Egypt...

I'm just back from Egypt with my friends Raven and Rebecca. There are so many things to tell, but I don't want to bore anyone, so I'll just touch on a few places we visited. we moved around a lot, spending 2 days in Cairo, Aswan and Luxor. We spent the night sailing on a feluka (a traditional Egyptian sail boat) to Luxor, and then a night in Alexandria.

Egypt is so much busier than I ecver expected. It's so interesting because the pyramids are right in the middle of the city. So when you look at the pyramids all you see is desert and pyramids (it looks just like the pictures), but then if you turn around, you see Cairo, there is a golf course right next to the pyramids and the 20 million people who live in Cairo are all moving around. There are tall buildings, and the drivers hoot their horns constantly. We took camels out to the pyramids, which was a lot of fun. My camel's name was Ali-Baba, Raven rode Michael Jackson, and Rebecca rode Mickey Mouse. It took 30 years to build the pyramids with 100,000 workers. But when the construction was done, all the workers were murdered because there was a fear that they may share the secret to building the pyramids. We went inside the last pyramid (the first, and largest pyramid only allows 150 people a day inside). When you first walk inside the pyramid, you must immediately bend over and walk down this long ramp. It takes several minutes, and there is aboslutely no air circulation (I mean, you are walking down into a tomb). Anyway, I'm not a clusterphobic person at all, but there were a few times when I could feel the walls closing in on me. After walking down for a while, there is a small space for you to stand and stretch, but then its back to another ramp, this time going up. Finally you enter the tomb itself. There is a large room with what seems like a 20 ft. ceiling. The only thing left inside is the sarcafagus. Everything else was either taken by grave robbers or has been moved into the Egyptian museum in Cairo. None-the-less, it was still amazing to actually be inside one of the pyramids.

We also went to the library in Alexandria. Holy moly!! The library is just incredible. The building itself is shaped like a dome, and there are 11 floors. When you walk in, you are actually walking into the 4th floor. There is a sail shaped glassed area where you can stand and look over the entire library!! The light source for the library is entirely natural. There are eye shaped windows int he ceiling (this is to let in maximum amount of light, but without the heat). Then on the outside of the eye shaped windows, there are eye lashes!! They are there to keep the rain water from blocking any light that may be getting in through the eye shaped windows. There is complete sound proofing on the walls, so sound just doesn't travel inside the library. There are 3 different musems and the capacity for 8 million books (but right now, there are only 500,000). The entire library is also computerized. So if you have a chance to check out the library website you should. You can pick any book, and the computer will open directly to the page you need!!! Raven and I were in Awe, especially coming from the village! Then there is this machine called the Espresso Book Machine. There are only 2 in the world, on in DC and the other one in Alexandria. The book machine, depending on how thick your book is, will actually print a copy of the chosen book and bind it in 20-40 minutes!!!! The library is ironing out copy right issues now, but once that is finished, you will be able to go into the library, and have a print out of any book there!!

We visited various temples. Of course each one special in its own way. There is just so much history written on the walls, floor to ceiling hyroglyphics. I can only imagine what it must have looked like when they were first carved... just alive with color. There are larger than life statues, some fully intact, and others just bits and peices. The snaps I took certainly don't do it justice.
While in Aswan, we also visited a Nubian village. I held a crocadile!! We were hosted by a beautiful Nubian woman and her 2 children. One of which was absolutely in love with my camera. Here name was Ro'hya and she was 6. She has a priceless smile. I took a bunch of snaps, so I'll post them first chance I get. Nubian homes are interesting, when you walk in, there is no roof. So the inside is just like the outside (sand on the floor). There are sitting areas on either side of the home, covered for protection from the sun (it was 110 degrees while we were there). Then there are 2 rooms with dome shaped ceilings, one was full of hand made things to buy. The floor was covered in gravel. Then there was a room with a bed and a couple of wardrobes. This is where the woman slept with her two children.

Egyptians are also very friendly. Of course there is always the person try ing to hustle you for money, but we met so really nice people along the way. Most notably was the hotel manager in Aswan, Husein. He was very interested in our safety and making sure that we didn't get ripped off in the bizare. So he escorted us through the bizare and waited while we all went shopping (and when Raven and I are together... well, lets just say that that its a bwafya). He made sure to take us the shops where he knew the owners, so that we wouldn't be hastled. The hospitatlity was incredible. We were always being offered a cup of Egyptian tea, or water. But we did learn the hard way while we were visiting the pyramids in Giza, that if someone says its a "gift" it really isn't and you have to pay for it. So back to Husein, after taking us to the bizare he treated us to tea and a lemon juice drink at a local coffee shop, which, by the way, was open only to men. We were able to go because we were tourists, but it was still a bit strange, just a bunch of men smoking hukas, and then the 3 of us and Husein.

So we had a great time, Raven and Rebecca are off to Turkey next, and I'm back to the village today to host 2nd site visit.