Passage Report 29

Luxor, Gulf of Suez, Canal and Cairo

Luxor beckons and plans are made. Advice from Marje, a Finish lady married to a local, working part-time as a travel agent, proves invaluable. Skipper joins Peter and Barbara (Musketelle, NZ).

We travel aboard the luxury "Super Jet" bus (US$9.00 one way) through desert and the fertile Nile valley. It is a stark contrast: inhabitable dryness to luxuriant Bruegelian farm lands. An unchanged timeless scene; a yellow and green patchwork quilt, of manual labour and donkey carts, bringing in the grain harvest. It is the same land that fed the Pharaohs civilization.

Luxor is tourism. Hotel, horse carriage and taxi touts besiege. The Emilio Hotel (4 star -US $30 single, $40 double including breakfast) is recommended and doesn't disappoint. The uninterrupted rooftop view across the Luxor temple, the Nile, graceful felugas (traditional sailing boats), to the necropolis hills is memorable.

The Egyptian souk (market) provides a birthday (Annalise) gift: a silver key to paradise. "Half price for you...only today..." The next day is the same.

Ahmed is recommended as a taxi for the West Bank tours to the Valley of the Kings, of Queens, of Nobles and temples. It is good advice (US$30 a day) (phone: 010 507 6306).

2-4000 years before Christ, this Valley hosted the Pharaohs civilization. The society created a religion, art, architecture and government that functioned when Europe was primitive. A tour of the antiquities remaining cannot be "done" in a day or even a week. It is so overwhelming in its splendour, creative art, concept and architecture that to try to understand it before visiting it places an impossible burden. It requires two or more visits. It is enough to just soak up, bath in. Better to have some visual perception before embarking on the intellectual exercise of understanding.

A ticket allows three King's tombs. Tut Ankh Hamun's is an extra fee as the only intact tomb yet found (1922). Only Tut's mummy remains, all else is in the Cairo museum. It remained unfound due to the entrance being under the rubble from Ramesses IV tomb.

There are 63 tombs. A Pharaoh's tomb provided an economy of artisans, workers and agriculture. The gods were thanked through tomb and temple building. It was a time of tremendous artistic flowering. Temples and tombs were intricately carved and painted in iconic scenes of the many gods. It is impossible to imagine the huge temple complexes adorned in colourful pristine art. Remarkably some colour (red, blue, yellow, gold, white, green isn't evidenced) remains to hint at the splendour.

Karnak Temple complex is some hundred acres... The Temple huge and imposing. It was developed by each succeeding Pharaohs. A Son et Lumiere emphasized its mystique.

Roberts (English, 1800's) watercolours view the Luxor Temple, pre-tourism. Surrounding roads, built higher and cutting it off from the river, now subjugate it to a Temple of tourism.

The mummification process and recently unearthed statutory are shown in two museums. The statutes are the best seen in Luxor.

Skipper returns to Sahula. Three days was insufficient. A return visit considered after study and time to assimilate the wonder. Luxor joins, Ubud, Bali and Sana, Yemen, in need of a return visit.

Skipper reads "Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt" (Armour). The colourful array of gods, adorned with hawk, lion, dog... heads, the subject of myths establishing their place and calling, venerated in temples, carving and statues, guided ancient society and established the dominance of the pharaoh family and priests. There are broad similarities to Hinduism with its colourful deities.

The colour pencil sketch "Mona Lisa of Luxor" recalls the ancient culture, its mystique and colour.

Predicting the weather is a major interest of frustrated cruisers. Each has a different source and different conclusion and a different rationale for its unpredictability. Hurghada, an inherently windy place tests all soothsayers. Finally, Sahula leaves and begins the Gulf of Suez passage.

First anchorage was Endeavour Harbour, then across the strait to Shag Rock and the eastern coast. Calmer seas are reported on the east. Tur, a night then an overnight passage in calm, then rough, then windy then calm puts aside any forecast. Luck and seamanship i.e. innate feeling that now is the time.

A fleet arrives in Suez. Sahula in the morning light moves through the huge fleet of ships waiting to form their 0630 canal convoy. Skipper feels the relief of a completed Red Sea passage. Sahula ties up at the Suez Sailing Club (US$20 a night)

The Suez Canal measurer arrives courtesy of the yacht agent (Felix Agency) (no tape just information on the yachts vital statistics), a fee paid (some US$310.00) and departure is set for early morning. Departure can be delayed by a warship or weather. An evening sandstorm wraps the fleet. 0500, pilot aboard, Sahula departs.

Memories flood in of a young merchant navy cadet, in "whites" transiting the canal. The "Cadet's" Sahula is now dwarfed by a chain of monster container ships passing a few feet away through the desert sands. Sahula is steered by Ibrahim, the pilot. The Egyptian war machine is evidenced by guards, floating bridges and bases lining the canal.

It is eight hours to Ismailia through the Bitter Lakes. At the Lakes a convoy south can pass a convoy north, it is otherwise a one way canal. A convoy can be some 30 ships. Every vessel, large or small must have a pilot. Sahula's pilot is certified for ships to a 1000 tonnes. A skipper is expected to provide "baksheesh" for the pilot ($20US). Cruisers have varying views on their pilots. Much of it reflects on the cruisers who demand to self steer or lessen or refuse baksheesh. Baksheesh is an integral part of Egyptian society. Much tension can be avoided by calculating the Baksheesh in US dollars (5.6 Egyptian pounds to the US $)

The canal evolved from earlier versions dating from the Pharaoh period of 610-595 BC.

It was completed around 60 BC. It was 100 feet wide and some 40 feet deep. Admiral Ho, led the Chinese fleet through it in 1432, to trade in the Mediterranean.

Through the Canal and the Nile, Cairo became major trading center.

Ismailia, a city of parks, gardens and flowers. Skipper has not seen flowers since India. Sahula is berthed stern to at the Ismailia Boat Club. Laser dinghies sail each day. It's a pleasant city, clean and unhustled by the traffic reported in Cairo. Colonial houses and a city canal crossed by traditional Dutch canal draw-bridges give it uniqueness.

Skipper finds its people welcoming and helpful. Help is needed.

Skipper suffers advanced bronchitis. A doctor is urgently sought and medications commenced. Skipper is assisted by Ozkan and Mohammed, an immigration officer, in finding a doctor. It was late at night when Dr Zharia (English speaking) attends to skipper. We are immediately seen (and x-rayed) even though the small rooms are crowded with patients. Among cruisers there is concern that Skipper will be confined as a suspect Pig Flu carrier, thought by some to come in on visiting sailors. The Doctor when told was amused.

Sahula is to remain for two weeks allowing recovery and a visit to Cairo. A lesson is learned: antibiotics in Dr Stanley's excellent shipboard medical kit should have been taken earlier. Skipper can't recall when last ill. A resolution: to cruise more quietly, taking long breaks between passages. The long trip from Australia seems to have taken its toll.

Ozkan departs after two days for the adulation of Turkey. His three year solo odyssey ends in Izmir. He intends utilizing media interest to promote protection of Turkey's coast.

Ismailia is known among cruisers as a "cheap" fuel port. US20c per litre at the bowser compared to 95cUS in port. It is illegal for cruisers to use the cheaper, government supported fuel. In Ismailia there is no port fuel dock for cruisers. The gauntlet must be run. 20 litre containers are taken to the port gate to either be refused exit by police or allowed out. It depends what official is on the gate. A taxi then returns the containers when hopefully the gate will again be accessible. In Turkey fuel costs are some A$2.00 a litre. Sahula has some 500 litres. Every cruiser runs the gauntlet.

Every afternoon Club members and families gather on the dock to socialise some metres from the yachts.

Egyptian is a strict Moslem society similar to Malaysia. Women have a substantial role in society but it is dominated by a male Islamic culture. In public, women are in traditional cover, some fully veiled but most face uncovered. It is evidence of their piety. Skipper is told women cannot equal men in the Islamic ritual as they cannot fully participate in Ramadan which requires long periods without food. Men wear jeans or trousers, rarely shorts..

It is a relatively prosperous society with a substantial obesity problem, particularly among women.

Five times a day the city reverberates to the cacophony of Allah's vast array of mosques.

Police presence is everywhere. "White" police swinging machine guns, pistols on hips are on patrol in "every" street.. All are helpful and pleasant.

Shopping is simple in Ismailia. The Metro supermarket, providing western foods, is not far and delivers to the marina. A fruit and vegetable market is nearby.

Guide book warns against Egyptian train travel. Skipper is in air-conditioned comfort (male business class). A view is difficult due to dust covered windows. Cairo train station is a huge covered arena reminiscent of London and Paris. The Metro continually runs crowded inner city trains. Skipper sees a less crowded carriage. A lady gesticulates "Lidee, lidee..." Skipper moves to the packed male only carriage.

"It's on the 7th and 8th floor below the Sanyo sign down an alley in Tahir Square, Take the Metro to Sadat and its there." The "alley" is dark and rough, a small sign and a lift. The Ismailia Hotel is no longer in Lonely Planet. It's a 3 star friendly place in the city centre, used by backpackers. Skipper's room (801) has balcony views over Tahir Square, the city, the Nile and the Egyptian Museum and the array of Hilton, Sheraton etc...hotels.. At (EP 90.00) US$ 15.00 a single, fanned, clean room with facilities (shower and bath), including a light breakfast and internet it is ideal. Skipper stays four pleasant nights.

Warning: anyone offering services is a tout. Hussein offers to take Skipper to the pyramids "take small bus, very cheap, no payment, do as friend, welcome to Egypt...to Egyptians only entrance to pyramids" It is simple to avoid all offers of help. It's a question of "giving the new friend a go and meeting Egyptians, or splendid isolation and an untouched wallet. Skipper opts to be positive.

Hussein went off unpaid. Skipper can only surmise whether he earned a cut later for the "delivery." The "entrance" was only for camels and horses. Their masters "offer," "don't worry about cost, talk later..." Skipper persisted "what is given for the EP300 for hour and half ride." No answer... skipper left for the tourist entrance by taxi. Half way a third person was allowed into the taxi. He was another "camel or horse" tout. He left and at the entrance Skipper paid EP60 to view, from long off, the pyramids and sphinx. Close up requires a camel or a horse.

"EP50 to go to pyramids and solar boat... meet outside." Policeman: "Don't trust that driver...unregistered" Another offers. Skipper follows the police advice. Skipper exits to confront the first driver who enters a battle royale with driver two. Skipper refuses to concede the second drivers request to state he was seen first and lets the drivers resolve that the first driver should have the fare. The first is registered. A police/driver two scam.

Snoopy, the camel, Skipper and Hussein head, happily, up the hill. The pyramid area is surrounded by suburban Cairo but retains the desert context within a huge raised enclosure.

Cheops (Pharaoh pyramid builder) ensured passage in the afterlife by burying a deconstructed 100 foot row boat ("Solar boat") in front of his pyramid, in a huge trench covered in massive blocks. A special building over the trench exhibits the exhumed and reconstructed boat. It brings to life the paintings of such boats carrying the gods and Pharaoh along the Nile to Luxor.

Snoopy ambled off past the Pyramids to a photo-op spot. "Don't worry about the price, I give you good price..." It was a superb photograph, skipper, camel and pyramids. Hussein quoted EP 400. Skipper gave EP 200.

A relaxed meal in "The Riches" bar and restaurant. (Talaat Harb St.).Skipper dined there four times. Moderate prices, Egyptian menu, peace and quiet from Arab street and pleasant staff, there was no equal.

An early arrival (0900) at the Egyptian Museum gave time out with Tut Ankh Kuman spirits before being besieged by tourists. It can only be surmised that if such magnificent opulence was for a boy pharaoh, the gains of robbers from so many more senior others must have been beyond imagination. Tut's "coffin" and helmet in pure gold in laid with gems. An array of tomb artifacts occupies three rooms of the museum.

The volume of pharaoh, Greek and roman exhibits is huge.

To face another tourist site was too much. Skipper sought out the art of Egypt in the peace and quiet of Cairo's many art museums, to observe the links between pharaoh culture and modern Egypt.

"Modern" art expression commenced early 1900, similar to Europe. It was driven by political and religious change. It expressed itself in the phases of impressionism and abstract art.

It seems that until that time Egyptian art expressed the tenets of Islam which forbad "...any representation of being with an immortal soul (animals and humans)..." (Lonely Planet "Turkey" 2009, p.63). Art in the western sense awaited the modern Egyptian state and a more relaxed attitude to freedom of expression. Cairo was the centre of this "revolution." It was driven by the educated, traveled, upper class.

The "Mr. and Mrs. Mohammed Mahmoud Museum" exhibited in their palace, in superb gardens with views over the Nile, works of Van Gogh, Gauguin, Monet, Degas, Delacroix, Coret .... A superb collection reflecting that Mrs. Mahmoud was French.

The "palace" was ex- President Sadat's (assassinated) office and his family home is next door.

The "Cairo Opera" was so incongruous that only colonialism could explain it. A massive complex, architecturally, Islamic, dedicated to the arts including opera. The Egyptian Museum of Modern Art is a large auditorium with three floors of art from the 1900's to the present. The pharaoh era did not figure. The only vestige was the icon of the pyramidal triangle worked into modern paintings. Perhaps the pharaoh period represent the too distant past to artists seeking the modern and the unknown. Equally, Islamic art is all but ignored. The modern reflects a new creativity of individualism, socialism, capitalism and internationalism represented from impressionism to abstract minimalism. Despite its ancient culture, Egypt's modern visual art is represented by a few short decades.

Cairo's souk (market) is "...worth a half day..." Skipper was adopted by Hussein tour guide "tout" of the locals souk not the higher priced "tourist souk." In and around narrow streets, full of artisans and small shops and businesses. Into ancient mosques to view the prayer space, the madrassa school, the winding climb up to the roof and minaret with views across the cities old quarter. Hours passed before Skipper offered "baksheesh" and caught the bus to Ismailia.

Said, the pilot came aboard at 0500. Speaking little English, his oft refrain was "speed... Skipper..." Tanya was at full revs. Huge mammoths carved by within metres. After 8 hours Said disembarked at Port Said but not before he received his baksheesh (100 EP) and wanted more. Oddly, pilots seem quite at ease demeaning themselves over a few pounds.

Skipper needed a sleep before the two day, solo, passage to Cyprus. Sahula anchored outside the harbour behind a breakwater. Security queried at dusk not with "you must leave" but with "Is all well, skipper, why are you stopped?" Skipper related the need of a rest and it was accepted without more. Skipper's final impression of Egypt was of safely of a wonderful country and people.

Sahula was finally in the Mediterranean Sea. Gone was the short waves and constant dust of the desert environment. Sahula motor sailed in light head winds over deep blue water and a rolling sea to Cyprus. There Skipper opted to continue into a third night direct to Alanya, southern Turkey. Ozgre of Nicosia had offered his families hospitality in Kyrenia, Cyprus but it was the wrong time. Skipper wanted to end the long passage in Turkey. Northern Cyprus is a republic. Entry to it isn't to mainland Turkey.

At dawn, Friday, 5th June, Sahula was met by the welcome boat of Alanya marina. Skipper was tired but elated; Sahula had completed the passage from Australia and would remain in the Aegean region, wintering over in Turkey, for two summers till late 2011.

AN INVITATION: Skipper would welcome family and friends as visitors to Turkey to join Sahula on her passage around the islands and coasts of the Aegean.

Skipper intends sailing until December 2009 then wintering in a marina (to be decided) until March 2010. From then Sahula will continue to cruise the Aegean until October then passage to Tunisia to winter over before, in 2011, heading to France to passage the Canals to Holland and hence to England.

The best

David

Sv Sahula

Turkey Mobile 539 593 85 32

djhaigh@gmail.com