so do you wanna hear about it?
of course you do. i'll put this in two to three parts: part one- adventures in egypt. part two/three- adventures in israel. (you guys are lucky i kept a journal on this thing)
EGYPT
you guys. WOW. did i ever think i would be seeing the pyramids in giza? no i didn't. (did you know they are one of the 7 wonders of the world? yeah, cool huh?) to be honest, the egyptians don't care as much as they should about their city. cairo was the dirtiest place i have ever been, the people are pushy and rude, and the driving is CRAZY. people walk into traffic and almost get hit all the time. the men were gross and made kissy noises at me and i got called 'shakira' like 5 times. and everyone expected tips EVERYWHERE. they made you pay for toilet paper. i got fed up and just ignored them and brought my own in. boy, they would yell at you in arabic and go "NO NO NO you can't come in! pay!" dang. but the sights were amazing!
day one: the pyramids of giza, the sphinx, and the ancient history museum. the pyramids were breathtaking. such a wonder. we also were able to go into a few tombs. AND WE RODE CAMELS! they sure are tall, smelly things. as you may know, you have to get on it while its kneeling. so you get all settled then they guy whistles and stuff and makes it get up. but, they don't tell you what to do. so this camel lifts its rear end THEN the front, and you pretty much are hanging on for dear life. we saw this asian lady actually crying after she got up. i've never seen someone so scared! after giza, we went to the egyptian ancient history museum and saw actual mummies. wowza! they still had hair and nails! (wish i could have taken some pictures).
also, while in the SLC airport, i found this guys wallet on the ground. people, it was loaded with cash and credit cards. we took it to the front and luckily he was still at the gate and not on a plane. he came over and thanked me profusely. (side note: he was an arab man, a very rich arab man). after he had gone, a stewardess had come up to me with an envelope saying that he wanted her to give it to me after he left, because he knew i wouldn't accept it if he gave it to me personally. well, there was one hundred bucks in it, guys. A HUNDRED! i was so shocked. wait, it gets better. so we board the plane to NYC, and guess who is on the aisle seat. the same guy! can you say awkward? after panicking, my mom and i decided that i should just say it wasn't necessary and thank him. so we did so. still awkward. and it gets better. he also was on our flight to cairo! i had to spend nearly 20 hours in the same vicinity of a man who gave me 100 dollars for finding his wallet! geez.
end of day one/day two: after a full day, we got on a 'first class' sleeper train to take an overnight ride to luxor. well, it was far from first class. look:
so the room was about 4x6 with a sink. we ended up having to straddle our luggage while brushing our teeth. and then there's the bathroom. oh my gosh. i would have rather gone at a camping site. it was that bad. it was dingy and when you flushed, it just opened a flap and you could see the track whooshing past underneath. ew ew ew. no wonder they told us not to go when the train was stopped.
oh, and we couldn't shower. even more lovely, right? we made it to luxor and went to queen hatshepsut's temple. there, i met this little guy.
first, he just asked for pictures together. fine, right? then he ended up following me around and holding my hand. then his entourage of 7-12 year olds followed me around, egging him on. i lost him for a little bit, but he found me again, asking for my phone number. yup. it happened. everyone sure loved that scene! me being followed by pre-pubescent boys all over the site...what a treat.
after that, we went to the valley of the kings and saw different tombs...no cameras allowed :( next was the karnak temple. oh my goodness. that was definitely a highlight! the columns were so HUGE and you just felt like a tiny little speck walking through.
that night, we went to luxor temple. it was so beautiful all lit up at night. everyone was so exhausted by the end, that we didn't listen much to the guide.
then, it was back to the sleeper train to cairo. one night on the sleeper train was enough for me. now two, thats definitely too much.
day three: we saw the hanging church, another church, and went to the market place. then we went to the airport to catch our flight to tel aviv. wow. going only through security took us two hours. they went through every little nook of our suitcases and carry ons with those little swiper things. they even took my dad's suitcase to the back and searched it for an hour. i sure was fed up by the end.
but, we made it on our flight to tel aviv. well friends, that concludes part one. i will be telling you about israel next time. i leave you with two pictures: one of the sunset in cairo, the other of a crazy man holding on to a van on the free way, and a song- meteor- the bird and the bee.
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