More Dahab, Back to Cairo and Pyramids (kind of).

Ok, so here I am back in Cairo on my own.  When I last left you I was in Dahab with Roni chillin by the sea and relaxing after our 18 hour bus journey from Siwa.  You'll be glad to know that we found a place where Roni could eat in peace without a clowder of cats crawling all over her.  We had big plans to go to St. Katherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai on our last day, guess what, didn't happen.  You know what happens when I get near the sea and beer...nothing, and that's exactly what we did.  We found out you could only visit a small portion of the monastary and although we were interested in seeing the burning bush (yes, the one where God spoke to Moses) we apparently weren't interested enough to pay money and get back on another bus, especially since we were going to board one that night for nine hours heading back to Cairo.  We also found out that you had to climb one mountain to be able to see Mount Sinai, that didn't work for us either.  So it was relaxing, reading, eating and sheesha for us, I don't think we earned religious points but I plan to build up loads of good karma in Asia.  We arrived at 7:00 am on Friday in Cairo ready to fall in love with the city (which we didn't the first go around) after every one we talked to told us how much they loved it (that includes you Tof).  We tried to get a room at the place we stayed before but they were full and walked us over to a great little hostel in the neighborhood, up 85 stairs, no elevator, yes we counted.  We scheduled a driver with the hotel to take us to the pyramids and had him pick us up at 10:00 am after we loaded ourselves with caffeine and pastries.  We were off, an exciting day of viewing all the great pyramids of Egypt.  Have I mentioned that women seem to be second class citizens here and some men feel as though they can order you around and that you don't have a mind of your own?  Well if I haven't I have now (keep in mind there are definitely exceptions and some men are really great).  So we take off with our driver heading out to our first stop Dahshur to see the Red Pyramid (the world's oldest true pyramid), the Bent Pyramid and the Black Pyramid.  We arrived at the entrance and needed to pay our admission fees and a fee for the car but instead of explaining that to us the driver just started barking "give me 62 Egyptian pounds!".  Side bar for Vania, reminiscent of our sunset Taj Mahal incident.  Well I FLIPPED OUT!  I was tired after our long overnight bus journey and we were paying him way more than we probably needed to, but wanted to make sure we had a nice driver who knew exactly what we wanted to do.  Let's just say a book flew through the air, the tourist police came over smiling to make sure everything was ok and I told the driver that I was sick of being talked to like a donkey and if he couldn't speak to me properly then he should just shut up!  We proceeded to Dahshur and once we were finished with the pyramids there he apologized, said "no pushing" and behaved like he should have all along.  There was even a flower/weed picked and given to us as part of the truce.  Back at the Red Pyramid Roni and I had climbed up the front of the pyramid, I stopped 3/4 of the way due to fear of heights and Roni went the rest of the way on reconnaissance.  She concluded that once you reach the top you have to go inside the pyramid.  Per the Lonely Planet via 125 extremely steep stone steps and a 63m-long passage.  Well as we were contemplating it a group of Japanese tourist came out of the hole and looked as though they had been through hell!  Clutching the railing, white as ghosts saying they couldn't breathe down there, it was extremely hot and there were parts of the passage where you had to bend way over to fit (these were small Asian people).  I'm out!  Roni came back down and rejoined our attitude adjusted driver.  Next stop the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the world's earliest stone monument.  We effortlessly paid our admission and the driver kindly informed us that we would go through the museum, watch a DVD on the site and then head out to view it.  I was really excited to see Serapeum, which was dedicated to the Apis bull and supposedly a "highlight" of visiting Saqqara.  The bull is portrayed as black with a white diamond on its forehead, and image of a vulture on its back and a scarab-shaped mark on its tongue....right up my alley, dying to see it.  Sorry, it's closed.  Oh well, we roamed around Saqqara utterly confused and then headed over to the great Pyramids of Giza.  After hearing and reading about "the battalions of buses, armies out touts and legions of visitors", I was over it, Sheckler Style!  We informed the driver that it would be just fine to see Giza from a panoramic view outside the gates and to pull around to where I could see the Sphinx and that would conclude our pyramid circuit.  Veni Vidi Vici, or was I conquered?  A hot shower, a good meal and a few Sakara beers and we were off to bed.  The next day, our last together, we shopped the old souk of Khan al-Khalili and eagerly anticipated the Sufi dancing we were going to see that night.  We finished shopping and grabbed a snack and a beer before heading over to see the show.  Get this...I'm sitting at Cafe Riche in Cairo when I hear someone behind me saying he owns a cafe in Morocco and his voice sounds really familiar.  I turn around and it's the guy who owns Cafe Clock in Fes.  He recognizes me instantly, we had a quick chat, he was on holiday with a friend from the UK and killing time before their train to Luxor.  Small world, right?  Anyway we head off to see the Sufi dancers where we ran into Jennifer who we met in Siwa and is from NYC here on vacation.  The dancers were excellent!  Part religious worship and part entertainment spectacular!  They are Egypt's only Sufi dance troupe and way more colorful and wild than the whirling dervishes of Turkey (who are also excellent, just different).  We all went to dinner after the show and then Roni was off at midnight for her overnight flight back home, I'll miss you Grandma.  I went back to the hotel and got on the computer to check email when one of the owners of the hotel (twin brothers own it) asked me if I wanted to join him for a beer, of course I did, and we hung out talking till 4:00 am!  Needless to say I slept till 11:00 and had to drag myself out of bed, shower and pack because I had to check out today and hang around till my flight at midnight.  I have plans to meet Jennifer at 6:00 for dinner and had big plans to go to the Egyptian Museum, but instead I had coffee walked around town and did this blog post.  I'll probably just finish up in time to meet Jennifer and this computer is too slow to post images, I'll do that later.  I'm on my way to Kuala Lumpur tonight to see my old friend Justin Tan.  More from there.  Peace out...Jan

View from Dahab across the Gulf of Aqaba is Saudi Arabia

Red Pyramid

Pyramids of Giza (panoramic view)

Sphinx and Pyramid of Giza

Smoggy Cairo, Moammar I can see your house from here and Dahab...Egypt!

Ok, last time you heard from me I had checked into skank pit number two and was waiting for Roni to arrive.  After my post (and buying toilet paper) I returned to the hotel and they moved me into our double room that, believe it or not, was even worse than the four bed room that they let me sleep in upon arrival.  It was filthy!  The blankets were rank, the sheets were dirty and don't get me started on the doorless bathroom.  I put on a bunch of clothes to stay warm, slipped into my silk sleep sack and sat awake reading and killing bugs until Roni arrived at 3:00 am.  Thank god she was equally grossed out so we stayed awake talking and waited for the sun to rise so we could escape.  As soon as the sun was up we hightailed it out of there to a nice little place on a rooftop not too far away where they fed us a lovely breakfast while we waited for our room to be checked out of and cleaned.  Needless to say the day was pretty much a wash.  By the time we checked in, showered and napped it was late afternoon.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local falafel restaurant.  When you're traveling everyone wants to know where you're from and after this dining experience I may need to start lying.  Once the waiter/owner found out that I was American, out came our order of babaganoush with USA written in ketchup across the entire plate!  We tried to eat around it which didn't work so I kindly gave him the thumbs down and got a replacement without ketchup.  We tried to find something to do in Cairo that night but most things that we were interested in doing weren't happening on Monday night so in a desperate search for beer ended up at the Hilton.  You can't really get beer or cocktails anywhere except at the large hotels that cater to tourists so we had four beers and cheese/curry fries and felt a little better about Cairo than we did earlier.  The next morning we were on the 7:30 bus to Siwa Oasis via the Mediterranean town of Marsa Matrouh (too far north for good beach weather in January).  We just barely met our connecting bus to Siwa; thankfully it left late and I pleaded with the driver to let me go to the bathroom before it took off, he conceded and we were on our way.  Around 5:00 we pulled into the desert oasis of Siwa to a heard of young boys with donkey carts vying for our business in a friendly/aggressive way.  We finally settled on the young boy who managed to get our luggage released from the side of the bus that wasn't open.  A quick, bumpy ride down the dirt road and we arrived at the Shali Lodge, heaven.  It is a beautiful authentic mud-brick hotel, where might I add we didn't have a reservation but were welcomed with open arms.  They only had a room with one bed for the first night so we took it and moved rooms in the morning to one with two beds.  It was really beautiful with archways, lanterns and white fluffy duvets, luxury living for around $34/night each (bit of a splurge but definitely worth it).  We were greeted with mint tea on the roof with Yusuf and Henna (can't remember his real name but he kept wanting us to go have his wife paint our hands with henna for a fee of course).  We headed downstairs to the dining area with a roaring fire made by Ali and cushions on the floor where we had an excellent dinner.  Siwa is really a dry town, not a beer in site and no Hilton to run to in case of emergency.  At dinner we met Fabrice, a fun loving, free spirited guy who is a dancer with the Forsythe Dance Company in Frankfurt and made plans with him the next day to go on a desert excursion.  It was excellent!  We went racing through the desert with our driver and guide and went dune diving in the 4 x 4 down the face of sand dunes that were 50 meters high!  We also visited the extraordinary hot spring and cold fresh water lake at Bir Wahed, and hunted for ocean fossils (we found in tack sand dollars!) keep in mind this is all in the middle of one of the Great Sand Seas 120 km from the Libyan border.  We had dinner in the desert and then rushed back to the hotel so Fabrice could catch the overnight bus back to Cairo.  The next day we hung around Siwa and met up with a Yugoslavian woman who has purchased several rooms in the old 13th century mud-brick Shali and is restoring it to it's original condition.  Along with her new Shali home she has purchased the only Albino donkey in Siwa (his name is Ame) and she cuddles him and walks him like most people would their dog.  That afternoon we hooked up with Abu and his donkey Duty for the 6 km ride out to Fatnas Spring for sunset and an apple sheesha.  The next day Roni and I walked to the Temple of the Oracle built in the 6th century BC which Alexander the Great consulted during the 26th dynasty.  From there is was a quick stop at the Temple of Umm Ubayd and onto Cleopatra's Bath where we had lunch and tried to play Jenga with their warped wooden blocks and swatted off the swarms of flies.  We bought our bus tickets for the overnight bus the next night and then headed back to Shali Lodge for dinner where we met the very intelligent and funny Alex, another great guy who is originally from Hong Kong but spoke to us in English with a thick Irish accent, of course Roni noticed right away.  Alex had been sent to boarding school in Northern Ireland and finished his language studies there (he speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Russian, Arabic and who knows how many more languages) and was traveling to continue his study of Arabic.  The next day we planned to just roam around town, purchase a few little trinkets and kill time till our 8:00 overnight bus back to Cairo.  We went back to one store where we had met Taha (local Egyptian guy who has lived just about everywhere and loved singing Lady in Red and Hotel California) to take him up on his offer of "hospitality" which means to join him for a cup of tea and for Roni to purchase her "long life" scarf and ring.  We did just that and ended up going back out to Cleopatra's Bath in Taha's car to meet up with his uncle and some friends for a coffee.  On the way back to town we stopped by their farm where he picked us some delicious dates and the most amazingly fragrant lemons I've ever smelled.  After that we met up with Alex and had dinner and then he went to the bus station with us to see us off, although he said it was to make sure we really left.  I would be amiss if I didn't mention that Ali (the excellent fire builder) had made me the most generous offer of becoming his second wife.  Shockingly, I turned him down.  He still thinks that I'll regret my decision and be back soon.  It was a long, cold overnight bus ride back to Cairo where we were dropped off right next to our old friend the Hilton.  We ducked in, used the restroom, had a quick breakfast and then took off for the next bus station (again right around the corner from the Hilton, thanks for the convenient location Paris) to buy tickets for the bus to Dahab where I am now.  Dahab is about and hour north of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula and Red Sea.  We arrived to gorgeous weather, came into town, had a beer and dinner and then went looking for a hotel.  Well, it apparently hasn't rained in Dahab for around four years...that night was the exception.  We walked the streets like drowned rats and finally settled at the New Sphinx Hotel who's best feature is that is has Channel 2, my favorite channel from Morocco.  We tucked ourselves in and woke up in the morning to a flooded room!  It had rained all night and since they rarely get rain I don't think some places (like the luxurious Sphinx) are built for it.  It's been a bit overcast for the past couple of days but we finally got sun today and we soaked it in.  Dahab doesn't have the beaches of Sharm, it's more rocky and not as over developed, but still a little too touristy/tacky for our taste.  Although there are some really charming little cafe/restaurants along the seaside and beer is available everywhere so it's ok in my book.  Did I mention there are cats everywhere!  Let's just say Roni isn't so found of them and they can smell it a mile away.  They were snuggled up to her and her shrimp dinner last night and it was hysterical.  Tonight we are going to try to find a cat free zone so she can eat in peace.  We're going to chill here for a few days and probably go to St. Katherine's Monastery and Mt. Sinai before heading back to Cairo and doing the pyramid circuit, etc.  That's it for now.  Peace out...Jan

Morocco.

Images from Morocco...yellow saffron dyed hides and a man working the vats in the tanneries of Fes, the desert near Merzouga, the Dades Gorges and the kasbah at Ait Benhaddou.  A post from Egypt next time.  Peace out...Jan

Funky Cold Medina, Desert Scorpion, Road Block...Au Revoir Morocco!

It's been awhile, let me fill you in.  On New Year's day I became the unofficial project manager of the new wing of the Atlas Hotel.  I was in a single room in the existing hotel with shared bath and no heat, but since Jill was arriving I moved to a new room with two beds, private bath, TV and heat in the new part of the hotel that they were just finishing.  We were their first guests, unfortunately I didn't have a chance sit for the life size portrait they promised to hang in the courtyard in my honor.  I checked into our sparkling new room to find that the heat, hot water and TV didn't work and there wasn't a side table or trash can (the night before they hung the curtains, made the beds and scrubbed the place down).  I went to breakfast hoping some things would be resolved but when I returned it became clear that if I wasn't breathing down their necks these things weren't going to get fixed, so I stationed myself at the project managers desk (edge of the bed) and started assigning tasks.  As usual poor Abdullah did most of the work.  By the time Jill arrived around 8:00 pm most of the thing were done.  Unfortunately they thought they got the heat working but they didn't and we moved to a new room the next morning. That night we went to Gueliz and had the first civilized dinner I had since arriving in Marrakech.  All seemed great, the salad nicoise was delicious as was the omelette and then my fish course arrived, or is it lizard?  I gave it a miss and moved on to dessert.  After dinner we went back to the Djemma El Fna and Jill got her first look at the madness and the less than polite ass grabbing that the local men think they can get away with.  The next day we walked around the souk in serious evaluation mode so when we came back to Marrakech we would be ready to shop for what we didn't find in Fes.  At one point we tried to leave a courtyard in the middle of the souk three times and kept circling back to the same place.  By the third time I was joking saying "I know this is the Djemma El Fna, but if we end up back in that same square I'm going to cry"...we round the corner and guess where we are..the same square (ps, I didn't cry, I laughed my ass off).  Sunday we got the train to Fes, in theory seven hours but it ended up being nine.  Jill had made a reservation at a riad in Fes and had emailed them our arrival details before we left Marrakech so they could pick us up at the train station.  As we got closer Jill was emailing them from here phone to make sure they would be there when we arrived.  When they finally responded they told us that there must have been some miscommunication and that we didn't have a reservation.  Since it was 10:00 pm we did what any tired sensible women would do and checked into the Ibis Hotel (like a Holiday Inn, but a little nicer) right next to the train station.  You would have thought we checked into the Four Seasons, we were thrilled.  Crisp white duvet, hot shower, channel 2 with excellent/crap American movies and no sewage smell (oh ya, there was a little plumbing stench at the Atlas).  On the train we thought we were involved in an elaborate con of some sort with a police officer (wearing a track suit), a guy supposedly from the tourism office and a damsel in distress (with a pierced face) who missed her train connection in Casablanca.  They were an unlikely threesome who joined us in our 1st class cabin and all told slightly different variations of the same story, she cried and there was some mention of no money.  But being the heartless bitches that we are, we decided it was a scam and choose to ignore them.  The next morning we went to the medina in Fes which we had read was much better than Marrakech...well, if it is they must have hid all the good stuff that day.  We went to see the tanneries which were excellent and luckily it was a cool day so the pigeon shit that they use to cure the hides didn't reach its usual pungent fragrance that requires a piece of mint under you nose to help mask the smell.  In the afternoon it began to pour rain and the quaint cobblestones of the medina became a slippery wet death walkway so we hightailed it back to the Ibis and snuggled into our beds and watched crap movies on channel 2.  Being less than impressed with the offerings in Fes (the intellectual and spiritual capitol, maybe that's the problem) we decided to rent a car the next morning and set off on a road trip back to Marrakech.

Side bar -- Some of you are familiar with the Indian yes/no head bobble, well Morocco has the squinty eye/head tilt/smirk that for all purposes means no you can't have what you're asking for.  No they don't have a seat for you at dinner, no they don't have any rental cars available, etc.  So as soon as you're sure that what ever it is that you want isn't available you get it.  End of side bar.   

We picked up the car and headed for our first stop Efroud.  It took a little longer than anticipated because we were on a secondary road that was the exact same color on the map as the primary road so we ended up arriving in Er Rachidia just after dark and decided to stay there.  I have to give Jill all the credit, she drove the entire way, excellent work!  We checked into what the guide book said was the "smartest" hotel in town.  Webster's please note, smartest = skank pit.  It was one of those faded floral bedspread, dirty carpet skank holes.  But there is a bright side.  After a couple beers in the bar to try to numb our senses enough to ignore the horror which was our room, we met the guy who works in or owns the gift store in the lobby of the hotel who told us his brother Mohammed is a guide in Efroud and could take us to the Sahara Desert in Merzouga right near the Algerian border which is where we were heading.  He wrote down his brothers name and the name of the hotel where he worked in case we wanted to hire him.  We ya ya'ed him and went to bed, ditched him in the morning and hit the road for Erfoud.  Once we arrived in Erfoud we thought we had missed the signs for Merzouga so we pulled over to get our bearings.  Two kids (boys of course, there are no women anywhere and the few who are out are covered) came to try to "help" us, I think they wanted to be our guides.  As I was telling Jill to just roll up the window to shut them up we heard a friendly voice saying it was Mohammed and that his brother told him to watch for two white women, one American, one English, that we might want a guide.  We unknowingly had pulled over right in front of the hotel where Mohammed worked.  We figured it was fate, so for 150dh he hopped in the car and we headed for the desert.  Thank Allah we did.  We would have never found what we were looking for and if we even  got close I'm sure we would have turned back because you had to drive across less than optimal surfaces and through sand to reach the desert.  As we approached the desert Mohammed asked Jill if he could drive and once he was behind the wheel the "Desert Scorpion" became a whole new vehicle.  Jill inquired about the safety of this type of rental car in these off-road conditions.  That's when Mohammed proceeded to tell us that this was the absolute best car to have in the desert and they call it the "Desert Scorpion" for that reason.  He gunned it!  We raced through the sand and sped over rocks like professional nomads (sans camel).  The desert was excellent.  We stopped for tea and crepes at this really great kasbah with a beautiful swimming pool right on the deserts edge and I was tempted to just park the Desert Scorpion and check in forever (the hot guy in the desert gear and turban didn't hurt).  We went back to Erfoud, had lunch with Mohammed and then hit the road, destination Boulemane and the Dades Gorges.  We arrived just before sunset and checked into the hotel where I sent my last brief post.  The place was perched on top of a hill in the Dades Gorge and the scenery was beautiful. When we arrived we asked if they had beer but since it's a Muslim country most small places don't serve alcohol and they of course didn't.  We had dinner, I slipped away to the bathroom and by the time I was back the owner was offering us what was supposed to be whiskey and ended up being neat gin with a lime twist (so much for a dry hotel).  Jill wasn't feeling great so she passed on the cocktails but I of course accepted, it would be rude to decline wouldn't it?  They kept asking us if we wanted beer because we had asked earlier and now the owner was around who apparently owned a store and bar in town.  We graciously declined, the gin was enough, and then moments later a hotel employee was gone and had reappeared with beer.  So I tucked myself behind the front desk of the hotel with a couple beers and some neat gin while poor Jill was left  sitting around the fire chatting with the only other guest (a female French artist), the owner and his Moroccan driver friend who fancied Jill and was rubbing her leg telling her "it was good to be free, no?"  The three of them got wasted and Jill managed to sneak away to where I was and we snuck up the stairs to bed.  The next morning we headed to Ait Benhaddou to see the gorgeous kasbah.  We spent the night and got up bright and early Friday morning for the bone chilling ride over the Tizi n'Tichka pass and our return to Marrakech.  I failed to mentioned that Jill had previously got a speeding ticket when she had meticulously paid attention to and abided by the speed limits in every town except this one instance where she didn't see the sign telling her to decrease to 60km/hour and was going 81 (clocked by radar).  Anyway, we are just outside of town when suddenly we are getting flagged over, we knew she wasn't speeding because we were stuck behind a huge truck.  Well guess what...Road Block!  It had snowed overnight in the mountains and the pass was closed.  This was Friday and we both had flights out Saturday night so we went to Ouarzazate and spent a painfully boring day rearranging our flights to leave from there and drop the car in Ouarzarate instead of Marrakech.  We killed time by loitering in the lobby of the Le Meridien hotel drinking tea and watching a Rae Dawn Chong and Antonio Sabato, Jr. movie without sound and making up vulgar dialog.  We finally flew out of Ouarzarate at 8:45 pm.  The flight was routed through Casablanca (totally out of the way) and since I was going to fly there the next day to leave for Egypt I just stayed and Jill went on to Marrakech for her flight home the next day.  So much for all that Marrakech souk shoppping I had planned.  I landed in Casablanca and took the train from the airport to the Casa Voyageurs train station and checked into my good old friend the Ibis Hotel.  I had to check out of the hotel at noon so I killed time buying my train ticket, sipping coffee in male dominated cafes and reading in the Ibis bar until I caught the 8:00 pm train to the airport for my flight at 11:45 pm.  I arrived in Cairo at 6:30 am and after a couple phone calls was picked up by the late taxi driver from my hostel.  I checked into a room for four people because mine wasn't ready yet and slept till 2:30.  Talk about a skank pit (different than the last).  They don't even provide toilet paper, so I'm off to buy some after my posting.  I would have changed hotels but Roni arrives at 3:00 am and is meeting me there, maybe we'll change tomorrow or just suck it up for one more night before taking the 9 hour bus to Siwa.  More then.  I'll post pics when I get to a faster computer.  Peace out...Jan

Slow connection in the Atlas Mountains.

Just a very quick post to let everyone know that Jill and I are in the Atlas Mountains.  I'm behind the front desk of a small hotel using the very slow internet and being served neat gin with lime and Flag beer by the owner.  More when I reach a faster internet connection.  Peace Out...Jan

Happy New Year!

A toast to an excellent New Year!  Unfortunately all your wishes of good luck (that I'm sure you gave me) for an exciting new year didn't quite pan out.  Let's just say that Djemma el Fna is no Macy's fireworks spectacular.  I spent the last day of 2009 at the Marrakech Museum and the Ben Youssef Medersa.  The museum is housed in a late 19th century palace that was built for the defense minister of Moulay Abdelziz.  The collection is small but there was an exhibit of stunning modern collages.  From there I headed to the Ben Youssef Medersa which is an old koranic school.  The medersa was built in the 16th century and is beautifully adorned with intricate carvings and tile work.  After that I made a quick trip through the souk; needless to say I want one of everything.  On my way to have a mint tea before heading home to shower I was groped by some old letch who pretended to trip and fall on to me and started grabbing for body parts, of course I shoved him, told him to F_ _ _ OFF and then spun around and followed up with a world class flip off and an extra  F _ _ _ YOU!  I had dinner at my usual place Cafe Toubkal and then went back home to read for awhile before the exciting New Year's Eve festivities began.  Surprisingly I fell asleep but woke up around 11:15 in just enough time to get may ass in gear and head out to Djemma el Fna and see how Moroccans ring in the new year.  The square was packed with people and I thought something big was going to happen.  The monkey handlers were handling their monkeys, the dancers were dancing, the snake charmers were charming...you get the picture and at the stroke of midnight the food vendors cheered and turned off their lights and started tearing down their stalls, that was it.  I lie, there were about three bottle rockets that some local kids shot off.  Suddenly every one started to leave. 2010, Morocco style.  I did hear of some fancy parties you could pay to attend in the Ville Nouvelle but I wasn't interested in or dressed for that.  Jill arrives tonight and we are here for a couple more days then we are taking the train to Fes so you won't hear from me for awhile.  Here are some pics of what I saw the last day of 2009.  Happy New Year.  Peace out...Jan