time to lube up... the shifter

gearing up for the road trip

So since I've gotten back to Cleveland I've been meeting up with friends, doing the occasional travel planning, and prepping the car for the road trip. There's been a few nagging things that needed to be fixed, plus just the routine check of things to make sure that everything is in order.

Right now my car is at 180,950 miles, so I went through the checklist of maintenance that should be done at 180,000 miles (which basically includes everything on the list. We'll get to those later.

Maintenance schedule from the 1993 Honda Accord Service Manual:

• Idle speed - fine
• Valve clearance - checked last summer, and should still be fine. Engine seems fine, so it should be OK.
• Alternator drive belt - replaced 5/12
• Timing belt - replaced 5/12 - probably could have waited till after the trip based on when it was last changed. Doh!
• Water pump - replaced 5/12
• Engine oil and filter - replaced 5/12, replacing again 5/15 (yes... 3,000 miles already)
• Transmission fluid - replaced today
• Engine coolant - fine, replaced last summer, to be replaced in Seattle
• Cooling system hoses - fine
• Air filter - cleaned yesterday
• Fuel filter - good for another 30,000 miles
• Spark plugs - good for another 15,000 miles
• Fuel hoses - fine
• Distributor cap and rotor - checked 20,000 miles ago, not due to be checked for another 40,000 miles
• Ignition wires - replaced 20,000 miles ago, not due to be checked for another 40,000 miles
• PCV valve - fine, and the gas mileage confirms
• Brake hoses - aging, but fine
• Brake fluid - replaced 5,000 miles ago, not due to be replaced for another 25,000 miles
• Front brakes - fine, but front right could use a new caliper bracket due to a loose grommet and the resulting corrosion around the bolts. Bolts and brakes still operable, but I want to keep it that way. Part is ordered. Will be replaced tomorrow.
• Rear brakes - fine. Calipers replaced 25,000 miles ago.
• Parking brake - fine. but could use a slight adjustment if I get around to taking the console apart.
• Exhaust - fine
• Suspension bolts - Fine, except for the front right upper ball joint, which was beginning to crack. It could last another year, but I replaced it today anyway.
• Front alignment - based on tire wear, fine
• Tie rod ends and boots - supple and fine. Front right tie rod regreased (front left doesn't need periodic regreasing)
• ABS - Front left sensor replaced 5/31
• Catalytic converter heat shield - fine

Additional items checked:

• Fluids are all fine
• Front right driveshaft was slowly leaking grease. Replaced today.
• Crappy Bosch oxygen sensor that intermittently fails (especially on I-10 in west Texas) has been replaced with a Honda oxygen sensor.
  
• Windshield needs to be replaced. Claim filed.
• Shifter is sticky sometimes - will grease if I get around to taking the console apart (along with adjusting the parking brake)
• Cleaned carpets
• Cleaned under the hood
• Extra lights and fuses are in the glove compartment
• Extra ICU in the glove compartment
• Plenty of refridgerant in the trunk
• Power steering fluid is at a borderline level - Honda OK fluid in the trunk
• Will readjust suspension bolts tomorrow
• Front right headlight was cracked and has been replaced (no more using a piece of gum as a makeshift repair)
• Headlights have been adjusted
• All lights are operational
• Got a sunshade since it'll be hot in Baltimore, DC, St. Louis, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Death Valley, etc.

To dos:

• Wash and wax!
• Replace windshield
• Make a ghetto dash cover from jeans, fleece, or something dark and textured/dull
• Change oil 5/15
• Rotate tires 5/15
• Clean the rest of the interior
• Grease shifter
• Adjust parking brake

new upper control arm, old driveshaft

the things I need to do to replace the cracked headlight...

what the hell is going on?

old oxygen sensor, new oxygen sensor

The Bosch one was prone to intermittent failures, especially while
cruising at 90mph in west Texas. Replacing it with a genuine Honda
part that has the right wire length. Bosch "OEM" parts are waaaaay
overrated.

new antilock brake sensor in!

vertical rainbow

disconnected

It's that time when I have to unplug the cable modem. No more internet here. )-:

It's ok though. At this time tomorrow, I won't have a bed here either.

goodbye

My desktop says goodbye. I'll be packing it in a few minutes. ETA: mid-July.

On the upside - me traveling means more regular blog updates!

allegedly i'm graduating

packing

Interesting challenge these days. I need to pack for a sequence of trips.

• A week in Cleveland (drive)
  
• A wedding (drive)
  
• A week in Seattle (fly)
  
• A month of driving across the country, visiting cities, ball parks, national parks, and a ton of driving.

End result? I know what I'll be wearing to JT's wedding already. I also seem to have gotten everything to fit in my bag. It's a bit big, but I can swap some things around if for some reason I feel like I need more than one pair of shoes for Seattle (doubtful).

Yeah... boring post. Better than nothing, right?

Tony Blair has arrived

There are cops EVERYWHERE... on this block, at least.

link of the day

Photo coverage of the earthquake in China

real fake friends

This may be a touchy subject, but what the hell. It's 1:50am and I have a 8:15 class tomorrow (my last class here in business school!). But anyway... I was thinking about something that happened today that I'm a bit irked about.

Now how can I do this without being anything remotely specific but still get the point across...

OK... so maybe I should start by saying what I mean by a fake friend. A fake friend is (in this case at least) someone who asks to be your friend on facebook, but they aren't really your friend. In fact, not even someone you would consider an acquaintance. I may know who you are, but I have no real expectation of talking to you, hanging out with you, or doing anything with you. BUT, for the sake of social "norms" and to avoid offending people who actually do consider me a friend/acquaintance, I accept.

So what's a real fake friend? I'm a believer (not to be confused with evangelist) of the theory that if you act in accordance to certain expectations, it'll become a reality. At work it would be how filling in bigger roles can lead to a promotion. In this case it would be if you act as if you're good friends with someone, it can actually facilitate the "friend-making" process. A real fake friend is someone who hasn't really made it to the friend level yet, but has this mentality. So when duty calls, they fill the role accordingly.

Tonight I had my first interaction EVER with one of these fake friends. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. Rather than casual friendliness to be expected of people (ANYONE... not just friends or fake friends), what I got was a bit of hostility and belligerence. Fake friend in this case seemed more like an aspirational enemy. What the hell?

Periodically I go through and purge my fake friends. Tonight I made a special occasion to delete this false link. No hard feelings, fake buddy. I'm just following the social norm called reciprocity.

Also, I'm not sure how well connected this person is, but it's generally not a good idea to randomly create conflict with people. Now, I'm not going to go around slandering your name in public because of this. I'm not really into that. But, don't expect me to forget this if you decide to ask me for favors down the road either.

Perhaps if I feel nice in the morning I'll forward this post to the person I'm talking about.

car update

The a/c isn't getting fixed. Why? I'll be in Seattle where my car can live virtually forever and last time I checked it doesn't get too hot up there.

But, right now my timing belt and water pump is getting replaced (every 90k miles... $770 + tax) and I just ordered a few more parts that need to be replaced. A headlamp (it's got a huge bulls-eye crack and another crack in it... $125-ish) and also another anti-lock brake sensor ($125-ish).

I like to brag about how maintenance is like a car payment, but this month's car payment really sucks! Next month I get to have my windshield replaced. Hopefully it'll be covered by insurance.

great weekend... till now?

Karaoke
Brunch in Jamaica Plain
Samuel Adams Brewery tour
Bowling
Awesome Red Sox game at Fenway
Helped SOM/FES win the IM Ultimate Frisbee Championship
Ice Cream Social

Now I need to write a paper or two. Damn.

fenway

Saturday, June 14th
Orioles Game
Sleep at Darin and TC's

Sunday, June 15th
Leave at 8am
Drive to Pittsburgh
Carnegie Museums (Art and Natural History)
Drive to Cleveland

Monday, June 16th
Roughly 9 hour drive (Google)
Saint Louis

Tuesday, June 17th
Arch
Cardinals Game @ 7:15pm

Wednesday, June 18th
Touch Kansas
Drive through the Ozarks
Sleep somewhere on the way to Dallas (whatever's cheap)

Thursday, June 19th
Texas Rangers Game @ 1:00
Drive to Houston?

Friday, June 20th
Drive to Austin
Hang out in Austin

Saturday, June 21st
Hang out in Austin

Sunday, June 22nd
Drive to Abilene for lunch
Drive to Carlsbad area

Monday, June 23rd
Guadalupe Mountains NP
Guadalupe Peak Hike

Tuesday, June 24th
Carlsbad Caverns NP
White Sands NM
Drive towards Tuscon
Saguaro NP?

Wednesday, June 25th
Drive to Grand Canyon

Thursday, June 26th
Grand Canyon NP
South Rim
Drive to Kanab

Friday, June 27th
Zion NP
That trail that JT talked about that we missed last time
Drive to Las Vegas (or past it, if possible Indian Springs,NV?)

Saturday, June 28th
Leave damn early
Drive through Death Valley NP
Drive to Sequoia NP (Visalia, CA?)

Sunday, June 29th
Sequoia NP/King's Canyon NP

Monday, June 30th
Sequoia NP/King's Canyon NP
Drive through Yosemite NP
Lee Vining, CA (possible to stay here???)

Tuesday, July 1st
Drive to Moab, UT

Wednesday, July 2nd
Arches NP
Drive to Boulder

Thursday, July 3rd
Rocky Mountain NP

Friday, July 4th

Saturday, July 5th
Drive to Devils Tower
Devils Tower
Drive to Rapid City

Sunday, July 6th
Mount Rushmore
Drive to Theodore Roosevelt NP
Theodore Roosevelt NP
Drive to Billings, or farther?

Monday, July 7th
Yellowstone NP

Tuesday, July 8th
Grand Teton NP

Wednesday, July 9th
Drive towards Seattle

Thursday, July 10th
Seattle!!!

chillin

Yep. That's me chillin' on the New Haven green like a bum. Three hours
ago I was writing a paper, last two hours I've been enjoying some
fantastic live music. Temple Grill for dinner + drinks in half an
hour. Good times.

spring fling

indian lake

indian lake

dawn at indian lake

indian lake

five nights

Wednesday: 7pm through 12am @ Beer tasting and Hot Tomato's
Thursday: 6pm through 3am @ LDP, Black Bear, and Club Med
Friday through Sunday: Bachelor party.

Seems like spring is here.

beer tasting

the merrier month of may

...add on a Red Sox home game at Fenway.

After that, Yankees Stadium, Shea, and Fenway will have been experienced. Might also hit up games with the Orioles, Nationals, Astros, Pirates, Cardinals, Rangers, and Rockies while driving across the country. Why not? Evenings are usually downtime anyway.

the merry month of may

List of activities, in no particular order:
Visit the Sam Adams Brewery in Boston
Watch the Daily Show - in person
Indians game in Cleveland
Visit the Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland
Visit Maia in Orlando
Class trip to the Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL
Wine tasting with the Marketing professors
JT and Alissa's birthday and end of year celebration at Hula Hanks
Graduation
One last final exam, one last project, and one last paper.

som students love free food... and schiller

mission accomplished

I was sitting here on my computer listening to some music and playing this game that a friend of mine recommended on his blog. That, combined with the "heat" of a nice spring day in New Haven was apparently too much for my computer to bear. It overheated and shut itself down to keep itself from self-destructing (literally).

Sigh... That was the final straw that got me to do what I should have done a while ago - clean out my computer. 45 minutes later, the HSF can now support airflow. Instead of running at 60C+, it's now running at 50C, which is 10C less than it was earlier today (with the case off for that matter), and a full 6-8C less than what it generally ran over the past winter. It also booted up much much faster, perhaps because it wasn't throttling itself to keep itself from the brink of death as it's probably been doing for the past two years. Maybe I don't need a new computer after all! Just a bigger hard drive and more RAM...

before

after

seder

student loans

I remember the day when I was debt free. It was great while it lasted.

So due to the crap going on in the market recently the sweet deal that we get through our lender has disappeared. No more 0.5% rate reduction for paying on time (or whatever it was that we were getting). Either way, I now have to pay the full so-so 6.8% on my Staffords and the even more so-so 8.5% on my GradPLUS. I'll milk the former for what it's worth (although it's nowhere as nice as the 1-2% rate I had undergrad) and pay off the latter as quickly as possible.

One thing I will do though is pay off my accrued interest before it gets capitalized. (Reminder to self - pay $5,000 since that's what I can afford and still have money to travel and buy furniture before I start getting paid) One thing they still do that's nice is that additional interest doesn't get capitalized (so the interest is interest free, if that makes any sense at all). In normal speak, if you don't pay it before a certain date, it would be like getting an additional loan your interest.

Oh... and for '09ers and '10ers, you get stuck with paying origination fees - another few grand to the cost of education. Blame the bankers.

more credit cards

I think Malcolm Gladwell would classify me as a Maven when it comes to this. But here's the plan to be even more of a cheap-ass:

Primary card: Chase Freedom Rewards Visa
3% reward on top 3 categories from grocery, gas and convenience, fast food/quick service restaurants, utilities, drug stores, department stores, pets, phone, cable/satellite/internet, local commuting, gym, movie theatres, movie rentals, dry cleaners, salon/spa. 1% reward on everything else. I'll be using this more for grocery, gas, and a mystery third category. It also features automatic payment (so I don't have to worry about it) and a bonus $50 reward if I wait till I get $200 in rewards (virtually unattainable since rewards expire after 3 years).

Secondary card: Discover Miles Card
2% on travel and restaurants - the two things I probably spend a ton on see how I book random trips to DC just to hang out for a day and see a concert. 1% on everything else. And if you're wondering why I'm not speaking in terms of miles, its because 1 mile = 1 cent, and they reimburse your travel expenses based on dollar amount, or you can just get cash (which means it's just a regular rewards card).

Tertiary card: Chase Freedom Rewards Mastercard
This is the same card as the primary card, but I got two just to exploit it a bit more. I'll be using this one for automated bill payments for three categories of utilities, phone, and cable/internet/satellite. That should have a monthly balance of about $200, which saves me about $4 a month. I will then blow that money by flying out to DC to see a concert.

Convenience card: Citi Dividend Mastercard
1% reward, 2% on a number of categories that are redundant with Chase (I think it's grocery, gas, convenience, drug store, utilities). Still an awesome card, but no longer needed given the others. It's the "convenience" card because I have the card number memorized and it has the PayPass key fob that is accepted virtually nowhere. Silly Americans and their unjustified fear of contactless payment...

Travel card: First Internet Bank Visa
No reward, but it's the rare card that only charges a 1% fee on international transactions. If you like being raped with the 3% charge most other banks charge, that's all you. Their ATM is even better. That also charges only the 1%, which they then REIMBURSE up to $6. In Egypt I think we got away with just a dollar of fees. Good times.

Retired card: AMEX Blue
It's a trick. Unless you spend well over $1,000 a month on your card, it makes no sense to use it. Greg, I'm talking to YOU.

the best of times, the worst of times

The worst day this week - Monday:
8:30 - Wake up
9:30 -10:30 - Start preparing for 10:30 Negotiations meeting
10:30 -11:30 - Negotiations meeting
11:30 - 1:00 - Student Government meeting
1:00 - 2:20 - Class - Behavioral Perspectives on Management
2:40 - 4:00 - Class - Consumer Behavior
4:10 - 7:10 - Class - Negotiations
7:30 - 2:00 - Yearbook
and an 8:15 class the following morning!

Best day this week - Thursday:
7:45 - Wake up
8:15 - 9:35 - Class - Product Planning and Development
10:00 - 11:00 - Gym
11:00 - 1:30 - Football, frisbee, then more football in the courtyard, bid on items in the Internship Fund Auction
1:30 - 2:20 - Free good Indian food in the Hall of Mirrors
2:40 - 6:00 - Class - Strategic Leadership Across Sectors with CEOs from Blackstone, MBIA, and Webster Bank, plus others from Charlesbank, Credit Suisse, and ex-SEC chairman/SOM Dean Donaldson
6:00 - Haircut and change of clothes for the Internship Fund Auction
7:00 - Hang out with the guys in our apartment building's courtyard
7:30 - Show up at the auction
2:00 - Go home
and I needed to be at SOM at 9am today!

And now, I'm off to the FOURTH Study Group Celebratory dinner, a late celebration for Mamoun's offer at American Express!

observations

Being able to get home by 7pm is awesome.
Being able to do nothing for several minutes without jeopardizing your ability to meet a deadline is awesome.
Buying four sets of plane tickets in the same month makes for a pretty nasty credit card bill.

am i really moving to seattle?

Yes, although I'll be pulling many disappearing acts right after getting there. This will probably have some pretty negative implications for my social life there, but at least I already know people!

Mid-July: Arrive in Seattle
Jul 21: Start work
Jul 26-27: Go home to Cleveland
Aug 2-6: Brother comes to town
Aug 8-10: Wedding (not mine!)
Aug 16-17: DC
Sep 19-21: High school reunion
Oct 10-12: Yale, NYC

And in case you're wondering about the road trip, here's the tentative plan for everything before I get to Seattle:
Drive to Cleveland
Drive back to New Haven
Fly to Orlando
Drive to Hollywood, FL
Drive back to Orlando
Fly back to CT
Drive to Cleveland
Drive to Baltimore
Drive to DC
Fly to Seattle
Fly back to DC
Drive to Cleveland
to St. Louis
to Dallas
to Houston
to Austin
to Abilene? (because Paige told me there's food there)
to the Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns
to White Sands NM
to Saguaro NP
to Joshua Tree NP?
to Los Angeles
to Seqouia NP/Kings Canyon NP
to Death Valley NP
to Las Vegas
to Grand Canyon NP
to Zion NP
to Bryce Canyon NP?
to Arches NP
to Rocky Mountain NP?
to Badlands NP
to Theodore Roosevelt NP (because it happens to be a state I haven't been to)
to Devils Tower NM
to Yellowstone NP
to Grand Teton NP
to Craters of the Moon NM?
to Seattle

Clearly, I am taking the most direct route possible.

shea

union station

the yale shuttle

Np, we aren't drunk at all.

latin party

to do

I wrote this up today in class. It kinda sucks. Starred items are
urgent. Ugh.

where is everyone?

It's 11:25 and we're supposed to have a 11:30 meeting? Oooh... Food
just arrived.

plastic bottles

Greg, I know you love your Nalgene bottle, but they're too heavy and a bit unwieldy. Instead, I use a cheapass used 20oz. soda bottle. Cheap, light, and very very replaceable.

However, I was just told about the potential dangers of using these bottles. I've been known to use a single one for a month at a time (before losing it), so I decided to check it out. Besides, what's better than procrastinating when I'm just putting off sleep?

So what did I find? Basically everything kills you or makes you sick. All materials can potentially do bad stuff to you. Soda bottles leach metals into your drink. Nalgene bottles can have effects on your endocrine system. Aluminum causes Alzheimer's. Glass can lead to swallowing shards of glass. Everything hosts bacteria. Great.

I think I'll still use soda bottles. As I said before, cheap, light, replaceable. Also, contains less of that harmful metal than ripe fruit, wine, and a ton of other stuff that can kill us if we are exposed to excessive amounts of it. As for bacteria? That's what my immune system is for.

friends map

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, my best friends are in the middle of nowhere. Why? Because they've managed to meet friends from other circles.

learning?

Just froze up again. Thankfully, I saved this time. But it still took 5-10 minutes to fully reboot. Damnit.

damnit

Computer just froze and I spent the last half hour redoing changes to a spreadsheet and a Photoshop file. Damnit. I should save more often, and perhaps be a little bit more careful before closing an auto-recover file.

im racist?

I'm taking procrastination to a whole new level. The question we're looking at is what the ethnic makeup of my IM buddy list is. The sample was taken at 16:12EST and includes people from my "primary" groups on my buddy lists - that meaning the people I consider good friends. The one caveat is that there is a "family" bias. I'm not going to get into what that means.

Here are the results:
Conclusion: None. Seriously... you think all my friends are on IM?
The other conclusion: Microsoft Excel has something against Thai people?

yale, i hope this is worth the effort

creepy

I saw a photo from Halloween of me throwing a football the courtyard while wearing my Riddler costume. I now know exactly how scary looking I was.

cheap!

Total expenses for Spring Break: $1565.40

Egypt portion: $1378.82
NYC portion: $186.58

Daily Egypt cost: $98.49
Daily NYC cost: $186.58

to do

1. Take fewer than seven classes in my last half-semester of business school
2. Stop buying books that I don't have time to read
3. Shave off that ridiculous facial hair
   

bizarre air travel experiences

Cairo Airport:
Having to wait outside security to check in. We waited for about two hours before we could check in, and only after going through the unecessarily complicated process of clearing security. They asked for a paper copy of our electronic tickets. What the hell? Also, even
though all checkpoints went to the same area, we could only use one, even though there was an open one immediately next to the one I was required to use.

Bucharest Airport:
More waiting for arbitrary security measures. Waited for about ten minutes to pass a security gate for reasons unknown. Guy told all of us to wait while he waited. For what I'm still not sure. Eventually someone came and said we could to through, but not anyone else. Then, we couldn't check in for another four hours (till after about an hour before the flight) because of new check in procedures where some guy has to ask it anyone has done anything with my bags or if I packed any weapons. Not sure what this is supposed to accomplish aside from make the process longer.

JFK:
TBD. Still on the plane. (-:

day 14

Today we hit up our final destination of the trip: Alexandria. Saw the new library, and then walked along the coast to Fort Qaitbey, where we people watched for a few hours. After that, we headed back to Cairo.

Right now we're sitting in the airport waiting to check in. We're a little early, and we just blew the rest of our Egyptian Pounds on a driver to get here. In other words, no more local cash, no more cheap falafel, no more koshari. )-:

Today's expenses:
Train tickets: E£58
Food: E£11.25
Drive to airport: E£22.25

fort qaitbey in alexandria

day 13

Late blog entry for today because of our hotel's severe mosquito problem. Sucks.

We spent our last day in Cairo exploring the Northern Cemetary, aka the City of the Dead. It's an old area of Cairo where people have squatted in mausoleums. It was pretty interesting. We also came across quite a few ruins of mosques and funerary compounds. It would have been interesting to explore inside of those if it weren't for the fact that people lived all around. We also stumbled across where the cabbies work on their cars. Saw all sorts of car work being done, as well as a fair share of abandoned vehicles.

For our last day, we'll be hitting up Alexandria, then making our long journey back to New Haven via Cairo, Romania, and NYC. See y'all soon.

The day's expenses:
Beverages: E£5.50
Lunch: E£3
Dinner: E£8
Hotel: E£44

Total for the day: E£60.50 (about $11).

day 6 addendum

Day 6 was by St. Katherine by Mt. Sinai. After the hike, we
immediately went to town to see if we could get bus tickets back to Cairo. On the way there we passed by a falafel place and also some cow tied to some building that kind blocked our bee line path.

Unfortunately, the ticket office was closed, so we headed back to the hotel for breakfast. This time we knew we had to avoid the cow.

After breakfast, we headed back to town hopeful that the office would be open. We passed the falafel place for the third time that day, but the cow was no longer there. "That's odd," I thought. Then I noticed that the cow was still there, it just wasn't in the same place munching away; and it wasn't any random building - it was a butcher shop. Goodbye, cow.

theft is not a problem - passing through el minia

Convenience stand is closed, but everything is still out. Water,
twinkies, tissues and probably everything else. Just like FFT.

dawn along the nile

passing through luxor station

day 12

It's the end of another day, and I'm on another night train. Today was a good mix of sightseeing and relaxing. Woke up at 2:28am to catch a bus to Abu Simbel, which was fantastic. Because we left so early, we got back to Aswan around noon. Here, we got some falafel for lunch, bought some souvenirs, and just chilled out for a bit.

The next two days we'll be chillin' in Cairo. We've already been there for four days, so we don't have much of an agenda. Depending on the weather, candidates are the Northern Cemetary, the Pyramids again, or another area downtown.

We've also been considering hitting up the place that we affectionately call "Top Falafel" because it's been the best we've had so far. Only question is whether out stomachs will handle it. Yep. It's the place I mentioned before with the alternative health practices. But it was damn tasty!

Surprisingly, we still haven't gotten sick of eating falafel and koshari nearly every day. In fact, we'll probably miss having such good, quick, healthy and cheap options. Why don't they have these
places in the US?

Today's actuals - ouch!:
Tour: E£55
Abu Simbel: E£46.50
Lunch: E£2.50
Souvenirs: E£39.25
Beverages: E£4.75
Tipping: E£1.50
Dinner: E£6
Night train: E£110

driving back to aswan

ramses ii temple at abu simbel

the temples at abu simbel

day 11

Today was a travel day. Left Luxor this morning after eating a final great breakfast at the Happyland Hotel, the cleanest, cheapest, and overall the best place we've had so far here. Yep. Happyland is the best.

After getting into Aswan, we found our hotel, which ended up being more challenging than it should have been thanks to the Lonely Planet's grossly inaccurate map. Place here is good, but Happyland has spoiled us. After booking a tour to Abu Simbel, we got train tix back to Cairo for tomorrow night, got some postcards, and some dinner. Surprisingly, Aswan has the best postcards by far so far this trip. It also has the most outrageously priced falafel. The guy wanted E£3 ($0.60) when most places charge E£1 ($0.20). We quickly left that place and found one on the non-tourist street for E£0.50 ($0.10) each. We had four each.

Today's expenses:
Tip for breakfast: E£0.50
Train tickets: E£25
Hotel: E£51
Beverages: E£7
Dinner: E£2

Today's total: E£85.50 ($16)

Tomorrow's expected expenses:
Tour: E£55
Admission: E£20
Snack: E£1.50
Dinner: E£2
Night train: E£110

approaching aswan

Through the broken train window

the nile valley

Through the broken train window

first class? second class?

Note to self: Second class trains are better than first class.

I've never been one for first class travel. I'm here in a second class car on the train to Aswan and it's actually much nicer than first class. Cleaner, more legroom, and cheaper. Only downside is that the seat is a little narrower, but leg room clearly trumps that.

day 10

Feels like we've been here for weeks, but I guess it's only been ten days. Wow. Seems like we're almost wrapping up too.

Tomorrow we take a train to Aswan, which is the southernmost city in Egypt. There we intend to book a trip to Abu Simbel, waaaaay down south to check out the temple. Then, depending on scheduling, we may stick around and chill for another day, or head back up north, perhaps checking out Alexandria, or maybe some other pyramids. We shall see...

Forgot to take iPhone photos today. You'll have to wait. The Temple of Seti I and the Hathor Temple at Dendara that we checked out today were both awesome. Good exploring and good touring of the countryside. And yes, we spent big today. E£165 each for the driver, E£30 for the sites, E£7.25 for food, E£1.50 baksheesh (tipping), and E£40 for hotel. E£243.75 each for the day. That's almost $45. Yeesh!

day 9

Today we explored the west bank of Luxor, visiting the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, Medinat Habu, and the Collosi of Memnon. Of the sites we have seen so far, Medinat Habu has been the biggest surprise. It's not listed as a top attraction by the guidebooks and we almost didn't see it. So far it's been the best temple we've seen so far. It's largely intact and relatively peaceful, without the large crowds we saw at the temples at Luxor and Karnak. Why? It's parking lot isn't big enough for tour buses.

We also spent like crazy today. E£61 each for admission to the sites, plus E£65 each for a driver for the day. That plus E£5.50 for food and E£40 for hotel means we spent an astonishing E£131.50 today (although I made E£1 today by doing some forex transactions with the locals - bought $2 for E£10). Tomorrow will be even worse. Booked a tour to see the temples at Abydos and Dedara for E£150 a head.

It should be interesting. Those are two of the most well preserved temples in Egypt. We'll also be accompanied by an armed escort for both sites. Hopefully that doesn't cramp our style. We're not much for crowds of tourists.

P.S. I finally washed my pants. Yes. The ones that I've been wearing every day since I got here except for the Mt. Sinai hike.

hatshepsut temple

medinat habu

day 8

Got in to Luxor this morning and worked our way to the Happy Land Hotel. It was an interesting experience getting here as expected. A guy claimed to be the manager of the hotel and followed us for a quarter mile till I said the magic words to make him and the other fellow go away. What were these magic words? "Bye bye!" in an exaggerated Chinese accent.

Today we hit up the temple at Karnak as well as Luxor Temple. I'm beginning to get a bit templed out. Two more temples to go though. Probably going to the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepshut's Temple tomorrow and then the temple at Dendara the day after. After that, Abu Simbel, and then who knows?

Today's expenses:
Lunch: E£3
Sights: E£60
Dinner: E£9.5
Hotel: E£40
TOTAL: E£112.50 (about $20)

Today in photos:

karnak temple

a light snack at karnak temple

luxor temple

train

It's 8am. I've been on this train for ten hours. Almost to Luxor.

day 7

We spent another day wandering Cairo today, hitting up the sites that we missed on our first tour. It was good to be back, but at the same time we are both getting the sense that it's time to move on... and move on we will. In a few hours we'll be catching a train to Luxor (or Aswan if they don't let us off).

Right now we are back at the hotel. Just showered and enjoying the lounge and wireless. Today in pictures...

looking over cairo... see the pyramids?

two mosques next to the citadel

the salon at the pensione roma

E£88 a night for two, baby.

bussing it to sinai

day 6

So today we made like Moses and went to the summit of Mt. Sinai. It was definitely an experience, although not quite the experience that we had expected. We did the prescribed night hike to catch the sunrise, which meant getting up at 2:00 in the morning.

The way up was quick at two hours, but it was two hours of dodging camels and breathing in the aroma of fresh camel poop and urine. When we got to the top it was still completely dark, and it wasn't really crowded at all. But just because it wasn't crowded doesn't mean that it was peaceful. There was a group of people there who were loudly chanting, and periodically yelling. Surprisingly, they magically disappeared just before sunrise. It also started raining a few times, which is pretty unusual for these parts. It was certainly an interesting experience atop Mt. Sinai in the middle of the night, with people chanting, others yelling, sky raining, wind gusting, and trash swirling. Yep. That's right. They had plenty of trash cans on the trail, but I'm not sure if they are emptied frequently enough. But when the wind blows, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and whatever else turns into projectiles so you'd better be careful.

Right now we're on a bus headed back to Cairo. Tomorrow, Citadel!

day 5

Hard to believe that it's only day five. Still on the bus, and it's looking like today is going to be just a transit day. The bus is allegedly supposed to get there by 4:00pm, but the people in the know say that it'll be more like 7pm.

So far today I've seen the Suez Canal, a bunch of desert, and the Gulf of Suez. That's about where we're at right now. Looks like there are oil rigs out in the gulf spewing out fire. Not positive they are oil rigs, but that's my guess. That's all for now.

goodbye, cairo

I'm on a bus again, about to cross the Suez Canal.

Cairo has been great, but now it's time to move on to something different. Headed to St. Catherine over in Sinai, which is at the base of Mt. Sinai.

Oh... Look at that. I'm in Asia now. Just crossed the Suez Canal.

Plan for today is to find a place to stay, eat, get bus tickets back to Cairo, then set out for the peak at 2am or so to catch the sunrise. After that, Luxor!

day 4

Today was another good day. Got bus and train tickets for St. Catherine and Aswan. Funny thing is that this is the third day in a row that we walked by the bus station. We came across it the first day while wandering, came across it yesterday while lost (but we got unlost the moment we saw it), and today we were actually seeking it out. Oddly, we had no idea it was a bus station until today.

We spent the rest if the day exploring the length of Islamic Cairo. Hit up a few mosques, climbed a few minarets, and had some great street food. Got some fantastic falafel. At $0.20 a sandwich, we had two each. Sure, there may have been some cleanliness concerns, but we haven't gotten sick yet, so who cares it he used his bare hands to smush the falafel, wiped his hands on his dirty sweater, picked up the tomatoes from the bowl surrounded by flies, and then used those same hands to grab us change while he left our bills on the food prep surface? All we know is that it was damn good.

So for dinner, we may either have more falafel ($0.30 for a sandwich near our hotel) or get some koshari for once.

thirsty

hello, sphinx

Paul Ip
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Class of 2008
Yale School of Management
216.225.6859