Dear All,
We’ve been sitting in the ferry headed towards Aqaba, Jordan for at least an hour now..and that dosnt count the hour we sat outside the ferry..So I have had plenty of time to recall where I finished last
On Sunday 11th we went our to the Valley of the Kings and the temple of Queen Hatshepsut (pronounces hat-cheap-suit). Between 2650 - 2323 BC The Pyramids of Giza were built as tombs for the Pharoahs, however as they are extremely obvious and they were repeatedly ransacked, by 1294 BC the Pharoah Seti I began construction of his tomb hidden high in hills surrounding Luxor. All the following Pharoahs followed him with 62 tombs being dug into the hills including Tutankhamen and Ramses 6th. We visited 3 tombs each decorated with stories depicting gods and the Pharoahs. The most beautiful was Ramses 6th which was about 500m long and covered with the most amazing pictures and colours. However the tombs are in danger as the each visitor leaves an average of 2.8g of sweat in the Valley of the Kings, and there were ALOT of visitors sweating it out in the Valley.
After the Valley of the Kings we had a short drive to the temple of Queen Hatshepsut. This temple was built by a very successful Egyptian Queen, however her son later destroyed parts of the temple..happy families. The temple seems almost modern like with 3 levels of huge pillars. Behind the Pillars are amazing pictures depicting goods being traded with Sudan (only 40km south of Abu Simbel), there are monkeys, trees and oils all in the pictures. After nearly melting looking around the temple we had lunch at our guides house, which was zucchini bake, flat bread, salad, eggplant bake and chicken stew. All very tasty.
That afternoon was free and we wandered the market, which included a lot of haggling (only over a couple of cents) being haggled (NO I do not want to look at your shop) and we even received an invite to Sammy’s sister’s wedding (meet him at his shop at the market and chatted and then was invited, not sure if that’s his real Egyptian name??). A few days prior we were offered the chance of upgrading to the sleeper carriages for our train trip back to Cairo, however luckily once we were on the train we were the only ones in the carriage so we spread out and snoozed the whole 9 hours overnight to Cairo.
Had a day in Cairo which we spent relaxing and in the afternoon visited the Citadel, which is a collection of Mosques and museums looking over Cairo. We arrived just as the call to prayer was going out so it seemed like the whole city was praying at the same time. There was 6 of us who decided to go out and the first trip we had two taxis and nearly lost each other, the second taxi driver told us his car seated 6 passengers, which really meant “it only seats 4 but I will push u in and shut the door real quick”. He was extremely distracted and got out photos of his children and wife and then nearly crashed into the back of a truck..we were all yelling in the back, he’d scared us so then he decided to show us his licence to prove he could drive…great.
Left Cairo on Tuesday morning with a 7 hour drive to Saint Catherines. We passed under the Suez Canal and watched the tops of ships move through the desert which was creepy. However for security purposes we were not able to take photos. There were several security stops along the way, it felt like heading into the Sinai region is like visiting another country. Along the way our bus driver was speeding and lost his licence (were not having much luck with drivers) and then at one check point our passports had to be checked, however when the officer saw the bus of us he decided to open our little bus fridge, take a water, smile and wave us on.
Finally arrived mid afternoon in Saint Catherine. The main attraction is the monastery and Mt Sinai, however the dessert drive means that the massive coach loads of tourists were not there. Our hotel was little cabins surrounded by the massive mountains with not a speck of greenery. Our hotel put on a buffet lunch for us which included kofta (lamb kebabs) tahini (sesame dip) eggplant bake, salad, bread, baklava and date tart..all very tasty and we probable indulged a little too much, especially since an hour later we were going to climb Mt Sinai..all 3,500 steps to the top(2,285m)!Dan instantly regretted it and burped like a camel the entire way up. The steps were hard work (good training for Nepal but hard work still) but the amazing view of the sun setting across the mountains was worth it. Walked back down in the dark with the breeze blowing on our sweat covered backs to cool us down.
The next day we visited Saint Catherine’s Monastery. Built around 330 AD the Monastery is one of the oldest working monasteries and contains a chapel which is one of early Christianity’s only surviving churches. The Monastery is home to the burning bush where Moses spoke to God and the climbed Mt Sinai and received the 10 Commandments and then continued on to lead the Hebrews across the parted red sea. The Monastery is a UNESCO world heritage site and is names after Saint Catherine, who from Alexandria was tortured, spiked and beheaded for her faith. The small church was amazing and the entire monastery felt very peaceful.
From the monastery we drove north east to the Red Sea Coast to the Sawa Beach Camp, just south of Nuweiba. The area seemed a little deserted because we are out of the peak summer season, however it was still hot enough for us with the afternoons reaching 35 degrees. The beach camp consisted of a main eating hut (when I say hut it’s a wooden structure covered in palm leaves with no walls and with cushions and small tables covering the concrete floor) a always immaculately cleaned toilet block and around 20 beach huts. Dan and I scored on of the 4 beach front huts which was about 20 steps from the water. Our hut had a wooden strcuture covered in palm leaves on the roof and reeds around the walls and a concrete floorc. At the front there was a verandah with hammock and inside were two beds with mozzie nets and a light. It was perfect! We spent our two nights falling asleep to the sound of the waves and waking up to discover hermit crabs surrounding the hut and that one small mouse had visited our hut and several others. The little mouse stole a few chips from our hut and ate through amy’s toothpaste and Russel’s toothpaste. There is one very minty breathed mouse hanging around the camp! He also took a liking to amy’s shower cap and chewed a hole through that also. It was all very funny.
During the day there was a kitchen that provided all our meals which ranged from spaghetti and pizza to kebabs and grilled fish. During the day we lazed on the beach chairs or huge cushions on the beach and stared across the Red Sea at the Mountains of Saudi Arabia. The highlight of our stay at the beach camp was definitely snorkelling out into the Red Sea. Apparently the Red Sea has more Sea like per square metre than the Barrier Reef and although I’ve never been to the Barrier Reef those that had said that the Red Sea was better! We swam about 300m out and then all of a sudden there was a huge drop and the reef shelf appeared. It was amazing the water was clear blue and the coral ranged from delicate pinks to greens to huge balls of yellow. We saw eels, lots and lots of fish, urchins and NEMO! It was amazing and we spent most of the day out there…the evidence is on our sun burnt backs and shoulders.
It was sad to leave the beach camp because it was so relaxing and I could have easily spent a few more days…but the trip continues onto Jordan!
Overall Egypt has been amazing, Cairo is a big dirty city but once out of Cairo the smaller cities are a lot more friendly and clean. The food has been amazing and has only caused a few urgent toilet stops. We had no trouble being hassled as female tourists and although the tipping became a little annoying when you convert it back to the English pound or even the Australian dollar the amounts were very small.
Once we arrive In Aqaba, Jordan (probably not till 8pm) were off to Wadi Rum for a night and then Petra for 2 nights and finally Madaba for 2 nights before we leave for Nepal. So hopefully there will be somewhere I can upload this before we leave for the desert camp at Wadi Rum.
Hope all is well and sunny.
Love lots, j xox
am hoping to upload a few photos (:
