Egypt

A great way to survive the UK weather and London lifestyle is to have a monthly trip planned - in those moments on the tube when a fellow tuber has nudged you forward so you are standing underneath a strangers sweaty armpit you can cast yourself away to the next holiday! I returned from my fabulous European July holiday with Seb and was in need of some inspiration...

A night at the great Brick Lane for some "curry 'n all" and Egypt became the talk of the town - the pyramids, sun and camels sold us all - except Clairtjie who was weary of the camels from day 1. Egypt it was decided. Jo recruited a fellow accountant - yes we travel in packs - Karen, and so it was the 4 of us girls - Karen, Jo, Claire and myself (Kate). And the big plus of heading to Egypt is that South Africans get FREE visa's! The one country in the world that wants us to visit them ;-)

After Tonnes of research (thanks Jo) on the net we decided to "wing it" as opposed to booking a trip through a tour operator in advance from UK. The moola they were asking was way to much for a trip through Africa. We were of course a little apprehensive at the idea of 4 blond girls landing in Cairo with no next plan but it all worked out and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.

That said the trip did not go with out its own little mishaps:

Pre Trip Mishaps

1. We booked our tickets on Alitalia - and a month later Alitalia ran into financial difficulties which lead to hundreds of flight delays/cancellations and the ultimate question - will Alitalia be around in a few weeks time...worked out fine
2. A 3D Imax show on Egypt was showing at the London Science Museum - a great way for a quick Egyptology lesson . We finally found a date a month in advance which suited us all. The morning of the show we rose rather early for a Saturday, arrived at the museum only to find out that the Imax was broken so no show for us that morning.

Our Trip around Egypt: Cairo - Luxor - Dahab

18 October 2008
We flew into Cairo Airport (which sells dishwashers etc in the airport - just in case you need to do that last minute shopping for presents) and were met by a local taxi, sent by the "Brothers Hostel". A banged up black and white Peugot, luggage strapped on the roof with the equivalent of dental floss and off we were. Doing it the Egyptian way.

The hostel was clean, and their were girls working at the reception as well, so we felt a bit more comfortable. Through the hostel we organised our time in Cairo and Luxor. The Sat night we joined a VERY TOURISTY Nile Dinner cruise (Egyptian Pound 130 p.p.) which serves buffet food and has live entertainment - Belly Dancer, Sufi and traditional music. Being a dinner cruise the Nile was rather dark, so not much river atmosphere and for the rest of it I felt a bit like cheesy cruise boat entertainment. This was however the only place where we saw the traditional "Sufi" dancer which is amazing.

19 October 2008
Today was the day to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx - yippy! They are huge, massive and built which such amazing skill it is mind blowing. We went with a driver organised by the hostel (Egyptian Pound 40 p.p.), who had limited knowledge of the history of the pyramids (the drivers favourite joke was "Welcome to Alaska" - and if we didn't hear that 50 times a day we would not have been in Egypt). Next time I'll consider hiring a tour guide who has Egyptology knowledge. We spent an hour walking around the Pyramids and avoiding the camels (we were warned not to enjoy a camel ride here as they would rip you off and demand USD200 per person), and then continued onto the Perfumery.

Comparing the current architecture (notice the gaps in between the bricks) to the perfection of the Egyptians thousands a year ago is quite astonishing

The Egyptians an African race of their own. That said I have not yet been to many North African countries so I guess the bartering and shamming could be a North African vibe? We catch phrased "being Egyptianed" whilst on this trip - so every time we were scammed, which was unfortunately a few times we would say that we had been Egyptianed. Our first encounter was a trip to the perfumery. They spun a great story, offered us welcome drinks, gave us a glass blowing display and then gave us perfume smelling session. The liquid which they were supposedly selling was the natural essence which is used in all the mainline perfumes prior to the alcohol is added - Hugo Boss, J'adore, you name it they had it. It all smelt so legit - we think the stuff which we were shown was the real stuff but unfortunately the bought bottled goods smelt rather different to what we thought we had bought - more like Roses bath salt that all our grannies love so much.

We then headed to a Papyrus Art shop where we were shown how Papyrus paper is made and asked to buy some art work. Later on in our trip Jo bought some art pieces, but she is sure she was scammed as the Papyrus was fraying and the very nature of Papyrus is that if made well it is strong like bull.

After a brief break from the heat in the air conditioned shops we continued with the historic part of our day to Saggara - the Step Pyramids and some tombs. We gave Memphis a miss as the guide books said they are rather unimpressive....

All in all our time in Cairo was a great experience - just don't buy anything ;-)

The hostel was very accommodating and let us use a room and shower before our train trip from Cairo to Luxor. We had our first of many Falafells - Egyptian Pound 1 - cheap and yummy dinner. We traveled first class on the 10pm train - meant to have less passenger stops - which I think it did, but there were a number of delays on the way down in the middle of no where - think maybe train backups on the railways - so the 10hr trip landed up being 13hr hours. The trip was comfortable and I'd do it again - just don't drink anything cause the toilets are not fab.

20-21 October 2008
We were met at the train station in Luxor by a local Egyptian organised by the Cairo Hostel - another trip in a local taxi - this time no dental floss but hands through the window to hold our luggage on. The hotel was clean, more 3 star than the claimed 4 star, had welcomed air conditioning and a 1970's pool area on the roof - much to our delight on the Tuesday afternoon before our departure from Luxor to Dahab.

After settling in at the hotel and taking a much needed shower we headed for Banana Island on a Felucca. Here we were shown around a typical Egyptian house - wowee (how does anyone live in that kind of mess) , offered dodgy looking but very tasty banana's to eat and given Egyptian Whiskey (tea as majority of Egyptians don't drink as they are Muslims) - after seeing a house we would like to have declined the tea, but it is considered rude to decline as the Egyptians see it as a sign of hospitality to offer food/drink.

Anyone notice the Egyptian's view of the SA Flag?

We had a tour guide who joined us on the Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. We spent Monday afternoon on the East Bank of Luxor - visiting the Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple. The hieroglyphics are so well preserved and building structures so massive that it takes your breath away. At the end of the day we squeezed in some shopping at the Luxor Bazaar and dinner on the banks of the Nile.

Egyptianed no 2 - we bought silver rings with our names engraved in Hieroglyphics - the first mistake was paying a deposit, and the second was allowing our tour guide to collect the rings and give them to us in a dark room. We were thus unable to check the quality of the rings - the workman ship and the grade of silver used and also were unable to refuse to pay as we had largely paid for the rings prior to receiving them. I like my ring and would definitely recommend buying one, but suggest being much more in control of the buying/paying process and be brutal with the quality inspection!

Tuesday we had an early start and headed to the West Bank to see the Valley of the Kings, Tomb of Hatshepsut and the slave quarters.

The Valley of the Kings is a cluster of tombs which were made by the Kings in the rocks below a natural formed mountain in the shape of a Pyramid. Here we entered 3 tombs - Ramses the 1st, 4th and 9th - so hot and surprisingly well preserved and colourful with detailed art. The tomb jewels have all been removed either by tomb raiders or by the legal means and are displayed in museums, so the main appeal is to see how the tombs have been made, the hieroglyphic art and to try and decipher stories which they portray. An interesting fact is that the tombs are worked on from the day a King is born - the deeper the tomb, and the larger the tomb chambers the longer a Kings life.

Tomb of Hatshepsut - "Hot Chicken Soup" - is complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile. Hatshepsut was a rare female pharaoh. The temple was designed and implemented by Senemut, royal steward of Hatshepsut, to serve for her posthumous worship. She is generally regarded by modern Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, ruling longer than any female ruler of an indigenous dynasty.

Our tour included 3 stops on the Tuesday so we gave the Valley of the Queens a miss, as we guessed it would be more tombs similar to Valley of the Kings and headed to the Slave Quarters. Back in the day when Valley of the Kings was developed over 80 000 slaves were transported blind-folded to the Valley of the Kings area. Here they set up home and made a life of their own. The slaves were blind-folded during transportation as too keep the location of the Valley of the Kings a secret so that the Kings could hide their fortunes from tomb raiders. The slaves who worked in the King's tombs stole or took the left over decorative tools/paints and built their own tombs in which they were later to be mummified. We really enjoyed these tombs as the art was less structured, the colour's and art work was better preserved as less exposure to the elements due to the tombs not being targeted by tomb raiders and the tombs were far less crowded - we were the only tourists in the tombs as opposed to the craziness of Valley of the Kings.

Our trip from Cairo to Dahab was organised through the Brothers Hostel for Egyptian Pound 700 ( and included train from Cairo to Luxor, Tour Guide for 2 days in Luxor, 1 nights accommodation in Luxor and bus fare to Dahab, including all additional transport during this period)

22-25 October 2008
The best way to do a long bus trip is fall asleep, don't watch the road and be prepared for smokers on the bus - the Egyptians are not scared of high speeds, pot holes and driving in the middle of the road! There were quite a few security stops on the trip up to Dahab - never checking the tourists though - always the locals. Except once we had entered the Sharm el Shaikh area we were the ones who had their passports checked.

The joy of being in Dahab - our first 4 days were so crazy busy that the thought of a hotel room for 4 nights in a row (as opposed to a train or bus) and lounging at the pool was heavenly. We settled for "luxury accommodation" as we had a "private pool" and paid Egyptian Pound 90 p.p.p.n. Dahab is a real divers haven, and undeveloped in comparison to the neighbouring Pommie tourist hub Sharm al Shaikh. The shower water was not fresh - salty - and majority of the restaurants were rustic but very pleasant. The initial thing that shocked us was the number of men around the resort - receptionist, room maids, bar staff, diving instructors....no woman at all...we later discovered that the woman are at home with the kids whilst the men travel to earn a living...hence the "private pool" not being so private but more of a viewing spot for the local Egyptians.

We spent our days lounging by the pool, reading, snorkeling the blue hole and being Egyptianed (no. 3). Our evenings were spent trawling the strip for a place to eat (kitchen preferably visible) with a good sheesha and an amazing milkshake. As the Egyptians generally don't drink, cocktails are not the order of the day, but they sure do know how to make a hell of a milkshake - Jo became a big fan.

Our first night in Dahab we found a popular restaurant, decent food and a fund vibe. The owner, Jimmy, mentioned that he organises camel rides, snorkeling trips etc as well. The romance of a camel ride into the sun kissed desert was yet to be experienced, so we all all game. The next day we ventured on our prearranged camel ride - a 10 min car ride into the desert, followed by a camel ride to a spot to take great photos from within the mountains and have tea in a local Bedouin camp, all in all the camel ride and tea drinking were to take 3 hours. Much to our dismay we were dropped 5 min out of town right next to the local rubbish dump. We then rode the camels for 10min, whilst blood was seeping out of their necks, around a mountain corner where we were met with a Toyota Hilux bakkie and a little camp fire, our tea spot for the next 3 hours until sunset came! Where they out of there mind. We had had enough of being Egyptianed so left the camels and had a hasty hike down back into town, without paying luckily!

Good times and many laughs at how many times we had been had - these Egyptians are sneaky, and I think next time I know, you go for the scenery and the Egyptian atmosphere - not for the food, honest hospitality or shopping!