Show Me the Money

Over the past few weeks I have decided that one currency for the entire world would be a good thing. In the past week I have gone from Libyan dinars to US dollars to Egyptian Pounds and back to dinars. This week I am going from dinars to British Pounds. Everyone of these transactions is costing me a transaction fee and who knows what else. When I flew to Egypt I had to show my transaction fee paperwork to the airport security guys, so that they can catch anyone that might be laundering money. When I went to the bank to get US dollars converted from dinars I was behind a guy in line that had bricks and bricks of money (dinars) that he was converting. I do not know what business that guy is in, and maybe I don't want to know what business he is in (if you know what I mean).
And why can't money all be the same size like good old US currency. Some of the 20 dinar bills that I have in my wallet are so wide they stick out the top of my wallet. The paper that some of this stuff is printed on is so flimsy that it tears very easily. So whatever paper mill the US uses is the stuff to have.
So I have decided that with all of the billions and billions of dollars that are being printed at our mints in the US these days, we might as well work out a deal with the rest of the world and go with US dollars everywhere. Then we don't have to convert 1 British Pound into $1.44 or 5.60 Egyptian Pounds into $1. I have a headache trying to keep track of how much I am spending. Thank goodness for a currency converter on my iPhone.

Cairo - Chapter One

I have so much to say about my mini-vacation to Cairo that I thought I would break it into multiple blog chapters. So don’t miss out on any of the info.

Traveling to Cairo was very easy on Monday. One of the guys from the hotel project was going to Cairo to visit some of his family. So he took me to the airport and helped me thru customs. It was nice to have my own translator as my left-hand man. The flight to Cairo was smooth and on schedule. The Cairo airport is very nice and modern. The hotel had a driver waiting for me and he happened to be standing right at the end of the passport line that I was standing in. What are the chances of that?? The driver could speak very good English and he gave me a tour of Cairo on the way to the airport. It was about an hour ride so we went by the President’s residence and took a bridge over the Nile. Interesting view from the bridge, there is an island in the middle of the Nile and a Christian church and a mosque sit side by side on the island.

I picked the Le Meridien Hotel because of its proximity to the Pyramids. The staff were very friendly and helpful. My room reminded me of the Sheraton in Abu Dhabi. The bathroom is a huge shower. The shower has one of those Kohler rainfall shower heads. I might have to remodel our bathroom at home to get one of those. It was great. The walls and floors are all marble.

I had dinner sitting on the pool deck and watched the sun go down and watched the Pyramids fade away in the dusk light.

Cairo - Chapter Two

My Pyramid tour started early on Tuesday morning. When I emailed the folks at the Le Meridien I told them that I would like to go on a tour, they said “no problem”. That is a favorite expression in Libya and Egypt. Usually when I hear it, I am a little leary, because it usually means there is going to be a “big problem”. To my surprise it was a great tour. I thought it was going to be me and a group of tourists on the tour. When my tour guide arrived at 9:00 a.m. I asked her how many people are going to be in the group. She said “you are the only one”. I was shocked, I had a private tour guide for a six hour tour of the Pyramids, the Sphinx, a visit to Memphis and to Saqqara. So I had a driver and the tour guide and me in a brand new Jaguar Xtype car. I am really spoiled on this mini-vacation. The tour guide was very knowledgeable about all of the sights and knew where to take good pictures. I hope you enjoy some of the images that I have uploaded.

You will notice a photo that I had to take near the Sphinx. It shows that capitalism is alive and well in Cairo. Pizza Hut and KFC have a restaurant located at one of the gates when you leave the Sphinx area.

At Saqqara I saw a movie about Imhotep, the genius architect that came up with the design of the stepped pyramid at Saqqara. This was around 2000 B.C. about 1000 years before the Great Pyramids were built in Giza near the Le Meridien Hotel.

During the various dynasties of Egypt, Memphis was the capitol. It is located on the West bank of the Nile. The Nile Valley is a very green lush area especially this time of year. So the contrast of the desert plateau where the Pyramids are located and the green lush Nile Valley was very interesting. 

Cairo - Chapter Three

Now that I have seen the Pyramids and actually have gone inside a few of them, I cannot figure out how they accomplished such a feat. I know they talk about ramps and log rollers, but the size of these stones is nothing to sneeze at. One of the pyramids had a black stone crypt placed inside the internal gallery. The local guide said that the black stone was one solid piece of black granite that weighed 6 tons. So just the idea of getting that big stone block into the pyramid was probably a marvel in project planning. These designers and planners could teach us a lot about project management. One of the things that my tour guide informed me was that the workers on the pyramids took place during the flooding times of the Nile River. The flooding usually takes place during Summer and early Fall. The water level helped them get some of the workers and the materials to the site. That is one of the reasons that the Great Pyramid in Giza took 20 years to build.

Cairo - Chapter Four

The Le Meridien Pyramids has a pretty good wifi, the trouble is, it is only available from a few places in the hotel.  One wifi location is the lobby and the other is the business center. If you use the business center it costs $5 for a half hour. So I opted to sit in the lobby and chat online.  I am using my headphones/microphone to chat with Carol, so if you did not know better, you might think that I was taking an online traffic controller course. The strange thing that happens every time I set up my system in the lobby is that I am invaded by tour groups. Not just any tour group, but Japanese tour groups. Each day I setup my system and before I know it, 12 to 20 Japanese tourists gather around me to wait for instructions to register at the hotel. It is like my Macbook has a magnet in it.  They are very polite and don’t make any noise while I am online, but it is strange that two days in a row I would have this sort of thing happen.

A little bit about the hotel room itself. Very nicely appointed room, lots of dark wood trim and the Le Meridien has “heavenly beds” like the Westin chain. I did not have any problems sleeping on these beds. The bathroom was huge and the shower was fabulous. It had a Kohler rain shower heads in the ceiling. I think I might have to get one of those if I ever get around to remodeling our Indy bathroom. 

Cairo - Chapter Five

Last day in Cairo and it was full of interesting stuff. I had a chance to check emails before my driver came to the hotel. He was suppose to arrive at 12:30 but he got there about 11 and said he was suppose to take me to see the Papyrus Museum on Tuesday. There is no charge for the museum so we could make the trip on the way to the airport. So I had an interesting one on one session with a guy that showed me the process of how the ancient Egyptian made paper out of the papyrus reeds. Pretty cool process. These Egyptians were pretty smart cookies back in the day. So then the sales pitch started and they would not let me leave the museum without purchasing a design. OK, I gave in. The the real drama started on the way to the airport. My driver gets a call on his cellphone and then he starts to cry. He says his father is being taken to the hospital and that he will have to go there after he drops me off at the airport. I asked “has he been sick”, evidently something out of the blue happened. He says his Dad will need money up front for the hospital to take care of him. I asked if he had insurance and he said “no insurance”. The driver named Mario, says that he will call his Mom who lives in Canada and see if she will wire him some money. She supposedly hung up on him. Mario in the mean time is wiping tears from his eyes with a Kleenex box in the front seat. I had cashed most of my Egyptian money back into US dollars at the hotel to get ready for my trip to London. So I did not have many Egyptian pounds left. He dropped me off at the terminal and said “Oh by the way, I need 75 pounds to pay for the toll gate to get out of the airport.” I said, “the guy that picked me up on Monday did not ask for money to get out of the toll”.  So I gave him 50 pounds and said “you will have to get the rest some place else”. Got my stuff and went into the terminal. Turns out he dropped me off at the wrong terminal. So at least there was a free shuttle bus to get me to the right place.

Now the best part of this story is the International Terminal is now my favorite place in Cairo. Not only did it have a Starbucks but right next to it was a McDonalds. Yes it was Big Mac time for Tony. After I ordered a No. One, I started wondering, do you suppose the burger will taste strange like the burgers in Benghazi……let me tell you it was two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickle on a sesame seed bun just like in Fishers. What a way to finish my experience in Cairo.

Packing up

Just thought I would post a new blog before I head off to Cairo for a mini-vacation. Some of you probably thought my time so far sitting on the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea has been one big long vacation.....wrong. I will be in Cairo for four days. This is Eid al Afar...Festival of Sacrifice. So the job site is going to be shutdown for four days. Most of the businesses will be closed for the week too. So I am off to Cairo to check out the sights. I got lucky enough to get a hotel within walking distance of the Great Pyramids. I plan to take lots of pictures to share with you later in the week.
I am not sure what sort of internet connection I will have at the hotel, so bear with me for the next blog posting.
On another note.....two interesting sights this morning. First I noticed that my neighbor across the street was out cleaning the red dust off his front porch. He is from Ghana. There must be a strange fashion sense in Ghana, because he had on flip flops, white/grey/red plaid shorts and a bright yellow and blue wide striped shirt. Either he was wanting to make a fashion statement or all of his other clothes are in the wash. I will try to take notice in the future and see if he is trying to set a new trend for Libya.
The other interesting sight this morning was a worm snake hiding under my desk. At first I thought it was a little worm (since we have had all this rain lately), but when I put my foot near it, the little guy slithered across the room like a side-winder snake would. Very interesting creature. I quickly jumped on the internet to see if worm snakes are poisonous or not.......whew....they are not.
I will keep you posted if I see any scorpions on the job site. Until the next time, I will blog from Cairo.