Sudan, Egypt- Cairo, and Aswan

sudan
not really sure if i can claim knowledge about Sudan as I only touched down there but here goes. The lower south east part boardering Ethiopia was almost all fields, none of those silly trees that limit planting. I mean massive tracts of land, very organized but farming only. When we landed at the airport there is a large circle of antiaircraft guns protecting the airport. boy did i feel safe.

egypt
I'll start with a joke, it was told to me by an Egyptian cab driver, A man said he went to the zoo and all the monkeys were gone. when he asked where they were the attendant replied "on the roads driving cabs".
Starting with Cairo. It is huge, modern, old, ancient, and busy. The architecture is varied and worth some time to view it. The streets are well marked and divided by lines though no one follows them. There is a strange system of hysteria that only the drivers seem to understand but after a few days it becomes comfortable. Honking the horn is actually a requirement every 43.7 ft (converted from metric). Security is incredibly tight, especially around all of the monuments. Lots of policemen.

There are an incredible amount of important historic things to see, for example Babylon, the pyramids, the museum(filled with 150,000 items, so much so they just sit on the ground), and the citadel(an old fort complex with a massive mosque). All surrounded by city. The pyramids are in the seven wonders of the world for a reason, you just gotta see 'em. One note, the Queens pyramids are smaller and for a while I could not figure out why, until, ... it must be so when the queens don't like the location and decide to move them it is easier:)

Egypt is much more developed than the previous countries I've visited. Hostess snacks. operater phone help lines. and mc donalds/pizza hut/dominos pizza. i must admit i broke down and had a hoho snack. The food here is great, filafel and pitas for breakfast. mmmmm

Aswan
The next place after Cairo was Aswan, in the south. It was the end of the Egypt empire, kind of a gate on the Nile. It is a stunning place. Little oasis isles, tombs up on the hill over looking the city. And nearby is a few famous tombs as well. This is the place to come if you want to feel like indiana jones. at the pyramid there are thousands of people, stunning but feels a bit like a big amusement park, everything is very sterile and clean. Aswan on the other hand, The temples of the Nobles, to be specific, has shards of pottery and bones just laying around. the walls are painted up real nice. You can shimy into tiny little passage ways that lead to deeper ones. Top it off with a camel ride off into the desert to see a 7th century monastery. I followed it up with a hour and a half walk through the dunes. tough work, the camels make it a bit easier.

In the morning i took a sailboat for a 2 hour tour around the islands, unlike giligan and the skipper i made it back ok, caught a bus to see an amazing monument in Edfu. It took 230 years to build and i could not figure out how it was made. After that a train ride to Luxor, one of the most visited places in the world. In the center of town is the Luxor monument. Something to look foward to, renting motorcycles, cheap.