Monday, 31 May 2010
Trying to avoid the sun in Luxor
So we are now in Luxor, it's about 4 in the afternoon but it's still about 43 degrees, I have basically sat in the shade all day and I am still sweltering. Apparently it's only going to get hotter the next few days as we head further south to Aswan and then to Sudan.
The last day we were in Cairo we headed out to Giza to the pyramids. Now, in the Lonely Planet they go on all the time about how everyone is out to scam you but we hadn't really experienced much of it in Dahab and Cairo but man the taxi we got out there just took us for a ride (in both senses). We knew from people who had been teh previous day that the fare was less then 30 pounds (about 3 GBP) for 4 people and the journey took about 20 minutes. We caught a cab and he agreed to do it with the meter, which was probably a mistake as then he just proceeded to see how long he could drive us around in circles before we said anything. I actually fell asleep and it was only when I woke up about half an hour later I realised we were nowhere near the pyramids and the fare was already over 40 pounds. When we ask the taxi driver he, of course, couldn't/wouldn't understand us (it's suprising how good he was at English when we were asking to go to the pyramids and then managed to forget it all when we were complaining!), we eventually arrived there after being in the taxi for over an hour. We stood our ground though and refused to pay more than 30 pounds, the guy kept threatening to take us to the 'police station' but we'd all got out of the cab before arguing so he couldn't really do that. In teh end we had to get the tourist police involved and this random camel seller who fought our case and the driver drove off with 30 pounds. UK (and Aus) 1, Egypt 0.
The pyramids were amazing. Basically exactly how you would imagine them from postcards etc. there are only 3 in Giza but they're pretty huge and amazingly intact. Unfortunetaly as it had taken us so long to get there we didn't have time to go inside but apparently there are better places to go in Sudan anyway. There is a super cheesy sound and light show at the pyramids but we decided it was too expensive, Karl (our driver) had informed us however that you get just as good a view from the Pizza Hut in the town (there isn't actually a McDo in Giza despite everyone saying so!), so we headed there and had pizza and then they set up chairs for us on the roof. Unfortunately the show was in Japanese but we still enjoyed ooh-ing and aah-ing at the lit up pyramids. We braved another taxi (didn't get ripped off this time!) and headed back to our hotel. We left Cairo early the next morning for a long day (9 hours) of driving south, so far I have quite enjoyed teh time spent in teh truck, it;s not too hot and all the seats face inwards so everyone can talk and stuff, there are speakers on board so we can play ipods and one of the girls bought a guitar so she sometimes makes up songs to pass the time. There's loads to see out of the sides as well, even if it has mostly just been desert. That night I had my first bush camp which is basically just where we drive the truck off the road, behind some kind of sandune and set up camp for the night. The truck is well equipped with a kitchen and stuff and there's loads of food and water on board. I'm sharing a tent with two girls - Alice and Briar who are both really nice, although they've been used to just having the two of them in the tent so I'm not sure how comfy they were now they had their space reduced! We watched the moon rise (which was amazing) and then headed to bed early, it's weird having no toilets, showers or even other people around, even if you stood on top of a dune you couldn't see another town/person/car.
The next day was another driving day but the scenery was totally different (it changed from brown desert to green like Vietnam), we arrived in Luxor in the evening and everyone was pretty happy to have a dip in the pool at the campsite (although it makes the Ouse look like a clean, nice swimming experience!). We will be here for the next four days which is nice as it's relaxing and it's nice to have showers/toilets and of course the pool (although it's been waaaaaay to hot for me to even contemplate sunbathing). It's so hot to get to sleep at night but I have managed to adopt a new position where I lay on my back with my hands above my head. I've already punctured my roll mat but fortunately I was able to pick up another one.
Yesterday, we went to Karnak temple which is amazing, it's over 4000 years old and although some bits are restored it's phenomenal how much of it is still standing. We also went to Luxor temple which is nowhere near as cool but we did get ice creams from the (air conditioned!!) McDonalds opposite which was bliss. Last night we went for dinner and out bowling for 2 peoples (matt and Kate) birthdays. The bowling was awesome although it got super competitive. The girls beat the boys (twice!) and Kate and I (we were in pairs) got the third highest score so we were pretty chuffed.
Today I have done nothing as we have to get up at 5am tomorrow to go to the Valley of the Kings early before it gets too hot.
I am uploading pictures onto facebook right now but the internet is so slow I'm not sure I'll be able to get many done.
I've been sitting at this computer for way too long now, back to my book now I think!
Alicexx
The last day we were in Cairo we headed out to Giza to the pyramids. Now, in the Lonely Planet they go on all the time about how everyone is out to scam you but we hadn't really experienced much of it in Dahab and Cairo but man the taxi we got out there just took us for a ride (in both senses). We knew from people who had been teh previous day that the fare was less then 30 pounds (about 3 GBP) for 4 people and the journey took about 20 minutes. We caught a cab and he agreed to do it with the meter, which was probably a mistake as then he just proceeded to see how long he could drive us around in circles before we said anything. I actually fell asleep and it was only when I woke up about half an hour later I realised we were nowhere near the pyramids and the fare was already over 40 pounds. When we ask the taxi driver he, of course, couldn't/wouldn't understand us (it's suprising how good he was at English when we were asking to go to the pyramids and then managed to forget it all when we were complaining!), we eventually arrived there after being in the taxi for over an hour. We stood our ground though and refused to pay more than 30 pounds, the guy kept threatening to take us to the 'police station' but we'd all got out of the cab before arguing so he couldn't really do that. In teh end we had to get the tourist police involved and this random camel seller who fought our case and the driver drove off with 30 pounds. UK (and Aus) 1, Egypt 0.
The pyramids were amazing. Basically exactly how you would imagine them from postcards etc. there are only 3 in Giza but they're pretty huge and amazingly intact. Unfortunetaly as it had taken us so long to get there we didn't have time to go inside but apparently there are better places to go in Sudan anyway. There is a super cheesy sound and light show at the pyramids but we decided it was too expensive, Karl (our driver) had informed us however that you get just as good a view from the Pizza Hut in the town (there isn't actually a McDo in Giza despite everyone saying so!), so we headed there and had pizza and then they set up chairs for us on the roof. Unfortunately the show was in Japanese but we still enjoyed ooh-ing and aah-ing at the lit up pyramids. We braved another taxi (didn't get ripped off this time!) and headed back to our hotel. We left Cairo early the next morning for a long day (9 hours) of driving south, so far I have quite enjoyed teh time spent in teh truck, it;s not too hot and all the seats face inwards so everyone can talk and stuff, there are speakers on board so we can play ipods and one of the girls bought a guitar so she sometimes makes up songs to pass the time. There's loads to see out of the sides as well, even if it has mostly just been desert. That night I had my first bush camp which is basically just where we drive the truck off the road, behind some kind of sandune and set up camp for the night. The truck is well equipped with a kitchen and stuff and there's loads of food and water on board. I'm sharing a tent with two girls - Alice and Briar who are both really nice, although they've been used to just having the two of them in the tent so I'm not sure how comfy they were now they had their space reduced! We watched the moon rise (which was amazing) and then headed to bed early, it's weird having no toilets, showers or even other people around, even if you stood on top of a dune you couldn't see another town/person/car.
The next day was another driving day but the scenery was totally different (it changed from brown desert to green like Vietnam), we arrived in Luxor in the evening and everyone was pretty happy to have a dip in the pool at the campsite (although it makes the Ouse look like a clean, nice swimming experience!). We will be here for the next four days which is nice as it's relaxing and it's nice to have showers/toilets and of course the pool (although it's been waaaaaay to hot for me to even contemplate sunbathing). It's so hot to get to sleep at night but I have managed to adopt a new position where I lay on my back with my hands above my head. I've already punctured my roll mat but fortunately I was able to pick up another one.
Yesterday, we went to Karnak temple which is amazing, it's over 4000 years old and although some bits are restored it's phenomenal how much of it is still standing. We also went to Luxor temple which is nowhere near as cool but we did get ice creams from the (air conditioned!!) McDonalds opposite which was bliss. Last night we went for dinner and out bowling for 2 peoples (matt and Kate) birthdays. The bowling was awesome although it got super competitive. The girls beat the boys (twice!) and Kate and I (we were in pairs) got the third highest score so we were pretty chuffed.
Today I have done nothing as we have to get up at 5am tomorrow to go to the Valley of the Kings early before it gets too hot.
I am uploading pictures onto facebook right now but the internet is so slow I'm not sure I'll be able to get many done.
I've been sitting at this computer for way too long now, back to my book now I think!
Alicexx
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Dahab and Cairo (again)
So I left Cairo and headed to Dahab to meet the truck and all the people/. I had to take teh night bus from Cairo which was a bit of an experience, it was nice and quiet for about the first half an hour and then at midnight they decided to put on some crazy Egyptian film at super high volume and continued to do this until about 7am when they turned the films off, also we were stopped three times for passport checks. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep that night!
Dahab is a beach resort on the Red Sea so we didn't get up to that much there other than eating and sleeping. We were actually staying in a hostel (as there was no camping) so turns out I was to have a proper bed for a few more days. Over the 4 days we were there I met all the people from the truck (there are 20 of us in total), everyone is really nice and have made me feel very welcome. There were 5 others joining in Egypt as well and the rest of the people have been on the truck since Turkey. The highlight is Dahab was probably snorkeling in the blue hole which is one of the most famous dive sites inthe world (not because it's amazing but because so many people die there!), we watched some people skin diving as well which was crazy as they can go under the water for 7-8 minutes just holding their breath (apparently the world record is 13 minutes or something like that!), this is how most people die I am told. That night as well it was Niall's birthday (he also joined in Cairo) so the place we were staying put on a big celebration which basically involved him dressing in a belly dancing outfit and getting paraded around on a horse with people clapping and banging drums and stuff. We then went for dinner and they did some crazy dance with some knives before they cut his birthday cake.
We left Dahab in the evening to head to Mount Sinai, this was my first experience of the truck although it was only a 2 hour drive it was pretty cool. i'll write about how it's set up and stuff when I've got some pictures because that'll be easier to explain. We arrived around 11pm to Sinai and around half the group hiked to the top, it was pretty hard going and the last part was 750 vertical steps. I still have quite a bad cold as well so I basically coughed and spluttered my way to the top! It took about 3.5 hours and we arrived at the to, had hot drinks and then hired mattresses and blankets for the night. I slept surprisingly well although it was freezing and I hadn't really taken enough layers with me. We woke up for the sunrise which was awesome and you could see for miles. I have pictures but they don't really do it justice. The walk down was much easier although it was boiling hot (35+ degrees) once the sun had come up. We had breakfast in the truck and then drove for 8 hours to get to Cairo.
We're in Cairo now, we went to the Egyptian museum yesterday and then it was two of the guys birthdays so we went to a Greek (!) restaurant to celebrate. Today we have just been to the market and then we're heading to the pyramids once it cools down a bit.
I'm looking forward to some bush camping, we have stayed in lots of hotels lately but I think that's just the way in Egypt as there aren't many camp sites.
No idea when I'll get to upload pictures but it should be before we get to Sudan I hope.
Alicexx
Thursday, 20 May 2010
First impressions of Cairo
My hostel has free internet so I figured I should make the most of it while it's available, I also am getting the night bus tonight so I've got another hour or so to kill before I attempt to make my way across town to the bus station. Typing on this keyboard is going to be a bit of a challenge though as all the letters are in Arabic so I'm having to relay on my touch typing skills.
So, I've been here about 24 hours and this is what I've noticed so far
- there are no toilets in the Arrivals hall at Cairo airport, when I asked I was just stared at blankly and asked why I didn't go on the plane.
- You buy your Egyptian visa from a bank, not from the immigration window at the airport (that is for Egyptian Nationals only)
- No-one actually seems to go in shops here, shopkeepers put everything they have in the window and people just crowd around on the streets.
- Cairo is huge, there are over 19 million people living here
- People aren't content with selling you only one thing, ah you want a bottle of water? yes please, also you want a taxi? no, coke? beer? trip to the pyramids? room for the night? ticket to the cinema? entrance to the Egyptian museum? The word for no is laa and I seem to be using it all the time.
- It is also very hot, when we landed the announcement on the plane was "welcome to Cairo, it's just coming up to 6pm and it 39 degrees"
- It seems only foreigners wear sunglasses, I have been stopped at least 5 times already by people asking if they can try them on.
- It often costs more to go to the toilet than buy your dinner.
- VIP means tourist, which generally means about 3 times the price. I got a VIP coke today!
- The traffic here is crazy (like worse than Vietnam!), if there are 3 lanes marked on the road then there are at least 5 lanes of cars, to cross the road you just have to walk with confidence, or, as the girl in my hostel put it 'close your eyes and pray to Allah'
- I have been stopped 3 completely different times by the police and asked to write my name in a book (I really have no idea why this is!)
Overall I am loving Cairo, I slept late this morning (after travelling for over 26 hours straight) so I haven't had much chance to do much other than eat and walk around. I'll be back here in a few days though with the other people on my trip. My hostel is nice and I enjoyed my bed last night as I think it will be my last proper one until we get to Nairobi in 10 weeks time. The owner of my hostel apologised though and said he didn't have any of the 'special water' which would keep my hair blonde (!) and keeps singing we will rock you, he has been very helpful sorting out my bus and stuff for me though.
Night bus to Dahab tonight (which looks incredibly uncomfortable but apparently has air con) and then meet my group in the morning...can't wait!
I will write about Dubai and try and upload some photos later.
Alicexx
Monday, 17 May 2010
Awesome.
I've just booked somewhere to stay in Cairo for Wednesday and the hotel is number 25 July Street...THAT'S MY BIRTHDAY!! Amazing.
I should probably be packing....
...but instead I'm writing my first blog post! How exciting and definitely much more important.
So I fly off tomorrow, I'll have a few hours in the morning to do some last minute (i.e. all of my) packing and then mum is driving me down to Heathrow for my flight to Dubai in the evening (volcanic ash permitting). Then I've got 10 hours in Dubai airport/taking the super exciting big bus tour/being paranoid that I've accidentally brought some poppy seeds into the country (did you know they were illegal there!?) before I get my flight to Cairo where I arrive late Wednesday night. I will then have a day to relax before I join my tour on Friday. This has actually just reminded me I really need to book somewhere to stay in Cairo, I also need to find my sunglasses...I should probably go and do at least one of those things!
Alice xx
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