Stop Off Back in Downtown Cairo

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05/11/08 - Back in downtown Cairo, Egypt.

Hello again people. Just a quick update while i'm stopping off in Cairo again after leaving Dahab and before heading down to Southern, or Upper Egypt ('upper' due to the direction the nile flows).

So Dahab was fun. I managed some snorkelling, but diving courses proved too expensive unfortunately! Still, the underwater life in the shallows is still spectacular!! An assortment of all kinds of tropical fish, corals, eels, crustaceons, and other creatures of the sea, swimming all around you. AAnother world down there and definately an incentive to come back for a diving course in the future! Also finally did some quad biking, through the desert and surrounding Saini mountains which i eventually became quite comfortable with, rinsing around at speed and tackling the terrain and corners pretty well!

Another highlight was the trip to St Catherines Monestary, where the burning bush is supposedly housed. The trip is this though, you arrive at 1am, climb the mountain in the dark via a long pathway. At about 4am you reach the top and wait for the sunrise. Its freezing up there in the dark, but when the sun rises you finally see the view of the mount Saini from the very top. Truly breathtaking in the dawn light and mist. Truly a spectacular sight after the dark mission!! You then decend the 3000 steps of the 'Path of Penetance' all the way back to the monestary for a quick tour. The next day i was knackered!!!

Halloween was ok, but nothing too special compared to pics ive seen from back home, but a few beers and a live band were still pretty fun! In all dahab was good, met some really nice people, locals and foreigners alike, including Simone the brazillian girl i met on the white desert trip! Small world! Ive also now read like 4 books, including Great Expectations, my first Dickens! Oh yeah and on the second to last day the stomach cramps id been having finally came to fruition, which was unpleasant but thankfully short lived! :D

So now i'm back in Cairo for 4 days. Yesterday med a Canadian couple, Todd and Marrie-Anne, who i hung around with and saw some sites of old Cairo, and the coptic christian area. Last night Todd and i checked out a belly dancing club, which i gather to be the equivillant to strip clubs in the conservative muslim culture! Was a funny night with music, beer, some dubious dancers, some good dancers, and men throwing wads of money on the stage. Very entertaining!! Tomorrow im gonna check out the ancient site of Saqqara just outside Cairo, with many old step pyramids and tombs. Then i catch an over night train to Aswan... More soon...and more pics too! Peace x

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