Through the Delta

Monday, March 13
8:31 am CST
4:31 pm Egypt, Nile Delta

np: Four Tet, Rounds

Something about being on a bus, in a car, on a plane makes me want to eat all the time. Just to pass the time I suppose.

Left Tanis a little bit ago, our last touring stop. Really cool site, complete with some feral dogs. Took all I had to keep from petting them. Sand dunes sat in every direction, with a sentry-type perched at each apex. Colossal statues, mostly in tact this time, scattered for yards and yards. The stone was pilfered from other tombs, hauled up here from the stone-rich south in Thebes, Luxor.



Just peeked out the window. Sand in every direction. I think we’re passing by a military zone. Actually, I know we are. A sign reads, “Military Area, No Entry, No Photo.” The area is greener now, so I suspect we’re out of the military’s way.

Cows tied to trees near a highway still strikes me as… different. Now there’re a bunch ambling down the road. Hit another Checkpoint Charlie. Time to exchange convoys. We’re trading out security detail at each “county” or jurisdiction. I would love to take a photo right now, but I believe that would be frowned upon. Breaks that whole “do not photograph anything military in nature” rule. The purpose of these frequent stops is also to make sure we are not lost. Can’t fault the Egyptians for that. A bus full of American tourists gone missing is really not great for any nation, Middle Eastern or not.

Hungry!

Bus culture really does not change from elementary school to adulthood. The rabble rousing troublemakers (i.e. the “cool” kids) still sit in the back, while the teacher’s pets and do-gooders tend towards the front. I stride the line. The cool kids ask me to come sit in the back, while I carry on conversations with those in front of me just the same. I feel just as self-conscious in the back as I did when I was in middle school. Always falling for the same tricks.

np: The Joggers, Solid Guild

Egypt has this odd system of roundabouts for turning across traffic. Rather than create “turning lanes” or ramps off the highway, you continue straight until you reach a U-Turn point, and then simply go back the way you came until you reach your turn-off. No one obeys lights here anyway, so it’s probably not a bad system.

Naptime? Perhaps. We’ve less than two hours to our destination.

Moving On

Monday, March 13
5:19 am CST
1:19 pm Egypt

This morning we left Cairo heading north through the delta. Our first stop was Bubastis in the modern city of Zagazig. The precise history escapes me at the moment, but it’s most striking feature is a block yard of broken boulders, which together comprise a celebratory hall. It’s as if a giant literally came by and kicked the thing down, as bits, large and small, of the inscribed structure are strewn everywhere. I had fun bouncing through the field, peering at each block to see what lie on the sides. We were lucky to run into an excavation in progress. A German team is working to catalog and perhaps reassemble and restore a good portion of the blocks into their original form. This is difficult, as several of the major pieces (i.e. the most highly decorated) have been given to museums around the world.



The Oberoi sent us off with a box lunch, which we ate on the bus. We’re now en route to Tanis, a city I know little about save for it was where Indiana Jones found the ark. The majority of the goods are at the Egyptian Museum. I saw them, lovely pieces, lots of gold and jewelry. This stop is for the die-hards who like to see where everything CAME from.

We are expected to arrive in Port Said late. I didn’t realize that we weren’t spending much time there at all, sadly. I think there is more to see and do in Alexandria.