Well, dear reader. I really must tell you about my perfect day out chatting with Nubians in Cairo.

The idea came about in the early days of my dissertation (and if you don’t know what I am talking about, please see the pages on this website). Whilst the main thrust of my research is to find out what visitors to Nubian temples think about the lost heritage, their opinions have to be put into perspective by also finding out what the Nubians themselves think.

I am not going to go into detail on this blog of the outcome, but would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved, and to post some pictures from the day.

I was chaperoned throughout the day by Zizo from Memphis Tours, who was excellent in finding people for me to talk to, and translated throughout. Indeed, I got the impression that he was enjoying the conversations as much as I!

We started in the area of Embaba, and chatted to a cafe owner named Saleh. We sat outside enjoying tea in the colourful surroundings, while Saleh told us about his family, his childhood, the traditions, the way forward. A very pleasant and welcoming gentleman with a very interesting life – what a perfect start to the day!

After our chat, Saleh invited us indoors to meet his wife and his baby twins. I count myself very lucky indeed to have been granted such an honour. and he agreed to having photos taken.

Saleh and family in Embaba

Saleh and family without the intruder!

Aren’t they lovely!

After that, we drove to Abdeen, and struck lucky again when Zizo found a couple of Sudanese gentlemen willing to talk to us. This was an equally enjoyable experience, but it took quite a different form. The conversation was less personal, more objective about the culture in general, and the traditions which are upheld. Sudan of course has its problems reported in the press, and they were happy to have an audience to get across their viewpoints, of how the reality of the situation has little to do with its news coverage.

In itself, this was interesting, because the two gentleman both worked for Sudan Radio (also known as Om Dorman Radio). Abdul el Kassem is the news editor, and Mysara Salim is a broadcaster. Here they are, with a couple of other friends.

Mysara, Abdul and friends

I don’t know how I have the nerve to call this research! Can anything be more enjoyable than sharing a cup of tea in the sunshine in good company, talking about interesting issues?

Abdul talked about Sudan in such an affectionate and knowledgeable manner that it strongly enforced my desire to go there – even Zizo said he would like to visit their country!

The chances are that you are looking at this page because you have already completed my public survey and have been redirected to my website. If that is the case, thank you so much for taking the time to help me out with my studies, and do keep visiting my website to learn of the outcome. There is no need for you to complete the survey more than once.

However, if you have arrived at this page through googling or completing the Museum questionnaire, then Welcome!, and do feel free to add your own comments to any of the blog pages. More importantly, please take a few minutes to complete my survey (link shown below). It is completely anonymous, although I do invite you to leave contact details if you are interested in answering more questions on a one-to-one basis.

The form is a collection of questions about your opinions. I ask whether you have been to Egypt etc simply to know more about you, and to put the findings into context – but your ability to participate in the study does not rely on any knowledge about Egypt, Nubia, the Sudan, their people or their monuments. Therefore I hope you will feel encouraged to take part; just press here to access the survey.

Thank you!

An introductory part of my research is to find out which museums have significant collections of Nubian artefacts, and whether any museums outside Egypt – other than the five forming the centre of my studies – have monuments. Such detail does not form the central focus of my studies, but it will serve to put the rest of my findings into context. We will then see to what extent Nubia’s history has travelled abroad and to what extent my research could be extended into a second phase.

A survey link has been sent to museums with key Egyptian collections, asking whether their displays include artefacts from Nubia, and I will update this post with the results. Clearly, we need to start with the main two.

National Museum of Sudan, Khartoum

Nubia Museum, Aswan

So, an embarrassingly huge number of years after I get my undergraduate degree, here I am studying for the Masters. I have been keeping my brain alive meanwhile (in addition to working full-time) by training for a professional qualification – which took longer to complete than it should because the recession and redundancies enforced a couple of career changes on me.

The qualification was eventually attained in May 2004. After emphatically stating that I would never, under any circumstances, do any more studying for work, six months later I was back at evening classes, studying Egyptology – a wider divide from working in the actuarial environment could not be found!

By the time I had finished my Diploma in Egyptology, I was looking for ways to further my studying. I didn’t want the informal on-line courses, and the Open University didn’t offer anything remotely connected to relevant history or archaeology. Yet the conventional local universities did not offer courses on a part-time basis, held in the evening.

Why not? I can understand why the variety of courses must now dwindle, due to the withdrawal of funding, but why was the selection so poor before that?

I do have a theory, but cannot say whether the reason is the cause or the effect. In my experience, students of Egyptology have fallen generally into two categories – ladies whose financial situation means they do not have to fit studies around income-earning work, and men and women who are already retired. Both categories are ones who get deep enjoyment from visiting Egypt. There is a third category, of young people who have just completed their undergraduate degree and are looking at developing a career, but I associate these people more with archaeology than Egyptology. Again, that could be simply due to my situation controlling the types of people with whom I am mixing.

My breakthrough came when I realised I need not look for undergraduate degree courses as being the logical next step, but instead use the strength of my diploma and undergraduate degree to take me straight through to the Masters level. I thought the archaeology MA being offered by the Institute of Archaeology was attractive – it was sufficiently connected to historic Egypt to allow me to make use of my knowledge, but the fact that it was in archaeology should offer an interesting outlook.

One problem. Whilst it is a part-time course, the classes are only offered on a day-time basis.

By this time, sufficient people had said to me that fitting in studying for an MA around a full-time job was fine, they had managed it without any problem, so I was already sold on the idea. I wonder how many of them, though, were taking day-time courses which were not connected with their career. Also, I had been studying for years (albeit in the evening) so what big difference would it make?

Well, it makes a huge difference, and I took all of the first term to get used to it. First, the journey from door to door takes 1.5 hours each way, so already I am taking up 3 hours each time I travel into London. If the class is at 2.00, then that is fine, I just take a half-day’s annual leave and stay for the rest of the afternoon in the library. But when the class is at 11.00, I have to go to work early and do a couple of hours before I catch the train, then rush back  to the office as soon as class is over. Over a few weeks, the pressure builds up, because I am not being able to use the library and I still have to get my assignments done.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out how much this eats into my annual leave allowance. Fortunately, we currently operate a flexible benefits system at work which allows us to buy extra days holiday. I have done this, but it is to no-one’s advantage to buy many extra days – it is costly, and makes it even harder to catch up with office work.

And, like so many people, I have been very busy at work and have had to work extra hours to get through my duties.

The result is that I hated my first term at uni. I was just rushing around, getting nowhere, and struggling with the first module which was horrible. I had no idea why I had put myself in this situation. But the second term was infinitely better; the modules had hugely improved, and I loved it.

I do however feel I am excluded from every aspect of social life or supplementary lectures, because they all seem to be conducted during the day.

My struggles during the first term meant my assignments suffered, which of course is going to affect my overall pass mark. I often feel great anger towards the first module, because the course co-ordinator was in no way supportive or approachable, and so unlike the other course co-ordinators, who took pains to make sure they were available to see all of their students.

Fortunately, I am happy with my essay marks for the other modules, so my overall feeling is one of positivism.

As to what the final year brings, we will just have to see what happens. All I know is that I am looking forward to it.

My attitude towards studying has been virtually upside down throughout my life. I used to enjoy going to school, but that was largely because of seeing my friends and, although my class- and home- work was acceptable, I always had problems with exams. There was never any question in my mind of what was going to happen after the O levels – I would get out of schooling as soon as possible and find a job.

And so I lived a life in blissful ignorance of academia for the next 6 or 7 years, working at a couple of local businesses, living at home with my parents, earning enough money to save a little and spend a little bit more. Things started to change when my employer encouraged me to study a management course at the nearest college, so that my work in admin could take on a more responsible role.

The two certificate courses (in Supervisory Studies, and Management) enabled a realisation that I did in fact have a brain, and before the second course was finished, I was already thinking of how I could take studying further. The logical step would have been to do the Diploma in Management Studies, but I was not confident of being able to cope with that whilst doing my full-time job as Administration Manager at The Grange Centre in Midhurst (a community centre which combined Social Services day-care facilities and community/sports facilities under one roof which, at the time, was a novel idea).

I made a very brave decision and decided to give up work altogether, leave home, and head for the lights of London and study for a degree. As a mature student without any A levels or specialist knowledge, the courses available to me (at locations that I was prepared to consider) were limited, and I opted for Social Sciences, specialising in law and politics. This enabled me to study modules such as criminology and war studies, which I found fascinating.

I loved life as a student. Loved it, loved it. The age gap between me and the other students was not so broad that it alienated me, and it enabled me to bring a perspective on life to the discussions that others may not have always considered. On the other hand, I learned a lot more than I expected, and the main aspect which has dominated my subsequent years is how you should always try to consider the other view point, and that just because someone is different, it doesn’t mean they are wrong or odd. Yes, I should have always thought like that, but it is amazing how closeted life in a small town can be, spawning narrow-minded thinking.

Life as a student wasn’t easy though, indeed, why should it be? Throughout the first two years I couldn’t understand why my essay marks did not reflect the work I was putting into writing them and, looking back, now I can’t understand why it took me so long to realise it! The reason was that I had not made the transition from vocational-based studies to academia; the first expected me to show evidence of how what I had learned could be applied to my job; the second merely wanted evidence of the fact that I had done the reading, and had understood it. I was making the mistake in my essays of saying what I thought, which the lecturers were not interested in hearing.

Living in London as a student was an interesting experience. This was so long ago, that I was one of the last years to receive a grant before the system changed – and I got a full grant of about £3k! Oh dear Reader, you need to understand what a temptation living in London was, walking past the shops on Oxford Street every day. £3k didn’t go very far. I got two part-time jobs to help fund my life, one of which was in a cleaners, taking phone calls and typing the invoices. It was perfect; the company was run by two partners who took it in turn to man the office and were therefore on their own most of the time. I am sure the reason they employed me was as much for giving them company as it was for giving them help, and they were happy for me to use the typewriter to type up my essays. Yes – typewriter! I bet this wasn’t the kind of history lesson you were expecting to read on my website!!

Despite having a full grant and two part-time jobs, I still managed to go into the maximum amount of debt allowed on my bank account. But I would not have missed the experience of living, working and studying in London for anything.

For many years after my degree, I was a huge advocate of being a mature student. I have never been able to understand a schooling system that puts so much pressure on such young shoulders, to not only perform well in a wide range of subjects, but to also know what they want to do in life in order to make best use of their education. These decisions are expected to start being made at an age when pupils are adolescents, even still children in some cases. How can people who have no idea what life is like be expected to know what to do with it?

Therefore I gave all the wrong advice to my friends’ children. I could see the stress and anguish they were under, and I would say stuff like, “if you are not sure about what to do, then delay your decision. Not going to university immediately after school is not the end of the world, because you can always do it later, when you have a better idea of what you want”. Unfortunately, that logic cannot be applied now, with all the changes that have been made to the education system, the economy and the competitiveness for university placements.

Firstly, I should say that as I write this, I am sitting in a hotel bedroom, it is 06:00 hours on a Saturday morning, I have just watched the sunrise and I am feeling full of promise for a wonderful weekend. It is always good to start a blog on a positive note!

What prompts me to create a blog about being a single traveller is the number of times I feel I am downgraded; the number of times a ’single room’ translates to meaning ‘room stuck in the corner of the hotel without an external window, but with lesser facilities, etc’. And the number of times I am shown to a table in a restaurant which is barely big enough to take me and my book/newspaper, let alone the second person for whom the table is invariably laid and, like the accompanying bedroom, is often stuck in the corner and rarely has a window seat.

Now then – not every hotel has been like this, and some have made me feel like the Queen of Sheba. However, there does seem to be a correlation between the level of feeling pampered and the distance travelled – because the further afield I have gone, the more reliant I have been on travel companies to make the arrangements for me. Similarly, I am more likely to have felt like treating myself to a little bit of luxury, as the journey itself is more likely to have been a one-off treat, so why ruin it by stinting with the room? So, I believe the correlation to be the fact that, by virtue of using travel companies to make the arrangements for me (and in the absence of giving instructions to do otherwise), I have been paying through the nose for double rooms in 4* or 5* hotels.

Which means, of course, that my unwelcome experiences of feeling stuck in an expanded cupboard are much closer to home. The rooms in most of the British hotels have been absolutely disgusting (but NOT the one from which I am writing this blog). My rooms in hotels on the Continent did not give enough space to walk around the bed, and the views were over the bins or service yard. My rooms in Egyptian hotels and in Malta have been better – because they have all been double or twin rooms. The rooms in US, Canada, New Zealand, Tahiti increased in quality to the extent of some being downright luxurious.

My call to arms is for hotel websites and literature to be more honest about what the traveller is getting for their money. I don’t understand why it is so difficult for the industry to introduce a pricing system based on quality of room, not size, so that the traveller can then elect whether to save money and go for sub-standard facilities, or pay the going rate for normal quality.

Here is a suggestion of how it could be portrayed, for a larger hotel with a variety of room-types:

General quality of most rooms (i.e. STANDARD) = en suite facilities, hairdryer, tea/coffee making facilities (if in UK), desk and chair, comfortable furnishings.

Then listing prices of rooms assuming the STANDARD, but at different sizes of room, e.g. family room, double/twin, single.

Then showing discounted rates for SUB-STANDARD rooms that fail to meet the benchmark level of quality, giving the reason such as, internal window only therefore limited natural lighting, only accessible by three flights of stairs, not en-suite, limited floor space in room.

Equally the hotel can apply EXECUTIVE rates for rooms offering better facilities, e.g. plasma TVs, balconies, sea-views.

So, I am not demanding that hotels rip out  their rooms and undergo a massive refurbishment (though some that I have stayed in would clearly benefit from such an overhaul). All I am asking for is honesty with disclosing what the visitor might expect for their money.

But, hey, recognising that the single traveller is not a social pariah would also be a good start.

I am very keen to use this blog to hear from others interested in Egypt, Sudan and Nubia, regardless of where you live. I am mainly interested in starting up discussions about culture (ancient and modern), history and geography, particularly how this has been affected by different ruling powers.

Feel free to submit your thoughts, by using the form at the end of the pages. Don’t necessarily wait for me to start the discussions; I think this blog would be more interesting by having posts written by a wider group of people.

Looking forward to hearing from you ……….

Being able to attend the Leiden Symposium on 11th and 12th December was the catalyst for the first main thrust of my research to be conducted outside of Egypt. See the pages under my Progress Report for December ‘09 for details of my interview with Professor Bill Adams, and the questionnaire study I conducted at the National Museum of Antiquities on Sunday 13th December.

I don’t intend to give a full account of the conference – I suspect copyright issues would prevent me from doing so, anyway – but hopefully the organisers won’t object to me showing here an extract from their objectives for the conference, entitled ‘Qasr Ibrim, between Egypt and Africa: A case study of cultural exchange’.

Canal in Leiden

First, here is a passage about the organisers:

‘The conference is organised by the Department of Egyptology of Leiden University and the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO), also in Leiden. It is supported by the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO) and various other sponsors. Responsible for the scientific part of the program are Joost Hagen (Leiden University) and Jacques van der Vliet (Leiden University/Radboud University Nijmegen), assisted by Carolien van Zoest (NINO).’

The other extract I would like to take from the Symposium’s published objectives for the conference is the history to Qasr Ibrim. From this extract, you will be able to imagine the interesting content to the various talks over the weekend.

‘For thousands of years the natural citadel at Qasr Ibrim in northern Nubia occupied a strategic position, dominating all contacts (commercial, military and cultural) between Egypt and the Middle-Nile region (the present-day Sudan). As an administrative, religious and military centre, it flourished under Pharaonic, Kushite, Meroitic and Nobadian rule, with frequent interludes (Roman, Blemmye, and Muslim Egyptian), ending as a forgotten outpost of the Ottoman Empire. All of these various empires and civilisations left archaeological and textual remains that are of great potential value for our understanding of the many contacts between the Mediterranean basic and Africa during these periods. Much of the material from Qasr Ibrim was brought to light during excavations undertaken by the Egypt Exploration Society (London) from 1963 onwards, as part of the Nubian salvage campaign. As the findings of the British excavations are now gradually being made available, the moment has come for a critical assessment. Owing to the richness and variety of the material such an undertaking can only be of an interdisciplinary nature.’

Above extracts taken from:

Flyer for NINO Symposium. 2009. ‘Qasr Ibrim, between Egypt and Africa: A case study of cultural exchange’. Leiden.

I don’t know about you, but it seems that too often my visits to Egypt come with rather more excitement than I had originally expected.

Take my first visit, for example. At the time, I thought it was going to be a holiday of a lifetime. The Nile Cruise was something I had saved and saved for, and I was so excited because the decision to do this holiday was all my own; I hadn’t been influenced by anyone, and none of my family or close friends had done a similar trip. So, although millions of people had traversed the same route as me, personally I felt a bit like a crusader.

The holiday was, clearly, absolutely wonderful because I fell in love with Egypt, and within months of my return embarked on an Egyptology course. But it came with its drama…..

On the penultimate day, I opted for the hot-air balloon ride. I had never done this before but for years had wanted to, so what better place could there be for my first ballooning experience?

The wind was blowing in the wrong direction to take us over the West Bank, so instead our pilot (captain? what is the correct terminology?) took us low over the fields and villages on the east side. This was a tremendous experience, and I took dozens of photos. Oh, by the way, this was back in the dark ages before I went digital, so unfortunately I am unable to insert any of the lovely views here.

Unfortunately, something went wrong with the contraption that allowed the  pilot to deflate the balloon when he wanted to land. He was unable to control the balloon in the way that he would have liked, and every time he tried to land, a cross-draught made us take off again.

Of course, this was my first time in a balloon so I didn’t really know what was going wrong. I was unperturbed at this point, and still taking photos!!

In an attempt to add more ballast to the basket, the pilot asked the bloke sitting next to me to jump out (when we were on the ground! not from the air!) thinking his weight would have more impact if on the outside, holding onto one of the ropes. Sadly that didn’t work, and just left his wife (left in the basket) more distraught than ever.

Sunset at Luxor 2008

By this time, the farmers and their families had come running to the aid of the beleaguered balloon. I saw a young boy, aged about 10, swinging through the air, hanging for dear life onto the rope. He was grinning, even though at this time the balloon was airborne again.

Phil managed to pull his wife out of the basket quickly when we met the ground, and a few more of the nimble  passengers followed suit. Unfortunately, I am of rather ample proportions and not that agile, so there were not going to be any hasty escapes for me.

The basket had been tipped on its side throughout the bumpy ride, and when we were on the ground, we were pulled along through the sandy soil to such an extent that the basket was digging ever deeper into the ground. I had my back to it, so couldn’t see what we were running into, but the screams from some of my fellow passengers didn’t make me think it was going to be a happy ending.

We had already lopped the top of a tree off during one of our descents, and unfortunately also knocked over a donkey and its cart.

The sand was beginning to cover our heads and get into our mouths. I tried to support my neighbour’s neck, to raise her head higher out of the sand. Another person tried to do the same to me, by pulling my other arm.

The pilot eventually ended the nightmare by very cleverly navigating the balloon through the field to a patch of metal spikes. I think this is really what made my fellow passengers start to scream, as it was quite a frightening prospect. However all the spikes managed to kill was the balloon.

We emerged, shaken, but alive to tell the tale. Two of us went to hospital, one with damage to her knee, and me with a very slight injury to my eye. The company gave us full compensation, of course.

Now then, this tale is not supposed to frighten any of you. Take solace from the fact that despite the difficulties, the pilot managed to get us all down safely. Have I been up in a hot-air balloon since? No. Do I think I ever will?One day I hope to, but not before I have lost enough weight and become fit, just in case I need to beat a hasty retreat!

Picture the scene. I am surrounded literally by piles of books, most of which are the ‘heavy’ academic tomes, well thumbed and well plastered with colourful sticky-paper markers.

Every now and then I would like to have a lighter, but still informative, read. I would especially like such books for when I travel, because trying to read an academic book on the plane or train is difficult, as there is rarely room for me to make notes in comfort.

Books such as autobiographies are the best ones for me to travel with, they are so interesting and well-written, and really make me yearn to be back in Egypt.

Which books would you recommend? I have already read, and thoroughly enjoyed, the following:

‘Down the Nile: alone in a fisherman’s skiff’ by Rosemary Mahoney

‘A Bend in the Nile: my life in Nubia and other places’ by Chris McIvor

‘The Pharaoh’s Shadow: travels in ancient and modern Egypt’ by Anthony Sattin

‘The Lost Oases’ by Ahmed Hassanein Bey