Egypt

The girls have a week off of school for Eid al-Adha. This year the floating holiday ended up in the middle of November. Even though Hannah and I had just come back from Thailand, we decided to make the most of our free time in the Middle East and go to Egypt, a country that all of us have been wanting to visit.

Cairo, including the surrounding area, has a population of about 20 million. At any given time, from what I can tell, 10 million are in their cars, busses, toktoks (3 wheeled open cabs), or donkey driven carts. The other 10 million are pedestrians trying to cross the street, with 8 lanes of solid traffic and no traffic lights, acting like it's a leisurely stroll in the countryside. Somehow it all works, as long as you don't mind hearing a constant symphony of car horns.

We had been warned that Cairo is very dirty, and it's true. Certain neighborhoods are kept clean, but many have piles of garbage everywhere. If there is a plot of land without a building, it is used as a junkyard. Stray dogs help to clean up. There is also garbage floating in the many canals around Cairo and egrets help to take care of the flotsam.

Entire neighborhoods in Cairo appear to be full of unfinished buildings. This is because there is no permit requirement (if a permit has even been pulled) regarding the date a building has to be complete. So developers or families often finish one floor of a building with the framing exposed for the second or third floors. If money becomes available, then another floor is added. This may take years. Some appear to abandon the idea of ever completing the project and live with half finished buildings.

To add to the mix, there were live sheep and goats everywhere:

Muslim families celebrate Eid al-Adha with the slaughtering of a sheep or goat, a tradition commemorating the story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his own son Ismail (at the last minute, a ram is allowed to be slaughtered instead and Ismail is saved). The meat is shared with friends, family, and the poor. Since many Egyptian Muslims still prefer to slaughter their own sheep, the streets of Cairo are full of flocks of sheep and goats around Eid al-Adha, right by the 8 lanes of traffic.

Despite the craziness of Cairo, a trip to the Pyramids of nearby Giza makes it all worthwhile. They were built between 2600 and 2100 BC. Walking around these ancient and enormous structures is an amazing experience. It is awesome in the true sense of the word.

It is hard not to get a good photo of the sphinx with a pyramid.

We highly recommend a camel ride at the pyramids.

After lunch, a papyrus paper making shop, and a perfume factory, we visited the Egyptian Museum. Photos aren't allowed. It is old, badly lit, and dusty, but the exhibits are stunning and speak for themselves. The treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb are absolutely breathtaking. A new museum if under construction near the Pyramids of Giza and should be complete (in shaa'a l-laah) within the next few years. This will be a welcome new home for Egypt's amazing and expansive collection.

The next day we visited the Citadel. It is a walled compound set on top of a craggy hill, first built by Muslims in the 1100s, where the Egyptian rulers then lived for centuries. Here the girls stand in front of the Mohammed Ali Mosque, built in the 1800s. Inside, Hannah had to wear an abaya to cover her knees. Mackenzie is still young enough that it doesn't matter. Most active Mosques are not open to the public. If they are, everyone must go barefoot. I loved the hanging lanterns.

In the afternoon we visited the narrow streets of Old Cairo, home of several Coptic Christian Churches and an active Synagogue. We also visited the famous Khan al-Khalili market, where bartering is a must. For a few minutes we got lost in the tiny turning alleys of the market. This is also a must.

The next day we visited nearby Saqqara and Memphis. There are fewer cars on the country roads, more palm trees, and more carts pulled by donkeys or horses. Saqqara is home to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, built in the 27th Century BC and a prototype for all Egyptian pyramids.

In the afternoon we visited the Pharaonic Village. This is set up with live actors portraying life in ancient Egypt and is viewed while floating in a boat down the Nile. It's especially good for kids. Here a pair of oxen demonstrate how a field is plowed. This is a method that is still used today, as we saw later in our trip.

John had to work in Abu Dhabi and was only able to join us after the girls and I had enjoyed our three days in Cairo. We got on an early flight the next morning for Aswan, down (which means south but is also upstream) the Nile. Here we're standing on the high dam, one of the largest dams in the world, that controls flooding of the Nile's fertile delta. Upper Egypt is amazingly clean compared to Cairo with bougainvillea growing everywhere. It is also much less crowded, though the archeological sites are still full of tourists.

We visited the Temple of Philae. It is one of many temples saved by Unesco and moved to higher ground when the dam was built. It is accessible only by boat.

The temple was originally built during the Ptolemaic (Queen Cleopatra was the last) and early Roman periods. This is the Gate of Hadrian. The walls are full of an "open book" of hieroglyphics that the Romans proceeded to deface because they wanted the Egyptians to believe in the Roman gods, not the Egyptian gods. Darn Romans.

We got on yet another boat that took us to a Nubian village. It was interesting to see how another culture in Egypt lives. On the way we saw a beautiful bird conservation area...

and people doing their laundry in the Nile...

and camel trekkers.

Later in the afternoon, after we got on our Nile Cruise boat (one of about 400 on the river), the scenery became even more beautiful. We saw lots of sheep, goats, and cows grazing. No fences anywhere.

There were also felucca sailboats along the way.

Alfred E. Neuman is alive and well and living in the walls of the Kom Ombo (the crocodile god) temple, a few hours up the Nile. We saw this temple at dusk which makes everything very dramatic.

The only way to get to the Temple of Horus at Edfu from the Nile cruise ships is by horse carriage. There are hundreds of them. It was fun, but the horses all look like they could use an extra bag of oats and a day off. There was some confusion regarding which carriage we were supposed to take back to the boat and we were afraid we might miss our boat, but it all worked out in the end.

The falcon god Horus, guarding the temple.

Hieroglyphics cover every available surface.

A standard view while cruising the Nile: the water, the green banks, and the mountains or desert that quickly take over not too far in the distance.

The deck pool

By coincidence, we ran into another family on the boat from the American Community School in Abu Dhabi. It was a great break from all those temples for the kids.

More downtime.

We had three nights of beautiful sunsets on the river. Everyone in our family claims that he/she is the one that took this photo.

Our boat landed in Luxor (the temple is in the distance), but this isn't our boat. There is limited shore line for the big boats, so they end up mooring parallel to each other. To get to shore you have to walk through whichever boats already happen to be there. Sometimes they are stacked nine deep. Sometimes they decide to move without telling you. This means you walk through even more boats until you find the right one. But it's fun.

We visited the west bank of Luxor and the terraced Temple of Hatshepsut, a rare Queen among the Pharaohs. We also visited the tombs of Ramses III, IV, and IX in the Valley of the Kings. No photos are allowed in the tombs. The limestone walls and ceilings are painted white and covered in amazing and colorful hieroglyphics. Many "open books", many stories. The pharaohs took great pains to hide their tombs so that the contents would stay with them in the afterlife. Except for King Tut, most of the material goods were stolen centuries ago. But the tombs themselves are very well preserved. More are found all the time.

Karnak. It is enormous, covering 100 acres and full of an amazing array of ruins.

On the left is the great hypostyle hall. The biggest ever. 134 columns. On the right is the Temple at Luxor that we saw at night. The match to this obelisk is in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Luxor is currently working on reconnecting the Temples of Karnak and Luxor with a 3 kilometer long pedestrian walkway, lined on either side with sphinx. The sphinx are already there, they just need to be unearthed.

We ended our stay in Luxor with a horseback ride. The horse owners asked which one of us had the most riding experience and I was volunteered. As I was getting on the owner said, "His name is Ramses. He's a 6 year old stallion. He didn't work out as a carriage horse and has only actually been ridden about 10 times. This is his first time along this path. Oh, and he has a super sensitive mouth, so don't pull back on the reins." Great, there go my brakes. But he worked well with voice and leg commands and ended up being a very enjoyable and spirited ride. It was nice to get a close up view of the crops and farm animals along the Nile.

Our trip ended with dinner at the Stones, family friends from the states that now live in a nice neighborhood in Cairo. The next day we headed back to school and work in Abu Dhabi. It was a wonderful vacation. I wish we had time to see Abu Simbel, Alexandria, Sharm el-Sheikh, and Hurghada, but those will have to wait for another trip.

Thailand - Chiang Mai

Each year, the American Community School in Abu Dhabi organizes an educational class trip for middle school students called Week Without Walls. The 6th graders go to Selcuk, Turkey, the 7th graders go to Cappadocia, also in Turkey, and the 8th graders go to Chiang Mai, located in the mountains of northern Thailand. A limited number of parents are invited to participate as chaperones. I decided that I would be way too jealous of Hannah if she got to go to Thailand without me, so I quickly signed up to go too.


After a long overnight flight through Bangkok, we arrived in Chiang Mai, which literally means "Old City". Most of the city is full of two or three story buildings with electrical wires running all over the place overhead and some of the calmest and best fed stray dogs I have ever seen. The original city is surrounded by a moat with an adjacent modern thoroughfare running along side it which we followed for extended periods of time in our busses. Colorful overhead archways separate different neighborhoods and remnants of the old defense wall are still visible in some areas.

Our first stop was Wat Chedi Luang, an old Buddhist temple surrounded by newer ones. Monks were happy to talk about Buddhism with anyone who cared to listen at an open air "Monk Chat" next to the temple.










In the evening we went to the Cultural Center for traditional Thai food and dancing. We sat directly on a heavily carpeted floor with cushions all over. Our students enjoyed the event, but they were tired by the day's activities and some actually fell asleep.

The next morning my group of students headed off for a hike in the mountains. We walked through rice fields where many farmers still wear traditional straw hats and do their work by hand. We also saw banana trees, corn and soy bean fields. We hiked through a lush deciduous forest, similar to what you might expect to find in the states except for the fact that there was also lots of bamboo growing all over the place. Continuing alongside a mountain creek, we stopped for a lunch of lard nar served in banana leaves at a waterfall that was big enough for our group of 45 students to stand under all at the same time.













Our day ended at an ethnic Karen village. The village has homes perched high on wooden columns, accessible via ladders, with pigs, chickens, cats, and dogs wandering around underneath. Occasionally enormous banana spiders, about 4" long, can be sighted on webs in the surrounding trees.

Over the years, ACS has donated computers, library book shelves, and more to the local Samosornlion Rattanakosin School. Once we arrived, the ACS students had a small ceremonial gift exchange with the local students, followed by a serious game of soccer. The Thai students were younger but surprisingly determined and quick on their feet, so it's hard to say who won.





Our guide, Suwat, with a 90 year old woman that lives in the village.



The balcony off of the house that the girls stayed in.

The village is full of people both young and old that don't have much of anything in terms of material possessions, but they are still full of happiness. I'm sure it has something to do with being centered in Buddhist philosophies. They are an interesting juxtaposition against the ACS students that for the most part have easy access to all kinds of material possessions. We had a Thai dinner in an open dining area followed by songs performed by both the Thai and ACS students (most notable, "Chang, Chang, Chang", a fun Thai song all about an elephant and his big trunk and ears). Once the sun set, everyone helped to release enormous lanterns made out of paper and bamboo into the night sky. We then enjoyed a large campfire before settling down for the night. The girls and boys slept in separate homes, which are really open air shelters made out of bamboo frames and banana leaves, lent to us by local villagers.



The lanters. You make a wish and then let it go...



Our adventures continued the next day with a 30 minute trip down the local river in bamboo rafts. Everyone had lots of fun getting wet (or trying to stay dry, which proved to be impossible). We returned to our hotel in Chiang Mai and ended up going neon bowling in the funky mall next to the hotel. Who would have ever thought that we would end up going bowling in Thailand?



On Wednesday we visited the Lampang Elephant Conservation Center. The grounds are well maintained and the elephants abundant, which kept all of our students entertained. We saw some elephants get a bath and perform logging skills with their matouts, or trainers. Logging has been banned in Thailand since 1989, but it is important to keep the elephants active. The elephants also created paintings with their trunks right in front of our very eyes. After the demonstration, the students helped to make elephant dung paper. This sounds disgusting but, since the dung is organically sterilized, the activity is actually good clean fun. The paper is then used for the elephant paintings and other crafts. Our day ended with an elephant ride, right through deep water and up into the jungle.









In the evening we went to the endless Chiang Mai night market which is made up of small carts strung out along city streets full of t-shirts, jewelry, and local artisanal fare. The goods are already incredibly inexpensive, but everyone is expected to barter. The students had a blast trying to get even better bargains.

The next day we headed back into the mountains to a place called Crazy Horse with an organization called Chiang Mai Rock Climbing Adventures. Everyone, including the chaperones, had a chance to go caving, zip lining (Tyrolean style), rappelling, and rock climbing. This was a great opportunity for the students to gain confidence in themselves and improve teamwork skills. Both Hannah and I discovered that we love to climb, so hopefully we'll get to do more in future travels.





Our last day there we went to the Thai Farm Cooking School, located in a beautiful valley outside of Chiang Mai, surrounded by mountains. We saw exactly where our ingredients were grown and created some of the best Thai food that we had eaten all week. The farm is owned by Sawat and his Belgian wife Nathalie. They met a decade ago while working at a local tourist agency. Their main focus is the cooking school, but they also help to organize the annual trip for ACS. Their work for the school is outstanding.





I'm pretty sure I've never been a part of so many diverse activities in one week in my life. Our days were full of activities that we would never have thought of doing if this was just a family trip. Keeping track of the students kept me busy, but the trip was still a blast. I'm hoping the other ACS trips are just as fun. Mackenzie will be in 6th grade next year. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to chaperone her trip to Selcuk and then Cappadocia after that...



My group of students (6 out of 85 total) at the Bangkok airport, on our way home to Abu Dhabi.