In Ismailia, making our way up the Suez Canal

We've been making our way up the Suez Canal the past few days and having a great time. The only thing nicer than this boat is the owners of this boat! Per and Elly have been taking such good care of us and showing us through the canal. The Canal is fascinating...an endless flow of giant tankers and warships going through quite narrow passages at times. Alyssa and I have taken a gazillion photos and we have plans to make massive Picasa albums of all the ships to bore you all to death. We get excited each and every time another ship goes by...or fishing boat, catamaran or sailboat for that matter. Another really cool thing about Elly and Per is that they know lots of people and have everyone over for coffee or drinks. We've met so many people we can't even keep track - but we're planning to make a list of that too.

One total bummer is that I slept through most of the way from Port Suez to Ismailia this morning...I've had a terrible cold for at least two days. We had a pilot on board for the 6 hour journey that started at 6am today and I couldn't quite handle the cigarette smoke with my cold induced headache. In case anyone misses my hyper sensitivity to fragrance and smoke - have no fear it's still in effect.

What else can I tell you? Well, one funny thing is the reaction I get for being an American in Egypt. On arrival in Hurghada, the taxi driver was appalled to learn I was from the States and spent the entire ride telling us he can feel in his heart how much he hates George Bush. He was happy to hear I lived in London and wanted to focus on that since he likes the UK. The guy who assisted us during our time at Port Suez, was a funny, friendly guy, but when I said I'm American he joked that was going to have to kill me. Later, when he noticed I had a terrible cold, he gave me grief for being near him (a man after my own heart, I loathe contagious cold sufferers too). He kindly invited us to go into town to meet his mother, then looked at me and said, "but after-" and he mimed slashing his throat from ear to ear. This, for exposing him to my cold? Nice. We were delayed a day in Port Suez, couldn't leave because they hold the boats to let the warships go through the canal. Our friend, still at it, blamed it on me, said I made a call to George Bush to send the warship through. Luckily, the contempt for my American status is offset by everyone's love of Alyssa. Not only is "Australia our friend" but everyone always takes to Alyssa...she's the perfect travel mate. Of coure, we'll be lucky to get her out of Egypt without a husband;)


Photography by Elly Kjellqvist
(The dodgy icafe won't read our flash drive so I had to steal the photo from Elly's blog)