Anecdote of Vicki's 'Intrepid Journey' 8 day Egypt tour & 1 week stay at Yasmina's in Cairo, Oct/Nov 2009. www.yasminaofcairo.com
El Warda "the English rose of Egypt".
It all starts off with hearing wonderful stories about the fabulous talented dancers in Egypt, the festivals in Cairo, Luxor, the red sea, Aswan, the astonishing history along with the sightseeing, the food, the music, the shopping!.
After participating in the Farha tour, Sydney Australia Dec 2008, attending various workshops & watching the show featuring Randa Kamel & Yasmina of Cairo with a complete live Egyptian orchestra throughout, 3 nights in a row, I decided right there & then that nothing could be better than heading directly to the original source – Egypt !!!!!
Having had a quick look online at some of the festival packages twin share, the Escorted group tours twin share, etc etc, I then (being a seasoned backpacker) compared the prices to a DIY trip of just 3 things: airfare, 1 week accom in Cairo, 8 day fully escorted Intrepid Journey’s tour:
Cairo-Aswan-Luxor-Cairo. This turned out to be a very economical & adventurous option.
10 months later I’m landing in Cairo at 5.30am on a Sunday, going through immigration checkpoints, changed my money & headed for the taxi rank. The driver had his mate in the front passenger seat & we headed for Giza in this small black & white car, honking along 100kms p/h, bouncing around due to uneven road surface, me getting thrown around in the back seat which had no safety belt. My backpack balancing on the roof sitting in some cage with no top, not strapped in. Got to Giza, we got lost, they rang Yasmina’s B&B using their mobile phone (about 7am by this time) She was already up & she (using her fluent Arabic) guided them to her place (just a few blocks away thankfully). Found the elevator to her rooftop apartment, got up there, sat down for a quick chat & cup of delicious freshly made coffee, then straight to my lovely clean, fresh twin bedded room. Hello Egypt. A very tired, jet lagged, sleep deprived Vicki then spent the first half of the day walking the local Giza area exploring the Pyramid & Sphinx surroundings not quite believing where she was. Big afternoon sleep, stay up late at night chatting to other guests & meeting Yasmina’s nephew who also resided at the B&B…. Ahmed, a lovely sweet young man of 18 yrs old who I later discovered was both a singer & traditional oud player, my goodness...... he's sooooo talented !!!.
Next day, back into a cab, & off to Khan al Khalil markets in Cairo in search for Mahmoud‘s store to buy a few things before joining the Intrepid group the following day. (This is when I had my first taste of traffic congestion in Cairo) Yasmina allowed me to leave whatever I wanted at her B&B whilst away on my intrepid tour because I was returning back to her place for 5 more days afterward prior to returning to NZ. Found Mahmoud s store (4 storey’s bellydance department store) & after a 4 hour thorough inspection of everything, those few things turned out to be a big box full of dance items & accessories, shell inlaid tabla, Malayas, all set & arranged by Mahmoud himself to be freighted back to NZ by Fed Ex. It got home to NZ before me. During this intense shop mission, managed to make friends with a group of German bellydancers in the store & we all went out for dinner together at a nearby restaurant, said my farewells & jumped back into a cab, back to Yasmina’s (nice not to have to carry any shopping around)
Day 3, back into a cab early afternoon (oh oh, tummy ache coming on – must have been those grapes which were rinsed in tap water). Headed for the hotel to meet up with 9 tour group members, including our escort. Very nice surprise, our leader was a very friendly female Egyptologist named Hoda, who spoke perfect English. It was amazing to spend a week with an Egyptian woman in our group, with the depth of knowledge that she shared with us. Just to summarize, we went back to the Khan al Khalil markets at night for dinner & night tour, stayed in a 3 star hotel, next morning off to the Cairo museum – paid homage to Tutankhamen’s gold mask, back to the pyramids & sphinx, lunch, grab our bags & off to the train station for the overnight train to Aswan. Hoda also took us all to a local pharmacy to sort out local medication for the common stomach upset a lot of people get. All sorted within 1-2 days luckily. She was very helpful.
The first thing that hit me when we got off the train in the morning on arrival into Aswan, was the clear fresh air, the clarity of all the colours, & not so much traffic on the road, quite refreshing.
Aswan is a lovely peaceful small city; the people look very content & move around at a leisurely pace. There is a constant fresh breeze blowing off the river.
A couple of nights in Aswan at the Nile hotel (gorgeous views of feluccas gliding around on the river surface from our windows), a trip across the Nile to the other side (not so developed) for a late afternoon long camel ride to a Nubian village for dinner & music. A morning day trip to Abu Simbal (a major highlight of the whole journey to Egypt) & back, plenty of free time in the afternoon & evenings to roam about the Aswan souk at our leisure.
An overnight trip down the Nile (northbound) on a felucca, bus up to Luxor, 2 nights in Luxor to have a good look around the Valley of the Kings, visit the night souk, explore Karnak temple ruins (gob-smacking huge & beautiful), had a lunch in a local family home & met lovely local people, we even paid a visit to a local animal rescue rehabilitation centre to see what they’re all about & make a donation. I must say, I could spend months in Luxor, it’s a city with plenty of action, things to do & see, nearby places & ruins to explore, without the density of the traffic or crowdedness, again right on the Nile, so you always have that wonderful fresh breeze & open air. I regretted leaving Luxor after only 2 nights there, but the memories are so great, I’m still buzzing today.
The Intrepid tour finishes with an overnight train from Luxor back up to Cairo, transfer back to the meeting point central hotel, the following morning. After thanking Hoda for doing an incredible job & saying farewell to fellow group members…….
Back into a cab & return to Giza for 5 days of serious bellydance entertainment & private lessons with Yasmina. Spent a couple more days exploring Cairo city (the traffic!!!!) then got stuck into a couple of private lessons with Yasmina in her mirrored dance studio, at her rooftop apartment, joined a few parties, made more friends with other B&B guests, went out with them to parties in town, attend dinner & show by Camilla on the floating Hyatt on the Nile. The dinner & show package costed approx NZD70.00 This consisted of a 5 star buffet on the floating Hyatt restaurant (like a big ferry) followed by a bellydance show performed by Camilla & her orchestra. I loved Camilla’s dancing, but the orchestra stole my heart. Before she came on, the band opened with Oum Khaltoums’ 1001 nights (Elf Leyla wa Leyla) in full swing. Just to see the connection, nostalgia, & passion on their faces (some of the guys were not young) as they themselves got lost in the music, literally brought tears to my eyes.
Yasmina was also very generous to allow me to watch her practice in her dance studio in preparation for her upcoming European tour. That in itself was a treat. She also offered for me to film the private lessons, but I didn’t because I left my dvd cam back in NZ. I was also permitted to listen to all of her CDs & watch her DVDs (for sale) anytime in the lounge, which I did, & ended up buying some real goodies. The dvd ‘Journey of Desire’ is still for sale & highly recommended. It is a documentary narrated by Yasmina herself, diarizing her life as a professional dancer in Cairo & around Egypt, touring with her band, plus the bonus of interviews with several professional performers & tutors around the world, including Raqia Hassan, Caroline E, a Cairo based entertainment agent. You get to hear all sorts of point of views on several topics relating to bellydance & how it is evolving. This really encouraged me to make a huge conscious effort to preserve the Egyptian style of bellydance & completely respect it.
Finally, after 2 weeks of jam packed sightseeing & dancing, I flew home. Not so jetlagged, a few days later I revised & practiced what I learnt from Yasmina’s private lessons, filmed myself at home. 4 years later I’ve finally rearranged a lot of it & re-choreographed the saidi dance with the tahteeb that we worked on.
More to come soon….. watch this space....
El Warda "the English rose of Egypt".
It all starts off with hearing wonderful stories about the fabulous talented dancers in Egypt, the festivals in Cairo, Luxor, the red sea, Aswan, the astonishing history along with the sightseeing, the food, the music, the shopping!.
After participating in the Farha tour, Sydney Australia Dec 2008, attending various workshops & watching the show featuring Randa Kamel & Yasmina of Cairo with a complete live Egyptian orchestra throughout, 3 nights in a row, I decided right there & then that nothing could be better than heading directly to the original source – Egypt !!!!!
Having had a quick look online at some of the festival packages twin share, the Escorted group tours twin share, etc etc, I then (being a seasoned backpacker) compared the prices to a DIY trip of just 3 things: airfare, 1 week accom in Cairo, 8 day fully escorted Intrepid Journey’s tour:
Cairo-Aswan-Luxor-Cairo. This turned out to be a very economical & adventurous option.
10 months later I’m landing in Cairo at 5.30am on a Sunday, going through immigration checkpoints, changed my money & headed for the taxi rank. The driver had his mate in the front passenger seat & we headed for Giza in this small black & white car, honking along 100kms p/h, bouncing around due to uneven road surface, me getting thrown around in the back seat which had no safety belt. My backpack balancing on the roof sitting in some cage with no top, not strapped in. Got to Giza, we got lost, they rang Yasmina’s B&B using their mobile phone (about 7am by this time) She was already up & she (using her fluent Arabic) guided them to her place (just a few blocks away thankfully). Found the elevator to her rooftop apartment, got up there, sat down for a quick chat & cup of delicious freshly made coffee, then straight to my lovely clean, fresh twin bedded room. Hello Egypt. A very tired, jet lagged, sleep deprived Vicki then spent the first half of the day walking the local Giza area exploring the Pyramid & Sphinx surroundings not quite believing where she was. Big afternoon sleep, stay up late at night chatting to other guests & meeting Yasmina’s nephew who also resided at the B&B…. Ahmed, a lovely sweet young man of 18 yrs old who I later discovered was both a singer & traditional oud player, my goodness...... he's sooooo talented !!!.
Next day, back into a cab, & off to Khan al Khalil markets in Cairo in search for Mahmoud‘s store to buy a few things before joining the Intrepid group the following day. (This is when I had my first taste of traffic congestion in Cairo) Yasmina allowed me to leave whatever I wanted at her B&B whilst away on my intrepid tour because I was returning back to her place for 5 more days afterward prior to returning to NZ. Found Mahmoud s store (4 storey’s bellydance department store) & after a 4 hour thorough inspection of everything, those few things turned out to be a big box full of dance items & accessories, shell inlaid tabla, Malayas, all set & arranged by Mahmoud himself to be freighted back to NZ by Fed Ex. It got home to NZ before me. During this intense shop mission, managed to make friends with a group of German bellydancers in the store & we all went out for dinner together at a nearby restaurant, said my farewells & jumped back into a cab, back to Yasmina’s (nice not to have to carry any shopping around)
Day 3, back into a cab early afternoon (oh oh, tummy ache coming on – must have been those grapes which were rinsed in tap water). Headed for the hotel to meet up with 9 tour group members, including our escort. Very nice surprise, our leader was a very friendly female Egyptologist named Hoda, who spoke perfect English. It was amazing to spend a week with an Egyptian woman in our group, with the depth of knowledge that she shared with us. Just to summarize, we went back to the Khan al Khalil markets at night for dinner & night tour, stayed in a 3 star hotel, next morning off to the Cairo museum – paid homage to Tutankhamen’s gold mask, back to the pyramids & sphinx, lunch, grab our bags & off to the train station for the overnight train to Aswan. Hoda also took us all to a local pharmacy to sort out local medication for the common stomach upset a lot of people get. All sorted within 1-2 days luckily. She was very helpful.
The first thing that hit me when we got off the train in the morning on arrival into Aswan, was the clear fresh air, the clarity of all the colours, & not so much traffic on the road, quite refreshing.
Aswan is a lovely peaceful small city; the people look very content & move around at a leisurely pace. There is a constant fresh breeze blowing off the river.
A couple of nights in Aswan at the Nile hotel (gorgeous views of feluccas gliding around on the river surface from our windows), a trip across the Nile to the other side (not so developed) for a late afternoon long camel ride to a Nubian village for dinner & music. A morning day trip to Abu Simbal (a major highlight of the whole journey to Egypt) & back, plenty of free time in the afternoon & evenings to roam about the Aswan souk at our leisure.
An overnight trip down the Nile (northbound) on a felucca, bus up to Luxor, 2 nights in Luxor to have a good look around the Valley of the Kings, visit the night souk, explore Karnak temple ruins (gob-smacking huge & beautiful), had a lunch in a local family home & met lovely local people, we even paid a visit to a local animal rescue rehabilitation centre to see what they’re all about & make a donation. I must say, I could spend months in Luxor, it’s a city with plenty of action, things to do & see, nearby places & ruins to explore, without the density of the traffic or crowdedness, again right on the Nile, so you always have that wonderful fresh breeze & open air. I regretted leaving Luxor after only 2 nights there, but the memories are so great, I’m still buzzing today.
The Intrepid tour finishes with an overnight train from Luxor back up to Cairo, transfer back to the meeting point central hotel, the following morning. After thanking Hoda for doing an incredible job & saying farewell to fellow group members…….
Back into a cab & return to Giza for 5 days of serious bellydance entertainment & private lessons with Yasmina. Spent a couple more days exploring Cairo city (the traffic!!!!) then got stuck into a couple of private lessons with Yasmina in her mirrored dance studio, at her rooftop apartment, joined a few parties, made more friends with other B&B guests, went out with them to parties in town, attend dinner & show by Camilla on the floating Hyatt on the Nile. The dinner & show package costed approx NZD70.00 This consisted of a 5 star buffet on the floating Hyatt restaurant (like a big ferry) followed by a bellydance show performed by Camilla & her orchestra. I loved Camilla’s dancing, but the orchestra stole my heart. Before she came on, the band opened with Oum Khaltoums’ 1001 nights (Elf Leyla wa Leyla) in full swing. Just to see the connection, nostalgia, & passion on their faces (some of the guys were not young) as they themselves got lost in the music, literally brought tears to my eyes.
Yasmina was also very generous to allow me to watch her practice in her dance studio in preparation for her upcoming European tour. That in itself was a treat. She also offered for me to film the private lessons, but I didn’t because I left my dvd cam back in NZ. I was also permitted to listen to all of her CDs & watch her DVDs (for sale) anytime in the lounge, which I did, & ended up buying some real goodies. The dvd ‘Journey of Desire’ is still for sale & highly recommended. It is a documentary narrated by Yasmina herself, diarizing her life as a professional dancer in Cairo & around Egypt, touring with her band, plus the bonus of interviews with several professional performers & tutors around the world, including Raqia Hassan, Caroline E, a Cairo based entertainment agent. You get to hear all sorts of point of views on several topics relating to bellydance & how it is evolving. This really encouraged me to make a huge conscious effort to preserve the Egyptian style of bellydance & completely respect it.
Finally, after 2 weeks of jam packed sightseeing & dancing, I flew home. Not so jetlagged, a few days later I revised & practiced what I learnt from Yasmina’s private lessons, filmed myself at home. 4 years later I’ve finally rearranged a lot of it & re-choreographed the saidi dance with the tahteeb that we worked on.
More to come soon….. watch this space....