Egypt        

                           

    It was a good thing that we left for Egypt in the middle of an American bombing campaign on Iraq, during the holy month of Ramadan.  Not that the two countries are close to each other, but the reaction of all Arabs was unanimously negative regarding this bit of American foreign policy, especially as it happened just before Ramadan, when most people fast and pray.  No better time to mix in the bazaars with the locals...   

Here I need to plug Lotus Travel that can set you up on your own Egyptian dream vacation.  Your friend Mohammed can custom design your luxury package at the best prices.  He did a superb job on our itinerary.

Luxor / Karnak

                       

These wall scenes are about 4000 years old.

    Are they Syrians? 

    Mutley is catching some rays on a luxury Nile cruise.    

 

   The Valley of the Kings/Queens where a whole bus load of Swiss tourists were massacred in '97.  Due to that event, security is now extra tight around all tourist areas.  I have never seen that many AK-47s in my life...  For some mysterious reason our guides kept us away from this particular place. 

      

The temple of Kom Ombo observed by Mutley.   

 

       

Close to the Aswan high dam, we sailed on  one of these feluccas. 

           

The small temple at Abu Simbel.                                                                        And the big one.

 

Mutley is surveying the pyramid shaped objects all around.   We spent all of a half hour with some of the remaining seven wonders of the (ancient) world. As it was Ramadan, the pyramids were closing earlier than usual, so it took some negotiation by our fearless guide to get us in just before closing. Our driver was fasting all day and around sunset he was listening to the radio for the Ramadan broadcast that declared the only meal of the day.

         

Negotiating at the camel market.  A good camel goes for about $500-$600.  Laurie is sitting on a cheap one.

 

 As we prepared to take a ride on some camels, one of the tribesmen went over to one of the mini tents and pulled out an old guy in a rubber sandal. I ended up using his camel as he followed me along in the desert up and down the sand dunes. At the end I gave him a generous dollar for a tip and said pointing to the picture of Washington: "This is my president, the most powerful man on earth." in a Butthead like voice. The poor guy wasn't sure of what to make of the whole incident as he did not speak any english and was deaf anyway. One of the other guys came by and started yelling in his ear that his real payment was given to the camel leader. This assured him a bit and he flashes a couple of remaining teeth as he smiled.       

          

Cairo             

       

 

   Somewhere between Abu Simbel and diving in the Red Sea we climbed up Mount Sinai.  Starting at two in the morning with flashligths we tried to avoid bumping into the camels on the trail up the mountain.  The big attraction at this early in the morning would've been an amazing dawn on the top of Mount Sinai (of Ten Commandments fame).  The sun-up was  less than breathtaking and the bitter cold was not helping much either.   One of the few high points of this outing were the tea stops along the way, manned by the Bedouin tea and camel merchants.    

 

Sharm El Sheik  - Sinai Peninsula

          

Laurie appreciates the underwater scene by giving the finger(s).

Dive Africa We did a night dive plus two full days of diving with the (mostly Danish) team of Dive Africa.  I'm sure the other dive shops do a good job as well, but Dive Africa was just down the beach so we kept going back. 
The night dive was particularly unimpressive and cold, but the rest of the days were pretty spectacular.  The second day we did some dives close to Sharm El Sheik and on the last day we ventured to the island of Tiran which isn't too far from Saudi Arabia.  The visibility of the Red Sea is hard to beat and the underwater life is remarkable as well. My Minolta finally caught one of these little blue fishies.   

       

Mutley pops up again at some of the most unexpected places....

Mutley diving picture #1.             Diver Mutley picture #2.

Mutley diving picture #1.                                                              Diver Mutley  #2.       

Now that you've seen a few pictures of Mutley by now, here is your chance to give your opinion.  Check the one that applies ...

               I like Mutley dives pic #1.      

               I like Diver Mutley #2 more.             

               I am completely sick and tired of seeing Mutley pictures !

                  

 

    On the last day in Cairo we went to the bazaar to buy a couple of shishas   (also known as a hookah pipe) and other assorted souvenirs.  One of the high points of the bazaar was my visit to an egyptian barber.  Unfortunately no pictures are available from this experience.  The barber sent a local guy out for tea and then proceeded to give me a decent haircut using scissors and a atraight razor.  (He even went into my nose with the scissors to make some adjustments.)  The most unique part was when he twisted up a long line of thread, put some of his spit on the threads and began to work my face and ears with this instrument.  Apparently he was looking to remove the tiny hairs from my face and this maneuver was pretty painful.

     After our one hour turbo shopping at the bazaar and smoking a proper shisha, we headed for the airport.   The gate where we boarded had Los Angeles clearly displayed, but after five minutes we felt a bit out of place since over ninety percent of the passengers were in white garbs only.  Turns out that the flight was going straight to Jeddah with the local pilgrims on the way to Mecca.  Eventually we found an other gate with a Los Angeles sign that had the usual, but a lot more annoying crowd of tourists.

 

Amir our fearless guide of the Sinai.

Hazim  the Cairo expert.

 

 

 

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