Egypt

CAIRO

Landing in Egypt started off with a hitch. For some strange reason our guide wasn’t informed to meet us at the airport so we stood waiting for a good 30 minutes. After we figured he wasn’t coming we went into damage control mode just as we normally found ourselves doing. With no wifi access in the airport and no credit to call anyone and no information on hand where our hotel was, we were left in the dark. A friendly Egyptian at the info desk gave us his phone to access the information email so we could call our hotel and find out what was going on. After a vague broken English-Arabic conversation, we figured that no one was coming for us and we needed to get ourselves there. So we went on our way to get a dodgy cab to the Pharaoh Hotel in central Cairo.

     

We crammed into this banged up car with no indication that it was owned by a taxi company and found ourselves at the hotel in the middle of the night. After unloading our bags, paying the driver was not as easy at sounds. He wouldn’t take the $20 US bill because of a crinkle in it and a tiny spot of ink in the corner. The hotel guests were there to help us with our bags and told us that the money was no good for the man. We told him to shove it but he insisted on getting other bills. Our scam-o-meter started sounding again and as we normally found ourselves doing we just walked away. The staff assured us that he was trying to get more money from us but to be honest we just wanted to sleep.

      

We were then informed that we could not stay in our rooms as we were the first of our group to arrive and that we were booked in for the following night. At 2am we weren’t impressed and begged the hotel clerk to make an exception for us. Some light negotiating and a little silver tongue and we were up in a room ready to sleep.

The next morning we made our way down to explore Cairo ourselves. We were meeting our guide that night so we ventured out into the old city alone (against all the warnings from western media). We found Cairo to be VERY similar to most of urban India.

      

A great deal of hustle and bustle with horns sounding at all times, bikes scooting past and rubbish scattered everywhere. We wandered into a store around the corner that sold papyrus paintings and bracelets. A perfect combination of our shopping needs. We spotted a NZ flag on the counter so we figured this place must be legit. After meeting a very nice yet pushy salesman we walked out of the store having placed our orders for goods and being happily ripped off in the process.

     

The salesman informed us of a great kebab joint down the road so we made our way there. Cheap kebabs and average service was what we expected and it is exactly what we got. We spotted some poor kids pulling on our clothes begging for money but we took the advice of our Cambodian guide Sky a few months back and resisted the temptation to ‘help’ them. We smashed our kebabs back and missioned on to get supplies from the store. After getting back to the hotel, we did some admin and smashed the supplies to pass the time before our group meeting.

    

We came downstairs refreshed and ready to meet the people we will be spending the next two weeks with. A friendly Egyptian man greeted us out of the elevator introducing himself as Said (pronounced: Sai-eed). He had a huge grin on his face and an energy about him that was incredibly welcoming. Everything about Said was friendly and we knew right away he was going to be great.

We met our awesome group Carol and Meaghan with our not so awesome couple Erma and Vam and went out to a nice cheap dinner together. The pasta meat dish that Said ordered us filled even Ben’s stomach with only a small portion and we wandered around Cairo for a little longer. A big day was arriving so we headed back to sleep off the full stomachs.

The next morning came and we started early. Ben was excited as this was the day we were visiting the Great Pyramids and this was his number 1 on the trip list. We packed our day bags loaded up on the bus and headed to the museum first. The museum was huge, with ancient statues outside and Said filling us in on all of the details about not only the history of the museum but the recent activity from the revolution. Big burnt buildings surrounded the museum after fires from rioters but luckily the museum was intact.

Said mentioned that some rioters did get inside and steal and destroyed some of the lower quality items which was a shame to hear. How political anger could motivate someone to destroy their own country’s nation history was beyond us. Unfortunately no photos were allowed so we couldn’t document what we saw in the museum.

As we entered we saw a replica of the Rosetta stone that now resides in the British history Museum in the UK. This tablet was one of the greatest archaeological finds in Egyptian history. The tablet has inscriptions on it in three languages, Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Demotic and Ancient Greek. This is the tablet that allowed the lost language of the hieroglyphs to be translated and the stories of the ancient Pharaohs to be brought to light from all over Egypt.

The rest of the museum was just as impressive. The amount of history from the old kingdoms to the new was mind blowing, with statues and pots from thousands of years ago. There was a statue in one of the centre rooms that cannot be explained how it was carved in the time that it was. As we moved through the museum, we came to the items from King Tutankhamen’s tomb. His sarcophagus was inside a series of giant wooden boxes lined with gold that were several meters high and wide. His thrones lined with ivory and gold were displayed with the mini statues to guard him in the afterlife. We entered the room with his sarcophagi (multi layered like Russian dolls, one inside another) all covered in precious stones and gold. His mask was centred in the room and it blew us away. The amount of gold and jewels used on the mask was astounding; the detail in the work was like no other piece in the museum. His other trinkets were displayed around like the jewellery he was wearing and even his gold jandles. We moved on from the room and found ourselves finding mummified baboons and crocodiles, even preserved dogs. Said gave us extra time to look around so we found our way back to King Tut’s mask to have another look. After leaving the museum we got back on the boiling bus and headed for the pyramids.

   

We headed out towards the highway and started cranking along the motorway. As we got a little ways from the museum, we looked to the right and saw the pyramids peeking through the buildings. Once again, blown away. Just seeing them in person is enough to overwhelm you. We hurried to the entrance and jumped off the bus into the sweltering desert heat. Said gave us a quick rundown about the history and then let us go climb the pyramids as far as we were allowed. We spent the better half of the day climbing and exploring the pyramids.

    

It was crazy to actually be there after all this time and was a real highlight on the latter half of our trip. We explored the smaller pyramids and went inside to see the small tunnels and tombs underneath. Scott was then harassed by peddlers selling their shit to silly tourists. Because of the revolution, tourism was at an all-time low. These guys were desperate, throwing hats on Scott and aggressively trying to rip him off. He didn’t have a bar of it so they left after a good while.

We headed to the entrance of the middle pyramid so we could go inside. They patted us down as photos weren’t allowed but luckily Ben got through with his phone and snuck a few cheekies inside. The tunnels went deep into the ground under the pyramid and some were fenced off. It led to an opening that was at least 3 metres high inside.

It was a surreal feeling being inside after seeing it in photos all of our lives. We came out of the tunnels satisfied and headed to the eastern hill for a few more photos before heading to check out the Sphinx. As the day started to wrap up, so did we and we headed off to an early dinner at a pool side restaurant.

Nick proceeded to drop his sunnies in the pool while checking the water temp so we searched around for some way to get them back. Ben grabbed an old stick from the bushes and turned around to find a young girl maybe 6 years old pointing to the stick and saying “one pound, one pound…” Ben just stared back at the poor girl besotted that she would try to rent a stick that he found on the ground to him. Ignoring the girl and laughing at the situation we gathered the glasses and went on our way. Just like Said says: “When they find a new dig site in Egypt, before the dig starts, they put up a ticket booth…” As funny as it is, it’s almost true!

That night we boarded our train to Aswan. The train, although late, was VERY nice with cubicles for two people and dinner served. The overnight train was one of the more comfortable of our travels…

ASWAN

    

The next morning we arrived in Aswan and made our way to our hotel with an awesome view of the Nile. Once again, we gathered supplies and explored the city. In the evening met up with the group to spend some time in the Nubian Village. We loaded up on a nice little boat to cross the Nile onto the Nubian side.

    

After our mini tour we jumped on the back of an old pick up after crossing the Nile in a dinky old boat and went on our way. As we got into the Nubian territory we noticed a huge change in the people. Everyone was extremely welcoming and every group of people we passed waved and cheered. We drove past farmers gathering crops and children playing on the roads. The feel of it was awesome.

When we got to the house Said explained that the layout was not conventional to normal houses. The houses were laid with the courtyard in the centre and the rooms of the ‘house’ were separate buildings in the courtyard. The sand was smoothly combed so that when spiders and snakes came into the courtyard, they could follow the tracks of them to see what room was being occupied by the creatures. The roofs were rounded so the sun didn’t have a flat surface to cook the families.

     

These people thought of everything and with all of that aside, the food was amazing! The best Beef kofta I have ever had with a tomato pasted potato dish. Everyone was full and the night was getting on so we thanked the family for having us and loaded back up on our trusty old pick up and headed back to the hotel.

ABU SIMBIL

The next morning was an early wake up to load up in the bus for a 5 hour drive to Abu Simbel. This place was worth the drive. The temple was made in the honour of Ramses III and you could tell how much this guy loved himself. Not one but four massive statues were carved out on the front of his temple and not to mention the 11,000 carvings of dead enemies at his feet inside the entrance. The walls were covered in hieroglyphs telling stories about how great he was and how many battles he had won.

  

He was advertising himself like a true politician, even we were convinced. The carvings inside were awesome but no photos were allowed as the flash can destroy the colours on the walls. He also built another temple for his wife next to his own temple but had two little statues of her out the front next to yet another four of himself. More ego spread across the walls in that one as well. As funny as that was, it was still awesome to be in the temple.

    

Originally the temple was lower on the bank of the Nile but after dams were built, the Nile was going to flood and destroy the temple. So the Egyptians (funded also by the USA) cut the temple out of the rock and moved it up the bank in an insane project to save it. All well worth it! We ran the gauntlet of vendors back to the bus who don’t take no for an answer and headed back to Aswan. The vendors in Egypt are some of the most aggressive in all of our travels and we often found ourselves pushing our way through to escape. These people are both desperate and angry.

     

After getting back we decided to explore the city so we went on a mission around the markets and the city of Aswan to get a feel for the place. The markets were somewhat empty but every store we walked past would house yelling from within, things like “YES PLEASE!” and “VERY CHEAP BEST QUALITY PLEASE!” we decided to ignore the cries as it would have taken another 5 months of time to get though everyone.

    

We walked past one guy who began to scream at us for not listening, he started swearing and getting aggressive just because we didn’t want to look at his crap in the store or talk to him about it. After we got away without being shot we found the funny side of it. Some things we thought were normal can insult people to the bone in the East.

As night began to fall, the feel of the place started to change and we knew it was time to leave the streets and get our asses back to the hotel. We legged it back through a few ghettos and had some kai before some shut eye.

  

The next morning (another early start -_-) we headed to our boat to take us to Luxor. We made a pit stop for Ben to get some money from the ATM but hit a snag. The ATM gobbled up Ben’s card. Said came to the rescue and began talking to the clerks to get the card out. They assured him that we could get the card in three days when they next opened the ATM, you know, three days after our boat had left. So Said started rattling off some Arabic and finally got someone over there to get the card out. All was well and we boarded our small little felucca. It was a simple boat with a cover and foam mattresses on the deck for us to sleep on. So we started out trip up the Nile.

     

The ride was one of the highlights of our trip. I never thought that the boat ride could be that good. Relaxing in the sun with feet in the water and it was the perfect temperature. We busted some tunes (Bonobo) on the iPods and relaxed our way through the old river.

  

When it started to get dark, we pulled the boat over and shared a dinner on the water with our group. Said told us some history of Egypt and more about the revolution and we shared facts about our own countries of origin. After a good yarn and a good feed, we slept under the stars on the river.

In the morning we woke up refreshed and had our standard breakfast for the Egypt leg: Bread, jam and a boiled egg. We sailed for a little longer until we reached the shore where our bus was. We loaded up and headed through the desert for Luxor.

    

On our way, we stopped off at Kom Ombo Temple; an old medicine temple from the Ptolmaic dynasty. The temple was more of a hospital for the people in the town in the ancient times which made it particularly interesting for the doc (Nick).

There were hieroglyphs on the wall that showed in detail, the tools used for surgery and medical care. Nick informed us that some of those tool designs are still in use today in modern hospitals. We moved on from the temple after scaring off an old Egyptian man that fell in love with Carol, and got back on the bus.

LUXOR

     

We arrived in Luxor with the sun still up so it gave us time to look around the town. The city used to be Thebes, a great city in the ancient times and capital of the new kingdom for the god Amon-Ra. We split from the group to explore the city and found ourselves in a dodgy eatery that had bad customer service and questionable hygiene. We found locals eating there so despite our doubts we followed our golden rule of travel food: Eat where the locals eat. We each got a big portion of chicken served on army style stainless steel plates with no salad. Just pure chicken. We necked that and continued our exploration on the ancient Thebes.

    

The next morning was filled with uncontrollable laughter as we mounted (and attempted to mount) our Donkeys for Said's famous and much anticipated Donkey ride. As some in the group struggled more than others, Said took off on a bicycle and we followed.

     

Ben lead the way dragging his feet along the ground with the rest of the group bobbing up and down on their silly and awkward rides. Scott's donkey was grunting at the mass of his passenger.

     

We crossed roads and passed farms in the morning and it was refreshing to get out into the country a little. After a while we came to a stop at an old covered ute that would take us to the Valley of the Kings.

VALLEY OF THE KINGS

  

Unfortunately for us, cameras were restricted in the valley so our documentation of the valley of the kings is limited. We were allowed access to three of the main tombs, Ramesses VI and of course the great Tutankhamen's tomb. We started off with Ramesses IX which was a straight tomb, with the chamber at the end. The hieroglyphs were still coloured and a lot of the paint still on the walls. Decending down the quiet hallways was quite eerie to say the least. The other tombs (Merenptah and Ramesses III) were very much similar. It saw Ramesses VI that had a great ceiling with depictions of the afterlife still fully coloured.

Then we made our way into Tutankhamen's tomb, the only tomb found so far in the valley that had not been subject to grave robbery. As we entered the tomb, the boy king's body is mummified and in a glass (modern) sarcophagus to our left. You could see what he actually looked like because of how well his body was preserved. The tomb held amazing hieroglyphs with rich colour that surpassed the other tombs.

We finished up at the Valley with another insightful history lesson from Said and loaded up on our ute. Our next stop was just around the corner to Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple. This place had amazing architecture and was surprisingly well kept for being out in the open. The temple for Hatshepsut was at this place and Said informed us that this woman usurped the throne and denied it to her step-son Thutmose III. She had a great rule and did well for Egypt but when her step-son came into power after her death, he defaced all of her statues in the temples around the area. We saw the ancient vandalism on the walls.

    

On our way back we stopped off at the Colossi of Memnon which was two giant statues of Amenhotep III which dated 3400 years old. After a quick stop here we elbowed our way through more Egyptian vendors and escaped as they tried to force their wares on us.

    

We stopped off for dinner at an old Egyptian house where the well behaved children helped with the food and the service for us. Something we think western kids need to learn! The food was delicious as we gulped it down and we were off back to the city.

    

We went out for a nice stroll to gather more supplies and stumbled across a street fight that took up a whole intersection. We stop back incase the guns started coming out and watched as the men pushed each other around the street. We witnessed a great deal of violence in Egypt compared to all of the other countries. The revolution has really split the country and the tension is felt everywhere with everyone.

   

We spent the next day driving out into the western desert to the Dakhla Oasis which proved to be very underwhelming. With barely anything around save for farms, we scrounged some food and chilled out for a bit in the sun while pouring gallons of water down our throats.

We visited the old town of Al-Qasr made entirely from mud bricks that was still standing. The streets were extremely cool from the bricks and we got our adrenaline fix from climbing the tall towers made completely from old mud. People were still living there which blew our minds again.

After slamming the bus into a post at the gas station our bus driver dropped us off at an old museum where we switched out into two 4WDs and cruised out into the MIDDLE of the desert. We were fortunate to get a 4WD all to ourselves as the other piled into the other one.

    

According to Carol and Maeghan, the two old folks were complaining about how fast we were all going and telling their driver how he should be driving. We felt relieved that we weren't with them as we told out guy to speed up and go as fast as he could.

     

THE WHITE DESERT

We cruised through the desert stopping off to get some amazing pictures of the white desert and have a breather. The white desert was really something special. The crazy rock formations and pearl white sand was something we had never seen before.

We finally got to our camp site in time to see the sun set and get some good pictures. We went hunting for old volcanic rocks in the desert when we discovered that some were formed in a hexagonal shape. To find the perfect rock formation became a bit of an addiction for the group and we found ourselves going into the night with flashlights seeking the perfect hexagon.

    

After our delicious chicken dinner, we star gazed for a while before spotting a meteorite that came into the atmosphere straight above us and broke into several pieces while burning up above our heads. We had never seen anything like it anywhere in the world. To be that close to see the fire coming off the rock in our atmosphere was something most people will never see in their entire lives.

    

After feeding the desert foxes chicken and water we curled up in our sleeping bags under the stars again and covered ourselves in camel wool blankets. (we figured these weighed at least 10kg each) We then dozed off for one of the better sleeps we have had on the Asia trip. In the morning we packed up camp and headed to the crystal mountain. We found more rocks and Ben found his perfect hexagon stone. Next stop was the black desert.

    

THE BLACK DESERT   

We climbed a volcanic mountain (one of many in the area) in the black desert for a bit of exercise in winds that would blow over Team NZ's boat. We powered up the mountain leaving the oldies to struggle and got some great photos.

As we descended, Vam fell over on the rocks and cut his hand. Scott (the muscle) and Nick (the doc) helped them down the rest of the way while Ben powered on ahead. A quick med patch up and we were off to the Bahariya Oasis. At the Bahariya Oasis we chomped down some food before shooting over to the Siwa Oasis.

  

We encountered countless military checkpoints through our road trip in the desert. Each time they would check our IDs and check Said's tourism license. It was very strict throughout the entire country.

   

SIWA OASIS     

Right on the boarder of Egypt and Libya, the Siwa Oasis was a pleasant surprise. The hotel was like a resort and we got hold of some bikes to explore the oasis on. We found ourselves at Cleopatra's bath which was a huge well shaped pool that was so deep none of us had the stones to dive down and see.

The swim was refreshing and we met another kiwi woman there who actually lived in Egypt. After a chat and a feed we jumped on the bikes and cruised back. Another fight broke out between two young guys while we rode past and Said suggested we move on or someone might get shot. So we peddled away back to the resort. A little friendly bike racing allowed us our cardio for the day.

    

ALEXANDRIA

  

The next morning was another 5am wake up to the face. An early start to get to Alexandria on time. We got a glimpse of the Mediterranean from the Egyptian side looking back to where we were staring out from Analya in Turkey. As soon as we got off the bus in Alexandria we could feel the tension in the air. Alexandria was subject to frequent protests and violence and we were very uneasy walking the streets. As soon as we got into the Library of Alexandria the tension lifted.

The library was truly amazing. The architecture and art work in the library felt more like a museum than anything else. We wandered around the library for a few hours and found some art work that were actually concept drawings for costumes in a film.

After the library we made our way to the hotel and got ready for our final dinner. We all went out for sea food which was somewhat average but we were full to the brim and thats all that matters! We stopped off for ice cream before visiting the site of the old Ancient Wonder of the World: The Light House of Alexandria. We walked around the water front for some time and then headed back to our hotel to catch up on some TV and movies on the trusty laptop.

     

The next day was a long bus ride to Cairo and a quick flight out to Jordan.

The tension was definitely there in Egypt and the damage from the revolution was very clear in the people and city. We would often pass lines and lines of cars in the desert all parked on the side of the road one after the other. Said would tell us how this was the line for petrol and the wait was 12 hours and that the petrol we used in our busses was often bought on the black market. The government was giving all the petrol and resources away to their Muslim brothers in Palestine to help their efforts against Israel.

The Egyptians were suffering and the country was rotting from within. The Muslim Brotherhood was also selling the Suez canal to Qatar. This was Egypt's number one income for the nation, and with tourism being number two, the nation was suffering badly as tourism itself was down 90%. The country is rich with history and is going through great troubles now, which we hope won't last for this ancient nation.

Fights witnessed: 3
Sunsets witnessed: 7
Years of History: 5163