Our last morning in the Desert

Marj says "Hello!" We're sitting in the courtyard of our Baharya Oasis with the hotel's kitty. She's ready for breakfast, I am, too!

Yesterday was an amazing day! The morning started with a delicious breakfast at our encampment. I wouldn't call what we did camping because we didn't pitch our own tents, we didn't slept in beds, we had running water (albeit no showers) and a mess hall and chef--let's hear it for 5-star camping in the desert!

After breakfast we went out into the white desert to enjoy seeing the very unusual rock formations. It was not hot yet, but the sun was strong and we knew it was only a matter of time.

Here's a photo of our tent. You can see it's quite comfortable and very romantic.



As we were heading out into the white desert, and before we went off-road, we came across some camels. Camels are not native to Egypt, but were imported from Asia.

We soon went off-road and visited the highlights of the White Desert, and there are many. It's such a unique area. In fact, one of the amazing things about the entire desert safari experience is that every excursion looks completely different! Such diversity in such a small area. The rock formations that are the most famous are the mushroom formations. The wind has eroded the rock in such a way that they're shaped like mushrooms. I guess the sediment layers near the base of the formations is softer (was less compacted?) and so erodes at a faster rate than the top layers. The wind and sand have created some masterful sculptures!



After visiting the mushroom area, we went to a spot with what appeared to be a very ancient tree on top of a hill. From this spot we had a panorama of the entire mushroom section of the white desert! We gathered for a merging heart tone.



From there we were driven to a small oasis and after that went to a rock formation that I called the Uluru of the White Desert. It was a large white rock protruding out of the desert. The views from the top of the rock were incredible. I don't think any photo could do it justice, although I hope all of the ones we took come close! We'll see.

By the time we left this location, it was getting really hot! We began making our way back to the encampment driving through more of the mushroom rock formations. On these stops more and more people remained in the jeeps to avoid the heat. At some locations we simply took our photos from the car and moved on--in typical tourist mode: been there, saw that, bought the t-shirt! :-)

Once we arrived back at the encampment it was at least 110˚ F! We were all seeking any shade we could find. Fortunately, there was a nice breeze and that helps. We had another gourmet lunch (by camping standards). I ate my first fresh pomegranate. It's a little work to the get at the fruit, but once you do it's delicious! It reminds me of the taste of the Italian liquor Compari (which I happen to like).

After lunch we packed our bags and headed towards the Baharya Oasis. Enroute our first stop a the Crystal Mountain. We tried to prepare people for what they would see at this stop by having a photo of it in our brochure, but some people had images in the mind of well, a crystal mountain! The fact is that it's not really a mountain and not a quartz crystal formation. It is, however, a large out cropping in the middle of the desert of crystals! Again, photos will follow if I can't get them uploaded from here.

After a merging heart tone at the crystal mountain, we headed into the Black Desert. On our inspection trip in January, we drove though the Black Desert without making any stops. Yesterday, they took us to an amazing location off road and it was amazing to see the Black Desert up close. It was nothing like I thought it would be. The light was perfect for photography and the temperature was at least 20 degrees cooler than it was in the desert! There was a strong wind and now everyone was more than willing to get out of the jeeps and enjoy themselves. One of the drivers made tea for everyone. A couple hours earlier we were all wilted flowers with no energy and now we were all laughing and enjoying ourselves.

Well, we're getting ready to leave the hotel and a photo is still uploading. I'll go ahead and post this and add the photos later.

Thanks and Love,
Stuart

Greetings from the Desert

Last night we camped in the desert and it was the best night's sleep Lea's had since we were in Cairo! I slept well, too. :-) Lea woke me up about 2:30 a.m. so I could escort her to the latrine, which was fine with me because I needed to go, too! The stars were amazing. We just stood outside the tent for a few minutes just taking them in. With Lea's impaired vision, it's very rare for Lea to see stars anymore--so for her to see so many was such a gift! At one point, we both said, "Shooting Star!" and she started crying. The two of us seeing the same shooting star was such a gift. As I was typing this, Lea said she was thinking about the shooting star last night. I told her that I was writing about it just now. She said that it was a "Universe Loves me best moment" for her and that it must have really wanted her to see that star.

Our camp is deluxe. Each tent has one or two beds (with enough room to move a round), a bed-side table, a peg rack, shelf and mirror combo, waste basket and a great view from our front and back door! If you're going to camp in the desert, this is the way to do it!

Last night before dinner, we did a Toning. It was such a gift to get to tone with our friends in the middle of the desert! During the Love Circle everyone shared their gratitudes for being able to be together in the desert and for the trip in general.

The chef prepared us a lovely vegan, wheat-free dinner of rice, moussaka, cucumbers, tomatoes, grapes, and a oriental pastry. After dinner, we went out to the desert and sat around a camp fire. We were so amazed at how cool the sand was. It was burning our feet a couple hours earlier. We were also amazed that we were so close to a fire when we were so hot earlier in the day. We shared ghost stories around the fire and people talked about their haunted houses and Lea told people about the ghost kitty in our house. One of the drivers (whose name escapes me) came over the camp fire and began making coffee Bedouin style. It involved crushing coffee beans by hand with a mortar and pestal. He also crushed and added ginger. He then stiffed it into a small long-necked ceramic pot. He took some coals from the fire and put them into a shallow pit in the sand and sat the pot in the coals. Every now and then, he would take the pot and rub the bottom of it with a oil-soaked cloth and put it back on the coals. The oil kept the pot from cracking, I was told. Once the pot started steaming, he put out 8 small cups and put a small amount of sugar in each one. He then put something fibrous into the spout (to filter out the grinds) and poured a small amount into each cup. It was an amazing ritual he shared with us. Many of us drank his coffee and it was delicious! So strong, sweet and spicy!

This morning we're heading into the White Desert. I'm really looking forward to going back and to sharing this amazing place with our friends! They're going to love it!

Lea sends her love and asks me to let her her folks know that she's doing well and that this blog is their postcard! :-)

Time for coffee!

Thanks and Love,
Stuart

Getting ready to depart the Dakhla Desert Lodge

We're going to be heading into the white desert today and will be leaving soon. We have a lot of ground to cover, but not as much as yesterday. I slept pretty well but woke up a lot due to the heat. I slept better than Lea, did, though. She eventually got up and soaked a wash cloth to lay on her body to try to cool down and that seemed to help. Here are some photos of the Desert Lodge. Everyone loved this hotel, in spite of the heat, and many said they wished we could stay there another night.





Soon after we arrived, and as we were checking in, we were gifted with a panoramic view of a lovely sunset.





This morning, some folks went out to the abandoned Islamic city, Qsar, while the rest of us took a leisurely morning. I woke at 6:00 a.m. without an alarm and headed down to the hot-spring pool. I was the only one there. It was relaxing, refreshing and very peaceful. Here's a photo of the man-made pool. On the far right-hand side of the photo is where the hot spring water comes into the pool. It feels great to sit there and let the incoming water massage your back. The rest of the pool is from cool to tepid, depending on where you are. When you get out the breeze really cools you down and being that this is in the desert you dry off rather quickly.



After departing our hotel, we made a quick stop at some nearby tombs. I noticed that we could see the Desert Lodge hotel from the tombs.



I hope to have internet access while in the White Desert. We'll see.

Thanks for reading and love from Egypt,
Stuart

Greetings from the Dakhla Oasis

Tonight we're in the Dakhla Oasis for one night after a long day of driving through the desert. It was a fantastic day, but a long and hot one! We arrived at this incredible desert lodge as tired puppies. Everyone seems to be enjoying the lodge in spite of their lack of AC. It's unbearably hot, but other than that it's all great!

We made several stops on the way from Luxor to here. I think everyone was really impressed to be in the desert. Here's a photo of some of our folks walking along a sand dune at our first stop of the day.



Here's a video of one of the Land Cruisers in the desert. It will hopefully give you an idea of some of the off-road treks we made.



I'd love to post more, but this connection is really slow and I'm really tired. Tomorrow should be an easier day of travel. I'm looking forward to spending the night in the desert. I won't have internet access there. Will try to connect somewhere soon.

Thanks and Love,
Stuart

Final night on board the Royal Serenade

Well, the group trip is rapidly coming to an end. It was a jam-packed, amazing and delight-filled 8-days. We are truly a tired bunch. Samuel really worked us hard and I think yesterday's ceremony demanded a lot from us physically. This morning was free and some went on an organized shopping trip with Mena and Yasser, while some wandered Luxor, shopping for some last-minute souvenirs or remained on the ship. This afternoon, we were back with Samuel for our closing meeting. It went for nearly 4 hours--time really flies when you're having fun!

We talked about yesterday's working and about our favorite memories from the trip. Many said that they Egyptian people were the highlight of the trip for them and that they will go home with a deeper appreciation for the act of love that is a smile. The Egyptians have beautiful, warm and friendly smiles. Several people commented that they really enjoyed walking through the City Star Mall in Cairo to watch the Egpytian's interact with each other. There was always so much laughter and smiling going on.

Samuel ended today's meeting by blessing each one of us individually. We first held David Oldham's Brazilian crystal wand over our hearts with both hands and exhaled into it releasing our humanity. We then, one-by-one, stood in front of Samuel and received these words from him. "You are mine, and you are me. You will see as Source sees. You will hear as Source hears. You will speak as Source speaks, and you will love as Source loves." He touched our eyes, ears, mouth and heart as he spoke each sentence. It was a rare and intimate moment with him and one I think everyone truly cherished and will long remember. It was a magical way to end an incredibly magical trip!

Those going on the Desert Safair post-trip, have a 5:00 a.m. wake-up call. We leave at 6:30 a.m.--not exactly the most relaxing way to begin a post trip, but necessary. We have roughly 350 miles to cover tomorrow on narrow desert roads with several stops to make along the way. I hope that the early departure doesn't mean we'll sleep our way through the drive! It would be good to actually see the desert and not sleep through it! :-)

It's almost midnight, so I better sign-off for now. I hope to be able to continue my blog while in the desert, but I have no idea it there will be service there. We shall soon see.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about our journey and that you visit my blog again sometime soon.

Many blessings,
Stuart

Rocking the Boat

The final part of our Dragon working was a modified Toning. As I mentioned earlier, Samuel changed the pitch of "F-sharp" to "B-flat" so that we were toning the pitches of "A", "B-flat" and "D". Another important modification was the substitution of the typical visualization at the end of Toning with a Dragon Activation visualization.

First of all, I have to say I was amazed at the sound of the men's circle at the beginning of Toning--it was so powerful and unearthly sounding. Then, while we were doing the new Dragon visualization at the end of Toning, the boat began rocking so much that I thought I might lose my balance and fall down. I thought to myself that the Dragon was awakening. We'd been cruising for over a week and I have never felt the boat rock like that once. After the ritual, I went up to the sundeck thinking that we were still cruising but we had already docked. I was disappointed because I had wanted to enjoy more cruising after the working, and because my left brain kicked in and said that the rocking I felt during the visualization must have happened at the same time our ship was docking. So, the Universe, in its infinite wisdom decided to prove my left brain wrong. This morning our ship has moved and re-docked several times to allow other vessels to depart. Not once has the boat rocked like it did last night during the toning. The boat has simply glided effortlessly back and forth without the slightest rock--it's been this same way throughout the entire trip! Last night's rocking was a one-time event--the Activation of the Dragon!

I find it interesting that my human self was so ready to dismiss the work we had just done. Samuel said that our working with Shining Energy as we did would activate our human security needs. I think this is what I was experiencing. I'm so glad that the Universe proved me wrong so quickly this morning! That was such a gift!

Thanks for reading. I'll try to post more later after our final meeting with Samuel.

Until then, love and blessings from Egypt!

Stuart

Our final afternoon of cruising

We arrived back to the ship yesterday afternoon around 3:30 for a late lunch. Afterward, some of us went up to the sun deck to enjoy our last cruise back to Luxor from Qena. It was my favorite time of day for taking photos. Everyone was relaxing and just having a good time as we crept our way up stream to our final destination. The landscape was very pastoral--fisherman fishing along the banks, children playing along the sugarcane/palm-lined shore, an occasional cluster of minarets protruding above the palm trees and the escarpment in the distance--it was the quintessential cruise of Egypt!







Here's a collection of Nile river Goddess photos.

We did it! The Dragon has been activated! :-)

It's 11:39 p.m. Luxor time and we're back in our cabin after the most amazing and miraculous working I think we've ever done. It was simply an effortless dance of one-heart, one-mind, and one body. I've never participated in a group working that was so excellently executed that it seemed to just flow with such precision and grace. I was touched at well we did it. It was one of the most, if not THE most, complex workings that we've done and certainly had more speaking parts than I can remember our ever having. At one point I took note that there were 22 people standing in the center of the circle and each of them had a speaking part, at one time or another, and many of the parts were to be spoken in unison by pairs with their backs to each other! I mean, come on, Samuel! That's tricky to do even if you're facing each other, but all four of these pairs spoke in such unison--it was a sure sign that we were fully merged with each other.

More than any other working, I felt like the toning aspect was less necessary than ever before. I really felt like the work we did prior to the toning was so powerful that this alone could have activated the Dragon and that the toning was just the icing on the cake. It was that goooood! :-)

Samuel said that we were one, that we matched the needed frequency and that we WERE the Dragon!

So many people made this possible. Everyone played such an important role that we couldn't have done it without the complete team effort--from Sylvia organizing the moving of the marble coffee tables that were obstacles, to Suzanne leading incredible tonings, to the eleven people charged with anchoring the energy of the last 5 successful Dragon workings, to the ship's kitchen staff and chef who have fed us so well throughout out cruise. The list just goes on and on.

As always, there's so much more to write than words can express or that time allows. I'm really crashing now and Lea's already fallen asleep. I hope to add more tomorrow.

About half of the group is going shopping tomorrow morning at 8:30 to buy papyrus and alabaster, etc. I'm planning on hanging loose. I've been awake by 5:30 a.m. most mornings this week, so I hope I can sleep in a little bit tomorrow. We'll see.

We have our final closing meeting tomorrow afternoon. I hope it will be a wonderful recap of tonight's working and a celebration of our magical time together. This has been such an amazing trip.

On Monday, a group of about 30 of us head to the Desert for a safari! I hope I stay healthy. I was so sick when Lea, Frank and I were in the desert for our Inspection Trip back in January. I barely remember some of the places we visited. So far, I've been well and not had any problems. I think eating vegan is the answer for me. I do look forward to getting back to our raw-food diet once we're home. Eating cooked food just seems too heavy and lifeless to me now.

Well I must stop for now. Until tomorrow. Sleep with the Dragons!

Stuart

Leaving Abydos

We're now leaving Abydos. It was a fantastic visit at one of the most complete and sacred temples we've visited on this trip. We had a brief tour from our guides, Mena and Yasser, and then met with Samuel! We were able to fit everyone into the "Holy of Holies" for our meeting. We had to leave a small path for other visiters to walk through as the were more rooms behind it. There were no other tour groups in at the site, but there were some couples visiting. Our time in the "Holy of Holies" was brief but was memorable. The energy of the space, of the entire site of Abydos, is palpable. We thought that we might try to do the ritual there, but the atmosphere really wasn't conducive to that. When we were here in 1998 we were here late in the day. Our boat was able to cruise all the way up the Nile to Abydos. They don't allow ships to cruise that far North any longer. Also, we were here within the year of the 1997 massacre at Hatshepsut's temple. That horrific event did exactly what the terrorists hoped it would do--obliterate Egyptian tourism overnight. Because of this we were the only visitors in 1998 and completely undisturbed. Today, there were few visitors, but enough that we couldn't really do a longer working.

Samuel said that at Abydos we were ate an ancient crossroads--a place where balance is found. He said, "You're more balanced than you've ever been, unless you were here before (which I took to mean being at Abydos with the group in 1998).

When Samuel first "arrived" he asked us how we liked it. Heidi answered, "A part of me is home!" Samuel commented that, "Heidi said it well."

I agree with Heidi. I don't know if I feel that way only because of the work we did there in 1998, or not. Either way, Abydos will always hold a special place in my heart.

Our meeting was brief, but before Samuel "left" we did a merging heart tone before taking our free time. Samuel asked us to think about what we released to the river Nile a few days ago and to think about what was left of us after releasing that. He said, "I want that being to do a merging heart tone, merging with this holy space. This room is a miracle. This is a working of the Light. I call on the Light in you, the love that you are. . . . and fill your hearts and souls and let it pour forth in conscious song."

At Samuel's request, Suzanne then led us in the most poignant and beautifully merged heart tone I can ever remember. It was completely magical. I asked permission from Samuel to record it and he said I could as long as I posted it on HIS website, not mine! :-) That, of course, was my intent all along. I can't do that, though, until I return home. Sorry.

We're on the bus and my laptop's battery is getting low. I will post this now, but if I have enough juice, I'll add some photos before signing off.

The first photo is from the room just behind the Holy of Holies, where we had our meeting. You can see the amazing artwork on the walls with vibrant colors. It's hard to believe they're 3,200 years old.



This photo is of me outside the temple at the Osirion--the first tomb for Osiris.



Tonight is our ritual! Tonight we activate a Dragon!

Love,
Stuart

Heading to Abydos

Technology is amazing. Folks who were on the trip in 1998 are amazed. Back then you had to go to reception to make a phone call outside the ship. Now everyone's blackberries and iPhones are working everywhere. As I type this on my laptop, I'm on the bus heading to Abydos! Let's here it for 3G technology.

We had a 4-hour meeting with Samuel yesterday in which we did a walk through of the ritual we're doing later today. Heidi has done, as always, an amazing job organizing, printing the parts, getting them out to folks, etc. She's so good at it and makes it look easy. Just like Suzanne, she's such a gift to all of us.

Yesterday afternoon we discovered that there was a translation error in the ritual. The men AND women are supposed to tone a B-flat. Up to the point, we thought only the men were toning a B-flat. Putting this change in adds a whole new level of complexity. For those who know music, the pitches A and B-flat are only a half-step apart and that is a dissonant interval. It's a bit of a challenge for the men to hold the A while the women sing a B-flat. The natural inclination is to resolve the tension by going up to match their A. However, we're not doing that. We stay on the A, while they tone a B-flat and then we move to a D. The pitches, B-flat and D are very harmonious together, and that's good.

The bus is really quiet right now. Some are sleeping, most are awake. Everyone appears to have their "game face" on. We received word from Lea at breakfast this morning that we might actually do the ritual AT Abydos! Everyone is on high alert!

The temple of Abydos is amazing. Seti I began construction of the temple but his son, Ramses II, completed it. In my opinion, no carvings surpass the quality of Abydos. The details and craftsmanship is amazing to see. Some look like they were just finished yesterday. It's hard to imagine that they're 3,200 years old!

Right now, we're driving through a small village and Lea waved at a little girl from the bus window. The girl blew her a kiss!

We just entered an area where we have a lot of sugar cane growing on our left and the escarpment is on our right. The rifer Nile is on the other side of the sugar cane fields. The irrigation canals and the High Dam allow for multiple growing seasons each year--three times a year for the sugar cane. After the third harvest, they burn the field to fertilize it after the third harvest.

We're now driving through an area where the road has rejoined the Nile. The river is very wide hear and I can't distinguish between the water and the sky on the horizon--they're are ONE!

I just transferred some photos to my computer and saw this one of our guide, Yasser, at Luxor. He's showing us the base of a statue that was broken and repaired in ancient times. I love Yasser's smile because he smiles with his eyes as well as his mouth. He's definitely a kindred spirit. He's an artist as well as a tri-lingual (Arabic, English and Japanese) tour guide.



I'm going to conserve my battery power for the trip home. I'll let you know what we did at Abydos!

Thanks and love,
Stuart

Denderah

We had a morning excursion to Denderah yesterday. It was such a busy day, that I haven't had time to write about it or transfer my photos to my computer, yet. Also, the internet connection where we're docked hasn't been great. I keep getting knocked off line. I will try to post more about yesterday sometime soon.

As promised, I'll fill in this gap now that I'm home.

I woke up early this morning as we were cruising to Esna for a visit to Denderah. It was quite chilly up on deck so I wrapped myself in a pool towel and enjoyed the rural landscape as we floated by. It was peaceful and no one was on deck except for me and Jerry. He was wrapped in a towel, too!

The sun rises early in Egypt in September. I was waking up at 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. and never saw a sunrise! Needless to say, the work day begins early for Egyptians and as we cruised by they were already working along the banks, in the fields and casting their nets.






Here's a short video of this morning's cruise.



Denderah is a temple dedicated to the cow goddess, Hathor. She's the goddess of music, dance, fertility, etc. The main temple is surrounded by a mud-brick enclosure and a few Hellenistic temples. Once inside, there's no Hippo-style Hall or Grecco-Roman influences--the main temple is all Hathor! They're doing a marvelous job of removing the soot and dirt from the temple and the colors underneath as absolutely amazing--like they were painted yesterday!





As we were leaving, I wanted to take a photo of Hathor with Matt's necklace he gave us to bring to Egypt for him. Hathor is one of his favorite Deities. In the photo you can also see the result of henna on my palm (which we did the day before--I think).



Thanks and love,
Stuart

Karnak

We visited Karnak Temple yesterday morning (two days ago,now). It was hot but very enjoyable. The site is HUGE and everyone was blown away by the scale of the monuments. No photos can really do them justice. The site is sprawling because it was the capitol of Egypt and the religious center for thousands of years. Every pharaoh wanted to leave his/her mark on the place and they added more and more courtyards and temples and pylons, etc. They were all carved and painted. Some pigments can still be seen but most have long since vanished.

I took a couple photos of Priscilla at the site. Today (yesterday, now) is her birthday so we have a small party planned for her, Lakshmi (who shares the same birthday) and Marj whose birthday is Saturday) on board the ship. Steven brought some decorations and Lea, Frank and I have been invited to sit at a table with them. It will be a lot of fun!

In the first photo she's standing in from of a statue of Ramses II (I think).




The next one is more of a close up so her son, Zevn, and husband, Lee, can see her and know that she's doing well, but missing them, of course.



Thanks for reading my blog and please come back again sometime soon!

Salam,
Stuart

Galabeya Night!

This was such a fun night! We all dressed up in Egyptian garb for dinner and ate a feast of Egyptian food--falafel, tahini, koshari, pita bread, etc. Near the end of the meal, the group gave the chef a standing ovation! It was delicious! They're really going above and beyond to provide us with vegan food. Once again, I'm very impressed with Egyptian hospitality!

The costumes people wore to dinner were amazing. I don't know how anyone had time to shop on this trip to buy their outfits, but almost everyone was dressed in Egyptian clothing. It was fun to see. David, Greg and Tamar George, were among some of the "best dressed."



After dinner we went to the top deck for our nightly toning practice under the Egyptian stars! All the tonings here have been magical and this one was no exception. As soon as we descended the staircase from our toning, the staff began singing and drumming, ushering us into the lounge parade style where we all danced in one large circle. I surprised myself by joining in and participating in all the festivities! I'm usually an observer in situations like this, but all the games were a lot of fun and some were very familiar. There was one game where we had to pass a large water bottle from person to person using only our necks! It was hilarious to watch. The funny thing is I was standing next to Rebecca who is very petite. I felt like a giant next to her and trying to pas this bottle to her neck was a challenge! I'm sure it was pretty funny to watch.

We're getting ready for our meeting where we do a run through of tomorrow's activation ceremony. Heidi, as usual, is doing an incredible job organizing this for us. She's such a gift to us. I think few people realize how much responsibility this is and the amount of thought and her work she puts into it. I know it's a gift of love, but it's still a huge amount of work for her.

Thanks for reading and visiting my blog. I hope you come back again soon!

Salam,
Stuart

Henna Hands

We spent a couple hours yesterday on the sun deck enjoying a wonderful afternoon of cruising the Nile and henna painting our hands. It was a lot of fun and a real bonding time together. At today's meeting, Samuel said that our energy was much more unified and he asked if we knew what did it. One of the things that I think helped was the time we spent on deck laughing and playing as we painted our hands with henna.

I took this photo of David as he waited for his henna to dry before scraping it off.



I'm just too tired to do any more posting tonight. It's been a very wonderful but very full day.

I can't seem to get the Philae video to upload properly. I may be exceeding my allowed bandwidth on it. I'm sorry it's not come through, yet. I hope it will eventually. If not, it's not a big deal. It just show parts of the boat ride and temple. We'll see.

Thanks and good night!

Stuart

Philae

Today was an awesome day. I began with an optional Toning at 6:30 a.m. on the sun deck. Breakfast began at 7:00 and we departed for the Temple of Philae at 8:30.

The Temple of Philae was moved to higher ground by UNESCO in order to save it from the inundation created by the Nasar Dam. I'm really glad that this temple was saved, it's beautiful. The only way you can reach it is by boat.

Here's a roughly edited video of our boat ride over to the site.



We returned to ship in time for lunch and began cruising north back to Luxor.

After lunch we all went to the sun deck to enjoy our cruise down the Nile, but to also put henna on the palms of our hands. Samuel explained that red hands can be found in the art of almost all ancient civilizations. We've seen it on previous trips--in the Yucatán and Australia, for example. They can represent an affirmation of "self", the "I am", and mark a celebration--a highlight of a human experience. They also represent unity when done as a group with a conscious intent. So, under the masterful tutelage of Lakshmi, several people served by putting henna on our hands. It was a sacred work that was fun, loving, sensual and chaotic! Most people's hand were done by one person, but I was lucky and Lea did my left hand and Mary Claire my right. So, I can now officially say I had a "three-way" in Egypt! :-)

Here's a photo of Lea putting the henna on someone's palm.



There's still more to share with you about yesterday . . . our afternoon meeting with Samuel, our galabeya (sp?) night (Egyptian dress-up dinner) and party! It was so much fun! I hope to post more about this later today, but now, I must get ready for our excursion to the temple of Karnak--everyday is another major temple and highlight!

Thanks for reading my blog and please come back again sometime soon.

Salam Aliekom (goodbye),
Stuart

Kom Ombo

We arrived at Kom Ombo in the late afternoon and docked right at the foot of the Temple. By the time we disembarked and walked to the temple, it was almost sunset. I was surprised by how many cruise ships were docked there. For the first time, we had no breeze and diesel fumes from the vessels hung thick in the air creating respiratory problems for some in our group, including Lea. I've noticed she's been coughing on and off today. :-(

Lea and I joined our guide, Mena, for the Kom Ombo tour. Up to that point we had been on tours with Yasser. It would be virtually impossible for a group of 56 to visit the temples as one. Dividing the group into two is much easier to manage so we have two guides. I really enjoyed Mena's explanations of Kom Ombo. We are so lucky to have two very knowledgeable egyptologists with us.

Unfortunately, I don't have many photos from the site because it quickly became too dark to shoot anything without a tri-pod. I don't use flash as it often gives Lea migraines. Here's one photo I was able to take shortly after arriving. It's looking up at some of the Grecco-Roman columns of the inner courtyard. I like how it frames the moon. Near the bottom you can see how hazy the air is from all the ships exhaust.



Being on sites in two groups seemed to create less of a feeling of oneness and we were all missing that. So, after discussing our options at our meeting yesterday afternoon, we decided to add group tonings every night and morning on board the ship. At each site, the two groups come together after our separate tours and do a short toning before having some free time. The pitches we're using at "D" and "B-flat". We all do one pitch and then the other. We're merging with each other as a mother loves a child, we then merge with the energy of the site, and then merge with the Dragon force of the Nile. All our tonings have seemed very "on" to me and very "sweet." The last two nights we've done toning practices, complete with Star Weavings and a love/gratitude circle on the upper sun deck. I'm so amazed and grateful that we get to tone in such aswesome places on these trips. None, so far, are better than toning with our dear friends under the stars on our privately chartered ship cruising up the Nile--how it can it get any better than this?

Edfu Temple

We're back on the ship and are now cruising South (towards upper Egypt) to Kom Ombo. We had a fantastic trip to Edfu this morning. It was hot, of course, but not stifling. I'm sitting up on the sun deck in the shade sipping a hibiscus tea (karkade) (sp?) that's quite refreshing and apparently full of vitamin C. People are lounging, reading, dipping in the pool and taking photos of the banks as we slowly sail upstream. It's quite relaxing.

Upload speeds are bit slow right now, but I'll try to post some photos of our trip. The first will be of the outer entrance to Edfu Temple. There are two or three more entrances to the temple. This is the largest and the outer-most entrance. Our guide, Yasser, explained that the temple forms a type of pyramid laying on it's side. The floor gradually elevates as you move from the outer wall to the inner-most shrine--the holy of holies--where the representation of the god lived. The ceiling also gradually gets lower and the width gradually narrows which all works together to create the effect. The focal point is obviously the shrine which is in the oldest part of the temple.



I didn't get any photos of the inner-most shrine today, so I can't post those images, but I do have a very nice photo of a very exotic woman who looks a whole lot like Shelia--because it is! She looks like she could blend in with the locals except for the golden locks peeking out from her scarf. She's so beautiful, much more so than the temple!



This next photo is of Dan, Shelia and Gomaa (pronounced "Jo-Ma)--one of our servers on the ship--a very nice man. His name is Arabic for Friday, the Islamic holy day of the week, the day of the week that he was born, hence the name. I look forward to getting to know more the staff as the week progresses.



Already, the staff is warming up to our group. It didn't take long for the maitre di (sp?), (the spell-checker for this blog isn't working--sorry), Moustafa, to start joking with the group. Our first meal on board was lunch yesterday. As we entered the dining room, he proudly told us that the entire lunch was vegan and that nothing was made with butter. He said if anyone asks if there's butter in something, they'll have to go sit outside! :-) He was so cute!

Well, they just "gonged" us to lunch, I better wrap this post up. More to follow.

Thanks for visiting and much love to you from Egypt!

Stuart

Cruising the Nile

We are all together now cruising the Nile! Everyone seemed to arrive in good spirits and ready to get to work. Which is good because we have less than a week to Activate this Dragon! :-0 But, I'm confident that we're up to the task!

Yesterday was a grueling day. We checked out and left the hotel at 6:30 a.m. and didn't arrive to our cruise ship until 2:45 p.m. We spent the entire time visiting the sites on the West Bank. It was extremely hot and dry. The sun was very intense. I took this photo just before we left on our excursion from our Luxor hotel which obviously is right on the Nile. The air is very dry and very clear. When we were here in January it was winter and the air was polluted from all the fires. People heat their homes by burning, what I'm not sure, and they were burning the fields after they had harvested the sugar cane. Now the air is much clearer and much easier to breath.



The tour of the West Bank was our longest and will be our most challenging excursion. Originally, we had scheduled this morning for another day, but for some reason the Nile river authorities wouldn't allow us to follow that schedule. They regulate the traffic on the Nile and our program had us sailing at night, or going through a lock at a time that wasn't allowed. This meant that our first day would be our most challenging, which isn't the best case scenario. People were jet-lagged, hot and tired, but were also real troopers and they all seemed to love seeing the temples and tombs, as was I. I've seen these sites 4 times now and I still enjoy visiting them. I mostly enjoy going to Hatshepsut's Temple, but only first thing in the morning! It gets so hot there! Here's a photo of the temple from the entrance.




The priests of Thebes wouldn't allow Hatsheptsut to build her tomb in the Valley of the Kings (since she was a queen). Her work-around was to build her mortuary temple on the other side and tunnel her way into the valley--clever woman! There are some amazing colors still intact in the temple. I'll try to post more photos later, if we have time.

We had our first meeting with Samuel yesterday and I'd say we hit the ground running. There's not much time. He gave out a written Dragon visualization that he asked roommates to read out loud to each other, at least once a day, so that we would all learn it and know it by heart. The visualization has all the activated Dragons merging into each other one-by-one in reverse order of their activation. I think it's going to be very powerful when we all do it together with Samuel!

Well, I need to stop for now. It's 7:15 a.m. I need to get ready for the day. We visit two temples--Edfu and Kom Ombo and have another group meeting this afternoon. I'll try to write more later today.

Thanks and Love,
Stuart




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Saqqara and more

Yesterday was a busy day. We left very early for our excursion to Saqqara. We'll have a lot early morning departures on this trip because of the heat. Yesterday we left at 7:00. Tomorrow morning it will be 6:30!

We went to the funerary site of Saqqara yesterday morning and had an excellent tour with Yasser and Mina before having our only meeting with Samuel on the Cairo portion of the trip. We knew there would be no shade at Saqqara and that it would be very hot--we were mostly right about that. We did manage to place Samuel up against one of the walls so that he was mostly shaded. I spent the second half of our 1-hour (more or less) holding an umbrella to provide him with shade. Everyone else was in the sun and there was no complaining--we have such a great group! We were also so very blessed to have a wonderful breeze the entire time there--thanks weather fairies! :-)

In the meeting Samuel spoke to us about the importance of preparing ourselves for the work ahead--Activating the Nile Dragon. In order to do that he said we needed to release anything holding us back. He said that we've all done a lot of releasing the past 2 years and he asked for examples from people as to what they've released. He spoke to us about the importance of walking the site with "open feet" in order to open ourselves up to the energy of the place and to focus on releasing that which we need to let go of in preparation for the work ahead. He spoke to us about sound and gave us an exercise to do at the entrance of the complex in which we toned the pitches "D" and "B-flat." We were to face one of the niches in the wall of the entrance (see photo below for a view of the wall) and as we toned we were to connect with Shining Energy. At least this is my memory of it. I wasn't able to take notes, so I don't have them to refer back to and yesterday seems like a long time ago--but in a good way, though! :-)



Before we left Lexington, Matthew gave us part of one of his belly dancing belts and a small statue of Bastet (the Egyptian cat goddess) that Lea, Frank and I had gifted him with years ago to bring with us. He has always had a strong affinity to anything Egyptian. It didn't seem right to us that he not be here with us on this trip--though we understand completely why he couldn't join us being that the trip fell at the beginning of his junior year of college (we're sure getting older!)--and we guess it didn't feel right to him either, so he gave us these objects to bring with us to represent him. I brought his belly dancing belt with me to Saqqara and sat it in the sand at Samuel's feet during our meeting yesterday. At one point, Samuel picked it up and mentioned how strong Matthew's connection is to Egypt and that he had been a part of the seeding. Wow! Way to go Matt! We plan to bring his objects to all the sites so they soak up the energy of these places that he helped create millennia ago.

We then went to a very well preserved tomb of a nobleman near the Saqqara complex and some went into Titi's pyramid, which was adjacent to the tomb. Since this is the tomb of a nobleman and not a king, the scenes on the wall of the tomb pertain to his life and all the things that he wanted to carry with him into the afterlife. The scenes were carved in plaster and very well preserved. It is thought that some of the details in the scenes were made from molds. Either way, the fact that these have surived 4,500 years is amazing. Regardless of their age, they are beautiful from an artistic point of view. Add to that how old they are and that they are from a nobleman's tomb, not a king or queen, and you have a real treasure. I think the group really appreciated seeing it. I thoroughly enjoyed Yasser's explanation of the scenes and even though I had been there before, I found the tour very engaging and, well, entertaining! Personally, I'd put the carvings at this tomb in nearly the same category in terms of craftsmanship and artistry as the ones in Abydos. The major difference being that these are secular and Abydos' are not.

Well, as you can tell, a lot has happened in the last 24-hours.

I'm sorry for the stream-of-consciousness style here, but going back to dinner at the Khan al Khalili market, I wanted to say how touched Manal and Basem were with our group's welcoming them to dinner. A few of the people on the Cairo trip were here with us in 1998 and they, of course, re-introduced themselves to Manal and Basem. Many who were not on the trip in '98 introduced themselves to them and thanked them for all they've done to make this such an incredible trip. Folks told them how often they've heard people from that trip back in 1998 speak so highly of them and how grateful they were to be able to finally meet them. Lea, Frank and I were able to sit back and watch these exchanges. I think we were as touched Manal and Basem were by how loving it was. At one point, Manal turned to the three of us and said, "I love your groups!" We dittoed that! :-)

Because of the heat, I was very tired and headachy when we returned to the hotel after our Saqqara excursion. As of yesterday, Lea, Frank and I had been at the hotel for 6 days and we had really nested. In addition to completely repacking, we had try to find room for the things we bought while in Cairo. Unfortunately, some of the food (organic cucumbers, olives) was left behind while the organic dates and all the CDs I bought were able to be crammed into my travel-on and suitcase--afterall, we have to have our priorities! The dates are yummy and the CDs are such a treat. Some of them (mainly the newer releases) cost the equivalent of $4 US and they're not bootleg copies! Such a bargain!

Today is the end of Ramadan and everyone seems to be happy and in a festive mood! Ramadan is one of the 5 tenants of Islam, along with: giving alms to the poor; there is one god and Allah is his name; the haag (pilgrimage to mecca); and praying 5-times a day. I remember learning these from Manal on our 1997 Scouting trip and I've always remembered them. She's that good a teacher! :-) One could feel the energy and excitement building as the daylight fasting period was coming to an end. I'm amazed at how much people sacrifice during Ramadan. They can ingest no food and NO WATER from sunrise to sunset. Nothing enters their mouths! And we complain when Samuel asks us to do a three-day broth fast! :-)

We were going to bed early after packing last night (and after I made one last trip to the Virgin Megastore in the City Star Mall to purchase more CDs) when we heard a knock on the door. It was Tamer, who seems to be Gateways To Egypt's go-to-guy for airport transfers and all manner of things. He was stopping by to bring Lea a bouquet of flowers! That was so sweet of him. As I said before, Manal and Basem have some big-hearted people working for them (as we say, "like attracts like"), and Tamer is one of them.

Eid Mubarak, my friends! Today begins the festival of Eid. Eid is the name of one of the festivals associated with the end of Ramadan, and "Mubarak" is Arabic for "blessing." I didn't learn this until today. Travel is so educational! The call to prayer seemed especially longer this morning than on previous mornings (a large mosque was right across the street from our hotel). When Lea looked out the window she saw people running to the mosque, including the hotel's security men, and a police barracade on the street with cars triple parked. She thought something strange had happened, but we found out it was just a longer call to prayer due to the end of Ramadan and the beginning of the festival Eid (the food associated with this festival is cookies!). When I looked, I noticed that the had police had blocked the street next to the mosque because the overflow of worhippers from the mosque poured out into the street. Here's a photo taken from our hotel room window. You can see the men and prayer rugs on the street. I can't imagine how packed (and hot) it must have been inside!



We left the hotel at 8:30 a.m. to catch a 10:45 a.m. flight to Luxor. It was only a 45-minutes, or so, flight on a new Egypt Air jet. We left from Terminal 3, which just opened at the end of 2008. It's a beautiful airport with all the conveniences of a modern airport--very impressive. Again, Yasser and Mina, did an incredible job on this transfer. Group transfers can be very stressful and they handled it all very efficiently and professionally which meant it wasn't a stress for Lea, Frank or me in the slightest! I feel so lucky and so well cared for!

Well, I hear the pool calling me. It was too sunny go out earlier, but it's close to 5:00 and I probably won't be risking a sun burn.

Tomorrow we check out of the hotel with our bags outside our door at 5:45 a.m. and leave the hotel at 6:30. We visit Hatshepsut's Temple and the West Bank's Valley of the Kings, Queens and Artisans. From there we go directly to our cruise ship for check-in and lunch. Once on board, we start our cruise and after lunch our first meeting with Samuel and our work begins! As you can see, tommorow is going to be a really busy day. I'll try to send you a report again sometime soon.

Until next time, thanks and Love,
Stuart

Khan al Khalili Market

Last night we visited the famous Khan al Khalili Market for a delicious Egyptian dinner and some souvenir shopping. Manal and Basem joined us for desert and coffee and it was a lovely evening together. Our guides, Yasser and Mina, sat with us and they're a delight to work with. Manal and Basem have attracted some very lovely people to work with their company. Everyone associated with Gateway to Egypt has been so very professional, friendly and helpful. They're a real joy to work with.

Here's a photo of the five of us sitting in one of the booths at the restaurant located in the market. Thanks to Greg for taking this photo for us!



After dinner Yasser took me to a little shop that sells music. I bought a few CDs of artists that were recommended by he and Mina. I haven't had a chance to listen to them yet, but hope to soon.

Lea's upper-middle back on her left side is really sore. I just finished massaging it and the muscles on that side were very tight. I hope I was able to loosen it up a bit and that it hurts her less. She said it feels better, so we'll see.

We fly to Luxor tomorrow and I need to pack. I'll try to write again tonight before going to bed to let you know a bit about today's excursion to Saqqara.

Thanks again for visiting my blog and I hope you come back again soon.

Thanks,
Stuart

Arabic Music

Angela had asked for me to share some about Arabic music on this blog. Of course, I'm a complete novice when it comes to Arabic music--my band mate, oudist, George Wakim, would be much more qualified. Having said that, I'm trying to discover as much about Arabic music as I can while I'm here and am happy to share with you what gems I discover.

I did discover the "Egyptian Elvis", as he's sometime referred to, and one of the most famous Egyptian singers of all time, Abdel Halim Hafez. He's ranked in the top 4 best Egyptian singers which, of course, includes Um Kalthoum. He was very popular from the 50s through the 70s.

I found this video on YouTube that I'll embed here for your convenience. I'm sure there are a lot more out there, but this apparently is him singing one of his more popular songs. This is very similar to Um Kalthoum's music I've heard--with a full orchestra and long instrumental introductions, and the occasional electric guitar! This clip ends rather abruptly at the 10-minute mark (probably due to YouTube's file size limit) and I get the feeling that he's just getting warmed up. Most of Um Kalthoum's songs I have are 40 to 50 minutes long. It was part of that era. New Arabic songs are much shorter these days. Enjoy!

Hot-air Balloon Ride canceled indefinitely

We have been very excited about our upcoming hot-air balloon ride over Luxor scheduled for this coming Monday morning. When we were here in 1998 there was only one balloon company operating on the West Bank and the cost was well over $200 per-person (which is why Lea, Frank and I didn't do it then). Now days there are many balloons operating in Luxor and the increased competition has made it more affordable for the consumer. For this trip, we were able to offer it to our group for $79 US! 37 of us signed up to do the balloon ride. As you can tell by the number of people who signed up, offering this to our group generated quite a bit of excitement.

I received a call from Basem yesterday with some bad news. He informed me that the rides have been canceled indefinitely due to one of the balloons entering a militarized zone a couple days ago. With this being the weekend and the end of Ramadan falling on Sunday, offices will be closed and no one knows what the authorities are planning to do about this incident. The authorities respond in different ways at different times to these situations when they occur--and they have occurred before. Sometimes the license of the offending company is revoked and it's business as usual for everyone else. However, sometimes they suspend all balloon rides for a week or longer--the longest being a month. We hope that they will reinstate the rides sooner rather than later and that our group will be able to do the ride on the morning of the 27th, when our ship re-docks again in Luxor. Please visualize this, or something better, happening for us. Thanks! I think doing the ride would be a lot of fun and a great memory of our time together in Egypt. I hope it will still happen and with you're added energy, it still might. Thanks for holding this (or something better) in your thoughts for us.

Many thanks and blessings,
Stuart

Cairo Traffic

Cairo is the second largest city in the world and their traffic congestion is probably number one! As you can see from this photo, striped lanes are only a suggestion.

This is one of the major thorough fares and there seems to always be congestion. There are no traffic lights on this road, no overpasses and no left turns. In order to make a left turn you have drive beyond your desired street and make a U-turn at the nearest designated spot, you then need to drive back to your desired street and turn right. You sometimes have to drive a kilometer or more beyond your left turn and back again. It seems like a very inefficient way to manage traffic to me. There are a few round abouts here and there and inside them, it's a free-for-all, or so it appears. Drivers never use turn signals and always use their horn. It's cacophony of horns! It's amazing to me that there are so few accidents, but when you're only driving 10 mph not much can happen!

I would never, ever voluntarily choose to drive in Cairo!

Pyramids of Giza

Today's excursion was to see the pyramids and sphynx. We left at 8:00 a.m. and made good time to the pyramids due to little traffic. In the U.S. 8:00 a.m. would be rush hour, but apparently this is not the case in Cairo. Basem told us that Egyptians like to sleep in, but maybe this is just during Ramadan when devout Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. They stay up very late into the early hours of the morning so they get their meals in and to pray. The stores and town closes up from 5:30 to 7:30 so everyone can go home and break their fast. They re-open after that and stay open until very late.

Anyway, we made it to the pyramids in record time and took a tour of the area. It was hot, but not bad because there was a very nice breeze! Yay, weather fairies!

Here's a couple of photos of our trip. One is of Lea standing in front of one of the pyramids, so you can get an idea of the size of the stones used to build them. Next is a photo of the pyramid. They're HUGE!




After touring the pyramids, we visited the sphynx. It was still early enough in the day that the lighting was still pretty good for seeing the face of the sphynx. Later in the day it becomes more shadowed and less photogenic. Lea mentioned, and is right, that this is the first time we've ever seen the sphynx with so little scaffolding around it. Maybe the restoration project is finally wrapping up. We hope so. It's so much better seeing it this way without all the scaffolding blocking the view.



We made it back to the hotel around 2:00 p.m., so it was a 6-hour trip from door to door. The group seemed to really enjoy it and were pretty perky for having arrived only late yesterday afternoon.

This afternoon some were lounging/sleeping out by the pool. I think people are thrown off a bit that they they don't have a Samuel meeting to rush to after a quick lunch. I hope they enjoy it and don't get used to it, because that will happen soon enough, once we get to Luxor and join up with the rest of the group that are flying in.

So far, everyone has been saying how much they are loving Egypt--especially the people!

Thanks for reading and I'll post more later!

Love,
Stuart

Classical Egyptian Concert in Cairo

Last night I had a rare opportunity to attend a concert in the heart of Cairo. It was an amazing experience. The concert took place in a little outdoor square just east of the famous Khan al Khalili market. My driver let me and my escort off on the street bordering the east side of the market. We then walked southeast down many narrow streets with vendors and tiny cafes and juice bars to finally arrive at nice little square like an oasis in the city. I would have never found this place on my own (my Egyptian escort had to stop and ask for directions on several occasions) and I wonder how many tourists ever find it. I was apparently the only Westerner there last night!

The concert was by Nassir Shamma, a world-renowned oudist and virtuoso. Although, I didn't know this at the time. I learned about the possibility of hearing some traditional oud music from my friend in Berea. I forwarded his email with directions to the square to Basem and he, being the magician that he is, made it happen. As he told me just yesterday, everything is possible! :-)

My friend in Berea had told me the name of the musician, but it meant nothing to me. When I heard the oudist during sound check, I knew I was in for a real treat. I wrote to my dear friend, George, the oudist in my band, and told him who I had heard. He was extremely envious of me and told me that Nassir is one of the best known and most well respected oudists in the world. Wow!



I don't have model releases, so I can't post a close up of him, but this is the widest angle shot I have and because of that you can see the band, plus a little bit of the crowd and square. There was a nice breeze and it was quite pleasant to sit outside. However, even with the breeze, the cigarette smoke was choking at times--the Egyptians smoke as much, if not more, than the Spaniards!

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the group consisted of two violins, oud, cello, dumbek, rik and four singers.

I can't understand a word of Arabic and don't know any of the traditional/classical Arabic songs, but apparently they did renditions of many last night. I could see the crowd singing along with some of the songs and some, I was told, were Um Kalthoum's.

As you can perhaps tell by my writing, it was a magical evening for me. The only thing that would have/could have made it better was if Lea was able to go with me. It was a late event, starting around 10 p.m. The walk was uneven in dark narrow alleys. She would have had a difficult time getting there. Once there the seats weren't very comfortable and the smoke I already mentioned. It was a very good thing that she didn't try to go with me. I know she really wanted to but I think she made the right decision. Speaking of Lea, it's 8:53 p.m. now in Cairo and she's fallen asleep curled up with her book on her lap open the page she was reading. It's adorable. She's tired and we're still combating jet-lag.

Tomorrow, we go the pyramids! :-) This is exciting because we get to go with many of our friends, most who arrived today, as TOURISTS! The group trip (and our group work with Samuel) doesn't start until the 20th, so for a few days we get to all play together as tourists in Cairo! What a treat!

I'll post more later.

Thanks for reading my long ramblings and for visiting my Egypt blog.

As they say in Egypt, Salam Aliekom (goodbye)
Stuart

Ahmad Ibn Tulun Mosque

A couple years ago I met a belly dancer from Cairo who now lives in Berea. Her name is Nashua and she's a delightful person and an excellent dancer. This Spring I did a gig in Berea that was organized, in part, by her husband, a very nice man. A month or so ago, I asked them for ideas of places off-the-beaten path to visit in Cairo. We're are doing this trip, or I have already done on previous trips, most of the typical tourist sites in the city. So, yesterday's excursion and today's are based on the suggestions I received from Nashua's husband.

I mentioned in an earlier post that when we flew into Cairo on Sunday, I saw more of the city from the sky than ever before, and one place I had never visited before really stood out to me. It was a large courtyard with a dome in the center. Surrounding the courtyard was a wall with "niches" in it. That's about all I could distinguish from the air. The incredible thing is that today, based on Nashua's husband's suggestion, we visited that very site! How cool is that!

It's the Ahmad Ibn Tulun Mosque and it's a most unlike any I've ever visited. It's based on the Saudi style architecture with no roof and an open courtyard. There are parts of the mosque that are Iraqi and some that are Persian. It's a real fusion of architectural styles. It was a real treat to get to see this mosque. Another new experience was that instead of taking our shoes off, they laced some cotton or linen shoe covers overtop of our footwear. It was a lot better than taking off and carrying around our shoes, like we've done in other mosques--but it did make me and my feet hotter.

I climbed the minaret and took this photo of the open courtyard. The dome in the center is where the men wash themselves before praying. They actually pray underneath the portico facing Mecca. The amazing thing is that there was a very cooling breeze both underneath the portico and up in the minaret tower.

Attached to the mosque is two houses that were combined into one by British soldier, Gayer Anderson. Anderson traveled all over the world and collected many objects from his travels. His house became his own private museum. He made an agreement with the Egyptian government that if they allowed him to remain there he would donate the house and his entire collection to the Egyptian antiquities. So, today it is a museum. It was a very interesting house to visit with many objects from Egypt, India and China. There were a lot of steps and it wore Lea out to do it. I hope she's able to relax the rest of the day and feel better soon.

Karen and Rich Foltz arrived here yesterday afternoon and they joined us for today's excursion! It was a lot of fun to share it with them. :-)

Tomorrow, the rest of the Cairo travelers arrive! Yay! It will be great to visit the main sites with them!

Thanks for reading and visiting my blog!

Tonight I'm going to a traditional music performance. No one else is going with me. :-( But, I'm still going. It's my only guaranteed chance to hear traditional Egyptian Oud on this trip! I'm really looking forward to it! I'll give a report later.

Thanks and Love,
Stuart