"Egypt 2001" by lillithhanna

Two monuments sit in the Sinai Desert. Nearing the end of my first trip to Egypt, I knew my life had changed forever.

Needed some air conditioning but just rolled up my sleeves instead and wrote this to my daughter back at home:

"and I am preparing to do an 8 hr train ride to Azwan... then a cruise on the Nile River back up the river to a place called Luxor... from there then I may go to another place called Hergada.

and the Mount Sinai where Moses received the ten commandments. These are the plans. So please do not worry because when I am on the cruise I do not think I will have access to the internet... So I will not be writing to you for some days okay... I take the Cruise Monday morning..

So if there are news.. any important news you must tell me before Monday... I love you alot... So please take care.. and I'll see you all in 4 weeks!!!!

Premarital sex is illegal in Egypt. On the three day cruise on the Nile River, my Egyptian host got a cabin and I had my own, where I sat around drinking beautiful, Egyptian, red wine. Yes the wine was beautiful. We'd visit each other's cabins but the door always had to stay wide open for crew to be sure we were not 'messing around'. The Nile Cruise was so relaxing. I also had dinner on another cruise ship. It was cool walking through the lobbys of all the ships that were docked alongside each other until we found the cruise ship that his friend managed.

We never made to Hurgada but I did swim in the Red Sea. I stayed in the shallow bay while he swam deep into where the coral and the colorful fish live. Later the artist who was hosting me in Egypt created this 3-D piece of fish and coral of The Red Sea Fish. He creates beautiful art.

Because women for the most part cover up, the eyes have it in Egypt. Not all women cover up for example, most Christian women do not cover their hair like the Muslim women are required to. The Egyptian men and women have beautiful eyes. Jobs in Kuwait saddens me because despite the intelligence of the Egyptians, Egypt does not have much to offer to the locals in terms of good-paying jobs. Their money (the pound) is worth 1/7 of the American dollar. I am sure they are wealthy in other ways. So going to Kuwait is an alternative for many of the young Egyptian professionals.