Update: 11.11.2005
Place: Cairo/Egypt
Day: 27
Distance traveled: 5,339km

As our ferry departed the Aqaba port at 12:00 on Thursday, November 3, we started to chat at our air conditioned first class seats. Let me tell you who "we" are. I have done my running around in and found the vehicle ticket that went missing, and now here I was; sitting in my car waiting for the passengers' luggage and the "other" cars to board the ferry when a man who, I assume, is in his late 60ies came over and asked me something -I am guessing - in fluent French. I told him in English that I didn't speak French and he immediately said "Do we need to wait in the car?" in English. It was obvious that we did, so to me it sounded like a conversation starter more than a question. "I guess so" I said and there came the second one: "Are you Turkish?" To make the long story short, he was a Greek man who figured out looking at my license plate that I was from Istanbul. And sitting at the wheel of a Cherokee was his friend… He looked like he was in his early 50ies… Later on he joined us as well. So we are with the two Greek people I met, sitting in our first class seats not earned by the tickets but by our races. What a discrimination

I couldn't get the name of the older one but the -relatively- younger one; George who is living in Cairo was nice enough to invite me to stay in his house there and even gave me his home and mobile phone numbers. The other one was friendly too but for some reason he preferred to keep his name to himself, or so I thought. At least he didn't invite me to his place in Alexandria. But I have to give him credit, when I told him about my route up to Cape Town, he jotted down on a piece of paper a very accurate map so quickly with the names of all the places that I should see and can stop over and stay at, that I was amazed. While I can't remember the names of all the places I plan to visit even though I did my homework, he remembered it all for me and marked them down. He had the opportunity to visit them all at different times in his life. Impressive!

The timely ferry made its way to Egypt and docked Nuweiba port in an hour, with no delays. If it wasn't for our Alex (I nicknamed him that because he lives in Alexandria) who has struck up a conversation in Arabic with the captain and had us go down the "special" stairs, we would have waited for a long time for the crowds in front of the doors to dissipate. I have witnessed later on that this could take anything up to 45 minutes.

Mine was the first vehicle to disembark the boat and as soon as I did, an older police officer with a "Tourism Police" armband stopped me. Pointing at some buildings he told me to go and wait there and that he would come help me in a bit. Meanwhile George and Alex have disembarked and came to the spot I was waiting at. Since they needed to get triptyque issued, we set off to do that together. A little later my "guardian angel" suddenly appeared, looking a little offended that I haven't waited for him. "You have already started". I tried to comfort him by telling him that I just wanted to speed up the process by joining the others. After all, I need to refrain from offending him since he will get my work done. Actually I only started the process without waiting because my thought was to do it myself if it wasn't too hard, since I wasn't sure how much his "tip" was going to be. Mr Bedri (his name is Bedri, you need to remember this if you will enter Nuweiba with your vehicle!) took my paperwork, wrote down where and how much I needed to pay and told me how much in Egyptian pounds I should buy. (LE1, 015.00) Then, quite calm and confident, he began to move around in the port from one building to another, entering one room then the other… In about 2 hours everything was done. Everything included triptyque examination (vehicle chassis and engine numbers), car search (they only opened one box and my "fuel cabinets" which they were very curious about), insurance, driver's license and license plate issuance (yes, now my car and I have Egyptian license and plates), and filling, approval, registration, photocopying of dozens of forms, and more… I think it would have taken -the inexperienced- me 1 whole day to get this all done. Anyways, I attached the plates onto the car and finally it was time to say goodbye. I was waiting for him to tell me how much the damage was. I extended my hand and so did he. As I shook his hand I thanked him, and still not a peep from him. I couldn't stand it anymore so I asked if there was something I could do for him in return for the favor. "No need" he said, "I just did it to help". What on earth?! As much surprised as I was, I still insisted "Please allow me". "No need, I was just helping". In a flurry of motion I pulled out a LE20.00 note and put in his palm pretending to shake his hand; didn't even think how much it was equivalent to. He thanked me, wished me luck and a good journey, and then we parted ways. When I regained my composure I made a quick calculation and was surprised to see that LE20.00 was equivalent to a mere USD3.50. During this customs ordeal I realized that Egypt is being crushed by the monster called bureaucracy and if it is pretty much the same in other areas of public service, everyone needs a Bedri to get things done in this country.

After camping in the car for two consecutive nights, and especially after staring at the ceiling until the morning of the second night thanks to the noise outside, I gave myself a "full" day of rest and left the port at 15:30, heading north towards Nuweiba and looking for a hotel by the sea. After a few laps north-south direction I found a cute little holiday resort just outside of Nuweiba. Later I would realize -to my surprise- that I have stayed in the greenest part of Sinai. It was great. I got to rest, swim (when I found out that in Istanbul the fireplace is the way to go for warming up oneself I didn't mention the "swim") and finish the Jordan update.

Following the "holiday" in Nuweiba, I hit the road at around 11:00 on Saturday November 5, heading south to visit the famous Sharm es-Sheikh which I was very curious about and then Ras Mohamed National Park which many sources recommend as a must-see.

Sharm es-Sheikh and Ras Mohamed National Park
Many of you would know; either visited or read and saw its photos some place: Egypt's 'remarkable" holiday destination Sharm es-Sheikh! I tried to find "the remarkable" part - as you can see from my tracks, but failed miserably. It is not my idea of a holiday to stay at a place where there are hundreds of hotels ("resorts" that is) and thousands of summer houses; with the sun sizzling on my neck and the desert sand burning my feet despite some greenery and the trees planted and maintained by man by possibly using a lot of water to keep them green. I was looking for a modest place I'd stay at, something other than a resort which attracts guests with its "all you can eat buffet", huge blue pool, deep-freeze refrigeration style air conditioned rooms and all kinds of entertainments for everyone. As I was browsing through my books I noticed a Shark's Bay Camp. Depending on the orientation I had up until that moment, I approximated the written address and started towards it. On the way, I tried stop at a petrol station to ask for directions. They recognized the name as soon as I said "Shark Bay". I was in the right direction and the distance -according to them- was about 5 km. Then of course I would turn towards the sea, didn't need to ask that one. I get back on the road. After 3 km, I kept looking at the side of the road so I wouldn't miss the "Shark Bay" sign. 3 km, 5 km, 6, 8 … I passed the airport still no sign. In the meantime there is no one in sight for me to stop and ask for directions. I saw police at the intersection ahead so I stopped and called out "Keyf taruh le Shark's Bay?" (How do I go to Shark's Bay?). The police started talking in Arabic. "No Arabic! No Arabic!" How come? Wasn't it you who just asked "Keyf taruh something something" in Arabic. I convinced the poor guy through gestures, that I didn't actually speak Arabic but just read from my book. I am glad he didn't expect me to understand what he said looking at the same book. After consulting with his fellow officers, he told me that it was another 2-3km to Shark's Bay. I get back in the car, 2, 3, 5 km… Nope, it just isn't happening. I won't be able to find this bay so I decide to go back to the city and find myself a "resort". On the way back I waved and sent kisses and smiles to the police as a thank you for all his "help" and stopped at another petrol station to try my luck for "one last time". I approached few young people who I assumed spoke English and explained my problem. They jumped in their car and told me to follow. They didn't speak any English but they escorted me all the way to the Shark's Bay. It wasn't difficult to find at all. I could have done it myself! They waved at me and took off.

Shark Bay is a little cove which is frequented by those who want to do serious diving; those who know how to dive or want to learn how to dive properly. There are a few bungalow accommodation "facilities" and a couple of restaurants stacked up on the steep slopes of this tiny bay. There are 20-30 bungalows max. In the evening when the boats return from the diving trip and the passengers disembark and leave after gathering their belongings, there is no one around apart from those staying at the bungalows and the staff. Quiet and peaceful. I wanted to read my book and have a few drinks at one of the restaurants at night (the restaurant of the "bungalow hotel" where I was staying) and of course started to chat with the bartender. When traveling alone, even someone as quiet as me, jumps at a chance to chat with someone when the opportunity presents itself… With Ahmed (bartender and waiter at the same time) it is different; it is just not possible not to talk with him. He is trying to speak the little English he knows without an accent and he always finds something to talk about with everyone, usually telling about himself: his life, where he lives, what his real career is, why he is working there, why Islam is the best religion, his very own theories about diving sport, tourism, international terrorism, anything and everything. He never misses a chance to chat, hassle, and joke around with anyone (tourist) who passes by or comes in. He is good humored, or rather, he laughs at everything, joke or serious talk, doesn't matter. He laughs when he makes a mess, laughs at frozen beer, and laughs when the potatoes are knocked over… Ahmed is 27 years old, his home is in Cairo and he is a mathematics teacher. Since teaching doesn't pay much (LE120.00 per month, approximately USD21.00) he left it and came to Sharm es-Sheikh to find a job. He works 23 days a month (sleeps at the premises) and returns to Cairo to his parents' place for the remaining 7. He gets paid LE600.00 here (approximately USD105.00) and is saving to get married. He wakes up at 6.00 in the morning and prepares breakfast. When I left it was 23.00 and he was still there at the bar.

The next day I left Sharm es-Sheikh for Ras Mohamed National Park. It is 20km to the south located at the southernmost tip of Sinai. It was green on the map so I thought I was going to someplace with greenery but I found myself at a sandy desert by the shore. I heard it has mangrove "forests" but this "forest" area is closed to visitors due to security reasons so I had to go play in the sand.

Mangrove is a pear shaped fruit that has a mildly sour taste but juicy close to the outer skin but towards the middle it is sweeter and juicier, though it has lots of little seeds, kind of like fig seeds (but much bigger). These seeds are not just in the core of the fruit that you can simply separate from the rest of the fruit, they are all over in the flesh of the entire fruit. So you have to eat, or rather, swallow them.

The reason why Ras Mohamed is a protected area as a national park is because of its rich underwater landscape and diversity. It is a treasure with its colorful fish, coral formations and sponges. It is forbidden to hunt, collect or touch them. At places you are not even allowed to dive. Since I have neither the interest nor the knowledge in scuba diving and did not bring with me my snorkel set, I could only use my swimming goggles to dive a few strokes and back. Even that much of it was just spectacular.

Ras Mohammed National Park. Back in the distance the southernmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula

The few visitors to the Park were envious when they saw me using the shower facility of my car to remove the sea salt off my skin because there are no such facilities there.

The rest of today's program includes visiting the St. Katherine monastery located in the middle of Sinai Peninsula (or rather Sinai Desert), then crossing over to the west shores of the peninsula and staying in one of the many hotels which Rifat (owner of the "hotel" in Shark's Bay) recommended.

St. Katherine Monastery
I had two routes to choose from to St. Katerine from Ras Mohamed. Since I happen to be at the southernmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula, I could either follow the east shore up or the west shore up, and then turn inland. Going up the east shore would mean heading all the way back to almost Nuweiba. To make an "informed" decision, I asked Rifat at Shark's Bay. He told me that there isn't really much to see on the west shoreline, and that it would be a longer drive as well. He suggested that I go up the east shoreline, visit St. Katherine, continue over to the west shore and stay at one of the "many" hotels by the sea.

By the way, a word of caution to those who will be traveling by themselves in these areas! Trust your own documents and instincts more than the directions from the locals when it comes to finding your way or setting up a route.

I spent a stressful two hours because there were not many petrol stations on the way along the east shoreline and I didn't fill up before turning inland. I still had half a tank and I thought I would reach the west shore without a worry, but it was a challenging drive and I barely had enough fuel to reach St. Katherine. Thankfully, there was a petrol station in St. Katherine and I took a deep breath. If I went from the west I was not going to face this problem because it was a main road. Anyways, I arrived in St. Katherine at 15:00 and once I got my fuel and relaxed some, I turned to the monastery road with a renewed enthusiasm. At the turn, I had to donate to the "St. Katherine Foundation" in return for a receipt and at the end of a 7km road first I reached the St. Katherine village and then the monastery.

Up to this point neither those collecting the donation, nor the police at the checkpoint or the people who gave me directions told me about the monastery being closed to visitors on Sundays. So I couldn't go inside the monastery and see the icons that Alex bragged to me so much about. And I ended up walking up to the monastery and take its picture from the outside.



St. Katherine Monastery. At the back (on the left) Mount Sinai

St. Katherine Monastery is situated at the foot of the 2,286 meter Mount Sinai where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments. The monastery was built in 6th century and repaired twice thereafter. It is surrounded by granite walls and within these walls there is also a church, one of the oldest in the region. There are two routes to the top of the Mount Sinai from the monastery. One of these is the "Stairway of Repentance" with its 3,700 steps and the other, relatively easier to climb, is the "Camel Path" was constructed 19th century by Abbas Hilmi I, the khediv of Egypt at the time. I didn't go up either. But I heard that people who want to climb to the top of Mount Sinai and then Mount Katherine generally start climbing at night and catch the morning son at the peak of Mount Sinai, then cross over to Mount Katherine to enjoy the scenery from the Suez Canal to the Arabian and African mountains from its peak, which is the highest point of Egypt with 2,642 meters.

Sinai Peninsula is essentially a desert. But it is not an endless sandy desert that usually comes to mind when we think of a "desert". It is one with steep mountains and a highest point of 2,642 meters. All these mountains are made up of sandstone and they crumble and turn into sand, the usual desert sand. As I on my way to the monastery I saw interesting views of the steep sandstone rocks jutting up out of their own desert sand. The sand sometimes covers the road partially or completely and makes it difficult to pass at places.

Sinai Desert offers astonishing views along the way

It was starting to get dark and quite chilly, as I was coming down from the Monastery in disappointment. I decided to get on the road and continue, instead of camping there for the night and seeing St. Katherine the next day. After the turn from the Monastery the road became uneven and bumpy with rough dirt and began to shake to the point of loosening all the screws of both my car and mine. After 50-60 km of this rough terrain in a deep valley full of turns, we reached the paved road again and arrived at the west shore as it became dark. West shore is a comfortable, wide, two-way asphalt paved road. There are petrol stations, small shops, big and small restaurants, coffee houses but there is no sign of hotels along the way. I am sure Rifat's ears were burning as I remembered him fondly, but being back on a better road and the fact that it was not late in the evening encouraged me to continue all the way to Suez Canal, about 190 km.

City of Suez is on the west side of the canal and it is to the south of the point where the road crosses the canal. So you need to drive up from the south, cross the canal and drive back down south for another 90 km to reach the city. As I approached the canal, I decided that instead, that it would make more sense to drive a little longer (an additional 50 km) and reach Cairo. In addition, I could use the advantage of entering a city like Cairo late at night when traffic is relatively light.

You cross the Suez Canal through a road tunnel under the canal which is approximately 2 km in length. The road became more crowded as it reached the city. My next hotel destination is Windsor. This hotel was built to be used as an English Officers Club during the colonial era. Everything is old in Windsor which was later transformed into a hotel. Although not as old as Hotel Baron in Aleppo, Windsor resembles Baron in style. Nothing has been removed from the building since it was established (they even say that the bar is the same bar from the time of the Officers Club): From the telephone switchboard in the reception, to the dead lock of the elevator and the brass handle that is used to operate it, the solid furniture in the rooms and the lampshades… Most important and impressive to me was the piano on the floor my room was. It was identical to the one I played from when I was a kid till the age of 17, which is still at my mom's house. It is a Blüthner (Leipzig), complete (with its chandeliers and their hinge nails) and in excellent condition. It almost doesn't have a scratch on it and even after having gone through so much -not sure if anyone looked after it - it was pretty well tuned, too. Even the seat was authentic.



Blüthner (Liepzig). I am sure the neighbors wouldn't have
appreciated me hitting the keys a little at 11:30 at night.

When they saw how interested I was in the piano, they gave me the largest room at a relatively good rate. The distance I traveled, with parts of it really rough, was 740 km and I was exhausted. I laid down but of course couldn't fall asleep. The street on which the hotel is located is a narrow side street with a few coffee houses next to each other, a mosque and a few fast food places. Coffee houses in Egypt remain open till very late hours (or should I say early?), till about 1:30-2:00… Until that time people (men of course) are smoking their hubble bubbles (also called "shisha") and drinking their tea. And of course talk. Talking is usually in the form of loud voices, calls to the waiter, waiter's calls to the kitchen, and calls to the waiter from the kitchen indicating that the teas are ready, that become a hum of voices making it impossible to sleep. On the 3rd night of my stay there, I asked for the quietest room in the hotel and I was willing to take the room in the most remote corner of the top floor. Even then I couldn't sleep tight.

There are parliamentary elections in Egypt. The elections are held in various regions and separate days one week between each. They started last Wednesday (November 9) and will continue till mid December. There are party and candidate banners and signs everywhere. On some streets you can't even see the buildings from the banners. I think, the coffee houses in some streets serve as election offices for the parties and there is a festival atmosphere in those places. They constantly play loud music or give propaganda speeches, shout slogans. And this continues till the early morning hours. Certain "election vehicles" with megaphones or large speakers attached to them roam the streets and contribute to the noise pollution in the name of gathering support for the parties and candidates that they represent. Would people like to cast their votes in favor of a party and its candidate that cause so much inconvenience? Or does this disturb no one at all?

In Cairo they put up very interesting decorations at the intersections. These decorations that are set up on some poles right at the corners of the roads radiate with red, yellow and green lights. They do not light them all at once though. They are sometimes red, sometimes yellow and from time to time green. Initially I thought they were like our traffic lights and stopped at the first one I saw because it was red. I was wrong. Don't make the same mistake I made when driving in Cairo. For instance, don't enter the intersection headfirst thinking that the light is green to you. A vehicle may pass by a red light and hit you anytime. Again, don't stop just because it is red light to you. A local Cairo driver who knows that those lights are set up as decorations might come and crash into you from behind. After finding out that the lights are road decorations, make sure not to just drive into the intersections. Any car can come and hit you at anytime. In short, do not ever drive in Cairo or you risk an accident any second. I take back any complaints I made in my previous updates about the traffic conditions in other cities. Cairo is definitely the winner.

My first day in Cairo began with a trip to the Egyptian Museum. At the end of a 4 hour tour in the museum, I suffered a serious Egyptian History Cultural Shock but I snapped out of it and returned to the real world easily thanks to the mad traffic. Giving you information on history of Egypt would be overstepping my boundaries. I have neither the sufficient knowledge nor the pages to do this. Those who are curious can do some research and find plenty of information. I would like to, however, share with you a few points that made an impact on me. Most significantly, the single most important discovery in solving the mystery of the Egyptian history, especially that of 30 dynasties and the reign of pharaohs for nearly 3,000 years, is the granite tablet discovered by the French soldiers near Rashid (an old port city 25 km to the west of Alexandria) in 1799 and deciphered by the French linguist Jean-François Champollion. This was the text of an agreement scribed by Ptolemaios V in three different languages / inscriptions (hieroglyphic, Greek and demotic Egyptian language scripts) that turned out to be the greatest help to Champollion in deciphering the hieroglyphic script. However, among all other glamorous findings, this was the rarest and most precious piece and it was given to the English by the Egypt in 1801. Whilst the original tablet sits in the Biritish Museum in London on display, all the Egyptian Museum has is its photo…

After the Museum I was thinking of seeing the area called the Islamic Cairo. I picked up a few important spots to see from my guide book and set up a route on my own. Of course when it is obvious that you are a tourist, the tourist hunters also materialize from thin air. I don't know maybe it's the same in other parts of the world (like in Istanbul), but basically in Cairo the tourist hunters approach poor tourists with maps in their hands trying to make sense of the street signs and the map and they say for instance "Yes this is the Tahrir Square". And then they invite you for tea at their friend's or brother's perfume or silver shop. Or let's say while you are walking around in Kayitbay Mosque, they come around and offer help. They are just being "hospitable", if you ask them. In any case, if you accept this "friendly" invite to tea at the perfume shop of his friend, the chat will soon become a suffocating sale attempt. The other option is to refuse the offer politely from the beginning. You can't get rid of them quickly but once they understand you are determined, they lose hope and stop following you after a while. "Self-acclaimed historical site guides" is another obstacle to overcome.

I entered El-Ashraf Barsby mosque for a quick visit but once I realized that by doing so I have escaped the noise outside, I stretched out myself on one of the rugs on the floor and rested for a while. The ivory inlaid minbar (pulpit) of the mosque built in 1423 is a work of art worth seeing.



El-Ashraf Barsby Mosque

My next stop was El-Azhar Mosque. El-Azhar Mosque - Madrasa was built by the Fatimids in 970. As you know, El-Azhar is the most important educational institution of the Islamic world. Initially it only provided Islamic religion education; later in 1961 it was renovated to include faculties of medicine, agriculture, engineering and administrative sciences and positive sciences. It has several campuses around the country.


El-Azhar courtyard (sahın)

The largest market place of Cairo is Khan El-Khalili. It is considered as the largest "souq" of the Middle East. Just like the markets in Aleppo and Damascus, you can find "anything and everything" here. But it doesn't have the exotic atmosphere that Aleppo or Damascus "souqs" have and it feels a bit more tourist oriented. Khan El-Khalili was established around a few old khans (vikelâ). But it is not possible to find these vikelas among the buildings that were constructed later on.


Tourism Police in Cairo. They are everywhere.

Traffic, noise and the persistent tourist hunters contributed to my decision to leave Cairo a.s.a.p. I shortened the program by postponing the visit to the Old Cairo, Citadel and its surroundings to another "organized" Cairo trip. I decided to spend my second day in Cairo chasing after information on how to get my Sudan visa without having to wait for a message from Turkey, paying a brief visit to the pyramids in Giza and leaving for Alexandria on the morning of third day. It wouldn't have been possible to fit entire Cairo in a few days excursion and also spending more time here was conflicting with my trip schedule.

The next day I had an opportunity to meet with the Vice Consul in Sudan Embassy and convinced him to issue my visa without waiting for the message. At 13:00 my visa was ready. In the afternoon I went on a speedy pyramid tour and after a sunset photography session, I made plans for the last night I was going to spend in Cairo: Dinner at Alfi Bey (an old restaurant near Windsor Hotel) and cappuccino and cake in Café Riche (both of which are Chef's -excuse me- guide book recommendations)… I have to say the cake was a little too heavy, possibly because of the butter used in it.

Kefren (right) and Mikerinos (back left) Pyramids

Sphinx in the shape of a lion and behind it the Kefren Pyramid

Cairo owes its current contemporary outlook to Khediv Ismail who assumed power in 1863. Khediv studied in France and wanted to create a European style city in Egypt. He land filled the swamp area along the shores of the Nile and built a new city resembling Paris and featuring European style of architecture. But the foreign credit used for rebuilding Cairo and the construction of Suez Canal put the country under great debt that would later force her to make serious concessions. Result: Control of the Suez Canal given to the English in return for the unpaid debt. As a matter of fact, the English assumed the control of Egypt, despite the fact that khedives were still on the throne. I am not sure if such a price had to be paid for the city to become a centre of attraction for the foreigners.

I left Cairo for Alexandria on the morning of November 9.

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