Saturday, February 6, 2010

Egypt (53) From Luxor to Cairo

Egypt (1) The Idea to go
Egypt (2) Incheon Airport
Egypt (3) Turkish Airlines
Egypt (4) Breakfast is served and it's raining
Egypt (5) Istanbul: Hello Turkey!
Egypt (6) Istanbul: City Tour begins
Egypt (7) Istanbul: Turkish Islamic Art Museum
Egypt (8) Istanbul: Blue Mosque
Egypt (9) Istanbul: Blue Mosque Beanie Drama
Egypt (10) Istanbul: Lunch
Egypt (11) Istanbul: Hagia Sophia
Egypt (12) Istanbul: Grand Bazaar
Egypt (13) Istanbul: Snow Storm
Egypt (14) Istanbul: Goodbye Turkey!
Egypt (15) Arriving in Cairo
Egypt (37) Mohammad, Airtime & Security Guy
Egypt (38) Dinner & Galabya Party
Egypt (39) Love Story - Photoshopped
Egypt (40) Temple of Horus, Edfu
Egypt (41) Sail to Luxor & Sundeck Shananigans
Egypt (42) Hello, Mr Sailor!
Egypt (43) Luxor TempleEgypt
Egypt (44) My Sundeck Proposal
Egypt (45) West Bank of Luxor & Colossi of Memnon
Egypt (46) Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
Egypt (47) Alabaster Factory
Egypt (48) Valley of the Kings
Egypt (49) Avenue of Sphinx
Egypt (50) Falafel Lunch
Egypt (51) Karnak Temple
Egypt (52) Goodbye, Luxor!

Thursday, January 28 2010

A man called Mahmoud comes to pick us up from the boat We hit it off immediately and I jokingly tell him that he'll only be taking my mum to the airport, as I'll be staying on the boat. He turns me around and nudges me to the exit. I'm so sad to leave the boat we've stayed on for the past three days.

Soon, we're on our way to the airport. Mahmoud is so friendly and warm to us. We tell him what a wonderful time we've had in Luxor and how lovely the people are. My mum tells him about my various "proposals" and he turns around and says to me, "If I met you earlier, I wouldn't be taking you to the airport"

Again, I say - these guys are not shy. Furthermore, they're not shy in front of my mother!

After checking us in, Mahmoud leaves. We see Cynthia sitting at a coffee shop. She and Amr are meant to have left already, but there was some confusion with their flight, so now they're on standby.

My mum and I decide to go to our boarding gate. There are three guys sitting at the security check. One guy makes a gesture with his hands and eyes, raising his eyebrows at me. I gesture back saying I don't understand him, but he makes an action like, "You and me". ....These Egyptian guys!

We're still early for our flight, so we go to a little cafe/coffee shop. It's very quiet, and there are only two tables that are occupied. At one end, I notice a man dressed in all black. He looks at me. I sit down and fiddle around in my bag, look up and notice that he's still looking at me.

When my mum's done with her coffee, we go to our boarding gate. I pass the man dressed in black, who's sitting alone and he smiles at me, so I just give a very short, "Hi".

He's on the same flight as us. We have to take a bus to the aircraft, and I sit next to him for the 2-minute ride. My mum's sitting across from me. I've already told her about how he was staring at the coffee shop.  I can't help but think that he has a mafia-style about him and I'm also very aware that he smells damn good!

He leans to me and says, "You were at West Bank this morning, right?"
Shocked, I reply, "Yes, were you there too?"
He's an Egyptian guide and says that he saw me.
"But...there were so many people there?!"
"I have a good memory," he tells me.

When we arrive at the aircraft, there's a man checking our boarding passes. As I give him my ticket, he looks at me, takes the ticket from me, and when he hands it back, he looks at me and lightly pulls my fingers.

I honestly want to burst out laughing. I won't lie though, he was cute! So on the aeroplane, guess who's sitting behind my mum and me? Staring-mafia-looking-guy.

"I'm lucky today," he tells me as he takes his seat.

During the flight, I turn around and he's looking directly at me. We make some small talk through the small gap between us.

When we land, we have to take a bus again to the airport building. He stands next to me and hands me his business card. My mum's talking to Amr and Cynthia who ended up on our flight.

Standing, he leans over and says to me, "You're very beautiful."
"Thank you," I say.
He points to his business card and asks me to call him the following day.
I tell him that I don't think that's going to happen.
"Please, I'd like to see you again."

Sorry, guy. It's not going to happen!

When we arrive in Cairo, we're met by the warm and friendly, Zee. On the ride to the hotel, we talk about many things including the good time we had in Aswan and Luxor. He'll pick my mum up the following evening as she'll be flying back to South Africa.

We're finally at the hotel. Although tired, there's no time to sleep just yet. There's packing that needs to be done. By that, I mean mum has two bags to pack - hers and mine. Yes, I'm just spoiled like that. ....Ain't no one pack like my mama does!


Egypt (54) Mum's Last Night in Cairo

  

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