I just came back from Egypt yesterday night. I must admit that it wasn't as thrilling as I had imagined it to be. I hadn't been aware before how great the chasm is between today's Egypt and the Egypt of the pharaos. I--I don't know, it felt like all the souvenir salesmen just have the incredible luck to live in an area where a great civilization used to exist, eons ago, without them having any link to said past. They offer up their gaudily painted papyrus pictures, their mugs made in China, their sloppily glazed scarabs, and you feel so sad... It is unimaginable that the hiroglyphs in the Valley of the Kings and on all other old Egyptian artefacts were nothing but a dead, illegible language until a French lieutenant of Napoleon's army, Champollion, deciphered the Stone of Rosetta in the 19^th century. Yes, I know it's not the Egyptian's fault; in the long history of their country, they were occupied by various races, including the Arabs, and were forced to forget their own language, but still... I was disappointed.

I couldn't take a swim in the river of Denial (aka The Nile ;-) ) since its water is still too polluted to be drinkable; we had to make do with mineral water from deep desert wells sold everywhere in plastic bottles, even for brushing our teeth. Damn.

Hurghada at the Red Sea was the worst, though. It looks like a ghost town, situated between the desert and the coast, and is clearly an articifial city. The finished hotel resorts and the city center are ok, even if clearly built for tourism, but the rest... site after site of half-finished brick buildings, abandoned somewhere in the middle of construction, looking like skeletons on the brink of collapse -- that's Hurghada. And if you're not a diving enthusiast, you'll go mad with boredom there. I can't even begin to say how relieved I am to be back in a country where you can go window-shopping without someone stopping you every other step, praising his merchandise and almost dragging you by force into his shop. I know it's another country, another mindset, and this entry is not meant disparagingly. Still, I simply coulnd't feel comfortable in a country where 'respectable' women aren't supposed to leave their homes after 10 p.m., and where everyone not wearing a scarf and loose clothing is considered indecent (not that tourists aren't treated with respect there, or that I support female tourists who have no consideration and feel like they have to dress in a way I would consider indecent on Germany's streets).

Still, I was mightily relieved to find out that almost everyone speaks at least rudimentary English (a lot also German), and that German (or French, or Russian) tourists are very welcome there. Egyptians boykott MacDonalds, and have no real fondness of Americans or English after Bush's stupid war, but still know that they are dependent on these countries' tourists later in the year, so I don't expect any kind of riot over there.

Finally, I think I'll rewatch "Stargate" later today. I'm just in the mood.