Egypt September 2009

We just spent 8 days in Egypt with 82 students and several faculty couples. It is a very tiring trip, but things went smoothly and we saw more than most tourists who go to Egypt.

We began our trip by driving south from Jerusalem and visiting Beersheva, Avdat, Wilderness of Zin, and Ben Gurion's grave site. We reached Yotvata and had a tour of this Kibbutz. It is well-known for its dairy and date products. After the tour we had dinner and then retired to two kibbutzes for the evening. Yotvata is about 1/2 hour away from Eilat and the border crossing.

The next morning we tried to be at the border by 8:00 AM. We exited Israel and crossed to Egypt at the Taba border crossing. Our Egyptian travel agency met us with security guards for each bus. Tourists must travel with security guards in Egypt. We began our long drive across the Sinai Peninsula. We passed under the Suez Canal in a tunnel. It is a little disappointing to not be able to see the Canal. But you can see the tops of ships making their way along the Canal. The students had their first experience with Egyptian toilets. I'd warned them, but they were still pretty sqeamish. By the end of the trip, they were troopers. We used hand sanitizers a lot! The interesting thing is that you have to pay to use a toilet and they may or may not give you one square of TP. You also have to keep your toes up, or they may get wet from the floors. Most toilets do not flush, so you have to pretend you don't notice. Rarely is there water available to wash your hands.

As we approached Cairo we found the traffic relatively light. It was one of the last days of Ramadan so Muslims were already in their homes getting ready for the evening meal.

The first glimpse of the pyramids is always exciting for the students. The first evening in Egypt we went to the Sound and Light show. It has improved through the years, and includes laser technology now. It was still warm in the evening. The hotel we stayed in in Giza was the Oasis Hotel. We had very nice rooms and a big pool. It is close to the pyramids.

The first full day in Cairo was spent at the Pyramids, the Sphinx, Sakkara, Memphis, and a papyrus factory. You have to line up to get tickets to enter the Great Pyramid. They only issue 150 tickets a morning and the agents cannot get the tickets for you. So we all lined up. There were 7 of us who did not get tickets. The agents went to bat for us, but came up empty. Those seven students were given another option. I went into the Pyramid last time, so I didn't care if I went in. It is pretty stuffy, but it is a good experience.

My least favorite part of touring is going to the factory shops. They are always high priced. But it is a concession to our tour guide to allow him to take our group to one shop. I think he made out pretty well with our group in commissions. We went to a papyrus factory shop.

We flew to Luxor that evening. The Cairo airport is a beautiful airport now. It was just finished two months ago. I can remember it was a very dreary place the first time I saw it more than 30 years ago. Now it looks like any international airport in the world. Our flight to Luxor was uneventful. We had a drink but no other snack on the flight.

We checked into the Sheraton Hotel. Each room has a wonderful view of the Nile River. It has a very nice pool. I don’t go swimming in public anymore, but the students enjoyed the water. One of the features of this hotel is a very cheap store just around the corner. It has canned soda for $.50. We paid $3.00 for a can at the restaurant in Cairo. I guzzled a lot of Sprite. The heat really drained us. I also purchased some bug spray because the last time I was in the Sinai, I was buzzed by mosquitoes all night long.

The next morning was spent in the Valley of the Kings. King Tut’s tomb is always a highlight. It was miserably hot though, about 100 degrees. We all carry water bottles and drink 2-3 a day.

We visited Queen Hatchepsut's complex and Tomb 33 before returning to the Sheraton for lunch. After lunch we had church services. It was Sunday. We had two student speakers and a musical number. It was a good change from the frenzy of touring.

Later we went in 4 feluccas (sail boats) across the Nile for a camel safari. Each student had the opportunity to ride a camel through an Egyptian village. It is a much better experience than riding a camel by the pyramids. My camel's name was Georgie Gobel and the young man who escorted me was Mohammed.

We returned to our hotel for dinner and then free time. Most of the students hired carriages or taxis and went on a tour of Luxor to some shops. Our Dakkak agency hosts took the faculty out to the Winter Palace for drinks. I was too tired to enjoy it very much, but I was pleasant. I had hoped to get out to the shops, but it didn't happen.

The next day we took a motorized boat to the Karnak Temple. I remembered that on one of our visits we saw Elizabeth Taylor in the temple. I followed her around for awhile with a camera. I kept looking for her but I didn’t see her this time. All of the places were very crowded with tourists. There were many more tourists than when we were there in May. It was also much warmer.

From Karnak Temple we took carriages to the Luxor Temple. We all piled in with 3 people in a carriage. After visiting the Luxor Temple, we took the same carriages back to the Hotel, had lunch and a free afternoon. I was pretty tired so I took a nap.

The hotel fed us an evening snack and we went to the train station for our return trip to Cairo. We all had sleeper cars. I didn’t sleep as well as I thought I might, but it was okay. There was a lot of clanging and noise in the cars. They gave us a dinner, but I only ate sparingly. They also brought us a breakfast snack in the morning, but it was mainly bread stuffs. We arrived back in Giza at about 6:00 AM. We went to our Oasis Hotel where we had stored our luggage and freshened up and had breakfast.

The students then left for Old Cairo, the Egyptian Museum, the Hard Rock Café, and Khan Al-Khalili Bazaar. I stayed at the hotel with two students who were ill. I took a taxi to the bazaar later and purchased a few soccer shirts.

We returned to the Hotel, and had our farewell dinner. Gabby Tours always arranges for a big farewell cake for us all. They gave me a pendant for a gift.

The next morning we went to the Citadel and had KFC delivered to our buses. We began our journey to Sinai arriving at Morgenland at about 7:30 PM. It is always a long ride across the Sinai.

Morgenland is not my favorite place. The front desk was not helpful and I did not tip them. The students were awakened at 2:00 AM to begin their journey to Mt Sinai. I’d already decided to stay back. I don’t want to put more stress on my knees. I’ve climbed the mountain 11 times.
Kent and I walked along the Sinai path for awhile as we were waiting for students to return from their hike. We were also able to visit St Catherine’s Monastery. I took some nice photos of the monastery. After everyone assembled we began our return drive to Jerusalem. We stopped at Nuweiba for Lunch and then to Taba. The border crossing into Israel is always frustrating. There are always long waits. Most of our students crossed without incident. A couple of students were drilled. We ate dinner at Yotvata, and arrived home (in Jerusalem) at about midnight. So I have survived another Egypt trip. I am always the oldest person in the group!