Nile Nuptials

After years of planning, the time had finally come for our first wedding guests to arrive.  Chantal and Sandrine arrived in high spirits in Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport.  We had the driver already waiting and went straight to the Canary Hotel.  After opening the welcoming gifts of Syrian goodies we gave our guests, we set off for a welcoming dinner at Tanoureen Restaurant.  Here, Chantal and Sandrine were introduced to Lebanese style mezze dishes and the ever popular nargileh (aka hookah and shisha).

Saturday, April 26

On Chantal and Sandrine’s first day, we went to explore Amman on foot.  We visited the two amphitheatres in downtown Amman and visited our favorite food spots.  They were able to have Hashemite daggers handmade by the exuberant Zaid, who inherited the traditions from his father and grandfather.  We climbed up to the hilltop to see the citadel and museum being welcomed and greeted by many different groups of people.  They got their first taste of Arab hospitality as everyone we encountered would welcome them “Ahlan wa Sahlan”.  We enjoyed the view of the sunsetting on the cityscape of Amman as the call to prayer sounded.

Monday, April 28

For our last day in Amman, we had a girls day at the hammam or bathhouse.  It was a fantastic day of lounging in the steam rooms, jacuzzi, and getting scrubbed and massaged.  It was a bit strange to see the women arriving while dressed in headscarves and once you enter in to the bathhouse they will be nearly naked.  For this very good reason, we have no photos of the hammam.  We spent the rest of the day strolling downtown and doing some shopping, including a visit to the perfume store.  For around $1 to $2 you can have either a pure oriental essence or a similar version to brand name perfumes mixed right before you.  Now that we have had our day of beauty and pampering, we were trying to mentally prepare ourselves for the long journey ahead to travel to Egypt.

We were quite curious to get back to Aqaba and the Red Sea, we had very fond memories from our first visit in 2005.  It has grown to be quite a boomtown and we barely recognized it with all of the new malls, buildings and entire neighborhoods being built.  We had seen commercials on TV advertising investment in Aqaba “Invest in Aqaba and turn sand into gold”.  Bobby and I set off to rediscover the coastal city while Sandrine and Chantal slept.  The jet lag was bound to catch up and we were all a bit tired from our fast pace.  The two of them slept straight through the afternoon, night and woke up bright eyed and bushy-tailed the next morning.

Wednesday, April 30

Today was one of the most strenuous of the entire trip.  We took the ferry ride from Aqaba to the Egyptian port of Nuweiba.  It is a short distance, in fact, from the port in Aqaba, you can see Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  Although being so close in distance, the ferry takes HOURS.  We first have to go from window to window in the terminal to purchase tickets, pay departure fees and visit immigration.  Then we wait a few hours to get on the ferry, a few hours of waiting for the ferry to leave and finally a few hours to get off the ferry.  The entire ride is only about an hour but the entire process of it took us more than 6 hours.  The actual ride itself was very nice.  We were upgraded to first class tickets and Sandrine made many friends out on the deck.  This was where she received her first marriage proposals.  As soon as we disembarked, we got right on a bus to Cairo, which was waiting outside the ferry terminal.  After another 8 hours on the bus, we finally arrived in Cairo at around 2 am.  We were thrilled to arrive to the King Tut Hotel to have some tea and finally lay down after many hours of sitting upright.

Thursday, May 1

Our first full day in Cairo was mostly business.  We had to go to the Mena House Oberoi to makeour final arrangements for our wedding.  We were able to make our plans for the meals, drinks and the rehearsal dinner.  We also needed to make our payment, which wasn’t nearly as fun as exploring the hotel.  Chantal was so impressed with the hotel that she decided to book a room there for the night of the wedding as well.

Our guests are now starting to pour in.  This night, Tania and Aya arrived with the wedding dress in tow!  We spent the afternoon walking along the Nile and getting psyched for our trip to Luxor.  We were taking the overnight train from Cairo to Luxor that night.  After walking all over Cairo in search of food, we decided on Gads once again which was quickly becoming our favorite eating spot.  We were lucky to have a private cabin on the train and had a great time catching up with Tania and Aya.

The kind folks at the King Tut Hotel in Cairo arranged for us to stay at a fantastic hotel in Luxor.  When we arrived and starting exploring the grounds, I sounded like a broken record just repeating “No Way” over and over.  We were able to get a luxurious place in Luxor for nearly the same price you would get a youth hostel bed in Europe!  We were concerned about the weather in Luxor since it would be over a hundred degrees.  The weather turned out to be a positive thing because it encouraged us to spend the hottest hours out at the pools relaxing.  Nothing could keep Aya away from the shops so while Chantal, Sandrine, Bobby and I lounged around the pool, Tania and Aya hit the souqs!

Sunday, May 4

Pierre-Philippe and Emanuelle arrived early in the morning from France at the Luxor Airport.  We spent the day walking towards Karnak heading through the bazaars.  Despite being a close walk, we forgot to consider the heat.  It was about a hundred degrees once again and it didn’t help to be out walking in the sun.  We were actually quite close to the ruins when we all got fatigued and need to get out of the sun and get something cold to drink.  After we refreshed ourselves, we got to the entrance and nearly had a little mutiny on our hands because of hunger.  Bobby rushed out to find some food and worked his way through the labyrinthine complex to find us armed with piping hot falafel.  We learned our lesson from this afternoon to avoid having activities during the midday heat.  The long walk to Karnak became known as the “Karnak Death March”.  Fortunately, we all survived and decided to be on the earliest trip out for Edfu the next morning.

No trip is Egypt is complete without a visit to the Temple of Horus at Edfu.  This is one of the best-preserved Egyptian Temples in the world.  It is only a short trip from Luxor and is accessible by set caravan times.  We spent a few hours entering the different chambers of the complex and marveling at the bas relief carvings.  We came back to Luxor for some time to relax and also hit the shops before getting on a felucca sailboat for a sunset ride complete with tea.

Tuesday, May 6

On the West Bank of the Nile River in the Valley of the Kings is where the famous temples are hidden.  Armed with a guidebook only, Emanuelle and I selected three tombs to visit out of a list of 12 or so that are open at the time.  We got to see the bad boy side of both Pierre-Philippe and Bobby who were trying to sneak photos inside the tombs.  At one point, a security guard took away Pierre-Philippe’s camera.  We began speaking to the guard in Arabic and making small talk with him.  We ended up getting the camera back and making a new friend all in exchange for the offer of Sandrine’s hand in marriage.  He made an extraordinary offer of 2,000 camels in exchange for her hand in marriage.  After leaving the Valley of the Kings, the boys decided to hike the mountains and meet up with us in front of the Temple of Hatshepsut.  We girls all went to see the temple dedicated to the woman who ruled as Pharoah while the boys had a good hike and photo session.  We were heading back on the overnight train back to Cairo to meet with the remaining guests arriving for the wedding party.

Wednesday, May 7

Our group of 8 arrived early in the morning into Cairo and settled in to the King Tut Hotel, where we will stay for the next few days.  Anne and Joris had arrived from Damascus, Syria and we also made our rounds to the airport to pick up Seamus, Emiko and Kevin.  From here it is non-stop wedding activities.

Thursday, May 8

Our group grew so large that we arranged for a van to drive us around to the sites, hey at least there wouldn’t be anymore death marches in the sun!  We went to see Zoser’s Step Pyramid first and then to the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.  During our visit to the pyramids, we nearly lost Kevin and Pierre-Philippe to the camel and desert scam.  The camel guys ask if you want them to take your picture for you.  They proceed to take a picture and then offer you to get closer to the camel, then next to get on the camel.  As soon as you sit on the camel, the animal immediately stand and the at first friendly seeming gentleman begins leading you in to the desert and will stop only when you have paid him.  We were too late to save Kevin but Bobby had seen Pierre-Philippe being led away and began yelling at the man in Arabic.  The highlight of the day was a sunset camel ride in the desert.  We each got a camel and set off for a nearly two hour ride and got to take some great pictures of the sun setting over the pyramids.

Today was quite a busy day.  We started off in Coptic Cairo, which was a pleasant surprise.  It is a remarkably tranquil area in comparison with bustling downtown Cairo.  Coptic Cairo consists of narrow alleys filled with churches and synagogues.  After a peaceful morning meeting the locals in Coptic Cairo, we went to the Citadel and Mosque of Mohammad Ali.  We had a quick bite at Felfela Restaurant and rushed over to the museum so that we could have time to get ready for the rehearsal dinner over at the Oberoi.  Arriving at the Mena House was like landing on a different planet.  It is an opulent place and the Al Rubayaat Restaurant inside the hotel is no exception.  During our dinner, a dance group performed traditional dance from throughout Egypt.  The highlight was Pierre- Philippe accompanying the fantastic singer to some good ol’ Barry White tunes.

Saturday, May 10

The big day finally arrives!  We went first thing in the morning to get our primping and grooming done.  We didn’t realize how much they had in store for both of us.  We figured they would give Bobby and shave and put some gel in his hair and just do my hair and makeup.  Well, they gave full on facials of multiple phases, manicures, pedicures, hair masks, threading off unwanted hairs and other things I can’t even recall.  All of this would have been great if we didn’t have a schedule to stick to!  We ended up being late to check into our own wedding!  I guess all these years of living in developing countries made us some kind of grooming emergency where they needed 4 hours to make us look appropriate.  Upon arriving at the hotel, the table was already set up, musicians in their places, our friend Ghazwan from Syria arrived and Bobby still didn’t have his suit pressed!  I was calm, dressed, and drinking wine with Tania and Aya in the bedroom while Bobby was pacing around frantically waiting for his suit to arrive! Once the suit was delivered and Bobby got changed and we started the ceremony.  We spent the rest of the night enjoying the view and playing different sorts of games.  Later on we surprised the guests with gifts we brought from Syria.  Since our guests all came from so far to come to our wedding, we wanted togive them presents to show our appreciation.  We lingered on the terrace with our guests well into the night and probably didn’t get to sleep until 4am.

The morning after the wedding, we all dined once again at the Oberoi for what must be the best breakfast buffet in Egypt.  We lingered around the suite where we held the wedding until it was time to check out and then piled into the van to bring us for our last day of shopping in Egypt.  Later that night, we headed back to the Nile to have a dinner cruise.  A few of us got the chance to try our best moves with the belly dancers.  Chantal and Sandrine both had unfair advantages since they have been belly dancing for years!  The end of the dinner meant that we also had to say good-bye to Pierre-Philippe, Emanauelle, Anne, Joris, and Ghazwan.  We were back to a smaller group of nine people and heading out the same night for Jordan!  We had an overnight drive across the Sinai to get a ferry from Taba to Aqaba.

The car ride was long.  Period.  It went throughout the night, and well into the morning, I am actually shocked that we made the ferry.  The driver had been very confused because we were taking a relatively new service from Taba to Aqaba when everyone would assume we would leave from Nuweiba (two hours drive from Taba).  When we finally got to the terminal, everything else started falling into place.  We knew things would be so much easier in Jordan and were eager to get back.  After a long, hard night in the van and fighting with the lost driver in Arabic we were really frazzled.  Sure enough, things were very smooth once we crossed the Red Sea.  A driver was already waiting for us on the Aqaba side and took us to get some lunch and Bedouin bread.  As soon we arrived in Petra, it got even better.  It turns out that night they were opening the ruins for a candle lit walk.  I was thrilled to find also that the hotel I had arranged had Filipino staff, I couldn’t restrain myself from hugging them.  Petra by Night offered an amazing experience.  The entire slot canyon was lined with candles leading the way to the beautiful treasury building.  Traditional Bedouin music was played as we gazed at the stars overhead and the Treasury illuminated by candlelight in front of us.

Tuesday, May 13

Petra is an ancient Nabatean city, which had been an important stop along caravan routes.  It was able to thrive because of a natural water source their which their engineers then distributed throughout the city with a piping system.  The architectural styles blend all of the different civilizations, which had an impact on this diverse commercial city.  It is still amazing to see these buildings carved into the multi-colored mountains.  The complex is so huge that you cannot see everything in one day.

Our group split up once again, it is time to head home.  Aya and Tania were to fly back to Cairo to get their flight to the States.  Chantal and Sandrine were going to fly from Amman back home and Bobby and were off to Kathmandu, Nepal.  Seamus, Emiko, and Kevin stayed behind in Petra to linger longer before they had to fly back.  We were now only six people and decided to have one last day of shopping and a farewell dinner at Tanoureen.  We finished off our night with a champagne toast before we all had to get started packing.  It was the end of our adventure together.  We are so thankful so many people made the trip out to the Middle East.  We couldn’t have been luckier to have such a great group of people all together in one place.  Thank you again for coming and making our wedding so special!