NYC Subways Nowadays

Lately I've noticed that 25% of all men jump the turnstyle.  Why do you do this?  Pay your fare.  Yes, women do it too but rarely do I see women.

Recently at Canal Street I saw a father and two sons (late teens/early 20's) jump the turnstyle.  Then ask an agent for directions down on the platform.  I felt like telling the agent not to help them.  Another time a young man jumped the turnstyle, then asked me which way is uptown.  I ignored him.  Felt like spitting on him.  But what would happen if he spit back at me?  Would we get into a spitting contest?  I'm not a good spitter.  Once as a teen, I spit out the car window and it stayed on the window, wind and motion dragging it away as we blew down the LIE.  

Parents, teach your children to be honest and pay their fare.  Its stealing.  

My Wish for Cecelia

They say that your hopes & dreams lie in the next generation.  I have so many wishes & dreams for my beautiful granddaughter.  But first I'll let you in on a little secret.  Every time I wish upon a star, or blow out those candles, or break a chicken wish-bone I wish for the same thing.  But it never comes true.  I wish for Peace on Earth.  Why doesn't it come true?

Is it because people don't want peace?  Or do we already have peace and don't know it?  I wish Cecelia lives in a world of peace.  A world that still has water.  Cecelia, be eternally optimistic and see the good in people.  Be hopelessly naive and happy.  Its better than being an asshole.  

You are a child of the Universe no less than the trees and stars. Keep peace with your soul.  With all its sham and drudgery & broken dreams, the world is still a beautiful place.  Strive to be happy.

Desiderata

Nile River Cruise May 2023

The only thing I knew about the Nile is I once tried to watch Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile" and got bored and gave up.  Little did I know what a treat I was in for on our 5 day Nile River Cruise.

Most people start in Cairo then fly south to Luxor & get the cruise there.  We did it the other way around since there are direct flights from Zurich to Luxor.  Even though we had to take the 2.5 hour train ride from Lausanne to Zurich (+stay over in a hotel), I'd rather do that than transfer from Geneva to somewhere to Luxor.  Connecting flights are not worth the stress.

I have no idea why, but I thought you just stay docked somewhere and use the ship as a hotel, and go to different pyramids each day.  Little did I know we would travel to 5+ stops and even go through some locks (like the Suez Canal).

Egypt is not a rich country.  I was so happy with the exchange rate to the Egyptian pound but then realized the Egyptian people are really suffering and their currency devalues so quickly my wallet was full to the brim with just the exchange of $300 USD.  Today one Egyptian pound  = 0.032 USD.  Locals want to be paid in dollars with this fluctuation (mostly down for them) 😞 

Each tomb or monument had more history than the next.  What's even more interesting is that most of them were undiscovered until centuries later.  Whole neighborhoods and communities/cities were built over them and more or less had to be taken down to excavate to the tombs.  Some locals don't want their neighborhoods to be torn down to find history.  Others want to preserve the culture and architecture.  Who is right?

Day 1 straight off the plane to Karnak Temple which was probably my favorite as it was huge and had beautiful obelisks, rams lining the entrance, cartoushes, hieroglyphics and stories on the walls

Karnak was robbed and looted by many jealous kings/enemies.  The paintings on the walls & columns were beautiful, made of ground stone powder and we learned what some of the symbols were (water).

 Luxor Temple

Key to a good vacation is an experienced tour guide.  Here called Egyptologist.  Our Egyptologist worked on several excavations and was trained in the history 

Luxor temple was right near our ship (SS Mayfair).  The boat itself had a lot of activities and a great rooftop area.

Desserts similar to Chinese desserts-SWEET!

we had our own little balcony which came in handy because it was too hot on top (100 degrees)

heat didn't stop me.  No wonder I'm the only one here

tons of boats going up and down the Nile!

when you boarded you went through security but boats lined up one behind the other so you ended up walking across 5 boars sometimes before you got to yours.  Got to see other boat lobbies 😆

Valley of the Kings is where Kin Tut's tomb is.  We went into so many tombs and paid extra to get into one--Ramses VI and it was less packed with tourists!  Could take time to see clearly the hieroglypics and paintings on the walls.  Color still vivid to this day!

Edfu Temple

To get to Edfu Temple you take a horse and buggy and it was scene right out of Lawrence of Arabia-chaos with horses, traffic jam hell.  It was so much fun.  The temple was buried for over a millennium and rediscovered.  It was built so the light comes in to tell time, with a stairway to the afterlife.  

Abu Simbel Temples

Took a short flight at the crack of dawn which was delayed (ugh).  We were there at the height of tourist season and after waiting 30 minutes to get into the claustrophobic hot temple, wanted to run out!  We missed so many beautiful sights but it was just too crowded and you couldn't move.  I was afraid of being trampled on in a stampede.  My friend Lucy went just as the pandemic was opening up things and she had the temple all to herself (literally).  What a difference a year makes.

This is Edfu Temple---------by now you may be sick of me describing each temple and seeing our silly poses all over Egypt.  Its amazing how they rediscovered al these ruins.  You MUST go!

Chinese-American Problems (aka Jok Sing Problems)

I'm not sure but I guess I'm about 30% fluent in Cantonese.  I can help strangers with directions, speak to my old lady Aunties, M-I-L but could never watch a full Chinese TV show or conduct/attend a business meeting.  But when it comes to restaurant Cantonese, I'm 90% fluent!!!!  Can order my favorite dishes, ask questions, get a new napkin, ask if the crabs are fresh and other basics.

Sometimes when I place a take-out order, I write out phonetically what I want, so I don't forget.  Except for those annoying times when you don't know how to order because you don't know how to say the name of the dish.  "You know, the chicken with crispy skin" or the "fish pot with foo jok on the bottom"?

A HA!  That's where my cousin Teung comes in.  How many times have I texted you to say "how do you say this?  How do you say that?  Then the real hero of the story Mrs. Cousin comes in-THANK YOU!  She always knows what I mean.  So when I say "its like ja gee gai" but more garlicky with crispy skin and its something like "herng gwat" or we had it with Auntie So & So they always know what I mean.  No, its not bok jom gai or bok wong gai... you know, we had it at 16 Mott and it has a lot of 5 spice powder flavor..............OH Shern Herng Gai.  Our process of elimination continues.

Like when I didn't know how to say lamb chops.. something yerng pah.  When you go to a restaurant you can point and act out but if you order take out you are sunk.  and we must eat.  So our jok sing problems go on 😛😐😋

this was a special nor mai fon with lobster

Above pix is our typical order:  shern herng gai, ging dao pai guat (every jok sing boys' dream), fu pay gern, gnaw nom bow, fu yer ong choy.

Have you ever heard of the Fung Brothers?  Jake said they were famous years ago.  They promoted this new restaurant which had naw mai fon gai yik and started singing a song about naw mai fon gai yik ♯𝄠𝄤𝄹.  Now I can't stop singing that song in  my head (who sings about chicken wings?) + REALLY really want to go there and eat it!  Who wants to come with me?

Egypt - Cairo April 2023

Whenever I went to the Museum of Natural History or any other exhibit that had mummies and Egyptian art I shied away from them as they looked boring and creepy.  Now that I know the history I can appreciate why they are so special and can't believe how they were discovered and survived.

Many of the tombs have just been discovered in modern times.  Buried over by centuries of nature (rain, flood) + different Kings and leaders conquering and taking over. Last time I was in London I couldn't get an appointment to see the Rosetta Stone which I thought would be interesting.  Glad I didn't because now I know the background.  It translates the hieroglyphics to an alphabet/language we can understand.  I didn't realize the original hieroglyphics were centuries old--that's why modern civilization couldn't translate/understand.

The first part of our trip was a 5 day Nile cruise which I liked better than the second part which was 3 days in Cairo.  I'll tell you about the Nile cruise another time, but below are our pictures from the Citadel (mosque), Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.

Cairo is an old city and has no traffic lights.  We were scared to death to cross the street so we ended up not going out much at night.  We ate big breakfasts and lunches and enjoyed the 5 star hotel, air-conditioning, and watching silly movies in bed.