Ok, so we are all ready to begin the trip across the desert, we have our water, we have some food, we have stored stuff in the truck and eaten our last ice cream cone. Oh, wait, we need a driver. Ours broke himself jumping off the third floor balcony into the swimming pool. Broke both his legs. Fortunately, this camp is the home base for Oasis' trucks--and another tour going the other way just arrived a couple of days ago. So we get to go on the trip after all, with a new driver!! Picture is Greg with his [View Full Entry]

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Aswan to Hurghada Bill Clayton Here in Aswan are several very interesting Egyptian ancient sites. First is the Valley of the Kings, where Egypt’s kings dug numerous deep winding passages to their eventual tombs, beginning almost immediately when they become king, and continuing until their death, when their treasure was interred with them. All of the tombs except Tutenkamen were looted. These tombs are in an isolated, blazing hot valley where working must have been very hard. Adjacent, in another valley, is the [View Full Entry]

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Femember the African Queen, with Humphry Bogart and Katherine Hepburn? Well, this ride is a lot easier; floating along watching the scenery, drinking Egyptian Stella Beer--oh yes it is 110 degrees but we won't mention that. Its Monday June 4 at 5:40 a.m. here in Egypt. We have just cast off for our final short trip down the Nile; traveling by felucca from Aswan to Luxor; well actually to Kum Ombo and then by another police escorted convoy to Luxor as we have probably sailed and floated about 20 miles in the three days we have been on the river. [View Full Entry]

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Finally the slow train from Cairo arrived in the city of Aswan on the Nile. It is really hot here, must be way over 100; so we shower after our 14 hours on the train and try to get a bit cooler in the air conditioned hotel. Tonight we visit a Nubian's house where he tells us about the Nubian culture which was somewhat displaced when the Aswan dam flooded their homes and farms. Then the morning of the 1st of June we got up at 3:30 a.m. (to avoid the heat) and drove in a GUARDED CONVOY to the [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday, MAY 30 Today we began the first day of our organized trip from Cairo to Istanbul by visiting the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and then driving a few miles to the pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza. The Egyptian Museum is full of what you would expect; mummies, sarcophagusses (burial boxes for mummies), statues of gods, kings, pyramid architects, and other period items from the period of Egyptian history when the pharohs rulled. And the best part is the exhibition of gold and silver objects from King Tut’s tomb; very spectacular stuff. Unfortunately, they don’t allow c [View Full Entry]

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Today we set out to find the central market in Cairo. All of these Asian cities have one==usually a many block square area with all kinds of shops, some retail, some wholesale, and usually divided up into sections depending upon what is being sold. All of the textiles, for instance are in one section. Then all of the produce, the leather goods, electrical equipment and so on. Getting to the market involves a taxi ride, and Cairo's taxi fleet is probably the worst looking, most beat up, run down bunch of taxis I have ever seen. A ride across town [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Cairo this a.m. about 1 a.m., then spend an hour with British Airways because they lost one of my bags--actually it only had a collapsable lawn chair with an umbrella but I'm thinking that will be mighty important when I am camped out in the Desert at 110 degrees!! hopefully they will deliver it to my hotel before we leave. This trip so far has me seriously jet lagged, as it is 7 p.m. right now, and 10 a.m. in Denver; so all the meal times and sleep times are in the wrong place. Dennis and I are [View Full Entry]

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OK, only about 10 days before we fly to Cairo, and I am doing an entry into the blog mainly so I can be sure I know how to work this thing (the blog). Maybe a couple of things will interest those following along. We will be traveling in a truck, modified to become sort of a bus. The website for the "tour" company, Oasisoverland.co.uk posts the still available number of seats, and it currently says "6+" seats available. The truck holds 20, so we may only have 10-14 people. That would be good for us and bad for the tour [View Full Entry]

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Cairo to Istanbul 2007 Bill Clayton Here it is April 27 2007; only a month from now I will be standing in Cairo, Egypt; ready to being our 37 day "Truck Expedition" from Cairo to Istanbul, through Egypt,Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. More information about the trip is available on the website for Oasis travel, the company that runs the "Expedition Vehicle". Here is the descriptive info: <http://www.oasisoverland.co.uk/truck_expeditions/middle_east/oasis_caravan/index.html> I will be traveling with my college [View Full Entry]

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