In a bid to avoid
Christmas (always a difficult time when so far away from family) and to go
somewhere warmer than London, James and I, along with 5 others: Emma and
Maneesh, David, Kirk and Eli spent a fantastic two weeks together in Egypt.
Here are some of this
details of this amazing trip:
The Itenierary:
Day 1-Arrive in Cairo
Day 2-Giza to see the
Pyramids and the Spinx and to Sakkara to see the first Pyramid built. Night train to Aswan
Day 3- Aswan- Visited the Philae Temple, the Unfinished Obelisk and
the famous High Dam of Aswan which after completion in 1971, created Lake
Nasser.
Day
4 and 5-Felucca cruise on the Nile
Day 6-Bid the felucca
farewell to visit Kom Ombo and Edfu temples before driving by bus to Luxor,
where we saw the historic Luxor temple by night
Day 7-Tour the
West Bank of Luxor. We saw the world famous Valley of the Kings, the Temple of
Hatshepsut (Deir El Bahary) and the great Colossi of Memnon, the last remains
of Amenophis III's temple and the amazing Karnak temple. Back to Cairo on the
overnight train.
Day 8- Cairo. We visited the Egyptian museum which houses more than 10,000 relics
of ancient Egypt, including the famous Tutankhamen Gallery and the Royal Mummies
section. Then on to see the old city, where we explored the Coptic area and the
seven churches, the citadel of Saladin and the Mosque of Mohamed Ali.
Afterwards we visited the open market (Bazaar) called Khan El Khalili
Day 9-Christmas day. We
spent 8 hours travelling from Cairo to Dahab on a hot mini bus.
Day 10, 11, 12 and 13-Spent
in Dahab, diving and snorkelling. That night we climbed Mount Sinai to watch
the sunrise.
Day 14-Bus trip back to
Cairo. Farewelled James at the airport (as he had to head back a day earlier
for work). The rest of us staying
the night in Cairo.
Day 15-Emma, Maneesh and I
used our free time to return to the Bazaar for some shopping, before heading to
the airport home.
Lowlights (which
always make the most memorable stories and can in fact be considered highlights
in their own unique right):
-The poverty was
overwhelming at times, with locals all taking advantage of tourists to make
sales, for at times what seemed like handmade, poor quality products. This really
saddened us all and we often purchased small trinkets. It makes you realise
what is really important in life, and it’s not the latest Ipad…
-The litter. This was
literally everywhere you looked. Sides of roads and even down the sides of the
Nile, where I even saw a lady cleaning her dishes in around it. It seemed so strange given how much of
a lifeline the Nile is to Egyptians.
-Squatting in the desert.
Toilets were always an interesting experience (the worst I have come across in
all my travels) and they ranged from squatters with beetles making there home
in them, to standard toilets that would block (and even leaked on the floor
only to ruin our toiletry bag). Needless to say, we threw the toiletry bag out
and bought new toothbrushes! But the most random experience was when we were
sailing the Nile on the felucca. There were no toilets on the felucca and so
the sides of the river Nile were used. There were tufts of toilet paper
everywhere (from previous tourists) and you had to watch where you were
walking. Although the heat of the desert did allow for things to dry up rather
quickly which gave us at least some piece of mind!
-Nile belly. Although all
of us had the odd funny tummy over the course of the trip, I did take the cake
for sickness. After being in Egypt for all of 8 hours, and eating what others
in the group had eaten, I was on the toilet being violently sick. It lasted for
5 hours (overnight), and I managed to make the tour to go and see the Pyramids
on day two thankfully (there was no way I was going to miss those!). But the experience did dehydrate me and
after a second night dashing to the toilet (this time on a overnight train
where the facilities were deemed by some to be the worst on the trip) I had to
pull out of day two and miss Abu Symbol and the Aswan Dam. Needless to say I
was not impressed, but the r and r did me the world of good and I managed to
keep well throughout the rest of my time in Egypt.
-Night train from
Cairo to Aswan. Over the whole tour we covered …km in travel, the bulk of which
included an overnight train. Egypt was a large country to move around and
having to go there and back on the same train was rather frustrating, when we
all wished we could have crossed the Red sea to Dahab, rather than going all
the way around it. As mentioned, the toilet facilities were not great and will
probably be a smell that will stay etched in our minds forever, but we did have large
reclining seats that allowed us to sleep.
-Egyptian men. Every
Egyptian we met, seemed really friendly. When you entered shops you would be offered tea and they had
a saying that you “arrive as a visitor and leave as a friend”. For us girls,
some men were a bit too friendly, and would ask if you were married and where
your husband was, or ask for a photo. We managed this by keeping one of the
guys in our group with us ladies.
It was difficult at times to ascertain who was being genuine and who was
trying to take advantage of us being tourists too. It was a rare occurrence to see women out selling products,
and I can only suspect they were mostly indoors caring for their children,
given a large proportion of the population being Muslim. (approximately 80%). Although I did enjoy my
interactions with the women I met, who always were friendly and approachable.
-KFC by the pyramids.
Really not necessary!
-El Tonsy Hotel. This
was our base in Cairo (approximately 500 metres from Tahir Square). Despite
being at a comfortable distance from the protests in the square, we did hear
gunshots on the first evening and were told 10 people had been killed. Needless
to say we stayed away from this area. But that wasn’t the worst; the hotel
smelled of blocked toilets and basics like towels, toilet paper and shower
curtains were scarce. The lift reminded us of a theme park ride, as the rooms
were based on the 16th floor and we had to take an elevator attached
to the outside of the building (with no doors to the lift), so you could see
down through the gap when you stepped out!
-James shaving his pride
and joy (moustache). Unfortunately
after growing his very lush beard and moustache for two months especially for
Egypt, he had to shave his moustache so that he could get a good seal on his
snorkelling mask.
-Food safety
standards. We found it fascinating that there really were no standards. The
kitchens in restaurants reminded me of cowsheds and butchers would hang their
skinned beasts (with the hair of the tail still on) on the streets (we were
literally walking around them) and food was washed in the Nile. What was most concerning (and
hilariously entertaining!) was that the Egyptian’s did not hide what they were
doing. It would have been easier to accept things if we did not see some of the
poor food handling errors, but we did have to take it all in our stride (there
was really no other option other than to survive on western food). I remember
Emma and I buying a lemon juice (after a recommendation by Kirk and Eli) only
to spot the man drinking from our juice to check whether he had added enough
sugar! In case you are wondering, we did drink the drink (we figured this had
probably happened at least once before) and I took great pleasure in sharing
this story with Kirk on our return. But our worst sighting had to be the
Egyptian pizza. David ordered a chicken pizza and Eli ordered a banana and
chocolate dessert pizza. We watched as they took cooked, frozen chicken from
the freezer, chopped it on the bench, only to chop the raw banana in the same
place without wiping down the bench! Not that wiping down the bench would have
helped as their cloth was filthy!
-Christmas day in
Egypt. Our itinerary was changed on us, so rather than spending Christmas in
Dahab, we were travelling in a hot mini bus across the desert to Dahab (8.5
hour trip!). We have never felt so starved, as the shops we stopped at had only
soft drinks and chips available.
So we rescheduled Christmas to Boxing day…
-Cairo city. Although
not a lowlight, this city did not sell itself to us. We were discouraged to
venture out on our own, presumably due to the current revolution, but it also
did not have many sights to see and there was rubbish on the streets and cars
beeping their horns for as often as they braked. We were even given an
undercover Policeman to escort us through the local markets! Seeing this seemed
a little strange to me, I quizzed our tour guide, Wael about why he was really
with us, and Wael mentioned that two years ago a bomb was set off my an Algerian
man associated with Al Qaeda killing 16 people.
Highlights:
-Street food. James
and I are always motivated by food and Egypt did not let us down. Ignoring
breakfast (omelette in bread rolls will be off the menu for at least two
months!) we had delicious lunches and dinners. Obviously we avoided drinking
the water and eating the fresh salad and chose fruit that could be peeled and
meals that were cooked in front of you. Luckily this meant street food was not
off the menu and we often walked the local streets to find baked whole sweet
potato, falafel (some with eggplant and tomato), baklava, kebabs, half chickens
cooked on charcoal, hummus, baba ganoush, fresh Egyptian flatbread and
pitta’s and delicious lentil soups
and fruit juices. James and I even found Moro bars, so we bought a box of 12
for 3 pounds (bargin!).
-Boxing Day 2011.
Otherwise known as ‘our Christmas’. We spent the day snorkelling at the Blue hole (absolutely the
best place to snorkel) and lying in the sun. That evening we also made a toast
(thanks to Emma and Maneesh supplying some Champagne and James and I providing
some dodgy Egyptian sparkling Rose’ wine!) and Kirk supplied Christmas gifts of
NZ Party Pack lollies for everyone. James and I also got given a campervan
sites in Europe handbook from Kirk, which we were really pleased with and I am
sure will come in handy! We completed the day by having the best meal of the
tour-a seafood dinner at Sea Bride. The boys ate lobster (17 pounds!) and I ate
these huge, tasty tiger prawns. It was so good, we ate here again on our last
night in Dahab.
-Snorkelling and
Diving. We all enjoyed snorkelling
at Dahab and we tried several places including Bells and the Blue hole, Eel
Garden, Three Pools and the Lighthouse. The most amazing spot hands down was
Bells, where we had about 300 metres worth of coral along the coast and where
we saw so many tropical fish and jellyfish. It also drops to 800 metres from
the coral which was amazing! We all tried an introductory dive and James and I
followed that up with a second dive, where I went 11 metres below and James
went 16 metres. I was surprised to find I wasn’t scared of being underwater and
I do think the clarity of the water had a lot to do with it. Our favourite find
was sighting a Napoleon fish over 1 metre in length, followed closely by a
Scorpion fish (which camouflages itself on the rocks) and the black and white
Lion fish, who look like they have a bristly main around their head. We both
loved it, and think we may have discovered a new hobby!
-Team T-shirts and
Europe 2009 Campervan Tour DVD. We arrived in Egypt to meet Emma and Maneesh at
the hotel bearing gifts; Team T-shirts they had made for us all (with an
original design of their old campervan made by Emma) and a copy of the footage
Maneesh had taken around Europe in 2009 when we joined them. It was so impressive
and we enjoyed watching parts of the DVD in a local restaurant one night.
-Catching up with
cousin Aaron. On the first night we were able to meet up with James’ cousin
Aaron, who is currently completing a six month post in north Egypt. It was
great to have a few beers and catch up.
-The Pyramids and
Spinx. Absolutely awesome. I wish we could have spent more time here.
-Kanark Temple in ……...
I found the huge columns with hieroglyphics breathtaking and I LOVED walking
through these, taking photos from all angles as the light changed. Most of our group
photos were taken here. Other
temples....
-Felucca trip. Picture
the sleeping arrangements in a Marae and then transfer that to a sail boat, and
voila, that was the felucca. There were no bathroom facilities and our meals
were served on a tablecloth over the mattresses we slept on. We had two nights
cruising the Nile, playing card and drinking games, chatting and taking turns
sailing. It was so much fun and we all enjoyed some time to relax. The last
night really was the highlight, where our crew of Habib, Felix and Mohammed all
sang and played the bongo drums with the other crew from the felucca boats. It
was a big party with the other tour groups, where shisha was smoked and even an
honorary haka was performed.
-Tutankhamen’s Mask.
One of the best places we visited was the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where along
with mummy’s and stone carvings, we saw Tutankhamen’s treasures including his
gold plated coffins and mask. The detail was amazing (they decorated the
coffins with gold and semi precious stones) and it really was beautiful.
-Mount Sinai. We
climbed the 2,285-metre mountain on our second to last day of the tour, in hope
of watching the sunrise. It was a
fraught trip as we had two girls on the group that were very slow and refused
to walk in front, so the rest of us would stop after 15 minutes and wait for
them, cooling down in the process. However we all reached the rocky summit and
waited, huddled together in sleeping bags to keep warm before soon realising
the sun was covered in cloud and we would not get to see the sunrise, which was
a shame!
