Egypt by plane, train and felucca

I flew back up to Cairo on the same day that Obama was in town to give his speech on how America wants to work better with the Muslim world. The speech was a huge hit in this part of the world. As I was driving in from the airport I saw the Air Force helicopter take off from the university. Traffic was still snarled as everyone stopped to watch the helicopters.

I am now on my Egypt / Jordan tour. This one is a GAP Adventure tour, and all seems to be good so far. There are 15 participants in total, mostly from Canada and the US (no Danes in sight). Our leader, Mamdouh, is a little over the top. I think he spends a bit too much time in the sun.

So far we have already covered a lot of ground. On day one, we did the National Museum (along with about 200 other groups). It is a small museum, so it was pretty packed. This is the first time during my travels that I have really felt sardine-like. I think this might become more of a theme throughout the summer months. I was really worried that coming to the Middle East during June was going too hot, but apparently a lot of other people felt this was the time to come too!!

I have now been to the Pyramids and Sphinx of Giza. They were impressive, but I wasn't expecting to be so close to the city. The city limits are right up to the edge of the Pyramids. You can actually stand next to one of the pyramids and see a KFC store. That just doesn't seem right.

We took an overnight train down to Aswan. This was far nicer and more comfortable than my previous experience with night trains. It was especially nice to have the cabin to myself. My Vietnamese experience came with three other cabin mates; two of whom were quite smelly and loud.

From Aswan we made the long morning trip down to Abu Simbel (very close to the southern boarder with Sudan). In order to join the bus convoy, we had to be up and gone by 4am. The Great Temple of Abu Simbel is where Ramses II declared himself a god, and ensured his heighten status with the people of Egpyt.

Today we are heading north up the Nile via felucca. Felucca's are traditional sailing boats with a single triangler jib and no main sail. Essentially we are gliding along the Nile, while flaking out on mattresses under a sun shade. Life is smooth sailing and the most I have to worry about is whether I need to put on more sunscreen. Ahhhhh!!
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