I’ve now spent a little over two weeks in Egypt and traveled a little less than 1000km through the country. Not enough to get a good perspective on things, but following are some of my impressions so far:

• It is almost the two year anniversary of the 25th of January revolution. The Egypt we see is much different than that on TV screens showing mobs in Tahir Square. Even when we visited the Square it was a lazy afternoon with a few tents pitched and folks including tourists wandering by. I’ve felt safe and comfortable in my travels.
• The tourist industry has been hit hard. This is supposed to be peak season, but boats are anchored idle on the Nile near Luxor and cart/horse drivers troll for rides. People also tell us this as we visit tourist areas, e.g. our hotel in Luxor prepared rooms that hadn’t been used for a while. Some of the places suchj as Temple of Karnak are pretty impressive to see, and shame that more aren’t visiting.
• People are friendly and helpful and curious. Some of this is a generic “people are people” statement, but I also get a genuine sense of providing assistance and trying to be helpful to others. It is occasionally an awkward spot at end, as often some renumeration is requested, as we work this out. However, independent of these situations, e.g. with TDA Egyptian riders, one sees both a sense of pride with country and genuine way of helping w/o renumeration.
• Kids in the little towns are over enthusiastic. We’ve been cautioned to watch for ones with stones or pulling off bike, but not much seen other than enthusiastic kids. Some of the other riders have seen more, but I’ve generally ridden steadily and a bit of a “no nonsense” approach and except for steering from someone on road or flinching if someone fakes a throw – haven’t had much. Not sure if being a large rider helps here.
• We’ve been carefully chaperoned, both with Egyptian police and an occasional ambulance. We also have security with us. A combination of TDA and Egyptian set up is behind making this a safe trip.
• Egypt is dry. Large cycling through desert areas. Even Nile strip is green where irrigated and otherwise very dry and dusty.

The biggest thing I want to do more as I travel through additional countries is “break out of the zone” of flying from camp to camp, and instead find additional ways of seeing and interacting with locals. I’ve done some and found that among the more enjoyable parts.

Now also a few perceptions of TDA so far. Overall the trip is well run and well organized. There is big part of logistics to travel with such a large team, keep bicycles and people healthy and pretty challenging places. Some of the staff is also new, though everyone finds what works for them. It has been said that this is also a “social experiment” to travel so closely with ~60 others camping and visiting in close proximity. That process is still continuing though there is some fun in traveling. The trip can become fairly easy where mostly one needs to pack up, ride and otherwise many things are assisted. That is nice, though also still want to find ways to escape that bubble as described above.

Also in closing, should also point out that I’m having fun

Here are also a few photos from Aswan

The week ahead starting in Sudan
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]

Typical downtown shops, multiple layers with people living up top.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]

Line at the butcher shop at the market.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]

Go AMD! Small computer shop complete with AMD logos.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]

We started early and walked over to the main road near the Nile River. The idea was to see what early morning traffic might be like for bicycle riding. After that a trip on the Metro and then we found the Sudan Embassy (recently moved to new temporary quarters: 8 Ahmed El Shattoury St, Al Dokki). From here it was a somewhat interesting multi-step process:

• Waiting room is open, but tellers aren’t there yet. Wait 30 minutes.
• The little windows open up for business, pick between “cashier”, “immigration”, “consul” and “medical” and stand in what is hopefully the right line. It was a toss-up between “immigration” and “consul” so I picked “immigration” which seemed to be the right one.
• Eventually get to the head of the line. Present the paperwork I had which included a sponsor letter from TDA, a visa application downloaded from Washington DC embassy and completed, passport, pictures, etc. What seemed to be most interesting was the TDA letter. It was handed to someone who disappeared for a long long time. Eventually, it looks like they had a document with riders on the trip and cross-checked against my name. Hooray!
• Hand me a Visa application and explain to me in Arabic some things I didn’t completely understand but guessed to mean: fill out the form, make a photocopy of form and passport, make sure to add the sponsor company address, etc.
• Go back and have fill out the form as best I can, this takes a while.
• Stand back in line before remembering I was supposed to add photocopies. So stand in the line for photocopier. Discover the copier is powered off. Someone might be investigating how to get power, but this seems to take a long time, so eventually myself and others leave.
• Walk back to the street, find a small shop to make photocopies
• Go back to immigration line and eventually when get to the head, present the documents to be processed. These are received and someone disappears to cross-check my answers. Little check marks and Arabic script is added to my document, but looks like I pass and am told to get in line for cashier.
• Wait through the cashier line, eventually get up there. Right before I get there, the cashier puts away his calculator and goes on break. I wait 10 minutes and he comes back so I pay the fee. They staple a receipt to documentation, smile and say, “pick up tomorrow”.

Not sure why, but somehow this process took two and a half hours of standing in different lines, getting the next step done and then figuring out what comes next. I have a good feeling about this and am again optimistic there could be a visa attached tomorrow.

[See image gallery at bike2013.com]
After that trip, we rode the metro downtown to investigation train schedules and also walked along via Tahir Square. There is a lot of traffic downtown. There are also picture signs with horn and red slash through them, though compliance is spotty. Below are a few more photos along the way.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]
Beautiful mosque downtown.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]
Tahir Square has a bunch of tents in the middle. Reminds me a bit of “Occupy Portland” (and similar Occupy movements) where folks pitched tents in middle of public square to help spread their word. Other than tents, and slogans and banenrs, Tahir Square is pretty quiet.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]
Though hanging from nearby street lamp.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]
Mmmm schwarma
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]
Oranges plentiful and less expensive than bananas per pound.

Otherwise, my bike has been reassembled. Still need to pump up the tires, but looks like it made it fine on the flight.