The Cave

Not that I’m a fan of the Tomb Raider games or anything, but our trip is beginning to sound like one of the Walkthroughs…

With hair duly platted, backpack in situe (ok, ok, so my daypack isn’t actually a backpack…), sunglasses funkily perched on the end of my nose, we set off to Karnak.

The temple was situated about 4km from where we were staying, so we decided to walk - something which the locals just couldn’t believe. Presumably because most tourists take the tour bus option, or opt for the novelty of the horse-drawn caliche, it is quite uncommon to see travellers pounding the pot-holed pavements.

Once at Karnak, we hired a guide who taught us things like “hypostyle hall” and the reason why only part of Hatshepsut’s obelisk had been hidden behind a high wall by her jealous step-son.

Karnak is one of the most impressive temples we’ve visited in Egypt. There were many, many people there, but somehow it still managed to maintain it’s atmosphere. The feeling of awe as you walk through the immense hypostyle hall…

As we were engaged in tramping anti-clockwise seven times round a scarab statue, we noticed we were being watched…by Karen and Cheryl, who just happened to turn up at the same time as us! (We didn’t even know they were in Luxor. Actually, I suspect that they’re stalking us. If they turn up in Cambodia, I’m going to get very suspicious).

I didn’t manage to swing from any ropes, jump over any large cavernous pits, and most of the dogs there were fast asleep. I also didn’t find any hidden medi-kits or ammo… Other than that, I wasn’t too disappointed!!!

Hat? Check
Sunglasses? Check
Suncream? Check
Granny Bike? Um…Check

Yes, having had our fill of tour buses we decided to tackle the west bank of Luxor by bike. Of course having rented a couple of clanking granny bikes from by our hotel, the first problem was how to get them across the Nile. I for one didn’t fancy our chances of an Evil Kineevle stle jump over the river, so we used the local ferry (once Adele had wrestled her bike off a one-armed man looking for a tip).

Once we’d clanked our way to the ticket office, we were on the edge of a huge area of tombs cut into the hills around. We started by taking a peek in some of the Tombs Of The Nobles, with lovely carved walls (helpfully illuminated by a nice chap with a bit of tin foil) and a deep pit that I was stopped from falling into - spoilsports!

A brief drink stop later and we were ready for the Temple of Hatshepsut. Unfortunately by the time we had located the ticket office, the heat of the day was upon us. Instead of our usual “Mad dogs and English-people” routine, we sat in the shadow of the causeway to this impressive structure and people-watched until it was cool enough to explore.

It was then time to head to the Valley of the Kings itself, along a winding valley road. Due to the heat, it was pretty hard going as we clanked along the flat roud - so much so that it felt like we were going uphill…it was only on our return along the valley that we realised it really HAD been uphill! Bah! (A journey that had taken us 45 minutes there took a mere 5 coming back!!!)

The tombs we saw were fascinating, and even though the ones we planned to see were closed we saw many awe-inspiring (and head-banging) frescos and carvings, and left suitable impressed (if a little bruised).

We’d decided to save money (and room in the pack) on a guide book. I mean, who needs a great big hefty guide book anyway? It’s not like we were going to be in Egypt for THAT long… We had purchased a small, brief and fairly decent book, but it didn’t give much practical information.

What did we know about Edfu, then? Well, that it’s quite small, and home of the incredible Temple of Horus. We were taking the train up to Luxor from Aswan and it went through Edfu. Our plan was to get off in Edfu, leave our packs in a nearby hotel, and trundle off to the temple. Simple.

Yeah. Right.

It soon became apparent that none of the stations names were written in English, and since neither of us can read Arabic we began to realise this might turn into a bit of an adventure… We did manage to fall off the train at the right station (thanks to some thoughtful person writing “EdFu” in marker pen on the station sign). There were two exits. We tried both of them, and found that neither of them led anywhere at all. There were no hotels…nothing, really. A few approximations of shops…

There weren’t really any people around to ask, either… and we didn’t know what time the next (and possibly last) train for Luxor was due to leave. Oh…and by now it was 3pm, and the guide book said the temple was due to shut at 4pm… but where was the temple…?

After standing on a street corner, and exchanging a few short words with each other (”Well it was your bloody idea!”, “I thought you said you knew where you were going!!!”), a local dude came over and bundled us - packs and all - into his truck. (A novel way to hitch-hike.) We negotiated a price, and off we set.

We managed to get there before closing, and pretty much had the place to ourselves. The sun was low in the sky, the light beautiful, and the temple itself absolutely stunning! It was well worth the hassle of getting there! We took our time to properly explore (still with our packs - thank god we travel light!) and soak up the atmosphere.

Next problem: how to get back to the station…

Horse and carriage of course!

After waving off the crowd at Giza station, we tried to get our grubby paws on some overnight train tickets to Aswan… No more organised tour, this time it was personal! Unfortunately the ticket office for sleeper trains was shut, so we trundled back to the hotel on the very clean and efficient Cairo underground.

The next day we repeated our trek to the station and found the office open. The guy inside obviously had absolutely nothing to do most of the day, so made sure to look very, very busy. He shuffled bits of paper, picked up the phone, replaced the handset, opened a drawer, twiddled a pen, closed the drawer, opened another one, fiddled around and finally looked up as if he’d just seen us and said “OK”. After a brief conversation, we handed over the exact cash for the tickets, which set off another 15 minutes of completely irrelevant shuffling and poking around in his desk. Eventually he made a 10 second phone call, picked up a bit of paper that was on his desk all the time, stamped it three times and handed our reservation over. The whole experience was quite surreal and as we were not in any hurry, was rather amusing!

The train itself was lovely - comparing favourably with the Russian and Chinese ones. We popped in to say hello to Cheryl and Karen (who also left the tour group in Cairo) who happened to be in the same carriage as us, but other than that and a very friendly chap as our attendant, the journey was pretty uneventful.

Our first day in Aswan was spent relaxing after the hectic schedule of the tour, but in the evening we pottered around the city and headed to the Old Cataract Hotel, the swankiest hotel in Aswan. Karen and Cheryl, having visited Egypt before, had promised themselves that when they returned they would splash out and stay at the hotel for a few nights. When we left them at the station they invited us to meet them in the renowned bar there for a drink, so we rolled up at the reception with the smartest clothes we could muster and asked where the bar was. It seems that unless you are meeting a guest you are not allowed to go to the bar, and even if your host escorts you from the reception to the bar you are not allowed to sit on the balcony overlooking the Nile. When we were finally allowed into the premises we had a delightful evening with Cheryl and Karen, and made up for the lack of balcony by eating in the fabulous restaurant.

The next morning we bumbled out of bed at yet another crazy hour in the morning for a lovely bus journey (nearly four hours of bouncy cramped joy) to Abu Simbel. One of the busiest attractions in Egypt, these two temples were moved a few hundred meters after the construction of the High Dam in Aswan threatened to submerge them beneath Lake Nasser. It was an amazing feat of engineering, however for me it felt like something was lost by the very act of shifting them. There were just too many people and it all felt a little bit Disney-esque… Somehow a little fake.

The rest of our time in Aswan was spent having a pleasent potter around the city, enjoying a relaxed and very entertaining Felucca cruise down the Nile and confusing the lovely Nubian maid in our hotel.

We arrived at the hotel in Cairo to find a message waiting for us from Bran-chan!!! (by a strange co-incidence our journeys overlapped by two days…!).

We met up with Bran-chan and Shaun that evening, and got lost in the streets of Cairo after an unhelpful taxi driver kicked us out at the wrong restaurant… still, we had plenty to talk about at we hiked across Egypt’s capital, eventually ending up where we were supposed to be!

My impressions of Cairo are that, like any other big city anywhere, it is large, smelly, and over-crowded. Unlike any other big city however, it has the pyramids.

The pyramids - no distance at all from the city - were pretty incredible, I have to admit. They look just like the photos. Big. Pointy at the top. Wide at the bottom. Triangular sides. Yup. No doubt about it. They were definitely pyramids.

Deciding we needed to get another persepctive on these monuments (and just to check that they were the same on each side), we took another camel ride. This time on a camel-made-for-two. A risky business, sharing a camel with Tom, but I held on (to the camel) for dear life, and off we set. These beasts were larger, hairier and scarier (not to mention smellier) than their Jordanian/Mt Sinai-ian cousins. And they had bad wind.

We went inside The Second Pyramid (I don’t know if it has a technical name, but that’s what it says on the ticket), and also took a look round the Cheops Boat Museum, before going on to say “Hello” to the sphynx.

Happily the weather wasn’t too hot, and I suppose all things considered, there weren’t THAT many people there.

I wouldn’t describe it as a life-changing experience (too touristy), but we have had a really fascinating day, and personally I’m very happy to have finally seen the pyramids!

During the afternoon went to the Cairo museum. I’m very glad we had a guide for this part, as there wasn’t much by way of description, and the place is HUGE! Our guide picked out some of the most interesting parts, and we spent a good couple of hours looking round statues, sarcophagai, mumified animals, and some of the mumified pharoes… It was extremely interesting!

We must be crazy… Wasn’t Mt Fuji enough of a struggle? Isn’t 2:30am a time when most sane people are nicely tucked up in bed?

Evidently, No.

We were blearily shuttled from the lovely warm beds in the hotel to the base of Mt Sinai, marched past the imposing fortifications of St Catherine’s Monastery and given the first choice of the morning… Camel or foot?

I thought that meant “take a camel, save your feet”, so we hopped on some not so smelly beasts and began the ascent. It was only when we reached the bottom of the 700 stairs to the top that I realised it meant “take a camel and your knees will seize up and you’ll comically struggle to take even one step”. Bah!

Once we began the climb it eased up however, and we made it to the huts near the summit well before sunrise. The huts were packed with Koreans busy signing the roof (and falling off the benches while doing so) so we were all nice and toasty warm. Waiting for the sunrise outside was made easier too by the lovely rug we hired!

The sunrise itself was stunning, and while Adele pottered off to practice her Japanese on a passing family, we prepared for the “3000 steps of repentance” descent.

The trail back down was beautiful, with each turn producing another fabulous vista. We managed to reach the monastery intact, and resisted the urge to chisel a phrase or two on a handy slab of rock! That Moses chap definitely liked his hiking, that’s for sure!

It was only a few days later that we began to repent - hoping to regain the use of our knees.

The hydrofoil from Aqaba to Nuweiba across the Red Sea was, on the whole, quite uneventful. (Unlike our last boat journey, there was no typhoon, no sick people everywhere, and…most significantly, no bar. The journey was short, however, so we managed to last. Just.)

At Nuweiba there was a lot of waiting around before we were allowed to leave the port. Then it was a substantial coach ride to Dahab. The scenary: varying shades of beige. We saw a couple of camels and some palm-trees, and the Red Sea, of course!

Dahab (or at least the part we stayed in) is a bustling little tourist resort on the Red Sea, and is a very popular spot with divers. Prices are cheap (which is a great relief after Jordan), bars are plentiful, and the seafood is really, really good!

We spent a day on the coast enjoying the warm sunshine, and going snorkling at the coral reef at Blue Hole, which was absolutely fantastic! We’d both definitely like to come back here once we have our diving qualies!

After our exhausting hike around the extensive Petra site, we were ready for a bit of pampering. What we actually received at the Turkish Baths in the hotel was a slightly unnerving but ultimately refreshing experience (you’ll have to ask us in person for any more details than that)…

Once scrubbed up, we headed through a rather scary sand-storm to Wadi Rum, a small desert community on the way to Aqaba.

After a fun evening of music, food and beer, we hid under five layers of rugs and duvets to keep out the cold wind that made it through the walls of our Bedouin style tent.

The next morning we headed out into the desert - atop of some lovely smelly camels… Actually, they weren’t that smelly, but some were in heat and frothing at the mouth!

The scenary was beautiful around the camp, and almost everyone survived intact (one of our tour-group members was thrown off, but managed to land relatively unscathed).

Finally we traded in our frothy camels for pick-up trucks with benches welded in the back for a few hours on safari a little further afield. On this trip we were shown a Nebatian map of the area and a huge sand dune that I struggled to the top of before making the somewhat quicker dash back down.

Tonight we are in Aqaba, bartering away in the markets before heading to Egypt tomorrow.

We’ll both be a little sad to leave Jordan - It’s been a wonderful experience and all the local people we have met have been very friendly and generous. I think it’s likely that we will return to this part of the world sooner rather than later!

See some photos here

Things have been pretty action-packed around here!

We left Amman and drove down to the Dead Sea, where we spent the morning at a resort. The Dead Sea is about 30% salt (normal sea water is about 3%), which means that it’s impossible to sink! In fact, the salinity of the water enables you to float quite high out of the water.

The area around the Dead Sea is quite barren, and the water itself doesn’t support life. We waded out beyond the sharp clumps of salt crystals, and had fun bobbing about (trying - and failing - to sink!). Afterwards, we covered ourselves with Dead Sea mud for the ultimate mud-pack!

A great morning in the sun!

We then headed off to Petra, which turned out to be quite a drive away. We arrived in the early evening, checked into the hotel, and went out for a drink in a really cool bar (in an original 2000 BC cave!). Very atmospheric.

The next day we set off very early to explore the Nebatean Capital of Petra. (If you’ve seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, you’ll know what we’re talking about!) The whole city is carved out of rock, and there were people living there continuously right up until about 1985, when they were shifted out in order to protect the ruins.

We spent a good 7 hours hiking round the massive complex (and still didn’t see it all). It was really incredible!

See some photos here.

It’s been quite a day today… Our first full day in Jordan was spent on our feet, ambling around various ancient sites in and near the capital, Amman.

First up was the ancient Citadel (also housing the original Dead Sea Scrolls) and the Roman Amphitheater in the city itself.

After a spot of lunch, we dashed out to Jerash - a beautifully preserved ancient Roman city an hour outside Amman. We were guided around the vary large site by Abraham - a fantastic and very knowledgable chap - then serenaded (errm) by some bagpiping Jordanian guards. All a little surreal.

We also had time to experience three very amusing taxi rides around the city. The first was somewhat worrying as the driver decided to pull into a petrol station to fill up - something I’ve never experienced before… We thought for a moment he was going to get it cleaned as well - all with the meter running!

The second driver was much more friendly - letting us in on an apparently well known Amman secret… “Taxi driver makes sweet lover”!

Our final ride of the evening capped it all off as the driver patiently explained to Dean (who also shared our lift from the airport yesterday) how to say “I love you” in arabic (Habibi I think…). Dean looked more than a little worried as he was just as tired as us after the day’s activities and couldn’t cope with an amourous taxi driver too!

All in all it’s been a good start to the travels!

See some photos here