeks. I’ve written in this blog (almost) daily describing the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met. It has easily been the most productive and most fun winter break I’ve had in college. Sure, some places and hotels were nicer than others, but all in all, it was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will treasure forever.
Between packing and being on the computer, I didn’t get much sleep the night before we left for New York. I woke up at 5:20am, finished packing my bag, took my bags to the lobby, and had breakfast in the hotel at 6am. We left for Cairo Airport on the early side (around 6:45am) to avoid the downtown Cairo traffic and I couldn’t stay awake on the bus. It was sort of melancholy on the bus as Professor Ghaly expressed how great the trip was and as the group expressed their praise for Professor Ghaly. He was crying—something I’ve never seen him do before. We arrived at the airport, took our bags from the bus, and entered the terminal. I hugged Professor Ghaly and Mama Ghaly as I went through the general terminal security. I looked back and saw memories of Egypt as I put my bags on the screener.
I didn’t have much time to say goodbye to Egypt as Melanie and I hurried to the check-in counter. Professor Ghaly and Melanie told me that the plane was going to be packed, but I thought since it was a Tuesday people wouldn’t be traveling—and I was very wrong. We waited inline for a good amount of time and I was happy that my luggage was not over weight.
We then went through Egyptian immigration and officially left the country—we were in no-man’s land—a crazy legal idea that we were in Egypt, but we technically weren’t. The main security area where you go through a metal detector was at the boarding area—different from NYC—so we sat outside the boarding area gate until they opened it. Once through security, we sat in the boarding area until a little after 10 am. After changing my seat a few times (26k to 38J to 39I to finally 39J), Melanie and I wound up sitting together, which was really nice. EgyptAir flight MS 985 took off at 10:55am, Cairo Time. I had scrambled eggs for breakfast at around noon, took 2 Dramamine, and started watching “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” Happily and un-expectantly, I fell asleep—for 4 hours! It was glorious! I then woke up, read the free newspaper, and finished the movie. They also served us lunch (I had chicken and rice) on the plane and then I watched the movies “Flipped” (cute movie) and “The Day After Tomorrow” (yay, New York). After 9313 km of traveling, we landed at 3:15pm EST at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City. We were finally home!
We waited in line for awhile before we went though immigration—but once the officer stamped my passport, I was finally back in the United States. I then got my bags and went to the customs checkpoint. The guy told Melanie and I that we had to go to the secondary checkpoint where the officer asked us a few more questions and let us go without having to open our luggage.
With passing that last checkpoint, I was home. United States, New York, Home. Going to Egypt was amazing. Simply amazing. I learned about a whole new culture—different money, language, and religions. I learned how to haggle and I learned how to repack my suitcase every three days. The tombs and temples were remarkable in everyway. The ancient Egyptians were so advanced and so smart. They had technology and architecture that we struggle to achieve with computers and formulas. The mini-term concept is a fantastic one, and while expensive, it was worth every penny…or piaster, I wish I could do one every year. Sure, at times I struggled with the food and the security, but that was expected. At least I learned that I could be on a plane for almost 12 hours without losing my mind.
I want to thank everybody that has supported me in my journey across the world, including my parents and grandparents, my family, my friends, and my classmates. I also must thank Professor Ghaly for his hard work in making this trip a reality. He has been working since last February to put together this 3-week trip and it showed.
Egypt is a diverse and interesting place to visit and I suggest everybody try to check it out at some point. It’s been great blogging with you…and thank you to those who have read my rambling—I really appreciate everybody who took a few minutes out of their hectic days to see how my day had gone—yeah the seven hour time difference was rough at times—just ask my Mom! Anymore questions, ask them here or in email, I'll answer them! Until next time!
Don’t fear time, sometimes it feels like 10 seconds.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
The Final Day
Monday: December 20, 2010
Where did December go? Today was the final full day of the Egypt Mini Term. It has been a long and exciting day, let alone trip. We visited the Egyptian Museum, which was a fitting way to end the sightseeing on this miniterm. It was the perfect way to end the trip because we got to see lots of artifacts found at temples and tombs. We also visited the Khan el Khalili Bazaar towards the end of the day.
The Egyptian Museum, located in downtown Cairo, is a large museum containing ~120,000 artifacts with many more in the building’s basement storage area. Because there are more artifacts than available space, Egypt is building a new museum in Giza that will be 100 times the size of the current building and will be done in 2012. They are already in the process of moving artifacts to the new site so that they will be ready to open when the time comes. If you spent 3 minutes observing each item in the museum, you would need 6 months to see everything. There were so many people entering the building as our group entered and we were given radios so Zach, our tour guide, could talk to us without having to scream over other groups. Unfortunately, however, we couldn’t take photos in the museum.
The first item we saw when we entered the museum was an artist’s paint pallet. At ~5,000 years old, the stone pallet is the oldest artifact in the building. The two-sided stone has designs carved into it including a design that shows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt. It also shows the pulling of the hair of the king of northern Egypt, who is an enemy. There are people depicted on the stone with no heads with indicates who the enemy is. Since it is a paint pallet, there is a circular area for paint to be mixed. This artifact was discovered at Abydos, which we visited.
The next item was a replica of the Rosetta Stone which was discovered in Egypt. The original is currently located in the British Museum (who has denied lending it to Egypt for the opening of the new Egyptian Museum in ~2 years). It was translated in 1830, allowing people to understand what hieroglyphics mean.
We then saw the statue of King Djoser, the first life-size statue found in Egypt. It was also the first statue with a mustache and headdress. It was from 2700 BC, making it 4700 years old. He is represented as a dead man and you can tell from the dress that the person has no life in them. The statue is made of limestone and was found in the Step Pyramid area.
Next we saw various limestone statues of servant figures from ~2500 BC. Notice how I said “servants” and not “slaves”? Egyptians who served the king without compensation believed that they would serve the king in the 2nd life. Because the life after death was more important than the 1st life, people were willing to serve so that they would have a good afterlife. The figures showed individuals making flour, cleaning birds, making a jar, and making beer and wine.
The next artifact was a basalt statue of pharaoh Menkaure, goddess Hathor (right) and a goddess. This was found outside of Menkaure’s pyramid (which I saw and entered within the first 3 days). Menkaure was a pharaoh during the fourth century and built the smallest of the three pyramids in Giza.
In the museum we also learned that statues of pharaohs and kings were made in case mummies were lost or stolen by tomb robbers. In some cases, these statues are the only records civilization has about certain people. We also learned that some lower-class citizens made stone heads for themselves and hid them with mummies so that they could move on with the mummies in the 2nd life.
We then walked into another room in the museum where we saw a coffin/ sarcophagus made from alabaster stone that was ~4,650 years old. It was the only one of its kind found and it was not for a mummy—instead it was found with jars for organs in it. While its use and age is known, it is amazing that archeologists don’t know to whom this artifact belongs to.
We also saw the Statue of the Scribe, which was of a man writing down information. The man is in a sitting position, concentrating/listening to someone. Scribes, during ancient times, were in a high position in society because not many had the chance to be educated enough to read and write. This 3,200-year-old limestone statue was impressive because of its detail, remaining colors, and eyes made of crystal. He was once wearing a necklace, a sign of nobility, but it was stolen at some point.
The next statue was of King Chephren who built the second pyramid. He was worshipped as a god, however, he was seen as a weak god so another god was added to the statue. Can’t see it in this picture? Believe me. There is a falcon (god of Horus, if I remember) behind the statue’s head and can only be seen from the back. In the same room we saw the statue of Sheikh el-Balad, meaning in Arabic “headman of the village.” This is a wooden statue of Priest Ka-aper from the 5th dynasty. Since the wood is from a sycamore tree, this man must have been important because the wood was imported into Egypt since there are few trees in the country.
Afterwards, we went into the room devoted to Queen Hetepheres, a queen during the Old Kingdom. In this room, we saw her bed/headrest, which was made of wood covered in 24k gold. There was silver jewelry as well. Silver was more rare/precious during ancient times than gold and was probably imported from the area now known as Iran. The room also contained a statue of Hetepheres’ son, Khufu. This ivory statue, at a height of 7.5 cm, was the smallest statue found. It was found in Abydos City even though Khufu built the Great Pyramid. This statue, which contains hieroglyphics, is the only statue we have found of this Pharaoh. Additionally, we saw Hetepheres’ organs inside an alabaster box (this is before the time when organs were placed in jars during mummification).
We then saw a magnificent painted limestone statues of Rahotep and his wife Nofret. Rahotep was the high priest of Heliopolis during the Old Kingdom. It is interesting to notice that Rahotep has a mustache and while Nofret is wearing a headdress, you can see her original hair color underneath, which was the fashion at the time. The eyes of the statues are made of crystals.
At this point of the tour, we left the Old Kingdom area of the Museum and entered the Middle Kingdom area. We first learned about Mentuhotep II, a pharaoh during the 11th dynasty and the first pharaoh of the age of the Middle Kingdom. He unified Upper and Lower Egypt for the second time and founded the second capital of Egypt. We saw a sandstone statue with the crown of Lower Egypt and since Egypt was unified, archeologists are still looking for 2 more statues containing the crown of Upper Egypt and containing both crowns.
We then saw some of the 2000 sphinxes that have been found in Egypt. These sphinxes belonged to Amenhotep III (I think, my notes are hard to read) and were 100% lion except their heads. These sphinxes also have the name of Ramses II, who ruled later in history. He stole the sphinxes by adding his name to punish non-Egyptian rulers. By adding his name, he would be confusing the gods who wouldn’t know who to let enter the 2nd life. Ramses was killing the other King’s spirit by changing the names on monuments.
The next statue was out of the ordinary for ancient times and was very interesting. It was a statue of King Tutmoses III, who ruled Egypt for 54 years and created the largest Egyptian empire up to that point. This statue was different because it depicted a royal person on his knees offering a sacrifice. He was offering a sacrifice because he didn’t believe he was a god as previous kings thought.
Did you think that Benz in Germany made the first car? Maybe not. Sure the Egyptians had animal driven, 2-wheeled chariots, but archeologists found a 3,200 year-old toy car, with 4-wheels, that was probably driven by animals.
We then went upstairs and visited the monuments of the most famous Egyptian king, King Tutankhamen. These monuments were discovered by Howard Carter at the Valley of the Kings (who has a controversial history according to Egyptians) in 1922. During his time, King Tut was not seen as important since he really didn’t do much of significance since he died young at ~19 years old, however, he became famous when his tomb was found almost perfectly intact, something never seen before. There were ~3,000 artifacts found in his tomb, many taken by Howard Carter and returned to Egypt by his family. We first saw multiple gold-plated boxes that were originally placed within each other to protect King Tut’s Mummy. We then went into the main exhibit room of King Tut where we saw pieces of gold foil that were on the chest of the mummy, 15 gold rings found on the mummy, bracelets with the eye of Horus, 2 daggers found above the mummy’s abdomen, 5 gold sheets of vultures, 4 mini anthropoid coffins, and the most famous artifact, Tut’s Mask. Without it’s historical value, the 11kg gold mask is worth $2.5 billion. We also saw his 2nd and 3rd coffins (the other one is on the road) and gold military chariots (which were never used for war—since he never went to war).
Afterwards, we saw the oldest birth control in human history (made of linen). There were also linen underwear and gloves found. We saw Tut’s small bed (supported by lion figures), a mattress made of papyrus and covered with gold, a travel bed with hinges for storage that is ~3,340 years old, and an umbrella.
We then went into the Manuscript and writing samples room where we saw a 2,000-year-old political cartoon depicting animals in a “Cat and Mouse/Tom and Jerry” scene. The moral of the cartoon was that people should be careful of the people surrounding and helping them are because they may not be honest and are waiting for the right moment to pounce and attack.
After seeing most of the main part of the Museum, a bunch of us decided to pay extra money to enter the Royal Mummies exhibit. With our student cards, it cost us 60 pounds (~10 dollars) to see a bunch of actual mummies. It was worth every dollar and how could I go all the way to Egypt and not see the mummies! Once again, pictures were not allowed. I’m just going to list the mummies I saw below:
After seeing the mummies at the end of our free time in the museum, I bought some stamps at the post office and returned to our group. We traveled through downtown Cairo (there was a lot of traffic—but it was quiet for a Monday) and visited the Khan el Khalili Bazaar, Cairo’s premier bazzar. We had a buffet lunch near the market and then went directly to the market. There were lots of chockee places and jewelry stores. The people weren’t as aggressive as the vendors in Luxor, which was nice. I got some more souvenirs (haggled for the final time in Egypt) and walked around with a bunch of people. We then returned to our hotel in Giza. We then had ~45 minutes to change for our going away party at a nearby restaurant. The party was a nice ending to our trip and we had a buffet meal and cake. We met the people behind the scenes at the tour company who made our trip possible. We also thanked our tour guide Zach profusely—everybody really loved him. Afterwards, we got back on the bus and went back to the hotel to pack for our 11.5-hour trip back to New York.
The end of the trip is here—come back tomorrow for final reflections! Enjoy!
The Egyptian Museum, located in downtown Cairo, is a large museum containing ~120,000 artifacts with many more in the building’s basement storage area. Because there are more artifacts than available space, Egypt is building a new museum in Giza that will be 100 times the size of the current building and will be done in 2012. They are already in the process of moving artifacts to the new site so that they will be ready to open when the time comes. If you spent 3 minutes observing each item in the museum, you would need 6 months to see everything. There were so many people entering the building as our group entered and we were given radios so Zach, our tour guide, could talk to us without having to scream over other groups. Unfortunately, however, we couldn’t take photos in the museum.
The first item we saw when we entered the museum was an artist’s paint pallet. At ~5,000 years old, the stone pallet is the oldest artifact in the building. The two-sided stone has designs carved into it including a design that shows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt. It also shows the pulling of the hair of the king of northern Egypt, who is an enemy. There are people depicted on the stone with no heads with indicates who the enemy is. Since it is a paint pallet, there is a circular area for paint to be mixed. This artifact was discovered at Abydos, which we visited.
The next item was a replica of the Rosetta Stone which was discovered in Egypt. The original is currently located in the British Museum (who has denied lending it to Egypt for the opening of the new Egyptian Museum in ~2 years). It was translated in 1830, allowing people to understand what hieroglyphics mean.
We then saw the statue of King Djoser, the first life-size statue found in Egypt. It was also the first statue with a mustache and headdress. It was from 2700 BC, making it 4700 years old. He is represented as a dead man and you can tell from the dress that the person has no life in them. The statue is made of limestone and was found in the Step Pyramid area.
Next we saw various limestone statues of servant figures from ~2500 BC. Notice how I said “servants” and not “slaves”? Egyptians who served the king without compensation believed that they would serve the king in the 2nd life. Because the life after death was more important than the 1st life, people were willing to serve so that they would have a good afterlife. The figures showed individuals making flour, cleaning birds, making a jar, and making beer and wine.
 |
| Menkaure/Hathor (wikipedia) |
In the museum we also learned that statues of pharaohs and kings were made in case mummies were lost or stolen by tomb robbers. In some cases, these statues are the only records civilization has about certain people. We also learned that some lower-class citizens made stone heads for themselves and hid them with mummies so that they could move on with the mummies in the 2nd life.
We then walked into another room in the museum where we saw a coffin/ sarcophagus made from alabaster stone that was ~4,650 years old. It was the only one of its kind found and it was not for a mummy—instead it was found with jars for organs in it. While its use and age is known, it is amazing that archeologists don’t know to whom this artifact belongs to.
 |
| Scribe (bluffton.edu) |
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| King Chephren |
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| Wooden Statue (wikipedia) |
 |
| Queen Hetepheres (wikipedia) |
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| Rahotep/Nofret (Wikipedia) |
At this point of the tour, we left the Old Kingdom area of the Museum and entered the Middle Kingdom area. We first learned about Mentuhotep II, a pharaoh during the 11th dynasty and the first pharaoh of the age of the Middle Kingdom. He unified Upper and Lower Egypt for the second time and founded the second capital of Egypt. We saw a sandstone statue with the crown of Lower Egypt and since Egypt was unified, archeologists are still looking for 2 more statues containing the crown of Upper Egypt and containing both crowns.
We then saw some of the 2000 sphinxes that have been found in Egypt. These sphinxes belonged to Amenhotep III (I think, my notes are hard to read) and were 100% lion except their heads. These sphinxes also have the name of Ramses II, who ruled later in history. He stole the sphinxes by adding his name to punish non-Egyptian rulers. By adding his name, he would be confusing the gods who wouldn’t know who to let enter the 2nd life. Ramses was killing the other King’s spirit by changing the names on monuments.
 |
| Tutmoses III (wikipedia) |
Did you think that Benz in Germany made the first car? Maybe not. Sure the Egyptians had animal driven, 2-wheeled chariots, but archeologists found a 3,200 year-old toy car, with 4-wheels, that was probably driven by animals.
We then went upstairs and visited the monuments of the most famous Egyptian king, King Tutankhamen. These monuments were discovered by Howard Carter at the Valley of the Kings (who has a controversial history according to Egyptians) in 1922. During his time, King Tut was not seen as important since he really didn’t do much of significance since he died young at ~19 years old, however, he became famous when his tomb was found almost perfectly intact, something never seen before. There were ~3,000 artifacts found in his tomb, many taken by Howard Carter and returned to Egypt by his family. We first saw multiple gold-plated boxes that were originally placed within each other to protect King Tut’s Mummy. We then went into the main exhibit room of King Tut where we saw pieces of gold foil that were on the chest of the mummy, 15 gold rings found on the mummy, bracelets with the eye of Horus, 2 daggers found above the mummy’s abdomen, 5 gold sheets of vultures, 4 mini anthropoid coffins, and the most famous artifact, Tut’s Mask. Without it’s historical value, the 11kg gold mask is worth $2.5 billion. We also saw his 2nd and 3rd coffins (the other one is on the road) and gold military chariots (which were never used for war—since he never went to war).
 |
| King Tut (wikipedia) |
Afterwards, we saw the oldest birth control in human history (made of linen). There were also linen underwear and gloves found. We saw Tut’s small bed (supported by lion figures), a mattress made of papyrus and covered with gold, a travel bed with hinges for storage that is ~3,340 years old, and an umbrella.
We then went into the Manuscript and writing samples room where we saw a 2,000-year-old political cartoon depicting animals in a “Cat and Mouse/Tom and Jerry” scene. The moral of the cartoon was that people should be careful of the people surrounding and helping them are because they may not be honest and are waiting for the right moment to pounce and attack.
After seeing most of the main part of the Museum, a bunch of us decided to pay extra money to enter the Royal Mummies exhibit. With our student cards, it cost us 60 pounds (~10 dollars) to see a bunch of actual mummies. It was worth every dollar and how could I go all the way to Egypt and not see the mummies! Once again, pictures were not allowed. I’m just going to list the mummies I saw below:
- King Seqenenre Taa II—died at ~40 years old—17th Dynasty
- Queen Ahmose-Meritamun
- King Amenhotep I
- King Tutmoses I (they aren’t 100% sure because his arms aren’t crossed over his chest, which is a sign of royalty)
- King Tutmoses II—died at ~30 years old—pharaoh for 14 years
- Queen Hatshepsut (I saw her temple earlier in the trip—had botanical garden)—died between 45/60 years old.
- King Tutmoses III—1.7 m tall—ruled for 55 years—died in 60s
- King Ramses II (saw him everywhere)—ruled for 67 years, still had yellow hair present (yellowed during mummification)—had severe arthritis and dental problems
- King Seti—Son and Successor of Ramses I—pharaoh for 13 years—died at 40 years old
- King Tutmoses IV—died at 30 years old, fingernails were well-kept
- King Amentotep II—died @ 45 years old—tallest New Kingdom pharaoh @ 1.83 m tall—was a warrior/sportsman
- King Merenpten—15th son of Ramses II—died @ 60 years old—had dental problems
- Skeleton of King Atuhenaton (Valley of the Kings)
- Queen Tiye—found in tomb of Amenhotep II at the Valley of the Kings
- King Akhenaten’s Wife/Mother of King Tut
- Queen Nesikhorus
- Queen Muatkare with pet baboon—archeologists originally thought the baboon was a child but x-rays showed a baboon.
- Prince Djedptahiufanks—royal son/priest of god Amun—died young
- King Ramses III—successfully repelled invasion of Egypt—died in 60s—may have been poisoned
- King Ramses IV—king for 6 years—died at 50
- King Ramses V—ruled for less than 5 years—died in early 30s—had smallpox and enlarged scrotum (could have meant he had a hernia)
- King Ramses IX—ruled for 19 years
- Queen Isetankheb—had dental decay
- Queen Nojunt
- Queen Herehaus
After seeing the mummies at the end of our free time in the museum, I bought some stamps at the post office and returned to our group. We traveled through downtown Cairo (there was a lot of traffic—but it was quiet for a Monday) and visited the Khan el Khalili Bazaar, Cairo’s premier bazzar. We had a buffet lunch near the market and then went directly to the market. There were lots of chockee places and jewelry stores. The people weren’t as aggressive as the vendors in Luxor, which was nice. I got some more souvenirs (haggled for the final time in Egypt) and walked around with a bunch of people. We then returned to our hotel in Giza. We then had ~45 minutes to change for our going away party at a nearby restaurant. The party was a nice ending to our trip and we had a buffet meal and cake. We met the people behind the scenes at the tour company who made our trip possible. We also thanked our tour guide Zach profusely—everybody really loved him. Afterwards, we got back on the bus and went back to the hotel to pack for our 11.5-hour trip back to New York.
The end of the trip is here—come back tomorrow for final reflections! Enjoy!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Another Day, Another City: Alexandria
Sunday: December 19, 2010
After a few hours of much needed sleep, we got back on the road and traveled northwest to the second largest city in Egypt, Alexandria. The trip from Cairo to Alexandria took approximately 3 hours. We took one major highway, the Cairo-Alexandria-Matrouh Free Highway/Desert Road, to get to the city on the Mediterranean. It was cool to look out the window at this highway because many sections of it were under reconstruction or widening. Professor Ghaly said that the road is constantly being expanded to accommodate the growing population. In order to do this, many buildings were removed to expand the road’s right-of-way, something that is much harder to do in the United States. The road once went through a desert, but now the route is very developed. Just outside Cairo is an area called the Smart Village, which is designed after Silicon Valley in the United States. Tenants of the Smart Village include Microsoft, Oracle, HP, IBM, and Intel to name a few. It costs less for these American companies to have their Research and Development in Egypt because software engineers are paid less in Egypt than in the United States.
On our way to Alexandria, we stopped at a Zoo (it might have been called the “Lion Zoo,” but I can’t remember for sure) on the side of the highway. We saw Lions, ducks, ostriches, dogs, and monkeys. Yes, there were tons of dogs there…and it was pretty sad seeing all those pups in cages (at least they weren’t in Mike Vick-styled cages). There were Dalmatians, black labs, Greyhounds, and St. Bernards—all purebreds. Apparently, dogs aren’t house pets here like they are in the states—either way, many of us felt bad for those pups.
Once we arrived in Alexandria, Professor Ghaly’s hometown, he gave us a bus tour of some interesting sites of the city as we drove to our destination. It was the capital of Egypt for almost 1000 years until 642 AC. We saw Ghaly’s first construction sites and the buildings he supervised the concrete production of (his first love). He also pointed out where his house is. We also were told that archeologists discovered the entrance of Queen Cleopatra’s temple underwater. We passed Alexandria University, which has ~300,000 students on various campuses.
As we drove around Alexandria, it was very noticeable that it is a different type of city when compared to Cairo. The air and streets are cleaner in Alexandria and people follow traffic regulations—similar to Aswan and Luxor. The taxes in Alexandria are much higher than in other areas of Egypt and the real estate prices are also very high. There are high-rises on the shoreline since that is the only way for builders to make a profit. Hurghada and Sharm were also clean and had organized traffic flows but Hurghada is ½ tourist and ½ locals and Sharm is 99% resorts (there are more than 600 of them). The dirtiest areas around Alexandria are the oil refineries that smell like sulfur, but you can’t smell them from the city.
The road that follows the Mediterranean through the city (the Sea Road—46km long) was only 4 lanes wide (2 in each direction) when Professor Ghaly was a kid. Today it spans 8 lanes from reclaimed land from the sea. To protect against erosion, there are interlocking concrete blocks at the shoreline. Dulles (concrete pieces that look like jacks) also protects the shore. Additionally, the Mediterranean is 50 cm higher than it was 50 years ago due to rising sea levels. Many beaches no longer exist or are much smaller than they once were (there are 3 Miami beaches). This is occurring because of the dumping of wastewater and the reclamation of land in addition to global warming.
Our first stop in Alexandria was the Botanical Garden. We walked around the water. While it was a large place, it wasn’t anything like the Aswan Botanical Gardens. We also saw a King’s palace while there. Afterwards, we traveled a few minutes to a Roman Amphitheatre, which was actually not a place of entertainment in its heyday. It was one of ~1000 in Alexandria and is very small. It was cool to stand in the middle of it because when you speak from this spot, your voice gets louder—amazing technology and engineering. Unfortunately, it is the last remaining amphitheatre as ~1000 have been lost to time. There were also many artifacts around the site that were found under water. Apparently people can take scuba trips to artifacts that are still under water. Excavation continues under the sea to find the lost city of Alexandria.
Our second stop was the Kom El-Shuqafa (Mound of Shards) Monuments, an open-air museum and one of the seven wonders of the Middle Ages. We entered “Catacomb” (a Greek word), the Main Tomb. A catacomb is an underground burial area where families would stay with the dead at night so that they were not alone. We went down a deep shaft of 2 levels, ~27 m down, to see the burial rooms. This was an interesting place because it showed a combination of Greek and Egyptian styles. There were traditional Egyptian sun disks and Horus Falcons, historically Egyptian symbols while there were Medusas and Greek Horses, Greek symbols. There were also carvings of Anubis (Egyptian) with Greek military dress. There were also snakes with the head of Anubis. 300 people were buried in this tomb. Additionally, there is an unfinished tomb of an important person, but they don’t know who it was. After leaving the tomb, we saw another tomb, the Tigram Tomb that contained painted diagrams. It wasn’t Tigram’s tomb and is only named after him because the tomb was discovered on Tigram Street.
At this point it was around 3pm and we went for a late lunch at Professor Ghaly’s favorite restaurant. I had chicken and French fries with really good pita bread. It was nice eating with a view of the Mediterranean. Afterwards, we visited the outside of the Citadel of Alexandria, which was also right on the Sea. Across the street, Professor Ghaly took us to his favorite ice cream shop. I got a chocolate and vanilla cone, but it was different than ice cream in the states (I think it was more water-based) and it was very good.
The highlight of the day was most definitely the Library of Alexandria. Built in 2002, it was constructed in the memory of the ancient library that was lost to time. The library has 11 levels and is very impressive. It is built in a bathtub (like the World Trade Center) because some of the building is built below sea level. The façade of the building is made up of granite stones with letters from 1000 different languages to symbolize the meeting of the various people of the world. It is considered a modern wonder of Egypt. There are multiple libraries and museums within the library. There was an area overlooking the entire library designed for tourists so that we wouldn’t disturb the people studying there. The windows in the main room of the building look like eyes since they don’t let the sun’s rays directly into the room and also have eyelashes to control how much light comes in. There are also many fire curtains to prevent a fire from spreading to other parts of the library. We also went downstairs (below street level) and saw the modern art museum. (SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_Alexandrina for photos).
At around 7pm, we drove back to Cairo and returned to our hotel. Tomorrow, believe it or not, is my final full day in Egypt. We will be going to the Egyptian Museum and a bazaar to finish up the trip.
Mailbag
Little Chief Tunis: During your tour of the military museum, was any mention made by the tour guide that the Israelis were attacked on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year? No. None, just the date was mentioned. Did the guide refer to the conflict as the Ramadan War? No, but that was also going on. Was any post-war context provided, i.e. Camp David Peace Accord entered into by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter? Only Sadat was mentioned in this. Any comment on modern-day relations between the two countries or was his explanation of the etiology of the design of the Israeli flag emblematic of current thinking? None.
After a few hours of much needed sleep, we got back on the road and traveled northwest to the second largest city in Egypt, Alexandria. The trip from Cairo to Alexandria took approximately 3 hours. We took one major highway, the Cairo-Alexandria-Matrouh Free Highway/Desert Road, to get to the city on the Mediterranean. It was cool to look out the window at this highway because many sections of it were under reconstruction or widening. Professor Ghaly said that the road is constantly being expanded to accommodate the growing population. In order to do this, many buildings were removed to expand the road’s right-of-way, something that is much harder to do in the United States. The road once went through a desert, but now the route is very developed. Just outside Cairo is an area called the Smart Village, which is designed after Silicon Valley in the United States. Tenants of the Smart Village include Microsoft, Oracle, HP, IBM, and Intel to name a few. It costs less for these American companies to have their Research and Development in Egypt because software engineers are paid less in Egypt than in the United States.
On our way to Alexandria, we stopped at a Zoo (it might have been called the “Lion Zoo,” but I can’t remember for sure) on the side of the highway. We saw Lions, ducks, ostriches, dogs, and monkeys. Yes, there were tons of dogs there…and it was pretty sad seeing all those pups in cages (at least they weren’t in Mike Vick-styled cages). There were Dalmatians, black labs, Greyhounds, and St. Bernards—all purebreds. Apparently, dogs aren’t house pets here like they are in the states—either way, many of us felt bad for those pups.
Once we arrived in Alexandria, Professor Ghaly’s hometown, he gave us a bus tour of some interesting sites of the city as we drove to our destination. It was the capital of Egypt for almost 1000 years until 642 AC. We saw Ghaly’s first construction sites and the buildings he supervised the concrete production of (his first love). He also pointed out where his house is. We also were told that archeologists discovered the entrance of Queen Cleopatra’s temple underwater. We passed Alexandria University, which has ~300,000 students on various campuses.
As we drove around Alexandria, it was very noticeable that it is a different type of city when compared to Cairo. The air and streets are cleaner in Alexandria and people follow traffic regulations—similar to Aswan and Luxor. The taxes in Alexandria are much higher than in other areas of Egypt and the real estate prices are also very high. There are high-rises on the shoreline since that is the only way for builders to make a profit. Hurghada and Sharm were also clean and had organized traffic flows but Hurghada is ½ tourist and ½ locals and Sharm is 99% resorts (there are more than 600 of them). The dirtiest areas around Alexandria are the oil refineries that smell like sulfur, but you can’t smell them from the city.
The road that follows the Mediterranean through the city (the Sea Road—46km long) was only 4 lanes wide (2 in each direction) when Professor Ghaly was a kid. Today it spans 8 lanes from reclaimed land from the sea. To protect against erosion, there are interlocking concrete blocks at the shoreline. Dulles (concrete pieces that look like jacks) also protects the shore. Additionally, the Mediterranean is 50 cm higher than it was 50 years ago due to rising sea levels. Many beaches no longer exist or are much smaller than they once were (there are 3 Miami beaches). This is occurring because of the dumping of wastewater and the reclamation of land in addition to global warming.
Our first stop in Alexandria was the Botanical Garden. We walked around the water. While it was a large place, it wasn’t anything like the Aswan Botanical Gardens. We also saw a King’s palace while there. Afterwards, we traveled a few minutes to a Roman Amphitheatre, which was actually not a place of entertainment in its heyday. It was one of ~1000 in Alexandria and is very small. It was cool to stand in the middle of it because when you speak from this spot, your voice gets louder—amazing technology and engineering. Unfortunately, it is the last remaining amphitheatre as ~1000 have been lost to time. There were also many artifacts around the site that were found under water. Apparently people can take scuba trips to artifacts that are still under water. Excavation continues under the sea to find the lost city of Alexandria.
Our second stop was the Kom El-Shuqafa (Mound of Shards) Monuments, an open-air museum and one of the seven wonders of the Middle Ages. We entered “Catacomb” (a Greek word), the Main Tomb. A catacomb is an underground burial area where families would stay with the dead at night so that they were not alone. We went down a deep shaft of 2 levels, ~27 m down, to see the burial rooms. This was an interesting place because it showed a combination of Greek and Egyptian styles. There were traditional Egyptian sun disks and Horus Falcons, historically Egyptian symbols while there were Medusas and Greek Horses, Greek symbols. There were also carvings of Anubis (Egyptian) with Greek military dress. There were also snakes with the head of Anubis. 300 people were buried in this tomb. Additionally, there is an unfinished tomb of an important person, but they don’t know who it was. After leaving the tomb, we saw another tomb, the Tigram Tomb that contained painted diagrams. It wasn’t Tigram’s tomb and is only named after him because the tomb was discovered on Tigram Street.
At this point it was around 3pm and we went for a late lunch at Professor Ghaly’s favorite restaurant. I had chicken and French fries with really good pita bread. It was nice eating with a view of the Mediterranean. Afterwards, we visited the outside of the Citadel of Alexandria, which was also right on the Sea. Across the street, Professor Ghaly took us to his favorite ice cream shop. I got a chocolate and vanilla cone, but it was different than ice cream in the states (I think it was more water-based) and it was very good.
The highlight of the day was most definitely the Library of Alexandria. Built in 2002, it was constructed in the memory of the ancient library that was lost to time. The library has 11 levels and is very impressive. It is built in a bathtub (like the World Trade Center) because some of the building is built below sea level. The façade of the building is made up of granite stones with letters from 1000 different languages to symbolize the meeting of the various people of the world. It is considered a modern wonder of Egypt. There are multiple libraries and museums within the library. There was an area overlooking the entire library designed for tourists so that we wouldn’t disturb the people studying there. The windows in the main room of the building look like eyes since they don’t let the sun’s rays directly into the room and also have eyelashes to control how much light comes in. There are also many fire curtains to prevent a fire from spreading to other parts of the library. We also went downstairs (below street level) and saw the modern art museum. (SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_Alexandrina for photos).
At around 7pm, we drove back to Cairo and returned to our hotel. Tomorrow, believe it or not, is my final full day in Egypt. We will be going to the Egyptian Museum and a bazaar to finish up the trip.
Mailbag
Little Chief Tunis: During your tour of the military museum, was any mention made by the tour guide that the Israelis were attacked on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year? No. None, just the date was mentioned. Did the guide refer to the conflict as the Ramadan War? No, but that was also going on. Was any post-war context provided, i.e. Camp David Peace Accord entered into by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter? Only Sadat was mentioned in this. Any comment on modern-day relations between the two countries or was his explanation of the etiology of the design of the Israeli flag emblematic of current thinking? None.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Far From One Gustave L. Levy Place
Saturday: December 18, 2010
Today was a long day. It started at 1:15am when I received a wake up call and had to get to the bus by 1:45am. I think I slept for an hour—in my jeans and a hooded sweatshirt (I had the hood up the entire time). I couldn’t sleep because of the mosquitoes flying around my head and making a buzzing noise in my ears. Apparently there was a repellent in the room, but Mike and I didn’t realize it. Even with my hood up, I got three bites on my face (Melanie’s room also had the same problem—and she got bites on her face, legs, and back).
Why did we wake up so early? We woke up soon after going to sleep to climb Mt. Sinai to see the sunrise at 5:50am at the mountain’s peak. With flashlights in hand and wearing many layers of warm clothes (it was pretty cold at the beginning of the night as well as at the top of the mountain), we were led up the mountain by a Bedouin (pronounced: Bedwin), a type of person who lives in the desert. This man is employed by the Egyptian government to lead groups to the top of Mt. Sinai in order to give them job opportunities and ensure that touring companies don’t take advantage of visitors.
The group was moving up the mountain in the dark at a pretty swift pace. Melanie and I decided to take it easy up the mountain (we each have a history of knee problems). As we climbed the mountain, there were dozens of people offering camel rides up the mountain. A good number of non-Union people paid at least 80 pounds for this service but personally I would have been scared to ride a camel in the dark up steep slopes. There were rest stops along the path with drinks and candy, but I didn’t buy anything. After a quick rest stop here and there (anything longer than 5 minutes would have caused our body temperatures to drop), we continued on to the top of the mountain. I often looked up at the stars and I’ve never seen them so bright—it’s too bad the camera couldn’t capture these images. The ground was pretty rocky and I often was looking down so I wouldn’t trip or step in camel dung.
At the 2/3 mark, we had to climb ~750 steps to get to the top of Mt. Sinai. Even with our moderate pace, we caught up with the rest of the Union group and arrived at the top at 5:30am. I didn’t see any tablets, nor did I see Moses. Many aren’t sure of the exact location of Mt. Sinai, but this spot was chosen after it was geolocated using texts and historical background (not truly hard evidence). We spent 45-50 minutes at the top of the mountain to watch the sun rise. After hot days in Sharm, I quickly found myself shivering while wearing 4 layers, two hoods, and winter gloves. Check out this video below!
After watching the sun peak through the clouds and avoiding the numerous vendors, we descended the mountain and got to the bottom around 9am.
The Union group met at the entrance of St. Catherine’s Monastery where we then entered as a group. Interestingly, St. Catherine herself had problems with the ruler of Alexandra regarding religion among other things and was beheaded. Later, a monk saw St. Catherine’s angel and was instructed to bury her in its present location. There are many churches in the area, including one on the top of Mt. Sinai. During the 3rd/4th centuries, the Bedouins living in the area would attack the monastery for food and water and killed monks while doing so. In order to protect themselves, they built walls around the monastery for protection, similar to the walls that surround castles. The wells in the monastery apparently were used during the time of Moses, according to Zach. The monastery is also home to the burning bush. This brush is thought of to be the actual burning bush that is mentioned in the Old Testament because this location has been passed on from generation to generation, pieces of papyrus say this is the correct location, it was there in 642 AD when the Arabs came to Egypt, and pure faith.
After spending time admiring the burning bush, we returned to our hotel, had breakfast, and got back on the road to head back to Cairo. On our way back to the capital city of Egypt, we made three stops. The first stop was a Moses Water Spring, a well-type structure near the Suez Canal made from stones of the Roman time.
The second stop was an open-air Egyptian military museum depicting the events of the 1973 war between Egypt and Israel. This site was 3.5 km from Moses Springs. Professor Ghaly was the translator for the special military guide who showed us around the site. He prefaced his translating by saying this is the Egyptian side and there might not be agreement. Before 1973, Israel controlled the Sinai Peninsula and in 1973, Egypt regained control. We saw an Israeli-built shelter made from reinforced concrete and baskets with stones to absorb cannon ball hits that housed 6-inch caliber cannons. The guide explained that the shelter contains an Israeli flag—and that the 6-pointed star represents the 6 countries Israel wanted to conquer, the top blue strip represents the Nile River, and the bottom blue stripe represents the Tigris/ Euphrates Rivers. I’m not sure that I agree with this explanation being that the Israeli flag was designed in the 1800s, long before the creation of Israel in 1948, but I heard what the military personnel had to say.
We then left the museum and continued our ride back to Cairo. In order to move from Asia to Africa, we took a tunnel that went under the Suez Canal. Unlike tunnels in the New York City area (that were bored from hard rock), the Suez tunnel went through soft sand and needed reinforcement. It is located 10 meters below the canal and is ~4km long. There is a toll to use this tunnel—5 pounds (less than $1) for cars and 10 pounds for buses. After another hour in the bus, we arrived in Cairo and had dinner at a local restaurant where I had chicken and French fries. Next, we checked into our hotel, the Mercure, which was the first hotel we stayed in while in Egypt—we’ve come full circle. Moving around the country has been very exciting, though it is nice to return to where we started three weeks ago. After a night in a hotel like last night, Cairo was a sight for tired and weary eyes.
Tomorrow we take a long bus ride north to Alexandria for a day trip and return to Cairo in the evening. Any questions!? Ask! I’ll answer them! Thanks for reading!
**One Gustave L. Levy Place is the location of Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City**
“Cairo has never looked so good.”
—Melanie Watman as we entered Cairo this evening.
Today was a long day. It started at 1:15am when I received a wake up call and had to get to the bus by 1:45am. I think I slept for an hour—in my jeans and a hooded sweatshirt (I had the hood up the entire time). I couldn’t sleep because of the mosquitoes flying around my head and making a buzzing noise in my ears. Apparently there was a repellent in the room, but Mike and I didn’t realize it. Even with my hood up, I got three bites on my face (Melanie’s room also had the same problem—and she got bites on her face, legs, and back).
Why did we wake up so early? We woke up soon after going to sleep to climb Mt. Sinai to see the sunrise at 5:50am at the mountain’s peak. With flashlights in hand and wearing many layers of warm clothes (it was pretty cold at the beginning of the night as well as at the top of the mountain), we were led up the mountain by a Bedouin (pronounced: Bedwin), a type of person who lives in the desert. This man is employed by the Egyptian government to lead groups to the top of Mt. Sinai in order to give them job opportunities and ensure that touring companies don’t take advantage of visitors.
The group was moving up the mountain in the dark at a pretty swift pace. Melanie and I decided to take it easy up the mountain (we each have a history of knee problems). As we climbed the mountain, there were dozens of people offering camel rides up the mountain. A good number of non-Union people paid at least 80 pounds for this service but personally I would have been scared to ride a camel in the dark up steep slopes. There were rest stops along the path with drinks and candy, but I didn’t buy anything. After a quick rest stop here and there (anything longer than 5 minutes would have caused our body temperatures to drop), we continued on to the top of the mountain. I often looked up at the stars and I’ve never seen them so bright—it’s too bad the camera couldn’t capture these images. The ground was pretty rocky and I often was looking down so I wouldn’t trip or step in camel dung.
At the 2/3 mark, we had to climb ~750 steps to get to the top of Mt. Sinai. Even with our moderate pace, we caught up with the rest of the Union group and arrived at the top at 5:30am. I didn’t see any tablets, nor did I see Moses. Many aren’t sure of the exact location of Mt. Sinai, but this spot was chosen after it was geolocated using texts and historical background (not truly hard evidence). We spent 45-50 minutes at the top of the mountain to watch the sun rise. After hot days in Sharm, I quickly found myself shivering while wearing 4 layers, two hoods, and winter gloves. Check out this video below!
The Union group met at the entrance of St. Catherine’s Monastery where we then entered as a group. Interestingly, St. Catherine herself had problems with the ruler of Alexandra regarding religion among other things and was beheaded. Later, a monk saw St. Catherine’s angel and was instructed to bury her in its present location. There are many churches in the area, including one on the top of Mt. Sinai. During the 3rd/4th centuries, the Bedouins living in the area would attack the monastery for food and water and killed monks while doing so. In order to protect themselves, they built walls around the monastery for protection, similar to the walls that surround castles. The wells in the monastery apparently were used during the time of Moses, according to Zach. The monastery is also home to the burning bush. This brush is thought of to be the actual burning bush that is mentioned in the Old Testament because this location has been passed on from generation to generation, pieces of papyrus say this is the correct location, it was there in 642 AD when the Arabs came to Egypt, and pure faith.
After spending time admiring the burning bush, we returned to our hotel, had breakfast, and got back on the road to head back to Cairo. On our way back to the capital city of Egypt, we made three stops. The first stop was a Moses Water Spring, a well-type structure near the Suez Canal made from stones of the Roman time.
The second stop was an open-air Egyptian military museum depicting the events of the 1973 war between Egypt and Israel. This site was 3.5 km from Moses Springs. Professor Ghaly was the translator for the special military guide who showed us around the site. He prefaced his translating by saying this is the Egyptian side and there might not be agreement. Before 1973, Israel controlled the Sinai Peninsula and in 1973, Egypt regained control. We saw an Israeli-built shelter made from reinforced concrete and baskets with stones to absorb cannon ball hits that housed 6-inch caliber cannons. The guide explained that the shelter contains an Israeli flag—and that the 6-pointed star represents the 6 countries Israel wanted to conquer, the top blue strip represents the Nile River, and the bottom blue stripe represents the Tigris/ Euphrates Rivers. I’m not sure that I agree with this explanation being that the Israeli flag was designed in the 1800s, long before the creation of Israel in 1948, but I heard what the military personnel had to say.
We then left the museum and continued our ride back to Cairo. In order to move from Asia to Africa, we took a tunnel that went under the Suez Canal. Unlike tunnels in the New York City area (that were bored from hard rock), the Suez tunnel went through soft sand and needed reinforcement. It is located 10 meters below the canal and is ~4km long. There is a toll to use this tunnel—5 pounds (less than $1) for cars and 10 pounds for buses. After another hour in the bus, we arrived in Cairo and had dinner at a local restaurant where I had chicken and French fries. Next, we checked into our hotel, the Mercure, which was the first hotel we stayed in while in Egypt—we’ve come full circle. Moving around the country has been very exciting, though it is nice to return to where we started three weeks ago. After a night in a hotel like last night, Cairo was a sight for tired and weary eyes.
Tomorrow we take a long bus ride north to Alexandria for a day trip and return to Cairo in the evening. Any questions!? Ask! I’ll answer them! Thanks for reading!
**One Gustave L. Levy Place is the location of Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City**
A One Camel Town
Friday: December 17, 2010
Hello there! I’m currently in the middle of the desert, otherwise known as St. Catherine, Egypt. We left beautiful Sharm El-Sheikh at around 10:30am and drove north through the desert of the Sinai Peninsula to reach our hotel, The Plaza at St. Catherine. There isn’t much in the town, however, 2,000 visitors come to St. Catherine every day. Since it is not connected to the Nile River, there are deep wells drilled to supply the town with water.
Prior to our arrival at our hotel, Professor Ghaly and Zach, our tour guide, advised us that this hotel was not on the same level as our previous hotels…and they were right. The Plaza is one of two hotels in St. Catherine and is considered the better of the two…but I’m still going to sleep in my clothes tonight. There was a buffet dinner at the hotel and a bunch of us did some shopping at the little shops in the hotel courtyard. One item that was a must have was a flashlight for our trip up Mount Sinai.
While I say that I’m going to sleep in my clothes, I probably will only sleep for an hour since we are leaving for Mount Sinai (Mountain Moses)—a five-minute drive from the hotel—at 2 am. Tomorrow, we hike up Mt. Sinai and travel back to Africa/Cairo for the final leg of the mini term. Talk to you soon!
Hello there! I’m currently in the middle of the desert, otherwise known as St. Catherine, Egypt. We left beautiful Sharm El-Sheikh at around 10:30am and drove north through the desert of the Sinai Peninsula to reach our hotel, The Plaza at St. Catherine. There isn’t much in the town, however, 2,000 visitors come to St. Catherine every day. Since it is not connected to the Nile River, there are deep wells drilled to supply the town with water.
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| In the middle of no where |
While I say that I’m going to sleep in my clothes, I probably will only sleep for an hour since we are leaving for Mount Sinai (Mountain Moses)—a five-minute drive from the hotel—at 2 am. Tomorrow, we hike up Mt. Sinai and travel back to Africa/Cairo for the final leg of the mini term. Talk to you soon!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Sharm El-Sheikh: You are in our hearts, always in our hearts
Thursday: December 16, 2010
Another beautiful day in Sharm El-Sheikh! Sunny, warm, and relaxing...what more can I ask for? Tonight is the last night we will be in this great resort town and I'm returning to Naama Bay for dinner and shopping. Tomorrow morning (10:30am) we will be heading to St. Catherine for a quick stay. At St. Catherine, we will wake up at 2am and climb Mt. Sinai...I'm very excited.
Update (11:16 Egypt Time)
Instead of heading back to Naama Bay for the second night in a row, we ate dinner at the hotel (I had some stir fry chicken--we'll see if my stomach likes this) and took a taxi to the Old Market "Old Sharm." It was not as modern as Naama Bay and felt more like the Luxor Market. I bought a few things and haggled for each of them. It was sort of run down, actually. It cost 25 pounds for all of us in the taxi to get there and another 25 pounds to return to the hotel. When I got back to the hotel, I got the new password for the free internet (it changes every night) and hopped on.
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I doubt there will be free internet there, so I'll probably see you all next time in Cairo on Saturday. Keep those comments coming! I want to answer your questions!
Update (11:16 Egypt Time)
Instead of heading back to Naama Bay for the second night in a row, we ate dinner at the hotel (I had some stir fry chicken--we'll see if my stomach likes this) and took a taxi to the Old Market "Old Sharm." It was not as modern as Naama Bay and felt more like the Luxor Market. I bought a few things and haggled for each of them. It was sort of run down, actually. It cost 25 pounds for all of us in the taxi to get there and another 25 pounds to return to the hotel. When I got back to the hotel, I got the new password for the free internet (it changes every night) and hopped on.
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I doubt there will be free internet there, so I'll probably see you all next time in Cairo on Saturday. Keep those comments coming! I want to answer your questions!
Sharm El-Sheikh: Great is the night and it smiles at you
Wednesday: December 15, 2010
It may be winter in the United States and Egypt, but it doesn’t feel like that here in Sharm El-Sheikh at the Renaissance Sharm El Sheikh Golden View Beach Resort.
Today I sat by two different pools, one of which had free Internet. Unlike Hurghada, there is no breeze here and it is very hot and sunny out. I like all the touring we did during the first few weeks of this trip, but I can’t complain about relaxing, reading, and napping by the pool. The pool with the free Internet is freezing while the pool without the Internet is heated, go figure.
Today a bunch of us ate lunch at Acapulco Joes, a Mexican restaurant at the hotel. Melanie and I split a serving of chicken fajitas (I caved and ate some chicken but there was so much food!). After, we returned to the heated pool, read, and soon fell asleep.
After the buffet dinner in the hotel dining room, some of us took a taxi to Naama Bay, about a 10-minute drive from our hotel. We fit 5 of us into a cab and it only cost us 25 pounds (5 pounds each=less than a dollar each, wow). Naama Bay is a nicer version of the Luxor market and it was also much bigger. The nightlife at Naama Bay is awesome and there are tons of shops. There are lots of hookah bars and touristy shops lining 3 or 4 streets. There was also a McDonalds (which I didn’t have), a Pizza Hut (which was huge), Hard Rock Café, TGI Fridays, and a Baskin Robbins! I shared an Oreo Cookies and Cream milkshake with Melanie and it was the best 30 pounds I’ve spent in a week. A lot of people went to a nightclub, but I was too tired/not in the mood to spend 100 pounds to get in. Four of us took a taxi for 25 pounds back to the hotel around 1am.
Tomorrow, more relaxing and more Naama Bay nightlife. Unfortunately, it is also the last day in Sharm El Sheikh as we then travel to St. Catherine and climb Mt. Sinai (where my mom works).
Once again, the Internet situation will be sketchy until I return to Cairo on Saturday the 18th. Keep those comments coming!
And yes, Little Chief Tunis, it was real and it was alive.
It may be winter in the United States and Egypt, but it doesn’t feel like that here in Sharm El-Sheikh at the Renaissance Sharm El Sheikh Golden View Beach Resort.
Today a bunch of us ate lunch at Acapulco Joes, a Mexican restaurant at the hotel. Melanie and I split a serving of chicken fajitas (I caved and ate some chicken but there was so much food!). After, we returned to the heated pool, read, and soon fell asleep.
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| Mom: Don & Odett now work @ Pizza Hut Sharm |
Tomorrow, more relaxing and more Naama Bay nightlife. Unfortunately, it is also the last day in Sharm El Sheikh as we then travel to St. Catherine and climb Mt. Sinai (where my mom works).
Once again, the Internet situation will be sketchy until I return to Cairo on Saturday the 18th. Keep those comments coming!
And yes, Little Chief Tunis, it was real and it was alive.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Photo Dump!
I know you love pictures and I know I haven't put many up! So here are a few of the 1000+ photos that Melanie and I have taken over the past 2 weeks! Enjoy!
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| Step Pyramid |
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| Light Show @ Giza Pyramids |
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| Citadel |
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| Open Air Museum: Ramses II statue |
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| FANTA! |
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| On the Nile at night |
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| ChooChoo Train Logo |
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| My room on sleeper train |
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| my bathroom on the sleeper train |
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| It's gonna be an awesome night (not) |
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| Aswan High Dam |
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| Oh man....its real...its alive...its a baby (I am too) |
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| Abu Simbel |
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| Botanical Gardens in Aswan |
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| Temple of Hathor |
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| Going through a lock on the Nile |
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| Temple of Hatshepsut-- 3,000 year old tree |
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| Temple of Hatshepsut |
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| Sailing on the Nile |
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| Happy Meal in Luxor! |
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| Sunset @ Hurghada |
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| Flight to Sharm...little plane |
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| Yay! I love flying! (not) |
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| 20 min later: We land in Sharm! |
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| My view from my computer right now... |
Hoy, Sharam A Sheikh
Tuesday: December 14, 2010
Welcome to beautiful Sharm El-Sheikh! Today we took a direct flight from Hurghada to Sharm El-Sheikh, which lasted exactly 20 minutes. In fact, it probably took more time to get our luggage than it took to cross the Red Sea (or to arrive in Asia, whichever way you look at it). Sharm El-Sheikh literally means the “Sector of the Elder.”
Formerly a part of Israel after it captured it in 1967 during the Six-Day War, Sharm El-Sheikh, located at the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula, was returned to Egypt in 1982 under a peace agreement between the two states. It is less than 40 years old, it this fact was obvious as we drove from the airport to the hotel. The area to the right of the major road was pure desert and mountains while the land to the left of the road was either developed or under construction. Similar to Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh is undergoing a lot of development. However, unlike Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh has a master plan and is really sticking to its already-developed land use policies. It has well planned roads and hotels, though it still has an Old Market area (which I plan to going to tomorrow night). Because the streets are well planned, there isn’t congestion like Cairo and therefore lots of peace conferences are held here.
The hotel is beautiful; it is the Marriot Renaissance Sharm El Sheikh Golden View Beach Resort. It is located directly on the Red Sea and from my room I can kinda see the sea. Breakfast and Dinner is included, drinks aren’t…but I found some free Internet near the pool area (apparently you have to buy a drink—but yeah…didn’t). There are 4 adult pools and 4 kid pools and at least 5 different restaurants.
Mailbag!
Uncle Adam: Hey! My tour guide seems to know his stuff, so I would also go with (1) and (2).
Is there a curriculum? We have our various excursions—a pretty packed schedule as you’ve read—but not really. We don’t have student visas, we have tourist visas (we’re pretty much tourists). Professor Ghaly’s Egypt Mini Term Website (Egypt.union.edu) says:
“This miniterm intends to give the students extensive exposure to ancient and modern Egypt. Monument and temple visits of Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic sites are planned. The goal is to explore both the cultural and engineering aspects of this civilization.”
Do you meet with your professor as a group (or individually) to discuss what you have learned or experienced each day? No, we will do this during presentations during the Winter Term.
I know you have been having some stomach maladies, but have you had any truly traditional Egyptian food? Yes, I’ve gone to a few home-style restaurants—and they are really good…though my stomach doesn’t seem to agree with me. At this point, I don’t think my stomach will agree with anything for whatever reason.
I should have taken some of the frogs, locusts, and ping-pong balls from Aunt Mindy’s house and toss them in the market when someone tells me “No Hassle.” They would probably try to sell me my stuff back.
Little Chief Tunis: Sorry I haven’t been able to update more…It sucks from my end too. I think 20% of the population celebrates Christmas…and they celebrate the same way they do in the States. The Sharm area has a lot of “Merry Christmas” signs and there is a huge Christmas tree in the lobby (which we took a picture in front of as a group. Ugh, Cliff Lee. I didn’t see that in the news…I haven’t spent the 15 pounds to get a lousy English-Egyptian paper, but that’s very cool.
Uncle Adam: Yeah, the sharks are a big concern here. They wont open the beaches until an investigation is finished. I read a few days ago in the paper that some people think the Israelis planted the sharks here…and I laughed. Our group wont be going on any sea excursions (no banana boats).
Mom: I know that the Egyptians are proud of their ancient history, but is any of it incorporated into their modern way of life, other than it being the source of much needed tourism income? Lots of jobs excavating undiscovered temples, the money has various historic symbols, a lot of older businesses (carpet making, alabaster carving is still around). Tourism is a huge deal here; English often dominates.
Mom wants to know if the site where Pharaoh's daughter found Moses was ever identified and, if so, is it marked? I have no idea. How wide is the Nile? Not as wide as you would think. Probably the width of the Delaware near Aunt Mindy’s house times 2. It obviously gets bigger during the flooding season. How deep? Deep. Is it clean enough to go swimming in? The farther away from Cairo, the better the water quality, but you don’t want to swim in it—lots of crocodiles. Are there reeds along its bank? Nope, just rocks—the construction of the Aswan High Dam probably destroyed that type of agriculture.
Welcome to beautiful Sharm El-Sheikh! Today we took a direct flight from Hurghada to Sharm El-Sheikh, which lasted exactly 20 minutes. In fact, it probably took more time to get our luggage than it took to cross the Red Sea (or to arrive in Asia, whichever way you look at it). Sharm El-Sheikh literally means the “Sector of the Elder.”
Formerly a part of Israel after it captured it in 1967 during the Six-Day War, Sharm El-Sheikh, located at the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula, was returned to Egypt in 1982 under a peace agreement between the two states. It is less than 40 years old, it this fact was obvious as we drove from the airport to the hotel. The area to the right of the major road was pure desert and mountains while the land to the left of the road was either developed or under construction. Similar to Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh is undergoing a lot of development. However, unlike Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh has a master plan and is really sticking to its already-developed land use policies. It has well planned roads and hotels, though it still has an Old Market area (which I plan to going to tomorrow night). Because the streets are well planned, there isn’t congestion like Cairo and therefore lots of peace conferences are held here.
The hotel is beautiful; it is the Marriot Renaissance Sharm El Sheikh Golden View Beach Resort. It is located directly on the Red Sea and from my room I can kinda see the sea. Breakfast and Dinner is included, drinks aren’t…but I found some free Internet near the pool area (apparently you have to buy a drink—but yeah…didn’t). There are 4 adult pools and 4 kid pools and at least 5 different restaurants.
Mailbag!
Uncle Adam: Hey! My tour guide seems to know his stuff, so I would also go with (1) and (2).
Is there a curriculum? We have our various excursions—a pretty packed schedule as you’ve read—but not really. We don’t have student visas, we have tourist visas (we’re pretty much tourists). Professor Ghaly’s Egypt Mini Term Website (Egypt.union.edu) says:
“This miniterm intends to give the students extensive exposure to ancient and modern Egypt. Monument and temple visits of Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic sites are planned. The goal is to explore both the cultural and engineering aspects of this civilization.”
Do you meet with your professor as a group (or individually) to discuss what you have learned or experienced each day? No, we will do this during presentations during the Winter Term.
I know you have been having some stomach maladies, but have you had any truly traditional Egyptian food? Yes, I’ve gone to a few home-style restaurants—and they are really good…though my stomach doesn’t seem to agree with me. At this point, I don’t think my stomach will agree with anything for whatever reason.
I should have taken some of the frogs, locusts, and ping-pong balls from Aunt Mindy’s house and toss them in the market when someone tells me “No Hassle.” They would probably try to sell me my stuff back.
Little Chief Tunis: Sorry I haven’t been able to update more…It sucks from my end too. I think 20% of the population celebrates Christmas…and they celebrate the same way they do in the States. The Sharm area has a lot of “Merry Christmas” signs and there is a huge Christmas tree in the lobby (which we took a picture in front of as a group. Ugh, Cliff Lee. I didn’t see that in the news…I haven’t spent the 15 pounds to get a lousy English-Egyptian paper, but that’s very cool.
Uncle Adam: Yeah, the sharks are a big concern here. They wont open the beaches until an investigation is finished. I read a few days ago in the paper that some people think the Israelis planted the sharks here…and I laughed. Our group wont be going on any sea excursions (no banana boats).
Mom: I know that the Egyptians are proud of their ancient history, but is any of it incorporated into their modern way of life, other than it being the source of much needed tourism income? Lots of jobs excavating undiscovered temples, the money has various historic symbols, a lot of older businesses (carpet making, alabaster carving is still around). Tourism is a huge deal here; English often dominates.
Mom wants to know if the site where Pharaoh's daughter found Moses was ever identified and, if so, is it marked? I have no idea. How wide is the Nile? Not as wide as you would think. Probably the width of the Delaware near Aunt Mindy’s house times 2. It obviously gets bigger during the flooding season. How deep? Deep. Is it clean enough to go swimming in? The farther away from Cairo, the better the water quality, but you don’t want to swim in it—lots of crocodiles. Are there reeds along its bank? Nope, just rocks—the construction of the Aswan High Dam probably destroyed that type of agriculture.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Leaving for Sharm El-Sheikh
Hey Everybody! Special mid-day 14 post live from Hurghada International Airport in Hurghada, Egypt. It is 12:30ish local time (5:30ish AM EST). Finally some free internet! I am flying to Sharm El-Sheikh via Egypt Air Flight MS 414, supposed to be taking off at 12:55, but I doubt that will happen. Gotta go! bye!
R&R&Reading in Hurghada
Monday: December 13, 2010
Today was another relaxing day in Hurghada! A bunch of people went on a snorkeling trip today, which left a few of us at the resort. I was by myself most of the day on the beach and cranked out my book! When I got back to the room, I couldn’t believe that I finished the book before 2:30pm. It was warmer and less breezy today than yesterday and I definitely got some color today…I should have put some sunscreen on.
A side note about Hurghada: It is a pretty new resort area and apparently it has developed greatly in the last 10 years. There is a lot of construction going on around the city, though it is not noticeable from the resort area.
Overall, the lack of (cheap) Internet service, a daily newspaper, and lots of English-speaking TV stations (we get CNN international here—but its not that interesting) is kind of frustrating since I really don’t know what is going on in the news. I’ve seen the big stories (hostage situation in France, suicide bombing in Sweeden, a violent storm in Israel) but who knows what’s going on in local news. It is nice, however, not to have my blackberry on me—it’s a nice break from being connected to social media.
Tomorrow morning we leave Hurghada and the continent of Africa as we travel to the other side of the Red Sea, Sharm El-Sheikh (yes, it is officially in Asia…very cool).
Keep those questions and comments coming! I’ll answer it all! Talk to you soon!
Today was another relaxing day in Hurghada! A bunch of people went on a snorkeling trip today, which left a few of us at the resort. I was by myself most of the day on the beach and cranked out my book! When I got back to the room, I couldn’t believe that I finished the book before 2:30pm. It was warmer and less breezy today than yesterday and I definitely got some color today…I should have put some sunscreen on.
A side note about Hurghada: It is a pretty new resort area and apparently it has developed greatly in the last 10 years. There is a lot of construction going on around the city, though it is not noticeable from the resort area.
Overall, the lack of (cheap) Internet service, a daily newspaper, and lots of English-speaking TV stations (we get CNN international here—but its not that interesting) is kind of frustrating since I really don’t know what is going on in the news. I’ve seen the big stories (hostage situation in France, suicide bombing in Sweeden, a violent storm in Israel) but who knows what’s going on in local news. It is nice, however, not to have my blackberry on me—it’s a nice break from being connected to social media.
Tomorrow morning we leave Hurghada and the continent of Africa as we travel to the other side of the Red Sea, Sharm El-Sheikh (yes, it is officially in Asia…very cool).
Keep those questions and comments coming! I’ll answer it all! Talk to you soon!
The Red Sea Isn't Red
Sunday: December 12, 2010
It’s official: The Read Sea isn’t red…but it sure is beautiful! Snow in the United States? The Minnesota Metrodome collapsing? 12 degree Fahrenheit wind chills in New York this week? All this while I was relaxing on the beach at our resort. It was a little breezy today which made it a tad cold to be at the beach, but it was sunny and relaxing nonetheless.
I continued reading “Moneyball” on my kindle today and I’m 20% through it, so hopefully I can read some more tomorrow. The breakfast and dinner buffet here is pretty good. They have a cheese carving and omlet stations in the morning and a pasta bar in the evening. Lunch is not included, but Melanie, Shelby, Cellie, and I went to the beach restaurant where they got cheeseburgers and I, unwilling to test my stomach, got a personal pizza.
Other than relaxing on the beach, I’ve been lounging around and enjoying the sea (the water is a little cold though). Later in the evening, a bunch of us left the resort to check out the shops in the area. Professor Ghaly says that the big market is a taxicab trip and none of us were willing to travel that far so we walked across the street. It’s funny how all the vendors said “No Hassle! No Hassel!” when we know they are trying to hassle. Because all the vendors said this phrase to us while we were walking around, none of us went into any stores…we just weren’t in the mood for it, I guess. We made a u-turn back to the resort and went to the restaurant and got hot chocolates. Relaxing, beautiful, pleasant, and very chill…can’t ask for more.
The internet is a lot of money here and no internet cafes are in sight…very annoying. Talk to you soon!
It’s official: The Read Sea isn’t red…but it sure is beautiful! Snow in the United States? The Minnesota Metrodome collapsing? 12 degree Fahrenheit wind chills in New York this week? All this while I was relaxing on the beach at our resort. It was a little breezy today which made it a tad cold to be at the beach, but it was sunny and relaxing nonetheless.
I continued reading “Moneyball” on my kindle today and I’m 20% through it, so hopefully I can read some more tomorrow. The breakfast and dinner buffet here is pretty good. They have a cheese carving and omlet stations in the morning and a pasta bar in the evening. Lunch is not included, but Melanie, Shelby, Cellie, and I went to the beach restaurant where they got cheeseburgers and I, unwilling to test my stomach, got a personal pizza.
Other than relaxing on the beach, I’ve been lounging around and enjoying the sea (the water is a little cold though). Later in the evening, a bunch of us left the resort to check out the shops in the area. Professor Ghaly says that the big market is a taxicab trip and none of us were willing to travel that far so we walked across the street. It’s funny how all the vendors said “No Hassle! No Hassel!” when we know they are trying to hassle. Because all the vendors said this phrase to us while we were walking around, none of us went into any stores…we just weren’t in the mood for it, I guess. We made a u-turn back to the resort and went to the restaurant and got hot chocolates. Relaxing, beautiful, pleasant, and very chill…can’t ask for more.
The internet is a lot of money here and no internet cafes are in sight…very annoying. Talk to you soon!
Traveling Through The Desert Again
Saturday: December 11, 2010
Am I still in Egypt? I’m looking outside my window here in Hurghada in Eastern Egypt and I can’t believe my eyes. Our hotel, the Hurghada Continental Resort, is located directly on the Red Sea…very cool, but not very red. It doesn’t feel like we are in Egypt since it is such a resort/tourist area, but I don’t have a problem with that.
We left the beautiful city of Luxor around 10:30 this morning and got in a bus to drive to Hurghada. It was a 4-hour drive through the desert, but this time we didn’t drive in a caravan as we did for the drive to Abu Simbel. I’m not going to lie, I felt uncomfortable driving through the desert by ourselves, especially when the driver was going a little too fast around the numerous curves in the road for my liking. Either way, we made it to Hurghada around 4:30pm safely and checked into our hotel on the beach. It has everything you could ask for at a resort. After I got settled, I went down to Melanie’s room and we took a walk on the beach. Sure, it is December, but it doesn’t feel like it here in Egypt. Afterwards, there was a buffet dinner at the hotel with a pasta station! Woo! It is going to be nice to relax after a week and a half of continuous sightseeing.
Time to start a book on the beach tomorrow! See ya later!
Am I still in Egypt? I’m looking outside my window here in Hurghada in Eastern Egypt and I can’t believe my eyes. Our hotel, the Hurghada Continental Resort, is located directly on the Red Sea…very cool, but not very red. It doesn’t feel like we are in Egypt since it is such a resort/tourist area, but I don’t have a problem with that.
We left the beautiful city of Luxor around 10:30 this morning and got in a bus to drive to Hurghada. It was a 4-hour drive through the desert, but this time we didn’t drive in a caravan as we did for the drive to Abu Simbel. I’m not going to lie, I felt uncomfortable driving through the desert by ourselves, especially when the driver was going a little too fast around the numerous curves in the road for my liking. Either way, we made it to Hurghada around 4:30pm safely and checked into our hotel on the beach. It has everything you could ask for at a resort. After I got settled, I went down to Melanie’s room and we took a walk on the beach. Sure, it is December, but it doesn’t feel like it here in Egypt. Afterwards, there was a buffet dinner at the hotel with a pasta station! Woo! It is going to be nice to relax after a week and a half of continuous sightseeing.
Time to start a book on the beach tomorrow! See ya later!
Luxurious Luxor
Friday: December 10, 2010
Luxor is truly a beautiful place to spend a few days in. It is unlike any other city I have visited thus far in Egypt. Unlike Cairo, there is no smog or intense traffic and unlike Aswan, it feels like a town where I can walk around. Sure, it is a developing tourist attraction, but they are certainly doing a great job making it a clean and enjoyable place to visit.
I have noticed a few things about Luxor (which literally means “the palaces” that I haven’t seen in other places we’ve stayed in Egypt. First off, there is a cleaning crew that works all day and night to keep the sidewalks and streets clean. Crews carry carts with brooms and garbage bags to clean the streets, similar to the Times Square Alliance and 34th Street Coalition crews to keep those areas in New York City clean and safe. Even though most of Egypt has a lot of security (all the temples, tombs, and hotels we’ve visited have metal detectors and x-ray machines at the doors and we’ve had security guys with us wherever we go), I’ve noticed a heavy visible police presence in this city. There are lots of nice sidewalks and I’ve walked a few times between my hotel and the marketplace (as I’ve discussed in the previous entry).
Luxor also has an interesting and unique land use policy that it seems to be adhering to. While there are many old homes and businesses in the city, the government is taking significant amounts of property to restore the city to look and feel as it did during ancient times. During ancient times, an avenue of sphinxes connected Luxor Temple in downtown Luxor and Karnack Temple, a five-minute drive from downtown. Archeologists have found these sphinxes and the government is restoring the avenue. This has meant uprooting many homes and businesses (including a 5-star hotel) in the middle of the city. Additionally, during ancient times the Nile could be seen from the two temples, which is also going to be restored by taking houses and businesses that block the view of the Nile. Once completed, Luxor is going to look like it did during ancient times with the more modern areas away from the Nile. If I find more information about this, I’ll strongly consider writing my final paper on this topic.
Anyway, I digress. Today we visited the previously mentioned Luxor and Karnack Temples. The first stop was Karnack Temple, the largest temple in Egypt. “Kar” means “Spirit” or “House” and “Nack” means “Goose,” which makes sense because Amun-Re was represented by Geese. This temple is unique because not only is it the largest, its construction spanned ~2,000 years as many kings and pharaohs continued to add sections to the temple throughout the years. Because of the on-going construction, there are lots of places where one could enter during ancient times, though there is only one true entrance. There have been ~100,000 monuments found under the sand at this site alone and 90% of the stones are sandstones that traveled ~80km from the south to Luxor City. This temple is also interesting as it contains a sacred lake that could have been used for mummification, for crocodiles, or most likely for the geese around the temple. The sphinxes at this temple are different because they are ram-headed here. The temple was destroyed over the years for a variety of reasons including flooding, a change in religion, and politics. It can be seen in this temple that Ramses III was a great builder and is a storyteller about the wars he presided over. We also danced around a beetle on a pedestal (check out Melanie’s blog for more on that, because I don’t remember what the beetle is exactly called). It is supposed to give you luck, wealth, happiness, and fertility if you go around it 7 times. We then saw the biggest Hieroglyphics in Egypt and sure enough they were huge! I gotta get a picture up here at some point.
Our next stop was down the former and future avenue of the sphinxes, Luxor Temple. This temple was significantly smaller but was also built by many kings. It was built for King Ramses II. Interestingly, the entire site was covered by sand during the modern days of excavation. A historical mosque that was on top of the temple before it was discovered still exists today. There was also an early temple that was at this site before buildings were built on top of them. During ancient times, the temple was much bigger. He also gave us a gift for the group in the hotel. There is also a portion of the temple built by Alexander the Great.
After spending time in Luxor Temple, we went to a buffet lunch on the bank of the Nile River. I ate some garlic bread, pasta, and ice cream since who knows what my stomach will do next. We then went to the hotel after lunch. Interestingly, our hotel in Luxor is hosting a World Human Trafficing conference made up of adults and youths all around the world. We couldn’t get out of the bus in front of our hotel because there were private and security cars outside since the Governor of Luxor and the President’s wife were attending the conference inside the hotel.
Once we got into the hotel, I went 2 minutes down the road to the Internet café (4:20pm). I expected a sketch place with dusty computers, but this was in the lobby of the hotel next door. It was totally worth the 20 pounds for an hour as I caught up on my blog entries. As soon as my hour at the café ended, I dropped my computer off and hopped on our tour bus to return to Karnack Temple for the light show. The show was pretty cool as we got to move around the temple at night and was much much better than the show at the Giza Pyramids. After the light show, which lasted about an hour, a bunch of us asked Professor Ghaly to be dropped off in the market area, which I did. I was going to buy some things, but I didn’t have the energy to haggle tonight and tried to get through the market without a vendor from last night recognizing me (sounds like a bad high school reunion, haha). After successfully getting through the market, a few of us splurged on dinner—McDonalds. I can’t say I’ve had McD’s in a while, but it felt like I was back on Route 1 in New York. I got the Happy Meal (6 Chicken Nuggets, a Medium Coke, and Fries) for 15 pounds…not a bad deal. Don’t worry! I also got a toy!
Today marked the end of the major touring sites in Egypt. Wow, that was fast. Tonight is the last night in Luxor City and we head out at 10am for a 4-hour bus ride to Hurghada. Apparently we will get to relax most of the rest of the trip!
The days are long, but the work is great. I’m tired and I’m hungry, but I’m having an awesome time! Enjoy the entries! Comment! I’ll answer anything! Talk to you soon!
Luxor is truly a beautiful place to spend a few days in. It is unlike any other city I have visited thus far in Egypt. Unlike Cairo, there is no smog or intense traffic and unlike Aswan, it feels like a town where I can walk around. Sure, it is a developing tourist attraction, but they are certainly doing a great job making it a clean and enjoyable place to visit.
I have noticed a few things about Luxor (which literally means “the palaces” that I haven’t seen in other places we’ve stayed in Egypt. First off, there is a cleaning crew that works all day and night to keep the sidewalks and streets clean. Crews carry carts with brooms and garbage bags to clean the streets, similar to the Times Square Alliance and 34th Street Coalition crews to keep those areas in New York City clean and safe. Even though most of Egypt has a lot of security (all the temples, tombs, and hotels we’ve visited have metal detectors and x-ray machines at the doors and we’ve had security guys with us wherever we go), I’ve noticed a heavy visible police presence in this city. There are lots of nice sidewalks and I’ve walked a few times between my hotel and the marketplace (as I’ve discussed in the previous entry).
Luxor also has an interesting and unique land use policy that it seems to be adhering to. While there are many old homes and businesses in the city, the government is taking significant amounts of property to restore the city to look and feel as it did during ancient times. During ancient times, an avenue of sphinxes connected Luxor Temple in downtown Luxor and Karnack Temple, a five-minute drive from downtown. Archeologists have found these sphinxes and the government is restoring the avenue. This has meant uprooting many homes and businesses (including a 5-star hotel) in the middle of the city. Additionally, during ancient times the Nile could be seen from the two temples, which is also going to be restored by taking houses and businesses that block the view of the Nile. Once completed, Luxor is going to look like it did during ancient times with the more modern areas away from the Nile. If I find more information about this, I’ll strongly consider writing my final paper on this topic.
Anyway, I digress. Today we visited the previously mentioned Luxor and Karnack Temples. The first stop was Karnack Temple, the largest temple in Egypt. “Kar” means “Spirit” or “House” and “Nack” means “Goose,” which makes sense because Amun-Re was represented by Geese. This temple is unique because not only is it the largest, its construction spanned ~2,000 years as many kings and pharaohs continued to add sections to the temple throughout the years. Because of the on-going construction, there are lots of places where one could enter during ancient times, though there is only one true entrance. There have been ~100,000 monuments found under the sand at this site alone and 90% of the stones are sandstones that traveled ~80km from the south to Luxor City. This temple is also interesting as it contains a sacred lake that could have been used for mummification, for crocodiles, or most likely for the geese around the temple. The sphinxes at this temple are different because they are ram-headed here. The temple was destroyed over the years for a variety of reasons including flooding, a change in religion, and politics. It can be seen in this temple that Ramses III was a great builder and is a storyteller about the wars he presided over. We also danced around a beetle on a pedestal (check out Melanie’s blog for more on that, because I don’t remember what the beetle is exactly called). It is supposed to give you luck, wealth, happiness, and fertility if you go around it 7 times. We then saw the biggest Hieroglyphics in Egypt and sure enough they were huge! I gotta get a picture up here at some point.
Our next stop was down the former and future avenue of the sphinxes, Luxor Temple. This temple was significantly smaller but was also built by many kings. It was built for King Ramses II. Interestingly, the entire site was covered by sand during the modern days of excavation. A historical mosque that was on top of the temple before it was discovered still exists today. There was also an early temple that was at this site before buildings were built on top of them. During ancient times, the temple was much bigger. He also gave us a gift for the group in the hotel. There is also a portion of the temple built by Alexander the Great.
After spending time in Luxor Temple, we went to a buffet lunch on the bank of the Nile River. I ate some garlic bread, pasta, and ice cream since who knows what my stomach will do next. We then went to the hotel after lunch. Interestingly, our hotel in Luxor is hosting a World Human Trafficing conference made up of adults and youths all around the world. We couldn’t get out of the bus in front of our hotel because there were private and security cars outside since the Governor of Luxor and the President’s wife were attending the conference inside the hotel.
Once we got into the hotel, I went 2 minutes down the road to the Internet café (4:20pm). I expected a sketch place with dusty computers, but this was in the lobby of the hotel next door. It was totally worth the 20 pounds for an hour as I caught up on my blog entries. As soon as my hour at the café ended, I dropped my computer off and hopped on our tour bus to return to Karnack Temple for the light show. The show was pretty cool as we got to move around the temple at night and was much much better than the show at the Giza Pyramids. After the light show, which lasted about an hour, a bunch of us asked Professor Ghaly to be dropped off in the market area, which I did. I was going to buy some things, but I didn’t have the energy to haggle tonight and tried to get through the market without a vendor from last night recognizing me (sounds like a bad high school reunion, haha). After successfully getting through the market, a few of us splurged on dinner—McDonalds. I can’t say I’ve had McD’s in a while, but it felt like I was back on Route 1 in New York. I got the Happy Meal (6 Chicken Nuggets, a Medium Coke, and Fries) for 15 pounds…not a bad deal. Don’t worry! I also got a toy!
Today marked the end of the major touring sites in Egypt. Wow, that was fast. Tonight is the last night in Luxor City and we head out at 10am for a 4-hour bus ride to Hurghada. Apparently we will get to relax most of the rest of the trip!
The days are long, but the work is great. I’m tired and I’m hungry, but I’m having an awesome time! Enjoy the entries! Comment! I’ll answer anything! Talk to you soon!
Friday, December 10, 2010
A trip to the Valley and Mohammed's Shop
Thursday: December 9, 2010
Hello from the Steigenberger Nile Palace in Luxor, Egypt! We checked out from our cruise ship early this morning and headed to the Valley of the Kings. Everybody, including myself, was excited for this part of the tour because it is home to King Tut’s Tomb!
The Valley of the Kings contains 63 tombs in the complex and was built in the mountains instead of pyramids. The ancient Egyptians stopped using pyramids as tombs because they were easy targets for tomb robbers. They thought that the tombs would be safer if they were hidden in the valleys and mountains…and they were correct! They also chose this area because they thought the mountains looked like pyramids and were a way to get to the second life. The ticket we were provided with allowed us to visit 3 tombs and King Tut’s tomb was an extra ticket costing 50 pounds, which I paid for without hesitation (good thing I did!) Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures while in the tombs. They were very strict about this and I saw many people trying to sneak a picture who quickly had their cameras taken from them. One guy in our group got caught taking a picture and they erased his memory card—hurts.
The security during the time of the construction of the Valley of the Kings was high for ancient times. These officials were so afraid of tomb robbers that the people working on the tombs were required to stay at the West Bank and lived in an area called the “City of the Workers.” The government gave the workers land in this area as well as a few animals for food. Another perk of moving to the West Bank to work was being able to construct your own tomb in the area, which is not something ordinary people commonly had. The houses in the area surrounding the Valley today are similar to those during ancient times as they are both made of mud and stone. The government is moving these homes in order to excavate underneath them for artifacts.
Zach told us a story about the Valley of the Kings where the Abdesurul family discovered many artifacts in the area before it became a popular site for archeologists and tourists. The family would make trips to the Valley to get artifacts and sell them to various collections for money. One of the family members got sick and couldn’t go with the rest of the family and was upset when he didn’t get a cut of the money. He then told everybody about what the family was doing. While this was a long time ago, a member of this family is now a consultant to the Egyptian Antiquities Council because of the secrets that have been passed down from generation to generation within his family.
In the 1800s they found 25 royal mummies transported by security people that are now at the Egyptian museum in Cairo, which I’ll see towards the end of the trip.
Apparently they are still excavating 26 temples and are looking for 500 more.
Zach couldn’t lecture in the tombs so he told us to be on the lookout for a few things:
The first of the three tombs we visited was the tomb of Thutmoses III. It was built during the 18th dynasty and was discovered by Victor Loret in 1898. Thutmoses III was a great conquer who ruled Egypt in 1504. He was a king who thought of himself as a human instead of being god-like (which restarted with Ramses II). He also was the first to bring modern chickens and pomegranates to Egypt…and yes, there are KFCs in Egypt. Thutmoses was considered the “Napoleon” of Egypt. In order to reach his tomb, we had to climb a large set of stairs up the mountain and then descend 60 ft to reach the various rooms of the tomb. It was very very cool to see the colors on the wall—though these were different, they were drawings instead of carvings. We also can’t understand these symbols since they are different than traditional hieroglyphics. The ancient Egyptians apparently preferred to have deep underground tombs to protect the artifacts inside, but this was not always possible.
The second tomb we saw was the tomb of King Ramses III. It was constructed during the 20th dynasty. It is somewhat small because he didn’t live long enough for the workers to completely finish the tomb. The third tomb was of King Ramses IX. It was constructed during the 20th dynasty as well.
The fourth—and most exciting tomb—we visited was King Tut’s tomb.
Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tutankhumun (Tut) on his last day of searching in the Valley in 1922. His tomb is very popular because it was found almost entirely intact. Surprisingly, his tomb is the 2nd smallest tomb in Egypt. It was built during the 18th Dynasty. The tomb didn’t have any colors. When you get to the bottom of the tomb, we saw Tut’s mummy (so cool!) and his sarcophagus. The tomb is undergoing a study to determine the best way to preserve the tomb for future generations. Apparently Tut wasn’t famous earlier because he became King at a young age and died ~19 years old. He had malaria but he died from an infection he got after he fell off a chariot. Archiologist knew he had a bad leg because they found ~110 canes with him in his tomb. While the rest of Tut’s tomb lacks color on the walls, the area that has the sarcophagus is the only area with color.
The tomb of King Ramses, another famous king, was found to be in very bad condition because of the runoff from the mountains. It was not open for tours while we were there.
After the Valley of the Kings, we traveled via bus to the Temple of Hatshepsut “Hot Chicken Soup.” The ancient Egyptians weren’t accepting of her at first because they weren’t used to a female leader. In order to help people get used to her, she started dressing like a man and had darker skin (women were considered to have light skin). She ruled for 22 years…wow. She had a strong army but didn’t use it for wars; instead she used it for expeditions for trees, plants, and flowers from other countries. In fact, she had a botanical garden in front of her temple—two small tree stumps (~3,500 years old) are evidence of this, which we saw.
We also visited an Alabaster Shop where they make and sell handmade stone carvings. They were a pretty entertaining group as they sang, chanted, and joked as the manager told us how everything was made. The workers all talked in unison--sure it was scripted, but it was hilarious. It is a skill passed down from fathers and grandfathers originally for religious reasons, but now more for souvenirs for tourists. The figures come in white, brown, green, and glow-in-the-dark.
My stomach has been getting better and I ate the chicken at the Egyptian-styled restaurant the group went to. They had spicy potatoes, which I liked a lot. I used the sauce from the potatoes and put them on my rice and chicken. In terms of my stomach these days, it is a day-to-day situation. One day I feel normal and the next day not so much. I’m being very conservative with the foods I’m eating. Don’t worry! It’s not only me getting sick! It seems most of the people on this trip have been sick at one point or another—sometimes worse than what I’ve had. Luckily, I haven’t missed anything because of my stomach issues.
We then got back on the bus and traveled to our 5-star hotel located in downtown Luxor. Before we could enjoy the numerous amenities it offers (tennis courts, shops, entertainment at night, swimming, and napping), we dropped our luggage off (it was around 4pm) in our rooms and headed downstairs to the dock where two sail boats were waiting for us. It was really relaxing to sit on the boat and just enjoy the sights and landscape of the River Nile. We got to see the sunset and had a nice breeze pushing us along. Apparently there is a law that you can’t sail on the Nile after 5pm, which we soon found out from the Nile Police riding around on their motorized dinghy.
It took us awhile to get back to shore as the wind died down, but once we did, a bunch of us headed out to El Souk—The Market, about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We took a group picture in front of Luxor Temple, which we will visit tomorrow, and then a good number of people rushed across the street to the Golden Arches—McDonalds. I didn’t get any and continued down the street to the market place. There were so many shops in the market place and it was somewhat intimidating. Melanie got some scarves and I helped her haggle them down in the store. As I was walking down the market with Melanie, we were waiting for our friends Mike and Elana. A man named Mohammed asked me if I was American and if I could write Merry Christmas and Happy New Year on a business card so he could write it to his friend in the United States. I believed him for a second and said sure. He wanted me to come into his store to write it down, but I refused to do this and told him to come to me. He wasn’t really happy about this, but I told him that I was also looking for my friends. I told him I would come back after we found them…and sure enough…when we were walking past his shop, he spotted me and called my name, except Melanie and I told Mohammed that we were Mike and Elana! So he sucked us into his store and Melanie and I found stuff we wanted to get anyway at some point. I haggled him down from his original price of 280 pounds to 90 pounds…student discount, yeah right. The entire time he was calling me Michael, hahah. If I go back to the market tomorrow--oy.
We then walked back to the hotel around 9pm and ate at an Italian place in the hotel where I got pizza.
Tomorrow is the final major sightseeing day as we see Karnack and Luxor Temples. I’m tired these days—but oh well, its really interesting to learn and see these sites.
Sorry about the lack of Internet this week, its been tough with no blogs, emails, communication with the world! Talk to you soon!
Some other notes:
Hello from the Steigenberger Nile Palace in Luxor, Egypt! We checked out from our cruise ship early this morning and headed to the Valley of the Kings. Everybody, including myself, was excited for this part of the tour because it is home to King Tut’s Tomb!
The Valley of the Kings contains 63 tombs in the complex and was built in the mountains instead of pyramids. The ancient Egyptians stopped using pyramids as tombs because they were easy targets for tomb robbers. They thought that the tombs would be safer if they were hidden in the valleys and mountains…and they were correct! They also chose this area because they thought the mountains looked like pyramids and were a way to get to the second life. The ticket we were provided with allowed us to visit 3 tombs and King Tut’s tomb was an extra ticket costing 50 pounds, which I paid for without hesitation (good thing I did!) Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures while in the tombs. They were very strict about this and I saw many people trying to sneak a picture who quickly had their cameras taken from them. One guy in our group got caught taking a picture and they erased his memory card—hurts.
The security during the time of the construction of the Valley of the Kings was high for ancient times. These officials were so afraid of tomb robbers that the people working on the tombs were required to stay at the West Bank and lived in an area called the “City of the Workers.” The government gave the workers land in this area as well as a few animals for food. Another perk of moving to the West Bank to work was being able to construct your own tomb in the area, which is not something ordinary people commonly had. The houses in the area surrounding the Valley today are similar to those during ancient times as they are both made of mud and stone. The government is moving these homes in order to excavate underneath them for artifacts.
Zach told us a story about the Valley of the Kings where the Abdesurul family discovered many artifacts in the area before it became a popular site for archeologists and tourists. The family would make trips to the Valley to get artifacts and sell them to various collections for money. One of the family members got sick and couldn’t go with the rest of the family and was upset when he didn’t get a cut of the money. He then told everybody about what the family was doing. While this was a long time ago, a member of this family is now a consultant to the Egyptian Antiquities Council because of the secrets that have been passed down from generation to generation within his family.
In the 1800s they found 25 royal mummies transported by security people that are now at the Egyptian museum in Cairo, which I’ll see towards the end of the trip.
Apparently they are still excavating 26 temples and are looking for 500 more.
Zach couldn’t lecture in the tombs so he told us to be on the lookout for a few things:
- Humans and animals sitting correctly meant that they were a good spirit while figures that were upside down, had knives in them, or had no heads meant that they were bad spirits.
- A book of the Dead—a prayer to help a spirit avoid danger while moving from the 1st to 2nd lives.
- A solar boat—with good gods to help one get to the second life.
- Lots of snakes.
The first of the three tombs we visited was the tomb of Thutmoses III. It was built during the 18th dynasty and was discovered by Victor Loret in 1898. Thutmoses III was a great conquer who ruled Egypt in 1504. He was a king who thought of himself as a human instead of being god-like (which restarted with Ramses II). He also was the first to bring modern chickens and pomegranates to Egypt…and yes, there are KFCs in Egypt. Thutmoses was considered the “Napoleon” of Egypt. In order to reach his tomb, we had to climb a large set of stairs up the mountain and then descend 60 ft to reach the various rooms of the tomb. It was very very cool to see the colors on the wall—though these were different, they were drawings instead of carvings. We also can’t understand these symbols since they are different than traditional hieroglyphics. The ancient Egyptians apparently preferred to have deep underground tombs to protect the artifacts inside, but this was not always possible.
The second tomb we saw was the tomb of King Ramses III. It was constructed during the 20th dynasty. It is somewhat small because he didn’t live long enough for the workers to completely finish the tomb. The third tomb was of King Ramses IX. It was constructed during the 20th dynasty as well.
The fourth—and most exciting tomb—we visited was King Tut’s tomb.
Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tutankhumun (Tut) on his last day of searching in the Valley in 1922. His tomb is very popular because it was found almost entirely intact. Surprisingly, his tomb is the 2nd smallest tomb in Egypt. It was built during the 18th Dynasty. The tomb didn’t have any colors. When you get to the bottom of the tomb, we saw Tut’s mummy (so cool!) and his sarcophagus. The tomb is undergoing a study to determine the best way to preserve the tomb for future generations. Apparently Tut wasn’t famous earlier because he became King at a young age and died ~19 years old. He had malaria but he died from an infection he got after he fell off a chariot. Archiologist knew he had a bad leg because they found ~110 canes with him in his tomb. While the rest of Tut’s tomb lacks color on the walls, the area that has the sarcophagus is the only area with color.
The tomb of King Ramses, another famous king, was found to be in very bad condition because of the runoff from the mountains. It was not open for tours while we were there.
After the Valley of the Kings, we traveled via bus to the Temple of Hatshepsut “Hot Chicken Soup.” The ancient Egyptians weren’t accepting of her at first because they weren’t used to a female leader. In order to help people get used to her, she started dressing like a man and had darker skin (women were considered to have light skin). She ruled for 22 years…wow. She had a strong army but didn’t use it for wars; instead she used it for expeditions for trees, plants, and flowers from other countries. In fact, she had a botanical garden in front of her temple—two small tree stumps (~3,500 years old) are evidence of this, which we saw.
We also visited an Alabaster Shop where they make and sell handmade stone carvings. They were a pretty entertaining group as they sang, chanted, and joked as the manager told us how everything was made. The workers all talked in unison--sure it was scripted, but it was hilarious. It is a skill passed down from fathers and grandfathers originally for religious reasons, but now more for souvenirs for tourists. The figures come in white, brown, green, and glow-in-the-dark.
My stomach has been getting better and I ate the chicken at the Egyptian-styled restaurant the group went to. They had spicy potatoes, which I liked a lot. I used the sauce from the potatoes and put them on my rice and chicken. In terms of my stomach these days, it is a day-to-day situation. One day I feel normal and the next day not so much. I’m being very conservative with the foods I’m eating. Don’t worry! It’s not only me getting sick! It seems most of the people on this trip have been sick at one point or another—sometimes worse than what I’ve had. Luckily, I haven’t missed anything because of my stomach issues.
We then got back on the bus and traveled to our 5-star hotel located in downtown Luxor. Before we could enjoy the numerous amenities it offers (tennis courts, shops, entertainment at night, swimming, and napping), we dropped our luggage off (it was around 4pm) in our rooms and headed downstairs to the dock where two sail boats were waiting for us. It was really relaxing to sit on the boat and just enjoy the sights and landscape of the River Nile. We got to see the sunset and had a nice breeze pushing us along. Apparently there is a law that you can’t sail on the Nile after 5pm, which we soon found out from the Nile Police riding around on their motorized dinghy.
It took us awhile to get back to shore as the wind died down, but once we did, a bunch of us headed out to El Souk—The Market, about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We took a group picture in front of Luxor Temple, which we will visit tomorrow, and then a good number of people rushed across the street to the Golden Arches—McDonalds. I didn’t get any and continued down the street to the market place. There were so many shops in the market place and it was somewhat intimidating. Melanie got some scarves and I helped her haggle them down in the store. As I was walking down the market with Melanie, we were waiting for our friends Mike and Elana. A man named Mohammed asked me if I was American and if I could write Merry Christmas and Happy New Year on a business card so he could write it to his friend in the United States. I believed him for a second and said sure. He wanted me to come into his store to write it down, but I refused to do this and told him to come to me. He wasn’t really happy about this, but I told him that I was also looking for my friends. I told him I would come back after we found them…and sure enough…when we were walking past his shop, he spotted me and called my name, except Melanie and I told Mohammed that we were Mike and Elana! So he sucked us into his store and Melanie and I found stuff we wanted to get anyway at some point. I haggled him down from his original price of 280 pounds to 90 pounds…student discount, yeah right. The entire time he was calling me Michael, hahah. If I go back to the market tomorrow--oy.
We then walked back to the hotel around 9pm and ate at an Italian place in the hotel where I got pizza.
Tomorrow is the final major sightseeing day as we see Karnack and Luxor Temples. I’m tired these days—but oh well, its really interesting to learn and see these sites.
Sorry about the lack of Internet this week, its been tough with no blogs, emails, communication with the world! Talk to you soon!
Some other notes:
- There is no evidence that it was King Ramses II who dealt with Moses (i.e. Passover).
- How did they get light into the tombs during ancient times?
- Not fire—it would have had too much carbon monoxide/soot associated with it
- Might have used mirrors to get light down there
- Mountain made of limestone—good tomb material because it is very dense and can take higher loads. It also absorbs humidity—a major reason they close certain tombs for periods of time.
- There are concession areas at all of the places we visit—The rent at the Valley of the Kings to sell Pringles, ice cream, and chips? $62,000 USD/month! Yes, that is not a mistake! The manager says they are losing money and have one year left on their contract.
- A few days ago an Egypt Mini-Term 1st occurred! A couple on the trip got engaged. Congrats and mazel tov to them!
Little Chief Tunis' Corner
What is the Jewish population in Egypt? --Not sure what the exact number is, but it is very very very slim. Kinda get the impression that they don't discuss it if they do. Our tour guide is friends with two Jewish families.
How's that working out for them? Decently, I guess. In addition to the Shul I visited, there is an active one in Cairo.
[I know that the Egyptians are proud of their ancient history, but is any of it incorporated into their modern way of life, other than it being the source of much needed tourism income? Mom wants to know if the site where Pharaoh's daughter found Moses was ever identified and, if so, is it marked? How wide is the Nile? How deep? Is it clean enough to go swimming in? Are there reeds along its bank?]--Saved for when I have more time to write!
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