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.

Menkaure/Hathor (wikipedia)

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.

Scribe (bluffton.edu)

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.

King Chephren

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.

Wooden Statue (wikipedia)

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).

Queen Hetepheres (wikipedia)

Rahotep/Nofret (Wikipedia)

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.

Tutmoses III (wikipedia)

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).

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!

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.

Mom: Don & Odett now work @ Pizza Hut Sharm

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.

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:

• 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!

On The Nile Again...Just can't wait to get on the Nile again

What a difference a day makes! We left Cairo via sleeper train and arrived in Aswan ~620 miles away on Sunday morning, 8:05am. Gone are the days of traffic and garbage in Cairo city, which we traded in for quiet streets and beautiful landscapes across the countryside.

Oh, and don’t ask me why I was excited about the sleeper train for weeks leading up to this trip. It was cramped, loud, and sleep-less. I wound up being on the floor most of the night because the door between the cabins was loose and made noise. Arg. Tired. Either way, we arrived in Aswan (which means “Trade” or “Market”), the last city in Egypt before the country’s boarder with Sudan. It feels much more like Africa here in Aswan since it is hotter and the people have darker skin. For better or worse, Aswan is the same as Cairo in that there are so many vendors trying to sell you something, but I am getting used to the cash/bargaining culture here.

Once we arrived in Aswan, we immediately took a bus ride to the Aswan High Dam. On our way to the High Dam, we crossed the Old English Dam that had been raised numerous times in the past. Going to the High Dam was very exciting for me after learning about dam infrastructure in Sustainable Infrastructure and dam engineering in Environmental Geotechniques, both taught by Professor Ghaly. The Aswan High Dam took 10 years to construct it (1960-1970) and was paid for by nationalizing the Suez Canal and financial assistance from the USSR. The dam is the largest earth and stone dam in the world. It has a factor of safety value against failure of 6, which is very high for a dam. A factor of safety of 1 is the critical safety value and 4 is the normal safety value for an earth and stone dam. The water in the Mediterranean Sea would rise approximately 1 meter if the dam failed, enough to cover many Mediterranean cities. The core of the dam contains low permeable clay with bentonite to ensure that it doesn’t fail. It produces ~1500 megawatts of power, less than 10% of Egypt’s power need. Problems with the dam include it not having a fish ladder (so there are a lot of fish and crocodiles on one side of the dam) and not having a silt gate (denying farmers necessary fertile silt).

We then took a motorboat to Philae Temple on an island in the Nile where elephants were trained for the army. There were many instances of graffiti on this temple and was moved between 1980 and 1985 to its current location because of flooding on the Nile due to the High Dam. It was a beautiful site surrounded by the Nile. Next we went to the unfinished obelisk which shows how the granite was cut for the pyramids. The Nile River used to flood up to the location of this site for easy transport via boat. From there, we went to a Nubian restaurant, which even though I have been having stomach problems, is my favorite restaurant so far. I had chicken (surprise, surprise) with tomato sauce that was cooked in a small bowl. It tasted like chicken catachatorrie. After lunch, we took a boat back to shore to catch another boat that took us to our 5-star hotel on an island in the Nile River. Ghaly gave us 30 minuets from the time of checking into the hotel to get ready for our next excursion to the Nubian Village. While many people complained about having to rush through their showers and not getting an opportunity to rest, many still ventured out on a boat ride to the Nubian Village. It was a nice rural marketplace-type town and we went to a place where people (not me) smoked hookah and got Henna Tatoos. I did, however, hold a baby crocodile (picture to come in later blog—stay tuned). I haggled for an item I have been looking to buy (I can’t disclose what it is because it will ruin the surprise since it is a gift for my parents). The item was originally 80 Egyptian pounds and I got it for 40. We had to buy our own dinner tonight; a bunch of us ate at an Italian place in the hotel and I got pizza for ~$5 USD—dirt cheap.

A beautiful hotel. A fantastic view of the Nile. Get to sleep late, right? No way…I’m waking up at 2:15am to hop on a bus to Abu Simbel to see the great Temple of Ramses the second and Queen Nefertari. Maybe I wont go to sleep for the second night in a row.

Once again, not sure how the internet is going to be over the next few days, so stay tuned! Tons of pictures and stories to come!

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee…Mohammed Ali of Egypt

Writing from an Egyptian sleeper train is harder than I thought it would be. I’m currently in car number 2, cabin 10 traveling overnight to Aswan in Southern Egypt. I guess I over estimated what the sleeper train was going to be like since I pictured large cabins and regular sized beds. There isn’t Internet on the train, so I’m writing as if you are reading it the day of!

Anyway, we hopped onboard the 8pm train from Giza Station. Giza Station reminded me of Jamaica station on the Long Island Rail Road in New York. There were only two tracks but the metro was above the commuter tracks using an elevated concrete structure similar to the one used for the AirTrain to Jamaica. Once on the train, we were soon greeted by a train conductor (or attendant, I’m not quite sure what to call the gentleman).

He gave us dinner (presented in a similar style to the airplane food) made up of rice, chicken, fish, cole slaw, a piece of bread, an orange, and a chocolate éclair-type desert. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if my stomach could handle the chicken yet even though it has gotten somewhat better throughout the day so I had some rice, the bread, and the desert. After we finished dinner, the conductor picked up our trays and set the beds up in the cabins. The seats fold down and a bed comes off the wall for the lower bunk while the upper bunk comes out of the wall. I just hope I can get some sleep tonight on the train but the train shakes back and forth when we get to track that splits in multiple directions In fact, I’m having problems typing as my computer shakes from side to side in my lap.

Earlier today, however, we visited many religious sites in and outside of Cairo. On our way to the Citadel, we could see from our tour bus the City of the Dead. This is an area where there are many mausoleums and in recent years it has been renamed the City of the Dead and Living since people who have immigrated to Egypt have had problems finding homes and therefore use the aboveground monuments at this area. This is a dangerous place to live because this area is at the bottom of a mountain where rocks have collapsed.

We then traveled to the Cairo Citadel, a fort the highest point to protect from Crusadors around 1100-1300 AD. At the Citadel, we saw the al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque that was built in 1335 during the Mamluk period and is of Islamic architecture. This mosque was an open-air facility and we had to take off our shoes. There were many doors (that have since been closed off) for easy escape for fighters who could have been in the mosque as an attack was occurring. This was important because many wars were going on and was considered the “Bloody Time.”

We also saw the Mohammed Ali Mosque (no relation to the boxer) who reigned over Egypt from 1805 to 1848. Mohammed Ali’s mosque was once the most beautiful mosque because of its marble construction, though like most stones in Egypt, they were stolen and recycled. Mosques in general were domed because microphones didn’t exist and they helped control temperature. Many people didn’t understand or like Mohammed Ali since he wanted to modernize Egypt. In fact, people would cut off their fingers to avoid having to join the military. Since there weren’t any women in the military, there wasn’t a place for women to pray. Apparently the Mamluks were causing trouble so Mohammed Ali invited 300 of the most important Mamluks to a party and instead of showing them a good time, he showed them death by shooting them.

We had a buffet lunch on a boat that stays on shore, though my stomach was really hurting me. Lets just say I had some bread, but didn’t eat anything else…I hope this goes away soon…damn, probiotics guy in Port Chester…you were right. I hope this only happens once.

We also visited Old Cairo. We got off our bus in front of a metro station. Cairo has 2 metro lines and is planning on building two more lines. Apparently the metro is pretty nice, though Zach, our tour guide didn’t suggest I get on board a train…too bad. We then visited a Coptic Church. 80% of Christians in Egypt are Coptic. It was made of wood treated with poison to protect against rot. Professor Ghaly, who was a Sunday school teacher, told us about the story of Passover and the plagues that god brought to Egypt. We also went to Ben Ezra Synagogue, the most-visited Jewish site in Cairo, and saw a converted Coptic Church turned Synagogue. This was pretty cool being in temple on a Saturday afternoon, even though I was in Egypt.

Another great and busy day in the Cairo area. Once I get off this bouncy sleeper train, I’ll be in Aswan in southern Egypt. I hear it is a whole different place…but I really need some sleep! Sorry about the lack of pictures, I’m way too nauseous to do that right now! Till next time!

MAIL BAG! (Keep them coming!)
Comments and Questions:

Ian: Thanks! It’s getting better, but I guess I need to be careful over the next few days.

Dad: We left Cairo before the second round of elections but it is noticeable around the city. You can’t go anywhere without seeing an election poster, sign, or banner—all in color with the candidate’s photo. I haven’t seen a fire station or truck yet. There are various types of police: Tourism, Antiquities, Irrigation, Traffic and the Military (a bunch of guys in Cuban-colored getups all got off the train at Giza Station.

Taxes are a major concern of Egyptians. They try to avoid it at any cost. Many of the buildings in Cairo are not finished because old tax law said that property tax was not applicable on unfinished buildings. So 3 floors are finished and the 4^th is just an open roof. I have pictures of this that I will put up at some point. I have no idea what the political parties are here…I want to read the paper everyday but they seem hard to find for the average tourist, nor do I have time.

Jeremy: Chicken from the bone; I wish they had chicken nuggets.

Aunt Mindy: Thanks for reading! Water: don’t drink it, only bottled water. The irrigation canal is also really nasty. No drought in Egypt right now, they are in a good situation with the Aswan Dam. It is however, the low water season in the Nile right now. The high season is from June to August.

I’ve seen little horses, donkeys, water buffalo, and crocodiles.

I have no idea where the girls are…but…there are women, albeit less, peddling goods. I’ll investigate further in the coming days. I haven’t seen them at restaurants at all come to think about it. The housekeeping staff in the Cairo hotel was comprised of men too.

I’m buying local, handmade crafts…or so they say.

Education…I haven’t seen a school yet, but we’ve discussed it while seeing children on the streets. Egypt has a public school system free to all children. Most however, don’t make it past 6^th grade because they need to help their family economically. The public school system in Cairo isn’t great because there are between 60 and 70 students in one classroom. There are also private schools—both international and Egyptian ranging in price from 3,000 Pounds ($600 USD) to 30,000 Pounds ($5,000 USD). International schools are around $7-8,000 USD a year. Government Universities are free-Cairo University and Heliopolis University to name a few. There are also international private universities. Our tour guide, Zach, went to Cairo University where he studied archeology and Helwan University where he received his degree in tourism and hotel management. The kids should be in school…but it seems like they can do whatever they want whenever they want for a quick pound.

Let’s (Not) Make a Deal

**Note: The Camera died so limited pictures tonight, I'll post more tomorrow!**


This trip is my first time in a non-western country and I quickly learned how different Egypt truly is. Day 2’s sites included the Giza Pyramids, the valley temple, the great Sphinx, and a papyrus “museum.” Sure these are different structures than what we see in the United States, but we learned a lot about the commerce and culture of Egypt…pretty frustrating at times.


We started our day at the Giza Pyramids and they were remarkable. You often see the Great Pyramids in pictures and movies (Rugrats Passover, anybody?) but they don’t do it justice. They are the only remaining ancient wonders still in existence. I don’t think I can accurately describe the scale of the pyramids, so Melanie recorded a video of me!

Seems related during this trip?

So, some quick facts about the video in case I missed anything: It was taken in front of the Pyramid of King Kiops. The pyramid is made of stone from the other side of the Nile River. The structure wasn’t always jagged; it was covered in smooth limestone. How did they get the limestone across the river (apparently not Rugrats Passover)? The 3 Million blocks of limestone were transported via big boats and ~100,000 workers during a three month period when the Nile flooded. At the pyramid complex, 20,000 workers built the actual pyramids. And no, they weren’t slaves since the workers worshiped the kings and believed by doing a good thing for them, they would have a better chance of being in paradise in the second life. There are three pyramids at this site for the father, son, and grandson (L’ Dor va Dor?).

Unfortunately, we didn’t see any mummies or artifacts at the complex because there aren’t any that were preserved. Tomb robbers stole the artifacts and the smooth limestone. Additionally, the mummies were stolen in order to boil them to make medicine and antibiotics.

We then drove up to a small market area where we took a bunch of pictures (we’ve taken so many group pictures that Professor Ghaly’s often-used expression, “10 Seconds” as he runs back to get into the group photo is our group’s name). A guy at one of the market tables told Mike Jacobson that his Roslyn (NY) High School football hat was good luck and he wanted to trade his head covering for Mike’s hat. In fact, the guy took Mike’s hat off his head…but Mike took it back from him. I went to a different guy to look at the goods he was selling and immediately put stuff in my hands. I hondled with him for a while as we disagreed on prices. Every time I said I had to think about it, he added more stuff to the deal. I wound up getting 13 things for about ~$7 USD, so I was pretty content with that.

Look mom! No Hands!

After bartering, many people in the group took camel rides to Menkaure’s Pyramid. Instead of dealing with the camel guides and getting ripped off like no other, Professor Ghaly made deals for us. I thought the camel was going to smell worse than it did, but luckily my camel (who I named Jed Bartlett) didn’t smell too bad, though the people behind me told me that Jed was peeing most of the time (nice). Tips to riding a camel, lean back and hold tight when going downhill. It's high up, but pretty fun...however, I don't need to do it again I think.

On my way into Menkaure’s Pyramid, another guy selling more stuff stopped me and asked me where I was from and my name. Giving both of these answers, he then told me he had lived in various US cities (he named nearly every major US city) and in Canada. He proved his “Canadian” stay by showing me his hat from a Canadian construction company. At this point I finally realized why that other man wanted a hat from North America—as a selling point to buy stuff from him. He then “gave” me an Egyptian headdress as a gift because he had also been in New York at some point. I repeatedly told him I didn’t want it but he loved Obama and told me to have it.

We couldn’t take bags into the pyramid so I left my stuff with our tour guide. The pyramid was kinda cool, but there wasn’t anything it—just empty spaces where things would have been. The lights went off for a minute so that wasn’t nice, but it was an experience to go into a real pyramid. This was not included in the tour price and cost 15 pounds (~$2.50 USD). Knowing that the man was going to ask for me to take his goods and buy them, I separated my money—5 pounds ($0.83 USD) in one pocket and the bigger bills in the other. When he asked me for money, I told him I only had 5 pounds and quickly asked for the stuff back—and I gave it back with pleasure. My plan had worked! I already exchanged my 100 pound (~$16.60 USD) notes for 20 (~$3.30 USD) pound notes, so I’ll be continuing this plan for the next three weeks. Melanie has a story of her own, so be sure to check out her blog on the right hand side (melwatinegypt.blogspot.com).

The people in Egypt are so aggressive in selling stuff—postcards, statues, media cards, head coverings, anything and everything really. I only saw males of all ages (~5yrs old to ~70s) selling stuff in the tourist areas. It got very irritating dealing with the people, they were so pushy! Pops (my grandpa) would really get a kick out of these people after selling used cars for so many years. And I thought used car dealers and lawyers (happy birthday Dad) were corrupt.

Anyway, we then traveled to the Mummification Temple and the Sphinx. I picked the Sphinx’s nose but there were so many Egyptian kids there on a field trip! It was a madhouse unfortunately. We then headed to lunch and had decent chicken with some French fries. This was my first experience with tipping the guy at the bathroom door for a piece of paper towel (though Professor Ghaly paid the guy for everybody).

We then traveled to the Papyrus “Museum” which was really a store selling papyrus artwork. We learned how to spot counterfeit papyrus—real papyrus can roll up without breaking and the vertical lines crisscross with the horizontal lines. I didn’t buy anything but I helped Melanie deal with the merchant (she got a major discount on the calendar papyrus she bought and the guy also threw in 2 smaller pieces for free). Check out the pictures of these on her blog!

Dinner was similar to lunch and once again I had chicken and French fries…nothing special, again.

So today was filled with culture shock, price shock, and chaos but all in all it was a beautiful sunny day in Cairo-- 23 degrees Celsius. Tomorrow we head to Memphis, the first capital of Egypt, and Saqqara, the home of the Step Pyramid.

Pyramid in the palm of my hand!

Quick Notes:

Good ol 57 varieties

• There is no Arabic word for “Ketchup.”
• People say “Good Morning” until 5pm. Instead of “Good Afternoon,” Egyptians only say “Good Evening.”
• Happy 2^nd Night of Chanukah (lit more candles!)!
• The traffic on the roads is crazy as I described yesterday, but the infrastructure is amazing. The girder bridges are all concrete—no rusting! The road is asphalt and is often repaved overnight due to the constant abuse it gets.
• Happy Birthday Dad! (Melanie, Professor Ghaly, and I all sang happy birthday at 12-midnight Cairo time—5pm EST)

Mom’s Question Corner

Pizza Hur

Mom—You can come to Egypt; they have a Pizza Hut! Still looking for Friendly’s…

How is the Mama and the professor? Is it fun being with them? --They are great and it is nice to have Prof’s Ghaly’s Mom around.

Food okay, or should we have listened to steroid man and gotten the million dollar probiotics?  --So far (poo-poo), so good (knock on wood). Melanie might be sick…oy…

Well I guess I should see a patient, although e-mailing you is more fun.—Enjoy!

See you tomorrow on the blog!