Scenes from Beni Suef to Kom Awshim

First off, I need to start with a clarification: The air force base we live in is called Beni Suef; David travels each day to work at another air force base (where the Chinooks are) called Kom Awshim. Beni Suef has the air force's fighter pilot school so there are lots of F16s flying around. :) Last weekend, David took me off-post to show me what his daily drive looks like. I tried to take some pictures but the quality isn't that good because a) they were taken from a moving car and b) I tried to shoot surreptitiously. After all, it would be annoying if I was doing my Saturday errands and someone was driving around taking pictures of me!

As you'll see, Beni Suef is in farm country. While most men in Cairo wear western clothing, this long garment (you can see it if you enlarge the photo)--I believe it's called a jallabia-- appears to be more prevalent in rural areas:


Camels put to work!!






My Egypt guidebook tells me this canal is called Joseph's canal, thought to have been built by Joseph in the Old Testament, during his time as the pharoah's minister for public works. Is this possible? David was fascinated by all the little shelters built along the canal for the donkeys and cattle. We also noticed lots of women and children using the canal for washing dishes and clothes; you can see a few in the lower right:





Onions appear to be a major crop here. We also saw garlic, wheat, and sugar beets.













David goes through the city of Fayoum on his way to work each day. Fayoum lies in an oasis area, due to the canals and Lake Qaroun. We'll have to explore that another day but here are some photos from the Saturday market. I like the woman with the chickens in the last photo. :)