EGYPT

I have a wonderful girl here who is letting me use her power cord! Since mine has not arrived yet I have gotten greatly behind on blogging. MASSIVE UPDATE WITH PICTURES RIGHT HERE. I have had to do this in a couple separate sessions because it has taken so long...

DAY 1 - Bus ride through Israel still, Tel Sheva and Tel Arad, then a kibbutz near the border crossing where we got to swim and spend the night in a Jewish community

TO THE FORTRESSES!!! Tel Arad

Me and Miriam at Tel Sheva, near modern Beersheva. There is original straw in these bricks from thousands of years ago.

DAY 2 - cross border, bus ride through Sinai, arrived at Cairo/Giza at Oasis Hotel, saw Pyramid Light Show

Our 1st view of Egyptian desert outside the bus! After the border crossing

1st view of the Pyramids in Giza! From the bus

DAY 3 - Pyramids in Giza, Ramasses II statue in Memphis, Stepped Pyramid in Saqqara, flight from Cairo to Luxor

Yeah...no big deal.

Me, Kylie, and Megan in front of the pyramids! 

That Sphinx sure ain't kissing me!

Baby Sphinx in Memphis!

The Stepped Pyramid in Saqqara. This is the 1st Pyramid built in Egypt.

This big guy paid us a visit in the tomb of Ti. Huge scarab in a tomb...kinda freaky. 

The view from our Sheraton hotel room in Luxor! That is the Nile River and then Valley of the Kings is lit up in the distance. It was a gorgeous view.

DAY 4 - Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's Temple, Faluka ride on the Nile, Camel ride, Luxor by carriage at night

We weren't allowed to bring our cameras inside Valley of the Kings. But we went inside 4 tombs: Thutmoses III, Ramesses III, Ramesses IX, and KING TUT. Yes, I saw King Tut's body...or mummified remains I guess...

Original drawings/carvings on the wall inside Hatshepsut's Temple. These are original colors as well.

In front of Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut! This is on the other side of Valley of the Kings. She was a woman-king and helped Ramesses III rule Egypt.

That little cave behind me is the most likely site where the scroll of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price was found!! If not there, then a cave just like it in the immediate area. So cool!!!

The cutest Egyptian kid I ever saw! His name is Ahmed and look at that smile! He helped us on our faluka ride on the Nile.

Me and my camel, Michael Jordan! On our ride Michael Jordan kept eating the marijuana plants...hahaha what does that mean?

After our carriage ride through Luxor! Our driver was Ahmed (this seems to be a popular name in Egypt). We joined with 4 other people in another carriage and got a tour around the downtown and it was pretty sketch sometimes...but very educational to see it all. 

DAY 5 - Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, night train ride back to Cairo from Luxor

Early morning view again. Nile River, Valley of the Kings, and hot air balloons!

Inside Karnak Temple

HUGE obelisk 

Yep, this place is humongous. And old.

In front of Karnak temple. This place was incredible and I feel like I didn't take enough information from all that it has to offer. It's an incredible place. Our tour guide, Islam, made it worthwhile completely because of all he knows.

Inside Luxor Temple! At this point in our trip we were getting really exhausted and dehydrated...

More artwork on the inside of the temple walls. It's amazing how it can be preserved for so long because the sun doesn't reach it.

Beautiful.

DAY 6 - Churches, Egyptian Museum, Hard Rock Cafe, Bazaar, go to bed early!

:)

Nicole and myself in front of Ben Ezra Synagogue. We went to a few churches and sadly we were all falling asleep. We weren't really there for very long either.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the Egyptian Museum sadly. But 20% of the museum is due to the treasures found inside King Tut's tomb in Valley of the Kings, so it was cool to see them. Including the gold face mask he had on his head...

Yep, I saw this in person! As well as many mummies and thousands of other treasures. I looked Ramasses II right in the face. Just like Moses did.

Then we went to Hard Rock Cafe and my camera decided to die. So I didn't take any pictures the rest of the day. But we went to the Hard Rock and ate real American hamburgers and french fries and ice cream. except none of us ate the vegetables they gave us to put on our hamburgers :( I was afraid of getting sick since we didn't eat ANY raw fruits or veggies while in Egypt. It was still delicious though :) 

Then we went to the bazaar, which is the market in Cairo. These shop vendors are INTENSE and CRAZY. I bought a very pretty scarf though :) And a bracelet from a little boy for 50 cents! Jackpot.

Then we had a little sacrament meeting and then dinner then I went to bed really early and it was heavenly. But not before I got to watch a little bit of the movie Sahara in my hotel room and feel really legit because I was right next to the Sahara desert. 

DAY 7 - Synagogues, bus ride to Sinai

Mohammed Ali Synagogue. Not the boxer. This place is gorgeous. Inside it has the 3 symbols of Islam (crescent), Judaism (star of David), and Christianity (cross) all somewhere inside.

Love this picture.

I climbed a tree!!

Then we got to Sketchball Hotel...otherwise known as Morganland in the Sinai peninsula. Slept for 4 hours...

DAY 8 - Sinai hike, border crossing, kibbutz back in Israel, home at JC

Pre-hike. 3AM

DOMINATION OF SINAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunrise. Gorgeous.

Love it :)

On our bus ride back we stopped at another kibbutz and we ate any food we wanted with no fear of getting sick!! Then we had ICE CREAM and then I bought some CHOCOLATE MILK! It was glorious :)

Egypt was a grand success. I had so many good experiences while there. I am definitely glad to be back in Israel though...