We went to Egypt on a river boat tour with several other Aggies from April 2 - 10. We had a great time and learned a lot about the country. We flew into Cairo, spent the night, flew to Luxor. We then got on the Nile Ritz riverboat and cruised down the Nile to Aswan. There we flew back to Cairo for 2 days and then back to Doha.
Cairo is a huge city with 17 million population plus three million that come in everyday to work. There's lots of high rises with laundry hanging out the windows, individual air units, lots of cars and buses everywhere. You can tell tourism is a main source of income. Traffic is crazy as you can well imagine. Buses get inches from each other, people crossing and standing in these busy roads! It was cooler and a little breezy when we went to the Light and Sound show at the pyramids at Giza shortly after arrival. They use laser lights to light up the pyramids and tell the history of Egypt. We were surprised that our flight to Luxor was changed so we had to leave the hotel at 3:30 am! Langston was a real trooper, woke up happy and ready to go. Langston sat by some friendly Lebanese women. We saw them later at one of the ruins. Luxor was a step back in time. Donkey drawn carts were on the roads. The only thing that made them look modern was the rubber tires. Lots of farmland, palm trees, lush vegetation. Simple brick buildings scattter the countryside. Later on the boat you could see women carrying water in buckets on their heads and farmers working near the water's edge. There were plenty of other cruise ships on the river, too.
We had to wait several hours to check in so we waited on the top deck. We met some new friends, Matt and Robin and their three kids, Susanna, Jonathan and Samuel. The kids got to sit in the captain's control room and honk his horn. He didn't speak much English but communicated his sixth child was on the way! We figured out his job had very little status on the boat. But he and his crew were very hospitable. That afternoon we toured the Luxor Temple and Karnack. It was amazing to see such huge columns and statues from thousands of years ago. They say an earthquake broke the roof off of all the buildings. I didn't learn much from our guide. He was difficult for me to understand and I spent most of my time making sure Langston kept out of trouble. There were plenty of rocks for him to climb on! By the time we got back to the boat his feet were muddy. I told him he had the dirt from an ancient civilization on him like Pigpen in Peanuts. He and I skipped supper and ate in our room. He was asleep by 8:30, 17 1/2 hours after he had awakened.
I woke up in the early morning hours to find Langston had a fever. I gave him some med. and wondered about going to the Valley of the Kings. It was to be another early wake up call. He didn't want to go and we decided it was best to stay on the boat. He was up by 5:50 and seemed to feel fine but was ready for a nap by 11. We sat up on deck, read about Baby Moses and hung out with the captain for awhile. It was very relaxing to be floating down the Nile and watch the scenery change. The tour group would catch up with us down the river so the boat was pretty quiet. Although I was dissappointed to miss the Valley of the Kings I decided to enjoy this time with Langston. He won't be napping on my lap too much longer. ;-) He seemed to enjoy being covered with my shawl as we watched the scenery on top of the deck.
We stayed on the boat another morning just to relax. Those morning tours are taxing! Jon stayed with us and we just took it easy. Our final destination on the boat was Aswan. Several of us decided to do some shopping. I really wanted to buy some papyrus and had heard this was a good place. Looking back, we got took! Fortunately Kathy Holste was with me. I still had no concept of the money exchange. Later Jon said to divide by 6 and that helped. We each bought several pieces, but I got better quality at the hotel in Cairo and it wasn't that much more expensive. At Aswan they were very high pressure salesmen and ended by wanting a kiss! On the way back to the boat I bought my duck picture from a street vender. He was cheaper than the market and much more hassle free.
While we were waiting for our new guide to take us to the hotel we stayed up on deck. Jon and I got to visit with Hkalid, the head guy over drinks. He told Jon he was a Christian. We had a very nice conversation. We felt we'd made another friend. These guys don't have days off for months at a time. Our guide Ashrathv said the same thing. If there's a chance to work, they do. There are a few months where there are no cruises so they take advantage of the work while they can.
In Aswan we stayed at the Basma Hotel which had a very nice swimming pool. We didn't get to enjoy it for long because we had another early wake-up call. We were to leave at
3:45 a.m. for the airport. That evening turned out to be one of the exciting events on the trip. First, several of us took a carriage ride to see a Coptic Christian church and a famous mosque. We went through some very poor neighborhoods where the children came out to wave and say hello. The houses were crudely made of brick. Men sat in groups in front of storefronts and houses and watched us go by. I saw a couple of buildings full of unprocessed cotton and a man and boy sorting hundreds of bulbs of garlic. Poor donkeys waited for their masters along the road. It was quite an eye-opening experience to see this in Egypt. We finished with an impromptu carriage race which was pretty exciting with cars going by us on one side. Langston and I ate in the room again and Jon made a quick? trip back to the market to look for a drum for Langston. He left at 8:00. At 10 he wasn't back yet. I began to be worried since he was by himself in this strange place and it was getting late. I couldn't even remember his cell phone number. I kept praying he'd come back soon so I could choke him myself! At 11:15 p.m. he wandered in with stories of his adventure in buying a drum and an oid. It had taken him two and a half hours to talk the guy down to a good price! We were thankful God had taken care of him.
Early on the 8th we flew back to Cairo and checked into the Sheraton again. This time we were in the Cleopatra Tower which was nicer than where we were before. Dan and Rosalie scored a huge suite, complete with two living areas and a kitchen. We decided it would be our official place to hang out. The pyramids could even be seen in the distance from their window. Several from our group took tours of the city but we stayed at the hotel and let Langston play with Jenna. We found an interesting piece on Discovery about finding Cleopatra's summer palace in the depths of the ocean. That night Matt and Robin and kids came over for pizza in the suite. The trick was getting it into the hotel. After it had arrived we found out food from outside wasn't allowed in the hotel so Matt, Jon and Rosalie smuggled it in through our luggage! We all had a big laugh over that. It was Jon and Jenna's birthday celebration, of sorts.
The next morning we went to the Egyptian Museum where we especially enjoyed seeing King Tut's room. We had read a lot about him so Langston was excited to see his stuff too. It was interesting to learn his chariot was only used for picnics. ;-) He's known to be the only pharoah discovered with his treasure still in tact. Since he died so young it's mind-boggling to think what treasures were stolen from the pharoahs' tombs who had long dynasties. Then we were off to the pyramids of Giza, a very popular tourist spot. Jon and Langston went down into one of them. It was a windy day so rather sandy as well. Seeing the Sphinx was our final stop before lunch and a souvenir shop. While we were in Cairo we were accompanied by an armed guard on our bus. It's part of the U.S. and British policy right now. I was glad to have him with us but it did rather make us stick out as Americans with this suited guy hanging around.
I bought more papyrus at the hotel shop downstairs. There was a copy of the Ten Commandments in arabic, I think and the Lord's Supper in papyrus. That made me believe maybe the shop owner was a believer since we had met several on the trip. I noticed he had a black smudge on his forehead. I saw the same thing on some other men in the hotel. I mentioned it to Kathy H. and she said they were probably prayer bumps, raised spots men get from bowing their head to the ground to pray five times a day! Kind of makes you wonder how many of us Christians have prayer bumps on our knees. Something to think about.
We certainly enjoyed our trip though it got a little long at times. I'm glad we got to know some new friends in a foreign land and became better acquainted with the Aggies as well. I can't say I learned much of the history. It's too much for me. Most days I just wandered around thinking, "Wow!" I was glad to learn about the onkh, the key to life eternal. You'll see it in many of the hieroglyphics. It stood for the Nile as the source of life in Egypt but the Coptic Christians took it as a symbol since it resembles a cross. Kind of a neat foreshadowing that the ancients knew there had to be a key to eternal life and now we know the key is Jesus.
Posted by nellie at April 12, 2004 05:51 PM