This morning we have been given breakfast in bed, which is really nice, except he takes away our left over cake! KINGS AND QUEENS In the morning we go to the Valley of the Kings, this is where Tutankhamen’s tomb is. There are lots of tombs built down inside the mountains, and we will be able to go inside 3 of them. If we want to go inside Tutankhamen’s it is an extra 100 Egyptian Pounds and since we have seen everything that came out of it we decline. He is still entombed in there but apart from that it is the same as the ones that we go into. No cameras are allowed into the area and bags are checked. So we leave everything in the car to save the hassle. In the information building ... read more

CONVOY TIME AGAIN We need to leave at 8:30 this morning to join the convoy back to Aswan from Abu Simbel. When we check out of the hotel, the guy in reception tries to give us a crash course in how to write in Arabic, it looks so nice but I think it would take a long time to learn. For the first time ever I am given a true gift. I bought a badge from the shop at the hotel and he gave me a free postcard, it was really nice. Ahmed the guide still isn’t there at 9am so we give him a call (Memphis Tours gave us a mobile phone before we left Cairo in case we needed to call anyone, nice touch) and he tells us the convoy won’t be leaving until ... read more

Today we get picked up later because we will not be coming back to the hotel before we catch our train to Aswan tonight. We were going to be picked up at 10am but they are a bit late due to a car accident on the main road in and out of the city. MUMMIES, KING TUT AND ALL THAT STUFF First up we head to the Cairo Museum, it’s a huge red building in the middle of the city so it makes it easy to get your orientation in the city (if you chose to leave the safety and comfort of your guide!). No cameras and videos are allowed so Nesreen puts ours in a safety deposit box. She tells us about the major pieces and says if we stop for 1 minute to look ... read more

Flying into Cairo, the view is incredible! It’s all sand and thousands upon thousands of high rise buildings. All the buildings blend into the landscape though. But no pyramids yet! We are met at the airport at 7am by Ahmad, who is the representative from Memphis Tours who will look after us for some of the time in Cairo. CAIRO - THE FIRST GLIMPSE The weather is already warm; we are expecting the weather while in Egypt to range from 38-45 degrees Celsius - fantastic! He asks us about our peak hour traffic and tells us it’s peak hour in Cairo all week, there’s 20,000,000 people in Cairo and someone’s always going somewhere! They drive on the right side of the road and the cars are left hand drive, so it gives us a taste of ... read more

YOU ONLY LOOK FUNNY WHEN YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE This is something that it seems some people don’t think about, like being the only person in a tuxedo at the beach. The World Cup is only days away in South Africa and while people in the other countries are talking about it, they are nowhere near as pumped as they are in South Africa. So this morning at breakfast when 4 Aussies walk in to the dining room wearing Australian green and gold jackets, jumpers, scarves, beanies, yellow rimmed sunglasses and yellow spray painted hair they draw some attention. We hear the waiters talking near us in their own language. What we hear is blah, blah, blah, blah, Australians, blah, blah, blah, hahahaha, blah, blah. WHEN A SIMPLE PHONE CALL TO THE BANK BECOMES A ... read more