A complicated liking

The first day between Bulgaria and Egypt I injured my knee by having my bedroom door close on it.  The doors are very heavy and I had a pretty big bruise on it.  We were all worried I would still be hurt when we got to Egypt, but luckily it stopped hurting the morning we arrived.  It still hurts a bit when I push hard, but it no longer hurts when I walk, so all I need to do is not be stupid and push on it, right?

 

The first morning in Egypt a few of us ventured out of the port to wander around.  We were four girls and did not feel comfortable on many of the roads.  There was trash everywhere on the grounds and everywhere you looked there was a person sleeping on the sidewalk.  All of the buildings were dark brown and looked as if something blew off the roof.  As soon as we walked out of the port a swarm of taxi drivers came up to us asking if we wanted a taxi.  We had to walk quickly through them and we couldn’t even stop to talk about where exactly we wanted to go.  One person just picked a direction and we all followed.  We went down the biggest road and eventually turned off another road in hopes of doing some shopping.  The stores all looked really run down, so we didn’t go in.  As we walked we became a bit more comfortable walking around.  We discovered that people were willing to help us and they were mostly quite kind.  Some of them really wanted money, but that is understandable considering their living conditions.

 

We needed to be back by 12 because someone had a trip, so we decided to go back, but we went a different way back.  We thought that it was much closer than it was and ended up having to ask a few people directions.  Luckily we had our trusty green sheet (which has the name of our port written in their native language as well as all the information we may need in port) and they all were willing to help us and didn’t ask for money in return.  We got back to the port with plenty of time and as we started to walk in we saw Maria on her way out.  She was going out to meet her family who was supposed to be there soon and asked if one of us would be willing to wait with her.  I didn’t want her to sit out there alone, so I joined her.  I’m really happy I did because her parents were two hours late.  I missed lunch, but I had enough food in my room to hold me over until dinner.  While we sat waiting a few of the taxi drivers joked around with us and we got to watch as other SASers came out and were immediately swarmed.  When her parents got there we talked for a bit and then I turned around to go back to the ship and take a much needed shower.  I relaxed for the rest of the day and watched a movie that night.

 

The next day was the first day of my overnight Cairo trip.  We got up early and piled into the bus and it turns out we are required to have a caravan type thing when we travel.  There were three buses and we all had to stay together, then in front and in back of the group had to be a police car and in each bus there was an officer (who apparently had a huge gun on him).  This was not a good start to our trip to hear this.  But by the end we realized that they were really there just in case something happened and that they did not expect something to happen.  It turns out that all tours get an officer to travel with them.  Maria and her family had one on their independent tour.

 

I slept all the way there and after two and a half hours we arrived at the Step Pyramid of Djoser which was built by the high priest, Imhotep.  One of the first things our tour guide told us about this was that, unlike the story about Imhotep in The Mummy, he was actually a pretty cool guy.  He was also the first to ever build a building completely out of stone.  The Step Pyramid was what the great pyramids in Giza were based off of.  It was absolutely incredible to be right next to this monstrous thing.  I didn’t walk all the way up to it, as we didn’t have much time, but I wasn’t far.  We walked up onto a few ruins where there was around ten Bedouins trying to get a few pounds out of you.  They swarmed around our group and tried to sell us whatever they could hold and tried to get us to ride their camels.  Then they would offer to take pictures with us for a price.  After taking a few pictures up there, a Bedouin came up to me and offered to take a picture with me and I told him I would not pay him and he explained that we were all friends and that he didn’t want money.  So, I agreed and he didn’t ever ask for money.  We didn’t spend too much time here, as we still had so much to do and it was really hot out.

 

As we drove away it was very odd.  We had just been in a desert, completely surrounded by sand, but as we drove away we were suddenly completely surrounded by palm trees.  Here, right next to this desert was an oasis.  I would really like to go back to the Saqqara to explore more of the temples there.  We only got to see one, but there are tons there and they are even older than Giza.

 

Our next stop was to the Egyptian museum.  It was huge.  I don’t think I saw even half of what was there.  We got to see the mask of Tutankhamun as well as the various treasures they found with him.  We also saw a lot of statues depicting Hatshepsut who, for those of you who do not know who she is, was king for a while.  I say king and not queen because she dressed as a man and took on the label of king to show that women can do the same things.  She was the first feminist, as they say here.  Also, turns out that she had diabetes and that is what eventually killed her.  Our tour guide was awesome, but this was not the place for a tour.  She gave us a lot of time on our own to explore the museum, so I broke off from the group and went to every deep room I could find with few people in it and stared at the things which looked like they were not the main part of the museum.  I saw some really cool things that way.  I happened upon a statue which I had dreamt about when I was younger and stared at it for a few minutes from a distance as you could not go into the room it was in.  When a large tour group began to surround me, I decided to leave.  I also discovered a the Colossus of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye which was absolutely monstrous and incredible to stand at its feet.  It was really cool to see some of the things we had learned about in Global Studies.  I discovered some on my own and some where shown to us by our tour guide.  I was sort of sad to leave.  I do need to come back to this place as well though, I didn’t get to see the Mummy room as it was more money than I had on me and there simply wasn’t enough time.  By this time our tour was all pretty exhausted and hungry.  Luckily, it was lunch time.  They brought us to a really nice hotel and once we walked off the bus trumpets began to sound.  We were all very embarrassed, especially when they started playing Christmas songs followed by Yankee Doodle…Christmas songs have not been uncommon in many of the places we have gone on this voyage…for some reason when other countries think of music we listen to, they think of Christmas songs.  Then again, they also assume all of us are Spice Girls or Britney Spears (I think they’re a bit confused).  Lunch was amazing though.  It was a buffet and everything was incredible.  I don’t normally like eggplant, but they had one dish that was exquisite and I had to go up to get seconds.

 

After lunch we went to the hotel to take a nap…yes, they scheduled in a nap for our trip.  I took this opportunity to do just this.  After I talked with my roommate for a while (I just met her that day) and we watched a little bit of TV since this was our first time with TV in a long time…and Looney Toons was on.  I passed out right around the end of Looney Toons and didn’t wake up for my alarm.  Luckily my roommate hadn’t gone to sleep and woke me up in time to go meet up with our buses. Then we headed off to Giza for the light show.  We got there just in time to see the last part of the sunset over the pyramids at the Giza plateau.  The light show was really cheesy, but it was a lot of fun.  I’m not sure I can truly explain what it was, but I will try.  It told the story of the pyramids; who built them, why they were built, how…etc.  The really cheesy part was that the pyramids and the sphinx all spoke for themselves.  My personal favorite was whenever the sphinx spoke.  He had a deep, booming voice and began most of his speeches with something like “I have looked over these lands [this long] and I was here when [this person] came and prayed at my feet.”  It was really funny.  A bit dramatic.  When this was over, we went to dinner at our hotel.  Our hotel, by the way, was a five star hotel and way nicer than I expected it to be.  The banquet hall we ate in had a huge chandelier on the ceiling and we had the entire room to ourselves.  The buffet wasn’t as good as lunch, but still very good.  Desert was my favorite.  I tried a little of everything.  I feel like on all of these lunches I would find something I didn’t know what it was and would ask someone and they would say they didn’t know and I would be the only one to try it.  Normally it was really good.  I had very few things I didn’t like at all.  After dinner we went directly to our rooms, as it was 11pm and we were getting up for sunrise the next morning.  I however felt I needed to take advantage of the bath in our room and took a 30 minute bath.  It was amazing.  The water looked disgusting at the end from all of the dust, but it was incredible.  I fell soundly asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow on my large queen sized bed with more pillows than I could ever need and a huge comforter.

 

The next morning we woke up to our phone ringing…our morning wakeup call.  I had set my alarm for later because I didn’t need that much time and went back to sleep.  We got ready and said goodbye to our amazing beds and the bath, checked out of our hotel and got our boxed breakfast before heading to the bus.  On the bus, we all ate and talked about how amazing the hotel was.  Turns out I was one of very few that took advantage of the bath…most had wanted to, but went to bed instead (probably a better decision, but I have no regrets).  Our bus took us off to the Giza Plateau which had opened just for us to watch the sunrise over the pyramids.  It was stunning.  The smog was dense and made it impossible to see the city surrounding us.  It made us all feel as if we were really completely surrounded by miles and miles of desert.  As the sun came up higher and higher we eventually could see the city around us once again and once this happened we saw the camels and horses come running between the pyramids.  This was when we knew it was almost time to leave.  They were coming to get us to ride their camels and take pictures with them for some absurd amount of money.  We left our spot shortly after they arrived and went down to the base of the Pyramid of Khafre where we took pictures and got harassed by more people wanting us to ride their camels.  I got to touch the pyramid though and I sat on the lowest rock on the pyramid (if we had gone later I would have been yelled at for this, but the police weren’t there yet).  After this we went back up to where we saw the sunrise and rode camels.  We each got to ride a camel for about two minutes, but at least we got to.  Riding the camel was really odd.  I had been told prior to getting onto the camel to make sure I leaned back when the camel got up and laid back down otherwise I was likely to fall off over the head of the camel.  Since you get on the camel when it’s laying down I simply got on and while I wasn’t paying attention the camel stood up.  I didn’t fall off, but it surprised me.  When we got back and the camel lied back down he went very slowly.  Much slower than all the others and I was stuck leaning back for a while.  It was quite awkward.

 

When we got off we went back to the base of the same pyramid where we would be able to go inside it if we wanted to.  Before getting off the bus the tour guide explained to us many times that if we had any heart problems, claustrophobia, back problems or any trouble breathing we should not go in.  Apparently someone died on one of her tours when going into the pyramid a few years ago due to heart problems.  A lot of people, thus opted out of going, but I was far too excited.  I went in with a girl who was a little nervous, but she wanted to try.  She didn’t get very far before she headed back.  You begin by walking down into the base of the pyramid.  You have to bend over really far in order to go down and the slope is quite steep.  There are railings on either wall and little ridges along the floor to help you walk.  The width was barely wide enough for two very skinny people to walk side by side, but this was a two-way hall, so you had someone, maybe not so skinny coming up the other side.  I continued on my own once she turned around and very quickly it was extremely hard to breathe.  Every breath was filled with dust and dampness.  The heat was extreme and sweat was dripping down my face.  When you got to the bottom of the shaft there was a short landing where I could stand straight up, then you had to start walking up the next shaft which was about the same, but not quite as long.  Suddenly the shaft opened up into a large room.  The ceiling came to a point in the middle and it was slightly easier to breathe in here.  At one end of the room was the tomb.  The tomb had been emptied a long time ago, but the cover was still there.  The room was quite plain and not at all what I had expected.  There were not hieroglyphics on the walls or any paintings.  It was simply stone.  But it was so majestic at the same time.  It was so cool to be inside the pyramid that it didn’t matter that the room was bare and looked like a stone room with no windows.  I leaned up against the wall for a few minutes to cool down before heading back.  I came out with a huge smile and must have looked so stupid when I got back on the bus, but oh well.

 

Right after we left we headed to see the sphinx.  Sadly you cannot stand by its base anymore, but you stand on a platform a ways away from it.  This disappointed me, but I was willing to accept it.  The sphinx was much smaller than I imagined it.  It was still massive, but I expected to feel much smaller next to it.  I think it would have been different, had I been able to go to its feet, but oh well.  I still got to see it J.  When we left there we went to the bazaar.  This was really disappointing.  The bazaar was covered in trash.  There were piles everywhere.  It was an outdoor bazaar and the main strip was the only one we felt safe walking down.  This bazaar used to be famous because all of the shops used to be workshops.  You could watch the people make their goods.  Now it is all just shop after shop.  I got some tea and we just poked around a bit before feeling completely uncomfortable and done with this and going to get a drink at a café.  We did get to hear some new pickup lines, though.  My personal favorite was “hey hamburgers, want to come into my shop?”  How did he know that’s what I’ve always wanted to be called!  Once again, we got many proposals (all joking still).  Extremely hot and wary we got back into the bus as soon as it arrived and went to lunch.

 

Lunch was on a cruise down the Nile.  The ship was really nice.  The food wasn’t the best I’ve had, but the desert was pretty good.  During lunch there was a belly dancer who wasn’t very good at all and a cool Sufi dancer…it wasn’t anything like Turkish Sufi dancing, but it was still pretty neat.  There was also a live band, but we spent most of our time looking out at the Nile up on the top deck.  The Nile isn’t very pretty.  It is filled with trash and looks very sad.  The houses surrounding the Nile where run-down and once again missing their tops which we found out was because if they don’t finish their houses they don’t have to pay taxes.

 

We were all ready to go back to sleep by the time we left, which was good since we had a two and a half hour drive back to Alexandria.  The drive back I couldn’t sleep much so I just wrote some postcards and chatted with the person next to me who I had met in Halifax on the frog tour, but had not talked to since.  I also got my mom and I each a Kartouche and learned what each of our names mean.  I’ll post the form in a picture when I get a chance so you can all learn too.  When we got back I watched a movie, planned my next day with some people and went to bed.

 

The next day none of us were feeling very energized so we decided to take it slow.  Kaitlyn and I went out in the morning to hopefully get some shopping done.  When we got out to the exit of the port, though the security guards told us that all of the shopping was closed that day except for the malls.  I needed food, so we went to a huge shopping center with some food in hopes of also finding some linen pants.  When we walked out, the guard called over a taxi driver and told him where we were going.  We tried to work out a price with the taxi driver, but he was insisting first that he take us like 10 other places as well and then when we told him we only wanted to go to this one place, he insisted on 150 pounds which is $30.  It should only cost 50 pounds at the most, so we stood there arguing with him for a bit, then he agreed on 100 pounds for going there, waiting for us, then driving us back.  Then when he brought us over to his cab we realized his was a black one which we were told not to take unless we had absolutely no other choice.  Also, as we were getting up to it another man was getting into the front passenger seat, so we walked away.  The man started to follow us and ask us what was wrong.  When we got back to right in front of the port the security guard ran over to us, got the yellow and black cab that had just pulled up, got us in and got the price to 25 pounds.  The driver didn’t speak English, but he knew where we wanted to go and was very nice.  The mall was a lot like a mall you’d see in the US.  There were very few stores that you could not see at home…we went into those.  We got some food and headed out.  We found a taxi driver who said 30 pounds and got in.  He started to drive us back, but drove us to two other ports before finding the right one.  He seemed like he genuinely was trying to find our port, so we weren’t too nervous.  We were, however very thankful when we saw the red and white dome of the Mosque which was across the street from the port.  We got back on the ship, ate lunch and headed out to the row of small shops that were within the port gate.  They kept giving us free stuff while we were in there and called us sisters and daughters.  It was cute.  They gave us all good deals on some things.  I got a few souvenirs and a lightweight shirt which will be really nice for Morocco and we headed back to the ship for the rest of the day.  We were all quite tired and none of us felt 100%.  That night we watch Death Becomes Her, which was incredible and I went to bed early, but woke up often, not feeling well.

 

On my last day in Egypt we got in a cab and made our way to the catacombs in Alexandria.  They were so cool.  They are three floors, but the third floor is inaccessible due to flooding.  It was a lot of fun.  When we left our taxi driver was waiting for us, as he said he would, free of charge and brought us over to the library.  This library was incredible!  It’s huge and beautiful.  It’s a modern building and is really interesting.  We took advantage of free internet (email wasn’t aloud, but we got to use facebook).  Across the street from the library was a bazaar which didn’t seem like many tourists went in, so we wandered around there.  It was very relaxing and comfortable.  The people there seemed much nicer than the other bazaar.  I ended up buying a beautiful pillowcase for only $6.  When we felt we were done it was about time to head back to the ship, so we grabbed a taxi and headed back to port.

 

I still had 4 pounds left and the others still had a some money left, so we decided to just use it all up at the shops in the port.  I convinced a man to sell me a magnet (which he said was worth way more than that, but I disagree).  He told me he would sell it to me for so little because I was his daughter.  Everyone here seems to think you are either their daughter or sister and I did get one cousin.

 

By the end of the trip, Alexandria had begun to grow on me.  I started to feel more comfortable.  I this was partially because we had a man with us the last day, but I also think I started to realize that most people weren’t bad people.  They were just doing what they could to make money that they actually needed.

 

Last night we had our discussion groups which we’ve had after every port and just about everyone agreed that we loved Egypt, but it was a weird sort of love.  The tourist sights were incredible, but the rest was not well taken care of and ugly and dangerous.  It’s not that I liked the rest of the parts and I didn’t dislike it either.  I feel as if it was an experience I’m happy I had and I would welcome that experience again.  I wish I could understand the culture more.  A lot of people say Egypt is not one of the places they want to come back to, but I do.  I still have more to see and to learn.  I still need to go to Luxor and to the Valley of the Kings.  I want to see the Red Sea.  This is just such a complicated feeling for a place, that I cannot explain why I want to come back to see the rest as well, but I do.

 

Today we went back to classes and you could tell that everyone was going through similar feelings.  When our Global Studies (the class everyone has to take and we all take it at the same time) teacher asked if everyone had fun in Egypt (like he does after every port) and there were significantly fewer yelps.  I think if I ever come back I will be sure to spend the entire time with a guy with me.  You really get treated differently.  Anyway, this has been my longest post yet.  I hope you all enjoyed it.  Have a great day!