Having no schedule allows me the freedom to just walk out of the hotel and literally get lost in the city. As long as I can find my way back before dark, I'm OK. So, today, I woke up and wandered in the general direction of the tall spires I saw last night (while enjoying my Turkish delight). The spires turned out to be part of the Hagia Sophia.
The Hagia Sophia was amazing. It's enormous on the inside and everything is so intricately painted, carved, and mosaic'd. I took plenty of pictures that I will post on my Flickr account. I need to read up on the history of this place though. The people that occupied it seem fascinating based solely on their relics and some of the translated paragraphs that were printed on the walls in the museum area.
After getting my fill of weird new architecture, I left and wandered some more. The next place I found was the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (A.K.A. The Blue Mosque). Despite the fact that the place was filled with tourists, I felt that it should be treated as a sacred place and I didn't bother taking out my camera. It's hard to pull out the camera when other people in the same area attempting to pray - it just feels kinda wrong.
A little while later, I found the Topkapi Palace. It's a huge landscaped area with several buildings on it. The were different sections in the palace to display different aspects of it's history. I saw the treasury and armory. Those guys really liked everything to be jewel-encrusted. It's like someone had an ancient Bedazzler and bedazzled everything. The views from the palace were amazing as well. Standing on a fine marble balcony the sultan was able to look over the entire Bosphorus Straight.
These buildings were all beautiful, but they were similar experiences - I felt ignorant. Just seeing beautiful things is nice, but without knowing what you're looking at, it doesn't really make a huge impact. ... I feel that most places are defined more by what their purpose is and what has been done there than by what they look like. So, without knowing the history of these places, I can only appreciate their physical beauty. I suppose that's the benefit of having a tour guide. I wish, naturally, that I could see these places in their full glory - that I could see them when they were in use by the people that built them. That would be truly amazing. Since they are all ancient, I must turn to modern places that currently have things happening in them to experience this aspect of traveling... and I'll read up on Wikipedia later to figure out what the hell I've been looking at during my trip, heh.
I decided to wander around in an attempt to experience modern Istanbul. I had a delicious banana shake and complimentary chocolate covered coffee beans at a very large coffee shop called Coffee World (I later discovered that this was some sort of chain). Inside the coffee shop was a second shop, Chocolate World. I had a complimentary truffle too - very tasty! I walked and walked and walked some more and eventually found myself back at my hostel, Cordial House. It was too early for bed (still light out), so I walked just up the street to a local cafe, the Dervis Cafe. The entrance to the cafe is just a stone archway on the side of the street. Once you enter the arch, you walk down a narrow tunnel and then into a clearing covered by an arched wooden roof with large skylights. It's very secluded from the noise of the city streets. I sat down and had some hot tea and Tavuk Shish (like shish kebob, but chicken instead of beef). The only sounds around me where people speaking in Turkish, backgammon dice rolling across the boards, and some interesting Turkish music. It seems that there are two types of cafes in Istanbul, those with people playing backgammon, and those without. I prefer the cafes with backgammon - they have a similar atmosphere to good coffee shops in America. People just seem to be there to hang out and relax rather than to get coffee... I wish I could bring some parts of Istanbul with me back home...
Day 9: Athens to Istanbul
I woke up kind of early, did 2 small loads of laundry for 20 euro - rip off! I had to do laundry though. Then I talked to a travel agent associated with my hotel and booked a plane to Istanbul. I also finally got some poop meds (Immodium) and ate a damn tasty breakfast at the cafe near my restaurant. Bacon, eggs, sausage, good bread, nothing that different, but it was just fresh off the grill and fresh in general. I couldn't think of anything to do to kill time before the flight so I just went to the airport and read.
I finished this book my mom gave me called "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man". It was pretty good. I am basically completely ignorant of politics and foreign policy and well... everything that this book talked about. So, it was good reading it because now I know about the Panama Invasion and Noriega and Iran and Iraq and a bunch of other crap that you are probably shocked to hear that I know basically nothing about. Also, while talking to another traveller at the airport I discovered that I know absolutely NOTHING about Romania. He asked me, "do you know anything about Romania?" And I said, "no." Do YOU know anything about Romania? If so, leave a comment.
I finally got on the plane to Istanbul. When we landed I got scammed into this "shuttle" service to my hotel at the airport. I'm an idiot. It's like I'm that one sheep that always strays from the herd and the coyotes get me. I was told that there was no train into town. And I was told that this shuttle service was the cheapest way to get into town. I was assured that it was the cheapest. I paid 45 euro for round trip service to the hotel on their "shuttle". Then I discovered that there was a train from the airport into town. Then I discovered that my "shuttle" was just some dude driving me in his car - I was the only passenger. Great. Must be a great deal if so many people are buying it, huh? I swear, dealing with these 2nd world countries that hustle you all the time is going to bankrupt me or turn me into an asshole.
I finally arrived at the hostel and played with the free wireless for a bit. I got hungry and wandered outside in the evening to find some food, but most places were closed. I was, however, able to eat some Turkish delight on a moonlight night, heh. I slept in a hostel for 8 euro in an unairconditioned room with 6 other dudes. Other than sweating my ass off, it was alright.
I finished this book my mom gave me called "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man". It was pretty good. I am basically completely ignorant of politics and foreign policy and well... everything that this book talked about. So, it was good reading it because now I know about the Panama Invasion and Noriega and Iran and Iraq and a bunch of other crap that you are probably shocked to hear that I know basically nothing about. Also, while talking to another traveller at the airport I discovered that I know absolutely NOTHING about Romania. He asked me, "do you know anything about Romania?" And I said, "no." Do YOU know anything about Romania? If so, leave a comment.
I finally got on the plane to Istanbul. When we landed I got scammed into this "shuttle" service to my hotel at the airport. I'm an idiot. It's like I'm that one sheep that always strays from the herd and the coyotes get me. I was told that there was no train into town. And I was told that this shuttle service was the cheapest way to get into town. I was assured that it was the cheapest. I paid 45 euro for round trip service to the hotel on their "shuttle". Then I discovered that there was a train from the airport into town. Then I discovered that my "shuttle" was just some dude driving me in his car - I was the only passenger. Great. Must be a great deal if so many people are buying it, huh? I swear, dealing with these 2nd world countries that hustle you all the time is going to bankrupt me or turn me into an asshole.
I finally arrived at the hostel and played with the free wireless for a bit. I got hungry and wandered outside in the evening to find some food, but most places were closed. I was, however, able to eat some Turkish delight on a moonlight night, heh. I slept in a hostel for 8 euro in an unairconditioned room with 6 other dudes. Other than sweating my ass off, it was alright.
Day 8: Athens and the Acropolis
I slept in finally! In a real bed! No schedule. No wake up calls. Very nice...
I climbed to the top of the Acropolis at noon - it was VERY hot - I'm an idiot. Not much to report other than it was lots of heat, lots of walking, and lots of teenage tourists being obnoxious and loud. I went back to the hotel and took a nap after the Acropolis.
Later on, I attempted to experience the Greek night life by going to Gazi (an area with lots of bars, cafes, and music, so I was told), but I was mostly tired and lame and had no friends so I didn't really do anything. Travelling alone in a large city isn't very fun I've decided. It seems that I get lost everywhere I go in Athens. The streets are very sneaky and poorly labeled. And when they are labeled, it's in Greek, heh. I was able to find a big event in Gazi. It was the last day of the Synch music festival. There was a block that was lit up all weird and I heard trance-like electronic music coming from inside. I finally found the crowd (and the entrance), but tickets were something like 50 euro, which I didn't have on me and may not have spent even if I did have it. So, I just loitered near the entrance with a crowd of people and street food vendors for a bit. Then I went back toward the metro entrance and at at some restaurant called Pasta La Vista. Quite possibly the best spaghetti arribiata I've ever had. At least Greece has good food.
I climbed to the top of the Acropolis at noon - it was VERY hot - I'm an idiot. Not much to report other than it was lots of heat, lots of walking, and lots of teenage tourists being obnoxious and loud. I went back to the hotel and took a nap after the Acropolis.
Later on, I attempted to experience the Greek night life by going to Gazi (an area with lots of bars, cafes, and music, so I was told), but I was mostly tired and lame and had no friends so I didn't really do anything. Travelling alone in a large city isn't very fun I've decided. It seems that I get lost everywhere I go in Athens. The streets are very sneaky and poorly labeled. And when they are labeled, it's in Greek, heh. I was able to find a big event in Gazi. It was the last day of the Synch music festival. There was a block that was lit up all weird and I heard trance-like electronic music coming from inside. I finally found the crowd (and the entrance), but tickets were something like 50 euro, which I didn't have on me and may not have spent even if I did have it. So, I just loitered near the entrance with a crowd of people and street food vendors for a bit. Then I went back toward the metro entrance and at at some restaurant called Pasta La Vista. Quite possibly the best spaghetti arribiata I've ever had. At least Greece has good food.
Day 7: Athens
I took a plane to Athens this morning. We got to the airport early because my mother had an earlier flight. When we (Luisa, Ilya, and I) finally arrived in Athens I hung out at the airport for a little bit to keep them company and because I was tire and not quite ready to explore a new city yet. They were flying to Chios, a Greek island... somewhere... in the ocean. After a little while, I got bored and ditched em.
I had spoken to a Greek guy on couchsurfing.com earlier and he said that Syndagma Square was cool and had free wireless Internet access, so I went there because I needed to get online and search for a hostel or hotel. After a short search I decided to walk to some place called "Easy Hotel Hostel". I wandered around for a long time, carrying my full backpack, unable to find this place, and I wore myself out. I've been tired a lot the last few days anyway because I'm feeling sick - probably because my butt keeps pooping out all my precious bodily fluids and nutrients (I have diarrhea!) So, I went back to Syndagma Square and worried a little bit about where I was gonna sleep tonight. I looked up some more hotels, WROTE DOWN NAMES AND ADDRESSES, and then started making calls. Most were full. Finally I found one that was available. I got a taxi, and the driver told me that he could find a better hotel for me that was less expensive, so whatever, I let him. I ended up in a pretty decent place for 60 euros per night - expensive, but not that bad compared to the other places I was finding.
I'm pooped.
No photos today.
I had spoken to a Greek guy on couchsurfing.com earlier and he said that Syndagma Square was cool and had free wireless Internet access, so I went there because I needed to get online and search for a hostel or hotel. After a short search I decided to walk to some place called "Easy Hotel Hostel". I wandered around for a long time, carrying my full backpack, unable to find this place, and I wore myself out. I've been tired a lot the last few days anyway because I'm feeling sick - probably because my butt keeps pooping out all my precious bodily fluids and nutrients (I have diarrhea!) So, I went back to Syndagma Square and worried a little bit about where I was gonna sleep tonight. I looked up some more hotels, WROTE DOWN NAMES AND ADDRESSES, and then started making calls. Most were full. Finally I found one that was available. I got a taxi, and the driver told me that he could find a better hotel for me that was less expensive, so whatever, I let him. I ended up in a pretty decent place for 60 euros per night - expensive, but not that bad compared to the other places I was finding.
I'm pooped.
No photos today.
Day 6: Day of rest.
We did nothing. We took the day off and stayed in our little Western-style hotel in Cairo with the mediocre food. I bought Internet access for the day and finally uploaded my blogs and pictures and whatnot. I got to talk to Andrea on Skype - that was awesome. Skype rules. Oh, and I got another picture of that zebra-assed woodpecker looking bird! It's a cool looking bird.
Day 5: More Luxor and back to Cairo
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Day 4: Luxor
Didn't sleep well, ugh. We met our guide in Luxor. His name is Akhmed. He has the same birthday as me, but he's a few years older. In Cairo, our security guard, also named Akhmed, was only a week or two older than me. I've decided, because of these coincidences, to call myself Akhmed - it's my temporary Egyptian name.
We went to the Temples of Karnak and Luxor. They were amazing! I walked through massive fortresses of stone that have lasted through the eons. In Karnak there are something like 134 huge columns as well as a ton of giant statues, sphinxes, and a few solid granite obelisks. Everything is covered with art and hieroglyphs and the graffiti of the centuries - some of the graffiti has dates in the 1800s on it! Karnak was at one time used by the Romans as a Christian temple too, so there are remains of Christian frescos and some Roman columns and arches as well. Our guide was very informative - I can't repeat all the stories here, but a lot of fascinating stuff has happened here in the last several thousand years... We visited the Temple of Luxor as well. It was a smaller and had some different styles of columns. Both temples still had places where the paint on the columns and walls still had color - that is amazing in itself. Paint that lasts thousands of years - I gotta get some of that next time I paint my house.
The morning was rough because our 5 A.M. breakfast consisted of only a few pieces of individually wrapped bread and some butter and jelly and we didn't get to eat again until around noon. We were all extremely low on energy walking around the temples. Luxor is also a little hotter and drier than Cairo. It's a city of only 400,000 compared to the 25 million in Cairo, and it's much further south in a more arid area. I found it much more laid back than Cairo and a little prettier. If compared to Arizona, I would say Cairo is like Phoenix, and Luxor is like Tempe or Scotsdale - a little nicer and a lot smaller.
When we got back to the hotel, I spent some cash and a lot of time trying to figure out my internet and phone card situation. I don't think I really figured anything out. I put $30 on this phone card, but the "local" numbers were in Cairo, which is long distance from Luxor, or in the U.K., which is definitely long distance. Whatever. I used it anyway. I was missing Andrea and I knew she would be worried about me because I meant to call her the day before but I didn't get the chance to... Communication with the outside world is so difficult right now because of the tour - I can't just go off and find a cafe with wireless access because we've got a full schedule every day.
After talking to Andrea, I went back upstairs and got ready for dinner followed by a "sound and light show" back at the Temple of Karnak. The sound and light show was cheesy - lots of over-the-top British voice acting with bad 70's adventure movie music. It was basically a re-telling of all the stories our guide told us earlier but through a loudspeaker system and at night with weird lighting everywhere. It was kinda cool going to the temple at night though. The sky here is so clear and blue. The horizons in all directions are breathtaking - the yellow sand meeting the blue, blue sky... I tried to capture some of it in photos, but they don't really do it justice. Near the end of the show, the city came alive with the Muslim evening call to prayer. I was annoyed because the show was not that interesting to me and I wanted to hear the city, but it was drowned out. I wish I could have been sitting on a dune just above the city, in complete silence. I wish I could have been there as the city came to life to bay at the moon with a cacophony of lilting chants going out over loudspeakers every few blocks... Oh well. Maybe one day I will come back. Or maybe I will find that experience in Istanbul where I will have no schedule... I hope so. The Muslim world has some very beautiful aspects to it.
Masa' ul-khayri (good evening),
Akhmed
We went to the Temples of Karnak and Luxor. They were amazing! I walked through massive fortresses of stone that have lasted through the eons. In Karnak there are something like 134 huge columns as well as a ton of giant statues, sphinxes, and a few solid granite obelisks. Everything is covered with art and hieroglyphs and the graffiti of the centuries - some of the graffiti has dates in the 1800s on it! Karnak was at one time used by the Romans as a Christian temple too, so there are remains of Christian frescos and some Roman columns and arches as well. Our guide was very informative - I can't repeat all the stories here, but a lot of fascinating stuff has happened here in the last several thousand years... We visited the Temple of Luxor as well. It was a smaller and had some different styles of columns. Both temples still had places where the paint on the columns and walls still had color - that is amazing in itself. Paint that lasts thousands of years - I gotta get some of that next time I paint my house.
The morning was rough because our 5 A.M. breakfast consisted of only a few pieces of individually wrapped bread and some butter and jelly and we didn't get to eat again until around noon. We were all extremely low on energy walking around the temples. Luxor is also a little hotter and drier than Cairo. It's a city of only 400,000 compared to the 25 million in Cairo, and it's much further south in a more arid area. I found it much more laid back than Cairo and a little prettier. If compared to Arizona, I would say Cairo is like Phoenix, and Luxor is like Tempe or Scotsdale - a little nicer and a lot smaller.
When we got back to the hotel, I spent some cash and a lot of time trying to figure out my internet and phone card situation. I don't think I really figured anything out. I put $30 on this phone card, but the "local" numbers were in Cairo, which is long distance from Luxor, or in the U.K., which is definitely long distance. Whatever. I used it anyway. I was missing Andrea and I knew she would be worried about me because I meant to call her the day before but I didn't get the chance to... Communication with the outside world is so difficult right now because of the tour - I can't just go off and find a cafe with wireless access because we've got a full schedule every day.
After talking to Andrea, I went back upstairs and got ready for dinner followed by a "sound and light show" back at the Temple of Karnak. The sound and light show was cheesy - lots of over-the-top British voice acting with bad 70's adventure movie music. It was basically a re-telling of all the stories our guide told us earlier but through a loudspeaker system and at night with weird lighting everywhere. It was kinda cool going to the temple at night though. The sky here is so clear and blue. The horizons in all directions are breathtaking - the yellow sand meeting the blue, blue sky... I tried to capture some of it in photos, but they don't really do it justice. Near the end of the show, the city came alive with the Muslim evening call to prayer. I was annoyed because the show was not that interesting to me and I wanted to hear the city, but it was drowned out. I wish I could have been sitting on a dune just above the city, in complete silence. I wish I could have been there as the city came to life to bay at the moon with a cacophony of lilting chants going out over loudspeakers every few blocks... Oh well. Maybe one day I will come back. Or maybe I will find that experience in Istanbul where I will have no schedule... I hope so. The Muslim world has some very beautiful aspects to it.
Masa' ul-khayri (good evening),
Akhmed
Day 3: More Cairo
Today was much better. Honestly, I think the tour company or the tour guides are just unaware of what we want. I guess they aren't mind readers... We told Osama that we wanted some good, local, cheap food, and he took us to some place in the city. We ate a steaming hot (for once) meal that consisted of spaghetti, macaroni, and other things all in a bowl. It was pretty good - much better than the lame Western-imitation buffet crap. I also crossed an Egyptian street for the first time in my life - miraculously, I lived!
We went to the Egyptian Museum and saw everything they found in Tutankhamun's tomb - very interesting and informative. We also saw a ton of statues, hieroglyphs, false pyramid doors, columns, and other ancient Egyptian accoutrements. Anything used or touched by the pharoahs was solid gold or at least covered with gold leaf. They REALLY liked gold... a lot. I don't have any pictures of any of it, because they didn't allow cameras in the museum. The Ka statue of King Hor I is pretty cool though. I AM CORNHOLIO! If you're interested in all the stuff in the Egyptian Museum, check out this link: http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org.
We also went to the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. It was awesome - more so for the atmosphere than the actual items being sold. It's basically a labyrinthine series of shops and alleys filled with cheap spices, clothes, trinkets, and Egyptian art and jewelry. Every shop has someone trying to lure you in. They speak every language it seems - they hawk their wares in English, Spanish, French, or whatever language they think you speak. I probably said "laa, shukran" ("no, thank you") a hundred times. Sometimes when you say "laa", the shopkeepers start singing "laa laalaa laa laa laa" - they hear "laa" a lot, hehe. Towards the end of our trip to the bazaar, we sat down at a crowded but cozy cafe. We had tea, coffee, and shisha with our guides. It was nice - one of the few genuine-feeling moments in the trip. Today I felt that we got to see a little bit of the real Egypt.
We did stop at two more shops, but there didn't seem to be much pressure to buy anything. Either they were more laid back, or I am just getting used to it. The first place was a jewelry store in a small community of jewelers and metallurgists. Very beautiful jewelry, but most of it was Egypt-themed: scarabs and ankhs and more scarabs and ankhs. The second place was a store called "Funky Bros" that sold a lot of made-in-Egypt cotton products. I got a new shirt and some pants for around $30 or $40 each - not that cheap, but they're very nice clothes. I'll wear them tomorrow.
I'm currently on the sleeper train to Luxor. It's getting late and we have to get up at something like 5am local time. I'm going to try to get some good sleep...
We went to the Egyptian Museum and saw everything they found in Tutankhamun's tomb - very interesting and informative. We also saw a ton of statues, hieroglyphs, false pyramid doors, columns, and other ancient Egyptian accoutrements. Anything used or touched by the pharoahs was solid gold or at least covered with gold leaf. They REALLY liked gold... a lot. I don't have any pictures of any of it, because they didn't allow cameras in the museum. The Ka statue of King Hor I is pretty cool though. I AM CORNHOLIO! If you're interested in all the stuff in the Egyptian Museum, check out this link: http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org.
We also went to the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. It was awesome - more so for the atmosphere than the actual items being sold. It's basically a labyrinthine series of shops and alleys filled with cheap spices, clothes, trinkets, and Egyptian art and jewelry. Every shop has someone trying to lure you in. They speak every language it seems - they hawk their wares in English, Spanish, French, or whatever language they think you speak. I probably said "laa, shukran" ("no, thank you") a hundred times. Sometimes when you say "laa", the shopkeepers start singing "laa laalaa laa laa laa" - they hear "laa" a lot, hehe. Towards the end of our trip to the bazaar, we sat down at a crowded but cozy cafe. We had tea, coffee, and shisha with our guides. It was nice - one of the few genuine-feeling moments in the trip. Today I felt that we got to see a little bit of the real Egypt.
We did stop at two more shops, but there didn't seem to be much pressure to buy anything. Either they were more laid back, or I am just getting used to it. The first place was a jewelry store in a small community of jewelers and metallurgists. Very beautiful jewelry, but most of it was Egypt-themed: scarabs and ankhs and more scarabs and ankhs. The second place was a store called "Funky Bros" that sold a lot of made-in-Egypt cotton products. I got a new shirt and some pants for around $30 or $40 each - not that cheap, but they're very nice clothes. I'll wear them tomorrow.
I'm currently on the sleeper train to Luxor. It's getting late and we have to get up at something like 5am local time. I'm going to try to get some good sleep...
Day 2: Cairo
At the end of the day today, I'm left with a lot to think about. First of all, I feel that I was unprepared for the Egypt leg of this trip. When I was younger, I learned a lot about ancient Egypt from my mother and from school, but I have forgotten most of it. I saw the pyramids both great and small, I saw the Sphinx, I saw several temples - and I remembered practically nothing about their history. However, our guide, Osama, was very knowledgeable - he gave us a lot of information about each site we visted. The pyramids were both more and less impressive that you would imagine. The Great Pyramid is truly a world wonder, it's a man-made mountain of rock larger in scale than I thought it would be. But at the same time, so much has been destroyed by time, vandalism, or the government. Most statues are missing from the sites (presumably transferred to museums), and most ancient writing has faded or been replaced with such wisdom as "Mohammed (heart) Julie 2006".
In general, the city reminds me of Mexico even though I've never been to Mexico. That statement is ridiculous, but I don't care. The poverty level is high, and there seems to be no middle class. It seems like there are almost no billboards - presumably, no one has excess cash to spend on the kinda crap that billboards usually advertise. Also, certain shops seem to rely upon an interesting "captive audience" sales tactic wherein the tour companies drop tourists off and you have to sit through a demonstration of whatever product the store sells. As an individual traveller, I probably never would have chosen to go to a "flower essence" shop, a papyrus art gallery, or an oriental rug school. I appreciated and even enjoyed some of the demonstrations. However, I felt guilty after accepting "Egyptian hospitality" in the form of free water or hibiscus tea, and watching a demonstration I didn't even ask for with no intentions of buying of the products. It's confusing because I usually choose where I go to shop and most shops in my country are very low-pressure (other than car dealerships). In Egypt, I am dropped off in a shop and pushed to buy the product. Also, the population is very homogenous - there are Egyptians and there are tourists. When you drive through the city, you see only Egyptians, when you visit anything historical or one of these special shops, you see only tourists. Oil and water.
As I was being led around by our guide today I kept trying to discover what life for a normal Egyptian was like. Where do THEY eat? Where do THEY shop? What prices do THEY pay? Why is there so much segregation? Do they eat out? Maybe the poverty is so bad that only tourists eat out... But there must be some rich Egyptians somewhere - do they just have in-house cooks? I have travelled thousands of miles to visit a different culture and here I am eating mediocre Western-style buffet food (think Luby's or Golden Corral) in restaurants filled with only tourists. And I'm paying US$20 for it. Twenty bucks to wait in a line to slop my own room-temp imitations of American food onto my plate? And yet, where would I be on my own, with no tour guide? He flashes some tourism bureau card and we all walk through metal detectors, each of us beeping, with the guards just waving us on. He communicates to various guards at the historical sites for us. He makes our lives easier, but WHERE DOES HE GO FOR SOME GOOD ARABIAN FOOD? I can't seem to get him to tell me...
This leads me to more questions. He leads us through his city and it's monuments and tells us we must see everything because we will only see them once! Admittedly, this is definitely categorized as a "once in a lifetime" experience, but as a tour guide, I wonder whether this is a wise way to conduct business? I feel like we're expected to only visit one time. I feel like like we're expected to give as much money to them as we can afford on this one time through. And I feel like this world is completely different than the one that the other 25 million people living in Cairo are living in. Would it not be wiser to treat the tourists with genuine hospitality? Give us free perks, but don't make us feel guilty. Show us a good time. I can go to wikipedia to learn about your history, and I can go to a much closer museum in America to see your artifacts. I'm here because I want to live in your shoes for a week. If that means weird food, fine. Yeah, your city is dirty and hot, but I didn't expect anything other than that. Take me into it, not through it. I don't want to feel like a special guest. I want to feel like a fellow human being, a friend.
I gotta say though, those hand-made rugs were pretty sweet, and the 12 year old girls making them seemed happy. Sweat shop? Didn't seem like it. "Egyptian carpet school". That's something I don't have in the U.S. I don't think ACC offers classes on carpet-making. Why is it these small things that leave the biggest impression on me? I feel guilty for not being more impressed by the ancient ruins... But I cannot be anything other than myself - we will just have to learn to deal with it. Show me a great painting and I'll probably find myself appreciating the frame it's in instead...
A few more impressions before I sleep... Our driver is a man of true skill, but the lives of ourselves and MANY pedestrians were endangered today. Egypt traffic continues to amuse and scare me. LA is laid back by comparison. Also, whirling dervishes are awesome! Luisa has pictures. I would have taken video if my camera battery hadn't died.
Check out my links to the right for photos and videos.
Ma'salama (Arabic for "l8r").
In general, the city reminds me of Mexico even though I've never been to Mexico. That statement is ridiculous, but I don't care. The poverty level is high, and there seems to be no middle class. It seems like there are almost no billboards - presumably, no one has excess cash to spend on the kinda crap that billboards usually advertise. Also, certain shops seem to rely upon an interesting "captive audience" sales tactic wherein the tour companies drop tourists off and you have to sit through a demonstration of whatever product the store sells. As an individual traveller, I probably never would have chosen to go to a "flower essence" shop, a papyrus art gallery, or an oriental rug school. I appreciated and even enjoyed some of the demonstrations. However, I felt guilty after accepting "Egyptian hospitality" in the form of free water or hibiscus tea, and watching a demonstration I didn't even ask for with no intentions of buying of the products. It's confusing because I usually choose where I go to shop and most shops in my country are very low-pressure (other than car dealerships). In Egypt, I am dropped off in a shop and pushed to buy the product. Also, the population is very homogenous - there are Egyptians and there are tourists. When you drive through the city, you see only Egyptians, when you visit anything historical or one of these special shops, you see only tourists. Oil and water.
As I was being led around by our guide today I kept trying to discover what life for a normal Egyptian was like. Where do THEY eat? Where do THEY shop? What prices do THEY pay? Why is there so much segregation? Do they eat out? Maybe the poverty is so bad that only tourists eat out... But there must be some rich Egyptians somewhere - do they just have in-house cooks? I have travelled thousands of miles to visit a different culture and here I am eating mediocre Western-style buffet food (think Luby's or Golden Corral) in restaurants filled with only tourists. And I'm paying US$20 for it. Twenty bucks to wait in a line to slop my own room-temp imitations of American food onto my plate? And yet, where would I be on my own, with no tour guide? He flashes some tourism bureau card and we all walk through metal detectors, each of us beeping, with the guards just waving us on. He communicates to various guards at the historical sites for us. He makes our lives easier, but WHERE DOES HE GO FOR SOME GOOD ARABIAN FOOD? I can't seem to get him to tell me...
This leads me to more questions. He leads us through his city and it's monuments and tells us we must see everything because we will only see them once! Admittedly, this is definitely categorized as a "once in a lifetime" experience, but as a tour guide, I wonder whether this is a wise way to conduct business? I feel like we're expected to only visit one time. I feel like like we're expected to give as much money to them as we can afford on this one time through. And I feel like this world is completely different than the one that the other 25 million people living in Cairo are living in. Would it not be wiser to treat the tourists with genuine hospitality? Give us free perks, but don't make us feel guilty. Show us a good time. I can go to wikipedia to learn about your history, and I can go to a much closer museum in America to see your artifacts. I'm here because I want to live in your shoes for a week. If that means weird food, fine. Yeah, your city is dirty and hot, but I didn't expect anything other than that. Take me into it, not through it. I don't want to feel like a special guest. I want to feel like a fellow human being, a friend.
I gotta say though, those hand-made rugs were pretty sweet, and the 12 year old girls making them seemed happy. Sweat shop? Didn't seem like it. "Egyptian carpet school". That's something I don't have in the U.S. I don't think ACC offers classes on carpet-making. Why is it these small things that leave the biggest impression on me? I feel guilty for not being more impressed by the ancient ruins... But I cannot be anything other than myself - we will just have to learn to deal with it. Show me a great painting and I'll probably find myself appreciating the frame it's in instead...
A few more impressions before I sleep... Our driver is a man of true skill, but the lives of ourselves and MANY pedestrians were endangered today. Egypt traffic continues to amuse and scare me. LA is laid back by comparison. Also, whirling dervishes are awesome! Luisa has pictures. I would have taken video if my camera battery hadn't died.
Check out my links to the right for photos and videos.
Ma'salama (Arabic for "l8r").
Day 1: Crossing the Atlantsuck and Cairo
What a long day of travelling. I've spent an unknown number of hours in airports and on airplanes - some of them I was conscious, some of them I was not. Sleeping on planes sucks, even with all the right equipment (you know, like one of those inflatable neck pillows). I think the air pressure is all wrong or it's too dry or something - I kept waking up with a dry, swollen tongue and a sore throat.
JFK airport in New York city sucked also - terrible food. On the plus side, all of the planes I've been on seem to have TV screens with movies and games and GPS-enabled maps so you can see how close you are to your destination. Also on the plus side, Air France ruled - they give you damn good food, bread, cheese, wine, whatever, all complimentary. I made some half-ass sangria with some orange juice and red wine!
Flying over the Atlantic was boring as you may have guessed. No scenery. Oh, and it was also in the middle of the night, so you wouldn't have seen anything if there was scenery. Flying into the airport in Paris was cool. I saw the Eiffel tower from afar, and the city was laid out in weird triangular blocks instead of square blocks like most cities in the U.S. Maybe that was just in the part of Paris that I flew over, I dunno. The Paris airport was ridiculous. We landed, got out of the plane and loaded into a bus parked nearby. It drove us past all these terminals under construction. Then we waited and waited and waited for a bus to take us to the terminal we were supposed to be leaving from - the plane had started boarding 10 minutes prior. It finally came and took us right by where we got off the plane in the first place. Then we went through the boarding gate and sat on another bus for 10 or 15 minutes before we finally got onto the plane. "C'est la vie" is the expression I believe...
The flight from Paris to Cairo was scenic. We flew over Greece and several Greek Islands. I was unconscious on and off. When the plane came into Egypt I noticed that all the towns surrounding Cairo were laid out in this weird clumped-together blob pattern. Interesting. Egypt (around Cairo) was much greener than I was expecting. As the plane circled to land, we saw the pyramids and everyone "ooo"ed and "aww"ed. They are big. Really freaking big. I'm going to see them on foot tomorrow. Very excited. ... We got off the plane, met one of our travel guide's reps at the airport, got visa'd, and got taxied.
AWESOME taxi ride! Egypt is like Ecuador (or Mexico so I hear) as far as the driving goes. Tons of tiny, dinged-up cars swerving around with complete disregard for lanes, safety, and pedestrians. It was night when we got the taxi ride, but most people drive with their headlights off. The swerving and near collisions are punctuated by flashing the headlights and various horn honks from quick triple-beeps to a few heavy long beeps when you come close to smushing a scooter or small car. Also there are people lining the roads. They are all running around through traffic like the hardest level of Frogger. Women, children, old people, and crazy people pushing carts are walking around not only in traffic, but across the street while cars dodge them going 30mph. It's insane. Also, all the cars have tons of weird neon flashing lights and bright glowing colors. And some of the "cars" are wagons pulled by donkeys. I'm totally gonna hit up a local Egyptian auto parts store and ship myself some neon crap. The cars are all brands that don't exist in the U.S.: Peugot, Fiat, Opel, and other crap I don't recognize at all. I saw one Chevy truck. And the best part...
In Egypt they don't have traffic lights! Here's how a four way stop works: traffic is moving at a steady pace down one street (30-40mph). Traffic on the perpendicular street edges closer and closer until they're about to get T-boned and they start honking and flashing lights. Finally, a slight backup in traffic going down the first street will cause them to slow down enough where traffic on the second street just pushes through. People hit the breaks hard and honk a lot while traffic from the second street starts streaming though. The intersection is also immediately flooded with pedestrians crossing in all directions including diagonally. If only my camera wasn't in my bag in the back of the taxi van. We only went through one real intersection like this - the rest of the time was just a slow but steady weaving through packed streets.
I don't have any pictures today, but I will get plenty tomorrow. And I will make sure we take a taxi back into town at night sometime to get some good video of this craziness!
JFK airport in New York city sucked also - terrible food. On the plus side, all of the planes I've been on seem to have TV screens with movies and games and GPS-enabled maps so you can see how close you are to your destination. Also on the plus side, Air France ruled - they give you damn good food, bread, cheese, wine, whatever, all complimentary. I made some half-ass sangria with some orange juice and red wine!
Flying over the Atlantic was boring as you may have guessed. No scenery. Oh, and it was also in the middle of the night, so you wouldn't have seen anything if there was scenery. Flying into the airport in Paris was cool. I saw the Eiffel tower from afar, and the city was laid out in weird triangular blocks instead of square blocks like most cities in the U.S. Maybe that was just in the part of Paris that I flew over, I dunno. The Paris airport was ridiculous. We landed, got out of the plane and loaded into a bus parked nearby. It drove us past all these terminals under construction. Then we waited and waited and waited for a bus to take us to the terminal we were supposed to be leaving from - the plane had started boarding 10 minutes prior. It finally came and took us right by where we got off the plane in the first place. Then we went through the boarding gate and sat on another bus for 10 or 15 minutes before we finally got onto the plane. "C'est la vie" is the expression I believe...
The flight from Paris to Cairo was scenic. We flew over Greece and several Greek Islands. I was unconscious on and off. When the plane came into Egypt I noticed that all the towns surrounding Cairo were laid out in this weird clumped-together blob pattern. Interesting. Egypt (around Cairo) was much greener than I was expecting. As the plane circled to land, we saw the pyramids and everyone "ooo"ed and "aww"ed. They are big. Really freaking big. I'm going to see them on foot tomorrow. Very excited. ... We got off the plane, met one of our travel guide's reps at the airport, got visa'd, and got taxied.
AWESOME taxi ride! Egypt is like Ecuador (or Mexico so I hear) as far as the driving goes. Tons of tiny, dinged-up cars swerving around with complete disregard for lanes, safety, and pedestrians. It was night when we got the taxi ride, but most people drive with their headlights off. The swerving and near collisions are punctuated by flashing the headlights and various horn honks from quick triple-beeps to a few heavy long beeps when you come close to smushing a scooter or small car. Also there are people lining the roads. They are all running around through traffic like the hardest level of Frogger. Women, children, old people, and crazy people pushing carts are walking around not only in traffic, but across the street while cars dodge them going 30mph. It's insane. Also, all the cars have tons of weird neon flashing lights and bright glowing colors. And some of the "cars" are wagons pulled by donkeys. I'm totally gonna hit up a local Egyptian auto parts store and ship myself some neon crap. The cars are all brands that don't exist in the U.S.: Peugot, Fiat, Opel, and other crap I don't recognize at all. I saw one Chevy truck. And the best part...
In Egypt they don't have traffic lights! Here's how a four way stop works: traffic is moving at a steady pace down one street (30-40mph). Traffic on the perpendicular street edges closer and closer until they're about to get T-boned and they start honking and flashing lights. Finally, a slight backup in traffic going down the first street will cause them to slow down enough where traffic on the second street just pushes through. People hit the breaks hard and honk a lot while traffic from the second street starts streaming though. The intersection is also immediately flooded with pedestrians crossing in all directions including diagonally. If only my camera wasn't in my bag in the back of the taxi van. We only went through one real intersection like this - the rest of the time was just a slow but steady weaving through packed streets.
I don't have any pictures today, but I will get plenty tomorrow. And I will make sure we take a taxi back into town at night sometime to get some good video of this craziness!
EWT2K8... er... EWT2K7
There's only one week left before Evans World Tour 2008 or "yoot-too-kate" as I pronounce it. Prepare yourself for high-res pictures of inane things, rambling blogs, and um... I dunno... other stuff. The drama du jour is me trying to change my mom's ticket from Cairo to Tel Aviv - a week before we leave, she noticed that her flight is arriving too late and she is going to miss her group, so I'm trying to get ahold of the travel agency that I used to book everything and get em to help me change it.
Also, I had to mow the lawn this morning. That was pretty dramatic... particularly for my sweat glands.
Also also, I went to my girlfriend's friend's (btw, Happy Birthday again Amy! Wooo!) birthday party this weekend and there was this butterfly hanging out by the patio lights - it was late too! it was like 11 or midnight or something - not a normal time for butterflies - and I got it to crawl onto my hand and it was trying to lick me with it's weird butterfly curly tongue-probe-amajig so I poured some beer on my hand for it to drink and it drank it, and then I totally gave the butterfly some butterfly kisses - you know, where you lightly brush something with your eyelashes - I have witnesses, it was awesome! ... I'm slightly worried that the butterfly was male, therefore making me a homosexual. Meh. So be it. I like butterflies.
And it's okay to be gay. Hehe.
I gave a butterfly butterfly kisses! Hahaha! I crack myself up!
UPDATE: Wow. You know you're out of touch when you get the year wrong. It's 2007, not 2008. I guess this is EWT2K7.
Also, I had to mow the lawn this morning. That was pretty dramatic... particularly for my sweat glands.
Also also, I went to my girlfriend's friend's (btw, Happy Birthday again Amy! Wooo!) birthday party this weekend and there was this butterfly hanging out by the patio lights - it was late too! it was like 11 or midnight or something - not a normal time for butterflies - and I got it to crawl onto my hand and it was trying to lick me with it's weird butterfly curly tongue-probe-amajig so I poured some beer on my hand for it to drink and it drank it, and then I totally gave the butterfly some butterfly kisses - you know, where you lightly brush something with your eyelashes - I have witnesses, it was awesome! ... I'm slightly worried that the butterfly was male, therefore making me a homosexual. Meh. So be it. I like butterflies.
And it's okay to be gay. Hehe.
I gave a butterfly butterfly kisses! Hahaha! I crack myself up!
UPDATE: Wow. You know you're out of touch when you get the year wrong. It's 2007, not 2008. I guess this is EWT2K7.
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