Egypt - Day 5

Sinai - the land of Moses. No, not this Moses. Or this one. Or even this one. But this one.

This part was probably the low point of the trip but it was still interesting. After the seven-hour bus ride across the Sinai Peninsula, we arrived at our hotel well after dark. The hotel was a complex of two-story buildings built up the side of a hill. The setting was pretty nice but the place was a dump. It gets pretty cold at 4,000 feet above sea level in February and our room had no heat. It was freezing but at least the cold temperatures slowed down the spiders making them easier to kill. Also, our room was right beside the diesel generator that runs 24/7 to supply power to the hotel.

In the morning, we headed to St. Katherine's Monastery. The monastery's origins go back to the 4th century AD when the Romans built a chapel near what was believed to have been the burning bush where God spoke to Moses. Over the following centuries, the chapel evolved into a fortified monastery that served as a refuge for Christians in Sinai. The place is still a working monastery that houses several churches and chapels, as well as a museum. It also has what is said to be a descendant of the Burning Bush that was transplanted here in the 10th century. There is also the Well of Moses where Moses defended the daughters of Jethro, one of which would later become his wife.

After the monastery, we got back on our bus for the seven-hour ride back to Cairo. The Sinai Peninsula has some incredibly rough and barren terrain. If this is what Afghanistan and Pakistan are like, I can understand why bin Laden has never been found. Kristi kept having flashbacks to the movie Babel, seeing a kid with a rifle behind every rock.

Pictures here http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDay5.

Egypt - Day 4

We began this day with a visit to the Citadel. Started in 810, the Citadel was originally a retreat for the governors and dignitaries of Cairo. The site was chosen for its sweeping view of the city. Then in the 12th century, a fortification was built to fend off the Crusaders. Since then, the complex has been expanded to encompass over 60 acres and houses several museums and mosques. We visited the Alabaster Mosque, also known as the Mosque of Muhammed Ali. No, not The Greatest but this Muhammed Ali. Instead of slugging it out with George Foreman and Joe Frazier, this guy was fought Napoleon, eventually driving the French out of Egypt.

From the Citadel, we headed across town to the Egyptian Museum. This is kind of like the Smithsonian in that it is so big and has so much to see that it is impossible to take it all in. Making matters even worse is the incredible number of people. It's not just difficult to see the displays but at times its nearly impossible to move. We didn't spend much time here - just tried to hit some of the high points, like King Tut's relics. The best part was the Royal Mummy Room. It costs extra for a ticket to this room so many people pass it up. This, combined with the fact that tour guides are prohibited from entering, makes this a nice break from the crowds and noise in the museum. I guess is sounds a little morbid to refer to looking at dead bodies as a "nice break." The room contains 11 mummies, with the oldest being from around 1650 BC. Some are in better shape than others and it's obvious that the mummification techniques were a work-in-progress. Some wore wigs, one had its eyes replaced with stones, and another had her cheeks stuffed to make them look full. Sadly for her, they got carried away and the skin had burst open. Unfortunately I have no pictures of any of this. Photography was not only prohibited but cameras were not even allowed to be brought in and we had to be searched and pass thru metal detectors before entering the museum.

From there we boarded the bus again and headed east for the seven hour drive to St. Katherine's Monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai. I was looking forward to seeing some of the Egyptian countryside but this place is just barren once you get away from the Nile. I hoped to at least see the Suez Canal but we ended up driving under it and never saw anything. Pictures can be found here http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDay4.

Egypt - Day 3, Part 2

"From atop these pyramids, forty centuries look down upon you." -- Napoleon Bonaparte, 1798

I guess that would be more like 42 centuries now. After the Step Pyramid, we went to the Pyramids of Giza. These are the pyramids that everyone is familiar with as we have seen them on television dozens of times. Even though they are familiar, there were still several surprises. First of all, these things are huge. The site is huge, the pyramids are huge - even the individual stones that make up the pyramids are huge. The biggest of the three pyramids is the Great Pyramid of Khufu. It originally measured 479 feet tall at its peak but, just as we humans get shorter as we age, it is now down to about 455 feet. The second pyramid is the Pyramid of Khafre, Khufu's son. As a show of respect for his father, Khafre ordered his pyramid to be built smaller than Khufu's. However, he also had it built on higher ground so that even though it is not quite as tall, it appears to be larger. Yes, even the ancient kings were every bit as vain as today's politicians. The third of the Great Pyramids is the Pyramid of Menkaure. By itself it would be an amazing structure, measuring over 200 feet tall, but unfortunately it has to compete for attention with the two big boys.

The pyramids are designed to be burial sites. At first, this preoccupation with death and the need for such grand monuments seems kind of crazy. But as it was explained by our guide, the pyramids were not so much about death, but instead were about life. Or afterlife, to be more precise. A pharaoh was believed to be a descendant of the gods and as such his reign would continue even after death. The pinnacle of the pyramid was a place between earth and sky from which he would rule in the afterlife. This is why mummification was so important - so the body would stay intact. And even in the afterlife, a king's got to keep his strength up, so they were often buried with food. In one of the pyramids, tens of thousands of clay jars filled with food and wine were found.

The second surprise about the pyramids is how close they are to the city. On the Discovery Channel, it looks like the pyramids are in the middle of the desert and it would takes days on the back of a camel to get there. In fact, they are a couple of hundred yards from Giza. I guess that's why they call them the Pyramids of Giza, huh?

The third surprise is how the government has allowed this place to become such a tourist trap. Really, it's much worse than a tourist trap. The place is crawling with peddlers selling junk and camel drivers offering rides or to pose for pictures. They harass you so much that it really makes it difficult to enjoy the place.

Before leaving the pyramids, we headed over to the edge of Giza, where we met up with our own camel drivers. I have to admit, I wasn't too crazy about riding a camel but it was already included in our tour package so we did it. It turned out to be one of the coolest parts of the whole trip. The ride lasts only about 40 minutes but you go from the edge of the city, zigzag around some sand dunes, and come out below the pyramids. Sure, it was touristy and all but the whole scene with the desert and the camels and the pyramids was amazing.

Leaving the pyramids, we drove over to Cairo for a dinner cruise on the Nile. Dinner included a show with another presentation of the Whirling Dervish and a belly dancer who was so bawdy she could have starred in a Snoop Dogg video.

Pictures are here http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDay3Part2. Unfortunately only one of the belly dancer.

Dang!! That Becks is just dreamy!!

Kristi and some of her friends were having lunch Wednesday at a nearby restaurant called Element Fresh when the waiter asked her if she wanted to enter some drawing. She was too busy talking to even ask what the prize was but she scribbled her name on a piece of paper and forgot about it. About 15 minutes later, the waiter came back to tell her that she had won and handed her four tickets to see the LA Galaxy soccer team play that night. For those who don't follow soccer (honestly, does anyone in the States follow soccer?), Galaxy is David Beckham's team. And if you aren't familiar with Becks, you probably still know his wife Victoria, a.k.a. Posh Spice, of Spice Girl fame.

Kristi, Kate, and Emily didn't have any interest in going so I got a hold of a few friends to go to the game. The Galaxy were playing an exhibition against Shanghai Hong Kong United. The game was pretty good with Galaxy finally pulling away late to win 3-0. But the most interesting part of the game was the crowd's reaction to Beckham. Everytime he got within 20 feet of the ball, the crowd would go wild. Chinese women were screaming his name and carrying around portraits hoping for an autograph. At halftime, a couple of fans even jumped the fence and ran to where the players were leaving the field just to snap a picture. I knew that he was an international star but I didn't realize that his fame reached all the way to here.

Beckham wasn't playing all-out but you can't really blame him for holding back in a game that doesn't count. But to his credit, he did play 70 minutes and made a couple of great passes.

Egypt - Day 3, Part 1

We finally got some sleep and even though Day 3 started with an early wake-up call, everyone was feeling much better. We started the day with a short drive to Memphis, home of the king. No, not the King of Rock-n-Roll. We're talking about the king of Egypt - Ramses II. Ramses wasn't Egypt's first pharaoh but he was one of the most famous. His reign lasted 67 years and after his death he became the model for future pharaohs. He was a courageous warrior and a great builder, who expanded Egypt's borders and constructed pagan temples throughout the country. Evidently, he was also quite fertile as he fathered more than 100 children. It seemed like every ancient site we visited had some kind of connection to Ramses and you'll see his name again as we recap our trip.

Thousands of years ago, the Egypt that we know today was divided into two kingdoms. Around 3100 B.C., these kingdoms were unified by King Narmer and Memphis became the capitol of this new land. Seeing Memphis today, it's difficult to imagine that anything of any significance ever happened here. Many of the better artifacts have been looted over the centuries and much of what remains has been severely damaged by Nile floodwaters. Some of the remaining items on display are pretty impressive though, especially the Alabaster Sphinx and the "colossal statue" of Ramses II. The sphinx, with the strength of a lion and the wisdom of a man, was a common figure in ancient Egypt. Ramses (43 feet tall and weighing 50 tons) has been moved into a modern structure to protect him from further damage from the elements.

Memphis was also our first introduction to the Tourism and Antiquities Police. The police have to be the biggest employer in Egypt because these guys are everywhere. Ibrahim, our guide, and warned us that no one at the tourist sites would befriend us without expecting to be compensated. We didn't realize, however, that this included the police. After offering to pose for a picture, two police officers demanded their baksheesh, or tip. I have to admit, it's a little intimidating when two guys carrying weapons start demanding money. We gave them something like 5 Egyptian pounds (approx. $1), chalked it up as a learning experience, and quickly moved on.

While tipping is common in the US, this whole baksheesh thing takes it to a different level. When Mark Twain visited the pyramids in the 1860s, he complained about being constantly harassed by people asking for baksheesh. Everybody in Egypt has their hands out and expects to be paid for everything, regardless of how small or simple. If someone opens a door for you, he expects to be paid. At the hotels, you have to fight to keep someone from grabbing your bags and then they want to be paid for not carrying them. The most common baksheesh demanded is in the bathroom. Every bathroom (hotels, restaurants, museums) has some guy standing there to point you to the urinal, as if you couldn't find it yourself. For this service, he expects to be paid one pound, or 20 cents. From what I understand, this custom doesn't only apply to tourists but locals are also expected to give baksheesh.

After leaving Memphis, we drove to Sakkara. Sakarra is significant because it is the necropolis, or burial place, for several pharaohs. The complex is huge, measuring over four miles long, and is dominated by the Step Pyramid. This is the oldest of Egypt's known pyramids. Built by King Djoser, the pyramid consists of six concentric layers. It was one of the early efforts at pyramid-building and an improvement on the old method of piling up sand in the crude shape of a pyramid. This is still an active archaeological site as more tombs are being excavated every year. One being explored now has yielded dozens of mummies and every time the team thinks they have found them all, a new chamber is discovered.

To get to the Step Pyramid, we had to walk thru a colonnade that included 42 chambers, representing the 42 provinces of Egypt. When a new king assumed the throne, he would be crowned once in every one of these chambers to show that he was the ruler of all of Egypt. This was a real time saver compared to how long it would take to travel to all the provinces but is was also a necessity. Life spans were short and many of the pharaohs reigned for only a couple of years so it was very possible that he could die before he could be crowned in every province.

Pictures can be found here http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDay3.