When in Rome...join the marching band?
Making Up for Lost Time in Rome
5/30/2008 9:59:19 PM - Day 74 - Rome, Italy
Dancing in front of the Vittorio Emanuele Monument. We had already had plenty to drink by this point of the pub crawl.
Flying into Rome (Travel Information on Rome, Italy) was a culture shock for me. This is my second time here, and the first time wasn't nearly as culturally jarring as this time. It seems that being in Africa for a couple of months can do that to you. It was a shock in a good way though. Things were clean, buildings had paint, I wasn't getting hassled by vendors everywhere I went and everything actually had some degree of order to it. It was great. I easily got to the place I was staying at named the "Chianti Hostel" (Review on Chainti Hostel in Rome, Italy) and unpacked my stuff. I would have stayed somewhere else but having come from Africa where you are able to book things the night before, I all too quickly remembered that you need to book in advance in Europe during the high season since I found most of the best hostels completely booked. The Chianti Hostel would have been good except for the fact that they kick everyone out of the hostel each day in the middle of the afternoon for four hours. Screw that.
I don't like going back to places that I have already been to. There are a lot of places out there that I want to see, and until I see all of them I would rather not spend my time and money in places that I have already visited. The only reason I was back in Rome was because I was going to meet up with some family of mine from California in Venice while they were on their own vacation. I figured I would make the most of my time in Rome by making up for lost time.
Last time I was in Rome was four years ago, right after I left the Greek Island of Corfu, right after I crashed a Quad almost killing myself. That's another story, but suffice it to say that I was hobbling all over Rome the first time I was here because I was pretty fucked up from the accident. I was so fucked up that there was no way that I was able to party on the pub crawl that all my friends went on the first time we were here. I was pretty bummed out that I wasn't able to join them because they all had a blast, so I made the decision to make up for it this time and head out on a pub crawl. I was also in the mood to do a little partying because having gone thru parts of South, East and North Africa, you don't do much partying, if any, which was the case for me. I needed to cut loose!
I met up with a cool American guy from my hostel and we decided to head out on the "Coliseum Pub Crawl". It was a good time, had a reasonable price and the first hour of drinking was free. We actually did the first hour of drinking directly in front of the Coliseum. I can't think of many other better places to pre-party. Then like most pub crawls they led us to a couple crappy bars that don't have many people go to them but give a free drink to everyone on the pub crawl as incentive to visit since they know you'll end up spending some cash at the bars after the first drink. The last couple of places on the crawl were surprisingly good though, plus we had a pretty large group of about 150 people so we were able to pack a place up. After the night was over we headed back to the hostel and came upon a marching band with a bunch of Italian soldiers. We followed behind them along with a bunch of other drunken tourists dancing around like morons following the pied-piper until eventually some Italian Police motioned us to the sidewalk. For whatever reason, they were having a huge procession right in front of the Coliseum at 2:30 in the morning. I still don't know why, but there was a good crowd out there. I was pretty drunk, didn't understand a word they were saying and tired, so I headed back to the hostel to sleep off my coming hangover.
Today I didn't do much of anything having already seen all the sites I wanted to see in Rome the first time I was here. I got my train tickets situated as well as some hostel reservations. There are a couple of spots I wished I would have seen in Italy the first time I was here, and one of those is my next destination. I leave tomorrow for Verona, the city of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet".
Ever wanted to catch a glimpse of what a pub crawl is like in Rome, Italy or Europe for that matter. Now is you chance. Here is a video recap from the "Coliseum Pub Crawl" in Rome, Italy. it was a crazy night that ended with the Roman marching band at 2:30 am. At the end of the night, I was a bit drunk so I aplogize if I offend anyone.
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Walking thru a movie.
The Valley of the Kings
5/29/2008 10:36:19 AM - Day 73 - Luxor, Egypt
Taking a photo inside a Pharaoh's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
"No trip to Egypt can be called complete with a visit to Luxor." I heard that a lot during my time thus far in Egypt, and now as I get ready to leave Luxor (Luxor Travel Information), I would have to agree. Luxor has a lot to offer in terms of sites, like the Valley of the Kings, Karnack Temple, Hatshepsut Temple and Habu Temple. Plus Luxor is in the south of Egypt so it can give you a glimpse of a different part of Egyptian culture.
I arrived at Luxor Airport midday, and boy was it hot! Being in the south of Egypt makes for one hot ass day. I had an airport transfer scheduled with my hostel the "Oasis Hostel" (review on the Oasis Hostel in Luxor)which picked me up and took me into town. Driving thru town, I was astonished to see how run down the buildings look on the outside here in Luxor. I guess paint really isn't that important when you have such intense heat since most must peel off.
I didn’t have much time for Luxor having spent a bit of extra time in Dahab then I had expected, so I had to get on the hustle and start looking at stuff ASAP. As soon as I was situated I headed over to the Karnack Temple. It was pretty impressive and this time I hired a guide so that I could get a better appreciation for what I was looking at. The temple itself is pretty intact and definitely worth a look. Afterwards I headed over to the Luxor Temple which is more of the same but still very impressive.
The next day I had a driver arranged thru the hostel that was going to take me to the other side of the Nile to the Valley of the Kings and some other temples. The Valley of the Kings was remarkable. For those of you that have never heard of it, the Valley of the Kings is an area where a bunch of Pharaoh's tombs were uncovered. It was cool to be at a location that had such world fame. It wasn't more than a valley with paths leading to the various burial sites (go figure). Some of the sites were closed, but the ones that were open always have a very informative board in front giving the design layout and high points of that particular tomb. This made visiting the site much more fulfilling.
After the Valley of the Kings I went to both the Hatshepsut and Habu Temples. They were both notable, the kind of stuff you only see in movies. The hieroglyphics on the walls in the Habu Temple were very extraordinary.
I didn't do much else in Luxor but check out the sites. One of the cool things about the city though is that you don't get hassled nearly as much as you do in Cairo. I also got some great pizza which I have been craving. Now I am getting ready to catch a flight to Rome (I'm sure I'll get my fill of pizza there). I've already been to Rome before, but I am headed there again to start a trip into Italy to meet with some family who are going to be there on vacation from the States. It feels strange to be leaving Africa, but I am looking forward to being in the developed world once again and seeing some familiar faces.
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I feel like I am in paradise.
Diving and Drinking Milkshakes in Dahab
5/26/2008 2:31:18 PM - Day 70 - Dahab, Egypt
Welcoming the sunrise on the top of Mt Sinai.
Dahab is paradise.
I loved everything about Dahab (Dahab travel information) from the weather to the friendly atmosphere to the delicious milkshakes. This place is amazing.
At first I was only planning on being here for a couple of days, only wanting to see a bit of the Sinai Peninsula as well as climb Mt Sinai, a very important mountain for many of religions. Me being a Christian, I couldn't miss checking it out. I caught a night bus from Cairo to Dahab with a couple of Aussies that I met at my hostel. They were very insistent that if I went to Dahab I had to do some diving. They both did a lot of diving back home in Australia, even diving the Great Barrier Reef on many occasions, and both said that the diving at Dahab on the Red Sea is some of the best in the world, maybe even better then what they had in Australia. This coming from two Australians carried a lot of weight in my mind, and if I was going to be in one of the best diving spots in the world, well, I simply couldn't pass that up.
I arrived in Dahab the next morning, got situated at my hotel, the Red Sea Relax Resort (review on Red Sea Relax Resort) and signed myself up for both the dive certification course (also known as PADI) as well as the night time hike up Mt Sinai to watch the sunrise. I wanted to do the hike first because I knew it was going to take a lot out of me climbing the mountain and not getting any sleep. They climb it at night because it gets too hot in the day. The next night I was loaded up in a minivan with some fellow hikers and we were on our way.
Luckily, it was one night after the full moon so the moon was still pretty full and giving off a ton of light. The Sinai Peninsula at night looks like something out of a Martian landscape. It was really creepy. At the base of the mountain we met our Bedouin guide who named our group "Moses" and on the way up would yell "Moses" to make sure we all sticked together using him as a beacon. The hike itself was pretty tough and took like six hours in freezing weather. A bunch of old Korean ladies were also hiking up, so if they could do it, I sure as hell better be able to! On the way up there were a bunch of rest stops being manned by Bedouin where you could take a breather over a cup of tea as well as buy some water or snacks. I got to the top a bit early, rented a blanket off of a Bedouin because it was freezing, and picked out a choice spot to watch the sunrise. It was a pretty surreal experience because as the sun started to rise, more and more people started showing up. Many of them were there on religious pilgrimages and would start to break out in chorus. The whole atmosphere was pretty uplifting and spiritual. The sunrise was amazing, and after admiring the new day for a bit I started making my way back down with other people in the "Moses" group. We took a different way down though called the "Step of Penance". I guess a monk from the local monastery built steps all the way up the mountain as penance. That's pretty hardcore. When I finally got back I was exhausted and spent the rest of the day sleeping.
The next day I was up super early to start my dive training. Needless to say, I was exhausted, having not really gotten much sleep the previous couple of nights thanks to the hike and the overnight bus. I met up with the Dive Instructor, a really cool guy from New Zealand, and he introduced me to the rest of the people in my group. I would be doing the training with a girl from England and there would also be two other people who would assist the dive instructor with our training as part of their training to eventually become dive instructors themselves, so there would be a total of five of us.
The entire course was amazing. We did a ton of dives and while most people do their training in swimming pools, we did our training in the Red Sea. It was really cool because as we were underwater going over different techniques you would see all kinds of various fish swimming by, or other divers who were also doing training or on a dive. It was pretty awesome. The one shitty part was that the other person doing the course with me was totally unfocused, and thus slowing me down, which was really starting to piss me off since we had everything timed because I was going to be catching a flight out of Dahab and you can't fly until you wait a certain number of hours after your last dive otherwise you risk getting decompression sickness which could hypothetically stay with you for life. She never did any of her homework (there is a written portion for the PADI certification program along with the diving) and wouldn't pay too much attention to the instructor always fucking up the exercises. We ended up finishing the course on time since the instructor would spend more time with her after the rest of us went in since he knew my situation and didn't want me to get sick.
At the end of the course we did a couple dives to the local reef named "Lighthouse Reef" and the experience was like nothing I have ever gone thru. It really was like exploring an entirely new world. I had fish swimming right next to me in all directions. I felt like I was in a giant aquarium. The one fish that I didn't want to be near me was the "Stone Fish" though, which is the most poisonous fish in the world which seem to be pretty plentiful in Dahab. I almost stepped on one my first day of training, and if it hadn't had been for my instructor who pointed it out, who knows what would have happened. One thing that I will never forget though is as we were swimming out underwater to the reef, I stopped and hovered in the water staring out into the ocean and froze. I was in complete control of myself, but for some reason I couldn't stop staring. I was enthralled by the idea that with this gear on, I could go on into the vast nothingness before me to explore countless worlds. This coupled with the gentle hum of the ocean pulsating like a slow heartbeat left me entranced. I floated there in space and stared, wondered and almost like a siren, could feel the void beckoning me to come explore its vastness. Eventually one of the people in the group waved their arm in front of my face and I snapped out of if, but I will never forget that moment.
At the end of the training we all had a couple of beers and spent the remaining time relaxing on the beach. Dahab is a wonderful, magical place, almost like a fantasy land. First off, it isn't "Egypt", it is a resort town, but after all the hustle and bustle of Cairo for the three previous weeks, a resort town was exactly what I needed. Days were spent either diving or lounging on the beachfront looking at Saudi Arabia across the red sea eating some type of delicious meal while sipping on a milkshake or beer. Nights were spent walking the boardwalk alongside the ocean taking in the surreal atmosphere created by all the restaurants with their many colored lights creating an ethereal glow all along the Dahab seashore while you made your decision as to which wonderful restaurant you would dine at that night all to the friendly ballyhoo of its servers. The end of the night usually consisted of a couple of beers at one of the bars with your fellow divers and travelers exchanging stories of past travels or international intrigues and politics. It was truly amazing, and for once, I really am sad to leave a place.
I have goals though, and on this trip, I have other places to see because for all I know I might end up somewhere that makes Dahab seem like a day at the Dentist's office (I doubt it though). I was only supposed to be here a couple of days and had already stayed more than twice that. My desire to explore is greater than my desire for comfort, but when all is seen, I hope to find myself back on the shores of Dahab drinking a milkshake while enjoying the gentle breeze of the Red Sea.
Watching the sunrise from the top of Mt Sinai. There were a bunch of people up there at the end. The hike took anywhere from 4 -8 hours depending on how fast you went.
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How did I get stuck riding a camel named Michel Jackson?
The Pyramids of Giza, Egyptian Life and more in Cairo
5/19/2008 11:22:56 AM - Day 63 - Cairo, Egypt
Last of the Ancient Wonders of the World, the Pyramids of Giza.
I ended up spending close to three weeks in Cairo (read city review). In my three weeks here I learned from hostel workers and saw for myself that most people come and go within three days, shortly after they see the Pyramids of Giza. The reason I ended up staying for so long was because the company I work for back home requested that I do a rush job on some web development work. That being the case, I decided I wouldn't leave Cairo until I had finished what they requested, no matter how long it took. I hoped the lack of travel would serve to motivate me to finish my work as quickly as possible, and that it did. I finished a little after two weeks of being here, working non-stop night and day, and after that I spent almost a week seeing the sights around the city. In my time here I was able to see a good deal of Egyptian Culture, both good and bad. Of course, I only gleamed the surface, but I know that I saw more of the local culture then most.
I arrived late at night on May 2nd from Tanzania. I had stopovers in both Nairobi and Sudan. I never guessed that I would ever spend any time in Sudan, even if it was only for a stopover. I hear it is actually a relatively safe place except in the Darfur region. I had an airport transfer setup for when I arrived in Cairo with the hostel I was going to be staying at initially, the Paris Hotel (review on the Paris Hotel). The driver they sent was quite the character. First he tells me that he is fucked up off of smoking, second I realize that the "taxi" we are in (I use that term loosely since there aren't really any official taxis in Cairo, it seems that anyone can buy something with four wheels and make it a taxi) doesn't have any seatbelts. Thirdly, the guy isn't using his headlights and it is pitch dark outside. Common sense is telling me to get the fuck out of the car, but I was simply too tired to deal with the hassle so I went along, white knuckled the entire way. We made it safely to my hostel though at which point he brought up some bottles of Liquor to do some drinking that night. I however was pretty tired and decided to call it a night.
The next couple of days I spent essentially working. I didn't do much outside of the hostel except run a couple errands and get food. I did have a couple initial impressions of Cairo though. First off, even though Egypt is a developing country, I felt like I had just arrived in "civilization" after leaving Sub-Sahara Africa. ATMs actually accepted my credit card, people were friendly, I could find grocery stores, and I had hot water as well as a myriad of other things you take for granted back home.
Also, Egyptians seem to have a death wish when crossing the street. Keep In mind that Cairo has a population close to twenty million people so you can imagine how crowded the place is. I was staying in Downtown Cairo which is total mayhem during the work week (which for Muslims is Sunday to Thursday). The streets were teaming with cars zigzagging in between one another, tons of Taxis honking their horns trying to get customers, and then you have pedestrians walking right thru the middle of this chaos as they crossed the street. I'm talking crazy, rush hour traffic and you see old ladies walk right thru the middle of it without even blinking an eye. I was astonished to say the least. My guidebook mentioned that this was the norm over here and when crossing the street, you simply have to "go for it" because any hesitation on your part will throw off the drivers who are used to this type of behavior since they purposely dodge pedestrians and if you stop it could throw them off and you can find yourself deceased. If that happens though the driver is fucked because whenever a tourist gets hurt in Egypt, whoever hurt them is totally screwed, like serious jail time or worse. I opted most of the time to wait until traffic died down a bit before crossing, no point putting my life in some crazy Egyptian driver's hands only because I couldn't wait a couple of minutes.
This brings me to another point. There are "tourist police" everywhere. They are a bunch of white uniformed Egyptians whose main objective is to make sure that Tourists don't get hassled too much or fucked with. Finally, a fucking country that realizes the value of tourism. It was a refreshing change from the horrible experience I had as a tourist in Arusha, Tanzania. Of course, these guys are a bit shady themselves, but they normally won't bother tourists but will instead bother the guides of the tourists asking for "Baksheesh" (or a tip) for doing absolutely nothing.
It seems that asking for "Baksheesh" is an Egyptian pastime. It is pretty fucking annoying because almost everywhere you go that is touristy, everyone is always finding some reason or another to ask you for a tip. "Hey, I just pointed at that Pyramid over there, Baksheesh!" As if you couldn't see the fucking pyramid a mile away. Shit like that. It gets really annoying, but it’s the way of life over there and I don't see it changing anytime soon.
Since most of my time going out into the Cairo was to get food, I was able to try quite a range of Egyptian cuisine (which isn't much). It was ok, pretty bland, but it got the job done. It consisting of a lot of Falafel, Schwarma (like a Philly cheese steak sandwich but not as good), and rice and lentil dishes. The higher end places normally served rice with chicken, or rice with meat. I did get some of the best Hummus I had ever had in my life (and I have had some good Hummus). They put chopped pieces of spicy meat in along with the Hummus and you eat it like a dip with Pita chips. My favorite meal though in Cairo was from the carts that were scattered around the streets in the downtown area of the city. Every morning I would see a ton of locals crowded around them ordering food and eating it while sitting on the curb or standing around a makeshift table made out of plywood and a trashcan. I found out the carts were selling the staple of most Egyptians diets, "Ful" or beans. The beans are like the refried beans we have in America and Mexico. They also mix in some oils and give you a couple fresh pieces of Pita bread to eat with it. For a little extra cash you can get a side of salad and a mashed hardboiled egg put into your "ful". Every morning I would go to the same bean cart and the locals there would be astonished to see a Westerner eating with them. I guess most tourists are either too intimidated to walk over there since it looks a bit chaotic, or they don't like beans? Whatever the case, they were always super friendly to me and would clear out spaces for me to eat at. It was fucking awesome and the whole thing cost less than a dollar. In fact almost all the food in Cairo was super inexpensive by Western standards which meant I was eating out a lot since it cost me almost nothing. You could get a Schwarma (steak sandwich) with fries for like $1.50. That was on the pricy end too! Everything was super cheap. If they served spicy food I would have been in heaven.
The people I met on the streets were all for the most part super friendly except for the occasional tout trying to scam me out of some money or to sell me something. Having just come thru Sub-Sahara Africa I wasn't having any of it and these amateurs couldn't squeeze a minute of my time out of me. One thing I did notice was that at night the place turned into a total cock-fest. You couldn't find any girls out walking around the streets to save your life, but the area would be filled with guys hanging out doing one thing or another. From what I understand from talking to female travelers who have been to Egypt, Egyptian men can be super aggressive in their advances to tourists, therefore, a lot of them hated their time in Egypt. I also hear that it isn't cool to be walking around at night unless you are with a man in Muslim culture which could explain this situation. I would also see a lot of Egyptian guys walking hand in hand or arm in arm which where I come from, means you're gay. Out here, that doesn't seem to be the case because being gay is a huge no-no in Islam. I asked someone about it and they said that since the men can't walk around holding hands with women, they hold hands with each other. Hellllll no. Kind of sucks for the Egyptian guys, but they created their own situation to some extent. If you went to a nice restaurant though you would see both men and women in there (it's cool in there because they are with male companions). It makes me feel a bit bad for solo female travelers to have to deal with all of this and at the same time makes me appreciate the fact that as a male I have a lot more freedom to freely travel around the world. Females can do it too, but it has a lot more hassle and complications then it does for guys.
The one place I did make it to pretty quickly was the grand bazaar, also known as "Kkan al-Khalili". It was pretty packed with vendors trying to sell you anything and everything. It reminded me of a swap meet Egyptian style. Some of the vendors were pretty funny too yelling at you "Hey, how can I take your money", or "Hello, any way I can rip you off today". I almost bought something from that guy for being so honest.
After a couple of days spent at the Paris Hotel I decided I would like to try out another hostel so that I could review it for this website since I was going to be staying in Cairo for so long, so I switched to the "Sara Inn Hostel" (review on the Sara Inn Hostel). The place actually ended up working out better for me for a couple of reasons and the staff there was awesome. After spending two weeks working my ass off in Cairo, the staff helped me setup a day long trip which would include seeing the Pyramid of Dozer at Saqqara, the old Egyptian capital of Memphis and drum roll please…the Pyramids of Giza. I think up until that point, I was the only tourist in Cairo who had been there for two weeks and not seen the Pyramids of Giza.
I woke up super early since it was going to be a long day. The hostel set me up with a cool driver/guide who would be showing me around. First it was to Saqqara to see the Pyramid of Dozer which was the oldest stone monument in the world (I can't miss that). Along the way there were a couple police checkpoints, and of course they asked the guide for some "baksheesh". Eventually we got there and the driver left me to go check out the pyramid site since it also had a couple of other ruins scattered around it. I bought a ticket and got in and started getting hassled. In the tourist sites, the touts are pretty fucking bad. Not nearly as bad as Arusha, but still really fucking annoying. If anyone ask you to take a picture, for your ticket (unless they are in a uniform), whatever, just ignore them because all they want is your money and will try to find some way to get it from you. Guys will literally open cans of soda and hand them to you saying you then owe them money. I also saw some of the dirtiest Bedouin men who are paid to watch the place and make sure that nobody defaces the site. What they also do is try to scam tourists any way shape of form. They were also super dirty and one motherfucker asked me for a drink from my water and I said "sure", being the nice guy that I am, at which point he started making out with my water bottle as he drank from it. "You can have it bro".
The Pyramid at Saqqara was pretty cool, being the oldest stone monument in the world and all, but after a couple of hours it was time to head to Memphis to see some of the sites over there. On the way to Memphis I offered to buy my driver some lunch since he seemed like a pretty nice guy. I told him I wanted to go somewhere the locals went that wasn't super expensive. Of course he takes me to a restaurant that all the tourists go to with all the kitsch from Bedouin tents to a musical greeting from three guys hitting drums. "Are you sure this isn't expensive, it looks pretty touristy to me?" "No, no, this place is fine". Yeah, the place was fucking expensive. Bastard. He then asks me if I want to see how Egyptian rugs are made for free on the way to Memphis at one of the local rug manufacturers. Sure, why not.
I later learned that this is just a ploy for the driver to get a commission on whatever rugs you buy, but he insisted that I didn't have to buy anything, only look and we could skip it if I wanted. I wasn't buying anything though and was curious, so it wasn't a big deal. The place was pretty shady though. All the workers making the rugs were kids, which I thought was quite strange. I asked the guy showing me around about that and he said that it was ok because the kids were actually in training and thus, learning a skill, pretty much going to school. Riiiiiiiiight. This guy should be a politician. He then showed me some rugs, and I have to say, I was pretty impressed. The best ones takes months to make by hands and when you spin them around under light the colors of the rug almost seem to change. Plus, he put a lighter up to the rug and there wasn't a mark on it. Very impressive, I can only hope any money they make goes towards the kids who are making the rugs.
After my visit to the rug manufacturer, we were off to Memphis. Memphis had a really huge statue there of a pharaoh that was pretty cool to look at, but that was pretty much it. When I walked out my driver asked me if I wanted to see how Papyrus was made. "Ok". Soon I found myself in a papyrus shop with a vendor showing me the exact process which concluded with a sales pitch. Sneaky motherfucker! I have to say though that the Papyrus paintings they had were pretty impressive and I almost caved and bought one, but decided it would be a good idea to sleep on it. The vendor even offered to buy me lunch if I came back to look at his stuff again. I have to say, these guys are persistent. Not in the "hey, hey, hey, hey, buy this or I am going to shoot you" kind of way that I saw in Arusha, but a much more suave manner that probably has a decent conversion rate.
Finally, after all of this, we were headed to the Pyramids of Giza, last remaining "Ancient Wonder of the World". It was a bit late when we got there though, so the only way to get inside at that point since the area was closed was to hire a guide and go in by camel. Since I was already there, I decided why the fuck not. Soon I had a new guide, and we were headed in the back way to the Pyramid site by camel, giving "Baksheesh" left and right to make it in since the site was technically closed. You could see the pyramids from pretty far away, but when we finally got up close enough to get a view of all of them I have to say that I was in awe. They were simply amazing on such an epic level. To think that an ancient civilization made these pyramids thousands of years ago is astounding. Making them with today's technology would be quite the feat, but thousands of years ago? Come on, that is fucking incredible! Scientist still don't know exactly how it was done, but there are a lot of good hypothesis (worst of which is that aliens made them).
The site itself was pretty empty since it was after closing, so it was pretty neat to have the place all to ourselves. Of course, there were tourist police all over the place patrolling the area and whenever one saw us they would start running in our direction saying "wait" in Arabic. My guide would pretend not to hear them though and we would escape on Camel speeding away since the police had no chance of keeping up with us on foot. It's not every day I get to say I spent it checking out the last ancient wonder of the world while getting chased around by tourist police. Twice we ran into police on camel too, in which case we had to stop and give up since there wasn't any way we could outrun these guys. All that would happen though would be that they would come up, give my guide some shit, he would tip them, and then they would leave. We rode around till the sun was setting at which point we headed back because trying to navigate the Sahara in the dark can be a bit difficult. At the end of the day I was exhausted, but I saw everything (and more) that really interested me in Egypt. The Pyramids are one of those things that really blew me away, and I have seen some pretty cool stuff in my short lifetime thus far. They were simply incredible.
The next day I was pretty tired, but decided to spend it at the Cairo museum. For the most part the museum sucks unless you are an Egyptologist. Most of the artifacts are strewn about only organized by time period with barely any explanation of what they are (most of them only have Arabic and French signs). Plus, they have so much stuff that after a point, having looked at this artifact and that not even knowing what you are looking at, I was like "ok, that's two thousand years old, cool, that's also super old, cool". Plus, the place is super packed with all kinds of tourists making for a hard walk around. They also have a ton of items to look at, and since the place isn't very tourist friendly with the signs, it almost becomes overkill and you stop appreciating what you are seeing. One of the cool things there though was Tutankhamen's mask. For that they had very good signs explaining everything about the mask.
After seeing the museum, I had seen everything I wanted to see in Cairo so made plans to head to the Sinai Peninsula to a resort city on the Red Sea named Dahab. They had a terrorist incident a couple years ago so a lot of people are hesitant to go, but from what I hear it is pretty safe so I decided to head out there. The main reason I want to go is to climb Mt Sinai.
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