Ismailia

My travel companion and I took a second-class train to Ismailia. Although it is NOWHERE near as bad as the local second-class train of India (then again, I don't even think anything could be as bad as that), it was still interesting. The train itself wasn't too bad but the tracks were in terrible condition. Those that connect Cairo to Alexandria (as I'm told) and to Luxor and Aswan (as I've experienced) are pretty decent. Totally different than the other routes within the country. I don't think that there is as much care and maintenance invested into them as not that many tourists use those trains. Consequently, you are being rattled to death on them. Although I didn't think that anything was going to really happen, there were a couple of moments when the thought that the train was going to rattle itself apart or into derailing did cross my mind!

Anyhow, Ismailia is a smallish town between Port Said (located on the Mediterranean Sea) and Suez. Despite it's proximity to the Suez Canal, I did not get a chance to watch some of the boats manuevering their way through. I was just so completely pooped. So I ended up sleeping quite a bit here.

I did get a chance to explore parts of the town on foot for the afternoon and early evening before I took off for Dahab. The town is really laid back with more of a developing modern city feel to the northeast and the quaint colonial charm of the south. There weren't any other tourists that I could see. As a matter of fact, especially in the northeastern part that I roamed around, there were very few people that could speak English. But they were very patient with me and my few horribly-chopped up Arabic phrases. They were so nice! It's clear that the tourism industry hasn't spoilt the charm, grace, and generosity of the people here. But it is a shame that tourists don't see this side of Egypt. For the most part, many only get the hassle of the touts, demands for baksheesh and the price-gouging of shopkeeps. Which really is too bad as the people that I've had the pleasure to meet have been so wonderful. It certainly was a relief for me as I was getting a bit grumpy from the hassles as well as being shuttled around in herds. It's definitely coming back to what I enjoy and have grown accustomed to from the earlier parts of my travels.