Tag: Heliopolis Egypt

DESTINATIONS, International, TRAVEL

What’s a Wedding Without a Belly Dancer?

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: THE CELEBRATION’S CROWNING GLORY

If you’ve ever been to an Egyptian wedding and they didn’t have a belly dancer, then you’ve missed out on a wonderful treat.  Bassem and Mariam’s wedding was an over-the-top experience in a lot of ways and true to form, when it came time for their belly dancer to appear, you can be sure she didn’t disappoint.

The Excitement Builds

From the moment the bride and groom made their pyrotechnic appearance in the Fairmont’s Pearl Ballroom,  we were treated to excess after excess.  Generous pourings of fine scotch, a grandiose buffet and amazing desserts were just the beginning.  The dj kept the dance floor filled and a great time was being had everywhere you looked.

Suddenly, everything came to a screeching halt.  The music stopped and the dance floor cleared, but the excitement level went through the roof.  The belly dancer was about to make her appearance.

I Love Belly Dancing

OK, I’ll confess, I love belly dancing.  Whether we’re enjoying a festival like Scarborough Faire, taking in the State Fair of Texas, eating at a Middle Eastern restaurant or attending a travel show, when the throbbing beat of drums announce the appearance of a belly dancer, I make a beeline to the edge of the stage.

While I’ve never taken a belly dancing lesson in my life, I did win a belly dancing contest on my earlier visit to Egypt.  I’d dressed up for Gallebeya Night on our Nile Cruise with no idea I’d be belly dancing before the night was over.

When they began a light-hearted contest and were getting a slow response, I stepped up on stage to dance against a fellow passenger in the spirit of fun.  When the music started, I wiggled around with my hands up in the air, making what I hoped were belly-dancing-looking gestures.  I won the match-up completely unaware that it was just the first round.  Time and again I was asked to dance against other passengers and to my amazement I somehow won every round.

On the last round, an appropriately-garbed and obviously properly-trained dancer shimmed up to challenge me and I tried my best to bow out of the embarrassing match-up, but no one would allow it.  In my clumsy, but joyful attempts, I had become the crowd favorite and even though the real belly dancer danced circles around me, when the crowd was asked to vote with their applause, I was the overwhelming winner.

Over here in States, the dancers are a mixed bag.  More often than not, amateur performers share their pure love of the art form and I revel in their delight.  From women so skinny their ribs are hanging out to voluptuous ladies with rolls of fat freely jiggling, each lady who practices this art is braver and more skilled than me.  Huzzah!  Here’s a sampling of belly dancers we’ve enjoyed.  And yes, that is Bill on stage. He’s always the guy they pick for crowd participation, but I’m the one who won the belly dancing contest.

 The Best Ever Belly Dancer

Though I am a big fan of belly dancing, I have never in my life seen such a beautiful and talented dancer as I did that evening.  While I have seen some attractive women shake their stuff, the crystal blue eyes, gorgeous skin and toned muscles of this wedding dancer put her in a class all by herself.  Her performance included several costume changes.  The first one, a red velvet number encrusted with many gems and spangles was without a doubt the most glamorous and elegant costume I could have imagined, but every time she reappeared, she raised the bar.

During her finale she invited everyone up to dance with her and this time it was me, rather than Bill who danced with the star.  What fun we had.  Enjoy these pictures of us enjoying the show.  Then come back next week as we take off our wedding finery and head out as tourists.

 

DESTINATIONS, International, Road Trips, TRAVEL

Wandering Around Heliopolis

Jane Sadek
Inside a traffic jam

TRAVEL THERE: THE CRAZIEST TRAFFIC IN THE WORLD

Rent control isn’t the only problem in Egypt.  Try finding a trashcan.  If they were ever installed, they would probably be stolen.  In Giza I saw what could have been a lovely square in the town center, but all that was left was the metal frame of several benches on stark concrete.  The wooden slats had been removed and utilized elsewhere.  Weeds had filled what was intended as a garden spot and a layer of dust covered everything.  It was a small picture repeated in a variety of ways everywhere I looked. 

Our Tour of Heliopolis Continues

While I had thought Mona’s neighborhood was pretty crazy last time I was in Egypt, on this trip, super-imposed on the already crowded and confusing landscape was a construction project of gargantuan magnitude.  They are putting in an underground transit system.  Forget any American construction site where thoroughfares are rerouted with the use of bright orange detour signs and interruptions.  While these are frustrating, Americans usually keep these tangles contained in a manageable block of space.  This entire section of town was a construction site and no attempt was made to provide passage.

I honestly don’t know how the people were living in the midst of it.  All the main thoroughfares were blocked and side streets were all but impassable.  Navigation consisted of winding through the every day insanity of triple-parked cars and vendors setting up shop in the middle of the street.  And that was just the beginning of it.

I saw streets where 10-15 of the locals had dragged their lawn chairs (not that there were any lawns) out into the street for a good chat and smoke, while the detoured traffic tried to maneuver through the madness – spinning their steering wheels, honking their horns, waving their hands, lucky to make inches of progress and shouting their frustrations.  On almost every block you would come upon a small child standing in the middle of the street, with or without shoes, absently holding a toy and gazing into the distance.  Maybe they would move.  Maybe they wouldn’t.

And that dust I’ve made so much of?  The air was thick with it.  It didn’t just show up in a layer on coffee tables, it was thick in the very air you breathed.  I keep trying to figure out a way to explain it to you and all I can think to compare it to is an intense pinball machine, where the center section is completely blocked and the obstacles on the sides have been multiplied five-fold.  You would have to be the pinball wizard to play, because telekinesis would be your only hope of moving the ball.

And Suddenly We Were There

The horrendous traffic was a blessing of sorts, because no one could  throw me out of the car and drive away.  I could walk faster than they could drive.  Mirette suddenly turned into a parking lot and we were there.  We were the ones parked in the third row of the three-deep cars.

Next was the elevator.  I’m more of the stairs type, but I was warned away from them.  The apartment was ten stories up and each story had several flights of uneven stairs.  The elevator was so tiny that I didn’t know how Bill rode up with us with his extreme claustrophobia.  There were two elevators and even though there were only three of us, when it would open on a floor (and it opened on every floor), the potential rider would glance into the car and then wave us on.

Entering the apartment was like entering a riot.  Family members of all ages were spread throughout the rooms and in each room was the site of some kind of intense activity and none of the activities seemed related to what was going on in the other rooms.  One room did have several children sleeping in a bed, but I don’t know how they managed to do so with all the racket.

I have more to tell you about the fun evening, but you’ll have to come back next week!