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Published: March 16th 2008
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After our visit home we headed off again and the first stop was Egypt. Getting there was a bit of a drama - changing planes in Singapore and then a 12 hour stopover in London before another flight change. But we got there!
We arrived late in Cairo, about 1am, but booked ourselves a private taxi for the following day to get around to the pyramids. It was amazing! Strangely not quite as big as I was expecting for some reason - guess it is all the hype you hear and then you get there and face reality.
With a lot of pushing from our taxi driver we hired a couple of what appeared to be half starved horses (no helmets, training or anything) and then we took off with our guide Sam. Despite what anyone may tell you, you can definitely walk around the pyramids area - just get a taxi to drop you at the main entrance. After being suckered into hiring horses which we felt bad riding we took off through "back" entrances. Egypt is definitely a land where the back way is the norm.
We rode around for a while, saw the Sphinx and
the three great pyramids and some lesser ones and just generally took in the atmosphere. It was totally bussling! So many people, tourists and locals selling souvenirs everywhere. Oh yeah, don´t put your hand out to take anything as they won´t take it back!
Sam gave us a bit of history and then we rode out a bit to get a nice overall view of the scenery. It really is amazing what man was creating so many years ago. We didn´t go inside any of the pyramid tombs here as it is quite expensive and we knew we were going to get the chance elsewhere.
Next stop was Saqqara where we got to see the first pyramid design - the step pyramid. There were also a lot of tombs in this area and even one small pyramid with a tomb inside which we got to have a look into. It is quite a strange feeling walking bent over double to get into the tomb - needless to say we didn´t feel the need to stay in there for very long.
Driving back to the hostel was an experience - the traffic is mad. Probably the craziest we
have come across - worse than Nairobi and Istanbul. As one taxi driver said to us when we were in Luxor "Australians drive on the left side of the road, Americans on the right, and Egyptians in the middle!" And he even kindly demonstrated the actions as he was saying it! Laughing merrily of course. They literally just drive wherever there is a space - lane lines mean nothing. But probably the scariest thing about it is how they drive at night without their lights on - even on highways in the dark in the middle of the night. It did not make for a relaxing bus journey. Also, the people walk all over the roads too (lots of people limping!), the car horns are going constantly, and the traffic never seems to let up.
On our second day in Cairo we spent hours walking around the Cairo Museum where most of the finds from the pyramids and tombs are kept. Those that haven´t been taken by other nationalities and placed in their own museums! It was absolutely awesome, but unfortunately no pictures allowed.
After our short stint in Cairo we headed to Aswan by overnight train. We
Ancient wonders of the world
The pyramids of Egypt - check out how small the sphinx is in comparison! spent the day hanging around the town and taking in the atmosphere - much more calm than Cairo. The next day we were up at 3:30am to go on tour by bus to Abu Simbel. It is a massive collosus and temple built by Ramses for himself, and another smaller one he built for his wife. It is particularly awesome because the temple was moved to its current location in the 70s because it was going to end up under water after the Egyptians built the new Aswan High Dam. We spent some time looking at the exhibition telling the story and showing pictures of the move. It was awesome.
The temples themselves are probably our favourite memory from Egypt. They are simply astounding in size and sheer magnificence.
The day would have been pretty perfect if not for two things. One, Ev and I weren´t quite thiking right that morning and we left our camera in the hostel! Luckily disposables were on hand. The other thing was the crazy egyptian driving. I suppose we were lucky it wasn´t at night, but on the return journey I think our driver was bored so he was literally only one
We really were there!
How sad do the horses look? Unfortunately, all the horses we saw were like this. Didn´t feel so good riding them. metre behind the big bus in front, and they were playing overtaking games - taking turns overtaking even where it is clearly marked no overtaking (road signs like lane lines seem to mean nothing!) - and other times they would just drive alongside each other on the two lane highway sort of talking through the windows. It was not relaxing - don´t sit up the front of the bus!
We did a bit of wandering around the markets and had a laugh at the way the locals talk when they know you are Australian. You get used to calls of "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi" and "Gday mate" and then the general "Hassle free" "No bloody hassle here" said in terrible Aussie accents. We made a few people happy when we bought a few souvenirs and then it was time to move on to Luxor.
Our first stop in Luxor was the Karnak temple complex - it is huge and the main site in Luxor. We wandered around for ages and then walked back to town along the Nile and checked out at least 40 big cruise boats which cruise the nile. All just sitting there. Oh,
The Sphinx
and hordes of people... and as happens so often to Evan, he got asked if he wanted to buy drugs. What is it about him do you think?
The following day we did a day tour to the West Bank. First stop, Valley of the Kings. Absolutely awesome. The scenery is just totally desolate and then you arrive at the entry and see a model of all the tombs which have been discovered in the area - about 60 or so I think. Some are really long with lots of rooms, and others (including Tutankhamens) are tiny. We went into three of the tombs (not Tut´s because it was too expensive and we figured we have seen enough mummies and all the good stuff is in the museum!). They are interesting, but definitely not as exciting as it would be if there were actually still things in there - all the goodies have been removed to museums so all thats left are the heiroglyphs on the walls. They´d probably move them too if they could!
Again, no photos were allowed in the tombs. We saw one lady get her camera taken off her by the local security guard. Can´t imagine what sort
The famous step pyramid
The first design of the pyramids of bride she would have had to pay to get it back!
Next stop was the Temple of Hatshapsut - another large temple - they really are all over Egypt, and we thought it was all pyramids! Then onto the Valley of the Queens - much like the Valley of the Kings. We went into a couple here. Would have loved to have seen Nefrititi´s tomb but they closed it about 7 years ago and now you need to pre arrange your visit in advance, and apparently it costs about $4000 (Aud) for about 10 minutes, no photos and probably a heap of other restrictions. I think the VIPs get to visit though.
Then it was back to Cairo on the train before catching a bus to Sharm el Shiek on the Red Sea for a bit of beach time. It is a massive resort town but we had a really nice time. We just relaxed and enjoyed not rushing around to pyramids and temples. One night we even totally splurged and stayed at an all inclusive resort right on a famous bit of reef. We really enjoyed the luxury and hired some snorkels for a bit of
a splash around. It was great. Then it was back to the UK!
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