MY 2000 ADVENTURE (continued)
April 27 – 6:30 pm
Didn’t do a hell of a lot today. Since I’ve heard that Dahab is better for diving, etc., I refrained from paying for it here at Hurghada. Very good breakfast then tried, to no avail, to find the public beach. In hindsight it was probably the area with garbage littering the beach. Not impressive considering it’s not free! After much walking I then checked my email (U of A telnet session painfully slow!) Won’t do it again for about a week as eight Egyptian Pounds for thirty minutes costs money. Dad said that the inheritance cheque is coming next week but I’ve heard that for a months now. So I can’t buy much although I did buy another souvenir (small King Tut bust).
April 28 – 8:30 am
Am bitter because I may have been ripped off on the King Tut statue. The statue cost 70 Pounds. I genuinely believed hat it was worth the price because Ali (young man who worked in the small shop) said his village had made them. Thus it was much more than other stores plus he would not bargain down. But I need to refrain from spending on souvenirs until we get to Turkey. May need to use an ATM and take out a bit more cash. Hopefully my inheritance will come in the next few weeks. I bought a good pizza last night and then walked around town with some people from the tour. Strange thin about the one-hour time zone change though.
Our room at the Four Seasons was good with a nice view. Plus we had good breakfasts with free tea and rolls! We left at 8:30 am bound for Luxor and are in a convoy and currently stopped at some kind of checkpoint. Behind us is a guard dressed in black with a beret, hand firmly on his machine gun and obviously sweltering in the searing desert heat. What a crappy job – boring! We will go to a laser light show in Luxor tonight. Looking forward to spending time in a nice, comfortable hotel and relaxing by the pool. I’ve now been on vacation one week – only downer is that I’ve been spending too much money too quickly! But the sights have been very interesting. My old life in Edmonton seems so long ago…
April 29 – 10:00 am
I’m sitting on the bus waiting to leave the Valley of the Kings. We had to get up at the crack of dawn to avoid as much desert heat as possible. Plus there was a mad rush of tourists to get entrance tickets once the booth opened! It was like a race as many people sprinted from their tour buses to get tickets. They are sold in very limited quantities due to guards keeping crowd control A smart move on the Egyptian’s part. An amazing place – highlight was seeing King Tut’s tomb #62 (circa 1370 BC). Seeing his sarcophagus and colors on the walls was breathtaking! The sound and light show at Karnak Temple last night was good too. I was very tired near the end of the presentation and dozed off for a while.
April 29 – 3:00 pm
Just had a filling lunch (club sandwich and an Egyptian Stella Beer) pool side at the Shady Hotel for 18 pounds. The Valley of the Kings and Queens were amazing! Queen Nefertari’s tomb was incredible – the brilliant colors and detail of figures on the walls and ceilings were breathtaking. There were two immense dark tombs in the Valley of the Kings that descended deep underground and made the stifling hot, dead air somewhat difficult to breathe. The tombs were those of Thutmosis III (circa 1504-1450 BC) and Thutmosis IV. All in all a very productive day and one more thing that I can proudly say that I’ve seen. After going to the Alabaster store and seeing similar high prices for basalt carvings and fragile forgeries, my King Tut statute may be genuine after all. Had dinner at McDonald’s last night – excellent! Last night I withdrew 300 pounds ($130.00 Canadian). It was probably too much but… Hope to god that the money is in my account when I do my emailing in Cairo or Dahab! I’ll relax by the pool for the rest of the day.
April 30 – 4:45 pm
Last night I had a very filling dinner (buffet poolside) followed by the tour group going to a Western type dance club at the Three Amigos Hotel. Not a bad place but had outrageous prices –glass of wine was nearly $10.00! Owner kept trying to sell me more drinks – “Mr. Michael my friend…” Jude, from Cairns, Australia, bought me a Stella beer. Went to bed at 2:00 am and was up at 8:00 am. Temples at Karnak and Luxor were incredible! Touching over 3,000 year old hieroglyphics was quite an experience. Today was hot and a tad hazy. McDonald’s had no power, likely due to the atrocious heat wave, so I couldn’t get my milkshake. Will walk over tonight and also try these fruit drinks that Kim from Victoria had talked about.
After seeing another papyrus museum and comparing prices I think I got a good deal in Cairo with my eleven or twelve prints. Considering the one large Judgment print was 840 Egyptian pounds – I paid 940 pounds for everything. These fucking flies are pissing me off! Anyway, I’m dreading when/if I get sick – hopefully it won’t be on the boat. But then when would a good time and place be? I feel more comfortable with being on the tour compared to one week ago. Two days of sight seeing in one place is sufficient time. Plus I’m happy that I won’t be on that bloody bus for a while. It pissed me off that most people were cold from the air conditioning while I sweated in the back! I’m ready for the train to Aswan. I often think of home – still hard to believe that I’m done school. Won’t be back there for two months.
Think I’ll cool off my feet – wearing shoes definitely helped today as my heels are sore and my skin is cracked from the dry desert air. Will give my sandals a rest. Haven’t mentioned that many of the cars here are Fiats, Skodas, Peugots, and Ladas. Plus half of the buildings here appear only half finished. Many are still made with bricks but have cement pillars with cables sticking out from the top. It’s very odd. My final cultural observation, actually not quite, is the Islamic prayer recording that blares out of loudspeakers at regular intervals. Plus many of the store keepers are very pushy and are literally in your face to sell. I remember Ali, in Hurghada, wrapping up the King Tut statute in newspaper and stuffing it in my bag before I had even agreed to buy it! More later…
May 1 – 11:50 pm
I got queasy last night after coming back from McDonald’s. Damn, their milkshakes are good! Anyway, my stomach started acting up upon returning to my room. Fortunately it’s not nearly as severe as what others have experienced. I’ve been lucky so far… Up early this morning (6:00 am) to catch the train to Aswan. We rode second class and I was impressed by the facilities. I didn’t use the bathroom so I couldn’t rate it. I had a nice chat with Cathy our cute little Kumuka tour leader. It was atrociously hot today and it must have been at least plus 35 celcius. My unsettled stomach combined with the heat brought near exhaustion. I spend almost two hours in a nice bar/nightclub on the Nile and rested while the others had lunch. Our hotel room is sparse but fairly clean except for stained bed sheets and a tiny bath towel. We have air con and the balcony faces long streets of stores and bazaars. I bought delicious fresh strawberry juice in Luxor last night and got a 1.5 litre bottle of sugarcane for three pounds. Didn’t have an appetite today until I had dinner. It took 2.5 hours for dinner to be served – we won’t go there for lunch tomorrow! Very tired now…
May 2 – 12:30 pm
I slept for nine hours last night! Had a good breakfast and am not eating much due to the heat. I walked around for almost two hours trying to find a free Internet Café that many had mentioned. Was later told that it closed! I could only find one that charged ten pounds for half an hour. There’s a small reptile/salamander crawling in front of me. But I’ll wait and do emailing in Cairo and pay less. I hate not being able to spend much money on my vacation. I decided not to go with some people to see the Nasser Dam. I don’t think it would have been more impressive than the Grand Coulee Dam! Just realized that I dreamt being at a library conference and met ALL library staff that I had ever worked with. I digress again. So I’m now at the Isis Hotel pool relaxing. It’s too bloody hot to do much outside after my near nausea feeling yesterday. I would have like to see the Nubia Museum but I didn’t want to walk there or pay for a long tax ride. So I’ve chosen the pool route – again. I will see another temple place this afternoon and want to buy Mom a charm or a bracelet and maybe something for Darcy.
May 2 – 6:40 pm
Just calculated that I’ve spent 3122.00 pounds or about $1450.00 Canadian. Came back from seeing the Aswan Island Botanical Garden. Interesting to see Palm trees with white bark. Am relaxing in our small, dimly lit but air conditioned hotel room. Overheard that we have a heat wave from Sudan – lovely! Spent 14 pounds on lunch but at least I got away with not paying the 10 pounds swimming pool usage fee. I wish my money situation was straightened out as it’s really depressing things. Have to weigh option of either eating or using an Internet Café… Need to rest my feet but I need to shop a bit first. ETA Cairo May 7?
May 4 – 7:00 am
Sunrise on the Nile! Need to get up early because of the atrociously hot sun. My back got burned yesterday. Talked to a couple of interesting people in Aswan the night of May 2. A fellow at the jewelry store served us delicious coffee as we waited. It was the first time that I had drunk Egyptian coffee. It was in tiny cups, was very sweet and had coffee grounds at the bottom. Anyway I think I’ll buy another bigger scarab beetle for myself – Dahab maybe. I likely won’t be able to snorkel because I don’t have contact lenses with me. Cathy said she can’t get anyone to cash my money order. I definitely need the inheritance money now! Feleuca trip has been fun so far except for the unbearable heat. Yesterday we disembarked to see Kom-Ombo Temple. It was build circa 200 A.D. in Greek/Roman style on the same place as an 18th Egyptian Dynasty temple. Area was where crocodiles came to mate and the crocodile god was worshipped. It was another interesting temple but it was too fucking hot to really appreciate the place. I almost passed out from heat exhaustion. I hope that I can cope with another hot day and that I find my water bottle! Last night was neat as the two Egyptians played their music and I looked at the stars and drank booze.
posted by Michael at 10:47 AM
