Luxor

Hey everyone, so this weekend my friend Luke and I did a quick power trip to Luxor Egypt. I have to say, I was a little hesitant to do it at first due to cost, temperature, and time (We only had a day there) but now that I am back I am very thank full I did. Although the pyramids where impressive and amazing when I went, Luxor and the monuments there are what make of the heart of what remains of the ancient Egyptians. In short, it was incredible.

Luke and I left Thursday night on the over night train from Cairo at 10pm and got into Luxor about 7:45 am on Friday. The train was alright; we were in a harry potter style cabin with six seats. Also in the cabin with us was a group of three guys from France (also students in Cairo at the French University) and a tourist from Germany. We talked for a good portion of the evening before all finally falling asleep on the train. We got into Luxor about 7:45am, stepped off the train and had roughly several thousand years worth of Egyptian history amongst temples, tombs and museums to see before our rerun train left for Cairo at 10:30 that night. We didn't see it all.

We then (all 6 of us) bought our return train tickets to Cairo for when we where respectively going. The Europeans where staying longer, Luke and I got ours for night. The first thing we did was find a hotel. Turns out that Felix, the German was going to be staying at a hotel near buy and although we would not actually be staying the night there we wanted to get a room also (for only 25 pounds) to store extra stuff in for the day and have a shower available before we left. After talking with Felix and having breakfast on the roof of the hotel the three of us then rented bicycles from the hotel for 10 pounds each. Felix decided to join Luke and I for our morning adventures on the east side of the Nile.

We got on our bikes and set off towards the Temple or Karnak. After cycling around the outside of it for a little bit finally came across the entrance and went inside after locking up the bikes. They had a giant scale map of the temple which was cool to see and near by was a tour group guide talking about the model in German which Felix quietly translated into English for Luke and I. We then entered the temple. Because we only had a single day in Luxor we kept the amount of time we stayed at karnak to two hours but we could have easily stayed much longer. I think as far as the historical/cultural aspects of this trip so far Karnak easily takes the cake. It was amazing. Imagine if you can a giant room composed of enormous sandstone pillars, 15 pillars wide, 20 pillars deep, spaced about 15 feet from each other, each ten feet wide, 60 feet tall and weighing several tons. It was amazing. In some areas the paint was still present on the hieroglyphics carved into he stone. If was something to take it all in and try to think about what all of it looked like in its prime.

In addition to karnak, we biked around Luxor temple and saw all of it from the outside. The three of us then stoped at a restaurant type place called snack time and got some food for lunch. After lunch we parted from Felix (He was going to go to the west bank the following day) and rode down towards the Nile. We took a ferry across with our bicycles and after a little riding around by the water we started off towards the direction of the Vally of the Kings. It was a lot of fun, we where the only people really on bicycles (maybe because it was 45 degrees C, about 113 F) but we where able to stop and take a lot of photos. We biked through the lush greens of the Nile river Vally, Banana fields and sugar cane farms. About 9 kilometers later we got to the end of the green area (it ends abruptly) and biked along the desert edge several more kilometers until we got to the temple of Hatshepsut. After Hatshepsut's temple we took a taxi from there another 8 kilometers (and up hill the whole way) into the Vally of the Kings. We actually got there 20 minutes after they had closed and with a little begging, saying we where only there one day, a little use of Arabic and a small Baksheesh (tip) they let us in. Unfortunately because we where late we only had about 20 minutes before they closed everything and kicked people out. We boguht our tickets to look three tombs. You got to pick any ones you wanted so we just went in the first three we came to. (That is with a few exceptions. You have to pay extra for Tuts tomb as an example) We went in Ramesses the seventh, then Ramesses the ninth and lastly Ramesses the third. As with Hatshepsut's temple I think I am going to leave most of the descriptions and stuff off of here, that way when I talk to you back home it will be new. I have a ton of photos over everything except the Vally of the Kings. They did not allow any cameras in there.

our taxi driver took us back down to the ferry and we headed back over to the east bank and then to our hotel where we sat around a bit and rested. We both washed off and did a little reading. (we both had homework to do) After we went to lunch/dinner and rode around Luxor on our bikes for bit in the evening. We got dinner at the same place we had lunch because honestly off all the places it looked the most legitimate and the food was pretty good. We returned to the hotel, took showers to rinse off the effects of biking around outside in 45 degree heat and changed into some clean clothes. After that we had about an hour to kill so we took a short little stroll down to a large open area kinda in front of luxor Temple and just sat around there. It was cool because we right by the temple and it was all lit up with lights but more then that the court year area is where ton of locals had gone to hang out. Lots of dads and children playing soccer, and children riding bicycles/learning how to. It was just a nice area. One guy who looked to be about our age even came up and sat on the bench with us. Although he didn't speak much English and we where having a hard time understanding his Arabic we still managed to have a extensive conversation. Luke and I then returned the bicycles to the hotel and walked to the train station. We got on and returned to Cairo about 8:30 this morning. All in all, although very fast, it was a wonderful trip.

long delay

hello again, I am really sorry it has been so long since I have written. As a wrote last time my computer crashed so getting on line and being productive has been a lot harder. Getting pictures posted has been a bit of a task too. Not to much has been going on...I returned to Dahab last weekend with a friend and we spent three days snorkeling the coral reefs and doing a bit of scuba diving. I was lucky enough to be able to dive twice and see all kinds of stuff from lion fish to sting rays, very colorful fish and even an octopus.

This past week and the following few to come are going to be able about the academics. I had a geology exam today that I got a 94 percent on so I was very happy about that. I have a couple more exams coming up soon, a role play mock trial for Sayyid Qutb and a ten page report due on the Geology of Egypt.

I only have four weeks left in the semester and then my dad will be here in Egypt for two weeks. We have a pretty good idea of what it is we are going to do but I am going to wait to post the plan first just because we are not 100% on it yet and second just to keep you all on the edge of your seats.

I am sorry to cut this off here but I am short on time. I will try to write again soon and maybe even get some photos up.

Spring break

So you all know this post and the next will be long.

I am sorry I have not written for awhile. My laptop crashed and in addition to losing all my log in information and thing saved on it as well as Internet access for a short time I have also been very busy this last week with school. I have been in the midst of a large role play interactive project in my history class and I have a midterm on Thursday.

To start off before I get into details I had a really great spring break and feel very fortunate that I was able to do as much I did. I spend the first half of Holiday in Istanbul Turkey and the second half in Dahab Egypt with about three quarters of a day in Cairo between my flight back from Istanbul and catching the bus to Dahab.

Istanbul was beautiful. I went there with my friend sheehan and other then a couple main tourist stops we did not have a formal plan for what we wanted to do. We primarily ate doners (A street vendor type sand which with chicken, lettuce and some other stuff that I am not sure what it was called) and bread off of guys selling it on the street. We where able to see the great Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia Museum, Istanbul's Museum of modern art, Galata tower, The Basilica Cistern and Asia. It rained for two days while we where there but we didn't mind much, it was a nice change from being in the desert.

My favorite site was the Basillica Cistern. It is a large opening under the city and is supported by large columns about every 16 feet. The entrance is just a small building on the side of the road and you descend stairs into the cistern and then are in this huge open room under the city. The buildings and roads above you, it had been hidden and unknown to anyone for a long time. It was made that much cooler by the two days of rain because while we where there the water crept through the roof and fell from the ceiling giving the Cistern a little bit of life. I posted some long exposure pictures of it because it was pretty low lit inside.

We also took the ferry from the European continent side of Istanbul across the Bosphorous Straits to The Asia Continent side. I actually made a video blog while we where on the ferry. (as well as when we where in the Cistern and at Galata tower but I regret to inform I lost them when my Laptop crashed)

We walked around the Asian side for a few hours not really knowing where we where going or what we where doing. We stumbled across a group of people singing and doing some kind of Turkish traditional dance so that was pretty cool. We bought some fruit for lunch at one point, found a Gelato ice cream place and of course indulged in that, how can you pass up ice cream? One of the more interesting stops was down by the waters edge where we came across a guy with several guns and balloons set up; we paid him a few Lira and he let us get our John Wayne on for a short bit. I must say, Sheehan looks pretty intimidating with a hand gun.

We flew back to Cairo the afternoon of the 31st and had the evening there to relax, do laundry and chill. The morning of the first we met up with our Friend Hans at the bus station around 7:00 am to catch the 8 hour bus to Dahab Egypt.

Dahab is a relaxed and nicer way to experience Egypt. There are still Egyptian aspects in Dahab but it is much more secular, more relaxed and the air is clean. It is located on the far side of the Sinai Peninsula on the bay of Aquaba (part of the Red Sea) from main Egypt. I snorkeled on the Coral reefs there everyday and it was amazing. One of the days I was there I took a day trip up to the blue hole and snorkeled there for a little while, then our group (Sheehan and Hans where not with for this) rode Camels north along the shore for about an hour to a Bedouin Village where we did more snorkeling and had a very good Bedouin lunch. I named my camel Steve, he was awesome. He liked to lead the group so we spent most of the time up in front. We where pretty much the tip of the spear.

Because of its location and overall level of awesomeness a lot of students from AUC ended up going to Dahab at the end of spring break. That being said the third evening Sheehan and Hans left me and headed to Amman Jordan. Although the people I went with left I was able to hang out with Rachael, Harmony, Chris and Brendon as well as a few others the last couple days. The 4Th I was there I actually did not stay in Dahab. Doing this trip again on my own, I boarded a bus in Dahab around 11pm and rode it for two hours into the Sinai mountains. Several check points later myself and the others aboard the bus arrived at St. Catherine's Monastery. After a short rest we began hiking around 1 am. After four hours of hiking and a 2.6 kilometer elevation change I found myself perched on top of Mt. Sinai watching the sun rise over the barren eastern mountains. I have to say that although it was freezing and exhausting, it was well worth it.

I rode the bus back to Dahab that morning and spent the day relaxing. Although I tried to keep the day pretty low activity level I did do some more snorkeling and free diving on the reef. At 10 pm Harmony and I took the over night bus back to Cairo. As I had pulled a very physically demanding all nighter the previous evening I slept pretty much the entire bus ride. Harmony was even nice enough to hold my passport so I didn't have to wake up at the check points.

Again I apologize it took me a week to write and I know that this does not do the trip justice in full. If you have an questions of comments message me! I figured out that I do have all of my photos from Egypt stored on two memory cards so at some point I will figure out a way to post my pictures from Dahab but all the videos are gone. I will be taking my laptop to the tech services people on campus tomorrow and maybe they can take the hard drive out and recover the information on it but I think its a long shot.

until next time, Phil

Videos!!!

Ok so because of Egypt's crappy Internet I have been having trouble posting Videos. I was able to get some onto facebook (short ones) at the start at the semester but since then results ahve been null. Since that is no longer working and blogspot can not handle uploads either I am using youtube. Youtube is sketchy, sometimes it works, sometimes not but I did get a few out. Below are the links to my youtube account as well as the videos them selves. Instead of writing new blogs each time I will just add them to this one and put dates next to each link so you can see which ones are new. Everytime I edit this post (add a video link) I will message you all and let you know. Hope that works out for everyone. I know it is a bit of a hassel, but it is the best I can manage.



My YouTube Channel link: http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhw4





Video- At the Pyramids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmhMLJY_hIg
posted 3/25/10

A video I made while we where out in the western desert Sand Boarding!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbRr9Q9o-m4 Posted 3/25/10


This is a 360 degree shot from Wadi Hitan, The Vally of the Whales:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DqDTcF_9Ls Posted 3/25/10



This is a short little video of a couple adorable young boys dancing on the side walk next to our coach bus in Alexandria while we where on our way to the catacombs. They know we where tourists. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5epsA0b5Ch4 Posted 3/25/10


A view of the Cairo skyline from the citadel. Note the smog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81vUCK2zebA Posted 3/25/10





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A small Hiatus from Egypt

Hello readers!

I wanted to write a small post here to let all of you know that I am going to be gone for a bit. Tomorrow is Friday and is the kick off to my gloriously planned spring break. Tomorrow morning I will be flying from Cairo Egypt to Istanbul Turkey with Sheehan to spend 5 days there. We will be staying in the city for the most part and hopefully not getting to cold since its about 10 degrees C colder there than it is here.

I will be flying back to Cairo on the 31st and sticking around here for that evening. I have a friend from Eau Claire who is studying abroad in Greece right now coming to Egypt for her spring break so I am going to try to meet up with her and some of the people she is traveling with for a little bit. I think that will be a lot of fun. On the first we will be meeting up with our friend Hans (A Norwegian study abroad student-who is awesome) and catching the bus to Dahab. Dahab is on Egypt on the far side of the Sinai on the Red Sea. More or less we are going to hang out on the beach for 4 days and chill. I think it is going to be fantastic.

I will be taking tons of pictures, probably a few videos and hopefully I will be able to write some blogs here and there. It may be difficult to get computer/Internet access.

Also, the word Hiatus in the title of this blog is dedicated to Megan Djerf.

Look forward to pictures and several detailed blog posts to come.



-Smile like you mean it.

Wadi Hitan

Hello again,














So in my last post I wrote that that this weekend I would be going on a geology field trip and although I did do that the plans got changed again. Instead of making the trip and over night adventure my professor decided that we would do it all in a single day. This new travel plan meant meeting at the old campus in Tarhir square at 5:30am and return to Cairo around 11pm. With that all in mind, on Wednesday I came up with a plan. For those of you who know me, you know I am not a morning person and I am not friends with Mr. 5am. So, I decided that since I was done with classes at noon on Thursday I would take the 1pm bus back to campus, take a nap,(which gloriously lasted 5 hours) then do homework through the night and just not go to bed. That way I would have made up for not sleeping the day before and I would not have to get up at 4:30am to make it to the bus on time. I thought it was brilliant. It worked out mostly, but I was pretty exhausted when I finally went to bed last night.


Thursday evening was a little bit of failed execution on my part. After I got up from my wonderful nap I went to Harrys pub in the Marriot hotel with Erin and Katie for a little bit of Saint Patricks day fun. They had a live Irish band playing and while they only played one Irish song (and only because of a request) their music was really good. It was interesting to note that first we where about the only people in there under 35 and second it was and Irish band, in an Irish pub, playing American music, to am American crowd, with all Egyptian workers, in Egypt. It was an elixure of culture.


We came back to the Residence hall a little after 1am. Katie decided to head to bed and Erin stayed down in the lobby with me for a little bit. She was picking rooms and since we are 7 hours ahead now that mean late for us. She left about an hour later which left me chilling alone in the study lounge. I ended talking to my dad on skype for an hour or so which helped the time go by a lot faster. All in all, the goal to get homework done and study for midterms did not happen. That just means that today I really need to be on the ball.


The field trip itself was...long. We went to a desert camp site near Fayoum next to a man made lake and then went off to Wadi Al-Hitan, The Vally of the Whales. (The lake is fed by underground aquifers which in turn are fed by the Nile) It is a large expanse for desert with fossilized whales. What makes it impressive is the number and concentration of them and the species of whales that are present. There are over 100 whale fossils known/uncovered and they are continuously finding new ones. It is thought that the area may have at one point been a shallow inlet bay and when the whales did for what ever reason the winds and currents blew their corpses to the area and they accumulated over thousands of years.



This link is the Egypt Tourist link of you want more details about the area then I am going to give you. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/valleyofwhales.htm



Another important note is that the species of whales found, such as Basilosaurus, provide the evolutionary link between mammals on land and those at sea. In some of the skeletons you can see their stubby little arms such as in the photo to the left. I really recommend the link if you didn't do so already.


After a lot of walking around the area looking at dried up dead things we had some time to just chill and hang out. Since the protected area was the Vally basin, myself and a couple other students decide to climb the sandstone deposits and get a better view. In short, it was awesome. Yes the whales where cool but the geology and topography of the area was what impressed me. Once we finally reached the top of the Plataea the view was amazing. (the wind was impressive too) For as far as you could see in every direction it was just an arid waste land full of nothing. Sand dunes and limestone/sandstone pillars and mounds scattered about everywhere.




I was amazed by it and how cool it was. I was talking with one of the Egyptians about it and he explained to me that he and all of the other Egyptians hate the desert and that he did not understand why I thought it was so neat. As he said it, "Fuck the Desert because it was hot and dry and sand blows in your eyes." I proceeded to ask if he had ever seen snow before. He said no so I asked if he would want to come to Minnesota and spend a day out in a field walking around the snow drifts. He actually said "Yes that would be so cool." I said no, fuck snow, its cold and its wet and also blows in your eyes. He then understood my point.

We boarded the bus and started heading back to Cairo. May note that the trip took 5 hours both ways. It only took 3 hours to get to Fayoum and from Fayoum its only another 30 kilometers but we where driving a couch bus on a "road" designed for large SUV desert going vehicles. Kudos to the driver though.


I will be posting more pictures of the trip to my facebook group page and am still trying to get the videos posted, sorry about that.

Going to the Mall

Hello again, I do not have a lot to write about in this post. About the most exciting thing I have done recently is going to the Mall. That sounds pretty bland at surface level and for those of you who know me you know that I am not a mall person however this mall is special. The trip today took several hours (although I was enformed it was "quick") because I had the privilage to go to the largest mall in all of Africa or the Middle East. Yes, I went to City Stars in Cairo (in Nasr city) and actualy had a pretty good time. The mall is enormous, while it takes up less space physical space than the mall of america it actually contains more stores.

From Wikipedia:

"City Stars consists of:[1]
Three international hotels that provide over 1,500 rooms and suites.
Shopping and entertainment centre.
Medical centre.
Residential Towers; offering 266 apartments, duplexes and penthouses.
Office Towers; offering 70,000 m2 of office space.
An International Exhibition Centre (20,000 m2).[2] "

(The pictures are off wikipedia too because I forgot to bring my camera with)

It was a lot of fun to go and see the mall not so much because of the mall itself but because of what it really represents on plateform for Cairo and for Egypt. There are so many areas of Cairo that are bum broken crap holes and places that are labeled as "nice" or "upscale" that it really speaks to the modernization that Cairo and Egypt is trying to attain to continue to be competitive with the western world. Now obviously this also opens the door for questions like "should'nt they work on development in the broken down areas before they build super malls thing" but I am hoping not to get into that. I just throught that it was a really cool mall with tons and tons of stuff.

So for now that is about all I have. This coming weekend I have a geology field trip out into the desert somewhere so be looking forward to a new blog and more photos. I also have some more videos to post but I have not been able to get them uploaded yet, but I will keep trying.