Things I Have Learned In the Middle East, Part II

Yesterday I started a new series of "things I have learned" for your reading pleasure.  (I was going to say that "We" started a "discussion," but since no one commented on yesterday's post, I figured I had to edit that first sentence.)

Hopefully, you will find this sequel to surpass the original.

1.  Visitors should always bring their own toilet paper to the Valley of the Kings.

2.  When a tour guide calls the mountain-cut tombs in the valley, "really challenging" to visit, they are being polite.  "Challenging" is a euphimism for heatstroke alert.

3.  In Egyptian tourist areas, the two primary forms of decoration are heiroglyphs and metal detectors.

4.  Eypgtians really can (and do) sleep anywhere -- on top of moving vehicles and inside the luggage compartments of tour busses.

5.  "Mad dogs and [tourist groups] go out in the [Egyptian] sun."  There will be meaningless bonus points awarded to anyone who recognizes the quote I just butchered.

6.  June is the end of the tourist season in Egypt, because after June, it's too hot.  I, however, chose to go to Egypt during a record heat wave worse than August temperatures.  Excellent.

7.  Clothes dry very quickly outside in 120 degrees F and 5% humidity.  Spilled Diet Coke will also evaporate in less than 10 minutes.

8.  Metal keys left on the pool deck (even under a towel) can really hurt on a hot day.

9.  Heat tolerances on camera batteries are for real.

10.  Curry-flavored chips come in bags that look like they should be onion.  (My arabic is nil.)

11.  Curry-flavored chips aren't bad once you get over the shock.

12.  Some bags of otherwise-normal-looking potato chps have pictures of fruit on them.  I was not brave enough to try those.  That is how I ended up with curry.

Believe it or not, there are more, but I'll save them for another day.