2nd Star to the Right….

Dubai at night from the air is an amazing sight.  I think they are trying to out do Las Vegas, with a good start at it.  Street lights are close enough that the line on the ground are even and make it look like a map.  Of course, it’s to be expected from a place that has the largest indoor skiing, tallest building in the world and the only 6-star hotel.  They build their own islands..because they can.  It’s a strange place.  The hotel I was at, while being the cheapest I could find, was by no means a dump.  I lucked out and because of a booking error, they put me in a suite..a nice one (i’ll post more on that later with pics).  I had room service and tv…ooh..  Still ill, so I didnt really get out, which turned out to be not a bad thing.  Dubai is hot, I mean really hot..hot enough it’s hard to breathe because of the density of the air.  Went out on my balcony, took some pics, stood for a few minutes and decided that was enough.  Winter, thats when to visit Dubai.  The hotel staff were, well….not the most outgoing and friendly types.  The hotel was run by Indians (dot. not feather), and to be honest they seemed kinda snobby…  Went to the restaurant to get some OJ, and it was like I killed their cat or something..oh well, it was still a nice hotel.  The streets are very nice and the drivers actually drive (see cairo for the opposite of this).  The airport is very large and nicely kept.  The was a Coldstone Creamery there, but it wasnt as good as the one in Seattle.  They screen every bag, I think.  I saw several tags on luggage that said ‘screened’ and didnt even realize mine had one too until Seattle when a guy asked me what I was in Dubai for.  Well, I’m back here now, recovering….I’ll be posting some followups and such later…enjoy…

Hmm..how much can I say about Kuwait?  Not much, actually…  The airport is nice.  The poeple are polite and somewhat friendly.  They certainly dont hound you to buy things.  They’ll even let you use their phones to call the hotel.  The roads are well kept and the traffic is organized (except for the cabbies, of course).  The hotel (Continental Hawali) was nice, with nice staff.  The location was more residential than I had originally thought.  The room had tv, satellite, computer, a/c, fridge, hotplate, coffemaker.  It was comfortable.  Unfortunately, I decided to get sick, so I spent most of my time in bed…such is life…would have liked to see Kuwait Towers, at least.  My biggest complaint (no offense to any muslims out there)…The call to prayer was very loud..it woke me every time, not that it was easy to fall asleep.  On the lighter side…there was a commercial on tv where a guy drinks something and then gets chased by a horde of giant orange penises…dont know know what product it was, but be aware of drinking canned drinks in kuwait, apperantly.  Things are expensive in Kuwait… 10kwd for a meal (about $40 us).  I finally found cheap food at the airport, where I had burger king..lol.  Anyway…off to Dubai

Here are a few pictures… The first is of some weird woodpecker that prefers to be a grasspecker.  It was really diggin for gold.  The next is just a generic street scene.  Alot of Luxor looks like this..except in the market areas and such.  The last shows the view of Queen Hatshepsut’s temple from the hotel I am at.  I had to use the unsharp mask a bit because the atmosphere is heavym so the camera didnt pick up as much as I’d hoped.  Yeah, it’s a ways away.

I’ve been asked over and over about what the food tastes like…well….it’s tastes egyptian.  I guess thats a good thing because it would be peculiar for their food to taste german.  But really, it’s a flavor all it’s own.  I have had several different chicken type things and each one was unique (except for the one that was obviously deep fried in the same vat as their fish).  I’m not sure of the spices and it’s hard to get the answer you want from alot of them because they dont speak any english.  I will say the Lasagna I had was not what I have come to know as lasagna…it was good, but came in a cup (yeah, a cup).  It was more like a lasagna pot pie…I dont think I will get that again.  Their salads are, well…different, not what most people think of salads..It has some veggie type things and a sauce (paste?) that is great when dipped with the dark flat bread.  Still searching for the pizza place…I know it exists.  The orange Fanta has a slight taste of black licorice (not sure where it gets that).

It’s been a few days since I updated, so I figured what the hell….  The Nefertiti Hotel is a nice little place (though no tv in the room).  All the folks here are quite friendly.  Amazingly, you can find the types of people you’d find in movies.  We have Klaus, the german writer who knows alot of the people and introduce you to whomever, to Ali, the local shop owner who will talk your head off.  I have wandered around (fending off constant “carriage ride only 5 egytptian” every 2 minutes.  There are many places that are hidden (or seem to be).  Most of the stuff happens in what we’d consider alleys.  You look down a road and it looks dead, but if you walk that small dirty road and turn left, there is a bazaar.  Of course, in the bazaar, you are constantly having to fend off the shopkeeps wanting to sell you tablecloths and cigarettes.  I have tried a few of the restaurants, such as the hotel (of course) and Amoud and some with unknown names..very good…I have wandered trying to find a pizza place I saw on the first day (on the back of a motorcyle), but to no avail..I want to see what they consider pizza.  Of course, I have seen (but not gone into) the local McDonalds..Gads, they’re everywhere.  If you get a chance, the Luxor Museum is pretty cool.  They have lots of old stuff from dead poeple.  Of course, if you wanna see the really old stuff made by dead (and still dead) people, you have to see the temples.  I spent several hours in Luxor Temple (got about 200 shots too).  It’s very large with lots of really neato keen carvings.  Of course, there are areas they dont allow people, but you can still see them from outside the temple wall.  I have included a few pics.  Of, and for those non-believers one of the pics offers proof positive that the ancient egyptians had electric lighting.

The merchants here love to barter.  Never accept the first price at all..often you can get them waaaay down from their initial price..sometimes they do it themselves.  For instance, at the attractions, vendors stalk you saying buy my stuff for ?? egyptian…as long as you keep saying no, they keep lowering the price.  Even the shop owners will come down.  I personally waited a shopkeep out by saying I didnt have enough till he came down from 800 egypt to 20…yeah, it’s realistic to barter that much of a difference.

Ok, so as probably have guessed already, I arrived at 8am.  I ignored the swarm of cabbies and met one feller who ownes a hotel, he knew the guy who worked at the hotel I had reserved (for the 22nd), who told me the hotel was full.  Wasnt a problem, my new host took me to his hotel, the New Everett.  It was a nice looking place and he was very generous.  30egp for a night, thats cheap.  I decided to stay.  He showed me  around Luxor a bit (trying to convince me to stay the whole time at his hotel).  It was an odd experience riding the back of a motorcycle in suicidal traffic..Ok, it’s not quite as bad as Cairo, but close.  He bought dinner, which was very good…and big.  I had some chicken thing (different than what I had in cairo), a potato thing that had either peas or bean (small, round green..ish), chicken soup (with some weird things in it) and flat bread (seems to be a pattern) and rice.  The room in the New Everett was ok, the only complaints were the lack of hot water and the hard beds.  The same day, he got me in a tour group to the west bank to see Valley of the Kings, and Queen Hatshepsuts temple.  The Valley of Kings was neat.  The tombs are cool.  The sad thing is that you cant take pictures inside..ahh well.  Hatshepsut’s temple, though you can take all the pictures you want.  Its bigger than I thought.  Important safety tip: Bring some means to keep your camera cool (if it’s a digital).  My camera kept shutting down in the heat, so I didnt get as many pics as I wanted, plus you have to keep to the schedule of the group.  I may take the tour again, so I can get more pics that I wanted.  Here a couple pics for you to enjoy..

Okay, so there is nothing about planes or camels here.. Lets see, when last we met, I was in the concorde..nice place.. So, the schedule says that the train to Luxor leaves at 11am.  No problem….right.  I check out at 10am and the hotel gets a cab for me..let the games begin.  First, we agree on a price, no problem.  He drives a ways and then decides to try and up the price…Of course, I tell hem no….continually.  Eventually, he succumbs to the fact that I’m stubborn and takes me to the train station.  Things wold be better after that, right?  No.  First, no one in the cairo train station speaks english (well enough to understand anyway) and my arabic is just as useful.  So, I’m not sure if it was just a miscommunication….You see, I wanted the 11am 1st class express, but ended up on the 10pm…wow 11hours to kill.  Ok, I tried to find my way to the museum, but not find a way to cross to the right road without killing myself (that was at about 8 hours to go).  Mostly I ended up standing on a covered bridge watching the people and cars fight their way into the train station.  I had to go to the bathroom.  I looked around in the train station, and finally, after a bit of explaining, found out where they hid it…outside…actually, not even  on the same building.  It costed me .25 egp to go, and I think as I left they were trying to get more…Tipping would be ok, if in fact there had been attendants.  Pay toilets…LOL.  Finally, the sun sets enough I can go sit on some steps, so I do.  Where I sketch for the remainder of it.  At about 9pm a group of egyptian fellers come up and are fascinated by my sketching..I end up sketching a few of them, poorly, I’m sure.  Great people, felt bad I had to rush the last one so I could claim my luggage from the locker and get the train.  I get on the train..It hasnt been washed since it went into service, I think…The windows are hard to see out, even with the lights out in the compartment, which has 6 seats that fold out for sleeping..I ended up staring out the window for the 10 hour trip, finally arriving at 8am in Luxor…yaay..

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It seemed that pyramids and such like that are not very interesting to people.  It would seem that people’s minds are literally in the toilet….Yeah, people really seemed to like that.  So, I present here a picture of the Two Toilets..one you sit on and do your business, the other you sit on and it does it’s business.  I’ve also put a picture of a design that is actually embossed in the wall tile..enjoy…

Ok, today went marginally better than yesterday…Got up at about 7am and went to the free breakfast.  It was a buffet type thing ..I had a potato type thing and some bean thing and a roll with mystery cheese..oh, and a small glas of OJ.  The bean thing was ok (even after I figured out it was a bean thing), but the potato things were the better part.  After that I went to Giza and visited the pyramids and tomb areas….

Ok, I ended up paying about 450egp (with the transport and guide and such), which is dirt cheap.  For good reason..It was a back way to the pyramids.  It was cool in that  I saw some of the tombs most folks dont check out..of course, they are all locked, except one.   Got really good looks at the stuff there.  My personal guide was very nice and seemed to like making the trek everyday.  Didnt get up to the pyramids, but it was still worth it.  The Sphynx, was gated off.  I will have to return when I have more money to get on some of the tours and such..They drive right up there.

Wandering about in Cairo is a dangerous thing.  Not because of theives and such, but because of drivers.  Imagine a racing game where all the players are on crack..you still dont have it..LOL.  That being said, I have walked around a bit..except for the traffic, it’s similar to seattle…except that the Egyptians are very polite and freindly.

Would I live here?  Hell no….But I would definately visit again and again.  Here are a couple of the pics I took…More later