Well I'm right at the end of my tour, last day today and just chilling in cairo before our 4am flight to amsterdam and london.
Well I don't know if I cld possibly put it all into words. The trip itself has been lifechanging, the culture of egypt, the people and the country itself has a beguiling charm which has wrangled a place into my heart.
I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to be a long and winding entry so be prepared guys.. a lot has happened so lots to fill u all in on.
It was a long road to get to egypt as well, we flew out - me, carmen and cathy, from london straight to amsterdam arriving at 11pm at night. When we got into amsterdam we went straight to the luggage carosel only to find our bags weren't there. Turns out there had been a mistake at check in and our luggage was booked to continue on to cairo when we flew out the next nite. So with just our backpacks and clothes on our backs we set off for the hostel. We negotiated a fare with our driver as we were driving along, another car pulled up alongside us and the driver obviously knew the other one and made the facial expression for blow job which sort of summed up my experience there.
When we finally got to the hostel it was no surprise to find it was dodgy dirty and unpleasant but it was a bed for the nite. After being woken several times by our noisey room mates we freshend up as much as we cld with our airline fresh packs then set off for a day of sightseeing. First stop was anne franks house. It was a freezing blisteringly cold day which seemed to make a visit to her house all the more poignant, luckily I had my runners and coat with me so I was warm enough. When we got to the house I was struck by how simple, normal and completely ordinary it looked. The bottom old warehouse part had been transformed into a modern part of the museum. No cameras are allowed inside but the moment I stepped inside I knew I wld remember it forever with my heart. we entered the first room and there was a film with extracts from the diary and it set a sombre mood over those listening. There was a constant flow of people inside but I felt completely alone, esconded in a silent box absorbing everything around me. I was met by large sized images of anne and I was struck by her innocent beauty and the naveive hopeful personality which shone thru her face. As we wound our way thru the house, past the secret staircase behind the bookcase and into the kitchen, living and bedrooms which were crammed into the hidden annexe i was overwhelmed by just how very small it was and that 8people had once lived in this place for just over two years, u cld see the view to the street that anne would sometimes secretly covet and it was surreal to be standing in the same spot where she had penned numerous writings to her kitty, her diary. I had just finished re-reading her diary before i visited the place and it made the experience all the more real. What really hit home for me was a filmed interview of one of the women who helped hide hte franks in the house, and also a neighbour who saw anne at auschwitz and tried to give her secret food, just days before she died, not long after her sister died. I saw the entry on the auchwitz entry book where the franks signed their names when they arrived, so many names so many families were in there it was a sight to see. Just so devastating to think that so many families lost their loved ones in that place. There was a film piece by otto frank before he died where he talks about what it was like surviving the camp and searching for his wife and daughters and what it was like reading annes diary. I became overwrought and had a good long sob, his grief was so palable, so raw and penetrating it just made u appreciate how lucky we are to have never had to go through what he went through, and some of annes words on how we are all of one race, humanity and that one day, people wont be viewed by religion or race and be seen as people who are capable of love, forgiveness and of living together peacefully..
At the end of the tour, I bought a copy of the anne frank diary from the museum, it only felt right and it went to the charity which preserves all historical pieces of jewish culture during world war two. It really was one of those experiences you know will last with you for a very long time.
after this we meandered along the picturesque canals of amsterdam before reaching the city square and navigating our way to the red light district. It wasn't nearly as what i had expected, possibly because it was day time and not as busy, but seeing hte women in the windows, the men going in and out so openly, stoned people on every corner and all the sex which oozed out of every pore of hte centre wasn't all that exciting, in fact it got a bit boring. We went to the sex musueum where i posed with a giant sized penis and as a dominatrix in a photo, checked out sexualised cartoons, - just a word of wisdom here, disturbing beyond belief to see the seven dwarves getting excited over snow white.. very odd.. that story will never be the same for me again!.. nor will tom and jerry!
So it was one of my goals to see a live sex show, just to have seen it and finally we found one. But we got the times mixed up and ended up going into it like an hour too early and because it was rainy and miserable and horrible outside we just decided to wait in the room/theatre before hte show. Meanwhile, they played porn over and over.. it was funny, we had a good giggle and i had a nap while i waited. The show consisted of two strip shows and one live couple show. The first two strip shows were the worst i have ever ever seen in my life!. it was shocking, they couldnt dance and one lady was in her 40s-50s.. just not pretty either.. like a school matron.. the funniest part really was when the couple came out.. they played gregorian chant music, with the words echoing throughout the room 'relax, meditate let ur mind relax' god i was in hysterics, they were wearing hooded cloaks and then they started doing their thing to the music, there was one guy in frnt of us who kept moving just to try and see from differnt angles what was happening.. god it made me laugh.. the couple looked so bored and he cld hardly get it up, so for me it simply wasnt all that exciting and rather boring to be honest.
After that we just walked around then headed to a local cafe before going to train station and off to the airport for the most exciting part of hte journey.. egypt.
From the moment we arrived at cairo city airport it was a culture shock. It was unlike anything I cld have ever prepared myself for , as we touched down on the runway there was a place in the middle of hte runway where there were random palm trees, just planted in the middle because thats the done thing. Palm trees are everywhere over here! There are no traffic lights over here, its just everyman for himself on the roads and honking horns are the rules of the road. On my first day here i saw a blind man crossing 8 lanes of busy traffic, just crazy. Cairo itself is shrouded in a grimy film of smog, the buildings are permanent shades of grey and dirty brown. The entire city looks as though it cld do with being put in a massive bath tub and scrubbed and washed to within an inch of its life. The praying from the mosques are played by speakers throughout the city 5 times a day and gives it an eerie, almost soulful feel. The men stare, and the women are covered, and tourists are hassled constanly. But it has a beguiling charm that gradually warms the heart to its gritty murky core. While the culture is so differnt, family is very important here and little children are always safe, they are on the streets til late at nite and everyone, even strangers look out for them. Its just not a concern.
The first day we went to the egyptian museum of antiquities and saw some oif tutakamens treasure, mummies which still had their hair, eyes and nails which was rather creepy and many other artefacts before continuing on to an original papryrus shop, u could buy pictures painted or drawn onto the papyrus so i decided to get a couple. THen it was off to spinx and pyramids. It was incredibly surreal to be standing in front of hte pyramids and seeing it all for the first time, just crazy. Our guide Hassan really made our trip, his passion for egyptology and his knowledge got us all excited and i learnt so much about the culture, religion, traditions and ancient egyptian heritage from him.
At the pyramids, we went ona camel ride to get a view of it all, it was breathaking soaking in the view of the pyramids over cairo.. i dont think pictures will ever convey the sheer presence and beauty of these structures and just how small u feel next to them.
That night we boarded the train to aswan which was one of my favourite places. its an ancient city, formerlly known as thebes during the roman rule of egypt, and has a vibe thats hard to describe, our hotel sat in the middle of the city's bazaar. Its a small city with only two small streets, but in the bazaar they had baby crocodiles you could pat and have pictures taken with, jewellery, spices, and everything you could iomagine. it was just lovely. But that is when the hassling began, and it didnt stop. The store venders loved to try it on.
I can't tell u the amount of times I heard a whole range of lines
' Hello beautiful, will u be my wife? How many camels'
' Lovely body' 'nice coronas' 'mmm spices', ' I don't know what u want but in my store I have it', 'give me ur money, buy my things', and so much more it was hilarious and honestly I wasn't that bothered but it did get annoying some times. a classic one was though " look at the ground" and id look then the guy would go "my heart, my heart, u stepped on it" lol god it made me laugh. I dont know why but a few thought i was egptian or italian looking, so they would try and talk to me in arabic or italian. but once they knew we were aussie they would say "gday mate" and "aussie aussie aussie, oi oi oi" it made me laugh.
Our group was a great group of 6 guys and 5 girls.. i got along really well with all of them nad have all agreed to meet up soon again in london and a couple who i know i wil be good friends with.
On one of our days in aswan we went to the temple of Abu Simbel, a temple made my Ramses the second, for him and a temple he made for his wife nefetari.. it was absolutely stunning and beautiful, its featured in quite a few movies and the facade and inside was breathtaking. The sad thing was seeing the graffiti, people from the 1800s and 1700s had written on the temple their names and stuff and it was so sad to see these impressive relics defaced in such a way. The road to abu simble is long and isolated so we had to travel witha police convoy to be safe and this made travel a bit of aslow process.
From aswan we boarded our felucca ( a traidtional egyptian sailboat) to luxor where valley of hte kings, and hot air balooning at sunrise awaited us. The felucca was an open one level sailboat with a large bed under a shade sail which was where we slept, ate and chilled out. The nubian captain took us to a secluded nubian village where we met the local children, bought their local jewellery, i had a henna tattoo put on me and just enjoyed their company and their dancing. The food was devine, mainly lebanese kind of bread, with tahini sauce, beef and lamb kofta and falafel, just delicious, the weather was very warm but not too hot and was lovely to just chill out in the sun and relax. I began to really feel like i was on holiday. The nile was gorgeous at sunset and sunrise, i saw it every day and it was beautiful. The borders of hte river were rich and lush with vegetation and oasis type trees and wildlife but beyong its fringes was orange, red and yellow desert.
When we finally got to luxor and after a much needed shower and sleep in our hotel we headed off the next morning for hte hot air balooning. I was grumpy after not getting a lot of sleep and bit sore from the cramped conditions on the felucca, but when we finally got to the site, i was filled with excitement, we took off just west of valley of the kings and were in the air to see the sun peak over hte horizon and light up the valley, as u will see in the pictures it was unreal. Our baloon driver was a bit of a character and deliberately made out like we were going to crash once just to freak us out and lowered us so we could skim the top of a farming field. A bit scary but gave us a good laugh. They were so professional and skilled, i think it was a real credit to them for how it was conducted which i have to say has to be said for much of egypt, the tourism facilities and their behavioru and treatment of us was really lovely, people even people in the street would say welcome and hello and would just like to stop and chat to you. it was a wonderfula nd endearing feature of the place.
For the trip to valley of hte kings we hopped on a donkey and made the trek there, i had a slow donkey who ignored any attempts to speed things up and just plodded along at the last of the group which was so frustating. When we got there the sun was already high in the sky and in egypt its the morning time were it is most hot. I hardly drank any water and soon started feeling faint. After sitting in the shade for a while, my guide was helping me to the car when i passed out onto him. I came around to our whole group staring at me and an american medic talking to me one of the guys in the group said " you'll have to talk slow shes australian" and it made me laugh. Because i was feeling so dizzy and exhausted they thought it was just heat exhaustion and i shd take it easy. We took in two more tombs before i started to feel worse, so the guide took me to the hospital where i had to get a jab in the bum to stop me from being sick. Going into a third world hospital was an experience in itself but they were very good to me and i was feeling better in no time.
And now the tour is virtually over. it will be on to ireland next but i cant ignore what egypt has done to me personally. Seeing the poverty, the people, it has changed a lot about the way i view things now i think. It has also reignited my desire to see africa and not only see it but volunter over here or in jordan or syria. the culture and history is just awe inspiring, as our guide said to uis on our first day, if you are lucky enough to fall in love with egypt then it will fall in love with you. And i cant believe it has had such an impact on me.
It was so sad to see the way they treat their animals, stray dogs and cats, one dog who had clearly just had pups came up to me in luxor temple and nuzzled me and was dying for affection so i cuddled her and patted her and she was so gorgeous.. i obviously used disinfectant gel later but some of hte animals crave affection so badly you just want to pick them up and hold them. but this is their way of life and u have to respect it.
Of course there is the staring and constant ogling by some of hte men, but they never touched and they never did anything un toward, it was just felt and when i did cover up i did feel it was more out of respect for their culture then out of initimation of the men. They were more curious, fascinated but were very accepting of other ways of life and the way other people are. So that was differnt and hard to get used to but it didnt affect my trip in a bad way.
One thing i did get a lot of insight into was muslim cutlure, which is so different to what we are told and how it is represented to us in the western world. Our guide was very very candid and open about sharia law, and islamic culture and while some of it was shocking, the rest of it was really interesting and im resolved to buy a koran when i go back to london, if not just to understand more about it. The world could do a lot to understand the cultures of others, and i felt very ignorant when talking to him and asking questions. I feel the same about other coutnries i want to visit i want to learn more and understand more..
One thing is for certain tho, while i got sick and had an upset tummy I adored egypt, i think its one of those places you either love or hate. Despite its harsh exterior, its dirty, confronting exterior, deep in its heart beats a country proud of its heritage, culture and holds strong to its values and identity.
lots of love
xxxxx
jess
