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The Phollies Continue

Monday, October 8th, 2007

The morning started off with a bit of a funny.  The total jerk tout from yesterday morning was sitting outside out hotel where we ran into him.  He saw us coming and hid his face.  I just sneered when I walked by and thought it interesting that someone so hardcore could be embarassed by his behavior.  Peggy wished him a good morning thus confirming that, yes, we recognize you and won’t forget.  The walk to the ferry was full of more touts none of which are memorable now that they are hitting us up all of the time.  We fling them to the side because we are all over their stupid ways.  We cross the river and meet up with Farook once again.

[read on]

Valley of the Kings

Monday, October 8th, 2007

There is a downside to being here during the low season.  There are more scam artists per tourist!  And believe me, we are meeting all of them.  Today was Peggy’s birthday and our big plans were to go to Valley of the Kings where Seti I, Ramesses II, all the other big names and the biggest one of them all, King Tut, were buried.  We decided to take a ferry over to the west side of the river and then hire a taxi to drive us to the different sites for the day.  Right outside of the hotel door, a tout latched on to us.  We asked him to leave us alone and that we already had plans, but he would not do so.  He quoted us 450 Egyptian pounds to drive us and we knew that the going price was 120!  He accompanied us to the other side.  He said he would pay our ferry, but I told him we wanted nothing to do with him.  He then said something to the ferry operator (a kid) in Arabic and next thing I knew we were being charged 10 pounds each rather than the real price of 5.  I was already pissed off and I insulted him as best I could.  When he continued, I told him that he must not have understood how much I disliked him and that he should be offended by what I said.  He continued on.  We found a taxi driver that said 75 pounds.  I told him that I would give him 120 and that he would do exactly what I told him to do with no deviation and that he would not be taking us to any shopping adventures.  He liked that I was that straight with him and he liked the price and we were happy.  But then the tout was yelling in Arabic at our driver and I knew he was trying to extort money from him (finder fee!!!).  I told the driver that he was not to pay that jerk any money and then I yelled that at the tout.  He was furious and once again I was cursed, hexed and evil eyed.  I am now approaching pure disgust for these supposed humans.

[read on]

Luxor By Torture Train and More Phollies

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
We boarded the train a few minutes after the scheduled departure time of 8:10 PM.  We had a sleeper car and the overnight train would get us in around 5:00 AM.  After a dinner whose description by our Paranoid Planet ... [Continue reading this entry]

Pyramids, Temples and Tombs – Pharaohs’ Phollies

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
Yesterday and today Peggy and I visited the pyramids just south of Cairo at Saqqara, Dahshur, Memphis and Giza. It was quite a thrill seeing pyramids for the first time from the taxi we hired yesterday. Our first visit ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tunisia Photos

Sunday, September 30th, 2007
Carthage, Kairouan, mosques, mannequins, etc....  Hopefully the photos are more exciting than the country! http://www.flickr.com/photos/7411983@N06/sets/72157602200982046/

King Tut

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
This song has been in my mind for a few days.  A little 30 year old humor from one Wild and Crazy Guy... about another wild and crazy guy...
 
King Tut (King Tut) Now when he was a young man, He ... [Continue reading this entry]

CCC – Crazy City of Cairo

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
Day two took us to the train station for tickets to Luxor Friday night.  That went smoothly enough.  A quick cab ride across the city to Islamic Cairo was good enough with a driver that quoted a fair price from ... [Continue reading this entry]

Cairo… First Day

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
Not many places have a lower reputation than Cairo. It has 8 million residents in the city and 16 million in the metropolitan area, but the real story is that it is one of the most densely packed places ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tusnoozia

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

Tunisia... what a bore.  Some of it has to do with just leaving exciting Morocco and some of it is due to Ramadan.  Tunisia seems fairly well-to-do with many beautiful, well-kept homes and neighborhoods.  I have never seen so many ... [Continue reading this entry]

Rest of Morocco

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
Beyond Fez and Marrakech I was able to visit Ifrane in the Middle Atlas Mountains, Ziz Valley, the Sahara Desert, Dades Gorge, a village in the High Atlas Mountains and Essaouira on the Atlantic Coast. Ifrane is a small ... [Continue reading this entry]