Egypt, Cairo, Luxor, Dahab

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This one is a long time coming....We left Egypt almost a month ago and are now settling down in London for a bit of a long haul.

Egypt was a country full of beauty, mystery, heat, annoyances, and stunning scenery. Once again, we are so going back there.

We started in Cairo and arrived at about 9:30pm and the heat hit us as soon as we stepped off the plane. The flight was delayed by about 2 hours so we were wondering if our taxi driver from the hostel we had booked would still be there, thank goodness he was cause as soon as we walked out of the airport we were bombarded with people wanting to "help" us and take our bags to their taxis etc...

We arrived that night and arranged to go on a tour in the taxi to the pyramids, sakarra and the Memphis museum.

Pyramids -

We got taken down a back alley to where all the camels owners are and were told that for a 2 hour ride to and around the pyramids was going to cost us LE120 but we managed to get it down to LE90 each (we later found out that that was still a rip off cause other people in our hostel had paid only LE30 each).
Our guide was trying to make our camels gallop along which, if any of you have been on one its not the most comfortable ride. We got taken in the back ways (the pyramids are surrounded by a metal fence that is probably a good few acres round) and consequently got chased by the Tourist Police a few times in there cause our guide had not paid for our entrance tickets and they were talking to him trying to kick us out. They kept telling us to come back from the pyramids but our guide kept telling us to carry on, so we did. They police in the end let us carry on around the place (I think our guide may have slipped him a few pounds for that one).

We only got off the camels to have photos and to go up to Khefre's pyramid, (the middle one in the photos) cause our guide told us the other ones were closed!!! We were kinda pissed at that cause we could tell that they werent as other people were going up to them. All good though, standing next to those pyramids was amazing. We just looked up at them and wondered how the people carried those massive blocks (about a tonne each) all the way to the top and how it is still standing. The height of just one of those blocks was taller than Josh and people carried those all the way to the top. We choose not to go inside as it would have cost us another LE30, people had told us you had to crouch for over 100m (not so great for Josh as he is bigger than most and may have had to roll down instead 😊 )and I'm not the greatest with small spaces.

We then went to Sakarra (thinking for some daft reason they had said Sahara) but were too knackered from the heat and the pain of riding the camels to care or want to see it. We later found out that it is the oldest pyramid (7000 years old) and is unique cause its a step pyramid. Never mind, we will be going back there again.

Went back to the hostel to get some energy levels back up, and there we met a Canadian girl who had just arrived and decided to go to the Egyptian Museum with her which was just across the road from us. There were hundreds upon hundreds of tombs and jewels and chariots in there, also bits of pyramids and the insides of tombs. We paid a bit more to get into the Mummies room which told of how to preserve the bodies and actually had the mummified bodies of 9 Kings and Queens. They were fascinating to look at. Here are bodies from thousands of years ago and we are still able to look at them. Some still had their faces in tact!! (ewe)
To tell they were Kings or Queens in the afterlife, the people that preserved the bodies would put the hands across the body. You could tell each different generation cause each one had their own way of putting the hands across, be it palms up, down, left hand on top etc. There was one body in there that had the hands at the side of the body. The little blurb said that the body was found in the tomb of King ....but they suspected it was stolen and replaced with the body we saw!! Naughty little grave robbers...

We also saw Tutankhamens exhibit which was massive. His body is still in his tomb so we did not get to see that in the mummy museum. There was his famous head gear (an exact replica of his face structure so that he is recognised in the afterlife) which weighted 11kgs. We also saw all his chariots, throne, his solid casket and 2 tomb casings and then the 4 gold boxes they were put in after that (all others were gold covered), jewellery and whatever else was in there and lucky enough not to be stolen.

That night we decided to stay on our roll of trying to see everything in one day (yeah right) so went to the Khuela Kheflu (not spelt right) which is a market place in Old Islamic Cairo. The shops are down little dark, dodgy looking alleyways and are only about 2mx2m. They were so cute and all sold the same stuff which made for great bargaining power. We got Josh to try a belly dancing outfit (photo evidence as well) and I had a scarf wrapped around my head properly. They really welcomed us and gave us tea as we entered the shops and just generally wanted us to hang out with them. Josh was with Krysten (the Canadian girl) and I and all the men were asking him if he had two wives and then were telling him he was a lucky man and that he was Cansanova. It was a lot of fun but the badgering from the men asking if they could marry us did start to wear a bit thin, though I did get offered a few thousand camels, a couple of elephants and some goats so that was interesting 😊

We just chilled for a day and a bit after that cause we were getting over jet lag and just getting used to the sometimes unbearable heat. We then went on to Luxor...

After a 10 hour train ride (during the day with air-conditioning working only sometimes) we arrived to the train station with literally 20 men wanting us to go to their hostel, and as we were the only tourists on the the train they all came over to us. We had already decided on a place so that made it a bit easier but the problem was that we had no idea how to get to the place so had these men following us pointing out their hostels saying that theirs were so much better etc. We finally found it and were so happy to be in air-conditioning again. The owner had told us that the rooms were LE35 a night but we managed to get him down to LE10 and had breakfast thrown in. Nicely done I think.

We settled in and woke up the next day and decided to go on a mini tour of the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens. The temperature that day was 50c and we had no shade to go into cause we were out in the desert looking at all these tombs, even going underground to the tombs it was still really warm. The tombs were unbelievable to be in. All the paintings were still on the walls and you could tell when the King or Queen had died cause the plebs digging and beautifying were instructed to start on it from the day they came into power and continue on it until the day the King or Queen died and if they didnt then all the people from their village were killed on the Kings instruction. You could also tell if the King or Queen had died young cause their tombs inscriptions and drawings did not reach the ground (as they always started a tomb from the roof down).

I have to make one note that when we were in one particular tomb we noticed a foam mattress and it looked like there was something underneath it, so being the curious types we went to have a look. Well, wouldnt you know it, there was a box of paints under there. We asked the guy at the top of the tomb what they were for (and if the paint on the walls were really as old as they said) and he told us that they had just been touching up the roof. Strange, as the roof was grey and white and the walls were the colours of the paints (red, yellow, oranges, blacks etc). Oh well, wont keep getting the tourists if they dont preserve it I suppose.

I managed to get food poisoning while we were in Luxor so that was pretty much all I did there as I was sick for 2 and a half days.

Josh and Krysten however were just walking along the street and got invited to an Egyptian wedding. They went along and thoroughly enjoyed it. They danced, drank and ate with the groom. It was very special to be invited to a wedding, they only went to one of the days but it was a 4 day event!!

When I was better we went for dinner on the Nile and also for a Felucca ride for an hour or so. We really wanted to go for an overnighter but, as we thought at the time, we had a limited time in Egypt and wanted to press on to Dahab (where the bombing was in April).

So we did, we got a bus to Dahab that was supposed to be 14 hours but turned out to be just over 17. We arrived to a cute little town that was surrounded by crystal clear water. We got to our hostel to see that it was right on the water and was a wonderful place with lots of young people. We once again bargained down our room. So what did we do in Dahab?!?!?! Swam, sunbathed, ate, drank, oh and then did a bit more swimming and sunbathing.

Josh went on a scuba diving course which I started but couldnt finish cause I freaked myself out. I will be trying to do it again when we go back though cause it will be a great start before I do my course back home and I would love to see more of the marine life.
So Josh was scuba diving for 4 days and I had some time to myself and just read and went snorkeling. We have some amazing photos of the fish and the coral that we took with our underwater camera.

On the night before we left I went up Mount Sinai to watch the sunrise and have a bit of spiritual time. No such luck, we started to climb at about 1am and didnt arrive to the top till 4/4:30am. When we got there I promptly fell asleep and woke up half and hour later for the sunrise. We got a few photos and then our guide told us we had to start back down the mountain before it got too hot. It was a stunning place. So barren yet stunning. When we got the bottom and were ready to go into the monastery and to see the burning bush, but got told it was closed for the day cause the monks were having a prayer meeting. I was upset, I had travelled hours away from Josh to see all this and had been so keen to see it but couldnt. I still loved walking up the mountain though to see where Moses had been given the 10 commandments from God and felt very privileged that I had the opportunity to do what I did.

We woke up on the 13th of June ready to pack our bags and go back to Cairo for our flight to Morocco the next day. We woke around 10am and Josh decided to check our tickets to see what time check in was, well, it was that afternoon at 4pm. We still had a 7 hour bus ride so had to miss the flight. We were gutted to say the least. As Josh had run out of money we decided it would be best for us to go straight to England instead, but we spent 3 days more in Dahab trying to get a flight out of Egypt one way.

We are in London now, have a house, jobs and are really loving the fact that we are not living out of our backpacks anymore.

I think the next blog will be a while away as we are just settling down, getting our bearings and sorting our lives out pretty much. It will be a while before we do any touristy things till the money is sorted again. Though, I am working right on the Thames in between London Bridge and Tower of London... 😊

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Photos

Dahab
Relaxing in the Shade

Coral Cuts
this is what happens when you fall over and land on the coral reefs

Diving
Was rather hot in all the gear!!

Stuffing my face
hmm food!!

Sunrise Mt Sinai
where Moses received the 10 Commandments

Little Meow
the Cats of the local Hotel

Keen for a Dip
Tempting but....No