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Jordan: The real magic kingdom

February 8, 2011

My main concern was getting out of Egypt swiftly and safely. I ended up evacuating to Jordan, where I decided to make the most of an unplanned detour and scheduled a few days of sightseeing.

I never planned to fall in love with the place.

I only wish I could have stayed longer in this friendly, phenomenal kingdom. The falafel was moist, the streets were busy, the stars in the desert sky practically threw themselves down on me. And then there’s the heaving, breathing beauty of Petra, where monuments are poised to step out of the mountains.

I know Jordan is a small country, but five days wasn’t nearly enough.

I’m sad that Jordan ended up being an afterthought on this journey. I promise to return someday.

 

Egyptian blue

January 3, 2011

Before I arrived in Egypt, I imagined it in neutrals. The dirty khaki of Cairo. The warm, beige sand of Giza. The glow of ancient gold.

But now that I’m here, all I see is blue.

 

Pharaohs after dark

December 22, 2010

Getting to Abu Simbel takes effort.

The small Nubian town is situated  in the southern portion of Egypt, where the country really starts to feel like Africa. As one of the driest inhabited places on earth, most Nubians don’t even bother to put a roof over their clay homes.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult for tourists to get there. Due to security concerns, all foreigners are encouraged to travel from Aswan to Abu Simbel by police convoy. There is at least one convoy per day going into and out of the town.

The unfortunate part of taking the convoy is that it leaves too early (3 a.m.), it is expensive, and everybody is shepherded through the same Abu Simbel temples during a two-hour window.

Public transportation is available, but it is not reliable. Also, only four foreigners are allowed to ride each bus, in an effort to make the vehicles less of a target for terrorists.

My husband and I decided to combine the two options. We took the police convoy to Abu Simbel, stayed the night at a Nubian lodge, then returned to Aswan by public transportation the following day.

I think we were right on the money.

Seeing the Great Temple of Ramses II for the first time was exactly as we expected — astounding, breathtaking, but also very loud, busy and crowded.

So we waited. We strolled back to our Nubian lodge, sipped hibiscus tea, took cool showers. After the convoys rolled out of town, we returned to the temples for a second round.

This time, it was quiet. Mysterious. Magical.

Walking into each temple felt like traveling through time.

At the Temple of Hathor and Nefertari, I felt as if I had been summoned to the site by the pharoah himself. I could only hear my own footsteps, my heartbeat and the wind sliding over the stone crevices.

No crowds also meant I could take an illegal photo of the carvings inside the temple. (It was so beautiful in there, I just couldn’t help myself!)

As the sun made way for a swollen moon, a small crowd trickled in to watch the nightly sound and light show.

It was a great show. We’ve heard that the other sites put on cheesy presentations — like in Giza, where the Sphinx narrates a story while disco lights bounce off the pyramids — but this was tasteful and restrained.

Then again, the “sound” part of the “sound and light show” was in Japanese, so it could have been cheesy as hell. (I really wish somebody would have told us that translator headphones were available.)

Still, the sight of Abu Simbel at night — stately, regal, overwhelming — made everything worthwhile.

At closing time, a guard ushered us toward the path.

“Shhh.” he said as he tiptoed away. “Ramses is sleeping.”

 

The landscape of Kruger

November 21, 2010

The animals at Kruger National Park hog all the attention — but the landscape deserves a look too.

The park is larger than Israel and contains a fantastic diversity of flora and fauna: Endless stretches of bushveld, crooked trees, ribbons of river.

Here’s a taste of what you can see.

 

Streets of Johannesburg

November 6, 2010

I only knew Johannesburg from what I saw on the news as a little girl in the 1980s. Tanks rumbling through city streets, racial segregation and violence among the rubble.

It’s not fair, but those were the images that stuck with me, and it’s what I anticipated when I arrived in South Africa. Of course, the reality is a lot more complex and interesting than a 15-second clip on the nightly news. Not to mention, that was South Africa of the past, and the country has made great and wonderful strides toward a new future.

Unfortunately, many lovely Johannesburg homes are situated behind enormous walls, gates and coils of barbed wire, so I can’t really show you photos of those.

The city streets, however, are vibrant, colorful and electric — and welcoming to everyone.