Egypt

Cairo - Giza - Sakkara - Memphis - Aswan - Abu Simbel - Kom Ombo - Edfu - Luxor - Karnak - Valley of the Kings/Queens - Dahab - Mt Sinai

Salaama! Kef Halak? Fursa Sai'da! (Arabic for hello, how are you, pleased to meet you)

Sorry if this email sounds stilted and disjointed - I’m trying to cram as much as I can in as short an email in as short a time as possible!

My arrival in Cairo at 2am in the morning did not go as smoothly as one hoped (but whenever I enter a new country I always initially seem to have bad luck). The taxi driver mistakenly took me to the wrong street in the north of the city, and I mistakenly thought I was in the right place till I found myself in a dark alley. Eventually I worked out my way to the right hostel, (Dahab Hotel), which is up 7 flights of stairs, or a antiquated creaky elevator of scraps of metal and wires that looked like it's about to fall apart (the security guard had to hold part of the electronics together to get it moving!). In fact it did break down a couple of times during my stay there (thankfully with no one in it)

Cairo is quite a large city, with a Islamic quarter to the right containing a famous souk (but nothing compares to the souks in morocco), some extraordinary Islamic mosques (one I went in resembled something like a Persian palace with the huge marbled courtyard, minarets and domes), the Coptic Catholic quarter with beautiful churches - the first time I’ve seen a church with Islamic designs, built before the Islam religion existed (Coptic, which predates Islam and existing predominantly in Egypt, is an older version of Christian Orthodox, and different in that it believes Jesus was completely divine with no human element whatsoever). Cairo is also full of crazy traffic where there are always near death experiences and near accidents (some encountered by me personally), but surprisingly I haven't actually seen an accident...

Went to the Egyptian museum which contains pretty much most of the relics, mummies and stuff that were found in the tombs and pyramids. Saw the famed mask of Tutankamen, a stunning death mask of gold, as well as his 5 gold sarcophaguses (one inside the other) and 5 gold containers (one inside the other, the smallest containing the sarcophaguses. Obviously the dude was paranoid about being robbed or something I guess ) Also saw heaps of cool things like huge statues of Gods and Pharaohs, mini pyramids, alabaster jars where they keep the pharaoh's innards, and mummified animals such as crocodiles!

(Of course, there is still the terrorist threat lurking in the shadows. There is lots of police around, places south of Luxor you need a police escort to go anywhere. In fact two days after I went to the museum I heard that there was a terrorist attack at the museum resulting in two tourists getting shot.)

Shared a taxi for a day with some Israeli friends at the hostel to see the Pyramids and other places. There are quite alot of Israelis at the hostel, all of them unusually nice (I’ve been told Israelis are horrible people), and all pretending to be from somewhere else because they fear reprisal by the Arabs. One of them pretended to be South African, but was surprised when the hustler started talking to him in Afrikaans! It's amazing the languages they learn to speak to tourists...

Anyway, having been slightly disappointed in the size of other monuments (Piza, Stonehenge, Colosseum), I was bracing myself for being disappointed with the Pyramids. But, seeing them emerge from the distance overlooking the town I felt a sense of awe. The Pyramids were as alien, dramatic and surreal as I was hoping them to be. I went into the Great Pyramid of Khufu, which involved going up a narrow tunnel sloping upwards into the Kings chamber.

I had always wanted to go into the Kings Chamber since I was little, so I was overwhelmed with a great sense of awe and achievement knowing that I was finally there! It seemed the Pyramids knew it - as I was lucky to have the whole chamber to myself for a minute, to contemplate it's simplistic beauty, before it was overrun by the constant French and Spanish tourists (grr, but the gals are stunning ) and their chatter which echoed off the walls.

Anyway, the Kings Chamber is just a simple rectangular chamber of black walls of massive stone blocks - it's incredible to comprend how they got it up there, and on top of that, the joints are so straight and perfectly connected, it's no wonder people have alien conspiracy theories... In the end of the chamber is the huge black sarcophagus of the king, but of course the mummy and all the treasures have been stolen or put in a museum.

Next we went to Saqqara, where the oldest stone monument in existence stands - the step pyramid of Zoser. It's amazing how all these pyramids (for there are probably hundreds scattered about) are still standing after 5000 years! And it's amazing to be standing in front of it also!

Memphis is the original capital of Egypt, though there is nothing to see there apart from the open museum of statues and other monuments...

Went to Aswan via overnight train on a second class seat (the recommended first class was booked out). It wasn't that bad as people say it is though, it's actually quite clean and comfortable. The local people were nice enough also, I tried to learn some arabic from them. Kwayyis!

Aswan is a small town south of Egypt with picturesque feluccas (a type of boat with curved sail used on the Nile) sailing around the islands in the middle of the Nile, and young Nubian dark skinned boys paddling in tiny boats singing out loud in their beautiful voices. In the islands are the Nubian villages, the original inhabitants of Aswan and south. The villages are all mud bricked houses and walls, where kids and black goats roam free, old women smile at you from their houses, and I met the village elder, a very educated guy, where we had a good chat about life and history. The Nubians claim to be the real cradle of civilisation, inventing astronomy and chemistry, before moving up into Egypt and the middle east to Mesopotamia, currently Iraq. The Nubians are simple happy relaxed poor people on a quiet island surrounded by the dust, hustle and bustle of modern touristique Aswan.

Went on a convoy of minibuses escorted by police to Abu Simbel, a great temple south near the border of Sudan. The temples are impressive, great statues and hieroglyphics, many retaining their original colours. What makes the temple more amazing was that it was recently cut up, moved and rebuilt 20m up the valley from it's original location, because the original location is now filled with water from the Aswan Dam.

Also went to Phillae temple, which was also moved, onto an island in the middle of the dam, a picturesque island reminiscent of a Mediterranean island.

Saw the high dam itself, the source of electricity and all the trouble of moving temples and covering original Nubian settlements, but despite it's worldwide fame as a technological masterpiece, it's not very impressive.

Went on a Felucca trip up the Nile from Aswan to Kom Ombo with some friends which involved a day of floating, relaxing, swimming in the Nile, eating, and then sleeping on the boat under the stars. Quite a fantastic experience!

Kom Ombo is a temple dedicated to the local crocodile and falcon gods. Next, I stopped at Edfu is a grandeur temple dedicated to Osiris, with heavily Greek influenced architecture. Apart from that it's just temples, and I was pretty much templed out by this stage...

Arrived in Luxor, aka touristville. Visited the spectacular Karnak Temple. Actually 3 temples in the one location, with an avenue of sphinxes, a massive ruined hall with nearly 100 columns towering in the sky, definitely a temple above the others. But I preferred the smaller Luxor temple, with a nicer preserved avenue of sphinxes leading to the temple entrance. Visiting it at night when it's illuminated is extremely beautiful. Though when I was there the power suddenly cut out and I was left standing in front of a eerily bathed moonlit temple with the wind howling in the sand and trees, which added to the feeling of desolation and wonder, knowing how these temples have withstood the test of time and still remain standing after everything around it has turned to dust..

Ventured into the Valley of the Kings, a valley of dust and sand and tombs amongst mountains, where I saw the well preserved tombs of Rameses IV, I and IX, the colourful paint on the tombs which shows how the carvings and hieroglyphics are supposed to look like, not like the sand coloured plain ones we're used to seeing. Same with the Valley of the Queens, though I was very disappointed to learn that Queen Nefertiri's tomb - the best preserved and most famous tomb in the valley after Tutankamen (which is actually quite ordinary) was closed permanently! This was the prime reason for me visiting the valley in the first place. But never mind. Also saw the massive Temple of Hatshepsut carved into the mountain face, Hatshepsut being is the only pharaoh that was a woman (go girl power - though she dressed up as a man by wearing a beard).

From Luxor I went by overnight bus to Dahab, which was 15 hours of gruelling being woken up every hour so they can check our tickets or our passports at the frequent police checks.

Dahab. What a chilled out place. Dahab is a coastal town on the Red Sea in the Sinai Peninsula famous for its snorkelling and lounging about. If you want a place where you can sleep, eat, chill out on the beach all day or swim or snorkel or dive in the nearby coral reefs all for under 5 pounds a day, this is the place to be (Cheryl, forget the Bahamas - come here instead! ).

Went to Mt Sinai with a couple of people at midnight, to climb the popular strenuous walk up the mountain to the top to watch the sunrise. It is bitterly cold up there (0 temperatures plus wind chill), and I did not enjoy myself as I had just come down with a bit of a fever that night. Bad timing indeed. Still, I resolved to see it, so, feeling cold, weak and tired, I finally reached the top (2580m). The sunrise? It was nice, though the bitter cold, me being ill, and the crowds of people coming to see it sort of ruined the effect for me. The walk back down the 3000+ steps wasn't pleasant either in my condition. But these steps of penitence were built by one monk, so if he can build it with his limited resources, then I have no right to complain walking down them!

We quickly visited St Catherine’s monastery, which contains the burning bush that Moses talked to God from. Though there is no burning bush there but an old tree surrounded by a brick wall, on a site claimed to be where the burning bush was found. Hmmm. Must have burnt down I suppose.

Tried snorkelling for the first time. The first time was disastrous, because it was early morning, cold, windy, and heaps of jellyfish abound! But the second time was amazing, in a better location with the sun high up, I snorkelled past beautiful coloured reefs with beautiful coloured fish swimming about. Also some larger fish deep down and in the distance.

I thought I’d try to learn to dive as it is very cheap here compared to other places in the world to do so ($30US for introductory session). I was given a good brief on the equipment, the safety stuff etc, then put on the suit and practised in the water before venturing to the reef and below. But I found that having no experience at diving, I couldn't get used to breathing through the mouthpiece and being under so much water that I started to panic. So, disappointly, I decided to give it up and go back to shore.
It wasn't a complete failure though. I learnt heaps about diving, and I definitely want to try it again. And, even though I didn't succeed at it, I’m happy to know that at least I tried, which is better than not doing it at all and regretting it.

Some thoughts on Egypt:

- Egypt is very cheap! You can easily live on less than 5 British pounds a day! In fact you never see any coins because the currency is so poor (but they do exist somewhere)

- Oil is cheaper than water! (1 litre of each would cost about 7-10 British pence)

- Kushary is an Egyptian staple of rice, noodles, beans and onions mixed together, with tomato and chill sauce on top. It's very cheap (20 British pence), quite filling and delicious, and less likely to make you sick. Basically I lived off the stuff.

- Hustlers and touts can be quite aggressive and unpleasant here. There is a lot of lying and broken promises with what is offered and you actually receive, and more than once I’ve made the point of complaining quite vocally! And then they expect a tip! People here are also less hospitable than their neighbours. However, I was told by a local who thought the same way that sadly enough, Egypt never used to be like this. 20 years ago it used to be quite pleasant, friendly, like the other Arab nations. But tourism and money has changed the people to what they are like today. I sincerely hope that, as tourism increases in the ever developing Arab nations. that it will not go the same way.

There's more I can say about Egypt, but I’m out of time, and you're probably asleep reading this by now.
So, tomorrow I head of to Jordan, and I’m considering going into Israel instead of flying directly to Turkey...shall keep you posted...