visiting petra

we're in jordan and we wasted no time making our way to the town of wadi musa, located outside of the ancient city of petra. for those of you that are indian jones fans, this is the huge temple complex that was used as the backdrop for 'the last crusade.' a few years before that, about 2000, it was the home to the nabataean empire. if you are like me and have never heard of the nabataeans, they were major middlemen in the arabic spice route and made fortunes of money in the frankincense, myrrh and indian spices - real old school, biblical stuff… as our guidebook explains, they bought all of the goods as they entered petra, sold the traders new camel caravans and then resold the spices to others who transported everything on through sinai and then to alexandria where it was loaded onto boats and headed to europe. anyways, they made a fortune in the process and in turn created some of the most amazing temples, tombs and amphitheaters with their wealth - all carved right into and out of the steep red sandstone cliffs of the valley they settled. we bought a two day pass to see the ruins spread throughout the valley. however, we were feeling rather energetic and managed to see most of the major sites today including the treasury, the main building carved right into a massive cliff, and the monastery, an even larger building carved into the mountains. they were both awesome and the 800 stairs to the top of the valley to see the monastery rewarded us with excellent views of the ancient city below.

after 8 hours of hiking, we rewarded ourselves with a few falafel sandwiches, some local yogurt and the best peaches i have ever tasted (sorry georgia). we’re resting and relaxing tonight while gearing up for another day in the valley - tomorrow a climb to the 'high place of sacrifice' - i think the name says it all…

david

egypt, the wrap up

our comments and observations of egypt:

• egyptians are kind, helpful, smiling, and happy people.
• egyptians are welcoming. a most common greeting is "welcome to egypt!"
• the pyramids and ancient sights of egypt are definitely some of the best we've seen on the trip. they are astounding sights that we will not soon forget.
• a huge percentage of tourists in egypt are on package tours. as independent travelers we were definitely a part of the minority.
• egyptian men are rather forward and a bit too flirtatious for my taste. even though i dressed conservatively and was accompanied by two men (one being my husband), i still received an inappropriate amount of unwanted male attention. i can only imagine the amount of headache female travelers must deal with when traveling to egypt on their own…
• i'm over the leering…
• hassles, hustles, and scams…they say egypt is full of them. we actually weren't hassled nearly as much as we expected. the worst we dealt with were obnoxious souvenir touts with their "do you know how much?" - which was actually kind of amusing at times. thankfully, we traveled the country without being hustled or scammed…of course, we didn't start traveling yesterday.
• we quickly realized that many numbers are displayed primarily in arabic and not in roman numerals. needless to say, we gave ourselves a crash course on reading arabic numbers so we could simply ride the bus or decipher signs.
• the mcarabia: lamb patties with tomatoes, cucumbers, and tahini sauce on a pita bread - another unique mcdonalds menu item.
• the food in egypt is delicious! i was thrilled to finally have so many raw fruits and vegetables readily available. prior to egypt, i was craving salad in a mean way.
• egyptians smoke as if they are exempt from lung cancer. shisha and tea seems to be a part of daily (or all day) culture. shisha = water pipe with flavored tobacco such as apple, mango, peach, lemon, or honey - actually quite nice and relaxing on occasion.
• we love the call to prayer! to us it sounds magical and beautiful.
• many egyptian buildings lack a proper roof. it appears that additional floors are a plan for the future - perhaps for new wives?
• with egyptian wages being very low, many workers depend on the baksheesh (tip) as a vital component of their income. unfortunately, it often seemed that people wanted a baksheesh for doing…nothing. rather annoying at times.
• with a lack of fixed pricing, signage, and price lists, egypt is another country that tends to "tax" foreign tourists almost constantly. a pound here, a pound there, its easy to feel that your constantly being overcharged. we learned to accept it and deal with it without letting it ruin our day. steep admission fees are the biggest expense for travelers to egypt - and even with the foreign "tax", it still remains affordable to the western traveler.

what things cost in egypt:

• a triple ensuite a/c room at the tutotel hotel in luxor $31.00
• the 9 hr. overnight tourist train from cairo to luxor $60.00
• a short ride on the cairo metro $0.20
• a 9hr. hour bus from cairo to dahab $17.00
• a city bus to the giza pyramids $0.40
• admission to the giza plateau $10.00
• photos with a camel in giza $4.00
• admission to the egyptian museum $10.00
• additional museum fee to see the royal mummies $14.00
• admission to luxor temple $8.00
• a hired cab for the day in luxor $30.00
• mt. sinai excursion $20.00
• mint tea at a local café $0.60
• shisha with apple tobacco $1.00
• turkish coffee $0.80
• a large bottled water $0.40
• a bottle of stella beer $2.25
• 12 oz diet coke $0.50
• large shwarma sandwich $1.75
• hummus dip $0.40
• felafel sandwich $0.30
• fuul in pita $0.20
• stuffed grape leaves $2.50
• a large salad with feta cheese $2.25
• half-chicken dinner with salad and rice $5.00
• a large selection of mezze for 3 people $12.00
• a nice seafood dinner for 3 in Alexandria $40.00
• a cotton scarf $2.00
• shell earrings $2.00
• the egypt mask $7.00
• postcard $0.20
• postage to the usa $0.55

what's next?

tomorrow we'll take a one hour bus to the port town of nuweiba, then a one hour ferry across the red sea to aqaba, jordan. we'll see you in the middle east!

onward!

alina

climbing mt. sinai

after nearly 8 months of visiting countless buddhist and hindu religious sites we finally are pilgrims ourselves. our trip to the summit of mt. sinai, where moses received the ten commandments from god, began at 11:30pm when we left the confines of our guesthouse and set out on a two hour bus ride through the sinai peninsula to the monastery of st. catherine's at the base of the 3000 meter mountain. our group of 12 met up with a bedouin guide, whose job it was to see that we safely made it to the top of the mountain before sunrise, roughly 4 hours in our future… at that point, we should have realized that the hike to the summit would be far more difficult than the guidebooks led on. in fact, the 6-kilometer (roughly 3 mile) hike to the summit, capped off with a climb up 750 steep stone stairs, was by far the most physically challenging thing that we have done in all of our travels. the somewhat steep, gravel and rock switchbacks seemed never-ending in the middle of the night. and when we did finally reach the base of the stone stairway, we were long done wondering if the trip was worth all of the effort. however, perhaps through divine intervention, we persevered and found ourselves amid a few hundred other pilgrims at the summit of mt. sinai roughly an hour before sunrise. as we vied for a place to sit among the crowd, we were treated to a spectacular sunrise. as the sky brightened, we saw just how far up 3000 meters really is. the rugged dessert mountains and the sand valleys below seemed almost unearthly from such a vantage point. shortly after sunrise, the crowds dispersed and we were left with a few moments of solitude to pray and give thanks for all of the blessings we have and for all of the experiences of our 8 months adventuring around the earth.
our descent back down the steep stairs and never-ending switchbacks was somewhat less grueling, but challenging none-the-less. we ended our hike, where it began, at the greek orthodox monastery of st. catherine's. the chapel at st. catherine's is one of the oldest surviving christian sites in the world and it is home to what is regarded as the burning bush where god spoke to moses. the beautifully maintained gardens and walkways made for a nice end to our long night of climbing. after re-boarding the bus back to dahab, our group of 12, alina and i included, quickly fell to sleep. we made it back to the jasmine guesthouse in time for breakfast, a shower and a long afternoon in the confines of our air conditioned room catching up on missed sleep and resting our tired legs. david

from alexandria to dahab

after three full days of touring luxor, we took an overnight train back to cairo then another 2 hour train north to the seaside city of alexandria. founded by alexander the great, its the site of one of the ancient wonders of the world, the pharos lighthouse. we really didn't do much in the city, besides relax in the cooler temperatures, enjoy the mediterranean views, and gorge ourselves on fantastic fresh seafood - it made for a nice few days. we returned to cairo for only one night, to see jason off to the airport. bye jason…we had a blast hanging out! after jason's departure david and i boarded a 9 hour bus headed to the sinai peninsula - which is where we are now, in the resort town of dahab. we've been enjoying the relaxed vibe from our beach-front room overlooking the red sea. the rugged coastline of saudi arabia seems so near in the distance across the water. tonight we're taking an excursion, or pilgrimage we might say to mount sinai and the monastery of st catherine. we leave at 11pm…we'll keep you posted.

alina

the egypt mask

king tutankhamun ruled egypt for 9 years during the 14th century bc. the tomb of the pharaoh was discovered by an english archeologist in 1922 and is known as one of the most famous tombs in the valley of the kings because of the priceless collection of pharaonic treasures that were buried with the mummy.

the original death mask, on exhibition at the cairo egyptian museum, is made of solid gold and weighs 11kg. the mask is an idealized portrait of the young pharaoh and covered the head of the mummy, where it laid inside a series of three sarcophagi. seeing the original death mask and the tutankhamun galleries at the egyptian museum was definitely a highlight during our visit. this is the mask from egypt. it is the pharaoh tutankhamun.

alina

and more eating in egypt...

fiteer is often inadequately described as an 'egyptian pancake' on restaurant menus. in fact, even the best fiteer place in cairo is called the egyptian pancake house. however, fiteer is far from a pancake... thinly rolled and hand tossed dough, loaded with a wide variety of savory or sweet toppings and baked in a wood fired pizza oven - the result is a crispy, ultra thin, bubbly dough filled with your choice of ingredients. some of our favorites are a savory version stuffed with lamb kofta, tomatoes, olives and onions - another is sweet, filled with pastry cream, hazelnuts and golden raisins - then loaded with butter, sugar and milk curds after baking.



egypt has a vibrant coffee house culture. drinking super sweet mint tea, caffeine loaded turkish coffee and smoking a sheesha (water pipe) loaded with apple tobacco is a regular part of every egyptian's day. the norm is to be served a copper, brass or silver tray holding your drink order. then all you have to do is sit back and let a few hours pass by before deciding where to go eat lunch or dinner... no wonder egyptians smile and laugh so damn much.



koshari is everywhere... it is the heart and soul of egyptian quick eats and does for egyptians what biscuits and gravy do for me... koshari is a carbo load mixture of browm rice, lentils, chickpeas, tube pasta and brown vermicelli, doctored up with fried onions, cumin spiced tomato sauce, chile pepper sauce and fresh lemon/lime juice. the best comes from abu tarek in downtown cairo - a four story restaurant that serves nothing but koshari - and it is packed all day long... we ate there more than a few times, but also managed to sample other versions of it outside of the capital...



baklava comes in all shapes and sizes throughout the mediterranean and middle east. they are all basically, mixed fruit or nuts layered with phyllo dough, baked and then soaked in honey. they are sticky and super sweet - perfect served with egyptian or turkish coffee and guarantied to induce a food coma when you over indulge in them...

more egyptian eating...

i love shwarma - mixed beef and lamb trimmings spit roasted and carved to order, served with grilled tomatoes and onions on a warm roll slathered with thahini - perfection... in cairo you can't make it down a city block without finding at least a few little shops like this one - and believe me, i found my way into more than a few too...



aish, or bread, is the basis of every egyptian meal. long gone are our rice eating days of asia. now alina has a different type of carbohydrate to fret over. not me though, i try to eat as much of it as possible. this is a whole wheat version, while the majority is a simpler, thinner white flour version.



moussaka, yet another eggplant variation... this one is a rich, creamy and cheesy version served bubbling hot in a crock filled with stewed eggplant, tomaotes, onions, green peppers, cumin and black pepper. we also had lighter versions, without dairy, served in more of a tomato based sauce. both are excellent. they are usually accompanied with some steamed rice mixed with a little whole wheat vermicelli noodles on the side.



greek salad, shepherd's salad, egyptian salad... this one has a variety of different names on the menu, but they are all basically the same. ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, parsley, onion and some sour goat milk cheese with lemons, olive oil, salt and pepper. a much welcomed relief after 2 months of fearing fresh vegetables (and the stomach problems they caused) in india...




eggplant is it's own food group in egypt. served fried, stuffed, pickled, pureed, stewed... you name it and the egyptians have managed to perfect it. this version is part of the mezze, a cold salad of fried eggplant, tomatoes and parsley served with a few lemon/lime wedges.