So me and Dana booked it to the bus at Liverpool St Station cuz her boss convinced her she was going to miss the flight.... we totally didn't but she texted her boss tricking him and he said... "get with program bobrowski! you're such a dumbass!" oh.em.gee!!!!!
So we're at Stansted Airport trying to sort out our liquids - so I grab a plastic bag and a couple extras "just in case." I turn over and see Dana grabbing about 50... cuz "they'd be great to for my sandwiches!" Hahahhaha. So then we go through security and they stop us and search our entire bags, find Dana's 12ounce sized hairspray and goes "Maam, you can't bring this.....this is wayyyy too big"
"WHAT!?!?! I thought it was gas! I thought gas was legal! Gas you know.. like liquid solid GAS!"
So we finallyyyyy get to Dublin after some delays and taking forever to get the bus to city center, then meeting some girl in city center to help us find our way to our hostel (side note 1: my first hostel experience ever! side note 2: the girl we met had her cousin from SF that was staying w/ her for the weekend!). We get there and its like 2AM and our other friend (who had booked a flight for Friday MORNING instead of EVENING) is already sleeping in our 6-bed room while me and Dana are munching away on Burger King (first visit). So we make the way across from our hostel and take a picture on this piece of art. The guard said it was closed but we just wanted to take pictures so he was like "Ok!" Doesn't this remind you of the eggheads in front of Mrak (for those Aggies out there!)
Walked around "Dvblin" - to Church Christ Cathedral - funded by Strongbow. (and then St Patrick's church is funded by Baileys. What a great country!)
inside the cathedral
Cool place to visit. Kinda crazy cuz it's a real time working church and there were tombs to the side of the pews (really small tombs for people who were really small). Went down to the crypt, pretty amazing stuff.
Hit up Hard Rock Cafe for lunch - so we asked our waitress if she had an ISIC menu, and she goes "Is that for someone with special needs?" ... Um, we'll just get the mac & cheese.... thanks. Sat around waiting for our food and planning out the rest of the trips for the year, then realised the list was too long.
Head to the GUINNESS factory! A must do for anyone visiting Dublin.... one of the best self guided tours I've done. Two free beers, one at the top at the Gravity bar - panaramic view of the city!
Also, for some reason it had never clicked in my mind - GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS! So apparently some guys (including the managing director of Guinness) were arguing about which was the fastest bird in Europe while they were at a pub. They couldn't come to a consensus so he figured other people need one place they could go to find answers to their questions.. and bam.. the guinness book of world records was started. Ironically though, the answer to the original question of which bird was the fastest was NOT answered in the first edition of the book! Cray.zee!
Enjoyin our free pint!
The video about how they make these barrells was INTENSE. Can you say TALENTED?!
Love this ad. Too bad they ran out a the gift shop
Headed out to TEMPLE BAR after eating some Burger King for dinner (second time!). Dublin is a small town, but the downtown area is so lively and all the bars are literally on the same block. Got some long islands and turned "beer goggles" into Long Island Goggles aka "LIGs" which started a year long joke of WIGs (wine goggles), VOGs (vodka goggles) and our favourite, AKAGs (All kinds of Alcohol Goggles!)
these are our Long Island "Goggles"
Dublin @ night
So "The Spire" in Dublin - first of all is way crazier looking at night, it looks like its going on forever in the sky. Plus the fact that we were drunk...I was looking up in the sky for a good minute mesmerized by this!
Paid a visit to Burger King after the night (time number THREE!) and got up the next morning to head to Trinity College - home of the Book of Kells! It's so crazy that it's a tourist spot .. the students that go there must feel like fish.. people are walking around taking pictures of their campus and dorms and don't even have an interest in going there. Or finding a non French and non Italian roommate:
Such a cute university. Makes me feel smart just walking around the campus
So it starts raining, we eat lunch at a fast food joint called "AbreKEBABra" (so clever! I love it), then decided to trek out to outter Dublin (I mean, it didn't look that far) to Kilmainham Gaol (or what we called kil-a-man. hahaha). After a 45 minute "stroll," we were finally one of the most informative and well put together tours I've been on at a tourist spot. Tons of Irish people were arrested for petty crimes, so the prison held way more people than it was meant to. However, during the potato famine, Irish citizens actually commited crimes so they could get caught and be put into this prison so they would be guaranteed a ration of food. Crazy cuz they showed how the cells of many radical Irishmen who were held in the prison - Irishmen who made a huge impact on their country by leading the country, and even writing the current constitution.
The Victorian Wing (pictured below) was actually inspiration for the layout for modern days MALLS (built this way so guards could see and hear more of the prisoners/room at once).
So what I've learned:
Dublin is a crazy party city.
My digicam has the perfect amount of battery to last a weekend trip.
Walking around in the rain... is. MISERABLE!
Grafton St is a really cute area to go shopping around - especially since it was around Christmas. It's super festive and doesn't feel too big city. It's a small town feel with big town shops!
LODGE-istics:
Transportation Ryanair: Return tickets were about 30 pounds. If you're flying from Stanstead, there are DEFINITELY deals - for about 10 pounds or even less. Just check often.
Bus for about 6Euros from the airport to city center.
Lodging Marlborough Hostel € 20/night. Dublin is not the cheapest place for lodging, and we didn't really want to stay at a 16 bed/room hostel. It is very central though, so that's a plus. Guinness Factory € 11 for students € 15 for adults (10% off if you book online = € 13.50!)
Definitely book your tickets in advance online!!! You just have to know the day you're planning on going, but you get to skip the line and go straight to the online checkin counter. It's like VIP! (and trust me, if its raining, you def don't want to be standing in line). We went in the middle of November and the line was still down the block.. don't take chances!
So I realised that during my first few weeks in London, I had some serious problems understanding what other people were saying - and they were speaking English! It was legit like a different language... I wouldn't even pay attention if two British people were talking to each other cuz I swear they were talking too fast for me to understand. What was even FUNNIER was when they started to point out to me what kind of weird ass American shit I say all the time.
So everytime people ask where I'm from, I say California - NOT the U.S... I got tired of the negative connotations associated with the country after my study abroad experience in Greece. So of course they'd have to ask if I'm from the O.C. and if I'm friends with Jessica Simpson. I don't know, is Queen Elizabeth your aunt?
So after about a month, I stop saying "hella" (which even my American flatmates thought was ridiculous that I used hella in every freaking sentence) which I copied with by doubling up my usage of "effing." I told my flatmate that I hated pork and LOVED spinach salads and sandwiches with pesto - which apparently was all "typical californian." (whatever Sean... just cuz you didn't like my vegetable cooking!)
My friends thought it was hiLAAAAAAAAARRRRRious to imitate the way I said "oh.my.god" about how everything I did was the craziest thing.....EVER!!!! And if you ever say anything I don't understand or don't have a repsonse to..expect a "No waaaayyyy! Are you SERIOUS?!" And seriously, do only Americans talk in acronyms while shooting each other? OMGWTFBBQ!??!?! (best password EVER btw).....Wow, I really am effing American.
And then there was the time I was telling everyone how I needed to get my bangs trimmed and Lauren asked "what. on EARTH. are bangs." -- FRINGES! Learn something new everyday.
So after the hot air balloon ride, we realised we missed our train to Aswan (they didn't have any more tickets. COOL!) ... so we did what anyone else would do in this situation. Go in a police escorted convoy! (at least it wasn't a livestock transporting van cough*cairo*cough). I'm so glad the police got in the car with a big huge gun and slept the entire 4 hour ride to Aswan...made me feel so safe!
So Aswan is similar to Luxor, resort like, chill, and an even CLEANER Nile, which we had great views of from the restaurant we ate at 3 times in the 2 days we were there!
Sitting at our normal table at our normal restaurant by the Nile.
So we take a stroll around Aswan, buy some souvenirs, Pimp or Cairo meets another one of her husbands, and head to bed early to get ready for our 2:30am wake up call to go to...Abu Simbel!! I mean, why go to bed at 2:30am when you can wake up at 2:30am?!
So we wake up at 2, get in a police escorted convoy (getting used to this now) for the 2 hour drive to Abu Simbel. We get there around 6am, still half a sleep and see HUNDREDS of people leaving the site and already heading back to their tour buses. I mean, honestly: 1) who FINISHES a tour at 6am? 2) what time does this place OPEN?!
Our police convoy, stopping for a cig break
So Abu Simbel - built by and for Ramses II for himself and his wife Nefertari had been moved and relocated to avoid being submerged by Lake Nasser. (one of 2 facts I remember from our tour guide). Regardless how many times we saw temples and tombs in Egypt, it was still mind boggling that this stuff was in such amazing condition, AND it was crazy to be standing next to these statues and seeing how large they actually were!
We finished our tour around 10am, and when we asked the tour guide if we could JUST go to the Aswan Dam (without doing the rest of the tour that came with it), she told us "Yes.... it'll cost.............. hmm.. 50 Egyptian pounds..including your entrance fee." So this is what the tour consisted of: Pulling off to the side of the road, and getting out for us to see this:
Clearly not impressed
The one other fact I remember from our tour guide: This is the symbol of friendship between Russia and Egypt. Learn it, live it, love it.
So after another delish meal of sanswiches and chicken with herpes (that was legit on the menu) at our favorite restaurant in Aswan, a few of us decided to take a boat and venture to the other side of the Nile to the Tomb of Nobles. Apparently they had already closed for tourism for the day, but with a little bribe - anything is possible in this country! They actually led us up the path and gave us a tour of the place - complete with baskets of bones! This was one of the coolest ones we've visited, I think it may have been the fact that it felt so adventurous! We had to use flashlights to find out way around and we were pretty much the only ones in there!
Bones!
Inside the Tomb of Nobles
So after our tour, we wanted to go to the other side of the mountain to a monastary, so our "tour guides" told us ok here go! Uh, so we climbed up this sanded mountain (seriously I felt like it was perpendicular to the ground and I thought I was going to slide down and end up in the Nile) and through the desert trying to find this place.
Climbing up the mountain towards the monastary
Playing in the desert
So about 2 hours later we don't know where we are, all we see is desert (and a sunset we're trying to race against!)and a guy on a camel with what we thought was a sword, telling us there would be no boats and in laymens terms.. that we were screwed. We almost climbed farther away from the Nile to try to get on an ASPAC tour bus that would take us back down to Aswan city center. But after doing somersaults in the sand and taking ridiculous pictures of the sunset, we actually made it to the river and the guy we had hired to take us back was waiting. Thankgooodness!
This is what we climbed up, illuminated at night. Taken from the boat that rescued us from having to spend the night on the other side of the Nile!
So we went back to meet BoozeFaces' husband and smoked some shisha with him. So the next day we were going to "catch the felucca boat from 10am to 2pm.. that'll give us 4 hours on it."
"10am?!?! thats so early!!"
"thats a whole 8 hours later than we woke up today!!!!!"
Felucca ride - great way to end our amazing holiday in Egypt. Our own little Bob Marley boat, playing Bob Marley music while we floated down the Nile, soaking in the gorgeous 75 degree weather. This is also where I got my awesome sunglass tan which earned me the nickname Panda & raccoon eyes for the next 3 weeks! Being able to tan easily is a blessing in disguise (not disguised so well this time!)
We stopped at a few places, drank some Nile water tea (which maybe only boozeface with her Mammoth Constitution could handle? I mean, who else can eat a falaffel off the streets of Egypt and not get sick?!) and soaked in life. This is Aswan-derful as it gets!!!
In denial, that we drank de.nile!
The gals :)
LODGE-istics:
Lodging Keylany Hotel $12/person/night (2 people per room) It's definitely clean, they have a really nice rooftop garden for breakfast (which includes amazing crepes!) If you're looking for a cheap simple place to stay, this is it - each room has its own bathroom too, so it doesn't feel hostel like.
Felucca Boat Ride 300 Egyptian Pounds for all 8 of us for about 4 hours total. I think we each paid about 50 Egyptian pounds each to include tip (about $10). Definitely well worth it. Just go along the Nile and there'll be loads of them waiting for your business.
ISIC Card If you have an ISIC card, definitely bring it to Egypt. If you don't and can get a hold of one, it'll probably be worth it for you to purchase one for $20. You get 50% off to ALL the museums, tombs, and temples. They don't cost TOO much to begin with (I would less than $5 for each site), but since we were visiting so many, the savings really did add up.
Luxor is infinitely cleaner and more resort-like than the disaster known as Cairo. The weather was warmer, sky was definitely more clear and the Nile was legit noticeably cleaner.
This leg of the trip definitely encompassed more of the "education" as I'll call it - The Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Tomb of Queen Hatshepsut, Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple were all visited in these 3 days.
Valley of the Kings: This might be my favorite place that we visited in Egypt. All the famous kings were buried here, including the tomb of KING TUT! I was ridiculously amazed at how well kept all of the insides of the tombs were. I mean seriously, it's been 5,000 years since these tombs have been made and parts of them could pass as if they were made this year. Most of the colors of the wall are super vibrant - and to think all of this was painted with natural material. I was seriously standing there staring at the hyroglyphics and drawings, wondering how it was possible that was actually there in person, admiring stories drawn 5,000 years ago (on the ceilings too nonetheless!) underground in a tomb where there were no lights. Ridiculous.
Outside King Tut's tomb!
Inside the King Tut tomb
So the other tombs we saw: Tuthmosis III (climbing loads of stairs), Ramses IV and Ramses II. Personally, Ramses IV's tomb was the most breathtaking. After crossing a long corridor into the main part of the tomb, every square inch of this place was covered with art - gorgeous art that still looks great.
Valley of the Queens - similar to the Kings but a lot smaller. The differences were pretty obvious - the colors used were more feminine. Queen Nefertiti's tomb apparently was the most well kept tomb of them all, but because they wanted to preserve it they charge $20,000 for a small group!
We were leaving Valley of the Queens and a guy selling souveniors shoves some stone with Egyptian designs and hiroglyphics into two of our faces and asks for 0 Egyptian pounds. We told him we weren't interested and kept walking, which led him to eventually bargain down with himself until he hit 1 Egyptian Pound. "Dude, 1 Egyptian pound is $0.20. We should have just bought whatever the hell it was he was trying to sell."
So we got on a horse carriage that night because they said it cost 1 Egyptian Pound per person. What they didn't tell us was that they were taking us to a shopping center and wouldn't let us leave until we bought some papyrus! It was so crazy - there were children who almost climbed up on the carriage asking for money, and the driver would hit them with a stick to keep them away!
We got back to the city center and hit up Luxor Temple at night. Probably one of the best decisions of our life. Normally this isn't the type of place you would visit at night as a tourist, but since they illuminated spectacularly, I felt we got more out of it going at night and exploring all the different areas! It was so relaxing just hanging out there
So we faked a friends birthday at a nice little restaurant along the Nile. The entire restaurant crew - including the cooks and management - came marching out with one plate of fruit and one plate of sweets and sang and danced Happy Birthday - EGYPTIAN STYLE! It was like our own private little party - they even closed the doors and we were practically the only guests in the restaurants anyhow. Seriously, I was amazed at how fun and accomodating they were to our "birthday celebration!" I couldn't imagine anything like that happening in Cairo - but I guess that goes for the difference between any large city and it's surrounding suburbs.
Happy Birthday Kyle. from the Egypt crew... literally
So come 5am, it's time to head off to our $100 hot air balloon ride over Luxor. On the boat over to the other side of the river, the balloon director informed us of the different ways the hot air balloon could land: hitting the floor and being dragged 30 feet or 50 feet, or hitting the floor, the basket falling sideways, THEN being dragged 30 feet. Ummm, as long as we didn't fall out I guess.. that's fine.
The view over all of Luxor was absolutely gorgeous! Everything looked so green and trimmed, it was kind of weird to think that under all this housed history that was over 5,000 years old! We caught the sunrise on a clear day, smelled the CLEAN and FRESH Egypt air, and floated directly above the Nile.
The new ad for Magic Horizon Hot Air Ballon
I didn't realise that we were actually trying to land - I thought we had just gone too low and were floating in a farmer's sugar cane crop. He didn't look happy about it and actually was actually holding a crop cutter in his hand while yelling at our balloon director, causing everyone working around us to come running with their children, wives and animals. I guess they do these kinds of landings pretty often, cuz the entire neighborhood was actually there to pull our balloon down and stabalise it so we could all climb out. We did tip them well when we left, but I'm pretty sure neighbors in the states wouldn't put everything down for a common cause - ESPECIALLY since we were in the middle of their crops!
The entire farm coming to help :)
Melts my heart!
I'd have to say I was thoroughly impressed with how much they run to help each other and value relationships. I think it was actually right then that I decided I wanted to visit more small African villages to experience how close-knit communities really were, and how everything they do is to benefit the group. Mark my words - I'm going to volunteer for a month in an African village one day. You just wait and see.
And that's the end of Luxor.
LODGE-istics
LODGING Nefertiti Hotel For less than $10, this place is the place to be! Rooftop bar, literally in the middle of town (you walk outside and you're in the bazaar). The staff here are all super friendly, and the daughter Meriem of the guy that runs this place is super cute! Valley of the Kings/Queens, Queen Hatshepsut We got this tour arranged for us by the guy who runs the hotel. Our tour guide was his brother. Should be pretty easy to book one of these through whatever hostel/hotel you're staying at.
Hot Air Balloon Ride: Magic Horizon Hot Air Balloon Don't let the website scare you.. if I had seen it before we went, I probably would have been frightened too. The people are super friendly, our balloon couldnt go the first day because of the weather - but they offered the refund the money then, or pick us up again the next day. We chose to try again the next day and I'm glad it worked! Plus, we got a free T-shirt!
ISIC Card If you have an ISIC card, definitely bring it to Egypt. If you don't and can get a hold of one, it'll probably be worth it for you to purchase one for $20. You get 50% off to ALL the museums, tombs, and temples. They don't cost TOO much to begin with (I would less than $5 for each site), but since we were visiting so many, the savings really did add up.
So I never really imagined that I'd be able to visit EGYPT at the age of 22. It's always been one of those places I've always told people I want to visit (along with Greece) and I was so stoked when a group of 8 of us decided we would spend 9 days exploring the home of civilisation as we know it.
So we get into Cairo (better known as Disaster) on a Saturday and then get picked up by a van to go to our hostel. I think we should have expected it when we paid $5/person/night to stay there.. but I mean when is anyone ever prepared for a building with all the windows broken and no lights, a man sharpening knives downstairs, and an elevator suspended by a thick rope?!?!
Lobby of Desert Safary Hotel (picture compliements of Sean Wickersham)
Thank goodness the actual hostel was more welcoming -- with people watching Al Queda training videos in the living room.
So our first meal in Cairo was suggested to us by Ali, who works at the lobby in Desert Safary Hostel. We couldn't find the restaurant which he claimed to be just down the road (I would guess mainly because we were focused on crossing the maniac streets without DYING), we ventured into an cute African restaurant decked out in rich red and gold decor. Our meal of salads, dips, pita, choice of meat, rice and drinks came out to about $6/person, which we were told was absurdly expensive. Obviously we had a lot to learn about what and where to eat....but I think not getting diahrea our first night ranked higher than a cheap, traditional Egyptian meal.
So we do the obligatory first Egyptian shisha experience with a group of local men who line up to take pictures with the blond of the group. We named her then and there "BoozeFace: Pimp of Cairo" (more nicknames to come). We head off to bed early, tomorrow's suppose to be an event filled day planned by none other than the owner of the scariest hostel in Egypt.
So we wake up at 6, get ready to leave by 7:30 to tour the city of Giza with our tour guide Heba (name which means "gift"). So first head off to Memphis - the first "capital city" of Egypt & of the world - which houses a statue of Ramesses II, father of 100 children. Incredible. Even more incredible if Ramessess II was a woman.
We go to a papyrus making factory, which was actually really cool to see the the process of soaking, laying the pieces out, flattening and drying. Mohammed (our tour guide there) also gave us a great presentation of a lot of the comment pictures they print onto the papyrus, such as the original calendar - Zodiac of the Denderah:
Ancient Egyptian Calendar printed on Papyrus. 3 seasons, 4 months each. 10 days a week, 36 weeks a year, 360 days a year.
Papyrus in the making! When the 8 of us got there he asked if we were 4 couples. "Nah, we're swingers"
Next stop, the Great Pyramids. One of the original seven wonders of the world. It didn't matter that I'd seen endless pictures of these in history books as a child, or that I had hyped myself up for this for THREE months since the day we'd booked the flights, the first sight of these pyramids from our van was absolutely breathtaking! Except for the Pimp of Cairo... she was more engrossed with the fact that there existed a Dixie Chicken in Cairo!
The Great Pyramid w/ a glow of the afternoon sun
So we take some pictures (who doesn't when they're at the pyramids), and actually managed to get really good ones with the help of policemen. And bribe money of course. I love this country. Everything is possible with a bribe. "No cameras in the pyramids!!!!! You want a picture? HURRY! and give me money." Done and done.
We hiked our way down into the second pyramid... I suggest everyone do this.... UNLESS THEY ARE CLAUSTROPHOBIC. Here is another reason not to go to Egypt during the summer. Due to the lack of air in the actual pyramid - it gets ridiculously hot w/ the large amounts of people trekking in and out each day. It was already comfortably hot in January.. I don't even want to know what it would be like to go into one in the summer months.
Heba drops us off at KFC (obviously so Egypt) so that we can meet with the group whose taking us for a camel ride during Sunset, in the desert, next to the pyramids. He brings us to the backyard of someone's house, literally in the middle of the city. I had a weird feeling about this but my friend said "All of my good experiences have started out like this." ... I'm not even going to ask.
So we hop on the camels, ride through the little town of Giza through peoples backyard, front yard, next to benches where they're eating dinner, huts where they're washing vegetables, balconies where they're hanging clothes. I'd have to say it was a little unsettling that we were paying $50 for this amazing experience whilst trotting through their territory like it was no big deal. These people would never understand what it would be like to go on a vacation, or the fact that I'm writing about them indirectly on the internet. They would never, ever see what it would be like to live in our world, and I won't even say we've seen a glimpse of what it would be like to be in their world.
So we end up riding parallel to the great pyramids, passing horses who have just died, horse skeletons lying in the desert, and howling dogs. We hung out w/ the group that was leading us around, told a few jokes about tea cups and named our camels Michael Jackson, Elvis and Mickey Mouse. Im pretty sure this had to be one of the most surreal experiences of my life. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.. and below are some pictures for your visual pleasure:
Pimp of Cairo: Camel on a Camel
Through the streets of Giza
Meet Darrell - he's Egyptian. Not.
The 8 of us on our camels, in front of the Great Pyramids.
So we head back to the little yard to part ways with the camels, thinking we're going to go back to the hostel to hang out before we our belly dancing show that night. The owner of this camel business asks if we want a special VIP place to watch the nightly pyramid light show. So end up in someone's apartment building, then head up to the roof to watch the light show, in German.
So then we get dropped off on a boat cruise - apparently we were celebrating two Egyptian weddings and a birthday! So of course, there was a karaoke, with traditional Arab music. Oh yeah, and Lady in Red. And country music... gotta love meshing of the cultures. So all 8 of us Americans and drinking wine and falling asleep after one of the most adventure and event filled days.. of our LIFE... UNTIL Billie the belly dancer takes her place on the stage. I mean, who wouldn't wake up when someone is jiggling a cane between the rolls on her stomach?
So the second day we wake up and look out the window to typical Cairo traffic:
There are no crosswalks (well no drivers to obey them), so this is what we had to maneuver through everytime we wanted to cross a street. Talk about high stress vacation. So we decided to take a nice little stroll (if you can call it that) to the Old Cairo to see the mosque and to visit the bazaar. We get lost, stand at a corner watching a man carry a huge platter of pitas above his head as he maneuvers through Cairo traffic, only to make it to the sidewalk and have half the pitas fall onto the black dirty germfilled dusty Cairo cement. Don't worry, everyone else around us just picked up the pitas and piled them back onto the tray. Sometimes it's better not to know. At least it wasn't raw meat pieces that fell on the floor (that we know of).
We tried to hail a cab (for 8 people?!) and somehow in the craziness decided that a van which looked like it should be transporting livestock would be a safe option to get us to where we wanted to go. We get in, he picks up his friend who asks if we're American (great, we're about to get sold) and he jumps out of the car to hold traffic up while we make a U-turn. We're already taking off on the street as he runs after us and hops in the car again...barely missing being hit by the car next to us!!! Again, talk about high stress vacation.
We are now pros at crossing the street.
Our makeshift taxi and our legit had an escape plan. 6 fly out the side door, and two hop out the window.
We roamed the bazaar, got asked by the shopowners "how they could help us take our money," and then decided to hit up Johnny Carinos. I know it's ridiculous, but we were already slightly tired of Egyptian food (and we still had 5 more days of it). Plus, 5 months in London brought us to realise that we actually miss American chain food restaurants where you get ridiculously large portions that make you fat. So an appetizer, a drink, and a huge pasta dish all for about $15? Well worth it, until we all got Johnny Carino fever at the airport that night and had to pop Tylenol pills like candy.
The bazaar... I could spend a whole day here.
Next stop, Egyptian museum. I'd have to say this place housed some of the most interesting artifacts of any museum I'd ever visited (maybe because there were mummies and artifacts from about 5,000 years ago!). However, the presentation was a bit ridiculous. At best, I'd say it was a storage room of artifacts... no one knows what you'll find in there. Most of the exhibits didn't have names or explanation cards (except for the King Tut exhibit which ironically is the one that probably didn't need explanation) and huge statues of important pharoahs were hidden behind rolling ladders and plastic storage bins. Cool to see Ramesses II mummy, and to compare how some bodies have been kept in such good condition even thousands of years later.
In front of the Egyptian Museum - where I got called "China." At least they got the right country this time. xie xie!
And on to Luxor.....
LODGE-istics
LODGING: Desert Safary Hotel - Rated #2 Hostel in AFRICA! Between $5-$15/night.
The reason why this hostel is rated #2 in all of Africa is definitely not because of its' shared bathrooms, old run down building, and beds that had plastic over the mattress. But honestly, the people at this front desk are SO MUCH FUN!! They totally love their job and love giving suggestions for people to really enjoy Cairo and get exactly what they want out of their holiday. We already had flights books to leave for Aswan and Luxor, but he even suggested an itinerary for us for the rest of our 9 days. I know my parents wouldn't be able to stay here, but if you can get over the grime and the initial sketchy feeling, staying at this place is one of those things you'll be able to talk about for the rest of your life.
TRANSPORTATION BMI (purchased from cheaptickets.com) from London Heathrow (LHR) to Cairo (CAI) for less than $575. It's def cheaper to fly from London than the states, so if you ever find yourself in the UK - you may want to take the chance to venture out to Egypt.
PASSPORTS/VISAS - If you fly into CAI, you can pick up the $15 visa at the airport (with cash). If you fly into smaller airports you may need to visit an Egyptian embassy ahead of time.
CAMEL RIDE : One hour sunset or sunrise camel ride. About $50 for pick up, 1 hour camel ride, about a 45 minute break to take pictures and hang out once you're in front of the camels, and transportation back to your accomodation. (and in our case - free light show on the roof of their house!)
Definitely do it. I recommended it one of my collegues to do too. It's an Egypt-must-do and they were definitely a fun group to do it with!
ISIC Card If you have an ISIC card, definitely bring it to Egypt. If you don't and can get a hold of one, it'll probably be worth it for you to purchase one for $20. You get 50% off to ALL the museums, tombs, and temples. They don't cost TOO much to begin with (I would less than $5 for each site), but since we were visiting so many, the savings really did add up.
inside the cathedral
Enjoyin our free pint!
The video about how they make these barrells was INTENSE. Can you say TALENTED?!
Love this ad. Too bad they ran out a the gift shop
Enjoyin our free pint!
The video about how they make these barrells was INTENSE. Can you say TALENTED?!
Love this ad. Too bad they ran out a the gift shop
these are our Long Island "Goggles"
Dublin @ night
these are our Long Island "Goggles"
Dublin @ night
Such a cute university. Makes me feel smart just walking around the campus
Such a cute university. Makes me feel smart just walking around the campus
