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Published: September 14th 2008
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This country is truely unreal...
We arrived into the hussle and bustle of Cairo both nervous and excited about our adventure ahead. We had a 15day Pyramids & Beaches tour booked through Topdeck. We were relieved when we arrived at Cairo airport that the Topdeck rep was there to help us with our visas ($15US) and take us to our hotel.
Cairo is a big, dusty concrete jungle and hard to believe that people actually live in these run down buildings. We hibernated for the first day of our stay scared to venture out of our hotel until the disgusting hotel food drove us to step outside...we found KFC just down the road! wahoo, a real saviour.
As much as we were aware that Egypt may be classed as 'unsafe' by the world, it was probably our own thoughts/ misconceptions that a country part of the Middle East was dangerous.. The metal detectors at hotel doors, visually armed guards at every street corner.. And in all honesty the traditional full length, 'head to toe' cloaks that the Muslim women wear do bring to mind secrecy and uncertainty.
We both learnt alot by our experiences here.
Anyway...
the good parts
The 12 of us on the tour began with a day of sightseeing Cairo, visiting the amazing Pryamids, Sphynx, Egypt Museum. The sights are pretty indescribable, i mean i've seen these things on TV but being here was just unreal, and we were almost humbled by The Pyramids-their over whelming size and age.
Hand made... just crazy.
The evening, we boarded our overnight train to Aswan...a 14 hour journey that turned into 16 hours. Was horrible, just as bad as the Asian trains we have experienced. Nevertheless we finally made it (only having to visit the nasty toilet once) and checked into Aswan accommodation. We visited the Aswan Bazaar, now thats a experience...not entirely enjoyable with the constant hassleing. Egyptians are very friendly people, but the most aggressive when trying to make a sale! They stand in front of you when walking down the street, will throw tshirts on you, where are you from questions (you start making it up after a while), it was entertaining but very tiring and boardered on offensive at times.
We boarded our 3 night river Nile cruise boat, it was worth every dollar upgrading from the traditional Felluca
boat to the cruise boat (sorry Leslie! We were too soft!). Nice big air conditioned rooms, meals included, swimming pool, bar, restaurant etc. It was fantastic.
The Tradional Felucca boat, which we were booked on originally, has not much protection from the 50degree heat (a small canope), food is prepared onboard and no toilet facilities so the boat pulls over in the Sahara desert (no trees to hide behind either!) and you just have to squat and bare it.
The first afternoon on the boat we headed out on a traditional felluca boat up the river Nile where they took us to a spot for swimming and also board our next mode of transport...the camel! The swim was refreshing, so good to get out of the 50degree heat! The camel ride was a experience...these animals are not easy to get on and off! In fact, i had a unhappy, stubbon animal that would sit down without warning! But we can now say we have rode a camel beside the Nile river in the Sahara Desert! Very cool.
The following day, we were up bright and early (3am) to make our way to Abu Simbel! Which was well worth
Red Sea Dahab
Amazing place for Snorkeling & Diving. Crystal clear, warm waters! the early start.
The tour was very good at accomodating the heat and western tourists, but we did have lots of early mornings. Watched the sunrise from the tour bus, and tried to beat the masses by going early.
The rest of the time on the Cruise boat was made up of visits to many temples... some we can remember, some we can not! Valley of the Kings was a real highlight, but in our opinion The Pyramids and Abu Simbel totally took our breath away.
Huraghada on the red sea was our next stop, nice to be finally near water of some type. Although the 'Friendship Village' Hotel is something we would prefer to forget, it's good to remember 'you get what you pay for' and we had paid for a budget tour! But went on a quad biking desert safari, really fun and dusty! But the 3hr adventure well worth it, tonnes of fun!
Onto the seaside township of Dahab, east of Cairo, a 12hr bus trip from Huraghada. We had heard many good things about this stop, so was well anticipated and we weren't let down. Spread along the coast of the red sea,
Tash and Tash
Giza Pyramids! you just walked out the front of your accomodation and snorkelled right off the beach. The water warm, and because of the salt content you just floated round! Crystal clear waters, the tropical fish plentiful, and schools of them swimming close to your legs etc. Really amazing...
We bought our own snorkelling gear and aqua shoes, to prevent the sharing and renting, so did tonnes of swimming and snorkelling in our 5 days in Dahab. And took a day trip to the famous 'Blue Hole' where the sea bed just drops away into the darkness. Again, clear waters, great fish, spectacular sight.
Having avoided sickness most of our time in Asia and Egypt we both fell sick towards the last part of our holiday in Dahab... maybe due to heat exhaustion. NZ bodies are not made for 50degree heat!
All in all, Egypt comes recommended. Do this once in your lifetime. And this country has to be done through a good tour company.
Expect everything to be totally different to how it is at home, standards/ service/ food/ religion/ climate.
Come open minded and you will have a great experience.
Next onto Greece, and
Tash A Pyramid
Can you spot Tash??? our Greek Island Cruise! Wahoo can't wait!
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Walaa
non-member comment
:)
That was so well written. I couldn't have said it better myself and I live right in the heart of Cairo. Glad you enjoyed "most" of your time!