Misadventures in Egypt

***I’ve had this in my Draft folder for months. I wrote this blog last April and didn’t get the chance to post it.

“We are familiar with the notion that the reality of travel is not what we anticipate. The pessimistic school therefore argues that reality must always be disappointing. It may be truer and more reqarding to suggest that it is primarily different.” - Alain de Botton, The Art of Travel

I finally did it! I visited the place that I wanted to see since I got here (Dubai). Was it worth it? This is still a big question mark. The pyramids were spectacular.  It was really a site. I really can’t imagine how they built that thing thousand of years ago. Those rocks were big! We also went inside one of the pyramids . If you have fear of enclosed spaces - that place is definitely not for you. As you go deeper, your breathing gets heavier. The air seems to be thinner, warmer making it harder to breath.

As for the rest of Cairo…well, there is really no nicer way to describe the place. So, I’ll go straight to the point:

- The place is filthy, heavily populated and polluted!

- A lot of the buildings are unfinished (with wires hanging from the top of the building) to avoid taxes. The logic: since the roof is not done, they can’t be taxed because (technically) the building is not done. The lower floors are actually rented out and people live there. —parang squatter’s area kaso nasa building sila, and it’s all over Cairo.

- Hospitality is an unknown concept in Egypt. I’ve never met such rude people in my life. They are not polite. Shouting is a regular tone for them. I guess the only time they will be nice to you is when they are about to rip you off.

- Major rip off. Hiring a cab became so stressful that we didn’t want to go anywhere anymore. You always have to bargain because they will charge you double, triple or even 4 times the original price. They were also not discrete about ripping us off. A friend of mine spoke arabic and they were openly discussing about “us” tourist being the “meat” (the victims).

- Horrible driving. Almost all of the cars (except the brand new cars) are damaged in some way. 2 lanes becomes 3. Even if there is no traffic, the driver will drive in the middle of the lane - occupying 2 lanes. I also noticed that the drivers don’t turn on their head lights in the evening. And the way they drive…I can’t really describe this. All I can say is that screaming, squirming and wincing had been a permanent expression during our taxi rides.

- Tip please. Almost everybody asks for tip. They were also not discrete about it.

- Price hike: Arabs and locals pay around 2 Egyptian Pounds to get in  tourist sites while tourists will pay between 25- 40 Egyptian Pounds. Big difference eh?

Although it may seem that I didn’t enjoy trip…I did. The nice part about the trip are my friends. I was with a great bunch of people and we just laughed all our frustrations. We had a lot of misadventures. The day trip to Alexandria wasn’t any different. I must say, the people there are much nicer and the place seemed to be more chilled out compared to Cairo. One thing I loved about the place is the food. We all loved the street food. Fresh juices were cheap and sweet.

The trip was definitely an experience - something we (the group) will never forget. I feel sad that a place like that - a place so full of history, rich in culture - has turned out to be a outdated. It seemed like the whole or most of Cairo was only relying on tourism as the main source of income. They were even doing a horrible job at this. There seemed to be very little advancement. I know that I am writing horrible things about the place…but these are the things that I experienced and observed. To be fair , I wouldn’t mind going back to see the rest of the country. I heard, Sharm El Sheikh, Aswan & Luxor are good places to see. I just hope next time I get to travel again with great travel buddies.

Egypt…check! Next?!

***Thanks Bilal, Carmi, Charlene, Chitra & Mubarik for making this trip memorable! Hope we get to do it again!

Egypt on my mind

Just a few hours to go ’till my flight to Egypt. I can’t wait! I will finally see the place.

I’m not sure if I have mentioned this in my past blogs…one of the reasons why I came to Dubai is to see Egypt.

The timing is good too. Just in time before the big move.

The irony: I love baking

A few months ago I’ve wanted to do a lifestyle change. I just didn’t know what I was asking until it was too late.

I love eating and trying out different cuisines. That’s why when I started having food allergies, I was in denial. At first I thought it was bed bugs. Then it was something in the air or maybe a chemical reaction. Then my allergy got really bad that I had to go see a doctor. They told me to go for a food allergy test but I refused. I eat practically everything and never had allergic reactions to food. And so, I took the respiratory / allergy test. It cost me $150 to find out there was nothing wrong with me.

I’ve done acupunture session hoping it would help. It didn’t. This also cost me a LOT of money. At least I enjoyed the sessions, felt so much better and did not suffer from fatigue after this.

The allergy persisted until I’ve decided to do another detox program. This program eliminates gluten. This means no bread or anything with flour. My allergy stopped. The good thing is, this did not cost me anything. The only cost that I incurred was the cost of buying food.

To confirm my suspicions that I am allergic to gluten, I ate bread. Within 10 minutes, my allergies appeared.

Upon further research, I found out that I am suffering from Gluten intolerance or Celiac Disease ( a condition in which the intestine wall is damaged as a result of eating gluten). Although I have not medically confirmed this, my research and observations has more or less confirmed my suspicions. I have 75% - 80% of all the symptoms mentioned. I’m waiting ’till early next year to take the full test.

Celiac is nothing major nor life threatening. It just means that my body cannot tolerate gluten. This has the same concept as Lactose Intolerance - a dairy free diet. The thing is, I’ve never been a bread nor a pasta person. It was just there. But now that I have this condition, I now seem to crave for those things. This made me appreciate what could have I before.

Here are some of the things that I cannot have: bread, pasta, pizza, breaded chicken or meat, sauces that uses flour, crepes, couscous, paratha, naan, sandwiches, cookies, pastries, cakes (unless it’s a mouse or cheesecake)… and the list goes on. I have now have to check labels and ask restaurants about the ingredients! What a pain!

The irony of it all…I love baking! The good thing is, gluten free baking ingredients are now available. So, I can still bake! I have to go to specific store though, plus they are quite costly.

As a result of this, I’ve been baking a lot lately…experimenting on recipes. I also learned how to make my own bread, biscuits and the list goes on…and I am having fun too!

Great concert!

The concert last night was a huge success! The concert was great! JT was great!

Event organization: Hats up to the organizers. They’ve done an excellent job in making the concert possible. Security was well in places, directional signs, the traffic, the parking area, the lay-out of the place - everything was smooth!

The production: The stage design was simple but the’ve definitely maximized the use of the light and screens. The musical arrangements was brilliant - with new tunes and transitions between songs.

JT: This guy can dance! He sort of reminds me of Michael Jackson with his moves. Of course, JT has more variety and more modern.  His voice is beautiful. He is definitely a good singer! My only comment was he didn’t do much audience interaction. He did the usual "Hi, how are you all doing?" but not much on audience participation.

Overall, I was impressed at how everything came together. I wouldn’t mind watching him again on stage. The ticket cost and the long drive was definitely worth it.

**Photo courtesy of gulfnews.com

JT!!!!

I’m watching Justin Timberlake tonight! Whoohooo! I hope the drive and the ticket is worth it!

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Thanks Kate!

Long, tiring, good, irritating, great day

Another rambling blog…

- Got up early today to go to the British Embassy to apply for my UK Visa. The good thing is, they granted my request and gave me a 2-year multiple entry visa. Yipee! It cost me freakin’ $200 though. Ouch! Oh well… at least I got it.

- I had 2 long meetings today with clients. One of them is with the distributors of Chevrolet and Corvette here in UAE. They are quite cool.

- I got really angry with a colleague who totally disrespected an agreement and crossed the line. I’m quite surprissed at how I reacted considering I rarely get angry. Another surpise was that I confronted him at the time this incident happened. This never happened to me before. Wow! I’m definitely growing up - no more Miss Polite/ Friendly and Nice girl!

- To end my day, I saw P!nk live in concert! I used a press pass to get in. Of course I had to work during the concert but who cares! This is one of those moments were I can’t wait to do my job. I say, keep them comin’!

To sum up, it has been a busy yet memorable day. I’ll be very busy in the coming days: a lot of things settle before I leave for my holiday, one of my subjects is about to end so there are a lot of readings and postings to do and lastly, I need to prepare for my trip next week. I’m definitely looking forward to this trip.

P!NK

I just got back from Pink’s concert! Man, she is sooo good! I like her concert more compared to Aerosmith. She ROCKS! Her voice quality is great plus she is funny too! I definitely had a good time!

What’s great was that I didn’t have to pay…PRESS pass baby! I took this photo on the right. Now, I’m crossing my fingers that it gets published our magazine.

Yey! Another Trip!

My boss finally gave the go signal for my December trip! Yey! Another trip! If ever, this will be my first white Christmas.

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Note: I’m not rich. This is an all expense paid trip!

Another Trip

2 new trips on the planning board: UK and Germany in December.

I’ve just submitted the leave request. Hopefully my boss says yes to it.

This is not really part of my original trip list since I’ve already been to those places plus I won’t have money by that time. But since this trip is practically for free (I only have to bring some pocket money) - I grabbed it! After all, it’s a free trip!

I’m dreading the visa application part. UK visa only takes a day but the Schengen is a bit of a pain with all their requirements.  Oh well…it’s all part of the experience!

I’m done with Europe after this (hopefully) trip. My 5 year targeted trips will now be: US, Canada,New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Nepal, Cyprus, Greece, Backpacking around Asia, South Africa, Morocco, Brazil and Peru.

Ok, I know it it’s a bit too much. But hey, it’s a dream…so might as well dream big right?!

Whoohooo!

I just got my Schengen visa today! This means my trip is going to happen! Whoohooo! I can’t wait! 2 1/2 weeks and counting.

I can’t wait to see my bro who I haven’t seen in 5 years. I can’t wait to see Desiree again and some of my friends in Italy, Germany, Holland and Norway!

Since I got the visa now, I can talk about the trip. The plan is to go backpacking for 3 weeks in 4 countries. Yup…that means spending 2-3 days in one place. I don’t mind and I don’t care if this is going to be a stressful trip or that I am going to be broke again after the trip. All that matters is I get to see new places and tick off some of my "dream" places on my list. Here’s a rough plan of the trip:

Italy: Milan, Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Siena, Elba, Pisa and Rome

Norway: Oslo and Bergen

Holland: Amsterdam and Zoertemeer

Germany: Dusseldorf and Hamburg

I can’t wait! :-) :-)