Chiwen Lin
Dear All,
Since many of you told me that you could not open the file I sent, I decided to reconstruct everything in this email. In the process, I also made substantial changes and corrections. Please note, what I wrote was my own thoughts and observations. Those of you went with us in this trip would no doubt have reflections of your own. As our Historian, Wu-Ching Pan would also give us a much better depiction of our trip as a group.
Yes, we are safely back from a cruise of 13 days to Egypt and Aegean on Grand Princess which took us from Rome Civitavecchia to Naples, Athens, Kusadasi, Istanbul, Mykonos, Port Said, Alexandria, Civitavecchia, and then back to the States. It covered Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt, traversing Europe and Asia.
Iris and I had considerable trepidation, apprehension, and hesitation, right from the beginning of our trip. You see, four days before our embarkation, I twisted my left ankle badly while working in the backyard. A quick visit to Kaiser's Minor Injury Center and several x-rays later, I was pronounced fit to travel. However, deep in my mind, I was wondering if that was a warning sign for things to come?
When we arrived in the Rome Fiumicino Airport, I stubbornly adhered to my plan and hurled the luggage to the train station with Iris and took the local train to Civitavecchia Port. The train ride was down right cheap, smooth, and if it were not because of the heavy luggage, it would have been rather comfortable. By the time we reached Sunbay Park Hotel, we were in good spirits and satisfied that we did manage everything properly. Even with the sudden gust of wind and heavy rain, I decided to walk about the complex and look for fruit vendors. Not a few steps later, I stumbled on the uneven pavement under the strong wind and fell. One lens of my glasses was broken into 4 pieces. When I got up, blood began to trickle down my face. I hurried back to the hotel, cleaned up a little, put some Vaseline on the cut and then applied the ice pack under the watchful eyes of the totally shocked Iris. When I showed my face to the hotel manager, he immediately called the ambulance and off we went to the emergency room of the local hospital. The nurse and the doctor there looked at by then the golf sized lump under my right eye and asked for a MRI, which was performed after some considerable delay because it was late in the day and only one technician remained on duty. Afterwards, I was told that nothing was broken and I could go on with my cruise. All that process took about 3 hours, and since I was a US citizen and guaranteed by the hotel, it would be free of charge. No bandage was applied and no medication was given to me. During the dinner at the hotel that night, my feeling was quite mixed. I was grateful for the professional treatment received, but angry at myself. How could I be so careless, especially when my left ankle was still in discomfort: I was also wondering, could that be an indication that my body and mind coordination was slipping?
The next day, I appeared in front of Iris' classmates and friends who joined our trip on board the ship, I was consoled for being so lucky that it was not anymore serious. Lin Ching Hsien told me that I must have accumulated enough good deeds, that the broken lens didn't hurt my eye. I was particularly grateful to Judy's hubby Dr. Thomas Lin for his care that day and many days afterwards during our trip together. Remarkably, the swelling was lessened to only a small shadow of bruises when we concluded our trip. But I was left with many pictures showing one horrified looking face.
Before the trip, I had planned three shore excursions with friends and venturesome folks. One of these was from Piraeus to Athens. Twenty seven of us took the Metro on that excursion. Neither my own misfortune nor the untimely rain dampened our spirit. A 3 Euro day pass allowed us to use the train for the whole day. David Yang and I led the group through the streets in between Monastireki and the Syntagma Square under the guidance of a young lady who not only helped us buying the metro ticket but took us to her shop and gave us a detailed map with directions to many of our visiting sites. our first stop in Acropolis was the newest museum in Athens which only opened to public for less than 4 months. The exhibit was enormous and included many artifacts which were unearthed in the surrounding area and from Acropolis itself for protection. While many others in our remaining group of 50 took official tours offered by Grand Princess with considerable more money and were sulked in rain during its heavy downpour without covering at the top of Acropolis, we had the luxury of enjoying the marvelous view of the entire Acropolis through the 2nd floor window in the restaurant, all for 1 Euro entrance fee. After much resting, we then visited the Arch of Hadrian nearby and took some pictures of the first Olympic site and the ruin of the Zeus' Temple which took 170 years to complete but only moments to fade in the history. We walked the rock paved narrow streets of Plaka, and one complete round of Acropolis below its foot hill. One regret I had was not being able to see the changing of guards at the Unknown Soldiers' Monument which we missed by only 10 minutes because having to walk to our young lady's shop at Monastireki. We found out later on that neither did other people who took the Princess tours. The other regret was that I should have followed my original plan of using the bus on the return trip from metro station to the port terminal. Instead, I listened to another fellow traveler on metro who declared that there was no need to take the bus. Walking would suffice. I watched Diana Tang struggling along and felt rather miserable. However, For 4 Euros, we really had our money's worth of site seeing that day.
Our next stop after Athens was Kusadasi of Turkey. Iris and I joined Holly (Liu Hang), Michael and Jeanne Wu, Felicia, Wu-Ching and two of their friends and went to the Bazaar close by. That turned out to be the best shopping opportunity we've had of our entire trip. We bought porcelain mugs from a local factory, cell phone porches and trinkets from street vendors. Never realizing how cheap things were then, we regretted later that we didn't spend more and shop longer.
The trip to Istanbul was a little chaotic, since the main bridge linking the port terminal to the old town was blocked for traffic due to a Marathon. The occasional drizzle didn't help the matter either. So, instead of taking the Tram, we took the shatter bus offered by Princess and went on foot to see St. Sophie, the Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace. We cheered on the Marathon runners along the way. The 18 KM run up and down the hilly city seemed to take them forever to complete. In my mind, the view of St. Sophie and the Blue Mosque from outside was already worth our trip. I was told that the interior of the Blue Mosque had to be repainted every 5 years. The heavy perspiration and odor coming from people wearing socks only and sometimes even bare feet probably didn't help the matter. After the visit of Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace became a nice stroll on its huge ground. The crown jewels on display looked small in the darkened room which seemed to connect one and the other in a maze, but the air was too stuffy for me to linger. There was also a luminous jay vase given by one of the Emperors of China on display. I didn't care to stay long to read the history because of the crowd and thick air. The view of the harbor from one of its terraces with gentle wind blowing in my face was refreshing, however, When we reached Mykonos of Greece the next day, the sun was shining brightly. The entire island was dotted with completely white match box type, one to two story houses and blue rimed windows. Nearly every house had a church of its own. Being a gay heaven in Europe, we marveled if that could be the reason of not seeing any children during our entire visit.
Of the 3 shore excursions I spent most of my time doing research, which included Athens and Istanbul we just visited, none was more challenging than the one from Port Said to Cairo. I was quite apprehensive about the safety of the trip at the beginning which was heightened by the fact that any tour bus going and leaving Cairo must be traveling in a police escorted convoy, in addition to the need of a guard on board the bus. The trip from Port Said to Cairo and back took about 12 hours, but our ship only stayed for 13 hours. Meeting the tight schedule became the other challenge. This was particularly so since the Nile Cruise and Lunch option chosen by us would require more time. When I did my research and selected Memphis Tours Egypt through Memphistours.com to take us through this journey instead of taking the options offered by Princess and others, cost was one important factor. The low cost offer by Memphis Tours Egypt was very attractive but the doubt remained whether it was as reliable as Princess, even though many web sites presented upbeat comments about the company. My confidence gained rapidly after many candid discussions with its Tourism Manager, Ahmed Faez, however. I was particularly heartened when Ahmed offered 2 large buses with WC just for us 52 people. For that, our entire group was divided into 3 teams with distinct origins The Classmates and two friends of Wu-Ching were in bus 1 with Rosalind Lee as its lead. Being our Treasurer, she could settle any remaining financial matters with the Representative from Memphis Tours Egypt. In the meantime, bus 2 was led by Zong Hou with his Chicago team of 15 and Simon Peng's 13 people coming from Ohio. Such dedicated teams each with its own leader made people managing much easier. I felt even more assured when I was told that bus 2 would also have one Egyptologist Tour Guide and a Memphis Tours' Representative to take care of things and maintain order. Since the large buses would travel in the same police guarded convoy with Princess and others, all that remained would be time control and people management for us to ensure that we had an enjoyable and safe trip.
Thus, our buses started the journey to Cairo from Port Said on October 21 at 7:45 AM, 15 minutes later than originally planned but much orderly than I envisioned. We were at the fore front of the bus convoy with a siren sounding, light flashing police escort leading the pack. Inside the limit of Port Said, there were police cars blocking the intersections and directing traffics to allow the bus convoy smooth passage. The police escort left us when we were outside the city limit and on the open highway. There was heavy presence of police and armed guards at every toll gate, however. At one location, I even saw a cannon on the road side but with its jacket covered. Along the way, we saw tall ships with cargos not far from us, seemingly motionless. Those ships were actually moving inside the Suez Cannel but almost seemed to be on land. We also saw from time to time pigeon coops which shaped like pyramids with openings. Soon we passed the 4 mile long bridge spanning the highway and Suez Cannel, and desert gradually replaced houses and fields. When we were close to Cairo, large mansions began to dot the sand dunes with more trees and shrubs lining the highway. We soon passed a large industrial complex and the traffic became quite congested, By the time we reached our first destination, the Step Pyramids, we were late by nearly one hour.
The view of the pyramids among the high rise buildings and numerous apartment complex before we even reached the site was already sobering. But seeing it up close and touching the stones was exhilarating. Julia Sun was beaming with delight that this visit finally capped her long held desire of seeing the towering time tested structures herself. I believe the pictures we took with her touching the pyramids would give us fond memories of this trip for years to come.
We drove by the three pyramids, and took a camel ride through the valley of temples. With the view of the three pyramids in front and silhouette of Cairo behind it, an enormous satisfying feeling soon swept through me. The one humped docile animal was not hard to handle with the guide tugging on its ropes, but the aroma of the animal lasted through our entire trip.
After the visit of the three pyramids, the view of the Sphinx from distance became anticlimactic. So was the visit to the papyrus paper making shop. But the use of the Chinese flour making rounded stick to roll the papyrus into paper showed us that history of our two countries did intermingle after all.
Our two buses left the pyramids and the papyrus paper shop behind and joined others for our lunch cruise on a 5 star cruise boat. Memphis Tours Egypt had chartered the boat for our group and their other guests who came with different buses but were traveling with us on Grand Princess. We had a rather delightful lunch buffet. The food was surprisingly appetizing, and the inside of the ship was clean to the touch with no flies nor flying insects, as described by other travelers in the past. However, most of us did skip the salad and bread and stayed only with the cooked items.
There was dancing and singing performance on board, but the music was too loud for comfort, and many of us opted to go on upstairs for picture taking and looking at the banks of Cairo. Being the largest group Memphis Tours Egypt had booked on this trip and the inaugural party of this itinerary which included Nile Cruise with lunch, its Public Relations Manager gathered the representatives and tour guides and conducted an interview with us for broadcasting to its offices worldwide. I had the honor of speaking for the group, thanking Memphis Tours Egypt for a job well done, and wished their staff success in future bookings. By then I had totally forgotten my own nearly eye-popping accident. I only regretted afterwards that I did not ask Rosalind Lee, our Treasurer, to come out and also say a few words. She did a magnificent job in handling the account and ensured the smooth trip for us. No doubt her good looking face would have been a much better show than mine.
We left Nile River right on time around 3:45 PM. Again, the bus convoy picked up a siren sounding light flashing police car. We streamed back through traffic and left Cairo behind. The long bridge which spanned the highway and Suez Cannel was lit up like a string of pearls above us when we passed it. The cargo ships were also illuminated but ghostly looking from afar. By the time we reached Port Said at close to seven, darkness already settled down to much of the suburb, and the lights of Grand Princess were visible from far away. We were tired but more than satisfied that nearly everything went according to plan. To show our appreciation to the hard work and efficient handling of our trip, Rosalind and I stayed behind and gave Mohamed, the representative from Memphis Tour Egypt who had been traveling with us in Bus 1, the tip which included $5 collected earlier and $4 extra from our slush fund for each of us to be divided among the people helping us in both buses. The heavy burden carried in my heart for so many months was finally let go, and I slept that night like a log.
The next day, we reached Alexandria around noon. Twenty seven of us decided to take a walking tour of the city. Half way, we wondered in the bazaar and could not find our directions. A local took us around and showed the direction of Fort Qai Bey, and collected a decent amount of tips in the process, but seemingly looking for more. Not being able to agree on how to proceed, the group decided to part our own ways. Most of us just settled down to strolling around close by the port entrance and shopped. I was told later on a unsettling story of the strange encounters of the group of seven who left us to find taxis. I was also told that the tours offered by Princess did not even stop for picture taking, and only pointed the various scenic spots to people on bus while the bus was moving through the chaotic traffic. So, after Cairo, the visit to Alexandria had become meaningless.
The day when we said good bye to Grand Princess, most of us who took a next day flight home joined a half day tour of Rome. We dropped off our luggage at Hilton Garden Inn at the Fuimicino Airport, and visited Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. Iris and I tasted the ice cream and pizza and I also had a sip of the ice cold spring water from the fountain. The half day tour turned out to be much more rewarding than the full day trip to Amalfi Coast on our first day in Naples. That trip was totally disorganized and full of confrontation, which I would rather forget entirely. Unlike my first visit to Trevi Fountain years ago, I managed to throw a coin smartly right in the middle of the fountain. I hope my next visit there would have a rather uneventful beginning. But I must be thankful that everything turned out to be so nice, particularly during the highlight of our trip, visiting Cairo pyramids with a leisurely lunch cruise on Nile River.
Oh yes, how could I forget the jam packed programs Joyce and Zong Hou had spent countless hours to manage for us. We had a wonderful celebration to celebrate Felicia and Wu-Ching Pan's proud parenthood of raising a daughter whom had just become a Federal High Court Judge. There were also many birthdays to be celebrated, including Richard Lee (at his perpetuating 49?), David Yang and many others whom I couldn't remember. The lecture sessions provided by 6 MD's in our group was illuminating. I was no less blessed by their presence because of my injury. Wu-Ching even arranged to have the doctor turned renowned painter, Dr. Shee to give me a copy of the booklet which included his paintings displayed in an exhibit in Paris, for the effort I contributed in managing the trip to Cairo. I was also touched by Hwang Da-Shong, who sang a Taiwanese lyric in Iris and my honor. I was truly humbled. Oh yes, how about Shirley Yang's dancing performance, who won the first prize in talent contest? As usual, we also had some Mahjong games, in which I was the consistent looser, and the winner was Wu-Ching. However, he did loose in the dice and David was the only winner for being the host.
One final note, Iris and I were really surprised to see two old friends, Ellen and Danny Hwang on board Grand Princess, after missing contact for close to 30 some years. Danny was literally the matchmaker pulling Iris and I together, when I was studying in Ga. Tech. for my Ph. D., and Iris was visiting in Atlanta. They had joined the team led by Simon Peng to come along for this trip. They were part of my core group touring Athens, Istanbul, and Cairo and provided much needed support during difficult and uncertain times. We had many wonderful days together, but few chances to catch up on our missing years.
Iris and I are now recovering from our jet lag. Already, I am thinking about our next year's Reunion in Taiwan with a side trip probably to Hai-Nan, which will be managed by Lin Ching Hsien and Fu Reng-Hsiung. I am sure that it will be a terrific gathering and much less stressful on my part.
Chiwen Lin
Since many of you told me that you could not open the file I sent, I decided to reconstruct everything in this email. In the process, I also made substantial changes and corrections. Please note, what I wrote was my own thoughts and observations. Those of you went with us in this trip would no doubt have reflections of your own. As our Historian, Wu-Ching Pan would also give us a much better depiction of our trip as a group.
Yes, we are safely back from a cruise of 13 days to Egypt and Aegean on Grand Princess which took us from Rome Civitavecchia to Naples, Athens, Kusadasi, Istanbul, Mykonos, Port Said, Alexandria, Civitavecchia, and then back to the States. It covered Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt, traversing Europe and Asia.
Iris and I had considerable trepidation, apprehension, and hesitation, right from the beginning of our trip. You see, four days before our embarkation, I twisted my left ankle badly while working in the backyard. A quick visit to Kaiser's Minor Injury Center and several x-rays later, I was pronounced fit to travel. However, deep in my mind, I was wondering if that was a warning sign for things to come?
When we arrived in the Rome Fiumicino Airport, I stubbornly adhered to my plan and hurled the luggage to the train station with Iris and took the local train to Civitavecchia Port. The train ride was down right cheap, smooth, and if it were not because of the heavy luggage, it would have been rather comfortable. By the time we reached Sunbay Park Hotel, we were in good spirits and satisfied that we did manage everything properly. Even with the sudden gust of wind and heavy rain, I decided to walk about the complex and look for fruit vendors. Not a few steps later, I stumbled on the uneven pavement under the strong wind and fell. One lens of my glasses was broken into 4 pieces. When I got up, blood began to trickle down my face. I hurried back to the hotel, cleaned up a little, put some Vaseline on the cut and then applied the ice pack under the watchful eyes of the totally shocked Iris. When I showed my face to the hotel manager, he immediately called the ambulance and off we went to the emergency room of the local hospital. The nurse and the doctor there looked at by then the golf sized lump under my right eye and asked for a MRI, which was performed after some considerable delay because it was late in the day and only one technician remained on duty. Afterwards, I was told that nothing was broken and I could go on with my cruise. All that process took about 3 hours, and since I was a US citizen and guaranteed by the hotel, it would be free of charge. No bandage was applied and no medication was given to me. During the dinner at the hotel that night, my feeling was quite mixed. I was grateful for the professional treatment received, but angry at myself. How could I be so careless, especially when my left ankle was still in discomfort: I was also wondering, could that be an indication that my body and mind coordination was slipping?
The next day, I appeared in front of Iris' classmates and friends who joined our trip on board the ship, I was consoled for being so lucky that it was not anymore serious. Lin Ching Hsien told me that I must have accumulated enough good deeds, that the broken lens didn't hurt my eye. I was particularly grateful to Judy's hubby Dr. Thomas Lin for his care that day and many days afterwards during our trip together. Remarkably, the swelling was lessened to only a small shadow of bruises when we concluded our trip. But I was left with many pictures showing one horrified looking face.
Before the trip, I had planned three shore excursions with friends and venturesome folks. One of these was from Piraeus to Athens. Twenty seven of us took the Metro on that excursion. Neither my own misfortune nor the untimely rain dampened our spirit. A 3 Euro day pass allowed us to use the train for the whole day. David Yang and I led the group through the streets in between Monastireki and the Syntagma Square under the guidance of a young lady who not only helped us buying the metro ticket but took us to her shop and gave us a detailed map with directions to many of our visiting sites. our first stop in Acropolis was the newest museum in Athens which only opened to public for less than 4 months. The exhibit was enormous and included many artifacts which were unearthed in the surrounding area and from Acropolis itself for protection. While many others in our remaining group of 50 took official tours offered by Grand Princess with considerable more money and were sulked in rain during its heavy downpour without covering at the top of Acropolis, we had the luxury of enjoying the marvelous view of the entire Acropolis through the 2nd floor window in the restaurant, all for 1 Euro entrance fee. After much resting, we then visited the Arch of Hadrian nearby and took some pictures of the first Olympic site and the ruin of the Zeus' Temple which took 170 years to complete but only moments to fade in the history. We walked the rock paved narrow streets of Plaka, and one complete round of Acropolis below its foot hill. One regret I had was not being able to see the changing of guards at the Unknown Soldiers' Monument which we missed by only 10 minutes because having to walk to our young lady's shop at Monastireki. We found out later on that neither did other people who took the Princess tours. The other regret was that I should have followed my original plan of using the bus on the return trip from metro station to the port terminal. Instead, I listened to another fellow traveler on metro who declared that there was no need to take the bus. Walking would suffice. I watched Diana Tang struggling along and felt rather miserable. However, For 4 Euros, we really had our money's worth of site seeing that day.
Our next stop after Athens was Kusadasi of Turkey. Iris and I joined Holly (Liu Hang), Michael and Jeanne Wu, Felicia, Wu-Ching and two of their friends and went to the Bazaar close by. That turned out to be the best shopping opportunity we've had of our entire trip. We bought porcelain mugs from a local factory, cell phone porches and trinkets from street vendors. Never realizing how cheap things were then, we regretted later that we didn't spend more and shop longer.
The trip to Istanbul was a little chaotic, since the main bridge linking the port terminal to the old town was blocked for traffic due to a Marathon. The occasional drizzle didn't help the matter either. So, instead of taking the Tram, we took the shatter bus offered by Princess and went on foot to see St. Sophie, the Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace. We cheered on the Marathon runners along the way. The 18 KM run up and down the hilly city seemed to take them forever to complete. In my mind, the view of St. Sophie and the Blue Mosque from outside was already worth our trip. I was told that the interior of the Blue Mosque had to be repainted every 5 years. The heavy perspiration and odor coming from people wearing socks only and sometimes even bare feet probably didn't help the matter. After the visit of Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace became a nice stroll on its huge ground. The crown jewels on display looked small in the darkened room which seemed to connect one and the other in a maze, but the air was too stuffy for me to linger. There was also a luminous jay vase given by one of the Emperors of China on display. I didn't care to stay long to read the history because of the crowd and thick air. The view of the harbor from one of its terraces with gentle wind blowing in my face was refreshing, however, When we reached Mykonos of Greece the next day, the sun was shining brightly. The entire island was dotted with completely white match box type, one to two story houses and blue rimed windows. Nearly every house had a church of its own. Being a gay heaven in Europe, we marveled if that could be the reason of not seeing any children during our entire visit.
Of the 3 shore excursions I spent most of my time doing research, which included Athens and Istanbul we just visited, none was more challenging than the one from Port Said to Cairo. I was quite apprehensive about the safety of the trip at the beginning which was heightened by the fact that any tour bus going and leaving Cairo must be traveling in a police escorted convoy, in addition to the need of a guard on board the bus. The trip from Port Said to Cairo and back took about 12 hours, but our ship only stayed for 13 hours. Meeting the tight schedule became the other challenge. This was particularly so since the Nile Cruise and Lunch option chosen by us would require more time. When I did my research and selected Memphis Tours Egypt through Memphistours.com to take us through this journey instead of taking the options offered by Princess and others, cost was one important factor. The low cost offer by Memphis Tours Egypt was very attractive but the doubt remained whether it was as reliable as Princess, even though many web sites presented upbeat comments about the company. My confidence gained rapidly after many candid discussions with its Tourism Manager, Ahmed Faez, however. I was particularly heartened when Ahmed offered 2 large buses with WC just for us 52 people. For that, our entire group was divided into 3 teams with distinct origins The Classmates and two friends of Wu-Ching were in bus 1 with Rosalind Lee as its lead. Being our Treasurer, she could settle any remaining financial matters with the Representative from Memphis Tours Egypt. In the meantime, bus 2 was led by Zong Hou with his Chicago team of 15 and Simon Peng's 13 people coming from Ohio. Such dedicated teams each with its own leader made people managing much easier. I felt even more assured when I was told that bus 2 would also have one Egyptologist Tour Guide and a Memphis Tours' Representative to take care of things and maintain order. Since the large buses would travel in the same police guarded convoy with Princess and others, all that remained would be time control and people management for us to ensure that we had an enjoyable and safe trip.
Thus, our buses started the journey to Cairo from Port Said on October 21 at 7:45 AM, 15 minutes later than originally planned but much orderly than I envisioned. We were at the fore front of the bus convoy with a siren sounding, light flashing police escort leading the pack. Inside the limit of Port Said, there were police cars blocking the intersections and directing traffics to allow the bus convoy smooth passage. The police escort left us when we were outside the city limit and on the open highway. There was heavy presence of police and armed guards at every toll gate, however. At one location, I even saw a cannon on the road side but with its jacket covered. Along the way, we saw tall ships with cargos not far from us, seemingly motionless. Those ships were actually moving inside the Suez Cannel but almost seemed to be on land. We also saw from time to time pigeon coops which shaped like pyramids with openings. Soon we passed the 4 mile long bridge spanning the highway and Suez Cannel, and desert gradually replaced houses and fields. When we were close to Cairo, large mansions began to dot the sand dunes with more trees and shrubs lining the highway. We soon passed a large industrial complex and the traffic became quite congested, By the time we reached our first destination, the Step Pyramids, we were late by nearly one hour.
The view of the pyramids among the high rise buildings and numerous apartment complex before we even reached the site was already sobering. But seeing it up close and touching the stones was exhilarating. Julia Sun was beaming with delight that this visit finally capped her long held desire of seeing the towering time tested structures herself. I believe the pictures we took with her touching the pyramids would give us fond memories of this trip for years to come.
We drove by the three pyramids, and took a camel ride through the valley of temples. With the view of the three pyramids in front and silhouette of Cairo behind it, an enormous satisfying feeling soon swept through me. The one humped docile animal was not hard to handle with the guide tugging on its ropes, but the aroma of the animal lasted through our entire trip.
After the visit of the three pyramids, the view of the Sphinx from distance became anticlimactic. So was the visit to the papyrus paper making shop. But the use of the Chinese flour making rounded stick to roll the papyrus into paper showed us that history of our two countries did intermingle after all.
Our two buses left the pyramids and the papyrus paper shop behind and joined others for our lunch cruise on a 5 star cruise boat. Memphis Tours Egypt had chartered the boat for our group and their other guests who came with different buses but were traveling with us on Grand Princess. We had a rather delightful lunch buffet. The food was surprisingly appetizing, and the inside of the ship was clean to the touch with no flies nor flying insects, as described by other travelers in the past. However, most of us did skip the salad and bread and stayed only with the cooked items.
There was dancing and singing performance on board, but the music was too loud for comfort, and many of us opted to go on upstairs for picture taking and looking at the banks of Cairo. Being the largest group Memphis Tours Egypt had booked on this trip and the inaugural party of this itinerary which included Nile Cruise with lunch, its Public Relations Manager gathered the representatives and tour guides and conducted an interview with us for broadcasting to its offices worldwide. I had the honor of speaking for the group, thanking Memphis Tours Egypt for a job well done, and wished their staff success in future bookings. By then I had totally forgotten my own nearly eye-popping accident. I only regretted afterwards that I did not ask Rosalind Lee, our Treasurer, to come out and also say a few words. She did a magnificent job in handling the account and ensured the smooth trip for us. No doubt her good looking face would have been a much better show than mine.
We left Nile River right on time around 3:45 PM. Again, the bus convoy picked up a siren sounding light flashing police car. We streamed back through traffic and left Cairo behind. The long bridge which spanned the highway and Suez Cannel was lit up like a string of pearls above us when we passed it. The cargo ships were also illuminated but ghostly looking from afar. By the time we reached Port Said at close to seven, darkness already settled down to much of the suburb, and the lights of Grand Princess were visible from far away. We were tired but more than satisfied that nearly everything went according to plan. To show our appreciation to the hard work and efficient handling of our trip, Rosalind and I stayed behind and gave Mohamed, the representative from Memphis Tour Egypt who had been traveling with us in Bus 1, the tip which included $5 collected earlier and $4 extra from our slush fund for each of us to be divided among the people helping us in both buses. The heavy burden carried in my heart for so many months was finally let go, and I slept that night like a log.
The next day, we reached Alexandria around noon. Twenty seven of us decided to take a walking tour of the city. Half way, we wondered in the bazaar and could not find our directions. A local took us around and showed the direction of Fort Qai Bey, and collected a decent amount of tips in the process, but seemingly looking for more. Not being able to agree on how to proceed, the group decided to part our own ways. Most of us just settled down to strolling around close by the port entrance and shopped. I was told later on a unsettling story of the strange encounters of the group of seven who left us to find taxis. I was also told that the tours offered by Princess did not even stop for picture taking, and only pointed the various scenic spots to people on bus while the bus was moving through the chaotic traffic. So, after Cairo, the visit to Alexandria had become meaningless.
The day when we said good bye to Grand Princess, most of us who took a next day flight home joined a half day tour of Rome. We dropped off our luggage at Hilton Garden Inn at the Fuimicino Airport, and visited Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. Iris and I tasted the ice cream and pizza and I also had a sip of the ice cold spring water from the fountain. The half day tour turned out to be much more rewarding than the full day trip to Amalfi Coast on our first day in Naples. That trip was totally disorganized and full of confrontation, which I would rather forget entirely. Unlike my first visit to Trevi Fountain years ago, I managed to throw a coin smartly right in the middle of the fountain. I hope my next visit there would have a rather uneventful beginning. But I must be thankful that everything turned out to be so nice, particularly during the highlight of our trip, visiting Cairo pyramids with a leisurely lunch cruise on Nile River.
Oh yes, how could I forget the jam packed programs Joyce and Zong Hou had spent countless hours to manage for us. We had a wonderful celebration to celebrate Felicia and Wu-Ching Pan's proud parenthood of raising a daughter whom had just become a Federal High Court Judge. There were also many birthdays to be celebrated, including Richard Lee (at his perpetuating 49?), David Yang and many others whom I couldn't remember. The lecture sessions provided by 6 MD's in our group was illuminating. I was no less blessed by their presence because of my injury. Wu-Ching even arranged to have the doctor turned renowned painter, Dr. Shee to give me a copy of the booklet which included his paintings displayed in an exhibit in Paris, for the effort I contributed in managing the trip to Cairo. I was also touched by Hwang Da-Shong, who sang a Taiwanese lyric in Iris and my honor. I was truly humbled. Oh yes, how about Shirley Yang's dancing performance, who won the first prize in talent contest? As usual, we also had some Mahjong games, in which I was the consistent looser, and the winner was Wu-Ching. However, he did loose in the dice and David was the only winner for being the host.
One final note, Iris and I were really surprised to see two old friends, Ellen and Danny Hwang on board Grand Princess, after missing contact for close to 30 some years. Danny was literally the matchmaker pulling Iris and I together, when I was studying in Ga. Tech. for my Ph. D., and Iris was visiting in Atlanta. They had joined the team led by Simon Peng to come along for this trip. They were part of my core group touring Athens, Istanbul, and Cairo and provided much needed support during difficult and uncertain times. We had many wonderful days together, but few chances to catch up on our missing years.
Iris and I are now recovering from our jet lag. Already, I am thinking about our next year's Reunion in Taiwan with a side trip probably to Hai-Nan, which will be managed by Lin Ching Hsien and Fu Reng-Hsiung. I am sure that it will be a terrific gathering and much less stressful on my part.
Chiwen Lin