Welcome to Cairo-My first 14 hours

My flight to Cairo was to arrive at 1.25 AM so I had arranged for the hostel to send a car to pick me up. They offer the service and it was only 10 Euros. So we arrive a little early, purchase a Visa, go thru passport control and collect our luggage. As we leave customs there is a huge crowd of people either offering Taxi service or holding up signs for people they are to meet. The Taxi's are usually a scam or very expensive so that is why I booked the car and I had even reconfirmed it from Germany yesterday. And they confirmed and even said to not pay the driver because it would be included in the room bill.
So after telling many taxi drivers no, no, no --I start looking for my name on a sign but..you guessed it- no sign with Bryan Persell or African Hotel on it. But we were 20 minutes early so I figured no big deal. That was at 1.15. At 2 I was a little concerned, 2.30 concerned, by 3 I was looking for a non existent phone. Meanwhile the Taxi drivers keep offering to take me but I refuse partly because I have no Egyptian Pounds and partly because I figure the guy will show. Finally a guy offers to let me use his cell phone to cal the hostel (thank goodness I wrote down the number). I figure it must be a scam but I can think of no other options so he calls. I ask the guy at the hotel where is the driver and he says he is there but he will call him and confirm--can I call him back in 5 minutes. I tell him I cannot since I am borrowing a phone but I am at the International arrivals lounge with two backpack on and you cant miss me. Just ask anyone of the taxi drivers since they all know me by now. He says sit tight and they will be there in 5 minutes. I give the guy 2 Euros for using his phone and tell him if they are not here soon I will hire him to take me to the hotel. In 10 minutes he comes back holding me the phone and telling me my friend called back.
It is the Hotel saying the first guys car broke down (3 hours ago I guess) and they are sending someone fast-maybe 15 minutes. I say OK.
30 minutes later a guy picks me up and we get to the hotel a little after 6.00 am. I check in and the guy gives me a private room with a bathroom for all my troubles. I thank him even though the room smells strongly of new paint and doesn't appear real clean--but neither does Cairo so..I change and get ready for a few hours of sleep--pull down the sheets--the bed looks almost clean--just a few specks of dirt that I brush off--and then I lift the pillow to fluff it and find a deaf fly--wow--I don't care--I brush it off (and the rest of the bed again) and lay down exhausted--and the bed is so soft in the middle that it almost swallows me--I almost start laughing but I am too tired. I will just get another room tomorrow.
I wake up at 11.30 and shower ( I only have to bend over a foot or so to get my head under the shower head). Since it is so late and I still do not have Egyptian Money I decide to wait until tomorrow for the Pyramids. Today I will just walk, find an ATM, maybe go to the Nile and the Egyptian Museum since they are close to the hotel. So I set out with a little hotel map and proceed to get lost. Part of this is due to the fact that I cannot find any ATM's or even banks for that matter. Finally after about an hour I find an ATM but---it tells me my I am trying to get money from the wrong account. What does that mean? Have they frozen my account? I did some online banking in Germany yesterday--did someone steal my code and take all my money? Or maybe that ATM is broke. So I head off looking for another one and begin to realize I have not eaten in about 24 hours. It doesn't really matter since I am lost, do not have any local currency and cannot read Arabic. After a while I find another ATM and hold my breadth while it decided whether or not to give me some money. When it does I am one happy guy. Maybe the happiest guy in Cairo even though I am lost, hungry and almost slept with a dead fly. But at least I have money and do not have to call my bank, report a theft or get a new card. Them I get some food and all the noise and traffic begins to bother me less and less.
Finally, by accident really, I even find my hotel about 6 o'clock. What a first day in Cairo. I really did nothing and yet I am so happy. Tonight I think I will---read a book :)

Athens to Sofıa Bulgarıa

Athens ıs a great cıty and I enjoyed it immensely. From there I took an overnıght traın to Sofıa and spent 3 days there. It remınded me a lot of Russıa and made me a lıttle homesıck. Putın just happened to be ın town the same day I arrıved. I wonder ıf he ıs followıng me. If he ıs I mıssed hım as he certıanally was not stayıng at the Mostel Hostel. I checked every room.
Bulgarıa and Russıa have an ınterestıng hıstory. There are several memorıals to Russıa ın Sofıa because of the help that Russıa gave Bulgarıa ın gaınıng theır ındependence from the Turks about 100 years ago. So even though Bulgarıs just celebrated ıts fırst year as a member of the European Unıon ıt also maıntaıns close tıes to the Kremlın.
Sofıa ıs ın a valley and ıs surrounded by mountains makıng ıt a very pıcturesque cıty. Some fo the people went skııng every day whıch was only a 20 mınute drıve from our hostel.
Now ıt ıs on to Istanbul vıa overnıght traın. I plan to stay there 6 nıghts and then fly to Germany for oıne day-Caıro for 2 and then on to Thailand. I have plenty of pıctures but I have not been able to locate a place that has the software to download them.

An interesting day on Mars Hill

I went back up to Mars hill yesterday to just hang out and enjoy the view of Athens and the Acropolis. Mars Hill, which site next to the Acropolis and The Parthenon, is the place that the Apostle Paul converted his first Christians in Athens (I believe the story is in the books of Luke and Acts). Anyway just as I get to the top of the hill an Italian guy comes up to me and introduces hi8mself and asks if I speak English. He then pulls out his map and asks me if I know how to get to the temple of Zeus and what their hours are (in broken English). He then proceeds to strike up a conversation (not the easiest task with me sometimes) and tells me all about himself. He has a sister in Sacramento, he lives in Turin, Italy, and he has two more sisters that live in Milan. He is in Athens for 2 days on business. He then tells me about his girlfriend, his dog and then ask me to guess his age (he is 45--I guess 53). He then pulls out his huge wallet to show me a picture of his girlfriend and his German shepherd. Strangely as he takes out his wallet I notice that he slightly opens it revealing to my embarrassed eyes that he has a lot of money. It doesn't really register at the time but I think about it later. He asks me to take his picture and I do. Then we sit down (he insists and I have 9 hours until my 22.55 train to Sofia) on a couple of rocks and continue talking. Where am I from, how do I like Athens, have I been to Italy??????Then he tells me that the receptionists at his hotel told him about a nice bar in the old part of Athens. It is only a short walk. Let's go get a beer. I tell him no thanks. We talk some more. He says "let’s go get a beer". No thanks. We talk. He says "Lets walk to the bottom of the hill and I will show you where the bar is. I will go have a beer and you join me later: I say no. In fact I need to be going and I really do not want a beer. He insists a little more, gives up the fight and kind of "huffs off" down the hill. I am thinking --wow I hope I did not offend the guy, maybe I should have at least had one beer with him. Oh Well.I walk around the hill for a few minutes and pick up a little rock to give to Mom as a souvenir. After about 5 minutes I pass a young man who says "you know that guy was trying to rip you off. He works this hill and does it often." No I did not know.Anyway this guys name is David P Terry and he is a Ph. D. Candidate at the University of North Carolina in the Department of Communications Studies. I had noticed him earlier talking to several people and I had assumed he was a tour guide. He tells me that the Italian guy talks to people, befriends them, gets them to go to this bar and has a beer. Then this girl comes up and they buy her a drink. Then another girl. The drinking continues and everyone has a good time...on a tab. The all of sudden everyone is gone except the prey (me in this case) and the tab. On guy got hit with a 700 Euro tab (over 1000 dollars).David then tells me that he is doing his doctorate paper on globalization and he comes here every day to informally interview people for his paper. He lived in Greece as a child with his missionary parents and has been back a few times. He is here for 6 months now and spends every day on the hill interviewing people from around the world. He tells me about all the things that happen on the hill, tourists, religious pilgrims, drug deals, scams, etc. Since the view is so good it is a safe place to conduct business.We talk for a couple of hours about the world, the EU, Greece, the states, traveling, globalization, Russia, the cost of living in Greece, the decline of the dollar, and everything in between. What an incredibly interesting and good guy. We wish each other the best and I head down the hill as he strikes up another conversation with.....who knows.What a great afternoon. Meeting people like David Terry is one things that makes this trip so worthwhile

A cruise to three Greek Islands.

A floating fruit market on our last Greek island

I took a cruise to 3 Greek Islands. This is the second island. Motorized vechicles are against the law so they use donkeys for everything.

The 1896 Olympic stadium where the modern Olympics began

The remains of the temple on Zeus as seen from Acropolis

The Parthenon

The Acropolis

My Hostel in Greece--notice the oranges on the tree

Greetings from Greece

I arrived in Athens last night after a full day of traveling. A 5.15 am train ride from Yaroslavl to Moscow, then two subway rides on the crowded Moscow Metro, a 50 minutes ride on the crowded local bus 851, three hours waiting, a four hour flight to Athens, another subway ride and a hostel search---I mean a search for the hostel :). It was all good and the plane only had 31 passengers. I am not sure what the tempature is today but I went from my coat, to a jacket to only a t-shirt. It must be about 55 or 60 F--A long way from the -30F of a week ago.

Nayabrsk, Siberia, Russia--New Year 2008

We had a wonderful trip to Nayabrsk. Anatolie and Volya were fantastic hosts, the scenery was spectacular, the town was very friendly and safe and the weather was cooperative. We enjoyed ourselves very much and even the 116 hours on the train were full of new experiences.
Here are the pictures of the trip. A full description of the outbound trip and our stay can be found before/below the photos. Enjoy--we sure did.
Monday the 14th I will be off to Athens, Greece. I then plan to take a train to Thessalonica and then on to Istanbul, Turkey. On the 28th I fly to Cairo, via Cologne Germany and then on to Bangkok, Thailand. My hope is to visit SE Asia, Australia, New Zealand and maybe some of the south Pacific Islands before returning to Russia the end of March.

Stops on the train ride home

An ice city/playground built in the center of town. Everything is carved of ice including the 5 foot wall that surrounds the park.

The entrance to the Ice city