Around the World in 7 Weeks

Egypt in Video, pt. 2

2008-06-01T13:16:00.002-04:00

The view from the top of Mount Sinai (yup, back to the mountain).

A look at some of our fellow climbers.

The sunrise, with some musical accompaniment. Our lens doesn't seem to be coping too well with the direct sunlight, which would explain that line down the middle.

Starting the climb down (this might look familiar to long time readers)

A couple of the climbers decided to stray from the path, much to the chagrin of one of the guides.

Watch out for that camel!

Here's a guy who was going to ride a camel on the way down, but then freaked out and wanted to come off immediately.

A cab ride in Dahab, which takes place in the back of a pickup truck.

The Hanging Church at Coptic Cairo.

Egypt in Video, pt. 1

2008-05-29T03:17:00.002-04:00

We've been promising video for some time now, so here it is!

Our first videos are of our first cab ride in Cairo. This was also our first experience with Cairo traffic.

Here's a look at our room at our Cairo hostel, Samar Palace. We never did watch that TV.

Snow's busted toe. She broke it about two months before we left, and backpacked on it for 7 weeks! At least she had health insurance waiting for her when she got back.

Cairo at night. See how lively it gets there! Also, another look at the insane traffic.

The walk back to Samar Palace, which is located in an alley off the main road.

Yet another look at Snow's broken toe. Man, that does not look healthy, does it?

Testimonials: We were planning to do one of these every night, but that plan fell through pretty much immediately. Anyway, enjoy these.

More Cairo traffic.

We eventually figured out to how cross the street in Cairo (pray to Allah and then run like hell!), but how do you solve the roundabout at Talaat Harb Square?

Crossing the street on the way to The Pyramids.

In the cab on the way to The Pyramids. We're passing by Cairo University.

Our first glimpse of The Pyramids, from the cab. The voice you hear belongs to the cab driver's buddy, who tried to scam us into paying for a camel.

The Pyramids from just outside the entrance gate.

Some closed off area of one of The Pyramids at Giza.

Here we are jumping onto an English-speaking tour, which unfortunately was just concluding.

The back of the Sphinx' head. When have you ever seen that view?

Close up of a Pyramid

The view of The Pyramids from the restaurant where we had dinner.

The sun setting behind The Pyramids.

We thought the Light and Sound show was starting. What you hear is actually the call for Muslim prayer, which rings throughout Egypt five times a day.

The Light and Sound show starting for real.

Our Last Days in Egypt, pt. 2

2008-05-28T11:10:00.003-04:00

A look at women's fashion in Cairo. One of these is not like the others...

A PACKED bus in Cairo. They all looked like this.

Traffic in Cairo is so crazy, even the street signs aren't safe. This one must have been knocked down by an errant cab.

The Nile is a river in Egypt. Here are some shots to prove it.

Much like the buses, the Cairo Metro is also packed.

Breakfast in Peter's flat just before we left for the airport.

Sumon looks like he particularly enjoyed the German breakfast...

Peter and his flatmate, Christian.

While we took over Peter's room...

...Peter slept on the couch!

A look at German coffee. Wow that's pretty!

Auf wieder sehen Peter!

Next time: All of our videos from Egypt, and after that, we move on to the rest of our trip (yes, we visited places other than Amsterdam and Egypt)!

Our Last Days in Egypt, pt. 1

2008-05-23T13:04:00.004-04:00

Dinner on the last night in Dahab

Our new friends! From left: Johannes, Adrienne, and Ben.

There's German Tour Guide Peter on the left, also wondering what Sumon's doing with his hand.

Arriving back in Cairo on the overnight bus

Breakfast at Peter's flat

The Hanging Church at Coptic Cairo

Ok, Just a Few More Sinai Pictures

2008-05-20T05:24:00.003-04:00

Just opened up a CD and found even more pictures from the walk down Mt. Sinai. What's amazing is that we actually deleted around a hundred pictures from this day, as we thought we had too many of them! Crazy, huh? You guys would be looking at Mt. Sinai for months. Well, we promise that this time, we're finishing out this set of pictures, and in the days ahead we'll be finishing the rest of Egypt, which includes our last nights in Dahab and in Cairo (which include our stay with Peter The German Tour Guide), Coptic Cairo, and our newest innovation: VIDEO!

That's right folks...the trip may be over, but the blog is just getting started, so keep checking in!

All the clothes Snow wore on the way up the mountain, arranged in neat little piles.

Some of the kids who impressed us so much. Imagine what they could do if their parents actually sent them to school.

Somebody Get Us Off This Mountain Already!

2008-05-19T10:52:00.003-04:00

According to this blog, we're still walking down Mt. Sinai. In real life, however, we're back home. We'll still be updating the blog, however, so don't stop checking in!

We're going to blow out the rest of our Mt. Sinai pictures in this post, then finish out Egypt in the next few days before we continue onto the rest of the trip. It'll be a lot easier now, since we're back home and can update at our leisure with cable modems, rather than an hour at a time at internet cafes with questionable connection speeds.

Now, without further ado, the conclusion of Mt. Sinai pictures!

Still Walking Down

2008-05-04T10:58:00.002-04:00

Pictures from Mount Sinai

2008-04-28T09:43:00.002-04:00

On the top of the mountain

The long walk back down

More to come soon!

Out of Africa, or The Nile is a River in Egypt

2008-04-28T09:06:00.003-04:00

Our time in Dahab came to a close the day after we returned from Mount Sinai. We got into a fight with management over money while checking out, then we planted ourselves in Johannes and Adrienne's room for most of the day while Snow recuperated from some stomach ailment (with the help of a German stomach remedy called Kohl, which is made basically of coal. It worked, which goes to show that that German engineering we hear so much about isn't limited to their cars).

Snow was feeling better in time for dinner, so we met up with Peter, Johannes, Adrienne, and Ben at a restaurant on the beach before we got on the midnight bus back to Cairo with German Tour Guide Peter. It was here that Peter generously extended the offer to stay at his flat for our last night in Egypt, figuring that if Snow was still sick, she might be better off at a night apartment than in a hostel. Not ones to turn down free accommodations for a night, we accepted. The dinner was great, and we all exchanged email address before saying our goodbyes. We travelling hillbilly style back to the bus station, then boarded the bus with Peter. Nine hours later, we were back in Cairo, and all the chaos thereof. Once we were back in a crazy cab, it almost felt like we were back home.

Speaking of home, Peter's flat was absolutley beautiful. It was a huge living space, even for three people, with a great kitching and chandeliers for a far as the eye can see. Definitely much better than a hostel. Peter, generous German that he is, cooked us breakfast, which he didn't even partake in, before dozing off to recover from the overnight bus ride. Snow napped for a bit too, while Sumon got to meet one of Peter's flatmates, Christian, who is also German, and also very accommodating.

Once Snow was up and about, we decided to see more of Cairo. Christian and Peter helped us figure out the Cairo metro (subway), and we went out to Coptic Cairo, the district that houses much of Cairo's Christian and Jewish community. We visited the Coptic Museum and the Hanging Church. What was truly remarkable about Coptic Cairo is how quiet and peaceful it is. There really isn't any psychotic traffic, and we can actually hear birds chirping! From there, we took another subway ride back to the middle of Cairo so we can take a felucca ride on The Nile. A felucca is a small Egyptian sailboat that provides a very relaxing ride. It was a great way to see more of the city.

After an hour on the felucca, we walked around Cairo to do some souvenir shopping. While we were out, we decided to pick up some desserts for Peter and Christian so as to thank them for their generosity. We found a bakery that was recommended by Lonely Planet. The bakery was...you guessed it, utter chaos (it wouldn't be Cairo if it wasn't)! We had no idea how to order anything, and nobody who worked there was helping us at all. We ran into a Canadian couple who was having the same problem. There was no line, it seemed like a complete free-for-all. We eventually figured it out, though. We're supposed to pay first, and then we can pick out as many items as we wanted up to the value of what we paid. If that confused you, be glad you weren't actually in the place.

We came back to the apartment and simply hung out with Peter while we shared our future plans with each other. Peter's studying infectious diseases in various parts of the world. We're pretty sure that one day, we're going to see him on CNN as the guy who cured TB and AIDS in the same week.

The following afternoon, we were off. Our time in Egypt had ended, and it was time to move on to new adventures. We said goodbye to Peter and Christian, and boarded our flight to India, by way of Bahrain.

Coming up: India, plus the rest of our pictures from Egypt (strap in, we've still got a ton of them left).

Happy Birthday!

2008-04-26T12:44:00.001-04:00

Pleasse join me in wishing my sister, Holly, (and myself for that matter) a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A View From the Top of The Mount

2008-04-23T11:14:00.004-04:00

In our earlier post, we mentioned that the climb up Mout Sinai deserved its own post. Well, here it is.

Dahab is only about a two hour bus ride away from Mount Sinai. Yes, it is the same Mount Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments for us to obey! Though we didn't experience anything quite so divine on our trek, it was still an interesting experience.

In climbing Sinai, we had two options, climb and get to the top in time for sunrise, or in time for sunset. We chose the former, which meant that our bus was going to pick us up in front of BishBishi at 11:00 PM. We got to Mt. Sinai a little after 1:00 AM, and got to climbing around 1:30. That's right, we spent all night climbing a mountain. And what a mountain it was...especially in pitch darkness. Sure, we had purchased a flashlight before we left for the trip, but it was purchased at the dollar store and worth less than we paid for it. It broke while Sumon was putting in the batteries. In any case, no flashlight for a treacherous overnight climb.

We were put in a group with about 14 other climbers, and paired up with a Bedouin guide named Mohammed, who dubbed us the "Habibi" group ("habibi" apparently means friend). If our group got separated, we would all call out "Habibi!" until we were all back together again. This didn't work out too well, since there were countless other groups who were all called Habibi! Needless to say, we did get separated from our group, but we decided to just keep trekking up the mountain without them (after all, the top of a mountain really isn't that hard to find). The entire hike up was comprised entirely of rocky terrain. The many camels running up and down the mountain didn't help matters much. We had the option of buying a camel for the hike either up or down (or both), but we knew it was much too expensive, and the camels didn't look too happy. Besides, if anything were to happen, it's a long way to fall down. So we hoofed it ourselves, both ways. Granted, Snow walked into a sitting camel, and a mobile camel walked into Sumon, but after four or five hours of hiking, we had reached the top (it was particularly trying for Snow, who is traveling with a broken toe on her left foot).

Once we had reached the top, we parked ourselves in an excellent spot for the sunrise view. We were exhausted, cold, and hungry, but watching the sun rise from the summit of Mount Sinai was worth it. The view was stunning. We couldn't say we've ever had a front row seat to watch the sun rise before, but we're definitely proud of the fact that we can say it now. What made the experience that much more lyrical was the group of elderly Asian climbers who spontaneously broke into a rendition of Amazing Grace in their native language just as the sun was peeking out beyond the clouds. Amazing indeed.

The way back down was a bit easier, though the terrain didn't get any less rocky, nor were the camels any less obtrusive. We passed by many hikers who hadn't made it the entire way up. It also was a lot hotter once the sun was up. Snow, who had donned almost ALL the clothing she had brought for the entire trip on the way up had to back most of them back into Sumon's day pack for the way back down. Also on the way down we had encountered many young children trying to sell us all kinds of Sinai-related souvenirs. What struck us as the most remarkable thing about them is that they could speak several different languages, and beyond that could identify what language to speak to someone just by looking at them!

We finally reached the bottom of Sinai, about eight hours after we had started from there. At the bottom in St. Katherine's Monastery, where so many people come to so as to be blessed. We walked around there for a while before we reunited with the rest of our Habibi group! We all sat outside a cafe and related stories of our trek up the mountain, as well as our travels in general. Amongst the other members of the group were a couple from Australia, as well as two young women from Oregon, who were also traveling around the world.

In all, Mount Sinai was one of the most humbling experiences of both of our lives. We really feel like we accomplished something fantastic here.

On the bus to Mount Sinai

HABIBI! Here's our guide, Mohammed. This may have been the last time we ever saw him.

Snow all bundled up in ALL her clothes.

10 seconds after this picture was taken, this camel was walked into by Snow

CAMELS! GET YER CAMELS HERE!

Snow triumphant. Hey, there's still plenty more mountain to go!

And now, the sunrise. It really is as beautiful as it looks.

Journey to Dahab

2008-04-20T10:19:00.007-04:00

Once we got back into Cairo from the Pyramids, we went back to our hostel to pick up our packs and prepared ourselves for the nine hour overnight bus trip to Dahab, which left just after midnight. The cab ride to Turgoman bus station resembled a roller coaster crossed with an elaborate death trap. It was wild, even by Cairo standards, particularly for Sumon who was riding in the front seat. At the bus station, we met Peter, a nice German med student living in Cairo and learning Arabic. It's a good thing we met him, as his language skills came in handy. Had we not met Peter, we would have missed our bus, or gotten on the wrong one! Peter had been to Dahab once before, and basically knew everything there was to know about the place, so he was basically the perfect tour guide. Thus, we creatively nicknamed him The German Tour Guide. Also on the bus was Ben from Albany, NY who had been living in Israel and traveling through Egypt before returning to Israel to live and work on a kibbutz. Another really nice guy, Ben rounded out our Fab Four.

We reached Dahab in the morning, and fell in love with the place very quickly. We decided to stay at the hostel that Peter recommended, called BishBishi, which turned out to be a nice, open-air resort. We took a cab ride from the Dahab bus station to BishBishi, and by "took a cab ride," we mean "hopped into the back of a pickup truck and traveled hillbilly style." Sumon had always wanted to do that, so he was happy. Our rooms weren't quite ready yet, so the friendly staff sat us down in the cafe and made us Egyptian tea. Egyptian tea is actually just a broken Lipton bag, but what makes it unique is the insanely sweet Egyptian sugar. It isn't nearly as fine as the sugar back home, and it's really concentrated. Our teeth are rotting just from thinking about it. We also met Peter's friends Johannes and Tania, who were already at the resort. Our four were now six. Seven when we met Adrienne, Johannes' girlfriend, later that night.

Once we got settled in our room, we met up with our new friends at a cafe on the beautiful beach on which all of Dahab sits. Much of our time in Dahab was spent this way. It's a wonderful resort town that hosts many foreign visitors to Egypt, without being too "touristy." It's beyond relaxing, which is a stark contrast to the chaotic hustle and bustle of Cairo (though we greatly enjoyed that as well). There's a lot to do in Dahab. We got to try snorkeling and diving which were great fun, though Sumon had some trouble with the breathing apparatus and couldn't really dive (Sumon says: hey, I'll give it another shot sometime). We also climbed Mout Sinai, which is deserving of its own post. Nights were spent with our new friends as well, out to dinner at nice restaurants near the beach.

Our stay in Dahab was marred at the end, however. On our last day, Snow fell ill due possibly to some bad dairy from the night before, which was bad enough, but then we had to fight with the management over forty Pounds. We had paid for the first night when we got there, but they said that we didn't. That's right folks, more scammers in Egypt, even in Dahab. Forty Pounds is only about US $8, but it's the principle of the thing, really. We didn't win this one, unfortunately, even with the help of The German Tour Guide, whom we recruited to help mediate. Still, we didn't let that ruin the great time we had up to that point. We just know that if (when?) we get to Dahab again, we won't stay at BishBishi, and neither should you!

And now: Pictures!
Chilling on the beach

Snow enjoying a can of Sprite in the nice courtyard at BishBishi

Smoking Shisha on the beach. Settle down you narcs, it's just tobacco in there, along with strawberry flavor, molasses, and some other innocent ingredients.

Getting ready for our diving lesson. We look awesome in our wetsuits!

Some views of the beach. That body of water is the Red Sea, and that land mass in the distance is Saudi Arabia.

Snow in the room at BishBishi
Our Pyramid tickets

Dahab, Egypt

2008-04-19T09:46:00.002-04:00

We headed to Dahab on our second night in Egypt. It truly was a piece of paradise especially since the accomadations were so cheap and we met a great German named Peter (in the bus station) who took really great care of us. On the bus we met Ben, an American, from upstate New York, who we also hung out with while in Dahab. Peter was kind enough to show us around Dahab and introduce us to his friends from Germany, Johannes, Adrienne, and Tania. More picture to come.

Below are picture of where we stayed.

Even More Pyramids

2008-04-19T09:39:00.003-04:00

Camel Guy 1 that chased us around...

Camel Guy 2 that chased us around...

Sumon before dinner at Pyramid Light and Sound Show.

Snow before dinner at Pyramid Light and Sound Show.

PYRAMIDS AT SUNSET (VIEW FROM WHERE WE ATE DINNER!)

Pyramids

2008-04-18T02:58:00.004-04:00

So the sign clearly says "No Climbing"....

And Snow Climbed..

And Climbed...

Guards. They were nice. Even when Snow and Sumon stayed over an hour after closing.

Snow is a great photographer.

Mommy Look at Me!

2008-04-18T02:57:00.001-04:00

The View

2008-04-18T02:25:00.003-04:00

Here are some pictures that show the view from the pyramids.

Back by Popular Demand.. Pyramid Pictures

2008-04-16T21:29:00.002-04:00

Panoramic View... (Great Camera)

How many people can say they have seen the Sphinx? Probably lots... judging from the crowds....

BUT... How many people can say they have kissed the Sphinx? Snow can!

Giza Pyramids! Amazing~

The back of the Sphinx head (for all of you who have always wondered). It's interesting because they don't put that view in the History books.

Snow really enjoyed the Panoramic feature on the camera, but just for reference the Sphinx is out of view because it is to the right. The "bump" you see at the bottom right is the rear of the base.

Hey the Spninx really is Amazing... and if you kissed it you would want loads of pictures also! :)

Road up to the Pyramids. Worth every step!

More Pyramid Pictures

The Sphinx... :)

Road to the Pyramids!

Snow (and random guy) at the top of the road.

Sumon...(feeling accomplished)

Just in case you just tuned in .... Pyramid picture.

Happy Birthday Mommy

2008-04-16T04:24:00.004-04:00

Please everyone join me in wishing my mommy a very

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you very much. Hope you have a wonderful day.

-SNOW

Cairo, Day 2

2008-04-15T13:36:00.005-04:00

After a long, exhausting day in Cairo, we awoke to face yet another just like it. Even sleeping here is an experience. Our room was right next to the common room, where random dudes where watching TV really loudly until around 3 or 4 AM. Add to that all the constant street noise, which maybe abated for about an hour or so around 6 AM. And they say New York is the city that never sleeps.

Once we had risen and left our hostel, we ventured forth into the city once again. The previous night we had learned that all the shady characters populate the city only during the day, while the best of Cairo shows itself at night. The city is so vibrant and alive after sundown that we just wanted to stay up all night and experience it all. However, with busy days ahead of us, we know we had to pace ourselves, so sleep won out. When we awoke, it was all business. We went to an internet cafe get in touch with our families, as well as upload pictures and update this very blog (see, we love you readers!). We then changed our money into Egyptian currency (note: it's about 5.44 Egyptian Pounds to US $1...that info comes in handy later). We had made plans to see the Pyramids at Giza that day before boarding our bus to Dahab at midnight. With the help of a city map provided to us by the fine folks at Lonely Planet, we walked from our hostel to a mooring point for feluccas (more on those in a later post), and took a taxi from there, since it's the closest major part of the city to Giza, and a taxi from there would be cheaper. We found a cab that was willing to take us there for 10 Egyptian Pounds (around US $2). It was a good price, so we decided to go for the ride. That's when we encountered yet another Egyptian scam. We were about ten minutes out from the Pyramids, when some dude, a friend of the driver's, hopped into the cab and started speaking to us in perfect English. He was trying to distract us by telling us all about the Pyramids while the driver was taking us somewhere we didn't ask to go. When he finally turned off the car, the English speaking guy started telling us that there was no way for us to see the Pyramids unless we paid for a camel or a horse to take us in. Yeah, right. Millions of tourists visit the Pyramids everyday, they're not all riding camels in there. Obviously, these guys had a third guy selling camels and horses, and they were trying to get us to buy one so they all make money. The driver actually dropped us off in the stables! You can't even see the Pyramids from where we were! However, these guys obviously had no idea who they were dealing with. We paid the driver the ten pounds, then stormed off in anger. They kept trying to get us to buy the camels and horses, but we wouldn't have any of it. We had our Lonely Planet and Snow's compass, and we found the entrance to the Pyramids ourselves. The camel guys meanwhile, were feeling pretty stupid. They thought they had this one in the bag. In the end, we scammed the scammers!

On our flight from Boston to Amsterdam, our new traveling friend Martin had told us that when he saw the Pyramids, he was absolutely overwhelmed by them. We had pretty much the same reaction. These things are huge and truly majestic. You really do wonder exactly how anybody was able to build these things millions of years ago, especially considering all the technology that goes into building even a pencil sharpener nowadays. All the pictures you see really don't do them justice. We toured around the Pyramid grounds for over an hour, well past the 4 PM closing time. We got a lot of great pictures (look for them soon), and even met another world traveler. We also made friends with the tourist police while they were kicking us out for being there after closing. We figured that while we were in town, we'd take in the Sound and Light show, which is a show that details the history of the Pyramids and the Sphinx using, appropriately enough, sound and lights. We had a couple of hours before the ticket window opened, so we found a nice restaurant to have dinner. The restaurant was literally across the street from the Pyramids. We were seated at the top floor, which was open air and had a great view of them. We were even able to watch the Sound and Light show from our table. What's even better than that was that when we got the check, we found that the super friendly wait staff had comped our meal, and they only charged us the 75 Pounds for the show. Another victory!

Next time: Back to Cairo to catch the overnight bus to Dahab. But for now: Pictures!

Cairo By Night

The Pyramids

Samar Palace.. Our hostel

2008-04-11T08:41:00.001-04:00

We arrived in Cairo, Egypt

2008-04-11T08:17:00.003-04:00

We Finally Made It to Egypt. We were so excited! Finally. Snow walked through customs first and then Sumon was to follow.... uummm... Sumon got detained by customs. No worries they just took his passport, made him wait, probably worry, but then just walk through the Diplomat line. Maybe there is something he is not telling us.

Egypt Visa

Snow in the airport. Beds were lacking, but the people were great.

Sumon putting the Steripen to work

After spending the night in the airport we were ready for some real accomadations, so we ventured outside.

Just something else Snow took a picture of outside the airport.

Titi Carmen and fellow coworkers... This is one of the toilets outside the airport. This is pretty middle of the road. Some were Western toilets, others were not. Some were clean, others were not.

OUR FIRST CAB RIDE!

From Amsterdam to Cairo

2008-04-07T05:17:00.003-04:00

It rained the morning of our second day in Amsterdam, which kind of put the damper on some of our spirits. We ended up spending much of the day in the hostel, except for some "walking around" time in the afternoon, when the weather had cleared. We were going to do more stuff, but we had blown through a lot of money the first day, and we needed to start to save a little better. Still, we got to take some good pictures, and saw a lot of the city, so it was great. Snow took a nap in the hostel, while Sumon charged the camera and phone. A quick train ride to Schipol Airport later, and we were off to our second country, Egypt. The flight to Cairo was a short one, only about four hours, and pleasant enough. On the our previous flight, we had met an Englishman named Martin who was something of an intrepid traveler himself (hope you made it to your meeting, Martin!). No such luck this time out, though Snow did get an extra dessert from a fellow passenger.

We landed at Cairo at 1:00 AM, and the pilot told us that the ground temperature was about 70° F. Obviously, somebody had a faulty thermometer, since we got off the plane and it couldn't have been more than 50° out there. This brings us to our first major surprise of the trip: It's cold in Egypt! Ok, maybe not cold, but we were expecting 120° weather out here, and it hasn't exceeded 80° a single day we've been here. At night, it gets downright chilly. We had left some warm weather clothing in Amsterdam, figuring we wouldn't need it on the trip after that, but apparently, we should have held onto it.

We decided to stay in the airport until daylight, rather than venture out into a strange city late at night. We wanted to wait for when the buses would start running again, as we had heard the tales of Cairo cab drivers being a bunch of scammers. It turns out the bus drivers may not be much better, but we'll get to that a little later.

While in the airport, we met an American named Scott, and his 16 year old son Francis. They were headed back to Chicago after spending Francis' spring break in Egypt. What an awesome spring break! They gave us some tips on traveling through Egypt, and were all around nice people.

Once 7 AM had rolled around, we decided to make our way to the buses, avoiding pushy taxi drivers the whole way. The taxi drivers in Egypt are do not let up when it comes to offering rides with overinflated fares to foreigners. It's just something to be dealt with when visiting here. Thanks to Lonely Planet, we saw all their schemes coming a mile away. Still, some things you have to figure out for yourself. Such was the case with the bus drivers. We found a bus that was going to downtown Cairo. The driver told us that it would 2.50 Egyptian pounds each. Snow had a 5 Pound note, and the smallest note Sumon had was a 20 Pound note. We went to pay with these notes, not realizing that the concept of giving people back change for their money hasn't quite taken off here. This bus driver was about to accept 25 Pounds for a bus ride that costs only 5! Needless to say, we would not stand for this. We tried to get our money back, but the driver put up this huge fight. He took our tickets back, but wouldn't give us our money! He then switched his scheme, trying to get Sumon to give him 5 Pounds in exchange for the 20. It was ridiculous, and boy did we put up a fight. 5 Pounds is a little less than 1 US Dollar, but it was the principle that was worth making a scene about. We were not going to get scammed that easily out of anything. People really need to be vigilant when visiting this part of the world. Tourists have a reputation for being easy marks, so definitely do your research before travelling! We ended up getting our money back, and we decided to just take a taxi into the city. 50 Pounds was the best price we could get, so we just took it. We ended up staying at a different hostel than the one we originally planned for. This one was cheaper, and more importantly, wasn't overbooked. We left our stuff there and then took to the city. Cairo is lovely, but completely chaotic. The traffic isn't organized at all. The painted lines on the road and the traffic lights are more suggestions than anything else. They're not even strong suggestions. We had read in Lonely Planet that the drivers use their horns in lieu of their brakes, and it's completely true. Pedestrians have no choice but to simply start walking when they want to cross the street and hope they don't get run down. We're not sure how there aren't more traffic fatalities around here. On top of this, we were being harrassed by more scammers, both taxi drivers and hotel workers trying to con us into using their overpriced services and wares. At this point, Cairo was starting to look like nothing more than a wretched hive of scum and villainy, but when you get down to it, these are just the annoyances one has to deal with when travelling to a foreign city where. If you do your research ahead of time, you'll be able to get past all that junk and see the city for what it really is, which in this case is a cultural touchstone in the world. The sights and sounds are as captivating as they are constant. It's a busy city, but an interesting one.

We went back to the hostel and napped for a few hours, then tried to figure out our phone. Sumon's parents had insisted that we take a global cell phone with us, "just in case." We figured we could use the phone to call around to our hostels as well. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Cairo, the phone wasn't working. We spent the day trying to see why that was. It turns out Verizon never actually unlocked the phone for usage outside the US! Thanks Verizon! We just went ahead and bought a pay-as-you-go phone with an Egyptian SIM card, and that got us communicating again. The Verizon phone, meanwhile, was rendered an expensive alarm clock. It wasn't all bad, though. We met a nice Swedish backpacker named Elias in the cell phone store. He was in town on his fifth trip to Egypt, and he was able to give us some tips as well. Meeting all these great people has definitely been the highlight of this trip so far. There are so many interesting people with interesting stories to be met on the road. It's gotten to the point where once we see someone with a backpack, we feel an instant bond to them.

Once we got the cell phone situation fixed, we stopped off for a nice dinner in a restaurant named Excelsior. The food was a bit more Western than we had hoped, but it was good, and cheap, so it was a winner. We went back to the hostel and planned out our next day before passing out for the night. We were exhausted!

Now, a trip update: This post was put up the day before we left Egypt. Since it only covers our first day here, it's obvious we're running behind. It's tough maintaining this blog from the road when you've got to pay for your internet access one hour at a time. Still, we're doing the best we can. We've still got a metric ton of pictures from Amsterdam to put up, let alone all our pictures and video from Egypt. We're really excited about sharing our trip with you guys, and we'll get all the good stuff to you as fast as we can. Thanks for checking in, though. We really appreciate it!

We had to leave Amsterdam as it was blowing our budget...

Snow left her warm clothes behind thinking she shouldn't need them because Egypt is "hot" oh and the magazines Holly gave her!... Sorry Holly the back can only carry so much.

Sumon and Snow right before boarding the plane.. wearing clothes for the "warm" weather that awaited them in Cairo. Everyone else was dressed in warm clothing. Note to other travellers: take a hint from the people around you.

Amsterdam in Pictures

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The cars are smaller. Didn't see any SUV'sTrash can....Sumon...Snow visiting people she didn't even know.

Everyone rides bikes. Remember no SUVs either.Look closely there is a kid in the front of that first bike. "Oh My!"Panoramic Picture

Snow always inventing something. (looks like it might have been a firefighters ladders and everyone knows how much Snow loves firefighters!!!)Bikes were everywhere. Most had two locks on them.... We were told bike theft is a problem in Amsterdam... Maybe because there are so many and so few cars.Ok. Not going to pretend we know anything about this statue, but here it is for your viewing pleasure. (Anyone know?)Snow sitting on "the couch"

The couch was all over town. Now with one cushion. If you see it in your travels please let us know. When we booked our stay we read about a great hot breakfast that would be served. It was three pieces of bread, one hard boiled egg, one slice of week old cheese, butter and a lick of jelly. Thanx mum for the sazon!Sazon makes even plain bread edible.
Snow. Smiling. It was raining out our last day in Amsterdam so we hung in.

Sumon having breakfast at the hostel in Amsterdam.

The painting on the wall. Yes people we picked this hostel in Amsterdam.

Ever wonder what the Moulin Rouge would be like in Amsterdam...

We know many of you have been wondering what could be on the other side of the glass in Amsterdam. These lovely "ladies" were standing in a window and were gracious enough to let us take a picture.

Sumon thinking.......

Snow: "I am over using my brain."

We know you are thinking "a picture of a couch?" When we first arrived at our hostel it was outside and well we figured it was there because of the 2am curfew. You know like they put it out there just in case you got locked out, but then after our adventure looking for the library we returned and there were no cushions!! Someone call in the detectives!!

Coffee? This stuff was so strong. Actually tasted like an espresso (possibly was a double because of how hyper Snow got. Just ask Sumon.

Looks like Snow found herself a man...

...and a new pair of shoes.

Wait those shoes are too big and are chained to the store.. hhmmm

Ambulance.

We were wondering if it was for a midget. What do you think?

Snow being funny on the terrace of the hostel.

The outdoor area of the hostel Painting on Hostel wallPainting on Hostel wallSnow sleeping before the flight to Cairo

Where did Snow go?

SO MANY OF YOU WERE WONDERING WHAT (OR SHOULD WE SAY WHO) WAS IN THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT...

Amsterdam

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We arrived in Amsterdam, got our bags and were off to our Christian Youth Hostel (The Shelter).

Yes you did read that correctly we stayed the night in a Christian Youth Hostel. Each room was separated by sex and slept 16 people. We were packed in like sardines.

Snow's bed was deceptively concave (doesn't matter how close you look at the pictures.. you are just going to have to believe).

Sumon had no complaints about his bed. It is good that we only spent the night in Amsterdam since the women in Snow's room snored so loudly it could have been mistaken for a room full of truck drivers. And we all know how well Snow sleeps when people are snoring within a one mile radius.

We spent about 2 hours looking for the library that was a 3 minute walk away. Maybe we should have bought an updated version of Amsterdam Lonely Planet instead of cheaping out using the one Snow used when she was in Europe.... oh some 7 YEARS ago. Lesson learned!

We walked around the Red Light District during the day and surprisingly there were not many women in windows, so Snow sent home postcards stating this... then we out that evening and well it was Saturday night in Amsterdam. Many women in windows. Amsterdam felt surprisingly safe.

We spent much of our time in the Hostel because Sumon got sick. Actually the thought of food made him want to vomit. Luckily by morning he was feeling better. Getting lost in Amsterdam allowed us to see another side of the city. We saw a father playing outside with his daughter, many families walking around, and a dog that kept turning up. Amsterdam is an amazing city, but expensive. Note to all those travelling there if you plan to change money, change very little in the airport as there is about a 10 Euro per 100 US deficit. More to come on our travels. Pictures will be posted soon.

Update: Pictures posted, and resized. Sorry about that.