8.45am Wednesday October 10. Our dilapidated bus is leaving Egypt's Gulf of Aqaba (across the water from Saudi Arabia) and swinging inland through the foothills of Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Arabic easy-listening music is easing our passage to Cairo, as it will do for the next nine hours.
Nati and I have spent an enthralling 17 days exploring Egypt and learnt that this country, 90% desert and 10% Nile Valley, is a fusion of new and old, rich and poor, easy and frustrating.
We caught the tube to the Pyramids; drank habiscus tea in a wood-pannelled bar on a five-star cruise down the Nile; snorkelled world-class coral and fish in the Red Sea before savouring a smorgasboard of seafood in chilled-out divers' haven Dahab; and stumbled across a funky house pool party at an outdoor bar with stupifing flame dancer, far eclipsing any flame dancer I've seen in Thailand.
But we also saw thousands of bony donkeys and horses carting around everything from dates to building materials and tourists; fought erratic phones and undecpipherable Arabic to contact the airline that cancelled our flights; and washed under (sometimes salty) showers ranging in power from nothing to Niagara, made more bizarre by uncontrollable shower-heads swinging from side to side and soaking the entire bathroom. We were also kicked off a bus after four passengers were bundled into a police van at a one of many checkpoints, a legacy of a succession of terrorist bombs targetting tourists in the last decade...although the drama of our situation was reduced by policemen's pjyama-style uniforms that made them look like the Egyptian judo team.
We had some great Arabic experiences - meeting Mustapha, Mahmood and Abdul (all on our first day, and all who looked surprised when I said Ali was actually an English name); suffering a beer and food drought (our visit coincided perfectly with Ramadan, Muslims' month of fasting); and receiving an offer of 100 camels for Nati. I declined, insisting on 200 minimum.
Egypt is great fun, which is why 8million tourists flood here every year, although most of them ae on uncomprehensible race-round-a-temple-and-be-back-on-coach/boat-in-30-mins tours, or trips to Sharm El-Sheikh, the least Egyptian town in Egypt and, strangely, absolutely rammed with Russians.
We took a little more time and had some fantastic and fortunate solo experiences. We bartered for a camel ride to a desert viewpoint as the Pyramids closed and were lucky enough to walk back through the monumental complex alone before sunset, with just the Sphinx for company.
At the Valley of the Kings, a gap in the tour group/cattle-driving frenzy allowed just the two of us to stare at the sarcophagus of Tutankahmuan, on the spot where Howard Carter opened his tomb to spark Egyptomania and the curse scare story (journalists!) in 1922.
We also gawped at Ramses the Great's phenomenal Abu Simbel temple 25 miles from Sudan, and met the great man, sorry, mummy, himself in the antiquity-packed Egyptian museum, along with King Tut's gold death mask.
Suffering, as all visitors do, from Pharonic fatigue, we headed for the Rea Sea, snorkelling and dodging barracudas at the awesome 110-metre deep Blue Hole and finishing our trip yesterday with a quad-bike blast to a desert canyon and absolutely shimmering Red Sea lagoon.
If you made it this far, we hope you enjoyed our update and thanks for reading. We hope you're well wherever you are. We actually had four days in Verona (Juliet's balcony of Romeo fame) and Venice (every bit as spectacular as you could hope) before Egypt, and we'll update you again from SE Asia.
I'm going for a big Leo beer now before watching the rugby, Ali.
Nati and I have spent an enthralling 17 days exploring Egypt and learnt that this country, 90% desert and 10% Nile Valley, is a fusion of new and old, rich and poor, easy and frustrating.
We caught the tube to the Pyramids; drank habiscus tea in a wood-pannelled bar on a five-star cruise down the Nile; snorkelled world-class coral and fish in the Red Sea before savouring a smorgasboard of seafood in chilled-out divers' haven Dahab; and stumbled across a funky house pool party at an outdoor bar with stupifing flame dancer, far eclipsing any flame dancer I've seen in Thailand.
But we also saw thousands of bony donkeys and horses carting around everything from dates to building materials and tourists; fought erratic phones and undecpipherable Arabic to contact the airline that cancelled our flights; and washed under (sometimes salty) showers ranging in power from nothing to Niagara, made more bizarre by uncontrollable shower-heads swinging from side to side and soaking the entire bathroom. We were also kicked off a bus after four passengers were bundled into a police van at a one of many checkpoints, a legacy of a succession of terrorist bombs targetting tourists in the last decade...although the drama of our situation was reduced by policemen's pjyama-style uniforms that made them look like the Egyptian judo team.
We had some great Arabic experiences - meeting Mustapha, Mahmood and Abdul (all on our first day, and all who looked surprised when I said Ali was actually an English name); suffering a beer and food drought (our visit coincided perfectly with Ramadan, Muslims' month of fasting); and receiving an offer of 100 camels for Nati. I declined, insisting on 200 minimum.
Egypt is great fun, which is why 8million tourists flood here every year, although most of them ae on uncomprehensible race-round-a-temple-and-be-back-on-coach/boat-in-30-mins tours, or trips to Sharm El-Sheikh, the least Egyptian town in Egypt and, strangely, absolutely rammed with Russians.
We took a little more time and had some fantastic and fortunate solo experiences. We bartered for a camel ride to a desert viewpoint as the Pyramids closed and were lucky enough to walk back through the monumental complex alone before sunset, with just the Sphinx for company.
At the Valley of the Kings, a gap in the tour group/cattle-driving frenzy allowed just the two of us to stare at the sarcophagus of Tutankahmuan, on the spot where Howard Carter opened his tomb to spark Egyptomania and the curse scare story (journalists!) in 1922.
We also gawped at Ramses the Great's phenomenal Abu Simbel temple 25 miles from Sudan, and met the great man, sorry, mummy, himself in the antiquity-packed Egyptian museum, along with King Tut's gold death mask.
Suffering, as all visitors do, from Pharonic fatigue, we headed for the Rea Sea, snorkelling and dodging barracudas at the awesome 110-metre deep Blue Hole and finishing our trip yesterday with a quad-bike blast to a desert canyon and absolutely shimmering Red Sea lagoon.
If you made it this far, we hope you enjoyed our update and thanks for reading. We hope you're well wherever you are. We actually had four days in Verona (Juliet's balcony of Romeo fame) and Venice (every bit as spectacular as you could hope) before Egypt, and we'll update you again from SE Asia.
I'm going for a big Leo beer now before watching the rugby, Ali.
2 comments:
Oh baby!
We're so jealous! 2 years ago J and I did the whole "Egypt" thing including pyramids, camel rides, safari quad biking - brings back brilliant memories so can only imagine you're having a fabulous time. Definately not ok with the rest of us working back in UK!!!
L & J
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