Monthly Archives: April 2012
On market day the little Nileside town of Daraw comes alive in a chaos of stalls and traffic. Nubian men in pristine robes squeeze their way between tuk-tuks and stalls selling mint and molokheya, Egypt’s answer to spinach. School girls in uniform headscarves pick their way through a morass of tuk-tuks, pickups, donkeys and donkey [...]
“I don’t think we should move on tomorrow,” Z says. “Let’s stay in Alex a bit longer.” “Why?” I say. “What’s there to do here?” My expectations of “things to do”, like those of many visitors to Egypt, are by now rather high. I’ve been getting quite sniffy around anything less than 3000 years old [...]
The Friday Photo: Our Favourite Temple?
After clambering through the pyramids, visiting the wonders of Luxor, and exploring Aswan, Abu Simbel and other Nile sites, I’m still struggling to work out what our favourite temple is. The temple of Horus in the town of Edfu, where we ended our felucca trip, looks fairly typical from the outside, with its grandiose pylon [...]
How Safe is Egypt After the Revolution?
“How safe is Egypt now?” Still a topical question, so I’ve updated this post on 16 20 June 2012. Deletions are marked with a strikethrough and additions are underlined. How Safe Is Egypt? As we approach the end of our time in Egypt, I’m going to address the hoary question of “How safe is Egypt [...]
The Luxor Top Ten
The capital of Egypt for the great pharaohs of the New Kingdom, more than a thousand years after the Old Kingdom chaps built the pyramids near their capital of Memphis, Luxor is home to more wonders of the world than one can shake a stick at. And, while the environment on the streets and around [...]
Ancient Egypt is an awe-inspiring culture, certainly. And I’m privileged to have seen so much of it. But in many ways the more I see of it, the less I actually like it. How about you?
The Friday Photo: HOW Many Camels?
The little town of Daraw is famous for its weekend camel market. It was just an ordinary market day when we visited while sailing a felucca down the Nile, and rather lovely too. Still, some guys from the Pyramids had come in a pickup truck to collect their purchases and drive them up to Cairo. [...]
Given we had a felucca for three nights and — well, I could have sworn four days, but them’s the breaks, mustn’t grumble and the crew were perfect gentlemen, which is primarily why I paid what my son describes as derp price for our boat — I thought I’d engage in a little travel planning. [...]
Sailing A Felucca Down the Nile
Lounging on cushions, Z high in the mast above, I watch a kingfisher flutter into a desperate hover, plunge deep into the Nile and emerge with a silvery fish. And I think: “I like this life of ours. I like it a lot.” Three days and nights on our own felucca and the Nile: pure [...]
An Open Letter To The Touts Of Egypt
Dear Sirs, For you are all, every one of you, men. Here are a few things I do not want. A camel ride A donkey ride A horse and carriage ride A taxi A boat ride I ESPECIALLY do not want to buy a boat ride masquerading as a public ferry, or a horse and [...]
