Blogs from Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa
May 22nd 2012
OKayyy We are NOT in Kansas, Toto!!! Day 1 - Waking to the soft creamy feel of Egyptian cotton sheets made us want just want to stay there all day but alas, this was a 4 am wake up for a dawn walk into the paws of the Sphinx. Like a dream, silently we floated through the warmth of the Sahara desert feet landing on ancient whispers, exquisite lighting warming the pyramid. Rounding a corner, the Sphinx in full glory - silently sitting, listening to any messages...Horus, Maat, unburdened forgiveness, light as a feather...I thought about you - There were some profound images/insights which I will share with you individually. The camel ride was a complete surprise. I rode on Alibaba who seemed to like to make a lot of noise - not one easily repeatable ... read more
May 20th 2012
After a 24 hour flight, we finally arrived at our destination. By the time we got here it was already dark. We had a long drive from the airport to our hotel which we both fell asleep. We had a quick meeting with our tour leader and the hotel letting us know what we were getting up to over the next 8 days. In the morning we woke up and went to our breakfast at the hotel. Not saying it was the worst meal we've ever had but it was definitely up there! lol The mixture of food was interesting to say the least. We went for an early morning walk and got the best surprise when we walked out the front door of the hotel and the Pyramids were RIGHT THERE within walking distance. AJ: ... read more
April 27th 2012
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain Cairo is a city that wants to make a good first impression on tourists. Exiting the shiny new airport, the first suburb you come to is where the "rich" live. Palaces, converted to museums, sprawling well lit gardens, home to many government employees, ex-home to ex-president Mubarak. Impressive and modern. Not the city of antiquities that most come to see. Driving through Cairo at night is overwhelming. Next to its shining brightness, the cities and monuments of the last two weeks in Morocco appear a poor cousin (though not without ... read more
April 11th 2012
It was another early departure to make the 10 hour drive from Dahab to Cairo. Due to the same security risks on the Sinai, our route had to be changed, adding an additional three hours to the drive. As we chugged along slowly around the winding, mountainous roads the smell of burning fuel blew through the bus and we came to a sudden holt. I had to laugh, we had only been on the road for about 30 or so minutes and were already having engine problems. Our driver thankfully got the bus moving again quickly, so there was no major hold up. After a long and hot ride, we eventually made it to the outskirts of Cairo. Driving through the chaotic and packed city, it was easy to see just how populated the Capital is. ... read more
April 8th 2012
Dear All First of all, a Happy Easter to everyone reading this! Hope it is being celebrated well wherever this is being read. Greetings from Cairo! Humungous and hot metropolois of 20 million, the largest both in the Arab world and on the African continent, and a teaming, stressful, polluted and chaotic place. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great place to visit and has some seriously stunning sights to see, but after 3 days here I am ready to get out. Yes, the city Cairenes call “The Mother of the World” has seen enough of me, and tomorrow morning I catch a bus to hopefully quieter destinations. I must admit, I am a little hot and bothered right now, as the temperature has hit just under 40 degrees every day since I’ve been here, so ... read more
April 7th 2012
Tourism in Egypt has fallen off a cliff since the revolution in January 2011. I thought I would grab the opportunity to avoid the crowds and maybe bag some bargains. There is a dearth of cheap flights fromLondontoEgypt. The best value option was a charter flight to Sharm El Sheik, the package holiday centre on theRed Sea. I never actually went into Sharm, but spent a few days inSharksBay, about 20 km further north. Here I had a wooden cabin on top of the cliffs looking out over the sea (the cliffs that is, not the cabin). The bathroom was about 50 metres away, but the breakfast was fantastic. Straight away I was troubled by my major misjudgement, which was to persist for the next couple of months –Egyptis cold in January. I only had my ... read more
March 18th 2012
Wow - still can't sleep in this hotel! It's crazy loud and was up every hour. Up at 6am for breakfast; paid for our optional excursions to the Spring Tours rep, Mohammed and then bags to the bus. By 8am, we were off to the museum. It took awhile just to get down our street as there was a mad rush of cars trying to get into the gas station which apparently was the norm. Got to the Egyptian museum for our first stop of the tour. I'm surprised that we dont have a separate local guide and that Sherif is our local guide combined with a TM. He was so knowledgable he blew me out of the water. The highlight of the museum for me was definately seeing the mummy of Ramses! I had seen ... read more
March 17th 2012
Well it was prob about 2am before we fell asleep as its very loud with cosntant honking outside our bedroom window. Oh yes, and then the call to prayer at 4:30am was something unreal. I dont know how these people can stand being woken up like this. On top of the normal call across the city- we actually have a mosque right outside our bedroom window with speakers blaring directly at us....meant for the rest of our neighbourhood to hear. It seemed to go on forever and once it was over, we were so awake that it took us forever to fall back asleep again after 5am or so. We had the alarm set for 9am for breakfast as it was included with our extra night accommdation that we'd booked. At breakfast we met 3 other ... read more
March 16th 2012
So excited to start this next adventure to Egypt! This is a first time for me being on a Contiki with my boyfriend so we are interested to see how we the group dynamic will work with us, etc. We booked flights with KLM so normally flights connect quickly in Amsterdam and continue on but we purposely booked flights with a 10 hour layover in Amsterdam so that I can see the city for myself! We boarded our flight from Toronto last night about 6:30pm. Not sure how many hours I slept but I did manage to pass out for a good portion of the 7 hour flight to Amsterdam. I am not going to blog about my Amsterdam sightseeing but the gist of it is that we walked the majority of the time; saw the ... read more
February 22nd 2012
The best thing about Abu Simbel is it is situated 40 km from the Sudan border. I love places which seem faraway and Abu Simbel fits that criteria. A supposed police convoy is necessary to travel there from Aswan. We tourists collect together at a certain point and the police meticulously check all the cars, mini buses and coaches. Recording all the details. Finally we line up all ready to go, I’m expecting something out of a war movie. Hummers, soldiers and guns, but alas no I forgot for a moment I was in Egypt. These people couldn’t run a chook raffle. The first bus is waved off and then shemozzle. The vehicles jostle for positions as we squeeze out the gate. The fast vehicles passing the slow as we drive up the main street. Luckily ... read more
