Wrap Up

Finally on the plane home. Had one more chance to have a look around Cairo yesterday. We had a client move a meeting in the afternoon to a dinner. So we had a couple hours to kill in the city. We went up to the Citadel, which is a fortress from when the Turkish kings were ruling. We had a look in the Mohammed Ali Mosque there. It is Byzantine in style but built in the mid 1800's (see picture). Quite something. It is high above the city and the air was clear enough to see the pyramids many miles away.














From there we paid a very fast visit to the Egyptian Museum, which is mind-boggling. Every square inch is jammed with antiquities. It would take days to do it justice and they only have a fraction of the collection displayed. All you can do is shake your head as you just can't take it all in that this is the real stuff. The facility itself is pretty run down. I don't know where they get the funding to preserve all this - clearly they don't get enough. Saw the royal mummies, the highlight of which is Ramses II, who is excellently preserved. However the ultimate highlight is King Tut's treasures. These are just incredible for not only quality, but massive volume. Of course the best are his golden coffins and mask. I doubt we could reproduce the craftsmanship today.














So Cairo is well worth the visit for the history. Driving on the roads is unreal. I wouldn't make the moves in a video game that people do for real here. I saw a car wrap itself around a tree and a truck smash into a barrier in one day. That doesn't mention fenderbenders. The other negative is the airport. While Egypt Airlines has a beautiful new terminal, the other airlines are relegated to a dump. So your first impression of Egypt is that you've just arrived in the 3rd world - which is actually the case, so maybe a good reminder! Everyone raves about the trip of a couple days in Cairo, then a quick flight upriver to Luxor and a 4 day cruise up the Nile to Aswon - taking in the Valley of the Kings along the way. Most of the passenger boats were built to ABS Class. So there are trade-offs, but I'm sold.

TWG
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent December 11, 2009

Bucket List

Another check mark on the bucket list.














Have finally reached Cairo, the last leg of this week's mideast junket. We finished our last meeting this afternoon a bit early and dinner got pushed back to 8pm. Hmmm, what to do. Discovered that (along with me) our Country Manager for Egypt has never been to the Giza Plateau. Where was our last meeting? Giza! Turns out our Cairo based surveyor, Esmat El Komy, is a real amateur Egyptologist, so how could I say no to his excitement of taking the boss of the boss' boss' boss sightseeing for an hour. So we headed through the slog of Cairo/Giza traffic up to the plateau (it is really surprisingly high above the surrounding area around the Nile) to the pyramids. This is one of those classic places where you see the pyramids from across the Nile and they look big, and just keep getting bigger and bigger as you get closer. Unfortunately, we arrived at 4:15 and the police had the road up to the plateau blocked off as closing time is 4pm (keep in mind sunset here is about 4:30). Damn. However, I once again underestimated the tenacity of ABS surveyors. Esmat was in his own car in front, followed by the Country Manager, Regional VP and myself with our driver in the car behind. While the police were enthusiastically waving us off, Esmat was out of his car talking to one of them. 5 minutes later one of the cops joined Esmat in his car as an escort and they pulled back the barricades and we were off up the hill. Hmmm, interesting.














The beauty of our timing was that we had the entire Giza Plateau to ourselves. I mean we were the ONLY ones. Way beyond cool. This brought us up to the foot of the Great Pyramid of Khufu itself (the one withOUT the remnant of the limestone facing still clinging to the peak - the pyramid of Khafre - perspective is very deceiving up there trying to tell which is the biggest pyramid). You can easily see both the entrance blasted by the Arabs when they first raided the tomb and the higher original entrance of the Egyptians. We were short on time otherwise you can go into the pyramid. We then drove around the Great Pyramid, alongside the pyramid of Khafre and the smallest of the 3 major pyramids, the pyramid of Menkaure, and up to the top of a rise to look back over the 3 main pyramids as the sun was setting. Truly awesome. The most difficult part was trying to keep it in scale as there isn't anything around to indicate just how huge these things are. The Great Pyramid is 450ft tall, compared to 555ft of the Washington Monument, but of vastly, vastly greater volume.



















































From there we drove back down the rise and down between the Great Pyramid and Khafre's pyramid, past the shelter covering the Sun Ships of the Pharaohs that have been excavated alongside the base of the Great Pyramid, and down the hill to the Sphinx. He sits in an alcove in the rock he was carved from looking down the plateau to the city. Watching the sunset behind the sphinx and the second pyramid was staggering. We were all just looking at each other with really ridiculously pleased-with-ourselves glances. 25 brownie points to Esmat.







































The cops were very happy to have given this special out-of-hours tour to Obama's special representative to Egypt.

So that was my whirlwind, 30 minute tour of Giza. We will be coming back here for sure.

TWG

Originally sent December 9, 2009

Kuwait

The whirlwind week continues. Today was Kuwait City to meet with Kuwait Oil Tanker Company.

I tried to get a picture of the iconic towers that formed the background of the pictures from the Iraqi invasion but couldn't get a look. Instead included a pic out of my dusty hotel window of what I thought was an unusual open sandy lot behind the hotel in the middle of the city. After looking at it for a while I came to realize what it is with the thousands of regularly spaced mounds. Spooky.















There are 3 million residents in Kuwait, but only 1.2 million Kuwaitis. Nice people, but they generally don't get their hands dirty. Unless it's political corruption, which seems to be the national past time. The Prime Minister was getting grilled in parliament today and the Emir may dissolve parliament shortly. What a mess.

Weather was delightful. High of 68F under a cloudless sky.

TWG
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Via Blackberry

Muscat

Today in Muscat, Oman, just outside the Strait of Hormuz on the ocean.

What a very pleasant surprise this has been. After the superficial atmosphere of the hyperbuilding of Dubai and Doha, Muscat is a refreshing breath of a more genuine Arabia. There are no buildings over about 6 stories. Most are in a traditional Islamic decorative style with very intricate screening.

It's still very dry but very mountainous, so more rain off of the Indian Ocean/Gulf of Oman, so no where near the dust of Doha. A rainbow of petunias and grassy medians lining the roads. Very nice. The infrastructure regarding roads is much better developed than Dubai and Doha.















The people are also wonderful. Very friendly. If they see you on the street looking confused they'll stop to ask if you need help. Very low crime and probably the safest of the Arab countries.

The mountains run straight into the ocean, so all sorts of hidden coves. Look out towers and fortresses hanging off of cliffs all over the place.















TWG
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Via Blackberry

Qatar

Middle East this week. Today is Doha, Qatar. A bit of the new and old in the pics. One of downtown and all the new skyscrapers. Second of the Souk Waqif. A 1930's recreation, but still pretty neat.















TWG
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent December 6, 2009