I'm back!
Took a while because a lot of stuff is happening at work, but this is my 'I'm back from Egypt' posting.
I had a really great time hanging out with cousins in law, sailling on Falucas, going to the circus and checking out the big stuff.
Once the trip was over I was in a strangely ambivilent mood; on the one hand I was quite heartbroken to leave such a wonderful place, but for some reason also relieved to be going (even though I hadn't had any difficult or stressful encounters). I have tried to analyse the roots of these feelings, but have failed, so I will have to consign them to simple emotions.
The weather was wonderful - like Adelaide heat it was dry. As soon as you left the sun and stepped in the shade it cooled down - and if there was a breeze it could even get cool! This was one of the reasons it was wonderful to sail on the Nile in a Falucca - lying down while sheilded from the sun with the breeze of the moving boat cooling one down - bliss!
Another memorable moment was going to see a circus, something else I haven't done since South Australia. On my single day in Aswan (will be 3 next time...) I got thrown off course and didn't get to the sites I wanted to, but I did notice that a circus was in town. So I turned up at 7:30, hung around until 8:30 and then saw a very amusing, thought not exactly breath taking, show. The clowns were great, though I think this had more to do with me having no idea what they were saying than being any good. The lions and Tigers (the only animal act) were ferocious and scary - sitting a mere metre from them as I was. All in all a great night, and I think I can say that not many other western tourists would have done the same in Aswan!
The monuments were, of course, Monumental. Not much more to say, I was a big Egypt fan when I was a kid, so it was great to see this stuff in the flesh, and I took lots of photos. Some of my favorite stuff was finding a little corner somewhere where the paint, from 5000 years ago, was still visible.
I was, however, in awe of the magnificent Tut-Ankh-Amun burial mask. It was like staring back 5000 years, or maybe into the abyss, to look into his eyes. Along with the Taj Mahal, it is one of the few sights I have been emotionally affected by.
I went to see the mask with Mustafa, my uncles nephew. We had a great time going to the pyramid (where I enabled him to go inside - something he hadn't done before and was visibly emotional about when he emerged) and the musuem, and then we went to a cafe and played Dominoes! I think he was reasonably impressed with my game (I won, but that's hospitality for you...) as I had been practicing against Grandma :)
I also played dominoes against a street tout rather than pay him for the shit souvineers he had; we had a lot more fun and I was happy to pay him a little money and buy him a drink. The same day I did that I worked out that paying someone for their photo was a much better way to give money to desperately poor people than buying their crap (which I didn't do anyway)
On the last night before I left I spent the evening with Adam and our cousin Mai as Mai tought me a little arabic, both spoken and written. We had a lot of fun, though Adam might have gotten a little bored.... Mai is Mustafa's sister, and daughter of Suzanne who took me out a few times too and is Khaled's, my uncle, sister.
And it all leaves me with the question - given the ancient egyptian civilization lasted some 3000 years, how long will our great 'western' civilization last?
I had a really great time hanging out with cousins in law, sailling on Falucas, going to the circus and checking out the big stuff.
Once the trip was over I was in a strangely ambivilent mood; on the one hand I was quite heartbroken to leave such a wonderful place, but for some reason also relieved to be going (even though I hadn't had any difficult or stressful encounters). I have tried to analyse the roots of these feelings, but have failed, so I will have to consign them to simple emotions.
The weather was wonderful - like Adelaide heat it was dry. As soon as you left the sun and stepped in the shade it cooled down - and if there was a breeze it could even get cool! This was one of the reasons it was wonderful to sail on the Nile in a Falucca - lying down while sheilded from the sun with the breeze of the moving boat cooling one down - bliss!
Another memorable moment was going to see a circus, something else I haven't done since South Australia. On my single day in Aswan (will be 3 next time...) I got thrown off course and didn't get to the sites I wanted to, but I did notice that a circus was in town. So I turned up at 7:30, hung around until 8:30 and then saw a very amusing, thought not exactly breath taking, show. The clowns were great, though I think this had more to do with me having no idea what they were saying than being any good. The lions and Tigers (the only animal act) were ferocious and scary - sitting a mere metre from them as I was. All in all a great night, and I think I can say that not many other western tourists would have done the same in Aswan!
The monuments were, of course, Monumental. Not much more to say, I was a big Egypt fan when I was a kid, so it was great to see this stuff in the flesh, and I took lots of photos. Some of my favorite stuff was finding a little corner somewhere where the paint, from 5000 years ago, was still visible.
I was, however, in awe of the magnificent Tut-Ankh-Amun burial mask. It was like staring back 5000 years, or maybe into the abyss, to look into his eyes. Along with the Taj Mahal, it is one of the few sights I have been emotionally affected by.
I went to see the mask with Mustafa, my uncles nephew. We had a great time going to the pyramid (where I enabled him to go inside - something he hadn't done before and was visibly emotional about when he emerged) and the musuem, and then we went to a cafe and played Dominoes! I think he was reasonably impressed with my game (I won, but that's hospitality for you...) as I had been practicing against Grandma :)
I also played dominoes against a street tout rather than pay him for the shit souvineers he had; we had a lot more fun and I was happy to pay him a little money and buy him a drink. The same day I did that I worked out that paying someone for their photo was a much better way to give money to desperately poor people than buying their crap (which I didn't do anyway)
On the last night before I left I spent the evening with Adam and our cousin Mai as Mai tought me a little arabic, both spoken and written. We had a lot of fun, though Adam might have gotten a little bored.... Mai is Mustafa's sister, and daughter of Suzanne who took me out a few times too and is Khaled's, my uncle, sister.
And it all leaves me with the question - given the ancient egyptian civilization lasted some 3000 years, how long will our great 'western' civilization last?
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