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Published: January 19th 2007
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The boys
Josh, Callin, Chad and Stevo With some saddness but many good memories of Jordan; Josh, Stevo and I departed for the promised land of Egypt.
While Egypt was not really on my itinerary to begin with, the idea grew and grew on me the more i thought about it. And hanging out some more with Stevo and Josh sounded like a great idea. We boarded the ferry from Aquaba in Jordan and headed towards the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.
Ill be pretty brief with this diary entry. I promise no boring stuff abou Egypts history or currenty sociapolitical environment!
But needless to say Egypt was one big surprise to me.
We started off in Nuweiba, the first town from the ferry port. This was probably one of the most chilling places on earth! Just being there i felt my whole body begin to atrophy! Thats how slow the pace of life was. We ate, ate some more, had some beers, and sat around chatting to a whole bunch of people. The staff at the camp were super cool as well.
But the real gold was only just down the road. The next day we headed to Dahab (literally meaning gold). This
Dahab
Gold! small town on the Sinai Peninsula used to be a famous hippy haven back in the day. Thankfully it still retains its laid back attitude and a surprising lack of development. Here we spent about two weeks (staying at the Seven Heaven resort, highly reccomended). The time spent here was totally magic. I met some homeboys (Chad, Callin, Abbsy, Brian, Mohammad) that im sure will remain my friends for years and years to come. The local boys at the restaurants were all super cool and we felt part of the town. And Tim the mad scubadiver took us under his wing and was an amazing scuba instructor. Without a word of a lie the two weeks spent here were magic and will forever hold a special place for me.
After two weeks of possibly the best lifestyle imaginable, Josh, Stevo and I parted ways with Dahab and the boys. A very sad parting that was tempered with the knowledge that ill meet up with them again at some point.
So the dynamic trio jumped on board a classic of Egyptian transport. The East Delta bus. Noisy, smelly, lound, smelly and constantly full of ciggie smoke it was a
Cairo
Man in a Mosque joy to behold! The only relief was getting off at pitstops to stock up on snacks and breath in some fresh air.
We made it to Cairo. From here we visited the pyramids of Giza. Top stuff! And discovered that despite what i had heard Cairo was an amazing city. People were super chillen, the food was great, and even at two in the morning, roaming the streets i never felt cautios or worried about my safety.
Our next mode of transport was a overnight train to Luxor. In Luxor we saw all the sights there was to see, and enountered a new beast of Egypt. The massively huge tour group! These homogonised, and pasturised, groups would simultaneously disgorge from a bus and temporarily overrun a sight. With their tour guide they would duitfully follow him around a sight. Shuffling to the left when told to look left, glancing to the right when instructed to and trotting about taking lamo photos of each other. Ahhh, i thought, that will be me in fifty years time. Probably looking on at some young punks and thinking, mate this will be you in fifty years time. Sunrise, sunset!!
Then onto
Aswan! Here we met up again with Abbsy and Brian. We spent a fantastic couple of days on a Felucca (traditional nile boat captained by Nubian Egyptians. The Nubians are ace sailors, many having moved north into Egypt at the end of the 1960's when the Aswan high dam was built, cutting of the natural flow of the Nile betwen Egypt and Sudan, and separating the Nubians traditional sailing routes). Laying around, drinking beers during the day, fishing, and listening over and over again to the one Bob Marley tape on the boat. Good times were had by all.
Abbsy and Brian departed to head to Sudan (mad guys), and Josh, Stevo and I went down to check out the temple of Abu Simbal. Now this was cool! Two massive temples buitl by Ramses the II. Proably the highlight for me in the Egyptian temple stakes.
After Abu Simbal it was time for me to part ways with Josh and Stevo. I have to say it was a big bag of fun hanging out with these two guys, and was (another!) sad parting. But with Josh being a sydneysider and Stevo heading to Sydney to work i knew
i would see them again for our Middle East revival tour (that meaning going out in Sydney).
I then headed back to Dahab for a couple of days. While i still had heaps of fun, sneaking in one last scuba dive on the Red Sea, it just wasnt the same as before.
With the end of my time in Egypt I headed back to Amann to catch my flight back to Istanbul. It was a very thoughtful and inward trip back to Amann, thinking of all the good times, awesome people, and slowly realising that the time i spent in Egypt would soon become some of the best memories of travelling i have.
But now back to Istanbul to start the second part of the trip. The bike ride!!
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