Egypt

---

Hey guys,

Well we've arrived in Egypt and our first impression of Egypt is it's really hot! I think I turned into a puddle approx. 2 minutes after walking out of the Cairo airport. We managed to make it to our hostel and ended up relaxing most of the day partly due to the heat as well as being tired from sleeping in the Nairobi airport the night before. I definitely don't recommend doing this as it was one of the worst airports we've ever been in.

Our original plan for Egypt was we were going to do everything ourselves, but upon arriving at our hostel the manager there offered to help us plan out our trip logistics as well as offer us a package for our entire stay. After reviewing the package he had offered us and comparing with the prices we had gathered with our guidebook and online we decided to go with the package since: it was only a little more expensive, Egypt has been a tourist destination for over 100 years so everything is really touristy there's no escaping it and after 6 months of independent travel being taken care of for 17 days seemed pretty good.

Our tour started the next day with us being picked up by our guide and driver and then we headed to view the pyramids of Saqqara. The Pyramid is not as popular as the Giza ones but still interesting to see and it provided us with a good drive through the outer suburbs of Cairo and some glimpses into modern day Egypt and life along the Nile. After Saqqara we were off to see the most famous Pyramids in all of Egypt: Giza. After much debate and some protest on account of my manhood (Not the figurative kind, my literal manhhood) we opted to ride Camels around the site. It turned out to be pretty fun and not so bad on the boys after all. Riding the camel also offers you the oppourtunity to get some awesome pics of the pyramids from a distance which you otherwise wouldn't get. As for the Pyramids and the Sphinx, what can I say, they're amazing. Working in construction the last ten years I can usually appreciate the amount of labour that it takes to build something but these are truly incredible, the size of these structures are awesome. Now that being said, walking down the tunnels all the way inside is something you can definitely take a pass on. The Sphinx is really great too even if being used for target practice by Napoleons Army has left it in bad shape.

The next day we were off on a city tour which started at the Saladin Citadel. This huge fortress has several beautiful Mosques as well as offers some great views of modern day Cairo from the fortress walls. Our tour guide Nasser, who we had for all our Cairo tours, was really great as he not only gave us all the historical information he also made a point of ensuring we could speak some Arabic before his time with us was up. This came in very handy throughout Egypt and Jordan. We finished our tour off with a visit to the Cairo Museum, which houses everything of value from the many Archeological sites that hasn't been stolen by other countries. This Museum is HUGE, with over 120,000 exhibits. Our afternoon visit barely scratched the surface. We managed to take in all the highlights which included King Tut's treasures from his tomb and the mummies of Pharoh's pets, yes their pets! This room is crazy with every animal imaginable mummified, cats, monkeys, birds, snakes and even 2 crocodiles over 20' long.

That night we caught the night train to Aswan, the train was the nicest one we've been on by far. Our first day in Aswan we visited the Unfinished Obelisk, the High Dam and the Philae Island. While the dam and obelisk are worth a view Philae was by far the highlight. The Temple is on an island inside the lake which was deconstructed and reconstructed when the High Dam was built. These Temples also display some beautiful artwork on their walls although a lot has been destroyed by early Christians.

The next morning at 3am we were on the road to Abu Simbel, luckily we had a nice new mini van all too ourselves so we could lounge out and sleep until we got there. The main attractions in Abu Simbel are the Temple of Ramsses II and the Temple of Nefertari. Ramsses Temple has four huge Colussus Statues of himself on the front, inside the entire temple is dressed with beautiful Hieroglyphics and Murals. This site was worth the long travel although we had to wait until we were the last tourists there to get the good pics without a 100 people in the way so enjoy.

That evening we boarded our cruise boat for our 3 day Nile cruise to Luxor, this turned out to be pretty funny since we only spend one day actually cruising the Nile! The cruise ship was really nice and it had a roof top pool and sunloungers so we didn't complain too much 😊 Funniest thing to happen to us in Aswan was when we visited the night market and all the local children would casually reach over and touch Tyne. It was pretty funny, I cannot believe with all the tourists they have never seen a blond women but they definitely weren't missing the chance to touch one! When our boat did finally cruise the Nile it was really good, we stopped at the Temples of Edfu and Kom Ombo.

When we arrived in Luxor we were off our cruise ship and into the Sheraton, once again thank you Bob and Sheila. We spent our 2 days in Luxor doing what else but touring the sites and ruins! At this stage we were almost getting overwhelmed by the amount of sites we had visited but spending the afternoons lounging by pool got us back to where we needed to be. Also a big thanks to the Sheraton for letting us stay until 7pm the next day at no cost, greatly appreciated.

We flew out of Luxor to Sharm El Sheik and then transferred to Dahab to leave behind the sightseeing tours for some diving in the Red Sea! We ended up doing 6 dives ın Dahab, all of which were great. Visibilty of 30+m and water temp of 30deg. C - very nice. The Red Sea has a lot of coral and is very beautiful although it does have a lot of damaged and dead coral as well which is disheartening since one can only imagine what it looked like 20 years ago. We also did a day trip to complete 3 more dives, 2 at SS Thistlegorm Wreck and 1 at Ras Mohammed National Park. The wreck dive was incredible! This ship was a British ship sunk by the Nazi's in WWII and while all the crew managed to escape her entire cargo went down with the ship. While some of the cargo has been stolen over the years most remains intact. While swimming through the holds on our second dive we were able to see trucks, motorcycles, rifles and even boots! İt was 2 of the best dives I have ever done, while the holds are small and can be difficult to navigate it was still great to see. Our pics don't do it justice so google it to see professional shots, it is one of the best wreck dives in the world so there are tons of pics out there. The dive in Ras Mohammed was really great as well as we got to see several of the biggest Moray Eels we have ever seen as well as another wreck and her cargo, although this one was toilets and bathtubs! While in Dahab we also got to enjoy a brief stay at a suite ın Le Meridien which was really really nice, once again thank you to Sheila and Bob. Dahab itself was really nice and laid back and we enjoyed our time there the most out of our visit to Egypt.

Overall we really enjoyed Egypt, we were travelling there during the height of Ramadan (Holy month for Muslims) when everyone is fasting all day without food or water and yet everyone was really friendly which I would love to see North Americans go through summer without food or water during daylight hours and still put on a smile. I know I would be hard pressed to survive let alone be friendly. The tour we did was great and we don't like tours so that in itself says a lot. Having private cars and private guides as well as door to door transfers was great and made for a really nice break after 6 months on the road. Anyone looking for the same experience can contact Atef at King Tut Hostel ın Cairo, he is a great help and a man of his word, he gave us a trip beyond our expectations.

Wow, that was a long one. Hope I didn't ramble on too much and I hope everyone enjoys the pics as well because there is a lot! (Thanks Tyne for the uploads)

Till the next one take care

Matt & Tyne

---

Photos

Little me & BIG pyramid
This is the 2nd largest pyramid. Pyramid of Khafre the son of Khufu who has the largest pyramid. The son built his pyramid on higher ground so it looks bigger! Smart son.

Unfinished Obelisk
Aswan

Abu Simbel
King Ramsses II Temple