(no subject)
Today is the first day in Dahab that it's been pretty cloudy - although apparently they get storms in January. The water looks more like it does back home, with grey skies and grey water. Tide is high, though - significantly so. I haven't really noticed a definite high and low tide each day here, but I can see a clear difference now. I'm hoping it clears up this afternoon and evening - my cousins S and J and I are planning to climb Mt. Sinai (where Moses received the ten commandments) tonight so we can see tomorrow's sunrise over the mountain. It's supposed to be beautiful ... if you can see it.
The people here - like most I've encountered elsewhere in Egypt - are really friendly. (Not just the ones trying to sell you something either - that doesn't really count.) I refuse to be pessimistic and think that this is what it's all about, and they look so happy to see me and say good morning. (I walk for about an hour along the beach each morning - not a lot of vendors out, but many of the cleaning staff or people just out for a walk.) I don't know. I have a hard time with that - I know what Egyptian men think of Western women, and I know many of them are trying to part me from my money; with those things in mind, it's sometimes hard to know whether comments are sincere or not. But I'm generally an open, friendly type of person, and I don't want to become so suspicious of people's motives that I change that. T tells me that what other people think is not only not my problem, but also completely none of my business. Maybe I should try to remember that.
At any rate, this has been longer that I would normally stay in a place for "relaxation" time - even T is beginning to feel it - and I would have preferred to stay longer on the cruise. The cruise was fabulous, and you got to see so many different places - we flew from Cairo to Luxor, then boarded the cruise and sailed down the Nile all the way to Aswan. We visited Karnak and Luxor temples, Valley of the Kings and the Tombs of the Workers, Hatshepsut's temple (she's always been my favourite - in fact, our guide from Luxor to Aswan teasingly called me Hatshepsut and T Nefertiti) - that was all in and around Luxor - and then a couple temples, one at Edfu and one at Kom Ombo, on the way down; and then in Aswan we visited the High Dam and Philae temple.
I'll write more later - or when I get back - but someone's waiting to get on the computer now and I don't want to keep him from it much longer. Still having a blast, and I'll miss Egypt when I come home.
Love - and Happy New Year if I don't get on again before then -
C
The people here - like most I've encountered elsewhere in Egypt - are really friendly. (Not just the ones trying to sell you something either - that doesn't really count.) I refuse to be pessimistic and think that this is what it's all about, and they look so happy to see me and say good morning. (I walk for about an hour along the beach each morning - not a lot of vendors out, but many of the cleaning staff or people just out for a walk.) I don't know. I have a hard time with that - I know what Egyptian men think of Western women, and I know many of them are trying to part me from my money; with those things in mind, it's sometimes hard to know whether comments are sincere or not. But I'm generally an open, friendly type of person, and I don't want to become so suspicious of people's motives that I change that. T tells me that what other people think is not only not my problem, but also completely none of my business. Maybe I should try to remember that.
At any rate, this has been longer that I would normally stay in a place for "relaxation" time - even T is beginning to feel it - and I would have preferred to stay longer on the cruise. The cruise was fabulous, and you got to see so many different places - we flew from Cairo to Luxor, then boarded the cruise and sailed down the Nile all the way to Aswan. We visited Karnak and Luxor temples, Valley of the Kings and the Tombs of the Workers, Hatshepsut's temple (she's always been my favourite - in fact, our guide from Luxor to Aswan teasingly called me Hatshepsut and T Nefertiti) - that was all in and around Luxor - and then a couple temples, one at Edfu and one at Kom Ombo, on the way down; and then in Aswan we visited the High Dam and Philae temple.
I'll write more later - or when I get back - but someone's waiting to get on the computer now and I don't want to keep him from it much longer. Still having a blast, and I'll miss Egypt when I come home.
Love - and Happy New Year if I don't get on again before then -
C