Blogs from Western Desert, Egypt, Africa - page 5

Does a bear shit in the forest? If so what do you do in the desert? We spent the previous night under the stars in the black desert (Sahara Suda) close to a train line that stretched for miles into the middle of nowhere. The black desert was not what I had visualised the desert to be - thinking that all deserts would be filled with mountains of red or white sand that stretched out endlessly (Okay! I only had the tv to compare it to). Instead the black desert was mounds of sand almost completely covered in small black lava rocks. We arrived late at night and immediately started preparations for our dinner (sadly I was on the cooking group tonight). Unfortunately the wood that we had originally sourced and tied to the truck ... read more

今早六時起來，本身是約了阿叻一起看日出，但結果他起不了床。我就自己衝上那個山丘看日出。我想自中學時代去過鳯凰山看日落外，都沒有試過了。其實日出吸引的地方不是漂亮，而是在瞬間把一片黑暗變成光明，而且日出的時候空氣都是很清新，給人一個很有生機的感覺。雖然日出能令人精神爽利，但看完日出後我繼續睡，一直睡到十時半，這是我整個旅程睡得最多的一天。 接近中午時候，那對法國母女回來，一問之下，原來她們是去了White Dessert。她們在沙漠上搭帳幕野餐，而且還吸引了很可愛的野狼呢。 其實當時我的確很後悔沒有在來之前跟campsite溝通好我想去white dessert，因為一個人去沙漠是很貴的，所以如果有人一起去就會便宜很多。　但是世事豈盡如人意。其實本身來不來到沙漠都是未知之數，現在能夠來到這裡已經很幸運。 跟她們倆母女談了一會，原來女兒在這裡工作，媽媽來探她。她們這次主要是由東向西走，主要是海灘跟沙漠，避開了所有遊客區。還有，她還告訢我，她拿著那個埃及工作證明，去金字塔是不用付錢的。所有要付錢的，都只有是遊客呢。其實就是這些先人留下來的偉大遺跡。 留在這個campsite的感覺不像旅遊，像是在這裡生活一樣。下午跟阿叻忽發奇想，想往附近的Black Mountain走一走，那就開始了在沙漠行山這個特備節目。Black Mountain上有很多像炭一樣的石頭，所以看上去整座山都是黑色，很特別的呢。阿叻出發前更準備了點生果及汽水，放在冰箱裡，而他卻踢著拖，把那個冰箱摃上肩上就出發了。在前往Black Mountain途中，是先經過一段沙漠，在途中我看到動物的骸骨，以及動物被吃後的腐屍，這些都是我沒有見過，而且身在沙漠的感覺就更強烈。在途中，我們不停拍照，而且常常在沙上寫字，阿叻寫阿拉伯文，我寫中文。山上的石頭很特別，是風化很久的，是脆的，一踩就碎了。　最後我在山頂，看見太陽從山後落下，慢慢消失於山中，這是我在埃及見到最後的一個日落。 我們晚上八點半才回到campsite，今天的活動，一般遊客不會做，其實他們當地人也不會這樣無聊去這樣玩，所以作為在埃及的最後一天的活動，是... read more

Siwa is great! It is a small desert community that had no road until 1980, so things are still very "old Egypt". There are donkeys everywhere, the women were covered from head to toe (face too), and every morning everyone lines up at the bakery to collect their flatbread for the day (including me!). It is only 90km from the Libya border and in the middle of the desert. I was told by a Canadian guy (Scott Cable, met him in Irkutsk, Russia) that I had to check it out. He also informed me of an interesting tidbit of information that he was told by an Egyptian guy regarding the habits of the local men and their lust for the donkeys. Apparently some politician's wife was bothered by this fact, and ordered that all the female ... read more

After months of planning and weeks and days of stressful pre-trip preparations, I finally departed for my first 4 day field trip as the teacher instead of the student! Ever since I arrived in Egypt, I have had the idea of taking the high school students to the Western Desert as part of their PE class. Part of the high school curriculum requires students to learn about physical activity in an alternative environment, as well as look at some basic survival skills and first aid. Back in February, I picked the second week of April as a perfect time to take a break from the routine of school, enjoy the not-too-hot early summer weather and head out for a week in the sand. I sought out a reputable tour company and hotel, researched what other local ... read more

8-4-08 It was another long day on the road. We had an… early start, just for something new, and hopped on the bus. Ten hours later, after passing some pretty amazing Mediterranean coastline, we arrived in the Oasis town of Siwa. First impression was that it was a pretty small and barren town, but delightfully, first impressions aren’t always right. We first headed up to the site of the old town, which gave great views of the area. It was amazing to see how much of the area the water took up. We were up the top, just as the sun was setting. Ahhh, holiday! We then went out for dinner in what would become our regular, followed by some sheesha at a local coffee house. This coffee house was equipped with a real coffee machine, ... read more