Out with the Pharoahs, In with the Wats!

Saturday, August 24, 2002
Carla and I left Egypt after the 10 hottest days of my life. I am *so* not cut out for desert life!! 135 degrees is just way past my tolerance level. One day was so hot that I had salt stains all over my clothes from sweat. Now THAT is an all time record for me. The ancient ruins of Egypt really are very striking, but by far, it's the most sightseeing I have done on this whole trip and it wears you out! We started with 3 days in Cairo, then took an overnight train to Aswan. Then we spent a day driving through the desert, almost to the Sudan border to glimpse Abu Simbel, complete with convey and all!! We took a felucca for a day and a half up the Nile to Luxor where we saw the Valley of the Kings, and the Temple of Luxor.... among other sights, but those were the highlights. Especially Karnak - we took in a sound and light show. Kind of cheesy, and the utmost of tourist things to do, but we loved it!!

Then we took another overnight train back to Cairo where we took second class seats instead of first on the train.... and it was like the Egyptian family reunion on there! We sat between a family of 8 who was saying goodbye to their extended family that they see only once a year. We thought it was the last rites or something - until we befriended them later in the trip and they explained what was going on. There was so much drama that even the teenage son was crying! It was interesting, but really ensured sleep would be had by none! We said goodbye to Jon in Cairo and hopped our plane to Bangkok, arriving this morning. After 2 days of no sleep... we have seen nothing of this city since we had to catch up on zzz's. In mere moments we are meeting Carla's friend (Meric, her friend from San Diego) at a cafe across the street! Hopefully we will find him there. We are spending the next 3 or 4 weeks with him, traveling through Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. We hope to ride elephants, build bamboo rafts, take a cooking class, and go caving.... and hopefully learn how to say thank you in yet another language!

That's all for the Egypt/Thai installment, cheers!

0 comments:

Post a Comment