Back from the Desert Sands

[N. Cook]

It was hot and dry....120 degrees plus....a long 27 hours jet lag away...and every thing I thought it would be....you just cannot describe the size of the temples.....and the colors of the art still there in many places, especially the underground tombs, after 4000 years....

I see the issues are still boiling and new ones added, plus we have got to get the Newsletter out pronto....

Egypt is a third world country in many places, as many donkeys, horses and camels as cars in the rural areas....no ice, not even on the cruise boats can be trusted....only at the Marriott where we stayed the first days and last days would I put ice in a drink, pure heaven! (and always bottled water, beer, coke etc. only) ....Food is iffy, even on the boats....Keep Immonium handy is the key!!! Ahhhh!!!! it is good to be home.

[Captmako]

Welcome back Newt. Glad your trip was safe, and without incident. I concur, no matter how great a vacation is, it's ALWAYS great to get back to the Good ol USA.

[novaalex]

I never thought a 110 AC outlet was a thing of beauty until I visited another country. The same can be said for the thermostat that controls the central A/C. Good to have you back Newton!

[DUCKWHACKER]

Welcome home Newton. Glad you had a great time and survived the food and drink. Just wondering, did ya talk them into damming the Nile to create better duck habitat? :icon_bigg

[N. Cook]

They are quite proud of the Aswan Dam, built by the USSR during the Cold War, when the US would not help Egypt due to their war over the Suez canal and with Israel. The politics are not a good subject for Americans....not so much Iraq as they are also very fearful of the lunatic fanatics...but regarding Palistine and the "occupation" of Arab land by the Israelies. That "hurt" is the basis for our problems throughout the Middle East, right or wrong.

The dam created Lake Nasser, hundreds of miles long all the way into the Sudan. It flooded the narrow Nile delta and the accumulation of mud, raising the water up into the desert sands and hills where nothing will grow even with water....no nutrients. Therefore, there is only a few hundred feet wide area with some grass and small cedars before the unforgiveing sand dunes begin strecthing hundreds of miles east and west..

The dam was built for electricity and it supplies all of Egypt. The lake has thousands of miles of bare desert shore line....only a few mud brick huts in a couple of spots....a total void. A very few people on camels or horses at the shoreline in a hundred miles. I was told these came from small nomadic camps "just over the horizon" in the desert.

One thing that was very odd....We never saw a single (and I mean not one!) recreational boat, sail, jet ski, fishing, pontoon....on the entire Lake Nasser....It was like visiting Lake Okeechobee and finding it empty of all boats except a few dozen wooded fishing dows, most of them row boats. We saw net fishermen miles from shore in these row boats!! We also never saw a single recreation boat all the way down the Nile below the dam to Cairo, although there were many villiages on both shores (mostly mud brick buildings with a better built mosque and tower in each town)....and at Cairo not a single one on the entire waterfront. Not even a rich man's yatch.

I was told that Alexandria had a contingent of recreation boats for the Mediterranean Sea, but there was only a small "class" with money for recreation. There is a lot of deep poverty, but there is a very wealthy class easy to see...and the lack of boats just is odd, perhaps it is some cultural thing.

Most of Egypt is a lot like it was forever.....in the rural areas often more donkeys, horses and camels than vehicles. The cities are jammed...over 20 million in Cairo. Luxor, the tourist hotspot for a hundred years, has the best "quality" with a better and cleaner center, and Cairo has spots of better conditions, but over all the cities have a poor apperance.

I travel a lot of the "third world" for 25 years and it was "deje vue all over again" for me, but a bit of a suprise for Jane. It is hard seeing the thousands of poor children....but Egypt has a fairly content population and there are a lot of worse places...I can tell you!

[BlindHog]

I cant seem to break the code, so I will come right out and ask -- did you or did you not get Bin Laden????:dontknow:

[N. Cook]

Bin is a long way from Egypt....but we were near where he use to hang out in the Sudan.

We were a small group of Americans, nine folks, and five of them were US citizens originally from India with a very successful business in LA. On any trip to a bazaar or location in the town we were accompanied by an armed escort....business suit with a machine pistol on his belt. On all the visits in Upper Egypt we also had armed protection. Not all tour groups had one, but UNIWORLD is extra careful. It was ten years ago that a group of Islamic fanatics attacked the tourist at the Valley of the Queens, killing a large number. We saw the exact ridge they came over firing into the crowd just above the temple.....

We had a very good guide who stayed with us the entire two weeks....he once worked for a group exploring sites near Cairo and had detail knowledge of all the sites we saw...very important when trying to understand 5000 years of history in context of the ruins and tombs build over the years. He could read the hieroglyphics as well.

Funny to watch the guards play their "tough guy" roles....flipping their coat open to expose the giant pistol from time to time...They were useful in reducing the harrassment of the many hawkers and beggars and would help you with any bargaining disputes with the unscrupilous "shop keepers" in the markets....I watched people pay $20 US dollars for items I had bargained down to $1 US dollar!!!!

Not to let on that I felt unsafe.....the locals seemed friendly and they do depend on tourism for their livelyhood...I have known I was in much more danger in many other countries...and even some locations in the US.

[duckbone]

I saw a fishing show last year where they took some little boat threw a depth recorder and fished that lake for some giant stripe bass looking fish by trolling big rapala's I think it was the hunt for big fish with larry.

[David B]

Newton,

Welcome home!!! I look forward to slow moment on the Kiss RIver this fall when we can talk about your travels and mine. As always I did my in uniform or it was know when the big gray one pulled in. I learned of ice or should I say not to eat ice in Africa. I laughed hard at your comments about it. It was only 20 years ago, but the memories of the hours and days spent on the commode still come to me.

Welcome home, we all behaved and you will proud of UW-F and what they have done.

David B

[Randy Clark]

in the phillipines everybody knew not to drink the water and learned not to ask for ice shortly after arriving. except after hours of brown outs we would chance it and add ice to the beer just to get it cool

[David B]

Randy,

There isn't enough ICE in the world to make a painted label bottle of Saint Miguel taste good. That was some rock gut beer. $5.00 make you happy

[Randy Clark]

that depended on which batch you got some nights you could go down magsisi and drink all night and not get drunk the next night you where wasted after five beers.stationed there for two years and finally learnt how to drink in moderation (well maybe that happened after i got out of the navy)

[backcast]

I'm watching Larry Dahlberg wear out giant Nile Perch on Lake Nasser right now. I don't see any other boats in the background though.

[duckbone]

If I remember right they catch some fat ones.