Sharm 2005: To Suez and beyond
May 19, 2005
So last we left off I was dozing at the St. Katharine bus station. Zenith and E. came back a bit before the bus was scheduled to leave with mango popsicles (I think). We ate our icy treats, and soon after boarded the bus. Zenith had suggested that since we had to stop in Suez anyway to catch another bus back to Cairo we might as well stop there for a couple hours and poke around the town famous for wars, trade, and the death of thousands of Egyptian peasants at the hands of a power-crazed French architect. Yeah.
So, we all thought this was a good idea, though I was a little hesitant because I had to go to work the next morning and didn�t want to get into Cairo too late. Zenith consulted his book and found a restaurant in a hotel which supposedly had a great view of the canal and the ships passing through. We decided we would have a proper lunch there, and then catch the next bus after that back to Cairo.
By the time we got to Suez I think we were all seriously dragging out feet, and I was close to just saying that we should forget the whole thing and go straight back to Cairo. But then I thought that I�d never been to Suez before, and this was a prime opportunity. We found a nice cab driver who agreed to take us to the restaurant, AND wait with our bags for a very very reasonable fair, and off we went to the�cant-remember-the-name hotel. The restaurant was completely empty, but it did have a pretty good view of the canal. 
The food was also surprisingly really good, and we were starved for a good meal. So, another point to Zenith for kind of pushing us to do something we would not have otherwise considered.
About an hour and a half later we got downstairs to find that our cabbie had not absconded with our luggage, and got back to the bus station to find that a bus was leaving for Cairo within minutes. We quickly bought our tickets, hopped on the bus and settled in. I think Rush Hour 2 was playing on the bus, but E. and I dozed off, though Zenith seemed kind of into the movie. At one point I remember waking up and finding Zenith engaged in a pidgin conversation with the two young Egyptian men sitting across the aisle from him. For those of you who haven�t seen him in a while, Zenith now sports a full beard. Throughout our trip people assumed he was a Muslim or Muslim convert as a result. More than once (actually, more than 5 times) he got the comment, �oh you lucky man, you have two wives.� Hahaha. So it seems these two young Egyptians had also assumed that Zenith was a Muslim and wanted to know if he was Bosnian, or somesuch. In any case, the conversation didn�t last very long,.
Two and a half hours later we arrived in the crowded Ramses Square, found a cab, and made our weary way home. My parents, who hadn�t met the Zeniths yet greeted us at the door. Our muscles were started to absorb the pain of our grueling climb earlier in the day, and though we arrived home at 9-ish, we were just totally ready to pass out. We made some tentative plans for the next morning, and then all went off to clean up, and get to bed.
For me, the trip was an excellent experience, and something I know I would have never done on my own, or with my Egyptian friends, so for that I am very thankful to Zenith and E.
The crowning note to the trip though was arriving home to find that my packaged of Easter candy and other goodies from Mr, Inkwell had arrived earlier in the day. A box full of candies, the new Flogging Molly CD, and the most involved romance novel ever with a lovely dedication from Mr. Inkwell�s lady which went something like �Romance, adventure, and pirates�you can�t go wrong with that�, were just the perfect way to end the day. 
Thanks Judas!
So thanks for a memorable time everyone. I�m sure I�ll remember funny details of the trip later on, and I�ll be sure to put those up, and Zenith and E. did a week of touring Cairo when we came back, so maybe I�ll share some stories from that, even though I wasn�t with them for most of it.
Meanwhile, I�m planning for a big trip in the fall to a place that I�ve been dreaming of seeing for over a decade now. I don�t want to talk about it too much, lest I �jinx� it, but keep your fingers crossed for me that everything works out.