March 26, 2008: St. Katherine's, Egypt

I discovered that I had lost my head for climbing at St. Katherine's. I was tentative, I was not trusting my feet, and every move felt awkward and forced.

Tom has no problem gritting it out on a boulder:Aidan tries to get some help from his feet:
It was a shame, really, because there is massive potential for climbing on the granite mountains that fight for space in the area, many of which have barely been explored by modern climbers (although a handful of people have climbed in the area, Dave Lucas, a former Hot Rocker, has spent the past few years trying to develop the region in an effort to make it a viable climbing tourist destination).

Typical views:
I say modern climbers because the Bedouins have "paths" -- many of which require trad gear by today's standards -- they have used for centuries to criss-cross the mountains. It is humbling to realize that a population made their way up and over countless granite domes without the helmets, ropes, harnesses, climbing shoes, and extensive trad gear that we deem necessary today.

One day, Duncan and I finished an 11 pitch climb on the later side of sunset and still needed to find our way back down the mountain. Luckily for me and the meager light from my headlamp (I really did mean to change the batteries), the rock glowed blue-white in the full moon, making it possible to navigate solely by eyesite. Although we didn't make it back to camp until close to 9:30 p.m., we had an amazing descent along one of the Bedouin paths which just happened to be haphazardly marked with cairns. We made our way down one gulley, which, on a few occasions, appeared to drop away from us, neccessitating leaving some gear for an abseil. We knew full well that people had used the route before us, however, and they certainly didn't have any modern gear. Sometimes it took us a good 20 minutes, but eventually we would find a small hole or cave formed by water we could squeeze through that would double-back underground, sometime taking us from one side of the gulley to the other, leading eventually to an exit point from which we were able to downclimb. It was a magical and exhausting evening. Later, Duncan happened to talk to one Bedouin who knew of the gulley path and said that it was no longer in use. We very well may have been the first people to use it in years.

There are other paths, though, that are heavily used year-round. Day-tripping tourist come from all over to hike up the trails to the top of Mt. Sinai. Yes, that is The Mt. Sinai of Moses fame. Although we had all heard horror stories of hundreds of tourists bussed in at 2 a.m. to climb the mountain in order to view sunrise, they apparently avoided sunset like the plague. Seems a bit silly, really, since sunrise and sunset can be equally spectacular,

Sunset from the top of Mt. Sinai:

and one is either hiking up in the dark or hiking down in the dark.

Even more to the point, starting the hike during daylight would probably take care of one of the biggest problems for tour operators: injuries. I spoke with an Israeli tour operator that was staying at our camp one day and she said that they had a serious issue with people becoming so excited that they literally rushed the mountain in a religious fervor. Now, ordinarily, a little excitement is a good thing, but not when the majority of clients tend to be the kind that have exercised a total of three minutes in the past few decades. Apparently, broken legs, head injuries, and even heart attacks were common occurences. And that's just in the first few hundred meters which are relatively flat, well-travelled trails. Needless to say, I decided at that moment never to become a tour operator.

I did, however, decide to make a sunset assault on Mt. Sinai. It was fantastic. Other than the multitude of huts along the way selling everything from Snickers Bars to freshly brewed tea, that is. I pretend to be extremely annoyed by their presence, but what did I do upon descending from the top? Buy some tea. Lack of self-control aside, Gail, Juliet, Nathan, and I all had a great time watching the sunset from the top of Mt. Sinai.

Church at the top. There was also a mosque and a synagogue:

It was beautiful and there were maybe 10 other people on top so we could take ridiculous pictures without suffering ridicule.

Gail, Juliet, and Nathan claw their way to the summit:With so much sweat pouring down my body, I decide to position myself between Gail and Nathan in an effort to look normal:Me attempting to boulder at the summit:Well, we are in Egypt, after all...:

And eat Twinkies until we felt like throwing up (for some reason, Twinkies are unbelievably cheap in Egypt).

Juliet enjoys some additives and preservatives while Gail and Nathan try not to look famished:
Food in general is actually quite cheap in Egypt. We took a break from climbing to go to Dahab, a tourist town on the coast, for a couple of days, and wound up eating ourselves silly. We chose one lucky restaurant, Al Capone, purely because it was close to where we were staying and they were giving us a deal on thick shakes. I had no idea how good a milkshake would taste until I went eight months without one. It turned out to be a win-win situation because we literally stayed at the restaurant for eight solid hours each day eating. I've never, ever done that in my life. The closest I've come have been my multi-hour dinner visits to The French Laundry (I still have dreams about those meals...), but those visits put an obscene dent in my wallet. At Al Capone, we could eat and talk and eat and laugh and eat and nap and eat all day and it was still only the cost of a $10-dollar lunch in San Francisco. You know that you are a valued customer when the owner offers you floor space to pitch your tent. We seriously considered the offer because they had exceptionally nice bathrooms. You have no idea what a novelty that can become. The fact that I lost both my small camera and watch in Dahab does nothing to marr the fond eating memories I have there. Does that mean I have a problem?

After yet another gorge-fest in yet another African country, it was time to climb off some calories. Danny had managed to set up a three-day climbing trip with camels as pack animals that would take us out into the desert through a Bedouin friend of Dave Lucas, Nassar.

Man, myth, legend; it's Nassar:Nassar takes a moment with his camel, Schnapps:

For some serious mate's rates, we hiked over a mountain, Danny and Nassar discuss bringing oxygen for the group next time:

past a small oasis or two, Nassar knocks down fresh almonds for us:House near an oasis:

and past some opium fields (gardens, really)

The group trudges by soom blooming poppies. Note the black irrigation hoses:Opium! Needless to say, it is not a good idea to go wandering off without a known guide unless you want to meet up with guys carrying machine guns protecting their crop:

into a small river gulley next to a mountain surrounded by virtually unclimbed peaks.Sunset from camp:
It was unreal. Not just because Nassar whipped up amazing meals at the drop of a hat -- including bread baked in ashes one day and over the fire the next -- Nassar could also whip up a pot of tea in 5 minutes flat including the time it takes to start the fire:

but also because it was an exceptionally beautiful place full of great climbing. Danny and I had issues initially trying to find suitable routes, but eventually he drug me up a couple of previously unclimbed cracks which scared the crap out of me.

Uh, Danny, you need to turn around:

It was such a great vibe to be out in the middle of nowhere with great friends, great food, and fall asleep to the sound of camels chewing cud.

Or, in Aidan's case, wake up to the sound of a camel chewing cud:
Clean camel saddles before we set off back to St. Katherine's:Loading the gear:Lonely Aidan trudges through the sand:Who needs a hammock when you can lie down on your camel?:Tired camel:
It was, yet again, another highlight on this trip. I find myself hesitant to use "best" and "most" now because the temptation to describe events in ultimate terms is ever present. Would that we all should have problems with hyperbole. Perhaps I should start a "funtastic" meter.

Bedouin + camel + bouldering mat = 10 on the funtastic scale (out of 10, of course!)

Cats repeatedly pissing on my tent fly in St. Katherine's in apparent anger over the dog piss smell still lingering on my fly from Sudan = -1,023,325 on the funtastic scale

March 10, 2008: Cairo/Giza, Egypt

The dizzying array of archeological sites and tourists in Aswan and Luxor really just lead to the grandaddy of world historical sites: The Pyramids.

A couple of police on camel watch the pyramids in the distance. It was pretty hazy with smog so I did mostly b&w:Camel and horse riding touts head off to intercept tourists. Looks idyllic if you didn't know what was going on:I had heard so many negative comments about them that my expectations were buried six feet under, and actually found myself surprised by how few tourists were there. Granted, "few tourists" is a relative concept, but I had truly been expecting a lemming experience.

Lemming lite -- only about 50-60 busses were at this parking area:

I was pleased to find that I could actually throw rocks in some instances and not hit a tourist -- maybe one of the 4,586 touts pushing camel rides, but not a tourist.

Camel rider tout not quite in rock range: Duncan and Mike warily watch the camel rider tout. Oh yeah, that's Pyramid #2:

The Pyramids are 1) huge,

2) a pretty damn impressive testament to human power, as well as willpower, and 3) rather boring. Not that I was hoping to take part in a game of Hide and Seek inside Pyramid #1 (although that would be a blast), but there really is only so much oohing and aahing one can do while walking around the outside of a massive, blocky pyramid. And, since climbing on them is out of the question,

Like a moth to the flame... I can't resist:

we bought a ticket to go inside one and crouch walked/crawled through a tunnel into a large-ish room that presumably held something in the past. Much more interesting were all the mystery tunnels that branched off the main tunnel, apparently used for continued excavation. Perhaps one day they will be open to the public and everyone can play Find the Mummy.

I must admit that it was mildly disconcerting, however, to literally saunter along a paved road down the hill to see the Sphinx (if that was too much effort, it was possible to hail a horse drawn carriage). I rather liked the Sphinx, even though it was a bit smaller than I had thought it would be.

Awaiting the ultimate nose job:

Then again, the artists probably would have felt a bit ridiculous refusing to carve an enormous sandstone monolith on the grounds that it was too small. "No, no, no! We refuse to work on anything less than a 500 million ton block of sandstone you impertinent imbecile!" At least there were a few more tourists clamoring to take the exact same photographs.

Apparently 8 gazillion tourists a year aren't enough to pay for a proper exit sign:

One of the other "musts" in Cairo is the National Museum. I went one day with Phil and have never seen a more amusing museum. There are so many pieces, any one of which would be the pride and joy of other museums in the world, that they are haphazardly stacked under stairwells, cast off in corners where they fight for space with piles of broken chairs, and huddle in dark hallways as though waiting to pounce on hapless museum visitors. I got the impression that, despite all the security, the staff might actually encourage people to walk off with whatever they could carry to reduce the number of antiquities clogging the corridors. It was almost a relief to stumble upon a random room that inexplicably contained a number of pieces from Hellenic Greece. Although clearly earning a healthy sum from entrance fees, the museum hasn't bothered to modernize even simple things like display descriptions. Half of the painstakingly manually typewritten descriptions have been crossed out and amended in handwritten ink to announce that "Priceless piece X is now on loan to museum Y." I figure most of the staff doesn't have the time to print proper description updates because they are busy performing search and rescue mission looking for weary tourists that decided to lay down and rest in a sarcophagus.

March 6, 2008: Luxor, Egypt

Aswan proved to be a good warmup for the full onslaught of tourists that inhabit Luxor. I was ready to join in and let myself get swept up in the tide of sightseeing, however, I wasn't ready for locals offering me cocaine as I walked down the street in search of bread. You know you are in Tourist Central when a man riding by on a bicycle offers you cocaine, then tells you to "Go to Hell" in an affronted manner when you refuse his offer. Considering the number of other more forceful words he might have chosen to use, I found the entire encounter rather polite, not to mention amusing, which, I suppose, are normal reactions after travelling for eight months and being hasseled to buy everything from pens to prostitutes.

Illicit substances aside, Luxor is not Tourist Central without reason -- a number of extraordinary temples are in the area, both the Valley of Kings and Valley of Queens are across the river, and, perhaps most importantly, nobody can get from Aswan to Cairo in one day because you have to have a police escort and they are only available at specific times. Tour busses, private cars, motorcycles, etc all form an orderly convoy with one police car at the front and one at the back, proceeding in an organized fashion through Aswan until the city limits at which point the whole thing falls immediately apart when the cops push the nitro button and are suddenly going mach 3 down the highway. Now BiRT is not without a certain amount of speed, and Henry has no trouble putting the pedal to the metal, but the convoy was going so fast that we were left in the dust and actually missed the approved piss stop because we were going too slowly. Yes, there are scheduled piss stops and by the time we arrived at the only one between Aswan and Luxor, everyone had already left and the cops honked at us to keep going.

And so, bladders bursting, we arrived in Luxor to begin our sightseeing binge. That afternoon we went to Karnak temple which is quite spectacular. It is difficult to do justice to the size and scale of the buildings, and I found myself simply taking pictures of the strong architectural lines. Successive kings and queens kept adding to the complex and what tourists see today is only a relatively small portion of the structure as it would have existed all those centuries ago. Given its current awe-inspiring state, I can only imagine what it must have been like for some Egyptian peasant from the countryside to see it for the first time gleaming in the sun centuries ago. Much of the area is reconstructed, with pieces of the original statues and stonework and hieroglyphics incorporated into their rightful spaces. I have no idea how many archeologists are dedicated to working at Karnak, but it must be the world's largest jigsaw puzzle. There are a mind-boggling number of stones of all sizes scattered about the site waiting to be fit into their original spaces and I doubt anyone is able to provide a decent guesstimate of when the entire reconstruction might be complete.

Tourists entering the main part of the temple:

The shadows on the obelisks were amazing:I thought the shadow looked like those cartoon dog pharoahs and looked pretty cool:Statue of Tutenkahmen:Shots from the reconstructed reflecting pool of the main part of the temple:Reconstruction will continue for years and years:The columns were amazing and huge. Something like 134 filled one space in the temple: Juliet drawing in one of the side pathways:Her subject:
The next day we decided to head across the river and check out the Valley of the Kings. Because of all the tomb raiding that was happening at the pyramids in Giza, Egyptian kings started building their tombs into the ground in one special valley, the whereabouts of which was known to a very select group of people and passed down from king to king. More than 60 tombs have been discovered to date and archeologists continue to search for additional tombs. I would have spent the entire day there, except for the fact that a ticket allowed me entrance to only three tombs (!) and it was extra to enter popular tombs such as Tutenkamen. They could make much more money if they charged a nominal fee for each tomb and that would likely keep more people there who would get hungry and thirsty and order from the overpriced cafe. Anyway, the three tombs we saw were really fantastic and the site is definitely worth a visit.

The valley is rather unassuming:Each unearthed tomb is marked by a small, unobtrusive entryway:We weren't supposed to take pictures, but this is the backside of Phil descending into one of the tombs:Paintings in one of the tombs (shot from the hip in an attempt not to attract the attention of the guard):
Not so the tomb of Hatshepsut, however, unless you find tourist watching to be an amusing hobby. There is way too much reconstruction, although the few paintings there are quite nice. I suppose that is the most one can expect after centuries of looting and uninvited guests like armies from the Crusades camping out under the stairwell.

Tourists flocking to the tomb:The cave openings mark the tombs of relatives:The paintings were pretty well preserved in some areas: