10 Days in Egypt: Reflections

I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to travel to Egypt during the small window when civil unrest was at bay.  As a Peace Corps Volunteer, we are required to get approval from a long chain of command before traveling: site supervisor, program manager, PC medical office, PC safety & security, and the country director.  If the country of destination is experiencing any political or health issues (e.g. Ebola), then our request is denied.  Egypt has been on the restricted list for almost my entire service, and was finally approved just in time for my last vacation. 

While Dorothy and I were there, our tour guide informed us of the mass protests planned for June 30^th to remove the current president from power.  (*Our trip was June 14-24.)  If you read the international headlines today, the protests and violence have already begun.  While we were in Cairo, I took a picture of the fire damage (from the 2011 revolution) to the building next to the Egyptian Museum, which houses 120,000 ancient artifacts.  It’s scary to think that the political unrest came so close to destroying the irreplaceable remnants of history.

Aside from protests, I have several impressions from Egypt’s culture – the first being modern conveniences.  When coming from a village in Uganda, the first thing I notice when I travel is the availability of electricity & running water and paved roads.  But more than that, Egypt has fast food, a shopping mall with stores I recognize (Claire’s, Toys R us, Starbuck’s, Motorola, H&M, etc.) air conditioning, new cars, and high-rise buildings.  This is not to say that there still aren’t slums, insane taxi parks, and trash everywhere.

The good: modern convenience

 The bad: poor housing and trash

Upon arriving in Cairo, you will immediately take note of the number of smokers in Egypt.  Everyone smokes!  We saw kids as young as 14 or 15 years old smoking.  And you can smoke anywhere!  Restaurants, bars, airports, hotel lobbies, even the inside the mall!    After a few days I accepted the fact that the week was going to be filled with second-hand smoke – my clothes still reek.

 Dorothy (and the man in red) smoking inside a mall.

As a part of every culture, food and meal times take some adjusting.  The food in Egypt is classic Mediterranean (falafel, hummus, eggplant, etc.) – I was in heaven.  :)  And because we were in a tour group, a lot of the hotels had American cuisine too.  One thing that Dorothy and I noticed was the lack of fruit on the menu.  Fruit stands are everywhere in Egypt and yet we never got fruit with our meals (or even in the buffet line?!?!) and we couldn’t figure out why.   

In Uganda, leafy greens are considered a ‘poor man’s food’ because it grows on the ground – so it is not part of daily meals.  I wondered if it was the same way in Egypt with fruit.  One of the most difficult culture adjustments I had was with the meal times.  It’s true that I usually like an early dinner, but Egyptians take dinner from 9-11pm.  Yikes!  Breakfast between 9-10am and lunch around 3-4pm.  Luckily, Dorothy and I bought a bunch of snacks to carry with us and hold us over until the next meal.

It has been my experience that in most African countries, vendors hassle tourists.  It’s just their way of business.  “You come and buy from me!  How much!!  How much do you want to pay!!  I give you good price!  Very nice!”  Egyptian vendors seemed particularly aggressive shoving items in your face and not taking ‘no’ for an answer.  They followed us all the way to the bus, and even then stood in window and tried waving items in front of us.  One man gave Dorothy a “gift” of a scarf and put it around her neck.  She started to walk away and he demanded that she pay for it and came after her.  She threw it back at him.  Also, local people offer to take your picture in front of the pyramids or temples, then hold out their hand for payment.  We learned early on not to fall for the gimmicks.

Souvenir stand - every temple had them and they all sold the same things. 

Obviously, tourism is at a low point right now for Egypt.  That meant our tour group was on the smaller side (only 18 people instead of 40+) and the historic sites were virtually empty.  This was good and bad.  I loved walking around the temples without bumping into people or waiting in line, and I was able to take loads of pictures.  But after the first day Dorothy and I realized we need people in the pictures to give some perspective to the sheer size of the monuments.  Otherwise, the carvings look small, and the walls of the temples appear the size of an average building.

         

Tourism was low because of civil unrest, but also because it was the end of June . . . summer in Egypt.  Ouch.  Cairo temperatures were in the 90’s, but traveling south to Aswan and Luxor got us 100+ degrees everyday.  In the hot desert sun, we were dusty & sweaty by 10:00am.  Every place we walked, shade was essential and we couldn’t stay in the sun for any extended period of time.  Heat exhaustion hit me quickly and I was drinking twice as much water as I normally do.  But I still got light-headed and fatigued until we were back in the air-conditioned bus.

 Taking a break in the shade

Since living in Uganda, I’ve become to used animals everywhere, street food vendors, various vehicles for transportation (lorries, matatus, bodas, buses, and bicycles), and the open markets.  But here are some pictures of “Egypt Moments” that came as a surprise, even to me.

 A fresh juice stand (set up right next to traffic)

 

Donkeys!  (We don't have them in Uganda.)

 

First camel sighting - a man riding a camel down the street.

It's hard to see but the silver machine is for people to get drinking water (because it's so freakin' hot there).  These can be found in remote areas that don't have stores around to buy anything.  Local people set up these "drinking fountains" out of the goodness of their heart.  But, as a tourist, I still wouldn't drink the tap water.

 Fat man on a donkey near the pyramids.  Classic.

 

10 Days in Egypt: Days 6-10

Day 6

We got off the felucca at 7:30am and drove to Luxor, stopping at 2 temples along the way: Temple of Sobek and Temple of Horus.  (Each temple is dedicated to a different Egyptian god.  Sobek is the crocodile-headed god and Horus is the falcon-headed god.)

We arrived in Luxor around 3:00pm and checked into yet another hotel.  Dorothy and I decided to walk along the main street and find a nice place for dinner.  Most days on the tour, breakfast is the only meal provided, and we’d been living off snacks (apples, peanut butter, crackers, cookies) for lunch and dinner.  We were due for hearty meal.  We found a restaurant called Maxime – Dorothy got steak and rice, and I had shrimp/calamari curry with vegetables.  It was the best meal of the tour.

 

Day 7

It was another early start to the day (up at 5:30am), so we could go to the Valley of the Kings.  In the Valley, there are 62 tombs of Egyptian kings – King Tutankhamen being the most well known.  Unfortunately, no one is allowed to take photos of the valley or the tombs.  Our guide said that they used to allow it, but using a flash in the tombs is forbidden.  People frequently broke that rule, so they changed it and said only photos of the valley are allowed.  But people still brought their cameras into the tombs.  Now it’s just easier to ban all cameras from entering the area.

(This is the only photo we have of the Valley of the Kings.  We were standing outside the gates.)

Going into the tombs was unbelievable – I can’t even begin to describe the detail of the carvings and hieroglyphics or how well preserved the coloring is.  I wish I had pictures – it was one of my favorite parts of the tour.

After the Valley of the Kings, we saw the Temple of Hatshepsut.  It’s a special temple because it’s carved into the mountain (as opposed to free-standing) and Queen Hatshepsut is the only the female to have one.

Then we went to Karnak Temple.  It was the most impressive temple, in my opinion.  The sheer size of it was unreal, especially when you think that it was all created by human labor (no cranes or machines).

 

       

For lunch, the tour guide indulged us and took us to McDonald’s.  Then we started the 5-hour drive to Hurghada.  Upon arriving at the resort, Dorothy and I experienced severe culture shock.  Hurghada is a resort town on the Red Sea, and exemplifies a life of luxury.  The hotel we stayed at was ridiculous (I was so overwhelmed that I forgot to take pictures) – maybe 1,000 rooms, 4 pools, an enormous dining hall, and hundreds of chairs/umbrellas that took up all of the space on the tiny beach.  Dorothy and I freaked out and stayed in our room for the night (and took advantage of cable tv).  It was too much extravagance to handle for Peace Corps volunteers – meanwhile everyone else in our group thought that was the best hotel on the tour.

Day 8

So the upgrade that Dorothy and I paid for was a day of snorkeling in the Red Sea (instead of the second day sitting on the felucca).  Best decision ever!  After almost a week of visiting temples in 100-degree heat and driving across Egypt, a day snorkeling in the reefs and laying out on the boat was absolutely perfect.

The downside of the Hurghada detour was it meant riding a public bus overnight back to Cairo.  While the buses in Egypt are WAY better than in Uganda, I didn’t sleep at all that night.  It was only a 5-hour trip to Cairo, so I was a little peeved that the guide put us on an overnight bus, instead of an evening bus + a hotel room.  Oh well, I made it through.

Day 9

Dorothy and I were the only people in the tour group who went back to Cairo – the rest spent an extra day at the resort in Hurghada.  This meant that Dorothy and I got a private tour (and private vehicle) to go around downtown Cairo.   

 

We visited the Egyptian Museum, which displays all the treasures found in the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and a very large display of Tutankhamen’s possessions (again, no photos allowed).  We paid the extra $15 to visit the mummy room – 12 mummies of kings and queens that were removed from their tombs and are still preserved.  It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

After the museum, we visited The Hanging Church and the Citadel of Saladin.

The Hanging Church

The Citadel of Saladin

For lunch, we made our way down to the Khan El Khalili market – the biggest outdoor market in Egypt.   

Weaving our way through people and market stalls, it felt very familiar to markets in Uganda.  And guess who we saw in the market???  More Ugandan Peace Corps volunteers!!!  I knew Patrick, Aubrey, Erin, and Erin were going to be in Cairo that day, but I did not expect to randomly cross their path in the bazaar.  It was too funny.

 

 

Since it was our last night in Egypt, Dorothy and I decided to end it with a bang and see the Sound and Light show at the Pyramids in Giza.  It was a 45-minute show that illuminated the pyramids while telling the story of the kings and architects.  The lights were wonderful, but the sound part was really cheesy.  It definitely needs to be updated – think of the soundtrack/voices from the “Ten Commandments”.  I think I’ll write to the tourism board and suggest a Pink Floyd Laser Light show for next time.  :)

Day 10

The tour was officially over, but our flight didn’t leave until 9:45pm.  We looked through tourist guides for more activities to do in Cairo but we really had seen everything (or the rest of the optional activities took place at night).  So we spent our final day relaxing at the hotel, gorging ourselves at the breakfast buffet, enjoying electricity (and charging all of our electronics), lounging in air conditioning, and going through over 1,000 photos from the week.

Next blog post will about my impressions of Egyptian culture.  ;)

10 Days in Egypt: Days 1-5

Day 1 
My friend, Dorothy, and I arrived in Cairo at 7:45am and made our way to the hotel.  We booked a budget tour, because we didn’t want to wander around and deal with public transport (or any protests either).  It was also really nice to have a guide with us to explain the history of the temples and meanings of the hieroglyphic symbols.  Being that it was a budget tour, we were expecting very basic accommodations.  To our surprise, we were booked at a very nice hotel with a gorgeous room and a large swimming pool.  It was a HUGE step up from our usual hostels in Uganda.  While the hotel was lovely, there was no place to walk around outside the hotel gates (all restaurants and stores were several miles away).  So we lounged around the pool and ordered a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant.

         

Day 2 

This was the day when the rest of the tour group started to arrive.  But since Dorothy and I came a day early, we decided to go for a day trip to Dashure and Memphis.  There we saw our first pyramid (and went down inside of it!).  Unfortunately, the tomb had already been robbed, so it was just a bunch of empty rooms.  But still, I was inside of a pyramid!

 

 

We also saw the Bent Pyramid and the Mit Raina Museum in Memphis.  The museum was slightly awkward – it felt like they collected statues and artifacts from the area and stuck them all in someone’s front yard (the museum was right off the main road in the city, so it didn’t have the ‘ancient’ feel to it).  But the statues were impressive, nonetheless.

       

In the evening, we met the rest of our tour group.  There were 18 of us total (from all around the world – US, Australia, Colombia, Ireland, Scotland, Iran, Vietnam, etc.), but we had slightly different itineraries.  Some people were staying for 15 days and going on a Nile cruise, with others were staying for 9 or 10 days and going a on a felucca.  Some were doing a day trip to Hurghada, while others were staying an extra night in Luxor.  In the end, our guide offered us several optional upgrades, and Dorothy and I modified our trip to include more activities.

Day 3 
We got an early start and went to Sakkara to see the Step Pyramid, which was the very first pyramid built.

Then we headed to Giza for the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx.  I was in awe as I stood in front of them – it was incredible to see such ancient history still standing.  Of course, Dorothy and I opted for the camel ride.  :)  This was one of those “Oh my God” moments – riding a camel across the desert in front of the pyramids.  I can’t believe I got the chance to do this.  AMAZING!

 

In the afternoon, we visited a local perfume shop.  There are a few big businesses in Cairo: carpet making, perfumes, and papyrus shops.  (Dorothy and I saw the carpet making on Day 2.)

After that, we had to go get our bags from the hotel (and take a quick shower) and catch the overnight train to Aswan.  It was my first time riding in a sleeper car on train.  Quite the experience!  I didn’t get much sleep and the food was awful, but the ride was beautiful.

Day 4 
We arrived in Aswan around 9:00am and dropped our things off at the next hotel.  Another gorgeous location right on the Nile River.

Our tour was quick this day, so that we could have time to rest in the afternoon.  We saw the High Dam of Aswan, what prevents the Nile from flooding Egypt, thus creating Lake Nasser.  We also visited the Philae Temple, which is on an island on the Nile.

 

In the evening, Dorothy and I went for a walk in the Aswan market, and I bought a couple of Egyptian scarves. :)

Day 5 
There was an optional tour to go to the Abu Simbel Temple (which is supposed to be incredible), but Dorothy and I decided to skip it.  The trip required a 3-hour drive south (which departed at 3:15am), then only 1 hour at the temple, and another 3-hour drive back to Aswan.  Instead, we slept in, had a lovely breakfast on the bank of the Nile, used the hotel’s free wi-fi, and laid out by the pool.  The Abu Simbel tour group returned around one o’clock, and then the tour group split up: one group went on a cruise, the other went on a felucca (sailboat) on the Nile.  Dorothy and I were on the felucca.

We were so excited to go sailing . . . that is until our guide told us that we wouldn’t really be sailing.  ‘We’re just going to float down about a mile, then tie the boat up on the side and have dinner.’  It was a total letdown.  When I booked the tour online, it sounded like we would be sailing for 2 days down the Nile, and then go to Luxor.  But our guide said we just hang out/sleep on the boat and drive to Luxor.  :(  Thankfully, Dorothy and I had already upgraded our itinerary and cut out one day on the felucca.  We wanted to do a trip to Hurghada instead, so ended up only sleeping one night on the felucca.  It was a good thing too – we got eaten up by mosquitoes during the night (*there’s no malaria in Egypt, so they don’t use mosquito nets), the food was basic (bread, jam, and a banana for breakfast), and we had to pee in the bushes.  It was the ‘Peace Corps’ part of the experience.  Ha ha.  I was starting to get spoiled with all these air-conditioned hotel rooms and big breakfast buffets!