http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Egypt en-us Tue, 10 Nov 09 04:00:26 +0000 Tue, 10 Nov 09 04:00:26 +0000 Hi AllWersquove just returned from an awesome trip around Egypt. Chilled is the wordThis place really blew our minds. People were so friendly and easy going. The scenery was beautiful as well. Check out some of our photos as this will give you a better idea of what Irsquom talking about.We landed in Sharm el sheikh and travel up to Dahab on the first night. Dahab is really cool with loads of http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/blog-450998.html So we left you on the border from Jordan. A lot of fun that was. Usual questions Have you packed the bag yourself sir Could anyone have interfered with it Are you carrying any guns with you Erm I think Dee has a nail scissorshellip Jerusalem So as we were in Israel we thought it would be a shame to just skip on to Egypt too promptly so we booked ourselves into a hostel which appear http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/blog-450004.html After a nice and relaxing vaca in Santorini we were off to the hustle and bustle of Cairo.Cairo is definetly a unique location and we like it. This was our second visit here. I love the arabic language and the people are very helpful and friendly especially when there's potential for a tip. Some Pictures from our swealtering vaction in Cairo. Gabriela http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-449925.html Because Mount Sinai is a very common tourist attraction it is best to hike up the mountain during the night and sleep up there until sunrise. We began our hike up the mountain at 930 at night. The hike was not that bad especially when Monica a fellow traveler got a camel and took my 8 pound pack off of me. The hike in total was 7km most of which was switch backs. The only really challengi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/Dahab/blog-449714.html On Oct 7th we left Aswan floating up the Nile on a Felucca which is sort of like a small sail boat. We spent 2 days floating up the Nile just relaxing eating sleeping and having bon fires during the evening. The boats crew would sing and play drums and teach us to dance around the bon fire. The felucca ride was a very easy 2 days of travel. From the Nile we went to Luxor. My impression of http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-449712.html I had a very busy 2 additional days in Cairo. My first roommate to show up was American that had been doing peace core in western Africa for the last 2 years. I ended up going out my second day in Cairo with her and her uncle. Our first stop was the citadel which happened to be my first mosque that I visited as well. The view was very impressive sort of. Cairo is very polluted and it is ver http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Giza/blog-449476.html Arriving into Egypt was a pain in the butt. To make it through immigration it took me over an hour very ruff dealings for five in the morning. When I finally made it to my bag it was the only one left on the carousal. Good news was that my airport transfer was there.I arrived very early on Friday morning which is a holy day for Muslims so the city was very calm. I was overwhelmed by how unbe http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-449466.html Iskandariyya is how you pronounce it in Arabic Has a nice ring The bus ride here was un eventful. I was conned into drinking what i thought was complementary tea offered by the bus personal. Before i was about to get off i was informed i had to pay the equivalent of the 3 hour bus trip for tea and some packaged croissants So much for hospitality what am i complaining about it was only 4 do http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Mediterranean/Alexandria/blog-448152.html CAIRO IS NUTS Was my first thought when i stepped out from my hostel the next morningI hadn't even crossed the road yet wasn't even 10m from the doorstep of my hostel when i was approached by multiple Ali Baba's ill refer to the touts and annoyee's with the name Ali Baba. Throughout my travels within the middle east everyone i spoke to who i mentioned i was going to Cairo warned me to be care http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-447604.html So I havenrsquot written in the past 2 weeks because itrsquos been way too busy since the field school arrived. There are 11 American students and 10 Egyptians from the Antiquities Authority. Some of the Americans are wonderful and are really enthused to work here. Some of them are lazy. And some are just plain crazy. One girl in particular is completely out of her mind and has snapped at sev http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-447558.html Bedouinsafari websiteThe CamelThe Camel Safari Program is the desert name of our desert safari program that covers all the Egyptian western desert main oases.This Desert Safari Program Costs euro600 per person minimum 4 persons and the detailed itinerary is like the following Day 1 Cairo gtgt Marsa Matruh internal sightseeing tour Total distance traveled550 Km 700 pick you http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Western-Desert/blog-447001.html Since my quick blog in Cairo it seems that wersquove been traveling for weeks with the amount of things Irsquove seen and done possibly one of the most exciting being meeting the truck for the first time named Nahinda meaning power and strength in Swahili which is to be our home transport storage and portable camping accessory for the next four months . Itrsquos a bright yellow Scania http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Giza/blog-446914.html Arrived into town at about 9.30am on the train didn't get much sleep last night mainly because egyptian train drivers don't know how to brake properly.Got a pickup from the station to a hotel just around the corner now I have a day to waste in Aswan. The tour organiser told me to go sleep so I went done the road to a large 'hasslefree' market saw far too may pasty white faces for my liking http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-446611.html Had a liein today felt I deserved it. After finally waking myself up I went back towards Islamic Cairo and ventured further in to see more of the mosques and to graze at the street vendor stalls. wandered about for about 3hrs beforeheading back to the hostel. When I returned some of the other backpackers were up and planning to go out to coptic Cairo for a bit I went along 'cos hopefully the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-446608.html Another early start at 9am to Giza Plains taxi drive was uneventful except for three near fatal collisions thankfully none of them my driver's fault. Arriving at Giza immediately accosted upon entering the site by wouldbe guides and those offering extortionistic camel rides. Have to tell literally dozens of hasslers about my undying hatred of the humped creatures p.s. I hate camels. It seems http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Giza/blog-446605.html Up early 8am to sort out booking for some tours and secure the room for another couple of nights gonna stay in the city for a little while then go to Aswan and Luxor in the south. Got bored hanging about in the hostel so walked over the river Nile and Egyptian Museum taking my life into my own hands every time I cross the road. The museum is massive and badly organised kinda like a warehouse http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-446596.html Fully packed and with a little trepidation headed to the airport my mother was quite restrained until her teary meltdown. The plane was lightly filled the most interesting passenger was the hysterical illegal immigrant at the back being deported in handcuffs. Saw half of Terminator Salvation before the entertainment system broke down and I was reduced to reading the inflight magazine over and http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-446591.html We started our adventure late Thursday night at the bus station. By lsquowersquo I mean myself Rachel my suitemate from CT and Niall who is Canadian. We took the midnight bus from Haifa to Eilat and there we met our first hic up. I had thought about buying tickets early but decided to just deal with it at the bus station. Well at the bus station turned out that we had to buy tickets fro http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Giza/blog-445702.html Day 11 A Day to rememberWe were on the truck and away from Herghada by 6am. This turned out to be an exhausting day of almost 13 hours of driving to St Catherinersquos Monastery at the foot of Mt Sinai. Arriving at the car park around 8pm the designated cook group prepared a dinner and at 9.30pm we started the trek to the top of Mt Sinai arriving at 12.30am. I was not happy with the guide. He http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/Dahab/blog-445269.html Day 6 and 7 Feluccas on the Nile and LuxorToday we began two days of sailing on a fairly traditional Felucca. The hull is of steel and a canopy covers of the boat. Felucca sailing is a great way to unwind. We all had 10 or 12 bottles of Stella Beer on ice and it was with great restraint that the lads held out until 1pm before lifting the first bottle. There is not a lot to do on a Felucca and http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-445265.html