Oh the benefits of attending an American institution - Thanksgiving break. We were graciously given last Thursday off from classes, which added another day of weekend to my already three-day weekend. What an opportunity. The extra day off, my eagerness to travel, and lack of apprehension about skipping classes combined, and suddenly there was a five-day window of travel opportunity.
After much debate, careful consideration, back and forth, monitoring international politics, and consideration of possible future careers and currently held ideals, we decided to go to Jordan and Israel. Going to Jordan was not so much an issue as was going to Israel. But, much to my parents' dismay, I'm sure, we decided to include Israel in the travel plans. Mom, Dad, I'm sorry for any grey hairs.
We started our trip in Petra. Actually, that's the only place in Jordan we went. We decided to do the entire trip by land. So, we started by taking a really long bus ride from Cairo to the Taba border crossing - straight through the night. If you look at a map, there's a little area of the Sinai at the tip of the Red Sea where Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia almost touch. Taba is around there. So from Egypt, we had to cross into Israel, take a taxi a few kilometers (I could easily have run it) to the Israeli-Jordanian border, and walk across into Jordan. From there, we were supposed to be picked up by the hostel we booked, but something sketchy happened with the driver and something about owing money and police and something... don't ask, don't tell. Anyway, he didn't show up. Some of the other taxi drivers that were standing around were kind enough to ask us why we were waiting in the middle of the parking lot. We told them, and they called our hostel manager (that's how we found out about the sketch business with our driver). He then made some arrangement with some of the taxi drivers, and they took us to our hostel.
I don't remember exactly what time we got in, but it was in the afternoon. After checking in, paying, and having a cup of tea, we set off to see the Rose City of Petra.
I hope you all are familiar with Petra. If not, go rent Indiana Jones. Watch all three of them, because they're great movies, but look for Petra in The Last Crusade. Petra is where they go to search for the Holy Grail.
Well, Petra isn't really the resting place of the Holy Grail, and explorers haven't found any uncountable amount of hidden treasure. But the city is a treasure unto its own. I personally don't know the exact history of Petra, and have read some different things. The Lonely Planet guide we had with us said that it was built a long time ago, and was the dwelling place of some civilization. I've also read that it was possibly a necropolis of sorts. I know for sure that it is old. And the unquestionably deserves to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The entire city of Petra is carved into solid rock face. The carved habitations range from simple square rooms, to temples with entrances hundreds of feet high, demonstrating amazing artistic ability. I know for a fact from our donkey guide (Olivia and I rode donkeys on the way out) that an estimated 80% of Petra has yet to be excavated, and every summer Brown sends archeologists there to dig. Sweet.
We stayed at Petra just about until it closed. Then we found something to eat, and tried to get a good night's sleep. We got up early the next morning to start our long trek to Israel. Petra is located in southwestern Jordan, our first stop in Israel was Jerusalem, which is pretty much due west of Amman, in northwestern Jordan. So, we took a minibus from our hostel all the way up the side of Jordan, to the King Hussein Bridge crossing into Israel. At this point, we had to get out of the minibus, go through border control, and get on a special bus to cross the bridge into Israel - because only certain vehicles are allowed to cross the border into Israel, for security reasons. On the Israeli side of the bridge, we had to get off the bus, cross into Israel, and find another minibus to take us to Jerusalem.
Long process, and lots of changing of means of transportation. But it all went pretty smoothly, and none of our buses blew up. I'm sorry, that's not funny...
Despite the risk and (debatable) illogic of going, Jerusalem was incredible. Ok, so first off, the city was very clean, and nice-looking, and not nearly as crowded or polluted as Cairo. I love Cairo, but being clean is a nice change every once and a while. Secondly, who can deny the history and significance of Jerusalem??? No one. We had originally only intended to spend one day in Jerusalem, but quickly changed our minds and hostel bookings in order to spend as much time as possible in this wondrous city. One of my friends happened to have a friend studying at a university in Jerusalem, and he was available to show us around a bit. He turned out to be a pretty good guide. We spent a lot of time in the Old City, seeing the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Wailing Wall, and (from a far) the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsar Mosque. It was awe-inspiring to be among all those ancient religious sites, and sad to think how much conflict has risen around them, and what possible damage could be done to the sites.
After seeing Jerusalem we went to Tel Aviv for a while to see a more modern side of Israel. We didn't have a lot of time to spend there - just enough to see some of it and get a little taste of life there. Then, we were back on buses, repeating the similar but backward process of getting across borders. Once we got back into Egypt, we got a minibus and blazed and uncomfortably fast and somewhat reckless trail back to Cairo.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Desert Weekend
11/16
This was a nice little weekend trip - not too long, not too exhausting, and a nice escape from the bustling city. Destination: the Black and White Desert.
Steve, Jon, Olivia and I were the ones from my group of friends that were able to take most of the weekend away from school work. Since there were only four of us going, we got teamed up with another small group of students from AUC who happened to be going to the desert also. A few of them also happened to be from my Arabic class, so we kind of knew each other. Fortunately not too awkward.
The Black and White Desert is located to the west of Cairo. Southwest, actually, I think. The Black and White Desert is probably nothing like you imagine a desert to be. While technically part of the Sahara (I think), the Black and White Desert severely lacks the ever-stretching, rolling sand dunes that pictures of the Sahara usually show. While there is sand (of course) the Black and White Desert is famous for its rocks - the Black Desert for being inexplicably covered in smooth black stones; the White Desert for it's equally inexplicable, huge mushroom/flower-like, chalky white rock formations.
We woke up at an ungodly hour and got picked up by a taxi near the dorms. Our trip out to the place to meet our guide was delayed a little by some unusually thick fog. We actually had to stop for about half an hour or more, because it was so bad. When we finally got out to the little desert tour outpost, we were fed a traditional bedouin lunch, consisting of tomato-potato soup, pita, weird cheese, fresh tomatoes, and cucumbers. It was good. Then, we met our tour guide, loaded ourselves into some jeeps, and were off.
First we stopped at some dunes right around the Black Desert. Ok, I lied, there are some rolling sand dunes, but not many. Anyway, we stopped, climbed around in the sand, took some pictures, etc, etc. Then we got back in the jeeps and drove on to some different parts.
It was hot. The Black Desert was cool, some of the rocks had really interesting shapes.
Sometime during the late afternoon, we stopped at an area with a particularly nice view. We had only intended to stop there for a little while, however, the sand was pretty loose, and one of the jeeps had engine trouble, and it got stuck. Eventually, after hooking it up to the other jeep, and all of us pushing, and lots of hullabaloo, we got the other jeep started and drove off.
By the evening, we had reached the White part of the desert, and stopped to set up camp. The two jeeps made a little corner for our camp site, and our guides set down blankets and mats for the eating/sleeping area. We all roamed around and took pictures, and climbed on things while the guides finished setting up camp and started cooking dinner. For dinner, we had another traditional bedouin meal, consisting of guava, the same potato soup, and chicken roasted over the fire. Followed by tea time around the fire.
Sleeping in the desert was amazing. Absolutely clear sky, full of stars. Hadn't seen the starts for quite some time now, living in Cairo, so it was nice to know they're still up there. It got really cold at night though. We all had to bundle up in all the clothes we had with us and zip our sleeping bags around our heads.
The next morning, we toured more of the White Desert, including Crystal Mountain, then headed back to HQ.
These are probably some of the more interesting pictures I have, so be sure to ask to see them.
This was a nice little weekend trip - not too long, not too exhausting, and a nice escape from the bustling city. Destination: the Black and White Desert.
Steve, Jon, Olivia and I were the ones from my group of friends that were able to take most of the weekend away from school work. Since there were only four of us going, we got teamed up with another small group of students from AUC who happened to be going to the desert also. A few of them also happened to be from my Arabic class, so we kind of knew each other. Fortunately not too awkward.
The Black and White Desert is located to the west of Cairo. Southwest, actually, I think. The Black and White Desert is probably nothing like you imagine a desert to be. While technically part of the Sahara (I think), the Black and White Desert severely lacks the ever-stretching, rolling sand dunes that pictures of the Sahara usually show. While there is sand (of course) the Black and White Desert is famous for its rocks - the Black Desert for being inexplicably covered in smooth black stones; the White Desert for it's equally inexplicable, huge mushroom/flower-like, chalky white rock formations.
We woke up at an ungodly hour and got picked up by a taxi near the dorms. Our trip out to the place to meet our guide was delayed a little by some unusually thick fog. We actually had to stop for about half an hour or more, because it was so bad. When we finally got out to the little desert tour outpost, we were fed a traditional bedouin lunch, consisting of tomato-potato soup, pita, weird cheese, fresh tomatoes, and cucumbers. It was good. Then, we met our tour guide, loaded ourselves into some jeeps, and were off.
First we stopped at some dunes right around the Black Desert. Ok, I lied, there are some rolling sand dunes, but not many. Anyway, we stopped, climbed around in the sand, took some pictures, etc, etc. Then we got back in the jeeps and drove on to some different parts.
It was hot. The Black Desert was cool, some of the rocks had really interesting shapes.
Sometime during the late afternoon, we stopped at an area with a particularly nice view. We had only intended to stop there for a little while, however, the sand was pretty loose, and one of the jeeps had engine trouble, and it got stuck. Eventually, after hooking it up to the other jeep, and all of us pushing, and lots of hullabaloo, we got the other jeep started and drove off.
By the evening, we had reached the White part of the desert, and stopped to set up camp. The two jeeps made a little corner for our camp site, and our guides set down blankets and mats for the eating/sleeping area. We all roamed around and took pictures, and climbed on things while the guides finished setting up camp and started cooking dinner. For dinner, we had another traditional bedouin meal, consisting of guava, the same potato soup, and chicken roasted over the fire. Followed by tea time around the fire.
Sleeping in the desert was amazing. Absolutely clear sky, full of stars. Hadn't seen the starts for quite some time now, living in Cairo, so it was nice to know they're still up there. It got really cold at night though. We all had to bundle up in all the clothes we had with us and zip our sleeping bags around our heads.
The next morning, we toured more of the White Desert, including Crystal Mountain, then headed back to HQ.
These are probably some of the more interesting pictures I have, so be sure to ask to see them.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Aywa, Fi Mushkela: I hate laundry.
This is just a quick note to let all my faithful blog-readers know that I'm still alive... and HATE doing laundry. As it is, I hate doing laundry in the States - that's when I have a fully functional automatic washing machine and dryer, and the only difficulty is carrying a laundry basket up and down a flight of stairs and picking lint out of the lint trap. Here, I've got a trash can/keg and a piece of string.
This is my washing machine:
And this is the dryer:
With the help of the shower and a little "Tide - manual" I manage to get a load of laundry washed in about two and a half or three hours (not counting drying). During which time I barely get anything else done because I constantly have to rebalance the load so the stupid thing will keep spinning, and untangle the giant knot my clothes turn into during the cycle. I hate doing laundry so much that I have seriously contemplated buying new clothes as I need them, just so I don't have to use the washing machine ever again. On top of all that... without any heat and tumbling of a normal dryer, my freshly washed clothes end up feeling like cardboard and smelling like Cairo.
Cairo does not smell good and cardboard underwear are not comfortable.
This is my washing machine:
And this is the dryer:
With the help of the shower and a little "Tide - manual" I manage to get a load of laundry washed in about two and a half or three hours (not counting drying). During which time I barely get anything else done because I constantly have to rebalance the load so the stupid thing will keep spinning, and untangle the giant knot my clothes turn into during the cycle. I hate doing laundry so much that I have seriously contemplated buying new clothes as I need them, just so I don't have to use the washing machine ever again. On top of all that... without any heat and tumbling of a normal dryer, my freshly washed clothes end up feeling like cardboard and smelling like Cairo.
Cairo does not smell good and cardboard underwear are not comfortable.
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