Cairo – Day 19

~I’m sorry that it has taken me so long to post my last post.  I caught a cold on the way back and have been battling that and jetlag! ~

We left Cairo International Airport at 11:35pm Saturday night.  We landed in New York City at 6:15am Sunday morning.  The flight from Cairo to JFK was just over 12 hours, about two hours longer than our flight to Cairo.  Thankfully, I was able to sleep for about 6 ½ hours on the flight.  They fed us supper once we got on the plane and breakfast before we landed at JFK.  Getting through customs wasn’t too bad.  It was relatively painless, except the customs agent had to be rude about my Henna tattoo! Obviously, he was not on the job to make friends! We had to pick up our baggage and go back through security checkpoints before we boarded our plane to Atlanta.  It took almost an hour before our bags appeared! We thought they hadn’t made the trip!  By the time we got our bags, we only had about 45 minutes before our plane left at 8:15.  Thankfully, one of the airport employees let us move to the head of the line at security, or we would not have made our flight.

Once we got to Atlanta, we had over 5 hours before our flight to Shreveport.  By that time, the time difference had hit me, and I was just ready to be home so that I could sleep.  We landed in Shreveport at 5:30pm, which was over 24 hours after we had left Cairo! Needless to say, I slept like a baby that night.

I had an unbelievable time on my trip to Egypt and thoroughly enjoyed making new friends! I tried to do everything possible since I have no idea when I will be able to go back to visit.  It certainly gave me a new perspective on living in the US after having traveled to a developing country.  There are so many things that we take for granted but are considered luxuries for citizens of other countries!  I will always treasure the memories that I made on this trip.

I hope all of you who have been following my blog have enjoyed hearing about my adventures in Cairo! If you ever have the chance to go to Egypt, I would highly recommend it!

 

Cairo – Day 18

Saturday was my last day in Cairo, and I was determined to make the most of it!  I still had not had the chance to visit Khan El Khalili, which is the big market in Cairo, so that was the plan for the day.  Mahmoud and his family and I spent a few hours at Khan El Khalili, where I was able to buy souvenirs for everyone.  The market was very cool! There were shops and shops of hand-crafted souvenirs that included everything from Galabayas and Belly-Dancing Costumes to lutes and miniature Pyramids.

Khan El Khalili

The shop keepers would stand at the open door to their shop and constantly shout out at passersby hoping for them to buy something.  They loved seeing an American walking by, because they thought I was an easy target! However, they didn’t count on me having an Egyptian friend that could bargain with them. J I got the best deals, thanks to Mahmoud!

After we had finished shopping, I got to try an Egyptian Pancake, which was delicious! The consistency of the pancake is quite different from ours; it is denser and flaky.  The one that I tried was considered the “dessert” version; it was topped with cream cheese and honey. Yummy!  At the café where we were, the tables were literally on the street and huge tour buses would drive right by, so close that I could reach out my hand and touch them if I tried.  Also when you eat outside, the stray cats will come up to your table and beg for food.

While we were eating, an old Egyptian woman came up to our table offering Henna tattoos so the girls and I got one!  She just did a free-hand design on my hand and arm.  I was amazed, because it only took her about a minute to completely draw it out.  The girls were so excited about theirs, except Habiba couldn’t leave hers alone long enough for it to dry!  When I got back to the flat and showed Aunt Deborah, the first thing that she said was “You better make sure that your dad knows that I had nothing to do with this!” LOL

My Henna tattoo

Habiba and her Henna tattoo

Haneen's Henna

By the time, we finished at the market, it was about 6pm.  I then had to go back to the flat and finish packing for our flight that night.  I had to figure out where to pack my souvenirs that I just bought.  Thankfully, Aunt Deborah had room in her boxes that she brought or else I would have been bringing back an extra bag!

It was so sad to say goodbye to Mahmoud and his family! I truly had an amazing time in large part to their friendship.  The girls looked so sad when I had to hug them goodbye. L  I hope to someday have the opportunity to visit them again.

 

Cairo – Day 17

Friday, I took a train with Mahmoud and his family to Alexandria, which is located in Lower Egypt about two and a half hours north of Cairo.  (FYI: The area is considered Lower Egypt, because the Nile River flows from south to north, which is the opposite of most rivers.) The trip was pleasant and allowed me to see some of the countryside of Egypt.  The area that we traveled through was mainly agricultural with crops of okra, cotton, and corn able to be seen from the train.

Once we arrived in Alexandria, we hired a taxi to take us around the city for the day.  Our first stop was at the Roman Amphitheater.  The ruins were absolutely amazing!  The stadium seats were made from marble; the floor had a nice mosaic, which you were not allowed to stand on.

at the Roman Amphitheater with Habiba

Our next stop was the Alexandria National Museum, which was the complete opposite of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.  The Alexandria National Museum was housed in the old US Embassy building, which was previously a palace.  The Museum was air-conditioned, and the artifacts were housed in nice display cases that were climate-controlled, unlike the Egyptian Museum.  The Museum tried to capture all of Alexandria’s history from the Pharaohnic Period through the periods of Greek and Roman control through the modern era of Egypt.  We were not allowed to take pictures at all, and no sweet talking or bribing by Mahmoud was going to make it happen! When we exited the museum, I wanted a picture in front of the museum so that I could remember my visit.  However, the museum officials would not let me take even one picture! (I even offered to let them take the picture, so that they could insure that I wouldn’t take the camera inside.)  The only way I was able to get a picture was by staying inside the gates of the museum while Mahmoud went outside and zoomed in to take the picture!

Outside the Alexandria National Museum

Afterwards we drove to the Citadel, which is located right on the Mediterranean Sea! We arrived right at closing time, so they wouldn’t let us enter. L Instead we visited the small aquarium located next to the Citadel.  The Mediterranean Sea was beautiful and very choppy.  The boats were very colorful and looked like I had walked onto the set of a movie!

Mediterranean Sea and the Alexandria Citadel

Mediterranean Sea

Next, we finally made it to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina! The library at Alexandria was the first library ever in the history of Man! Obviously, the original library no longer exists, but the new library was built in approximately the same location.  The new Bibliotheca Alexandrina was built in 2002 and was designed to look like the rising sun.  The external walls are inscribed with characters from many different languages to represent the information and books of the world.  The windows of the library are shaped like an eye, which represents the all-seeing eye that guards from evil, a belief that dates from the Pharaohnic Period.  The library is dedicated to digitizing as many books as possible and currently digitizes approximately 200 books per day!  They also have an auditorium that is used for special lectures, where they hold 700 lectures per year.  The library hosts 27 guided tours per day in Arabic, English, French and German.

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The library holds several art galleries and museums in its lower levels, including a museum dedicated to Anwar El Sadat, Egypt’s President that was assassinated in 1981.  In the Sadat Museum, there was a letter that was written to Sadat from the Creek and Osage Tribes commending him on his peace talks that he had arranged with Israel and Palestine (I think).  The very last display case was the uniform that Sadat was wearing when he was assassinated with the blood stains visible to the visitors!

I thoroughly enjoyed the Antiquities Museum, which housed some of the artifacts found during the excavation of the new library.  The most amazing piece that was discovered was a Dog Mosaic that showed the Graeco-Roman influences on the area.  The Manuscripts Museum held mostly Arabic manuscripts dating all the way from 900 AD! They had several copies of the Qur’an, which were very ornate.  They even had a facsimile of the Gutenberg Bible and a scroll of the Torah. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was one of the highlights of the entire trip!

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Once we finished visiting the library, we attempted to take the taxi to eat supper.  However, the taxi died in the middle of the road! The taxi driver was so upset; he started mumbling in Arabic (I’m pretty sure that he was cussing, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying!) He then proceeded to start an argument with Mahmoud telling him that we were bad luck, because he had never had problems with his car before we rode with him! Needless to say, we had to get out of the taxi and find a different mode of transportation.  Well, we couldn’t find a taxi that wanted to take us, so we ended up having to take a bus! Now I know you are all picturing an American public transit bus.  No! This was a 15-passenger Microbus that was crammed with 20 people! Every time someone had to get off, they either crawled over everyone or someone had to get out to let them out.  Oh! And there was no air-conditioning! Needless to say it was quite an experience!

We finally made it to Hosny Restaurant, where I was able to try Stuffed Pigeon! It was actually delicious! When they brought it to me, I was a little overwhelmed, because it was the whole bird (head and everything!).  I had no idea how to attempt to eat it! Thankfully, Mahmoud helped me out.  After I was halfway finished eating it, I realized I had forgotten to take a picture. Sorry!

Our return train left Alexandria a little after 10, so we began making our way back to the train station.  We started walking and quickly realized, we wouldn’t make it on time so we decided to take a taxi.  Shortly after we got in, this taxi car died too! Maybe we really were bad luck! I have no idea where the taxi driver took us, but it took us forever to get back to the train station.  By the time we made it to the station, the train had just left 5 minutes earlier!  The only other option was to take a Microbus back to Cairo! That was definitely an experience that I will never forget! It was a 15-passenger Microbus with 17 people, which meant that Haneen and Habiba had to ride in our laps.  The bus driver kept turning the air conditioning off, so we were sweating like crazy.  Halfway through the trip, the driver took everyone’s fare money.  I guess one of the guys didn’t give him enough, which meant that a yelling argument ensued where the driver ended up pulling over on the side of the road and opening the sliding back door to get in the guy’s face! Thankfully, the fight did not come to blows, but it was close! Needless to say, as soon as we saw the lights of Cairo, we got off and caught a taxi to take the rest of the trip back to Aunt Deborah’s flat.   It was a very eventful trip to be sure! We finally made it back about 2am, where everyone collapsed into bed utterly exhausted.

 

Cairo – Day 16

Cairo Opera House

Thursday, Aunt Deborah and I visited the Cairo Opera House.  We had hoped to speak to the director about a possible internship, but he was not in the office when we arrived.  Instead, we spoke to his secretary.  She told us that they do not offer internships paid or unpaid.

The secretary arranged for us to have a private tour of the Opera House and the Music Library.   The Opera House consists of three stages—the main hall, which seats 1000 people, the small hall, which seats 600, and an open air theater.  The main hall had a private box for Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak when he comes.

Inside the Opera House with President Mubarak's private box

When we toured the music library, I was able to meet the music librarian, but his English was not good so I didn’t really get to have a nice conversation with him like I had hoped.  However, I was able to see an Arabic piano, which was so cool! The Arabic piano has three keyboards, which allows you to play Arabic music.  A lot of their music includes quarter- and micro-tones, which cannot be played on a normal piano.  The extra keyboards allowed the pianist to play these notes.  I really wanted to hear/play it, but they had the keys covered to where you could not touch them.  I had hoped to get a picture with the piano but was told we couldn’t take the picture.  I told Aunt Deborah, “Where’s Mahmoud when you need him?” He would have been able to talk his way into taking a picture!

Arabic Piano with three keyboards

Music Library at the Cairo Opera House

We had planned to have supper with Wael, one of Aunt Deborah’s work associates, but a sand storm came up so we were unable to go.  It was so strange, because it was like a rain storm but with sand.  As soon as the storm moved through, the temperature dropped and the air was really clean.  The next morning, there was a fine layer of sand on everything on Aunt Deborah’s terrace!

 

Cairo – Day 15

Yesterday, I didn’t get to do anything.  Mahmoud and his family drove back from Sharm El Sheikh late Monday night, so he was catching up on his sleep.  Aunt Deborah had to work, so she couldn’t take me anywhere either.

I can’t believe that my time here in Egypt is coming to an end.  I am making the most of my last few days here!  It feels like I just got here, because there are so many things that I didn’t get a chance to do.  I think that I will just have to plan to come back so that I can do them!

The sights, tastes, and sounds of Cairo will be forever embedded into my memory!  The first glimpse of the Pyramids, the first belly dancer performance, the first skirt dancer, the first taste of Kochari, the first taste of Fayrouz, the first taste of Baba Ghannoug, and the whistles of the Tourist Police, the sounds of the Arabic language, the first notes of the Egyptian ensemble (the list could go on and on)—these will all be wonderful memories that I can savor forever.

 

Cairo – Day 14

Tuesday, we flew back to Cairo, which was an uneventful flight.  When we finally got our luggage from baggage claim, we went to meet Wael (sp?), who works with Aunt Deborah and was picking us up.  However when we stepped out of the airport, we were immediately accosted by about 10 taxi drivers wanting us to ride with them.  Aunt Deborah kept telling them no, but they would not leave us alone! They kept getting closer to us and basically had us surrounded on all sides! Thankfully, Wael came up, and they finally backed off.  Later, Aunt Deborah and I were talking about it and decided that if that was someone’s first impression of Cairo they probably would have turned right around and got back on the plane!

Once we got back, I went to the office with Aunt Deborah.  I was glad to be able to meet everyone and see where she works.  Her office is located in Heliopolis, a neighborhood inside Cairo.  The architecture is really neat and was designed, for the most part, by the same architect (Barone is the name, but I’m not sure about the spelling.) that designed the house that will turn completely.

Christian Church designed by Barone

It’s surprising how much difference 10 degrees makes! The entire time we were in Sharm, the temperature stayed around 100 degrees.  As soon as we walked off the plane, Aunt Deborah and I were so glad to not sweat immediately like we did in Sharm.  I’ve got enough dirty laundry that it will take all night to wash!

Fruit Stand in Heliopolis

 

Cairo – Day 13

Maisa and I before we went parasailing

Monday, Mahmoud, Maisa and I went parasailing over the Red Sea.  Maisa and I went together, while Mahmoud went by himself.  It was absolutely incredible! It was my first time to parasail, and I’m scared of heights and water. So right before we took off, I was thinking “What on earth and am I doing?” I’m glad I went though, because it was so much fun!  I was able to have an awesome view of the Red Sea.  The water was such a deep blue; it was beautiful!

Red Sea

The Muslim women that cover themselves from head to toe, also cover themselves when swimming.  I was able to get a picture of a Muslim woman as she walking by in her swim dress.  I can’t imagine wearing all of those clothes in such hot weather!

Swim Dress

That night, we walked into Naama Bay for supper.  While we were walking through, we ran into a parade for the World Tourism and Biodiversity Day.  There were people in all kinds of vehicles, and riders on horses and camels.  They also had a makeshift stage set up, where there were dancers and a DJ.  The Governor of West Sinai was in attendance, so there were Secret Service men everywhere making sure that the crowds stayed out of his way.

We ate supper at KFC.  I think the girls ate more than I did; they LOVE chicken. J I’ve drank more Pepsi since I’ve been in Egypt than I have in the States in the past 10 years! They have Coca-Cola too but not in as many places.  I haven’t seen Dr. Pepper anywhere, so that’s the first thing that I want to drink when I get back in the States!  It was a nice, relaxing last night in Sharm El Sheikh.  I hope to be able to go back one day!

 

Cairo – Day 12

On Sunday, we went to the Old Market in Sharm El Sheikh.  We browsed through the shops and tried not to make eye contact with anyone so as not to be hounded to death!  They had all kinds of things to choose from, such as animals made from coconuts, belly dancing costumes and spices.

Belly Dancing Costumes

Coconut Cow (For you Elizabeth)

For supper, we ate lamb chops at a local restaurant.  They were absolutely delicious! There were lots of other things that we ate, but I don’t know how to spell any of them. :/ After wards, we went to the Hard Rock Café and enjoyed the music.  I think that was the Italian place to hang out, because the DJ and most of everyone else were speaking Italian.

At the entrance to the Old Market in Sharm El Sheikh

Just to clear up any confusion as to what Shisha is, it is unfiltered tobacco that is smoked through a water pipe.  Most of the locals smoke it plain, but you can get flavored tobacco in apple, peach, etc.

 

Cairo – Day 11

On Saturday, I sat by the pool and relaxed with Aunt Deborah and Mahmoud’s family.  We were going to try to go to the Egyptian Dinner given by the hotel, but they weren’t taking any more reservations by the time we checked on it. I think they have it one more time before we leave, so maybe we will be able to catch it.

We ate supper at TGIFriday’s! It was delicious! The menu was very similar to ours but with fewer choices.  After supper, we went to the mall in Naama Bay to check on getting the painting that I saw a couple of night before.  The way it works is that when you are a tourist the price goes up.  So I gave Mahmoud my money so that he could negotiate with them.  They were asking for 750 Egyptian pounds ($132), and Mahmoud was able to get the painting for 380 Egyptian pounds ($67)!!! I was so excited!  It will go great with my things that are in storage at Aunt Betty’s. :/

Right beside the TGIFriday’s was a Baskin Robbins!

We then went to the Shisha coffeeshop so Mahmoud and Maisa could smoke.  While we were sitting there, some of their friends from Cairo happened to pass and joined us.  We had a really good time visiting with them.  They spoke pretty good English so we were able to communicate a little bit.  They got a good laugh at me while I was trying to pronounce one their names! I’m not sure I ever got it right. LOL  They shared some pumpkin seeds with me, which were interesting to eat.  I’ve had them in the States before, but they were quite a bit bigger and you just ate the whole thing.  Here, they are smaller than sunflower seeds, and you only eat the insides! The taste was good, but the work was too much for me!

Aunt Deborah, Haneen and Habiba

Habiba’s hair was curled into little ringlets all over her head , so I called her an Egyptian Shirley Temple!

 

Cairo – Day 10

On Friday, I stayed away from the pool and out of the sun, because my sunburn was so bad!  After breakfast, Aunt Deborah and I went for a foot reflexology massage, which was heavenly!  I could definitely get used to those.

After the massage, I just relaxed in the room with Aunt Deborah.  For supper, we ate Chinese, which was excellent! I tried rice chips and fried pineapple for the first time and enjoyed every bite.  We then walked into Naama Bay, where we passed a restaurant/bar that was hosting a foam party.  I wish I would have gotten a picture; it was pretty crazy!

Aunt Deborah and I