Back from Valley of the Kings... now what?

Well after an all night train ride from Luxor, Egypt to Cairo, I'm back home! The trip was legit. Myself and four of my buddies took the overnight train to Aswan last Tuesday. As foreigners in Egypt, we had to purchase "first class" tickets on the train. This consisted of dirty seats, a train car that wreaked of cat urine, expensive food that was lupe warm and made us all sick, and a bathroom with a half inch of standing urine on the floor. Good times! Needless to say the trip down was a bit rough, but I'm really trying to get out of this spoiled Western mindset, so it was still a good time. The views from the train let us see farmers working their fields with mules and tools that I've only seen in museums. The arid desert goes on for as far as the eye can see except for irrigated areas around the Nile. As my professor back, Col. Baker, would often say, "Egypt is the gift of the Nile". Upon arriving in Aswan we were greeted by our tour guide and a nice air-conditioned van to take us to our cruise ship.
The ship was very nice. Everything was very fancy and the rooms were spacious. We had a workout facility, sauna, several lounges, pool, big sun-deck, etc.. We had been guaranteed a boat with about 150 tourists. As a group of five 20/21 year old guys, we imagined a boat full of beautiful foreign women just waiting to meet dashing young cultured American men like ourselves, but... instead we got a boat mostly empty expect for us, a gay Australian couple, and 20 or so elderly Dutch and Polish people. Fortunately, we didn't let this hold us back. Instead we got a real nice change of pace from the craziness of life in Cairo and saw some of our world's most incredible historical sites. Each day I got to spend several ours on the deck soaking in the rays, reading my book of Shia Islam's resent resurgence in the Middle East, and watching the banks of the Nile. The afternoons spent on the water were possibly the most relaxing of my life.
The various ancient Egyptian temples were very cool as well but nothing topped the Valley of the Kings where we walked inside the tombs of Egypt's first rulers. As I descended the tunnels down towards the burial chamber, every inch of wall and ceiling around me was covered in detailed heiroglyphics and pictures depicting the life and after-life of the Pharoh; all in vivid colors of teal, green, yellow, white, etc. What was also so cool is how our guide Meenah, a Coptic Egyptian, explained to us how everything was made by the ancient Egyptians. He even took us to an acnient granite mine where the Obilisks were built in full, and then moved by boat to the temple where they would rest for centuries and centuries to come.
Speaking of our guide, Meenah was one of the coolest parts of the trip. He's university educated in Egyptology, so he was very knowledgeable, but it was the times just hanging out on the boat with him that were most productive. One night while we were all sitting on the deck, cruising down the Nile River in darkness with thousands of stars looking down from above, Meenah came and joined our group for a few hours of great conversation. As we sipped our drinks and enjoyed the fresh air (so nice compared to the polution in Cairo), Meenah explained to us what life is like for a Coptic Christian in Egypt and we told him stories of sports, hunting, and college back home. It was especially funny to hear his description of Egyptian women, "not so easy, like American girls". We laughed a lot.

Hopefully in the near future I will get a lot better at this whole blogging thing, but for now it's very difficult to find a way to tell the stories of my new experiences over here without writing huge essays each time. I've said to Mom back home several times that, "every night when I go to sleep over here, I'm a smarter person for what I've learned that day". Every day I experience at least one thing (usually more) that is just so unique compared to life back in the states. I'll start telling more of these as I go. But for now I'm heading back to my place 12 floors up and a block from the Nile to try and plan out my next two weeks until classes start again. Here's to wishing God's peace for everyone.

-Brett

“Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – Seneca

a few weeks into the adventure and a Swine Flu scare..

So it seems like a lot longer than this, but around 3 weeks ago my plane set down in Cairo, Egypt.  On August 28th after a year of planning and deep anticipation, I found myself headed towards the airport in Dallas and what's becoming the adventure of a lifetime.  I exchanged goodbyes with the folks (Mom cried, of course) and boarded the plane bound for London.  Two good meals and little red wine later, I was landing in Great Britain.  My friend Rachel and I spent the day eating fish and chips, taking cliche tourist pics, searching for pubs, and enjoying the relief from our hot Texas weather.  But after a nice afternoon, it was time to head back to the airport and our flight to my new home.  Flash forward a few weeks and a thousand stories, and I'm sitting in my apartment in Cairo with my 5 roommates.  We're 12 floors up and a block from the Nile River.  Over the next months I'll keep everyone updated on my times, travels, and trials in the Middle East and re-tell the last few exciting weeks of my life.

But on a completely different note, 2 interesting things happened today.

1. I finalized my tickets for my trip tomorrow.  For the Eid el Fitr holiday, me and 4 buddies are heading 13 hours south by train (first class for 65 LE, about $11 or $12) to Aswan.  We're meeting our guide in Aswan and then boarding our ship for the Nile Cruise.  We're going to spend 4 days traveling up the Nile through the Valley of the Kings, stopping along the way each day to visit various ancient Egyptian temples and markets.  With 3 buffet style meals a day included and 150 tourists on board (that means the opportunity to meet girls) it promises to be a good time.

2. The Egyptian government intervened and because of Swine Flu fears, canceled classes at all universities across Egypt through October 3.  That means we have almost 3 weeks to travel this awesome Middle East.  It is worth noting that there are currently 0 students at my school with Swine Flu.  Oh well, I'm not complaining.

-Brett

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson