Lovin Dahab

We are still in Dahab and having a great time! Last night we went out to dinner at a restaurant called the "Funny Mummy". It was the coolest restaurant I've ever been to! We basically sat on the floor on cushions, infront of short little coffee tables. The whole place was very open, with nothing me a canopy and some walls made out of sheets. There wer cool lanterns all over the place, creating a very cozy atmosphere. Then our server brought over a little campfire to keep us warm! I order Egyptian style fish with rice and vegetables and it was AMAZING! And instead of getting rolls and butter to start, they brought out pita bread, hummus, and vegetables. Delicious.

After awhile one of the guys working there opened up the curtains behind our table to reveal the Red Sea - literally 2 fet from our table! All during the meal there wer stray cats (well actually kittens wandering around the restaurant. They wer adorable, but we were told not to touch them. Such torture - I'm a sucker for kittens! It was funny though... I'm eating this fancy meal with a striped kitty sitting meatloaf-style on the cushion next to me. The restaurant provided us with spray bottles full of water to spray the cats if they tried to get into our food.

This morning we went snorkeling! Some people say the Red Sea is better diving/snorkeling than the Great Barrier Reef, but I'm not convinced. It was somewhat cold and we almost backed out, but we rented wetsuits and jumped in. We were snorkeling in a famous area called the Blue Hole. I've never seen a reef like it before. It was more like we were swimming next to the reef, instead of above it. The blue hole itself is over 100 meters deep! The fish were amazing and my new underwater digital camera was awesomse! I even got video of the fish and my new friends! I'm still so bummed that I can't upload pictures here. I can't wait to show everyone! We may go snorkeling again on Thursday. Tomorrow I plan on lounging on the beach all day, and possibly take a break top ride a camel for awhile!

Mt. Sinai

We are now in the town of Dahab which is also on the coast of the Red Sea. On the way from Hurghada (15 hour drive) we stopped at Mt. Sinai to hike to the top. We arrived at the bottom at 2 a.m. and started up the mountain by 2:30. It was almost a full moon so we didn't even need flashlights. Our guide did not speak more than 15 words of English. We had the option of riding camels to the top, but we all decided we wanted to accomplish the hike on our own. It was somewhat creepy hiking at night. And the weirder thing was the fact that there were no trees, no plants, no dead leaves, not animals, not even insects. It was ALL rock and dust. About half way up the wind started up, blowing dust and sand into our eyes. I was hiking at night we my sunglasses on! We reached the summit aroun 5 a.m. The purpose of hiking at this hour to to be at the top for sunrise. Sunrise wasn't until 6:30! We were told to bring our sleeping bags or a blanket to the top. Two of the other girls and I curled up behind some rocks, completely sealed in our sleeping bags. It was so cold and so windy and dust was going everywhere! At one point the ground was shaking!

Finally, around 6 a.m. we emerged from our sleeping bags to get a spot to see the sunrise. There was lots of people on the top by now so it was hard to get a good shot of the sunrise without people in it. At about 7 a.m. we started back down the mountain, all of us miserable from lack of sleep, being tired of hiking, and having dust in our eyes. The trek back took about 1 and a half hours, but it seems like weeks. At the bottom we got to see St. Catherine's Monestery. I was so tired I just took pictures from the outside and went straight to the bus to start snoozing.

After some breakfast we headed out to Dahab. We are staying in a really nice waterfront hotel. The only thing that sucks is that all the tap water in this town is salt water! I had to shower with salt water and I feel gross. We are now about to get some dinner and get to bed early for a day of snorkeling on the Red Sea! Can't wait!

Hurghada

I went clubbing in Egypt! Wow. Last night was a lot of fun. After we had all had enough of the beach, we got together with Hamada to talk about evening plans. We all agreed that we wanted to go down town and experience some Egyptian nightlife. Hamada got very serious (he rarely is) and explained to us the rules of the evening. He warned us about Egyptian men trying to take advantage of us and taxi drivers being extremely rude and stealing our money. He pointed out that we are all old enough to do what we want, but he strongly recommended that we stay with him the whole night. If we wanted to go home early, he would get us a cab, talk to the driver for us, and write down the tag number in case there were any problems. All of this talk made me extremely nervous to go out, but obviously we all still did. We started out the night by going to a sheesha bar. We all sat around a table smoking some kind of flavored tobacco-like stuff out of a massive pipe. We chose apple as our flavor. I only inhaled twice and it didn't do anything to me - I didn't really understand the point of it. Also, instead of peanuts or pretzels as bar snacks, they served chickpeas! And another chickpea-like food that wasn't chickpeas. I could not stop eating them... SO good!

After the sheesha and some drinks, we walked around the marina area to a restaurant for dinner. As we were sitting at the table and ordering our food, BOTH of my roomies got sick at the table and we had to call them a cab to go home. They thought it was the mix of alcohol and sheesha that made them sick. I stayed out longer while half of the group went back to the hotel.

After dinner Hamada took us to a "disco". It was so fun! There was a really good DJ and the place was full of strobe lights and had a crazy atmosphere. I was feeling confident and grabbed an Egyptian guy's hand to dance. He was such a fun dancer too! Instead of trashy dancing at bars back at home, he was twirling me all around the dance floor. I didn't want to leave! I don't think we got home until 3:30 a.m. but it was definitely worth it and we actually got to sleep in today.

We leave Hurghada this afternoon. I'm a little bummed to be leaving this town because it seems a bit more upscale and definitely cleaner than any other town/city that we've been to so far. I will be spending the next 5 days in Dahab and I don't know if they will have internet there, so you may or may not hear from me until Friday or Saturday. That's it for now!

By the way...

The computers here are pretty slow so uploading pictures is pretty impossible. It will have to wait until South Africa or maybe until I get home!

Aswan, Luxor, Hurgada and Everything in Between

I've been on a cruise ship for the last few days and I haven't been able to get to the internet, so I have a lot to update!

The next morning after our Nubian campfire night, we checked out of our hotel and boarded a Nile River cruise ship, which was docked just at the other end of town. It wasn't exactly a Carnival Cruise, but it did have a restaurant, bar, and rooftop pool. After lunch we headed to the Aswan markets for our first true haggling experience. Because we are all obviously tourists, every shop owner throws himself at us saying things like "I don't know what you're looking for, but I have it" and "I give you money to look" and my personal favorite... "You broke something! You broke something! You broke my heart!" You can't walk 10 feet without being hassled. At first I was scared, then annoyed, and then it was fun and almost like a game. Every price is negotiable, and of course you all know my haggling skills - I am awesome at it - No lie! I haggled one price from 100 EGP to 5 EGP. That's like $20 down to $1!

That night, aboard the ship, we had entertainment in the bar area- a bellydancer. And of course she picked me out of about 50 people to get up and dance with her. Let me just tell you, I certainly could not shake the way she could. SO embarassing!

The next morning we had to get up at 3 a.m. to go see the temples of Abu Simbel. Aside from the pyramids, Abu Simbel is one of the most famous places in EGypt. The bus ride there was about 3 hours long, travelling through nothing but desert. Egypt is very serious about keeping tourists safe because if something happens, the tourism industry will take a hard hit. We had to travel to Abu Simbel in a convoy. There was a line of about 20 or 30 buses, led and followed by trucks full of tourism police with shotguns. Scary - but sort of comforting at the same time.

At 3 a/m/ the stars in the desert are INCREDIBLE. There was no light pollution and the stars were brighter than I have ever seen. I couldn't fall asleep on the bus because I couldn't stop looking at the sky. The amazing sky was then followed by the amazing desert sunrise. It was difficult to take pictures from the bus though.

Once we arrived at Abu Simbel, we had a brief presentation about its history and then we were free to go inside both temples. We could take pictures from the outside (which was amazing), but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. I can't seem to grasp just how old everything is that I'm seeing here. I don't remember when Abu SImbel we constructed, but it's at least 3000 years old. I am also amzed at how these places were created. Abu Simbel was constructed in the side of a mountain, whereas other pyramids and temples are so big that is seems beyond impossible for these people to have built things without modern technology. In addition to the size of these temples, usually the entire inside is completely covered in carvings, paintings, and hieroglyphics.

After we returned to the boat ( stil docked in Aswan) some of the group went back to the markets - I decided to lounge by the pool. In the evening a coupole of us treated ourselves to the ultiamte American dinner - McDonalds. I forgot we were in Egypt and drank the fountain coke with ice - oops. We shouldn't be drinking any of the water, but it's been a few days and I've been feeling fine. That night everyone in the tour group got together for drinks on the deck. It was a very fun night drinking Egyptian wine and beer. The best beer here is called Stella.

The next morning we were en route to Luxor along the Nile. While watching small vilages, desert, etc. go by, we were relaxing by the rooftop pool again! After lunch we arrived in the town of Edfu, where we stopped to see another Temple - yet another amazing place. But, unfortunately, we have seen so many old temples, etc. by now, they are all running together and we are appreciating them less and less :(

That evening our boat was slightly damaged while going through a lock in the river. We were a few hours late arriving in Luxor, but it did not affect our plans. We started the day with a sunrise hot air balloon ride! It was so amazing! We took flight about 15 minutes before the sun rose. I was a bit nervous, but it was actually one of the most relaxing things I've ever done. We flew for almost an hour, right over more temples, and the Valley of the Kings. It was incredible. It was a little more than I wanted to spend, but SO worth it.

We continued the day by taking a tour through the Valley of the Kings. This is a valley in the desert full of tombs of ancient kings of Egypt. We actually got to go in 3 of the tombs. Walking down long tunnels deep into the mountain was a bit creepy to me, but very worth it. The paintings and hieroglyphics on the walls are still in amazing condition! I couldn't get over how old these places are! Two of the tombs still had the sarcophogus (sp?) there! I was amazing to see the actual tombs where the mummies that we had seen in Cairo had actually been excavated.

After lunch we visited Karnak temples - known as the largest religious site in the world - even bigger than the Vatican. I thought I was sick of looking at temples, but this place was amazing. We took some awesome pictures, and some really silly ones too. It was filled with tourists from all over the world, even Egypt. I had an Egyptian lady ask if she could take my picture (because I was wearing a tank top). I didn't let her, lol. It is sooo hot! And this is winter! I can't even begin to imagine how hot it gets in the summer!

Last night we drove about 4 hours to the city of Hurgada. It is a beach town along the coast of the Red Sea. Today we spent the day swimming and catching rays on the beach. Last night we went to the Hard Rock cafe which was more like a club than a restaurant.

Tomorrow we are headed to Dahab where we will snorkel and hike! Can't wait!

Aswan

The train ride is over! It was absolutely miserable. I slept 3 of the 15 hours that it turned into. It was dirty, I had to avoid the bathroom, and I had a large Egyptian old guy snoring in my ear for half the trip! THEN, at 3 am, a few guys were yelling at me in Arabic because I was apparently sitting in their seat. It was awful. BUT, things could only get better from there, and they did.

When we arrived in Aswan, we had a few hours to chill out and take naps and showers. In the afternoon, we met up for a cruise in a felucca. A felucca is like a small sail boat that people have been sailing the Nile for years. We were originally supposed to spend 2 nights on one, but we upgraded to a cruise ship! It was great to be out on the water. The Nile is narrower than I had imagined (well, at least this portion). We then pulled up to a shoreline... to ride camels! Yes, today I rode a camel along the banks of the Nile. So cool. It was a bumpy ride, and at times the camel guide was not paying attention and I thought my camel was going to walk off the cliff, but I'm alive! We rode th camels for about 20 minutes, to take us into the Nubian village. The Nubians are the original habitants of this region of the Nile. We were invited into the home of some Nubians, were I tried hot Hibicus tea! SO yummy! It's a very Egyptian type of drink. The Nubians look more African that middle-Eastern, and they speak a different language. I found them to be more friendly than other Egyptians I have come in contact with so far.

After walking around the town, we boarded our boat again and sailed back to the hotel. From there, Hamada arranged for take-out dinner on the banks of the Nile. We boarded onto a motor boat this time and ate chicken, rice, and vegetables on the way to a random, deserted bank of the river. We had no idea there was entertainment in store! The retaurant dilervery guys (or so we thought they were) built a campfire and played/sang Nubian music. They required us to dance, but it was so fun! All the while we were drinking Egyptian wine and beer, which is pretty good, but nothing to write home about.

I'm enjoying Aswan much more than Cairo. It seems cleaner, and the people friendlier. It is still pretty fast-paced, but more in a tourist/vacation way, rather than a city way, if that makes any sense. The people in the tour are awesome. We all know each other's names and where we're from and we all seem to be getting along well. Tomorrow we have a low key day to recover from the last 2 action-packed days!

Pyramids, Sphinx, Papyrus - Oh My!

I saw pyramids today! Very exciting, but let me fill you in up to that point. Last night when we got back to the hotel after seeing Coptic Cairo, the 5 of us, plus several other girls that had arrived, went to an Egyptian restaurant. Our tour guide came with us which was a big help because the staff there spoke no English. I ordered something called Fatta. It was basically crispy pieces of bread, topped with rice, topped with beef and something sort of like tomato sauce. It was very good! Another girl ordewr grilled pigeon! She said it wasn't very filling, but tasted similar top chicken.

When we returned to the hotel, we had our first official tour meeting. There are now 18 people in the tour - only 2 guys and the rest girls! Everyone is between 20 and 35. About half of the group is from Australia, 1 from South Afirca, 1 other girl from the States (Tennessee), 2 from Canada, 2 from Taiwan, and a few from the UK. So far I really like the group - we all seem to be getting along really well, and we all have the same hopes and fears about the trip.

This morning after breakfast, we headed to the Egyptian Museum. I could not BELIEVE how big it was and how many artifacts they have uncovered from various pyramids, tombs, etc. It was so amazing. Some of the things we were looking at dated over 5000 years old! My favorite part was the mummy portion - we actually saw several mummified Egyptian kings - hair and everything! So creepy!

In the afternoon we headed for the famous pyramids. We spent nearly an hour just taking pictures and marveling over how old and huge they were. There were camels everywhere, and tons of Egyptians trying to rip us off in any way they could. Offering us a free ride on a camel, and then charging to get off the camel! Good thing we had a tour guide to warn us about these things!

After the pyramids it was off the Sphinx! Not quite as large as we had imagined, but still guite impressive. We finished the day by seeing a demonstration on how papyrus is made (paper made from a reed-like plant). We just got back from the market (familiar brands! yay!) and now we have a few hours to chill out and prepare for the evening. Yes... the evening consists of a 14 hour train ride. We were warned that this is the worst part of the trip, the bathrooms are horrible, and we will get no sleep. Should be interesting... I've packed my carry-on full of lysol, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper!