No camels and horses

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Dahab

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Here we are in Dahab, a small, touristy town on the Red Sea coast.

Desert storm . . . wait

Monday 15 March 2010

Off we go! From Cairo, through the Sinai peninsula, down to Dahab, a small town on the coast of the Red Sea. It was neat going through the bare, sparse desert. (This is actually the most green we saw.) There was even a bit of a dust storm that blew around us for a bit, as you can kinda see in this photo.

Pyramid

Sunday 14 March 2010

Today was our last day in Cairo, and we spent it entirely at Lee's house, getting caught-up and ready for the next leg of our journey. So, I decided to use today to post a photo of the great pyramids at Giza, since I put up a photo of the Sphinx on that day. I don't want you to feel cheated out of the main attraction of Egypt!

Felucca Cruise

Saturday 13 March 2010

Here's our friend Lee, who has been so gracious as to put us up here in Cairo. We took a sunset felucca cruise today with her and some of her coworkers. So peaceful, on the Nile at dusk.

City of the Dead

Friday 12 March 2010

Actually, we aren't sure if this is the cemetery commonly known as the City of the Dead, but it did share that one's defining characteristic: there are tons of people living here.

I didn't get a photo of it, because it felt a bit rude, but there are low-income families who live in the spacious tombs in the cemeteries here, creating a strange village atmosphere. There was laundry hanging out, satellite dishes attached to tombs, children running and playing, even a restaurant and cafe within the graveyard.

Library of Alexandria

Thursday 11 March 2010

Alexandria is only two hours north of Cairo by train, so Ryan and I took a day trip up there today.

And no, it's not that library, but it stands where they believe the old one stood, and they're trying to recreate the spirit of scholarship and openness and all that the old one stood for. Inside are millions of books, rare collections, museums, research centers, a planetarium, conferences, classes, art exhibitions, and all kinds of other academic goodness. The outside is covered with carvings of all the writing systems ever used in human history - cool, huh?

Madrassa Door

Wednesday 10 March 2010

An intricate door to a madrassa, or Islamic school.

Back in Cairo for the day.

Nubian house

Tuesday 9 March 2010

Today was a travel day, so here's a pretty picture of a Nubian house down in Aswan. They are sometimes decorated with all kinds of drawings of animals and flowers and geometric designs, which is neat. This one looks like it was decorated with indigo, which is common down here. You see beautiful bright blue piles of it in all the markets.

Ryan and the Obelisk

Monday 8 March 2010

Here's Ryan taking a picture of the largest obelisk in the world, which was commissioned by Hatshepsut, the female pharaoh I mentioned yesterday. It is in Karnak temple.

These obelisks are fascinating - they are unbelievably big up close. And did you know that they are not embedded in the ground at all, but are rather cut absolutely perfectly, so they rest on a precisely flat bottom and are held up by gravity?

A group of people tried to raise an obelisk a while back, for a television program, using ancient Egyptian methods. They had all the manpower they could want, and still couldn't do it. These ancients are absolutely amazing us, the more we learn about them.

ShuShu on Hatshepsut

Sunday 7 March 2010

We don't usually take guided tours, but we decided to today, for seeing the valley of the kings and some other temples.

Here is our guide, ShuShu, at the temple of Hatshepsut, one of the only acknowledged female pharaohs. (There are a few others under debate.)

I like the carving in this photo - it is of a trading expedition Hatshepsut financed, and these carvings are the earliest depiction of African tribal life. Can you see the hut on the left there?

You'll notice that ShuShu is wearing a headscarf. Yes, most Egyptian women wear something like this, and yes, we've seen a lot of veiled women. More on this in the email.

Mezze

Saturday 6 March 2010

Our dinner tonight was a bunch of small dishes called "mezze." It's like tapas, where you eat a bunch of bite-sized salads and sides, and is quite common here in Egypt.

Starting at the white dish in the foreground and going clockwise, we had: soft white cheese with olives, spiced meatballs in a tomato sauce, fried triangles stuffed with meat and veggies, smoked beef with beans (one of the most amazing dishes i've ever eaten), a cold lentil salad, cucumber yogurt salad with mint, baba ganoush (eggplant puree dip), and pan-friend veggies in the middle. All eaten with tons of fresh wheat bread - yum!

Feluccas

Friday 5 March 2010

Still down in Aswan today. Took the ferry over to Elephantine Island to visit the Nubian villages (and get a cool Nubian henna decoration on my hand), and then took one of these boats, a felucca, over to Kitchner Island to visit the botanical gardens.

They are everywhere on the Nile - the most traditional, most peaceful, and cheapest way to travel.

Fatimid Cemetery

Thursday 4 March 2010

Last night we took the overnight train from Cairo down to Aswan, at the southern end of the Nile, and so here we are in the baking heat of what used to be called Nubia.

Today we visited our first Islamic cemetery, which held both modern and very very old tombs. (The modern are the ones low to the ground, the old ones are the raised domes of important imams of yesteryear.)

Agricultural Museum

Wednesday 3 March 2010

A visit to the strange and quirky Agricultural Museum today turned a bit sour when the very low admission price was offset by all the baksheesh we had to pay within the museum.

Okay, I'll try and explain baksheesh without rambling on. It is basically a tip (or sometimes a bribe) you give someone for helping you out. You give it at times we westerners understand, like at a restaurant or to someone who has done a particularly good job. But here in Egypt, you also have to give it when someone does something small, like opens a door for you. For example, in this museum, several "guides" came over, pointed at something, and then asked for baksheesh. And we pretty much have to pay it. This often happens at tourist sites when you are shown something off the beaten path (whether you wanted to see it or not), and sometimes when some guy comes over and says "Canada good!" and then holds out his hand for baksheesh.

We're trying to get used to it (we basically just feel like walking wallets most of the time), to accept it as a cultural phenomenon (even Egyptians have to pay baksheesh all the time), and to figure out exactly when we have to pay and how much. All of these three things are really difficult.

Giza!

Tuesday 2 March 2010

We saw the Great Pyramids of Giza today . . . and this handsome devil.

View from the minaret

Monday 1 March 2010

A view from halfway up the minaret of the mosque we saw today.

Cairo is a dirty, noisy, crowded, busy, pushy city, but it sure does look nice from up here. It used to be known as "the city of one thousand minarets" and it must have more by now.

Egyptian Museum

Sunday 28 February 2010

We visited the Egyptian Museum today - a huge repository of ancient Egyptian treasures. Unsorted, poorly labeled, jumbled about, it was a bit hard to make head or tail of some of the wonders within, but it was still a really neat museum.

No cameras allowed inside, hence the photo of the outside.

Whirling Dervishes

Saturday 27 February 2010

Ryan and I went to a free performance of some Sufi dancers, commonly known as the "Whirling Dervishes."

This was probably a somewhat touristed-up show, but the idea behind this meditation technique of a quirky branch of Islam is that spinning around and around (and around - we saw one guy spin in the same spot for over half an hour!) helps one to abandon the ego, and to find oneness with God through this circular trance-like state. I think that's how it goes, anyway, it's still a little confusing to me.

Oud concert

Friday 26 February 2010

We went to see one of the most famous oud players, Naseer Shamma, in concert tonight.

The oud is a traditional Egyptian instrument, very middle-eastern sounding. Fun fact - "oud" means "stick" in Arabic.

A rainy welcome

Thursday 25 February 2010

We arrive in dry, desert Egypt, and what is the first thing that happens? There is a storm, a downpouring of more rain than Cairo has probably seen in ages. Flooded streets, accidents (Egyptians don't know how to drive in the rain, for obvious reasons), people who don't own an umbrella all ducking for cover. We went into the city (from out in the suburbs, where we are staying with a friend, Lee), and had a heck of a time getting back out of it, what with all the delays and uproar.

Welcome to Egypt!

Goodbye, Kaohsiung!

Wednesday 24 February 2010

Lantern Festival 2010

Tuesday 23 February 2010

I'm awfully glad they always set up the lantern festival early, so we had a chance to see it before leaving. This year's was really nice, with all the tiger lanterns.

My last hairwash

Monday 22 February 2010

I went for my very last Taiwanese hairwash today, a sad occasion. When I told the girls it would be my last time, there was a flurry of photo-taking - me with every possible combination of hairwash ladies. This woman here was my favorite. I don't know her name, but to be fair, none of them knew mine, either. They all just called me "LaoShi" (Teacher.)

Morning market

Sunday 21 February 2010

Hello wine

Saturday 20 February 2010

I know what we're serving at the wedding . . . .

Street wedding

Friday 19 February 2010

A traditional Taiwanese wedding, in a tent on the street. (You can see the scooters and car whizzing past.) Everyone sits down at big round tables, eats a fancy 10-course meal while listening to incredibly loud singers and speeches, and then leaves the second they're done eating.

Night market stickers

Thursday 18 February 2010

We seem to be spending an awful lot of time in the YuCheng night market as our departure date draws nearer . . .

No. . . .

Wednesday 17 February 2010

Pineapples

Tuesday 16 February 2010

The Taiwanese word for pineapple sounds a lot like the Taiwanese words for "good comes," so they are a common theme in decorating and new year's celebrations.

Touching the lion

Monday 15 February 2010

(From yesterday. Yes, I know, I'm terrible.)

Touching one of the new year's lion dance lions is considered good luck, an auspicious way to start the new year. I touched several, including the tiger/lion. It's going to be a big year for me, best to have all the luck I can get!

Lion Dance 2010

Sunday 14 February 2010

Happy Chinese New Year!

Keeping with tradition (if you do something twice in a row it's a tradition, right? It must be, at least in our crazy, moss-less lives) Ryan and I went down to the cultural center to see the new year's lion dance. What was really neat was that since this is the year of the tiger, this year's featured lion was striped orange and black, with the "king" symbol on his forehead - a new year's tiger!

Mei Nong Tea

Saturday 13 February 2010

Okay, so this photo is from yesterday, technically, but it's really cool. After the umbrella place, we went to a neat traditional teahouse, where they make a special kind of local green tea. It is peanuts and sesame and puffed rice and other grains all ground up, and then ground together with green tea powder, and then ground some more with sweet red beans. In the end, you have a thick powder that you mix with hot water to make a green tea with a very complex flavor. Delicious, and a fun teahouse experience!

MeiNong Umbrellas

Friday 12 February 2010

Bekah drove us up to MeiNong today, where we all purchased these lovely hand-painted umbrellas. Well, not these exact ones, much nicer ones actually. Beautiful hand-made, hand-oiled, hand-painted, lovely umbrellas - ooh, we're so happy with them.

Stinky Tofu

Thursday 11 February 2010

Be sooooo glad that this post doesn't come with smell-o-vision.

This is stinky tofu, a kind of fermented bean curd that smells rather like old gym socks, or a pig pen. You can smell a chou doufu stand for blocks around, and it absolutely reeks.

Luckily, it doesn't taste quite as bad as it smells. I'm not saying I ever need to eat it again, but if served it, I could eat it in order to be polite. This particular plate was pretty weak, as well.

85 clouds

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Betel Nut

Tuesday 9 February 2010

This is betel nut, a favorite vice of Taiwanese men. It grows on a kind of palm tree, and is wound up with leaves and lyme and maybe other stuff, I don't know. Men chew it (mostly old men) to get a buzz, like cigarettes. It keeps you up, so it's popular with truck drivers and night shift workers.

It also makes your spit red, which, after years of chewing, turns your teeth and whole mouth red. So you see men walking around spitting this gross bright red stuff that looks just like blood, marking the sidewalks and filling cups. Ugh, it's so gross.

Another monkey

Monday 8 February 2010

Here's another little monkey, a photo from a few days ago, if I'm honest.

50-story

Sunday 7 February 2010

The other landmark of the Kaohsiung skyline - the 50-story building. My mom liked to call it the Lego building.

Little family portrait

Saturday 6 February 2010

Today was my parents' last day in Taiwan, so I figured I'd put up a photo of the three of us together.

Betel nut face

Friday 5 February 2010

My dad wanted to try betel nut, the stimulant that many men chew here in Taiwan. It is bitter and strong and turns your mouth permanently red and gives you mouth cancer and is generally nasty and gross. I think Dad agrees - here is what he thinks of the taste.

New year's preparation

Thursday 4 February 2010

New year is coming up, so it's time to start getting ready. This guy at the San Feng dried foods market was swamped with requests for personalized new year's door greetings. He was very friendly, though.

Chicken in a chef's hat

Wednesday 3 February 2010

My parents at my favorite restaurant (which Ryan and I just call "Chicken in a chef's hat" because that's what the sign is), honing their chopsticks skillz.

Jade Market pearls

Tuesday 2 February 2010

We visited the Jade Market with my parents, and spent a while drooling over the pearls.

On the scooter

Monday 1 February 2010

My dad loves driving around on the scooter . . .

Chris . . . fine

Sunday 31 January 2010

Ryan and I had a little wedding dinner here in Kaohsiung today, a little celebration for all of our friends in Taiwan who won't be with us on the big day.

I'm thinking of legally changing my name, seeing as this one describes me so much better. Chris-fine.

KTV

Saturday 30 January 2010

My parents arrived today!! (Well, technically late last night in Taipei, where we met them coming in from Malaysia, and then we took a bus down to Kaohsiung, so today is really their first day.) And of course, what is the first thing we take them too? KTV! Ah, that most Taiwanese of experiences.

So here's my mom and dad, jamming out to "Unchained melody."

Banana Leaf

Friday 29 January 2010

For our last meal in Kuala Lampur last night, Ryan and I went for banana leaf, an old favorite. As you can see, they bring you a banana leaf, as a kind of plate. Then various men come by with big silver buckets of rice, dahl, veggies, chutney, and other unidentified spicy good stuff. When you have a full compliment, you dig in . . . . with your hands. No silverware here - this is Indian finger food.

Orchid garden

Thursday 28 January 2010

We visited the Kuala Lampur Orchid Garden today, which was nice.

Masjid Jamek

Wednesday 27 January 2010