The Cast

Rather than waiting till the very end, I thought I would take the last few hours of 2011 to introduce the cast of the Nile River Cruise. This truly was an excellent group of people, without exception, and I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to meet and travel with all of them.

Mohamed, our Guide

Meredith

Katie and Pam (can you tell which one is the mom?!)

Maria and Linda

Katie

Collin

Gail

David

David and Gail

Nancy and Bryan

Nancy

Maria

Cairo NYE

Cairo
31 December 2011

It’s 7:00 AM on New Year’s Eve, with 2012 just a handful of hours away. My cold is almost entirely gone (and this time I really, really mean it!). One pleasant surprise was to receive email from Nancy and Bryan, two of the passengers from the ship. I plan on trying to stay up till midnight, possibly in the casino (albeit a small one!). My flight tomorrow is not until 11:30 PM, so check-out at noon will be the thing that paces my early morning activities. Last year in Venice I fell asleep a scant 10 minutes before the stroke of midnight, so I don’t want to make that mistake again.

As with so many other people, New Years Eve is an introspective day for me, a chance to look back at the last year, to take stock of what went well, what did not, and to try to decide what to do differently this next year. The thing that makes this upcoming year so challenging for so many people is that with the economy where it is, few seem to have control over what is happening in their lives. The world always seems to be in chaos, though it does seem even more unstable now than in the past: Economic and financial volatility abound throughout the world, the Eurozone crisis lingers on (along with talk of another recession to come), the US economy and housing market continue to languish, the Egyptian situation has yet to play out, Syria is in turmoil, the very recent death of Kim Jung Il brings a completely unknown leader to power in that country, Iran is on the verge of nuclear armament, not to mention that we will finally get to find out if the end of the Mayan calendar really means anything, or if the scribe simply resigned and the Mayans elected to leave the position unfilled.

I have nothing on the docket for today, and in order not to risk a resurrection of the cold I am going to stay close by the hotel, maybe going to Hard Rock but otherwise working on notes and emails.

One interesting thing I found out yesterday from my guide was that the reason we were on the boat with Germans (and a few Japanese) was by design, not chance. I knew that there were a number of other nationalities here, in particular Russians, as I heard the very large tour groups all throughout the Karnak and Luxor temples, so it seemed odd that there were none on the boat with us. The tour guide explained that is by design as Americans, Germans/Austrians and Japanese seem to “play” well together, but Russians are not a good part of the compatibility mix. After thinking back over the times I’ve been barreled over by large Russian tour groups in places such as Florence, it makes sense: The culture is very different, and they are used to a more “in your face” type of crowd management. While Germans may not be overly warm, they do respect the space of an individual, but a group of Russians, heading from point A to B, will take the direct route, with no attempt to deviate in the slightest if you happen to be in their trajectory. Probably this grouping was a wise choice, and I am glad they thought of it!

This has been an unusual vacation for me in some intangible sense, very educational and enjoyable in a way I have not really experienced before. Part of it may have been the stark contrast of the first three days with what was to follow: To begin in a Savoy suite in London, with unparalleled comfort and luxury, only to be followed a short flight later by a third world country, was in and of itself a mindbender. Also, spending the Christmas season in a Muslim country was odd, in that even though the ship and hotel had decorations and music playing to note the season, you realize that to them it is at best a foreign anomaly, if not something that a number of them disdain to some level.

Another “challenge” for me has been to avoid showing the soles of my feet, something highly offensive in the Muslim world. Especially when typing on the laptop, I tend to cross my right ankle over my left knee in order to make a comfortable “table,” but such an act would be poorly received here. The couple of times I have started to do so, I was fortunately able to catch myself quickly.

I took a short stroll, ostensibly to see if the Hard Rock is reachable on foot. Unlike the southern (upper) part of Egypt, being a Westerner in Cairo is simply a curiosity warranting an occasional glance, not a blank check for the taking by each and every man (or boy) on the street. In any case, after about a 30 minute walk I was unsure which way to go (and it was too hazy to see in the distance), so I returned to the hotel and inquired about a cab ride. Now for the supreme disappointment: There is no Hard Rock. The Cairo location of the ubiquitous oasis for Western travelers worldwide was shutdown last year. I am surprised my guide did not know that, though in fairness to him it is still showing up in most web searches as being open, but the Concierge was certain it is no longer. So, with the biggest vice I can possibly pull off being a little gambling, I’m going to head off to the casino for a warm-up prior to tonight’s Bond adventure.

Cairo Giza

Cairo
30 December 2011

The extra sleep was exactly what I needed yesterday, as this morning I feel much better, almost back to 100%. I’ll be leaving shortly for the Giza and Sphinx tour, which is a great way to wind up the trip. Tomorrow (New Year's Eve) there is nothing planned, and then on New Year's Day I catch a very late (11:30 PM) flight back home.

The Marriott is definitely a strange hotel, with the grounds being 5 star but the rooms more like 3. I mentioned earlier that the grounds looked palatial, and as it turns out that is spot on, with this having been a palace built by Mohammed Ali in the 1800s. Unfortunately the rooms are average, and the staff, while helpful, adds to some of the mystique: When I had my coke and pizza delivered yesterday, I asked the server for a bottle opener as I did not want to have to fish through my luggage to find mine. He did not have one on him, apparently the room does not have one, but he readily obliged by popping the top off with his teeth! Not exactly something I would envision seeing in a true 5 star hotel!

The TV is an old CRT type, which is very surprising given how long flat screens have been out now and how low they have dropped in price.

Sheiks do abound here, and it is a rather odd feeling to get off the elevator while a sheik stands by waiting to get on, or to play in the casino next to one. (OK, the term "sheik" does not necessarily imply an incredibly rich man, yet it is an honorific title for an Arabic leader or elder, so it certainly is not the type of person you bump into regularly in the US.)

I’ll do a more complete summary later on, but for now I have to say that even with perfect hindsight it is difficult for me to imagine how this trip could have been much better. Three nights was too short a time in London, but then again given the price of the Savoy suite, that is all I could do and still feel OK, without the economic cost exceeding the benefit. (I could, literally, have stayed three weeks at my usual place, the Strand Palace just across the street, for what the three nights at the Savoy cost me.) Egypt has been fascinating, and I am very glad to have done the trip now since it is difficult to say what the situation will be a year from now. Normally, extremist parties will mitigate their actions when faced with real world events, but should the Islamists prevail in the ongoing elections, I am not sure they will do so. Even though tourism accounts for about 12% of the Egyptian economy, I have a funny feeling that the Islamists would willingly cut that off if it were to suit them politically. In short, it is difficult to say what Egypt will be like come the end of 2012; most likely, it will be the same as it is now and it will still be a vacation option, but there is a non-negligible chance that it will become more closed and inaccessible.

Having said that, even though I enjoyed the trip and even if it does remain an open vacation destination, I am not in a big hurry to return. With a couple of days in Cairo and a few days on the Nile, you have a very good feeling for what this country has to offer. There are literally thousands temples so it is not as if you can ever see them all (in fact, the archeologists don’t even bother excavating most of them, as there are too many), but after you have seen a few and know what to look for, you have a good knowledge of what the layout and pictographs will be. Also, if you do come to Egypt, remember that it is a third world nation, so it is quite a shock when you first visit something this primitive and dirty. I’ve been to places such as Panama, Brazil and India before, so I know what to expect in a third world situation, but if you have not done so before then you really need to assess if you are ready before venturing there…the poverty, the dirtiness, the crude, almost primitive, lifestyle can be a shock.

As for current affairs, there is a great deal on the TV this morning about Egyptian police raiding a number of charities. Also, as for Tahrir Square, it truly is a “made for TV” matter, in that Friday is the Islamic day off, so Friday is when the large crowds gather and when the news crews pull out their cameras. For the next six days, the shots from that Friday are what the world will see on TV. The rest of the week there is nothing else happening at the site, with (literally) only three or four people sitting underneath the banner, yet the world is fed the daily image of throngs of protesters stirring the air with tension.

It’s a very cold and dank day, especially by Cairo standards, and the jacket was required all day long. The first stop was at the Sphinx and Giza Pyramids, little doubt the most well-known symbol in all of Egypt, and the only remaining member of the original Seven Wonders of the World. Next was Imhotep and Saqqara, where something unusual may have happened—see below. After that, it was Mit Rahina Museum and Memphis.

Being a Friday, it was the Muslim day of rest, so traffic was unbelievably light, but my guide stressed, repeatedly, that I should not go near Tahrir Square. I had been toying with the idea of going by to see the “one day a week revolution” in full swing, but beyond any fear of direct physical harm, my loathing of the numerous “I told you so” chidings I would receive should something go amiss kept me away.

As for the unusual excitement at Imhotep/Saqqara (also known as the Stepped Pyramid), it was odd in that it was so obvious. My guide and I were walking around the area, a little off the beaten track since it was just the two of us and we both were quite agile. We stopped by what appeared to be a pit, with a fair amount of trash gathered in the bottom, and I noted what looked like a small (5 foot long) sphinx. What struck me as odd and caused me to take a picture was the irony of plastic bottle trash around what appeared to be an ancient artifact, and that evidently was indeed quite unexpected as my guide indicated when he saw it. He went down to the sculpture, and as best he could tell it was authentic. We went to get the on site Antiquities director, who said he had never seen it before, and he too agreed that it looked authentic. It’s probably not that big a deal even if it is authentic, but it is amazing to me that something this much in the open could be unnoted by the conservators. It’s remotely possible that it was a hoax, but it was solid and very heavy (several hundred pounds), which would have required a very dedicated prankster to pull off the stunt for no apparent gain.

The guide and driver took me back to my hotel, and I tipped them very well in an effort to make up, in some small way, for the lack of tourists. The beef burger I had for a late lunch left much to be desired (way too lean to be tasty). Though I felt very good first thing this morning, the dank weather today has brought back some of my ailment later in the day. The cold has definitely moved from the chest and I am not nearly as achy as before, but now it is that annoying “gotta sneeze but cannot do it” sort of thing. Gonna try a nap…

Nap didn’t work…of well, maybe that’s why the next entry sounds a bit cranky!!

One thing that both did and did not surprise me was the chauvinism in this society; it is well known that in this part of the world the genders are separated, and only in a place such as a 5 star hotel would a woman bartender dare speak to a man. In some regards, though I expected it, this is one of the most amazing and disappointing aspects of the society. It’s difficult to believe that in a country such as this, in the 21st century, such jingoistic attitudes could still prevail. Social conservatism is certainly understood, but a virtual apartheid between the genders is a completely different matter, no different and no more justifiable in my mind than racial segregation. Again, when it is convenient or economically viable such as in the hotel bar, such attitudes can be put aside, but not in the society as a whole. Also, even in a 5 star hotel with the women in very Western wear, the contact is very limited: The woman barmaid would look me in the eye, but she definitely would not smile, and no female hotel employee walking down the hallway would even consider looking me in the eye as we passed.

My guide from today’s tour did point out to me where the local Hard Rock is, and I might make that my target for tomorrow as I have nothing else on the docket other than staying up till midnight and playing Bond in the Casino, rubbing shoulders with the sheiks.

Cairo Return

Cairo
29 December 2011

We docked in Luxor overnight and left the boat this morning, catching an early flight to Cairo. Unfortunately, this is where I leave the group, and I spend my last couple of days alone in Cairo. I cannot stress how glad I am to have had a great team of people to spend this last week with, and I am grateful for how they integrated me into everything they did; I never felt lonely or on my own with them. We literally had everything from a seventeen-year-old to those in their seventies.

The flight back to Cairo was uneventful, and I was checked into the hotel by 1:30. I ordered a pizza, and then was in bed at 2:30 still owing to the sniffles…I definitely want to be up-to-speed tomorrow as it is Giza Day!

Nile River Cruise Day Seven

Nile River Cruise Day 7
28 December 2011

It’s the last day on the ship for us today, and it is a travel day without any sites to visit along the way. That actually turns out to be a good thing for me, as the sniffles I mentioned before have become much worse, and I would not have been able to do any touring. It was a perfect opportunity for me to draw the black out shades and sleep in. We will be spending the evening on the ship tonight, docked at Luxor, then disembark tomorrow morning to catch a flight back to Cairo.

Nile River Cruise Day Six

Nile River Cruise Day 6
27 December 2011

The ship is still docked at Aswan this morning, and a number of the group took out for an optional flight to Abu Simbel (another site that was relocated when the dam was built), but I opted to stay on board and relax, plus get caught up on blogs, emails, etc.

I was able to meet “Cleopatra” from last night (Martina in real life), and she sat with me for an hour and a half as I showed her the Kindle and how it worked—she (like most who see it) was fascinated that you could get the Internet on it, with Facebook being the thing that excited her most. That made for a very interesting chat, between her broken English and my broken German, but we befriended each other both in the real world and on FB. It turns out this is her first vacation in eight years, and you could tell from her enthusiasm about everything that she was taking nothing for granted. It was quite a novelty for me: Sitting on a cruise ship in the Nile, talking with a beautiful Austrian in an orange string bikini. I could learn to like this!

One thing I cannot learn to like is the incessant hustling from virtually any person who sees you on the street. (Note that this applies to the south or Upper Egypt; Cairo and Lower Egypt are different and are explained a few days later). I expect and accept hustling when I walk into a shop, I am somewhat understanding of it when walking through street merchants, but I am getting very annoyed by being hit up by virtually anybody who sees me on the street, or those who tie up small boats alongside the cruise ship and try to sell to you as you are cruising! I cannot go for a walk without taxis and horse carriage drivers trailing me. Yesterday I went for a walk and a taxi driver not only pestered me about a ride, but he even knew the ship I was on. Several hours later that night, I walked the dock, and he remembered and yelled at me from the upper street, reminding me “Tomorrow maybe” in terms of taking a ride with him. This morning when I was on the ship’s sundeck he spotted me yet again and reminded me he was there to serve my needs. I understand this is an impoverished area, a matter that has only been exacerbated by the recent plummet in tourism, but I do get very frustrated not being able to walk along a street without being approached by essentially anybody for anything, from rides to trinkets to cigarettes (especially since I don’t smoke!). It’s not a matter of feeling unsafe—I never believe they would cause me any harm—but it is annoying.

As it turns out, we will be setting sail today, back to Edfu (Kom Ombo), where we will be spending the night. There are many more people on the ship right now, which is a mixed blessing: It feels more lively, like a real cruise, but it is also taking more time to get through the dinner line, etc. Given a choice between the two, I prefer having more bodies as it is now, but I am not sure what it would be like if we were to reach full capacity (I think we are about half full right now).

I’m getting to know my fellow Trafalgar passengers much better, and I continue to be pleased with how well the group is balanced and how comfortable everybody seems with each other. I’ve been welcomed by all of them, far, far better than the Italy “tour from hell” some years back when it was a different class of passengers, about 75% of whom were, to put it simply, rude and tacky. You never know with escorted tours, as your companions are essentially determined by luck, but in this case fate worked in my favor.

We shoved off about 2:30 PM local time, and I was coming down with a little bit of a sniffle, so napped until about 5:00 PM.

I also found out that one other “benefit” of being an Insight passenger is that the ship’s tips are included in the price, so in theory I don’t have to tip at the end, though they have been so awesome I think I will do so a second time. The suggested amount is $5 per day, which means that for seven days we are looking at $35 or just a tad over 200 Egyptian pounds. It is such a small amount for us, but it seems to be so necessary for them, especially in light of the lack of tourists.

I had a bit of the sniffles today, but after sleeping in a bit this morning and catching a short mid-afternoon, I feel pretty much back to normal. We’ve been passing this low grade ailment around the entire group, but fortunately it does not seem to be too strong a bug.

Nile River Cruise Day Five

Nile River Cruise Day 5
26 December 2011

The day starts off with us docked in Aswan. The first site was the Philae Temple, very unique in that it actually was moved to a higher elevation over the course of seven years while the Nile High Dam was being built. As amazing as the temples are in their own right, picturing how a site such as this is broken into 1200 pieces and moved a kilometer or so makes that feat even more amazing in its own right. Also, the temple required a boat ride to reach, making it unique in another sense.

Next was the Aswan Dam, which supplies power for half of Egypt. As such, you can imagine security was tight, with tanks (literally tanks) and machine gun-toting soldiers guarding the dam and the surrounding substations.

After the dam we went to the Unfinished Obelisk, which would have been the largest in the world, but it was cracked during an earthquake while still on its side being built and today lies horizontal in its ceased state of construction.

Following that, we toured the Aswan Botanic Garden, which was not all that remarkable to me, other than to note it odd to find such an oasis in the middle of a barren land.

In the afternoon I went on an optional tour of a Nubian Village taking an hour long boat ride down the Nile to where the Sahara Dessert actually begins. It's quite a bit different as you go further south in Egypt: Around Cairo, most of the people could easily be mistaken for Greeks or Italians, but as you go further south the skin color definitely becomes darker, more what you think of in terms of African people. We arrived at the village to tour a “normal” family home, complete with crocodiles caged up in the welcome room! I got picture of myself with one of the baby crocs around my neck, and I think that will become my new profile picture.

On the way, our boat was “attacked” by a ten-year-old boy who was drifting on a board and then latched on to our moving boat, belting out songs for the next three minutes or so. We were all shocked by the rather daring display of bravery. I felt sorry for him and gave him ten pounds, and the mom with the children did so as well, so he made off very well financially for his few minutes.

A video of his exploits can be found here.

Most of the tours today included boat rides, albeit on tiny vessels. One was a sailboat of sorts, while the others were motor boats, but all had one thing in common: We had to embark and disembark via a tiny plank, barely a foot wide. This was challenging enough for me, but for some of the older passengers it must have been very frightening. As in Australia and Venice, I was to be the unofficial helper who escorted them on and off.

Then, there was the High Tea Crisis! As mentioned earlier, I was the only passenger with this group booked on an Insight Vacations tour, while the rest were booked on a Trafalgar tour….same parent company, and essentially the same itinerary, but I apparently received a few extra perks since I paid a bit more (note to self for next time!). Mohammed, our tour guide, announced to the group at the start of the day that I would be leaving the tour today. This certainly was a shock to me, and I’ll even say I felt a sense of surprise and disappointment from the other passengers. After a few minutes, he clarified that I would “leave” the tour that afternoon for an English High Tea, something not included in the other tickets, then return (in other words, it was not that I was getting kicked off the tour!). Unfortunately, all day long the juggling of this High Tea caused problems, to the extent that on the ride back from the Nubian Village, after a phone call from the tour directors, that they stopped the boat and were ready to make a special detour back to the river hotel where the tea was held in order to drop me off. I finally convinced them I would be more than happy to waive the tea, and it was a running joke from that point on with my fellow tourists.

The weather today was warm but windy, so not many were sunning up on deck.

Also, I noticed that while nobody in my group had been posting rooms keys when leaving the vessel, the Germans seemed to do it without fail…just another cultural difference to keep in mind if you want to blend in countries in Europe, and apparently Egypt as well.

Egyptian humor does exist, both in Mahmoud , one of our very playful and prank-laden waiters, and in Mohammed, our tour guide. Mahmoud for example, likes to jokingly reply “no” when a simple, straightforward request is made, and Mohammed loves to point out anything and everything sexual in any of the pictographs, especially when an erect male organ has been chipped off by jealous “little boys.”

We had another special event tonight: Belly-dancing in the bar after dinner, along with one of the spinning Dervishes, and as a special nod to national pride I did indeed shutdown the Germans in the bar tonight! I also bumped into “Cleopatra” from the night before, and I rattled off what seemed to be a rather fluent “Sie waren sehr schoen gestern Abend” which seemed to flatter her.

Nile River Cruise Day Four

Nile River Cruise Day 4
25 December 2011—Christmas Day
We started the day docked at Edfu with a buggy ride to the Edfu Temple. (Click here for a video of the ride.) By this time, many of the temples are starting to look the same and with similar stories, so at some point you actually do start picking up on the subtleties that were novel just three days back: You recognize Horus, you know where the Holy of Holies is, you know to look for a secret crypt where the treasures could be stored in case of attack. I am not complaining at all about the repetition, but quite the contrary I am pleased that things now seem to be “sticking” and will be something that I remember in the years to come.

I did decide to get into the “game” of haggling with the street merchants, so I spent half an hour walking from shop to shop, ostensibly looking for some treasure or trinket. I finally settled for a $3 wooden “Key of Life,” and even at that price it was probably overpriced, but I view the money well spent on the experience, with the cheap wooden trinket simply being a reminder of the event.

We set sail at 10:30 AM, and I spent the better part of the afternoon getting some sun. Today was perfect weather on the sundeck, very nice after the too cool breeze yesterday, and while I received a slight redness it was far short of a burn.

We reached Kom Ombo (The Crocodile Temple) at 4:30 and took a quick tour, then cast off again at 6:00 PM for Aswan where we will dock for the next two nights.

There are a number of Germans/Austrians on the trip as mentioned before, and as usual they seem to know how to enjoy life far better than do we Americans. Both genders seem very comfortable in their skin, so they are not the least bit hesitant to don the swimsuit and soak up the sun. (It’s funny, but as I have mentioned in previous trip blogs the women actually seem sexier in their bikinis than when totally naked at a spa such as Therme Erding, but that is a different story for a different time.) The point to be made is that even with some extra fat and bulges, none of them seem ashamed or embarrassed to enjoy life, even if it means walking about in public in their (often skimpy) swimwear. I think I am the only American who showed up in a swimsuit.

On a side note, the Kindle has been perfect the whole time. This thing works for me in Egypt, China, South America, and Europe, allowing me not only to read my purchased books but also to get my news downloaded and to check my email. Too bad Amazon failed by dropping the 3G open connectivity from the new Kindle Touch line. I’ll keep my keyboard version as long as I can, then when it dies I most likely will go to a non-proprietary eReader since without the full 3G experience the Kindle is just another reader, but your books are looked to one platform. That, too, is a different matter I will lament elsewhere, but I note it here as what Amazon developed last year was the perfect device…too bad they caved.

In any case, the boat is currently underway for Aswan, where we should arrive at approximately 10:30 PM.

Tonight was our special Egyptian Highlight dinner, and while most of the people were in Egyptian garb, I chose instead to go with my Giorgio Armani. My suitcase is stuffed to the gills, and if I were to purchase the robe-like outfit, I would simply have to leave it behind. The mother and her daughter looked incredible, especially when you take into account one is 51 and the other 19 years old (you honestly could have mistaken the mother for an older sister). One of the Germans had his 45th birthday and we chatted for a bit, and I was able to sit with an Egyptian newlywed couple who, by chance, used to work in the Microsoft phone support center.