Middle East Trip (11 June-16 July)

I've just finished at 5 week trip through the Middle East and thought that I would record my experiences and impressions. Between June 11, 1997 and 16 July, 1997 Dan Stryker, a Haas classmate of mine, and I travelled through Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, and Greece. As we travelled, I took down my notes and thoughts on my Pilot and downloaded everything when I got home. I just wish that I had had this on my other trips.

Dan of Arabia, my travel buddy of five weeks who now knows more about me than he ever wished to.

Summary

I had a great time. Istanbul, Luxor, and Petra are must sees if you visit the Middle East. Jerusalem is also neat but we had somewhat of an odd experience with the city. The experiences, adventures and sights I've seen were great. The people were wonderful and now I have a much better appreciation for that part of the world and Islam. For those who have safety reservations about the Middle East, at no time did I ever feel unsafe.

While we were backpacking, we stayed in reasonable hotels with basic amenities like private baths and air conditioning. We also stayed with a friend in Tel Aviv which saved us a lot of money. Even so, our housing costs for the five weeks totaled $402. Transportation also accounted for a large portion of our costs. With the air ticket to Cairo and from Athens, our costs totaled $1,600. In theatre transportation costs came out to $500 or so including airfare from Cairo-Luxor, Tel Aviv-Istanbul, and Santorini-Athens.

The only downside is that summer is off season for Egypt and Jordan. One, it's hot and with the need to wear long pants in a lot of areas it can be pretty uncomfortable. Two, with low tourism, many of the regularly scheduled tours and buses may or not run. This should all be reconfirmed on site. Lastly, the Middle East was a major culture shock for us but by respecting the religion and keeping and open mind we were warmly welcomed wherever we went.

Other than these precautions, anyone traveling through the Middle East with a little bit of common sense and spirit of adventure will have a blast.

My travelogue follows:

Where would you like to visit first?

Day 1 (11 June)
The Adventure Begins

Never be afraid to ask to change seats. When we arrived in Frankfurt after a 10 hour leg, When we asked if any seat changes were possible, the service rep said, "no the plane was really full but she could move us into business class". After a slight pause to wait for the punchline.... All I can say is that business class was great and a pretty good way of starting our vacation.

Day 2

My first impressions of Cairo - monocolor. The color of the buildings combined with the haze makes everything look really brown. Egypt is also the land of do whatever the hell you want. There seem to be few rules and those that do exist are either ignored or baksheek'd away. Lastly, there is a distinctive smell that permeates all of Egypt. One of the neat things about Cairo is the mass of people all over, Cairo is very crowded. I didn't expect this, but they impart a high level of energy to the city , especially when they all come out late at night. Cairo seems like it stays busy until 0400 or so. 0400-0430 is the only time I can remember dead silence. At all other times, there are plenty of voices, horns, traffic, etc. We are living in imperial British splendor at the Windsor Hotel - 1930's splendor that is, but the Windsor meets our needs.

Day 3

The pyramids are big and pretty impressive especially when you consider when they were built. It was kind of strange to be driving through the city, then all of a sudden, there are the pyramids, right on the edge of town. It's almost like their in someone's backyard. However, it's one huge scam. Everyone wants to get your money from the hawkers to the security guards to the grounds workers. This is where I got my first lesson on baksheesh and why I need to carry lots of small bills -- to pay for all those little services that people are so willing to do for you. I ended up paying at groundsworker 5 LE to sit somewhere else (after he had specifically moved there because I was coming) when 50 piasters (1/2) LE) would have been fine.

Today we also got mugged and received a lesson in Egyptian salesmanship - in the nicest way possible of course. Dan and I were walking home from the Egyptian Museum and met an assistant curator who was genuinely friendly and helpful. We chatted a bit and discussed what sights we should see. Unfortunately this decreased our level of wariness for the next encounter. Several blocks down, we met another gentleman who similarly inquired about us and mentioned that he was on his way to his "factory". Nee dless to say, we got sidetracked into his "factory", a perfume shop. After exchanging the regular pleasantries and presenting us cokes and a gift of incense - after all we were all friends, the shopkeeper showed us some essences and asked us which we liked. I told him I was allergic to them and that we were students on a budget (basically trying all my excuses so that I would be under any onus to make a purchase later). I pulled out my money to show him how little I had for the next two days but he took all of my money and handed me a bottle of essence. The funniest part of the experience was watching this whole pitch unfold, especially after taking negotiations. Every now and then, Dan and I would exchange looks of amusement but we decided to stay for what was overall a entertaining and valuable experience.

Here I am, trying a sheesha in the name of respecting the local customs. Of course I did not inhale. That would be wrong, wouldn't it?

After the museum, we opted for a short nap then a kushari dinner, the national dish of Egypt, with dessert and tea for 5 LE. Dinner was followed by sitting around drinking tea and smoking a sheesha or water pipe. Not being a smoker, the apple tobacco was cool and quite pleasant. The nicest part of this experience was the marked absence of other tourists. Everyone at the "bar" was a local.

Day 4

The Citadel was interesting but not a must see. It does give you a good view over the city though. Leaving the Citadel gave me my first taste of Dan's sense of direction when we walked through the really poor areas of Islamic Cairo (slums) in search of the two mosques that were across the street. The slums reminded me of Northern Iraq. Many of the homes look like rubbled shells and there was trash all over the place. At the Ar-Rifa'i Mosque, one of the imams demonstrated prayer call for us (and a little baksheesh) and we got to climb one of the minarets for a little more baksheesh (do you see a pattern here?). The stairway was dark, missing a step, and had bare wires hanging off the walls and was a great adventure. From the dust on the floor, you could tell that few tourists (or anyone for that matter) came up this way. Once at the top however, we were treated to a great view of Cairo. We could see pyramids in distance, the browness of Cairo, the rubbish heaps on the rooftops. We wouldn't have made it without Dan's flashlight because most of it was pitch black.

In the Mosque of Sultan Hassan (next door to the Ar-Rifa'i Mosque), we sat quietly against the wall during prayer call and watched a prayer service. At the end one of the gentlemen thanked us for being respectable enough to be quiet and unobtrusive. Other things about Cairo that struck me are the slums, trash, ruins, and how sprawling the city is. The big mosque didn't have much but we did get lunch for free. From the mosques, we walked towards the Cairo bazaar, via the local market, had some Egyptian pizza for lunch. After cruising the main Souq (market) we caught a short nap then returned in the evening to watch the Sufi dancers or whirling dervishes. They were interest to watch. Some of the dancers were whirling for 15-20 min.

While wearing long pants and nice shirts in this heat is a pain, we are definately treated better because of it. I'm not sure how we would have been treated if we had been cruising in shorts and T-shirts, but we stand out from other tourists. Of course I'll never been mistaken for a Middle Easterner, but I believe that my manner of dress communicated my respect and understanding of the social norms there.

Day 5

This was our last day in Cairo and we actually left later than we wanted because the flights we wanted were full. So we had a day to kill and started by sleeping in late and hanging out until 1200. We then proceeded to the Museum of Islamic Art where we paid more baksheesh to the museum curators when they turned on the lights in the exhibits for us then wandered through more of Islamic Cairo. Again for some reason we found ourselves in the slum area and eventually worked our way out. At the end, we were both pretty hungry and thirsty so we bought a watermelon for 14 LE. ALWAYS ask how much something is before you buy. We sat on a curb to eat our watermelon and shared it (and our knives) with some locals. Hmmm, there are still a couple of hours to kill. It's off to the Sheraton to hang out. When we got bored of that, we went for a walk along Nile and enjoyed a nice chat with a gentlemen on the riverbank.

Overall, I thought Cairo looked run down and decrepit. This in large part because of all the trash that is left lying around and the ruined buildings. On the river, when I look up the Nile it resembles Bangkok as both cities are built right on rivers. However, Cairo doesn't use the river for daily commuter transport or commerce. You are also struck by the very large military presence. It seems like the tourist police and army are everywhere. On the other hand, Cairo has a lot of energy, especially when you wander the shopping areas. Despite it all, the people don't seem to mind and that doesn't stop them from doing whatever they need to do.

Baksheesh (the art of). The practice of baksheesh was only encountered in Egypt and is like tipping. However, people expect baksheesh for carrying bags, pointing out some stairs in a historical site, turning on the lights in a museum exhibit etc. It can be annoying since you have to keeping forking out cash, Taken in another light, it lets you do a lot of things that you probably wouldn't be able to normally like climbing the minarets or getting some pretty decent tours.

We left for Luxor that night. As we were approaching Luxor at 2300, the pilot said it was 41C. Dan and I both did the conversion math and we could both see the disbelief in each other's eyes that we had done our math right and it really was 95F. Daytime should be interesting.

Day 6

The Temple of Karnak big impressive in sheer size and carvings. I found it amazing that so much of it is still up and that later civilizations didn't take all the stones. That evening we wandered down to the river to watch the sun set the took a falucca ride. We were certainly taken for ride which involved us being towed upstream where we then proceeded to float back down to our mooring site. While it wasn't quite what I expected, it was still enjoyable. The temperature is very hot, 46C = 115F

Day 7

The Great Adventure. Of all things, we rented bikes (8 LE) and rode (approximately 8 hours, in 110F weather, through the middle of the Sahara Desert at height of summer) to the Valley of the Kings. This turned out to be somewhat disappointing because a lot of the paintings were simpler than expected and preservation of the art from humidity and tourists was somewhat poor. We later biked to the Rammeseum (no one there), Temple of Hapshephut, (which is carved into the rock) and Medinet Habu (best). At the Habu Temple, we unexpectedly got a private tour because I accidentally baksheesh'd a worker 10 LE for pointing out some stairs. Evidently he thought he was going to make a pile off some stupid tourists. In the Valley of the Kings we saw the tombs of Ramses 4/6, Thotmosis 3, and Seti 1. We even found a ticket with 2 slots so we both got bonus tomb. As mentioned previously, we were disappointed with the tombs until we got to last 2 tombs (Ramses 4/6).

It's amazing how small this world can be. In the Valley of the Kings we ran into a classmate whom we recognized by voice (Tarik). All together, Dan and I drank 15 liters of water today and still felt dehydrated at the end of the day. Our typical day so far is to look around until it gets hot, take a nap, eat dinner and wander about, then go to bed. Rough life huh? So far we've pushed ourselves pretty hard but the pace is good.

Just admiring all the carvings and hieroglyphics

Day 8

I think Valley of the Queens is much better than Valley of the Kings. The paintings are better preserved and better protected. Nefertari's tomb is the most expensive at 50 LE, but also the most impressive. The colors and detail of the art are spectacular. Being our last day in Luxor, we had no place to return to so we surfed hotel lobbies until the Luxor Museum opened up. This was much better presented than Egyptian museum.

We endured a sleepless 5 hour bus ride to Hurghada where we were promptly mobbed on arrival by touts. We finally took a room at the Four Seasons - certainly not the same chain, watched some Americans get into a shouting match over 3 LE (less than $1), and killed 3 large roaches in our room. After all, I wanted to use the bathroom too.

Day 9

Off to Na'ama Bay. The 7 hr ferry ride was pretty uncomfortable and hot but at least we had people to talk to. The trip was quite choppy and I started to get a little queasy. The mindset here in the Sinai is different. Everywhere else in Egypt the hawkers aggressively attack you as soon as you roll in. In the Sinai, there is definitely less inclination to do this. When we debarked from the ferry, there weren't even taxis available. All we got were directions from the gate - "walk that way ....... 7 kilometers" and "take my ridiculously high prices you silly tourist or I shall taunt you again". It's definitely a seller's market and not in the same low tourist period that we experienced through the rest of Egypt. The people might be a little more rude. not the same as Luxor. The Sanafir was totally booked, which came as a surprise, so we had to run around to find a place, finally settling on the Pigeon House. I think this turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it's a decent place (a little dusty) and it's right down the street from Aquamarine dive center. In retrospect, the Pigeon House was a nice place to stay. Dan wanted to check out the prices for dives and they seem pretty good. It still very hot.

Day 10

I went on my first ever dive today. It was only and intro dive but it was still a fantastic experience to see all the colors and sea life first hand. Of course it didn't hurt that I had a really cute dive instructor. We started at 1000 with instruction and 30 minute local dive and were done by 1215. This dive was done around a reef right off the beach but even there I say lionfish, eels, and some really nice coral. Tomorrow we go out on the boat. I've paid for the intro + 1 dive but will probably go for an additional dive. The total cost = $169 including instruction, equipment, T-shirt and 2 boat dives.

Day 11

I spent the entire day on the boat to dive Ras Bob and the Middle Garden. We went down to 12m saw lots of fish and other good stuff. The first dive of the day was solo, just me and the instructor, but on the 2nd dive all three of us, instructor and 2 newfs went in together and spent nearly 45 minutes in the water. The colors are amazing when seen from underwater. Now I need to get lenses for my mask. I did OK but got a little cocky on the last dive and made some stupid mistakes putting my equipment together. I think that I have a pretty good feel for diving now and will definitely get certified when I get home. Sharm El Sheikh is now the most expensive place in Egypt and there are Italians crawling all over the place. Then again, for the Italians it's only a three hour flight. Everything is much more expensive than we're used to but then again there are a lot of resort hotels packed into this stretch of beach.

Looking back, one of my only regrets is not taking a camal safari into the desert. I think that this would have been a great adventure and a unique experience to try really sample this incredible part of the world.

Day 12

Time to leave Egypt. However, when we went to the bus station for the 1030 bus, we found that it wasn't running. LESSON- confirm all schedules in the off season. Now we have to wait for the 1430 bus, that means we'll see a lot of hotel lobbies. In Sharm El Sheikh proper, there is nothing to do but on the bright side, I finally sent out my post cards.

Nuweiba - After a trek of Herculean proportions (including 2 false starts, chain smokers, dodging camels on the road, and endless waiting) we arrive at the Marina Motel. Rated as the best of 3 mediocre hotels by Lonely Planet - it still sucks .... hard. We're not sure what lives in the sheets and will zip up our bags to keep out bugs, the bathroom is 2x6 ft and include toilet, sink, and shower (and this is the deluxe room). The cheap rooms were 30 LE but had not bath (squats available outside), and all the salt water we wanted to use. Oh yes, the room smells bad ... like a sewer. On the bus to Nuweiba, an old man who spoke very little English attached himself to me and taught me how to pronounce and write all my Arabic numbers. This instruction was accompanied by the occasional slap on the wrist or pull to the ear. Needless to say, I now know all of my Arabic numbers.

In hindsight, while the adventure getting to Petra was interesting in itself, our time could have been better spent doing other things. One option open to us was fly from Sharm El Sheikh to Amman then to make the day trip to Petra. This would have been more expensive but would have saved us two full days of travel. Secondly, once you factor in all the modes of transportation and lodging in Nuweiba, the increase in cost is minor. This is the approach we took from Santorini to Athens. The flight cost $60 more than the ferry but saved us 12-15 hours on the boat and gained us an extra day of lounging on the beach.

Tomorrow we go to Jordan