Our first impression of Cairo was, shall we say, underwhelming. With a population of 14 million people, it's dirty, crowded and makes Adelaide's road system look like a gift from God. But it did have a certain charm to it, and all through Cairo people were welcoming us to Egypt. You learn pretty quickly that you have to haggle for everything, even a bottle of water at the shop. You cut their first price by at least 50% and work from there.
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| Haggling hard for a pair of happy pants |
We joined up with an Intrepid tour the day after we arrived and had the most awesome group and guide (Mohammed, or Mo for short). Mo quickly taught us that there is absolutely no orderly system of road lanes or way of crossing the street without risking death in Egypt - you just put your hand out as a 'stop' sign and walk across, praying for your life. He also helped us navigate Egyptian menus - Egyptian food is probably some of the best we have had on our travels, especially koshary... num num!
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| Koshary might not look like much, but it's amazing. It's a mix of fried onions, rice, pasta, lentils and a tomato sauce. Yum! |
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| Our Nubian feast featuring fried chicken. Needless to say, Tom was sold. |
Our first stop on the tour was the Egyptian Museum and the Pyramids - amazing! Seeing the Pyramids and Tutankhamen's mask in the Museum were definitely highlights. Tom even managed to pick up another couple of wives while we were at the Pyramids - apparently that sexy red beard has the ladies lining up.
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| Tom's camel has positively given up on life |
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| What a stud... |
We then hopped on the overnight sleeper train to Aswan. We got up at 3am the next day to join the armed tourist convoy to Abu Simbel, another incredible sight, especially considering they relocated the whole thing in the 1960s. Back in Aswan we cruised around the Nile and met some super friendly locals who thought we were quite the novelty, and insisted on handing KG their children to have photos. Even KG thought these kids were pretty likeable and cute.
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| KG with Zi Zi - no tears from either side. This would have to be a first |
We cruised towards Luxor on a felucca, then checked out the Valley of the Kings. Riding donkeys in the Valley was included in the tour, and we're pretty sure we saw Tom's donkey try to kill itself when we arrived. Tom was given the 'big' donkey (meaning it was only half-starved) and KG got the fully starved, mangey runt donkey. Somehow they managed to get us there without keeling over and dying.
Then it was time to head to the Red Sea to chill out in a beach camp for a couple of days. We had to go around the Sinai thanks to a few tourist kidnappings in the centre, which involved stopping every couple of hours to wait for an armed police escort. We didn't have to wait too long because it was Friday (main prayer day and first day of the weekend) and noone could be bothered guarding us. Terrorists schmerrorists, apparently.
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| Sawa Camp on the Red Sea - paradise! |
We then hopped on a ferry to cross the Red Sea to Jordan. Jordan was a refreshing change from Egypt - clean, less risk of death while driving/crossing the road, and less hassle. We first headed to Wadi Rum to roam around the desert. Highlights included Nathan (a guy on our tour) face planting into a sand dune, an epic games of Uno and hackey sack, and participating in 'low risk' activities such as climbing gigantic rocks and cliffs (probs need arrange some kind of waiver for that Intrepid).
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| If you look closely in the top right hand corner you will see Nathan eating a face full of sand. Classic! |
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| Wadi Rum |
Then it was time to visit Petra, the 7th wonder of the world. It was very impressive, and we spent two whole days there wandering around the site. The donkeys and horses carting around fat and/or old tourists were much healthier here than in Egypt, but we saw a lot more children that needed help. Kids are sitting inside the site selling rocks rather than being at school, and one little girl even asked us for a drink of water.
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| The Treasury at Petra |
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| Petra kitty! |
There were major protests in Jordan while we were there, so we had to change our itinerary slightly and had a longer than usual float in the Dead Sea. It is the weirdest feeling, you can stand like a pin and not sink. It is ridiculously salty - we needed 2 showers and a swim to get the salt off. Tom's beard was super crusty.
While we were floating around the Dead Sea, the situation in Israel was worsening rapidly following strikes on Gaza, which forced a last minute flight booking to Cyprus. So, here we are in Cyprus!
