The World According To John Rae the Great

America managed to rescue themselves from sinking into the cultural abyss by finally booting off Sanjaya from American Idol.  It was long overdue, heck, it bewilders me that he even got to the top 12, or even the top 24. 

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Strangely enough though, I think I will be suffering from Sanjaya withdrawal in the next few weeks.  Sure he was bad, but by God he was so bad that it was GOOD.  Good entertainment anyway.  Every week I looked forward to seeing how horribly he would perform each time.  Now I will have to content myself with watching all his past (excuses of) performances and the slew of homemade and mainstream TV parodies made in his (dis)honor.  Here are some choice cuts from YouTube:

Officially the weirdest idol performance ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKF6TGQjasE

Saturday Night Live response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXXQ7bi8kFs

Jimmy Kimmel special: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzX0p-hqNx8

Another Jimmy Kimmel bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh_tpfA_anU

What the Buck: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbfJAWbiLjs

Nothing particularly interesting to update, but if anyone’s interested to see my photos from Egypt, just click on the following link:

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http://public.fotki.com/johnraec/

This should be the last of the series, unless something incredibly interesting comes up tomorrow…

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Day 10-13, Dahab

After a long train ride and a farewell breakfast with the whole group on the morning of Day 10, Ahmed, Katie, Lisa and I continued on to the next leg of the tour to the Sinai peninsula.  We boarded a private van for another 6-hour journey, offering the majestic scenery of the desert and rocky mountains to our left and tantalizing views of the Red Sea to our right.  We had already been travelling quite a bit overnight so we were really looking forward to relaxing on the beach in Dahab.

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(I was excited to be passing through the Suez Canal, working for a shipping company and all, so I took out my camera once the signs said we were approaching.  Alas I never got to see anything at all as we passed through a long two-lane underground tunnel.)

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We stopped by the somewhat more upscale and overly commercialized resort town of Sharm el’Sheikh for lunch then arrived in Dahab at around 4pm.  The tourist area was basically a long strip of hotels and bars and restaurants along the seaside with a parallel street of shops and cheaper dining options behind it.  The beach wasn’t all that great, in fact I think during my whole stay there I only saw two people swimming in the water.  Most people travelled to nearby beaches for better wading and snorkeling options.  Also the winds were quite strong for the first two days so it was slightly disappointing, although it did manage to calm down on the last day which was even slightly frustrating that it didn’t happen sooner.

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Anyway I was initially intending to make one or two dives in Dahab and spend the rest of my time either relaxing or going on safaris to the desert, however I ended up deciding taking my Advanced Open Water Diver course instead.  I made three dives on day 1, the first two in Moray Gardens for my underwater naturalist and navigation dives with the instructor, Hesham, and a Kiwi currently residing in London, Chad, who just tagged along. 

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I did my first ever night dive that evening at the Lighthouse, which was both exciting and unnerving.  At the beginning of the dive as we were descending from the shore I was a bit freaked out when all of a sudden, after shining my dive light to my left, I realized I was swimming quite closely beside a large coral formation with sea urchins!  It also gets a bit surprising sometimes when you’ve been shining your light around you to look at the corals and fish and then realize you are swimming straight for a large jellyfish!  Anyway it was all cool, with lots of different aquatic life you normally don’t see during the day, like large eels and stonefish.  We were also treated to the sight of a Spanish Dancer, a large red slug about a foot long that sort of looks like a jellyfish.  The instructor, Mohammed this time, played with it with his hands but I still wasn’t brave enough to do so myself.  Now I wish I did.  (Or maybe it’s good I didn’t, as he kept rubbing his hands when we got out of the water, I’m not sure if that was because of the slug.)  It was also quite an experience when we turned off our lights, suspended in the dark, and then moved our hands around to activate chemical reactions in the plankton around us, so they lit up and seemed like magical specks of dust floating all around us.

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The next day we headed out into the Canyon for my first deep dive, down to 30 meters, with another instructor also named Mohammed, Lotka (sp?) from Sweden and Chad.  We swam through holes and caves and ridges with different kinds of corals and fish all around.  For my final dive to complete the course (a drift dive) we saved the best for last and headed out into the world-famous (and crowded) Blue Hole.  We entered the water in this small hole they call The Bells because of the sound the tanks make when they hit the rocks, then descended straight down (head first!) down the long hole before exiting out into the deep through an archway about 28m below the water.  We swam along a ridge or corals which dropped down to more than 600 m, so you couldn’t see the bottom, which made you feel like you were flying.  It’s also almost scary when you face away from the coral and towards the empty blue expanse of water on the other side, as if you were floating in (blue) space.  The drift helped us swim towards the Blue Hole, literally a hole enclosed by corals supposedly more than 150m deep.  Some brave and experienced skin divers were trying to swim down to the bottom of the hole (in one breath!) that time, and we could see their bubbles floating up from the seemingly endless bottom.

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While in Dahab, we had quite expensive (by Filipino and Egyptian standards) seafood dinners of fresh fish, calamari and prawns every night.  On the third day, I got a relaxing Egyptian massage in the morning and then we all just hung out beside the swimming pool in the afternoon, reading books and chitchatting.  I never got to do the desert safari, but the relaxation after quite a hectic schedule from the very beginning of the trip was worth it.

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Day 14, St. Catherine and Mt. Sinai

We left Dahab at midnight for a 1 1/2 hour drive to St. Catherine at the foot of Mt. Sinai.  Then at 2:30 am, armed with our flashlights and led by a Bedouin guide, we began a 2 1/2 hour hike to the top of the mountain, and without any sleep in my case, it was a very challenging task!  After 30 minutes or so though your body gets used to the continuous trekking, freezing cold and thinning air, although when we got to the top of the peak, 2,235 m above sea level, I wished I had brought gloves to protect my almost bluing fingers!  Huddled in our sleeping bags, we waited for the sun to rise, but because of some dark clouds in the horizon it wasn’t as magnificent as we had hoped.  Mostly I felt really miserable at the summit, although the large number of old Koreans and Russians together with us at the top seemed to be enjoying themselves, chanting and singing and praying as the sun rose.

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The hike down was much more pleasant and exciting, as we took a different and more direct route through rocky steps down the mountain.  Midway down though it started snowing very lightly, which shortly turned to a bit of rain, and then then a bit more later into hail!  It rained lightly but continuously on the way down, which made traversing the rocks a bit more dangerous, but we managed to get down anyway, soaked but otherwise unharmed.

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It took a while to completely thaw out at the bottom.  We had breakfast at one of the hotels in St. Catherine, and then immediately headed back into Cairo.  When we got to our hotel I skipped lunch and went straight to bed and slept the whole afternoon.  Katie and Lisa woke me up for dinner at some slightly fancy pub, then we headed out for a short drink at a swanky jazz bar at the Nile Hilton, where there was no jazz playing but a mix of latin music that local Cairenes were dancing to.  Lisa and I danced a bit but most of the time we were just watching expert couples take the floor.  After tonight I decided to take up some mambo or salsa lessons again in Copenhagen!

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Tomorrow we might visit the Citadel and a few mosques, and afterwards Lisa and I are flying out at almost the same time very  early Sunday morning at 3am.  Katie is staying one more day in Cairo.  I’ll be in transit in Milan for about 7 hours so I decided to see a friend in the city who’ll be driving out from Genoa to meet me.  As much as I enjoyed this vacation immensely I’m actually looking forward to coming home and even going back to work (egad).  Anyway I have an even longer trip to Turkey planned for the next month, so that’s something else to look forward to!

Day 5-6, Sailing down the Nile

So far the highlight of the trip is the two days sailing down the Nile on the fellucca.  Without the help of any motorboat, the fellucca relied only on the wind or the river current to bring us downstream (but to the North) from Aswan to Kom Ombo.  For two days we just relaxed on the mattress-covered deck, reading books, listening to music, chatting, playing card games (like Mafia and Last Card) and swimming in the cold waters of the Nile, which usually only Mark and I dared to swim.  We had our meals either on the boat or on the riverbank, then at night we slept in our sleeping bags on the deck.  If anyone needed to go to the toilet, the captain set us down on the banks where we could find a nice cozy spot in the bushes.  It was the first time I ever did #2 outdoors — and twice!  (OK, maybe a bit too much information there.)

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On our first night we told each other jokes and riddles and taught each other camping songs and games around a bonfire.  I taught them quite a bit, like Shaggedy-shaggedy-shapopo (hahaha I swear that looks so funny written down), the L-O-V-E song which I learned in Slovenia, and that game where you pass objects around while saying " ‘This is a <stick>.’ ‘A what?’ ‘A <stick>.’…. ‘Oh, a stick."  That last one was really really tricky, but everyone was quite keen anyway on getting it right, which we sort of managed after about 30 minutes or so.  The night ended with just Ahmed, Tina, Mark and myself left beside the barely smoldering firewood, talking about food mostly, as both Tina and I love to cook.

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The second evening we had a small bonfire party with some singing and dancing. Apart from singing some native Egyptian or Nubian songs we each had to sing our own national anthems.  I managed to finish Lupang Hinirang but until now the correct phrase in one part very close to the end still escapes me:

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"Lupa ng araw… blah blah blah… buhay ay langit sa piling mo."

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Someone help me out please.  It’s a disgrace, I know.

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Day 7, Riverside temples and Luxor

We arrived early in the morning to Kom Ombo where we disembarked and visited the temple there, and then another temple about an hour away in Edfu.  I don’t remember much about either though, although the temples we were visiting were progressively getting bigger.  (Which made sense, because if we first saw Karnak Temple, which we had gone to this morning, then everything else would have paled in comparison.)  Anyway at this point I was starting to feel some stomach problems, which was aggravated by a really really heavy lunch at KFC that afternoon when we arrived in Luxor.  The rest of the day I felt more and more miserable, although I still joined the others in the market where I bought my very own sheesha.  I also had dinner with everyone else although I didn’t have anything except a bottle of water.

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Day 8, Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple and the Valley of the Kings

Even though I was still miserable the next morning I really didn’t want to miss this excursion to the West Bank of the Nile to see the mortuary temples and tombs of the New Kingdom Pharaohs, who had their seat of power in Thebes, now called Luxor.  We woke up at 5am, boarded the van at 6am for a short 30-minute trip to the other side of the Nile where the old kings secretly had their tombs built.  In the olden days people lived only on the east side of the Nile, where the sun rises, representing life, while no one lived on the western side, because it represents death and the afterlife.  Hence all mortuary temples and tombs and pyramids were built on the west side (all throughout the Nile) while settlements and palaces and worshipping temples were built on the east. 

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Queen Hatshepsut, the only female pharaoh in Egyptian history who had to portray herself as a man to be accepted by the people, had her magnificent three-tiered mortuary temple built on the West Bank.  Unfortunately she was murdered by her own son, who defaced the temple by erasing her names and ruined her images so that she would not reach the afterlife where she could possibly hunt him down.  His son did the same in any other temple or structure anywhere else so you could barely find her likeness or reference anywhere, and her tomb and remains has never been found.

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After exploring the temple a few minutes we each rode a donkey this time to go to the nearby Valley of the Kings.  It felt really awkward in the beginning riding the donkey because it seemed like I was too big for it.  My feet were just about 20 cm off the ground.  But I got used to it, and so did everybody else, so we were all trying to "race" with our donkeys towards the end, which never really ran very fast anyway.

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The Valley of the Kings is, well, a small rocky valley where the pharaohs had their tombs built.  So far at least 30 (I think) tombs have been found in that small area, each with different sizes and designs, burrowing into the mountains from the slopes and then previously hidden by boulders and sand.  That still didn’t save the tombs from being pillaged by robbers though over the years.  Tutankhamen’s tomb is also in the area, the only one which was still intact with all its treasures inside when it was found many many years ago (notice I have no idea how many, haha).  I didn’t go inside his tomb, which was tiny anyway, because we had to pay an extra 80 or 100 pounds just to get in.  Ahmed recommended three tombs to visit, those of Merenptah I, Ramses I and Ramses IX.  The tomb of Ramses I was also quite small and stuffy and congested with fellow tourists but the colors inside were very well preserved so it was well worth the visit.

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When we finished with the tombs it was already noon and oppressively scorching, so after a quick takeaway lunch at McDonald’s we headed back to the hotel where most of us relaxed on the rooftop pool deck.  At some point the sky became overcast with a pleasant breeze so it was almost impossible not to doze off on the cabanas.

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That night we had a buffet dinner at the hotel, then headed downstairs to the in-house disco for some drinks and dancing.  We watched a male Sufi dancer (a guy with a really long and colorful costume who kept spinning around with it) and a female belly dancer, who in my opinion was not very good at all.  Also that night at dinner we gave Ahmed a small birthday gift — a silver and gold ring with his name in hieroglyphics.  Pretty cool.

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Day 9, Temple of Karnak

We left the hotel at 8am on horse-driven carriages to see the final temple in the agenda, Karnak Temple, the biggest and grandest of them all, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.  The whole temple complex covered an area of 3 acres, which included a 3200 sq.m. "lake" where the priests used to purify themselves before performing rituals.  Too bad it’s been ravaged by time (and vandals), but the sheer scope leaves so much room to imagine the grandeur of the place.  The temple includes a magnificent hall with 134 huge (and I mean huge) pillars, all covered with carved hieroglyphs and drawings.  Karnak Temple also has the tallest standing obelisk in Egypt.  (I will have to check that and correct myself if I’m wrong.)

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Despite the fact that I was mighty impressed by Karnak I still felt a bit templed out, so thankfully it was the last.  Tomorrow night we will be at Dahab on the Red Sea for some beaching, relaxing, snorkelling and diving.  It’s also a bit sad though because our group will be splitting up after tonight.  The three couples — Mark and Tina, Matt and Sharon, and San and Jemma (not Gemma) will end their tour in Cairo while Katie, Lisa and I will continue on to Dahab.  We all enjoyed each other’s company, because no one was really obnoxious or annoying, as is sometimes the case in most groups.  It will definitely be a sad farewell at the train station in Cairo tomorrow morning.

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Will go back to the hotel now to get a bit of rest before the long train ride. 

OK, here we go again.

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Day 2, Leaving Cairo

After dinner in the hotel we headed out to the station to take the overnight train to Aswan.  It was an ok ride, the seat was fairly spacious and comfortable, the seat able to recline more than usual.  The airconditioning did get too cold at one point though, and I was wearing only one thin jacket.  I was so tired and lazy though to get my other jacket which was at the very bottom of my backpack. 

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Day 3, Aswan

We arrived Aswan just after noon.  I was so looking forward to lunch since all I had were a few not-so-good cookies for breakfast at the train.  Thankfully there was lunch ready for us at the hotel, where I had koshery for the first time, a mix of rice and pasta with lentils, tomato sauce and other herbs.  Immediately afterwards, without even any chance to shower, we headed out to see the Aswan High Dam and the Philae Temple.

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The Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960’s to the early 70’s to control the yearly Nile flooding which destroyed crops and property and also to help Egypt become more energy-independent.  It was the first time I ever saw the dam, which was in itself not very impressive I thought, although the views from atop the dam of Lake Nasser and the reservoir were memorable enough.  Lake Nasser was formed as a result of the dam, making it the largest artificial lake in the world.

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One of the main problems of the formation of Lake Nasser, apart from the environmental damage, was that many of the old temples and antiquities of Ancient Egypt were in danger of being inundated.  One of the projects undertaken by the Egyptian government in coordination with UNESCO was the moving of the nearby Philae temple to higher ground.  They actually moved an entire temple complex!  We had to take a motorboat to get to the temple, which was built during the Ptolemaic period of Egyptian history, hence some Graeco-Roman influence in the art and architecture (which normal unscholared tourists like myself would never have noticed).  It was built as a tribute to the gods Isis and Osiris, and our tour guide Ahmed even made us characters in a little play to explain the story.  (I was an evil god who conspired to have Osiris killed twice.) They made a slight error in rebuilding the temple though, as the inner temple and gates were not perfectly aligned.  Still it was a worthwhile visit, not just for the feeling of being transported back in time for more than two thousand years but also the pleasant sunshine and gentle breeze.  I could have stayed there in the outdoor cafeteria the whole afternoon.

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Back in the hotel we had the rest of the afternoon off, which I spent roaming around the Aswan bazaar, not realy buying anything but just taking pictures.  For dinner we went to a restaurant by the Nile, where I had an overfried and shrunken marinated pigeon and of course some baba gnouche.  After dinner we just drank a few beers and smoked some sheesha again.  This time I tried the capuccino-flavored sheesha, which only had a faint, almost unrecognizable aftertaste of coffee.  I also learned to swear in Arabic for the first time, after forcing our tour guide to tell us how to say "p*t9ng !n3 m0" in his language.  So if I tell you "ebn mit naka", you know what it means.

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Day 4, Abu Simbel

We had to wake up as early as 3:30am to join the hordes of tourists going on a 3-hour convoy to the famed temples of Abu Simbel.  I always have trouble sleeping properly while sitting in a moving vehicle, so I ended up not even bothering to sleep and just listening to oldies in my iPod.  About two-thirds into our journey I was listening to Stevie Wonder and was actually unaware that I was singing along.  Lisa had to point out to me that I was singing loudly, or rather that I was making weird squeaky noises, haha.  (Hey, it was Stevie, so gotta work the high notes.)  Another strange and funny moment brought to you by yours truly.

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The temples of Abu Simbel was the most famous of the salvaging projects resulting from the formation of Lake Nasser.  The first time I saw Ramses II’s temple I got goosebumps, although when I walked nearer and nearer I thought hmmm, this isn’t so big and imposing as I thought.  It was only when I got to the foot of the massive colossi guarding the facade that I realized how big and magnificent they truly were.  Ramses II’s temple and the smaller temple of Queen Nefertari (his 19th wife out of 52 apparently, and the favorite), were both carved out of 2 mountains, so the tremendous work of breaking down, relocating and rebuilding the temple to its new location was an impressive feat by itself.  The grandeur of the place was only slightly spoiled by the presence of the swarm of fellow tourists.  We had a group photo taken, which unfortunately I left and lost in our van on the way back.  Damn!  I hope to get it back tomorrow before we leave.

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We had a bit of free time after lunch when we got back, which I spent having lunch by myself in a nearby restaurant (I wanted some ME time) and going online to write the first part of this entry.  Took a short swim afterwards and then met up with the others again for a native Nubian experience.

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We again took a motorboat to go to a Nubian village on the other side of the Nile.  Nubians are a darker people living in the south of Egypt, looking more like Africans compared to the Arab Egyptians.  We first headed to a school where we had a short class in the Arabic alphabet and numerical system.  As usual I aced the class, hahahaha, it’s just like going back to school and being my old geeky self!  (Yeah I know what some of you are thinking, I’m still a geek.)  We then visited a Nubian home where I got to carry and kiss a baby crocodile, try hibiscus tea and have a henna tattoo of Eyptian symbols around my wrist done by a Nubian woman.

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Another short motorboat ride took us to a native Nubian restaurant apparently only used by tourists (slightly ironic there), where we tried native Nubian cuisine (plus sheesha) and enjoyed some live Nubian music and dances.  At one point we all even got to join in and dance and sing ourselves!  Since I had my camera on me and took it upon myself to document the festivities, my tourmates joked that I was hiding behind the sheesha and the camera to avoid joining in.  (Although I did join in briefly.)  Au contraire, I told them I had no problem being in the spotlight and would’ve done crazier things than the rest of them given the chance!

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It was a great evening, and we also had a grand time sitting on the roofdeck of our boat on the way back.  Since the shops closed only at midnight here we dropped by the bazaar for a while where we shopped for trinkets and spices to bring back home.  I promised myself I would buy my very own sheesha water pipe to bring back to Denmark when we get to Luxor!

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As I write this it’s 12:30am in the 24-hour internet cafe close to the hotel.  Tomorrow morning we are going on a 3-day/2-night felucca (sailing boat) ride down the Nile, to basically laze around, play games, read books, relax, drink, smoke sheesha, go for an occasional dip, visit a few riverside temples and sleep sardine-style on the small boat deck in our sleeping bags underneath the stars!  Really looking forward to that, so expect the next update after three days at the earliest.  It’s been a great journey so far but there’s still so much more to look forward to.  Will keep you (whoever is bothering to read) posted.

Have to make this quick, as I only have an hour and a half before the next excursion…

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Day 1, Arrival

I arrived in Cairo in the middle of the night after a short stop in Milan.  My plane touched down at 2am, and after border and customs clearances and a crazy, overpriced, Marcie-driven cab ride, got to my hotel at 3am.  (To those who don’t know Marcie, she is the only person I know whose car can be moving even when there’s traffic, or can get away with driving 150 k’s without a sweat.)  Unfortunately I didn’t book a room for my arrival, thinking I could just wait a few hours before I could finally check in that morning, so I ended up waiting for almost 10 hours in the hotel lobby before I could finally get to my room.  It was sorta fine until about 8am when my iPod died on me, after which it became a torturous wait, trying to keep myself awake in order not to look silly sleeping on the couch.

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I spent the whole afternoon just sleeping, then at 6pm I went down to the lobby to meet my tour group.  I was both eager and anxious to meet them; I was travelling alone, so I was hoping for some really good company, as my winning personality can of course only save me if the other person reciprocated.

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So far my group seems really cool, and we tolerate, if not enjoy each other’s company.  There’s Katie, a Dutch-Aussie girl who is training to be a tour leader in Europe but is now in Egypt just for vacation; Lisa, a Dutch-Kiwi girl working in London as a market analyst for a pharmaceutical company.  Like me, they are also both travelling alone.  The other 6 people are 3 couples from London and its outskirts:  Matt and Sharon, both working in the education field, Mark as a network administrator and Sharon as a primary school teacher; San and Gemma, both just recently out of university, with San working as an auditor for Deloitte and Gemma taking up a training course before she starts her formal law internship in July.  I met the last couple only the next day as they couldn’t get an earlier flight:  Mark, working in the art department of a gaming studio, and Tina, an American from San Diego, who just finished her law degree and is on vacation in Europe to visit her boyfriend.  Our tour leader and resident Egyptologist is Ahmed, an amiable Egyptian chap who apparently has also been a bodybuilder, keen horse rider and German tour guide.  We all take his word for it.

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8 of us, excluding Mark and Tina, had dinner close to the hotel for our first taste of genuine Egyptian cuisine.  I had a generous helping of kebab and kofta, and my first taste of baba gnouche (not sure if I’m spelling it right, as they seem to have different spellings for it all over Egypt).  I’ve fallen in love with this native Egyptian dip that I’ve had it everyday since.  I also tried sheesha for the first time, smoking apple-flavored tobacco through a water pipe.  Quite a pleasant experience!  So much better than smoking cigarettes that I intend to buy a water pipe and bring it back to Denmark.  (Think of all the great parties!)

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Day 2, In and around Cairo

The next morning we finally met up with Mark and Sharon and made our way to the Pyramids of Giza.  These spectacular monuments are definitely a must-see, but I think what made the excursion more memorable for me was the camel ride!  We all rode camels around the pyramid complex for grand views and a quick taste of life in the desert.  It was quite funny when we first got on to our camels — I was the first to go, and bravely I chose the camel we all thought was the grumpy/growly one.  With it crouching on the ground, I got on the camel’s back easy enough, but suddenly without warning it just lurched forward and upwards as it tried to stand out.  I screamed out, to my slight embarrassment.  Well not so much screamed as shouted loudly enough to be heard about 5 blocks away.  I got the hang of it quickly though, and by the end of the day I think I was the most comfortable riding the camel’s back, even letting go completely sometimes (sans stirrups) to take pictures of the group and the magnificent views.

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We all went inside the tomb of the 2nd pyramid, starting with a somewhat difficult downward-sloping passage only a meter tall.  Alas there was nothing at all to see, and all I can remember is how stuffy it felt inside.

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Baksheesh Please

In the beginning I felt the Egyptian (and Middle Eastern) tipping culture was quite daunting.  Who do I give baksheesh to?  How much baksheesh do I give?  Should I give baksheesh to the everyone in the hotel???  Thankfully you get used to it quite quickly, and with the way the tour was set up, we didn’t have to worry about tipping for the most part, as Ahmed handed out most of the tips from a pooled tipping kitty as necessary.

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Let’s go for a Wanda

After our visit to the Pyramids we went to the Egyptian museum, which housed thousands upon thousands of Egyptian antiquities, including the famed golden mask of Tutankhamen.  It was really interesting when Ahmed was pointing out and explaining some of the more important pieces, but when he left us alone for a free hour I found that looking at similar-looking cups, plates, papyri, furniture, clothes, carvings and sarcophagi of different pharaohs can be quite boring.  I left after 10 minutes and just enjoyed the sunshine outside while waiting for the others.

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When we got back to the hotel we all took a shower and then Lisa asked around if anyone wanted to go for a Wanda.  I asked what a Wanda is — is it a drug?  Drink?  Another British slang for a shag?  She explained that she meant a walk — a Wander — and the predominantly British or Brit-related tour group laughed and decided then and there I was the funniest person in the bunch, especially after that episode with the camel.  Anyway I did join Lisa for a Wanda and we ended up having coffee somewhere close to the hotel.

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It’s taken longer than I thought — I’m still in Day 2!  To be continued hopefully tomorrow, for now I’ll go for a quick swim and get ready for another boat ride and dinner at a native Egyptian village.