My first posting to this blog, three months ago, began - “And so, the odyssey begins ….”.

Now, as I sit in an airport lounge to begin the final episode, I have to suppose that the odyssey is coming to an end.

I am not sure how much I have in common with Ulysses returning to his beloved Ithaca. If I am Ulysses then I have no old dog, no “Argus”, to greet or recognise me on my return, but equally I trust that my “Penelope” will not have been suffering from the excesses of too many suitors.

And of my time in Egypt, I am pleased to say that there was no descent into hell, no Cyclops. Things went, by and large, very smoothly – no disasters, only traveller’s tales.

This blog has been my medium for recording some of the adventures. Like the narrations of Ulysses I have attempted to capture here the things that I found interesting in the past three months. For those who have persisted this far, I can only applaud you. I hope, if nothing else, this has stirred an interest in travel.

I have been in the Middle East for 20 of the last 60 weeks. I have been to five different countries (and three emirates). I have lived in Egypt for longer than I have lived anywhere other than Australia. Yet, if two or three years ago, someone had asked me whether I might ever travel to the Middle East, I guess I would have had to reply “probably not”.

But now, I am sure that I will return at some time to these fascinating lands.

It has been a long time to be away from the people and places I love and I will enjoy being back in Brisbane, the place of my birth. Three months allows plenty of time to suffer mood swings – from the sheer excitement of being in Egypt to some home-sickness at not being where your life otherwise resides. “Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home”. Maybe a little trite, but in accord with Homer who wrote:

“Happier his lot, who, many sorrows’ pass’d,
Long labouring gains his natal shore at last.”

Would I make the same decision to come here again – absolutely!

It is not that I am in raptures with everything that is Egypt. If I had to make a list of things that I don’t like about it, the list would be substantial. Things like littering, smog, poverty and the class system, (traffic of course) would appear on the list. But the overall effect is what counts and I really enjoyed my time here.

The long time I had here came to an end with a rush – I remained very active until the last. I have made some good friends and met some great people here. I will miss them and hope to maintain some form of contact with some. The Egyptians that I met were really very generous and pleasant to me. That may be because of my “grey hair” – there is much more deference to seniors here than at home. So if you find you are not getting the respect you think you deserve, move to Egypt!!

During this past (very busy) week, I experienced an odd mix of exuberance with imminent departure for home and a melancholy fuelled by the very thought of leaving Cairo. One night a group of us went to an, as yet untried, restaurant – another Egyptian food restaurant floating on the Nile off Zamalek, called “Le Pasha”. The food and atmosphere were great. We had a good table overlooking the Nile where we could watch the brightly and colourfully illuminated little “cruise” boats go by. A little later, an Oud (lute) player and a drummer (single drum) came out and began to play and sing.

The very strange sensation that I experienced was a feeling of being “at home”. This situation was entirely usual to me – it was comfortable and comforting. I started to think that I was seeing things more as they were, and in a way that I would not have three months ago. In unfamiliar surroundings, I can’t possibly take everything in and I have “survival” and what happens next on my mind. But I think with time, much of the things that were always there to see, and feel, and smell, become apparent. I compare it to observing a far off forest. What appears only to be a group of trees comes alive when some animal in front of it moves. The animal had always been there, unnoticed, and if I had watched for only a short period of time I would not notice it.

So I think that the extended stay here displays different dimensions of the place. And I think it has changed me in some ways, such that I am more attuned to it.

It was a very strange feeling to be leaving Cairo today. The traffic was terrible and my passage through immigration delayed by an officer who couldn’t count to three. I am three days short of overstaying my three month visa but it seems he detected a breach and I had to report to the boss in the office, who (with some difficulty) eventually got the count correct. So Egypt has been Egypt to the last.

I will finish this, the final chapter of this blog, and when I get home I will publish it, effectively closing the series. Insha’allah no disasters will befall me on the journey. If you are reading this, I guess this means that I have arrived safe to my home. (I recall a high profile politician making the reverse point that if you were watching her video it meant that she had met her demise).

My task over the coming days will be to settle my jet lag and travel weariness and to attack life in Brisbane again – something that has been “on hold” for sometime now. I look forward to seeing everyone again.

Post Script

My flights to Australia were bearable and made more interesting by the company I kept. First, from Cairo to Dubai with Latifa, a native of Dubai and thence to Brisbane with Doris, a native of the British midlands. Doris, aged 82 has seen much in her time, with two of her four children predeceasing her with tragic circumstances. Latifa, age not determined but very young for the mother of four daughters, two of whom have finished university, told me of her marriage at age 13. From each I was taught more about what it means to have been a woman in different parts of the world these past eighty odd years. For each they are seeing their daughters’ worlds change dramatically, creating a challenge for them because their values, forged by what seemed proper in their day, those values that help to make them what they are now, are not translating as plainly as they would hope to their children. The world is wide and diverse, but, in essence, so very much the same.

Happy New Year! This blog has now closed – (“for the moment”).