Tuesday, January 01, 2008
A Thanksgiving in Egypt (by Su-chun)
This is the trip I’ve been talking about since coming to Europe. It was always a wishful thought to visit Egypt while we’re in Europe, since we’re about as close as we’re ever going to get from here. The local travel agency on one of the bases has multiple tours to Egypt in Nov, Dec, Jan, and Apr every year. We briefly considered joining the group last Christmas, but due to popularity, it was fully booked very quickly. This year, we didn’t want to make the same mistake as last year and I went to the office in early July to put down the deposit, thinking that I must have been one of the first people to sign up for the Nov trip, turns out there were only six spots left (50 max) in early July!
Fast-forward four months to mid-Nov and on our way to Egypt. We know a few people who have been to Egypt before and the most common denominator of most people we know who has been to Egypt has been the likelihood of contracting the ‘Pharaoh’s curse’. It is similar to Montezuma’s revenge that some people (myself included) have when traveling south of the border, which resulted in stomach/intestinal difficulties in adjusting to local water sources. The travel itinerary called for a jammed packed seven days of temple hopping, pyramids visiting, and market shopping. There was no way we were going to let a little stomach bug to stop us from enjoying ourselves. So, we heeded the warnings from friends who have been there and did everything we could to avoid being sick, including brushing our teeth with bottled water only and no eating of salads or fruits of any kind. Aside from a little rumbling of the stomachs, neither of us had gotten sick from our trip.
Here’s a quick run down of what we saw in Egypt:
Day 1 – Travel from Frankfurt to Cairo; domestic flight transfer from Cairo to Luxor, board our Nile cruise ship at 0130.
Day 2 – After 2 hours of sleep, wake up call at 0400, in bus by 0500 enroute to Karnak temple. Followby Luxor temple (inspiration of the Las Vegas of the ‘Luxor’ casino & hotel), quick boat ride to the west side of the Nile to visit the Valley of Kings (where King Tut and all the famous male pharaohs were buried), Colossi of Memnon, and Necroplis of Queen Hatchepsut (Al-Deir el-Bahri). Back on the ship to start the Nile Cruise towards upper Egypt.
1st pic: Karnak Temples; 2nd pic: Al-Deir el-Bahri
Day 4 – Aswan Dam, Philae temple, Unfinished Obelisk, visit to Nubian village with camel ride along with Nile, Galibaya night on ship (we all dressed up like locals and entertained by local musicians and dancers).
1st pic: The Giza Pyramids; 2nd pic: the giant Sphinx
Fast-forward four months to mid-Nov and on our way to Egypt. We know a few people who have been to Egypt before and the most common denominator of most people we know who has been to Egypt has been the likelihood of contracting the ‘Pharaoh’s curse’. It is similar to Montezuma’s revenge that some people (myself included) have when traveling south of the border, which resulted in stomach/intestinal difficulties in adjusting to local water sources. The travel itinerary called for a jammed packed seven days of temple hopping, pyramids visiting, and market shopping. There was no way we were going to let a little stomach bug to stop us from enjoying ourselves. So, we heeded the warnings from friends who have been there and did everything we could to avoid being sick, including brushing our teeth with bottled water only and no eating of salads or fruits of any kind. Aside from a little rumbling of the stomachs, neither of us had gotten sick from our trip.
Here’s a quick run down of what we saw in Egypt:
Day 1 – Travel from Frankfurt to Cairo; domestic flight transfer from Cairo to Luxor, board our Nile cruise ship at 0130.
Day 2 – After 2 hours of sleep, wake up call at 0400, in bus by 0500 enroute to Karnak temple. Followby Luxor temple (inspiration of the Las Vegas of the ‘Luxor’ casino & hotel), quick boat ride to the west side of the Nile to visit the Valley of Kings (where King Tut and all the famous male pharaohs were buried), Colossi of Memnon, and Necroplis of Queen Hatchepsut (Al-Deir el-Bahri). Back on the ship to start the Nile Cruise towards upper Egypt.
1st pic: Karnak Temples; 2nd pic: Al-Deir el-Bahri
Day 3 – Edfu temple; dedicated to the God Horus and night visit to Kom Ombo temple; dual temples of gods Sobek and Haroeris.
Edfu Temple
Day 4 – Aswan Dam, Philae temple, Unfinished Obelisk, visit to Nubian village with camel ride along with Nile, Galibaya night on ship (we all dressed up like locals and entertained by local musicians and dancers).
1st pic: Camel ride enroute to a Nubian village; 2nd pic: Philae temple
Day 5 – Abu Simbel (AWESOME) temples and flight to Cairo in the afternoon. Pyramids sound and light show.
Abu Simbel - My favorite temple, check out the size on these statues!
Day 6 – Coptic Cairo, mosque, Egyptian museum, and short visit to the Khan El Khalili bazaar, carpet school.
Day 7 – The pyramids, the Sphinx, Memphis, step pyramids, perfume shop.
Day 7 – The pyramids, the Sphinx, Memphis, step pyramids, perfume shop.
Day 8 – Return to Frankfurt
The trip went by in a blur. It was such an awesome and surreal experience to be standing in temples that are thousands of years old, of places and monuments that are only seen in movies and read in books and magazines. We found that in general, the Egyptian people are friendly to visitors, albeit a little too touchy and grabby as they eagerly sell their merchandize (in Upper Egypt). The weather was beautiful the entire time; in Upper Egypt of Luxor and Aswan in the upper 20s (Celsius) and in Cairo in the low 20’s. Hopefully the memory of sun and warmth in Egypt will sustain us through the cold (freezing) and dark winter in Germany. Egypt is to be experienced and not explained. What an awesome trip. I’m ready to go back again! :)
The trip went by in a blur. It was such an awesome and surreal experience to be standing in temples that are thousands of years old, of places and monuments that are only seen in movies and read in books and magazines. We found that in general, the Egyptian people are friendly to visitors, albeit a little too touchy and grabby as they eagerly sell their merchandize (in Upper Egypt). The weather was beautiful the entire time; in Upper Egypt of Luxor and Aswan in the upper 20s (Celsius) and in Cairo in the low 20’s. Hopefully the memory of sun and warmth in Egypt will sustain us through the cold (freezing) and dark winter in Germany. Egypt is to be experienced and not explained. What an awesome trip. I’m ready to go back again! :)
# posted by Antipasta @ 4:00 PM 
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What an incredible experience! I want to go next year.
We just got back from Thailand on New Years Eve. I took about 700 pictures that I have to go through before we'll blog about it, but it was a great trip. I'll have to post the pictures of us riding the Asian elephants to go along with your camel riding pictures.
Glad you had a great trip.
We just got back from Thailand on New Years Eve. I took about 700 pictures that I have to go through before we'll blog about it, but it was a great trip. I'll have to post the pictures of us riding the Asian elephants to go along with your camel riding pictures.
Glad you had a great trip.
New years Eve in Thailand.. sounds very nice! Hope the weather cooperated and you guys had a relaxing time. I wonder if the elephant ride was as rolly polly as a camel ride. :) Can't wait to hear about your trip and see the pix.
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