Adventure Around the World

Last we left you we were on our way to Luxor, Egypt on a night train (first class of course!) First class turned out to be 10 hours of sitting upright in a compartment with 4 characters. Among our favorites, a young Egyptian man who was a self-proclaimed philosopher/poet/genius who was the “companion” of an older angry Danish man who had a “problem with women”. We knew it would be a loooong trip when we heard him say “if I’m only going to know them for 10 hours who cares if they like me.” The trip became more bearable when the Danish man proceeded to get drunk, fall over, wet himself, and pass out (quite an improvement over his former state). The remainder of the trip we were entertained by an Egyptian businessman reading our personalities via sketches we made, and refusing offers to have our feet kissed (literally) as well as propositions for three-day flings while in Luxor. Needless to say, it was a memorable trip.


In Luxor we joined a tour for the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens and Queen Hatcheapsuit’s tomb (phonetic spelling). Our guide, Dr. Hadi was hilarious in an understated kind of way. “When you ask me if it’s a good deal and I say ‘yes’ it means yes. When I say ‘yes, yes’ it means no.” Here we explored ancient tombs full of hieroglyphics in various states of preservation and were awed by the amazing history. While attempting to find a felucca (sailboat) ride later that evening, we met a couple of impromptu tour guides, who showed us around the West Bank of the Nile, walked us through the local village (our first non touristy thing this whole trip) and brought us to their favorite hangout for tea and second-hand sheesha smoke. Talking with them, we got the details behind boy/girl relationships in Egypt, family structure in a Muslim house, and how hungry people really are during Ramadan (about ½ of the 4 hour conversation centered around the hunger pains from the day and what they ate after sunset). We decided then that we definitely needed to meet more people during this trip since we were getting bored of each other J The tea shop also marked our first run-in with the squat toilet, which Meridith was very glad to have found.

On our last day in Luxor, we visited the ancient Temple of Karnak where we took 100 pictures and perspired more than we have in months. In the afternoon, we met our friends from the night before for a sunset boat cruise to Banana Island, a destination created for the sole purpose of having a location to take tourists to by boat. After Leslie safely navigated the motor boat to the island (well there was no lasting damage to the boat), we were basically given a 10 minute tour, shown orange, mango and banana trees, then force fed bananas, while our friends counted down the minutes until they could eat. Back on the boat we witnessed/shared our first Ramadan “breakfast” and managed to sneak our hands in for a piece of bread before the food had been devoured.

After three days in Luxor full of seeing ancient ruins (hieroglyphics tend to lose their awe when you view them for 8 hours a day), we were ready for some light relaxation, so we went off to Sharm el Sheik and Dahab in the Sinai Peninsula (to prevent a mass outbreak of heart attacks in the US, we decided to forgo the trip to Israel. Actually, it was going to take too much time in transport, but we’ll let mom believe it was for our safety). We spent four days of beachside bumming, eating, lounging, reading and eating (yes, that wasn’t a typo). Leslie also smoked her first sheesha and made quite an impression on a local waiter/future pen-pal, who will “never forget her”.

With another overnight bus to Cairo (we’ll never learn), we spent our last day shopping with another impromptu tour guide looking to pass the time until he could eat, and our evening viewing the swirling dervish dance (ballerinas have nothing on these guys) with some fellow travelers. We then set off on a 48 hour trip to India with an overnight lay-over in Germany. With many marriage proposals, a few pen-pals and an ever-expanding Arabic vocabulary (we’re at 12 words) we both decided Egypt has been a highlight of the trip so far.

Our planning for our trip to India consisted of buying the Lonely Planet guide in the airport on the way to India. Due in great part to this abundance of planning, Leslie and I were victims of many money-making schemes within the first 10 hours, including a way overpriced hotel at 2 am, taxi drivers who took us where they thought we should go, and a very expensive, kinda inclusive 10 day tour with a personal driver. While our wallets were hurting, we were both very excited to plan nothing and have a well-traveled Indian tell us exactly what to do, where to go, and when to eat, sleep and get in the car. (He is totally open to our suggestions… if only we had some. He even calls himself our “Lonely Planet”.)

Our itinerary has us touring the northern state of Rajistan, visiting Jaipur (the capital), Udaipur (city with many lakes), Jodhpur (the Blue City) and Pushka (haven’t been there yet), with some additional days in Agra and Delhi. We’ve seen exquisite temples (Hindu and Jain), an uncountable number of impressive forts (I think they call everything a “fort”) and have been on a never-ending mission of getting pictures of the cows roaming the streets, a family of 5 on a moped, and any other Indian practice we find crazy. We even saw a Hindi/English Bollywood movie complete with random bursts into song/music video and questionable costume designs. The delights of winding around trucks, animals, and scooters on a two lane “highway” are, however, getting old and Meridith has decided that she definitely prefers the back seat. And to continue with our culinary updates, the food here has been delicious and spicy, and minus a few rushed bathroom breaks, very enjoyable.

Despite the lack of content we’re giving India, this country may consist of 40% of our photo album when we get home. The daily life here is probably more impressive than the majority of the tourist attractions that we spend our days visiting. And while we felt this would be the first country where people didn’t assume we were natives, we continue to confuse people with our ethnic origins. To add to it, we considered purchasing a beautiful sari (the saris the women wear make this desert land extremely colorful) or Punjabi suit, but we opted for our dirty traveling clothes instead. (You’ll undoubtedly notice if we ever get the pictures up!)