sand storm, that's some kind of sand feeding process, whereby the wind does its job of feeding sand into people's mouths.
a 45-minute walk from metro supermart in al ahreesh street, off al ahram street in giza put a lot of sand into one's 5 senses.
.....
just stepping outside the hotel, a guy came up and asked, "where are you going?"
wanted to ignore him, but he kept asking. still he wouldn't want to say more, just walked faster and tried to leave him behind. but he wouldn't go away. "i'm the police," he said. but he's not in police uniform, though with a walky-talkie....
"where are you going?"
"buy hibiscus tea."
"let me show you the way."
so he followed him crossing the busy road, with him, trying to slow down the on-coming traffic, as if he owned the road.
not far from the hotel, he showed him a small dirt road, "there, supermart."
he went in a small grocery stall... it just opened for business, the stall-keeper still opening up the inner doors. he spoke to him in arabic. and he showed him the hibiscus tea. then he realized he had not changed his dollars into egyptian pounds... so he said, "ok, thanks, i have to go..... no money.."
so they came back to the hotel.
then he exchanged his money and went out the hotel. he met the policeman again. this time he said, "i'm going to al ahreesh." and he did not follow.
after 20 miuntes' walk with no clue where to find al ahreesh, he showed another police man the destination written in arabic by the tour-guide, an asked, "how to go to al ahressh?"
he took a look at the paper, said, "here, follow me."
he went to the road side, and hailed a micro-bus, "al ahreesh?"
"naam", the bus stopped.
"you go up, and pay 1 pound."
so he got into the mirco-bus, with the door always opened, and paid the driver 1 pound. after some stops, the micro-bus stopped, the driver said, "al ahreesh."
he pointed to the street opposite where the micro-bus stopped, "is that al ahreesh."
"naam."
good men, cannot be known by just their looks. you meet them, it's your luck.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
alexandria - a city with a brown turban
Go alexandria from giza, 3.5 hour bus journey. A lot of oil refinaries at the suburb, belching out large amt of smog, polluting the air - the whole city, from far, can see a layer of brown smog hanging over it. The seaside is very long and people take to the seaside and beach to fishing and enjoy the sea and waves and cafes and water-pipe smoking. Traffic very heavy.
Visit catacomb - group-tomb or like today's memorial. The surrounding area is very dusty and dirty with narrow streets and haphazard, characteristically egyptian un-finished houses. Also go pompeys pillar near by. Then makan along the seaside. Then go library and farukh's gardens and palaces.
Eat in 'tang cheng' chinese reataurant in giza.
what's dust to marathon man is air to many egyptians - their wrapped-up bodies separate most part of them from the dust - their lungs won't be so protected - life within the dust bowl is also life for so many people for as long as history is known to mankind.
alexandria, a city destroyed by the 4th century earth-quake, the city that holds cleopatra's dreams never had it so bad - people do not have any more conscience on cleaning up their acts to make the air, if not particularly clean, at least not that bad - why?
because their rice-bowls literally come from the dust-bowls.
Visit catacomb - group-tomb or like today's memorial. The surrounding area is very dusty and dirty with narrow streets and haphazard, characteristically egyptian un-finished houses. Also go pompeys pillar near by. Then makan along the seaside. Then go library and farukh's gardens and palaces.
Eat in 'tang cheng' chinese reataurant in giza.
what's dust to marathon man is air to many egyptians - their wrapped-up bodies separate most part of them from the dust - their lungs won't be so protected - life within the dust bowl is also life for so many people for as long as history is known to mankind.
alexandria, a city destroyed by the 4th century earth-quake, the city that holds cleopatra's dreams never had it so bad - people do not have any more conscience on cleaning up their acts to make the air, if not particularly clean, at least not that bad - why?
because their rice-bowls literally come from the dust-bowls.
cairo - kickless boost
Yesterday, go saladin citadel and md ali mosque. It's built after the blue mosque in turkey. Very grand deco inside. With a big chandellier from france and jade-green paintings on the inside of the domes. And a lot of letrik candle lights hang slightly above one person's height in the big hall.
Then go khan khalili market donwtown cairo. The 4 gals late coming back, everybody claps and they still want to argue. Give them a piece of his mind. Eat in hard rock cafe. Met gracie, his colleague n family, from another tour. then go to cairo museum. Visit exhibits from old, middle and new anicient egyptian kingdoms - old ones have better art sculptures than the others. Impression of more than 2000 yrs, little change in the traditons and other aspects of the egyptians. The kings of the old kingdom donned the same attire as the kings from new kingdom - worshipping the same gods, making the same monuments except the tombs of old kingdoms were pyramids, whereas the later kings built tombs in the kings' valley.
Looks like history is more of kings and powerful people than of the ordinary folks. If the kings don't change their ways of life, the people would care little to do so. Hence the point to democracy is to let the people have more say what they want and how they want to live their lives instead of pushed down from the top. Singapore reflect exactly the kingdom system where by changes are pushed down from the top.
Witness king tut's exhibits - very glamorous and mind boggling how more than 4000 yrs ago people already had what we are having now as the means to live and enjoy life - fans, mirrors, diff types of bed, diff types of container jar, perfumes, nails,...the workmanship of the sedan chair was like done with a precision machine on the wooden handles and capped with bronze at the ends, done in such neat fits you wld think it must be done with some kind of high tech robot.
Dinner at egyptian buffet retaurant - so so. Buy a can of beck, the non-alcoholic beer. Tastes like beer but no kick.
beer is no beer if it looses its alcohol, just like salt is no salt if its looses it saltiness.
singapura is no singapura if it looses its singapore-lah!
Then go khan khalili market donwtown cairo. The 4 gals late coming back, everybody claps and they still want to argue. Give them a piece of his mind. Eat in hard rock cafe. Met gracie, his colleague n family, from another tour. then go to cairo museum. Visit exhibits from old, middle and new anicient egyptian kingdoms - old ones have better art sculptures than the others. Impression of more than 2000 yrs, little change in the traditons and other aspects of the egyptians. The kings of the old kingdom donned the same attire as the kings from new kingdom - worshipping the same gods, making the same monuments except the tombs of old kingdoms were pyramids, whereas the later kings built tombs in the kings' valley.
Looks like history is more of kings and powerful people than of the ordinary folks. If the kings don't change their ways of life, the people would care little to do so. Hence the point to democracy is to let the people have more say what they want and how they want to live their lives instead of pushed down from the top. Singapore reflect exactly the kingdom system where by changes are pushed down from the top.
Witness king tut's exhibits - very glamorous and mind boggling how more than 4000 yrs ago people already had what we are having now as the means to live and enjoy life - fans, mirrors, diff types of bed, diff types of container jar, perfumes, nails,...the workmanship of the sedan chair was like done with a precision machine on the wooden handles and capped with bronze at the ends, done in such neat fits you wld think it must be done with some kind of high tech robot.
Dinner at egyptian buffet retaurant - so so. Buy a can of beck, the non-alcoholic beer. Tastes like beer but no kick.
beer is no beer if it looses its alcohol, just like salt is no salt if its looses it saltiness.
singapura is no singapura if it looses its singapore-lah!
Friday, December 11, 2009
abu simbel - progress
The egyptian nite in winter is chilly. But inside the air-conditioned van, it's warm. It left the cruise docking location in aswan at 3.00am in the morning and has to wait for 30 minutes in another area where all the buses going to abu simbel gathered and go thru some security check before it actually leaves aswan, heading south on a 3-hr journey.
After leaving the road lit by street lights, they are into the desert with no street lights and no other man-made lights other than the headlamps of the van and occasionally head lights from other vehicles.
Marathon man did not have a good sleep , though he tunned in before 9 last nite. But he does not feel like shutting his eyes, but is quite at a lost of what else to do in the next 3 hrs. Looking outside, it's featureless, desert-like lanscape. Then it stikes him when he looks up; there are countless stars hanging in the sky.it reminded him of the nites he spent in the arabian desrt, many years ago. if there's a milky way up there, it would definitley not be seen in the cities, with their lights cutting off all dimly lit starlets and stardusts...
just before they arrive at abu simbel, the sun rises up from the horizon, coloring the cloudless sky crimsonly red, and lighting the trees and plants scattered along the abu simbel village into some brilliant creatures ready to begin the day of sand eating.
the village is a small one, mainly accupied by the nubians, the dark-skin egyptians who inhabit the southern egypt and northern sudan, and who is supposed to be the first civilized people in the world, dated to the years before 3800bc.
abu simbel, 2 beautiful temples dedicated to remesses II and his wife nefertari was moved from the lower part of the nasser lake in 1960's when the aswan dam was constructed. still it retains its glorious mountain-carved structures and also the positionin of the remesses' temple such that the sun's ray will illuminate the three statues in the sanctuary room on the dates 22 feb and 22 oct, every year.
egyptian history like any other ancient or even recent history is mostly about kings, conquerers - most of the relics and artifacts left behind are big structures dedicated to the kings.
for the 200o years of ancient egyptian history, it seems the kings of the 1st dynatsy and those of the 30th dynasty had many things in common, in their beliefs, their attires, their customers..... to them, it seemed thare's no generation gap.... there's only one generation for the 2000 over years.
but now, just within the last century, egypt has changed from a monarchy to a republic and has followed the step of the global changes quite closely, espceially in the big cities like cairo and alexandria.
autocratic society progresses only if the person in power does so - whereas, for an opened society, the motivation for progress comes from the people.
After leaving the road lit by street lights, they are into the desert with no street lights and no other man-made lights other than the headlamps of the van and occasionally head lights from other vehicles.
Marathon man did not have a good sleep , though he tunned in before 9 last nite. But he does not feel like shutting his eyes, but is quite at a lost of what else to do in the next 3 hrs. Looking outside, it's featureless, desert-like lanscape. Then it stikes him when he looks up; there are countless stars hanging in the sky.it reminded him of the nites he spent in the arabian desrt, many years ago. if there's a milky way up there, it would definitley not be seen in the cities, with their lights cutting off all dimly lit starlets and stardusts...
just before they arrive at abu simbel, the sun rises up from the horizon, coloring the cloudless sky crimsonly red, and lighting the trees and plants scattered along the abu simbel village into some brilliant creatures ready to begin the day of sand eating.
the village is a small one, mainly accupied by the nubians, the dark-skin egyptians who inhabit the southern egypt and northern sudan, and who is supposed to be the first civilized people in the world, dated to the years before 3800bc.
abu simbel, 2 beautiful temples dedicated to remesses II and his wife nefertari was moved from the lower part of the nasser lake in 1960's when the aswan dam was constructed. still it retains its glorious mountain-carved structures and also the positionin of the remesses' temple such that the sun's ray will illuminate the three statues in the sanctuary room on the dates 22 feb and 22 oct, every year.
egyptian history like any other ancient or even recent history is mostly about kings, conquerers - most of the relics and artifacts left behind are big structures dedicated to the kings.
for the 200o years of ancient egyptian history, it seems the kings of the 1st dynatsy and those of the 30th dynasty had many things in common, in their beliefs, their attires, their customers..... to them, it seemed thare's no generation gap.... there's only one generation for the 2000 over years.
but now, just within the last century, egypt has changed from a monarchy to a republic and has followed the step of the global changes quite closely, espceially in the big cities like cairo and alexandria.
autocratic society progresses only if the person in power does so - whereas, for an opened society, the motivation for progress comes from the people.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
edfu - pap rules
Woke up in the wee hours, he checked his blackberry, and wouldn't be able to get back to sleep any more. He came up to the sun-deck, chilly and quiet.
The time was before 5am.
The dark sky was clear with a cresent moon overhead. the cold stars sparingly dotted the dark screen.
At 5.55 the loud speakers sounded, one after each other - the call to prayer made a very powerful statement to break dawn in a muslim country - that religion is the expression of human beings inner faith to strive for something that's not humanly possible.
The sky over the east bank of nile show the first light of dawn at 5.30am, though marathon man could not be sure that the very faint shade of brightness was actually that from the rising sun. He was fooled once, yesterday morning when he was jogging along the east bank of the nile river in luxor. He thot the sun was going to come out from the other end of the river given that he witnessed a spetacular but quite brief sun-set to the west bank the day before. but, instead, the sun rose on the south-east of the nile.
at 5.45 the shade of brightness turned into deep orange opposite where the cruise docked, and the rest of the sky brightened up in soothing turquoise-blue.
A rooster crowed - then anotehr one, then one after another, from far and near - morning had really broken at a location along the nile, unknown to marathon man.
The birds began to chirp. many of them, sweeping thru the sky - their scissor-tails alluded to their identity - the swifts.
Every so not often a horse-pulled or donkey-pulled cart trotted along the street below.
As the sky brightened up more, the stars faded away: only the moon with her lemon-cresent still hanging in the sky.
At 6.30 the sun finally appeared from the eastbank, amidst the horizontal strip of dark-grey haze. The glory of the day had indeed arrived in this land of the pharoahs.
Marathon man went on to the street next to where the cruise docked. But it stank with the horse and donkey Pee And Poo. No incentive to explore further - just to wait for the time for the day's tour to kom ombo to start.
edfu and singapore has one thing in common - each is a place where pap rules.
The time was before 5am.
The dark sky was clear with a cresent moon overhead. the cold stars sparingly dotted the dark screen.
At 5.55 the loud speakers sounded, one after each other - the call to prayer made a very powerful statement to break dawn in a muslim country - that religion is the expression of human beings inner faith to strive for something that's not humanly possible.
The sky over the east bank of nile show the first light of dawn at 5.30am, though marathon man could not be sure that the very faint shade of brightness was actually that from the rising sun. He was fooled once, yesterday morning when he was jogging along the east bank of the nile river in luxor. He thot the sun was going to come out from the other end of the river given that he witnessed a spetacular but quite brief sun-set to the west bank the day before. but, instead, the sun rose on the south-east of the nile.
at 5.45 the shade of brightness turned into deep orange opposite where the cruise docked, and the rest of the sky brightened up in soothing turquoise-blue.
A rooster crowed - then anotehr one, then one after another, from far and near - morning had really broken at a location along the nile, unknown to marathon man.
The birds began to chirp. many of them, sweeping thru the sky - their scissor-tails alluded to their identity - the swifts.
Every so not often a horse-pulled or donkey-pulled cart trotted along the street below.
As the sky brightened up more, the stars faded away: only the moon with her lemon-cresent still hanging in the sky.
At 6.30 the sun finally appeared from the eastbank, amidst the horizontal strip of dark-grey haze. The glory of the day had indeed arrived in this land of the pharoahs.
Marathon man went on to the street next to where the cruise docked. But it stank with the horse and donkey Pee And Poo. No incentive to explore further - just to wait for the time for the day's tour to kom ombo to start.
edfu and singapore has one thing in common - each is a place where pap rules.
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