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Published: October 5th 2006
Matt:
I guess tucked away in the back of everyone’s head is a list of places that you must visit before you die. Some lists maybe short, others simple; alas mine is neither.
Although over the past nine months I have been able to cross a heap of places off my inflated and hugely expensive list, number one - Egypt - still seemed a bit unreachable (I guess the whole Africa thing makes it seem further away than it actually is). And so when Ed suggested that we take a week off for my birthday for a cruise down the Nile, I jumped at the chance.
To add to the ‘wowness’, my brother had surprised me by arriving from Sydney the day before to join us for our trip (he and Ed had arranged it in the weeks leading up to my big day). All up, the stage was set to blow that list out of my head completely!
We flew out on my actual birthday which, while sounding great in theory, felt horrible with a hangover after the party the night before. While Ed and I took turns in the bathroom, my brother just sat there
The Great Pyramid...
...Brought to you by Cheops, the 'mine's bigger than yours' kingwith a smug look on his face (see earlier blog entry for reasons why). In further evidence of poor planning, we had booked our flights at exactly the same time as Australia kicked off against Brazil in its second Word Cup match. Thankfully though, the pilot gave us regular updates of how much Australia were losing by for the duration of the flight.
After landing in Cairo around midnight we headed for the immigration counter where the first paragraph of the visas section of our Lonely Planet assured us that we could buy our entry visa. Unfortunately we didn’t read the second paragraph.
Cairo Airport is known for a number of things: A couple of plane crashes in the 1970s; a hijacking in the 1980’s; its ample collection of Persian rug selling duty-free stores… One thing it is not known for though is its ample collection of ATMs. Unfortunately we had arrived in Cairo in the dead of night without any cash - and (ironically) the immigration counter didn’t take VISA. From where we were standing, we could see the only cash machine in the terminal - problem being, it was on the other side of immigration.
Dom and his camel
Would that be one hump or two? To make matters worse, my already smug brother had bought his visa in advance and so was able to head straight through, leaving the ‘experienced globetrotters’ in his wake.
Eventually though, I negotiated with a couple of guys with machine guns to let me though immigration (minus my passport and under the watchful eyes of a pair of AK-47s) so that I could get cash out, get our visas and get away from the airport.
Despite what it may look like, Ed and I do consider ourselves pretty experienced travellers by now. There are still however a couple of places in the world that we wouldn’t tackle on our own. Armed with little knowledge of the local language and customs (apart from their apparent fondness for using tour buses for target practice) and entrusted with my baby (ie. 6’4”) brother, Egypt was definitely one of those places. As a result we had booked ourselves on a tour and so after meeting Rafik, our guide for the eight days, we drove off towards our hotel.
Pretty soon after leaving the airport car park, we realised that driving in Cairo at one o’clock in the morning is strangely similar
to driving in Cairo at any other time of the day. Like the heat, the level of traffic doesn’t seem to follow established norms. In fact, nothing about Cairo drivers (including our own Rafik) seemed to follow established norms - lanes, traffic signals, other cars and pedestrians are just considered loose guidelines or obstacles there to be ignored.
Despite the traffic, we made it to our hotel shaken and stirred and were shown to our rooms.
The following morning, we met the rest of our tour group, all of which were Aussies and New Zealanders (doesn’t the rest of the world travel???), and headed to the massive Egyptian Museum. The museum apparently holds the second best collection of Egyptian artefacts in the world - after that pillar of colonial plunder: the British Museum. One thing that the Egyptians do have over the thieving Brits, is the entire collection of Tutankhamen’s treasures, which are extensive and spectacular! From his iconic death mask to his 110kg solid gold coffin, the boy definitely had taste!
Along with King Tut’s riches, the museum contains the mummified bodies of some of Egypt’s more illustrious pharaohs. The fact that these ancient kings and
queens look better preserved than some of the bodies you see lying on Sydney’s beaches is testament to how advanced Egyptian civilisation was. The whole experience was amazing, although the feeling I got staring into the 3,000 year old eye sockets of Ramses II - someone I completed a high school project on - can only be described as surreal!
From the museum, we headed out into the heat and the chaos of downtown Cairo for the 20 minute drive/near death experience to Giza.
I have always had this image in my head (with all these lists and images, it’s pretty crowded in there) of how I’d feel when I first saw the Pyramids. This image involved my arrival Lawrence of Arabia style on the back of a camel and the parting of sand dunes to reveal their silhouettes against a setting sun. Although the actual experience involved an arrival in a minibus and the parting of Cairo apartment blocks and smog - it was no less satisfying.
The guidebooks, photos and vision everyone has seen really do the Pyramids no justice. It is definitely a sight that must be seen in person to be appreciated. The
Ed and Sphinx
Which cat's the coolest? first thing that struck me was the size of the things - they are Huge (with a capital ‘H’). The second was how close the Cairo suburbs had encroached upon them - they are literally ring fenced by a collection of apartment and office blocks, irrigation canals and take away restaurants!
After pulling up, we headed out of our minibus with Dom to take photos and walk around the enormous structures. What started as a spectacular stroll in quiet awe didn’t last long - we soon found ourselves followed, fondled and accosted by an army of locals selling everything from t-shirts to snow domes.
Somewhere along our walk, Dom became separated from us and managed to make friends with a welcoming local who offered to take his photo sitting on his camel for free - something Dom found too good to refuse. Pretty soon though, Dom found out that nothing in Cairo is really free after been chased halfway around the Great Pyramid by an angry, formerly welcoming local with a camel asking for his ‘baksheesh’ or tip!
From the Pyramids, we headed the short distance over to the Sphinx, which for future reference is just around
the corner, right across the road from Pizza Hut (I’m not joking!). Even though he has lost his beard to the British Museum (again, not joking), he is still one hell of a cool cat!
That night, we drove to Cairo station for the overnight train south to Aswan. Apparently not satisfied only with blowing up tour buses, the local terrorists have expanded their list of targets to include tourist trains. As a result, tourists are now only allowed to travel in one carriage on one train which travels south each night to a worryingly predictable timetable. Thankfully however, we were escorted the entire journey by our own personal army of 12 year-old guards with machine guns (again no joke) which gave us all a warm, reassured feeling (OK, now I’m joking).
Upon arriving in Aswan three hours late (probably just to confuse the terrorists), we drove down to the banks of the Nile to board our boat and hotel for the following three nights.
The MV Adonis has all the tasteful charm and understated decor of Tutankhamen’s tomb. Equipped with 40 five star rooms, a glass roofed reception hall and a roof-top swimming pool, it was
definitely a place that we got used to very fast!
After a couple of cocktails and a quick dip in the pool (tough, ain’t it?), we boarded a felucca sail boat for a cruise across the river to a desert beach. Undeterred by talk of microscopic tadpoles with a penchant for swimming up penises and eating livers, we decided to cross another must off the list and swim in the Nile.
From there, we sailed further upstream to a small bay where we were to continue our journey to a local Nubian village by that other quintessentially Egyptian mode of transport - camel.
The last time I was on a camel was in Broome in Western Australia. There, the camels were given names like Clive or Bruce and were treated more like show ponies, complete with their own personally embroidered saddles and ribbons. Apart from the familiar smell, there was obviously little similarity between the lifestyles of Australian and Egyptian camels. Egyptian camels are obviously fed little, worked like horses and given uninspiring names, like mine who was called ‘Banana’.
After dismounting our piles and skin and bones we visited a local Nubian household and... Umm…
Swimming in the Nile...
...with crocodiles and liver eating parasites Actually - I’m still not all that sure why we were there. In fact, from the look on our hosts’ faces as we walked through their living room, I’m not entirely convinced they knew why we were there either!
One thing the house did have on offer was a collection of baby crocodiles that the grandmother of the family apparently had caught in the river (ie. the same river Ed and I had just swum in!). From the start it was pretty obvious that Granny was pretty proud of her catch and began passing one of the poor creatures around the circle with a beaming look on her face. While Dom and I had the foresight to see the potential for an ‘incident’, Ed joined the circle to get up close and personal with the croc.
This new found bravery came as a surprise to Dom and me. Typically, little Edley is the first to run at the earliest sign of danger, but here he was trying to play Steve Irwin - it was definitely a recipe for disaster!
No sooner had Ed posed for a happy snap when the crocodile started to wiggle. Faced with a
Nubian camel and Dom...
I think his camel was called 'Camel' wriggling croc, Ed had a couple of choices: He could calmly place the distressed animal back his tank; or he could coolly pass the poor creature back to Granny. Faced with this choice, our hero opted for a third option: he threw it! More to point, he threw it at Shane - one of the guys in our tour group - and ran!
The moments that followed remain a blur of scrambling bodies, four letter words and crocodile skin but in the end, Shane was white, Granny was in a toothless fit of laughter, Ed was hiding in the corner and the poor croc had wriggled off to hide under his tank!
After that, we made a hasty retreat from the Nubian village. On the way out, I decided to do my bit for the local community and give some change to one of the local girls. This selfless act of charity resulted in the poor girl having to run for her life as she was chased through the streets by torch wielding children in search of their cut of the baksheesh.
Between the kamikaze crocodiles and the torch wielding villagers, we were thankful to make it
A touch of spice?
At the Nubian village out of there with our 10 fingers and 10 toes intact and sailed back to the MV Adonis for dinner and an early night.
At 3am the next morning (yes, you heard right people - 3AM!) we awoke and headed to our minibus for the journey to the next highlight of our trip.
Abu Simbel is located on the banks of Lake Nasser, 280kms south of Aswan and just 20kms north of the Sudanese border. To get there, tourists must wake up at an unholy hour to join the single daily armed convoy that travels there. Because of the whole tour bus = terrorist target thing, the convoy travels at high speed and is escorted by a small army of Egyptian troops, with at least one stationed in every second bus. Although it sounds more dangerous than having a crocodile thrown at you, we all felt pretty safe.
The fact that the Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, was built is testimony to the remarkable little bony man we laid eyes on in the Egyptian museum. That it is still around to be admired is testimony to modern engineering!
The temple was carved out of
Ed and the Croc...
...little does he know he's about to become airborne a mountain on the banks of the Nile in around 1250 BC and is extensive. On the outside are four colossal statues of the great Pharaoh which guard the entrance to a huge pillared reception hall. The walls and roof of this enormous space are decorated with intricate carvings depicting Ramses’ main victories and the roof is supported by eight enormous pillars. Off the hall are several chambers, which are again ornately carved and incredibly beautiful.
Walking around, it is little wonder that the temple was designated as a top priority for conservationists when the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960’s. Faced with the temple being flooded, it was decided that the entire mountain into which the temple was built would be dismantled and reconstructed 100 metres above its original location. In a word, the effort was remarkable!
On the way back to Aswan, we crossed the next great feat of Egyptian engineering, a canal which aims to effectively become a second Nile. Once complete in 10 years, the 310km long manmade river aims to open up huge areas of the unpopulated desert to future settlement. Again - remarkable!
That afternoon (and despite the 50’C
Nubian kids
Minus their torches and pitchforks heat!), Ed, Dom and I visited the High Dam, which even after 50 years is still the largest dam in the world. We also took a boat and explored the magic Philae Temple, which also needed to be dismantled and reconstructed on an island after the High Dam was built in the 1960’s.
As night fell, our group decided to head into town and explore the local markets. After getting a couple of henna tattoos and buying some souvenirs, we headed back to our boat to bed.
We awoke the following morning to find that the Adonis had set sail north and so we made ourselves comfortable. There’s something particularly awesome about lying by a cool pool in temperatures half way to boiling, sipping a cocktail as sand dunes and ancient temples pass you by. It definitely is one of the highlights of all our time travelling so far.
After a few hours, we arrived at the little town of Edfu and went by donkey and carriage to the Temple of Horus, one of the best preserved temples in Egypt. After wandering around the intricately carved 36 metre behemoth of a building, we returned by donkey to
Sunrise over the desert
On the way to Abu Simbel the boat for the rest of our journey north.
Unfortunately, because of a shutdown of one of the locks along the Nile, we could not continue to our final destination - Luxor - and instead stopped for the night at the town of Esna, around 50kms short. After docking, I decided that I needed to get some cash and so set off onto land in search of an ATM. After stepping onto shore, I was amazed by what I saw.
Esna isn’t so much as a town, rather a few random piles of corrugated iron and besser blocks on the banks of a wide section of the Nile. At first glace, the place appeared to be entirely populated by mountain goats most of who were standing on top of the buildings admiring all who passed by. Into this scene walked me, an obviously green tourist in a pair of Gucci sunglasses and fluro polo shirt (perfect for terrorist target practice). I was immediately swamped by locals, trying to sell everything from rugs to Rice-a-Riso. Eventually I managed to find out that the closest ATM was (in true Egyptian style) 50kms away and so I made a hasty retreat
Abu Simbel
Temple of Ramses II to the Adonis.
That night, our group had decided to watch the Australia - Croatia World Cup match on the cinema screen in the main bar and so we had smuggled alcohol on board in preparation. Unfortunately, kick-off coincided with a performance in the main bar by ‘Shukura - the Queen of the Nile’, a 55-year old local belly dancer with severe sun damage who we later found out doubled as Esna’s village hooker. As a result we were forced to move our plans to our room.
After a few complaints from our neighbours and low audience numbers for poor undulating Shukura, management decided to move the Australians to the main bar. It ended up being an awesome night (not least because we made it through the first round!).
Early the following morning, we checked out of the MV Adonis and got back on our minibus for the half hour drive to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. Because the Valley is one of the hottest places in all of Egypt (apparently at this time of year temperatures can get up to as much as 60’C), Rafik advised that we get in and out as soon
Abu Simbel
At the foot of Ramses II (looking larger and less bony than in person) as possible before the temperature began to rise (above 40’C!).
While there we visited the gorgeous tombs of Tuthmosis II, Seti II and Ramses IV.
Next, we went to the Temple of Hatshepsut, a huge temple built into the mountain. Along the way we visited the enormous Colossi of Memnon, two 18 metre high faceless statues who have looked over the changing landscape for more than 3,500 years.
After staggering around Hatshepsut’s Temple for a while, we headed to the Temples of Karnak.
After living and travelling around Europe for a year, I have seen a stack of amazing buildings. From Schloss Neuschwanstein in Germany to Notre Dame in Paris, each has impressed because of their age, beauty or sheer size. Nothing though had prepared me for what I saw at Karnak.
Measuring more than one and half kilometres in length, Karnak is a truly massive place. From its avenue of sphinxes to the massive man made sacred lake at the rear, it is the kind of place that is difficult to describe without resorting to your Thesaurus. For me, the highlight was definitely the Great Hypostyle Hall, an awesome chamber filled with a forest
Abu Simbel
Inside one of the chambers of 134 towering columns, each with a unique papyrus style capital. Covering an area big enough to house three of London’s St Paul’s Cathedrals, the place was staggering in terms of age, beauty and size!
After Karnak, we headed to a rooftop bar in Luxor on the banks of the Nile for a few bevies on ice before the long alcohol fuelled train trip back to Cairo.
The following day we visited the Step Pyramid of Zoser, the Ben Ezra Synagogue (and I thought the tourists were well guarded!) and the enormous Al-Azhar Mosque before retiring to our hotel for a rest before a light show we had booked in the evening at Giza.
Shortly after lying down on the bed I felt it; a strangely familiar gurgling sensation in the lower section of my gut. By the time it came to leave for the light show, the gurgling sensation had transformed into outright pain, punctuated by trips to the bathroom. As a result, I chose to stay behind by Ed and Dom went to watch the show (which apparently involved the Sphinx talking - shame I missed it).
Thankfully, by the following morning my misery
Abu Simbel
Temple of Nefertari had some company: both Ed and Dom had joined me in pain. It all made our flight home more like a three-way relay race to the bathroom!
So that was Egypt! Even though Ed and my stomachs still aren’t 100% right, we had an amazing trip and will definitely be back!
Sorry for the long pause between postings. With work and travelling and visitors and travelling and warm weather and more travelling Ed and I haven’t had a chance to scratch ourselves. Hopefully they should flow more regularly over the next few weeks.
Miss you guys heaps and can’t wait to see everyone when we’re back in Christmas.
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Ang da aussie!
non-member comment
Cool Blog
Very detailed will be taking some pointers photos are great need more of us in it though!! Hope you are both well ang xx