From the category archives:

Egypt

No stamp please

by Keith on November 27, 2009 · 4 comments

“No stamp in the passports, please,” I politely asked the Egyptian Immigration Agent before handing over our passports.

“Ok,” replied the Immigration Agent.

Cha-chunk, cha-chunk (stamping my passport).

“What are you doing!?! I asked for no stamps in the passport.” I said with an elevated voice.

Cha-chunk, cha-chunk (now stamping Amy’s passport).

“Stop! Why are you not listening to me?” Now I’m quite loud, and the chatty Indonesian tour group behind us in line has grown silent to see what the crazy American is yelling about.

Two other Egyptian Immigration Agents come over and are trying to quiet me down by explaining, much to my frustration, that this is not an Israeli stamp, which I am of course well aware of. They then escort me out of line.

Let me back up here a bit. Crossing the Taba boarder from Egypt into Israel, Amy and I had planned to have Immigration stamp loose pieces of paper, not our passports. This is because while a Taba exit stamp is not an Israeli stamp, it might as well be in some countries (Syria, Lebanon, even the occasional overzealous UAE Immigration Agent) because there is only one place you are going if you leave from Taba, you guessed it, Israel. That is because after you exit Taba you then walk 100 meters to Israeli Immigration at Eilat. There is nowhere else to go unless you wanted to jump into the Red Sea and swim to Jordan. Now we are not planning on going to Syria or Lebanon but why not avoid potential future headaches by having the Immigration authorities simply stamp a piece of paper which they were happy to do after stamping “Cancelled” across our Taba exit stamps? In the end we will be fine, but it was a final less than awesome interaction with the Egyptian government.

Once we made it to Israeli Immigration the agent was more than happy to stamp a piece of paper once we explained we are going to the UAE. Even though the official stance of the UAE is that an American traveling on a US passport is permitted to enter, even if they have an Israeli stamp, we figure why ask for trouble when it is so easy to avoid? Well, easy when dealing with the Israeli agent.

So what is your best clearing Immigration story?

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Diving Dahab

by Keith on November 25, 2009 · 5 comments

Dahab wins the prize for the city we have stayed in the longest, 11 days. It is a very laid back town along the Red Sea on the Sinai Peninsula. We stayed at the Penguin Village Hotel, which offered great budget lodging, and fantastic sea views. Besides relaxing and enjoying the views we spent a fair amount of time in the crystal clear water. I learned how to scuba dive, getting my Open Water Certification and completing two adventure dives with Deep Blue Divers. I would highly recommend them to anyone diving in Dahab. Amy enjoyed some awesome snorkeling and saw many cool fish including; masked puffers, painted butterfly fish, parrot fish and lion fish.

Enjoy the pictures below.

To everyone in the US we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

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A Breath of Fresh Air – Aswan and Luxor, Egypt

by Amy on November 20, 2009 · 4 comments

The train station platform in Giza is packed, filthy and loud as we wait for our overnight train to Aswan, which is running late. Old, decrepit trains pull into the station, one after another, and the kid sent with us by the hostel to ensure we get onto the right train looks nervous, unsure which is the right train to put us on. A train pulls in, and many of the other obvious tourists on the platform board. Is this our train? The kid looks unsure. We stand on the platform as the train pulls away. What exactly have we gotten ourselves into?

About an hour later, we are escorted onto a train. Much to my relief, the sleeping cabin is private and clean, with warm blankets and soft pillows. We both sleep well on the thirteen-hour ride south.

Aswan is literally a breath of fresh air after spending several days in Cairo. It’s hot, but the air is clear and the traffic is light. After a quick lunch and settling into our hotel room, we meet up with our tour guide to explore the sites, including the Unfinished Obelisk, the High Dam (which was built to control the flooding of the Nile River, provide hydroelectric power and resulted in the creation ofLake Nassar), and the beautiful Philae Temple.

The next morning we arose at 3am to meet up with the convoy to Abu Simbel, just north of the Sudanese border. All traffic to Abu Simbel is required to travel in one of two convoys and stop at multiple checkpoints along the way. After a nearly four-hour ride, we arrived at the magnificent temples of Abu Simbel. As you can see, all of our pictures are of the exteriors of the temples. Like many of the sites in Egypt, photographs of the beautiful carved and painted interiors of the temples is forbidden.

In Luxor, we explored the Mummification Museum, a small but interesting museum dedicated to all things mummy. A little creepy, but at the same time fascinating. In the late afternoon we meet up with our guide for a tour of the Karnak Temple, catching the sunset before heading to the Luxor Temple, which is lit up after dark.

The next day our guide takes us to the West Bank of Luxor to tour the Valley of the Queens, the Valley of the Kings, Deir el- Bahri (the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut), and the Colossi of Memnon. Again, photography is forbidden inside the amazing tombs, so you’ll have to use you imagination to see the amazing paintings and carvings that line the walls.

It was a hectic four days touring Aswan and Luxor, but the sites were incredible and with the help of a great guide we learned more about ancient Egypt that we could have possible imagined. Next up, recovering from so much site seeing on the beaches of Dahab.

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