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Published: October 7th 2006
The Pyramids of Giza
Me, GPS in hand, at the last remaining wonder of the ancient world!Ahhhhhh Egypt .......
Now I know I should start this blog with tales of the fantastic temples I visited, the Pyramids of Giza, the 2 days sailing on a felucca down the Nile, but, no, I want to open with tales of transportation!
.........And I thought playing in the traffic in Rome was fun! Rome has absolutely nothing on Cairo. The drivers are completely crazy, lane markings on roads are non-existent or ignored (if 5 cars can physically fit across 3 lanes then there will be 5 lanes of vehicles!), and all cars, especially taxis, are very battered (and as Sherif said to me, "if a car does not have dents, it has just come out of the showroom"). To get on and off public buses requires skills in jumping to/from a moving vehicle without being hit by other traffic, hanging on to the exterior of vehicles is highly acceptable behaviour including trains and their engines, buses and utes. Finally, taxi drivers ask for directions!!!!!! Amazing stuff, I know. They don't have street maps in their vehicles and simply sidle up alongside another cab and ask, or even pull over to ask a shopkeeper! There is, of course, more
The Sphinx
Disappointingly small but always looking larger than it really is from this angle. but you really need to see it to appreciate it.
What surprises me, though, is that in spite of the madness, I did not see a single traffic accident during my stay.
That said, I had a fantastic initial stay in Cairo, in spite of feeling somewhat travel weary (I think it was mostly delayed tiredness from the successful Kili climb).
Once more the Sinisi family came to the rescue on the accommodation front. Thanks to Randy, I was able to stay with Greg, an American, in Maadi (suburb full of ex-pats) for a few nights and then with Helen (Kiwi), Sherif (Egyptian), and their daughter, Kenda, in Giza (with a view of the pyramids from their apartment window) for a few more.
Sherif took me on the obligatory trip to the pyramids. I was overwhelmed by them and surprised by the sun boat, having never heard of it and yet it should, I think, be mentioned in the same sentence as the Pyramids themselves and the Sphinx. They were all quite surreal to see. In fact, that goes for most of what I saw of old Egypt during my time in the country. Yes, I
Kenda
Helen & Sherif's beautiful daughter have seen pictures of these things before, and replicas etc, but these were the real thing in their native environment. Just awesome! The exception, of course, is the Rosetta stone that the Poms still hold captive in the British Museum (and I did see it when in London) instead of in Egypt where it belongs! Ok, off my high horse...
Other highlights in Cairo included (i) going to Coptic Cairo, the Egyptian Christian area, where I visited a Greek Orthodox church, the 'hanging' church, a convent, and a synagogue (quite a bit of security at the latter, as you would expect), (ii) the Citadel that included the Mohammed Ali mosque where the aforementioned slayed all his enemies after inviting them in for a feast - charming, (iii) one of the oldest mosques (Al-Azhar) in Egypt that is part of the oldest surviving university in the world, and, of course, (iv) the Khan Al-Khalili markets. Sherif was a excellent bargainer on my behalf so I was able to get souvenirs at Egyptian prices rather than tourist prices.
My 2 week tour of Egypt started in Cairo. There was my English/Egyptian tour leader, Hala, 3 English lads, John, James, and
Camel ride
Alex, James, Me, John, Marketa, and Hala aboard just one of the many forms of transportation we used on tour. Alex, and Marketa, fellow Aussie. So a small but fun group of adventurers.
From Cairo, we took an overnight train to Aswan. There, we had a Nile cruise, a camel ride to a monastery, swam in the Nile, went on a huge trek via bus convoy to Abu Simbel (southern Egypt, close to the Sudanese border) to see the impressive temples there. I am sure that ancient travellers were suitably intimidated by the temples and the large number of Ramses II statues when entering Egypt. We stayed overnight on Elephantine Island in a Nubian family home and were treated to some great food, crafts, and even part of watched a Nubian wedding on video!
We then had 2 days sailing down the Nile on a felucca. It was great - so relaxing and never at all boring, which I was afraid it would be. Plenty of trivia, monopoly and drinking games to fill in the time plus swimming, eating, and sleeping.
Then the temple and tomb visits really began! Komombo, Philae, Karnak, Hatshepsut, and Luxor temples, 3 tombs in the Valley of the Kings, the artists tombs in a nearby village....enough! They were all great in their
Abu Simbel I
Awesome stuff - Ramses II was not shy when it came to constructing statues of himself. own way but it is a bit like being 'museumed out' or 'galleried out', there is only so much you can actually take in.
In between visits, we also had some other great adventures including a donkey ride into Valley of the Kings and a hot air balloon ride to watch the sunrise next to the Valley of the Kings.
I must say that I am not a fan of the town of Luxor. Very busy and sleazy. Enough said.
Heading north, we visited Alexandria. Such a contrast from all that we had seen before. It is a city built on a city built on a city (going back to Cleopatra's day) so there continue to be interesting underground and underwater discoveries in the area. . The main highlight for me was the visit to our tour leader's Aunt's home. It was a completely unexpected treat and we enjoyed great company and some outstanding food - including taking back to the hotel many of the leftovers for our travels!
Next stop, St Katherine’s where we climbed Mt
Abu Simbel II
The 'other' temple at Abu Simbel. Ramses II and his favorite wife....and me! Sinai at some ungodly hour of the morning so we could be there for sunrise. It was just the 3 English boys, me and our local guide who climbed the 3,750 steps of repentance. Apparently, simply by making the climb, your slate is wiped clean. Excellent stuff. We were all of the opinion that this meant we could now start filling it up again! We came down Mt Sinai via the camel path. The other hundreds of pilgrims walked down the steps - I can't see how that counts really!
Final destination was Dahab. My goal was to get my open water dive certificate, and I did it in four days, and I even managed an additional 'adventure dive' that counts towards my advanced certification. I really enjoyed the challenge and I was lucky to have a great instructor, Rich, one-on-one for the 4 days. During my final 2 dives, Crispin, the dive centre videographer, took video so I have a DVD of those 2 dives and will figure out how to make still shots from it one day and post them up for your viewing pleasure.
The Red Sea was a great spot to learn to dive.
Felucca
Just before take off on day 1 The water was 25 degrees celcius, there were heaps of fish close to shore and deep below. Highlights included seeing a stingray (and, crikey, we didn't get too close!), trevally, clownfish, parrot fish, lion fish, barracuda, basslets etcetera, etcetera.
Just before I left Dahab, Ramadan started. Day 1 was interesting because it seems to present the greatest challenge when it comes to fasting. Tempers were a little frayed and minds were not necessarily on the job - at least that was my experience regarding the local hotel and restaurant staff. When I got back to Cairo, the only evidence of Ramadan during the day was the increased amount of road rage I witnessed. At night, however, everything was sensational. Traffic was non-existent as everyone was at home feasting with their families. This included me when I got to spend an evening at Sherif and Helen's breaking the fast with some great food.
For my final day in Egypt, I went to a health spa and had a Moroccan hammam, pedicure and manicure. My body
Felucca II
Sunrise on the Nile ...... appreciated finally receiving some much needed pampering.
So farewell to Egypt......Hong Kong and then mainland China here I come......
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emshallah
I think the reason there are so few car accidents is because everyone drives in the "god willing" fashion ... if someone is pushing in then they are meant to be there ... or something! I only saw one in a month in egypt - at some stupidly large roundabout in cairo with about 10 lanes of traffic rolled into about 4 lanes! Your pics of dahab take me back to the tough decisions to make each day about which particular beachside cafe to have lemon and sugar pancakes for brekkie at. played lots of backgammon there too! am still INSANELY jealous! sara's new bub (Zachary Francis) born today. mum and bub apparently doing well