Bahariya

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Time for a tour! I had to be at Tahrir square by 06:30 so I set my alarm for 05:30. Someone woke me up by shaking me saying “Dave…Dave! Time to get up.” I thought it was a dream, but no….this British Indian guy was trying to help me out so I wouldn’t miss my bus. Fucking hell…we only spent 2 days hanging out together, so I guess Dave sounds like Mike….whatever…I got up and made it to the front of the office where I was supposed to meet someone who would show me where to catch a bus to the Bahariya Oasis to start seeing the rest of Egypt! Turns out dude, also named Mohammed, didn’t buy the ticket for the 07:00 bus but for the 08:00 bus instead…aaaaaand the bus station was 20 minutes back from where I just came from…goddamnit….i could have slept in a lot longer. Oh well its only a 4 hour bus ride and lunch was going to be waiting for me upon my arrival. Cool. Turns out it was a 6 hour bus ride and lunch was still waiting for me upon my arrival (read cold and old falafel (which I also just had for breakfast before getting on the bus))…..I was supposed to meet a guy called Amir at the bus station but when I got off he wasn’t around but some other guy said he worked with him so I went! Now I am supposed to be here to see the Black desert as well as the White desert and spend the evening camping under the stars. Turns out anyone who shows up by bus has to report to the police station and is NOT allowed to sleep in the desert for fear of Libyans sneaking into the country….idk…fucking hell…so I took a 6 hour bus ride and then a 2 hour drive around the outskirts of the city to see a salt lake, something called pyramid mountain (a naturally carved pyramid), and some old English house before sleeping in a hotel….oh….and there are no other people on this “tour” by the way….no other people in this hotel. No other anything…goddamnit I am thinking about using the word “hate” to describe this country. I don’t want to, but jesus nothing is going right and I dropped a bunch of coin for this stupid tour which so far I could have been doing myself….damnit. I am writing this on the bus ride back to Cairo where I am supposed to take the subway back downtown and to the office to chill before getting on an overnight train to Aswan. Funny thing bout that….its not a sleeper train. I just have a seat. Neat. I will also have many words for this tour company and had better get something for the dough I am shelling out….BLURG!

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