Arriving in Addis Ababa - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Cairo, Egypt. Desert. 97°F. Sunny.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Highlands. 67°F. Rainy.

That essentially sums up my first impression of Ethiopia. I'll blame my surprise on ignorance, but every part of me thought Ethiopia would be either hot and dry, like Egypt, or hot and humid, like what I naively assumed East Africa to be. The contrast with Cairo goes further. Even with more people living on the streets, there is much less hassling. And much less aggressive hassling at that. One "no, thank you" is enough and stares are at least often accompanied by smiles or greetings.


In other news, I figure I should give some info on the countries we visit, especially since I knew close to nothing before planning this trip.

Ethiopia. Officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Capital: Addis Ababa. Population: 84,320,987. The second-most populous country in Africa as well as the most populous land-locked country in the world. Official language: Amharic. GDP per capita: $360. Most popular religion: Christianity. Interesting facts: One of the oldest sites of human existence. Rumored to be the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant.

Possible Jackie Chan impressions.

Seeing animals on the street always gets me excited. This was a special moment I captured.

Thoughts on Egypt of 2012

Egypt. Cradle of Civilization. Land of the Pharaohs. Home of the Mighty Nile.

Anyone who understands the significance of Egypt and comes home from a trip unimpressed is either lying or blind. No, they would have to be lying because even the blind can feel the almost tangible air of magnificence and grandeur in the countless tombs, temples, and pyramids of Ancient Egypt. From the halls of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to the tombs of the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, the amount of history one can take in over the course of just a week can be overwhelming. A 5,000 year-old vase here, a 4,000 year-old sarcophagus there, and soon enough, our hometown of Los Angeles seems more and more like an embryo compared to the lifespan of modern-day Egypt.

Cliched hype of Egypt's wonders aside, I came away from our week in Egypt with a couple of different impressions of its modern society.

Clamor. Maybe it was an after-effect of the Arab Spring revolution, but it seemed as if everything in Egypt was clamoring for attention. The painted pillars of Luxor's temples. The bright lights of nighttime Cairo. The ever-honking horns of drivers all around. And not just attention, but money as well. The street vendors selling everything and anything from shoes to tissue paper. The touts promising to lead you to private entrances of museums. The man who owned a horse-drawn carriage and was willing to wait for you to finish lunch to offer you a ride. In a nation whose economy depends so much on tourism, it was heart-wrenching at times to see the desperation of vendors, agents, touts, etc., especially with the huge drop in tourist-revenue after Arab Spring. Answering the clamor for attention (and inherently money), even for just a second, translated into 5-10 minutes of "no thank yous" and "maybe laters", usually ending in disappointment. So often we were reminded by taxi drivers and hostel owners that the country was stable and fine and that we should tell our friends to visit Egypt. No doubt bargaining became harder when you realized that an extra dollar or two would go much farther in Egypt than it would back home.

Clash. I can't list all the mind-boggling juxtapositions and stark contrasts that jumped out at me in our week in Egypt. The fully-veiled Muslim women strolling past racy lingerie stores. Men talking on smartphones outside of thousand year-old mosques. Historical treasures piled on makeshift shelves when any one of them would have garnered its own exhibit in any other country. It's been interesting to catch a glimpse of how Egypt has been getting in sync with modern times. It seems as though Egypt is fighting hard to hold on to some traditions while other parts of its past are being neglected. All throughout, women in hijabs and men in galabiyas fully reminded us of Egypt's Islamic culture and past. On the flip side, I remember thinking how sad it was that so many artifacts in the Egyptian museum were left lying around haphazardly without descriptions, seemingly forgotten. I wondered what the pharaohs would think upon seeing their carefully guarded tombs left open and their mummies crowded together on display.

I'm certain I'll miss seeing something historical around every street corner as well as having decent shawarma just about whenever I want. With this week over in a blink of an eye and only a handful of sights seen, I'm pretty sure I'll be back in Egypt one day. As for the future, Moussa, our hostel driver, noted that Egypt has all the resources needed to be an affluent country- arable land, water, oil, and of course, tourists. With a new president in office, it will be exciting to see where Egypt is headed.
 

Magy - Cairo, Egypt

By the morning we got back to Cairo, after the 10-hour overnight train from Luxor, we were just about ready to be done with Egypt and its abundance of friendly but persistent touts. After taking a nap at about 7AM, we were woken up by our hostel staff a few hours later and told someone was here waiting for us. And then we met Magy! A native Christian Egyptian who spoke great English. A friend of a friend, she had agreed to meet us and show us around Cairo, with the perspective of a local.

Hanging out with Magy was a breath of fresh air after roaming around Egypt for a week not being able to read signs in Arabic or communicate properly in broken English. It was great hearing about what life was like as a non-Muslim (and unveiled) woman in Egypt. As modern as Egypt can be, the clash between mainstream and Islamic culture is still very evident. Magy mentioned how she still gets stares all the time for not wearing a headscarf. She had to tell over-curious men to bugger off just as much as Jessi. I get the sense that she feels like a foreigner living in her own country at times.

Nonetheless, we had a fantastic time walking around downtown Cairo. We were finally able to understand some phrases we had heard all week but never understood. We had lunch and then dessert at a popular cafe not too far away from our hostel. It was post-Ramadan, so there were lots of sweets and treats available, all exotic to us and tasty. Afterwards, we unwound at the hostel and got ready for our 2am flight to Ethiopia. We got to drop off Magy at her place in Nasr City on our way to the airport and get a glimpse of middle-class Egyptian suburbia (she was next to a shopping mall after all).

After a week of being a tourist, the day with Magy reminded me of what our trip was about- meeting people and learning their stories.

If you ever come back to California, come look us up Magy!

And Exploring Luxor! - Luxor, Egypt

Jules the donkey at ACE

A felucca on the Nile

Just basking

Temple of Karnak

We took the night train from Cairo to Luxor late Friday. Walking the quarter mile or so from our dropoff point to the train platform made me run through my entire packing list that now makes up 80 pounds of backpack-held luggage, sound, and filming equipment. Luckily, we got into Luxor with little trouble and were met by a guide who took us to our pretty luxe hotel, complete with wading pool and complimentary breakfast and WiFi. That same afternoon, we did a tour of the East Bank of Luxor, the main sights of which consisted of the Temples of Karnak and Luxor. The temples were magnificent and left us wondering how folks thousands of years ago could have constructed such monuments. Both temples had mazes of dozens of hundred-ton pillars, with much of the original coloring still intact. We spent much of our time, however, meeting other folks in our tour group, including people from Holland, Spain, and the UK. There was even a dude from San Francisco, American accent and all.

The next day, we went to the West Bank, which back in the day corresponded with death since the sun sets in that direction. We visited the Valley of the Kings to see the tombs of Pharaohs as well as the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Valley of the Queens (self-explanatory). I feel bad saying this, but by this point in time in Egypt, I think we were pretty antiquitied out.The tombs were a wonder themselves, with their original artwork and hieroglyphs, but again it was sad to think that the treasures and people once filling them were now on display in museum collections. That night, we visited El Souq, the market street, with our new Canadian friends Daniel and Nicole. After a bit of souvenir hunting, we grabbed some koshary from a street vendor and took in the End of Ramadan celebrations from a bench right next to the Temple of Luxor. After dinner, Daniel and I joined some local Egyptian fellows playing soccer/football for what in retrospect, was one of the coolest moments in Luxor. I guess it reminded me of why I travel.

Our last day in Luxor was a free day and left us up to our own devices. According to Tripadvisor, one of the best activities in Luxor is to visit ACE (Animal Care in Egypt), a British charity founded to care for working animals on the streets of Egypt. So we hopped over and were lucky enough to be given a tour by one of the trustees. Apparently, many Egyptians who have working animals (e.g. donkeys, horses) haven't been educated in how to care for them, so the center provides free vet services as well as lessons in how to properly look after your animal. We met some animals excited to see us, including Jules the donkey, who enjoyed suckling on your hand. It was definitely a feel-good visit that left us glad that someone was watching out for animals in the area. After ACE, we decided to try and hire a felucca (small sailing boat) for a couple hours. After some bargaining, we found one that agreed to take us down the Nile to Banana Island and back for 60 Egyptian Pounds (~$10). Once again, it was surreal to be sailing on arguably the most famous river in the world and to be able to step away from the noise and bustle of urban Egypt for a couple hours. Banana Island was super random, literally a banana farm with a small zoo of crocodiles, sheep, and a cow. No joke, the latter tried to ram me while I was feeding it. Another first I guess.

After the felucca ride, we grabbed some dinner to go from a local restaurant and went to gather our belongings at the hotel in preparation for our night train back to Cairo. Goodbye Luxor!

Original paint from thousands of year ago!

Egyptian Key of Life

Eh...I tried

How can you not?

Spices at El Souq

End of Ramadan festival

Playing soccer/football with Egyptians

Exploring Cairo! - Cairo, Egypt

Obligatory jump picture

Camels and Pyramids! AHHH!!!

Given the recent political turmoil in Egypt and the reluctance of Muslim Egyptians (who make up the bulk of the population) to being filmed, we decided against filming in Egypt for Each and Every. It was a bit of a hard decision to not get started right away on the project, but we figured there would be plenty of things to do to fill our time anyway.

Our first whole day in Egypt we spent exploring THE PYRAMIDS! Moussa put together a tour of Dahshur, Saqqara, and Giza for us for $12/person, which seemed reasonable given the amount of driving and waiting. It turns out that he was our driver as well, which was great because we got to find out a little more about life from a local Egyptian. We first drove to Dahshur, where there were pyramids older than the famous ones in Giza and less crowded since they were lesser known. Actually, there was no crowd at all. Aside from a Japanese dude who was leaving as we got there, we were the only ones there. Which meant we got to enter the Red Pyramid all by ourselves. Photography was supposedly forbidden, but the guards at the entrance said it was ok if we tipped them. At 10 Egyptian Pounds (~$1.50), it seemed like a good deal. After crawling through a 100m tunnel about 3 feet high, we arrived at the burial chambers. It was both awe-inspiring and creepy to think this room was carved out more than 4,000 years ago, all for one dead person. After taking in the moment and calling for Imhotep with no response, we decided to crawl back out to the world. I would like to warn my friends and loved ones that if you decide to enter any pyramids, please be sure to work out your quadriceps beforehand. They will be tested and tried.

After skimming through the temples and closed pyramids at Saqqara, we moved onto Giza to see the pyramids everyone knows. We bargained a camel/horse tour of the pyramids from $140 to $70, which might have still been overpriced, and saddled up on our respective animals. I'm not going to lie. I was pretty freakin excited to ride a camel and had been since we first thought of going to Africa. So this was definitely a dream come true. Contrary to what we were being told, I found riding a camel more comfortable than riding a horse, except Jessi's camel (named Oscar) kept trying to eat my shorts. One of the perks of paying a little more for a camel/horse tour instead of just taking a bus tour is that the guide takes you around security and around the swarms of locals trying to sell you stuff. Our guide, Ahmed, also used to be a show rider of horses, so he showed us some cool tricks, including standing on top of two running horses. He was also a pro at taking cliche pyramid pictures, which I guess we were obligated to take since we were there. Anyway, we got to climb the Pyramid of Khafre, see/take pictures of the Sphinx, and after absorbing as much as we could of the sand, the sights, and the history, we bid Giza adieu.

The inside of the Red Pyramid!

Oscar the Camel

The Pyramids of Giza

The Sphinx

Day 2 of Cairo was spent exploring Old Cairo as well as the Egyptian Museum. We first went to Coptic Cairo, where there were thousand years old churches within the walls of the Babylon/Roman fortress. It was inspiring to see these churches co-exist with mosques just as old as them less than a mile away. We visited the Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church, which according to tradition, sheltered the Holy Family (Mary, Joseph, and Jesus) when they went into exile in Egypt.

We then went to the Citadel, built by Saladin of the Crusades era. Aside from being a magnificent fortress, the Citadel is also home to the National Military Museum and the mosque of Muhammad Ali (not the boxer). The Military Museum, housed in a palace, was extensive and displayed artifacts from Egypt's military history, including King Tut's chariot. Captured Israeli vehicles were a harsh reminder of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. In contrast, the mosque built by King Muhammad Ali in the 19th century inspired peace, community, and beauty.

We saved the Egyptian Museum for Day 3. In a way, the museum was very much a mausoleum as it contained rows after rows of sarcophagi, coffins, and mummies. While the displays were amazing, especially the exhibit on King Tut's treasures, it was also very sad to see significant figures of Egypt's glorious past on display for all to see. The Pharaohs of old had spent so much effort to make certain that no one would disturb their rest, but yet, here they lay in a wing of a museum. I can't imagine what it would be like if the bodies of US presidents were exhumed and put on display back home. It was also a little depressing to see so many precious artifacts shelved in pretty old looking cabinets, especially when any one of these artifacts would warrant a special exhibit back home.

At the end of three rather touristy days, we felt extremely fortunate to have had the chance to travel and see so many historical wonders, especially ones that we had read or heard about as children. I mean in just 72 hours, we got to cross off several boxes on our respective bucket lists. How much cooler does it get?

Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church

The Mosque of Muhammad Ali

Artifacts outside the Egyptian Museum

Firsts - Cairo, Egypt

The only shot I got of Cairo from the air.

The Each and Every Team Africa Edition in Cairo!

Surreal can hardly describe what it felt like to see the little airplane icon move closer to Cairo on my flight's mini-TV screen. It would be my first time to a new continent in 20 years, my first time to a Middle Eastern country, my first time seeing a wonder of the world.

After arriving at the very modern Cairo International Airport, I made my way to immigration hoping the plan to meet up with Jessi and James would go swimmingly. And after a few minutes of searching, it did! We made it! We got picked up by Moussa, a part-owner of the Jasmine and Australian Hostels where we were staying. Moussa is a great guy by the way. If you're ever in Cairo and need to stay somewhere budget, look them up. Anyway, it was again surreal to see everything written in Arabic, to see men and women dressed in traditional Egyptian clothing, to see no lanes on the road, and to generally experience almost everything for the first time.

Our hostel was located in the middle of downtown, close to Tahrir Square, where the revolution took place not too long ago, and to the Egyptian museum. The city was buzzing when we arrived at around 11pm. We were reminded that much of Egypt was still observing Ramadan and that nighttime was when everyone got out to eat. The Australian Hostel is in an oldish building that had one elevator. With no doors! That was a trip. In any case, we checked in, got to our room (which was nice enough for $6/night and had AC!) and pretty much knocked out BECAUSE WE WERE GOING TO THE PYRAMIDS BRIGHT AND EARLY.

Downtown Cairo at night

The Golden Arches in Arabic

Cairo in the day

Tahrir Square: post-Arab Spring

London Town - London, Great Britain

When I found out that I could throw London into the trip for an extra $400, I jumped at the chance to catch a bit of the Olympics (see older posts) and see family as well. Since I revisited the city in 2005, London has had a special place in my heart. Being a bit of a history buff in high school, I thought it was so incredible to see a bit of history everywhere you turned. From Westminster Abbey to St. Paul's, the Globe Theater to West End, it seems as if every street corner is associated with something significant in history. People over a thousand years must have taken the same steps I did all over the city. How cool is that?

St. Pancras Train Station

Somewhere in Greenwich...

Hmm...something weird about this place...

And the parks! I spent one of the days walking around the expanses of Regent's Park with my cousins Amanda, Adelaide, and Gerald. To take in the scenery, we ended up renting Boris Bikes as well as rowing on the lake. I don't think there's anything quite like getting lost in greenery in the midst of one of the most urban areas in the world. Makes me wish Los Angeles had huge lush parks.

And the food! Goodness, I'm not sure the stereotype of bad British food still holds true, especially since British gastronomy is now one big melting pot. My friend Sau Ling and I went to the Borough Market, apparently foodies galore, and my mind (and taste buds) blew. From Swiss raclette to Spanish paella, seared scallops with bacon to fresh raw oysters, the Market was definitely one of London's highlights. Please go if you're ever in London and tell me how it was. Kthx.

Inspired by the market, I ended up cooking with family one of the evenings. Feta and spinach stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon and mushroom risotto with a red wine reduction. Yea, that's right.

 

 

*Here's a random story: Before I left for London, I watched a news segment on some dude from China who rode his trishaw from Beijing to London. He's like 55 years old! Apparently he was based in London's Chinatown for the duration of the Olympics, so I made it a point to go see him when I got to London. My family and I ended up seeing his trishaw, but not him. Sucks, but it was cool anyway.

Olympic Fever! - London, Great Britain

It's happened! I got lucky enough to come to the Olympics AND watch Team USA basketball! Got into London on Tuesday, had dinner with my cousin Mic, and then made her help me look for basketball tickets. At the time, there were only Russia vs. Lithuania and France vs. Spain tickets available, but I figured what the heck, any basketball would be cool to watch at the Olympics. So I got them, headed to the stadium the next day, and found 20 other people trying to swap their tickets for the evening Argentina vs. Brazil and USA vs Australia games. Anyway, long story short, 3 Spaniards, one dude from Luxembourg named Max, and some scalping maneuvers later, I managed to swap my ticket!

The games were amazing. I got chills the whole time just being there. What an incredible experience to be able to meet and chat with people from all over the world who are just as interested in watching sports as you. I know so many people avoid coming to the Olympics because of the crowds, the cost, or having to take time off, but seriously, seeing the world unified for the Games and the amount of effort put into them is such an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Being part of a crowd that cheers on both first place and last place finishers equally kind of restores your faith in humanity and reminds you that maybe we aren't as divided as people may think. Needless to say, this was one big check on my bucket list. In any case, here are some pics:
 

The O2

Look who showed up during Argentina vs. Brazil

UCLA REPRESENT!

Amazing seats! That's me!

TEAM USA