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