Wanderlust Heaven!

My trip out to Giza to see the Pyramids and Sphinx was a little bumpy.  I had hoped to get the driver to come early in the morning – I’d heard that the tickets to enter the Great Pyramid of Khufu/Cheops were capped at 150 and sold out fast, so I wanted to get there in time.  But the driver didn’t show until nearly 8…and then, en route, he doubled back to the hotel to pick up 2 more customers.  Pyramid entry wasn’t looking promising.  Oh well.

The driver turned out to be an excellent guy named Said, and my two fellow passengers were Carol and Rachel from the UK.  Serious shutterbugs…I felt like a minimalist next to them.  Said’s favorite saying, in response to every single annoyance that arose, was ‘welcome to Egypt.’  It got progressively funnier as the day went on.  You had to be there.

The ride to Giza is about 20 minutes, about 13 km.  Not particularly scenic, just dusty boring inner-city ‘burbs.  Then you get a peek at one of the Pyramids through the buildings, and in a couple more minutes you’re facing the Sphinx and the 3 Pyramids straight on.  They’re right in the middle of the unappealing suburb of Giza…but when they were built, this was pure desert.  And in fact, the actual town is really just on one side of the edifices – there’s still desert round the remainder.

Nothing you read, no pictures you see can truly prepare you for the majesty of these classic designs.  They’re both larger and more compact than you’d envisioned…they’re pretty beat up yet incredibly resilient after 3500 years…and looking at them, you’re pretty sure we couldn’t build one of these babies today.  Of course, those were very different days and the pharaohs had access to slave labor…but I do believe some secrets have been lost.  Cue up Erich von Daniken’s “Chariots of the Gods,” please…

Spent nearly 3 hours tramping around the Giza Plateau.  First saw the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the biggest (by a hair).  The façade is quite worn, the blocks are jagged in most places but the quality of the construction and the engineering come through loud and clear.  Had to ask around, but found the ticket booth selling tickets to go inside the chamber, and they weren’t sold out.  Not too sure how accurate my guidebook info is…the surcharge is about US$17 and for me it was a no-brainer.  Walked inside, there’s soon a ramp you need to climb, not that hard but the ceiling is low.  Some more walking, stooped over, and you’re pretty soon in the burial chamber, the sarcophagus is still there (at least the huge stone outer one, the other sections are elsewhere), and the room smells like ancient days.  Hard to describe this.  Very quiet inside (there was only one other tourist in there, incredibly – outside there were squillions).  Not much airflow either…you just stand there, looking at the huge ceiling blocks and sarcophagus, sweating.  Somewhat spiritual.  Spent 15 minutes hanging out, when I heard voices coming toward us it was time to go.  See ya, Cheops.

Saw the other two Pyramids after that – Khafre’s is nearly the size of his daddy Khufu’s (Cheops’s), and Menkaure’s, which is smaller.  Both impressive.  Khafre’s still has a section of the original white limestone casing at the very top, originally these Pyramids were all encased in this material and they must have gleamed like quartz in the sunshine.  Would have loved to have seen that.  As it is, the Pyramids were startling sights and in no way a letdown, despite my fairly high expectations.

The Sphinx.  A bit smaller than I imagined – perhaps 25-30 meters?  Also, I would have liked to have seen the nose – do any of you know where it is?  Perhaps buried with Alexander somewhere?  Anyway, the Sphinx sits in front of the Pyramids and ‘guards’ them nicely.  Another classic sight.  Many writers have described it with far more skill than I ever could, so I’ll just leave it at that and drop in a few shots:

There’s also a “Solar Barque Museum,” with a reconstructed barge that transported the dead pharaoh’s corpse for parade and burial.  They buried the boat next to the Pyramid and it was eventually found.  Pretty impressive.

Egypt’s typical culture was very much in evidence all day long.  By this I mean, of course, baksheesh.  Every security guard was on the make – and there were randoms hanging outside the Pyramids that would grab you and show you good panoramic shots, and pose you for those stupid tourist pics you always see.  And, of course, they’d want a ‘tip.’  It’s hard to fully resist them – you’d need a pretty strong carapace and sense of utter cynicism about your fellow man.  I’m well-developed in those areas and have little trouble saying no – still, the Egyptians are masters at scrounging handouts and even I’m susceptible now and then.  Carol and Rachel were visibly perturbed and I think it got to them a bit.

Besides the Pyramids of Giza, there are numerous others scattered around the north, some significantly older than those in Giza, which are the most well-known.  Our little tour included a look at other prominent pyramids, so off we went.  En route, we passed a newish KFC standing just outside the Pyramids gate.  Classic.  Then Said steered us to a pricey lunch spot…I’m sure he got a cut of that.  At least they had beer.

After that, we visited Saqqara, a few km outside town.  There’s a great little museum built to honor Imhotep, an ancient engineer often credited with designing the early pyramids and many other structures.  And there’s King Zoser’s famous Step Pyramid, built, as the name suggests, in steps.  It’s supposedly the oldest stone monument in the world, but I wonder how they define that fairly broad term…

And wasn’t Zoser the evil spirit Rick Moranis kept babbling about when he was possessed in “Ghostbusters”?

Then we drove a few more km to Dahshur, to check out two more classic pyramids.  First, the Red Pyramid, reddish stone, natch.  This was the oldest true pyramid, and the lessons learned from building the Bent Pyramid (hold your horses) were leveraged for this one.  Went inside (for free) with the ladies – fairly brutal downhill ramp to start, then some easy stairs and we were in the burial chamber.  Similar to the Great Pyramid in many ways.  Strong stink of ammonia in this one – I guess they’re trying to dispel an even worse smell??

Next, to the Bent Pyramid. So named because they started building at a steep slope, greater than 50 degrees, and when they saw it becoming unstable, they dialed it down to 43 degrees.  So in the middle, the slope declines and it looks quite cool.  The Red Pyramid, built soon afterward, is entirely 43 degrees.  So there.

Good lesson in pyramid-building and design, to be sure.  I’d probably read tons about this topic over the years, but it was usually in one ear and out the other.

We also saw the Black Pyramid in the distance, this one is in pretty bad shape.  We didn’t linger long, we wanted to stop in Memphis, the ancient capital nearby, and see the small museum and statues there.  The major attraction of once-proud, now nearly vanished Memphis is a massive reclining statue of Ramses II.  Absolutely enormous – reminded me of the reclining Buddha in Bangkok’s Wat Pho.  And also Samarkand’s coffin of the Prophet Daniel (still growing, mind you).  I’ve seen a lot of reclining figures in my day – including myself after a long day in the deserts…

That was it for the day – we’d seen a lot and were happy with the tour.  Said was a lot of laughs all day and we gave him a good tip.  The lessons of Egypt are not being lost on us.

I’ve taken so many pictures that my camera counter (the “odometer” of the camera, if you will) turned over.  I’ve only had the camera for a year and a half.  Fast.

Went to Felfela Restaurant near my hotel that night for dinner.  It’s a classic old Cairo place, decent food but great atmosphere.  And very cold beer.  Important after tramping around the sights all day long.

Also got a few shots of the Nile in Cairo before sunset:

The rest of my Egypt trip (ex-Sinai) loomed.  My India side-trip kicked off December 1, so I had about 10 days remaining before then.  Issue:  I had to be back in Cairo in a bit less than a week to hand over my passport to the Indian Embassy and get my visa, so in reality I only had 6 days to cover the Nile Basin.  A bit quick – but by no means impossible, or unprecendented.  After all, 90% of people have a week or so for this.  So I’d already bought my air ticket to the southernmost town of Abu Simbel, and from there I’d head to Aswan, then to Luxor, and finally back to Cairo.  Tight, but the distances aren’t huge (except for the initial Cairo-Abu Simbel flight), so I’d manage OK.

The Abu Simbel flight was at 7 a.m., necessitating a grim early morning vignette.  And the airport’s domestic terminal was chaotic – I wasn’t happy.  You’d think that by now Egypt would have figured this gig out.  The package tours were just blasting through, accompanied by these Gizan-sized wagons of hard-cased luggage.  Higher than fucking Pyramids, really.  With scenes like these, sometimes flying is harder than taking a bus or train – at least those systems tend to be more relaxed and organized.  And people who take buses and trains are generally more practical – they don’t carry as much luggage, they’re less fussy, etc.  My kind of peeps.

As I was waiting for my flight to be called, I looked at the electronic departures screen and saw that there was a computer virus warning message on it.  Classic.  And no one seemed to be doing anything to fix it.  Only in Egypt…well, let’s say only in Africa.  When you see shit like that, you wonder about other systems in the airport – the air traffic control system, the plane’s on-board systems…

Had a layover in Aswan’s airport.  Much calmer and nicer than Cairo’s, naturally.  Just a few destinations, and it’s a newish, fairly sizeable building.  Used my time to make my future hotel bookings – I’d be tight for time, and given how many tourists I was seeing, I was a bit nervous about being relegated to the dreg accoms unless I planned ahead.  My Jordanian SIM card served me well – it lasted precisely as long as I needed it to, then died.  I made a note to pick up an Egyptian SIM.

I was getting edgy by the time they called my Abu Simbel flight.  Watching package tourists shop for worthless trinkets does not make my day.

I realized that by this point I’d been traveling solely in new places for the past six months, since I’d gotten to Mongolia in May.  One of the longest such stretches in my life, and a relatively demanding experience.  When you’re in new places, you’re compelled to do the sight-seeing and experience everything there is on offer – when you’re in favored, familiar places, you don’t have those challenges (anymore).  I tend to like to mix it up, but the way it’s worked out, I’m on a new-country run.  India will break that up, for a couple weeks, then it’s back to Egypt (Sinai) and over to Israel, a country I’ve spent the grand total of 3 days in long ago.

As I grabbed my pack and walked to the plane, I noticed a guard spitting on the floor, then using his shoes to ‘wipe’ it.  Charming.  Well, good to get a bit of training before heading back to India, anyway.

Sat next to a Japanese-Hawaiian woman on my flight – very pleasant.  She’s a real estate agent, made a killing for years and years but now things are obviously pretty slow, even in Hawaii.  Was married to an American, who passed away, now she’s traveling with some friends and seeing how she likes it.  We talked Japan for a while – we both miss the food, of course.

Got to Abu Simbel, which is a small village, just 5,000 or so people.  It’s famous for two temples, the Great Temple of Ramses II and the Temple of Hathor.  Both are stunning, with huge statues of the pharaoh and his wife Nefertari.  They were painstakingly moved when the Aswan High Dam was built in the 60s – the waters rose and threatened many sites, many of which were moved/saved.  Some weren’t and are now under the new Lake Nasser, the world’s largest manmade lake.

Checked into the decent Abu Simbel Tourist Village.  Met two cool Aussies girls also staying there, Emma and Dominica, and we wound up hanging out for the next couple days.

The three of us walked for a while and got to the temple site.  Nice, green little village, and laid-back people.  I was happy I’d decided to come all the way down here, and to spend a night as well.  I’d been moving around pretty fast in Jordan and when I got to Egypt, and was feeling a bit tired as a result.

The temples were spectacular and imposing – check them out:

They used to sit aside the Nile, now they’re situated near the lake.  They reminded me of nothing so much as the huge statues of the Lords of Gondor in the Lord of the Rings’s first book, “The Fellowship of the Ring.”  And, in fact, Ramses II put these statues up to warn the Nubians and other potential invaders not to mess with his kingdom.  So there.

Went to the ‘Sound & Light Show” that night at the temples.  Kitschy, but you gotta see one of these while in Egypt, many of the monuments (including the Giza structures) have one of these.  There’s a broadcast narrator and graphics projected onto the statues/hills.  Started out in high cheese overdrive (“I am Ramses and I have waited here in the sand for you to come”), then settled down into a meld of history and architectural design.  Worth the loot, I’d say.

Met the lasses at Eskaleh, a hotel/resto near ours that’s owned by a well-known Nubian musician.  I’d tried to book a room there, but it was sold out.  I resolved to at least see it and have a meal there, so there we were.  Had a few beers, chatted with Dominica and Emma (who were curious about the Sound & Light Show), and ate the very tasty Nubian food.  Nubians, I’ve come to learn, are quite good-natured and relaxed.  Hard to imagine them threatening Egypt’s southern borders.  I guess we all have it in us…

We had another early bell the next morning –  a 6 a.m. bus to Aswan.  Thrilling.  I was average a 6 a.m.’er every 2^nd day, and am not generally a morning person.  I can handle 8 a.m., but 6 a.m. is like the Twilight Zone for me.  Still, I always get up and am usually as on top of things as anyone else at that hour.

In the middle of the night I heard a repetitive noise – was it bad plumbing, or was it an angry mob come for us?  Not quite as startling as my cobra dream in Petra, but worth getting out of bed and investigating.  Sure enough, the toilet was running a bit.  I went back to bed, happy I wouldn’t have to pull out my Leatherman and defend the Aussies from a snarling mob of locals…

Buses in the Nile Valley that carry tourists must travel in a police convoy, so there are set times and routes.  Not that big a deal – these were put in place a few years ago in response to some terrorist incidents.  And you hardly see the cops – they race right off and the buses can’t keep up with ‘em.  The issue for me is that the timing of the convoys is well-known, and if an organized terror outfit got its act together, we’d be sitting ducks.  I’d rather be a bit more elusive and travel at random times.  Just stick a couple guards on the bus, and maybe have periodic checkpoints – the convoy system seems creaky to me.

Got on the bus, fell asleep pretty soon.  Was happy that my jury-rigged Nile tour was actually coming together nicely, and that the India visa bit was completely screwing it up.  Now, that visa had better come through, or I’ll really be tortured.

Pit stop – had some sort of meat sandwich (salami-esque), and some chay.  Guys were already sitting round having a sheesha, at 7 a.m. or so.  Classic.

Caught up on some podcasts, including Groove Salad from NPR.  One of my favorites.  They played a track by a group called Kickbong – I liked it a lot, and I like the name a lot more.

Got into Aswan in under 3 hours.  Got off the bus in the town center, the girls came with me to the Hotel Hathor – they were heading north that same night, and they left their bags in my room while we checked out Aswan and did a felucca (sailboat) tour.

Aswan from the hotel roof:

The world’s coolest McDonald’s is in Aswan, right on the Nile.  We had a bite there before getting going with the boat – Dominica wowed me with her fries and sundae mix – hadn’t seen that before.  Apparently it’s big in Oz, but I don’t recall seeing it.

We all had to buy onward train tickets.  They needed theirs for that night, I had to buy a ticket on to Luxor, and then on to Cairo.  Went to the train station, a bit of a hike.  Waited in line…the system went down.  Ugh.  Resolved to return later.

Walked the Cornice, along the Nile, and eventually chose a felucca operator.  Got a nice low price, high supply and low demand it seems.  We chose a boat operated by two youngsters, Opus and Mohammed, who were huge fun and very Nubian in their attitude about life.  Opus played Bob Marley for us on his handphone, he handed out Cleopatra brand cigarettes, and we had a brilliant 2 hour ride around Elephantine Island.  These felucca rides on the Nile are terrific value – all local labor, no petrol etc., so the cost bar is very low.  We did our 2 hour tour for barely over US$10 for the 3 of us.  Yowza.

At one point we sailed by a Nilometer, used to measure the river’s size when it swelled.  Higher measurements generally meant better harvests…and higher taxes.

Returned to the train station.  System again down.  We were not happy – the girls had to go in a couple hours, and I wanted to stay a couple days ahead of the game.  Went for some kushary, an Egyptian snack – pasta, a bit of meat, god knows what else is in there.  Not too bad.  Much like frathouse food.  Well, a bit better than that.

Went back to my hotel – the girls got their packs and headed off, again, for the train station, determined to just board their train even without a ticket.  I assume it went well for them.

I checked emails, got a local SIM card, then went for my personal 3^rd try for tickets.  There was a near-skirmish in line, my presence seemed to divide the locals into ‘be nice to the foreigner!’ and ‘what foreigner?’ factions.  I elbowed my way in and got my tickets, finally.  The joys of independent travel.  There is some joy in this, actually, but it all comes at the end of the process – it’s hard to feel elated when you’re way back in one of these lines.  I know from yoga class that you’re supposed to relax within the pose, but I’ve always found that hard.

So I relax at the end – often with a cold beer in my hand.  Found Emy Café, where the more grizzled felucca captains tend to hang, drinking.  They had coldish Stellas and I had a couple.  Fuck, I’d earned ‘em.  Or am I merely self-enabling?

Exchanged texts with brother-in-law Dave.  His son, my nephew Jacob, had just told him that Grandma Cooki (my mom, passed away) lives too far away to visit.  Hmm.  That made me think, and made my eyes water.  I love this kid – I really think he gets it.  Now I just need to make a trip to Boston to meet my new niece – I feel guilty about not seeing her yet.

Emma and Dominica had regaled me with tales of how the local men had harassed them on the street, on buses, etc.  Egyptian men aren’t exactly renowned for their reticence and class – they’re repressed Muslims, for the most part, in a country of women wearing hijabs and sometimes chadors/burquas, and they act out on female tourists in sometimes ugly ways.  And I got a first-hand look at what they meant:  when I was walking with the two of them, I heard endless shouts of ‘hey Casanova’ and ‘lucky man has two’ and ‘how many camels for the two?’  I got sick of it myself and told a few guys to keep their mouths shut.  The sad thing is that adult men lead the way, their sons observe and parrot them.

My second day in Aswan, I hired a cab for a few hours and hit the major sites.  First, the Isis Temple on Philae Island.  Nice enough site – much still intact.  Bit of a hassle getting to the island, you buy the entry ticket on the mainland, but that doesn’t include the boat ride so you need to dicker with the cheating boatmen for that.  I got a decent price but would have preferred to just have it included in the admission.

Next, saw the Aswan High Dam.  The sun sparkled and danced on the Nile as we drove to the dam.  The structure itself is seemingly pretty basic – the wall is not that high, the technology basic as far as I can tell.  But the effect is major – on one side you have the Nile flowing and looking normal.  On the other – Lake Nasser, several times wider than the river and quite impressive.  Not easy to show this with photos, though.

Next, the Unfinished Obelisk.  This would have been Egypt’s largest single piece of stone, but while they were carving it out of the ground a flaw was detected, and they abandoned it.

Finally, saw the Nubian Museum.  This was a terrific place, with loads of history, well-labelled exhibits, and a good vibe.  Why can’t the Egyptian Museum in Cairo be half this good?  I learned a lot in 90 minutes and came away impressed with the role of Nubia in history.

In this museum they had a graphic of the Temple of Dendur, which would have been submerged by Lake Nasser.  The Egyptians donated (or sold) it to the NY Met Museum.  I went to a holiday party in NYC in the early 90s and it was held in the very room at the Met that housed the Temple of Dendur.  Small world.

I wonder how Nubians today feel about how the lake’s covered much of their ancestral homeland.  I suppose there are many benefits from having the water, but sometimes people are funny about land – it really tugs at the heartstrings.

Walked back to my hotel.  Saw a beautiful mosque on the way, no idea what it’s called but it’s striking:

Had dinner that night at a local haunt, El-Masry.  A local kid showed me where it was, and when I offered him a tip he wouldn’t take it!  Now that was impressive.

Had a grilled pigeon – pretty good, a lot like squab.  Not that meaty, but not that pricey either.  And the accompanying dishes were excellent and very filling.  I’m not starving over here.

Walked back to the hotel.  Saw some commotion on the main drag a ways up.  Kept walking, but at one point some local guys asked me to stop.  Turned out there was a bag lying in the street, and the bomb squad (or just regular cops with nicer duds) were working on it.  A young guy named Yahir who spoke English told me what was happening.  I noticed that all the action was within a few meters of my hotel.  Terrific, my passport, computer, etc. were all up there.  But it all got resolved in a few minutes and then the crowds dispersed.

Had enjoyed waking up at a normal hour that morning, but the next was another early one.  Had a 6 a.m. train to Luxor, historic Thebes.  Managed to get up, felt pretty woozy but was getting used to this drill by now.  Caught a cab to the train station and found my seat.

Uneventful ride to Luxor.  Got off the train around 9 a.m., looked at my map and walked toward my booked hotel.  A fellow came up and told me that he was the son of the owner.  I was suspicious – Luxor is known for lying touts.  He could have been legit, in any event I kept walking towards my hotel, the Oasis.  He kept up with me.  At one point we were joined by another fellow, who started talking about Princess Hotel.  Torture.  Then the ‘son’ said that the Oasis only had a dorm bed for that night, afterward I could get my own room.  Whoah, Nelly.  That did it.  I had booked a single room, the owner had confirmed it, and now I knew I was getting the good tout-bad tout routine.  What a simple yet sophisticated operation, though – I’ll bet that most tourists fall for this one, you’re pretty tired when you get off the train and the ‘son’ is fairly credible, at least for a while.  I told them to fuck off or I’d get the tourist police, and I kept walking to the Oasis.  Got there and told the owner what had happened – happens every day, he said.  To be fair, he had told me on the phone to just proceed from the station to the hotel – I guess that was his way of warning me about the tout scams, but I think he should figure out a better method.

Luxor is stuffed with sights.  My first day I spent an hour or so apiece at Luxor Temple and Karnak.  The former stands right in the town center, near the Nile, and is impressive.

An obelisk taken from this temple is the very one that stands at Place de la Concorde in Paris.  Good to know that, if for trivia’s sake alone.

I walked a ways and saw a guard sitting there.  He motioned me over, we had a chat.  Turns out he’s Christian – so was my taxi driver in Aswan at 5:30 a.m. that day.  Christians seem to live a secret life here, amongst the 90% Muslim population.  They seem a bit besieged and eager for foreign contacts.  Interesting.

Karnak is a bit of a hike, but is worth it.  And my timing was fortunate – I’d heard that the package tours descend on the place at 10:30 a.m. in droves, so I’d visited Luxor Temple first and tried to wait out the crowds.  Worked perfectly – they were mostly leaving/gone when I got there.  I’m usually not quite this structured in my approach to sight-seeing, but you may have noticed that I detest crowds…and Egypt may be the most touristy place I’ve ever been.  Seriously.

In its heyday Karnak was the largest religious structure in the world, and in one particular section, the many-columned Great Hypostyle Hall, you can fit St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s combined.  Or so they claim.  I didn’t love Karnak – it was huge, but not in great shape and, except for the columns in the Hypostyle, not that exquisite or visually compelling.  It was simply huge.  I much preferred Angkor, the Taj, or various other places I’ve been.

The cruise boats moored along the Cornice were endless – I think there were nearly 100, three abreast on the river.  Ugh.

Took a long nap, then had my first run in a few weeks.  Walking has kept me in decent shape, but I am feeling a bit soft and paunchy – the local food isn’t light.  While I was running, two cabbies didn’t get it, and offered me a ride.  And the schoolgirls got a kick out of seeing my sweaty large body lumber down the Cornice promenade.  I don’t mind being a spectacle, as long as I can break into a decent gallop…

Had dinner at a nice resto, Sofra, right near the Oasis.  They had a mezze platter and I had that.  Excellent.  Then managed to locate the Kings Head Pub, where I sat and had a few beers.  Pretty dead, but then again it was a Monday night.  It had been a long day and I was more than ready to head back to the hotel.

Broke down and signed up for the Luxor West Bank tour offered through my hotel.  The West Bank is a large area full of sights – the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, etc. etc.  Hard to get there, it’s over the river and a few km away.  And once there, the sights are so dispersed that you really need transport to make it doable.  So I went for the tour, but was worried about the quality.  I had generally had pretty good luck on these sorts of tours, but you never know.

I was pleasantly surprised.  The guide, Nana, was a cheeky, funny local woman who spoke good English and knew her stuff.  And there were only two other customers, from a hotel down the street – Greg and Sarah, two Aussies who’d been on the road for a year already.  Cool.  We had a large minivan all to ourselves, and the price was actually not bad – when you figured in the (included) entry fees, which were not low, we weren’t giving the tour that much extra.  Must be loads of competition for us tourists here…

First visited the famed Valley of the Kings, where there are 63 or so tombs, including the famous tomb of Tutankahmen, discovered by Carter in 1922.  We visited three other tombs, Nana’s three favorite (of those that were presently open), Ramses I, IV, and IX.  They all had superb murals…Ramses IV had a massive stone tomb…Ramses IX had depictions of prisoners tied up and beheaded, apparently grave robbers had desecrated his father’s tomb and he caught and punished them.  Interesting factoids along the way provided by Nana – a pharaoh generally began his tomb when he was enthroned, and construction ended when he died (or before, if it was completed).  So King Tut’s tomb (for which there is a hefty surcharge) isn’t that great, now – it’s pretty small.  When Carter found it, it was stuffed with awesome treasures – now, those are elsewhere and the tomb is apparently unimpressive.  I didn’t bother to go in – lots of Japanese queueing up, they want to spend a lot to do things like this – huge brand focus for Japanese and Koreans (and now, Chinese too).

We then drove a ways to the incredible Temple of Hatshepsut, she was a female pharaoh with a complicated family tale that I won’t recount here.  A classic edifice in a brilliant setting:

Then over to the Valley of the Queens, where we saw a couple tombs.  The guards, I should mention, were seriously on the baksheesh take and we all thought they put a dent in the experience.

Finally, over to the Colossi of Memnon, two massive statues that serve as the entranceway to the area.  Still in solid shape, quite imposing:

We drove by, but didn’t visit, the so-called Ramesseum, Ramses II’s memorial temple (but he seems to have temples everywhere along the Nile, from Abu Simbel up to Memphis).  This structure is now in poor shape, and has been for some time.  I believe that Shelley’s famous poem ‘Ozymandias,’ one of my favorites, was written about the Ramesseum – seeing it in ruins inspired Shelley to muse that no king’s power and creations can last forever.  Certainly Luxor in general gives one the feeling of insignificance – we’re just specks on the Planet Earth.  And it’s not a bad feeling to realize that.

Running joke:  Greg asked at one point, ‘Is Carter still alive?’ just after Nana mentioned that Carter found Tut’s tomb in 1922, and died very soon afterward (apparently the first 15 people to enter the tomb all died soon thereafter, perhaps from breathing the bad air down there).  For the rest of the day, we teased Greg about Carter still being alive.  Good fun.

The tour was definitely the way to see the West Bank.  Sites are spread out, and they also say that this is the very hottest place in Egypt.  I felt pretty hot myself, and this was late November.  I can’t imagine touring there in summer, even though the tourist count would be far lower.

Got back to the Oasis.  Did some computer stuff.  Somehow my iTunes library got ‘damaged,’ and the system created a new library file.  It didn’t seem to be missing any song, it was actually a bit larger in terms of size than the old file, but there were a few dodgy/corrupted songs that seemed to be duplicates.  Had to do some analysis and surgery to fix it up – took a while.  Hardest part is setting up the podcast subscriptions again – Apple really should make a library recovery easier.  But anyway, I don’t think I lost anything – and I think that all my music files are on my hard drive, the library file is actually an overlay and doesn’t itself have the songs within it.

Had dinner with Greg and Sarah.  They’re veggos, and knew of a place called Salt & Bread near the train station.  Dirt-cheap, and pretty good.  Had a nice oily moussaka and some fuul (fava spread), that filled me up.  We talked India for a while, they’re heading there fairly soon.  Then we walked off dinner by strolling down the souk road.  The first kilometer is very touristy and you get tortured by the vendors, after that it gets rougher and more local, and you don’t get bothered as much.  Still, we had a couple locals attach themselves to us and serve as a bit of a bother.

Went over to their hotel, not far from mine.  Obvious copycat place – I’m sure they’re into the toutscam game.  But…their roofdeck was far better than mine…it seemed a much more sociable place…and they played Marley non-stop while one of the employees rolled nonstop funny cigarettes.  Greg (after trying a few ciggies) dubbed him ‘Mohammed Marley’ and we all thought that was about the funniest thing we’d heard in ages.  I wonder why we kept laughing so much?

I wondered, at one point, whether Ramses II was the pharaoh during the Biblical Exodus?  The timing of his reign matches up pretty well…and somewhere it’s written that Ramses II died by drowning.  I saw his mummy in Cairo, but couldn’t tell how he died.  And he has had 3500 years to dry out…

Long, fun night.  Crashed around 2 a.m.  Got up a bit woozy the next day, my last in Luxor – that night I’d take an overnight train to Cairo.  Visited the Mummification Museum first – pretty good exhibits, they had a mummified baby croc, an adult croc, a baboon, and assorted other preserved living creatures.

Then went to the Luxor Museum, a superb place with tons of statues and other pieces from the West Bank.  Again, why can’t the Cairo museum be this good?

Before catching my train, went for another run – gotta get back into the habit.  Had a couple falafel sandwiches.  Showered, packed, and checked out.  The Oasis only costs about US$5 a night – quite the bargain.

Walked to the nearby train station.  I love it when the station is right in town.  Met some Brits – James and Rachel – who were on the same sleeper train.  Heard from them that our train was often late.  Then a market research guy came over to survey me, and he told me that the train would probably take 12, not 9 hours.  Uh-oh – I had to be in Cairo before 11 a.m. to drop off my passport.  The original arrival time was about 7 a.m., but if we were very late I’d be screwed.  Thankfully the train came only a few minutes late, and was largely on time throughout.  I wasn’t in the mood for more shenanigans – this visa had already tortured me thoroughly.

Meanwhile, the sleeping train, called the Abela, was excellent.  US$60, had my own cabin, very comfy, they served food, and the cabin fellow got me a couple Luxor Beers (5% alcohol) that helped get me right to sleep.  Very civilized all the way through.

I made some progress on my latest book, Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile.”  I rarely read potboilers like this, but it’s about time I tried one of her many books – and this one is topical.

Got into Cairo around 7:30 a.m.  Even had time to linger in Ramses I Train Station and buy a ticket for Alexandria for the ensuing morning.  Good to take care of that stuff right when you get into a train station – saves a trip there.  Caught a cab to my hotel, Pension Roma, a place I was looking forward to trying out – had heard great reviews.  Checked in – immediately loved the place, it’s a classic old building that’s well-maintained, and the rooms are stylish – a bit of class in the budget category.  Nice people who run it, too.  I mentioned that I had to walk over to the Indian Embassy for my visa – they said two things that worried me:

1 – there had been a terrible terrorist attack somewhere in India just now, and

2 – the Embassy was closed.

She knew little about #1, so I asked about #2.  The woman said it was Friday (Muslim Sabbath).  I said no, it’s Thursday – she apologized for her mistake.  Whew.  Then I got on the web and looked into the terror thing – and learned about the hideous attacks in Mumbai by gangs that had targeted numerous places where foreigners tend to congregate.  The Taj, the Oberoi, Leopold’s Café.  Just awful, I had tears in my eyes – how can people bring themselves to do things like this?

I resolved to stick to my plan to fly the next Monday, barring any further news.  Walked with a  heavy heart to the Embassy and submitted my passport.  That went smoothly enough.  Then returned to Roma to rest a bit.  Finished the Christie book – very good, although I came up with the murderers even before they actually killed anyone.  Maybe I should read more of these detective novels…

Had a slew of emails from family/friends asking me if I was in India yet.  I reassured them I was not.  I have a history of missing incidents like these by a matter of days.  Got a call from a friend in Mumbai, connected to the job opportunity I’m looking into in Mumbai, with his take on the incident.  That was helpful and reinforced my decision not to he hasty and not to cancel the trip or anything like that.

Tried to take my mind off the tragedy.  Took the Cairo Metro (pretty good, actually) over to Old Cairo, which mostly consists of a walled Coptic section with loads of churches and graveyards.  In one church there’s a cave/crypt where Jesus and his family supposedly took shelter from King Herod.  And there’s a synagogue, Ben Ezra, the oldest in Egypt, which has a few claims to fame.  First, it was (supposedly) where the prophet Jeremiah gathered the Jews when the Babylonians destroyed the first temple around 600 B.C.  Second, there’s a well/spring outside where (supposedly) the pharaoh’s daughter found the baby Moses in a basket in the reeds of the Nile.  Third, the Virgin Mary (supposedly) drew water from here to wash the baby Jesus.  The Nile used to run right here, now it’s 1.5 km away.

Also walked by the oldest mosque in Egypt, the Mosque of Amr ibn Al-As, he was the Muslim general who took Egypt in 642 A.D.  Huge place, just looked around for a bit.

Headed back to the hotel.  Saw a sign on the street for Timken Industries, a large industrial company owned/run by a classmate of mine, Tim Timken.  “Timken – Where You Turn.”  Pretty cool.

Got a call from brother-in-law Dave.  It’s Thanksgiving in the States, everyone’s getting together for the annual feed.  I hope they don’t waste any time worrying about me and my India trip.  I know Jews like to worry, we’re at a loss unless we have something to fret about…but I think everything will be just fine.  At least it will be when I accidentally discover the lost tomb of Alexander the Great this very weekend, in his namesake city of Alexandria, while eating a very large shawarma on the street.  Before I sign out, a very Happy Thanksgiving to those of you about to eat turkey.  Over and out.

This entry will be a bit clipped – have a lot going on over here. No complaints, just a lot on.

Spent my final few days in Jordan seeing the rest of the country’s main sights. Hiked the Dana Nature Park with Marcel…visited Shobak Crusader Castle en route to Petra…and finally, and most prominently, spent a few days in Wadi Musa, the town adjacent to Petra.

I won’t get into the story of Petra here – suffice it to say that it’s a UNESCO World Heritage sight, and it well deserves that sticker.

New friend Brian, a New Yorker whom I met on the bus to Cappadocia in Turkey, had recommended the Petra Moon Hotel, so Marcel and I headed there and found it to our general liking. Very near the Petra entrance gate, and near as well to a strip of restos and other shops.

Spent two hard-core days wandering and hiking in Petra with Marcel, the flying Dutchman. We did it all on foot – no rancid donkeys or lame-o horses for us – local tourists and overweight foreigners tended to rely on those modes of transport. I personally wanted a bit of exercise, and besides I feel pretty stupid atop an animal in places like that.

Petra’s full of monumental sights – the Treasure and the Monastery are the most famous, but the place is like one big weird lost world. You enter via the Siq, a 1.2 km path that runs between high rock walls. Recall ‘Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Holy Grail.’ You emerge and see this, the Treasury:

We soon moved on to a clamber up a ways to see the Monastery, and spent a few hours chilling in the hills around it:

Wasn’t bored for a second – was impressed for 95% of the day. Rare experience indeed. The place inspires internal poetry – if I had more time to ruminate here, I’d explain or even make a sorry attempt at poetry, but you’re spared (for the time being).

Finished up with some beers at Wranglers Pub…

Day two – we entered Petra by way of Wadi al-Muthlib, a dry (for now) riverbed that bypasses the Siq and takes you into Petra the long way round. That hike took the better part of an hour…stopped for a bit to have some tea with a Bedouin woman and her two cute kids. Ran into a foreign lass who told us about a great hike up a plateau nearby – we decided to tackle that in the afternoon. Wadi al-Muthlib:

After that, we hiked up a while till we got to a great spot that looked out over the Treasury – classic view:

We had already done a couple longish hikes, and stopped for a lazy lunch at the Crowne Plaza’s buffet spot – not cheap, but we deserved a splurge.

And after a round of burps, we made our way over to the plateau hike, Umm al-Qiryana, which was a good 40 minutes huffing up the side of a mountain (steps were graciously provided), and provided a range of views over the valley:

Also saw Mt. Haroun in the distance.  Supposedly Moses’s bro Aaron is buried there.  Didn’t have time to undertake the long hike out there.

I was not surprised by Petra’s brilliant monuments and sights – I was surprised what a great place it was for hiking. We could have spent another day or two consumed by longish hikes to other worthy destinations – but I think our feet would have protested. All in all, a much-anticipated and truly fulfilled trip to this superb place. Jordan’s done a good job preserving it (with plenty of international help), and I’m glad they have such a cash-spinner to help them develop.

Took care of a few errands that evening. Booked a hotel for the following night in Aqaba…printed out the letters I’d need to hand over in Cairo for my Indian visa…and looked into Cairo hotels.

Marcel and I went out for dinner after that – ended up at Al-Arabi Restaurant, which was pretty damn good. I had fuul, a fava bean paste that’s better than it sounds, and a chicken shish sandwich. After that we moved next door for some tea and a waterpipe. Very relaxing and a good conclusion to a couple challenging days.

Before sleeping I took a lariam (malaria prophylaxis) pill, as I’d be going to India in two weeks and wanted to get started early. Read a bit of my Egypt guidebook, then hit the sack. Lariam has been accused of giving people bad dreams, or worse…but I’d never had a single discernible problem with it, and swear by the stuff. You take it just once a week, and it’s dirt-cheap. Anyway, I woke up in the wee hours after dreaming that a huge cobra was right next to my bed and was rearing up to bite me. I jumped clear out of the bed and ran for the light switch. Which, when flipped, revealed exactly nothing. I moved the curtains – zilch. Nothing under the bed. Was it the combination of the lariam and reading about the wildlife of Egypt? Maybe it was.

Couldn’t get back to sleep – at 4:30 a.m. the muezzin started broadcasting the call to prayer. Reminded me of the 4 a.m. or so Vietnam village wakeup/newscasts. Not charming, and not one of my favorite memories.

Next day, we did a daytrip in a 4WD with a driver and a couple other tourists, a nice French couple from Carcassone. We visited a bunch of spots in the Wadi Rum desert reserve, a very cool part of Jordan that apparently was one of King Hussein’s favorite places. Khalef was our driver, a warm and funny guy who spoke only a bit of English but made it work.

Wadi Rum was where Lawrence of Arabia spent lots of time. He had a house of sorts there, we visited it but it’s now just a pile of rubble. There are other Lawrence-related sights around the desert as well.

Khalef made us a great lunch of BBQ chicken, hummos, bread and salad. Very Arabic. These Bedouins are incredibly self-sufficient – the lunch was restaurant-quality and he did it all himself in 30-45 minutes. While we waited and ate, he turned on the car stereo and cranked some surprisingly catchy Bedouin hits – I recorded a couple, let me know if you want to hear them.

We spent most of the day driving/wandering around Wadi Rum, and at 4 p.m. or so we went to the ‘sunset place’ to watch the sun go down. That wasn’t as spectacular as we hoped for, the sunset was a bit bland, but by then we were a bit weary and it was time to press on to Aqaba, the southernmost city in Jordan and really my final stop in the country. I’d only have that night and the following morning there, before getting on a 4-hour bus to Amman, from where I’d fly to Cairo. It was all happening pretty fast, a bit more quickly than I would have liked…but I had to get to Cairo.

Got into Aqaba around 6 p.m. Showered and washed the desert dust off my body and my packs. Marcel was still traveling with me, we went to a bus station and bought our Amman tickets for the next day – he’d go back to Madaba, and on to Jerusalem from there. It had been a week since we’d met in Amman, on the Jerash tour, and we’d seen much of the rest of the country together.

At one point Marcel and the desk clerk were talking in some unknown tongue. I was about to ask Marcel where the fuck he learned Arabic (Marcel’s Arabic is even worse than mine), but then realized they were speaking in Dutch, another guttural tongue. Apparently the clerk had worked in Europe for years and had told Marcel that. I think the previous night’s cobra dream and lack of sleep had affected me…

Marcel and I proceeded to track down a good pub, Rovers Return, order a couple pitchers of beer and some fries, and recount our stories from the week. I was envious that he’d soon be in Jerusalem – he was envious that I’d be in Cairo, and have a few months more of travel in front of me. Envious creatures we are, we humans…

Moved on to a promising Lebanese spot downstairs for dinner. We weren’t that hungry, given the 2 kg’s of fries we’d just inhaled, so concentrated on mezze, had some hummos with meat, a plate of fried haloumi cheese, and something else I can’t remember. Marcel had to piss – he was gone a while, and was smiling when he returned to the table. He said he’d gone in the wrong door, a red door near the toilet, and behind it was an illicit hostess bar with Eastern Euro women. Interesting. Didn’t surprise me – besides Japan, this part of the world is the world champion in hidden/secret bars and hangouts.

We went in this place after dinner. Turned out to be pretty tame. A Moldovan waitress came over and hung out with us while we had a beer, but she didn’t speak much English and my Russian was only so handy. We left after a half hour or so. Not exactly Bangkok…but we didn’t expect that level of mayhem anyway.

Watched the Letterman Show for a half-hour – can’t recall the last time I saw it. Dave is still the same – fairly comforting to know that.

Aqaba’s climate couldn’t have been more different, and welcoming. Just an hour or two north, in Wadi Musa, it was cold at night and in the morning, and things didn’t dry well in that air. Here, all the stuff I washed after the day in the desert were dry within a couple hours. Amazing. Of course, in the summer this place is probably like hell, but for now it was perfect.

You can also see Eilat, Israel, just across the gulf:

Marcel and I power-walked the few tourist sights in the morning. Really the key draw is the Corniche, the waterside promenade. But we also saw the ruins of ancient Ayla…the Royal Jordanian Yacht Club…the little local museum…and the small castle. We sat on the beach and drank coffee at a cool little spot. Then we had to return to the hotel to get our packs and head to the bus station. Way too short, but a good initial exposure to the small port city of Aqaba.

The bus ride back to Amman followed the Desert Highway, a supremely boring stretch of road that at least has the benefit of being a quick way to go. The bus was smoky and the seats weren’t that comfortable, but we endured. Got into Amman – said bye to Marcel, I’d miss his company – and ran into Yusuf, who drove us on our Jerash tour the previous week. He took me to the airport and I was there with some time to spare. Which was good, because it seemed they had moved up my flight to Cairo by a half-hour. I don’t like that – someone should have emailed me with that news.

Changed most of my Jordanian dinar into Egyptian pounds…spent most of the rest sampling the various food spots in the airport – not half bad. Also had loads of phone credits remaining and tried to run those down by calling friends and family all over the world, spoke with Bob in Bangkok, Ken in London, and Steve somewhere in Missouri. Then I got on my flight – which had been delayed to 8 p.m., the time I originally expected – and we took off soon afterward.

Egyptian Airways isn’t a stellar operator, but it was solid enough. Got into Cairo a bit after 9 p.m., was a bit concerned about visa procedures and long lines but it all went quite well. To be honest, from what I’d read I expected Indian-level crowds and chaos, but the airport was fairly calm.

Found a cheapish car ride to the downtown. The tout sat in the passenger seat – not something I normally like, the two guys could conceivably gang up on me. My knife was in the pack in the trunk, so I kept a pen in my hand in case something happened.

All that happened was that the tout fell right asleep and snored so loudly that it became a running joke between the driver and I for the next half-hour. I kicked myself for being paranoid…then again, it’d be hard to catch me napping.

Took a while to find my hotel, on Midan Talat Haarb. I finally rang the hotel – my Jordanian SIM roamed here – and they spoke with the tout. That still didn’t do it – I finally had to help them and insist that my hotel was right on Talat Haarb circle (midan). They drove there – I spotted the hotel. Slight torture after a long day. Egypt might not offer Indian-style craziness and unprediactability, but it could come pretty close sometimes.

Checked in. Room was in old building with ancient lift, but it was clean and fine. And only US$15 a night – talk about another difference with India, at least Mumbai, where this room would go for 5 times that price.

Was dying for a beer – my guidebook mentioned a couple places, walked around (without the book in hand, that would look too geeky) but couldn’t find them. Was a bit concerned as it was getting close to midnight, and wasn’t sure when things shut down. Finally came across Estoril, a place in an alleyway famed for being a writers/actors hangout. Classic joint – great bar, intriguing customers, and a friendly feel. The barman was dressed in a green tunic and had a turban of sorts – and looked a lot like I recall Anwar Sadat looking. I had a couple locally-produced Stellas and felt a whole lot better.

Funny thing about me – sometimes I worry that I won’t:

-find a good spot to eat
-find a good spot to have a beer
-find a decent place to sleep

…and yet, 15 minutes later I’m usually full/drunk/asleep. Perhaps it’s just DNA kicking in – we all worry to some extent about satisfying our lower Maslow urges. But I think I worry too much, especially given my unmatched track record for filling my gut and resting my head. I could probably parachute into nearly anyplace in the world and be sitting, having a beer, within 30 minutes.

Saw a number of American cars on the street. A Chevy Frontera, a Chrysler Sebring, a Concorde of whatever maker. So we are selling a few of our cars overseas, after all. Nearly every other place I’d been, Toyota was kicking our ass.

Cairo was a lot tidier than Mumbai. Not that clean, to be sure, and not that calm…but it seemed to be a walkable and liveable city. The economy did appear pretty creaky – one sign was that about half the cars driving that night had no lights or parking lights on, a consistent sign that people are conserving energy even at the risk of being involved in an accident. I kept to the sidewalks and kept an eye out.

Cairo is also surprisingly conservative. Nearly all the women wear headscarves – far higher rate that in Turkey or in Jordan. And many guys have a calloused forehead, from praying all the time. Hadn’t seen that before. Hmmm. Perhaps my prior concern about finding a watering hole was warranted, after all.

Went to the Indian Consulate the next morning to try, yet again, for my visa. Filled out some forms, submitted my letters and two photos, and paid a bit of money. The clerk told me that they’d have to correspond with the Indian Embassy in Washington, which would probably take 72 hours, and after that, assuming a go, I’d have to return, hand in my passport, and they’d do the stamp etc. So two more trips to get the visa. This was getting old. I’d better get this visa or I will be very bad company. ‘Nuff said.

That did affect my Egypt travel plans – now will have to get all the way down to Abu Simbel, on the Sudanese border, pronto, and then get back to Egypt within a week. Went and bought a pricey flight ticket to Abu Simbel for Friday morning. Egypt Air’s office was nearby and fairly efficient – more so than the Indian Consulate/Embassy. Are the gods trying to tell me something??

Spent a couple hours in the afternoon at the Egyptian Museum, a renowned collection of the country’s unparalleled treasures. The collection is indeed inestimable, but the museum itself seems to me to be more of a warehouse than a great museum – the labeling and presentation of most items is minimal and, to be honest, a bit lackluster. You’d think by the 21st century, about 150 years after Egypt established its antiquities board and started formalizing its collection, they’d have a world-class building and museum. One is on the books – the Great Egyptian Museum is planned, but who knows when ground will even be broken and when the project will be finished? For the time being, bring your glasses and some aspirin, because you’ll be doing lots of squinting at the labels.

And there are students everywhere, sketching loads of pieces. Why not put them to work creating new, readable descriptions of the pieces? I don’t know that the country needs more sketches of its artwork, even in the service of helping train new artists, biologists, etc. – tourism is critical for Egypt and I think they need to upgrade things like this.

All that said, the Egyptiam Museum has some awesome stuff. There’s a room of mummified animals – a 6-foot-long Nile Perch, a bull, a horse, some cats, and a couple crocodiles that just blew me away. I’d never seen anything like that.

But the topper was the special collection of Royal Mummies. A surcharge applied, of course – the Museum has learned the art of correctly charging/overcharging foreigners. Anyway, well worth it – the 3500-year-old mummy of Ramses II was in there, along with about 10 other mummies of pharaohs (Tuthmosis III, etc.) and some other prominent figures and officials. Most were well-preserved and you can actually imagine them alive today. Wow – a must-see, and I like to think I don’t overuse that term.

What else? Drivers here are insane, I didn’t know 4-cylinder bars could go this fast. The Nile is a huge, imposing river – far more impressive than the River Jordan. I’ll provide some pics next week.

The Ramses Hilton (love the name) sits beside the Nile, and is a spectacularly grey and ugly edifice. Reminds me of the Sydney (downtown) Hilton, another property that has the power to depress upon sight.

Went out for a beer last night – was accosted by Nadeer, a local who was formerly married to a woman from South Carolina, and whose 3 kids are in the States. He sells fragrances and oils…managed to convince me to check out his little shop, which was near the bar I sought. He ingratiated himself by showing me the location of the bar, which had previously eluded me. Talk about a great salesman – I am perhaps the world’s most shopping/buying-averse individual, but he talked me into buying a small $10 bottle of lotus oil, which, I admit, smells terrific. Not sure if I’ll use it myself or give it to a lass – I had one or two in mind. Hopefully it won’t leak all over my stuff in transit – thankfully friend Dri gave me a load of ziplock bags when we met in Turkey. Those things are more useful than money, sometimes.

After buying the oil, and feeling a bit of post-purchase dissonance (oh well – only $10), I went into Cafeteria Stella, a decidedly blokes-only dive where I had a beer and ate chickpeas for a half-hour. What a collection of global souls – reminded me of Leopold’s in Mumbai, but more downscale and desperate. There was a black dude in there, with Nubian features – a few Egyptian ‘businessmen’ – and some people of indeterminate origin. I must have been quite a sight to them as well!

Back to Estoril for another drink. The Sadat lookalike was still tending bar, and the people-watching was still terrific. This place really reminds me of Casa Armas in Manila, the bar is the source of much merriment and most of the customers appear to be regulars. And it occurs to me that this entry is full of analogies – my lengthy travels must be yielding some fruit, they say that thinking metaphorically is a higher-order level of thought than the usual ‘me want beer, me want girl’ sort of brainwaves I’m usually experiencing.

What else? Hillary Clinton might be the next U.S. Secretary of State. I like that call. The Egyptian pound’s subset/penny is the piaster – I love that old French term, it’s in some Steely Dan song that I can’t remember right now. Noticed that a fraternity borther put one of our fraternity composites (photos of all the brothers that year) on Facebook – pretty funny. Elicited a bunch of comments. Got an email from old friend/frat bro Art in Budapest, whom I visited a while back – he just read Henry Miller’s ‘Tropic of Cancer’ and chimed in that Miller believed that the two key things to remember were that you must keep evolving, and that stagnation is the worst crime you can commit. I tend to agree.

Oh yeah – I also finished Junot Diaz’s ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’ and thought it was unlike anything I’ve ever read. Terrific voice, and great story. Highly recommended.

Visited the Pyramids and Sphinx today. But will put that in next week’s entry – having Petra and the Pyramids in the same entry amounts to photosensory overload. So sit tight. Over and out.