I saw this gentleman walking up the sidewalk singing the other day and told him that I liked his sweatshirt. Eilat, Israel. January 10, 2009.

Going for a swim in the Red Sea. A little chilly, but not bad.

Crossing the Israeli/Egyptian border

I love Jerusalem! There is such a holiness about this city and this land. Crossing the border was an interesting experience. We crossed in the southern part crossing over from Taba, Egypt to Eilat, Israel. (We hadn't planned on crossing that way because we didn't think that it would be open, but it was, although it was with a little difficulty, but not much.) We were going to travel through Jordan and enter the country on the western border but for some reason I've been so ansy to get to Jerusalem (it's been calling me!) since the second or third day in Egypt. But crossing the border from Egypt to Israel and then the travel up to Jerusalem and the first night here was an interesting experience. As soon as we crossed over the Israeli/Egypt line there was a deep feeling of peace and calm that settled down over me. Interesting.

Old Jerusalem

Just a quick post, cause I am super tired. Robby and I arrived late yesterday night in Jerusalem and are staying at a great place near Jaffa Gate in the old city. Lots of interesting people to talk to staying at out hostel, more on them later. Today we walked up the mount of Olives stopping at the traditional site for the Garden of Gethsemane, walked through the Orson Hyde garden and walked over to the BYU Jerusalem center which was closed. Kinda of upsetting that they had their services on Saturday but oh well. We then cruised the Old city for a while before the rain drove us inside. After the rain stopped I went out for a little walk, ran into a bunch of Amercians headed to the Giants - Eagles game so of course they were able to persuade me to come along. It was a fun time. Anyway that's all for now.

Me just chillin and readin a good book while kickin it at the Bishbishi just before checkout. Our room was the one right behind me.

Bishbishi and Dahab

The entrance to our 50 cats hotel in Dahab, Egypt. (Cats abounded PLENTIFULLY there!!)

Bishbishi

The last couple nights Brian and I have spent in Dahab, Egypt (a little town on the east coast of the Sinai Peninsula located along the seashore). The scenery is awe inspiring. Looking out across the Gulf of Aquaba you can see on the opposite coast in Saudia Arabia a jagged mountain range. And behind us are more majestic, rugged mountains.

The last couple of nights Brian and I stayed in a place named Bishbishi. The room is simply a little concrete building, our room 8'x8', a wooden door with large cracks all the way around the frame so that you can see in and out through it, and a grass ceiling/roof. We like it, it's nice! The first night however we had these sheets that felt so dirty, nasty, and filthy. The mosquitoes got to me pretty good that first night because the top sheet was only 4'x4'. I couldn't easily cover up from them with a sheet so small. We stayed there one more night but last night before going to bed I asked one of the workers if I could get an extra sheet for sleeping. I saw where the sheets were stored away and he gave me a medium sized sheet(at least not a small one). But while in there I saw a bunch of large clean sheets neatly folded and stacked. So 10-15 minutes or so after the area was clear of people I quietly walked over and inside and helped myself to several of the large clean sheets for both Brian and I. Close call though, cuz as soon as I was clear of the area one of the guys that runs the place walked around the corner. That would have been awkward had I been 15 seconds later in carrying out my plan. It was really nice last night sleeping on clean sheets and being protected from the mosquitoes. Slept like an angel.

Anyway, we're headed for Taba in an hour and then crossing the state line into Israel today.

Karnak Temple

Writings in the deepest-interior room in the Temple of Karnak. There is also a large stone table or altar in the center of this room but our photos of it didn't turn out very good. The built in stone bench that Brian is sitting on lines the walls around this altar. The room isn't very big. We thought that the writings above Brian were also interesting. Enjoy!

Pictures

I hope this batch of pictures satisfies everyone's hunger for a little while. Both Robby and I dont take a lot of pictures but for everyone's sake we are stepping it up. ALSO click on the photos to get a larger size, some of the pictures are really cool and you can get close ups of the writings.

Karnak

View from Karnak.

Columns at Karnak Temple

These are some BIG columns! How did they ever get these standing upright?! Another interesting thing is that they are covered in writings all the way to the top.

Arm-wrestling some little Arabian Egyptian kid while en-route to Deir el-Bahri. I forget his name. January 5, 2009.

Karnak Temple

Interesting hiero-glyphics at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, Egypt. This is where the capitol of Egypt was located when Moses was growing up as a young man. January 6, 2009.

Deir el-Bahri

This is a site in between valley of the Kings and Queens. The temple right behind me belongs to Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled for about 20 years (in peace) while her son (Thutmose III) was in the army. Her son then took over and expanded the empire further than any Pharaoh before him. He also built tons of monuments, mostly at Karnak.

Valley of the Kings - Queen Tausert's tomb

Sarcophagus in the Valley of the Kings. This belonged to Queen Tausert, yea I know she's a queen why isn't she in the Valley of the Queens. I dont know go to Wikipedia. I felt pretty cool cause photos are illegal in the tombs now, but the guard wasn't looking and there are no colors for the flash to washout.

Crazy Gunnar and Brian

This is Gunnar from Norway and he is one crazy dude. We met this guy at the Fontana in Luxor where we were staying and this guy just bikes everywhere. He has spent years biking from place to place. This time he is planning on biking from Egypt to South Africa. Yea crazy!! He told of the times he would get caught in sandstorms and who sometimes he has to go around areas because they are kidnapping tourists (Peru).
Anyway just one of the interesting people we have come across.

One long, cold, uncomfortable bus ride.

Well, after a 19 hour cold, crammed, jerky bus ride (which was only supposed to be 14 hours) we are now in the town of Dahab, Egypt. It is located on the eastern coast of the Sinai Peninsula. We found a place to stay here for less than 6 US Dollars. But the transportation isn't as cheap. If I figured right a gallon of gasoline is about 7-8 US Dollars for a gallon.

Right now Brian is sleeping back at our motel recovering from something he ate mixed with his being crammed in an uncomfortable position for 19 straight hours. The plan was to go climb Mt. Sinai tonight and watch the sunrise but I don't think Brian will be up for much climbing tonight. I thought about going by myself but my brother, Steve, kinda took some of the fun out of that. Tomorrow I think we'll catch a ride up north to Taba and then a ferry on over to Aquaba, Jordan and go up and see Petra. That's the place where the end of the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed.

Yesterday we went and saw the Temple of Karnak (Very IMPRESSIVE!) and the day before that we went and saw the Valley of the Kings, and the Valley of the Queens.

I figure for now I'd just give a quick narration and Brian can add in some funny stories later on. Pictures are long in uploading to the internet. Seems to be a problem all over Egypt, at least that's what someone told me. But we'll still work at getting a few more on here. Anyway I'm hungry (Haven't eaten in over 24 hours) and gonna go look for something to eat around this town. So this is me signing off.

Pyramids of Giza

Reading Will Durant's "Lessons of History" on Khufu at Giza, the largest pyramid in Egypt.

Me (Brian it says Robby at the bottom because he uploads all the pictures) and my Camel relaxing in the desert. Yea riding a camel is pretty cool overall. If it is something you are considering make sure that you lead your own camel, much more fun and that you wear appropriate clothing. Also the guides really try and hurry people through the sights, but they can be ignored pretty easily.

Riding out from the pyramids of Giza (background) to see other pyramids that we could see off in the distant sandy desert. Would rather have had a horse.

The Train Ride

As Saturday began to come to a close, and the 12 hour train ride to Luxor looming, Robby and I prepared for the ordeal by eating McDonald's and some chicken shwarmas. The train at first glance was hideous, dirty, dark, no seats, and cold it looked like a nightmare waiting to happen. Thats when we realized that this was the wrong train. Our train wasn't bad a little dirtier than a coach flight in an airplane but with more room. By paying a little more Robby and I were able to get a private compartment so we were able to stretch out and sleep almost the entire way. A great way to travel down to Luxor. We did have one little hiccup after finishing our "bounteous breakfast" of dry bread and jam our server returned wanting 70 pounds (13 bucks) for the "meal". As this was the same crappy breakfast we had been served for free everywhere else and we did have first class tickets we expected this would be for free. Again the brain must have still been sleeping. Additionally as we were out of pounds and not wanting to give dollars (which were only in high denominations) Anyway when the server returned and demanded payment we basically refused. In the end we figured the bread and juice to be worth 10 pounds so we gave the server some new chapstick, 2 pounds and 4 quarters along with a pack of tissues. The server did not like this at all, and as the train would be moving on from Luxor we would not have time to go and get change for dollars, so he went and got a very disinterested guard who seemed to speak no English and didn't really care, so we left the train, with the server still following us. We tried to explain that he should have told us it would cost money before giving it to us and that we had no pounds but his English wasn't so good. In the end he gave up trying to get more money for the dry bread and we began our exploration of Luxor.

Muslim extremist group stacked to the hilt with AK-47s

At first Cairo reminded me a lot of my mission to the Philippine Islands. The first thing you notice is the driving. The driving is just like over there (I like it!). But then I realized that there is a little more order to it over here in Egypt than in the Philippines . . . they have stoplights, and it almost seems like pedestrians have the right of way here. . . whoever is bigger has it in the P.I.(Philippine Islands). It also felt much like a mission because immediately Brian and I started learning phrases and words in Arabic from the first Egyptian we met and began writing them down so that we could memorize them for while our stay here.

Our first couple of nights we stayed at a little motel where the rooms are private but the bathroom and shower is shared with the other people on the floor. Last night we were going to go to Alexandria and then stay the night there but had a little difficulty getting a bus ride over there so we decided to stay another night in Cairo. We went back to the place we stayed the previous couple nights but they were full. That started into another couple of hours of us going from hotel to inn to hostel to motel one after another hearing the words, "No room!". That was rough. We were tired, thirsty, hungry, and rather irritated with a few of the arabians here who always think that they deserve a tip for everything that they don't do (a greedy characteristic trait bred into the people here due to all the tourism I reckon), but managed to find a hostel that charged us $16.00 for a room. We took it and it felt nice to crash. I've only been able to sleep in the afternoons and late evening but seem to stay awake between the hours of midnight until morning. (I slept about 4 hours last night) Oh, another thing, nobody seems to go to bed around here until 2 a.m. The streets are packed until then. Wierd.

Last night after getting a place to stay the night, Brian and I went down the street to get something to eat. We've become extremely skeptical of people here because it seems that they see us as only someone that they can try and scam out of some money. In order to do any business with them you have to haggle, then walk away, then haggle some more before being able to agree on a fair and reasonable price. At first I thought that that was just because they see white people and they see money, but now, although I'm sure that that has a lot to do with it, I think that that is also just much of the culture over here. It's rather tedious and annoying. I decided to be very defiant with my "no"s from now on. So anyway last night Brian and I went down the road to get some food and ran into a guy who spoke decent English (it was understandable) who showed us a sitting/eating area out in an open dirty alleyway behind some buildings where we could enjoy our newly purchased meal. After being here 2 days I've become cautious of anyway offering to do anything for us because everyone so far that I've met expects a tip or to sell us something. Like I said, it's rather annoying and offensive. So when this guy offered to show us a good place to sit and eat I wondered what he wanted. He seemed like a very nice and personable guy, but after finishing our food and excusing ourselves he walked with us and as we passed a little store with some wares he told us that it was his uncle's store or cousin's store (can't remember which) and to just come in and take a look at some of the goods. I'd had it and just kept walking on, but Brian thought to just humor him for a minute and stepped inside. That's when guys armed to the teeth with Knives and AK-47s appeared out of nowhere! They tried to throw Brian to the ground but he fought 'em off and kicked one of em's teeth out (there was blood everywhere and he kept yelling in Arabic: He busted my teeth! He busted my teeth! That's when I took matters into my own hands as I used a combination of my wrestling and martial arts skills to disarm a guy, take his AK-47 and fill the side of the building full of lead in an effort to provide some cover for Brian to . . . . . . .Okay, just kidding, that didn't happen. But it would have been cool if it did! :) Lol! (That means "laughing out loud" Mom and the thing before it is a smiley face but only sideways as I don't know any other way to type a smiley face.) No, he just tried getting us to hear a little presentation of his wares but Brian and I were NOT gonna have it. We excused ourselves and went home. That was it. It would be okay if they were fair in their prices but they bring forth an enormous price first (which is completely offensive) and then sorta expect you to bring them down a bit. . . Oh and I DO! . . . a lot more than a bit! I figure that if they're gonna be complete _ _ _ holes then I can be one back! I'll just do business with someone else. Okay, I apologize Mom and Alicia and anyone else that that may have offended. I'll try to tone it down a little bit. Anyway, we're gonna go to a place called the Citadel today and maybe go back and look a little bit more at the Pyramids and Sphinx . . . we'll see. Tonight at 10:00 p.m. Brian and I are catching a 10 hour bus ride to Luxor (south central Egypt) to see some of the ancient ruins there. That should be fun! . . . 10 hours on a bus . . . we'll see.

When the brain shuts down

Usually in each of us we have a little warning system, a system that tells us when we are going to do something that might hurt, be expensive, or is just not smart. So yesterday Robby and I decided to visit the pyramids in Giza, and we got talking to about taking a camel around cause there are lots of pyramids in the area and well riding camels is cool. Well we decided on just going on a shorter trip, and as we were on the camels riding out to the pyramids they began talking again about this long 5-6 hour trip, and well my brain decided to go to sleep for a while and when it woke back up we were in the begining stages of an all day camel trip around a bunch of the pyramids. While at first this may sound nice, our loose fitting pants and muscles that are unused to riding camels started to make the journey rather uncomfortable. By the end of the trip, which needed to have ended much sooner, led to the hectic night that Robby descibed of missing the bus and trying to find a room for the night.

The not so mexican burrito

Well there are several ways to travel to most destinations, there is first class and all the others, we went first class. Leaving Vegas around midnight headed to New York we were seated in the spacious first class seats and after a little while offered a nice hot towel. I love the hot towel so nice on the face. As it was dark, and having not traveled first class before Robby thought, "Right on a nice, warm, tasty burrito." It was only after he tried his first bite that Robby realized something was wrong, "the burrito must be wrapped in something," Robby mumbles, as he unwraps the towel, still searching for food. To his dismay there is no burrito to be found, but a couple hours later we were served a great sandwich and salad. So that is how the journey began with Robby eating a hot towel.