Trapped in the Red Pyramid of Dashur, Egypt

Dashur, Egypt, Day 2 - December 17, 2009 - Trapped Inside the Red Pyramid
Inside Photos of the Red Pyramid included

The Red Pyramid, the third largest pyramid built
104m high (345 feet), built by Pharaoh Sneferu (2613 BC to 2589 BC)
(yes, the pyramid you see in the background is where we were trapped)

Ok, trapped may be too strong of a word, but its the best way I can describe what happened to us while visiting the Red Pyramid in Dashur, Egypt.

Can you imagine being trapped in a pyramid or being buried alive? I can. While my brother and I were in Dashur, we visited one of the first pyramids ever built in Egypt and while there, we found ourselves at the bottom of the pyramid in complete darkness. We started the descent into the pyramid with lights initially guiding our way, however, the lights turned off as soon as we reached the bottom of the pyramid. If you can imagine yourself being buried alive in a coffin, then you will know what I was feeling while standing there in the darkness. It was already hot inside the pyramid and getting hotter as I sense the anxiety building within me. To make matters worse, there was an unfamiliar smell that was unpleasant (think it was ammonia from the mummification process? who knows) -- but that was easily solved as I breathed through my mouth. The oxygen however, felt scarce and at times Wilson echoed my silent thoughts of -- "its getting more and more difficult to breathe down here".

At this point, Wilson and I only had three choices - 1) wait for them (whoever them should be) to turn the lights back on (um, we had two things going against us -- we're in a desert (so we'd be lucky to find water) and we're in Egypt (where things take forever to fix and people do things at an incredibly s l o w pace), 2) some how find a way back to the entrance (not too hard) or 3) continue on with our one mini flash light and my on camera flash... Of course, being the adventurers that we are .... We continued on (hurray! we're crazies! how else would we have a good story to tell?). We eventually found the main chamber but because of the darkness (duh) we could not see much of what was there, if anything was there.

This is a video of us talking inside the pyramid in complete darkness (obviously you won't see anything, you'll just hear our voices), a few seconds after the lights went out. (click the "play" button below")

Below is our journey inside the pyramid with a pictorial view of what we went through.

Here goes...

Man who let us into the pyramid and who also expected "basheesh" (aka tip) for taking a photo of us and for letting us into the pyramid (even though we already paid the entrance fee). In hindsight (and things are always 20/20 afterwards), perhaps he turned the lights off on us! Somethings are better left unknown...

This is the entrance down into the pyramid.

With big smiles on our faces, Wilson and I descend a few steps to take this photo... not knowing what we were going to expect next ...

After we get to the bottom of the stairs, and as we walk for a few minutes ... the lights went off.. and Wilson and I were, literally, left to our own devices -- his: a mini flashlight ; mine: my on-camera flash...

The photo above is of the entrance, a view from the bottom... with the lights off (compare it to the one above -- stark contrast, right?!). Our shouts of "turn on the lights" were ignored... Wilson and I hesitated and then debated whether we should go back, but we got the courage to move deeper within the pyramid...

Left: Wilson crouching to get through a passageway.
Right: Stairs inside the pyramid. Climb this and you'll get into the heart of the pyramid...

Wilson starts climbing up the stairs (photo left)... and just to give you an idea of what it felt like ... to the right is a photo of us going down the stairs... can you, now, imagine doing this in complete darkness, with only a flash to guide you every few seconds?

We finally make it up the stairs and this is the tiny passage we see (left)... entering into the heart of the pyramid... as we enter, we find it difficult to breathe. Wilson notices a pungent smell (right), and I accidentally whiff it in through my nose ... ACK! my mistake! it was once again that ammonia smell, but much stronger ... this must be the source... the air was sooo stifling that we could not stay there for long, but of course, I stay there long enough to take some photos with my flash...

Left: Wilson and I finally made it to the end of the pyramid (look at my shocked face!). And there was nothing there. Well, nothing we can see... (photo on the right is what my camera saw).

Wilson and I make our way back to the entrance... and as we get closer to the pyramid opening, we hear laughter, children laughing... a group of kids were already descending the stairs hoping to seek the same adventure my brother and I just experienced ... I wonder if they were brave enough to go through the dark passageways, up and down the stairs and into the heart of the pyramid... because of the excitement in their voices, we could not tell them that there was nothing at the end of the road...

A Memorable Dress-Up Night at the Cairo Opera House

Wilson' took this w/ his iPhone.

Cairo Opera House, Day 2, 12/17/09 -- Cairo, Egypt

This is a somewhat embarassing story, but what is traveling without a few of these stories? So my brother had the idea of seeing an opera while in Cairo. I've been to musicals and operas before, but I can't say I'm an opera aficinado, but I was willing to go for the experience. And, let me tell you -- it was an EXPERIENCE of a lifetime -- one I will never forget.

So ... how far would you go to see an opera? I'm not talking about distance. I'm talking about to what extent would you push yourself to make it happen? Well, that was exactly the question I faced. Watching an opera at the Cairo Opera House was not about money -- we quickly found out there were cheap "day of", or last minute tickets that we could purchase for 25 EP to 100 EP (or the equivalent of $5-$20 -- a bargain to NYC standards). So money wasn't the issue - then what was? OF all things, attire! Ok, we shouldn't be shocked by this, but, if you can imagine -- Wilson and I are traveling through the Middle East with what I would call "rugged" or "backpacker" like clothing, so the idea of having a tux/suit or a ball gown packed nicely away in our roll-aways/backpacks was not exactly what we envisioned when we packed for our trip. So, what to do and how do you make this happen?

We put on our best clothes. Wilson wore blue jeans, a white button up "Columbia" shirt that amazingly had a collar (Columbia as in the sporting outdoor company), a dark fleece zip-up jacket and his hiking shoes. I wore my one and only red dress (expecting to wear it for New Years) and since I couldn't wear it with sneakers, I wore it with flip flops. Wilson and I put on our eyeglasses, looked at ourselves in the mirror only to say, "Damn, we clean up nice! We can do this."

So of course we try this out.

We tried to purchase our tickets at the box office, but the attendant was skeptical about our attire -- so he didn't sell us the tickets. He commented that Wilson would unlikely be admitted since he was wearing jeans (and I miraculously was fine). The attendant directed to the doorman, who would inspect our clothing and give us the final "nay" or "yay". As we walk towards the entrance, I fully expect to see this burly man who knowingly would soon decide our fate (seriously?! Am I trying to get into a club in the Meatpacking District?) ...

To our surprise, the door man was a mild-mannered gentle man, who seemed friendly and nice enough to let us in. He gives Wilson the "ok", and decides to lend him a tie from the "closest" (something tells me they are used to travellers without proper attire), but gives me the big "no". Apparently, my pale legs and flip flops were a big NO NO. I was in shock! Really? I'm wearing a dress in the freezing cold! I quickly looked around and noticed non-Egyptian people wearing jeans and sneakers! DOH!!!! and now, I'm stuck outside in my red dress, with an overly expressive pair of pale legs and flip flops not being admitted to the Cairo Opera House. Wonderful!

Of course, this isn't the end of the story -- where would the fun be in that?

So, of course, I had to figure a way to make this work... but how?

Sweet talk? Not in my wheelhouse, or ... is it?

I talked to the doorman and the manager, desperately trying to work out a deal.

The sweet talking didn't work out too well (nor an unintended bribe of buying a more expensive ticket). I then asked if they had an extra pair of shoes or extra socks to cover my legs (obsurd? oh yes, but, it didn't hurt to ask, right? If they have extra ties on hand, why not shoes?) No luck.

After a few more attempts, their answer was -- either go back to the hotel and change my outfit (i.e put on jeans and sneakers) or watch the show another night. Wilson and I walked away... I of course walked away unhappy, but my mind was still working and I was still trying to figure a way to get in that night. Persistence my friends! Persistence!

So my next wacky-eyed, crazy solution was ...

Well, lucky for me, I had thought before coming to the opera house that we could potentially get denied, and if that was the case -- I better bring a pair of pants. So, luckily, in my bag I had packed a pair of black yoga pants to keep my legs warm if we were rejected. Are you thinking what I'm thinking??? Probably not, but hey -- i'm resourceful! so, walla, here comes the great idea. ;D

As you can now imagine from the photo, I decided to put on my stretchy yoga pants and use the extra length of the pants to cover my feet (i.e. wear them as if they were my own socks.) HA HA. Oh YES, I DID. :D As I was getting myself ready, Wilson couldn't help but kneel over in laughter over my ridiculous idea. I couldn't contain my laughter either -- but I soon grew serious and wondered ... will it work? Of course it did!

So I ran back to the doorman and showed him my new "formal" attire. Did it work? A few chuckles later and a few more head shakes implying "I can't believe what I'm seeing" from the manager and door man ... they gave me the formal ok with a caveat -- "ok, you can only buy balcony seats and we can only let you in when the lights go off." I was in disbelief that my "shannanigans' worked -- I WAS IN!!!! Who cares if I played the role of that "girl" going into the room with the lights off (yes, you're getting my bad sexual reference?!?! haha... that's actually what their comments reminded me of -- and NO, I haven't had that experience before! )... but honestly, who cares -- I WAS IN -- and I was about to watch LA BOHEME in Cairo!

So Wilson and I bought balcony seats for 25 Egyptian pounds, or the equivalent of US$5, to watch Pucchini's La Boheme. We thought the seats would be in the BACK of the BACK of the theater (afterall, I was the embarassment of the night!), but balcony seats at the Cairo Opera House were essentially mezzanine seats (i.e. one / two tiers above the ground floor!). It was first come first serve seats ... and since not many people were there on a Thursday night, we had our choice of the best seats in the house for US$5! What a deal ! Who cares if the show is good or bad, Wilson and I had already ended the night with a great story that will be relived for many years to come! Now, that's worth $5 and a priceless kodak moment!

These are photos of me and Wilson inside the Cairo Opera House. On the right, is the photo of the manager with us after the show. Also, part of one of the "unsaid" conditions was for us to come back and see him after the show... Lo and behold, we wanted to take pictures with us... He was gracious and generous to offer us to come to his home and he would take us on a tour of Cairo! We couldn't that night (and thought it was a bit strange, but perhaps that was the Egyptian way)... We mentioned perhaps on our way back to Cairo, we would see him again. We never did get back in touch with him.

p.s. If you're a cultural buff or love operas/musicals, you're probably wondering how was the show? It was ok. It doesn't compare to the New York Opera productions, but if you want to experience a different way of life in Cairo and can spare three hours and US$5 ... then this is a great way to spend your time. Just remember to wear, at the very minimal, jeans and sneakers (for females) and jeans, jacket, button up shirt, and sneakers (for males; ties are available at the door).

Our last day in Cairo and we're scrambling to eat all of our favorite foods for the last time...

January 20, 2010 -- Our Last Day in Cairo Scrambling for some Good Food! --

Its our last day in Cairo and Wilson and I are enjoying a few things we love to eat here. Call us crazy, but once we find the things we love to eat, we're serious creatures of habit and have to have it over and over again!

In no particular order, here are a few food items we enjoyed eating / drinking and having in Egypt (and some we found again on our last day in Egypt)...

Wilson and I stumbled upon El ABD, a dessert shop located on Talaat Harb street in Cairo, and among the sweet cakes and breads, there was also ice cream. The fruit flavors -- mango and strawberry -- are OUT OF THIS WORLD. It was so fresh -- you could taste the fruit! It was sooo good; I wish we could have fresh fruit ice cream like this in the States... We also tried two other flavors, chocolate and vanilla. Chocolate was a close second, but finishes third between the four flavors. And, well, Vanilla -- there was nothing exciting about that. Cost 3 e.p.

Ah... the Egyptian rice. There must be butter in there... cause, its ridiculously good here. There are these noodle like things (in the photo, its the brown strips) that adds an interesting texture and flavor to the rice. We usually had the rice with grilled chicken, which was also one of our other favorite food finds on the trip. However, I'm not sure if we ordered the chicken only because of the rice; or did we order the rice for the chicken. Either way, both the grilled chicken and the rice were extremely yummy!

grilled chicken was always very juicy and flavorful -- full of lemon and salt and pepper seasonings. The best chicken and rice dish we had was in Bahariya Desert (our desert chef cooked up some amazing chicken and rice; and the other was on our way back to Cairo -- and I couldn't even name the restaurant if I tried). If you're in Dahab, Funny Mummy and King Chicken are pretty good! But seriously, you can't go wrong with chicken and rice in Egypt (or in Jordan!). Chicken and Rice Price: 18 - 35 e.p. Rice, if sold separately costs approximately 4-7 e.p.

Mixed Sandwich -- Fuul (essentially refried beans), french fries and felafel. Man, this sounds disgusting, but its just the perfect mixture of salty, sweet and crunchy. Don't knock this until you try it. This is easily found at Felfela Take-Away (which is where we had our last taste); or if you are at a local vendor, you will most likely have to pick and choose to put this into the sandwich. Price: 2-5 e.p. (though not pictured here, fuul with egg is also a great combo!! or fuul with mostly anything would be wonderful mix)

Ah, Koshary. From the first time we had this in Khan Al Kalilli, we were in love with it. Its a simple dish -- rice, macaroni, chick peas, lentil, those brown noodle like things covered with a light tomato sauce. So simple, so easy, yet so yummy. There is also a lemon-garlic sauce that you can pour over it if you need some extra flavor. This is available everywhere -- street vendors, Felfela (our favorite quick eats place and where we had it last), and their own stand-alone stores. This is an extremely popular dish in Cairo! If you're in Luxor, DO NOT MISS out on El Zayeem near the Nefertiti Hotel. Price: 2 - 5 e.p.

Not sure exactly what the name of this was. Muhabiyya? Its a sweet dessert - if I would venture a guess at what it was made out of -- rice, milk, sugar water, maybe some coconut ... and then it was topped off with pistachios. Oh so delicious -- and you can find it or a variation of it at a dessert shop. Price: varies on the size -- 0.50 to 1 e.p.

You may find this hilarious, but these cookies are no joke. Mcvitie's have been one of my favorite brand of cookies ever since I studied abroad in England and it just so happened that we found some while in Egypt and Jordan. HobNobs -- the Original -- Oatmeal type -- damn, good. Great for road trips, great for hiking, great for anything you do! And... I don't even remember how much it cost cause it wasn't important. Price: 4.5 JD / 7 EP somewhere around there?

My two favorite drinks on the trip were the fresh fruit drinks and the tea. If the fresh fruit drinks were not available, these bottled juice drinks were fantastic. Guava and Mango were my two favorite fresh fruit drinks -- it also had the fruit pulp, which made it taste real and not concentrated... The bottled ones are packed with a lot of sugar, but wow, were they good (maybe it was just the sugar!)! But if you could have your choice of coca cola or this fruit drink for the same calories, I'd choose the fruit drink all day long. Price: 5-10 e.p. depending on where you purchase the drink.

You can't leave Egypt without having a cup of tea. While here, you'll notice a lot of people walking around with trays filled with tea only to be hand-delivered to the workers at the butcher shops or even shop vendors.... you'll even find loads of people in coffee shops having their morning/afternoon/dinner tea... why? because tea is like water to them. That is, tea with sugar is like water to them. Yellow Lipton tea was what they served mostly everywhere; or there own mint leaf tea. Whatever form of tea you ordered, you almost always needed some sugar in it. For me, I learned two spoonfuls of sugar did it for me (for wilson it was one) ... and that was the drink -- tea with two spoonfuls of sugar (...makes the medicine go down, makes the medicine go down). Price: 1 e.p. to 12 e.p. (more than some foods!)

Diet Pepsi or Coca Cola Light was Wilson's beverage of choice. Everywhere we go, up Mt. Sinai, down the pyramids, at the Valley of the Kings or at a restaurant ... Wilson is never without a nice cold refreshing diet pepsi or coca cola light. In addition to this, I will include his cigarettes -- yes its not food -- but its sustenance for Wilson, or so it seems since he finishes a pack a day! wow! who knew! L&M Blue label, made by Philip Morris -- what tobacco isn't made by P.M.? -- was Wilson's cigarette brand in Egypt (Marlboro Light was too strong here). By the way, if you're buying Marlboro's in Egypt, make sure they aren't the fake ones. The fake ones you'll notice will "burn" through quickly, so I'm told. Price of Diet Pepsi/Coca Cola Light - 3.0 - 7 e.p.; Price of L&M: 5-20 e.p.

Its sort of interesting that we didn't include schwarma in the list of things that we absolutely had to have again before we leave. For some reason, I wasn't a fan of the schwarma here and I think the reason was largely due to my distaste of the beef and lamb. Those two meats just didn't taste good. The best type of entree to order in Egypt is either chicken or fish. Quail/pigeon is also a great alternative to beef and lamb. If you're stomach is ready for vegetables, the cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes are wonderful here. Extremely fresh and healthy for you! Overall, the food throughout Egypt was not as bad as I expected; though, I do admit, a lot of food served in Egypt is largely quick eats. There were some decent sit down restaurants that we tried, but they were mostly full of tourists, and the food was okay. There are many other foods that I enjoyed while here in Egypt and I'm just happy that I ate everything and am ending the trip without Pharoah's revenge. Until next time my Pharaoh, I shall bid a due and see you in the future!

-- Happy eating!

Starting My Scuba Diving Lessons! Day 1

Today is the day I MAN UP and learn how to dive! Its such a crazy and foreign thing for me to do, especially since I'm not a good swimmer and am afraid of drowning. With these two things in mind, you would assume it would deter me from attempting to dive -- but, I guess I'm not an ordinary person, or I'm just an adventurous person who wants to test my own limits (if i die, i guess i died trying, right? ha ha). I'm not sure how I'll face up to this challenge, but obviously since I am writing about this now, I lived to tell the tale after my first day.

So what did I do today? It was all about tests and practical application of what I learned from books and video instruction. Btw, I had no idea learning how to dive would take so much time. You generally hear it takes about 3-4 days to become open water certified, but what I didn't realize is that its essentially an all day thing. You get a PADI instruction manual that you will have to comb through, or alternatively, you can pay close attention to the videos you are required to watch. After going through each chapter (5 chapters, and they are long), you are then asked to take a quiz at the end of the book, which is later followed up with another test conducted by your dive instructor. That's only the written tests! There are also 4 instructional dives in the water, where you will be testing your book knowledge in a practical setting.

So, today I completed my knowledge 1 & 2 tests (essentially, learning what positive/negative/neutral buoyancy is... equalizing pressure inside your body ... learning how to use the equipment and how it will keep you alive under water ... yes, breathe through the regulator! ... hand signals ... among many other things). I passed the knowledge 1 & 2 quizzes (seriously, its almost like i'm back in school - you have to review a 30 minute video for each chapter, then at night you read the chapters (um, you're supposed to) and answer the questions at the end. After all of that is done you then meet with the instructor to get quizzed again). I passed this phase and then it was onto the "fun" part - the confined water dive.

If you've snorkled before, you have some sense of how it is to swim with fins and also how it is to get water through your air hole (not pleasant). So think about that and now add on the "comfort" of swimming with an oxygen tank on your back, 5-10 pound weights and other gear ... its a lot more difficult. It takes some time to get used to all the equipment and even after a day, I'm still not that comfortable with it. Every thing was a new step and every step got harder as I continued on! The first was being able to try to stand erect in the water with all the gear and then being able to descend into the water and kneel. Oh yeah, lets just say I had to go up a few times before getting used to kneeling down on the ocean floor (all of this is a semi-confined water environment -- out here in the Red Sea -- its just a shallow part of the sea vs. in a swimming pool). I would say the most difficult thing I had to do today was alternating air sources through the snorkel and through the regulator while underwater. You have to BLOW out water from the snorkel and if you make the mistake of breathing in while water is in the snorkel -- you will instantly choke and feel that burning sensation from the salt water in your throat! ugh, extremely unpleasant and this can easily make you want to quit! After a few attempts I made it through this part -- but it made the following skill tests more difficult to pass since my mind was getting a bit "nervous" and "scared" which -- we all know -- prevents ourselves from advancing to the next level... And what I can gather from day one is this entire course is all about how confident you feel in your abilities (that makes sense since life is like this). I will admit I was a bit shaken with this part of the test... and as I moved on to the next challenge (5 step descent) ... I was a bit nervous underwater again and my next challenge was to take off my face mask and have it off for a minute. Needless to say, I had so many things in my mind that I couldn't accomplish this next task - my chest felt tight; my lunch felt like it was about to come up (mental note: do not eat too much before diving, but that all depends on how you are when you exercise -- i don't really eat); my mouth was extremely dry from all the dry air I was inhaling through the regulator and it tasted like salt; and to top it all off -- i had to pee (and regardless of what anyone says, its not that easy peeing in the open water even though its probably quite easy in the pool! ha ha) So, with all of that, I was just drained and had to call it a day. So I finished water confinement 1 and half of 2 -- which, I will complete the rest of 2 tomorrow.

So my friends, this diving experience will be a true experiment and a test of whether I can get over my fear of drowning and at the same time trying to do something fun and new! Its a WHOLE NEW WORLD down there... tomorrow is a new day (and ugh, still have loads to read for tonight!)

Pharoah's Revenge (Is the food in Egypt that Bad? -- Myth or Not?!)

You either clicked on this because you thought it was an interesting title about a Pharaoh plotting his revenge, or related the title to Montezuma's Revenge (ie getting bad stomach pains / diarrhea after eating something).

Well, I named this blog entry, Pharaoh's Revenge because of the latter comment. Many people have heard Egyptian Food is not good and can really do a number on your digestive system - but as Wilson and I have found - it isn't as bad as we heard or were told. : D Wilson and I have braved the Khan El Kahlili foods, some street vendor food, "local" restaurants and other foods that were offered to us - and so far so good (knocking on wood)! So, either Wilson and I have iron stomachs or the food here is really not that bad.

So far, here are a few things we've eaten (in order of appearance ... ha ha; RED says don't go, GREEN says go, WHITE means it was ok).

Kepta Sandwich (Khan el Kahlili) - Aka Liver Sandwich (cow). Sounds interesting, right? Would you try this? I'm Chinese, so I've had liver many times before so it was worth a shot. The liver was dipped into a flour-like dough and then deep fried in a wok of hot oil. After a few flips, the liver was ready to be eaten. The liver was weighed and then placed inside a pita-like bread. They provided some cucumber and tomato salad on the side and topped it off with a yogurt-like light brown sauce. We were ready to eat! It had a nice crunch to it and was de-lish-ous! A definite must try! Price: 2.5 Egyptian pounds, equivalent to approximately $ 0.50.

Beans Over Pasta (Khan el Kahlili; Koshary Pasta) - I have yet to figure out the name - Fuul Pasta? As you can see, its a simple dish. We saw many of the locals eating it, so it must be good. The dish is a mixture of macroni and spaghetti pasta covered with a light tomato and bean sauce. My initial bite and reaction to it was - its bland! But, I soon discovered that it was supposed to be eaten with some lime juice (which i found on the counter). After I added it, it was much much better. Not bad for a quick meal on the go. Price: 2.5 Egyptian pounds, equivalent to approximately $ 0.50.

Schwarma Sandwich (Giza, near Pyramids, Felfela Take-Away) - Lamb sandwich. Sandwich included lamb and a light brown yogurt-like sauce wrapped in a thin pita bread. You can order medium / large. Medium 7 egyptian pounds, Large 12 egyptian pounds. Bread was great,

Mixed Sandwich (Downtown, Felfela Sandwich Shop, 15 Sharia Hoda Shaaraw) -- It was a mix of everything. Falfafel, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, and french fries. Ahhh, just thinking about it is making me crave it. The refried beans mixed with the falfafel was an absolute hit! Crunch and mush doesn't sound appetizing, but wow, its great. It sort of reminds me of the days when I used to eat Taco Bell Mexican Pizza - the crunch and the mush combined together to make a delectable flavor. : D This lovely sandwich was enough to fill me up and it cost - you won't believe it - 2 Egyptian pounds (less than US $ 0.50).

"Chips" aka French Fries (Downtown, Felfela Sandwich Shop, 15 Sharia Hoda Shaaraw) -- Wilson loves fries and couldn't resist. Forgot how much this cost, but it was nice and crunchy. But you have to love the server behind the counter!

Oriental Rice with Meat Sauce (Downtown, Egyptian Museum Cafe) -- It was oily, but it was rice, says Wilson. Price: 40 egyptian pounds, approximately $ 8.00. Definitely overpriced, but we're eating at the museum.

Would definitely recommend eating elsewhere, if you have the time.

Chicken Schwarma with Fries (Downtown, Egyptian Museum Cafe) -- Eh, it was ok. Sandwich had cut up pieces of chicken with some bell peppers. Flavor was medi-ocre, but I didn't expect much from this cafe since it was at a tourist location. Price: 35 Egyptian pounds (approximately $ 7.00)

Mixed Grilled Meats (Emara Hati El Gish, 32 Sharia Falaki or 32 Falakay) - Includes Persion Kostalita (lamb chop - wow so good), sausage with rice (loved the tomato infused rice), grape leaves with rice (tomato infused rice, but grape leaves are too tangy for my tastes), kabob & kobta (salty) , liver (okay), and chicken (nicely flavred, not dry). Overall a great way to introduce you to a variety of prepared meats. The lamb and the sausage with rice was by far my favorite. Price: 54.90 egyptian pounds (approx. US $ 10)

Eggplant, Lemon, Tomato (Emara Hati El Gish, 32 Sharia Falaki or 32 Falakay): The dish included mini-chunks of tomato, lemon and topped off with grinded bits of eggplant. The little bits of eggplant was almost unnoticeable in taste. Price: 4.92 Egyptian pounds, less than US $ 1

Tobola (chick peas) - Metabel - Labana (Emara Hati El Gish, 32 Sharia Falaki or 32 Falakay): grounded chickpeas with some spices. It was ok, a bit too salty. Price: 4.92 Egyptian pounds, less than US $ 1

Sambisa with Meat (Emara Hati El Gish, 32 Sharia Falaki or 32 Falakay): Triangle shaped pastry dish that reminded me of an Indian samosa or a softer Spanish empanada. You can order this with meat or cheese. The meat sambisa was tasty. Price: 10 egyptian pounds, approx. US $ 2.

Assortment of Appetizers (Part of our Bahariya Oasis Tour Food with Select Egypt) - This was what we were served at lunch. Cheese and Tomato (pass), Tuna from the can (pass), Cheese paste with tomato and cucumber (pass), Cucumber and tomato salad (ok), egg and tomato (yum!), Bag of Lays cheese potato chips (yum) , pita bread, and bananas. Overall, it was an interesting spread ... Most of the foods I could do without, but the egg and tomato dish was my favorite (probably because I used to eat something similar to this when I was growing up)

Chicken with Vegetables and Rice (Part of our Bahariya Oasis Tour Food with Select Egypt) -- Wilson and I agree that this was by far one of the best meals we've had (aside from that Mixed Sandwich with the refried beans!). The rice was loose and extremely flavorful (have no idea what was put in there - fat lard? Since there probably wasn't any butter). The vegetables also had a very good taste to it. The carrots, onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers were cooked to a perfect softness and had a richness to it that was something I haven't had. If I could have this everyday, I would become a vegetarian! But since I can't have that everyday, I'm still an omnivore. The chicken was freshly "prepared" (ie killed) that day. Our driver seasoned it with salt and lime juice and threw it on the barbecue grill. Delicious. Everything in this meal was fantastic. Definitely worth it.

Thus far, these are the highlights of my food adventures in Egypt! The food has been better than expected and I hope to taste more of the culinary treats of Egypt! and finally, I hope I won't experience "Pharaoah's Revenge"

Until the next Egyptian food tour ...

En Route - EgyptAir experience ...

I flew EgyptAir to Cairo and before hopping onto the plane, I had a lot of preconceived ideas about how EgyptAir would be. Many of the reviews I read re: EgyptAir were bad, I mean really really bad! So bad, I was tempted to pay four times as much for a direct flight on another airline, but that would be wasteful. So instead, I flew with EgyptAir and it didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would (at least not worth paying 4x as much for!).






Here are a few online reviews I found about EgyptAir.

• One star service rating


• From NYC to Cairo, bathrooms are unkept and dirty (I guess on a 11-12 hour flight – you would expect that, right? No wait a minute, even my 15 hour Cathay Pacific flights to Hong Kong are clean).
  
• Food was horrible


• Airline ticketing of your plane ticket in the US is a long process

My review of EgyptAir's Flight and Service

• Probably the most annoying thing about EgyptAir was purchasing the ticket. If you live in New York, I would highly recommend reserving your ticket online and then going straight to the airline ticketing office to make payment (45th street and 6th avenue, I believe). Or else, you'll have to face the wrath of the "bad telephone lines" at EgyptAir's booking/ticketing office. Just to give you a glimpse of the horror I went through -- In total, I spent more than two hours booking my ticket on the phone (probably 15 minutes including wait time) and then the rest trying to pay for the ticket via the ticketing hotline. Lets just say I was in for a rude awakening -- i called the ticketing agent four to five times and each call grew more frustrating as I was asked to be put on hold, then forgotten; or picked up and then hung up on; or the best one yet – put on hold, then picked up, and then connected with someone else that was waiting for a ticketing agent! Oh, and the fun doesn't stop there, but I won't bore you with the details. Just trust me when I say its worthwhile to go directly to the ticketing office to pay for your ticket. There was no wait, just four people sitting there on the phone answering people’s calls (btw, did I tell you those four people handle all of North America’s EgyptAir flights? Yes, that explains the long hold times!). The transaction to pay at the ticket office took less than 5 minutes! p.s. you can book your tickets via Orbitz or some other travel site ... but when I booked my ticket the prices were about $200 higher than purchasing directly through EgyptAir.
  
• Btw, while at the Egypt Air office, they mentioned that their phone lines were not working correctly (duh, i could have told them that!) – but apparently the phone system automatically hangs up on people after a certain amount of holding time. The ticket agents are fully aware of it and have informed management, but to their surprise, management has not fixed it over the last year!

Ok, back to the flight and how it compared to the review.

• Toilets. Toilets were not as bad as I read about and was like any other long-distance flight.
  
• Food. Tolerable and as expected. High caloric intake with not much flavor. Do not order the beef - it was disgusting. My neighbor had the fish and said it was good. Also, do not expect to get any snacks during flight. Just bring your own.
  
• Seats were old, but due to wear, it was broken in - so slightly more comfortable. Not that cramped in the seats, but I’m 5’3 and medium build.
  
• Service was nothing to rave home about – they came when you called them, they delivered food at the right hours. Do not expect service with a smile.
  
• Poor Flight Communication. Our flight was re-rerouted to Sharm El Sheikh due to a sandstorm in Cairo .... but our pilots decided not to inform its passengers until after we landed in the new airport, which was a hour later. You can imagine the guests were not too happy about this. Picture on the left is of everyone standing around the plane, waiting for the pilot to announce that we're heading back to Cairo.
  

• Overall, EgyptAir wasn't as bad as all the reviews made it out to be (except the ticketing portion). I made it safely to Cairo, so I should be happy I lived to share it with everyone. :D