Destination: The Middle East.

In 1991, I spent my birthday at the Camel Auction in Cairo.  

There were bleeding lambs at my feet, thick blood slowly oozing away from the animal's throats, and men laughing by my reaction. 

There were tied-up camels being whacked incessantly on their snouts, their growls echoing though the market.  Their hoofs clomping and kicking up so much dust, we had to breath into our sleeves. Chaotic, and I turned 21.

Cairo, 1991

Shearing a Lamb at the Camel Auction, Cairo 1991

Camel Auction, Cairo 1991

My Guide, Cairo 1991

I spent three weeks in Egypt on that trip, traveling with my best friend Jesse Sweeney.  

We took a first class train to Aswan, sailed up the Nile with our skipper, Abu Nile.  

Jesse Sweeney, Giza 1991

We hitch-hiked to Luxor, rode bicycles in the Valley of the kings, snorkeled in the Red Sea at Hurghada, and found some funny cigarettes in the then undeveloped village of Sharm el Sheikh. 

Camel Auction, Cairo 1991

Camel Auction, Cairo 1991

Joshua Paul, Giza 1991

Abu Nile (Father of the Nile), Near Aswan, Egypt 1991

Nile River, Egypt 1991

Giza 1991

Pyramid of Cheops, Giza 1991

We were in Africa, with one foot in the Middle East.  We could see Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as we crossed the Sinai Peninsula, but we were a bit tepid, and had the wrong stamps in our passports.  

Twenty years later, we'll pick up where we left off, flying into Amman, and heading East.