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Published: September 16th 2008
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Left Luxor and headed towards Cairo via the Western desert. Off to a bad start, we were kind of lost and at an intersection Tony asked someone from a restaurant/stop point which way do we go and they pointed us the wrong way heading to Cairo but not via the deserts, so the day was spent going round and round, in one town we got stopped by police and refuses to let us through to get back from where we started around Luxor, cant figure out their reason but it was annoying, at lunch time they were there looking at us and it must me a communication problem they to want us to head straight to cairo on the highway. Got back to the intersection where we got lost late in the afternoon and camped around the area. There were lots of fox looking animals that came to feed our left overs after dinner, went to the loo that night and 3 or 4 of them follwed me, kept throwing stones at them to leave me alone, it was a bit cooler during the night a reprieve for us all.
Next morning left early for the long drive, along the
way we passed through different oases towns named after countries or cities around the world, we stopped at one sign that says Baghdad. We are being escorted again by tourist police and we stopped around lunch time at Kharga oasis, where we shopped for fruits and snacks as well. Tony filled up the tank and the attendant refused to hand in his change saying it was tip, long discussion ensued, they dont wait to be given it they just take it!! The museum in Kharga did not open early enough for us so we left and visited the temple of Hibis and the necropolis.
There was a massive water pipe used for irrigating the farms and we took turns showering in it, holding on to the side handles and sitting ourselves at the opening, quite cool!! We had drinks and it was quite expensive, well considering how far it is from the cities one should understand and it was cold. Anyway more driving then we camped at the bedouin Camp in the Dakhla oasis. Nice place, we camped at the carpark, and while cook group is preparing dinner we went up the rooftop of the hotel and have a few
drinks and good sunset photos of the surrounding areas.
Drive to the Farafra Oasis and along the way drove through the White Desert, quite a sight to see, white salt deposits(?) carbonates or something. and later on was the Black desert. I beleive it was near the bahariyya oasis. it is here where we also set camp at Ahmed's safari camp where there was a ping pong table, and Craig and I were at it instantly, well after setting our tents up of course, Sam, Cam and Roy joined us for a few games, we ordered beer as well but have to be brought in as it was not legal i guessed to serve them here, they put it on the freezer right away, hours later someone noticed that it was not plugged in!! Anyway we drank it all as we played ping pong, Sam kicked all our butts in singles! Some doubles were played as well all in good fun. On the way to bed, Roy noticed his tent was put down, so we suspect it was Cam, I helped him put it back together again. We were supposed to do truck clean but majority refused, in my
opinion, since it was our home for a long time we should clean it as a favor, but we got fed up with Di's screw up that I think people felt we dont owe them any favors... I must add though a number of us are willing to do it but in the end it did not happen as Tony was in a pissy mood. We left it at that...
The next morning departure was a bit delayed, Tony and Di did not come to breakfast and was not in a good mood, fair enough they have to clean the truck when it gets to Jordan, oh well.. Drove into Cairo and saw the Belgians again on the road around Giza. Someone from the Bostan hotel met us up and guided us to the hotel. We unloaded everything of our possession and siad bye to the truck, well it stayed but that's our last time in it. the hotel has only elevators, no stairs and took ages to get up and down.
Tour of the Pyramids the next day, very hot, glad to see the pyramids, the sphinx looks smaller than I thought it would... We also stopped
at a Papyrus and Perfumery place, i dont know why....
Farewell dinner at an Egyptian restaurant then back to hotel rooftop, Tony gave us a briefing /facts about the trip that we just finished everyone in a good mood, said our byes for people leaving next day. Sam and Craig and I stayed up drinking til 5:30am!!
Rushed to get ready that morning to say bye to Chrissy, saw her off then went to City Stars mall to se a movie, we saw Batman... Dinner at TGIF that night for Helen's farewell, too much traffic, a government house burning and a stupid taxi driver who cant find the restaurant. and it happened again, on the way back Taxi driver had no clue where we live and keep asking passersby, we showed the map, the address, i dont think they can read at all.. When we finally hot to the hotel, he asked for more money, f..ked that, Roy dealt with him, some yeling blah blah then taxi sped off...
Bye to all as me and Craig leaves for Alexandria, took 4 1/2 hours to get to the city, taxi driver duped us, we got to our hotel for
twice normal price, good thing though he helped us buy bus ticket for the Cairo airport...he said hotel is 40km from the airport, not!!!
Walked around town along the promenade, the waterfront looks nice, but dirty, some people swimming etc. We cant find a place to eat so we sat at Pizza hut. Went past Biblioteca, quite nice at night with all the lights but we did not get in, as it was very muggy we went back to the hotel, took ages as we got lost, all the streets at night look the same!!! the only consolation, is to find out there was a porn channel on TV... Craig did not sleep well that night....
Did the Qitbay citadel today, walked there very hot! the inside of the fort is empty. went back to hotel, there was a Filipino couple there talking to the receptionist, was gonna greet them but forgot...
Met Sam and Christina and had lunch at El Shark next door. Chilled out most of the day smoking shisha pipes in a cafeteria until it's time to get to the bus station. Sad goodbyes again, left Sam and Christina in tears(not really). The bus
station was chaotic, havent a clue where is our bus, but we managed to find it eventually, a few people later on we realized are going on the same flight as us to Bucharest with tarom Airlines, we chatted and hang out with them at the terminal while killing time... So goodbye Africa, hello Europe...
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