Egypt 05

Day 4-6

Aswan-Luxor
Abu Simbel, KomOmbo Temple, Edfu Temple, Karnack Temple, Luxor Temple


When I used to see pictures of the Egyptian temples, I could not distinguish what was so important and so magnificent about these grand statues. They looked like all big rocks piled up. But when I joined that 3 am bus ride to reach one of the greatest temple, Abu Simbel. I was surprised again by the Ancient Egyptians ability and power. It took about seven hours drive from Aswan. Although this is a major historical site, the location is a bit inconvenient. Furthermore, you are not allowed to go there at any time. So we had to leave early in the morning as a group to reach there, following the police car in front. But, my, it most defiantly was a worthwhile trip! The historical importance and the statue figure. And thinking that this was all built at least five thousand years ago. China has quite a long history, but no wonder history always refers back to the Ancient Egyptians as the almighty ones. Even with today's technology to built such a figure with such detail will be a lot of work.

There were more surprises inside, for unlike today's bland and colorless environment of Modern Egypt, the Ancient Egyptians were very colorful. The temples and the historical treasure show how colorful and careful they were with detail. I wonder what happened throughout the century in Egypt's history that draw them away from their colorful past.

We took a horse carriage ride to Kom Ombo Temple. Looks nice, but it was actually a bit smelly. Phew!

Komombo Temple
So this is how they counted the days in Ancient Egyptian. Note how similar it is to today's counting. No wonder they were advanced.

The night view of Komombo Temple

Luxor: Karnack Temple
Luxor: Karnak Temple. The Obelisk.

Egypt 04

Day 4

Aswan
High Dam, Philae Temple, Nile Cruise

One of the few things I know about Egypt is Nasser's High Dam project. Our history teachers always make a big deal about them. Saying how this Suez Canal made such an important impact in Egypt's history, economy, politic, and international relations. We took a long bus drive along a large river. No that was not a river, our tour guide correct us. That is the lake that has been created thanks to the High Dam. What! I was initially taken aback. No wonder all the history book emphasized about this Dam. The eleven year project turned out to be quite beneficial. Receiving a large amount of help from the Russians, this has helped Egypt's most important problem: water and energy. The Nasser lake was not only deep and wide, but long. Apparently it goes pass Abu Simbel, a place where you need to drive 6 or 7 hours more down from Aswan.

Nasser, you really have done a great job.

Creating such a big dam was one thing, but taking care of their national treasure underneath the new lake was another big issue. Since a large portion of land will be drown under water, the Nasser government needed to move most people and most temples, such as this one. Now, in order to visit the Philae Temple (Ma'bad il-Fiila) you need to take a short boat ride. This Temple, however, is mostly reconstructed by the Roman in the three century period. Thus, while the building itself seems Egyptian style, if one observers closely one can see that it has been slight renovated to suit the Roman Christian Catholic Church.

And now our group separated into three groups: the Felucca, the Land, and the Cruise group. I joined the Cruise group along the Nile River. It was better than I thought. Because of the killing humid heat outside, which was now over 50 C degree, it was good to have a comforting room to return back from our daily trips. And no repacking needed for a couple days too!

This was one of the Nile River sites you can see from the Cruise. Very pretty.

One of the fun part of being at the Cruise, was that the cleaning staff left us some surprises. With the towels and the items in our room they created a small masterpiece! We almost screamed at the next big one...

...a big live sized mummy waiting for us. Apparently, he used literally everything: My hat, my glasses, mom's shoes, and our blanket. Sitting at our chair, and greeting us home.

Sampling traditional Egyptian food. Mostly beans, vegetable, or meat with rice. The first few time seem to be great but then after that I felt quite bland. I actually missed Kabob. They didn't serve us any at the boat.

Egypt 03

Day 3

Cairo (with Traveltalk)
Sakkarru Giza Pyramid, Sakkarah Pyramid, Spinx
Train Ride to Aswan approx. 16 hours.


The first thing people think of Egypt is the Pyramids! The grand temple was indeed large and magnificent. Though the heat outside was killing us, I am sure this is nothing compared to the heat the workers must have gone through to create such a masterpiece.

At a glimpse, this seems like a random temple. But this is actually one of the entrance to the pyramid. In fact, I found out that my knowledge of pyramid has been quite distorted due to films and movies. I always thought it was in the middle of the dessert. Somewhere far from where the people were living. But, no. Because the city has been rapidly expanding the city is actually right next to the pyramids. It just depends on how you angle your camera, either you'll have the Cairo city background or the sand background.

Also, though the three great pyramids are the most well known pyramids, in Egypt there are many more scattered around the city. Some actually don't even look that big, but its the fact that whats underneath. The one that we entered was one of the smaller ones. Still the underground path was long and quite deep. I almost felt like fainting as I slowly walked down. Because of the high heat outside, as you gradually go down the air cools but with limited oxygen it becomes harder to hold on to yourself. No wonder there are horror movies about haunting ghost stories here. Its a bit spooky down there.

So here are the traditional pyramid cites that we often see on TV. The top picture with the three pyramid is actually a spot where most foreigners come to take this photo. Its the only place you can get all three of them together. Because the pyramids are so big, you have to drive out a bit of distance to get them all. (The second one) You can see the Spinx. Due to tourism and weather the body and face has been smoothed out quite a lot. But you can still see the big sculpture.

That night, we took a Train ride down to our next destination: Aswan. Our tour guide kept emphasizing that this is an Egyptian first class economy train. Egypt's, which means that it will be comparable with other first class trains. Already the moment we arrived at the station, I felt like I was going back time. Not only was it dusty and dirty but the system the sound made me feel like I have been dropped off in the middle of an 80s movie. The inside was equally bad condition. It was my first longest train ride. I think I barely slept. Plus I was already having stomach problems due to the food and the heat, I never knew how much I might miss my home bathroom condition. Never have I had used such bad condition ones. I think I can say it counts as an experience. And so will you, if you were to get in one.

As a snack eater, I had to try what snacks Egypt had. Although these are a few, sadly most of them were Western brands. Bags were dusty of course. And can you believe? The store owner cheated on us, even on these small chips! I mean how much more can you get by cheating on such a small product. It truly reflects it economical situation.

Egypt 02

Day 1

Cairo - the Capital City of Egypt

Although I usually prefer to travel on my own, Egypt is a place that I needed to avoid such habit. Other than the language, due to its culture and custom, you will get stuck unless you have a local with you. For us, that meant that we should join a travel group. We selected TravelTalk (http://www.traveltalktours.co.uk/), which is an organization that specializes in Turkey, Morocco, Greece, Jordan, and Egypt. And unlike other organizations they emphasize on free traveling and gathering people who would really like to adventure. I actually really encourage others to look into this tour group if you are thinking of traveling any of these places. Nice people, good price, and most importantly comforting guide leader made our nine days in Egypt most memorable.


My mom and I arrived at Egypt a day and a half earlier than our official tour, due to the flight arrangements. The program starts in Cairo, so we decided to spend our free day adventuring around this great capital city. As one of the largest city in Egypt, there are thousands of people living. It is supposed to be one of the better facilitated city compared to the other ones in Egypt. The famous Egyptian Museum and the major Islamic Temples are all located here. Nevertheless, I was shocked to see so many dirty places and so many poor people. I couldn't believe that what I was seeing.


For instance, here is a picture of the local buildings in Cairo. Ok, maybe the one that I took a picture of was not the most advanced building. But the fact is most of the buildings were like this. No color, mostly yellow or bland color. And in fact, most were faded color and dirty. Plus, with the regular 45C degree heat, I felt myself confused if it was me just seeing only yellow everywhere or was it really this country that had no color at all. No I wasn't hallucinated yet, cause my mother was saying the same thing next to me.

Another important part of Egyptians life is religion: Islamic. The day that we decided to adventure Cairo happened to be the weekly prayer day. Every Friday around noon time people, young or old, men or women, all gather around the Temple or find a place simply that they can pray and listen to the load speaker's lecture. Actually the speaker is so load that I feel like I can hear its voice echoing in every corner of Cairo. But of course, for them, it is important to be present. Thus, in Egypt Friday is a day most people get off from work during this time. About eleven till two in the afternoon they prepare prayer every week. In fact, some places don't even go to work. That's why the traffic was really lose this day.

I am religious myself, but to see an entire country hanging on to one religion so tightly was something different. But as I stood there in the middle of the main market street, watching all of the people walking to the single direction, I could feel that this was more than just a Sunday church meeting. I have read history and studied about how countries cause war and make a big deal about their religion. I thought I understood that. But as I stood there, I realized, no, I did not before. It was the first time I truly felt that religion is not just powerful, but it could be scary.

And of course food! We cannot miss that one out. Our taxi driver took us to one of the local fast food place so called: GAD. I had kebab before, but it was my first time trying the real one. Defiantly worth it. Even the fries were tasty as we crunched into them along with the Aisha bread.

Egypt 01

July, 2008
Egypt

There are a few reasons why I did not have much interest in this place. The hot weather, the sand, the mummy movies that scared me to death, and the continuing news on TV how the middle east nations are having conflict with one another. All were elements that made me rather kept this country a distant away from me. Or until now.



As I was preparing my summer trip to somewhere "different," Egypt caught my attention. It was rather spontaneous and so I was not sure how much I might find out and how much I might like this trip. I did not know much about the Ancient Egyptians, just that they were scary on the horror movies. I did not know much about its history, other than a little that I have learned in my introductory world history classes. Furthermore, the religion Islamic and the language Arabic are two elements that I have not fully understood. I told my dad that I wanted to adventure. I don't want to travel to some comfort zone that I already know of. He said, sure then, go to Egypt. And so that is how I picked Egypt.

Singapore 04

Day 3
Sentosa, Holland Village, Orchard Road, Fullerton Singapore Hotel, Singapore River, Boat Quay, Buggis Street, Changhi International Airport



Sentosa is another major tour site in Singapore. It is simply a small island that has some nice beaches and some tourist seawater shows, such as the dolphin show, aquarium, and the night water show. As for me, of course I decided to skip all of this. The weather was really pretty, but the humid wind kept me stop:this was Southeast Asia. There weren't a lot of people cause it was during the day time and a weekday. But this is one of the places young people like to hangout, though they may grow tired of it as time passes. Limited land: limited entertainment. Furthermore, as this place becomes more and more touristic, the more faster its real taste of this place seem to disappear. In fact, because there are few different beaches, the ones that the local go and the touristic people go are different. I think I liked the local ones much comfortable.

If you do not know much about Singapore, well, this is one thing you should start to look into. Singapore is well known for its strict regulations, and this is one example you could see in every subway. No eating and no smoking are signs that we see common, but a $500 or a $1000 fine for during such an error! Ahem. I don't think you ever want to mess around with their laws. Not a happy economical ending.

Another traditional Singaporean dish: Laksa!

Economy is one branch in Singapore, and shopping is another. Orchard Road is the place that most locals and foreigners visit frequently. The endless shopping mall and endless restaurants defiantly look fancy and nice. I mean this is the place that most of my Singaporean girl friends like to hang out, or say that they do. And I think I understand now seeing it. Still, I couldn't resist myself from noticing how there are the same stores in every shop. Hum, so whats the point of shopping in Shop number one, then shop number two if its under the same brand? Maybe different workers?

Fullerton Singapore Hotel: now this is a place that has a bit of history and fanciness. Raffles hotel was one wow, this place is just three and four times more that.

Boat Quay

Singapore 03

Day 2

Chinatown (Pagoda Street, Sri Mariamman Temple), Little India, Raffles Hotel (Raffles The Bar), Arab Street, Buggis Street, Swissstel the Stanford (the highest building in the middle of the city where you can see the night view of Singapore), Boat Quay, Timbre.




In the United States, almost every major city has Chinatown. LA has one, NY has one, DC has one, and even Boston has one. Actually, even in Korea there is a small Chinatown at Incheon, one of the closest city from China. And even in Montreal, Canada too! Chinatown is something symbolic that seems to be in every country. Still, Chinatown in Singapore is in a way same and yet different. First, though you see many of the familiar red decorations and messy scattered stores, this one is very very big. I remember going to the DC one. The big Chinese traditional entrance door already excited me that I might be able to see something big. It was less than twenty minutes that I learned that the big door was all that this Chinatown could show. However, this one was different. Although Singapore has four different ethnic group mixed together, the largest percent is Chinese Singaporeans. That is why there part of Chinatown has evolved out to such a big place. Still there seemed to be mostly food places or shops. Would have been nicer to see some historical places explaining this place. Maybe history hasn't been that long to share that bit.

Ok, I said I went to Little India this very same day. And I think this was in Little India. But there is a reason why I am pondering. Because I saw a huge Hinduist temple at both Chinatown and Little India! No Kidding. The only difference was that in Chinatown there were more Chinese people outside, and a bit smaller temple. Also more people were dressed up in traditional clothes in the Little India one. Standing there, I felt like I was in India. (If you haven't realized, one of the third largest ethnic population in Singapore are Indians. Its not a rare fact.)

Due to the limited land space in Singapore, most of the traditional sites are quickly taken down and often replaced with new towering buildings. Even though their history itself is not the longest in the world, it is still important to preserve some places. Well, if you would want to taste the old colonial atmosphere of Singapore, this is one place you can check out: Raffles Hotel. Established as an hotel since 1887, it carries a bit of history. The white coloum building is easily distinguishable for it catches most foreigners eye with gleam. Our taxi driver, however, criticized that it has now become too touristy, but I still have to agree to most foreign tour books that this is a must visit spot. Even if your not going to eat or shop, just walking along the corners and observing... I think I could understand a bit how these wealthy British people lived during the colonial age.

Ever since I got here, everyone has mentioned about this night view of Singapore. As if you would go to Prudential tower in Boston, in Singapore you go to the Swissstel the Stanford Hotel. This is only a glimpse, but "wow" was all I could say as I stared in front of those tall tall window. I couldn't be more dazzled, as I quietly listened to my favorite song played at the restaurant. Pretty night light.