Getting All Ancient with my Bad Self

Greetings from Egypt where it is sweltering hot and I have sweat gushing out of every pore of my body.  Don’t you wish you were here with me right now so I could give you a huge hug and stain your clothes with my perspiration?  Come on, that sounds fun, right?  One thing that is kind of cool about this obscenely hot, bordering on uninhabitable heat is that I saw an actual mirage.  Yes, I’m serious.  You know it’s got to be crazy hot to see a real, live mirage.  Don’t worry, I photographed it for you so you could see it too, but that comes later in the blog so keep reading if you want to see it!  

Despite the heat I am absolutely loving every second of my time here.  It’s amazing to see all of these ancient ruins that we learned about in history class and in countless Discovery Channel programs in person.  You know our first stop was the pyramids so I’ll zip my trap and get this party started! 

Behold, the Great Pyramid!! 

I’d have to agree that it is indeed, great!   

Here it is from another angle.  I know, I know…it’s not that different from this angle, but it’s the Great Pyramid, people, so the least we can do is check it out from a few angles, right? 

Here are some scenes happening around the Great Pyramid. 

This is the second pyramid, which is right next to the Great Pyramid, and truth be told, I think I like this one better.  Yeah, I said it, so what?  Whatcha gonna do about it? 

We actually got to go inside the second pyramid, which was a huge treat.  To get inside one needs to crunch up into a tiny ball and then scoot down this long and tiny corridor, which finally opens into a larger chamber.  No cameras were allowed inside so I don’t have any photos to share with you, but it seems like we were the only people to follow the no camera restriction so I’m sure if you google it you can see tons of pics. 

So do you want to see the second pyramid again?  You know you do.  Here you go. 

And here is the panoramic view of the pyramids.   

Oooh, ahhhh, OMG, no way, stop it, shut up, I can’t believe it…I’m seeing an Ancient Wonder of the World! 

As if that wasn’t cool enough now we are going to throw a Sphinx into the mix.  Prepare to be wowed…from several different angles, of course. 

Shot 1 - Sphinx far away and almost in the middle. 

Shot 2 - a little closer and Sphinx off to the side a bit. 

Shot 3 - even closer shot of the Sphinx and pyramid

Hey look, it’s the Sphinx…

Shot 435 - Sphinx and Pyramid

Yep, you guessed it…Sphinx. 

Shot 1,678 - the final shot of the Sphinx.  Pretty awesome!   I mean, come on, that was great, right?  I know it’s a lot of pics that aren’t that different, but it’s the sphinx and pyramids, peeps!  Appropriate gushing required. 

This guy was adamant that I take his picture and wasn’t taking no thank you for an answer.  He practically jumped in front of my lens for this shot.  I’m glad he did too because I love it! 

 

I bet you guys want a sphinx doll after all those sphinx shots.  The question I have for you is, have you been naughty or nice? 

 

In case you are missing those shots, I’m hooking you up again.  You’re welcome! 

Great Pyramid as seen from the Sphinx.  I want you to get the full experience here. 

You know I had to walk like an Egyptian while I was here.  What can I say, it had to be done. 

What a great day! 

We wasted no time in Cairo and hopped an overnight train to Aswan. I must say the Egyptian trains were much nicer than most of the trains I took in Asia. Instead of 6 people per cabin, we only had 2 and our cabin even had its own sink and a door with a lock. Someone is movin’ on up!

We dropped our bags at the hotel and hopped a boat to cross the Nile and meet up with our camels for a sunset ride. 

We picked up a hitchhiker along the way. 

 My camel’s name was Jimmie and he was camel #1, meaning he was the tallest camel in the group. He liked being towards the front of the pack so he’d take off on a jog from time to time to ensure that we always maintained our position. We weren’t as fast as Alex’s camel though who took off in a dead sprint and left the rest of us in the dust.   

Jimmie’s handler was Osama.

Jimmie!  Please say this like they say Timmy in South Park. 

After the camel ride we hopped back on the boat to have dinner in a Nubian village. We all felt the need to take sassy pics while crossing the Nile.

Our Nubian hosts were lovely, welcoming us into their home and serving us delicious food.

One of the ladies was a henna artist and decorated my roomie, Shana, with a beautiful design on her arm and leg.

After our dinner we were ready for an after dinner cocktail, but with it being Ramadan that was easier said than done. Thankfully our fearless leader, Said, was a few steps ahead of us and had already gotten the 411 on the one and only duty free shop in town. We rolled up in style on our boat and eagerly crossed the street in hopes of purchasing our stash for the next few days, but alas, our thirst was going to continue a little longer as the shopkeepers were praying and wouldn’t return to the shop for about 20 or 30 minutes. Again, Said, came to the rescue with a great idea to show us the second largest Christian church in Egypt, which was just down the street. That Said, always thinking! I was surprised to learn that Egypt is 80% Muslim and 20% Christian. Many of the Egyptian Christians have tattoos of a cross on the inside of their right wrist so that when they are shaking hands with someone they can immediately see if their friend is a fellow Christian.

After securing our spirits we needed to obtain mixers to complete the concoction. Here are some scenes from the Aswan market.

Wow, these must be some powerful herbs! 

These little girls were adorable and kept following me asking me to take their picture again and again.  They are so sweet. 

The next morning we set out early to Abu Simbel, which consists of 2 absolutely magnificent temples built by Ramesses II for himself

and his favorite wife, Nefertari.

 

Ramesses was a bit of a narcissist though and only featured 2 images of Nefertari on her temple and 4 of himself. He also featured some of his other wives as well as some of his children on the temples, but they are pretty tiny and don’t even rise above his knee.  Um, Ramesses, take it down a level, pal. 

The temples are absolutely gorgeous and in fantastic condition. In the 1970’s these temples were relocated to save them from the rising waters of Lake Nasser They were strategically cut into 1,046 pieces and painstakingly reconstructed in 4 years time. To see these temples in person, I cannot even fathom how difficult a task this must have been to move them, but I am sure glad they did because they are quite a sight to behold.  Are you ready to see more?  I hope so because you know I have a ton of pics to share. 

As promised, I am going to show you a picture of a real mirage. Are you ready for it?

Do you think you can handle it?

Are you sure?

Ok, here we go…

It’s pretty cool, huh? I’m sure I wouldn’t think it was that cool if I was stranded in the desert and had walked for miles and miles in hopes of finding water only to discover that the water I thought I had found was nothing but a freaking mirage. Yeah, I can say with 100% certainty that I wouldn’t find that cute, interesting or even the slightest bit amusing.  I’m glad I was able to see this mirage from the comfort of my air conditioned van.

The next morning it was off to Philae Temple, which sits on an island in the Nile River and is absolutely gorgeous! The temple is dedicated to Isis, the wife of Osiris who brought him back to life after he was killed by his brother, Seth, who loved Isis and wanted her for himself. The first time Seth killed Osiris he put his body on a boat and sent it out to sea, but since Isis was a god she was able to use her powers to bring him back to life. Of course Seth wasn’t too happy about this so the next time he killed Osiris he chopped him into 14 pieces and sent them to the 14 provinces of Egypt. Isis was able to recover all but one piece, a pretty essential piece for a man. If you still haven’t figured out what piece I’m talking about think about the piece that Lorena Bobbett chopped off of Mr. Bobbett. Got it now? Yeah, not good for poor Osiris. His loving wife wrapped his body and laid him to rest. R.I.P. Osiris.

So where were we….ah, yes, Philae Temple. It’s stunning. Take a look.

Said made a point of showing this carving to the Americans to illustrate that we didn’t invent baseball.  Take me out to the…desert?  I guess so.

Like Abu Simbel, Philae Temple had to be moved. As a result of building a dam in Aswan, floods filled the dam with seasonal rains. Authorities were worried that all of this water would soften the foundation so they built a second dam in 1960 and then dismantled the temple in the 1970’s. The temple was cut into 40,000 pieces and took 8 years to complete. OMG! What a massive undertaking. In order to move the temple a coffer dam was erected around the island and a nearby island was carved so that Philae Temple would stand just as it had on the original island.

A huge round of applause for the teams that handled this project because the temple is absolutely gorgeous. In fact, many say that Philae Temple is the most romantic temple in all of Egypt.

After our morning at the temple it was time to relax and spend a day and night sailing in a felucca down the Nile. How fabulous!!!

This is the “police” boat that stalks each boat to offer their “protection” and by protection I mean money they force each boat to pay.  After Said slipped them some pounds we didn’t lay eyes on them again.  

 

Here is our fearless leader, Said (stripes) and our captain.  Said, you are the best! 

Everything about the felucca ride was fabulous. If you are wondering what we did all day, well, we did a little bit of this

and this

and of course a bit of this.

Ahhh, it was luxurious and so relaxing. At night we sat out on the sun deck under a beautiful star filled sky and cracked each other up with stupid jokes and stories, sang songs, well actually we mainly listened to the wonderful voices of Keith and Carrie, and also busted out an impromptu dance party when the crew from the ship whipped out their drums. It was so much fun and I would highly recommend it when you are in Egypt. It’s a must do!

After the felucca, we were all ready for a nice shower, but on the way Luxor we stopped by the beautiful Kom Ombo Temple, which was an ancient center for medicine and healing, evidenced by the hieroglyphics on the wall.

Here are some more pics from Kom Ombo.

Kom Ombo also has an awesome café right outside the temple walls that is known for its ice cream.. Woo Hoo! You know I was all about it. I’ll have a scoop of every flavor, please.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!!! I was so happy that I think I did actually scream. This is the first proper ice cream I have had in months. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Cornetto cones and Magnum bars are delicious and I rarely pass up an opportunity to enjoy them, but they just can’t beat homemade ice cream. Yummy!

It’s back on the bus and off to Luxor where a cool and refreshing shower awaited us. Woo Hoo! We had the day free to do whatevs, but given the scorching heat and exhaustion from a less than restful night of sleep on the felucca, most of us opted to catch up on some zzz’s inside our nice, air conditioned hotel, which also had wifi that didn’t drop every 5 seconds. Yippie! Time to pay some bills and give some shouts out to my peeps.

We met up with Said in the lobby later in the evening and went over to Luxor Temple, which looks absolutely beautiful in the evening. Check it out!

The call to prayer coincided with our departure from the temple. It was lovely to witness the city streets come to a halt.

The next morning we were up at the crack to enjoy a beautiful sunrise and watch some hot air balloons fly over Luxor Temple. Check out the lovely view from our rooftop restaurant.

Now it was time to ride donkeys on the west bank of Luxor. I have never ridden a donkey before and I am fired up to give it a go! Meet my donkey, Ali Babba! He was the cutest.

It actually took a lot more balance than one would think to stay on top of the donkey. They are tiny and can run surprisingly fast. Forget trying to control the donkey either. They had zero interest in listening to commands so you just had to go with it. If they wanted to run, you better hold on because there was little you could do to stop it. The resident donkey whisperer was your one hope though. If your donkey got too out of hand he’d step in to save you.

The donkey ride was awesome and was a great way to kick off our day. Now it was time to visit the Valley of the Kings and some more temples. We were all excited to visit the Valley of the Kings for obvious reasons and it certainly did not disappoint. Sadly, cameras are not allowed inside so I have no pictures to share with you, but let me just tell you that it was stunning. The landscape is very dramatic with huge, barren mountains on all sides. One notices some rectangular holes cut into some of the mountains, which serves as the entrance to the tombs of Egypt‘s great rulers. There are 62 tombs in all, but visitors are only allowed to visit 3. In fact, I think only 3 are open at one time because Said told us that you could come back next year and 3 different tombs would be available for viewing. The three tombs we visited were spectacular with ornately decorated walls in vivid colors. I couldn’t believe how well preserved everything appeared. When you first enter the tomb, you have to crouch down to walk through a long tunnel that slopes downward and leads to the burial chamber. It’s hot and cramped so if you are claustrophobic it might not be your thing, but if you can stand it, I’d highly recommend it because it’s truly a sight to behold. It was undeniably a highlight of the trip for me.

Of course I also visited the tomb of Tut Ankh Amun who we all know, but who wasn’t really a major figure in Egypt’s history. In fact, the only reason we all know about him is because his tomb is the only one they found with so many artifacts and treasures in tact. King Tut was only 9 years old when he started to rule Egypt, but his tenure was cut short by his premature death at only 18 years old. His tomb is unfinished because no one was expecting him to die so young so they had not even started working on his tomb while he was ruling Egypt. Normally laborers began working on the tombs of their leaders as soon as they took over, but given Tut’s young age, no arrangements had been made. They quickly whipped something together and the result is still pretty impressive. Tut’s mummy is also contained within, which certainly adds to the experience. Like most of the ancients, he was tiny. Of course I realize mummy’s shrink up and are much smaller than the actual object that has been mummified, but even his throne, which we saw in the Egyptian Museum, is tiny. Regardless of it’s size, it’s cool to see. His head and feet are exposed, with his 10 tiny, shriveled up toes in perfect condition. Two enthusiastic thumbs up, my friends.

After the Valley of the Kings we headed over to the Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple, which is dedicated to Queen Hatshepsut, the most important woman to rule Egypt as a pharaoh. After her brother/husband passed away she was supposed to co-rule Egypt with her deceased husband’s son, her stepson, Thutmoses III, who was born from one of his father’s minor wives, but Hatshepsut didn’t want to share the throne so she put Thutmoses in prison so she could rule by herself. Obviously this didn’t please Thutmoses and he deeply hated Hatshepsut. He got his revenge by defacing every temple, artifact, etc. that was dedicated to Hatshepsut. It’s hard to find a single relic of Hatshepsut that hasn’t been destroyed, but her temple is actually in pretty great shape. Take a look for yourselves.

This owl is for my girls.  What is it?  A good thing…

This was definitely the hottest day we had since arriving in Egypt and I can’t pretend that I was in love with it. To give you an idea of how hot it was, one of my fellow travelers had a thermometer key chain attached to her backpack and it read 50 degrees Celsius. Um….what? Insanity!!!! Hatshepsut will forever be associated with practically uninhabitable heat for the rest of my life.

Thankfully we had a little rest in our air conditioned bus before heading to Karnak Temple, the largest temple in the world. An avenue of ram-headed sphinxes leads into temple.

Do you remember the sphinxes from Luxor? Back in the day the sphinxes lead all the way from Luxor to Karnak. There are plans underway to restore this historic avenue to its former glory, but it will require the demolition and moving of a lot of modern buildings and roads, but if anyone can do it, it’s certainly the Egyptians! They’ve proved their skills time and again.

One thing I’ve learned from visiting all these sites is that Egypt has had so many of its ancient relics taken by archaeologists, travelers, scholars, explorers, etc. who have found something they liked and decided to take it home with them. Back in the day there was a treasury law that allowed archaeologists/explorers to keep 50% of what they discovered and give the remaining 50% back to Egypt, but there are countless stories of people seeing something they liked and just taking it. We saw the foundation of so many obelisks that had been chopped down by visitors and taken to their home countries because they are so pretty. Um, are you kidding me? That’s so not OK, people! Egypt has been generous and given many gifts to various countries as well, but it’s astounding how many pieces have just been taken.

So are you ready to see some pics or what? Here you go!

I was spacing out during the discussion about why it was good luck to walk around this statue 7 times, but you know I did it anyway.  I need all the good luck I can get! 

Sorry, Said.  I blame Hatshepsut! 

After our long and hot day of touring around it was time to catch a night train back to Luxor. We were all pretty beat, but once we got on the train we got a second wind and were ready to get our drink on! Cheers…

We came up with this fun game where you had a few seconds to come up with an inspiration for a photo, then turn away from the group, and within seconds turn back to the group and work it for the camera. Tyra would be so proud because you know we were fierce and smiled with our eyes. Here are some of our pics courtesy of Carrie.  Thanks, girl, these are sweet!

The Color Orange

Rock On

Said (our awesome tour leader)

Death on the Nile

We had another one that was Bull, but it’s blurry so it’s hard to tell. I assure you it was masterful, though.

We cracked ourselves up for a long time with this little game and it made the train ride so much fun!

At the crack of dawn we rolled into Cairo and surprisingly the hotel actually let us into our rooms so we were able to catch some zzz’s before checking out some sights around Cairo.  Our first stop was to the Egyptian Museum, which is full of ancient treasures.  It’s a bit overwhelming, but thankfully we had Said to help us navigate the thousands of items on display.  Again, no cameras were allowed so I don’t have any pics to share, but trust me when I tell you that it’s amazing. 

It did make me kind of sad a few times when Said would show us a replica of something like the Rosetta Stone and then go on to describe how the original is in London.  Why isn’t it in Egypt?  It doesn’t seem right.  The story that blew my mind the most though involved Egypt asking the Berlin museum if they could borrow Nefertiti’s bust for 3 months for a special exhibit and they refused.  What?  It came from Egypt and is part of their history and all they want to do is borrow it for a few months.  Geez, Germany.  Not cool.  Freddi, zis is not logical.  Can you maybe talk to your peeps and see what’s going on here?  Haha!  Freddi was our German travel companion and boy did he take a beating after we heard this story. 

Our next stop was to the Citadel of Salah Al-Din. It is no longer an active mosque so we were allowed inside to take pics. Yippie!

After the Citadel we visited the Khan al-Khalili bazaar.

After some shopping and a little lunch it was off to Saqqara, home of the first pyramid ever built, the step pyramid. Pretty cool!

Said gave one of the security guards a little encouragement to show us the statue of King Djoser of the 3^rd Dynasty. It was hidden behind this stone wall, but had two little eye holes where one could see his statue. I had a tough time getting my camera to figure out where the heck I was trying to focus so the shot isn’t great, but it still gives you a feel for it. We all felt so special to be able to have seen this. Thanks, Said. Awesome touch!

The next morning we were up early again to see Mt. Sinai. We were all super excited to climb to the top to see where Moses received the 10 Commandments and take in the stunning panoramic view. On the way to Sinai you pass the Monastery of St. Catherine, home to the burning bush. We were all a bit slap happy from back to back days of early rising so we had some fun with Said about the burning bush. So do you want to see it?

Really?

How much do you want to see it?

Ok, here you go!

Here are some more pics from St. Catherine’s. We weren’t allowed to take pics inside so these will have to do. I mean, you saw the alleged burning bush so that’s pretty cool, right?

After the burning bush we had a few hours to kill at our hotel before climbing Mt. Sinai for sunset. Our hotel was super nice so we were all pumped to chill.

After some lunch and a nap it was time to climb Sinai. Woo Hoo! The barren and harsh terrain reminded me a lot of Tibet, but instead of being freezing cold it was pretty warm. Not as psychotic as the day we visited Hatshepsut, but definitely a lot warmer than Tibet. Check out the stunning scenery.

Today was the feast to break the fast for Ramadan and this poor guy is working.  He doesn’t seem very excited to be here.  I wouldn’t either!  After a month of fasting I’d be shoving as much food into my face as possible. 

We’re almost there. Only a few more steps to go.

Once the sun set it got dark pretty quickly so we needed to use our flashlights to walk down. The star-filled sky was immense and gorgeous against the backdrop of the mountains. It was such a wonderful day!

Many times during my time in Egypt my eyes welled up with tears thinking about how much my mom would have loved this experience. She loved Egyptology and was actually in the middle of presenting the unit to her kids when her accident happened. I remember when I was home for Mother’s Day, 4 days prior to her accident, that she was excitedly telling me about this archaeological dig they had planned for the kids and filling me in on all the particulars. In fact, the friend that was with her the night of her accident told us how earlier in the evening mom was also telling him about the dig and all the fun and interesting things they had planned for it. She would have absolutely adored seeing these ancient places in person. At each site we were given free time to walk around and have our own experience and I frequently talked to mom, telling her how much I knew she would love this, asking her if she was with me now and if she could believe all the mind-blowing things we were seeing, and of course telling her how much I missed her and hoped that she was at peace. I like to believe that she was there with me, seeing these things through my eyes and filling my heart with gratitude and appreciation for this amazing experience.

Next stop was to Nuweiba, which sits on the Red Sea, and marks the spot where we‘ll spend our last night in Egypt! We stayed at the most fabulous property, the KakHil-Inn, that had such an intimate and homey feeling. Everyone on staff wore huge smiles and was constantly asking if they could do anything to make our stay more enjoyable. Hmm, let’s see…stunning natural scenery,

insanely delicious food (the calamari was so delicious I had to eat it for both lunch and dinner - thanks for the superb recommendation, Barry),

great company, and fab weather…I’d say it’s just about perfect.

We could even see Saudi Arabia across the water. How cool?!?

Later that night we were sitting in this hut on the beach under another spectacular, star-filled sky sharing stories and of course cracking jokes when Samer, the owner of the property, came over to check on us and make sure all was well. A few of us asked him about how he came to own this property and run this fabulous resort and his story was so touching and inspiring that I just have to share it with you.

He had been working as an architect at the nearby Hilton hotel for years. An avid diver, he had been diving in the Red Sea for a long time and loved the untouched landscape miles away from the more developed areas. One evening he went on a night dive with one of the Hilton executives and as they emerged from the water, the executive noticed that Samer had his gaze fixed intently in the distance and asked him what he was thinking about at this exact moment. Sumer described the house he was envisioning, and then upon the urging of the executive, drew a picture of it the very next day. Sumer acknowledged that he had no idea what he would do with the house and that he didn’t have the money to build it anyway, but upon the executive’s urging yet again, he found the owner of the piece of land and entered into negotiations to purchase the property. For years the property remained untouched while Samer saved money to build this house, which came to him in a vision that night years ago. In time this vision became a reality and little by little the inspiration came to him that he could turn this property into a guest house for visitors who didn’t want the large, chain hotel experience. In time the word got out and Sumer’s dream house became a dream vacation getaway for more and more tourists. Unfortunately, the turbulence in the region presented many challenges and long periods without customers threatened the business, but Sumer believed in his dream and continued to develop his property and even expand it, knowing deep in his heart that he would succeed. Here we are many years later and Sumer has indeed succeeded. The property is stunning, his occupancy rates are steady and frequently at full capacity, and he has a devoted following of repeat customers.

We always hear about stars aligning and the universe providing and I think this story demonstrates that beautifully. Sumer was an architect so he was able to build the image he saw in his mind. He also worked for the Hilton hotel chain so he knew the standards and service employed by a hospitality industry giant and what travelers expected from their experience. He followed his heart and purchased the property even though he couldn’t afford to build the house nor did he know what purpose the house would serve. In every instance and at every crossroad he followed his heart and believed that a path would present itself. As one looks at this story in hindsight, each piece of the puzzle fits so nicely together. If that’s not divine, I don’t know what is.

What a perfect end to a wonderful, eye-opening, culturally and historically rich journey through Egypt. I cannot wait to see what Jordan has to offer.

Much love and I’ll be in touch soon.  Salaam Alaikum. 

One crazy story Said shared with us at Karnak was about this French guy who thought the temple looked kind of dirty so he dug these ditches that would allow water to rush through the temple to “clean” it. This was not a brilliant idea, as the water destroyed the hieroglyphics and washed away many of the carvings. Um, thanks for your help, pal, but you just wrecked this temple, which has been around for centuries. Good one, bro! France felt so badly about this guy’s mistake that they have put in huge money to help restore Karnak.