Nile River Cruise with the Thai Girlfriend

[S Landreth]

^you do get a better perspective of the Sphinx standing next to it,………..

Yes yes.....but has the piss smell been sorted out yet ?

When I entered into the walkway I did smell a combination of sweat and mildew (and maybe rock/dirt also), but not urine. There was a lack of ventilation (obvious reason) throughout the walkway to the tomb. When I did finally make it to the tomb, there were maybe 15 people in this small confined space (poor lighting) so I just looked in and turned around. The tomb did smell a little worse then in the walkway, but not like urine. Maybe it was everyone’s breath?????????????? Or a combination of breath, sweat and mildew.

By the way I enjoyed your thread “ https://teakdoor.com/bangkok-forum/59025-the-canals-of-bangyai-suburban-bangkok.html ”
We’ll be in your neighborhood in the coming weeks to look at some property.

I was a bit busy today and did not have the time to write another post about day 2 of our stay in Cairo, but I was able to combine some clips of our Faluca ride while in Aswan a couple of days ago and will share that today.

[Bangyai]

We’ll be in your neighborhood in the coming weeks to look at some property.

Hell of a lot of moo bahns being built so I'm sure you'll find something to suit.
The new cineplex , Bangyai Square , opens tomorrow with a lot of western food outlets, which will be nice. Also there is a Carrefour and Big C opposite each other and A Tesco just down the road. BTS is the next big project to arrive but that could be a few years in the construction. 50 minutes from Ayudhaya, 30 minutes from Sanam Luang....altogether very convenient. If you need any search tips let me know !

[S Landreth]

^Thank you for the information, I especially like the idea of the BTS coming. I might contact you after we view the (couple of different pieces of) property to get your thoughts.

Our 2nd day in Cairo,……..

We visited a local market (where tourists and locals frequent) and visited a Mosque before walking the streets. During our second visit (after the cruise) we also walked the streets of Cairo (close to the Hyatt). I am combining those walking the street pictures together for this post. Hope it gives the viewer a feel of the streets in Cairo.

Mosque in the background

Inside the Mosque (the girlfriend was not allowed inside), below

Short market visit below

going into the market area

In the streets of Cairo, below

what's with the 8XL size?

[S Landreth]

Day 3 in Cairo,………

We wanted to visit the City of the Dead just to see what it was all about. I had read that because of the lack of housing for the poor in Cairo (maybe 3 to 5 mill) that some Egyptians (who can not afford housing in the city) were moving into some of the mausoleums. It’s true,….and it is just a shame. Some of the wealthier families can afford to have guards or other family members live in these (or next to the) mausoleums but the poorer families can not and people will some times move into them (even open up shops in them).

Some mausoleums are kept in good condition,…others deplorable. We visited just a few and asked the keepers if we could visit them before entering (we were told no by one woman).

In some of the mausoleums, it seems entire family members are there (we were told by one keeper),…..father, mother, kids, pets and even the help (who are placed either below or on the outside of the mausoleums we visited).

break it open and you'll find the help

Next we went to visit a Mosque where we were told the last King of Egypt tomb was, with his three wives.

The man who took us told us that this Mosque was his favorite and we were fortunate that he knew the man (keeper of the keys) that let us in to see the tombs (the rooms are kept locked). Please don’t quote me but he told us the Last King was Farouk (but the last King might have been his son, Faud, but only for a short time). Our guide wasn’t a licensed tour guide.

wife 1, 2 and 3

[crazy dog]

Nice thread. I went in 1994 just after a bit of an Islamic terror attack but that was a good thing as the country was empty with only about 30 boats on the river. So almost every temple we went to we were they only group there, amazing, like going back to the 1930's. Really is the holiday of a lifetime and in no way a disappointment. Don't buy any gold, I was warned about the quality of the jewelry but I still bought some of the crap. I bought lots of stuff but the only thing I have left are 2 (real) shabti figures that I should not really have taken out of the country. Most of the tourist stuff is awful and the papyrus is usually made from banana leaf, you can tell as it crumbles easily where as papyrus will not.
Unfortunately I went with a schizo black social worker who I had not known long and I did not know she was nuts. She left her meds in the UK and so got increasingly odd as the holiday went on. Highlights for me was Tutankhamen's mask the body of Ramases the II and the temples at Dendera and luxor. Would have gone again but started coming to Thailand the same year.

[S Landreth]

^ Nice story. But, sorry to hear about the company you had with you. That might be a problem,……..it’s not like you can drop her off home early.

Lucky for me, either the girlfriend or I wear much (just a watch every now and then) jewelry,….so even though we were taken to jewelry shops, we never went in. No interest.

On our second visit to the Luxor Temple, we were pretty much alone (getting there early) and it was nicer than dealing with the crowds. It would have been nice if all the temples we visited were as empty as when you visited. We did have to wait a few times at different places to get in (Valley of the Kings and Queens were the worst). But good for Egypt,.they are getting some tourist dollars again. Our tour guide told us either Luxor or Edfu’s economy was largely based on the tourist dollar (60% of it).

Thanks for the thread compliment.


Day 4 in Egypt,………

On an early morning flight we flew into Luxor from Cairo and moved to the boat. Nice flight just an hours ride.

Towards mid afternoon we were taken to visit the Karnak Temple in Luxor and towards the evening the Luxor Temple. When we returned to Luxor at the end of our cruise we visited the Luxor Temple again. We wanted to see it during the day. I will combine both days on this post.

Karnak Temple

Luxor Temple

[crazy dog]

Karnak was never finished, you can still see the building ramps at one wall, most of it was highly coloured of course, must have looked amazing.Dendera is a nice temple with one of the few carvings of Cleopatra. Have fun and don't take any 'free' rides to the papyrus 'museum' (shop)

[S Landreth]

^ we never made it there

Day 5 in Egypt,………

Today we visited the West Bank. Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens and Hatshepsut (a female Pharaoh), then sailed to Edfu.

We were not allowed to take a camera into the Valley of the Kings or Queens, but if you do get a chance to visit Egypt you should see these two sites. Both sites have tombs dug into the mountain sides. There are only a few tombs open (alternating) at any one time during the year to the public.

The drawings/etchings/carvings are something to see in these tombs. The paint is still visible in some of the tombs. Remarkable. I was told because of the weather conditions in Egypt (and in the tombs) the paint that was applied soooo many years ago was able to endure this much time.

After visiting the two Valleys we visited Hatshepsut, a female Pharaoh. Since I don’t have any pictures to share taken at the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, I’ll post more pictures of Hatshepsut and a few pictures taken while we were cruising to Edfu in the afternoon.

Hatshepsut

On our way to Edfu

[shunpike]

Beautiful pix, thanx much.

[S Landreth]

Day 6 in Egypt,………….

We started out the day with a visit to the Edfu temple by horse and carriage. All the horses in that town looked poor. Absolutely horrible the lack of care they receive. Besides seeing the rib cage on our horse you could see the scabs on the horse’s hind end from the leather straps. Just a silly piece of cloth rapped around the leather making contact with the horse would prevent this happening.

Later in the day we sailed to Kom ombo to visit the temple there.


Edfu

Sailing to Kom ombo

Kom ombo (evening shots)

Horse and carriage ride to Edfu temple

[S Landreth]

Day 7 in Egypt (part 1),……………

This was an eventful day so I will split it into two different posts. The first part will be the visit to the High Dam and the Philae Temple.
The Aswan High Dam wasn’t much of a big deal to see, for me anyhow. If you’re interested to know more about it you can have a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_Dam
We were told there were no crocodiles on the side of the Dam towards Cairo. Don’t believe a word. First of all we saw a few in a Nubian Village we visited that evening and while traveling the Nile we saw a lot of animals along the shore line but there weren’t many dogs for some strange reason.

The visit to the Philae temple was nice. It’s on its own island. You have to take a boat to get out to the site. Beautiful little place. As I understand the temple was flooded for years (under water) after they built the first Dam but after building the second (High Dam) they moved the temple to its resting place.
More information on the site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philae

Aswan Dam

Philae Temple

dock and boat ride to the temple (below)

Philae from the water (below)

Philae (below)

resting area at Philae (below)

[S Landreth]

Day 7 in Egypt (part 2),……….

After visiting the Philae Temple we went to see an unfinished Obelisk in a quarry before returning to the boat for lunch and then sailed on a Faluca and finished the day with a visit to a Nubian Village.

I have posted pictures of different Obelisk’s earlier in this thread (post # 56 just under Luxor Temple heading). They look like the Washington Monument, but not nearly as large (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisk). They are built of a single piece of stone. The Obelisk we were taken to see was located in a quarry in Aswan, it was going to be the largest ever, but developed three (?) cracks in it while it was being constructed (chipped away at) and then abandoned where it sits, today.

Sailing on a Faluca would be a nice way to see the Nile, as we learned after our short ride at Aswan. However, I don’t think I would enjoy too many overnights on that type of boat. It is just lacking the facilities/comforts we all have become accustom to. I posted a short clip of the ride earlier in this thread (post # 51) and I will share some still shots we took while sailing.

Later in the afternoon and into the early evening we went on a nonscheduled visit to a Nubian village (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian). A few guests requested that we be taken to visit the village and our guide was happy to accommodate us, for a small price that he would pocket outside the normal pay he was making from the cruise tour operator.

Our guide told us that these Nubian’s were forced from their homeland after the dam was built and the Egyptian government set aside a piece of land for them to live/move to (free).

The trip to the village was an experience in itself,…first a boat ride and then a camel ride into the village. We took an old small rickety boat powered by a 40 hp Suzuki outboard that at sometimes (well many times) would stall out while fighting the current upstream to the area where the camels were waiting for us.

The camel ride bothered me a bit until I got a hold of the reins. The camel’s pathway to the village is about 3 feet (1 meter) wide. The camel walks along this path, but only about 3 inches away from a 1:1 slope that is about 30 feet from the toe of the slope. All I kept thinking while this animal was walking,..what if? What if this beast tripped up, miss stepped and started tumbling down the slope, with me? I didn’t want to toss around with a ½ ton bag of bones down a slope so the first chance I got I grabbed the reins and moved the animal away from the paths outer edge. The camel jockey (?) attached another camel to me after a few minutes and let me go on my way to the village.

At the Nubian village we were taken to a school and taught how to say our names (and count using their dialect), walked through their market (just selling tourist items) and into someone’s home for some refreshments (and where they kept a few live small crocodiles in a couple of very small pins).

Unfinished Obelisk

Faluca ride

our captain

Nubian Village (and the different rides to get there)

our teacher

Nubian women

Nubian Home roof top

Boat Ride to the village

[natalie8]

Great story and pics. What are these?

[S Landreth]

^Knives and walking canes,...they were selling them

[natalie8]

Ahhh, I like the way they display them.

[S Landreth]

Day 8 in Egypt,………….

Today we had nothing scheduled so we just did some relaxing around the boat after a walk in Luxor.

This might be a good time to tell the viewer about the cruise itself. This was the first cruise I have ever taken. Being raised in Miami we hear a lot of bad stories about cruises (cruise line operators/employees, boat conditions, bad food, etc), so I never thought of taking one until this trip to Egypt.

I would think all the boats similar to ours had the same type of facilities,…spa room, small gym, large sun deck, internet hook-up, satellite TeeVee, small pool, bar and attentive help. Food is OK and there’s a lot of it. All the meals are paid for (drinks are extra) so it’s all you want at each meal. Breakfast was the same menu each morning,…..lunch would vary on occasion. They might have a BBQ on the upper deck to change things up every now and then for lunch. Dinners were on a rotating menu.

Each evening they would have something going on in the bar to help the guests get to know one another,……like a social hour or two. We skipped most every evening, cause we aren’t big drinkers and we socialize enough during the day. We both needed time to unwind, check news and mail each evening, anyway.
But we did do two evenings at the bar. One was a Dress Like an Egyptian and the other evening was to see a Belly Dance.

Of course the girlfriend wanted to play dress up. So we went to that event, dressed up. They separated us into our tour groups at that evening’s event to compete with one another in three different games,……….ours consisted of North Americans (with a Thai), a Scottish couple, two Australian couples, a woman from New Zealand and a French couple who spoke English. The other three groups were from Spain, France and Italy.
We took all three events, but not with any of my help. The girlfriend did pick up a win for us. We were promised a BMW earlier if we showed up and won an event, but all she got was a silly alabaster pyramid paper weight.

The night we went into the bar to see the belly dance looked as it was going to be a big disappointment. Some guy came out in a long dress and most of the women cheered to their husband’s displeasure. We were expecting some sexy woman in a skimpy outfit dancing for us and come to find out we are going to be forced to sit through some guy in a dress whirling around and around endlessly for about 10 minuets (I was thinking will this ever end?,…I want outa here). It finally ended and then she came out. Not a looker for sure and she seemed tried of the job she was doing, but took some interest when the girlfriend moved up close to her when she started dancing (for pictures). The dancer enjoyed being photographed (but the pictures are worthless,..too dark). After some time of her dancing she started looking for someone in the audience to come up and dance with her. She looked at the girlfriend first, maybe because the girlfriend took some interest. The dancer extended her arms towards the girlfriend and she was up and out on the dance floor in a split second dancing with her. It started to get entertaining then. After the short episode with the girlfriend the dancer came after me. No way, I thought. She started pulling on me and I politely told her she was embarrassing me, but she persisted. But I wasn’t giving in and she finally left me.
Little info about the dance team,……..she wasn’t Egyptian. She in no way resembled an Egyptian woman. The dance team will also do many boats during the evening,…..right after ours they were off doing another dance on another boat. Maybe that’s why she looked tired when she got to our boat.

Anyway,……those are the highlights being on a boat. Below are some stills and a video of the cruise along the Nile.

[S Landreth]

Day 9 in Egypt,……..

We were on the boat most of the day (just sailing),…nothing planed.

Good time to show the viewer market pictures. The girlfriend likes to visit the markets to see how the locals live.

As you can image there are good markets and not so good markets. We went to both. Some are like the tourist attraction market in BKK,….Lumpini’s Night Bazaar and others are similar to the larger neighborhood markets you’ll find throughout Thailand.

I have to tell you,……..the butcher shop pictures are more gruesome than any I have seen in Thailand (tail and hooves, I have never seen that being sold in Thailand).

One picture I did not take but want to tell the reader about. They were selling pigeons at one market. I thought it was like the scams they pull here in Thailand where you give the vendor a few baht and he’ll let the bird go,……giving you good karma. Little does the tourist know these silly birds will fly back home to be sold again the next day. Anyway,…the Egyptians were not selling these pigeons to set free. They were selling them to eat. I saw Pigeon on the menu in a restaurant we ate lunch at later in the day. Pigeon? What does it taste like,.chicken, duck, quail, turkey, pheasant, a dove or a rat with wings?

Someone had asked earlier in this thread if Cairo still smelled bad. There are places in Egypt that do smell bad,………around some of these markets are some of those places. It does take some time to get used to the stench.


First set of two,.........

[S Landreth]

Second set of market pictures,.........

[Whiteshiva]

Little info about the dance team,……..she wasn’t Egyptian. She in no way resembled an Egyptian woman.

I used to frequent a local club in Muscat that had belly dancers (and beer!), they were all from Morocco and came over for 6 months at a time, if I remember right - a couple of passable ones, but most of them were dogs - the locals seemed to like them, though.

[S Landreth]

^When I was considering a trip to Egypt I was searching the net and came upon some Belly Dancers (and their videos) who were working in Egypt. Never saw many if any Egyptians on youtube. It is a shame,…….it seems like they could make some good money working in the entertainment business (some parts of that country/population look so poor). I would have much rather seen a local Egyptian dancer than someone from outside the country.
Some of those Egyptian women were stunning.

Day 10 in Egypt,...............

We sailed back to Luxor today, then flew back to Cairo (the next day) to finish out our trip (for the next two days). Since there wasn’t any more activity that I haven’t already posted I will share some things I learned when traveling in Egypt that might helpful to someone else before they visit.

Observations/Warnings/Tipping Help:

Observations:

a) There is a large amount of officers on the street but especially at the hotels and tourist attractions. They are police officers, military officers and private security, all heavily armed and for the most part young.

To get into our hotel our car was stopped (just over a bridge, entering into the Hotel compound, every time we entered),…trunk popped and they look inside, dog smells around the car and with mirrors they are looking under the car.

After getting to the hotel reception area (where they will check your bags) before getting into the front door, they will ask you to remove your coat and bag/s and place them on a belt to be scanned. You will also be asked to walk through a metal detector.

At first you feel safe, because you know there are so many check points even before getting into the hotel,…but later you start to wonder why all this needed.

b) The Egyptians we met were extremely friendly


Warnings:

a) When you are making a purchase (in or at the street shops, with vendors who might approach you) reduce the price they tell you by 50% and if they do not accept, walk away. They will for the most part give in to your request. Don’t get taken advantage of.

b) Do not accept anything someone will try to give you or try to put in your hand. They are setting you up. They’ll tell you they want you to keep it. It’s just a conversation starter (usually just a trinket of some type).

Little story,…..

The first day we got to Egypt we visited the Great Pyramids. A man approached the girlfriend and gave her a little carved blue stone. Naturally she accepted it, being that he seemed to be kind with a big smile, welcoming her to Egypt. Wrong move!

He then asked her if she wanted to take a picture of him. Then I walked up (but still at a distance),..and watched for a bit. I saw her getting a little nervous because he reached for her camera telling her he would take her picture with the Pyramid as a back drop. She was a little hesitant in giving up her camera. I walked over to her and she told me he was scaring her. I asked for the camera back and then he said,.Oh let me get you both together. I told him that would be alright we had enough pictures, but thanks. I got the camera back and he started following us,….mentioned something about the little stone he gave to her and the pictures taken of him. I gave him the stone that he reluctantly took back.

He had is hand out the entire time while talking to me and was a little upset I didn’t give him anything. Again don’t take anything from a stranger.

c) After hailing a taxi you’ll ask the driver what is the price to a certain place (because most Taxi there do not have a meter inside the car) and they’ll tell you “No problem”. I’m thinkin’,………..what is that suppose to mean? No problem?,……..you gonna take us for free? That’s no problem for me.

They will continue to repeat “No problem” even while you’re in the cab. Don’t let them get too far without giving you a price. You don’t want to reach your destination and the driver tells you some ridiculous amount he wants from you.

Here’s another story about a taxi scam,……..I didn’t see this one coming.

When we arrived at the Luxor terminal there was no one holding a sign that read “Sonesta Cruise” or “S Landreth” as we disembarked from the plane/jitney. None were expected.

However we didn’t expect this either,………..

After getting your luggage and heading towards the exit door, to look for a taxi you will be approached by men wanting to help you get a taxi and to carry (push) your bags. How nice. But, I have a problem with anyone grabbing my bags and being so helpful when I am perfectly capable, so I don’t let anyone touch them. Anyway, someone will guide you towards the taxi drivers, who are all sitting or standing just a few yards away from the exit door.

They will ask you where you are going and after discussing it between themselves one of the taxi drivers will say he knows where that line docks. Great right?

So you proceed to follow him,………..and just to let you know, the taxi driver has gained a helper to push your bags. Now you have three men in tow,……the taxi driver, the guy wanting to push your bags (who I don’t let,..but he insisted on pushing the bags with me, grinning all the way) and the first man who approached you at the exit door.

Not so far into the walk towards the taxi I ask the taxi driver “how much”? He says. “no problem”. I’m thinkin’, “yeah right” and ask him again, “how much”? Same answer from him. Now I stop and ask him and he gives me a price of 120 Egyptian pounds (‘bout 22 US dollars). OK, now I am fine. I know how much it’s gonna cost. I thought anyways,……….we were not there, yet.

Finally get to the taxi and two of the men are standing there with their hands out (not literally). I’m thinkin’, “what the f…,…..go way” and give them a kind of thank you smile look before getting into the taxi.

Now the fun part. The taxi driver gets close to the docks,………..you can see the boats. Then he slows down to ask someone where Sonesta (our cruise line) docks. Guy points to the right after getting the name clear. Well we go,…………driving and driving (remember earlier in another post these boats are lined up row after row,…326 of them),………to the end,….no more boats and we aren’t there yet. Taxi driver asks someone else. He points in the other direction,……….No shit,….we’ve run out of boats. We start driving, again. He asks someone else,…and he tells us to keep going.
We finally we reach the dock and as we are getting out the taxi driver tells us the taxi fee is now 50 Egyptian pounds more (about 10 extra US dollars). I pay it,………

I wasn’t upset with the fare,.it was what we found out later, that was disturbing. We were talking to a couple on the boat that experienced the same event/s. It’s a racket. Get ya into the cab (no meters in the cabs for the most part, in all of Egypt), quote you a price and then at the end of the line tell you it’s gonna costs more.

d) Sales people (men for the most part) will approach you when you either are walking in a market area or walking out of a tourist site. They will get in your face, guide you towards their shops, hold up clothing in your face (showing you what they have to sell), anything to get your attention.

If you don’t want to be harassed do not look at them, don’t make eye contact (talk to the person you are with), do not look into their shops and whatever you do, do not stop. They will set clothing items on your shoulder. Do not offer to give it back to them,……they’ll never take it back. Just find a place to lay it down, nicely,……..a fence, a wall or the ground. Believe me,.before it hits the ground, they will have it theirs hands.

It got so bad at times (sales people trying to get women to purchase things, because they think they are the softer touch), I learned a trick,……..get between the sales person and your girlfriend. It makes it harder for them to get to her. If you have to, which I did on several occasions, walk the girlfriend next to the wall/fence when you’re leaving a tourist site and you get between the sales person and her. You buffer her (the wall is the buffer on the other side). It makes it more difficult for them to get to her. Pain in the ass,...they are at times.

e) If you are sailing,….bring something with you that will settle your stomach. There were more than several people on board who got mildly sick. Not from the boats motion (there is none to speak of), from the food (spoiled food?).

Tipping help:

After a discussion with other members on board (who also researched it) about how much to tip our guide we found out it would be proper to give him 10 Egyptian pounds (2 US dollars) per day per person.

For the entire crew on the boat we were told by our tour guide that 10 Egyptian pounds per evening per person would be fine (give it to the person who checks you out). The girlfriend gave the guy who tended our room an extra 10 US dollars for his help. I think she enjoyed having her bed turn down (evenings) or made up (each morning and during the day) every time she went into the room.

Most other people we would tip at a rate of 10% of the bill (or more, depending on their help). Taxi drivers, restaurant help, etc.

Here’s a tipping site that might be helpful if you visit Egypt.

http://www.luxortraveltips.com/essentials/tipping.htm




next years trip (October 2010?), maybe a month in Rome

[StrontiumDog]

Fantastic thread. Thanks so much for the photos, the explanations, the tips and detail.

Threads like this are what make TD great.

Cheers!

[S Landreth]

^Thank you. Happy to know you enjoyed it.

[robuzo]

Great thread, hope to make it to Egypt one day myself.

By the way, if you want to try pigeon you can find it in French joints. In Bangkok, Chef Herve at Le Beaulieu on soi 19 usually has pigeon on the menu, haven't tried it but if Herve makes it, it's good.

[S Landreth]

^Thing that bothers me about trying pigeon is their diet. Like eating turkey or quail, little bit gamey tasting if it is shot out in the wild. You know you can see their last meal so to speak when you clean them,..seeds for the most part. But what do you find when you clean a pigeon? Bubble gum? Moldy bread? Cigarette butts? Discards from the street vendors?

I guess you could purchase corn fed pigeons (like at the restaurant you suggested here in BKK), like our turkey and quail in the states that we get at the supermarkets. But I have never seen any pigeon?

Thanks for the recommendation. I might try it some day/evening.


I never knew,……….

http://www.milescollins.com/wordpress/how-to-cook-a-pigeon

[robuzo]

^Thing that bothers me about trying pigeon is their diet. Like eating turkey or quail, little bit gamey tasting if it is shot out in the wild. You know you can see their last meal so to speak when you clean them,..seeds for the most part. But what do you find when you clean a pigeon? Bubble gum? Moldy bread? Cigarette butts? Discards from the street vendors?

I guess you could purchase corn fed pigeons (like at the restaurant you suggested here in BKK), like our turkey and quail in the states that we get at the supermarkets. But I have never seen any pigeon?

Thanks for the recommendation. I might try it some day/evening.


I never knew,……….

http://www.milescollins.com/wordpress/how-to-cook-a-pigeon

I've never prepared those but I have dove; you can field dress those by lifting the breast right out with two fingers, then grill the breast meat on a stick. You need a few. If they have been feeding in corn and soybean fields- dove don't really scavenge- the meat is delicious.