A Desert Adventure

Leaving Safaga, during the night Silver Wind proceeded north through the Gulf of Aqaba, which branches off the Red Sea.  By dawn, we were approaching the cities of Eilat, Israel and Aqaba, Jordan at the north end of the gulf. We docked at a small cruise port and by mid morning a small group of eight tourists, including the hotel director Gianni, boarded a large tour bus for the drive to Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a Jordanian national dessert park known for its scenery. It is beloved by filmmakers and trekkers, rock climbers and desert lovers worldwide.

 

Camels Browsing an Empty Field
Bedouin Village in Background

Our tour bus climbed upward through a series of wadis (dry stream-beds) that were clogged with gravel and stone deposits from the recent spring flooding.  Each year spring rains in the mountains create flash floods that fill the stream-beds to overflowing and affect everything downstream as far as Aqaba where the water flows into the sea. 

Eventually we began to see small Bedouin communities of cement blockhouses.  There were fenced green areas and sheep and goats wandered about outside the living compounds.  

Our tour bus stopped at a small railroad station where our Bedouin guide showed us a 1910 steam train used in the filming of “Lawrence of Arabia.”  This station was in the actual area T.E. Lawrence passed through several times during the Arab Revolt of 1917-18.  Today the rail line moves mostly phosphates and potash from inland mines to the Port of Aqaba for export.  The old train and the station are a tourist attraction as there is no longer passenger service between Aqaba and Amman, Jordan’s capitol 200 miles to the north. The scene was striking.

Wadi Rum Station
Even though it is no longer used,it is guarded day and night.

1910 Train

Michael Really Loves Trains

At the Wadi Rum Visitor Center, we boarded two four-wheel drive trucks for our trek into the desert. Watching older folks climb in and out over the tailgate of a small truck isn’t pretty but most of us did it repeatedly during our three-hour tour of the Wadi Rum Preserve.  I was concerned that the rear bumper, which was wobbly, would break off and one of us would fall to the ground.  Fortunately, the truck held together and we were all o.k. I have noticed that everywhere in the world, small pickups, many barely running, have replaced donkeys, camels and other animals as the primary mode of transportation for all who can afford them.

Off into the Desert
Rock Formation is Called  the
Seven Pillars of Wisdom After
T E Lawrence Memoir

The Wadi Rum Preserve is a series of small valleys carved by wind and water into the highest plateau in Jordan.  We visited a sand dune where we were encouraged to walk barefoot in the soft sand.  I declined, even though our guide claimed that it was therapeutic for the skin.  Next, we had tea in a Bedouin tent.  Our tour guide demonstrated how coffee is ground in a wooden vessel and then boiled on an open fire.  We moved on to view some petroglyphs pointing the way for travelers on the ancient caravan trail through the desert.  Near the petroglyphs was an encampment of Bedouins with twenty or more camels.  Camel rides anyone? 

I Climbed Halfway up this Sand Dune

Our Tour Guide Demonstrating How Bedouins Grind Coffee Beans

Camels and their Handlers Waiting for Business

Directions to the Caravan Route

We saw spectacular scenery with Bedouin tents here and there at convenient spots for camping.  All of them had unobtrusive, sand colored outhouses nearby. I gather that camping in a Bedouin tent in the desert is a big tourist business.  All of the Bedouin tents we saw were essentially for tourists.  The real Bedouins now live outside the Preserve in cement block houses with indoor plumbing, electricity and satellite dishes on the roof.  There is usually a truck or two parked by a shed out back.  Our guide told us the Bedouins may use a small tent while moving flocks of goats or sheep from one sparse pasture to another. Otherwise they live in small towns.

Green Patches in the Distance are Irrigated Land

Gianni Contemplating the Desert While We Take Pictures

Getting Ready to Climb Back into the Trucks

Coming Down a Hill to the Camel Race Track

Our visit to Wadi Rum concluded with tea and dates at an empty hotel made of Bedouin tents.  The hotel was next to a race track used once or twice a year for camel races.  The camel races and the associated betting are apparently big business and attract tourists from many Arab countries.  The hotel was empty except for us. The electric generator was turned off and nearby solar panels were not yet completely installed. Hotel director Gianni anxiously awaited the arrival of box lunches prepared on the ship that morning.  Our tour bus carrying the lunches was at least a half hour late to the rendezvous. By the time, we returned to the port and Silver Wind, I was exhausted and needed a nap. Perhaps my tiredness had something to do with a twelve-hour tour the day before.

The Tent Hotel

Local Entertainer Sang American Songs in Arabic
As We Waited for Our Lunches

Most of the Silver Wind’s passengers had gone to Petra, Jordan’s prime tourist attraction several hours further away from the port than Wadi Rum.  Petra was an eleven-hour long trip into the center of Jordan.  Accordingly, the ship stayed late in port.  This gave Michael and me an opportunity to dine on the pool deck and watch the lights come on in both Eilat and Aqaba.  The weather was perfect. We could see massive numbers of lights from Israel and Jordan. There were a few lights from Egypt’s Sinai to the southwest and a glow from a Saudi port to the southeast.  Not often does one get to see four countries at once.

Huge Israeli Flag Painted on Warehouse in Eliat Israel
Jordan has a Huge Flagpole that Flies a Huge Flag
Michael and I Called it The Battle of the Flags

Egypt – Valley of the Kings

Silver Wind spent three days hustling through the Gulf of Aden in convoy with a large number of freighters and oil tankers. Enhanced security measures included a two-day phone and Internet blackout, the appearance of two French snipers who patrolled the front of the ship, a directive to the passengers to stay off their balconies and the appearance of signs saying that certain areas were  off limits while we were in danger of a pirate attack.  I think the concern was real while the expectation of trouble was very low.

Piracy has become a business enterprise in the past ten years.  Most pirates are seeking easy prey (tanker ships, cargo ships) that can be captured and ransomed for millions of dollars.  Cruise ships are in little danger.  Ships like Silver Wind are difficult to board, they have too many crew and there is not enough money or other valuables aboard to make an attempt to take hundreds of passengers hostage worthwhile.  A consortium of nations supplies warships to escort the ship convoys. We occasionally saw military helicopters patrolling overhead. Passage through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea is relatively safe these days. Michael wrote an essay on the pirate precautions for his blog : http://cbu-march2015.blogspot.com  that details more of the efforts all ships are required to make when they traverse areas where pirates are active.  I think the required precautions spook passengers more than the danger of actual pirates.

Our next destination was the port of Safaga, Egypt.  Safaga is a small commercial port on the Red Sea in the South of Egypt.  Cruise ships stop there mainly to take tourists on a long drive overland to Luxor on the Nile River and to the Valley of the Kings just west of the Nile.  Most of the Silver Wind’s passengers chose this particular cruise in order to see the Ancient Egyptian monuments and later, the Christian sights in the Holy Land. Egypt gets most of its national income from fees on ships traversing the Suez Canal.  Tourism is in second place. Unfortunately for the Egyptian economy, we were the only cruise ship in the area.

The First Military/Police Checkpoint
We were Not even Outside Safaga Yet

I took the thirteen-hour bus trip to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.  Michael stayed on the ship as he had taken this excursion twice before.  The bus ride from the port to the Nile takes three and a half hours.  We drove on a good two lane paved highway through mountains and desert, past regular army or police checkpoints until we saw the green of the irrigated land along the Nile River.  The green of the Nile valley always comes as a surprise after the barren desert.

Donkey Carts Still are used for Agriculture
Note that the Wheels are Truck Wheels

The area appeared more prosperous than the part of Egypt I saw in 2011 shortly after the Arab Spring revolution.  Then the area around Cairo had been knee deep in trash. The villages and towns along the southern Nile appeared to be cleaner.  Mud brick houses were intermixed with more modern structures.   All appeared to have satellite dishes on their roofs.  There were still a few donkey carts to be seen but  I noticed more motorbikes and even some tuk-tuks (three wheel vehicles with motorcycle engines). I did note that at every crossroad there were two or three men, at least one with an automatic rifle plainly visible.  Presumably, they were guarding their villages from strangers with evil intent.

Tuk-Tuks in a Local Town

Local Militia - Passing the Time or Keeping their Town Safe?

Our tour bus reached Luxor in late morning.  Luxor’s ancient ruins, dating from the New Kingdom (2000 BC- 1050 BC), are located in the middle of a medium sized city.  It was a stretch to imagine this imposing temple complex as it once looked.   A double line of sphinxes once lined a processional route between Luxor and Thebes, a distance of a little over a mile.  Most of it has been excavated but is crossed every so often by city streets.  Cecil B DeMille envisioned it in “The Ten Commandments” as a truly majestic sight.  Traces of that majesty remain.

Line of Sphinxes Once Ran a Mile from the Temple of Luxor to the Temple of Karnak

The Largest Statuary was Added by Ramses II
the Statues are all of Him

Typical View of the Temple of Luxor
The Temple to the Sun God Amun
was Built and Added to by Three Pharaohs

Our tour guide, an archaeologist at the Cairo Museum, led us on an informative walk through linked temples following which we had about fifteen minutes free time to explore on our own before reboarding the bus.  The columns were impressive, the statuary huge, the whole eerily beautiful.  Interestingly, Byzantine Era Coptic Christians had repurposed a section of an ancient temple as a church with Christian frescoes plastered over the hieroglyphics.  Later, Muslim conquerors built a mosque over part of the church and  a section of the New Kingdom temple of Amun.  Every conquering culture shows the superiority of its god or gods by putting its temple atop a conquered holy place.  I felt as if I was walking through history.  It was not a busy tourist day so only a hundred or so other voyagers to the past accompanied me, most of them school children with their chaperons.

Our Guide Pointing out the Byzantine Frescoes Over the Egyptian Hieroglyphics 

The Mosque Tops Everything Else

Here, French Graffiti from 1892 has been
Added to the Frescoes and Hieroglyphics

Our tour group had lunch at the Luxor Sheraton, a luxury hotel overlooking the Nile with views of the mountains on the western bank. We could see the Valley of the Kings in the distance.  As usual on these excursions, the food was mostly tailored to American and European tastes.  I prefer, whenever possible to try the local dishes.  I was able to have a dessert cake made with honey and dates and even an Egyptian beer.  The label was in Arabic.  I found it strange to be drinking local beer in a Muslim country. Apparently Egyptians have no difficulty selling alcoholic beverages to foreign tourists.  Michael had told me to expect a man playing a violin on his head during lunch.  Instead, we were entertained by a three-man group dressed in long robes, playing a drum, a strange stringed instrument and an even stranger wind instrument.  I guess the violinist has retired and has been replaced by a local group playing what I assume is local music.

Modern Luxor Street Scene

After lunch and photographs, we got on the bus for the trip across the Nile to the Valley of the Kings.  The Valley of the Kings is a vast tomb complex where Egyptian royalty were buried during the New Kingdom period 3500 - 3000 years ago, after the age of the pyramids.  The tomb entrances were skept secret to avoid despoliation by tomb robbers but over thousands of years, the only intact tomb discovered so far is the tomb of a relatively unimportant pharaoh, King Tutankhamen.  King Tut was discovered in 1922 buried in a relatively unimpressive tomb.  Travelling shows of the rich grave goods and the beautiful gold burial mask of King Tutankhamen have made him the most famous pharaoh known today.  One can only wonder what marvelous treasure once was in the tombs of the truly great pharaohs.

Crossing the Nile River

Entrance to Valley of the Kings Complex
No Cameras Were Allowed Beyond this Point

Our tour guide led us to the tombs of three different pharaohs, Ramses IX, Ramses VI and Merenptah. They were relatively important Pharaohs although no one besides Egyptologists care about them today. The tombs open for viewing vary. Tourism, air pollution and general neglect have degraded the wall paintings.  Only a few are open at any given time.  We climbed down ramps and wooden stairs to the inner chambers.  Our guide was not licensed to enter the tombs with us and the guard in each tomb appeared not to speak English so it was mostly a visual experience.  Nonetheless, the tombs were breathtaking.  Most of the paintings and hieroglyphs were faded or chipped but some were still vibrantly colored. The decorative schemes varied though there were hieroglyphics and allegorical pictures in all of the tombs. Ramses VI’s tomb had extensive passages from the Book of the Dead inscribed on the walls of the corridor leading to the sanctuary.  It was amazing to look at them and realize that these paintings and inscriptions were more than 3000 years old.

On the way out of the complex, I stopped along the street of trinket sellers and bargained, not very cannily, for some small statues for souvenirs.  I don’t often buy tourist merchandise but I was in a good mood and liked the statues.  I wanted the cat one in particular; I came away with four different statuettes at about twice the price I had been willing to pay for one.  I’m sure the seller thought he had driven a good bargain.  We both were satisfied – the definition of a fair trade.

Mortuary Temple of Hatchupset

Remains of Mortuary Temple of Ramses II

The Colossi of Memnon -
Actually the Remains of the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III

We stopped at the Temple of Hatchupset for photos; then drove to the Colossi of Memnon for more photos.  Hatchupset was a successful female pharaoh whose beautifully designed mortuary temple is carved into rock at the Valley of the Queens adjacent to the Valley of the Kings.  The Colossi are two huge statues, all that remain of the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III another pharaoh of the New Kingdom period. Both are on the west side of the Nile. 

Our tour bus recrossed the Nile and returned us to the Sheraton Luxor for afternoon tea.  This was our last break before the three and a half hour return trip through the desert and across the mountains to Safaga and the waiting Silver Wind.  Two memories stand out on that return trip:  the sight of minarets lit up with colored LED strings in various Nile towns and the strikingly clear night sky in the mountains. I could see constellations and the Milky Way easily through the bus window.  

View From the Luxor Sheraton
The Mountains of the Valley of the Kings in the Distance

Michael and I ate a late dinner and turned in soon afterward as we had an hour time change and an early start for our tour to Wadi Rum in Jordan the next morning.  I enjoyed the trip to the Valley of the Kings. It was worth the seemingly endless time on the bus.  There were some other tourists at both Luxor and the Valley of the Kings but clearly tourism to Egypt is almost as bad as it was in 2011 right after the revolution. There appear to be a lot more military and police checkpoints and armed men standing around street intersections.  This cannot be good for the future of Egypt.

Oman, at the East End of the Saudi Arabian Peninsula

The day after we left India, our ship’s captain ordered extra anti-piracy security measures.  Before we reached Mumbai, Captain Palmieri had held a security briefing and read a statement about piracy. He said we would change our course to stay closer to shore and navigate at maximum speed to Muscat.  He attempted to reassure the passengers that the chance of encountering pirates was extremely remote.  Nonetheless, one woman was deeply upset and decided to leave Silver Wind at Mumbai rather than spend four days sailing along the coast of Pakistan and Iran.  The ship’s Customer Relations Manager, Saskia, somehow arranged hotels, transfers and flights for her immediately after the briefing.  Now that’s customer service!

Portions of the ship were not lit at night to assist lookouts that were posted at the front and rear.  Silver Wind went fast (approx 23 mph), the lookouts looked and absolutely nothing happened.  Michael and I did catch a small glimpse of the western Pakistani coast – it was just a dark area in the haze.  We hugged the shore instead of cutting directly across the northern Indian Ocean (locally known as the Arabian Sea).  This added several hundred miles to our course but the increased speed allowed us to arrive in We did not realize it at the time but these were only some of the security measures we would be subject to crossing the Red Sea later.

All Kinds of Tourist Trinkets are For Sale Here

Only 24 passengers stayed on Silver Wind at the cruise segment turnaround point of Muscat.  Two hundred some odd passengers debarked in the morning and about a hundred new passengers came aboard after they left.  Captain Arma had come on board at Mumbai.  He took over as captain of the Silver Wind and Captain Palmieri left for home.  The crew reprovisioned the ship. Captain Palmieri had spent the winter taking Silver Wind to various ports in Asia. Captain Arma was taking over for the summer season in the Mediterranean.   Our two-segment cruse from Singapore to Athens was a semi-annual repositioning cruise.

 

Our Tour Guide Checking With the Bus Driver

The "Old City" of Muscat

Entrance to Private Museum Showing Omani Historical Objects and Daily Life
Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said is Prominently Featured

Michael had urged  the tour desk to arrange a short tour of Muscat when we saw that the original itinerary showed no activities planned during the stop. Sylvia the tour manager, had come through with a short tour of some of the highlights of Muscat.  Almost all of the “in transit” passengers boarded a tour bus and visited the souk, a kind of indoor flea market and mall; a private museum that was actually worthwhile and the exterior of the royal guest palace, an imposing complex that contained administrative offices, an ornate reception hall and a small hotel.  We drove a few miles on excellent Omani roads, stopped on a hilltop for excellent views and spent a pleasant and informative few hours seeing a new city.  I bargained in the souk for a beautiful silk and wool shawl and wandered down a side aisle where I was lucky enough to see real Omani women bargaining for expensive fabrics and accessories.  I passed two women wearing black robes of expensive fabric who were teetering on stiletto heels between fancy fabric shops.  They used expensive make-up and were carrying Gucci bags.  The Omanis are NOT poor.

 

Hotel at the Guest Palace

Michael and I skipped the strongly recommended lifeboat drill that was optional for those of us continuing on the next leg of the cruise.  We had our butler serve us martinis and potato chips on our veranda.  We enjoyed leisurely drinks while the others put on their life jackets and assembled in the Panorama Lounge on eight deck to listen to the safety instructions we have heard many, many times.  Michael said to me, “I’m all excited! We’re going on a cruise!”

 

My One Day Visa to Visit Salalah

Silver Wind’s next port of call was at Salalah, Oman, following another sea day.  Salalah is at the opposite end of Oman from Muscat. Michael had visited this port three times previously and did not think it worth his while to take essentially the same simple tour for a fourth time.  So, I went by myself on a tour called “Serene Salalah”.  Again, there were not a lot of sights to see.  We stopped at the Great Mosque a new structure completed within the last few years. It was Tuesday afternoon and interior visits by non-believers are not allowed in the afternoons.  Thirty minutes to take pictures seemed a lot, but I had some interesting conversation with fellow tourists in the air-conditioned bus after I completed a circuit of the structure.  We drove to the suburbs and stopped at a vegetable seller’s stall and took photographs of the locally grown fruit and vegetables for sale. Salalah gets more rain than anywhere on the Arabian Peninsula so the city actually grows a large amount of the fruit and vegetables locally consumed.  Our tour guide mentioned that the area has thirteen types of bananas and several different kinds of coconut palms.  Onions, garlic, tomatoes, and other vegetables have been introduced as well as a variety of herbs and spices.

Salalah is a Modern City

Entrance to the Great Mosque

This is as Much as I could See of the Interior
The Tour Guide Went in With our Muslim Ship's Escort the Rest of Us Stayed Outside

New Apartment Building

Very Old Residential Building
Most of the Old Buildings are being Razed
to Make Way for New Development

Local Produce at Farm Stand Outside of the City

Our tour guide described Omani food as mostly rice based dishes with meat or fish (meat in the interior and fish along the coast).  The vegetables originally came from India and Africa, the spices mostly from India.  The Omanis grow coffee (they dispute that it originated in Ethiopia).  Their most famous export, especially from the Dhofar region where Salalah is, is Frankincense.

The next stop on the tour was at the local archaeological museum.  Michael told me he had visited an outdoor archaeological site where there were stone walls and some pillars that had not seemed impressive. The dig is not on the tour any longer.  Now there is a museum devoted to archaeological finds throughout Oman from the early Stone Age through the fifteenth century.  Another building houses a maritime museum showing boats, ships and navigational instruments that were used from earliest Omani history to the present.  The museum is well done.  The archaeological site is now part of a park that also is devoted to the preservation of frankincense trees.  I had the opportunity to touch the leaves and smell the scent of frankincense.  Our tour guide told us a lot about frankincense production and trade.  It is a dried resin (tree sap) that comes in at least three grades.  The most pure is used for medicinal purposes, the second grade, melted over shouldering charcoal in an incense burner, is prized for its odor.  The third grade is often mixed with other oils. One of its uses is perfume.  I’m not clear on its other uses.

Frankincense Tree

The Sultan's Salalah Palace Gate
The Palace Grounds Cover Several Blocks

We drove by the royal palace in Salalah.  The sultan doesn’t reside here often; he lives mostly in the capital city of Muscat. I took pictures of the closed gate.  The politics of Oman are murky.  The sultan is an absolute monarch, elderly, with no heirs. Our tour guide claimed that Omanis have freedom of speech but there is no evidence of any press, free or otherwise. Oman is stable right now but who knows what the future holds?

Our final stop was at a souk that was mostly closed.  Omani shops shut down for the hottest part of the day and reopen around four pm. Our group had half an hour to browse through the few open shops.  Shortly before our time was up, the shop owners arrived and opened their stalls for business. A few locals appeared but we were the only tourists in sight.  The beginning of April is clearly not the local tourist season.

Frankincense For Sale in the Salalah Souk 

Beach-side Hotel on the Way Back to the Port
Omanis Rarely Use the Beaches
I Spotted Tourist Camels Walking on the Sand

Everything about Oman was a contrast to our stops in south Asia.  The weather had changed to hot and dry.  The haze was due to recent sandstorms.  The people were clearly living a different life. Omani men don’t do much work. They wear sparkling white robes and either caps deriving from east Africa for casual wear or turbans wrapped in distinct tribal patterns for formal occasions. I saw women only at the souks, usually accompanied by children.  They wore black robes of beautiful fabric covering everything but their faces.  Oman is not wealthy by Saudi Arabian standards but most of the laborers and shopkeepers are guest workers from India, Pakistan, Asia or East Africa.