Ramses' Revenge

My, my, but it's been a long 20 hours or so.


It seems that something at the fancy restaurant on the Nile where we had dinner last evening did not sit so well with my delicate American digestive system. I am feeling more like myself now, thanks to fabulous prescriptions medications (which are delivered to your home without even having to see a doctor), the food of infants (popsicles, pudding, apple juice, and saltines have gotten me through the day), and the kind consideration of my friends.


Since our respective others are away in foreign lands, Anissa and I have decided we're sort of like a couple on this trip. Indeed, she was there to bring me "a cup of water in the night" all last evening (actually cups of club soda & apple juice). Then, though she hardly got any sleep, either, Anissa spent the day touring the Egyptian Museum and several mosques with a tour guide (who apparently was drop dead gorgeous). I spent the day in bed/in the bathroom, moaning. It was anything but gorgeous.

However, I'll tell you that God really knew what was up with our scheduling today. We were supposed to be on an overnight train bound for Luxor by this point in the evening, but instead will be flying there (tomorrow morning at 7:00am). So, if I had to be sick, at least it happened while we were still here in Alice's lovely and comfortable home, which has an abundance of medications and child foods, and not stuck on some ratty train, tiny boat, or questionable hotel.

Since we'll be cruising the Nile from tomorrow until next Wednesday, I'm guessing that blogging will be limited. As soon as we're again near a computer, I'll update you on our comings and goings throughout the land. Also, photos have been somewhat challenging to upload--you may have to be content with the pyramid shots for now (though those from the Coptic church are so delicious that I can hardly wait to post them).

Much love and happy tummy thoughts to all... I'll be in touch as soon as I can. :)

Tourism and Real Life, Egyptian-Style

OK, so something bizarre has happened to my e-mail. It's all disappeared. If you sent me any messgaes of love in the last 24-36 hours (which you surely should have), then they've somehow disappeared into the void. Perplexing, yes, I know.



So we saw about... 9? 11? pyramids yesterday. Today's tour guide, Ayman (on whom I may have the slightest major crush) informed us that there are 110 pyramids still in existence in Egypt.

Anyhow, Ayman the tour guide (our driver's name was also Ayman) took us around Coptic Cairo--the part of the city where some of the oldest Christian churches in the world are. It was pretty cool--the main church is 1200 years old (although Ayman was sure to remind us numerous times that there had been many, many restorations, so that parts of the church were 1200 years old and other parts relatively new by standards of Egyptian history).

We also visited a synagogue, a Greek Orthodox church, and a crypt where the Holy Family supposedly hung out for a while when passing through Egypt. We then took a stroll aorund a sort of "normal" neighborhood, where we were the only tourists in the area. It was nice to see.

This afternoon we booked our travel arrangements to Luxor/Aswan/back to Cairo. We're going to fly, as we couldn't pay for train tickets with our credit cards. Lame.

Anyway, we're headed now to the Khan (a big street market), then are going out tonight with some of Aice's girlfriends to (a) see the sun set from a fellucca on the Nile (b) have drinks and dinner.

HERE!

Hey everybody!

So after a long day (day and a half? two days?) of travelling, Anissa and I have arrived safely and soundly at Alice's lovely home in Cairo. Here are some things you should know about this trip thus far:

-my style of the trip has been named "Tousled Safari." When the pictures start appearing, you'll understand.

-We slept the whole flight from Chicago to London, thank you very much. I tried to watch There Will Be Blood (aka: Will There Be Blood?) en route, but that didn't go over so well.

-I am pretty darn closed to finished with High Fidelity.

-London's Heathrow airport is just kind of gross.

-After a short walk off the plane in Cairo, we were met by our expeditor, who indeed got us through immigration, customs, and all with lightning speed. We were then passed off to our driver [and I was reminded of a great number of midnight arrivals I've made to various countries... perhaps most interesting among them were Costa Rica--where I was met by a man with a cell phone; on the other line was a woman who told me this man would be driving me 2+ hours into the jungle {in the middle of the night, mind you}, and that I should trust him. I did and all was well-- Taiwan-- similar situation, except without the jungle, but no language whatsoever-- and Mexico (I think... somewhere where I was with a friend and I sat in the front and yammered away with the driver en español while my friend sat silently in the back the duration of the drive). Anyway, these are all long stories within themselves.

The gem of tonight's drive was that the playlist of the ride included the following songs (I am not, and likely could not, make this up):

1. "I Have Nothing" - Whitney Houston
2. "Lady" - Kenny Rogers
3. "I WIll Always Love You" - Whitney Houston
4. "My Heart Will Go On" - Celine Dion
5. "Breathe" - LeeAnn Rimes

I don't know what's more surprising, that this was the music that welcomed us to the Middle East, or that I knew the words to all of those songs [sad, but true].

Anyway, it's 2:30am, I'm stinky, and we're being picked up to tour the pyramids at 10:00am [it is an 8-hour time difference, J]. I'll post again when I can!

Mid-east may not be the right term

So, this is my travelblog for Egypt and Turkey, 2008. I depart on May 5, but have had some requests to let people know what my general itinerary will be before the departure. Voila, the lovely sidebar calendar, from whence one may glean a general idea of our comings and goings (or at least have an idea of where in the world I'll be sleeping at night).

Please check back throughout May for updates on travel, anecdotes, adventures, photos, and all the greatness you've come to expect from mjp.

:)