Adventure Travel in the Middle East

Escorted by the Police…

June 2, 2010 By Jillian

“No. No. No,” the officer shouted as we left our hotel. Waving us back into the hotel he yelled something in his radio and motioned for us to wait. Confused, we looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. Five minutes later the officer received a message on his radio and escorted us to dinner. Fully capable of order and eating yummy falafel on our own, the whole situation seemed like overkill.

Just one night away from Cairo and the completion of our Capetown to Cairo overland adventure, we were annoyed at the constant police escort we seemed unable to shake driving from Luxor to Cairo. A few years ago foreigners were required to travel this route in convoy, but to our surprise that system has been downgraded to individual police escorts. Clearly the Egyptian government felt it necessary to protect us, but from what? No explanation was given on why two police cars, one in front of us and one behind, and eight officers had to escort us through Asiyut, nor why we weren’t able to leave them behind anywhere. For nearly the entire journey we had at least one police vehicle in front of us leading the way or a plain clothed (but armed!) officer seated in our front seat. It was strange, uncomfortable and frankly attracted a lot more attention than we would have on our own.

Arriving in Cairo we subtly inquired about the police escort. According to the guys at our Cairo hotel, the area from Luxor to Cairo is the center of Islamic Fundamentalism in Egypt. This may be true, but walking through the market in Asyut, even with our armed escort, we attracted only curious and positive attention. Several teenage girls in chadors approached me and in excellent English asked my name, where I was from and where I was going. They seemed very excited to meet me and welcomed me to their city. It was the exact opposite of feeling threatened. Other Egyptians at our hotel in Cairo gave us various theories on why we needed such a heavy escort, none of which we were able to validate.

Perhaps its better that we don’t know the danger we were in. We never felt unsafe or threatened anywhere in Egypt even stopping in villages along the Luxor to Cairo route. Without a doubt the Egyptian police were extremely professional and polite, going so far as to refuse baksheesh (tips). Well ok, one group of officers did repeatedly request we stop for coffee or tea and when we finally relented, they drank as well, so mostly without baksheesh. Given that the government felt their presence was necessary we appreciated their company, but would have rather known what we were getting ourselves into. We never felt unsafe in Egypt, but having the police escort made us wonder what we had missed.

Luxor: Valley of the Tourist

June 1, 2010 By Jillian

Not yet templed out, we ventured further down the Nile to Luxor. If you’ve seen pictures of ancient Egypt, you’ve seen pictures of the temples and tombs of Luxor. Feeling like true tourists (did I mention we still sprung for the air conditioned room), we booked a Luxor sites tour and found ourselves shuttled around in a mini-bus from Valley of the Kings to Valley of the Queens and Hapshepsut’s Temple. After being alone at the sites in Sudan, this suddenly felt like Disney World- lines, pushy guides, tour buses, crowd control, tram rides from the entrance gate to the main attraction, and $8 Gatorade. I loved it.

The sites in Sudan were wonderful because of the solitude and the complete lack of tourist kitsch. In Egypt, especially Luxor, the sites were impressive because of their sheer size. Karnak Temple was simply breath taking because of its size. Row after row of 20 meter columns completely covered in carved stories of the Egyptian gods. Valley of the Kings, the ancient burial site with over 60 tombs, was a cemetery of who’s who among Egypt’s Pharaoh’s, including Tutankhamen. The tombs at Valley of the Kings, no pictures allowed, were worth a visit because the decorations are still vibrantly colored. Blues, greens, yellows and reds all made from natural dyes vividly depict scenes from the King’s life and his transfer to paradise. Small chapels off the main corridors had scenes of daily life in ancient Egypt, from growing crops to weights and measures. Aged several thousands of years, the paintings in the tombs really brought to life ancient Egypt despite the somewhat conveyor belt of tourists feel.

Valley of the Kings is one of the most famous sites in Luxor, and had it not been on the tour we probably would have wanted to skip Valley of the Queens. After the crush of tour buses at Valley of the Kings, I was shocked at the almost deserted nature at Valley of the Queens. We shared the entire site with only one other group- a couple. Granted there isn’t as much to see at Valley of the Queens- at the time of our visit only two tombs were open and the famous and supposedly most incredible tomb of Nefertari costs a whopping $5,000 to visit according to our tour guide.

The first tomb (Tomb of Titi) was in pretty terrible shape and didn’t really excite us at all. Fortunately the Tomb of Amunherkhepshef, a prince who died as a teen, was better. And by better I mean, wow. It was the best preserved tomb we had seen all day. The brightly colored reliefs depicted Amunherkhepshef’s father King Ramses III introducing his son to various Egyptian gods, and transferring him to the afterlife. The reliefs were by far the most vivid we have ever, their colors were so bright I asked the tour guide several times if they had been restored. Unfortunately, a grotesque mummified five month old fetus sat in the first room of the tomb, which was a little weird.

All in all Luxor was touristy, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. There’s just something about being in a busy downtown and looking up to see Luxor Temple right in the middle of it all that just makes you say, cool!

IF YOU GO: Visit early in the morning or late in the afternoon to avoid the huge tour groups and awful sun. All the budget hotels downtown offer very affordable packaged tours which will cut down transportation hassles and time for just a few dollars. At the time of our visit the train stations refused to sell anything but a first class overnight sleeper train from Cairo to Luxor ($60 per person), however we heard rumors that if managed to board the second class train and bought your ticket on board they didn’t kick you off.

Aswan: Welcome to Egypt

May 31, 2010 By Danny

When we arrived in Aswan we had spent the prior night sleeping on the deck of the ferry and both nights before that sleeping in the desert. We did manage to change our undies but having a shower in the middle of the Sahara was out of the question. We smelled, our skin was dry and cracked, and we wanted nothing other than ice cream, Doritos, running water, and maybe some air conditioning. I know that sounds pathetic, but truly we needed a “break”.

We found all of this and a good bit more as well. Ahh, welcome to Egypt.

Once our basic needs were seen to (which took a solid 24 hours to accomplish) we began to play tourist again. Any trip to Aswan will instantly inundate you with the loss of ancient Nubia. Nubia is the region that stretches from upper Egypt all the way to Khartoum. When the Aswan High Dam was built, creating Lake Nasser, much of the area was flooded and it took a rather substantial international effort to literally lift and remove the archaeological wonders of Nubia, like temples and tombs, to higher ground. The most amazing part to me was that this all took place in the middle of the Cold War with assistance coming from both halves of that equation.

One of those saved temples was the Temple of Isis, which easily dwarfed any site we had visited in The Sudan right off the bat. We decided to go to the sound and light show at Philie (the temple’s other name) and although the ‘show’ was extremely cheesy we enjoyed seeing the grandeur of the temple. All through The Sudan, sites were basically left as they had been found a couple hundred years ago with walls missing and collapsed columns, seeing this temple completely restored and covered in lights was really impressive. It was also nice to learn why we experienced blackouts in the cities of northern Sudan around 8pm from time to time.

Aswan overall was a complete breath of fresh air for us. There were modern comforts, a beautiful Nile view from our hotel room. A pool to swim in on our roof instead of the river itself. Wifi, Doritos, ice cream, running water, and souvenirs for sale all made us feel quite happy to be back in civilization a but also quite disappointed to be through with The Sudan, most likely for good.

IF YOU GO: Plenty of cheap accommodation along the waterfront as most people visit Aswan as part of a cruise from Luxor. Street food is cheaper than eating in the restaurants along the river but if you want a beer you have no choice. The Nubian Museum and Isis Temple are the two main attractions in town but many go to Aswan to be whisked away further south to see the gigantic Abu Simbel very near to the Sudanese border. These trips often leave as early as 3am and as we’d seen Abu Simbel from our ferry as we crossed into Egypt we opted for some sleep instead.

Foodie Friday: Shwarma

May 28, 2010 By Danny

Oh yes. That’s right. The best served from a cart on the side of the road’ food in the world. That’s right, we’ve entered the world of shwarma!!

As you walk down the street you smell something in the air….cooking meat, spiced with something that sets your taste buds aflame. Then you see it, roasting on a spit in front of a flame so large that as you come closer, you can actually hear it cook. Getting closer still, you walk up and see it turn so that the meat that had been facing the flame is now bubbling in your direction. You have no choice but to fork over you money and place an order…you’ve been sucked in, mind control at its worst.

Maybe you tried to use some Arabic, maybe not. Either way they know what you want and start preparing it for you. The meat gets cut and mixed with the roasting veggies on the grill below. As the mix simmers together the “shwarma man” pulls out either a bun or a pita. He’ll probably throw some sauces on and then stuff your meat inside to make it a nice sandwich. He’ll put it in your hand and you’ll take your first bite right there, because waiting any longer is simply not an option. It’s so good in fact, that you go back for a second…then a third….finally a fourth…oh wait, a fifth…..Now you know why we’re putting on weight. (Jill’s note: One of us may be putting on weight; the other just chooses to enjoy the local cuisine without regret.) (Danny’s note: I’m not sure which one of us Jill is referring to.)

Once finished with your meal, continue down the street until the next cart of roasting meat sucks you in. Attempt to do nothing else with your day, you will be busy.

Ferry up the Nile

May 24, 2010 By Jillian

Having made our way to the northern most part of Sudan, we had but only one option to cross into Egypt- the once weekly ferry from Wadi Halfa (Sudan) to Aswan (Egypt). Prepared for the worst scenario possible after hearing horror stories from other travelers coming south, the four of us drew together a game plan for securing space, shade and water on the boat’s deck. Some people told us to grab the space under the life boats (but then there’s no railing so you can roll off the ship at night!), others told us to make friends with the captain and sleep in the bridge, while others told us to book the rather overpriced first class cabin. Never having traveled first class on this trip, we couldn’t bring ourselves to spend our daily budget on a berth, so we booked ourselves into second class, which pretty much meant steerage.

Waiting for the ship to depart, two of us attracted quite a bit of attention…and it wasn’t Danny and I. It seemed that everywhere we went and everything we did, Ally and I attracted the attention of the Egyptian men on board. They stared, made comments, made eyes and even checked us up and down. Finally having enough of being their eye candy, we revolted. On man eyed me up and down finishing his “inspection” with a huge smile. I in turn blatantly eyed him up and finished my “inspection” with a frown. He got the picture.

The crowds never materialized, so we had plenty of space to stretch out under the night sky. A few hours after dark our “Nile cruise” passed the ancient site of Abu Simbel. Lit up at night, the site was spectacular and floating past it as hunkered down for bed on the deck was a highlight of this entire trip. Early (before dawn) the next morning, the Muslim men on the boat got up to pray, and although they stepped on us a bit in the dark, their prayers added to the mystic of the evening of the night.

Any romantic notions we had of arriving in Egypt on our ferry of dreams was shattered when we disembarked in Aswan. Somewhere under the cover of darkness we left the gentle, hospitable culture of Sudan and found ourselves in the middle of chaotic, brash Egypt. Utter chaos broke out and the ferry passengers turned into a vicious mob, pushing, shoving and squeezing themselves ahead of each other just to get off the boat and through the customs hall. The only word that could possibly describe what we witnessed and fell prey to: stampede. It was by far the most uncivilized situation I had ever seen with the police shutting gates attempting to regain control. Pulled through by customs officials (the curse of being an easily identifiable western tourist is sometimes positive), we made it through unscathed at the other end happy to be in Egypt at last.

Escorted by the Police…

Luxor: Valley of the Tourist

Aswan: Welcome to Egypt

Foodie Friday: Shwarma

Ferry up the Nile

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