Q & A

We know that people have all kinds of questions about our trip, so we want to put up a post answering those questions. Now that we have finished our surprises, and we have a couple weeks before we leave again, it seems an appropriate time.

If you have a question for us, leave it as a comment on this post, or e-mail it to us (Tommy dot Lingbloom at gmail dot com, Morgan dot Lingbloom at gmail dot com). Just specify if it is for Morgan, Tommy or both of us. We'll post the responses next week sometime!

Psych!

We fooled you! Mwahahahaha! For those of you who don't know, we are back in Bellingham, and have just completed our whirlwind surprise tour of family and friends.

Here are the answers to some of the questions you might have:

• We are home for 3 and a half weeks, leaving again for SE Asia on January 5


• We have had our tickets from Cairo for over a month; everything about India was a lie


• Two people were in on the surprise: Mitch and Cody. They kept us in the loop of family events, and helped plan the surprises


• Even if it had not been part of the plan since September, we would have come home. We miss our family and friends, and are very travel weary.

We will be in Bellingham and Redmond during our time home, trying to spend as much time with people as we can. Please let us know if you want to hang out! I want to meet people downtown at coffee shops to chat and play chess, and I want to play soccer, ultimate or any sport I can. Morgan wants to cook, wrap presents, make fun things and hold babies. Call us!

In the meantime, let me share with you the joys of flying to Seattle from Cairo. Getting on the plane (which was scheduled to leave for JFK 30 minutes after mignight) was a surreal experience. The flight attendants all spoke English! I understood what they said! USA! USA! Then we were held at the gate for close to 2 hours because they "had to check whether the flight plan was legal." How does this happen? I didn't know, but my mood was too good to care very much. We took off after 2 am and got off the plane at JFK 12 hours later, at 7 am. What?

Because of the delay, we only had 1:25 to catch our next flight. In that time, we had to go through immigration and customs. Our first stop was immigration. The Homeland Security officer asked us some questions, and then checked our passports. "You look exactly the same," he said to Morgan. "Are you sure this is you?" he asked me. I explained to him that my passport was issued when I was 17, and I was now 25. "Ok, looks fine. By the way," he added casually, "we have random checks every 30 or so people, and you have been chosen. Follow me." Great. Understanding that they have to throw a token white guy in their every so often, I followed him to another room while Morgan went to see about our bags.

Above you can see on the right a picture of me 3 months ago. Imagine that, but 8 years younger. I looked more like Eminem. On the left is terrorist Tommy, taken 3 weeks ago.

Sitting in the next Homeland Security room, waiting for my opportunity to have a more thorough interview, I reflected on the above images. I looked around and saw a few other white folks from our flight. The vast majority of the people who had been "randomly selected" were arab men and some women who happened to wear headscarves. I found it funny to think that racial profiling was not the official policy. It was clear as day sitting in that room. As I became conscious of my appearance, I realized that I was not a token white person. I was being racially profiled! The beard has got to go.

After getting grilled by another officer for 5-10 minutes, he had me take my glasses off and began a close cross examination between my face and my passport. Eventually I got through, but that beard has got to go!

Meanwhile, Morgan had retrieved all of our bags (almost 40 kilos!) and met me outside. We ran to customs and made it though ok, dropping off our bags and heading to security for the next flight. Tick tock tick tock...

At security, they pulled us aside and searched our bags for drugs. Random again, I'm sure. After testing our bags for drug residue, we eventually were able to grab our things and run to the gate on the far side of the terminal. We had made! Wait, what? The gate has been switched? To the far side of the terminal? Awesome.

More running, but we made it just in time to catch the plane to Seattle. USA! USA! USA!

Mitch got us at the airport and the rest is history! Ah, home for the holidays...

Cairo in a Nutshell

Day 101
We will probably not be posting again for a little while, so if this post is still on top in a couple of days, scroll down and check to see the other ones! This is the third in three days...

I've been saving our post about Cairo for a couple of weeks, because we always seem to notice new and different things. We've stayed here a total of 12 nights, but more days because that doesn't taken into account night buses and trains. Now we are leaving for India, so it is time to share a bit about our experience here (aside from the greatness of staying with our friends).

Morgan has compiled a Cairo list of... observations/themes/memories. Check it out:

• Boys riding bikes with huge crates of pita on their head
• Buses bursting with people

• Babies wrapped in full-sized blankets
• Confidently crossing the street one lane at a time
• Meat hanging in the street
• Lazy mornings at Cilantro reading the New York Times

• Waiting for white checkered taxis and insisting on the meter
• Getting piles of small change at HSBC
• Men sitting in plastic chairs on the sidewalk
• Sampling streetside bakeries

• Cars concluding that repeated honking of their horn is an acceptable alternative to having lights on at night (we've had some close calls with this one)
• Watering the dirt to keep down dust
• Squeegies everywhere
• Headaches and stuffy noses from smog
• Rare glimpses of the Nile that aren't filled with trash

My personal favorite experience was walking through Khan al-Khalili, the Islamic district of town. We got off the beaten track and wound our way through the old backstreets to al-Azhar Park, a beautiful community place located on top of what was formally a garbage dump, and watched the day fade away over the whole city. It was our first day in Cairo, and a wonderful introduction to the laid back approach we were to take for the following two and a half weeks.

Thanks for continuing to follow our travels. It means a lot to us that people at home care to hear what's happening. We have a lot of pictures on flickr that don't make the cut to the blog, so check out our flickr site by clicking on any of the pictures here. See you in India!

Paradise Found

Day 98

We've been in Bohinj, we've been to the Island of Miljet, and we've been to Cappadocia, but this past weekend we traveled to what may be my favorite place of the whole trip. Get ready for pictures...

Siwa Oasis is 10-12 hours from Cairo, depending on how long it takes to change buses. After arriving in Marsa Matruh, the last town on the coast before Libya, a four hour drive across the desert is needed before reaching the Oasis. In the desert, there is almost nothing to see except the occasional radio tower, a scattered building here or there, and (once) a herd of camels.



Of course, we only were able to get the true feeling of the desert on the return trip, because the four of us (Kathy Ann, Max, Morgan and myself) took the dreaded night bus from Cairo. Nevertheless, we were treated to a brilliant morning in the oasis, and Max and I acquired some fresh "bred" and falafel while we waited for our hotel to open up.



After we got settled and had taken a nap, we went out to explore. We rented bikes for the second half of the day (less than $2 each), and headed into the palm groves. Here is where I started to fall in love with the place. The oasis is almost entirely lakes and palm trees, with space for a town carved out of the middle. Slowly riding down the winding roads, in and out of the shade of lush palm trees, was a serene experience.



When we reached the Oracle of Amun, and climbed to the top for a panoramic view, the effect was complete. We could see both salt lakes, the town, and any other piece of land that had chosen to separate itself from the oasis and jut out of the groves towards the sky.



The oracle itself was pretty impressive as well. Physically, its in pretty rough shape. But when you stop and think about Alexander the Great crossing the desert and climbing up the same hill, it's pretty cool. I was unable to content myself with simply climbing the hill.



We spent the rest of the afternoon cruising along one of the salt lakes, and then making our way back to a local swimming hole, Cleopatra Spring. These springs are the lifeblood of the oasis, and simple irrigation canals keep the date palms in good shape. The warm, clear water is also a great way to beat the heat! The following day, Max and I rode to the more remote Fatnas Spring on the other side of the oasis. We were ready to take a dip, but were a little sketched out by the lack of exit flow and the algae on the surface. You could still see straight through the clear water to the bottom, but we decided to pass.



The joy was in the ride anyway. We grabbed a seat at the nearby cafe and enjoyed the view over one of the lakes. It was straight out of a Corona commercial.



I was sad to leave a place where cars take third place to donkey carts and bikes; a place where children shout "Hello!" and wave at you as if a tourist is something special and unique. In the evening, Max and I played chess at a coffee shop on the square while the ladies shopped around. Everything was low key and relaxed in my mind, and it was nice to have that matched by the nature of our environment (a big change from Cairo!). Outside of the main square in town, the entire oasis is still operating as an oasis. It has not converted itself into a tourist destination, and one would hope that due to its remoteness it will stay that way. I don't know if I'll ever return, but I am very thankful for those two days.

2 Days and 3 Nights

We bid farewell to our friends this past Saturday, and headed south to Luxor. Besides being the name of a casino in Vegas, Luxor is home to some of the best preserved temples and tombs in the country. A must for any tourist. Unlike the casino in Vegas, it has no pyramids.

We opted to take the 10 hour night train, and because $60 per person is far too much for a cabin and two beds, we paid $30 per person for a first class berth. Let's just say that I don't want to know what 2nd or third class is like. Gross. Fortunately for us, there were few people on the train. For a little baksheesh money (about $4) the steward let us change seats to a cabin with no other people, and we were able to lay down and sleep.

Even though it was only 7am, we were swarmed by people outside the train trying to get us to sign up for tours or go to their hotel. We quickly walked to our hotel, got settled, and prepared for our first day out. We headed across the river to see some of the most famous sights in Egypt. By bike. For the equivalent of $5, we acquired two not so trusty steeds and headed to Hatshepsut's Temple. Hatshepsut was one of the only women to become a Pharoah, and certainly the most famous. Because only men could be pharoahs, she is portrayed as a man.



The place was pretty crowded, but in retrospect that was not a bad thing. It was the only site we went to where we didn't have to talk to anybody. No hassle, no baksheesh. Next we headed around and up into the hills to the Valley of the Kings. It was good that Morgan had gears on her bike!



The Valley of the Kings was interesting, but disappointing in that it was the most expensive and least spectacular. No photos! We checked out our allotted three tombs, and headed to a place where we hoped to find seclusion to contemplate some ruins in peace; the Temple of Seti I. Begin rant: Unfortunately, a man following us around drove us away. In retrospect, I wish I had offered him 5 pounds to leave us alone. There are guys like this at every site, who come up to you and try to point out scarabs and khartoushes, then think you should tip them for it. If you let them start pointing things out to you, you've got to pay up. It really ruins the experience. Some of them are employed by the state, but they get paid so little that they need the baksheesh. On the other hand, it's hard to enjoy the sites when you have to babysit an untrained Egyptian tour guide. I wish they would double the price to all the sites, pay the employees a decent wage, and leave us alone once we get inside. End rant.



We made our way back to the river, stopping at a cafe by the Colosi of Memnon for dinner. It was excellent, but we still had the bad taste of hassle in our mouths, and decided that we would go back to Cairo the following night. Additionally, we planned to wake up at 5am to get to Karnak before the tourists and the touts. Arriving at 6am, it was worth it:



The most amazing part of the complex was the Hippostyle Hall, a hall of giant pillars designed to look like papyrus, I think.



All in all, my favorite thing about Egyptian sites is the heiroglyph carvings on the walls. The combination of words and pictures is really quite beautiful. Honestly, I used to wonder why people made such a big deal about ancient Egypt. Now I have no trouble seeing what has captivated the imaginations of travelers over the centuries. To be frank, these places beat the pants off Greek or Roman ruins.



If not for the hassle, we would've loved to stay in Luxor for a while. As it was, we spent most of our second afternoon at an outdoor cafe reading the New York Times. Then we spent 3 hours at POWERHOUSE internet cafe, with about 20 teenage boys. At 11pm, we fled like the cowards we are on a train back to Cairo.

Packed into a cabin with 3 other travellers, we secured a seperate room from the steward. "Tonight sleep," he said. "Tomorrow baksheesh." No problem.