We are now in this amazing
place called Luxor which will be commented on in the next (and last!) missive.
Day 49, Sat Mar 4th,
New Plan (Day 3 of 6)
Up
at 1:15 am to prepare for 3 hour and 40 minute flight to Cairo leaving at 4:15
am, presently at airport lounge.
I
think Ethiopia has to be my favourite country to date; the people, the food,
the scenery, the sheer volume of humanity and animal activity, there is no
place like it.
The
people: did not have a bad vibe anywhere, all so friendly, inquisitive, trying
hard for the most part, conversant in English or at least making a good
attempt, peaceful, not too aggressive, look to be doing okay with not very much
to be okay with, just a pleasure to associate with especially service people in
the tourist business where we stayed etc., gas station clientele and the like.
The
food: their soups are to die for especially lentil, their fish is as good or
better than home, salads imaginative, table service excellent, breakfasts
with lots of fruit and omlettes a staple for all of us, coffee good but for the
most part needed hot milk and sugar.
The
scenery: one step off spectacular, picture the best parts of the Coquihalla
around every corner at least in the mountains, tons to look at especially
people and animals (you better look at the animals otherwise you will be
dead!), majestic peaks and valleys to soak up on tight turns up and down.
The
activity: by traffic I do not mean trucks and cars on the road, far from it, I
mean animals and people in that order almost overwhelming; get used to it, slow
down, enjoy the chaos for what it is because there will be nowhere else in the
world with this congestion; the villages, literally hundreds maybe thousands a
sea of vibrancy and goings on; I often wondered even in the middle of nowhere,
just where was all of this movement goint to and from?
So
here I am missing my gang, no one to needle or be needled by! Our trip will be
over in two weeks and everyone will be going their separate ways so it will be
a big adjustment and change to get used to. I am looking forward to going home
sure but it will seem like a bit of a let down after all of our excitement on
an almost daily basis since we left almost two months ago. Being on a
motorcycle every single day (actually with well positioned breaks) is exciting
in its own way but add on a Cape to Cairo junket makes it a serious adventure
as you have been reading.
Helge
needs to be complemented for his aplomb and grace under fire. Aaron, Mac, Tom
and myself have put him through his paces and challenged his resources and
patience. Let me tell you about Mac: last Sunday 26th on the way in to Lalibela
there was a bunch of kids playing on a bridge between dirt roads, a pretty hot
and dusty place, dry creek bed (this being the dry season anyway). They looked
a bit threatening so Helge stopped to confront them. They scattered like flies.
Mac was right behind and one girl about 12 got caught under his motorbike going
by this time at very slow speed; no harm done luckily but it was reported to
the police who showed up at our hotel; three hours in the local station and
the chief shows up and says there are written and unwritten rules, this is an
unwritten one, you owe us 500 bucks to pay off the kid (and us by definition).
Mac who wasn't really at fault (I was right behind him) ended up paying 300 but
it was a problem that Helge really did not need to have surface and of course
it could have been much more serious.
I am
now on Egyptian Air and suddenly realize that I am now leaving Black Africa
and moving in to Arab Africa; quite a change particularly the language
difference, a bit spooky actually!
Karma
must be on my side! I meet this nice Muslim clad woman near the exit of the
baggage area and she takes me to the Egyptian tourist office where I meet
Ahmed the branch manager; a little skeptical at first, I am soon at ease.
He
has me set up with a driver into town and a meeting this afternoon at 1 pm with
Souzy who will be my guide for today and tomorrow. She is apparently excellent
and all is prepaid for $305 so will see if I get my money's worth.
Speaking
of money's worth and being of the frugal persuasion I found via Trip Advisor
and Expedia the Marriot and Omar Khayyan Casino Hotel in the Zamalek area for
$129. The best price elsewhere was $238 so I am a ahead of the game so far.
The
exchange rate is £16 to the US dollar; a few years back it was £6.
The
Marriot right here on the banks of the Nile in the Zamalek area of town is a
perfect choice; the room is spacious with a nice view of the river and the
service is over the top, lucky me!
Souzy
picks up pretty tired Nick and off we go to the Egyptian Museum one of THE
most famous museums in the world. It was conceived and designed by a Frenchman
between 1899 and 1901 to collect and house as many of the spread out, ancient
Egyptian treasures as possible. It has an outside look of the Louvre although
considerably smaller.
You
have to firstly get your head around just how OLD everything is in this place.
The Mayan ruins are 2000 BC but some of this stuff is well over 3000 BC; the
complexity of the statues and pieces which you can reach out and touch is
stunning.
Souzy
is full of detail especially for this tired mind but I cannot help but marvel
at what the Pharaohs achieved over such millennial as follows:
-pre
332 BC Pharaohs ruled for approx 3,000 yrs, set themselves up as gods really
-332
BC Alexander the Great came and ruled for only a very short time, died and one
of his generals (Bartholomew) took over until 30 BC
-30
BC to 641 AD Romans
-641-1952
Islamic rule mostly by Turks (King Farouk 1936-52) when it became a republic
(Nassaer, Sadat, Mubarek 1980-2010, Morsi, Sisi).
Details
of this amazing place can be googled but the most interesting exhibit had to be
the King Tut one (circa 1300 BC). Discovered as recently as 1922 by British
archaeologist Howard Carter it contains approx 5,000 priceless items with one
being an11.6 kg exact mask of pure gold placed over the king when he died at19
(having been appointed aged 9).
We
then went to an interesting essence outlet supported by quite a large family
who has factories making the many varieties. Next door was a government outlet
showing how paper was first made out of papyrus starting 3,000 years ago.
Souzy
and I finished off our day with an evening dinner cruise on the Nile. It was
full, lively with entertainment and a good way to complete a rather long day.
Suzie
is a Christian (10%), 28, unmarried and loves her job. Her father is a
cardiologist, mother a tax collector and she has a 22 year old brother studying
medicine. She is very supportive of what Sisi is trying to accomplish
and did not like Obama's treatment of Egypt during his two terms. She says that
the media as usual way over blows things and scares people away. Tourism is
back somewhat and never should have gone away as there is so much to see and do
in this safe country. She feels that Egyptians are inherently peaceful people
and that the tiny number of crazies make it bad for everyone. By the way, she
hates her arab language but it is an obvious necessity; her original language
and hieroglyphics were taken away from her by the Islamists starting way
back in 641.
Last detail, population approaching 100 mm with 30 mm in Cairo.
Day 50, Sun, Mar 5th New Plan (Day 4 of 6)
Another busy day under Souzy Tadros's supervision; she has a bachelor's in Egyptology from the U. of Cairo, really knows her stuff and loves what she does which easily comes across in her enthusiasm.
How Egypt got its name; was spelt Kmt and pronounced Kemit which means black land because of the colour of the clay of the Nile; the Greeks changed it to Kpt or Kiptic or Coptic to conform to their alphabet; the Romans then changed it to Gpt which meant Egyptus in latin hence Egypt.
Coptic refers to Egyptian orthodox christianity which uses similar mythology to the Greek and Russian versions. Orthodox means 'the old one' emanating from Jesus and pre-dates Catholicism which sought to control everything.
Today is Sunday which is a work day here (Friday and Saturday are their weekends). Christians celebrate mass on Sundays and are expected to come to work by 10 am whereas the regular working hours are 9-5 like elsewhere.
I am not much of a church touring person but I was really struck by our visitations today. We went to a Jewish synagogue, a mosque and an old church all from the 4th century which is one helluva long time ago when you really think about it; all were in almost perfect preservation in the very oldest part of old Cairo, kind of special.
We finished off the day with a late lunch in a town square adjacent to the local market which we visited later; thanks to Souzy I took the plunge, the cuisine was so tasty and different to anything I had ever seen or tasted before I had to eat more than my share it was that good. It was an eye opener to sit there smoking my hookah pipe and watch the busy world go by; must have been there close to 2 hours taking in the sights.
The guys selling in the
market are pretty good; I walk by one guy, Sir, what would you like to buy,
nothing, I have that too, what colour would you like?
While there there has been some international concerns and advisories about travel to Egypt these have been vastly over blown by the media and foreign embassy travel advisories according to Souzy. Egyptian tourism suffered terribly but is making a come back to where it was; from what I can see although there is a lot of obvious but not threatening security everywhere I never once felt anything but open arms of welcome from all of the locals. Egyptians have always been a peaceful non violent bunch, it is just a few bad guys that wreck it for everyone else.
I do think however that the best way to enjoy this amazing country is with an organized tour guide and driver and it is relatively cheap. Tonight we went out to Giza for a one hour sound and light show. Tomorrow my driver Maher picks me up at 5 am for the half hour trip out to the airport- all this for $305 is about the best bargain anyone could hope for!
My short stay in Cairo has been amazing in the way all of the Egyptian people have embraced me; I feel so comfortable in this big, organized, beautiful and ancient place; I am sure there are pockets where you might be best to stay away from as in any place but I have felt right at home at all times. Let's hope the rest of the visit down south is the same way!
Day 51, Mon, Mar 6th New Plan (Day 5 of 6)
In my hotel travels I have never come across service levels quite like the Marriot in Zamalek. Their courtesy, efficiency, efforts to please and overall pleasant demeanour is something to behold and I have made a comment to Trip Advisor accordingly.
Cairo itself for a big town is a model of efficiency and order as far as I could tell. It is clean, traffic moves reasonably well (except for rush hour), english is prevalent and everyone seems interested in doing a great job of serving the visitor.
Up at 4:30 for a 5 am pick
up and airport arrival at 5:30 for a 7:30 am departure to Abu Simbel with a
changeover in Aswan.
Uneventful flight south but you always have some butterflies when you absolutely HAVE to make everything work in a foreign country. There was no room for error as this was the first and only flight available to Abu Simbel. Omar will be arriving with his driver tonight and first thing tomorrow morning we head south to meet the gang. The tricky part might be explaining why I am on one side of the border and my bike is on the other so we shall see.
I am sitting by a very nice pool in the shade at a 'B' level place called the Nefertari Abu Simbel relaxing (finally!) and catching up on some reading and work if you can call it that.
Day 52, Tue, Mar 7th New
Plan (Day 6 of 6)
I met Omar our guide and Ackmed our driver last night, nice guys and pretty much chain smokers. We went in to the small Abu Simbel village for them to eat so had a chance to kick around with some locals. Omar is from Alexandria, Ackmed is from Cairo and they drove down here in their older model Toyota Landcruiser.
They came via the desert
eastern route which would have been our preferred direction of travel too but
for security reasons this was nixed by the authorities. They both said it was
no problem whatsoever. Omar is a
bedouin way back when and carries a 9 mm Gloc with him but has never had
occasion to use it.
Today we got our way the short distance to the ferry to cross Lake Nasser, about a one hour ride; lots of folks on board wanting to practice their english so I was kept pleasantly busy. One old guy lamented the flooding of 45 Nubian villages in the early 1970's by Nasser when the Aswan Dam was completed.
Before the ferry ride we
hooked up with 'the very famous' Gamal who will be our 'fixer' at the border.
This will be the most time consuming, bureaucratic expensive border of them
all; true British paperwork carried to another level. Gamal's cost according to
Helge is $170 per person so you can imaging the payoffs to get our stuff to the
top of the pile and a lot of intermediate steps along the way so everyone at
the trough gets looked after, ridiculous I say.
I was excited to get back
with my group, lots of hugs and hi-5s. It sounds like if there was one country
to miss it was Sudan; the people are incredibly nice I heard, over the top nice
and share everything and want zero in return. The big problem is the backwardness,
their attitude towards women (Debbie experienced slights daily) and the
garbage; apparently there is so much plastic garbage piled all over the place
you cannot drive around it you have to drive through it. The food was okay but
some of the hotels were awful- washrooms down the hall, no towels, no toilet
paper, missing toilet seats, cock roaches finding their way into luggage, etc.
etc.; all of this and no booze to sooth the nerves and it was a good miss;
should be a good party tonight!
One early observation,
everyone chain smokes, the men more than the women; it costs $2 per pack which
for them is expensive. Oamar is two packs per day Ackmed is one.
I arrived at the border at about 10 am and it took us 4 hours to get through the Egyptian side; the others took about 2 hours to get through the Sudan side so it was a longish day for them. We returned via the ferry to our hotel for a nice swim.
Day 53, Wed, March 8th, Nefertari Abu Simbel Hotel, 0 Km
We had a good dinner last night with the alcohol flowing freely and a day off from the bikes today. Again I heard chapter and verse about the Sudan junket and saw a bunch of photos; it was a good miss even though it cost a few thou to catch up and there were some anxious moments!
I am officially back with the gang and as the lone Canadian the mud is flowing fast and furious; no problem as I can handle the onslaught and dish it out just fine!
Pretty easy day; breakfast 7:30 am then off to see a wonderful set of temples within walking distance of our hotel. In the 1960's Nasser flooded what became the single biggest man made lake in the world as part of the plan to create the Aswan Dam. Named after him, it is 500 km long and up to 170 m deep in the middle. Part of the problem apart from the desecration of so many Nubian villages was the potential destruction of 14 very important temples built by Pharoah Ramses and others 3300 years ago in about 1280 BC.
Unesco was asked to get
involved and with significant German engineering, the help of 5 international
companies and archaeological assistance, $36 mm was spent between 1964-68 to
move the two most important ones 66 m higher and 200 m back from this new lake.
They used bull dozers, cranes, heavy saws and meticulous numbering of
1041 huge blocks of sandstone (some of them up to 7 tons) to create this huge
success for all the world to see and enjoy (4 of the 14 are in NY, Holland,
Italy and France and the others are elsewhere in the country).
The Nile at 6,800 km is the longest river in the world along with the Amazon; it runs through 10 country's and the lake can move up and down approx. 10 metres even though there is no rain in these parts.
This area is far to the
south of where the Pharaohs wanted to be (600 km south of Luxor) but it
contained most of the gold they so treasured for their activities;
therefore, they had to conquer the area to extract the resource.
Ramses III was the man to do it and he was an extraordinary guy; the third of 11 Ramses he lived to 97 had 34 wives and 150 kids. He set himself up as an all powerful god in direct competition with the powerful priests of the day and accomplished a lot in his long life including these incredible temples for all to enjoy even today.
When you walk through this place you wonder just how the experts were able to interpret all of the complicated art work on the walls. In 1789 the Rosetta Stone was discovered east of Alexandria in a town called Rashid by a Frenchman, Monsieur Champlian (sp?).
The Rosetta Stone which resides in the British Museum in London was the communication key to the whole vast puzzle. It was written in 3 languages, coptic, hieroglyphics and dumotic (sp?) and went a long way towards allowing us to understand the complicated Egyptian society of so long ago.
The 33rd Pharaoh Bartholomew lived during the Greek-Roman time and gave the world this gift as a cross referencing system; it might be written in cartouche but I am sure I have some of this wrong as the guide was a bit hard to follow!
Unfortunately international visitations to this area have fallen on hard time since the Arab Spring and Tahir Square 5 years ago. In those days Abu Simbel would enjoy 5-6,000 visitors per day. Now they get 5-600; too bad because it is a spectacular place.
Tomorrow Aswan and then more delights in Luxor.
Day 54, Thur, Mar 9th, 284 km
Nefertari Abu Simbel Hotel to Helnan Aswan Hotel, Aswan
Nice to get back on my
bike, easy ride up the highway to Aswan. Early on I am wrapped up a bit for
the cool morning and then take off a few layers halfway along; the terrain is
like the surface of the moon so nothing to report except a few polite police
checkpoints.
I thought my adventures would be winding down by now, I guess not.
All the bikes are issued with official Egyptian license plates at the border which have to be visible and returned in Alexandria. Aaron did not attach the front one properly and it came off almost right away. In officious Egypt, this is a problem although I do not know how much.
We get to Aswan late this morning to meet up with 'very famous ' Gamal; this velly big problem, velly big he mutters as I ride in his old rattle trap vehicle, hot, windows don't wind down, just me and him plus cigarettes; 10 minutes to police station, in we go, first one office, then another, then upstairs, getting bounced around. I am trying to check out epaulets, make eye contact and smile as you never know who is important and who might speak a bit of english (Gamal's is terrible) and of course 'I am from Canada' etc a lot, some interest but 'Vancouver' draws a blank and I have left my world map at the hotel. Finally we are downstairs again and get ushered into a room with a jail cell, empty for now! I sit down, stand up several times, get introduced around, get offered a cup of tea, Gamal is working with a studious guy who is writing something down. In comes 3 guys who get put in this temporary jail cell which is then locked. Finally Gamal and Mr. Studious have me sign something and he goes off to make copies and do whatever else is necessary.
By the way, if the Pharoah's from 3000 years ago could see the state of decay in this part of the world they would be rolling in their graves. Their craftsmanship, creativity, and sheer imagination and knowledge are still being marveled at today yet their descendants are very, very poor replicas in the world of today.
I am wrinting this in the police station to pass the time. I ask 'very famous' Gamal how long and he says 5 minutes. By now I know what 5 minutes or 10 minutes means ie. it could mean forever. Finally we are out of there $60 for an admin charge to Gamal which was worth it because he had to come the previous day and see 4 people to set it all up. Total elapsed time 2 hours, not bad really.
The guys are in the bar waiting for me so we can go on our bus tour. First question, how did it go, not good, what do you mean, $1,000 fine I only have $400 so need a top up and will reimburse you, guys start digging in their pockets, one heads to the room; I have been getting the razmataz about the lone Canadian, likely jail time or at least delay leaving country, what will happen to motorcycle etc. etc. so had to get in a little payback!
Fatimah (and her nice friend Nesma) turned out to be one of our best guides of the trip; an archeology major, clear english and slower of speech she educated us about the history of the Aswan area (greater population about a million).
The important antiquities here are the obelisks; the pharoahs people came here to carve out multi ton granite statues out of special rock quarries. The quarry we saw is two km to the river and the obelisk pictured here is 42 metres long and weighs 1200 tons. How in the heck did they dislodge this massive piece let alone move it? (the reason it is even here is that it cracked in place in 2500 BC and became useless for further refinement)
These granite obelisks are
now displayed all over the world as an awareness opportunity to encourage
people to come here and see for themselves how advanced their civilization was
in those days. The procedure was that they carved and carved into the bedrock
and then dislodged the large blocks by driving sicamore wedges under the piece
and soaking the wood; the wood absorbed the water then expanded and eventually
burst and separated the underlying rock from the obelisk; seems crazy but that
is what they did.
We then went to two islands, Fila and Elphantine to look at how more temples were re-located and moved when the Awan Dam was being built- not as impressive as Abu Simbel but pretty impressive just the same. Speaking of the Dam, there are 12 massive turbines on one and 4 on another each I believe kicking out 175,000 kilowatts per turbine.
Last of the day just
before dark was an hour long sail on an old arab sailing vessel called a
Faluca. It is a gaff rigged sail they used in olden times and the only draw
back is that there was no cold beer to enjoy on the trip (alcohol is hard to
come by in these parts except at the major hotels).
Day 55, Fri, Mar 10
Helnan Aswan Hotel to Maritim Jolie Ville Jinks, Luxor 234 km
I am in the back seat of Omar's car having given up my bike for Aaron to ride. Achmed is beside me and we are squeezed in pretty tight; we have a mysterious guest in the front seat.
His name is Hussein and he has a heckler koch automatic weapon hidden inside his vest and it looks pretty efficient. I asked to see the bullets but he would not show them; they are 9 mm just like Omar's Glock.
Our guys are travelling under convoy supervision today. It seems a bit over the top frankly but what do I know? The Egyptians are extremely security conscious and a lot of the reason is that tourism is their number one industry. It has suffered a lot since Tahir Square 5 years ago.
Yesterday I counted 45 tour buses travelling to Abu Simbel. If you figure they were half full that is something like 1,000 to 1,200 tourists going down there compared to what before, not sure.
Security phobia, and we are not allowed on the main artery to Luxor but the stop and go, village by village, speed bump route, far mor interesting. Omar says it is complete shit; already the so called convoy is way spread out and our armed guard is essentially useless; at least I am supposedly safe!
We just went through a very like I mean very well armed check point. I am pretty sensitized now with 12,000 plus km under my belt but this all seems quite over the top so I am in agreement with Omar.
Don't get me wrong, there are legitimate issues here. However they are all up in the Sinai in the far north east of the country and only in a tiny bit of the Sinai at that. Every Egyptian I have spoken to is sad that the country has been essentially ostracized by the world. They have SUCH a story to tell and everyone should hear it and SEE it!
We stopped at this really cool Kom Ambo which is a little coffee joint in a sugar cane area. Tom and Mac are there and it is Friday the local day off and it is full of turban clad guys (no women) drinking tea and coffee, smoking their hookah's and playing dominoes. Like checkers I used to think I was okay so the guys are friendly and invite me to sit down. They play so damn fast I was quickly out of my element!
Largely uneventful ride,
lots of speed bumps, police check points with menacing weaponry; main
agriculture is mango oranges, banana growing and sugar cane.
Egypt is made up of 28 governorships comprising 3
parts, Lower (Cairo and Nile delta) Upper Egypt and Nubian Egypt).
A few closing observations:
-we are all getting quite used to the Muslim call
to prayer, it is quite lovely, not that I am on the way to getting converted
-I have not done justice to commenting on the
amazing bird life in Africa and I feel a bit bad about that with the only
excuse being that not everything can be commented on.
Time to get this second to last (promise!) Missive out, best, NG
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