Skip to main content

Thomas travel to Egypt

Image
By
We have all wanted to visit the pyramids, the sphinx, the temples of the pharaohs, chaotic Cairo.   After four months in (relatively) barren Saudi Arabia, we dreamed of meeting up with Chris somewhere in between Austin and Jubail, in the center of the arab world, and also enjoying some family and rest time on a cruise down the Nile...a romantic idea for centuries.   
Past family trips have been shorter and more spontaneous, with more emphasis on do-it-yourself and going low-cost.  This time, because of the foreign nature of the place and its chaotic and frankly untrustworthy reputation, and because we are earning more now, we decided to splurge on a travel agent arrangements -- once the cost is sunk, we relax and enjoy the itinerary without having to negotiate the taxi or the restaurant or the tourguide or the ticket booth -- the obnoxious hawkers still swarm us at each stop.  Something in the culture makes these hawkers more irritating than those in India.   Coleman notes that the Egyptian sellers have a broader repertory of responses to customer reluctance -- that is partly linguistic, but also cultural in that they have less reluctance to intrude upon another's life.  India is, after all, the home of the Desiderata, wherein you do your thing and I do my thing.   The tourist in Egypt is clearly foreign, will be gone tomorrow, so the resource should be extracted without remorse.   Every seemingly friendly gesture from a local is thus likely to have behind it an effort to get money from me, by hook or crook -- the country is filled with Amway salesmen! 
But we find some respite on a cruise ship -- the photo shows our welcome fruit drink.  The Radamis2 ship seems to be in the middle of the rankings of the various cruise ships on the river, from what we see -- old, but in great shape, well-maintained.   A tiny fitness room allows us to feel like we are burning off the calories consumed at the groaning board offered in L'Orangerie.
Our cabin is on the port side, thus facing the west bank of the Nile as the boat heads downstream toward Luxor.  We have a surprisingly large picture window that affords a clear view.  Soon after Aswan, the riverbank appears unmarred by human construction or trash, though it has obviously been cultivated and turned to pasture, with numerous cows and donkeys and horses feeding along the bank.  The occasional village is clustered well above the bank, in anticipation of the annual floods -- much more controlled since the construction of the Aswan Dam (completed forty years ago).
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My COVID journey, finally

By
11oct22 story of Covid: I flew to Des Moines for a mini-reunion of Thomas cousins; flew back on Monday the 3rd.  I did not wear a mask.  Evidently I should have worn a mask, as I later came down with Covid.  The infection could come from anywhere, typically airborne virus shed by someone in the communicable phase of the disease.   Throughout my airport and flight experience was quite calm and uneventful, so my guess is the most likely vector for the virus was the deplaning time – people are really eager to get out,  they are talking, pressing close together, straining to grab bags from the overhead compartment and coordinate with their partners, thus breathing heavily.  Very few people wore a mask.  I do not remember anyone coughing or sniffling or breathing heavily around me, but that deplaning process is always rather hectic.  I did not press to go quickly, but I did not want to delay my windowside seatmate, so I joined the crowd.  As it was, when I arrived at baggage claim, my suit
Post a Comment
Read more

Montpellier

By
  [23mar22] Another walking day: to the A rc de Triomphe , passing through quaint quiet attractive old neighborhoods, particularly the P lace de Marché des Fleurs.  Arc de Triomphe is spectacular, next to an equally impressive Palais de Justice , and the Promenade de Peyrou that has a great view of the surrounding hills and the aqueduct built by Peyrou to supply the city's fountains.  The Jardin des Plantes – oldest botanical garden in Europe – opens at noon, so we walk around to the Cathedral St.Etienne, with its obscure side entrance, but huge interior space, really huge and rather stark, in keeping with its 13 th century origin – though of course several later kings and bishops added chapels, stained-glass, and organ.  While there, the organ started up, providing appropriate sonic accompaniment to the surroundings (ref. My video).   We return to the garden to await its opening, chatting with some Chicago tourists (go Bears!).  The garden is very nice place for sauntering, and
Post a Comment
Read more

Riding the Bus often

By
From 201010 Saudi scenes It is ironic that this land of cheap gasoline has so much group transport -- buses. From 201010 Saudi scenes Our housing compound has a Toyota-Coaster bus that takes some to/from school (we usually go earlier and return later, on a similar bus that the school provides). Driver Yahya takes residents on the 90-minute trip down to the Big City shopping every Thursday morning. The above picture shows our group one Thursday, usually going to Ikea or the new Lulu's Hypermarket , or the Dhahran Mall. Coleman rides a different bus every day to and from school -- usually 100 minutes there, 80 minutes back.  His bus is evidently an old tourist bus, usually comfortable but a bit dusty.  The air-conditioning usually works too well.  I've ridden it with him several times, to attend business meetings at the district office. From 201010 Saudi scenes There he is, at 5:45am every morning, at the start of the bus run. Fortunately only about 20 students
2 comments
Read more