Brian's birthday was this past week! Since I missed his birthday last year (he was already in KSA and I was still in the US), I wanted to make it really special. I went to the Saudi equivalent of Dollar General (called Big World) and bought him some amazing gifts, made him a birthday dessert, and organized a night out at Fuddrucker's with a few friends. There's only so much craziness you can get into in Saudi Arabia!
I made funfetti gooey bars! They were delicious. I just didn't realize the white chocolate chips that go in the center were going to cost us about $11. Oops.
We were unsure about bringing candles to a restaurant, so Brian blew out his birthday candles at home. We brought the rest of the gooey bars to the restaurant to have for dessert.
Birthday swag
Our fun group at Fuddruckers!
Adorable Saudi birthday card from Josh and Cassie!
Some of the gifts I got him from Big World
Giant heart shaped sticker featuring King Abdullah and Mecca
His real gift from me. I did not actually find this in KSA. Thanks to my in-laws for transporting it from the US to Egypt for me.
When we first decided to move to Saudi, one of the places I most wanted to visit was Egypt. However, because of this revolution and this other revolution, we always considered Egypt to be too unsafe to visit (yes... we realize the irony in that we live in Saudi and come from a high crime area of the US and thought that...).
Upon hearing that several of our fellow expats had gone to Egypt and enjoyed it (and felt perfectly safe), we thought that now was the time. We found a highly rated Egyptian guide named Haisam to hire for the week. We also somehow convinced Brian's parents, Kevin and Judy, to fly over and meet us there. So, with a 3 hour direct flight booked from Saudi to Cairo, we set out on our Egyptian expedition.
I taught a unit on Egypt for six of my seven years of teaching, so there was a lot about the history and the locations that I already knew. However, with all travel experiences, you learn new things about the places you visit and yourself. Here are some things I learned in Egypt:
Everything is so unbelievably OLD (and well preserved!)
I know this seems kind of weird/obvious to say, but there was seriously so much old stuff there. The oldest stuff in America is three or four hundred years old. The majority of the stuff in Egypt is three or four THOUSAND years old. It's mind blowing! There are many cool temples, relics, and statues that are so well preserved, they look like they were built recently. Some of the temples and the Egyptian Museum have so many items that they have just stacked stuff up outside.
The step pyramid of Djoser. The first pyramid built in Egypt! Built about 4700 years ago...
Sphinx of Memphis from 1200 BC
Carvings in a temple
Carvings showing an offering scene
Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
Us in front of the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
At the entrance to the Queen's temple
Philae Temple in Aswan
Luxor Temple
Though well preserved, many of the temples were defaced by the Christians, who chiseled away the faces and sometimes bodies of the ancient Egyptian gods on the temple walls
The pyramids are bigger than you can imagine
They really are so big! And not just the pyramids. The temples, the obelisks, the sphinx, the statues... Texas take note: everything is bigger in Egypt.
Brian on the Pyramid of Khufu, the tallest of all the pyramids
Side view of Khufu
Pyramid of Khafre
Three great pyramids of Giza: Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure
The pyramids are so large, you could see them over the giant wall at the hotel pool!
Great Sphinx!
This temple was enormous!
Giant statue of Ramses. The open air museum was built around the statue!
Me in front of Abu Simbel (my favorite temple!)... it was so much bigger than I thought it would be!
Temple of Karnak, the largest of all the Egyptian temples
An obelisk at Karnak
Mosque of Muhammad Ali--an enormous mosque in the Citadel of Cairo
Cairo itself is a HUGE city! Around 20 million people in the metropolitan area. You can barely see the pyramids in the background through the smog.
If you know the right people, camel rides are included
My mother-in-law, Judy, had one wish in Egypt: to ride a camel. Our excellent guide, Haisam, set us up with a camel ride in an area around the pyramids. Camels are really easy to fall off when they stand up, but luckily no one bit the sand. They aren't the most comfortable animal to ride, but it was only about 10 minutes. That was enough.
Hello, camel friend!
Time to get on the camel
I spy two in this picture who are excited about the ride
Made it up without falling off!
It was a little touch and go there, but we didn't fall off either
Ready for our camel ride!
My view from the camel
Someone wanted to say thank you for the ride :)
Without the Nile, there really wouldn't have been an ancient civilization
It was just amazing to see the contrast of the fertile land around the Nile versus the barren desert landscape. They call Egypt "the gift of the Nile" because without this water, there would have been no Egyptian civilization at all.
Taken from the dining room of our river cruise boat
From the top deck of the river cruise...somewhere between Aswan and Luxor (it all kinda looked like this!)
Egyptian people love tourists
Even more so than Kenya, Egypt relies on tourism for most of its economy, and since the revolutions, they have really suffered. Everywhere we went, we were greeted kindly by Egyptians, though the truth is they all wanted to sell us something, bring us to their cousin's bazaar, or provide a service for us in exchange for a tip. I can sympathize with their desperation, but sometimes it was a bit much. If you ask me six times if I need a taxi ride and I say no each time, asking a seventh time is not likely to change my mind. However, for the most part, the people were polite and some were even humorous, like the guy who said, "Hello, may I hassle you today?" One of my favorites was when they called out to us, "You look Egyptian!" Um, what?
These guys pulled up when we were going through a lock in the Nile River, trying to sell us clothes and beach towels
Their business plan was to just hurl their items onto our ship, hoping we would either send them back down or throw down some money (note that black dress flying through the air)
One thing I experienced in India was people randomly taking my picture because of my fair colored skin. Almost all of them neglected to ask me if I wanted my picture taken--they just stepped right up and stuck their phone in my face. It was super annoying! In Egypt, we found they wanted to do the same thing, but the people there were polite enough to ask to take a picture with us first. We agreed each time they asked, because they asked. Judy thought it was hilarious.
On a felucca ride in Cairo with our driver's daughter (also named Judy!). She was the cutest!
Egyptian teenage girls... there was a lot of giggling after this photo was taken
The guys wanted to get in on the fun, too
Sometimes, you just need a vacation from your vacation
After traveling around the Nile region for a few days, Kevin and Judy headed back to the US and Brian and I headed to the Sinai area of Egypt to a town called Sharm el Sheikh. This area is a true resort town--just miles and miles of resorts all along the coast. We stayed at a place called Xperience Sea Breeze Resort, and we couldn't have been happier with our choice. The food was good, the weather was amazing, and the view was incredible. They even had a big waterslide into one of their (four) pools, which made Brian very happy.
The view from our balcony...RIDICULOUS!
The dock at the resort. There was awesome snorkeling right off the beach!
In the summer, it's colder than you would think when you're at the top of a mountain
One of the trips that we took from Sharm el Sheikh was to Moses Mountain--or Mount Sinai, as we know it here--the place where Moses was said to receive the 10 Commandments. Our tour itinerary was to climb the mountain in the pitch black and watch the sunrise from the top, then head back down and see St. Catherine's Monastery, which is where the burning bush was said to be located. We were given a Bedouin guide named Ashraf and a flashlight to help us up the mountain. This was a TOUGH hike. About 4.5 miles to the top with a climb of 2,000 vertical feet... in the dark. We started at a little after midnight! At the top it was around 40F, so we were also wearing/carrying basically all the clothes we brought (considering it was 95+F in the rest of Egypt, we weren't too prepared for such a drastic temperature change). And then we had to go all the way back down!
What we imagine Moses looked like when we got to the top
The view was interesting as the sun came up!
Hiking in the cold and in the middle of the night is obviously one of my favorite things to do!!!!! It was so cold, we had to rent a blanket from one of the Bedouin outposts along the trail.
We were happy to have made it
At the top of Mount Sinai!
It got really pretty as the sun came up!
Just when you think you're almost to the summit, there are 750 stone steps to climb! The way down is either the way you came up (4.5 miles plus 750 steps) or the steeper 3,750 steps known as the Steps of Repentance. I was already exhausted after hiking all night, so we took the easier route.
Back at the bottom is St. Catherine's monastery
St. Catherine's--home of the burning bush!
In such a barren landscape, there are great surprises lurking just below the surface of the water
The real reason that most people visit Sharm el Sheikh is for some world-class snorkeling and diving. This was some of the most vibrant coral and fish I have ever seen. There was great snorkeling right off the beach at our hotel, and we also took two boat trips out to two national park areas.
Fish!
Coral!
The coral just went on forever!
Freaky looking fish!
Parrot fish are my favorite!
Brain coral
We saw quite a few jellies
This guy got in the way of my picture!
I enjoyed our trip to Egypt SO much. It was one of my favorite trips of all time. I highly suggest that people visit--there is so much to see and do. If you know next to nothing about Egyptian history, or if you're a history teacher, or if you're somewhere in between, you will be amazed by it.
The last thing I learned in Egypt is that you're never too old to take silly photos!
Though this photo took some convincing!
Touching Khafre!
Kevin enjoying a little juice box at Luxor
Whose idea was it to jump off the ledge? I can't remember, but I certainly can't jump that high in real life.
Hey there, Sphinx!
Judy got pretty high off the ground!
No hands!
Yay Egypt!
Probably my favorite picture of the entire vacation... it makes me laugh so hard every time I see it!
