Experiencing an ancient civilization (04/04/08 - 18/04/08)

Arriving in Cairo with no accommodation booked nor knowing how to get to the city centre, I need not have stressed much for it didn't take 2 seconds after exiting the airport's main entrance before the locals gave me the correct bus number, guided me to the correct bus stop, gave me a hostel name and address in downtown Cairo and even taught me some useful Arabic phrases!

Cairo, a crazy city on the banks of the Nile where you have close to 8 million people shoulder to shoulder and streets somehow accommodating 6 lanes of traffic, with each vehicle coming within a millimetre of one another whilst performing frantic manoeuvres with drivers apparently unaware of how to use lights by night..Belgian drivers are quite mild in comparison!!

If you are visiting Egypt on a backpackers budget, the place to stay in downtown Cairo is at The Canadian Hostel. The staff were a great laugh and brilliant with helping me plan and book all my excursions in Egypt.

On my excursion with a personal driver in and around Cairo, we began with the Saqqara pyramid where after taking my 1st picture of the stepped pyramid my LCD screen displayed the dreaded Lens Error, it was early morning and there was a hint of a sand storm in the air..thus sand had made it's way into my lens..it had seen it's day! Sh!t happens, what could I do but move on and try not to let it ruin my day. So with my chin up I headed to Memphis and then to the Giza pyramids where I took a 3 hour tour by camel back and was accompanied by the craziest guide on this planet..I really don't know how I keep attracting these kind of people ;-) It was just a magical experience to be on camel back and see the 3 pyramids all lined up, the sky engulfed in a sand storm and the voice of the Muslims praying in the distance.

Thanks to a local I met whilst visiting the Saqqara pyramid, I had a true experience of Cairo by night. I got to see a panoramic view of the whole city and had my first Egyptian beer called Meister (8%) in The Cairo Jazz Club and danced away the night in The Hard Rock Cafe. I was also introduced to the residential suburb of Maadi, with modern houses and villas set in gardens (many the residences of foreigners), where I was shown some Egyptian hospitality and fed some real homemade Arabian food.

I cruised the Nile by means of a quieter and calmer (also cheaper) mode of transport, in a Felucca sail boat...all these cruise ships are overrated if you ask me! I spent 2 nights abroad the small wooden vessel, shared with a fantastic group consisting of 2 French, 1 English, 1 German, 1 Dutch, 1 Italian, an Australian couple and 3 crew members called Captain Cool (also the Entertainer), the cook (managing to fed 12 people 3 meals a day with just 1 little gas stove on board) and a Go-For (mostly sent out for orders of beer, chocolate & cheap cigarettes).
Although the whole experience was just magical and I will definitely do it again, I was never more happier to check-in to a hotel afterwards and finally have a long warm shower, amazing the things you take for granted when you live an everyday life.

1 night was spent in Aswan where I visited the Philae temple and took a 1/2 day trip to the sun temple of Abu Simbel (See Egypt pix). Another night was spent in Luxor where I visited Karnak temple and the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens on the West Bank. While appreciating each temple, it's structure and monuments and it's worship to the gods, I have to be honest in saying that I'm all templed out now :-)

My last adventure excursion of Egypt was camping out in the Western desert (The Black and The White Deserts) for 2 nights only to awoken by a full on sand storm. This time I was with a small group of 4 and was taken care of by a 1 man crew, a guide doubling as a great scout camper and even better 4x4 desert rally driver. We watched the sunset in the White desert and toasted marshmellows while admiring the clear crisp night sky. Again a great experience followed by a much appreciated and well overdue warm shower.

To break my trek of getting to the Taba border to cross into Israel, I had a brief 1 night stopover in Dahab, Sinai where I had some chill out and winding down time by the beach on the Red Sea, drinking fruit smoothies and admiring the views.

I never expected to find Egypt so warm, friendly and welcoming..I'm convinced I shall revisit the land of the Pharaohs and its ancient civilization!