March 7, 2000. Our train ride back to Cairo lasted all night, and I woke minutes before arrival at the station. The first class car was pretty good, but it didn’t seem that different than second class had been on our previous trips. Thankfully, Kevin and Kris’ team made it safely too, though riding third class had been an adventure.

We got off the train and took the subway over to Tahrir square. This would be our 11th mode of transportation during the trip, in addition to bus (both public and charter), train, taxi, bicycle, carriage, ferry, felucca (small sailboat), horse, camel, and foot!

After the subway, we began looking for Garden City Hotel and searched for nearly an hour and a half. When we found it, we realized it was going to cost too much, so we spent another hour looking for an alternative. We finally decided on the Sun Hotel (a more affordable hostel). We shared a room with Andy’s group, and it cost 15 pounds each.

Lunch was at McDonald’s. Then we withdrew some money from the bank and headed to the Cairo Museum.

We entered the museum around 1:45pm. Some of the team agreed to meet up later and take a taxi to Dashur to see the Bent Pyramid. I planned to go, but misunderstood the time, so I showed up at 3:30 instead of 3:15. It was disappointing, but gave me more time to explore the museum and hang out with Kevin and Tiana.

The exhibits were awesome! Many were not labeled well, but Todd Bolen’s field guide once again helped us know what to look for.

King Tut’s mask certainly needed no explanation. It was amazing to view it up close, and stare into those penetrating eyes.

Another highlight was the Merneptah Stele. Dating to around 1220 BC, it records the conquest of Pharaoh Merneptah (Ramses II’s son) through Canaan. It’s important for biblical studies because it contains the earliest reference to Israel outside the Bible. The name “Israel” appears in hieroglyphics in the polished section toward the bottom of the inscription. Todd Bolen notes this means Israel was not only settled in the land by then, but must have been a significant force, since the Egyptians were boasting about its destruction.

Another item of interest was the upper half of a statue of Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC). Yesterday, we’d stood inside his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Now we got to see a beautiful limestone sculpture of this pharaoh of the Exodus.

I would’ve enjoyed seeing the mummy room, but it was another 40 pounds — outside my budget. Once the museum closed, I headed back over to the hotel. I took a shower and met up with the rest of the team who had taken the side trip to Dashur.

Dinner that night was at Pizza Hut. Pizza was probably our favorite food of the trip. We had it several times. It was kind of ironic that we ate so much American-style food while in Egypt. However, coming from Israel, where everything is kosher, cheap American-style food (like cheese with pork topping) was a nice change of pace. It was also a little safer, helping us not to get food poisoning during the trip.

We would have an early start on Wednesday to catch the bus back to Israel, so tonight was our last chance to explore the city and spend our remaining Egyptian pounds. I bought a few souvenirs, including a small stone pyramid, a scabbard with some hieroglyphics, and a 5″ tall bronze camel. They all needed to be small and lightweight enough to fit in my backback, which was already stuffed with the clothes and belongings I’d been carrying around the past five days.

As the night wore on, we visited a perfume shop and were then led by a shopkeeper to another lounge, where one guy described me as “Ali Baba” because of my goatee. We trusted no one and tried to be careful not to get pulled too far back into the dark alleys. Everything felt strange and suspicious. We enjoyed some delicious pistachio ice cream, saw some interesting army guys, and strolled the Hussein Bazaar. Late in the evening, a crowd gathered, and a cow was brought into the street. There was quite a commotion, and they slaughtered the cow right there in the middle of the market. We were told a new shop was opening, and the storekeeper was offering a sacrifice to bring his business success! It was a surprising way to end this unforgettable Egyptian adventure.

25 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel and Egypt for a semester through the Master’s College IBEX program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’m sharing highlights from my journal, emails, and photos. Feel free to share your own IBEX memories here as well!

Photo credit: Todd Bolen is to be thanked for photos of the King tut mask, the Merneptah stele, and the interior of the Cairo Museum. The image of the Thutmose III statue is courtesy of the Met and is public domain. I did take some photos inside the Cairo Museum, but their pictures were much better!

Monday, March 6, 2000. Our team enjoyed a good 8-hour sleep last night. We were up at 8am and ready to explore the west bank of Luxor. Breakfast was at the Saint Mina hotel, then we checked out and began walking toward the Nile. Along the way, we noticed a donkey and cart filling up at the gas station. Not something you see every day.

We chose as our mode of transportation to rent bicycles on the east bank, ride the ferry across the river, then explore the west bank on bike. We finally found some bikes at a hotel where Main Street breaks off from the Nile. We paid 7 pounds each (chain included!) and headed to our private ferry called the Magi.

Once on the west bank, we had a gorgeous 5k ride through the Egyptian countryside to the ticket office. Along the way, we passed two ancient statues called the Colossi of Memnon, built around 1350 BC. Ancient lore says these statues sometimes “sing” in the wind. The massive, 60 foot high statues reminded me of an even larger one Nebuchadnezzar built (90 feet tall) and required the Babylonians to bow down and worship (Daniel 3:1).

Rachel, a country girl at heart, felt right at home as we pedaled through the wheat fields and sugar fields. As we rode along, we could appreciate how the Nile was the lifeblood of ancient Egypt. Everything near the river was green and fertile, yet just a few miles away, it was dry and barren.

No wonder God said to Israel as they approached Canaan, “For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year” (Deut. 11:10-12). God was teaching his people to rely on him and rain from heaven rather than Nile and its many gods.

After acquiring our tickets, we headed north for the Valley of the Kings. This was a hot, hilly, uphill climb. A grueling 11k later, we arrived. Lisa wasn’t feeling great, but she was a trooper!

We parked our bikes, ate chicken sandwiches at the outdoor cafe, then headed into the valley where most of the pharaohs were buried. Our park pass included access to three tombs of our choice. King Tut is probably the most famous because his tomb was still intact when it was discovered. But we’d heard his tomb was quite plain. We opted instead to visit the tombs of Pharaoh Ramses II, Thutmose III, and Ramses III.

The artwork and color inside the tomb of Thutmose III was stunning, especially when you consider it was painted 3500 years ago. More than likely, the pharaoh commemorated in this tomb is the very one who endured the ten plagues, lost his firstborn son, and finally said to Moses, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel!” (Exodus 12:31).

Next we hiked a steep ridge to the Temple of Hatshepsut. We couldn’t go inside, but we did see evidence where her successor (Thutmose III) tried to erase memory of the queen by defacing all the pillars.

We had lost some time by this point, so we took a taxi back up to the Valley of the Kings to retrieve our bikes. Then, the taxi delivered us and our bikes to Medinet Habu, the mortuary temple of Ramses III. Here, we saw a relief depicting a naval battle between the Sea Peoples (Philistines) and the Egyptians.

Around 5pm, we rode toward the Valley of the Queens, but couldn’t find what we were looking for, so we settled for a look at the Tomb of Sennedjem, one of the chief architects.

We had a blissful bike ride back to the Nile, but were met at the river by 10-15 kids yelling and pulling our bikes from us. The original captain had been replaced by a 15-year-old boy. Knowing every child would want a generous baksheesh “tip” for their contribution, we decided to take the public ferry instead. This was a wise decision. There was only one other person on the ferry. Once on the other side, we rode down the boardwalk and returned our bikes.

We enjoyed a quite and refreshing dinner at McDonald’s, then visited the Luxor Temple, which we heard was best seen at night.

We cleaned up at McDonalds, walked around the market for another hour or so, then headed to the train station for a red-eye trip back to Cairo. One more day to explore Egypt!

25 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel and Egypt for a semester through the Master’s College IBEX program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’m sharing highlights from my journal, emails, and photos. Feel free to share your own IBEX memories here as well!

Egypt is mentioned 750 times in the Bible, from Genesis 10:6 to Revelation 11:8. Many important biblical characters spent time there including Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Jeremiah, and Jesus. Early Christian tradition tells us that Mark probably took the gospel to Egypt first and helped plant the first churches there.

On Sunday, March 5, 2000, our team of five took the train from Aswan to Luxor (ancient Thebes) to spend two days exploring. The tombs and temples scattered throughout the city are among the most impressive ruins in all the world.

My alarm went off at 3:45am on Sunday to wake me and Bryan. The girls hadn’t woken up yet but were soon stirring and packing. We ate breakfast and then took a taxi to the train station.

Our ride to Luxor lasted about 4 hours, and we were able to sleep a good part of the way. Once in Luxor, we continued our custom of immediately buying tickets for the next leg of the journey. We asked for second class train tickets to Cairo, but couldn’t get any, so we agreed to buy first class tickets and were excited that our last train ride would be in these “upscale” accommodations. Apparently, first class tickets were limited too, as Kevin and Kris’ group had to settle for third class.

We headed to Fontana Hotel, but were disappointed with the price and cleanliness, so we looked elsewhere. We wandered around the city for a while until we came to New Everest hotel. Still not satisfied. Saint Mina wasn’t much to look at, but it proved to be a great bargain at only 7 1/2 Egyptian pounds per person (just over $2), so we reserved two rooms, washed up, and dropped our stuff off.

We ate lunch at McDonald’s. Thankfully, no one had gotten sick so far and we weren’t taking any chances. Avoiding Egyptian street food and sticking with American food or nicer local restaurants seemed to be a winning strategy so far.

After lunch, we took a carriage ride to the Karnak Temple.

The size of the Karnak was breathtaking! Walking down the Avenue of Sphinxes, we entered the Hippostyle Hall with its 134 columns, each 70 feet tall. At one time, there would have been a roof to provide shade from the brutal Egyptian sun.

This temple complex is almost 65 acres and is the best preserved temple in Egypt. It was a continual work in progress, with each successive pharaoh adding their own flair and building projects, including Thutmose III (1425 BC) and Ramses II (1250 BC). Even Alexander the Great’s brother built a Greco-Roman shrine here. Originally, the temple would have been open only to priests and the pharaoh. Common people could only enter the outer courtyard, but not the temple area itself. You can’t do it justice with a photo, but we formed a ring around a single column to help get a sense of how massive these columns were.

Hieroglyphics were everywhere. Todd Bolen’s field guide gave us a few inscriptions to look for, including Seti I’s Canaan Campaign, Thutmose III’s City Lists, and Pharaoh Shishak’s City List.

Inscriptions like this are significant because they corroborate the biblical text. For example, 1 Kings 14:25 tells us that “In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house.” Here in the Karnak temple, experts have found Pharaoh Shishak’s own account of this same campaign, immortalized in stone.

We did our best to follow the guide and find these references, but not knowing the language, it was hard to know if we were looking at exactly the right spot.

We planned to visit the Luxor Museum later in the afternoon, but ran out of time. After going to the bank, we headed to the El Honda restaurant which had been recommended to us. We got lost on the way and arrived later than we’d hoped.

The team was a little stressed and disappointed by this point, and the food didn’t meet our expectations. Still, we had a good time talking with other IBEX teams who had made their way there for dinner. We enjoyed flipping through the guest book, which included messages from other IBEX groups that had visited over the years. We signed our own names and wrote little messages in the guest book, and just hung out for a while. Ice cream after dinner lifted our spirits, and we enjoyed watching the boisterous Luxor night life as we headed back to the hotel.

We hung out for a while in our rooms and Kevin and Kris’ team visited for a while too. By midnight, we were all ready for bed. Unfortunately, the room the guys were planning to stay in only had a small double bed, which Bryan and I really didn’t want to share. The girls generously gave us the larger room which had three twin beds. Bryan and I each got our own bed, and the girls played a round of “roshambo” to determine who would get stuck sleeping in the guys room. Sorry Lisa!

Tomorrow, we head to the west bank of the Nile, and get to visit the Valley of the Kings!

25 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel and Egypt for a semester through the Master’s College IBEX program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’m sharing highlights from my journal, emails, and photos. Feel free to share your own IBEX memories here as well!

On Saturday, March 4, 2000, our train arrived in Aswan, Egypt. While still at the station, we bought tickets for the next leg of our journey back to Luxor.

We thought about renting bikes to help explore the city, but we couldn’t find any that were “for hire.” The streets buzzed with market owners, shoppers, tourists, cars, and oxen pulling carts of produce.

I have several patches on my backpack representing the different countries I’ve been to, including a U.S. flag, Philippines flag, and Canadian flag. One market owner, seeing the large Canadian patch, asked if we were from Canada. We decided to just be friendly and not mention we were Americans, as this can draw attention and cost you higher prices.

Finally, we gave up our search for bikes and instead looked for a hotel where we would stay overnight. Unhappy with both the Hathor Hotel and El Salam, we decided on the Memnon Hotel. What a view!

The team was starving by this point, so we got some lunch at the Panorama Restaurant. The setting was beautiful, but sadly most of the meals were small. I will say my chicken and curry dish was both generous and delicious!

After lunch, we hired a taxi to take us out to the Unfinished Obelisk and Aswan High Dam. Both were massive. The Unfinished Obelisk is an interesting site. Obelisks appear throughout ancient Egypt, and of course we have a famous one right here in America — the Washington Monument. The maximum weight of any known Egyptian obelisk is 300 tons. This Unfinished Obelisk is calculated to be 1186 tons — over twice the size of any other!

For some reason, the obelisk was never finished and still lays horizontally in the bedrock. Maybe the Pharoah died and the project was abandoned. Maybe some other architectural or superstitious reason prevented the builders from ever completing it. It has several cracks in it now, but those may have happened later. Before leaving, we stood at the edge of the obelisk and spelled out “IBEX” with our shadows.

Late afternoon, our taxi driver took us back into town, and we hired a little sailboat called a “felucca” for a 90 minute ride on the Nile. It cost 20 pounds.

We had a little time to get off the boat at Elephantine Island, where there is a museum and Nubian village. A group of Jews once lived on this island, sometime after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem (see Jeremiah 42-43).

The museum on Elephantine Island was already closed, but we had some time to walk around and explore. We did get to see one of the ancient “Nilometers,” which were an important flood gauge to measure the rise and fall of the Nile. We also walked through the Nubian village. It was poor and dirty, reminding me of the Philippines, but a serene setting that felt a world away from the touristy spots on the other side of the Nile.

We doubled back along shore to our felucca and continued our ride. As dusk settled, the stars appeared, crickets began to chirp, and a cool, refreshing breeze swept through the air. Waves lapped against the bow and our pilot sang quietly in Arabic. I felt utterly relaxed, thankful for God’s goodness and provision for me. It was one of my favorite memories of the trip.

Back on the eastern shore, we tried entering the Cataract Hotel to get dinner, but were not allowed, so we hunted desperately for somewhere to eat. We searched for quite a while and the team was growing restless. Finally, we found the Aswan Moon, and enjoyed a fine evening of dining. The pizza was great!

Arriving back at the Memnon hotel, we settled into our rooms. Bryan and I had to dig some granola out of the shower drain before we headed to bed. We would have a very early start to catch our train Sunday morning. I’m thankful we were able to make it this far up the Nile and to spend a day visiting Aswan.

25 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel and Egypt for a semester through the Master’s College IBEX program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’m sharing highlights from my journal, emails, and photos. Feel free to share your own IBEX memories here as well!