Andrew and I made it safely home from Egypt. Over the last few days we hung around the resort in Dahab, flew back to Cairo for one last day there, then headed home on Sunday. The Egyptian Museum was a bit weird. One one hand it was just packed with really impressive, ancient artifacts. On the other it didn't really feel like the Egyptians put much effort into it. It wasn't very well organized, the write-ups had typos and there were random objects scattered around the museums (fans unplugged left in the middle of aisle, random dog skeletons in display cases with no explanation). It felt a little like being in someone's basement with their unorganized collection of priceless Egyptian artifacts.
In other news: on Oct. 4 I'll once again be doing the MS Bike tour around New York city and though New Jersey to rais money for Multiple Sclerosis. This year I'll be doing the 66 mile ride, and will be joined by Lissy and two of her sisters for the first 30 miles. Peggy, one of Lissy's sisters, has MS, so this hits close to home.
If you'd like to donate you can do so here.
Thursday September 17, 2009 1:48 PM
Trip conclusion and MS bike ride
Thursday September 10, 2009 3:04 PM
Moonrise over Saudi Arabia
Hey blog fans.
Andrew and I are in the resort town of Dahab, on the Gulf of Aqaba, on the Red Sea. Since the last update we did some more sight seeing in Luxor, rented a Felucca (sail boat) on the Nile for a few hours, and then flew to the Sinai. We are staying in a fancy-ish resort, but we made friends with a British guy that runs the dive shop at the resort. He took us to a Bedouin village last night. We drove for about 20 minutes, then rode camels for a little over an hour to the village.
The village was on the beach, right next to a coral reef. We chilled out for a bit with a few beers (and had a few on the camel ride too) ate some local cuisine including some tasty kebabs and then went for a night snorkel. We slept on the beach and woke up to the sunrise over Saudia Arabia, which was about 20 km away.
We relaxed on the beach for most of the morning, when snorkeling some more, and made it back to the resort by 2. Good day.
One more day at the resort, then one more in Cairo, then home. Good trip.
Andrew and I are in the resort town of Dahab, on the Gulf of Aqaba, on the Red Sea. Since the last update we did some more sight seeing in Luxor, rented a Felucca (sail boat) on the Nile for a few hours, and then flew to the Sinai. We are staying in a fancy-ish resort, but we made friends with a British guy that runs the dive shop at the resort. He took us to a Bedouin village last night. We drove for about 20 minutes, then rode camels for a little over an hour to the village.
The village was on the beach, right next to a coral reef. We chilled out for a bit with a few beers (and had a few on the camel ride too) ate some local cuisine including some tasty kebabs and then went for a night snorkel. We slept on the beach and woke up to the sunrise over Saudia Arabia, which was about 20 km away.
We relaxed on the beach for most of the morning, when snorkeling some more, and made it back to the resort by 2. Good day.
One more day at the resort, then one more in Cairo, then home. Good trip.
Sunday September 6, 2009 7:49 AM
"What's the scam?"
Andrew and I are in Cairo. We arrived yesterday afternoon, spent the afternoon/evening wandering around yesterday, did the pyramids this morning and are going to do some more sights this afternoon.
I'm sure that if I gave it a bit more of a chance I would find things I like about Cairo, I usually do about most cities, but right now it seems like a bit of a dump. It's incredibly dusty and polluted, which is not really unexpected. The people are really the disappointment. It feels like every transaction is a scam. We got the old short change scam when coming back from the airport. When going to the pyramids the driver took us to the 'Pyramiso' hotel, and then demanded more when we wanted to go the real Pyramids (we didn't pay). The pyramids were full of people claiming to be official who obviously weren't. I've been to lots of places with touts and so forth, and often they have something of a sense of humour about the whole thing. Here it seems a little more mean spirited.
Anyway, we are headed to Luxor tomorrow and then the Sinai Tuesday night, pick up some more commandments.
I'm sure that if I gave it a bit more of a chance I would find things I like about Cairo, I usually do about most cities, but right now it seems like a bit of a dump. It's incredibly dusty and polluted, which is not really unexpected. The people are really the disappointment. It feels like every transaction is a scam. We got the old short change scam when coming back from the airport. When going to the pyramids the driver took us to the 'Pyramiso' hotel, and then demanded more when we wanted to go the real Pyramids (we didn't pay). The pyramids were full of people claiming to be official who obviously weren't. I've been to lots of places with touts and so forth, and often they have something of a sense of humour about the whole thing. Here it seems a little more mean spirited.
Anyway, we are headed to Luxor tomorrow and then the Sinai Tuesday night, pick up some more commandments.
