Wonders- Ancient & Modern Extremes

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.  – Helen Keller

We couldn’t resist the temptation of Egypt and after seeing Liam’s passion for the history we are so glad we didn’t.  Shia bored of it much more quickly, but she too was awestruck at times.  We kept the number of days to a minimum, stayed along the safest route of the Nile corridor, and relied on trusted transport rather than just finding a cab at the curb.  After going though, we would have felt safe to go to the Red Sea as we were somewhat surprised to see more tourists than we did in 2002 and many of them were traveling outside the Nile corridor. Crossing the street in Cairo was certainly the most danger we ever felt in the country.  Although, we did hear about the hijacking attempt on the day we flew out. Egypt’s economy has thrived on tourism for 4,000 years, it is in their blood now and they put so much effort into nurturing and supporting this industry.  We met a lot of talented, kind, and interesting folks. However, for the tourism policy as a whole, a lot of their efforts seem a bit misguided to us (i.e. excessive yet ineffective airport security).

Another interesting thing we found was that at the ancient sites, we were one of the most interesting things.  There are a lot of Egyptian tourists and many of them asked to take a selfie with us.  Being out on the town was a bit exhausting for us so we had some nice quality time watching documentaries about Egypt in our hotel.  (Okay, documentaries, and Aladdin and Indiana Jones…) The technologies used by the ancient pharaohs to create all of these mammoth structures blows our mind.  Especially considering that in Egypt we saw the most working animals we have seen so far.  Camels, donkeys, and horses were plying the streets and fields, pulling man and material all over the place.  And seeing heaps of traditional clay water jugs along the streets surprised me.  When I asked about them I was told that the area we were in didn’t have running water.  Given the knowledge used to build the pyramids, I wondered if the ancient Egyptians had running water.  Interestingly, these same water jugs led to the discovery of Tut’s tomb.  A boy was digging in the sand to make a hole in which to set one of these jugs so it wouldn’t tip.  He uncovered a flat stone and got the Egyptologist to come see.  He found the entrance to the tomb.  In hearing that, I was thinking, “Wow, they still used those jugs in 1922.”  Little did I know how many we would see in use in 2016.

After Egypt, Dubai was quite the breath of fresh air.  As we drove to our hotel the kids wondered if this is where they filmed Tomorrowland.  None of the skyscrapers were simple rectangles and it is a wondrous place in a totally different way.  In Egypt cars use their horns in lieu of a turn signal and in Dubai fancy cars silently cruise down the streets, with distinct traffic lanes.  In the airport we saw women leave their shopping purchases unattended in their cart while they went to the restroom.  There is no visible trash on the ground, but fountains and well maintained gardens instead.  Our hotel room is off the hook with 2 bedrooms, living room, 2.5 bathrooms and a big balcony.  And Atlantis Aquaventure was a blast.  The rides were very cool and unique.  A tube slide that ends with the shoot going through the shark aquarium; a chamber that releases the floor to a free fall; and huge raft slides full of steep drops and inclines.  The “lazy river” impressed us immensely though.  It is always fun to do those, with constant enjoyment not broken up by lines, but this one wasn’t lazy at all.  It looped around to different experiences.  We liked it all; the wave section, then the rapids section and a conveyor belt takes tube riders up to the tower with the tube slides.  So cool!  Please take notes Water World.

Dubai is also an amazing melting pot, most noteworthy at the waterpark.  Women were equally distributed among every possible type of swim attire from the teeny bikini to the “burkini”  I had never heard the term burkini, but the waterpark specifically outlined what you can and cannot wear and introduced us to this term.  There were swim dresses, swim shorts with skirts, even hotel swim caps.  We saw it all in Aquaventure.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu was the tallest structure on Earth for over 3,800 years!  The current holder of this title is Burj Khalifa, here in Dubai, which has held the title for only 6 years.

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Middle East Highlights

Chad

• Egyptian history – From the Pyramids to the tombs in Valley of the Kings to the Egyptian museum the scale and the timelessness never fails to amaze.
• Rooftop patios in Egypt – As soon as you step out of your hotel oasis its a constant bombardment of people trying to sell you stuff, take you to their cousins/brothers shop or guide you to your destination (when you already know where your going) for a small tip. But watching life go by from the comfort of the rooftop above is very interesting and entertaining.  All of our hotels had one – a perk of not having to worry about drainage.
• Dubai Luxury – a very timely splurge after some grueling days in Egypt.

Heidi

• Egyptian Engineering – We had a GREAT guide for the pyramids and the insight we got from him about the incredible construction of these monuments was amazing to me.  I like to make stuff and I know how darn hard it is to get things to fit snug and to make a perfect right angle.  These pyramids are full of perfection.  Despite the fact that they were built with gigantic stones and shaped with soft metal tools.
• Excitement of being near new discoveries – At the pyramids they just found another wood boat buried, and they are scanning the rear wall of Tut’s tomb because they see evidence of another chamber full of stuff.  Theory is that it might be the tomb of Nefertiti – we’ll be keeping an eye of this unfolding story!
• Dubai – The flight was amazing and set the tone for this peaceful rest stop.  Giving the kids the gift of the waterpark experience that they have fallen in love with from TV ads at home was a lot of fun.  And it lived up to our expectations!

Shia

• Atlantis – Water slides and the not so lazy river
• Luxor temple – We saw it at night and I loved the way it was lit up. Its still well intact and no history speeches from mom, who left her guide book at home for this one.
• The Nile – Swimming, Felucca ride, Hot air balloon over it

Liam

• Pyramids – of course
• Karnak Temple in Luxor – Specifically Great Hypostle Hall – with 134 huge columns aligned along 16 rows, its a great place for hide and seek.
• Atlantis – Huge slides, great fun!

Lowlight

Chad

• Missing out on the Red Sea – my favorite snorkeling and diving location last time. We chose to skip it this time due to safety concerns

Heidi

• Pissed off taxi driver – we had a couple of snafus with transport in Egypt, seemed to be a side effect of their absolute hunger for tourist dollars while numbers are lower.  There was so much competition for our business and the annoying constant pursuit of a tip led to some sour grapes.

Liam

• Bug bites – I counted 113 on my body and about another 50 on my face from one night of sleeping on the Nile on our felucca (boat)

Shia

• Bushy-bushy – (otherwise known as having to use the natural bathroom) This is never fun, but on the shores of the Nile during our overnight Felucca trip was a particular lowlight, mainly due to the lack of bushes…