Unfortunately, this past week I hit what is known as the bottom of the study abroad curve. If you haven't had the privilege of studying abroad or living in a different country (with a significantly different culture) for an extended period of time, this is the point in the trip where absolutely everything about your new country just pisses you off. I naively thought, before coming to Egypt, that I really wouldn't have to deal with this problem too extensively. Boy was I wrong. The amount of profanity and cursing Egypt that I did during this week, week and a half, or two weeks is immeasurable. On top of being homesick, missing my friends and family, being infinitely frustrated by Egyptian "time" and attitude, I had midterms - in classes so frustrating, I'll only be able to begin explaining why they are so upsetting.
Let me, again, begin with explaining the title. It's a bit of a jab at the Egyptian accent - Arabic does not have an equivalent to the letter P, so whenever there's a P in a word, it gets changed to a B sound (which is the closest equivalent in Arabic), and all the vowels are over-pronounced (I can't figure out why though, because Arabic has both short and long vowels, like English). I'm also mocking what seems to be every Egyptian male and under 11-year-old child on the streets of Cairo. "Welcome to Egypt" should become a national slogan or campaign effort or something. It is pretty much all you will hear as a foreigner walking down the streets of Cairo... that and a really obnoxious hissing sound, which is meant to get your attention, so that the utterer can also welcome you to Egypt... or try to sell you something. No matter how much I think my brown hair and tan skin will help me blend in, the fact remains that I am not Egyptian, and people can tell. Hence, I am "welcomed" to Egypt multiple times everyday, even though I've been living here for almost three months.
The other half of the title is me having serious issues dealing with a prevailing Egyptian attitude. "Mish mushkela/mafeesh mushkela" are phrases heard frequently throughout any given day in Cairo. Translation: No problem/ there's not a problem/that's not a problem. This can be a response to virtually everything. And while I'd love to be able to embrace this remarkably blithe attitude, sometimes there is a problem, and I just want someone to help me solve it... or at least acknowledge it.
As much as I'm coming to love this city/country, there are definitely things about it that really bother me. I can only image what Cairo was like in her golden days. (Probably about 50 years ago. Yes, also under British control.) When I walk down the streets, I can picture how all the old buildings must have looked when they were first erected, I can imagine the new streets bustling with activity, but not overcrowded or filled with trash. Today, it's apparent that Egypt has tried to keep up with the rapidly modernizing world. But they're not quite there, or things just aren't quite right. Whenever I think about it, it's like, well, Egypt is trying, but they're missing half of ever memo about updating. As you may be able to imagine, it's a little frustrating at times.
So, the combination of the "no problem" attitude, and lack of logically-working systems (traffic for example), lends to the concept of "time" in Egypt. I, myself, am not generally the most punctual person you will ever meet. But I do have some concept of time and when it is disrespectful/unacceptable to be late places. I also have a profound respect for other people's time. I hate to be the one who holds someone up from getting somewhere they need to be, when they need to be there. The concept of the importance of time seems to be completely nonexistent here. Everything happens late, things take much longer than they should to get accomplished, nobody cares that you might have somewhere (like class) to b, trains never run on time, teachers are late for class, etc., etc., etc. Perhaps one day, when I have nothing to do and nowhere to be, I'll share this attitude. Right now, however, I don't.
Basically, nothing ever gets done when I need it done, how I need it done, without some bit of trouble and run around. I don't feel like getting into the classes right now.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Istanbul or Constantinople?
Of course it's Istanbul.
The history of this place is incredible. I know my posts are sometimes typified by a little history lesson, but this shit is just too much for me. So do your own research.
Actually, I'll just say a few things: Istanbul has been the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. Istanbul is the only city that is located on two continents (Europe and Asia). Once an Islamic country, Turkey was secularized under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk - who established the Republic of Turkey. Today, Turkey has appealed to be part of the EU - an issue that still faces opposition. Is Tukey European or part of the Middle East? Let discussion ensue...
By this point in time, I've established a nice little group of friends, and we like each other enough to take a longer trip together too. Fortunately Eid al Fitr (end of Ramadan) provided us with a nice little break from classes, and we were able to hop out of the country to nearby Turkey. Being a little unsure about travel time and costs, we decided to spend the entire holiday in Istanbul. We were given school off Thursday and Monday, so we decided to make the break as long as possible and left Wednesday evening. We landed in Istanbul some time that night. The flight wasn't too long or too turbulent or anything like that. Shortly after landing however, life got a little hectic.
First thing that happened upon exiting the plane - one of my friends realized that he had left his phone on the plane, and had to run back to get it. Then, we had to deal with visas, and money. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I think for some reason we had to pay for our visas with US dollars, which we had a very small supply of. And it took a while to find somewhere to get US dollars. Once we finally worked out the visa business, we had to collect luggage and all that. And we were probably all a little tired and hungry. So we weren't very happy about being given the run around with visas, and didn't want to be lugging bags all over the city.
The airport was a bit far from where we had decided to stay, so, being too cheap to take taxis across the city, we had the fun of deciphering Turkish, and taking public transportation. We did pretty well getting from the airport to the tram stop that would have taken us to the area of our hostel. However, we were a little too late, and missed the last tram going our direction. We were literally seconds too late too, as we saw the last tram pull away. However, we weren't sure how late the public transportation ran, so we waited a little to see if another tram would come. Some passerby somehow informed us that we had missed the last one. So then we had to figure out how to get from our present location to where we needed to be. One of our friends really had to use the bathroom, so we wandered across the street to some buildings. He went in search of a bathroom, and we ran into some taxi-van drivers. They didn't speak a lot of English, and we spoke no Turkish, so it was interesting (and a little stressful) to get things worked out. Once we communicated where we needed to go, and negotiated a decent price, we had to explain that we were waiting for our friend to come back from the bathroom - more confusion. So the few hours we had spent in Istanbul since getting off the plane had been a little stressful and confusing, and got much worse in just about ten minutes.
The ride from the tram stop to our hostel was not too long, and we probably overpaid. But it happens. So do other unfortunate things...
My entire existence was almost lost forever in Istanbul. Olivia and I had decided that it would be easier and more economical if we shared luggage, instead of each bringing our own bags. I happened to be carrying the duffel bag with all our clothes and not-so-important things in it. Olivia was carrying my backpack, with every piece of important documentation and identification I own in it. She also had a purse with her important things in it. Somehow, in the confusion of cramming all seven of us and our baggage in one van, and arguing with the taxi driver, and trying to figure out if we were in the right place... Olivia left my backpack in the van. She realized only about two minutes later. But, in the vast city of Istanbul, that was too late. The van had already been driving away for two minutes. And we had no idea where it could possibly be. My backpack had absolutely everything in it - my passport, wallet, everything. I should have been wearing those things in my money belt, but had taken it off because it got uncomfortable or something. Anyway, it was gone. As soon as Olivia realized and said something, I was paralyzed for a minute, trying to figure out what I could possibly do. Some of my friends walked to the spot we had been dropped off to see if it had been kicked out of the van, or just put down somewhere. It wasn't. There were a couple of taxi drivers waiting around where we had been dropped off. Thank goodness one useful Arabic word overlapped with Turkish - "shanta", meaning bag, is the same in both languages. My friend Dan somehow communicated that one of our bags had been left on the van that dropped us off. (I still have no idea how the communicated that, but I'm glad that it was.) And it turned out that one of the taxi drivers knew most probably where the van had gone. So, we all kind of split up. Olivia and one person went to check in at the hostel, three of my friends waited to see if the van would come back, and my friend Dan and I got in the taxi, hoping to find my bag.
Incredibly, we found it. It was absolutely a miracle. I believe in angels. And everything was still inside.
Amazing. Frightening. Too much for the first few hours in a new country. After that adventure, the rest of us found our way to the hostel and checked in. (The hostel we stayed at was pretty decent. There had been a little bit of last minute planning though, so one of my friends had to stay at a different hostel down the road - not too far away. The six of the rest of us all shared one room. Being that most of my friends are guys, the room got a little smelly.) After getting everything straight away with the hostel, we went down the road to get a beer, which was much needed.
The hostel was located right around all the touristy stuff. Actually, the majority the first night's frightening happenings occurred right between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. (Something I didn't really appreciate at the time.) So the next morning, guess where we went? That's right, the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.
The Hagia Sophia (Ayasophya in Turkish) - once a basilica, once a mosque, now a museum, famous for mosaics, awesome architecture, and fabulously decorated domes. I've been waiting to see this beauty for quite some time too. (Guess I picked the right part of the world to travel to.) It was amazing, and mind-blowing. They were doing reconstruction of the dome while we were there, so I didn't get great pictures of it. But hopefully I captured some of the wonder of it. The Blue Mosque was equally as amazing. The Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia are literally across the street from each other, but from two totally different empires. The Hagia Sophia was built during the Byzantine empire, and the Blue Mosque was built during the Ottoman empire. While the Hagia Sophia is known for it's mosaic-ed interior, the Blue Mosque is known (and titled) for the blue colored tiles that decorate its interior. Very beautiful, and very different from mosques I've seen around Cairo. Somewhere between the two of those sight-seeing expeditions, we had lunch, and exposed ourselves to the alcoholic marvel called Raki. (We did not get drunk before visiting the religious monuments... we just wanted to try the drink.) It was strange, but not one I prefer. Later, we idled away the night wandering around, then finally settling down with some beers and ghost stories. It was a fun night.
The next day, we took a boat cruise around the Bosborus. It was long, but enjoyable. The boat even stopped to pick up some beer. Unbeknownst to us beforehand, the boat trip also included a trip up a mountain in a cable car. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the place we were, but it had an excellent view of the city. So, I took some pictures. After the tour, we headed up to Taksim Sq to do some shopping - more out of necessity than anything. It was a lot colder in Istanbul than we had anticipated. While we were up there, it started raining. I bought an umbrella. Then we took shelter in a little pizza place. While we were there, the rain got pretty intense, and the power went out in the restaurant. It was really dark, haha, and one of my friends was in the bathroom when it happened. Once the power came back on, we finished up dinner, and walked back to the shopping street. It was still raining a bit, so street shopping wasn't a whole lot of fun. We sought out a bar and drank away a few hours.
Most of our nights in Istanbul ended in some sort of alcoholic indulgence. So, if I don't say it, just assume it. Our fourth day in Istanbul was spent, well, my fourth day, was spent in museums. It was another cold and rainy day, and as our shopping expedition the night before was cut short by the bad weather, we were still underdressed for the cold. So we decided to go to some museums, and hope the weather got better. Unfortunately my friend Steve and I are much more the sort to spend an entire day in a museum than my other friends. After a few hours, the others were ready to split, but Steve and I still had a lot to get through in the museums. So, we split up. I don't remember exactly what everyone else did. But I spent a solid couple more hours in the museums. And enjoyed it very much. We met up later and got dinner and did some more shopping - this time we were smart and those of us who needed it (me) bought some stuff to keep warm.
The weather the next day was just as miserable as before. We went to the Topkapi Palace. Since it was another gloomy, wet, miserable day, I don't think any of us really felt like roaming the palace grounds. We saw a few of the rooms, the Harem, and then left. That day, instead of indulging in history, we indulged in pleasure, and got Turkish baths. What an exposing experience. Oh, it was wonderful, and I've probably never been more relaxed after something in my life... but man, being stark naked in a room full of other stark naked, yet unashamed women is not something my modest self is used to. Let alone having someone else wash me. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the Turkish bath, and highly recommend getting one at some point in your life.
Day 6, last day. We spent the day at what is becoming one of my favorite activities - market shopping. In this case, shopping at the Grand Bazaar. It was really cool. The Grand Bazaar is a lot like the market places you find in other countries, except, it's covered, and the roads are paved. It was fun wandering around, getting lost in the never-ending twisting and turning of the alley ways. I didn't buy a whole lot, but definitely enjoyed looking at everything. After that, we got one last meal in Istanbul, then headed back to the airport, being extra careful not to leave anything behind.
The history of this place is incredible. I know my posts are sometimes typified by a little history lesson, but this shit is just too much for me. So do your own research.
Actually, I'll just say a few things: Istanbul has been the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. Istanbul is the only city that is located on two continents (Europe and Asia). Once an Islamic country, Turkey was secularized under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk - who established the Republic of Turkey. Today, Turkey has appealed to be part of the EU - an issue that still faces opposition. Is Tukey European or part of the Middle East? Let discussion ensue...
By this point in time, I've established a nice little group of friends, and we like each other enough to take a longer trip together too. Fortunately Eid al Fitr (end of Ramadan) provided us with a nice little break from classes, and we were able to hop out of the country to nearby Turkey. Being a little unsure about travel time and costs, we decided to spend the entire holiday in Istanbul. We were given school off Thursday and Monday, so we decided to make the break as long as possible and left Wednesday evening. We landed in Istanbul some time that night. The flight wasn't too long or too turbulent or anything like that. Shortly after landing however, life got a little hectic.
First thing that happened upon exiting the plane - one of my friends realized that he had left his phone on the plane, and had to run back to get it. Then, we had to deal with visas, and money. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I think for some reason we had to pay for our visas with US dollars, which we had a very small supply of. And it took a while to find somewhere to get US dollars. Once we finally worked out the visa business, we had to collect luggage and all that. And we were probably all a little tired and hungry. So we weren't very happy about being given the run around with visas, and didn't want to be lugging bags all over the city.
The airport was a bit far from where we had decided to stay, so, being too cheap to take taxis across the city, we had the fun of deciphering Turkish, and taking public transportation. We did pretty well getting from the airport to the tram stop that would have taken us to the area of our hostel. However, we were a little too late, and missed the last tram going our direction. We were literally seconds too late too, as we saw the last tram pull away. However, we weren't sure how late the public transportation ran, so we waited a little to see if another tram would come. Some passerby somehow informed us that we had missed the last one. So then we had to figure out how to get from our present location to where we needed to be. One of our friends really had to use the bathroom, so we wandered across the street to some buildings. He went in search of a bathroom, and we ran into some taxi-van drivers. They didn't speak a lot of English, and we spoke no Turkish, so it was interesting (and a little stressful) to get things worked out. Once we communicated where we needed to go, and negotiated a decent price, we had to explain that we were waiting for our friend to come back from the bathroom - more confusion. So the few hours we had spent in Istanbul since getting off the plane had been a little stressful and confusing, and got much worse in just about ten minutes.
The ride from the tram stop to our hostel was not too long, and we probably overpaid. But it happens. So do other unfortunate things...
My entire existence was almost lost forever in Istanbul. Olivia and I had decided that it would be easier and more economical if we shared luggage, instead of each bringing our own bags. I happened to be carrying the duffel bag with all our clothes and not-so-important things in it. Olivia was carrying my backpack, with every piece of important documentation and identification I own in it. She also had a purse with her important things in it. Somehow, in the confusion of cramming all seven of us and our baggage in one van, and arguing with the taxi driver, and trying to figure out if we were in the right place... Olivia left my backpack in the van. She realized only about two minutes later. But, in the vast city of Istanbul, that was too late. The van had already been driving away for two minutes. And we had no idea where it could possibly be. My backpack had absolutely everything in it - my passport, wallet, everything. I should have been wearing those things in my money belt, but had taken it off because it got uncomfortable or something. Anyway, it was gone. As soon as Olivia realized and said something, I was paralyzed for a minute, trying to figure out what I could possibly do. Some of my friends walked to the spot we had been dropped off to see if it had been kicked out of the van, or just put down somewhere. It wasn't. There were a couple of taxi drivers waiting around where we had been dropped off. Thank goodness one useful Arabic word overlapped with Turkish - "shanta", meaning bag, is the same in both languages. My friend Dan somehow communicated that one of our bags had been left on the van that dropped us off. (I still have no idea how the communicated that, but I'm glad that it was.) And it turned out that one of the taxi drivers knew most probably where the van had gone. So, we all kind of split up. Olivia and one person went to check in at the hostel, three of my friends waited to see if the van would come back, and my friend Dan and I got in the taxi, hoping to find my bag.
Incredibly, we found it. It was absolutely a miracle. I believe in angels. And everything was still inside.
Amazing. Frightening. Too much for the first few hours in a new country. After that adventure, the rest of us found our way to the hostel and checked in. (The hostel we stayed at was pretty decent. There had been a little bit of last minute planning though, so one of my friends had to stay at a different hostel down the road - not too far away. The six of the rest of us all shared one room. Being that most of my friends are guys, the room got a little smelly.) After getting everything straight away with the hostel, we went down the road to get a beer, which was much needed.
The hostel was located right around all the touristy stuff. Actually, the majority the first night's frightening happenings occurred right between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. (Something I didn't really appreciate at the time.) So the next morning, guess where we went? That's right, the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.
The Hagia Sophia (Ayasophya in Turkish) - once a basilica, once a mosque, now a museum, famous for mosaics, awesome architecture, and fabulously decorated domes. I've been waiting to see this beauty for quite some time too. (Guess I picked the right part of the world to travel to.) It was amazing, and mind-blowing. They were doing reconstruction of the dome while we were there, so I didn't get great pictures of it. But hopefully I captured some of the wonder of it. The Blue Mosque was equally as amazing. The Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia are literally across the street from each other, but from two totally different empires. The Hagia Sophia was built during the Byzantine empire, and the Blue Mosque was built during the Ottoman empire. While the Hagia Sophia is known for it's mosaic-ed interior, the Blue Mosque is known (and titled) for the blue colored tiles that decorate its interior. Very beautiful, and very different from mosques I've seen around Cairo. Somewhere between the two of those sight-seeing expeditions, we had lunch, and exposed ourselves to the alcoholic marvel called Raki. (We did not get drunk before visiting the religious monuments... we just wanted to try the drink.) It was strange, but not one I prefer. Later, we idled away the night wandering around, then finally settling down with some beers and ghost stories. It was a fun night.
The next day, we took a boat cruise around the Bosborus. It was long, but enjoyable. The boat even stopped to pick up some beer. Unbeknownst to us beforehand, the boat trip also included a trip up a mountain in a cable car. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the place we were, but it had an excellent view of the city. So, I took some pictures. After the tour, we headed up to Taksim Sq to do some shopping - more out of necessity than anything. It was a lot colder in Istanbul than we had anticipated. While we were up there, it started raining. I bought an umbrella. Then we took shelter in a little pizza place. While we were there, the rain got pretty intense, and the power went out in the restaurant. It was really dark, haha, and one of my friends was in the bathroom when it happened. Once the power came back on, we finished up dinner, and walked back to the shopping street. It was still raining a bit, so street shopping wasn't a whole lot of fun. We sought out a bar and drank away a few hours.
Most of our nights in Istanbul ended in some sort of alcoholic indulgence. So, if I don't say it, just assume it. Our fourth day in Istanbul was spent, well, my fourth day, was spent in museums. It was another cold and rainy day, and as our shopping expedition the night before was cut short by the bad weather, we were still underdressed for the cold. So we decided to go to some museums, and hope the weather got better. Unfortunately my friend Steve and I are much more the sort to spend an entire day in a museum than my other friends. After a few hours, the others were ready to split, but Steve and I still had a lot to get through in the museums. So, we split up. I don't remember exactly what everyone else did. But I spent a solid couple more hours in the museums. And enjoyed it very much. We met up later and got dinner and did some more shopping - this time we were smart and those of us who needed it (me) bought some stuff to keep warm.
The weather the next day was just as miserable as before. We went to the Topkapi Palace. Since it was another gloomy, wet, miserable day, I don't think any of us really felt like roaming the palace grounds. We saw a few of the rooms, the Harem, and then left. That day, instead of indulging in history, we indulged in pleasure, and got Turkish baths. What an exposing experience. Oh, it was wonderful, and I've probably never been more relaxed after something in my life... but man, being stark naked in a room full of other stark naked, yet unashamed women is not something my modest self is used to. Let alone having someone else wash me. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the Turkish bath, and highly recommend getting one at some point in your life.
Day 6, last day. We spent the day at what is becoming one of my favorite activities - market shopping. In this case, shopping at the Grand Bazaar. It was really cool. The Grand Bazaar is a lot like the market places you find in other countries, except, it's covered, and the roads are paved. It was fun wandering around, getting lost in the never-ending twisting and turning of the alley ways. I didn't buy a whole lot, but definitely enjoyed looking at everything. After that, we got one last meal in Istanbul, then headed back to the airport, being extra careful not to leave anything behind.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Sinai, Dahab, and Moses: Business is Fucking Business
Well, it appears that this little blogger is taking her sweet time in updating the world on her adventures.
10/4 - This weekend brought another trip to the Red Sea, this time from Sinai peninsula. Our bus left on Thursday at midnight, and got us to Dahab around 10am Friday morning. Well, most of us. One member of our travel party had to catch a later bus, and didn't get to Dahab until around noon Friday. We decided to take the overnight bus in hopes of getting some sleep on the way, unfortunately none of us ended up getting more than maybe three hours of sleep. As soon as we stepped off the bus, we were hustled over to a truck-taxi, waiting to take us to our hotel. While everybody else fit in the cab of the truck, I had a fun ride in the bed of the truck with the luggage and some French-speaking girls... almost fell out on a few of the quicker turns, but I'm sure the driver would have stopped to pick me up. We got to the hotel, settled in, got some breakfast/lunch, and waited for our other friend to arrive. A little after noon, we boarded a wannabe-army-jeep and zig-zagged our way out to the Blue Hole to do some snorkeling. The Blue Hole is supposed to be some of the best diving and snorkeling around. It was pretty amazing. I wish that I had had an underwater camera, or been scuba certified. From what I saw snorkeling, I'm sure the diving was absolutely amazing. After a few hours of the incredibly salty Red Sea water, we headed back to the hotel to clean up a bit, catch some z's, then go get something to eat...
We spent the evening wandering up and down the shopping/eating strip, located right along the Red Sea - with a usual amount of dodging shop keepers and restaurant owners trying to lure us into their shops with good deals. Although, most of the restaurants along this strip offer free appetizers and dessert, so we did end up getting lured into one. Not bad though, pretty good deal, pretty good food - I only wish I wasn't cursed with a seafood allergy. All this travelling along the Mediterranean and Red Sea, there've been so many chances for good, fresh fish! After eating, we shopped a bit, had some interesting interactions with shop owners - ask me about the "secret of the desert" sometime - and finally headed back to our hotel to prepare ourselves... for a 12 hour journey.
Yes. We climbed Mount Sinai. It was a rigorous hike if anything. Great fun though. Right around 11 o'clock, my friends and I, along with other adventurers loaded up a minibus and drove to Mount Sinai. We were dropped off a ways from the base of the mountain, where we were flocked by the typical crowd, trying to sell us stuff. At the time, spending 40 LE on a scratchy cloth poncho didn't sound very reasonable. At this little sales-pitch-point, we met our guide, whose name [incidentally] turned out to be Moussa (MOSES!). Talk about conincidence. So Moses led us up Mount Sinai.
The hike up took about three hours in total. The majority of it wasn't so bad - we walked along the camel path that winds up the mountain. (The only bad part of that was that we had to walk by tons of camels... which aren't known for their flowery-sweet-smelling shit.) At the end of the camel path, however, were some 700 steps which we had to climb in order to reach the top. 700 steps sounds bad enough... it sounded even worse at 2am. We finally reached the top around 3am. Sunrise was estimated to start around 5:30, which left us with a solid two and a half hours of sleep. ( I know, I know... math genious right here. Watch out Einstein.)
The sunrise was gorgeous, but I was not a happy camper. We spent the night on, probably, the most exposed rock surface on the entire mountain, covered in smelly camel blankets, using backpacks as pillows. It was cold, and, having come from 90 degree Cairo weather, we were not properly equipped for the biting cold of Mount Saini. Maybe paying 40LE for one of those scratchy blankets at the base of the mountain would have been a good idea. Nonetheless, it was an excellent experience.
After sunrise, and some wandering around the top of the mountain, we began our descent. We took a different route down the mountain than the one we took up. Maybe it was the unknown terrain, or the lack of sleep... whatever the case, there was an accident. About three quarters of the way down the mountain, my roommate Olivia tripped and sprained her ankle. Luckily, Superman (my friend Steve) was with us, and he picked her up and flew down the mountain (piggy-backed her the rest of the way). We were supposed to visit the monastery at the bottom of the mountain, but given our situation, we decided to head back to our hotel.
Back at Bishbishi (our hotel), we got Olivia an ace bandage, some tylenol and ice, and did the best we could to take care of the injury. (She saw a doctor later, when we got back to Cairo.) And after our exhausting night, we all slept for a few well-deserved, much-needed hours. We woke up around dinner time, and headed back to the shopping/eating strip along the Red Sea to get some dinner. While we were dinning, we were approached by a few kids selling colorful, hand-made friendship bracelets. Most off the little buggers shooed off pretty easily, but one of the them was quite persistent. This girl was probably about 9 years old, she started bargaining with us, and it ended up being pretty funny. Two of her tag lines were "You're CRRRRAZY!" (said with extremely exaggerated rolled-r's) and "Business is fucking business!" (emphasizing the swear word). After probably ten or fifteen minutes of talking with her and bargaining, we bought some bracelets.
We left later that night and arrived back to Cairo in the morning. It was an absolutely exhausting weekend. But absolutely worth it.
10/4 - This weekend brought another trip to the Red Sea, this time from Sinai peninsula. Our bus left on Thursday at midnight, and got us to Dahab around 10am Friday morning. Well, most of us. One member of our travel party had to catch a later bus, and didn't get to Dahab until around noon Friday. We decided to take the overnight bus in hopes of getting some sleep on the way, unfortunately none of us ended up getting more than maybe three hours of sleep. As soon as we stepped off the bus, we were hustled over to a truck-taxi, waiting to take us to our hotel. While everybody else fit in the cab of the truck, I had a fun ride in the bed of the truck with the luggage and some French-speaking girls... almost fell out on a few of the quicker turns, but I'm sure the driver would have stopped to pick me up. We got to the hotel, settled in, got some breakfast/lunch, and waited for our other friend to arrive. A little after noon, we boarded a wannabe-army-jeep and zig-zagged our way out to the Blue Hole to do some snorkeling. The Blue Hole is supposed to be some of the best diving and snorkeling around. It was pretty amazing. I wish that I had had an underwater camera, or been scuba certified. From what I saw snorkeling, I'm sure the diving was absolutely amazing. After a few hours of the incredibly salty Red Sea water, we headed back to the hotel to clean up a bit, catch some z's, then go get something to eat...
We spent the evening wandering up and down the shopping/eating strip, located right along the Red Sea - with a usual amount of dodging shop keepers and restaurant owners trying to lure us into their shops with good deals. Although, most of the restaurants along this strip offer free appetizers and dessert, so we did end up getting lured into one. Not bad though, pretty good deal, pretty good food - I only wish I wasn't cursed with a seafood allergy. All this travelling along the Mediterranean and Red Sea, there've been so many chances for good, fresh fish! After eating, we shopped a bit, had some interesting interactions with shop owners - ask me about the "secret of the desert" sometime - and finally headed back to our hotel to prepare ourselves... for a 12 hour journey.
Yes. We climbed Mount Sinai. It was a rigorous hike if anything. Great fun though. Right around 11 o'clock, my friends and I, along with other adventurers loaded up a minibus and drove to Mount Sinai. We were dropped off a ways from the base of the mountain, where we were flocked by the typical crowd, trying to sell us stuff. At the time, spending 40 LE on a scratchy cloth poncho didn't sound very reasonable. At this little sales-pitch-point, we met our guide, whose name [incidentally] turned out to be Moussa (MOSES!). Talk about conincidence. So Moses led us up Mount Sinai.
The hike up took about three hours in total. The majority of it wasn't so bad - we walked along the camel path that winds up the mountain. (The only bad part of that was that we had to walk by tons of camels... which aren't known for their flowery-sweet-smelling shit.) At the end of the camel path, however, were some 700 steps which we had to climb in order to reach the top. 700 steps sounds bad enough... it sounded even worse at 2am. We finally reached the top around 3am. Sunrise was estimated to start around 5:30, which left us with a solid two and a half hours of sleep. ( I know, I know... math genious right here. Watch out Einstein.)
The sunrise was gorgeous, but I was not a happy camper. We spent the night on, probably, the most exposed rock surface on the entire mountain, covered in smelly camel blankets, using backpacks as pillows. It was cold, and, having come from 90 degree Cairo weather, we were not properly equipped for the biting cold of Mount Saini. Maybe paying 40LE for one of those scratchy blankets at the base of the mountain would have been a good idea. Nonetheless, it was an excellent experience.
After sunrise, and some wandering around the top of the mountain, we began our descent. We took a different route down the mountain than the one we took up. Maybe it was the unknown terrain, or the lack of sleep... whatever the case, there was an accident. About three quarters of the way down the mountain, my roommate Olivia tripped and sprained her ankle. Luckily, Superman (my friend Steve) was with us, and he picked her up and flew down the mountain (piggy-backed her the rest of the way). We were supposed to visit the monastery at the bottom of the mountain, but given our situation, we decided to head back to our hotel.
Back at Bishbishi (our hotel), we got Olivia an ace bandage, some tylenol and ice, and did the best we could to take care of the injury. (She saw a doctor later, when we got back to Cairo.) And after our exhausting night, we all slept for a few well-deserved, much-needed hours. We woke up around dinner time, and headed back to the shopping/eating strip along the Red Sea to get some dinner. While we were dinning, we were approached by a few kids selling colorful, hand-made friendship bracelets. Most off the little buggers shooed off pretty easily, but one of the them was quite persistent. This girl was probably about 9 years old, she started bargaining with us, and it ended up being pretty funny. Two of her tag lines were "You're CRRRRAZY!" (said with extremely exaggerated rolled-r's) and "Business is fucking business!" (emphasizing the swear word). After probably ten or fifteen minutes of talking with her and bargaining, we bought some bracelets.
We left later that night and arrived back to Cairo in the morning. It was an absolutely exhausting weekend. But absolutely worth it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)