LUXOR - April 26

It's been a crazy few days in Egypt, and we have a lot to catch up on. After a day of relaxing, we were ready to take on more sights. The Citadel had gotten a bad rap in our guide book, but thankfully we decided to go anyways. The gentleman who ran the Pension Roma, our first hotel, had recommended it.

After some arduous bargaining for a short cab ride (Ari's getting much better at this!) we arrived at the site of the original citadel in Cairo, housing a few 800 year old mosques, the Police Museum, the National Military Museum, and  some other sites. Since we arrived, the words "old" and "ancient" have taken on whole new meanings. Not just Boston's Revolutionary War old, or Chicago's Art Deco era old, but things here are OLD.

The Mosque of Muhammed Ali was simply spectacular. (No, not the boxer, but the Egyptian vizier). Built from 1830-1840, it serves as an excellent example of Ottoman architecture and got us really excited for our visit to Turkey. We just sat on the ground for a while and gazed upwards, taking in the splendidly painted vaulted ceilings adorned with lanterns and chandeliers. 

 

 

The National Military Museum was a total trip. Housed in Muhammed Ali's former harem, the swankiest building on the lot boasted photos and replicas of all things marshal. The building itself was immaculately restored and aimed to echo the Palace of Versaille, but the exhibits were quite kitschy, depicting ancient through modern battles and Egyptian victories.  Noticeably closed off from public view were the rooms displaying the wars with Israel.

 

After a long day, we we returned to our usual spot for dinner and tea before boarding an overnight train to Luxor. 

Lots of love,

Jillian + Ari

CAIRO April 23

Sitting on the back of a camel at the foot of the Great Pyramids, it's hard to believe that one week ago, we were in Cambridge. Thursday morning, we hired a taxi for the day to take us the Pyramids. An hour's drive through the traffic and smog and we were in Giza, the pyramids appearing out of nowhere behind the suburban skyline.

Our taxi drove through the neighborhood in the small town adjacent to the monuments, where we were invited into a private home behind which sat a stable. Our guide emerged from around the block with our camels. We were a bit nervous about the situation, but in the end everything worked out comfortably. It felt pretty badass watching the throngs of tourists crowd into small viewing areas while we strode up the sand dunes, surrounded by nothing but desert, around the other of the compound. At this site, we saw the Sphynx, the 3 Great Pyramids, accompanying tombs, and ruins of temples.

Next on our whirlwind tour was Saqqara, the site of the Step Pyramid, the very first stone monument, It got its name because unlike the other Pyramids which are triangles, this one is a series of concentric steps. It was super impressive to see just how well the Egyptians had calculated how to build a pyramid (to the nearest millimeter) over 4000 years ago. Apparently Pharoah was pretty impressed too, because he deified the architect upon completion of the stepped pyramid.

Next we visited the site of the Red Pyramid, where you can also see the Bent Pyramid and the Black Pyramid, both aptly named with visual cues. The Bent Pyramid was the first pyramid to be built with completely smooth sides, much as the pyramids that most are familiar with look. Unfortunately, the Egyptians' calculations were off, and about halfway through construction and they realized that the Bent Pyramid would be unable to sustain the weight of the upper half of stones. So, they adjusted their math, and the top half of the pyramid was constructed at a different pitch than the bottom half. The Red Pyramid was pretty spectacular, because we were some of the only tourists there and we actually got to climb down a shaft that opened about one third of the way up, and led you to the bottom. Needless to say, Jillian freaked out a little about this, and we didn't make it to the bottom, but you better believe we got pretty far down.

The last site we hit before heading back to Cairo was the site of the Ancient City of Memphis. Not much remains today, other than several impressive statues and a lot of legacy. It was here, though, that our cab driver didn't think we quite spent enough time at the site, and when we got back, we caught him mid-tea break. We joined him, and the delightful shopkeeper with whom he had been chatting for a short glass of Lipton (and the requisite tour of his shop, followed by the requisite polite decline to buy his junk).

Back in Cairo, it was falafel, fuul, and shawarma for dinner. (Are you getting sick of reading that?) A stroll through downtown Cairo, tea, and sheesha closed out the night. We should clarify, that a stroll through downtown Cairo is not really that at all. The sidewalks are packed with people, and neon flashes more brightly than in Times Square.

Today we took a much less formal approach to seeing the city, and tried to enjoy it as young Cairenes do. Being Friday, most shops were closed this morning, which gave us the opportunity to relax a bit and listen to the PA systems throughout the neighborhood broadcast the prayers and sermons (and who knows what because we have no idea what anyone is saying here most of the time, even when they speak English).

We lounged in the gardens with lots of other couples stealing a bit of time together beneath the banyan trees or beside the topiaries. A gentleman served us tea, and we enjoyed taking a slow day.

Later, we visited the Egyptian Museum of Modern Art. The space was cluttered with pieces, some impressive, others less so, but the building itself was worth the 50 cent admission. The guards, having no other visitors to watch, personally escorted us around the museum.

We then strolled along the banks of Nile, in a riverside park full of more young couples and families, before heading back downtown for our usual late evening sheesha.

CAIRO - April 21


After a good night's sleep in a single bed (and lots of jokes about college dorms) we felt ready to take on Cairo. Reflecting now, we covered a lot of ground today.

We quickly acquainted ourselves with the Metro, and for about 20 cents headed to Coptic Cairo to start our day. The open windows provided little relief from the eau-de-gentlemen that filled the subway car and Jillian was almost tempted to ride in one of the 'women only' cars.

Once in Coptic Cairo, we navigated a maze of ancient alleyways weaving between churches and nunneries and even an old synagogue. Ahmed Ibrahim, a shopkeeper in the alley for forty years, was delighted to provide us with information about the Ben Ezra Synagogue. He showed us the article about him in the NY Times, kvelled about his son studying at Columbia, and sold us a kippah (are we really halfway around the world?) The synagogue was built in the 9th century, and the Geniza, where holy documents are buried, was discovered by Solomon Schechter just 100 years ago. Over 100,000 pages were well preserved and provided invaluable information on Jewish life in Africa during the 11th-13th centuries. Rambam (Moses Maimonedes) attended and led the congregation while he served as personal physician to the sultan of Egypt. Ari isn't the first good Jewish doctor to make his way through Cairo!

St. George's basilica and nunnery were really spectacular as well. A coptic saint, he slayed a dragon and was put to death by the Romans for being Christian. The church contains the chains by which he was tortured, and we watched as devotees placed the same shackles that he bore over their necks in rapt worship. We wandered in and out of several other churches all bearing relics of coptic saints and boasting original wood carvings and artwork dating back as early as the 9th century.

From here, we headed to the Egyptian Museum, an immense collection of Pharaonic monuments, artwork, and sculpture. There is no possible way to begin to describe the enormity of this museum, nor is it possible to soak it all up in one, or one thousand, visits. The old display cases were chalk full of Egyptian tools, mummies, jewelry, statues, funerary objects, and even board games. Rumor has it that the basement is so full of items that are not on display that archaeologists will have to excavate the museum itself when it moves to a more modern building in a few years. The sheer weight of the objects has caused them to sink into the soft sand below the museum. If you are in Boston, the MFA has a fantastic taste of this for you right now.

From the museum, we headed back to Islamic Cairo and the Khan al Khalili to get our daily dose of shawarma and falafel. We walked further into the market than yesterday, and found the schlocky tourist shops, replete with stuffed camels, sheesha pipes, brass lanterns, and small rugs. Having gone a whole half day without any tea, we found a nook in the marketplace serving up Cairo's finest mint tea.

Wholly refreshed, we caught a cab to Zamalek, an upscale neighborhood bursting with embassies, art and music academies, galleries and boutiques. We shmied down the tree lined blocks as night fell. The small but burgeoning contemporary art scene really had its own Cairene flavor and some of the work was extremely impressive.

Back in the downtown area, we dined on koshary, a local dish made with macaroni, lentils, chickpeas, fried garlic, and a spicy tomato sauce. It's sort of a fast food meal, which we definitely plan to adopt when we get back to the States.

Stuffed to the gills (again!) we were lured into the night fruit market. The plumpest dates you have ever seen were certainly not going to be passed over. And then there were the pastries... all of them.

We rounded out the night with some sweet apple sheesha, a tall glass of Lipton, and the pure enjoyment of just being together.

Lots of love,
Jillian + Ari



We will try to get up more pictures next time-- finicky internet connection today.

CAIRO - April 20

Touchdown in Egypt. As the plane hit the ground - not tarmac, mind you, but packed desert sand - we knew we were in for a real treat with this trip.

After dropping our bags at the Pension Roma hotel, we headed right out for a taste of the city. Our intentions were clear, and plans laid out for the afternoon. We were to head to Khan al-Khalili, and we knew all of the turns to take to get there, only the street signs were all in Arabic, not the nice transliterations our guidebook gave us. Our walk turned into a wander, but we had the help of some extremely friendly Cairenes at the end of every block who pointed us in the right direction.

Khan al-Khalili was a subtle reminder that we are not in Cambridge anymore. It is a HUGE market that has been in continuous use since the 1300's. Actually, huge doesn't begin to describe just how big it is. Blocks and blocks of Old Cairo are filled with cramped stalls and men hawking their goods to anyone within earshot. We barely scratched the surface after 2 hours of exploring, and hardly made it through the birthday party decoration district, the blocks of chandelier shops, alleys and alleys of old electronics, and streets filled with clothing, linens, housewares, and food. It was all a bit overwhelming, and we didn't speak much to one another all afternoon as we soaked in the smog and mayhem. 

The silence of awe quickly turned into the harumphs of hangriness* and snacktime it was. We wolfed down the most delicious shawarma sandwich, and plates of fuul and baba ganoug we have ever tasted. Needless to say, these were consumed so quickly that by the time Jillian pulled out the camera, only dirty napkins and a few crumbs remained.

As the sun set we walked a bit more through downtown Cairo, and took in the neon lit stores on Talaat Harb Sharia and ducked down a pedestrianized street littered with tea houses, small restaurants, and sheesha bars. When we couldn't walk anymore, we rested over some apple sheesha and two cups of sweetened mint tea. All over the city today, we saw men drinking tea from what Americans would consider juice glasses. They would be sitting in a shop, standing on a street corner, or wheeling and dealing in the market, all the while sipping away. 

The sweet smell of the sheesha (no, it's not what you're thinking. It's just tobacco sweetened with molasses and apple juice) fills the streets here, and it was exactly what we needed after a long day of traveling. We puffed slowly, made plans for the week, and watched the passersby sell gilted urns, cheap watches, and tissues.

Half rejuvenated, it was time for our second dinner. It just didn't seem right to only have had shawarma and not falafel. So, we feasted on fried chickpeas, a tasty tomato stew, and the most delicious hummus we have ever had.

One of the things that struck us right away, apart from Jillian's backpack arriving on the baggage carousel covered in sand, was how certain public spaces seemed to be dominated by one gender or the other. In the arrival hall of the airport, there were absolutely no women to be seen, aside from the passengers. We covered long stretches of the market with very few women and most of the cars on the road seem to be driven by men. That is not to say that there were no women on the streets. On the contrary, we found other stretches of the market dominated by women and as the sun set set and city cooled off, the streets were filled with throngs of young couples and families and mixed groups of friends out to enjoy the evening.

The people here seem spectacularly nice, aside from a few catcalls and the ogling because we are obviously so tourists. As we learn more we realize just how much we are going to have to pack into the next few days. And we can't wait.

Lots of love,
Jillian + Ari

*hangry (n.) the particular state of crankiness that results from being hungry
example: Jillian Bergman before a late dinner

CAMBRIDGE - April 18

Well, a lot has happened in the last four years. We both have a lot less hair- one of us intentionally, the other not- Ari did a little bit of studying and spent a couple of hours at the hospital while Jillian tried out a few different careers and discovered the only one at which she can work harder than Ari. We've eaten some really good food, met some awesome people, learned a lot, and may have accidentally become grownups somewhere along the way. It's been a good few years in Cambridge.

Before we have to live and study in different cities we're taking another serious trip together. Glad you'll be able join us. Along the way we will have internet access, and you know where to find us.

We land in Cairo on Tuesday- see you then.

Lots of love,

Jillian + Ari

August 9- New York, USA

We made it home safely, arriving at JFK late Monday night. We had a looooong flight home, but luckily everything was uneventful. We are planning on putting all of our pictures online for everyone to see, and we will update the blog and post some pictures that accompany the posts. We will let you know when you should check some of the archived posts for updates.

Anyways, after our last post, we spent a few more heavenly days in Candidasa reading on our day bed in the sun, eating on the day bed in the shade, and taking a dip in the pool every now and then. On Saturday, August 5, we had Putu pick us up in Candidasa on the east coast of Bali, and bring us to Seminyak, on the southwest coast. It was the beginning the long trek home. After a scenic ride through rice paddies, along the coast, and past Hindu cremation ceremonies. It was a lovely trip, and once in Seminyak, Putu helped negotiate for a good rate on a hotel room for us. We settled on a hotel that was back in the budget category- nothing like what we had gotten used to in Candidasa. This time there were clean sheets, and a cleanish, well, it had a bathroom.

Saturday afternoon we got lunch in a cafe along the beach and then headed out to explore the town of Seminyak. We had heard that it was a really nice and a popular place for tourists to visit. We found it just to be popular, but Ubud had set our standards high with the exceptional shopping and selection of cultural activities. The shopping in Seminyak was mediocre, which was quasi-OK with us, because we had absolutely no room left in our suitcases, and we had already bought two new ones. This too, was a town geared completely to tourists that had been hard hit by the drop-off in tourism after the terrorist attacks in the night clubs. We were the only customers in most of the stores that we visited, and the restaurants were equally as empty. We tried to look on the positive side of things, and we really soaked up the tranquility and relative calm before we were to return home.

After a weary day of shopping, our tootsies needed some loving. It was time for Ari's first pedicure and our last spa treatment in affordable Asia. The spa we chose boasted an all-male staff, the telltale sign of a high end spa in Bali. For 90 minutes we were massaged, filed, buffed like you wouldn't believe, snipped, and massaged again. Feeling completely relaxed (as if we had a lot of stress to release after a long week sitting oceanside in Candidasa) we went to dinner at a little warung near the spa. In Bali, the word warung describes a restaurant that is nice and clean, serves only local food, and is always cheap. We have had a lot of luck with these little eateries, and Jillian has sampled the gado-gado in many warungs across Bali. Warung Martha in Seminyak definitely made the cut for the list of great places for gado-gado. After dinner, we took a cab back to the beach by our hotel and sat in the sand under the stars. Even the light pollution from Seminyak was enough to drown out a few of them. It is no wonder that we did not see any stars while living in Brooklyn.

Sunday morning, we hired a car for the day, and headed to Pura Tanah Lot, a Balinese Hindu temple situated on the rocks just off the coast. It is a huge tourist destination, but only properly dressed Balinese Hindus are allowed to actually go onto the island and into the temple. Once we got there, we were totally fine with the restriction- to get to the temple, you had to wade through waist deep crashing wave for about 20 meters between the mainland and the small manmade island. Then you had to scrable straight up the side of a sheer cliff built from antique Chinese coins. The island was sort of natural, but a lot of the lime had eroded and people had built pillars out of Chinese coins to reinforce it. We snapped a few pictures from the shore and then it was back in the cab to head to the capital of Bali, Denpasar.

Denpasar is a city halfway between Ubud and Seminyak, located inland a few kilometers from both the east and west of the island (the island gets really narrow just above the southern Bukit peninsula. When the world gets to be a few degrees warmer, Bukit will become its own island). Denpasar is a city that is only frequented by locals, and does not have the tourist infrastructure of the rest of the island. Lonely Planet had told us about a few good markets for textiles and we wanted to load up with batik sarongs before we left Bali. The markets themselves did not seem to have anything worth schlepping home (the whole place smelled like dries fish, so we didn't look very hard), but the street across from the market was an absolute diamond mine for batiks! We found a bunch (the harder part was finding room in our suitcases for them) hailed a cab, and headed back to Seminyak for a late lunch.

We will tell you about our last night in Bali, the long long long plane ride home, and our FAVORITE things about Asia next time. We will also put some pictures up too.

Lots of love in the USA,
Jillian

August 1- Candidasa, Bali

Since we left Ubud, we have been very busy in Candidasa, but there is always time for a post. Saturday morning, we had arranged for a taxi to take us from Ubud to Candidasa. The taxis in Ubud are generally not official "taxis" belonging to a specific company or even displaying a sign denoting they are a taxi. Instead, the taxis are some local guy driving you around in his SUV or minivan. Well, Putu, our driver, showed up with his "taxi" promptly when we had arranged to meet him. He had a small SUV, and because we had done so much shopping in Ubud, our stuff was not going to fit inside. (In case you didn't see us when we left New York in late May, we each had a big backpack that was about 1/3 full, and a smaller backpack each that was 1/2 full. Now we have filled those backpacks, filled another big backpack, filled a huge wheelie suitcase, and filled two tote bags. Somehow we will make it home.) Anyways, Putu had to go swap cars with a friend so that we could fit with all of our stuff and make it to Candidasa safely. He didn't have too much trouble, and soon we were off to the beach.

We had looked at a bunch of hotels in our tour book and online, and decided to go to Lotus Bungalows, based on the author's recommendation in Lonely Planet. We debated a bit whether or not to find a less expensive place, or somewhere on another beach, but we stuck to our instincts, and they were right.

The pool here is just magnificent (there is a link to the picture because the internet connections are slightly less than magnificent, so we can't put up our own pictures).

picture of pool

Our schedule since we got here on Saturday is as follows:

Saturday: Arrive at Lotus. Check in. Drop bags off and promptly change into bathing suits. Nap on beach chairs. Move to day bed. Nap on day bed. Poolside lunch. Return to daybed for strenuous lounging. Read. Lounge. Read. Shower in outdoor shower under the moon and plumeria trees. Poolside dinner. Watch shooting stars over the ocean from daybed. Take the 22 step trek back to our bungalow. Sleep.

Sunday: Poolside breakfast. Retreat to beachside daybed. Read. Nap. Read. Play Nintendo. Swim. Move to poolside daybed. Poolside lunch. Read. Nap. Move to beach chairs. Notice single cloud in sky. Too bad. Lounge. Deep breaths before trek to bungalow. Big steps make it 17 paces away. Admire daily flower arrangement in room. Shower under plumeria tree. Poolside dinner. Return to beachside daybed. Drink Guinness. Watch stars. See shooting stars. Repeat last three steps as necessary.



Monday: Poolside breakfast in daybed. Arrange pillows on beachside daybed. Read. Lounge. Apply sunblock. Read. Nap. Swim. Poolside lunch. Nap. Retreat to shaded daybed. Read. Call home to confirm we're alive, dormant really. Shower. Poolside dinner. Return to beachside daybed. Drink Guinness. Watch stars. See shooting stars. Repeat last three steps as necessary.

Tuesday: Poolside breakfast in daybed. Read. Lounge. Nap. Swim. Poolside lunch. Fluff pillows. Internet post...

It's worth noting that we are the ONLY guests at the resort, and we have the entire staff of 20 at our disposal. They are very friendly, and we see them picking flowers that they arrange in our room (after cleaning it everyday for longer than we cleaned our apartment in Brooklyn in two years).



In case you are here looking for us, this is where you can find us until we fly back to New York on August 7.

picture of daybed

Lots of love,
Jillian and Ari