Egypt – Its all over… – Saturday 12 May – Monday 14 May
Its all over… my last day in Cairo, its time to go back to reality… I want to see my family again, but I’m sad to leave.
This morning I packed my bags. I left a fair bit of stuff for Wesley’s maid. Most of it she wouldn’t need for herself, but she knows people less fortunate than herself. Just some tops, my old sneakers, that sort of stuff. Then I kinda just fiddled around. I think because we didn’t have to leave until 5pm I knew I had all day to pack, so it was taking all day.
Once I got myself organised, Wesley and I took Bogey to the wadi. I wanted one more wander in the desert before I flew back to Oz. We spent an hour wandering around, soaking up some last Egyptian sun rays and then we dropped her round to Jim and Carol’s. Wesley has to go to Alex tomorrow so they are minding her for him. It was sad to say goodbye to Jim and Carol. They are his good friends, and while thy have children almost my age they were always really nice to me. I often wonder what his friends think about him hooking up with such a young lass… especially as they all knew I was going back. Maybe it’s a girl thing, my mates were all concerned that I’d get my heart broken. Jasmine even had rules – I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with some bloke while I was away, unless I could bring him home.
We have to fly for about two days so I wanted to shower the wadi sand off before getting on the plane. Bawled my eyes out getting cleaned up to fly home, cried some more on the plane, but not too much. Slept most of the way home. Aidan’s been teasing me for weeks - saying, ‘am I going to have to sit next to you while you’re blubbering all the way back to Melbourne?!?’. He got off lightly, I slept most of the way.
Aidan had a better flight too, he didn’t drink any coke and he was able to get a few hours shut eye on the journey home. I think his favourite part of coming home was duty free in Singapore! He bought some iPod paraphernalia and then we quickly jumped back on the plane.
Egypt is just too far away. Two days and two and a half thousand dollars. It’s just too much and too far. The world’s not as big as it used to be, but living in Australia makes everything else so far away.
We left Cairo at 7pm on Saturday May 12 and arrived safely back in Melbourne at 130am on Monday May 14. We were hungry when we landed and were just going to get McDonalds but the driver man suggested a ‘great’ burger place in North Melbourne so we went there and had ‘The BEST burger in Melbourne’. It was sensational. Helped that we were very hungry and more than that, we had a hankering for normal food!
We got back to my place and Neet had made up the single bed in my room. Aidan and I had been sharing a room/tent for weeks now so he plugged in his iPod to drift off to sleep and I crashed out. All in all it had been a tiring and emotional few days.
We got up Monday morning and transferred the photos onto my computer. We were fiddling around, both a bit lethargic and then all of a sudden I realised the time and we jumped in the car. We raced all the way to the airport – first time I’d driven in 7 months! He nearly missed his flight, got to the check in with 10 minutes to spare. Lucky he wasn’t flying jet star! He hadn’t booked his return flight until between Safari and Upper Egypt so we weren’t really thinking about being ready to get him to his flight.
Aidan safely on his way and I headed home to unpack and try and settle back into reality.
It was the most amazing experience and I would do it again in a second. Living in a foreign country, living the expat life, the hash and everything that went with it was fantastic. It feels disjointed being back. Like I stepped away from my life for a second and come back a different person in a different place. I guess I’ll settle back in, but all things being equal I’d rather be in sitting in the wadi with the dog, the boy and the hash, drinking beer under a foreign sun.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
Egypt – Pyramid Ball – Friday 11 May
Well this is it. My last night in Egypt. We ended up going to the Hash because while I was away the Hash finally fired Mohammad the drinks man because his truck kept breaking down. The decision was that Hash Beer (Aler) would bring beer for the down downs and everyone else would fend for themselves. The committee would bring some beer and water each week to cover the random attendees who didn’t know any better, but everyone else was on their own. It was well publicised but Wesley wanted to make sure the first week wasn’t a right off so people wouldn’t weaken and want Mohammed back.
So we got up this morning, packed the truck like normal and headed off to the Hash. There were more people there than I expected, lots who weren’t going to the ball. The best thing was Dan was there. He hadn’t been able to make my last Hash because he was back in America so it was great to catch up with him. We’ve done nearly all the walks together and he made sure I never got sunburnt by always having sunscreen handy in the car. He’s off to Turkey soon. He works for the US embassy and his Cairo posting is almost up. He’s got two gorgeous little girls, one of which helped him hare the Mystery Hash and got named Pink Princess.
There were lots of people and I got called into the circle a few times. Leeanne wasn’t there so it was my last stint as Song Frau helper. Its funny, it feels like quite some time ago that I first asked Welsey for the words for the naming song and the down down song. That simple innocent question ended up with me being absorbed into the Mis-Management Committee as Song Frau (although I claimed to just be the helper). When I asked for the words Wesley sent through the ones I asked for, but then sent me a link to another Hash site that had them all up. He said to choose one and we’d teach everyone a new song. It kinda snowballed from there and I ended up creating the Cairo Hash House Hits - Drunken Desert Ditties from The Cairo Hash House Harriers CH3.
It was fun to make, I put little pictures throughout and for the Swing Low I put photos of the committee making the gestures. Then Wesley got them printed professionally and we sold then through the Hash Haberdashery – 20LE each, a bargain :)
Lots of people seemed to like to books. We were going to make then the award for doing 10 hashs but that would have added more logistics to Cathy’s already demanding Hash List task so we decided to make them ‘Wanker Awards’ and just to sell them. Every time I got called into the circle to lead a song for the last few weeks that we’ve had the song books someone (usually Wesley) has yelled out about the Song Books being for sale. So then I would say something like ‘if you all turn to page 12 of your song books…’ it was fun. I like that I was able to help. Lots of people who were over from other Hash’s claimed they’d never seen the like and some even said their Hash was lucky to sing more than the Down Down song. A guy from a Chinese Hash bought about 10 of them the other week and some Dutch people bought a few to take back as well. Makes me glad I cleaned them up a bit though. I think there is only one real swear word left in Why Was He Born So Beautiful, but the rest I toned down to ‘bloody’ or ‘wankers’ or similar. Words that get the point across without being too offensive. I figured people would still sing the ruder words, but they didn’t need to be in writing where the children of Hashers could pick them up and read them. Anyway, we’re a family Hash so despite the crazy antics that go on in the circle, the words used and the odd turn of phrase that might make a girl blush, we’re not vulgar and some of the Hash songs I found were just wrong.
I’m glad we got them printed and they looked pretty good when they were done. The front page in colour and the rest black and white. The swing low bit is my favourite. It’s got photos of all the main Hashers. Well it’s mostly the ones that I think contribute to the good of the Hash. It always seems to be the same people. The same ones hare week after week. The same people organise events etc, but they’re obviously the ones that love it and I can see why.
So my last ever Cairo hash is done. It was a good walk, weather was a bit crap with some light rain (ruining my hair!!) but a good group of people, a good circle and a good day overall.
We stayed longer than I thought we would, since we had the ball to get ready for. Wesley’s lucky I’m not one of those 3 hours to get ready type of girls otherwise we might have missed the ball altogether. We got home and I was ready in 20 minutes, hair could have been nicer, but thems the breaks in the big city.
So after rushing round to get ready, we pour ourselves a traveller and we were on our way. Aidan and Wesley looked very handsome in their tux and suit. Aidan took a few ‘before’ photos and then we jumped in the car. Wesley had arranged for one of his drivers to take us out and wait because I didn’t want to have to deal with Sharif waiting and constantly texting me that he was ready to go.
It was a long and annoying drive to the Pyramids. Maadi is on the complete other side of the universe to the Pyramids. It took almost an hour to get there and the traffic was its usual crazy self.
We finally arrive about 8pm. Everyone else had got there much earlier because there is a place where you can have sunset photos with the pyramids, but we didn’t want to have to rush so told them not to wait for us. As soon as we arrive MaryFran handed a bottle of champagne to Wesley. She’s saved us a glass each so I dumped Aidan at the table talking to Brian and Wesley whisked me outside. I must say, it was very romantic drinking champagne under the stars overlooking the pyramids. Certainly not something you do everyday, in fact I think it was the first time I’d drunk champagne under the stars in the desert… I’ve drunk a lot of beer in the desert over the last six months, but this was a first for champagne :)
Wesley doesn’t like to dance, but we’d only been back inside for 10 seconds when he took my hand and dragged me to the dance floor. I’d been prepared to dance around the tables etc like I would normally, or to dance with other random people, but instead we danced to just about every second song. I said to him ‘you don’t like to dance’ and he said and I like it less if you don’t let me lead!! I’m such a useless dancer. I can’t do the proper dances at all, I’d rather just dance around than waltz etc. They played great music, mostly 80s and early 90s and we just danced and danced.
I had a ball. I kept checking on Aidan but he was content to wander around and talk to some of the hashers and take photos. He and MaryFran went and danced outside for a bit, he said he’ll always remember Mary Fran as the lady he danced with in the shadow of the pyramids :) Mary Fran is the same age as mum but drinks like a fish. She’s a good laugh and has a heart of gold.
It was a three course meal, I could barely make it through half of each course. The food was nice, but standard mass production food. The toilets were abysmal. The toilets in Egypt are bad enough and these were portaloos, but they wouldn’t flush, they ran out of toilet paper, they were just gross. But when there are so many people its like being at a concert. You just kinda have to go with it, can’t be too precious about these things.
On our table we had Darren and Suzie, Sarah, (Aidan got Simon’s ticket because he’s gone to India), Brian, Mary Fran, Anguna and Wesley and I. There must have been one other, but I can’t think who. Tickets were selling like hot cakes and its just lucky for me that Mary Fran had bought a table and then sold off her tickets. She had two seats set aside for Wesley (despite him saying he wasn’t going to anymore Balls after St Paddy’s day was such a let down) and then Simon had to cancel coz he left for India so she had three tickets for us. I was suppose to already be home by now, but when we changed our flights to try and get better tour dates I decided we should stay for the ball.
I’m so glad we stayed the extra days, I had so much fun. We danced all night, drank nice wine and beer, but I didn’t drink that much. I was too busy talking and dancing. Brian had his hip flask of some evil concoction (sambucca plus some other dangerous substances) and there was beer, wine etc to buy at the bar.
Early in the evening I’d said to Wesley that I couldn’t decide between wearing my new Kenyan necklace and earrings or the one mum gave me for Christmas. He said just wear the earrings, no necklace. I thought it looked a bit bare but thought I’d give it a go. Then during desert, Wesley pulled a jewellery box out of his suit coat. It was quite a large box but my heart still missed a beat. He’d bought me a gold cartouche with my name written in hieroglyphics. Aidan took some photos and said to me later did I maybe think it was something else when he gave me the little jewellery box.
This wasn’t the only present I got tonight. When we arrived Emily came over and handed me a gift bag. Mick and Emily and Jim and Carol are some of Wesley’s good friends in Cairo. They’d been at Baharyia and Mick had been taking loads of photos. When I opened the gift bag they’d bought me a picture frame and had developed a picture of me from Bahayia. It’s a photo of me sitting beneath the overhang of one of the mushroom rocks in the white desert. It’s a lovely photo and such a thoughtful gesture. I’ve had some many people say nice things to me today. I’m a lucky girl to have made some many friends in the short time I’ve been in Cairo. Its all thanks to the Hash, and Wesley I guess. Being with him means I’ve done more hash things and been involved in more things so had more opportunity to make friends. I don’t think I’ve had a hobby for so long I’ve forgotten what it was like to have friends who enjoyed the same things as I like doing.
It was a great night. We danced, we drank, we laughed. There were about three tables of hashers, plus loads of other people that Wesley etc knew so it was a great night. Mary Fran got fairly tanked as usual – she drinks almost as much as the boys and she’s a quarter of the size! She was sitting on one Hashers knee making suggestions which he didn’t seem to mind at all. I think there were a few people making moves under the pyramids. One of the girls at our table would have had a go at Aidan given half the chance. Brian and Wesley kept teasing him. Brian kept telling me to take my good looking brother and fuck off. How was he supposed to have a chance with the Ladies with Aidan there? Everyone scrubbed up very nicely I must say. One thing I’ve learnt is that just because you’re living in what is technically a third world country doesn’t mean you wont need fancy going out clothes. I was lucky that Aidan was coming over. Neet posted my shoes and dress to Aidan and he brought them over with him (along with two akubra’s for Wesley).
Aidan was planning to pack nice and light as a true back-packer should, but he ended up having to bring an extra bag of stuff to me. I had to explain to him that when coming from the first world to the third, it is customary to bring first world goodies with you. The extra gear forme was my frock and shoes, sleeping bag, sleeping sheet, plus the hats for Wesley. Very handy that brother of mine :)
We left about 2am. It was sad leaving. I hadn’t thought about the fact that this would be the last time I’d see most of them. We did a very quick goodbye circuit but that was enough. I was nearly in tears as we left the Ball. It was Mary Fran who nearly tipped me over the edge. I gave her a hug goodbye and she said ‘Have a safe flight, a great life and have lots of babies’.
I really hadn’t expected to be so sad leaving the Ball. I’ve made such lovely friends here and this was it…my last night in Cairo and then we’d all go on with our lives and there’s no more Cairo Hash for me. I’m not sorry to be going home. I can’t wait to see my whole world back home and I wont be sorry to be back in a country where you can safely drink the water, eat the food and use the bathrooms, but all the same – living the expat life has its attractions.
Well this is it. My last night in Egypt. We ended up going to the Hash because while I was away the Hash finally fired Mohammad the drinks man because his truck kept breaking down. The decision was that Hash Beer (Aler) would bring beer for the down downs and everyone else would fend for themselves. The committee would bring some beer and water each week to cover the random attendees who didn’t know any better, but everyone else was on their own. It was well publicised but Wesley wanted to make sure the first week wasn’t a right off so people wouldn’t weaken and want Mohammed back.
So we got up this morning, packed the truck like normal and headed off to the Hash. There were more people there than I expected, lots who weren’t going to the ball. The best thing was Dan was there. He hadn’t been able to make my last Hash because he was back in America so it was great to catch up with him. We’ve done nearly all the walks together and he made sure I never got sunburnt by always having sunscreen handy in the car. He’s off to Turkey soon. He works for the US embassy and his Cairo posting is almost up. He’s got two gorgeous little girls, one of which helped him hare the Mystery Hash and got named Pink Princess.
There were lots of people and I got called into the circle a few times. Leeanne wasn’t there so it was my last stint as Song Frau helper. Its funny, it feels like quite some time ago that I first asked Welsey for the words for the naming song and the down down song. That simple innocent question ended up with me being absorbed into the Mis-Management Committee as Song Frau (although I claimed to just be the helper). When I asked for the words Wesley sent through the ones I asked for, but then sent me a link to another Hash site that had them all up. He said to choose one and we’d teach everyone a new song. It kinda snowballed from there and I ended up creating the Cairo Hash House Hits - Drunken Desert Ditties from The Cairo Hash House Harriers CH3.
It was fun to make, I put little pictures throughout and for the Swing Low I put photos of the committee making the gestures. Then Wesley got them printed professionally and we sold then through the Hash Haberdashery – 20LE each, a bargain :)
Lots of people seemed to like to books. We were going to make then the award for doing 10 hashs but that would have added more logistics to Cathy’s already demanding Hash List task so we decided to make them ‘Wanker Awards’ and just to sell them. Every time I got called into the circle to lead a song for the last few weeks that we’ve had the song books someone (usually Wesley) has yelled out about the Song Books being for sale. So then I would say something like ‘if you all turn to page 12 of your song books…’ it was fun. I like that I was able to help. Lots of people who were over from other Hash’s claimed they’d never seen the like and some even said their Hash was lucky to sing more than the Down Down song. A guy from a Chinese Hash bought about 10 of them the other week and some Dutch people bought a few to take back as well. Makes me glad I cleaned them up a bit though. I think there is only one real swear word left in Why Was He Born So Beautiful, but the rest I toned down to ‘bloody’ or ‘wankers’ or similar. Words that get the point across without being too offensive. I figured people would still sing the ruder words, but they didn’t need to be in writing where the children of Hashers could pick them up and read them. Anyway, we’re a family Hash so despite the crazy antics that go on in the circle, the words used and the odd turn of phrase that might make a girl blush, we’re not vulgar and some of the Hash songs I found were just wrong.
I’m glad we got them printed and they looked pretty good when they were done. The front page in colour and the rest black and white. The swing low bit is my favourite. It’s got photos of all the main Hashers. Well it’s mostly the ones that I think contribute to the good of the Hash. It always seems to be the same people. The same ones hare week after week. The same people organise events etc, but they’re obviously the ones that love it and I can see why.
So my last ever Cairo hash is done. It was a good walk, weather was a bit crap with some light rain (ruining my hair!!) but a good group of people, a good circle and a good day overall.
We stayed longer than I thought we would, since we had the ball to get ready for. Wesley’s lucky I’m not one of those 3 hours to get ready type of girls otherwise we might have missed the ball altogether. We got home and I was ready in 20 minutes, hair could have been nicer, but thems the breaks in the big city.
So after rushing round to get ready, we pour ourselves a traveller and we were on our way. Aidan and Wesley looked very handsome in their tux and suit. Aidan took a few ‘before’ photos and then we jumped in the car. Wesley had arranged for one of his drivers to take us out and wait because I didn’t want to have to deal with Sharif waiting and constantly texting me that he was ready to go.
It was a long and annoying drive to the Pyramids. Maadi is on the complete other side of the universe to the Pyramids. It took almost an hour to get there and the traffic was its usual crazy self.
We finally arrive about 8pm. Everyone else had got there much earlier because there is a place where you can have sunset photos with the pyramids, but we didn’t want to have to rush so told them not to wait for us. As soon as we arrive MaryFran handed a bottle of champagne to Wesley. She’s saved us a glass each so I dumped Aidan at the table talking to Brian and Wesley whisked me outside. I must say, it was very romantic drinking champagne under the stars overlooking the pyramids. Certainly not something you do everyday, in fact I think it was the first time I’d drunk champagne under the stars in the desert… I’ve drunk a lot of beer in the desert over the last six months, but this was a first for champagne :)
Wesley doesn’t like to dance, but we’d only been back inside for 10 seconds when he took my hand and dragged me to the dance floor. I’d been prepared to dance around the tables etc like I would normally, or to dance with other random people, but instead we danced to just about every second song. I said to him ‘you don’t like to dance’ and he said and I like it less if you don’t let me lead!! I’m such a useless dancer. I can’t do the proper dances at all, I’d rather just dance around than waltz etc. They played great music, mostly 80s and early 90s and we just danced and danced.
I had a ball. I kept checking on Aidan but he was content to wander around and talk to some of the hashers and take photos. He and MaryFran went and danced outside for a bit, he said he’ll always remember Mary Fran as the lady he danced with in the shadow of the pyramids :) Mary Fran is the same age as mum but drinks like a fish. She’s a good laugh and has a heart of gold.
It was a three course meal, I could barely make it through half of each course. The food was nice, but standard mass production food. The toilets were abysmal. The toilets in Egypt are bad enough and these were portaloos, but they wouldn’t flush, they ran out of toilet paper, they were just gross. But when there are so many people its like being at a concert. You just kinda have to go with it, can’t be too precious about these things.
On our table we had Darren and Suzie, Sarah, (Aidan got Simon’s ticket because he’s gone to India), Brian, Mary Fran, Anguna and Wesley and I. There must have been one other, but I can’t think who. Tickets were selling like hot cakes and its just lucky for me that Mary Fran had bought a table and then sold off her tickets. She had two seats set aside for Wesley (despite him saying he wasn’t going to anymore Balls after St Paddy’s day was such a let down) and then Simon had to cancel coz he left for India so she had three tickets for us. I was suppose to already be home by now, but when we changed our flights to try and get better tour dates I decided we should stay for the ball.
I’m so glad we stayed the extra days, I had so much fun. We danced all night, drank nice wine and beer, but I didn’t drink that much. I was too busy talking and dancing. Brian had his hip flask of some evil concoction (sambucca plus some other dangerous substances) and there was beer, wine etc to buy at the bar.
Early in the evening I’d said to Wesley that I couldn’t decide between wearing my new Kenyan necklace and earrings or the one mum gave me for Christmas. He said just wear the earrings, no necklace. I thought it looked a bit bare but thought I’d give it a go. Then during desert, Wesley pulled a jewellery box out of his suit coat. It was quite a large box but my heart still missed a beat. He’d bought me a gold cartouche with my name written in hieroglyphics. Aidan took some photos and said to me later did I maybe think it was something else when he gave me the little jewellery box.
This wasn’t the only present I got tonight. When we arrived Emily came over and handed me a gift bag. Mick and Emily and Jim and Carol are some of Wesley’s good friends in Cairo. They’d been at Baharyia and Mick had been taking loads of photos. When I opened the gift bag they’d bought me a picture frame and had developed a picture of me from Bahayia. It’s a photo of me sitting beneath the overhang of one of the mushroom rocks in the white desert. It’s a lovely photo and such a thoughtful gesture. I’ve had some many people say nice things to me today. I’m a lucky girl to have made some many friends in the short time I’ve been in Cairo. Its all thanks to the Hash, and Wesley I guess. Being with him means I’ve done more hash things and been involved in more things so had more opportunity to make friends. I don’t think I’ve had a hobby for so long I’ve forgotten what it was like to have friends who enjoyed the same things as I like doing.
It was a great night. We danced, we drank, we laughed. There were about three tables of hashers, plus loads of other people that Wesley etc knew so it was a great night. Mary Fran got fairly tanked as usual – she drinks almost as much as the boys and she’s a quarter of the size! She was sitting on one Hashers knee making suggestions which he didn’t seem to mind at all. I think there were a few people making moves under the pyramids. One of the girls at our table would have had a go at Aidan given half the chance. Brian and Wesley kept teasing him. Brian kept telling me to take my good looking brother and fuck off. How was he supposed to have a chance with the Ladies with Aidan there? Everyone scrubbed up very nicely I must say. One thing I’ve learnt is that just because you’re living in what is technically a third world country doesn’t mean you wont need fancy going out clothes. I was lucky that Aidan was coming over. Neet posted my shoes and dress to Aidan and he brought them over with him (along with two akubra’s for Wesley).
Aidan was planning to pack nice and light as a true back-packer should, but he ended up having to bring an extra bag of stuff to me. I had to explain to him that when coming from the first world to the third, it is customary to bring first world goodies with you. The extra gear forme was my frock and shoes, sleeping bag, sleeping sheet, plus the hats for Wesley. Very handy that brother of mine :)
We left about 2am. It was sad leaving. I hadn’t thought about the fact that this would be the last time I’d see most of them. We did a very quick goodbye circuit but that was enough. I was nearly in tears as we left the Ball. It was Mary Fran who nearly tipped me over the edge. I gave her a hug goodbye and she said ‘Have a safe flight, a great life and have lots of babies’.
I really hadn’t expected to be so sad leaving the Ball. I’ve made such lovely friends here and this was it…my last night in Cairo and then we’d all go on with our lives and there’s no more Cairo Hash for me. I’m not sorry to be going home. I can’t wait to see my whole world back home and I wont be sorry to be back in a country where you can safely drink the water, eat the food and use the bathrooms, but all the same – living the expat life has its attractions.
Egypt – Sandstorms at Abu Simble – Thursday 10 May
Today was the last day of our Egyptian adventure… it was supposed to be a leisurely start (didn’t have to get up til 8am!) then a short flight to Abu Simble, a quick look at this amazing temple and fly back to Cairo.
Unfortunately, mother nature had other plans.
We got to the airport at about 9am for our 10am flight only to find the plane ‘delayed’. The status stayed at ‘delayed’ for about 4 hours… turns out the khamsin was blowing making flying there impossble (add to that f we’d got there we probably wouldn’t have been able to see anything anyways).
I’ve had my share of the khamsin already during my time in Egypt. There was the constant battle with the filthy dust that blows in coating every surface with black or brown grit. Plus the time I hared during khamsin. Trying to lay the trail while a dry hot wind blowing in from the western desert throws sand in your eyes at up to 150km/hr wasn’t the most fun I’ve had while I’ve been here.
I thought the khamsin was more of March phenomenon than late April, but apparently not. Alana and Mike ended up stuck at Abu Simble airport for 5 hours trying to get back to Cairo, but we never even made it that far.
Airports are not the most exciting place to be under the best of circumstances, but knowing that the stupid khamsin meant we’d miss seeing Abu Simble made it all the worse. Doesn’t help that I’ve been talking up Abu Simble since Aidan and Colin said they were coming and now the stupid sand storm means we’re missing it.
The other thing to add to our woes was that the Aswan airport is SOOOOOO boring. For ages we weren’t allowed into the transits lounge area because we didn’t have tickets. Finally they let us through, but there wasn’t anything more to do in there – other than some places to buy food (at exurbanite prices). In the end we ended up doing the same thing we’d been doing for most of the last week. Playing cards. Thankfully I’d packed a deck of cards. We’ve been playing since the safari, but with only three of us bums and presidents doesn’t work so we’ve been playing a game called Shit. It helps pass the time.
We did have a look at the shops. Thinking we might buy some random trinkets, but most of the shop keepers were sleeping on the floor behind their counters. There wasn’t that much really anyway. Lots of the same stuff, glass pyramids, bookmarks, stuffed camels etc. Aidan and I did end up buying one thing at the last minute. We bought three hieroglyphic rulers. They have cut outs so you can trace the hieroglyphics and letters underneath so you know what each letter means.
We bought one each and one for Jonty. We’re going to write him letters in code! He’s 6 now, so hopefully he’ll think its fun.
Finally about 3pm we got on a plane to Cairo. Five hours in Aswan airport was plenty.
All the disruption from the sandstorm made Cairo’s airport organization even more hazardous. By the time we landed, got our bags, got in the car with Sharif and got back to Maadi it was nearly 7pm.
We put a load of washing on, got cleaned up and when to Hard Rock Café for dinner. We weren’t so interested in the dinner as we were in the souvenirs. Aidan and I had decided to buy Manda a Hard Rock t-shirt as her birthday present. When the boys had been here before they’d ended up with a little girls rugby top – I think it was a freebie with all the other stuff they’d bought so Aidan and I claimed that for Zara. To make the set complete we also bought Jonty a little hard rock t-shirt. Aidan got himself another top, shot glasses and a few other random items. I bought myself a black hard rock t-shirt with a pink design on the front. I hadn’t planned to, but I was trying them all on to find a good one for Manda so got carried away.
We were all pretty shattered by the time we got home from Hard Rock. Its in Garden City so by the time we got home it was fairly late. Traffic in the crazy country is a nightmare. The only time its easy is on Friday morning when everyone is still at home. Otherwise even at 4am the roads are packed with cars, people and donkeys!
This is almost the end of our Egyptian adventure. We’ve got one more night for the three of us at Wesley’s then Colin goes to London and Aidan, Wesley and I go to the Ball.
I can’t believe its nearly all over…
Today was the last day of our Egyptian adventure… it was supposed to be a leisurely start (didn’t have to get up til 8am!) then a short flight to Abu Simble, a quick look at this amazing temple and fly back to Cairo.
Unfortunately, mother nature had other plans.
We got to the airport at about 9am for our 10am flight only to find the plane ‘delayed’. The status stayed at ‘delayed’ for about 4 hours… turns out the khamsin was blowing making flying there impossble (add to that f we’d got there we probably wouldn’t have been able to see anything anyways).
I’ve had my share of the khamsin already during my time in Egypt. There was the constant battle with the filthy dust that blows in coating every surface with black or brown grit. Plus the time I hared during khamsin. Trying to lay the trail while a dry hot wind blowing in from the western desert throws sand in your eyes at up to 150km/hr wasn’t the most fun I’ve had while I’ve been here.
I thought the khamsin was more of March phenomenon than late April, but apparently not. Alana and Mike ended up stuck at Abu Simble airport for 5 hours trying to get back to Cairo, but we never even made it that far.
Airports are not the most exciting place to be under the best of circumstances, but knowing that the stupid khamsin meant we’d miss seeing Abu Simble made it all the worse. Doesn’t help that I’ve been talking up Abu Simble since Aidan and Colin said they were coming and now the stupid sand storm means we’re missing it.
The other thing to add to our woes was that the Aswan airport is SOOOOOO boring. For ages we weren’t allowed into the transits lounge area because we didn’t have tickets. Finally they let us through, but there wasn’t anything more to do in there – other than some places to buy food (at exurbanite prices). In the end we ended up doing the same thing we’d been doing for most of the last week. Playing cards. Thankfully I’d packed a deck of cards. We’ve been playing since the safari, but with only three of us bums and presidents doesn’t work so we’ve been playing a game called Shit. It helps pass the time.
We did have a look at the shops. Thinking we might buy some random trinkets, but most of the shop keepers were sleeping on the floor behind their counters. There wasn’t that much really anyway. Lots of the same stuff, glass pyramids, bookmarks, stuffed camels etc. Aidan and I did end up buying one thing at the last minute. We bought three hieroglyphic rulers. They have cut outs so you can trace the hieroglyphics and letters underneath so you know what each letter means.
We bought one each and one for Jonty. We’re going to write him letters in code! He’s 6 now, so hopefully he’ll think its fun.
Finally about 3pm we got on a plane to Cairo. Five hours in Aswan airport was plenty.
All the disruption from the sandstorm made Cairo’s airport organization even more hazardous. By the time we landed, got our bags, got in the car with Sharif and got back to Maadi it was nearly 7pm.
We put a load of washing on, got cleaned up and when to Hard Rock Café for dinner. We weren’t so interested in the dinner as we were in the souvenirs. Aidan and I had decided to buy Manda a Hard Rock t-shirt as her birthday present. When the boys had been here before they’d ended up with a little girls rugby top – I think it was a freebie with all the other stuff they’d bought so Aidan and I claimed that for Zara. To make the set complete we also bought Jonty a little hard rock t-shirt. Aidan got himself another top, shot glasses and a few other random items. I bought myself a black hard rock t-shirt with a pink design on the front. I hadn’t planned to, but I was trying them all on to find a good one for Manda so got carried away.
We were all pretty shattered by the time we got home from Hard Rock. Its in Garden City so by the time we got home it was fairly late. Traffic in the crazy country is a nightmare. The only time its easy is on Friday morning when everyone is still at home. Otherwise even at 4am the roads are packed with cars, people and donkeys!
This is almost the end of our Egyptian adventure. We’ve got one more night for the three of us at Wesley’s then Colin goes to London and Aidan, Wesley and I go to the Ball.
I can’t believe its nearly all over…
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