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For the second part of our Thanksgiving holiday, we headed south another four hours to Aswan, which is the southernmost city in Egypt. Nearly everything is located along the Nile and Aswan is no exception, although the river is at its most beautiful state down in there.
We left Luxor early-afternoon on Friday and prepared ourselves for the minibus ride. For security reasons, only two convoys leave Luxor bound for Aswan every day so we caught the three pm one, arriving in Aswan at about six o’clock in the evening. We quickly found a cheap hotel (50 LE total for 4 people) and then went exploring around the city. We found a cheap dinner at a decent Kosheri place (not as good as it is in Cairo, however), before walking along the Corniche and finding a relaxing place to sit, smoke shisha, and just have a good time. We walked a substantial distance along the Nile until we found a decent place overlooking the river. Yet again we had an early night, in anticipation of an early start Saturday.
The night before we had arranged a car to pick us up to take us to Philae, which is an island Temple complex located in the middle of the Nile. For decades, when the Nile would flood its banks, portions of the Temple would be submerged, thus deteriorating the beauty immensely. So during the construction of the Aswan High Dam, they relocated Philae piece-by-piece to higher ground on a nearby island called Agilika. Upon getting there, we realized that despite paying an admission fee, we still had to hire a boat to take us across the Nile. The set price is about 25 pounds or so, but not one of the Nubian boat drivers would budge below 40. So after biting my tongue (since everything in Egypt is about getting as much money as possible from tourists), we sailed to Philae.
The Temple of Isis is the most prominent structure at Philae and consists of several different colonnades of pillars and walkways and inscriptions and the like. They recreated much of the scenery located on Philae when they move the Temple and yet again, words cannot do it justice. Photos work so much better.
After Philae, we went to the Nubian Museum. Since Aswan is the gateway to Africa and the northern tier of the Nubian tribes, interaction between the Nubians and Ancient Egyptians occurred and so a lot of the museum is dedicated to the interaction between the peoples. It was very interesting seeing some of the vast differences, yet quaint similarities between the two cultures that relied so heavily upon the River Nile.
Lunch followed and clearly we were being adventurous that weekend so we decided to order… pigeon. Yes, we ate a pigeon. Very small and kinda tastes like chicken, but it wasn’t what I expected.
We took an hour-long felucca ride along the Nile, enjoying the beauty of the surroundings since the valley down south is so rich with vegetation, yet the desert is so close as well. It was relaxing with weather in the 70s as usual and the breeze made it even better. Just another relaxing day on the Nile.
We rounded up our trip at the Sharia as-Souq, or Market Street, where all we did was spend exorbitant amounts of money that we didn’t really have, but I got presents for some people, so I would consider it a moderate success.
We grabbed some pizza before we left and proceeded to the train station. Our train left Aswan at 5:45pm on Saturday night and we arrived back in Cairo at 7:30am the next morning. So it was nearly a fourteen hour train ride!! But we survived. And I slept for probably eight hours, which is incredible for me.
Overall it was a great weekend. As much as I love my Thanksgiving dinners, I have those every year. Only once am I studying for a semester in Egypt and only once do I get to say that I skipped Turkey Day to see the ruins of one of the greatest civilizations of all time.
…anyways… we are re celebrating Thanksgiving upon my return since both my dad and sister were sick and I wasn’t there. It also gives my mom an excuse to cook a huge festive meal that we can all enjoy and spend great quality time with each other.
Hope everyone is well. I am heading out to Jordan and Israel this upcoming weekend/week since most of my work for classes has slowed down significantly since the ridiculousness that was midterms month. I will be heading to Petra, Amman (hang out with a Fraternity Brother), Jerusalem to see a friend or two, and then back to Eilat, one of my favorite places in all the world.
Upon my return, I will only have two weeks left in Cairo and I have a billion things to do and see and eat. Oh – and finals as well. So the next three weeks will be very busy for me.
Have a great few weeks between holidays!
Thanksgiving this year was rather bittersweet as it was the first time I have ever had Thanksgiving away from home. For the past twenty years, my mom has cooked the most delicious meals and we have always hosted Turkey Day as long as I can remember… I also remember her starting to cook on Monday usually. Throughout the years, however, numbers have risen and fallen, but I have always had the comfort of heading home to Murrysville for Thanksgiving. But this year – as life is – things were a little different.
I have officially been here for three months (I left JFK Aug. 25 arriving here early on the 26th so give or take a few hours) and one of the sites I have been most looking forward to is visiting Luxor, which is what four of us decided to do for the holiday weekend (we also went to Aswan, but I had no idea what that was until I got here). To clear up a few common misconceptions: Luxor is the site of the Ancient City of Thebes, which was one of the most important cities of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. On the East Bank of the River Nile, the Temples of Karnak & Luxor, while on the West Bank, the Ancient Necropolis, which is where the Valley of the Kings (& Queens), Hatshepsut Temple, and several other memorials to the Ancient Egyptians. Luxor does not contain the Sphinx or any pyramids of note. The reason I mention this is because the Luxor Resort in Las Vegas shows off huge replicas of a pyramid and a sphinx, neither of which are located there… Anyways… this is going to be an incredibly long post… just warning you.
We left Wednesday night (Nov. 21) at about 10pm on a night-train bound for Luxor. We left from Giza Train Station (near the Pyramids) and since it was Meghan’s birthday at midnight (she was turning 22, old, I know) we brought a celebratory bottle of wine for the train. Now in the winter, the trains to Upper Egypt (which is southern Egypt since the Nile flows northward. It is very confusing) are very packed so we had to sit second class with the people. Not bad for 46 pounds or about $9. During the ten hour train ride I: read an Egypt book, listened to my iPod, twiddled my thumbs, and SLEPT. Yes. Adam Shaffer, the kid who can never, ever sleep on moving transportation, SLEPT. I actually got a good four hours in. We arrived in Luxor, found our Hostel (dirt cheap, like less than $3 a night per person), rented bicycles and headed for the River Nile. The first day we decided to bike to the sites of the Theban Necropolis on the West Bank, which is all the ancient temples and tombs of the rulers of the New Kingdom of Egypt. We took a boat across and biked the few kilometers to the entrance to the Necropolis, which is the Colossi of Memnon. Pretty cool, I must say so myself.
We then found the ticket booth and bought several tickets (since you need a separate ticket for nearly every site. Quite expensive actually). We then hopped into a hired taxi which is just a minibus that drives around taking as many people where they want to go as possible, usually staying on a designated route and people just get on and off as they please. It only costs a dime, so I can’t complain. First, we went to the Temple of Seti I, which I clearly took dozens of photos, not so much realizing I would see thousands more ruins in the next few days. Seti I is believed to be the Pharaoh that took in Moses, while the son of Seti I, Ramses II, is believed to be the most powerful of all the Pharaohs and is also believed to be the “brother” of Moses. Just watch The Prince of Egypt… haha. Clearly words (or really photos can’t truly describe):
Then we took a cab to the Valley of the Kings, which is where most of the major Pharaohs during the New Kingdom have their tombs. Clearly the most famous is King Tutankhamen, or simply King Tut to the rest of the world. He is the boy king who ruled for only a few years, but because he was the last line of his family dynasty, all the family treasures were placed in his tomb. His treasures were discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, who had searched endlessly for Tut’s tomb, but had not discovered it until searching under the tomb of Ramses VI. There is also this big deal about the curse and blah blah blah (read: you should research it on your own).
Now King Tut’s treasures have found their way around the world and they will make it back to the U.S. in 2008 but clearly the reason we went to see Tut was because just three weeks ago, they finally unveiled his demummified remains to the public. His huge solid gold sarcophagus has been on display in his tomb for decades, but they were finally able to show his blackened remains to the public. Obviously no photos were allowed but I did download this off the internet to show you what he looks like. He is very petite (since he was young) and his shriveled-up body is just one of those things that “I am in Egypt, so I might as well see it” type deals.
So Tut was the first tomb we visited in the Valley of the Kings. We also had to pay separately to see him, but the extra $7 is insignificant. We saw three tombs (not as impressive as I would have originally thought) of Pharaohs, and walked around a little before heading out of the Valley.
Next, we went to Hatshepsut’s Temple, which is an incredible temple carved into the rocky side of a mountain near the Valley of the Kings. Hatshepsut was the only female Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt and she ruled but was deposed by her son. Long story short, she created a great monument which was one of my favorite sights in all of Egypt. I learned about this in my art history class and this (along with Tut) were sights people from home were eager for me to see. It consists of three levels of colonnades, culminating with a temple at the top, all carved into a mountain. Unfortunately, a decade ago, a massacre happened at this Temple with sixty-two tourists being killed, but security was rather impressive here.
Above is Hatshepsut; notice the belly with the Pharaonic likeness. I learned in Art History that they distinguished her from the rest simply by adding a belly to show her femininity. Usually Pharaohs were shown with flawless bodies, even if it showed no representation of what they actually looked like.
After that we walked through the desert and we ended up at the Ramesseum, which is the memorial temple of Ramses II, probably the most powerful Pharaoh. Portions of this temple are completely intact, while others are in complete ruins. We were ushered up a huge wall to overlook the area, and we saw a gigantic statue of Ramses II that had fallen over. Pieces (including his feet, crown and hands were everywhere), but the most impressive part was the huge remain of his upper torso and head.
Then we visited a few more tombs of nobles and another Temple before biking back to the River Nile. At sunset, we found a cool restaurant with amazing views of the Nile, the Luxor Temple and the desert beyond. We splurged a bit since it was Thanksgiving and settled on a combo platter of Shwerma and chicken (with rice and cheese & cauliflower), but first they brought us a huge salad plate with tons of fresh vegetables, followed by bread and salad dips, then our main course, culminating in an amazing dessert of a unique cake with whipped cream and fresh fruit. A great dinner and a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving, although we had a few bicycle malfunctions and a few issues with the locals (who hound you at every turn: Felucca? boat ride? Taxi? Food? And then they are rather rude about asking for bakshish, or tips. But I had a good Thanksgiving. Nothing like my Mom’s dinner, but for the circumstances, it was decent.
*Since the Jews were most of the slaves during this period, this is where they lived. So, yes, Moses was here.
The next day we woke up rather early since we had two big sites left to see in Luxor: The Luxor Temple and the Temple of Karnak. Both were temples where Egyptian gods were worshiped, although Luxor Temple is much smaller, but still quite elegant. An Avenue of the Sphinxes used to line the path between the two temples (which are 3 kilometers apart). But only about fifty of the sphinxes actually remain and they open the plaza in front of Luxor Temple. Clearly we took ridiculous photos with them.
We then proceeded to enter the Luxor Temple, which is located directly on the Corniche along the River Nile. This Temple seemed huge (until we went to Karnak) and we saw it at night on Thanksgiving. At the front, a massive First Pylon is still relatively intact with one of two original obelisks (tall, pointy objects that look like Washington Monument) also in great shape. Like other columns, pillars, and obelisks in Egypt, the other obelisk from Luxor Temple was stolen; Napoleon took it and it now stands in the Place de la Concorde in the heart of Paris (I actually have seen it). Inside there is a mosque (clearly post-Ancient Egypt), although there are also massive statues of Ramses II. Further back, there are smaller chambers, several more columns and more and more ruins. Very cool, and just one of the massive complexes that dominated Ramses II long rule as Pharaoh.
This is a wall carving of Ramses, his wife, and his Brother. Some dispute it, but most agree it is Moses.
We made it through Luxor Temple in about forty-five minutes and decided on our flexible, yet still rather limited-time schedule, that we would take a carriage ride to Karnak Temple, which is about 3km away. After bargaining (which is a skill I have nicely perfected), we were off. Our driver was incredibly friendly and we spoke a lot about Egypt, the United States, Luxor and other things. After about fifteen minutes or so, we found our way to the ticket booth as we stared down this massive Temple complex. Karnak is a grouping of temples, chapels, pylons, obelisks, etc, but was the most important of all the worship places for the Theban Ancient Egyptians. I am incredibly glad that we saw this last of all the temples in Luxor because it is by far the most impressive and we spent a couple hours gawking at the sheer size of the entire complex. So instead of describing exactly what we saw (mainly because I can’t remember what everything was named), a photo journey will make all of our lives much easier.
After Karnak, we grabbed a cab back to the Luxor Temple and got a quick bite to eat. After a day and a half in Luxor, we decided to head to Aswan, which is the southernmost important city in Egypt. It sits at the base of the Aswan High Dam, which keeps the Nile River from flooding. Aswan is the starting point for heading into Africa and is considered the entrance to Africa. The Nubian people (Eastern & Northern Sudan, Southern Egypt) populate much of Aswan and the Sudanese border is only a couple hours away by car. But the last part of the trip is for another blog post. Too many photos and things I did in Luxor, so I am going to split it up.
I will leave you with two final photos of Luxor: one is a bazaar named after our wonderful President and the second is just a shot of the River Nile in Luxor, which was called Thebes for the Ancient Egyptians.
So, in my normal state of mind during some of my classes (read: daydream, doodle, don’t pay attention, doze off), I realized that I leave Cairo exactly one month from today. Yes, December 19th I will be catching a cab back to the airport to take a flight to Rome for a few days before returning to the United States and getting back into my life. Weird? Yes and no. Lately, I have been in a funk since this is the first time I have ever missed Thanksgiving, which is, by far, my favorite holiday. We’re not discussing it anymore. Also, I am missing the height of the semester with my Fraternity, although there definitely are some pluses to being here.
I will be traveling this weekend to Luxor (to see King Tut) and next weekend I will be backpacking across the central Middle East (Israel, Jordan & the West Bank) visiting the beach at Eilat & Aqaba, Petra, Amman, back to Jerusalem (!!!) and finally returning to Cairo with only a couple weeks left in the Egyptian capital. Also, as of today, I have no major assignments or presentations due until finals week (that will be fun), so I can finally just relax and sit at cafes until all hours of the morning.
But with only a month left, I have compiled a list of Must-Do’s/See’s/Eat’s before I leave:
Back to the Pyramids – I have been twice but neither time have I really been close enough to touch ‘em or go inside ‘em. So one of these days I am going to go out very early and just explore the Pyramids all day.
Khan el-Khalili – the biggest market in Cairo and where I will be buying all of my gotta-have tourist junk. Been there once but literally had like 5 pounds on me.
Egyptian Museum – I have only planned this, say fifteen times, and I hear it takes two trips to really see everything… oops… time is running out but I will do it! It has the largest collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts anywhere in the world. So clearly it is a must-see.
The President’s Building on AUC Campus – Okay so one of the buildings – the President’s Building – is a former palace and I have only been there once. It is quite amazing.
The American Embassy – I know where it is and I just want to go in and say I’ve been on American soil while in Cairo. Why not?
Cairo Zoo – Not necessarily a must, but I hear if you bribe the zookeepers (who abuse the animals, meanwhile), you can play with lion cubs and monkeys.
Taboula – A great Lebanese restaurant that we went to my third day here. Meghan and I sat for four hours smoking shisha and discussing our life problems. I want to relive that (and the amazing food, minus the life problems) just one last time.
McDonald’s Delivery Service – Just once. I just want to have McDonald’s deliver me my McArabia to my doorstep. I’m not lazy. It is just one of those things that I truly cannot feel like an Egyptian until I have done that.
Unlimited Beer & Wings – Hard Rock. Clearly just one last time.
Latex – So there is this club at the Nile Hilton called Latex. The name says it all. I mean if you don’t choose clubs by their name, you really aren’t living. I hear its sketchy, but what college kid doesn’t live for sketchy moments.
Cinnabun – They deliver as well. Need it one last time…
So that is my list. Kinda long but I am sure I can square most of it away. I have one month, which seems like a very long amount of time, but since I have been here nearly three months already, chances are I am not going to get to see everything.
Taxis are the best way to travel around Cairo. They are dirt cheap, mostly reliable, friendly, but most importantly, they are deathly terrifying. That may sound like the antithesis of “best way to travel” but in fact, it just adds to the thrill. This is Africa people. I don’t expect to be shuttled around in an air-conditioned, leather filled luxurious taxi cab; I’d rather roll around in a cab with lumps in the worn down seats, windows rolled all the way down, and doors that sometimes open and sometimes don’t.
The metered system was introduced here in Cairo years and years and years ago but due to inflation, the meters in cabs have become a sign of the past, as inflation skyrocketed and the cab companies couldn’t keep up. So, in the typical way of doing things in Egypt, it is at the discretion of the passenger to determine the cost of the ride. Yes, you heard it correctly: I decide how much I want to pay for each ride, depending upon distance traveled, friendliness of the driver, time it took, etc. The key, however, is to get out of the cab before you actually pay. That way they can’t just simply start driving off until you pay what they want. It is pretty easy to just get out, grab your wallet and toss ‘em a few pounds. Now, sometimes – as an American especially – the cab driver will begin arguing with me in Arabic. Most of the time I just shrug him off, yelling back something like “I live here. I know the prices.” or “Five pounds is way more than enough. There was no traffic” in a jumbled mess of Arabic and they usually sulk off, ready to scam the next tourist they can find.
Other times, especially if we are coming from a tourist attraction or the airport, the cab drivers ask how much we want to pay before he even takes off. My favorite is the 80 pounds from the Pyramids one time (we normally pay 20 or 25) or the 20 pounds from campus to Zamalek (a ride that, at max, should cost 5 pounds [less than $1, mind you], and sometimes if I am lucky, I can pull off with 3 pounds). The drivers are usually friendly enough and the prices can’t get any better. Here are just some examples of prices we pay here for taxicabs:
–AUC Campus to Zamalek – 4 km – 5LE (90 cents)
–Zamalek to Marwa Palace (other AUC residence hall) – 6 km – 5 LE also…
–Zamalek to the Pyramids – 15 km – 20 LE (less than $4)
–Zamalek to the Airport – 30 km – 40 LE (less than $8)
**Most of the time, I just get in and have the cabbie take me anywhere in the city and toss him Chamsa Geenay (or 5 pounds).
Also, one of my favorite parts about taking cabs (and driving in general here) is driving at night, mainly because no one really likes to use their headlights. Just like horns, the use of headlights at night is a sign of letting people know where exactly you are. Sometimes, mainly when driving on deserted roads in the middle of the Sinai desert at night, headlights are used as a way of communication with passing cars. One time our driver and another had a 1/2 km conversation by flickering their lights. Kinda weird, but cool, nonetheless.
As for honking goes – as is true with all drivers, Cabbies aren’t unique – there is a language which takes a little bit to figure out. One short honk means, “I am here. I see see you there. No worries.” Anywhere I walk, I get a dozen or so cabbies just honking (since we normally walk in the road). I like to think of it as a “Hey. How are ya?” kinda greeting. Can’t stop to say hello, but I see you. No worries.
Two short honks usually means: “I am coming through this intersection and I don’t really want to slow down to see if there is another car coming.” AKA: it is when you hold onto the “Oh Sh*t Bar” if the cab has one. I have sometimes got in a cab at Midan Tahrir (where AUC is) and gone the ten minute drive home without stopping once. Sometimes I fear the cabs have no brakes… Two honks can also mean, “Hey, I need to get over the four lanes to make this exit in 100 meters. Please kindly move.” The nice part about Cairo, however, is that most of the time you can squeeze between the donkey cart and minibus on the October Bridge and no one gets too upset. Just a few exchanged words and life goes on.
Finally, three honks (or more… lots more) means the obvious: “GET OUT OF MY WAY.” They shout LOOK OUT while visibly not making any attempt to recalculate their path, let alone slam on the breaks. This rarely happens – only on expressways usually – which I dare not walk along. Since we have no visible traffic laws (or traffic lights or stop signs or lane markers or crosswalks or pedestrian laws or…) it becomes a free-for all on the streets, and so I always find myself walking into traffic knowing that the cabbies and other drivers will simply drive around me. They always do. I haven’t been even nudged yet, let alone be hit by a moving vehicle and I take some pretty risky moves, like walking caddy-corner across one of the busiest ten-lane roads in Downtown Cairo. I just know where the cars are going to go and how much room I need to be good. I listen to the honks of the buses and cars and not once have I been yelled at once (except by my friends who freak out).
So I think it is time to graduate to Honking 201, since I got the basics down in Honking 101.
The theme of today’s blog post is buckling up.
First, today is November 16, the birthday of my only sister, Kaelah. She turns sixteen and if you are from Pennsylvania you know that that means – yes she will be behind the wheel of a car maybe – just maybe – before the start of Friday rush in Pittsburgh. So buckle up Pennsylvania! Yet another teenage driver will be terrorizing the roads of Murrysville in the coming weeks (I can say that since I am not a teenager anymore).
Next, I am buckling up for the final four weeks of classes. Yes, I only have seven class meetings left per course (I only have Monday, Wednesday classes), so we are finally getting to the conclusion of many of the topics of the courses, although in my Survey of Arab History course we still have only been through about 300 years of Arabian history. It is a very interesting class and the topic is great because the professor is passionate about the subject, but the course is supposed to stretch from pre-Islamic times to the present, which is about 1,500 years of history and we are never going to make it to the present. But it is a bit too late to complain.
Now that my huge 20-page term paper and Comparative midterm are over, I can destress a bit and hang around Cairo. Wednesday night – post-nap of course – I went with a couple of friends to Chili’s for a salad (which I have basically been craving since I left in August), cherry-Coke (diner syrup style, of course), and bottomless tortilla chips. Beautiful. All for about $7. I mean clearly it was an entire day’s food budget but you gotta reward yourself sometimes.
After, we met with a friend of Carrie’s and ventured over to the Cairo Jazz Club, one of the most exclusive clubs in Cairo (I really have no idea why…) where, unfortunately, since it was Wednesday night, they are very picky with who they let in. A few of our friends had been waiting there for awhile and only half of them got in; we ended up waiting for about fifteen minutes before the bouncer ushered the four of us in without question (Meghan and I actually, based on our dashingly good looks, got the look after a few minutes but we didn’t want to separate from the other group). Now: Cairo Jazz Club is very exclusive. The rules on the wall state: Couples only, Reservations required, and a valid passport stating we were at least Twenty-Five years old. We fit one of those requirements so 1/3 isn’t too bad… but they are very picky about who gets in (mainly foreigners without question). Some would call it racism, while the club calls it “limiting the crowd size, as too many gentlemen has proved destructive before.” So we had fun dancing at Cairo Jazz while tons of creepy old guys stared at all of us, but we ended up having a good time anyways.
Thursday. I. Slept. In. Big surprise there, but I needed a little sleep since I had been up until 4am the night before (cough, cough). I really didn’t do much. I watched a movie or two and just generally relaxed all day, heading to Dido’s for dinner for some pasta and going to Versailles for shisha and conversation. After, Katie and I, as well as Ilaria and her friend Hassam, took an adventure to the African Diplomatic Club.
As fancy as it may sound, it really wasn’t. I mean it was cool brushing arms with the genuinely unimpressive, yet still flamboyant diplomats of African delegations in Cairo, but I felt kinda like at home, sipping beverages on plastic chairs, listening to a blend of African tribal music and insultingly-trivial Euro-trash music. On the way home in our friends BMW (yes the first time I had been in a private car in all of Cairo), Katie and I decided to buckle up, for no apparent reason, other than the fact that I sat on the right side in the back and the shoulder strap came down over my left side, snapping in place with the buckle strategically placed next to the door. Weird? I’d say so. It was also the first seatbelt I have worn since flying down the George Washington Parkway on August 25 towards Washington National Airport, driving my friend’s convertible, top-down, taking in the last fresh breaths of air for a few months.
Now, I am just sitting at a coffeehouse in the middle of Giza, updating my blog – I should be writing a paper on Muhammed Ali – and sipping a cappuccino with a friend, realizing how little time I have left here. So I am going to buckle up and enjoy my last few weeks before I return to reality and all the problems – or blessings depending on how you look at it – that have plagued my life since I have been gone. Cheers!
So the second coming of midterms is at my doorstep. Not as intense as round one, but still very important. Wednesday (November 14) I have one exam and one paper due. The exam, for my Comparative Politics of the ME course should be easy since he already gave us four possible essay questions and he will choose two, although this is the same professor that was buddy-buddy with Slobodan Milosevic as the former Yugoslav Ambassador to Egypt. His cruelness and lack of compassion puzzles me, so it will be very interesting to see if he actually keeps his word and gives us the essays he provided.
Then, I have a twenty page paper due that afternoon for my Issues in Middle East Politics course. Fun? Not really, although we were able to choose any topic we wanted and I chose “Foreign Influence in the Middle East: Comparing American & Russian policies in the Post-Cold War Period,” since this man loves using comparisons. Actually, his class, “Issues” is more like a comparative class, while my “Comparative” class is more like an issues class. So I still basically get what I signed up for. It just sucks for those that didn’t take both classes.
See ya! Au revior! Ma salaama! Arrivederci! Ciao! Adios! L’hitraot!
…be back on Wednesday
They all have something to do with what I did yesterday.
I decided that instead of sleeping in until 2pm (a norm around here), I would get up and head to the Citadel for a good afternoon before heading to the Hard Rock for dinner.
Meghan, Carrie and I left Zamalek around 11 and walked downtown, enjoying the beautifully sunny, but not excruciatingly hot day. The weather here has finally dropped into the 70’s and it appears as if it is here to stay. So anyways, we walked to downtown, grabbed some Fafela and then caught a cab to the Citadel.
**Now if you recall an earlier post, say first week in September, you may remember that our first attempt to get to the Citadel prior to starting school, failed miserably. Although we did get to see another cool Mosque and explore Islamic Cairo and Khan el-Khalili, two months later we finally made it back to The Citadel.
So a little background quickly… The Citadel is an old fortress atop a hill overlooking all of Cairo. Located on the eastern edge of the city, it provides amazing views of Islamic and Old Cairo, Downtown, and of course, the Pyramids. The most prominent building at the Citadel is the Mohammad Ali Mosque, which was built during the reign of Mohammad Ali during the mid nineteenth century. Also, there are several museums and cafes, and the normal tourist shops.
So we are driving along on our way to the Citadel through traffic on a Friday (which shouldn’t really occur since Friday is the day of rest) and this car in front of us cannot make it over the speedbump. Which brings me to the first highlight… as it takes a good thirty seconds to get over the speed bump, our cab driver – who is also laughing hysterically – leans over and says “Chinese Cars!!” Clearly we laugh, but eventually we make it to the Citadel. We were probably the only “tourists” who didn’t come on a bus so we weren’t quite sure where to stand. The main entrance was filled with Muslims heading up to the Mosque for Friday prayers and there was not another tourist to be found. So after some encouragement from Egyptians, we walked through security as if we were locals (which we are!).
At the top of the Citadel, we first went to a mosque that I cannot quite remember the name of, but it was basically deserted, and was very peaceful and serene. One of my favorite parts about Cairo (and Egypt in general) is the checkered patten that adorns practically every sidewalk, street, building and archway. Most of the time it is black and white but sometimes they get adventurous and paint it black and red.
We then went to the Egyptian Military Museum, which was housed in the old palace at the Citadel. Not gonna lie: the building itself was much more impressive than the artifacts. First, half of the museum was either closed off, roped off, or genuinely in a state of disrepair. All of the “A’s” had been removed from every single plaque, which was confusing. Also, the museum just kept going on and on and on. But clearly my favorite part – as is anytime they name something after the October War in general – is the fact that Egypt still celebrates the October War as a victory. Yes they surprised the Israelis and broke through the line, but was then defeated a couple weeks later and the Israeli army almost invaded Cairo. I mean, I am biased but I think it is completely naive to overlook the fact that they lost the war. Anyways, after the museum we grabbed a cup of tea, took in views of Cairo overlooking the whole city and the Mids, and went to the National Police Museum, which smelled bad and I could probably count the amount of interesting artifacts on one hand.
After, we went to the highlight of the Citadel (and really the only reason I went), the Mohammad Ali Mosque. This is one of the most impressive mosques in all of Cairo and one of the largest as well. Compared to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, it is significantly smaller, but in my opinion the Citadel is much more impressive. It has a very personal feeling that is incredibly inviting to pray in, which is what a house of worship should be. Magnificent, yes, but also allows for one to reflect and really get in touch with a spiritual side.
But highlight number two came upon our descent from the Citadel. As we were leaving, swarms and swarms and swarms of Egyptian children came over and tried talking to us. It first started out with a teenage girl taking her 1990’s style camera and trying to take a photo of me. Cute. But she just kept doing it. And the kids kept pushing us a little with their movements and about halfway down the hill, Carrie, Meghan and I were separated from each other as crowds of kids were grabbing at us and holding our arms and hands and trying to take our photos (or have us take a photo of them, we couldn’t tell). So I now can say that I have had a Lindsay Lohan or Zac Efron moment where people were swarming around us and we had no control over it. At no point did I feel unsafe, it was just awkward and uncomfortable.
After that, I met Erin and Tim at the Hard Rock Cafe for unlimited beer & wings (yes it is legal for me to drink here). For 100 Egyptian Pounds (LE), or about $18, we can get unlimited beer and wings Friday, Saturday & Sunday from 4-11pm. Clearly a steal. As we were at the restaurant, in typical Hard Rock fashion, they got up and started dancing to the YMCA. So, think about what the YMCA means and now relate it to the third highlight of the day: YMMA. I’m not going to spell it out; you can figure it out for yourself.
Following that, the Al-Ahly versus Tunis Game was on (football for those of you unaware) and it was the Championship game. At the Hard Rock, they switched the channel from music videos to the game, but by halftime with Al-Ahly losing 0-1, we decided we needed a nap. So after our waiter had brought me celery instead of french fries, he told me no more crazy requests. So in typical Adam-speak, that means ask as many crazy things as possible, which finally brings us to the fourth highlight of the day: asking the waiter if they have any bunkbeds for us to sleep on during halftime.
So that was our day. I finally got to cross the Citadel off on my to-do-list as well as unlimited beer & wings. It was a great day, although Al-Ahly lost the championship… but shhhh we don’t discuss that. Now I need to hunker down and get to work. Have a great week!
Oh and my two favorite photos of yesterday…
First, the museum is a cooperation between Egypt and North Korea… interesting….
And along the same lines… I had to check my nuclear weapons at the door.
It has been about two months since I put gasoline into my car so I am currently out of the loop on the price of gasoline in the states. But thanks to OPEC, and hurricanes, and wars, and bitter little comments made against some government, drivers in America are probably paying near-record if not record high gas prices. When I left Murrysville in mid-August, I believe gas was $2.79 a gallon; D.C. was a little higher, as usual, but in general almost everywhere in America prices were about $2.75 to $3.00 a gallon. Well that just isn’t the case here in Egypt.
Like in the U.S., gas stations around here (mainly named Misr or Egypt) have large signs in front displaying the price of gasoline. The only difference is there is no space to change the price of gas. It is simply just a permanent fixture on the sign. Why you may ask? Because gas here in EGYPT is wicked wicked wicked cheap. It doesn’t fluctuate like it does everywhere else in the world. Literally, the price of gas never changes.
For example, most of the gas stations sell gas for 85 or 90 piasters, which is less than one pound, per litre. So after a little math, 1 gallon equals 3.78 liters, so the 90 Piasters multiplied by 3.78, gets us to 3.40 pounds per gallon. With the 5.60 Pound to Dollar ratio, a gallon of gas in Egypt costs a whopping 62 cents. Sixty-two cents! Less than a dollar. Don’t you wish you could pay less than a dollar for a gallon of gas? Albeit many of the cars around here are quite fuel-inefficient and if you did have a car here in Cairo, you would spend countless hours in traffic, but still 62 cents for gas!?!?! I’m not sure who I should be thanking, but OPEC seems like a good group to thank, for both the low prices here and the high prices at home!
Monday night, I decided I needed a bit of an outlet, so with just one year left until the election, I headed to a meeting of the Democrats Abroad Egypt, held just a few blocks from my residence in Zamalek.
Meghan and I headed over to the apartment to meet up with several other Americans to view the film Sicko, Michael Moore’s latest documentary about the health care “problem” in America. After starting out late – remember: this is Egypt and it’s a bunch of Democrats – we watched the flick.
Now, I like Michael Moore just as much as the next guy, but liking him and respecting him are two different things. First, I agree with him that we are in a crisis. Health care in America needs a-fixin; Canada, France and the UK have incredible systems that, despite the “socialized medicine” that people in America FREAK OUT ABOUT if you ever give them the chance, people seem to like. Recently, the Dems have all come out with some sort of “plan” to fix health-care or improve it or reform it, or whatever, but I think the American people need a clarification.
Socialized medicine does not equal universal health care. All too often, these phrases are used interchangeably: Republicans use socialized medicine because they suck and play on the fear of the people, and Democrats are wimps and can’t get behind a centralized mission.
Socialized medicine (i.e. what Canada, UK and France have) is not what the Dems are preaching. Socialized medicine is when the government takes complete control over the health care system; setting prices (or lack thereof) and controlling the hospitals or setting standards and paying the physicians. First, universal health insurance, as most proposals allude to, INSURE people, they don’t guarantee free health care to its citizens. What exactly is wrong with helping to provide health insurance to everyone? It’s not going to increase lines at emergency rooms or limit doctor visits, it actually will help the average person out. If everyone has insurance, the burden of providing care for the uninsured won’t fall onto the hands of the insured like it happens now.
Anyways. The argument of the movie was decent, although his agenda always takes the most extreme examples. However, it is important to realize that we have a problem; why should I worry about the health of suspected terrorists when over forty million Americans are without health insurance. What is the logic? Why can’t my tax dollars go to providing something for ME, once in awhile?
How can a party that preaches itself as the “Party of Family Values” honestly go about ignoring the needs of the people. Last time I checked, health care is a family value. So is education. Poverty seems like one, as well. Next election, I think it is time for “family values voters” to reevaluate why they vote Republican. Is it because of the war we aren’t winning? Or the torture the Bush administration refuses to admit exists? Or the fact that administration officials believe they are above the law? Or the world attitude that “nobody but America matters?” They constantly say that Islam preaches hate in the world, but isn’t that exactly what we are doing ourselves? By disengaging in the world community, we are isolating ourselves into the belief that we are the best and that no one else is really important. We are the real haters.
We simply cannot do that anymore.
Sorry to digress, as Michael Moore usually does, but the movie really got me thinking….
Following the misery of midterms last week – I did well, don’t worry – we decided it was a great idea to head out to the Western Desert of Egypt. This desert, located 5-6 hours west of Cairo, is just a portion of the massive Sahara Desert that basically occupies all of northern Africa. Since it is midterm time, we all couldn’t really afford (both financially and time-wise) to head out for more than one night, so we arranged to head out quite early Thursday AM.
It all started out November 1 (right!?!?!) at 6:00am. I had been out the previous Halloween night, so I accidentally forgot to pack. As 6am rolls around I just grab the first articles of clothes I can find, toss them into my backpack and run downstairs, ignoring security telling me I need to fill out a vacation form. So by the time the bus arrives and Katie decides to come downstairs, we’re off, although we had to stop at the ATM.
Finally, at about 11:00am, we arrive at an oasis in the middle of the desert where we will take a 4×4 into the Western desert.
So for the next day or so, we traveled around the Sahara, first stopping in the Black Desert, which is black because of ancient volcanic ash in the middle of the desert. We stopped for lunch in a small oasis and had decent food, followed by a journey into the White Desert, which should be a natural wonder of the world. Most of the rock structures were created by dense rocks on top as the sand wore away the bases, creating busts of sorts that resemble so many different creatures. It also kinda looks like the Arctic or Antarctica because everything is so white.
We spent the night in the desert. Our guide cooked us a phenomenal meal – BBQ Chicken, rice, and a spicy stew – which was one of the better meals I have had in all of Egypt. We sat around and talked about everything before sleeping under the stars. Just like at Mt. Sinai, there is no light pollution so every part of the sky is littered with stars. Seeing far away galaxies and tons of shooting stars made the experience even cooler.
So overall, it was quite the experience, that, as usual, photos can’t truly do it justice. But at least I can try… check out the whole album on my Picasa Photo Albums.
Oh, and on a final note, in the mad rush of Thursday AM, I forgot sneakers. So I was basically stuck with flip-flops all weekend. However, on a surprising note, the sand of the Sahara wasn’t that hot at all!
