Part 1 - MIDDLE EAST / EGYPT

(Feb. 26th to March 1st, 2009)

Ok, who has never wanted to see the pyramids of Giza? I sure did and I’m very glad I was able to make one more dream a reality. I really enjoyed my time in Cairo. It is indeed fascinating and definitely showcases the good and bad things of a big city. It has its unique colors; it is amazingly crowded, absolutely beautiful in its own way, and it certainly has a very real soundtrack attached to it.

I was there with key players and great friends from the tourism industry and we did have a blast. We visited the pyramids, sphinx, the Egyptian Museum, the Khan El-Khalili Bazar in old Cairo, the Coptic (Egyptian Christians) district, the Citadel and the Islamic area. In addition, we went for a Nile dinner (which was very cheesy btw), experienced several local restaurants in the city, and enjoyed a Dervish Dance Show (a dance that has been performed for over 700 years by the Sufi, a rather mystic order of the Islamic faith) on our last night over there.

Now, I did really enjoyed my time there and I definitely want to go back to see other parts of Egypt. I do understand I just got a taste of it and they have much more to offer. Egypt is Egypt and worth visiting, but I really felt the government is taking it for granted and missing many opportunities to make the locals aware of their tourism industry and its value and more active in the process of making sure their visitors have the most outstanding travel experience while there. The places are dirty and the people are not that hospitable… and I do believe it can be fixed (little by little) by educating the local community and getting them involved with sustainable projects. I’m sure I will be going back and hopefully I will also be able to work on projects to help them out with this matter.

Anyway, this is a short video I put together with some pictures I took while there. Enjoy it!