backroads, eating out, and quiet time

buggy outside my door - driver and horse sleeping

I’ve enjoyed Luxor as a city – beyond the temples and tombs & have spent a lot of time venturing out along many main roads and wandering a lot of back roads as well. I get “hello” welcomes from many kids and a few Egyptian men. The women don’t look, but when they occasionally do, they smile. I would feel fine walking around here day or night – you just have to be careful of the ones that strike up an easy conversation, as none of these have led to anything other than requests for money, to go to a shop, or in one case, to have a gay encounter Egyptian style (“la ‘a” means no and you’re creeping me out…).

parallel parking in Luxor

I did have one woman say hello to me as I walked by her home, and when I said hello back, her half-dozen children came running out asking for backsheesh (sigh ~ bad form). A girl hoisted a snotty nosed baby into my face that had some nasty rash, and that’s all it took for me to drop a one pound coin in the mother’s hand, say “salaam” and move quickly away.

Orange juice and "sheesha" - breakfast of champions

Mara House has been wonderful, and as the place is rather empty right now, they’re letting me keep my room until I leave at 10pm tonight. I returned the favor by clearing them out of many of the nice and reasonably priced items in their lobby, and signing up for the Egyptian “tasting” dinner that they serve once or twice a week at their restaurant. The meal consists of small portions of over a dozen different home-cooked Egyptian dishes with rice and bread – all for the outrageous price of about $15 (I could get TWO super-sized Big Mac meals for that!).

McNuggets skateboarding at the pyramids

Speaking of Big Macs…Eating out in Egypt on a traveler’s budget is really hard. At the bottom of the price range, you have falafel stands where you can get a decent meal for just a few pounds (5 pounds = $1US). The cleanliness of these places is always questionable, and sometimes obviously nonexistent. Deep frying helps, but then you’re back nutritionally to the land of KFC. Local cafes seem to cater mostly to tea drinking, sheesha smoking locals, and the couple that I’ve tried have left me unimpressed and watching my stomach for the following 24 hours. So far, my best meals have been 1) the Lebanese place in Cairo (that set me back $40 for dinner) and 2) the Egyptian-style pizza (thin flatbread stuffed with pizza ingredients & a little feta cheese on top ~$6) that I had in Aswan. I’m hoping that tonight’s meal at Mara House tops them all. Allah willing – I may yet leave Egypt with my stomach intact. (postscript: the dinner at Mara House was one of the best I've ever had - anywhere!)

Luxor market

same same, but different

Upper Egypt (southern end of the country – up the Nile) is definitely a world away from Cairo. The chunky children and Islamic urban fashion of the city give way to the flowing robes and the traditional dress that I associate with Egypt. Maybe just my western eye, or my preformed notion of what people of the Nile should look like, but I do find it much more pleasant and natural. This place is full of National Geographic photos at every turn – meaning that the people and their rustic living and dirty/beautiful setting make exceptional subjects. However, the idea of pointing my “big gun” Nikon seems completely out of the question, and even my little point and shoot feels invasive at times. Turning an elderly, scarf-wrapped woman balancing a basket of vegetables on her head into my own Elle MacPherson just seems wrong…

Elle MacPherson with fruit

The return night train from Luxor to Cairo that I’ll be catching at 10:30 tonight is much faster than the previous train down to Aswan for some reason, and will put me back in Giza at 5:30am (wish I could do it twice and get in at noon instead). For an extra $20, I’ve opted for a solo cabin for the ride back to the city. Insulating myself against the locals or other travelers is not what travel is about, but after my rather loud companion on the trip down south, I’ve decided that the alone time is okay. My hope is that my one last day in Cairo will be uneventful – Allah willing.

call 1-800-DENTIST

And then it’s on to London (shouting a quiet wooo-hoooo!)…