I’ve wanted to visit this place since I was a kid. Achievement Unlocked!!!
Final thoughts, recommendations and “bonus material”.
Travels in real time, other things in down time.
I’ve wanted to visit this place since I was a kid. Achievement Unlocked!!!
Final thoughts, recommendations and “bonus material”.
Cairo, we love you, but could this at least be easy?
“Do you realize we were in a car accident, a fistfight, and there was a mass shooting? That’s pretty much everything under the sun.”
So, we went back to the Platform Believed To Be Seven, and I was frantically looking and hoping for any indication that the broken-looking train was leaving. Some kind of a sign, either physically or metaphorically.
For the “Rick and Morty” fans out here, the Citadel reminded me of the episode where an Evil Rick was kidnapping Mortys and using their inferior brainwaves to hide his superior brainwaves. I know Daina is a great photographer, and I consider myself a pretty good one, but here, it’s drowned out by all the bad photography that surrounds you. Part of that bad photography was pictures of us.
At this point, we’ve been in Alexandria for only a few hours, and the place looks like it’s crumbling in on itself, but somehow, that adds to its charms.
Cairo doesn’t really care about your plans.
As much as I like cheap DIY, no way we could do it and fit in the rest of the things on our trip, so private car was the option.
…to drive home how much today isn’t about adventure, I’m doing bullet points.
We got off of the Go Bus in “downtown” Hurghada, did a rough negotiation for a cab (first guy wanted 100 LE each, we found a guy for 30 LE total), and now we’re at an all-inclusive resort in Egypt.
I know, not what you would expect.
It was at this point that friends of mine may have read a “Hey, LOL, police escort just taking us out of Abydos with masks on, OMG” type post on my Facebook, because even though I was pretty sure nothing was happening, I wanted there to be some kind of digital record.
“Your friend is rich enough to pay 300 LE for photos but doesn’t have enough to tip guards?”
So this is where the perspective piece comes in.
When the place you’re visiting has been considered one of the hottest places on Earth, it’s good to be able to get going early and avoid the heat.
Figuring that we’d want to spend a couple of days on the West Bank sites, and having heard that Luxor is the Hassle Capital of Egypt and that not of that takes place in the East Bank, I figured a 9.4 rated guesthouse on the West with a pool would be a solid bet.
…
We are REALLY far away from everything.
At this point, I got a bit loud and, in my best kindergarten voice said “NO! That is NOT how you do things! You do NOT push me! Good-bye!” Which shut him up for almost a minute before he went back to trying to sell me something as I was across the parking lot.
Gebel el-Silsila isn’t going to be overrun by tourists any time soon, mostly due to the fact that the bigger boats aren’t allowed to dock anywhere near it, so the ability to flexible was appreciated and a bit of a given.
I don’t know what other spectacular sights Egypt will present, but this experience may become the thing that defines it.
We arrived at Abu Simbel at 6:45 am and, already, the sun was baking the ground, coming in at what felt like the mid-thirties. There’s zero shade outside, and you immediately sweat as you pass over a hill to see the temple. You can understand why you wouldn’t be there midday, as it would just be too damn hot.
I had readied myself for Philae ahead of time, having read that the ferry negotiation was intense, the guards and caretakers would aggressively follow you or try to photobomb your shots for tips, and that there was quite a bit of hassle at the temple.
Well, ferry price came in at cheaper than Kalbasha, guards were nice and asked us where we were from before leaving us alone, caretakers asked if we wanted to take pictures of them, but nothing nearly as intense as what I had heard.
If you’re obviously not from here, you have a good chance of getting offered something, from a felucca to a horse ride to, today, hashish (which got an immediate no in the shortest of terms).
Soon after, another guy comes up to us and tries the same shtick, following us until I literally see people walking into the mosque and say “Oh look, it’s open”, at which point he says “It’s open! After, do you want some spices? Backgammon board? Anything you need!” Worst attempted save of a hustle ever.
It’s rare that you get to check two big items off the bucket list in two consecutive days. With the pyramids yesterday and the Egyptian Museum today, we were lucky enough to do just that.
I’ve started off with that long disclaimer to let you know that today was absolutely one of the best days of my life and that’s including the hassle and hustle that came with it.
I think the last time I was this excited to be on a plane going somewhere was Easter Island, and considering how strange, rare and wonderful that place was, that’s a big deal for me.
…figured since 40 is, culturally, a big thing, I would do some big things.