Amazing boat ride sunset - West Al Khazan

The previous post on this series is here..

We had reached out cruise boat and had a nice lunch. The plan was to take a nap and do an evening activity. It was optional and 4 of us opted to do it. It was 20 USD per person to do a boat ride on the Nile to the other side past Elephanine island to visit a Nubian village.

Our guide Walid, pretty much begged me not to miss it. He said "you are a photographer! the sunset here is just plain amazing! don't miss it!". So off we went. We started at ~4:30. Walid had told us that it will be at least 2-3hours to go, spend time at the village and come back to the boat by the 7:30 dinner time. 

Walid was spot on! This was the most amazing sunset we had seen with the boats, the river and the different types of huts in the villages we crossed. 

Here is a slideshow..

There were lot of pictures on the boat ride to and fro.. some highlights and "people pictures"

We got fantastic photos!

Most of these Nubians (folks from south of Egypt and Sudan) who are generally dark skinned were displaced because of the dam. They had a rich social culture of large families that lived in groups. Their houses always had a central courtyard with rooms being added as folks got married. A modular mud house structure with igloo type roofs. They put sand in the open courtyard.

there were beautiful murals on the walls..

Almost all of them had crocodiles for pets as the crocs were their main god. 

Walid told us that Crocs were their god(Sobek) for a reason. They would watch how high the crocs went to lay their eggs on the sand banks. Higher they went, more the expected flood for the year a few months later. The crocodiles were an early flood warning system for them. They saved lives. They were worth protecting! They are fed "bread"! they were veggie crocs and were mostly docile and played with the kids. We shopped around the market and were welcomed into a home for tea and coffee. The family was nice. Their kids had a 20 year old croc and a 2 year old baby. I was allowed to hold and pet the baby croc which was just wandering around our coffee table! 

it was 1 USD to pet the croc and take pictures. It was free to let it wander around near us! 

After that we were asked to check out the view from the roof.. it was like a west mambalam rooftop per the group! The village roads (sand) and the cute shops and fast running race camels made for some amazing experience.

We said bye to the village and went back to our cruise boat watching the reflected lights from the village in the Nile waters..

(our friends were the reason for this photo.. wife did the art direction, husband took the photo)

It was a spectacular evening! We were glad we went on this. . . 

Video highlights of this "optional" but should have been a compulsory trip!

After this we stopped at the local Aswan market to get some water bottles (the cruise was charging for large water bottles). Later we found out that the two regular bottles in the rooms every day were free. However there was no way to make hot water for tea in the rooms. They did give us hot water at the bar but we had to tip the guys who gave us hot water at the end of the trip(that was okay!). 

We were informed by an apprehensive Walid that we leave the following morning at 4AM and he has set up a wake up call for the group! Again a collective groan went up. There was going to be a long drive in the morning! 

When we went back to the cruise, my head was splitting because of jet lag. I dozed off and skipped dinner.. apparently they had made Dal just for the desi familes who had joined that day on the cruise (it has a 200 people capacity and was pretty much full!). There was 8 of us and a group of 6 from Mumbai and another quiet desi couple. 

It was lights out for me! 

The grandeur of Giza

The first post in this series is here..

Our group met at the roof of the Hayat Pyramid View hotel for breakfast. It was cold outside and all the breakfast items were cold given it was in a room with open doors. We made the most of it and saw the run rise to face the pyramids. Caught the first light hit the great pyramids! It was fantastic.

When we first walked up to the roof, it was hazy! The moon was still up.

We took pictures before and after the sun came out..

Had a feeling this trip will be a good one just by the way she was smiling!!! 

The sun comes out and the clouds roll in and "magic"!

Then it was time to meet our guide for the day, Ibrahim. At first glance if you are not used to Arabic nations, the tone comes across as rude and our guides way of saying "excuse me!" everytime he wanted to grab our attention was interesting. He was a really sweet and caring dude!

The language and accents make up for an intersting social study! He was dealing with desis .. from US. So he was a bit flummoxed on how to deal with us. Should he be proud that we bargained for everything like Egyptians? Or should he be upset that being Americans who can afford things, we are still bargaining.. he literally was telling us that in a very roundabout way. He wanted us to tip the locals wherever possible. Tipping, how much and when was the topic of most of our group discussions! 

Ibrahim gave us the rundown and told us he was not allowed inside. He also told us that the big pyramid and the pyramid of the grandson had entrances to go in but it is the same experience. One was 20 USD and a longer line and one was 4 USD and a much smaller line. We opted for the shorter line given the interest of time! We went in and out through a narrow tunnel at a steep angle to see the bottom of an empty chamber and come back up. It was an intersting experience. How they moved things around in these angles and got giant granite boxes in and out is just mindboggling.

Everything about this place is just amazing. This was 3000+ years ago and they still stand inspite of all the regime changes and looting over the decades. Everything thas been stripped off including the stones over the years but what took them a few hundred years to build has lasted a few thousand.

One side has all the drama.. other side is bland ..

 

We as a species don't build anything this lasting anymore. All our glass, steel and sheetrock stuff won't last anything compared to this! 

At some point the room would have had a large granite box with the mummy and all its treasures. They were looted a long time back! What little things the locals and invading cultures didn't take, the Brits and French took to their museums! 

now there is an empty chamber with graffitti over a few thousand years! We suck as a species is what I kept thinking!

After we went in and out of the pyramid, some of us got to go on a camel ride around the pyramids. Our camels were named Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, Alex, Mickey mouse and Charlie!

Once the camel ride was done, we visited the Sphinx which was right across from our hotel. There was already a big crowd at the Sphinx thanks to some school excursions. We were lucky to get some photos without too many people around. We also got to see the place where they did the mummification near the Sphinx. 

There is a steele in front of the Sphinx which talks about the Pharoh's dream to clean the sand around it.. we learned that the sphinx probably predates the pyramids. That was a special ticket and given time we were just happy to walk around it and get a view! I cannot write enough words to make you realize how amazing this place is. You have to see it for youself. Do it while you can still walk long distances every day, do a little climbing on tall stones. In another 10-15 years this trip might be difficult for me! 

Was wearing my uniform BYSJ 60 day challenge shirt on multiple days. Surprisingly no one asked me what a 60 day challenge was in Egypt or Jordan and that is a first! 

A video highlight of our first morning in Egypt!

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After this it was time to drive off to our next stop across the Nile into Cario!

From Rameshwaram to Rameseswaram

Our first trip of 2024 was to Rameshwaram in India. Our last trip for 2024 was to the land of Rameses.. 

We have made three big trips this year (including the 25th anniversary trip to Europe in the summer) and they have all been with just the two of us. At this point I am slowly getting used to traveling with San without the kids. Miss them everytime the camera is pointed anywhere but time will bring them back to my photos.  This trip was a success given it could have been canceled at any minute. Our flights changed so many times since we booked it. 

As usual all credit to San for taking me along on this trip. All I did was take pictures, haul luggage and irritate her at times with my being overly concerned about anything and everything. 

We did go with friends and family and that made it special.  

Having learned the lesson from summer(never blogged about that trip), will write about this one before my memory fades. 

We went on Lufthansa from SFO to Cairo with a 2+  hour halt in Frankfurt. It was nice flights and we had fun walking around Frankfurt airport and window shopping!

Watched a sunset on the way from Frankfurt to Cairo..this was somewhere above Greece..

Once we got to Cairo airport we got a Visa at Entry for 25 USD per person. Paid cash at the counter right before immigration check and  they give us a sticker. You hand that to the immigration officer who sticks it on to the passport and stamps it. First time I saw this procedure! 

We were out very quick. The trip was organized by Latif aka George in Cairo. He had folks meet us as soon as we came out of the plane and was waiting for us outside the airport parking lot. We drove straight to Giza. 

Our hotel was literally facing the pyramids. At first I thought we were staying at the Grand Hyatt.. then learned it is a hotel called Hayat ! Every house on that road became a hotel or airbnb apparently. Ours was a decent hotel and the folks were nice.  As soon as we drove and checked in, they asked us to go to the roof of the hotel right away to check out the view.

What a view it was!! 

This was pretty much what is was in the reflected city lights! Have always wanted to see the great pyramids. It is always surreal when you see them like this!

We were given some fruit drinks to enjoy while watching the view... 

Then it was time to hit the bed. We were told to be back on the roof for a sunrise breakfast to watch the sun light up the pyramid face. Folks here seemed to be all about getitng the right photos and that was music to my ears!

A warning to folks who read this blog and make vacation plans.. 

The thing that hit us as soon as we went out of the airport in Caior was the cigarette smell. It is everywhere. Even the non smoking room in the hotel has smoke coming in from the drain pipes. The rooftops, the cars we drive in.. seems to be unavoidable. Every adult male we saw who looked like a local was smoking! 

If you are averse to smoking, wear an N95 mask the entire time. All of us had a tough time with that throughout the trip. I lost my appetite after smelling all that smoke. Also you don't see any women outside the airport. When we went into Giza the thing that struck us was we did not see any females on the miles of road we drove around. so many shops and folks on the street.. all men! The women in our car noticed it right way. 

More on the next post..