[Bashies] I'm back from Egypt!

[luinfalathiel]

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Some of you may have seen this - I posted it on TORn's main message board yesterday afternoon - but for those of you who don't check there, here's my story ....
Hope you were all behaving yourselves while I was away. I saw no LOTR material over there ... in fact, I'm ashamed to say that there were days when I didn't even think about it (gasp)! ;) 
This will be a shortish report, because if I tried to tell you everything I might just crash the server. I will be putting my pix up on my site in a few days when I get my 10 rolls (!) of film developed. 
It's an incredible country. The people (ordinary Egyptians, that is, not the DARNED SHOP VENDORS) are really friendly, especially the children, who are always shouting "Hello, welcome to Egypt!" and want to shake your hand. 
You may be interested to hear that a man offered 300,000 camels for my hand in marriage. Considering that a decent camel is worth $1000 Cdn or so, it's nice to know that I'm so highly valued. ;) Although another of our party was offered 200,000 camels and two small elephants. 
I got to go inside the pyramid of Chephren, the second largest one. (The Great Pyramid was closed that day, they open them on a rotating basis.) DO NOT go in there if you have even a weeee bit of claustrophobia. The entrance passage is very steeply slanted downward and you have to do it all at a crouch, because it's only about 3 x 3.5 feet. Plus, it's amazingly stuffy and hot because it's a big stone monument stuffed with sweating tourists. Amazing though, the walls are so smooth that you can barely see where the stones have been fitted together. Inside, that is. Outside of course they are very heavily weathered. 
The Sphinx is actually down a hill from Chephren's pyramid, it used to sit very close to the banks of the Nile when it would flood. Traces of the original paint can still be seen on the headdress. I was very moved to see the Sphinx with the pyramids in the background just like in the books and on TV!!!! *sigh* 
Do not rent a car in Cairo unless you have superhuman reflexes. There don't seem to be any particular rules of the road. No one uses brakes, no one signals - a small toot of the horn and they shoot into a small space in front of someone else ... plus there are pedestrians leaping out at random, donkey carts, dogs, cats .... I was glad that we were with an experienced Egyptian driver at all times!!! There is also no real check on car emissions, so the pollution there is VERY bad. 
The Egyptian Museum is amazing, if a little confusing, a lot of things are poorly labelled or not identified at all. If you spent one minute in front of every exhibit, it would take you NINE MONTHS to see everything. 
Gazed upon the mask of Tutankhamun. It's a mesmerizing piece of work, it was hard to tear myself away from it. The treasure of his tomb is magnificent. The loveliest thing for me though was the little bouquet of flowers that had been left on his coffin by his queen .... 
We only spent one day in Alexandria, and unfortunately it was the one day that the new library was CLOSED!! We only got to see it from the outside. Well, I plan to go back at some point anyways. :) Still disappointed though. But walking along the beach under a full moon with my toes in the warm Mediterranean made up for it a little. 
After Alex, up to Luxor by train. The Valley of the Kings was awesome. We rode donkeys most of the way. Had to walk over the top of a ridge, it was very steep and hot, I'd say it was about 31 degrees C by 9am and climbing fast. We visited three tombs - Ramses IX, Ramses III and Prince Merneptah. Tut's tomb was an extra 40 Egyptian pounds (about $15 Cdn) but I didn't go in because it's not one of the best tombs in the valley, historic though it may be. 
The Temple of Hatshepsut, one of Egypt's most powerful queens, is gorgeous. The thing that astonishes me the most is the paint that still remains on a lot of these 3000 year old walls that are outside in the sun and wind! The Temple of Karnak was the same, just astonishing. 
If you get to Luxor you MUST visit the Valley of the Queens and the tomb of Nefertari, the favorite wife of Rameses II (Rameses the Great). It looks like it was just done last week. Jewel-like colours on the walls. Her name means "the most beautiful one" and she was obviously a lovely woman. 
Took a boat up the Nile to Aswan. I think Aswan was my fave part of the trip, it is a really relaxing place, not so touristy as the cities everyone wants to see. Still a fair number of vendors in the bazaar yelling "Lady! Hey, lady! Excuse me! Special price for you! Lady! Lady! Hello!" *grumble* We took a felucca ride around Elephantine Island (singing old sea shanties, much to the amusement of our boatman and other locals!) which concluded with sunset over the Western Desert. 
Also, we rode camels over the desert to the Monastery of St. Simeon, from the 6th century CE. They were all killed by the Bedouin and the monastery was destroyed, but you can still see the paintings of the saints in corners. My camel's name was Bibi. We got along pretty well. :) 
Abu Simbel is amazing again ... the Temple of Philae .... there is soooooo much more I could tell you .... if you get a chance to go DO IT!!! 
I'm going to stop this report now because I'm pretty jet-lagged. As much fun as I had, it's good to be home. 



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Post your free ad now! Yahoo! Canada Personals

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<P>Some of you may have seen this - I posted it on TORn's main message board yesterday afternoon - but for those of you who don't check there, here's my story ....
<P>Hope you were all behaving yourselves while I was away. I saw no LOTR material over there ... in fact, I'm ashamed to say that there were days when I didn't even think about it (gasp)! ;) 
<P>This will be a shortish report, because if I tried to tell you everything I might just crash the server. I will be putting my pix up on my site in a few days when I get my 10 rolls (!) of film developed. 
<P>It's an incredible country. The people (ordinary Egyptians, that is, not the DARNED SHOP VENDORS) are really friendly, especially the children, who are always shouting "Hello, welcome to Egypt!" and want to shake your hand. 
<P>You may be interested to hear that a man offered 300,000 camels for my hand in marriage. Considering that a decent camel is worth $1000 Cdn or so, it's nice to know that I'm so highly valued. ;) Although another of our party was offered 200,000 camels and two small elephants. 
<P>I got to go inside the pyramid of Chephren, the second largest one. (The Great Pyramid was closed that day, they open them on a rotating basis.) DO NOT go in there if you have even a weeee bit of claustrophobia. The entrance passage is very steeply slanted downward and you have to do it all at a crouch, because it's only about 3 x 3.5 feet. Plus, it's amazingly stuffy and hot because it's a big stone monument stuffed with sweating tourists. Amazing though, the walls are so smooth that you can barely see where the stones have been fitted together. Inside, that is. Outside of course they are very heavily weathered. 
<P>The Sphinx is actually down a hill from Chephren's pyramid, it used to sit very close to the banks of the Nile when it would flood. Traces of the original paint can still be seen on the headdress. I was very moved to see the Sphinx with the pyramids in the background just like in the books and on TV!!!! *sigh* 
<P>Do not rent a car in Cairo unless you have superhuman reflexes. There don't seem to be any particular rules of the road. No one uses brakes, no one signals - a small toot of the horn and they shoot into a small space in front of someone else ... plus there are pedestrians leaping out at random, donkey carts, dogs, cats .... I was glad that we were with an experienced Egyptian driver at all times!!! There is also no real check on car emissions, so the pollution there is VERY bad. 
<P>The Egyptian Museum is amazing, if a little confusing, a lot of things are poorly labelled or not identified at all. If you spent one minute in front of every exhibit, it would take you NINE MONTHS to see everything. 
<P>Gazed upon the mask of Tutankhamun. It's a mesmerizing piece of work, it was hard to tear myself away from it. The treasure of his tomb is magnificent. The loveliest thing for me though was the little bouquet of flowers that had been left on his coffin by his queen .... 
<P>We only spent one day in Alexandria, and unfortunately it was the one day that the new library was CLOSED!! We only got to see it from the outside. Well, I plan to go back at some point anyways. :) Still disappointed though. But walking along the beach under a full moon with my toes in the warm Mediterranean made up for it a little. 
<P>After Alex, up to Luxor by train. The Valley of the Kings was awesome. We rode donkeys most of the way. Had to walk over the top of a ridge, it was very steep and hot, I'd say it was about 31 degrees C by 9am and climbing fast. We visited three tombs - Ramses IX, Ramses III and Prince Merneptah. Tut's tomb was an extra 40 Egyptian pounds (about $15 Cdn) but I didn't go in because it's not one of the best tombs in the valley, historic though it may be. 
<P>The Temple of Hatshepsut, one of Egypt's most powerful queens, is gorgeous. The thing that astonishes me the most is the paint that still remains on a lot of these 3000 year old walls that are outside in the sun and wind! The Temple of Karnak was the same, just astonishing. 
<P>If you get to Luxor you MUST visit the Valley of the Queens and the tomb of Nefertari, the favorite wife of Rameses II (Rameses the Great). It looks like it was just done last week. Jewel-like colours on the walls. Her name means "the most beautiful one" and she was obviously a lovely woman. 
<P>Took a boat up the Nile to Aswan. I think Aswan was my fave part of the trip, it is a really relaxing place, not so touristy as the cities everyone wants to see. Still a fair number of vendors in the bazaar yelling "Lady! Hey, lady! Excuse me! Special price for you! Lady! Lady! Hello!" *grumble* We took a felucca ride around Elephantine Island (singing old sea shanties, much to the amusement of our boatman and other locals!) which concluded with sunset over the Western Desert. 
<P>Also, we rode camels over the desert to the Monastery of St. Simeon, from the 6th century CE. They were all killed by the Bedouin and the monastery was destroyed, but you can still see the paintings of the saints in corners. My camel's name was Bibi. We got along pretty well. :) 
<P>Abu Simbel is amazing again ... the Temple of Philae .... there is soooooo much more I could tell you .... if you get a chance to go DO IT!!! 
<P>I'm going to stop this report now because I'm pretty jet-lagged. As much fun as I had, it's good to be home. </P><p><br><hr size=1>Post your free ad now! <a href="http://ca.personals.yahoo.com/"><b>Yahoo! Canada Personals</b></a><br>
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