Thirty years have passed since last I heard a "sabah el kheir" in the morning ........... how quickly the basic greetings came back .... I suppose I was immersed in the Arabic culture of Kuwait for over five years back in the seventies :) ..... Much as I am happy to reacquaint myself with the ME once again, leaving Vietnam was hard ..... I had grown to love the country, culture and it's people. Almost three months of working and traveling there changed me for the better like no other country has ever done. I seem to have acquired a calm gentleness which surprises me daily .... I can sit for hours and just breathe in the atmosphere, wherever I am. I needed a few days to get into the rhythm of the more aggressive style of interacting that is typical of the average Egyptian :) No insult intended to the Egyptians .... but they do have a different way of expressing themselves and hmmmm ........ a woman on her own ........ well, needless to say, even at this ripe age, I have had a few issues to address immediately and continue to do so whenever I venture out of my hotel ..... oh, but I do love the Arabic/Egyptian manner of greeting friends ..... ie kissing both cheeks .... sweet! I think the word is out that there are many spiritual seekers checking out Egypt ..... every taxi driver seems to have a cousin, friend, auntie, uncle, brother etc. who has a business in chakra healing, specially formulated perfume and body oils, Egyptian energy healing, or special meditation time they can arrange in the desert or inside the pyramids, sunrise to sunset! Yes, must admit, in all ways, it does feel good to be back in the Middle East ..... despite Cairo's population boom (I put aside my normal aversion to big cities) ........ 5 million back in the 70's to close to 20 million today, little has changed and the friendliness is contagious ..... overall, they are a good lot ..... I feel quite comfortable here as I await the group of ten arriving from New York in a few days. We are all here with Prophets Conference and will be exploring the ancient temples of Egypt together ........ from Cairo to the Southern temples of Abu Simbel ....... the temples sit above Lake Nasser, a huge reservoir/man made lake, created in the 1960's when the Nile River High Dam was built in Aswan. This lake now provides electricity and irrigation for all of Egypt! It also happens to house all the endangered crocodiles in Egypt! Apparently, since the dam was built, they no longer live in the Nile River ..... good to know in case I feel like a swim in the river during our four day cruise!! I checked into Mena Oberoi House, which almost appears to sit at the base of the pyramids ..... well, as close to the base of them as one is likely to get in Cairo ..... this is a historical old hotel dating back to the late 1800's . ....... I love that there are so many artifacts, furniture, light fixtures and artwork dating back to it's beginnings ....... makes for an enjoyable walk to breakfast every morning as I check them out! I notice there are dozens of tanks, with even more dozens of army/police lining the streets around the Oberoi .... my guide advises there is a civic election of some kind the following day, (I wasn't aware voting happened in Egypt .... ) and in case of demonstrations, police are usually called in for control ..... nothing to worry about he says, but strange for me ..... I and my bag went through heavy duty scanning before being allowed into the lobby of the hotel .... oh well, undoubtedly times have changed in the Middle East. Apparently, one of the voting stations is across from the hotel ..... oh good, I think to myself! :) Breakfast proves to be a feast ..... starting with a freshly squeezed juice which varies daily from kiwi one morning, to mango, to watermelon to green melon and occasionally orange juice!! ...... followed by a bowl of pomegranate seeds sprinkled on fresh melon, mango, apple, orange fruit platter, followed further by tahini with just about anything ..... I have discovered it tastes awesome with eggs, bread, cucumbers slices, tomotoes, potatoes ..... any fish dish, oh my, yes, anything!!! The tahini is augmented with baba ghanoush/matabal and hummus during the lunch and dinner feasts! Yes, I most certainly love my Arabic/Lebanese/Egyptian food!! ......... I shall surely roll out of this country .... the airline clerks may ask to weigh me instead of my luggage!!! Hoping the food in India is less to my liking (not particularly meaning to follow Elizabeth Gilbert's lead while there, but still ...... yikes, need to find a cuisine I don't like!!) ......... Massalamah :)
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