Assorted photos I took on one of my last nights in Rome.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Obelisks in their Nautral Habitat!
The flight from Rome to Cairo was about half full. We arrived a little after 2 in the morning. We bought our visas, and met the man to drive us to our hostel. We pulled up to a pretty shabby looking building and we were a little surprised this was the location of our hostel. On the seventh floor of the building, it was much nicer than the exterior displayed. We got there around 3, and were greeted by this really nice guy at the front desk. We put our bags in the room, and met him in the lobby for some welcome tea. We chatted about Egypt and learned some Arabic until about 4, when we went to bed. We woke at 7 to start out tour of the pyramids. We met our driver at our hotel who was a really cool guy. We then started at the Great Pyramids, which we toured by horseback. The surrounding desert was quite trashy but the pyramids were incredible. It was very windy and quite cold. Standing at the bases of the pyramids and looking up was an awe-inspiring experience. We also saw the Sphinx before leaving for Saqqara. At Saqqara there are a couple of tombs and a pyramid. Descending in to the pyramid was an interesting experience for the slope was about 45 degrees and the passageway about 3 feet tall. At the bottom were several chambers adorned with frescoes and a sarcophagus. I bribed the guards to take pictures (which is forbidden), and also climbed in to the sarcophagus. After leaving, we saw the great stepped pyramid, but it was off-limits. We then headed to the ancient city of Memphis, which was lack-luster. There wasn’t much to see there at all actually. Dahshur was our next stop and probably the coolest place we went. The North Pyramid was devoid of any other tourists, and we climbed about halfway up the face of the pyramid, through the entrance, and then descended even further to the center. The walls were incredible and corbel-vaulted. We spent a good half-hour down there marveling at the space we were in. We then headed back to Cairo for some Koshari, which was incredible. A big bowl of rice, beans, macaroni, beef, fried onions, and probably many more ingredients was served with tomato, garlic, and hot sauces. It was one of the most fantastic meals of my life. After getting our bags from our hotel we walked to the train station to pick up our train tickets. We were the only non-Egyptians we saw the entire 20 minute walk, and I’m sure we stood out even more because of the state of our hair, being blown by the wind all day. We pick up our tickets to discover that our train actually departs from Giza. So trying to figure out how to get there we realize we can take the Metro, which we were not looking forward to at all. It was quite nice actually, but we did continue to get stared at. We hung out at the Giza station for a good three hours, drinking tea and people-watching. Our train was very nice, and we ate dinner and passed right out. We were woken up at 4:30 for breakfast and arrived in Luxor an hour later. It was still completely dark and we walked to our hostel to drop off our bags, then walked around a bit before our 7:45 tour of the West Bank. Luxor was a very nice town and definitely more touristy. This was actually a welcome surprise to see other tourists, though I would prefer it not to be that way in most other countries. We hopped in the van and our guide drove us across the Nile to the Temple of Hatshepsut. The tiers were incredible and the surrounding cliffs even more so. We then went to the Valley of the Kings where we saw four tombs, all elaborately decorated with frescoes. It was incredible to be in a space so old. We then went to the Valley of the Queens which was more of the same. The whole day we had been on and off talking with a group of five American students studying for the semester in Cairo. They were really cool and invited us to go to the Temple of Habu with them. The temple was incredible, as usual, and we did some exploring of the surrounding hills. We then took public transportation, which was pretty much a pickup truck with a roof back to the river, where I got to hang off of the back. The 10 minute ride cost a pound, as did the boat ride across the river. Once back on the east bank, we decided to meet up later for a sunset faluca ride. Dave and I then headed back to the hotel to take showers. Mine was the most glorious of my life. After chilling out a bit, we met back up with our new friends and saw the beautiful sunset from a sailboat on the Nile. Afterwards, we went and got some dinner, which was a delicious beef and onion stir fry in a long piece of bread. I don’t remember the name for it was all in Arabic, and our friends ordered for us. Afterwards, we hung out on the roof of their hostel for a while, then said goodbye as they headed to the train station. Jim stayed behind for he had a flight later instead. The three of us walked around for a while, got some sugarcane juice for a pound. It was delicious, though I’m sure quite bad for you. We then went to a basement bar and had a Stella. After walking more, Jim headed to the airport while Dave and I looked for a hookah to buy. We found this store that specialized in them and we sat down for tea with the owner while discussing options. I put together one I liked and then bargained for a good price, which was about ¼ of the asking price. We then headed back to the hostel and then to bed. Waking up at 7 was actually quite nice compared to 4:30. We went to the roof terrace for some breakfast then walked towards Karnak temple. It is recommended to take a bus but we opted for a mile or so walk. We walked to the surround wall of the complex and decided to go left, but it looked like it wasn’t going anywhere, so we turned around. Big mistake. We asked some children for directions and they led us around the other side. We were pretty much walking through the desert until we hit some wall and had to hop it in to this small settlement. We basically just headed towards the direction of where we though the entrance was and eventually found it to realize we were only about 100 meters away when we turned around. But the one-hour detour was an experience. The Karnak Temple was probably the most impressive building I’ve ever seen. The hall of columns with the clerestory was just simply amazing. We spent a good hour in their just looking up at all of the columns and walking around. Heading back to town, we hopped on the back of a cart pulled by a donkey being driven by a guy probably in his 80s. He sang songs in Arabic the whole way back. It was definitely worth the 2 pounds. When we got back we headed over the Mummification Museum which was lackluster, for it was only one room. There were however a couple of mummies and the tools that were used in the process. Then we headed to the Luxor museum which had a large collection of artifacts which were interesting. Heading back towards to town center afterwards we stopped in for a drink on this 100 year old houseboat on the Nile. I felt like a British explorer from back in the day. We each had a Stella and watched the river. Then we headed in to town for lunch, where we found this whole in the wall place that served us rotisserie chicken with rice, tomatoes, cilantro, and delicious pita-like bread. We ate a ton. Then we headed to a shisha place on the main street where we smoked, had a tea, and watched the street life (all for 9 pounds, I must say). We then headed back to the hostel, grabbed our bags, and headed to the train station where we caught our 8 o clock train back to Cairo. The train was nice again, for it was the same one. I once again passed right out after such a long day. Waking up this time at 4 was once again not a pleasant experience. We had breakfast on the train, which this time went all the way to Ramses station. I think everyone but we however, got off at the Giza station. It was still pitch dark upon our 5 o clock arrival, so we chilled in a bar until it was light out, drinking Turkish coffee. We then walked back to the same hostel where we stayed the first night and left our bags and walked to a shishah bar, where we smoked and had more Turkish coffee. It was a really cool place and we smoked with locals. Then we headed to the Cairo Museum and got there around 8:30. The security was very intense around the building, especially after last week’s bombing. We waited around for the opening, and then went in. This museum had so much stuff, too much stuff even. It was a bit overwhelming. We saw artifacts and status from every dynasty. The main attraction was the treasures of King Tut’s tomb, and it was obvious by the number of people there. The other areas weren’t nearly as crowded. The treasures were pretty incredible however. We spent a good three hours just exploring the museum before walking back to our hostel where we relaxed for a bit. We then bought some coke and went and relaxed by the Nile, which was a bit dirtier than in Luxor. It was also incredibly smoggy in Cairo, especially in the morning. We would wake up and not even be able to see across the river. Our hotel was right on the river too. After relaxing by the river, we went and got some more koshari, which was delicious as expected. We were planning on going out that night, but when I went to go take a nap at 7 I didn’t wake up until the morning. Oops. So we woke up on our last day in Egypt and got some breakfast at our hostel, then caught a cab to Al-Azhar mosque. The cab ride was interesting, for our driver didn’t speak English, and we weren’t sure if we were going to the right place on the way. But we arrived at the mosque just fine and were actually welcomed by the director of the mosque. He gave us an hour long tour of the whole complex, which was built over the span of the last 1200 years or so. We even climbed to the top of a minaret. It was definitely not a major tourist destination, which is one of the things we really liked about it. He was impressed with our knowledge of Islam after our World Religions class last semester. We thanked him and then headed to a market across the street, where we bought some tobacco for our new shisha. We then went back to the best koshari place for the third time, where it was delicious once again. We then headed back to our hostel where we hung out for about an hour before we left for the airport. Our driver was really cool. There was lots of traffic, but we were in no hurry. Our flight was just fine. We landed back in Rome and I was happy to be back in a country whose language I at least kind of spoke. All in all it was an incredible trip and I am extremely glad I had a chance to experience it.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
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