Every Day is Sunday

Our hike began at midnight.  We had five hours to climb to the top of Mt. Sinai if we wanted to make it in time for sunrise.

The climb itself wasn’t too strenuous and the moon was so bright we didn’t even need to turn on our headlamps.  Unfortunately there were tons of tourists on the trail – many of them who decided to hire camels and ride up the mountain.  But the trail wasn’t quite big enough for camels and people to walk comfortably next to each other.  It was like driving on the highway in a small car and constantly being passed by big smelly 18-wheelers.  The camel smell became so overpowering that we had to duck into a Bedouin hut for some tea so we could let them pass. 

Even with the lazy tourists on camels, the climb was totally worth it.  We reached the top of Mt. Sinai with plenty of time to see the orange sun peak over the mountain range.

As day broke a priest started his early morning prayers.  It was a compelling reminder of the spiritual power that Mt. Sinai still retains thousands of years after the time of Moses.

Although the Egyptian sun was like a battering ram, we enjoyed the spectacular views on the long hike down.

At the bottom of Mt. Sinai is a monastery that claims to be the site of the original “burning bush.”  We were pretty skeptical about these claims until we took a closer look.  The branches were still hot to the touch!

The burning bush didn’t say anything about leading the Israelites out of Egypt, but it did wish us a pleasant journey as we made our own way to the homeland. 

We planned to stay in Dahab for two nights.  We stayed for seven. 

Dahab is a tranquil seaside village that we never wanted to leave.  Unlike other parts of the Sinai Peninsula, Dahab doesn’t have any skyscraper hotels or fancy restaurants.  It caters to chilled-out backpackers looking to spend their days snorkeling in the Red Sea and their nights sitting by the water watching the sun set over Saudi Arabia.  It’s a little slice of heaven.

The snorkeling in Dahab was just as good as any of the snorkeling we’ve done on the Great Barrier Reef or off the coast of Kenya.  You don’t even need to hire a boat – you can just snorkel right off the beach.

The locals told us that if we wanted the best snorkeling in the area, we needed to head to Abu Ras Galum, a small Bedouin village an hour north of Dahab up the coastline.  It’s the best because there aren’t any roads to Abu Ras Galum which meant fewer tourists and the real kicker  — the only way to get there is by camel! 

After our long camel ride we arrived at the Bedouin village and we immediately grabbed our snorkeling gear and headed for the beach.  The temperature was perfect, the water was crystal blue, and the sun shone so brightly we could see 30 feet below the surface.  We spotted a giant sea turtle that let us swim with her for about 10 minutes before she headed out to deeper waters. 

After a morning seeing beautiful coral fish, sting rays and turtles, we took a break for lunch (fried fish caught that day), learned the recipe for special Bedouin tea, and escaped the heat in one of the Bedouin huts.

After another long snorkeling session in the afternoon, we boarded our camels and headed back to Dahab – our little piece of paradise on the Red Sea.

We arrived in Cairo just in ttime to meet up with Erin’s former colleague Josh Lozman.  Josh took time out from his own world travels (DC – Cairo – London – Addis Ababa – Lusaka – DC) to spend three action-packed days with us in Egypt.  It seemed appropriate for us to start our whirlwind tour of Cairo with a trip to see the Whirling Dervishes.

Twice a week, adherents of the Sufi Order (a 13th century religion founded in present-day Turkey) put on a free performance in the old quarter of Cairo.  The Sufis show their devotion to god through a dance ceremony called the Sema.  It’s wild.  A Sufi man whirls his body around and around. . . and around. . . and around.  Hence, the Whirling Dervishes.

We watched a Sufi man enter a trance-like state and spin around for 45 minutes at an incredible pace.  After 10 minutes we were impressed; after 20 minutes we were awed; after 30 minutes we started to get uncomfortable for him; and once he reached 45 minutes we just wanted him to stop. 

The Dervishes were cool, but the highlight of our Cairo visit was (of course) our trip to the pyramids.  Most people only visit the pyramids at Giza, which are closest to Cairo and what you see in most postcards of Egypt.  But there are actually two additional sites where the Pharaohs built their ancient pyramids, and we set out to see all three. 

Our first stop was the pyramids at Dashur, which are an hour drive from Cairo in the middle of the desert.  It was a spectacular sight to see the pyramids rising out of the desert.  The view from atop a camel was even better.

Our favorite meal in Egypt came as we were traveling back from Saqqara to see the great pyramids at Giza.  We stopped at a falafel stand and bought three very tasty falafels for a little more than one dollar.  The food was good and you couldn’t beat the view.

We’ve heard some people say that the Pyramids are a “let-down,” but we have to disagree.  We didn’t mind the urban sprawl pushing up aganist the ancient relics. These monuments have been standing for thousands of years and are truly impressive.  As Napoleon Bonaparte famously said, “From the height of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.” 

 Plus, they are great for photo-fun! 

Jeff:  Our trip to the Pyramids were great, but we were missing some context.  I had forgotten the guidebook in the hotel and so there were times during the day when we didn’t know exactly what we should be looking at.  I felt terrible about it.  Of course it didn’t bother Erin and Josh, but I wanted to make-up for it, so when we got back that night I took the most interesting facts out of the guidebook and prepared a short power point retrospective of our day.  

After seeing the Dervishes, the Pyramids, the Egyptian museum and the Mosque of Mohammad Ali, we had “done Egypt” according to our guidebook.  But if there is one thing we’ve learned on this trip, there is a lot more to cities than what gets listed in a Lonely Planet.  Luckily, we met up with our friend Leif who has been living and working in Cairo for the past several months.

Leif was an amazing tour guide of the local scene in Cairo.  He took us to hidden bars and fashionable restaurants that we never would have been able to find without him.  We felt like true locals when we climbed out the window of his apartment and had a few beers on his balcony.  As the sun set over the bustling city, we sat and listened to the calls of prayer from the thousands of mosques that dot the Cairo skyline.

For whatever reason, we’ve found ourselves touring around a number of cemeteries on this trip.  Maybe it’s the celebrity of the entombed person that draws us in.  Or maybe it’s our anthropological interest in the burial customs of different cultures.  Or just maybe it’s some morbid fascination with death (this last one’s unlikely, but it could explain why we loved “Six Feet Under”). 

Punta Arenas, Chile

Nothing we saw in South America, however, can hold a candle to the most elaborate and extravagant cemetery in the history of the world: the Valley of the Kings.

Hundreds of companies run tours to the Valley of the Kings each day, but we had no interest in boarding a bus full of unenthusiastic tourists and following an unenthusiastic guide around in the hot Egyptian sun.  Instead, we rented bikes from the local shop and set out at 5:15 am for our short ride out to the Valley of the Kings.

Time seemed to stand still as we biked along the empty Egyptian road and watched the sun rise over the ancient necropolis.  It wasn’t until the long ride back in 110 degree heat that we started to doubt our choice of using bicycles to get around on a hot Egyptian summer day.     

The Long Bike Ride Back to Luxor

The pharaohs who ruled Egypt from the 16th to the 11th century BC were absolutely petrified of death.  They were obsessed with reaching the afterlife and took every precaution to ensure a smooth passage into the next world: they built deep and impenetrable tombs into the peaks and valleys of the necropolis so that nobody would disturb their akh (the part of the being that ascends to heaven - like the soul); they decorated their tombs with reliefs honoring Osiris and Isis; and they famously mummified their bodies so their identity was preserved in the afterlife.

After the Valley of the Kings we stopped at Hatshepsut’s Funerary Temple.  Hatshepsut – or Hattie as we like to call her – deserves a special shout-out as the only female Pharaoh to rule Egypt.  

On our first trip as a couple we stayed at the Luxor.  Six years later, we found ourselves back in Luxor but a long way from the Las Vegas Strip. 

Luxor, Egypt

Las Vegas, Nevada

The Las Vegas Luxor is built like a pyramid and has a decent nightclub, but it’s no match for the Egyptian Luxor which is home to the most extensive and impressive ancient sites in all of Egypt.

Perhaps the only similarity between Luxor and Las Vegas is the searing summer heat.  Our coolest day in Luxor had a high of 102.  We had no choice but to plan our day around the sun, and visited most of the sites between 5am-10am or between 7pm-11pm.  We spent the rest of the day trying to move as little as possible.

We waited for the sun to go down to see the famous Luxor Temple.  Approaching the temple from the Avenue of Sphinx at night will take your breath away.

They do a great job of lighting up the temple.  Ironically, seeing the exhibit at night under the lights helped us appreciate the original splendor of the site as it existed 3000 years ago.

With our new friends Ryan and Katy, we hired a guide to take us around Luxor Temple and explain the history of the place.  Our guide wasn’t the most knowledgeable Egyptologist, but he did give us a taste of the local flavor: he used every excuse to kiss Erin and Katy’s hands (“my queens”), and spent a lot of time showing us the Egyptian god of fertility.

With Ryan and Katy in front of King Tut and Ankhesanamun

We awoke at dawn the next morning and were the first people to arrive at the Karnak Palace.  The ruins at Karnak are extraordinary.  It’s a site everyone should visit… but nobody should try to capture on a blog (you can read summaries by clicking here and here).

We had the entire Palace complex to ourselves for an hour (around 30 tour buses showed up at 7:00 am).  Certainly the highlight of our visit was wandering alone among the pillars (each 42 feet high) of the Hypostyle Hall of the Palace and marveling at the ancient Egyptian engineering.

As we returned to our hotel from Karnak Palace at around 11 am, we saw some guys building a structure just outside the door of our hotel.  They explained they were building a stage for a wedding party later that night, and told us to stop by after 9 pm for the party. 

Jeff:  Erin was exhausted after getting up at 5am that morning, so I ventured out alone to the party at around 10 pm.  There were colored lights and a DJ was standing behind a pretty sweet sound system playing very loud music off his computer.  The recently constructed stage had two chairs on it for the newlyweds. 

I took a seat on the benches with the other men.  They were all smoking cigarettes and drinking tea.  The women gathered in small circles in the back and kept an eye on the kids playing on the stage.  It’s a Muslim country so no one was drinking alcohol.  Fascinated by their concept of a “party” I stayed a little longer.

I tried to make small talk, but most of the conversations were the same:  “Where from?”  “America.”  “Welcome to Egypt.”  “Thank you.”  “Barack Obama, good?”  “Yes, Barack Obama good.” 

I waited for over an hour but the happy couple were nowhere to be seen.  My new friends explained that the couple had many stops before the party (the Mosque, their parents’ house, etc…).  “Don’t worry,” they said, “the party goes until morning.”  Hmm . . . No booze, the men and women stay separate, the music is blearing but nobody’s dancing.  And this party goes until the early hours?    

When midnight came and the couple still hadn’t arrived I decided to bail.  Erin and I had set the alarm for 5:00 am to visit the Valley of the Kings the next morning and I needed some sleep.  I said goodnight to my new friends and asked them to pass along my congratulations to the happy couple. 

Ryan is a Peace Corps volunteer who was working in Madagascar until he got evacuated due to the recent coup; Katy teaches middle school in a remote native village in Alaska; Ge is a Korean who has been traveling the world for two years.  We joined this eclectic group and the five of us boarded a felucca (Egyptian sailboat) for a three-day sail up the Nile River.

Perhaps the best part of traveling is meeting new and interesting people — and there is no better way to make fast friends than to spend two nights on a tiny felucca without any bathrooms. 

Ge didn’t say much. He spent the last two years traveling the world learning English but only had a 25 word vocabulary.  (He abandoned the boat on the second day, explaining that he needed to see more of the world).  We spent two great days sailing the Nile, watching the beautiful sunsets, sharing stories with Ryan and Katy, and falling asleep under the stars of the Egyptian night sky.

By far the biggest character on the boat was our captain Ziggy (aka Mohammad).  We’re pretty sure that he took all the money that we gave him for the boat and spent it on hash because Ziggy spent the entire two-night trip completely stoned.  We searched our camera but we don’t have a single picture of him – probably because he spent most of the two days in the small crawl space under the boat losing his mind. But at least he was entertaining.  When the mood struck he’d pick up his drum and sing us all a few songs (the best was his improvised song to the tune of ”She’ll be Coming ‘Round the Mountain”).  Luckily Ziggy had the foresight to employ a second-in-command (a 12 year old boy) to prepare the meals and do the actual sailing.  

Maybe it was Ziggy’s powerful hash, or our inexperienced second-in-command, but after two full days of sailing in circles, we finished our trip about a mile up the river from where we started.  Ziggy, put down the joint and explain to me why we’re back in Aswan!?! After all that sailing, we had to drive an hour north on a bus to see the Nile temples at Edfu and Esna. 

Although not as well preserved as Abu Simbal, the 4000-year-old temples were pretty amazing.  To put it in perspective of just how old these ruins are, if Jesus visited these temples 2000 years ago, he would have thought man, these temples are freakin old!

I can see the light!

After some hard sleeping on the felucca we were looking forward to checking into a hotel and enjoying a few days in Luxor.

We said goodbye to the lush greens of southern Ethiopia and headed for the red desert of Egypt. Although technically still part of the Africa, the sights, sounds, and smells of Egypt were a big change from everything we’ve been experiencing over the last several months. It only took one walk through the souk in Aswan – with the smells of spices, sheesha and hummos filling the air – to know that we really weren’t in Africa anymore.

Although interesting in its own right, most people visit Aswan as a jumping-off point to see the ancient Egyptian temples at Abu Simbal. In the 13th century BC, Pharaoh Ramses II built two huge monuments on the banks of the Nasser River – one to himself and one to his wife Nefertari. The temples were buried under the sand for thousands of years before they were rediscovered in the early 1800s.

Like most people, our first reaction when we saw the massive statutes at Abu Simbal was “WOW!”

Jeff:  Rames’ temples are truly astounding monuments . . . to himself.  This guy had some kind of ego!  In addition to the four 60-foot statutes of himself he had carved into the rock at the entrance of the temple, there are hundreds of reliefs inside the temple (no photos allowed) that track his deification and link him with the other Egyptian gods of the period.  Ramses may have had an inflated sense of self, but we couldn’t be too hard on him.  After all, he did decide to let the Jews out of Egypt (with some help from frogs, lice, locusts etc…).

Erin:  The temple Rames built was massive, but I was more impressed by the smaller more beautiful temple honoring his wife Nefertari.  The artwork inside the temple depicting Nefartari is incredible – stunning and after 3000 years still colorful.  Despite the BIG sign that said “No Photos” I couldn’t help myself.  The temple was too beautiful.  I sneaked a couple photos without using a flash.  I got two great ones and then went for a third when a big burly guard stopped me and asked for my camera.  I was so busted!  Heart racing, I started showing him the photos I took in Ethiopia by pressing the back button on my camera… but he was wise to my trick.  He told me in his limited English to press the forward button and started calling for the bigger burlier security guards to come over.  Yikes!  A picture of a dilapidated women’s prison flashed before my eyes.  Realizing there was no way in hell I was getting those photos out of Egypt and fearing Amnesty International might get involved in freeing me, I started to delete as fast as I could without him noticing.  I lost the photos but kept the camera and avoided an illusionary prison sentence.  

We were both blown away by Abu Simbal — the beautiful scenery by the Nasser river, the massive scale of the temples and the intricate craftsmanship –  but we were even more astounded by what we learned once we got back from Aswan.  It turns out that archeologists were worried about the rising water table levels in the nearby river, and so in 1964 they MOVED THE TEMPLES!  It took four years and $40 million (about $275 million in today’s dollars), but they successfully dismantled both temples and then rescostructed them in a new location about 500 feet away.  They did such a good job that we had no idea about the re-location when we were at the site.  We couldn’t decide which was a more amazing feat for mankind: carving the temples out of rock in the 13th century BC or moving the rock temples in the 1960s.