Michael Creasy's Blog

Nuweiba is a largely industrial port on the Red Sea coast with little of obvious interest so I was glad when we departed the industrial centre and made for a more secluded camp on the beach.

Our beach camp was simple and tranquil with little wooden huts looking out over the Red Sea to the hazy shores of Saudi Arabia in the distance. After settling in to our huts which contained little more than a mattress and a mosquito net we had lunch which like all the food on the trip so far was excellent. I'm excluding breakfast from that though as I was now sick of the standard breakfast of bread, cheese and a hard boiled egg.

There was nothing to do but relax at the beach camp and so like the rest of the group I sat in one of the open cushion filled lounge huts down by the edge of the water. The sea looked appealing and one by one we ventured in for a swim in hope of seeing the fantastic sea life we'd all heard about. It was not to be though, the water was ice cold and few of us stayed more than a couple of minutes and saw nothing. I was quite content to sit and catch up on the adventures of Lawrence of Arabia.

As the wind picked up and the sun went down we moved to a warmer location for dinner and an evening of card playing and brain teasers. One by one we drifted back to our rooms, perhaps all gratefull for having our own rooms instead of having to share for once. I crawled under my mosquito net thinking I was safe from attack, but that was not to be. I woke up in the early hours of the morning to hear a mosquito buzzing around me and scrambled around for the insect repelent, but I was too late, I'd already been feasted upon and in the morning I'd discover numerous bites of my right arm and hand. I got bitten more in one night than I normally would in a few weeks of travelling.

We left the camp a little after noon to go back to Nuweiba and on to the ferry for Jordan. They ferry terminal was run down and did not appear to expect many tourists as there was little indication of where to go and what to do. Our bags were X-rayed and ignored as we'd come to expect. The depature hall was full of old wooden benches and rubbish bins full of stray cats. Immigration was a number of small cubes adjacent to the hall with no obvious signage. My passport was briefly examined and then handed back to me with the appropriate exit stamp while the paperwork was largely ignored. Leaving the terminal we boarded ancient looking buses for a one minute ride to the ferry itself. The ferry was quite unlike the terminal and looked modern and in good condition. I should mention that this was the fast ferry - the hydrofoil and not the slow ferry which takes much longer to reach Jordan, from what I hear it's worth waiting for the fast hydrofoil. As we boarded we chatted with the Jordanian staff who were very friendly and enquired where everyone was from and welcomed us individually. We handed over our passports to get the appropriate visas taken care off and then settled down in comfortable seats for the journey.

Availing ourselves of the small cafe on board we stocked up on American style cookies and soft drinks while watching Lebanese music videos to pass the time. We changed our money at what was probably a horrible exchange rate. After a couple of hours we arrived in Jordan and then spent another half an hour waiting on the ferry for our visas to be ready. Our group leader took care of immigration for us as he seemed to know everyone working there and got us through without any problems. At customs we got through again without any problems as our leader persuaded the customs officers that they didn't really need to look in our bags.

The city of Aqaba was quite different from the Egyptian cities we'd seen. Firstly people appeared to obey some traffic laws and the taxi had all of it's windows unbroken. In the taxi we saw the first picture of the King of Jordan which we'd later see everywhere. The Jordanian people love their royal family and pictures of the king and his late father appear everywhere - often billboard size.

Our hotel was under going some improvements when we arrived and the smell of paint filled every room. That said my room was adequate, but I'd been lucky to get one of the better rooms and so didn't have to deal with the thick dust and leaks that others hand. Like everyone else though I did have sheets that weren't long enough for the bed and only a small child would have been covered by them. Likewise the shower curtain was too short and didn't reach the edge of the bath and so did little to stop the water from the shower getting everywhere. This probably accounts for the leaks the others experienced.

Walking around the city was a pleasant experience with a number of local people asking us where we were from and then saying "Welcome to Jordan!". I wonder if there's a national program that educates the population on how to make tourists feel welcome as everyone uses the same phrase or perhaps everyone is just proud of their country and wants tourists to feel welcome. Whatever the cause it's certainly nice and went a long way to all of us feeling settled in quickly. We walked through a food market to get supplies for lunch the following day and also to visit a spice shop. The owner presented us each a steaming hot cup of sage infused tea as we browsed which was fantastic. I don't normally drink tea, but this was very nice. He showed us a number of different teas he had on sale and explained the benefits of each, pointing out which was good for stomach problems, which was of benefit to women and which for men. He also had a variety of coffee and ground some coffee and cardomom for us to smell. It had a fabulous fragrance and I was tempted to buy some, but I didn't think I'd be able to get it back to the US. I thought about it overnight and came back the next morning to get some anyway. Back through the market and past the whole skinned goats (complete with heads) in the butchers to find somewhere for dinner. As we sat down outside the heavens opened and a heavy downpour started. Luckly we were under a canopy and stayed dry. This was the first rain we'd seen and it was quite unexpected. We had no idea that rain would be a regular occurance during our stay in Jordan. Suddenly the tranquility was shattered by car horns and shouting. Several cars came around the corner with men hanging from every window shouting and waving while the driver leant on his car horn. We learnt this was the male contingent of a wedding and it was traditional for them to drive through the town making as much noise as possible. We hear and see them a few more times that evening.

Aqaba is a free trade area in Jordan and so everything is tax free so we did a little shopping, but ended up buying nothing but alcohol for our journey into Wadi Rum the next morning...

I had a free day in Cairo which I spent doing nothing but eating fallafel. I like days like that.

The drive to Sinai was long with a number of what seemed like pointless checkpoints on the roads. Sinai is a desert with numerous mountains, the most famous of which is Mount Sinai where Moses received the ten commandments. Once settled in to the hotel and after lunch we headed out to see Mount Sinai. There are two ways to the top, first a path that can be walked or it's possible to ride a camel up, the alternative is the 3000 "Steps of Repentance". Half the group took the camels and the other half (myself included) opted to do the climb, knowing that it would be difficult. The climb was thankfully in the shade which made it easier and our Bedouin guide set a fast pace which kept me motivated. The others fell behind as we pushed on and after two hours reached the top of the steps. Calling them steps is only partially true as the steps are just rocks placed in a way to make them easy to climb, it's not like climbing the stairs. We sat and waited for the camels to arrive, we were surprised that we'd reached the end before them. I was glad I brought some warm clothes with me though as the wind was quite strong and we'd worked up quite a sweat on the climb. There was more to come though, another 700 steps to reach the summit. We pressed on quickly again and breathing heavily in the thin air. Before long though we reached the summit and found just a few other people there huddled around the church which sits unexpectedly on the top of the mountain. Some people sleep at the top which is pretty brave as it was getting very cold. We watched the sun go down and then started the descent. It was important to get down the steps before it got dark as it would be very difficult in the dark. Once down the first set of steps we started down the camel path as it got dark with our Bedouin guide leading the way. The path was much easier than the climb, but I was glad to have a torch to light the way. The climb was hard work, but ultimately rewarding.

The next morning we visited St Katherine's monastry at the base of Mount Sinai. The monastry is famous for it's claim that it houses the burning bush Moses saw on the mountain. The bush is not viewable by the public though, but the claim is that it bursts into flame on the day of Jesus's birth and death. Why not Moses' birth or death I don't know. What is on display is a bush growing from a cutting of the "burning bush" which is unimpressive and just looks like a large over grown bush, it seems popular though. Also on display is the finger bone of Saint Katherine. The finger bone is huge and looks a lot like a camel bone. I am rather skeptical of it's origins.

Left Sinai for Nuweiba on the coast to see the Red Sea.

I left Aswan in the morning on a felucca (small sail boat) up the Nile. The boat was surprisingly comfortable with plenty of room for everyone. The journey was relaxing and uneventful and we all had plenty of time to catch up on some rest. We moored the boat for the night in a secluded spot and enjoyed the delicious meal the crew had prepared. As darkness fell we built a campfire and toasted mashmallows which was lovely.

Early in the morning we set sail again and reached our destination and a waiting bus to take us in convoy to Luxor. Throughout most of Egypt tourists must travel in police guided convoys for security reasons. I'm not sure what the point is and the convoys quickly get spaced out and it's not that common to see other buses once you get going.

Once we were settled in we went to see the Karnak temple which was impressivly large with huge carved pillars filling one chamber. I wandered off from the rest of the group to get a better view of the temple and found myself getting beckoned in to a closed off area by a guard. I cautiously followed him and he showed me some good spots for photos and unlocked a couple of rooms so I could see the carvings and paintings that are otherwise hidden from public view. I gave him a small tip, smaller than he wanted, but still ample. After leaving the temple we walked around the Luxor temple which was much smaller and didn't appear to be worth closer inspection.

I got up early the next morning as I was booked on a hot air balloon flight near the Valley of the Kings. There were numerous flights going on, but I think I got lucky and had a great pilot (not sure that's the right word though) who had a great London accent even though he was Egyptian. Once the balloon was ready I and my 15 companions in the basket floated up in to the sky. We started by flying over a small village as we were at the mercy of the winds. The pilot managed to steer us back towards the Valley of The Kings and we got a closer view of Queen Hatchepsut's (probably spelt wrong) temple. The view was enough for me to not need to see it from the ground. From the balloon we could see in to the Valley of the Kings which was pretty exciting. Then the wind changed and we drifted towards the valley. The pilot got very quiet, clearly this wasn't planned and probably not allowed. We drifted over the valley and away from any landing spots. One girl fainted. The pilot set us down on the top of the cliffs that surround the valley while he made a phone call to the ground crew. The wind was blowing us in the next valley where we would not be able to land or get out without a helicopter. His crew finally arrived and scrambled somehow to the top of the cliff. We took off again and they pushed us over the cliff and down in to a valley with a road. On the ground the crew raced to catch the rope the pilot had thrown and they pulled us slowly to safely and the pilot made a perfect landing on the road. I was glad to be back on the groun even though the flight had been great and we'd see the Valley of The Kings from an angle few people get to.

I rejoined my group for a tour of the Valley of the Kings to see a few tombs of Egypts kings. Our guide picked a couple of tombs which were fantastically well decorated with well preserved carvings, paintings and heiroglyphs. The last tomb we visted was that of Tutankhamon which was a little dissapointing as it's so small - everything that was in it is in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Now back to Cairo.

The overnight train to Aswan was surprisingly good. Perhaps helped by an entertaining conductor and alcohol. The first thing I noticed on arriving in Aswan was the heat. It's hot. Thankfully not humid though. After a free morning we boarded a small boat for lunch and went for a trip around Elaphantine Island (named after elephant shaped rocks) and generally relaxed. We stopped for a short while at a beach and a few brave souls swam in the Nile. The rest sat and watched while a few more of us paddled and complained how cold the water was.

The next stop was a camel ride. The camels all sitting down looked peaceful enough, but once I was onboard my camel stood up unevenly and I desperately hung on while trying to protect my camera. Once we got going things were ok and I managed to take a few photos. My camel walked particularly slowly so he was hit on the rump a few times to get him to keep going. That didn't really help as he got in to a trot for a while and I had to try and hold on again high above the ground. Mostly the camel seemed completely indifferent to what was going on and carried me safely to our destination. Getting down a hill was difficult and I was sure I was going to fall off, getting off the camel was even worse as he knelt down and I tried to stop myself ending up sitting on his neck. I managed to escape injury though and was glad to be free again.

Continuing on the boat we stopped at a Nubian village for tea with the boat's owner and got to watch the video of his wedding, which was attended by 3000 people. He's a popular person in the area. The village was painted with bright colours in contrast with the city of Aswan. The village also boasts what is thought to be the oldest tree in the world - estimated to be 4000 years old.

A short night's sleep was had before rising at 3AM to go to Abu Simbel. The temple that Ramses II built for himself. We had to get up so early as the temple is a few hours from Aswan and the government requires tourists go in a convoy for safety. I went to sleep and missed most of the scenery, but dessert tends to look all the same.

The temple at Abu Simbel is impressive, first because of the revelation that it's not at it's original location due to the flooding in the area after the Nile was dammed. The temple was moved from the hill it was carved into to a location that was safer in the 1960s. The front of the temple features four giant statues of Ramses II which are very impressive. Tourists flood the area taking photos and then crowd inside the temple to see the carvings on the walls and pillars. Most of which are in great condition and depict battles as well as Ramses II with the gods and himself as a god. At the very rear of them temple are four statues of gods (Ramses II included) that gets illuminated by the sun only twice a year. It's impressive the calculation that must have gone into calculating that. It's also impressive what a massive ego Ramses II must have had to build such a structure and a similar, but smaller structure nearby for his wife. There doesn't appear to be any temples to his 200+ children...

Next step was Philae temple on an island in the Nile. This was another temple that was moved because of flooding. The temple is dedicated to the god Isis and has an impressive collection of carvings and heiroglyphics. We spent some time exploring the temple before getting back to the bus for the ride back to Aswan.

After a short break we walked to the Old Cataract Hotel for a drink. We had a couple of cocktails which were terribly weak and talked about how Agathur Christie had written Death on the Nile there. It was a short walk from there to the Nubian museum. Once again through metal detectors and our belongings x-rayed by indifferent security personnel. The museum was packed and we spent little time there. The most impressive artifact being another large statue of Ramses II.

Tomorrow I take a felucca up the Nile for the day and then after a night on board arrive in Luxor.

It took a long time to get to Cairo. Far too long. After a shuttle that didn't arrive, an expensive taxi ride, a long flight to Amsterdam, seven dozy hours in the airport and 5 more hours on a plane I finally arrived in Cairo. The Egypt Air flight was surprisingly good, although the choice of film (The Transporter 2 was a little strange.

After getting off the plane and the bus to the terminal immigration didn't seem that bad. Until I got to the front of the line only to be sent away because I didn't have a visa. It wasn't at all clear that visas (two little stamps) had to be purchased at the bank. With that out of the way I got through immigration and found my bag ok and most importantly a guy was waiting for me to take me to the hotel. Traffic didn't seem that bad and soon I was safely in the hotel. I set off the hotel metal detector but they didn't seem to care.

I hadn't slept in days and so I didn't have any trouble sleeping through the night and still tired after breakfast. So with nothing to do until 2 I lazed around the hotel and relaxed. That would be the last time to relax for a while.

I met the rest of the group and after a short meeting we departed to visit a large mosque. The building wasn't that impressive and the guide gave a long fast talk about the mosque and Islam that I didn't fully take in. Leaving the mosque we headed over the street to a bazaar and a small crowded coffee shop for some much needed refreshment. It was interesting to watch the world go by (or perhaps buy). Dinner was a bowl of rice, pasta and onions with a mild tomato sauce in a local eatery, it was surprisingly filling. Nearby was a free performance of Sufi dancing (think man in a dress spinning around for an hour). It was an interesting experience.

The next morning was the highlight of my time in Cairo. Visiting the Pyramids. We got the metro and then a taxi to the Pyramids which suddenly appeared on the horizon. It's hard to describe the size of them and even standing next to one it's hard to get a feel for just how high they are. As we were whipped by strong winds and sand our guide attempted to tell us about the history of the pyramids. I was more interested in exploring on my own and we finally got some time to do so. I tried taking photos, but it's hard to really capture them thanks to their size. Hopefully I have something I can work with. I entered the second pyramid through a narrow steep small pasage way. The deeper into the pyramid the warmer and darker it got. It was hard to breath in the stale air, but finally I made it to the king's chamber in the centre of the pyramid which is empty other than a sarcophagus and the names of the Italian team that opened the pyramid in the 19th century. It felt very strnage to standing in the middle of a 4,500 year old structure. There was a huge amount of rock over my head. Getting out of the pyramid was just as hard and I was rewarded with bright sunlight and a facefull of sand as the wind picked up again.

The Sphinx sits nearby and stares at the city. It is much like the pictures I've seen of it and wasn't as awe inspiring as the pyramids.

In the afternoon I visited the Egyptian museum, which seems badly organised and with little description of most of the items, this is probably a ploy to buy the self guided audio tour, but as we had a real guide and little time that wasn't necessary. The highlight was clearly the King Tutankamun exhibit complete with the world famous death mask. The mask is badly lit and could be displayed better I think, but I'm glad I've seen it in person along with the numerous coffins the king had. The other interesting part of the museum is the Mummy room which features a number of 3,500 year old mummies including the body of Ramses II, who I'll learn more about at Abu Simbel tomorrow.

In the evening we boarded an overnight train and slept in relative luxury on the way to Aswan, where I am now.

I was surprised when I heard an American Express representative say this to me, but I suppose it's good that they at least admit it.

I've been an American Express customer for a number of years and have for the most part been happy with the service I've received. I've rarely had to call them and when I have any issue has been quickly resolved. That doesn't happen any more. All calls are routed to India where the call center staff are powerless to do anything other than say "sorry" and any attempt to escalate an issue results in the message that the complaint will be forwarded and you may get a call back in ten business days.

Here's the story...

American Express offers a travel service where one can order traveller's cheques and foreign currency online. The most useful part of the service was the ability to specify the requested denominations of the currency, the web form helpful displays the available denominations and a drop down list allows you to select the number required. The fee for the service is a little steep and when combined with the shipping charge comes to $27.95. A price I was willing to pay to get some small bills to use when I first arrive at my destination as breaking large bills is often difficult. I placed my order and received an email confirming it. Perhaps I should have been worried that the email did not list the contents of the order, just the final dollar amount, but I didn't think much about it. 48 hours later I receive another email telling me all is well and the order has been completed and dispatched. The tracking number is missing from the email, but I don't worry about that and the package does arrive as expected.

Here's where the problems start though. The letter inside talks about the travelers cheques I've ordered, which seems a little odd as I didn't order any travelers cheques. Then I see the phrase:

By accepting this package, you agree to the terms of the Agreement printed on the reverse side of the letter.
That seems a little odd, by accepting the package I agree to the terms that I can't read until I accept the package. I don't like the sound of that. Then at the bottom of the letter I see a description of the order and I notice that the denominations listed are not what I ordered. Instead of the small notes I wanted (and the entire reason I used the service) they've sent large notes. Annoyed I call the customer service line and on my fifth attempt after getting cut off I do manage to speak to a human. He tells me there is nothing that can be done and all he can do is forward my complaint to customer service and I might get a call back in 10 business days. I complain that's not good enough as I'll be in Egypt at the time. Silence. I get told again there's nothing he can do but forward my complaint and perhaps someone from customer service will leave me a voicemail message. Tired and angry I hang up and decide to call back during regular business hours, thinking that instead of having the call routed to India, I'll get a US call centre and I'll be able to speak to someone who can do something about the problem. This morning I try again and the calls are still routed to India and I get the same story again, "nothing I can do sir, I'll forward your complaint and someone might call you back in 10 business days". I am told I can not speak to someone in customer service directly. I ask for a supervisor and get told the same story again and again like a broken record. I do finally get her to admit that when they don't have the requested denominations they are supposed to call the customer and inform them, but she couldn't explain why nobody did. The best she could do was flag the complain as urgent and said that someone might call me back in two to three days. She did suggest that I send the currency back at my expense and they "might" refund it. I asked if they would also refund the service fee, the delivery charge, my expenses to ship the currency back and the fee they charge for accepting the currency back. "No", is the answer. Paying American Express even more money and getting even less in return didn't seem like a good idea. I fail to see why I should pay them to correct their error.

Now I'm really annoyed that I can't speak to anyone who actually cares and now I'm more annoyed that I can't speak to a customer service agent than I am about the messed up order. I decide to call the help line for personal cards, thinking that as I charged the order to my Amex card perhaps someone there can get me in touch with someone who can help. So much for that idea as the call gets forwarded to India again and another agent tells me there is nothing she can do when I ask to speak to someone in customer service she says to me "We don't have any customer service". I'm shocked to hear her admit it and I ask her what she means. She tells me there is no way for a customer to directly speak to anyone in customer service and that I have to wait for them to call me. The best she can offer is the phone number of the local American Express Travel office. I doubt they will be able to do anything, but I take the number and give them call. The local office takes the call and tells me there is nothing they can do, but they sympathize as they hear these complaints a lot, but perhaps the local area manager to can help. I give him a call and repeat the whole story again and he promises me that he'll find a number I can call to speak to someone in customer service. A little later I get a voicemail message telling me the number I need is the same number I've been calling all morning. I call back and tell the area manager this and that the people in the call center are of no help. He apologises, says there's nothing he can do, but mentions that in future if I came in to the office directly they could order currency directly with a smaller fee than online. What a nice little sales pitch, but completely useless to me now.

I have to wonder if I want to do any further business with American Express. They freely admit there is no customer service and that it's impossible for a customer to actually speak to anyone who can help with any problem. Perhaps I'm supposed to be thankful that American Express is letting me give them money. Perhaps I'll just cancel my cards and take my business elsewhere.

Engadget are running an interview with Joe Belifore. Joe is the VP at Microsoft in charge of Media Center.

Joe talks about Media Center and about CableCARD and confirms that to use CableCARD you will need a new PC that has been certified as "Digital Cable Ready". As Joe describes, that was a requirement from the cable industry to get digital cable support in to PCs. I know this will disappoint a lot of people, but I hope you'll agree that this situation is better than not having any support at all. Joe also briefly mentions content protection and that for protected content Windows Media DRM will be applied. This won't stop you watching protected content on Extenders like the Xbox 360 and other devices, but you won't be able to take content and share it with the world. That'll make some more people upset, but for most users I don't think they'll ever notice.

Joe also talks a bit about HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. I've no idea which is going to win in the marketplace. I do like the idea of managed copy which HD-DVD supports (and Joe talks about that too).

It sounds like there will be a second part to the interview next week.