Arrived to LAX on time. I got there at 5:51 PM and my int'l flight to London left at 8:00 PM. I didn't take into account that I'd have to wait for my luggage -- then also LAX is much bigger than SFO! A nice man helped me find my way and since he worked for the airport, I gave him a little tip. I got on a bus that went from terminal to terminal and when I got to the correct terminal, it was about 6:45 and there was a HUGE line to check in for British Airways. I was freaking out a little since I know that you are supposed to be all checked in 2 hours before and here I had a and hour and 15 min. and a long line to stand in. Oh well, I made it through the line and onto the airplane just fine. I had some dinner and popped my sleeping pill and I SNOOZED the rest of the 10 hour flight to London...

London was very nice -- very crisp and cool. Where did Monday go? It was all in the sky. We met Ali, our tour guide, and the rest of the group at the gate bound for Cairo. Ali is GREAT. The stopover wasn't very long and I had some time to look around a little and the airport seemed more like a mall. I bought a very expensive pack of cigarettes which equaled about 8 American dollars! Yikes! Next stop: Cairo!

The flight was thankfully uneventful. I slept some more. London to Cairo is a 4.5 hour flight. The only downer about both flights is that I was sitting in the middle aisle each time. I like to look out the window. We arrived at 11:45 PM and got our baggage. The airport was small and smelled of cigarette smoke -- California has SO MANY anti smoking laws, so it was kinda novel to be in a public building where a person could smoke. I still refrained until I was outside out of habit and courtesy for others.

Ali got us this BEAUTIFUL hotel called the Cataract Pyramids Resort. I was awestruck on the way to the hotel because it was so foreign. Even the road signs were cool, but we couldn't see much since it was dark outside. At breakfast we will be discussing what to do that day. Can hardly wait! I'm not very tired; it's 2:30 AM local time so I need to force myself to sleep...

November 16th -- Tuesday
(Jump to evening)
This is **PERFECT**! Right at this moment I'm on the roof of the hotel, the sun has set, so it's a pink and blue sky, I have a FULL view of the pyramids, I can hear the Islamic prayer call from the mosque across the street, and there is an Arabic band playing in the hotel parking lot. I really feel like I'm HERE now. Wow wow WOW!!! =) =)

Today we went to Madame Ablas in Cairo for the bellydance costumes. The girls needed to get them ordered so they could be properly made and fitted during our 2 week duration. It was really cool to be in someone's private residence in a foreign country! Cairo is so different and very amazing because of that difference. It is so dirty and crowded--America's dirtiest cities are clean in comparison. But there seems to be a carefree attitude here to do what you wish. I saw men riding on high stacks of goods on pickup trucks to help hold it down. They would be killed or seriously injured if they fell. I saw horse-drawn flat bedded carts with close to 50 people on them, the horses straining under the weight. =( They mix right in with the traffic... You have to walk right into the traffic at times to get them to stop, otherwise you'll never cross the street!

So after a few of the girls got their costumes ordered at Mme Abla's we went to the nearby Islamic Art Museum. Islamic art is very filigreed and has enormous amounts of detail. I saw inlaid wooden chests, glass, silk clothing remnants, window screens, pottery, wall facades, wood paneling for walls and ceilings, doors, a few marble fountains, and hanging chandelier-type lamps that were HUGE!

The jet lag caught up with us a little and we stepped out into the museum's garden and I had an Arabic coke with the old fashioned pull-tab and some yummy chili-lemon potato chips. It was SO interesting to watch the traffic just outside the museum fence. We lounged for about 45 minutes and the coke woke me up and the rest was refreshing. We got back to the hotel about 5:00 PM and just hung out for the evening.

I still have not seen any monuments except for the pyramids from a distance, so I'm looking forward to going sightseeing, which begins tomorrow. Took some fellow tour guests Eve and Gina to the top of the hotel to show them the pyramids. It was 9:00 PM and they were lit up so beautifully! Tomorrow we get up before 3:00 AM to catch a flight to ASWAN!!!

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It's 7 AM and we are on the plane en route to Aswan in southern Egypt, also known as Upper Egypt:

The Nile Valley looks so amazing from the plane!!! Just a green strip with blue in the middle -- the rest is tan desert. Saw the pyramids again from the air this time and took a photo but don't know if it will come out(incidentally, the photo looks great!!). The flight from Cairo to Aswan is an hour & 15 minutes. We flew on EgyptAir and their logo is a very cool looking Horus. I'm so excited to do some SIGHTSEEING!!! BTW, the girls on this tour are wonderful! From Southern California are: Celeste, Carolynn (who I rode with on the plane) and Gina. From Michigan are: Eve, (WONDERFUL woman) Garnett (also a wonderful lady) Kay and Inger. All are a delightful bunch thus far. OK, we are getting ready to land in Aswan. The desert is awfully beautiful from the plane -- it's still early morning and the shadows on the sand dunes make very interesting patterns. Not a cloud in sight. More tonight...

Well, today ended up being both wonderful and horrible. First the wonderful part. After getting our luggage from the airport, we went to our cruise ship and checked in. What a NICE ship! It is very much like the Delta King riverboat in Sacramento. I took a picture of it and my stateroom. We then got on the tour bus to the Philae Temple. We took a small open-air boat to the island which the temple is on. When the Aswan dam was built, the temple had to be moved to the island otherwise it would have been submerged in the water. We did see the area where the original site of the temple is, and it's just water.... But what a grand, awe-inspiring temple!! The only tragedy is that the Christians, long ago, scratched out many of the figures of the kings and they carved their coptic crosses on them. Saw alot of Greek writing on the walls as well. I am AMAZED at how well the hieroglyphic carvings and pictures have withstood the years!! I touched it too. What energy! I was completely in awe... The pillars also have extreme detail still left and I took quite a few pictures of them they are so beautiful... The place was PACKED with tourists.

After the temple we stopped briefly at the Aswan high dam, which is modern Egypt's pride and joy, so every tourist group is "obliged" to stop. I saw so many ibises (the small white crane-like bird that is depicted as the god Thoth the scribe in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics), they are much smaller than I had thought. They look just like a smaller version of the common egret but with black legs and yellow feet.

When we got back to the boat, we had a buffet lunch, then I fell asleep outside as I watched the countryside go by. I had to then go to my cabin to catch up on some much needed rest and when I woke up, I found out I missed out on the tour to Kom Ombo temple! =( =( =(  I was under the impression that it was one temple per day on the cruise. I was so upset I stared crying, afterall, I have wanted to see this since I was little. I did get to see the temple from the boat all lit up as we were pulling away. It looked magnificent in the dimming light of day. From now on, I'm going to be like a bloodhound and find out EVERYTHING!!!!

So we had a wonderful dinner and someone had a birthday and the waiters busted out the drums and tambourine and sang in Arabic. The girls on the tour, being belly dancers, brought out their finger cymbals (zills) and did their yodle-like call ( I forget it's name). then they busted a few belly dance moves -- it was great fun and the waiters really reacted to tourists who knew Eastern dance. After dinner, upstairs is the dance floor and lounge, so the girls did all kinds of belly dancing to the music. The DJ, being an Egyptian, took the hint and kept playing Arabic music and the girls joined in with their zills. They had quite an audience and it was ALOT of fun!

Tonight we are docking at Edfu and seeing the Edfu temple early in the morning. Then on to Esna where the water locks are. Until tomorrow....


Thursday November 18th Edfu

What an adventure! Got up at 5:30 AM because the tour left to Edfu temple at 7:00 AM, so breakfast was between 6:30 and 7. I did a bad thing. I tried to use my hairdryer, but it was the wrong voltage and I popped the socket. It didn't explode, but the entire hall lost their electricity! OOPS!! I felt so embarrassed and dumb, but I kept my mouth shut. No way am I gonna fess up to that mistake! Heard someone next door puking. Thank GOD for my health! (Must take more echinacea after this).

Edfu temple was EXQUISITE!! There were still some colors left on the walls and hopefully I captured it on film well enough (it did come through! YAY!) The temple is VERY high. I would rather just have the photos explain it -- words don't do it justice. I will say, though, that the detail of the hieroglyphics and reliefs are AMAZING. After thousands of years, it's all still there as if it were made recently. The damn Christians defaced this one too, and the damn Muhummad Ali military used it as TARGET PRACTICE!!! Argh!!

Back on the boat on the way to Esna, the head chef gave me a tour of the kitchen. How cool is that? =) He always told me to eat more at breakfast and dinner because he wanted to see me fat. I kept saying NOOO nooo nooo. I don't want to get fat. =)

Next stop and tomorrow's installment: LUXOR. =)

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6:20 AM: We arrived at Luxor last night and this morning, Pharaoh had his revenge on me at last! I have pretty bad diarrhea and it feels like the Nile River is coming out my ass! I don't feel too bad, though. Gonna take this protein pack thing that my co-worker gave to me, plus more echinacea . I've already taken my dose of shit medicine. I think it was the piece of fruit I ate yesterdayand it was delicious! It is from the pear family, but has a very smooth consistency. The inside is a mushy pulp of hard seeds. I'm now off to breakfast then leaving at 7:00 AM for sightseeing!

Wow! What a day! I'm completely exhausted. Today we left at 7:00 for the Valley of the Kings. Our first stop on the way was the Colossus of Memnon, which was a wonderful surprise, because I had thought they were down by Aswan. They were magnificent. Every tourist stop has a sort of bazaar and you shouldn't buy anything because it's a total tourist trap. After the Colossus, we journeyed on to the Valley of the Kings. Tourists were not permitted to bring a camera into the tombs, so I left mine in the bus, but I got a shot of the general area. It's very hilly with natural pyramid formations, which is the reason why the pharaohs chose this valley to be buried. We got to see three tombs plus I bought an extra ticket in order to see Tutankhamun's tomb, which was seperate. Tut's tomb is MUCH smaller than I had thought and I was amazed that all those treasures fit! It was only 2 small rooms. Tut's gold coffin was on display inside his sarcophagus inside his burial chamber. It was very beautiful. His mummy also rested inside, but you couldn't see it. I thought that was nice that they left him in his original resting place and that his mummy at least was not on full display. Being a tourist attraction was, afterall, not the original intention!

The other three tombs I saw (there was only time to see three) were each different. One was completely painted and finished and was done in the late dynasty period. It was for Ramses the 7th. It was very elaborate and the paint was still bright in some places. The detail was remarkable and the tomb was really huge in comparison to Tut's. The next one was from Thutmose 5, I think. He was a very early pharaoh and his tomb was very secluded and difficult to get to. You had to climb some steep stairs to get up to a crevice between the rocks then descend again, being careful not to knock your head on the low rock overhang. Once you got onto the landing, there was a deep pit to trap thieves, but it was covered, of course, with wood planks. I asked the tour guide if there were any skeletons found in the pit when the tomb was discovered and he said yes. It sounds like a script out of Indiana Jones! Inside, the tomb was much more plain in its paintings. The hieroglyphics and paintings were more like stick figures and there wasn't nearly the variety of color. This is what the early tombs looked like and they became more elaborate over time. The last tomb, and I cannot remember who it was for, was an example of an unfinished tomb. Only the entrance was smoothed on the walls and painted when the pharaoh died. The rest of the passages were very rough and craggy. Each tomb had its sarcophagus and they were all made of granite and in the shape of a cartouche. They were MASSIVE and I wondered how they got the sarcophagus into the secluded Thutmose tomb.

Next was Queen Hatshepsut's temple in the Valley of the Queens. Hatshepsut was famous because her husband, the pharaoh, died when their son was still too young to take the throne, so Hatshepsut declared herself pharaoh and ruled Egypt for 30 years!! What a woman! Her son finally overthrew her and took the crown and defaced anything having to do with his mother, but Hatshepsut's image still remains on some walls as well as her statue, in which she also wears the ceremonial beard. Hatshepsut's temple is where the tourist massacre of 1997 took place, but there was so much security there that I was not worried. It was getting HOT by then and I was still not feeling well, so this part of the tour was challenging for me. It was a neat temple, I got lots of pictures. I got some shots of the local children who were with their classes -- they were in classes of boys and girls separately. They all wave and say hello and smile as they pass. It was *SO* darling! I waved back and said hello too. Friday is the Muslim holy day, so that's why there were so many local Egyptians at the temples.

Next, on the way back, was the alabaster factory/shop where I spent TOO MUCH money. I hadn't had any experience bargaining yet, plus I was still not feeling well, so I just paid the asking price, which was too too much. Oh well...

After lunch on the boat we went to the Temple of Karnak, which is the largest ancient Egyptian temple ever constructed. The pillars reach over 7 stories high and the place is just enormous! Being among the pillars felt like standing in a grove of ancient redwood trees they were that huge. I took a whole roll of film so the pictures speak for themselves. It *DEFINITELY* lived up to my dreams!! There were more darling friendly children here too.

The Temple of Luxor was last and we didn't get there til 5:00, so the sun was beginning to go down. Got some great shots of the sunset behind the temple with the pink clouds and lit up pillars. The temple was situated right downtown next to the river, but it was not as huge as Karnak, although some of the pillars were just as big. A mosque was constructed in part of the temple as well as a modified section made into a Christian church that had the Roman archway and 2 small Greek style pillars. Again lots of cute and friendly Egyptian kids were all saying hello and some even asked my name. On the way out there were two 13 year-old Egyptian boys who wanted their picture taken with me, so I complied. Then a very young Muslim family wanted a picture with me too, so why not? I was just as fascinated by them as they were by me. Then a RUSH of locals came out of nowhere all wanting my picture. "La! La!" I said. No No! It was interesting how fascinated they all are, even though they see tourists every day. I was curious about them too, such a laid back and friendly race of people.

I was EXHAUSTED when I got back to the boat and it was all I could do to dress for dinner. After dinner was an OK belly dance. The first guy dancer was a whirling dirvish and he was excellent. Now I'm really beat and need some sleep. Tomorrow is more Luxor then an afternoon flight back to Cairo!

OBSERVATIONS: No Bibles in the hotel drawers! Ha ha! =) However in the Mariott (the hotel we stayed at in Cairo during the remainder of the week) there is a sticker on the lamp table with an arrow pointed north that says North to Mecca. There are many men here with a dark discolored patch on their foreheads and I asked Ali the tour guide what that patch was. He said it was from kneeling and touching the head to the floor when praying. Very interesting and neat!

Cars at night: using headlights is optional! Ha ha! Seems there is enough light from the street lamps so many just flash their lights when wanting to pass or when they are letting another car know they are there. About 1/2 don't use their headlights.

No real stop lights. I saw an awful traffic jam from the freeway. Drivers also use their horns ALL THE TIME! Cars pass other cars and pedestrians within INCHES. Cars parked on the street will have their rearview mirrors folded in to avoid them being knocked off from a passing vehicle. That's how close they come! Another option--not requirement--staying in the lanes!! I would be on the bus on a two lane street and there would be 4 lanes of cars! I find the traffic system extremely amusing and a direct representation of the Egyptian attitude: laid back and a bit careless. The smog here is also just AWFUL. It hangs in a dusty fog and I feel it all over my skin not long after being outside. But I do love experiencing all this!

Oh! In Luxor I was offered 10 camels for my hand in marriage. Ha ha ha! =)
The group of us went on a walk from the fancy Sheraton Hotel to the market in downtown Luxor. The shop keepers were a bit aggressive and it felt a bit overwhelming for a few moments. About 4 of us continued on to the Luxor Museum and the rest went back to the Sheraton to relax.

The museum had some extraordinary antiquities -- mostly statues from the Karnak and Luxor temples. A few were almost in perfect condition. It had shabawatis (small statues buried with the pharaoh to represent servents) offering tables, a few papyruses (papyri??) reliefs from the temples, and jewelry. I bought postcards of some of my favorite statues since I could not take pictures. We were back by 1:00 and had some lunch and at 2:00 we had to leave to the airport to get back to Cairo. This basically took the rest of the day and with the slowness and delays we didn't get to the Cairo Mariott until after 8:00 PM. People were VERY tired and VERY cranky, but I was fine and in good spirits, which I think may have irritated my tourmates even more -- hee hee! =) I actually had energy and felt great! The flight from Luxor to Cairo is one hour. So this Mariott hotel is acutally a restored PALACE. It is SO fancy. It is done in Islamic style with some rooms having wood paneling on the walls and ceilings very finely carved. It's just opulent and it took a bit of getting used to, because I'm not used to staying in such fancy accommodations. My room is on the 8th floor overlooking the Nile! I need to remember to get a photo (I did remember!). Gina and I went to the 20th floor -- the highest in the tower -- to catch a glimpse of the view and it was very scenic -- from what we could see past the pollution! =( Another observation: Pedestrians are allowed on ANY street. I see a street where there are no real sidewalks and it is very busy, but people still walk on them. Doesn't stop the horse and carriages either. Poor babies, breathing in all that pollution! Tomorrow: The Khan al Khalili!

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Part II Here

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