Where will you be next?

I was asked this question by a local in Giza.

The website says:

In the heart of Alexandria, situated in an 18th century building with classical decorations and stunning views of the Mediterranean, Le Metropole boasts 2 French restaurants and elegantly furnished rooms with a balcony.

RLe Metropole’s rooms are decorated with luxurious fabrics and include free Wi-Fi, air conditioning, satellite TV and daily newspapers. Each room has a modern bathroom.

An extensive breakfast buffet is served daily in the breakfast room. For dinner, Les Ambassadeurs Restaurant serves French, seasonal cuisine. The Versailles restaurant also serves French meals, but in a Louis XIV-style setting with daily piano music.

The 24-hour front desk at Le Metropole can arrange car rentals, dry cleaning services and recommend attractions and restaurants in the surroundings.

The hotel is situated a 2-minute walk from the El Raml Train Station and the sandy beaches. The library of Alexandria is 1.5 km away.

 

I say:

Friday night in Alexandria in a private room with a view of the Med?  You betcha!!   Even better yet, I will party with Moro and Kevin.  Kindred spirits.

A french restaurant on the Med?

Which of my two pairs of footwear shall I wear to dinner?  Sandals or the hiking shoes?  My shorts or one of the two pair of pants?  The jeans or the pair with 2 zip pockets?    Shall I wear my Patagonia baseball style sun hat?

How should I do my hair?

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

All is good.  I could spend all day writing about my experiences in Egypt.  What, reader, should I write about?  What interests you?

I have only received one or two questions.

So, I have learned, seen, discussed:

• Military service for 2-4 years is required by all Egyptian men not disabled.
• guns, automatic weapons, shotguns, carbines are everywhere, but probably many less than the US.  I also bet gun fatalities are less per 100,000 than the US
• I saw a gun shop
• military presence is everywhere.  Mostly, I believe, in response to what has happened to tourism revenue.  It was >12% of Egypt’s GDP.  Not now.
• talked politics, terrorism, travel, governments with many.  WIth almost  everyone I meet I broach the subject of the impact of terrorism.  The impacts are much broader than I ever imagined.
• 
• Tonight I sat in a farm field at sunset with the horse carriage driver and had a beer, while the horse ate dinner in a field.  Men were working the fields by hand as several camels fed.  Sitting in a palm frond hut built to provide shade during the midday sun, we talked terrorism and the impact on him and his family. Tourism is down substantially everywhere.  He cannot provide for his family the way he did 7 years ago.  He described vivid examples.  I understood all he was saying, then he said he only meets travelers wanting to do the things I want to see and do every three or four years.  I was flattered.  Really flattered.  99.99% percent of tourists never leave their guided bus tour or hotel unless instructed to do so.   The horror, the horror.
• Sought out Giza Abdoul (50% of Egyptians say their name Is Abdoul or Mohamed) and bought him sisha and tea.
• 
• Then I worked him a bit on helping me get fabric for shirts and a tailor.  He took me to  a rip off, big kickback clothing place where Venus Abdoul took me last week.  I told them both I wanted a tailored shirt and we left quickly.
• took 5 tuk tuk rides today.
• Bless Abdoul, he just wants to feed his family drink tea and smoke shisha.  Like many Egyptians.
• Adoul.  I had dinner with him and his family 10 days or so ago at his home.  He sometimes picks my pockets for ten cents here, 50 cents there, all afternoon.  Sometimes not.  It is a game we play. He understands me.  I understand him, I think.  He is poor.
• watched the pyramid light show on the roof of PV for 6th time.
• Feeling sort of confident in the Egyptian way.   I now feel that I pay fairly 40% of the time.  The Egyptian way.
• Bought 5 more tailored short sleeve shirts, about $12.00 each.  A local would pay 1/3 to 1/2 of that.

One shirt is this KILLER egyptian print with cartouches, The Sphinx, the scarab (beetle- good luck), Tut, etc. that will make a great party shirt in PDX,  maybe salmon fishing in Sept. with Moro and Kevin?

namaste

 

It started in Bangkok, a year and a half ago – just after treking in Nepal and visiting Tibet, Thailand and Lao.

Back home in February 2015, the Dr. said “stay off the foot, wear the brace, loose weight”.

I waited to solo travel for over a year for it to heal.  Took a month long roadtrip in March/April 2016 to the US southwest to test the foot in sandals, as I live with only two pair of shoes when on walkabouts and there is lots of walking.

All is good.  No problems. But I seroiusly worried before departure.

I have not even had a minimal bout of foot pain or………..politely now….”travelers sickness” to write about.

Boring.

No maladies, no hospital visits, no colds, no pneumonia, etc.

Onward.

 

 

Back in Giza at the Pyramid View B&B, after a one hour fifteen minute flight on a EgyptAir Boeing 737-800.

Flight was pretty full but still was able to get out of my assigned seat and get an empty row to myself.  Slept.  Tired.

The hotel lives up to it’s name.  Had a light breakfast, turned on the a/c, and then CNN to see the most recent news about the blowhard.

Time for a nap.

Will stay 2 nights here at PV and then move to a hotel in downtown Cairo.  Will then start hanging out with Moro and his friend Kevin, also visiting from PDX.  It should be a hoot.

Will go up to Alexandria with them.

Will depart for Morocco in a week

Namaste

Please understand that I am curious about places, geology, history, space, technology and I also enjoy reading non-fiction, fiction and maybe even some scifi.   I do not consider myself a religious skeptic, but some people may.

Per Wiki:

The Red Sea (also the Erythraean Sea) is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez (leading to the Suez Canal). The Red Sea is a Global 200 ecoregion. The sea is underlain by the Red Sea Rift which is part of the Great Rift Valley.

The Red Sea has a surface area of roughly 438,000 km2 (169,100 mi2).[1][2] It is about 2250 km (1398 mi) long and, at its widest point, 355 km (220.6 mi) wide. It has a maximum depth of 2211 m (7254 ft) in the central median trench, and an average depth of 490 m (1,608 ft). The sea is the habitat of over 1,000 invertebrate species, and 200 soft and hard corals. It is the world’s northernmost tropical sea.

 

It is my sincere hope that in writing this blog entry that I not be labeled a heretic or an anti religion zealot, but I was just curious about several things related to the parting of the Red Sea. Don’t misunderstand me, put me in a box (or a bag either) and please do not judge or assume anything about this short commentary, ’cause you know what everyone says about the word ass-u-me.

The fact is this – sometimes I have a feminine side in my writing and sometimes I have an analytical side.

I am just a sayin’…..

First, I enjoy well written fiction as much as anybody, but my personal passions lean toward non fiction and history. I am guessing that it is likely that more people read and ardently believe fiction than there are people that do not believe nonfiction or well written biographies.  Even autobiographies.

I am just a sayin’:

• The Red Sea is between 100 and 220 miles wide
• It is over 7000 feet deep in the central median trench
• The average depth across the entire surface is over 1600 feet deep

The scene in The Ten Commandments staring Charleston Heston, where Charlie, portraying Moses, parts the waters of the Red Sea just does not give the event justice. It must have been much, much grander, given the distances and the depths involved.

So, still I’m just a sittin’, just a thinkin’, just a wonderin’ right here on a beach on The Red Sea….. where exactly did this parting of the Red Sea take place?   How close am I now?  Is there a plaque or a visitor information center?   If there are signs, is the signage in arabic, english or hebrew?  What does my Fodror’s guide to Egypt say?  Are there any geocaches hidden nearby?

I googled and wiki’d my questions, seeking factual answers.

Turns out, based on the best educated guesses (because it is just speculation like so many things in ancient history) that the parting of the Red Sea was about 100 miles south of here. No one knows for sure, not even the biblical scholars. But I am sure that the scholars are sure it DID happen, as sure as they believe so many other things that seem amazing.

I am just a sayin’……..

I kept up my investigation. Such an epic event, there MUST be more information available. I briefly considered asking the hotel staff or others that I have met, but asking an Egyptian Muslim about where, how far, etc. just did not make much sense. I gave it some serious contemplation – about asking someone how to get there.

My best shot would probably be asking a Jew, but they are hard to find here, even with 25% non muslims in Egypt.

I did, however, search for maps and images….thinking maybe a clue will be hidden in an image that will help me in my quest for the actual location.

Finally, I found it.  An actual picture of the parting of the Red Sea, taken by satellite from hundreds of miles in space.  My questions and doubts have been erased, with technology, logic and fact.

Parting of the Red Sea, as seen from space.

I am just sayin’………..

It is 180 miles from Luxor to Hurghada –  north to Qift, then east and into the desert to Safaga on TheRed Sea, then north again along the Red Sea to Hurghada.

I was waiting in the Venus lobby at 4:58 AM. Tired of waiting anxious to get going before the sun washed out all the contrast in my photos and before it reached 110 degrees F, I called Abdoul at 5:30; he apologized for being late and said he was on his way.  When he arrived, he said he had a flat tire this AM.  I guess airing up the tires yesterday after the oil change was not a good omen.

Belai, the nephew driver and I set out at 6:00 AM, an hour late.  Belai had driven me to The Valley of the Kings and again on the drive from Luxor up to the Dendura Temple (the mud brick factory escape story and the police escort after visiting the Temple).

North from Luxor, we drove through Nile farmland. Heavily agricultural, it had the look and dark rich fertility of the region where the Missouri River joins the Mississippi, but instead of corn and soybeans it was sugar cane, alfalfa and truck produce. Instead of tractors and combines, for the most part it was backbreaking manual field labor.  Instead of grain trucks hauling the crops to the silos it was donkey carts taking food to the local markets.

We paralleled a large irrigation canal maybe 100 feet wide that provided water to the entire region. We stopped and got the flat tire that was in the trunk repaired and then had a bite to eat for breakfast. Five half pita breads filled with a falafel, eggplant and tomatoes ($0.50) and a cup of turkish coffee.  I took pictures. Very friendly men were asking me to take their picture, so I did.  At 7:19 AM we were about 35 to 40 miles from the hotel and still in the agricultural flood plain. Lots of traffic, donkey carts, men and boys already sitting in the shade in the numerous small towns.  I often saw men with shotguns and rifles, as before in this region.  Lots of traffic – donkey carts, lots of people, many houses and buildings, shops and stores and dozens of young men sitting, standing, waiting for rides or buses.  Or just sitting and waiting….for nothing.

Went past past three checkpoints in the first 30 miles.  There are numerous police checkpoints – at every road junction, bridge, major building, temple, etc. and a very visible military presence, but it does not feel dangerous.  Their presence feels more reactive than proactive.  Cars are not searched, IDs are not checked, at least mine has not been checked even once.   Upon entering a temple with a non operational metal scanner and a non operational xray scanner, the policeman looked at me, smiled and said “You have any bombs?” smiled again and waved me through without inspecting my daysack.  Egypt must buy all the old, surplus airport security equipment that is broken to make it LOOK like there is great security.  But I have no doubt they could and would take the battle to anyone that fucked with tourists or anyone attempting a terrorist attack.    It would be hard for a terrorist to escape very far anywhere in Egypt, but they seldom escape very far very often……..anywhere……

Tourism has been hammered in Egypt, especially after the Russian airliner bombing at Sharm Al Sheikh.  Everyone, everywhere, talks about how few tourists there are and how it effects their income.

Upon arrival in Hughada I checked into the hotel that I had booked online this morning at 4:30 AM for just over $25.00.  Luckily, my driver knew exactly where it was and took me to check in.

Entering town, it had the look of a ghost town, a highly developed resort where construction came to a sudden, screeching  stop during boom times and then everyone left.

per wiki:

Herghada
الغردقة (Arabic) al-Ghardaqah
Al-Gouna: a compound on the suburbs of Hurghada.
Al-Gouna: a compound on the suburbs of Hurghada.
Hurghada is located in Egypt
Location in Egypt
Coordinates: 27°15′28″N 33°48′42″E
Country Egypt
Governorate Red Sea
Founded 1905
Elevation 14 m (46 ft)
Population Total 261,714
Time zone EST (UTC+2)
Area code(s) (+20) 65
Hurghada (/hərˈɡædə, -ˈɡɑː-/; Arabic: الغردقة‎ el-Ġardaqa Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [el ɣæɾˈdæʔæ]) is a city in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt. It is a main tourist center and the third largest Egyptian city (after Suez and Ismailia) located on the Red Sea coast.
The city was founded in the early 20th century, and until a few years ago it was a small fishing village. But since the 1980s, it has been continually enlarged by Egyptian and foreign investors to become the leading coastal resort on the Red Sea. Holiday villages and hotels provide aquatic sport facilities for sailboarders, yachtsmen, scuba divers and snorkelers. Hurghada is known for its watersports activities, nightlife and warm weather. Daily temperature hovers round 30 °C (86 °F) most of the year. Numerous Europeans spend their Christmas and New Year holidays in the city, mainly Germans, Russians and Italians.

Above is the only chart on tourism revenue I could find.  Before the 2011 revolution, before the downed Russian Airliner last year.

This is a resort ghost town.  Russians flocked here.  Not any longer.  I am sure you could buy a really nice Red Sea view apartment or villa for a song and $15,000.  Probably much less.

There is unfinished new construction everywhere – big, big resort style hotels like those in Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, etc.  It is obvious that tourism has dropped off the cliff.  Some of it was due to the revolution in 2011 but primarily it is due to the downed Russian airliner that had taken off from Sharm el-Sheikh just across the Red Sea to the north and east on the Sanai.

Upon check in around noon or so I could not get water to come out of the faucet in the bathroom nor would the toilet flush or the showers turn on. I found the controls to turn on the bathroom water and when I did turn the water came out brown and dirty as though it has been sitting for a month and not being used.

I saw four guests in the entire hotel. There was a man sitting in the lobby working on a computer and I also saw a man out in the swimming pool. And there was a woman – German I believe  – checking out of the hotel as I was checking in.  The bar is open, the restaurant is open, but basically the entire hotel feels as though there is hardly a dozen guests here.  Maybe they are at the private beach, 300 yards to the east,  which was empty as we drove into town.

I checked into my room, rested and started writing this blog entry.

At 5 PM I went down to the bar to get a beer.  Mouhamed, tending bar, greeted me, shook my hand, smiled.  I asked him how many rooms in the hotel, which was highly rated on TripAdvisor.  He said 480.  I asked how many guests.  He said 7.

Mouhamed had a BS degree in History and was from Kom Umbo.  I ordered a beer and we talked for 30 minutes about perceptions around the world about terrorism, gun deaths in America (30,000 a year, seldom by Muslims but highly reported), perceptions of the west about Muslims, how the news covers terrorism with a bias,  how people react to terrorist acts, how it impacts the lives of everyone – not just those killed.  He was polite, well dressed, friendly, smart, educated, fluent in english.

Pic from my 5th floor room.

I am staying in the hotel on the night before the last night.  The hotel closes…… indefinitely, on Monday.

Muhamed is returning to Kom Umbo, where his father is a poor subsistence farmer.

Namaste

According to the Exodus account, Moses held out his staff and the Red Sea was parted by God. The Israelites walked on dry ground and crossed the sea, followed by the Egyptian army. Moses again moved his staff once the Israelites had crossed and the sea closed again, drowning the whole Egyptian army.

 

Friendly man, he laughed when saw me taking pic.

Halfway between Luxor and Hurghada, on the Red Sea.  All good.

No stinking tour bus, no cramped van.  In Abdoul’s car with the fresh oil change and the compressed air cleaned interior.  Abdoul’s nephew is driving.

Lots of police checkpoints.  One police man wanted to ride with us to Hughirda.  He was told “No room”, though the back seat is empty.  Have not checked my ID.

Have finally figured another other photo posting solution.  Use phone, smaller image sizes, vs 25 mb from camera.

 

 

Well, it is a start of a process.  Everything is so difficult technology wise in Egypt.  Add the language barriers and the willingness of most shops to overcharge by 800%….

The Pencil Girl in the blue dress

Resized a few 25 mb photos down to 80k, a huge reduction in file size.  Was able to upload 8 photos in 15 seconds.  Full resolution took 5+ minutes, if at all.  The app lacks features , folders, and it is difficult to keep track of which photos have been resized, etc.  Will keep searching for solutions.