The view from the hotel's balcony - Hurghada is on the Red Sea across from the tip of Sinai peninsula.

Tourist areas in Hurghada offer world class surroundings and service at relatively low cost.

Donkey cart is a common transportation method in Egypt.

Fish store for locals, not very impressive in the area of estetics but the the price and freshness is something to envy.

Local men spend hours talking or just doing nothing. Starting a conversation with a woman that you do not know is prohibited.

Streets decorated with vases/jars

A snowman on the streets of Hurghada - total abstraction for locals.

Our guide for the "egyptian home visit".

Egyptian home visit - these people can be considered poor by US standards.

Hurghada promenade.

Sunrise in Hurghada.

This outfit was purchased just for the pictures for $14, probably greatly overpaid.

My hotel - Roma in Hurghada.

Roma hotel - front view. The standard is sufficient for an average tourist/vacationer, all-inclusive food - good.

Tourist area - Hurghada.

Hurghada mosque.

Trip to Luxor - a stop on the way allows photo oportunities with Bedouins - people of the desert.

A tree like this in the desert indicates that the water source is not very deep.

Entrance to the Karnak Temple in Luxor - the construction lasted for over 1300 years, it was burried under the sand for 1000 years, finally excavated.

..boring..boring..where is the nearest shopping center?

Our guide for the Luxor trip.

This picture shows the only remaing construction ramp in Egypt indicating the method the Egyptians used to build pyramids and other structures.

Papyrus store - one of the tourist traps - it is good not to buy anything there.

Colossi of Memnon - once a temple stood behind them and it was destroyed by a flood.

Alabaster factory. The manager in his presentation crushed a defective alabaster figure saying that it is president Bush.

Valley of the Kings - entrances to tombs.

Hatshepsut temple - Hatshepsut was the first and only egiptian woman that ruled Egipt. (Cleopatra was Greek).

Cairo - the entrance to the National Museum, no pictures allowed, contains enormous treasures, gold masks, chariots, etc.

Our guide for Cairo trip. Egyptians learn Polish to become a guide for polish tours. The number of polish tourits and vacationers is growing.

Giza - the piramid of Khufu, largest pyramid ever build. With me - Adam - a friend from high school, currently teaching kids English in Poland.

Great pyramid of Khufu (Khufu is also known as Cheops). Tallest building on Earth until construction of Eiffel tower in Paris.

Bedouin Village Trip - we go 30 miles deep into the desert to meet Bedouin people.

Experiencing mirage - from the top ot the vehicle the area in front of us looks like sand, but from the ground level it looks like water.

Our guide(left) for the "Bedouin Village Trip".

Women busy with making bread for the village.

Women do not decide who to marry. Chiefs of villages arrange marriages to suit the best interests of the community.

Happy camel?

Village chief, absolute power, he assigns dutes to everyone. Chosen by older men in the village.

Poland - shopping center. Poland has quickly re-worked its system to enter full-scale capitalist economy.

Warsaw, Poland, shopping center - children play as parents shop.

Poland - the surface of ice cream is artistically decorated to atract customers - estetics was not a priority in communist times, now it is.

The entrance to a shopping center in Warsaw, Poland. An ad for an american movie on the right.

Zakopane, Poland - great views, clear air, fantastic food and still low prices ($24/per night per person with breakfast).

Church in Zakopane, Poland - with the standard of living going up, the number of church goers is declining.

Local businesses can not fill positions. Polish citizens can now find legal, well paid jobs in Western Europe and Scandynavia.