Whirling Dervish

No I'm not talking about me although I do feel like a Whirling Dervish at times. I compiled 3 video clips I took on the dinner cruise of the entertainment. Enjoy.

Walk Like an Egyptian

Yesterday I got back from a mini-holiday to Giza and Cairo, I spent 3 days touring the sites. Now I don't normally do tours but when I started researching Egypt everything seemed to point to the need to have a guide so I found a tour that seemed to be offering what I was looking for in terms of lots of free time and flexibility and the dates fit with my schedule. I left Thursday morning and arrived in Cairo around 4 in the afternoon (2 hour time difference between London and Cairo). Traffic in Cairo is horrible and reminded me of Jakarta, it can take up to an hour to travel only a couple of miles. I would not recommend trying to drive in Cairo there are no lane markings on the road to indicate lanes there are no street lights or traffic signs from what I could see it mostly seemed like a free for all. Add to that the pedestrians walking in the street even though the sidewalks exist many people seem to just walk on the road, you even see pedestrians standing and walking on 4 lane highways. There are no crosswalks or pedestrian crossing so pedestrians frequently jump in front of cars crossing the road. Oh yeah and there's also people in donkey-drawn vehicles. Given there is no real demarcation of where a lane ends and begins the curbs on the sidewalk are high (probably about 2 feet) I can only guess the height is so cars don't drive on the sidewalks. This came as a bit of a surprise to me when I was walking to dinner on my first night and stepped off the curb without looking and fell quite a distance, luckily I only stumbled and didn't fall flat on my face.

On the bus from the airport all of the women on the trip were given a single red rose by the tour guide. As I expected most of the people on the trip were couples there was only 1 other person that was travelling alone, Richard or Chris or Wellington depending on who was asking (I called him Richard). Luckily we got along well and "adopted" one another for the duration of the trip. It was nice to have a companion to have dinner and drinks with and also to go off exploring. The one thing that did surprise me with the group was that I was the youngest person by a couple of decades (this was also pointed out to me by others on the trip) it wasn't a problem as I had many interesting conversations with the others on the trip.

Friday morning we were off to the Egyptian Museum for the morning. There is unfortunately no photography allowed inside the museum - that is of course unless you find a security guard wanting to earn a "basheesh." Basheesh is a tip and is a way of life in Egypt, everybody wants one from the people in the toilets that hand you paper towels and toilet paper to the people at the pyramids that "offer" to take your picture. After an hour with the tour guide getting an in-depth history lesson on the artifacts in the museum I decided to go off on my own so I could see more of the museum. The information being given was good but it was too much sometimes the guide would speak for 10 minutes about a single sculpture, I usually tuned out after 3 or 4 minutes. It was while Richard and I were exploring on our own that we came across a film crew from Japan that was shooting footage in the museum for a documentary. We stopped to check out the filming and ask a couple of questions, it was at this point that the security guard with them came over and told us we could take some photos - now all cameras had to be left either on the bus or with security so the only thing we had were our mobiles but I was not going to let this opportunity pass me by. He took us around to two sculptures and allowed us to take pictures when other people tried to do the same he said they couldn't we were working with the museum and were allowed to take photos. The one thing that amazed me about the museum were the sculptures that were from 2000 BC and earlier that were still in amazing condition, of course not all were there were some that had many pieces missing but the majority were fully in tact. In the sculptures of the men and women the woman always has her arm around the man, this signifies that the man is the center and the woman is supporting him. By far my favorite part of the museum was the animal mummies. Not only were the kings and queens mummified but animals would be mummified as well. Some of the animals were provided as food so the king and queen wouldn't starve others were sacred fish or pets. Some other little tidbits I learned at the museum:

• The beard attached to statues and masks indicates that deceased, these statues also have their arms crossed.
  
• The mask is attached to the mummy so that the King can be recognized, as the face of the mummy is bandaged there is now way to recognize him without the mask.


• The face painted on the sarcophagus is usually identical to the mask on the mummy.

After the museum there was an optional tour to the Citadel and the Khan-el-Khalil market but I decided I would rather do those on my own on Sunday so I just had lunch and headed back to the hotel. We took a taxi back from lunch and knew that we would have to agree on a price prior to getting in the cab and we were told that it shouldn't be more than 20 or 20 LE (Egyptian Pounds). The driver first wanted 50 and this is where the negotiating started, he refused to budge and eventually as we started to walk away and another couple headed to the second taxi in the queue he started getting rather animated and upset saying he was there first so he gets the first fare. He told us he would take us and we confirmed the fare would be 30 he said yes yes. I have to admit I was slightly surprised when the taxi driver started smoking in the cab, I haven't seen a cab where smoking is allowed in many years. When we arrived and paid him the 30 LE he said no it's 40 - this is rather typical we held our ground said no we agreed on 30 and just walked away, he took the money and left. The process of negotiations are definitely an art form in Egypt.

That evening I went up to the rooftop terrace of the hotel to have a drink and watch the sunset. The only problem with the view from the rooftop is the radio tower smack dab in the middle of the second pyramid. Here by far is my favorite picture taken of me while in Egypt.

That evening I signed up for a dinner cruise on the Nile complete with entertainment. I realized when we were seated that we weren't given menus but other diners were we had only been given an option of 3 dinner entrees. Of course I wanted to see what I was missing and how much more we were charged by going through the tour so I asked to see the menu. The entrees we were offered were all £30 each which was the cost of most of the entrees only 2 were higher. As I had paid £45 which included transportation to and from the hotel I didn't feel I was ripped off which was good. The best part of the entertainment was the whirling dervish - I had never seen one before and watching this man spin around and around was impressive. I've got video which I'll upload later this week.

Saturday was the day I had been waiting for THE PYRAMIDS!!! You might think that the pyramids are out in the desert and far from the city but they aren't you can actually see them from the city and there are major roads and businesses all around them. Even though I could see them from my hotel and as we were driving around I was still eager to get up close and personal with them. The tour did not include entrance into the pyramids so I spent an additional 30LE to go inside the second pyramid, how can you not go inside. The trip into the pyramid is rather interesting you go 15M down a slope hunched over as the opening to the tomb is maybe 4 ft high. There is then a little chamber where you can stand up straight before heading up a 15M passage to the burial chamber. Unfortunately no photography is allowed inside the tomb so you'll just have to imagine it. As you start the upward climb it starts getting warm and musty at the top you are in the burial chamber at one end on a tiny altar is the crypt that you can look inside - bear in mind the room is completely empty as everything in it has been removed and is now either in various museums or possibly in personal collections around the world. The room isn't that large maybe about 10 ft X 20 ft and I just looked around and tried to imagine the room packed with the various belongings of the king.

The number of people at the pyramids that ask for Basheesh is ridiculously high you have to be very prepared for the people who will offer camel rides or to take their picture or come up and offer you something "for free" only to come back and ask for money. I managed to ignore everybody trying to sell something but ran into debates when taking pictures of Ike. When taking the photo on the right a man dressed as a security guard stood behind me watching me take the photo and after I was done followed me asking for basheesh I said no and walked away. (In case you're wondering why the photo is in B&W it's because Ike wanted an artsy photo of him. More photos of Ike's adventures in Cairo will be provided in a later post).

The reason I say he was dressed as a guard is I quickly realized that there were some people there wearing guards uniforms that weren't actually guards it's actually a pretty good scam if an official looking person offers to guide you to a good place to take a photo or to take your picture you'll be more likely to oblige than not. In addition to scaling the pyramid Ike also wanted a camel ride I went up to one of the men offering camel rides and asked if I could take a picture of Ike on the camel for 5 LE he said OK and we went off arranging him in various poses and I took some pictures he then said that he would take a picture of me and Richard we kept saying no but he did it anyways. Afterwards I gave him the 5 LE and he started asking for more he said that was for the bear but he took pictures of us too and we needed to pay for that. Saying no we didn't ask for that and walking away seemed to do the trick.

It really is impressive just looking at the pyramids and the construction and manpower involved in creating these.

Walking around outside the pyramids I could avoid many of the crowds however this wasn't the case at the Sphinx. The masses of people jostling around to get their picture taken in front of the sphinx and jumping on anything in site is a tiny bit overwhelming. It's a much more enclosed area so while there may not be more people there than at the pyramids they are in a smaller space so it looks like more.

The afternoon was a trip further out of town to Memphis and Saqqara. Memphis is the site of a small museum with a giant statue of Ramses II and was originally the capital of Egypt. Personally I didn't think the trip to Memphis was all that impressive but Saqqara was. Saqqara is the site of the Step Pyramid of Zoser one of the oldest pyramids in Egypt. Comparing the construction of this with the "modern" Giza pyramids you can see how the thinking and construction evolved. In the distance you can see the bent pyramid and the red pyramid. The angle of construction of the bent pyramid had to be changed midway through construction which gives the bent perspective this knowledge resulted in coming up with the correct angle necessary to create the Giza pyramids.

Sunday was a free day and I opted to explore the Citadel and markets on my own. The military museum at the Citadel is unique. There are many wars, and battles that aren't discussed it would appear that only the wars that are favorable to Egypt are discussed if the end result was not favorable it is not mentioned in the museum. The views from the Citadel over the city were amazing. Everything is pretty much the same sand-stone color, there is very little in the way of colors on the buildings, my guess is that the paint would quickly look dingy with all the sand flying around. Satellite dishes are everywhere, looks like cable television didn't make it's way to Egypt. Many of the buildings look like they are unfinished, I found out that this is because if the building is under construction then there are tax breaks available.

Leaving the Citadel I headed to the market. Knowing that a bomb went off there a week ago I wasn't sure what to expect. All entrances to the market area are guarded by police every non-westerner is stopped and asked for ID and their bags are searched. We were able to walk in without being stopped. Once you get in the market the hawkers are all out in full force offering "just what you're looking for" - most of the shops are selling similar items jewelery, pipes, silk, purses and for similar prices I imagine the person that yells the loudest gets the business. Outside of the markets it seems like the majority of the shops are Papyrus and Perfume shops.
Anyways I wasn't looking to buy anything just photographing. It wasn't until we were on the way out that I stumbled across a nifty little trick to get people to stop bothering or following you. As soon as somebody came up to me I picked up my camera to take their picture they immediately said "no photo" and walked away. I tried it out on a couple of other people and got the same reaction. It was funny to see the reactions of course there were some people that let me take their picture and really got into it. Sometimes the people in the next shop would also ask for their picture to be taken. Through this I managed to get some great photos of the people in the souk. I'll have to remember this the next time I'm at a souk.

Sunday night was a sunset dinner cruise on a Felucca. It was a nice way to end the holiday. The only thing I was slightly disappointed in was the food. Of all the meals that were provided as part of the group excursions the meals were all identical - grilled chicken and lamb kofka. It would have been nice to have had some other options as well. I'll be posting more photos to my photography site over the weekend.

Customs Fees by Post

I was a little surprised on Thursday when I had a postcard delivered in the post indicating there was a package that required £18.92 to be paid in customs fees before I could claim it. It took me a little while to realize this was stuff my sister had sent me that I had accidentally left at her place over Christmas. The fee seemed a little high to me so I did a bit of research and found the following.

Items sent via post have different exclusion rates than items you personally carry into the country. Items over £36 pounds are subject to VAT, items over £105 pounds are subject to Customs duty. My sister had valued the package at $100 which currently is about £70 pounds which meant VAT has to be paid, at a current rate of 15% that is a total of about £10. The remaining £8 is for the Royal Mail International Handling Fee. From what I understand this fee is because the Royal Mail has to process the transaction and send money back to HM Revenue & Customs. I'm sure they're making a tidy profit in here somewhere as well.

What I find slightly more interesting is that this package was received and the customs charges computed on February 10. I did not receive notification that duty was owed until the 19th. Why it took 9 days to get delivered is beyond me. I am just lucky I was home and able to pick this up as they will only hold the item for 7 days before returning it to the sender.

Trip to HEL

I've never realized how fun airport codes can be a few weeks ago I was in SIN, last week I was MAD this week I was in HEL. Maybe these are related.

I actually didn't spend a whole lot of time in Helsinki I arrived at the airport at 11:30 pm Tuesday evening stayed at the Hilton attached to the airport, left at 8 AM for Aland Island returned 12 hours later, straight back to the hotel to sleep then up at 6 to catch my return flight to London. The flight from Helsinki to Aland was neat as I got to check out the archipelago. Aland Island is autonomous from Finland. The most interesting thing I learned about Aland is that foreigners are not allowed to own property. You must live in Aland for 5 years before you earn the right to purchase property.

My boarding pass for the AirAland flight was the most interesting boarding pass I've ever seen. A simple laminated sheet. When I boarded the flight they didn't ask to check my ID or anything just took the boarding pass and on I went. Nothing like at Heathrow where your boarding pass is checked 4 or 5 times, even after you get on the plane.

The flights I've taken this week put me officially over the 25,000 mile mark and 9 cities and it's only February 20th. I'll hit 30K miles by the beginning of March after my trip to Egypt. If this keeps up 100K miles shouldn't be a problem.

The Wide World of Sofas

There's been all sorts of sofa excitement in my life the past 2 weeks. I first got permission from the landlord and property management to get rid of the uncomfortable sofa in my flat and buy a new one. I was given an allowance of £350 to cover purchase, removal and delivery. The challenge I faced was 2 fold staying within budget and being able to find a sofa that would fit through the front door. I realized quickly that the combination of these 2 items wasn't possible if I wanted something comfortable, so I spent a little more money just so I could finally be able to sit comfortably on a sofa instead of spending most of my time on the floor. In a few short weeks the new sofa will hopefully be delivered. I'll post pictures when it arrives.

In other excitement my sister has been helping me with the removal of some furniture at my house in Natick as the new tenants don't need the furniture. The Salvation Army came yesterday but decided that since the arm of the sofa was slightly faded they wouldn't take it. I was slightly surprised by this news, in talking with others I guess this is common. They only accept furniture that is like-new. Hopefully in the next 24 hours we can find somebody who wants a free sofa if not need to arrange for the town to pick it up and dispose of it. I hate the idea of having to throw away a perfectly good sofa. I have no problems giving it away but asking for it to be sent to the dump is another matter.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

It started snowing yesterday afternoon and it still continues to come down a little bit. Although this may not be newsworthy for many in London the snow is causing loads of problems. This is the most snow that London has seen in 18 years! Having lived with lake effect snow and nor'easters for the majority of my life this is nothing. The problem is twofold:

1. Cars, buses, etc aren't equipped with proper snow tires.
2. Snowplows don't seem to exist.

As a result the roads are treacherous, the snow has gotten packed down and is a sheet of ice. I've noticed just walking around today how icy it is.

Last night I had the most terrifying taxi ride of my life. I had gone out to a Superbowl party in central London and had booked a taxi for my return. I got a call from the taxi company at around 1:30 AM asking if I really needed to be picked up or could I stay where I was. Since I was at a bar I thought it best to go home. The taxi driver wasn't used to driving in snow and the tires weren't great. Every time we started from a stop the tires spun. We hit a couple of patches where we could travel at a decent speed but then came a curve and the driver didn't think to slow down so we did a 360 in the middle of the street. When there were cars leading the way the driver thought it was fine to drive faster and didn't quite leave enough room to stop on the snow. There were a couple of times we had to swerve so as not to rear end the car in front of us. Luckily I made it home safely. I did have the sense to tell the driver to drop me at the end of the road as I knew the side streets were much worse than the main roads and I wasn't sure he would make it up the road without hitting something.

I was pretty sure that public transportation wouldn't be operating in the morning so I decided to sleep in a bit. When I turned on the radio the news reports were all about the weather and surprise surprise they announced that no buses were running, the tube was having closures on the majority of lines and the trains were severely delayed. Not to mention that most of their web sites were down due to the severe load of people trying to find out if transportation was running. By far the most amusing thing I heard were the warnings to pedestrians not to walk on the streets in the tire tracks as that could potentially slow down cars even more or result in more accidents.

When I got on-line this morning I started chatting with a co-worker from Canada and we were commenting how a little bit of snow (at least from our perspective) has crippled the city. They're saying as of now that trains are going to be running on a suspended service tomorrow as well so it looks like I'll be working from home again tomorrow.

A Week in SIN

Before you all start going crazy SIN is the actual airport code for Singapore. I know I've been back for a week and am only now just getting around to posting about the trip last week but I just couldn't find the motivation until now. I'm sure you've all been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for this.

First off here is the video clip of me on Channel News Asia:

Being in Singapore the week before Chinese New Year aka Lunar New Year was a unique experience. I was given a gift of 2 mandarin oranges by a co-worker, mandarins are always handed out in pairs and they represent prosperity for the new year. At the end of the Chinese New Year celebration Singapore holds its annual Chingay parade. Walking back from my office to the hotel each day I could see the preparations under way. Chinatown is a transformed place during Chinese New Year - lanterns are hung everywhere, they close two of the side streets for markets, and the place is mobbed with people. I did manage to make it down to Chinatown on my last night to take pictures and experience the place.

I spent a lot of time checking out the various temples around town. Every temple was happy to welcome you inside to take a look around but no photography was allowed. All shoes had to be removed before entering, some temples provided lockers at others the shoes were just left out front. Outside the temples were bundles of incense and some had people selling flowers to be brought in as offerings. Other offerings I saw at some of the monuments inside the temple were juice boxes and other food items.

I was pleasantly surprised when I went into a temple in Chinatown to see that they had a sign indicating that photography was allowed if you bought a license for $3 so of course I did.

The final area that I explored was Arab Street. This section of town was much more subdued not as much hustle and bustle as Little India or Chinatown. Lots of fabric stores as well as carpet stores. I was very tempted to look in the carpet stores but was afraid I wouldn't be able to control myself and would end up buying something. The only thing I bought there was lunch, which was delicious. Mint tea, falafel and a meze plate - yummy!

Although I normally try to avoid tourist traps when I'm out travelling I did visit Long Bar at Raffle's Hotel which is where the Singapore Sling was invented. The place reminded me of the old Ground Round when you used to get shelled peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. I did notice that they had loads of drinks already prepared all they had to do was add ice and shake. I guess if you know that most people are going to order the same thing it's easier to prepare them ahead of time. The drink was OK nothing that special really and definitely not worth the price - this is why I typically avoid the tourist traps.

More pictures from the trip will be on my photography site shortly.