Egypt Part III

Day Six, Seven and Eight - Temples and Hot Air Balloon

After the ferry ride to Hurghada, there were a few hours to kill before the bus that will take me to Luxor. Dragging my luggage around, I decided to venture into the street next to the bus terminal to get dinner. I kid you not, once I stepped into the street - filled with only men - turned around to look at me. I wondered if this was some kind of a male-only street in Egypt that I did not know about and my first instinct was to bolt right away/ But my stomach growled and I reminded myself that nothing would happen to me in the middle of a busy street. With that in mind, I took a deep breath and despite the hundred pairs of eyes still staring at me, I walked briskly down the street, dragging my luggage behind me, staring straight ahead and not making any eye contact with anyone at all. I took huge strides and acted like I knew where I was going - I hadn't a clue at all. 

This was one of many uncomfortable moments I've felt in this male-dominated society and I sincerely wished I were born a man instead, just so that I would feel less vulnerable.

I went into a decent-eating eatery that wasn't too big or too small which served grilled chicken with pita bread and Tahini, a sesame paste which I like very much. I chose a seat that allow me to see the people on the streets while keeping me semi-hidden from view. I've had enough unwanted attention for the day. After the dinner, I went to wait in the bus terminal, after witnessing a huge verbal fight between two big men, fending off several requests for money and the multiple personal questions thrown by a too friendly Egyptian man, I boarded the bus to Luxor.

A really nice family man with his wife and five children took care of me during this bus ride. I had wanted to sit down next to some dodgy Egyptian man at the back of the bus, but he came and said, “Come and sit with my family, you sit next to my boy.” The boy turned out to be an extremely cute three-year old with pinch-able cheeks. During the dinner break, he invited me to sit with his family again with bread and chips and he even bought me a can of soft drink. I was slightly paranoid that he would want me as his second wife the entire time but I guess I was, once again, just thinking too much for my own good.

He showed me the stop to get off -  in the middle of a dimly lit street with no traffic at 3a.m. in the morning. I was all alone except for a couple of policemen at a nearby checkpoint. I was feeling pretty panicky and at a loss. I thought I was going to Luxor, one of the busiest tourist sites in Egypt where I would have no trouble finding my way around and yet there I was, in the middle of nowhere with hardly anyone on the streets. Everyone on the bus was waiting for me to go so that the bus could start moving again. I had to suppress my panic and asked the bus driver how I could get to my hostel. The father acted as my translator and they helped me call a taxi. After expressing my gratitude to the father for taking care of me, the bus started up and took off, leaving me behind with my luggage in a trail of dust and sand.

Thankfully, the taxi did arrive and took me to a hostel. I was overcharged by five times, but I was so glad that I reached a place where I could rest so late in the night that I didn't do too much bargaining. When I reached the hostel, the receptionist who had been sleeping, came out to register my details, without his pants on. He was completely unabashed about it and when I reached my room, I finally realised why. The whole place was sickeningly hot even in the middle of the night and I could feel the humidity in the air. I did not sleep well that night and woke up next morning drenched in sweat. After being scalded by the bathroom water in the morning, I went down for breakfast to find an Asian guy eating breakfast. He seemed friendly enough and there was no one else around so I asked him if I could join him for breakfast. He turned out to be a nice and easy-going Korean and we ended up going to Karnak Temple together. Karnak Temple was probably the most impressive temple out of all that I'd seen, in terms of its size and the majesty of the structures, but there are other temples far well-preserved in the smaller details such the retention of the colours and more intricate carvings.

Entrance of Karnak Temple with ram guards

Hieroglyphics on the walls. Those encircled symbols represent a  King's name.

Mummy statues

The coptic people decided that they didn't like the queen so they chiselled all images of her out.

Paranomic view of the temple

The mummies are holding two keys - one for this life and one for the next. I like this idea so much that I even bothered to put up with the shopkeepers determined to squeeze every pound out of me and bought two key key chains.

Walking around the scarab seven times for good luck. I wanted to walk together with the Korean guy, but he said if we walk together, we will have to marry each other. We both felt that that it was too soon for a marriage proposal so we walked alone. 

The friendly Korean guy. I wish I got his name!

In Egypt, as far I know, the concept of boy or girlfriend is rather flamboyant and people only date to marry. So when two Asians walked together in Egypt, the only two reasons they are travelling together are

1. they are brothers and sisters 

2. they are married

So within few hours of knowing each other, in order to keep the answers to the numerous questions asked by the curious shopkeepers to taxi drivers simple, we become a married couple. I think the secret power of the scarab was super strong. Anyway, so we had lunch together and my fake husband soon left me later for Sharm, but he did introduce another French friend, Nicolas, to me who became my travelling companion for the remainder of the day and the next. We went to the pretty impressive Luxor Temple with more detailed carvings than Karnak Temple.

Luxor Temple

The sweltering heat pretty much made the visits to the two temples enough for the day, but I have exciting plans for the next day. 

I arranged for an hot air balloon ride very early next morning to catch the sunrise. A car would pick me up from the hostel and bring me to a jetty, where a boat will bring us across the river where the hot air balloons were. But perhaps due to the heat and dehydration, I was slightly delirious. After the tour operator told me to be ready downstairs at 4.20am the next morning, just before I went to sleep, I cleverly set the alarm clock for exactly 4.20am. I panicked when I woke up and discovered that the car to bring me to the ferry had left without me. I then woke the receptionist up, who was sleeping without his pants on again, and soon the car came back for me. When I reached the ferry, I realised everyone was waiting for me. On hindsight, I had slept till the latest among all the passengers and waited for the least amount of time for the ferry to depart, a decent trade-off for the huge morning stress it had caused me. 

Balloons preparing to take off

The balloon captain gave us a few minutes' talk about the safety and the taking-off and landing position where we had to assume and then we were off! All 25 of us fit nicely into a small basket, separated into five sections. Four corners of the basket held six passengers each and the middle portion stood the captain and all his air tanks.

Beautiful sunrise

The flame made a few people dripped with sweat.

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We flew over the mass landscape of ancient temples, uncompleted residential buildings without roofs, crops and animals and saw the vast desert, Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens and a snaking river. It was a enjoyable 45 minutes up in the air with a sweaty but jovial and hardworking captain. 

Reminds me of UP

Green vs sand

Landing and keeping the hot air balloon was a massive task that involved more than 20 workers. Once we touched down, I got the shock of my life. The 20 or so men started chasing at full speed towards us and flung their arms and held onto the edge of the basket. All these happened, when I was still squatted in the landing position and looking upwards out of the basket, watching more and more men appearing and wondering what the hell was happening. It was a confusing couple of minutes.

Keeping the balloon

But all was fine in the end and I enjoyed the first hot air balloon ride in my life :)

In the morning, Nicolas and I went for the West Bank Tour, which was a fascinating tour of the ancient temples and tombs. Unfortunately, I didn't pay much attention to the names of the temples and the pharaohs. The highlight of the tour, Valley of the Kings, containing some incredibly well-preserved tombs hidden deep underground, didn't allow any cameras to be brought into the compound at all. 

Original paint 3000 years ago. Offering incense to god.

Deeply carved hieroglyphs so that no one could deface them

All covered up despite the blazing sun

It was it to my adventures in Luxor, a treasure trove of ancient Egyptian culture and history.

Egypt Part II

Day Two, Three, Four and Five- Sharm El Sheikh

Couchsurfing
Originally I had thought that my accommodation plans for the first two nights will be in Cairo, spent at a couchsurfer host's place. But her cousins decided to come a night earlier to stay than expected and so I had to leave which I didn't really mind so much. I spent first half of the day going around the neighbourhood with her, looking at shops and stopping to eat occasionally.

Rody
Then I took an afternoon bus to Sharm El Shiekh, where I met Rody, a university student going to Sharm to visit her boyfriend or future husband during the weekend. It was nice to have her on the bus, because there were numerous checkpoints during the way and at some point we had to take out all our luggage for the police dogs to sniff. I wouldn't had known what to do without her help. We exchanged phone numbers and she called me a few times for the rest of trip to check how I was doing. But when we shared the taxi from the bus station, she left me confused and with the taxi bill, which wasn't much (S$6) but it just wasn't cool.

Sharm El Shiekh


Sharm, as the Egyptians call it, is a pretty touristy place. Lots of resorts with palm trees, most of them empty. Tourism has taken a huge hit  because of the riots. Another thing that puzzled me was that the there were hardly any women or children around. It turned out that Sharm was a place for Egyptians to work in the tourism sector, not a place to raise their family.

I stayed in a pretty nice one or two stars hotel in a private room with a mini fridge, tv, private shower with hot water and a swimming pool - the luxuries that I'll come to appreciate later on during the trip when I had become more stingy. A dive agency is right beside the hotel which is really cool and hotel guests get a 25% discount.

Marnam Beach and Scuba Review

Just decided to chill for the first half of the day on a beach to which the hotel provided free shuttle bus. I was the only guest who went so I could decide which time to go back too.To spend time on a beach with such strong summer weather was a definite tick on the medical list for skin cancer. The sun was burning hot and I pretty much stayed in the shade under the rattan umbrella all the time. I brought along my book A Song of Ice and Fire which I gotten for my birthday last year to read. It was peaceful when I put on my sunglasses and pretended to sleep and the beach necklace sellers and Egyptian spa package promoters left me alone.

Just chilling

Rattan Umbrella

The later half of the day was spent on doing scuba review. After two years of not diving, I had to do a review of all the skills which involved a test (and I thought it was done with exams... damn!) and practice of some skills in the swimming pool right beside the hotel. It was necessary and good for me, but I could tell that even the instructor was bored. After a short nap, I was ready for Mt Sinai, or so I thought.

Mount Sinai: It's the journey that matters

After finding out that St Katherine’s monastery is an UNESCO site and it was the foot of Mt Sinai, I had thought why not be up for another adventure and climb Mt Sinai as well. So I climbed aboard the tour bus at 9.30pm, slept the entire way and was woken up at 3am to find out that we were an hour behind schedule.

Sun rises at 5am and instead of three, we only had two hours to trek up seven kilometers of the winding sandy path. The tour guide was walking at a breakneck speed and I had I had immense difficulty in keeping up. Some of my friends call me 'flabs', an enduring nickname because they noticed my flabby or flappy arms and calves, for a good reason.

Now I could understand what people meant when climbing, though the summit is the goal, it's the journey that counts. Mt Sinai is a small and easy mountain to conquer and reaching the summit is no big deal to even the novice climbers. But what's different from other mountains was that there were severe temptations like having an ice-cream on a burning hot day. Every couple of hundred metres, there were camel owners shouting “Camel! You want camel?” for several kilometres. A glance up the small tip of the mountan told me that I was not even half way through to reaching the summit. Each camel owner I've refused was a devastingly difficult decision. With some positive thinking, the temptations became mere distractions that I had to ignore.

Even though I had managed to ignore camel calls, I had other troubles to face. The air was getting colder, drier and thinner and my only desire at that moment was go back to sleep in the warm hotel bed. It was 4am in the morning and I was exhausted, cold and miserable. My feet were like boulders and my shoulders and back were aching from the weight of backpack with my camera in it. My damned lonely planet said that it was an easy mountain to climb, and sure, I've passed by some people twice or even thrice my age, but that only made me feel worse about my physical fitness level. There were always only moments during travelling that made me suddenly stop and think, “ Why the hell am I doing this to myself?” and this was definitely one of the points in Egypt when I felt I couldn't be more miserable.

But even with all these negativity in my mind, I was determined to reach the summit before sunrise. I plodded on, my only concern was to keep going and placing one exhausted foot carefully in front of another. The guide helped to lighten my load by taking my backpack and held my hand to pull me up on difficult parts of the path. I stopped to catch my breath every couple of minutes.

At the first hint of light, I realised that I was racing against time, it was only minutes away from sunrise. My spirits brightened (no idea why, I think it could be due to stress) and my strength in my legs renewed with extra strong dose of determination.

Disappointingly, the sunrise came nothing close to my expectations. I was looking forward to a magnificant sunrise, with a handsome display of orange rays illuminating the beautiful mountains with a backdrop of clear blue skies. But all I got was a dull misty morning with the sun hiding behind the clouds. A strong gust of wind blew and drops of rains began to fall. Everyone started to climb down at the same time and huddled into the shops which served snacks and hot drinks. Several people were wrapped warmly around thick blankets that was for rent. I didn't bring any money with me so I shivered miserably from the cold and my teeth chattered. The guide went outside to enjoy the rain. Rain was a rarity and when I explained that it rains every other day in Singapore, he proclaimed that I had brought the rain from Singapore to Egypt.

The misty sunrise

The rain chased everyone down from the peak at the same time.

Shops that sell snacks and hot drinks and provided blankets for rent.

After a short rest, we made our way down again. The wind howled and was so strong that it nearly blew me off balance a few times. But it could also have been due to my legs which were like sour jelly by then. The journey down was of course less physically exhausting and more leisurely but I had to watch my footing more carefully. Loose rocks were everywhere. Stopping every few hundred of metres to take photographs, I slowly, but steadily, made my way down the 3750 steps of penitance, a path laid down by monks. 

Cold even with two layers and a shawl

The unsteady rocky steps down

Spot the camel

St Katherine's Monastery

And the St Katherine's Monastery made it to the UNESCO list because of its historical religious significance as a religious site for three different major religions  - Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Hoards of noisy tourists were in there and the museum charged extra for entrance. I slept all the way on the bus ride back.

Scuba Diving

It felt incredible to dive again. For about forty minutes, you submerge into the another world, hear nothing but the sound of your own breathing, feel nothing but the vast seawater around you and see nothing but the bustling sea life minding their own business. It is amazing. It is a place unseen by no one but those who share the same passion as you, it is only for the eyes of the scuba divers (or extremely good swimmers). I love it when a big creature comes again, and everyone just freezes in their spot and watches till it goes out of sight. I love the feeling of weightlessness when buoyancy is achieved and a single breath will make you slowly float or sink. I love how haste has no place underwater, but I reckon you should pick up some speed when being chased by a hungry shark. And of course, great dive sites are usually next to great beaches. These are the reasons why I love scuba diving and the reason why I had gone to Sharm.

At Ras Umm Sid

Underwater path leading to a secret location and a lighthouse in the background

After two day dives at Ras Umm Sid, during the night, we headed to Ras Mohammed National Park for a camping diving trip. The white tents were set up for us when we reached and inside was a pillow and several thick blankets.

The sand was white and quite rough actually. Initially I thought the beach was a desert (or dessert?), for it stretches miles of nothingness but sand. Later I've learnt that the area used be underwater. It just blew my mind that I was treading on the ground where the sea creatures used to swim.

Rebecka , my tentmate

Sunset by the beach.

Beached jellyfish, they're so much fun to throw around.

The night dive, which I was extremely nervous about, went fine. The idea of plunging into deep, dark and cold water with a shitload of equipment and a 8kg weight belt that could make me very difficult to save in the dark has never been that attractive to me, but I do want to see the glow-in-the-dark plankton again, and so I did :) Famished after the night dive, we had a great dinner of grilled chicken and later slept out in the open under the stars. Zizo had a phone that could show the name of the stars and horoscopes which was really cool.

Candlelight dinner

As a bonus to this trip, they said they're going to take a few photos for the next issue of a diving magazine, Sport Diver. I hope they use the one below. They used my camera to take the photos and I jokingly asked for a discount. They said they would and I was really happy about it because I was spending more than I expected. When I looked at the bill at the end, they gave me a four euro discount out of the diving package that costed a few hundred euros, which is better than nothing but really not much so my face better be in the next issue.

From left: Zizo( my diving instructor), Kamel, Ash, ..., me and Rebecka

Fresh out of a dive

The instructors told us to surface first while they continued to enjoy their dive. As professionals, they are more at ease underwater and use up less oxygen so they could stay under longer.

Pretty exhausted

I then took a ferry from Sharm to Hurghada, which the dive shop owner said that she saw dolphins every single time she was on the ferry and that I should get a window seat. I did get the window seat, tried to fight off the sleepiness that overcame me for a few minutes but I drifted off to lala-land soon after. I probably wouldn't have seen any dolphins anyway, right? Right?

A brilliant time I've spent in Sharm, probably the most exciting and memorable of my entire trip in Egypt, but I guess that's because I met so many lovely people and got the chance to do what I love again :)

Egypt Part I

With the presidential elections around the corner, perhaps it wasn’t the best idea for me to visit Egypt during this period, but hell, with my flight tickets booked, I didn’t really have another option, so on 11 May 2012, I begun my 11-day whirlwind tour around Egypt.

Chinese Face, Arabic Skin: Weather

There is only one word to describe the weather in Egypt. HOT. I could not stand under the sun for more than two minutes in some places I've visited. The stone and cement buildings really heat up during the day and it remained disgustingly warm after the sun had gone down. The clothes I had hung up felt like it had been in the oven for a couple of minutes when I put them on and I could feel the water evaporating off my hair after shower. For the few days I was there, I was dehyrated and the unbearable heat almost melted my face off my head. And what's incredible is that it was just the start of the summer season and it will reach as high as 55 degrees in a few weeks. So even with loads of sunscreen, I was roasted like a lemon chicken.

My interactions with Egyptians

Prior to arrival, when I was still in Singapore, I did some research on Egypt. I was especially concerned about my safety. All the advice I’ve read on travel forums and my lonely planet guide book scared me a little.

But yes, I'm still happily single.

I have not been tricked in an Egyptian marriage as what lonely planet says. It says a forced marriage with an Egyptian man is one of the many possible risks I face travelling in Egypt. I do have certain fears about the possible male harrassment and had bought a cheap ring that looks like a wedding band. Unfortunately, in the midst of all the hurried packing, I left it at home.

So with an extremely vulnerable naked ring finger, I set off for Egypt. And to my horror, I realised that the harrassment was really as bad as what everyone had told me. But there is something I don't quite understand about Egypt. Tourists flocked to Egypt every day (maybe not the time I was there, but the years before) as naturally one would assume that they will be used to seeing foreign faces.

But no, on my first day, in just one day when I visited some of the attractions, more than twenty people have said a combination of “Hello” in Mandarin, Japanese and Korean to me. Many asked me “ How are you?”, “ Where you come?” and “What's your name?” and a couple were really persistent in getting my number and one woman even tapped on my shoulder for me so that I turned my head around and she could have a better look at me. With all unwanted attention on me, it had been rather difficult to enjoy the city and sights when I am constantly reminded that I am a foreign visitor in the country. This is not to say that they don't welcome foreigners, but like any countries with a largely homogenous population, people who look different are bound to get more attention.

On the other hand, the shopkeepers, owners of eateries and the taxi drivers were only too happy to see foreigners for some of them see us as walking wallets. They have absolutely no qualms with overcharging by a ridiculous amount. Prices were inflated to as much as eight times for some of the food I've ate, as I later found out with other more honest sellers. The same is for the drinks. The camel ride on the last day by the goverment authorised tour guide overcharged me by six times. It had thought a government authorised tour guide would be trustworthy but it hadn't occured to me then that their level of corruption in the government is rather high.

And with that, all those are all the unpleasant stuff -I have to say about Egypt and the many wonderful experiences I've had far outweigh the negative ones.

Let's start with Day One.

After meeting a couchsurfer host and her making a couple of calls to her friends, it was determined that it was not safe for me to visit the pyramids today due to the political protests. My world flipped upside down, because I only knew I wanted to visit the pyramids and Egyptian Museum in Cairo. But anyhow, there were many other things to do in Cairo as I've found out from a chatty taxi driver later.

Old Cairo

Perhaps I was still too disorientated and suffering from jet lag, but I didn't enjoy this place much and didn't stay for long. Nonetheless, this is an UNESCO site and so another site checked off the list! I can't remember much about this place except that I've bought a map of Cairo (which I didn't use for the rest of the journey), got lost (surprise, surprise) and visited the Coptic Museum and the Hanging Church.

Citadel

Moving on, I went to the Citadel which houses a pretty impressive looking Mosque of Muhammad Ali, a military museum and other smaller mosques. 














Great view of the city from the citadel too

Separate lines for men and women.

Al Azhar Park

Then I went to Al Azhar Park which lonely planet claimed that it was the best place in Cairo to watch sunset, so I went there two hours too early and just spent my time dangling my legs over a stone wall at the highest point in the park. 

Lots of satellite dishes and some were flying kites at the top too

The lovely children

There, I met some adorable kids who sat around me shyly at first, occasionally looking up stealing a glance at me. When I smiled and said "Hi" to them, the flood barriers broke. They just wouldn't stop talking and asking me questions for the next couple of hours. The small girl with pink shirt must have asked me for my name and country at least ten times because that was all she could ask in English and I answered them all so patiently I was surprised by myself. Their parents were rather amused. The girl with the pink headscarf have the best command of English among all of them and we actually had a conversation going, though a difficult one with many misunderstandings and sometimes no understanding.  They later brought me to meet their cousins and their aunts and uncles and got my Egyptian number from me.

A great first day.