8-29-11 Exploring Egypt like a local

Our Egyptian friends (brother and sister) came to pick us up at the hotel and take us exploring. We walked thru some lively streets, saw small tuk-tuks (motorized carts that hold 2-3 ppl) and took in the city lights. We decided to stop at an open air restaurant for dinner. I use the term restaurant loosely, It looked more like a street BBQ with tables set up around it, but our local friends claimed it was indeed a public restaurant that was popular. We ordered the kebab. shish taouk and chicken. Kebab is ground meat and spices on a stick (affectionately called turd on a stick), shish taouk is chunks of meat on a stick and the chicken was grilled/charred with spices. All of this was placed on a bed of greens and on top of that was a mound of potato chips then the meat was on top of that. This was served with side dishes of salad and some tahini sauce and bread and bottled water, followed by tea. I asked our friends if this was beef, they said yes. Rayan smiled and said yes also, after I ate it however he mentioned that their beef source was water buffalo and goat, they don't have many cows. If I would have known that I would not have tried it, but it was tasty just the color was a little on the grey side, like a turkey burger. Rayan also said the juicy hamburger at the hotel was water buffalo and well I devoured that in a new york minute so what can I say. After this we drove to the highest point of the city where there were patio tables places near the cliff and they had a guitar player and you could order soda, tea, coffee or a smoothie and smoke shisha and look out over the city lights of Cairo. It was very nice and relaxing and as we left I did see where they prepared our drinks, in a little makeshift hut with out running water albeit I didn't die from food poisoning didn't even get diarrhea. See the picture of me with our friends and the pensive look on my face, I wasn't sure about eating there.

8-29-11 Getting a room

Exhausted from our long journey we were ready for a hot shower, some decent food and a comfy bed. Unfortunately, we did not pre book a hotel and thought we would be there early enough to find and apartment in Nasr City. We did drive around for a few hours, alot of people are awake to pray and eat before dawn. Most of the apartments were dirty, old and not secure looking even though Nasr City is supposed to be a nice area. There was even a lady that was kind enough to show us a few apartments but in the end she asked us for money. By this time it was about 4am and I was tired, cranky and hungry and we did look at one more place and I was ready to settle for it. When the manager came to talk with us about the price and he looked at our passports he asked if we were married and did we have proof. We said we were because it was a 3 bed 2 bath apartment but he would not rent it to us without proof.We thanked him for his time and I said take me to the nearest nice hotel. This really blew our budget but I was happy to pay it. It was rated 5 star but you know its not even that when your in another country. It was clean and they let us have an early check in so off we went to our deluxe rooms. Yes rooms, we had to get 2 because you can't share a room with a person of the opposite sex if your not married or immediate family. I immediately called room service and ordered a big juicy burger and fries with a coke zero, ahh off to sleep.Sonesta Resort & Casino- Cairo

8-28-11 Getting to Egypt by Ferry

This is the fast ferry that only takes an hour to get from Jordan to Egypt. The slow ferry takes 3 hours. Nothing here is ever on time and they want you there 2 hours ahead of time to get your documents in order. It took about 30 min to get the proper papers stamped and you have to pay a small departure fee of 5 JD. It was still Ramadan and there were not any food stations open just some stands for sundries and we managed to find chips and soda. Then we waited, and then we waited some more and the ferry was late by what seemed like a good hour and a half on top of the 2 hours we were already there, sitting in the heat with all kinds of stinky, dirty people seemed like an eternity.I will put the cost breakdown in the next post but no matter how cheap it was it was not worth the waiting and the eternal bus ride and the stinky, stinky people. Once on the ferry I thought it would be better, wrong again. Rayan kept telling me to be quiet because everytime I spoke people started to stare at me like I was a fresh piece of steak about to be fed to hungry lions and thank goodness he escorted me everywhere, even to the line for the bathroom. All of the women were covered head to toe and I stuck out like a sore thumb. Also, you leave your luggage as you get on-board and in the chaos it could be easily rifled through so take anything valuable out and carry it with you. It of course took longer to leave the port and longer to get to Nuweiba. I donned my shades, plugged in my ipod and tried to think of a happy place. Finally arrived in Nuweiba, I felt like I was dumped into the middle of an Indian Jones movie. There were huge luggage carts being pushed and pulled piled high with all sorts of things. We had to push our way thru the crowd and put everything on the belt to be xrayed then make our way out to even more chaos. There was a gate and we headed towards it, on the other side were hungry taxi drivers hollering for anyone to come over to them. DON"T go to them they rip you off. Thankfully someone directed us to the bus station but I didn't have my entry visa yet, so we walked the other way. Turns out you pay for the visa at the bank by the ATM then find your way to the passport office. They took my passport on the ferry and I had to go there to retrieve it with proof of my entry visa. All that walking and Rayan was lugging the heavy suitcase on a dirt road and he was fasting because of Ramadan and it was about 95 degrees in the shade. We finally purchased our bus tickets and found a spot to yes you guessed it wait some more. Then of course I had to use the bathroom and we found one but it was the dirtiest grossest excuse for a bathroom I have seen. I had no choice but to hurry up, hold my breath and leave as quickly as possible. I washed my hands with some bottled water we were carrying. You would need about a gallon of hand sanitizer with you so whats the use.
Rayan also had to stand in line with our gear to watch to make sure it made it onto the bus. People had so much stuff with them that a separate large truck was used to accommodate everything. The bus at least was air conditioned and not quite as stinky but it was a very L-O-N-G and bumpy ride. There were many check point charlies along the way. Armed guards stopping you and checking everyone's passport. The guards were so so young around 19 yrs old looking. At sunset we stopped on the side of the road so everyone could eat a snack if they brought one and the people beside us and behind us gave us a few dates and some cookies, we gave them some cans of soda. We did stop for a dinner break at a roadside cafe.There was an empty 18 wheeler parked there as well with a few bullet holes in it, the restaurant mgr said the people left their vehicle there because they were shot at and they didn't continue on. You could drive your car onto the ferry and drive but I would not say it would be to safe to do this.
The food was served fast and it was edible. Charred chicken, bread and some veggies and ice cold coca cola.Bathrooms were ok and a normal toilet with toilet paper. The women and children were segregated from the men and Rayan sat with us as well as one father that had a bunch of kids with him. I was glad to be seated there because the men do eye you in an unpleasant way and I don't blame the women for being covered from head to toe. The highlight was taking the tunnel under suez canal was brief but kinda kewl thing to do. 8 1/2 hours later we arrive at the bus station. Our gear was on the very top of the pile and first to be unloaded so that was a blessing. Rayan has a friend in Egypt and her brother is a taxi driver so he came to pick us up.
The price per person to get there was about 140 usd and to fly would be about double. Fly its worth every penny and takes half the time plus its an air conditioned, clean terminal with bathrooms and restaurants.

Going to Egypt-the long way there 8-27-11

So excited, Ramadan is ending finally and I can resume my travels. We decided to take the ferry and a bus to Cairo. The ferry takes an hour and the bus should take 6-7 hours. First we took a 1 hour cab ride to the Amman bus station, we got tickets on Jet to go to Aqaba and from there we will take the ferry to Nueiba, Egypt. We thoroughly checked the web for bus schedules and found that we would get to Aqaba after the ferry left for Egypt so we decided to stay in Aqaba for the night. By "we" I mean my cameraman and guide Rayan, I could not make this trip without him. He not only speaks Arabic and is a native Jordanian  he is also very protective of me, I would not feel safe traveling alone and really there is no fun in going on an adventure alone.
We had a nice evening in Aqaba even though the hotel was on the south end and all the shopping and restaurants were on the north end so we had to take a cab all around and it wasn't as cheap as we hoped. After a nice dinner and buying a few snacks for the long trip tomorrow we decided to do a little swimming in the dive pool at the hotel. This pool starts at 3 ft deep and drops off suddenly to 6 ft with a max depth of 9 ft. I'm not saying that I am a great swimmer but lets say I am a great floater. When you have extra body fat this is the one time it works in your advantage and I effortlessly floated around the pool. Rayan on the other hand doesn't have an ounce of fat on him. I asked him if he could swim and he said it had been a while but that he indeed could swim. Well Rayan did fine in the 3ft part of the pool but as soon as he stepped off to go to the deeper part he started to flounder ie: sink like a stone. I thought he was goofing around as he did not look panicked and it all sort of happened in slow motion and was surreal. He sank, came up but didn't take a breathe and then sank again. I thought should I jump in? Should I throw him the life preserver? This time when he came up he was doing the dead man's float and I thought nice Rayan, very convincing. I was still sitting on the deck chair watching him looking for signs of distress when all along the whole time I should have realized he was in distress but thought he was kidding around. Finally, he started kicking and moving his arms and somehow made it to the side the pool. Thank god he was ok just shaken up a lot. He said he didn't panic and didn't know why he sank like that. First fresh water is not as buoyant as salt water and second if you have a lean body you will not float easily. We decided to get some rest as we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

August/Ramadan

Its a slow,laid back month so far no one is excited to go anywhere or do much. I have lists of things to do and checked them more than twice. Rayan will have to go get his passport and I am sure that will take some time. Also, I need to get some office/bedroom furniture with a decent proper bed this lumpy, bumpy one has got to go. We are also working on content for the website, travel log and getting all our quick books set up for tracking receipts.

8-6-11 Caution don't do this...

Seems like every country has things that are misunderstood gestures, what is acceptable in the US might not be acceptable here.
Examples of things that you shouldn't do here are:
1) The O.K. sign, there is an ok sign and a slightly different one that is threatening- like you are going to beat some ass so don't make the ok sign they both look the same to me.
2) Eye contact- when you make eye contact quickly look away otherwise it is considered hostile threatening.
3) Clothing- avoid shirts that are low cut or show your stomach, or sleeveless-shorts should be avoided and knees should be covered, capris are ok- I do not agree with this but after experiencing the discomforting stares of people as I wore a shoulder baring shirt its better to conform than to feel uneasy and possibly unsafe or threatened, who wants to stick out like a sore thumb anyway and even if you dress conservative you can still be spotted a mile away.
more to come as I discover them...

8-1-11 Ramadan

 I won't bore you with the details of the history of Ramadan. I will however share a few details of my experience with it. My ex husband observed Ramadan for the past 5 yrs I was with him and I already knew a few of the basics and I knew I didn't enjoy it much at all. I also didn't want to cook and eat in front of everyone and thought I would try to do it. When you are very young they start you out with a few hours of fasting and go from there. It took me about 3 days of partial fasting and adjusting my sleeping schedule before I could go a whole day. Nothing to eat or drink after sunrise until sunset, affectionately called the ramadan diet by me. I managed to do it for 1 day and in my eyes completed my task of trying it and went back to a semi normal eating pattern. I however did try to stay up later and sleep later, this seemed to help alot but if you work then it would be a terrible thing to have to endure. Interestingly enough my Muslim friends didn't view it as an awful thing to do and they didn't mind if I made a sandwich and ate in my room. I also ate the evening meal at sunset and occasionally at 3am as well so it wasn't much of a diet for me, but everyone else seemed to loose a few pounds, maybe next yr I will try for a few more days. It does seem to give you more will power, but I need more will power to even do it in the first place.