Nile River Cruise Day Three

Nile River Cruise Day 3
24 December 2011—Christmas Eve

Today we started off by driving to the Valley of the Kings from our “floating hotel” in Luxor. The story behind the VK site is interesting: The whole world knows of the Pyramid of Giza and the Sphinx, as they were deliberately built to be very visible signs to the world, demonstrating the wealth and power of the Pharaohs buried inside. With this public display of wealth, however, came tomb robbers who stripped the tombs of their treasures. Future rulers, not wishing to face the same fate, moved their burial grounds to a very remote, desolate area hundreds of miles to the south, a place known as the Valley of the Kings. In this location, no visible landmarks were erected, so ostentation was replaced by discretion in order to prevent theft.

The most famous of the Pharaohs, King Tutankhamin (“Tut”) was buried in the Valley of the Kings, in one of the smaller, less elaborate tombs. His fame in the modern world is not due to the grandeur of the treasures in his tomb, but instead to the fact that his resting place was the only one discovered intact, allowing us to see an undisturbed burial site. Virtually all of King Tut’s treasures were moved to the Egyptian museum, and his ancient resting place currently is very barren, consisting solely of his mummy and one (of his many) caskets. Incidentally, it cost an extra 100 Egyptian pounds (about $16 USD) to see it; from the “last dollar” economic principle this was not a wise investment, yet it would be one of those regrets to be that close to the famous site and not shell out the few extra dollars in order to see it.

From that point we went on to see The Temple of Hatshepsut, which was part of the larger Deir el-Bahari complex, that felt far more isolated and barren to me than any other we have seen so far. The bleakness, the utter dryness, made this place seem remote even by Egyptian standards.

Returning to the ship for lunch, we finally set sail just before 1:00 PM. I sat on the sundeck for a bit, (though it was too windy to change into swim attire), then did some group yoga, as well as a short sprint on the treadmill and the “vibrating platter” (which by now was much easier to use than my first attempt).

I never could get used to the irony, seen everywhere from Luxor on South, of seeing houses made of mud bricks with thatch roofs all sporting satellite dishes. Evidently this is provided as a service by the government, but the pervasiveness of the scene never failed to amaze me.

We passed through locks south of Luxor, where we were “attacked” by the street sellers with the novel attempt of tossing the goods on to the boat so that we could see them up close, with an unwritten honor system that said we would toss them back if not interested in purchasing. (To be clear on this, we did not even ask for them to be thrown over, but were pelted nonetheless.) More than anybody else, the German women seemed to get into it. One of the “salesmen" politely said to me “Obama not a good man” after I tossed back one of his garbs. I would like to have had a chance to understand that better, but the boat was rising at that time in the lock.

For dinner, I wore my dark Armani Collezione (ironic I have to go on vacation to dress up, but that is a different story), and we were treated to a special Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve since the next night (Christmas Day) was to be our Egyptian Highlight dinner. After dinner, I took most of the group down and hosted drinks for them in the bar, with a vain attempt to convince them that it was a matter of national pride (us versus the Germans), but my traveling companions did not buy it, and they stopped after a single drink.

We docked at Edfu sometime that night, after we had all gone to bed.

Nile River Cruise, Day Two (continued)

Friday 23 December 2011

In the evening, a subset of the group (myself, the mom and her two children) set out for a lightshow at the Karnak Temple. Unlike the iconic Giza Pyramid Light Show in Cairo, the Karnak show is a walkabout, and it has a more modern feel to it, focusing less on the history and more on the emotion. At the end, we sat in an outdoor stone amphitheater, with the hills of the Valley of the Kings lit up and the distance, and even a shooting star zipping by at just the right moment. Yes, I did make a wish!

Nile River Cruise, Day Two

Friday 23 December 2011

This is our second day on the boat, and we are still docked, taking a bus to the Dendera Temple today rather than floating up the river (again, due to the low water level). There seems so be uncertainty over when we set sail, with the Tour Guide stating Sunday (Christmas Day) and the Registration Desk saying tomorrow, Christmas Eve. In any case, it is still a very enjoyable time, and I am very pleased to say that my traveling companions are all still well-suited to this sort of thing. Yesterday’s cadre of Germans has disembarked, but a new group of them has arrived in their stead.

We drove along the “main highway” to the Dendera Temple, and all along the two lane road the scene was very much the same: Medium-sized masonry homes, with palm branches serving as thatched roofs, along with rebar and satellite dishes on the top. The satellite dishes are either free or low-priced and without monthly service charges, supposedly providing 600 or so channels. (I find this hard to believe, but our Tour Guide seems to be accurate in most of the things he states.)

The rebar sticking up from the roof is interesting and is a result of the strong family ties in this region: When children are born, the extra “floor” is started on top of the home for their future use, but it is left unfinished so the children may complete the work when they start their own families.

Though many look at Egypt as poor and economically depressed, it is not nearly as uncomfortable to me as other impoverished areas I have visited such as Manaus (Amazon, Brazil) or Bangalore India. In a strange sense, I feel very comfortable in this place of the world, which is odd not only because of the povverty but also in light of the current tensions between Muslims and the Western world, The governmental elections are ongoing, and while many things are up in the air there is no feeling of unrest in my mind, even with the small number of protesters still sitting in Tahrir Square.

Dendera Temple is very interesting in that it begins showing the Greek influence, something we did not see yesterday. For the Egyptians, the human body as depicted in their pictographs was very straight and smooth both in front and in back, but the Greeks added bulges to the pictographs showing both buttockss and bellies. Also, the Greek columns were more ornate, showing flowers and more decoration than the rather plan early Egyptian sites.

Though this is a very different world, I have not for a single moment felt unsafe or threatened at any point on this trip whether it be in Cairo or down here in the middle part of the country. The only tiny twinge of uncertainty I briefly felt was when I went for a walk, alone, in the very slummy neighborhood near the ship’s dock and got lost. (Yes, as I have said many times, I can get lost in a backyard.) Many of the locals noted me or tired to communicate with me, but after a few minutes I found my way and was no worse for the wear. While I cannot recommend a lone American get lost in a slummy Egyptian neighborhood, I can say that at most I was a curiosity to them, or perhaps a chance to obtain an Egyptian pound or two.

Nile River Cruise, Day One

Thursday 22 December 2011

We left for Luxor on an 8:45 AM flight from Cairo, aboard Egypt Air. Security was very light since it was a domestic flight, and safety was similarly lax with them seating me in an exit row, even though I do not speak a word of Arabic; additionally, the flight took off while the safety video was still playing. Nonetheless, it was an eventless journey, and we arrived well before noon.
After the flight we boarded the Nile cruise ship MS Miriam for seven nights. This is a welcome treat as it gives me enough time in one location to unpack my suitcase and not have to live directly out of it!

Since I was the only Insight Vacation tourist, the company thankfully combined me with a larger group from Trafalgar (which I believe has the same parent company), so there are a dozen of us in the same group—which means I don’t have to dine at a table alone, since they group us at meals by the tour company we are with. I cannot tell how many total passengers are on the boat, though I do know there is a large number of Germans, many of whom leave tonight.

Owing to low tide, we cannot travel north on the Nile, so we will be docked for the first three days as we visit Luxor, Karnak, the Valley of the Kings and Dendera before sailing south on Christmas Day.

The docking arrangement of the ships is a bit odd, with literally six of them lined up side-by-side, which means that in order to board or disembark we walk through five (currently unused) ships before getting to ours.

The ship itself would hold over 100 passengers were she fully loaded, and it has the traditional sundeck on top, with a large bar, small fitness center, and gift shops below deck. There’s even a pool table, so I might give that a shot. Though it claims to be a five star establishment, it certainly falls short of that in most marks. It is clean and pleasant, and I have no regrets about being aboard it, but to call this a five star is silly enough to begin with, and downright absurd after just having spent three nights at the Savoy in London. The rooms have newly installed toilets, bath tubs and counters in the bathroom, but in all other regards this looks like a twenty-year-old ship with the expected wear and tear: Neat and clean, but far from elegant. Tissues in the rooms are displayed in their original cardboard boxes (not in a sleeve or cover), the pens in the room are clear plastic sticks, and the Ship Directory is a paper folder, not a leather binding. Again, I am not disappointed, but the description is definitely misleading. On the plus side, the prices of the things that are not included are very reasonable, such as $6.50 for a glass of liquor or about $4 for a glass of wine.

I should also point out for anybody who has ever been on an ocean-going cruise ship that the dining process is different on a Nile ship:  Food is presented buffet style, and you serve yourself, with waiters there to clear tables and take drink order but not to serve your meal.

Another bonus: Since the ship is only partially booked, the tour company upgraded me from a single cabin to a larger double, and by cruise ship standards these really are quite large, with total area over 200 square feet. I have definitely stayed in far smaller rooms in Tokyo and Europe.

The passengers are fully spread across the spectrum, from a (married?) woman with two teenage children up to people well into their retirement years. There’s a female Navy Lieutenant Commander (O-4) plus her retired school teacher mother, and the tour guide is Mohammed, a retired archeologist who took up tourism as a profession because it pays better! No major issues seem to be in this area, for which I am thankful since small boats like this get even smaller if you need to avoid certain people with whom you feel uncomfortable.

Our first visit around noon was a bus ride to the Karnak Temple, a huge site, complete with an obelisk (which I believe to be the companion of the New York City monument). In the evening, we went to Luxor Temple which is much more famous, and in this case housing the companion of the French obelisk. After that, there was a quick stop at a Papyrus shop (where I bought a painting of Horus and Hathor), and finally back to the boat for dinner.

One of the things I am finding out about Egypt that I did not expect beforehand is that the number of ancient sites available for touring is huge. I expected a handful of the well-known sites, but in actuality there are more than I can begin to count, and to visit all of them would literally take months. Additionally, there are subtleties at each site that I would not begin to understand without a very observant tour guide such as Mohammed to point them out.

Pyramid Light Show

It's the end of the first full day in Cairo, and we have just returned from the Pyramid Light and Sound Show. I went with a couple who were on a different Insight Vacation tour, and it was a welcome reprieve to have somebody to talk with. The show is literally unchanged from its presentation in the James Bond movie "The Spy Who Loved Me," with the same tacky soundtrack you hear in the movie. In a way, though, this quaintness just added to the experience, and it should not go without notice that for Egypt, a country that epitomizes timelessness, this foot in the past seems appropriate.

Though I did not know this at the time, as it turns out I sat in front of, and briefly conversed with, a mother and son (Nancy and Bryan) who would later be some of my shipmates on the Nile cruise.

Cairo Safety

Given all the news about violence in Cairo for this last year, more than one friend suggested I was crazy to visit at this time, though I actually feel very safe and not the least bit worried about the situation. I might feel differently if somebody else were here with me, but what I have seen is not the least bit frightening at this time. Seeing the shell of the burnt out National Democratic Party Major Office, I am sure the situation was different in the past, and that it could erupt again, but at this time all seems under control.

This does, however, rekindle in my mind a discussion Melba and I had but three days ago about hosting ancient artifacts such as the Rosetta Stone or the Elgin Marbles in a safe but foreign environment such as the British Museum versus hosting them in their native land. At the time, I could see both sides, but after seeing this morning how the Egyptian Museum is situated between Tahrir Square and the charred shell of buildings, I have to say that there is a pragmatic merit to the foreign land argument. I'll fill this thought out more completely at a later date (I'm terribly behind on my posts so am focusing on the current ones at this time so I don't lose the train of thought while on the Nile...more later.)

Citadel and Egyptian Museum

I’m seated in one of the Marriott restaurants, “Roy’s Country Kitchen,” trying to get caught up on some badly neglected notes before taking out early this evening for the Light Show at the Pyramids. I’ve also just enjoyed one of the most incredible beef fajitas ever, one that put the US versions to shame. It looks as if by the time this trip is over, I will again have the pleasure of needing to lose again all that weight I was so proud of shedding this last year…argh.

On more relevant matters, the day started at 8:30 with a tour of the city. I should explain, first off, that due to the security concerns caused by recent events, I am the ONLY person on the Cairo portion of the tour with Insight Vacations. Tomorrow I will fly south to Luxor to join the cruise which will undoubtedly have others, but for this portion I have a private tour, with a guide and driver all to myself. A bit strange, especially that I don’t feel unsafe, but nonetheless this is undivided attention.

We first drove by the old Islamic center and into the City of the Dead, a very large expanse of graves with “caretaker squatters” who live on site, caring for the tomb and receiving reasonable donations from touring relatives who drop in. The guide explained one of the cartakers woud make, perhaps, $100 USD per day, a good amount by Egyptian standards, especially given that they live rent free.

We next went to the Citadel of Salah Al-Din, an ancient fortress (with a beautiful mosque built by Mohammed Ali in the 1800’s). Unlike most mosques, which by definition are plain, this one contained ornate architecture, including stained glass, to make the Coptic Christians feel at home.

The guide also covered the story of Saladin, voted by Time as one of the “Men of the Century" during his 100 year century.

Our next stop was at the Egyptian Museum. The guide had warned me that depending on the protest situation that museum might be closed, but as it turns out that was not an issue. Tahrir Square, literally across the street from the museum, had but a handful of protesters, all very peaceful and quiet. I knew ahead of time that the museum was next door to Tahrir Square, but what I did not realize was that it was also adjacent to the burnt-out National Democratic Party Majority Office, meaning it is sandwiched between two of the most violent areas during this last year’s protests.

The one and only replica that museum hosts is of the Rosetta Stone, which ironically Melba and I had seen the original of just three days earlier in the British Museum. We had a discussion at the time on the tradeoff of housing artifacts such as that in a foreign albeit safe land versus at home; at the time I could see both sides of the argument, but after this morning I have a more concrete opinion---more on that thought in the ensuing post.

Overall, the museum had more of a feeling of a warehouse than of a museum, especially given what we had just seen in the UK. In Egypt, the descriptive signs were tacky, typed on (honestly!) a typewriter—and that’s if there was anything to explain what you were looking at.

Cairo Preview

I awakened right at 7:00 and went down for breakfast. As is so often the case, you often want that which you know you cannot have, so I truly missed my pork sausage, but acquiesced to the notion that for the next two weeks or so that would not be in the mix.

The hotel had at least two 24 hour banks staffed with people...at 4:00 AM in the morning, it was entirely possible to walk into a bank and deal with a teller, in addition to the ATM option in the lobby.
To put the timing of my trip and the news in perspective, just three days previously there was a flurry in the news when the police attacked a woman protester, and there are a multitude of protests today highlighting that very event. Things were turbulent, but as it was to turn out the volatility never interfered with my trip in any way.

To set the tone of what is to come: This morning I will be seeing the Citadel, followed by the Egyptian Museum. The mid-afternoon will be free, followed by a light show at the pyramids.

Tomorrow morning it's a plane ride to Luxor to catch the Nile River Cruise, at which time I'll have a better understanding of the itinerary for the rest of the trip.

Arrival in Cairo

Having never been in Egypt (or even Africa) before, I had no idea what to expect, so it was one of those arrivals which is etched on my mind.

The flight arrived at 10:30 PM, in what was absolutely perfect weather, neither too hot nor too cold. A representative from the tour company (Insight Vacations) met me inside the Customs area, literally seconds after I entered the building. We very quickly got through Customs. (I had acquired my visa beforehand, though it was possible to get it on the spot.)
The guide and driver took me directly to my hotel, the Cairo Marriott, in about thirty minutes.

Along the way we passed Mubarak's palace, something the guide pointed out to me along with saying he "was not a good man." The elections were midway complete during my time there, and as I was to find out the people in Cairo were very much in favor of change, while those down south would prove to be more conservative, less concerned about change than surviving.

The hotel was very secure, with bomb guards and cylindrical hydraulic road bollards in the driveway, dogs sniffing all arriving vehicles, and metal detectors at the lobby entrance.

Even though I had my second wind and wanted to explore the grounds, I gave in to reason and went to bed by 2:00 AM so that I could be ready to wake up at 7:00 AM.

The Departure and on to Cairo

Our last few hours together in London were short, as we hopped into a chauffeur-driven S-Class Mercedes for Heathrow, where Melba was to board her BA flight home, and I was to get on Iberia for my journey on to Cairo. Since Melba was ill (with still no voice!) I upgraded her to Business Class for the trip home. We went our separate ways, with Melba promising to pick me up when I returned home.

The flight to Cairo (with a stop in Madrid) was rather uneventful, other than that a young Muslim woman offered me her dinner when she saw how quickly I had devoured mine! My next stop would be arriving in Cairo at 10:30 PM, for a world totally different than what I had just experienced with Melba in London.



The itinerary for the Egypt portion of the tour is as follows: