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Watch the Video of the Total Solar Eclipse in Egypt. Although the eclipse has ended, I am still adding more pictures and video of my trip to Egypt. Some to expect include the Pyramids, Diving at Ras Mohammed, the Valley of the Kings, Cairo and more. Subscribe to the RSS feed to stay informed. |
GARY IN EGYPT
| My Condolences |
| Added: 2006-04-26 by: Gary Isse |
 As many of you have most likely already heard, there have been a couple of terrorist attacks in Egypt in the last few days. I want to take this moment to express my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives or were injured. These acts are despicable and unacceptable and must stop. Egypt’s tourism industry is bound to suffer due to these events but I dearly hope that people all over the world will continue to keep an open-mind about the people from this beautiful country. Throughout my time there I met many wonderful people, both Christian and Muslim, equally shocked and disgusted by these actions, who will now be unwitting victims of the repercussions of these terrible acts just as we were after 9/11. As a country dependent on tourism, these actions reach much further than just the Sinai. {more} |
| Deir el-Bahri, the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut - Luxor, Egypt (Video) |
| Added: 2006-04-26 by: Gary Isse |
 Sorry I have not posted in a while. Now that I am back home I have a big mountain
of things to tackle. Don't worry though, I have not forgotten about the site
and putting up the remainder of the photos and videos. Ths next temple is
one of my favorites. Deir el-Bari, which means Northern Monastery in Arabic,
is the Mortuary Temple of
Hatshepsut,
the
only
woman ever
to reign
as a Pharaoh
over
Egypt. {more} |
| The Temple of Seti I at Abydos and the Temple of Hathor at Dendara, Egypt (Video) |
| Added: 2006-04-13 by: Gary Isse |
 Taking a trip out to visit the Temples at Abydos and Dendara in Egypt is a must for
anyone visiting the Luxor region. It is
a
little more difficult than heading out to the others, except maybe Abu Simbel,
but the trip is well worth it, especially after seeing Abydos.
To get
to
the two temples, you need to take a taxi, mini-van or tour bus at the designated
times. If you want to see both, the convoy leaves at 10 am. Or you can leave
at 2 pm to see only Dendara. But I strongly recommend catching the morning
convoy and seeing them both. The
reason
you
must
leave
at
the
designated
times
only
is
because
all
tourists going out to this region are required to have a military escort, for
your protection of course. The day we had originally planned to see the two
temples, we arrived late to the convoy and were told that we would have to
wait until
the next day. After telling them that we really wanted to see the temples that
day (only because we wanted to see if any other options were available), we
were told that we could go talk to the police and ask them if we could get
a private
escort. So, out of curiosity, we were off to see them. Luckily, the tourist
police station is right next to the Tourist office so we did not have to go
very far. If you would like to read about our experience asking the luxor
police for
a private escort, I have added it at the bottom of this page for you. Ok, back
to Abydos. {more} |
| Smoking the Shisha (aka: Hookah) |
| Added: 2006-04-10 by: Gary Isse |
 I almost forgot to congratulate myself for not touching the hookah, or the shisha, the entire time I was in Egypt. I quit smoking in May of 2004 so I was a bit nervous about going to Egypt considering the prevalence of tobacco smoking, particularly using the hookah. It was especially hard considering that I never smoked tobacco from a hookah before so I really wanted to try it. I thought of many reasons why it would be ok but in the end I realized that it would not be. There were a couple of times while sitting with people who were smoking that I was extremely tempted to say the least. At one point I even asked someone to blow the smoke in my face so I could smell it. Ah, how I wanted to try it. I am not quite sure which part of my brain prevailed but I withstood the temptation and can now say that it has been 1 year, 10 months, and 21 days since I have been tobacco-free. {more} |
| Daughters of Egypt (Video) |
| Added: 2006-04-05 by: Gary Isse |
| Many people have asked me about the women in Egypt. Questions like, "Is it true that they all cover themselves up completely?" or "Are they allowed to walk in the streets alone?" Although I can try to explain to you about it, I actally think that this video from Nell Holden does a very good job of doing so from a woman's perspective. {more} |
| Ancient Oracle Soap Company |
| Added: 2006-04-05 by: Gary Isse |
 After visiting Abu Simbel, I joined a shared mini-bus to see the Temple of Isis at Philae. On the bus, was a very nice mother and daughter duo exploring Egypt together. It was a pleasure to meet them and to know that they were not only from the states, but also shared my views on fair trade. In fact, the mother, Nancy, owns the Ancient Oracle Company, a fair trade store in which she plans to sell imports from Egypt. I was excited to know that I had met her on her mission of "traveling to the ends of the Nile and through the Desert lands of Egypt searching out the very best in Fair Trade handcrafted treasures from the Bedouins, Berbers & Nubian Tribes of Egypt," as she states on her web site. I hope she found what she was looking for and that you find what you are looking for at her online store. {more} |
| Scuba Diving at Ras Mohammed in the Red Sea, Egypt (Video) |
| Added: 2006-04-05 by: Gary Isse |
 As a scuba diver, there was no way that I could have visited Egypt and
not gone diving at
Ras
Mohammed. For some unknown reason, just the idea of scuba diving in the Red Sea
at a place, whose name translated into English is Head of Mohammed, was intriguing
and
instilled
a
sense
of
adventure. While on my way to the dive sites with Oonas
Dive Club from Sharm el-Sheihk (a great dive club by the way), I shot
this
video
to
give
you
an
idea
of
what
getting out there was like. These are all above water, however, the video below
is an excellent compilation of some spectacular clips captured in the waters
of
the Red Sea. I hesitated to post my video for two reasons; first is that
seeing
all
of the boats can be a bit disturbing,
and
the
second
and
main
reason
is because the video below is just so much cooler to look at. {more} |
| Time-lapse Video of the Total Solar Eclpise (2 minutes) |
| Added: 2006-04-02 by: Gary Isse |
 Here is a time-lapse clip of about 30 minutes of the total solar eclipse including totality. Everything is sped up here to about 2 minutes except for the two diamond ring moments left unedited. {more} |
| Time-lapse Video of the Total Solar Eclpise (4 minutes) |
| Added: 2006-04-02 by: Gary Isse |
| Here is a 4-minute time-lapse clip of about 30 minutes of the eclipse including totality. {more} |
| Total Solar Eclipse Video: 30 Minutes Including Totality |
| Added: 2006-04-02 by: Gary Isse |
| I did not realize how many of you wanted to see more of the eclipse. I thought the part you all wanted to see was the diamond ring moment. Well, no problem. I have about thirty minutes of the entire process and I am more than happy to share it with you. I have also sped up this video into a 4 minute time-lapse clip and even sped that one up twice as much (except for the two diamond ring moments) for those of you that want to quickly see more. I hope you enjoy it. {more} |
| Debriefing Interview ~ Now Taking Questions |
| Added: 2006-03-31 by: Gary Isse |
| I recently received a very interesting request and thought I would share this with you. Someone asked if we would be willing to do a debriefing video interview and we think it is a great idea. I also think it would be a good idea to open the floor to all of you, my web site visitors, to ask us any questions you would like to have answered. We will get together early next week and would be happy to answer whatever questions you may have for us and later post the video for you all to see. To send us your question, please click the "more" link and fill out the form. I look forward to hearing from you. {more} |
| Total Solar Eclipse Video: 5 Minutes Including Totality |
| Added: 2006-03-31 by: Gary Isse |
| Ok, due to popular demand, here is a 5 minute video that includes the complete 4+ minutes of totality, that started at about 12:38 pm, from Sollum in Egypt. {more} |
| 2 Days 10 Hours Later... I am Finally Home |
| Added: 2006-03-31 by: Gary Isse |
| Well, 2 days and 10 hours after leaving Cairo to broadcast video of the total solar eclipse from Sollum, Egypt, I have finally made it back home. Corey and I left Cairo, stopping only when we ran out of gas, to broadcast the eclipse, to quickly eat dinner, to take a shower, and on layovers, and travelled by car and plane non-stop until we got home safely. Although the eclipse is over, please continue to check back as I have plenty of video and photos I will be adding from the rest of my visits to Egypt; such as the pyramids, some dive videos, temples, screensavers, and more. Thanks again for visiting. {more} |
| About Half Way Home - Happy Birthday Dave! |
| Added: 2006-03-30 by: Gary Isse |
| Corey and I arrived to Amsterdam a couple of hours ago and are waiting to hop on our final leg home. With luck we will see our family and friends within the next twenty hours! I do want to take a moment to wish my brother David a Happy Birthday. I hope you are having a great day! {more} |
| Stranded in the Sahara |
| Added: 2006-03-30 by: Gary Isse |
| Some of you may be wondering why I said in the my entry
for the live broadcast
of the eclipse that
I
could not believe that we finally made it and were able to pull it off. It is
a
pretty
long
story
so
I
saved
it
all for this separate post. It actually all started a couple of days before I
left
for Egypt when my hard drive on my laptop failed. It could not have happened
at a
more crucial time as that was the machine I planned to broadcast from. Luckily,
I backup my data and I rushed my computer to the Geek Squad at the nearby Best
Buy and was able to get everything restored and running just before I left. Although
everything worked out in the end, it was the first of many nerve racking situations
that would plague my mission. {more} |
| Video of the Total Solar Eclipse at Sollum, Egypt |
| Added: 2006-03-29 by: Gary Isse |
| Well, here it is. The video of the big moment. The whole event took up about
half an hour to video but I cut it down to the highlights in about 1 1/2 minutes
for you. I got a couple of complaints that some people couldn't watch the live
video and I apologize for that. Unfortunately, I was way too busy with the recording
to look into what the problem may have been. I did hear back from many though
that they saw and enjoyed it tremendously. Thanks again for all of your support.
I hope you enjoyed it! I would also like to thank Ramy and Samer for driving
Corey and I out on this crazy adventure all over the western deserts of Egypt. You were great! {more} |
| WOW! |
| Added: 2006-03-29 by: Gary Isse |
| I hope you had a chance to see this live. If not, I will have the video up shortly. Just give me a few minutes. {more} |
| We're Live NOW (no longer active) |
| Added: 2006-03-29 by: Gary Isse |
| We're Live NOW. I can't believe actually made it! (Added 3/30/3 at 12:47 am: Thank you all for watching. This link is no longer active but you can watch the highlights video of the eclipse here.) {more} |
| Final Greeting Before the Big Moment (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-28 by: Gary Isse |
 Well, thanks again to all you well-wishers. The weather has cleared up and we are ready to head out shortly to Sollum (corrected on 3/30/06). Before I left though, I thought I would say hello to some friends from the famous pyramids and sphynx. {more} |
| Karnak Temple (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-28 by: Gary Isse |
 No visit to Egypt, and especially Luxor, is complete without a visit to Karnak
Temple. According
to the
Rough Guide to Egypt, this pharaonic monument is by far the largest
and most complex found to date and is due to "1300 years of aggrandizement.
From its XI Dynasty core..." Surprisingly, this core is easily missed by
many visitors because it just looks like a few big rock on the grounds (seen
in
the second to last picture below), however, due to its age, it definitely
deserves a peak if you make it to the Temple. Another amazing thing about
Karnak Temple is that because of its size, there is still, according to Francesco
Tiradritti,
about two-thirds of it that has yet to be excavated, and as I mentioned in
the Luxor
Temple post, there are supposedly plans to once again join the Avenue
of the Sphinxes of these two temples, as they were in their heyday. Again,
there are many many many other interesting things about this temple and the
others
sites
that
I mentioned throughout my site, however, for that information, you have plenty
of other resources, such as the
Rough Guide to Egypt, that do a much better job of explaining them
than I do. {more} |
| Rain in Cairo |
| Added: 2006-03-28 by: Gary Isse |
| Well, if yesterday and today are any indication of Wednesday's weather, we are in for some trouble. It actually started pouring rain here in Cairo, which I heard is very rare this time of year. It was obvious that the people in the sreets were neither expecting nor welcoming the rain as they scurried off of the streets and caused traffic jams all over town. Please join me and the hundreds of eclipse chasers here in Egypt in a prayer for a stop to the rain. I am sure that with your help, we can ensure that we have a bright and clear day for eclipse viewing. {more} |
| The Worst Thing About Coming to Egypt |
| Added: 2006-03-28 by: Gary Isse |
 Those of you that know me know that I absolutely love chocolate. I can admit it. I am a choclaholic. So, when I came to Egypt and noticed that Nestle is plastered absolutely everywhere, I knew I was going to have some trouble with my addiction. Not only that, but the only ice cream I have seen for sale on the streets here is Nestle, and one of the most common bottled waters sold in restaurants is Nestle. Coming from a free-market system, I see a perfect opportunity for someone to come here and start selling some Fair Trade chocolate, hint, hint. For those of you not sure why I am complaining so much about Nestle, please Click Here. Added 4/6/5: By the way, an alternative to Nestle ice cream seen throughout Egypt is Movenpick. The name seemed suspicious to me, however, so I looked it up when I got home. What a surprise, they are also owned by Nestle. Also, I'm not sure how this slipped but I forgot to mention Nescafe and Nestea. These are everywhere here so if you are a coffee drinker and considering coming to Egypt, you may want to bring your own. {more} |
| How I Plan to Broadcast the Total Solar Eclipse Live on March 29, 2006 |
| Added: 2006-03-27 by: Gary Isse |
 Last year, during a brief conversation with a friend, he mentioned how cool it would be to see the total solar eclipse that was going to take place the next year in Egypt. I agreed and thought how amazing an experience that would be; yet we did not talk about it anymore until January of this year, when he called me and asked if I would be interested in going. Not only was I interested; I had already begun planning how to broadcast this amazing natural phenomenon live over the Internet. {more} |
| Egyptian Screensavers |
| Added: 2006-03-27 by: Gary Isse |
| While here in Egypt, I thought it would be interesting to put together a few
screensavers of the pictures I have been taking. For more about them, please visit my screensaver page here. I hope you like them. {more} |
| Luxor Temple, Egypt (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-26 by: Gary Isse |
 I am not quite sure who built the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas but he or she got
it all wrong. I have not seen anything here in Luxor that looks anything like
it. In fact, there aren't even any pyramids or casinos here. I guess it just
plays
on
the
stereotypical
Egyptian pharaoh idea that most of us had. Anyway, about the temple. I strongly
recommend visiting in the evening if you get a chance, just before sunset. The
temperature is perfect and the lighting is great. Well, you can see from my pictures
that it the lighting is not the best for photography or video, but for your own
personal experience it is excellent. There appear to be less people there at
that time as well. However, because Luxor Temple is located right on the boardwalk
of the center of town, it is really easy to go back again and again. In fact,
I met a very nice German lady who had been there three times already during this
trip. There were two things I was told about the temple on this trip that I found
interesting; the first is that there are still homes built on top of it, because
it lay buried undiscovered for so long, in which people still reside (seen in
the
fifth
picture
below)
and
the
second
is
that
there are
plans to recreate and join the Avenue of the Sphinxes that once joined Luxor
and Karnak Temples. Of course there are many other interesting things about this
temple and all the others I have been showing throughout my site, however, those
can all be found and read in any textbook, including the
Rough Guide to Egypt that I have mentioned many times. {more} |
| Mortuary Temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-26 by: Gary Isse |
 After I arrived to Luxor,
I had a little bit of time to kill and was looking for a small day trip to someplace
my friend Corey would not want to visit since he was going to be arriving shortly
and
I
did not want to repeat sites. Because it was just on the other side of the Nile
and relatively close to where I was staying, I
decided
upon
Medinet
Habu,
which,
from
what
I
heard
was not a very
popular spot and not a place most tours go. I was surprised when I arrived,
however, because it was one of the better places I had seen so far and very impressive.
According to the
Rough Guide to Egypt, this is the Mortuary Temple of Ramses III which
drew much of the focus of this pharoah's cult following. Not only was I happy
I took this time to visit, but I also had a chance to meet here a couple
of American students studying in Cairo which I mentioned in a previous
post. {more} |
| Temple of Horus at Edfu (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-26 by: Gary Isse |
 Another stop on my journey on the Nile
Cruise from Aswan
to Luxor, was at the Temple of Horus at Edfu. As I mentioned during the post
of the Temple
of Isis, there are some interesting theories put forth by many scholars regarding
the similarities between the Virgin Mary and Isis and most notably in this case
between Horus and Jesus. According to the
Rough Guide to Egypt, Horus was the
son of the Goddess Isis and the God Osiris who was killed but later resurrected
from the netherworld for a short time in order to help conceive Horus.
Aside
from
this interesting bit of information regarding religious history, the temple boasts
a
couple
of
other things worth noting, such as the Horus statues, one of which was taller
than
I was,
the birth house of Horus, and Horus's barque. {more} |
| Temple of Haroesis and Sobek at Kom Ombo (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-26 by: Gary Isse |
 As I mentioned in an earlier post, I decided to take a Nile
Cruise from Aswan
to Luxor, which also included a couple of stops along the way. The first stop
was at the Temple of Haroesis and Sobek at Kom Ombo, often referred to as Kom
Ombo Temple. According to the
Rough Guide to Egypt, this temple is the only temple
in the valley that still stands by the nile. Due to this, it also, like the Temple
of Isis, has an interesting approach by water. Aside from the impressive
structures, something different that this temple boasts are a couple of mummified
nile crocodiles
in the Chapel of Hathor which can also be seen in the video. {more} |
| Philae ~ The Temple of Isis (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-26 by: Gary Isse |
 On my way back to Aswan from Abu Simbel, I stopped with a tour group to Philae,
an island that houses the famous Temple of Isis. Although there was once much
more to this island that just the Temple if Isis, its remains are by far the
main attraction. While on my way, I decided to use the Rough Guide to Egypt to
brush up on the history of the Temple and was amazed at what I learned;
that scholars have identified the Virgin Mary with the Goddess Isis, Horus the
son of Gods with Jesus, and the Christian cross with the pharaonic ankh. With
one look at the ankh you can see that similarity, but the other two theories
were ones I was very curious to confirm, which this temple and the one at
Edfu (coming soon) are said to do. One thing that definitely catches your attention,
which you can see in the video, are the Christian and Coptic crosses carved into
this temple as well. {more} |
| Abu Simbel (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-25 by: Gary Isse |
 In a previous entry I shared with you a short story about my visit to the small village that proudly houses the temples of Abu Simbel. There are two of them here that, although they were supposedly honoring the sun-god Re-Herakhte at Ramses II’s and Hathor at Nefertari’s, they are obviously products of Ramses II’s ego and image of himself and his wife. Ramses’ temple is actually an amazing feat and is famous as well for the fact that the sun’s rays penetrate deep inside the temple and illuminate its sanctuary on two dates, Ramses’s birthday and the anniversary of his coronation (these dates have changed, however, due to the fact that the temples were moved after the building of the High Dam). {more} |
| The High Dam (Al-Sadd al-Ali) (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-25 by: Gary Isse |
 While in Aswan, it is hard to get out without a visit to the High Dam. The
reason is hardly that it is such a marvelous creation that you are compelled
to visit,
but more that it is added as a stop to practically every tour group’s
agenda while returning from places such as Abu Simbel. Considering no one in
our group
seemed extremely happy to be stopping there, we did not spend much time at
what has been a very controversial project in Egypt. {more} |
| Cruising the Nile on the Oberoi Shehrayar |
| Added: 2006-03-24 by: Gary Isse |
 After just five days of the hot Egyptian winter sun in Aswan and Abu Simbel, the street vendors, the budget hotels, the increasingly heavy pack on my shoulders, and the vampire-like mosquitoes, I was very much ready for a couple of days of rest and relaxation; and the Oberoi Shehrayar was more than happy to oblige. Words cannot begin to describe the sense of comfort and relaxation experienced when sliding between the soft sheets, even if it was only for a quick nap, on the best bed I had a chance to sleep on for a while. Ah, I was definitely enjoying the fruits of one of the best decisions I had made so far on my trip, to splurge a little and choose the cruise ship over the felucca or train back to Luxor from Aswan. But I should warn you, if you are planning on making a similar trip, please do you due diligence before hopping on just any ship as I saw a couple of “five-star” cruise ships that I would personally give no more than three to. {more} |
| Pictures and Video of Aswan |
| Added: 2006-03-24 by: Gary Isse |
 Considering how relatively relaxing
Aswan and Sharm el-Sheikh were compared to Luxor, I really should have done those
last to try to recoup some of my energy and wind down my trip. {more} |
| American Bikers in Luxor |
| Added: 2006-03-24 by: Gary Isse |
 While visiting the funerary temple of Ramses III, commonly referred to as Medinet Habu (pictures and video coming soon), on the West Bank of Luxor, I met a couple of American Students studying in Cairo. I have yet to post stories from others on my web site but what these two did seemed really cool and I thought you might enjoy reading about it. Enjoy. {more} |
| Back in Cairo |
| Added: 2006-03-23 by: Gary Isse |
| I would like to take this moment to thank all of you well wishers once again for your kind words and thoughts. We have arrived safely to Cairo and will be here for a few days preparing for the total solar eclipse on March 29th. I hope you are all getting as excited as I am. I have plenty to post so keep an eye out thoughout the next few days for new stuff. Three weeks down and just one more to go! {more} |
| Interview with Egyptologist Francesco Tiradritti at Luxor Temple (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-23 by: Gary Isse |
 While in Luxor, I had the pleasure of speaking with world-renown Egyptologist Francesco Tiradritti in front of Luxor Temple on the Nile boardwalk in Egypt. He is currently working on the excavation of the Tomb of Harwa, an “enigmatic person in ancient Egyptian history [who] lived at the beginning of the 7th century BC, when the Nile Valley was in the hands of the Nubian Pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty.” Francesco is a published author and professor of Egyptology who has held the Chair of Excellence at the University of Memphis, Tennessee. More information about his work can also be found at his web site at http://www.Harwa.IT {more} |
| Sugar Cane & Luxor |
| Added: 2006-03-21 by: Gary Isse |
 I woke up on the morning of March 20th with a disgusting taste in my mouth and coughing up some pretty bad black stuff. I was not sure what it was they were burning until I took a ride out to see the temples at Dendara and Abydos through the countryside. For miles and miles sugarcane was being burnt. This burning of the sugar cane has apparently become a common practice in places that grow them because it is cheaper and easier to burn off the leaves than it is to manually pull them off. This terrible practice not only fills the sky for miles with a thick black smoke that even the sun could barely penetrate (shown left), it also fills every orifice of yor body with this disgusting poisonous stench that, through breathing it in, is sure to take time from your life. {more} |
| The Rough Guide to Egypt |
| Added: 2006-03-21 by: Gary Isse |
 The Rough Guide to Egypt is by far the best Egypt travel book available on the market. Compared to Let's Go Egypt, which was a bit dissapointing, and Lonely Planet Egypt, which was the most common here amongst tourist, The Rough Guide to Egypt is the most comprehensive and, as of today, the most up-to-date of all the them. The Let's Go travel guide, which I mentioned earlier, just seemed to lack in so many aspects and although it did provide many interesting ideas on how to save some money, the prices it provided were way off. If you use this book, I recommend doubling, if not tripling their estimates. {more} |
| A Ton of Sightseeing |
| Added: 2006-03-21 by: Gary Isse |
 It has been a while since I have posted any new pictures or an update but all is well. There is just so much to see and do. Yesterday, Corey and I visited Karnak and Luxor Temples, Dendara and Abydos. Today we are on our way to the west bank to see the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. Here is a photo of Karnak Temple. You can see that this place was packed. I have some great video and more photos I will be adding soon too so be sure to check back. {more} |
| Earth Day 2006 |
| Added: 2006-03-20 by: Gary Isse |
 Today, the March Equinox, March 20th, is Earth Day and as an Earth Trustee I am compelled to write about it and share this with you all. I found it very fitting that I was here in Luxor, the place of Egypt's deadliest terrorist attack on this day and had a chance to partake in the "Minute for peace". I hope that people all over the world ha a wonderful moment of unity, peace and celebration for this beautiful planet we call Earth. {more} |
| Corey Has Arrived |
| Added: 2006-03-20 by: Gary Isse |
 It is my third day in Luxor (correction: changed the word Egypt to Luxor on 3/24/6) and my friend Corey has finally arrived. Aside from having to fend off the usual Luxor vultures (more on this later) he is safe and sound and ready to join me on some sight seeing. After two and one-half days of travelling by plane, train and taxi, he would like to tell his family and friends "I'm here!" {more} |
| Arriving to Luxor |
| Added: 2006-03-18 by: Gary Isse |
| The cruise ship I was on arrived to Luxor at about 6:45 pm Thursday March 16th, to a port different from what I was expecting. We docked very much to the south end of town near teh Sheraton, about a 15 minute walk to downtown. The most noticeable thing was how dead the town was in this area. After dinner I ventured into town with a few new friends and were lucky enough to find some people, yet considering it was the start of their weekend, I was expecting more people. {more} |
| Off to Luxor |
| Added: 2006-03-15 by: Gary Isse |
| Well, I decided that I could not leave Egypt without taking a short cruise on the Nile so I am off via one to Luxor for 2 nights three days. Unfortunately, I will not be online very often while on the boat but I will post again shortly after landfall. Thank you to all you well-wishers. I wish you the best as well. See you Soon! {more} |
| Greetings from Abu Simbel |
| Added: 2006-03-13 by: Gary Isse |
| When most tourists visit Abu Simbel, they do so on a day-trip either from Aswan or Luxor and in most cases, either take a mini-bus, airplane, or Nile cruise. Since I have a little extra time until needing to be at my next destination and since I love doing things the non-tourist way, I decided to stay overnight at Abu Simbel. I am not quite sure if I would recommend it for everyone, but I sure did have a very interesting time. {more} |
| Greetings From Aswan |
| Added: 2006-03-12 by: Gary Isse |
 I arrived to Aswan this morning at about 8 a.m. local time on the train from Cairo. My plan was to arrange everything upon arrival so when I got here I had nothing planned but to go out to the street and start walking around. All I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW. This is definitely quite a bit different than anything I have seen so far and much more of what I was expecting of Egypt. Upon arrival, I walked out to the street and started walking towards the south end of town and passed by the famous bazaars and shops. {more} |
| Gary's First Live Broadcast from Egypt (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-11 by: Gary Isse |
| Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt ~ At 1:15 pm local time, I successfully completed my very first live broadcast from Egypt. Thank you to those of you who joined me to ensure that everything was working properly; especially those of you in the states that stayed up late to do so. I am happy to announce that everything went off without a hitch. I can finally start to relax a bit knowing that I have everything in order and ready to go for the live broadcast of the total solar eclpise on March 29th. I thought I would share with you a recording of the transmission. There really is not anything too special about it, but it is good for a nice laugh. I look forward to seeing you during the eclipse. {more} |
| A Brief Primer About Egypt, the Pyramids and their Worship of the Sun (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-11 by: Gary Isse |
| While here in Cairo, I was lucky enough to meet an Egyptologist
that was kind enough to spend a few minutes with me on camera to explain
a few things about the pyramids and the beliefs held by the ancient Egyptians.
For
those
of you like me, who knew very little about Egypt, aside from what we saw in
movies like the Mummy, this is an excellent opportunity to brush up on our
history before witnessing the spectacular total solar eclipse at the end of
the month. {more} |
| Sharm El-Sheikh/Na'ama Bay, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula (Video/Photos) |
| Added: 2006-03-10 by: Gary Isse |
 Egypt is one of the few places on earth lucky enough to have the type of weather
and beachfront property, which combined create a perfect resort town. Sharm
El-Sheikh, and more specifically, Na'ama Bay offer Europe what the Yucatan
Peninsula offers the states... fun in the sun. Unfortunately, since this was
not a vacation trip, I could not spend much time there, but I did manage to
sneak away for a couple of days to enjoy the views and do a little scuba diving
at their world-renown dive sites at the Red Sea (more on this to come later). {more} |
| Egyptian Hospitality |
| Added: 2006-03-08 by: Gary Isse |
| How could I have come to Egypt and not visited Sharm El-Sheikh and do some scuba diving? It is a beautiful resort town on the southern end of the Sinai Peninsula that seems to specialize in offering unforgettable scuba diving for its visitors. The strange thing is that there are not any Americans here. I guess it is not very strange if you stop to think about it… considering that many Americans seem to be somewhat scared about going anywhere where they are the minority amongst Muslims; however, this misconception is blatantly obvious here in Egypt and especially in Sharm El-Sheikh. {more} |
| Eat Your Heart Out Mounties (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-04 by: Gary Isse |
 This episode of Camel COPS was filmed on location at Giza in Cairo, Egypt. {more} |
| There is More to Giza than Just the Pyramids (Video) |
| Added: 2006-03-04 by: Gary Isse |
 Aside from the Camel
Cops, there is more to Giza than just the pyramids. One
of the other amazing sights are the tombs and Mastabas where, according to
ancient Egyptian beliefs, those buried in the tombs spend their afterlife.
You may have noticed the up-close vantage points and expert information in
some portions of this clip. All I can say is that tipping goes a long way,
and yes, if you are wondering, get a guide. {more} |
| Egypt Arrival |
| Added: 2006-03-04 by: Gary Isse |
| I arrived to Cairo at about 1 am on March 4th local Egypt time. Everything went extremely smoothly and I am doing well. Thank you all for your concerns. I am trying to get settled in so I will post more when possible. I will be here in Cairo until tomorrow night then I move on to my next destination. More to come soon. Thanks again for all your well wishes. {more} |
| Greetings from Amsterdam |
| Added: 2006-03-03 by: Gary Isse |
 It is 12:30 pm here in Amsterdam and I am now relaxed, online, and waiting for my flight to Egypt. I arrived at 11:30 am local time (about 2:30 am PST). It took me about half an hour to find the Internet cafe and get situated but all is good now. I am actually pretty amazed at how cheap the Internet access is here in the Schiphol Airport. It is only costing my 10 Euros for an all-day pass! About $12 US. Since I am stuck here for 8 hours I was thinking about taking a quick tour of the town (offered by Holland Tours Schiphol here in the airport) for as little as 38 Euros or $45 US, however, considering that I have a ton of schoolwork I would like to get done before arriving to Egypt and considering that it is literally below zero outside, I decided to leave the Holland tour for my next trip. {more} |
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Gary Isse to cover Total Solar Eclipse providing live WebCast via GaryIsse.co |
| Added: 2006-02-23 by: Gary Isse |
| Pasadena, CA – February 23, 2006 – On Wednesday March 29th, 2006 Gary Isse will be in Egypt to broadcast the Total Solar Eclipse. Mr. Isse hopes to draw the attention of people all over the world via the Internet to this amazing natural phenomenon so that we may all see and share this spectacular moment of our Earth’s sun. {more} |
| Let's Go Travel Guide to Egypt |
| Added: 2006-02-14 by: Gary Isse |
 You may have noticed that I have not posted much to the site in the last week or so. I have been extremely busy planning my trip to Egypt and making sure everything is in order. Just about two weeks left! Time sure does fly by! One thing that has been indispensable during this planning process was a book I recently purchased. It is the Let’s Go Travel Guide to Egypt. Apparently this series is very popular in Europe but I never heard about it before. I am extremely glad I found it though as it has already helped me shave over a thousand dollars off of my budget! I strongly recommend this book to anyone planning to visit Egypt. I also looked at the Lonely Planet and Eyewitness Travel guides but, although the Eyewitness book had some really cool pictures, they really did not seem to provide the in-depth information that this one did. I did also purchase the Rough Guide to Egypt but I have not received it yet. I will be using both these books during my trip and rest assured that I will continue to post information about them. So far, this one gets an A+! {more} |
| Traveling from Los Angeles to Cairo |
| Added: 2006-02-04 by: Gary Isse |
 For those of you wondering how long a flight to Egypt is, I thought I would share with you my itinerary. Now, for my own personal safety, I am not going to give exact dates, departure times or airline information but I will share with you information such as the length of the flights and where I will be flying into. {more} |
| It's Official |
| Added: 2006-01-30 by: Gary Isse |
 Well, it’s official. I’m going on assignment. I have the plane ticket and the web site GaryInEgypt.com. I am going to Egypt to check out the Total Solar Eclipse, amongst fifty other things, on March 29th, 2006 and if conditions allow, and everything goes as planned, I plan to broadcast it live via web cam! I’ll be there about a month and will document and update my web site as much as possible throughout the trip. {more} |
