I find that when I travel I encounter foods that I would rarely find in my hometown. I am generally more adventurous when I travel, which can lead to great discoveries, or a sore tummy. This year on my trip, I discovered fresh pita bread, the kind that melts in your mouth, the kind that boys carry on big bamboo baskets above their head as they bike through the market, it is delicious, but something that I will never find in my town.

I discovered felafel while sitting at a patio in Aqaba with “Captain” and our tour guide and busdriver. A delicious “breckie” to remember. I discovered that a dinner “of sorts” served on an Egyptian night train is NOT really food

I discovered that in Egypt, you can order viagra from a menu….

…but we weren’t brave enough for that one!

The most wonderful food that I thought I’d never eat was found on a felucca. It started out with a holler to the neighbouring fishing boats, asking for Bolti fish (which we later discovered is Talapia). The fish were bought from the side of the boat, freshly caught from the Nile.

They were cleaned by Captain Hamada over the side of the boat

cooked up in the boat kitchen (a square meter of space with a 2 burner gas stove, which I learned to light–how I got the nickname “crew”)

The fish was served up with rice and vegetables, and eaten by candlelight. The fish still had the heads on them! I’d never tried eating fish like that before. I’m not actually a fan of seafood, but this was SO deliciously fresh, cooked in front of my eyes, and eaten with friends who were quickly feeling like family.

We ate, Egyptian style, half with fingers, half with spoons, or pita bread to scoop up the food from our bowls, and enjoyed the lovely view of the Nile. This is food that is very simple, from a world with no refrigeration. All ingredients are fresh, and in season, and cooked up with Captain Hamada’s family recipes. Go see him and his brother Ali on the felucca “Flower 2″ if you are in Aswan. His food is better than the near by restaurants. Tell him Rachel from Canada sent you

I’ve joined a new blogging group for the month of December. You’ll still be hearing all about my knitting and crafts, but through the lens of my past year. It’s important as one year closes to reflect on what was accomplished, and learned, and experienced over the past 12 months.  This begins the  “BEST OF 2009 BLOG CHALLENGE”

This summer I went on the trip of a lifetime. A friend (who will be known as Captain) and I met up in England, and flew to Amman where we started our tour of Jordan and Egypt. We decided to tour the Middle East on a whim, a decision made when Swine Flu was rampant in Mexico (our planned destination), and travel plans needed to change quickly. Visiting the desert in the summer is not everyone’s idea of fun. We did need to have siestas to avoid the 45 C heat of the midday sun

Amman, seen from the citadel

We saw Amman, a busy modern city, and then saw Jerash a city with the most amazing Roman Ruins!

Jerash, Roman Ruins

Jordan is famous for Petra, the city carved from rock by the ancient Nabatean people. We spent a day exploring Petra, and I would like to go back to see more of the sights. We met friendly bedouin people who sold us trinkets and gave us tea. If you go to Petra, be sure you go on the “Petra By Night” tour, and let all the noisy tourists walk far ahead of you. The silence and stillness of the smooth walled canyon is magical.

With stars above, and ancient stones beneath lit only by candles, you forget that you are moments away from a busy world. Time stands still. You want to walk towards the end of the canyon, to see the large carved facades that are so famous, but you don’t want to really get to the end of the canyon as it is also a magical part of the experience. Captain and I took this tour, but the rest of our group decided against it. Their loss!

Also in Jordan, we floated in the Dead sea (an absolutely amazing experience!) It’s what I imagine being in a “jolly jumper” would feel like….you can’t touch the bottom, no matter how hard you try

Dead Sea Float

We also camped overnight in the Wadi Rum desert under the stars.

It was so hot in the desert that I stayed with several group members and knit in the shade of an overhang all afternoon. As the sun set, we all sat together and watched the sky and sand as the colours changed. The reds faded to purples, the stars came out, and in the distance we could hear our dinner being prepared back at the camp, cooked in an underground oven.

Eating the best food we’d had in Jordan among happy tourists, fun tour guides and a very friendly sheikh was certainly memorable. I didn’t want to sleep that night because the sky was too beautiful. Deserts are places where you can certainly feel how small you are in a big world, like a single grain of sand or a single point of light in the vastness of the universe. It is a place of beauty-a different beauty than I’ve experienced at home.

Crossing from Jordan to Egypt, we camped on the beach at the Red Sea and I experienced snorkeling for the first time. It is a mindblowing experience, just like what I imagine swimming in a fish tank would be like.

taken with a friend's underwater digital camera

We then climbed Mt. Sinai to see the sun set. Captain convinced me that climbing the “stairs” is the only way to get to the top (riding a camel, or walking the camel track would be cheating). The views from the top of the mountain were stunning, and it was finally cold enough to wear a long sleeved shirt!

Egypt in general was less friendly than Jordan, perhaps because we were in busy cities, or because Captain and I were traveling on our own. We never felt unsafe, but just generally more harassed and hassled. We explored Cairo (must sees: islamic markets-watch out for crazy mosque tours…we ended up on the roof without much warning at all!, coptic churches, museum of antiquities–mummies are worth the price of admission, but you can’t bring your camera inside the museum, they do a bag scan like at airports). We got good at bartering for water and taxi fare, and found out that the subway is clean and very reliable and that there are two train cars reserved for women!

We went to Giza to see the pyramids which were colossal, but crowded with tourist busses, and tourist police who want you to pose all over the place for photos. I went inside a pyramid-Captain was too claustrophobic to make the trip inside. If you go to the pyramids, be sure to get the taxi to drop you off at the tourist entrance, NOT with the “camel mafia” at the “alternate entrance”. They are very very pushy everywhere, wanting you to buy trinkets and overpriced drinks.

We took a train to Aswan, and a car to Abu Simbel (near Sudan). The temples there had to be moved when the Aswan High Dam was put in. It was a great UNESCO effort to relocate such amazing buildings and the hills they were carved into.

After our car trip and through a great deal of luck and chance we ended up meeting and becoming friends with Captain Hamada and his brother Ali, captain and crew of the felucca Flower 2 (look for them near the Aswan Moon restaurant on the corniche).

Their boat is bedecked in Jamaican flags (and maybe Canadian ones too if the package I sent ever arrived). We took several short trips with them, and later signed on for a 4 day adventure that brought us down the Nile to Edfu. We experienced such delights as bathing in the Nile (hanging on to a rope on the end of the boat so we didn’t get swept away with the current–we did lose a bar of soap!), making tea and cooking and cleaning (there is quite a ritual to keeping the boat tidy).

We slept on deck under the stars, we swam when it got too hot, sailed with the wind, or drifted with the current. Captain got her name because of her excellent skills as a captain…she learned VERY fast. The two downfalls of felucca travel are

1. it is slow, but at this point on our trip we needed some slow days….I had lots of time to work on my sock.
2. there are no bathroom facilities….so we got used to finding trees and plants to use as a toilet shelter (harder than you might think!)

Captain Ali, and Flower 2 at the shore near Edfu

socks I made for Captain to commemorate our wonderful trip. Photo links to blog post about the socks.

Our last few days included seeing the sights of Luxor (Luxor Temple, Karnak, and Valley of the Kings)

Karnak

It is amazing to wander in those ruins and feel the spirit there. The scale of the pillars and statues is hard to describe, and I imagine how hard it must have been to build it and carve it with limited access to tools and technology. There must have been an amazing abundance of slave labour! Be warned about food in Luxor…stay away from anything involving mayonnaise! There are some good English food shops that keep mayo in a cooler…trust them, and them alone (or suffer the consequences).

At the end of the trip I had finished one sock. I turned the heel in the Wadi Rum, and knit the leg of the sock on the Nile felucca. Talk about a good reason for second sock syndrome. I’m waiting for an equally exciting time to cast on for the second sock…don’t want it to be jealous of the first one!

I highly recommend a trip to Egypt and Jordan. Captain and I have blogged in more detail on the following site, and I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have–ask away!

feluccas on the Nile, Aswan Egypt

This summer I went on an intrepid adventure to the middle east. I visited Jordan and Egypt, saw wonders of the world, and experienced the best of middle eastern hospitality. On a particularly hot day in Aswan Egypt, CM (my travel buddy) and I negotiated a great price for a boat ride on a felucca (a sail boat historically used for ferrying goods, but now ferries tourists). We ended up having such a wonderful time with Captain Hamada and his teenage brother Ali, that we went back the next day, and then the day after that we set sail with them on a 4 day trip. We helped out on the boat with tea making, veggie chopping, dish washing, and deck wiping. We both learned how to steer the boat, but CM took to it more than I did, and earned a fake Felucca Captain License. I earned a fake Crew License. We had many adventures including swimming in the Nile on the end of a rope (it’s harder than it sounds to wash your hair while hanging on to the soap and the rope!) We saw many donkeys and water buffalo, we learned to fish, we walked through several Nubian villages, and were told that we were the colour of cheese (which is apparently a compliment).

To commemorate our journey, and to celebrate CM’s birthday, I knit her a pair of Captain Socks out of odds and ends of different sock yarns from my stash.

captain socks

Note the Jamaican flag on the boat. Hamada seemed to be a fan of Bob Marley and all things Jamaican.

felucca

The socks were knit from the cuff down. The yellow (sand) and green (plants) were knit in stripes, and the topography was augmented with duplicate stitch to make the landscape look more realistic. The felucca was done in duplicate stitch also, with french knots for Hamada, Ali, CM and me.

Nubian houses are blue

Hamada pointed out to us some Nubian houses on the shore of the Nile. He told us that Nubian houses are blue. We asked why Nubian houses are blue, expecting some cultural reason as a reply. He looked at us with a smile, and said “Nubians like blue”. I’m not sure if that is true of all Nubians, but the houses were pretty.

donkey and boat man

We saw many donkeys along the Nile during our 4 days, and although we had heard them make their funny noises, this was the first time for us to see how they actually do it. The rapid expansion and contraction of their rib cage forcing air though their throat with their mouth wide open was enough to set us giggling every time! Sometimes the beasts near the water were not donkeys, but water buffalo. The owners of these creatures would often ferry reeds from one part of the Nile to feed their buffalo. This photo shows my impression of such a boat man rowing reeds to feed his animal.

swimming in the Nile

This sock shows CM and I swimming in the Nile on the rope. Ali would often be our lifeguard, making sure we were hanging on to the rope. The Nile is a really cold fast flowing river, and we were swimming when the felucca was under sail. Hamada would occasionally yell “I’m tacking!” and he’d rapidly move the rudder to change direction and keep wind in the sails, but that would essentially leave us playing crack-the-whip, holding on for dear life on the end of the rope. We were glad that Ali was there to look out for us.

If you are ever in Aswan Egypt, ask for Hamada and Ali on the felucca “Flower 2″, and go for a ride. They are the boat with the Jamaican flag, and maybe Canadian flags too (if my mail ever got to them). Get them to cook you Bolti fish–it was the best food we had in Egypt!

My friend CM is in Belgium now; hopefully these Captain Socks will keep her warm with the memories of rash decisions and felucca adventures. Cheers Captain!