Suicide bombing in Eilat this morning

First suicide bombing in Israel in 9 months.

Ha'aretz. Jerusalem Post.

Hamas supports attack, Fatah condemns

Two Chuckles

1.) I already posted this on my facebook, but this is the funniest thing I have seen in recent memory and I feel compelled to share it with as many people as possible.



2.) "Maybe I should go to law school." -Marty the Zebra, Madagascar. (Ahh. Reminds me of college.)

WBA in Israel: Abu Simbel

Eunice and I arrived in Aswan, Egypt's southernmost city, on Dec. 31st, but didn't sample the reputedly raging club scene (according to our young Nubian friend) because we were set on travelling to Abu Simbel the next day. The village of Abu Simbel is only 40 km from the Sudanese border, so foreign tourists are only allowed to travel to the site in a police-escorted convoy. The time of departure of said convoy was 03:30, so we tucked in early and slept our way into the new year.

The 280km journey from Aswan took about 3 hours, I think. We headed south in a train of about 50 tour buses and vans, with barren desert lining both sides of the single-lane highway. Unfortunately, the co-driver of our van had the inexplicable compulsion to roll down his window and fill the small van with a fresh dose of frigid air ever 10-15 minutes, lowering the temperature by at least 20 degrees F. Unable to speak Arabic, and unwilling to shout and gesture over the heads of our sleeping (how they managed to sleep in this icebox, I do not understand) travel companions, Eunice and I just sucked it up.

On a rather unrelated note, Eunice and I felt that Egypt had a high number of (unconfirmed, but highly suspect) Asian fetishers, both with an Asian female companion and actively searching for an Asian female companion. But that is the not a subject appropriate for a public blog, as it involves the explanation of our controversial and potentially offensive method of distinguishing an Asian fetisher from a non-fetisher white (or other) male.

Back to Abu Simbel. The tourist droves-attracting sights of Abu Simbel are the temples of Ramses II and Hathor, which sit on the banks of Lake Nasser.

The Temple of Ramses II-- dedicated to the gods of Ra-Horakhty, Amun and Ptah, as well as Ramses himself.

The sheer magnitude of the temple is amazing.

Damn big.

The carvings and wall paintings inside are gorgeous, but like all other temples and tombs in Egypt, pictures are prohibited.

The Temple of Hathor, dedicated to Ramses's wife, Queen Nefertari.

It's essentially just a smaller version of Ramses's temple.

Posing as one of Ramses's and Nefertari's prince and princess children carved below the larger figures.

View of both temples.

Lake Nasser.

WBA in Egypt: Aswan Part I

View of the Nile from our East Bank hotel.

Boarding the felucca.

Our felucca-driver: Mohammad.

Oops, Eunice says his name was Abdul.

This was one of many romantic moments in Egypt.
A little lost on two straight girls, but whatever.

WBA in Egypt: Cairo Part II

Dual baptism at a Greek Orthodox church in Coptic Cairo.

Greek Orthodox cemetary in Coptic Cairo.
Given my lifetime of exposure to Western-based Christianity, it was strange to see Christian symbols inscribed with Arabic.

Padlocked graves.

Burglary?

Fiteer at the Egyptian Pancake House.

The dining party.

Al-Azhar Mosque in Islamic Cairo-- founded in 970AD.

There's a university affiliated with it that claims to be the world's oldest existing educational institution (est. in AD 988).

We happened to be in Egypt during Eid al-Adha-- Feast of the Sacrifice-- which commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael. During Eid, cows and rams are slaughtered to reenact Ibrahim's sacrifice.

Here are some remains in a random wall crevice on the street.

Men only.

Khan al-Khalili.
Expansive, chaotic street bazaar.

More evidence of the celebration of Eid.

The owner of the butchery flipped this massive head around to better faciliate our indiscrete gawking.

Stewing cows' hooves.

Some friends we made...

The story that accompanies this picture begins with us buying saffron from this kid's spice cart, ends with him accompanying us home in a taxi, and includes a dinner of kushari, the watching of a football game in a cafe, the dodging of many difficult to discern puddles of sheep's blood in the pockmarked streets, and a trip to his home in the slums of Cairo where an old woman screamed at us in Arabic.

WBA in Egypt: Cairo Part I

Paris Hotel:

Downtown Cairo hostel on Talaat Harb.

Giza.

Sphinx.

Hello mummy.

Zoser's Step Pyramid in Sakkara.


Pyramid watchpuppies.

Inside a pair of peepholes.

Giza in the distance.


Tomb in Sakkara right next to the tomb of King Titi,
which was one of my favorite tombs in Cairo.

Stone blueprint of the tomb.


Illegal picture coming out of a tomb.


Gigantic Ramses II in Memphis.

Memphis-Cairo road.

Fruit market in downtown Cairo.

A sheep pre-Eid el-Adha.

Fresh dates.

Life in Cairo.