Day 6: The fog began to lift

The gibberish began to unravel it's mystery.

Previously jumbled, blurry script began to coalesce into distinct shapes.

*click*

The number, > 1 <, actually looks like a 1 in arabic.
The number, > 2 <, is a backwards 7.
The number, > 3 <, is a backwards 7 with a w horizontal stroke.
The number, > 4 <, is a backwards 3.
The number, > 5 <, is a zero.
The number, > 6 <, is a 7.
The number, > 7 <, is a V.
The number, > 8 <, a mountain, or upside down V.
The number, > 9 <, is a 9.
The number, > 0 <, is a dot

I see, said the blind man.

Now I can sort through my money from both sides, instead of the endless flipping and turning that marked me as fresh off the boat.

p.s. There is a muezzin's call outside my window, right now. It is very musical and soothing.

Am I turning?

Dateline: Aswan

Here are 3 video's I made in Cairo before I left. All traffic related.


Ready or not..here I come!

Headlights are not used because they blind the other driver. I can't argue with their logic.




It's scarier for me IN the car...

For me it is scarier being in the car. I am always a passenger, and there are some very bad drivers. it is impossible to comprehend their decisions ever when you are with them. They will honk their horn when no one is around. if the come around a corner and pedestrians are hurrying across the road, they will start blaring their horns and speed up. I have yet to see a car defer to pedestrians in any situation.

And yet I would rather be a pedestrian than a passenger. The non-stop, hair-raising, careening through the streets is more than I can take.




Lok Ma! No Rules!

In this intersection, I saw a man carrying a child run up beside a transit bus carrying a child. He slapped the side of the bus. The driver opened the back door without slowing. The man barely hoisted himself and the child up, and the door closed behind him. No rational human is in this intersection. Let alone boarding a moving bus with a small child. Iiiieee.




Abu Simbel

Leaving Aswan today I go away, with a couple thoughts. First, coming upon Abu Simbel 3500 years ago, must have excited an awe that few humans today ever experience. Unique in the world. The temples inside are maybe even more impressive.





Secondly, after seeing the immense size of the unfinished obelisk, I picture everyone back home riveted to a national geographic series about the sheer ingenuity of the techniques of separating it from the rock, the incredible effort expended, and last but maybe most fascinating , the obstacles that would have had to be overcome to transport this leviathan out of the quarry, over the hills, down to the river.

Lack of updates

and pics is due to intermittent service/time out error frustration, and it is going to get worse, because tomorrow I will begin sailing down the Nile on a felucca for 2 and a half days.

I have lots of pics and will have to do a travelogue when to a good I find a good internet connection.

I loved Cairo. It is open 24 hours. Always loud. Everyone is happy, friendly. I felt completely safe going into dark alleys (looking for shortcuts), or hopping in any taxi.
I don't remember ever being more than 10 seconds from a taxi. They are ubiquitous.

The Egyptian museum needs to be brought into the 21st century, but Tutankamun's treasure is even more exquisite than you can imagine. It makes me wonder where the treasure from the other hundred pharoahs is hidden. There has to be so much of it, and of such incredible beauty (There is no way items of this quality have been made in the last few centuries, because no one had this much wealth), that there has to be a huge network of traders in Egyptian Antiquities. Thousands of secret rooms around the globe.

Count the smiles

Eid. Cairo. 2007.

Doug was there.

And he'll be back.

My buns are burning

++ click for larger image ++

I have crawled, squatted and squeezed into half a dozen pyramids and mastaba's.

All of them thought inspiring, but the best was lying in the sarcophagus of Khufu in the Great Pyramid.

Herodotus, Alexander, Cleopatra, Pompey, Caesar, Mark Antony, Octavian and Napoleon were all in the Great pyramid.

And now Doug was too.

And you just know Napoleon lay down in the sarcophagus too. Egomaniacal bastard.

And I know just what he was thinking:

"When I grow up...!"

I have embraced the dark side

Sidewalks are for tourists. The honks, screeches, muezzins calls, blaring music are the pulse of life in Cairo.

I have even started to decifer the constant honking.

One blast: "WooHoo! Got you in my sights!"

Two Blasts: "I am planting a huge bruise on your hips, and I'm taking the kid down too!"

Blast and flashing headlights: "Yeah baby! We'll see how you drive without a side mirror!"

Blast, flashing lights and 4-way flashers: "Here! Add this to your dent collection!"

It gets better! They drive without headlights at night. Yup!

I'm getting pics tonight...

Slow Down!

..I say to myself. Why are you following so close. Whoa. There can't be 2 inches between our bumpers?! Bang. Smash.

He frikkin hit the car in front of us. It was inevitable. What was he thinking.

The guy in front starts to open his door, and my driver flashes his lights, and we just carry on as though nothing has happened.

Cacophony and chaos.

The only 2 words that can possibly describe Cairo traffic. I'm scared.

There are no rules.

I am not exaggerating.

Lanes do not exist. No stop signs. No stop lights.

In less than 24 hours I have zoomed past pedestrians in the middle of the road within 2 inches at least 500 times. Both drivers I have had, and all drivers, have a compulsion to honk their horns ever 30 seconds.

I saw a transit bus with no signal lights. The vehicle was designed without them.

There is no insurance here.

You must experience it to believe it.