1 of the many chilled out cats which took up all the seating in the hostel!!
I had decided to join a 15 day Intrepid tour through Egypt to ensure I could see as much as possible, get ripped off as least as possible and meet some folk along the way instead of battling through a country which I have heard is rather hard to travel by yourself. The tour was fantastic as there were only 11 of us and the tour guide. We started the tour in Cairo and of course the first stop was the amazing Pyramids of Giza. For any traveller this is definetly a must see! We also managed to fit in a fun camel ride around the pyramids and a visit to the Great Sphinx before heading back into the city of Cairo to the huge Egyptian museum which was very interesting/exhausting!
Welcome to Cairo traffic!! Nuts! Beep Beep Beeepeddy BeeeeeeeeeeeeP!!!!!!
The local markets of Cairo... A touch busier than your local Coles supermarket!
Classic! Cairo is even tiring for the locals - This guy was a paramedic obviously recovering from a busy night!! For those wondering the horn unfortunately wasn't going off....
That's me on a camel at the pyramids in Egypt! Woop!
Cheesy photo time...
This stupid Australian kid insisted he had to be in my photo!
The camel stench wasn't as good as the view!!!
The Great Sphinx.
We said goodbye to the chaos of Cairo and jumped on an overnight train headed for the pretty city of Aswan which was 12 hours south. After a quick freshen up we were whisked away on a motorised boat to visit a crocodile farm and a local Nubian family. With the sun blasting away we were ensured that the worlds longest river, the Nile was perfectly clean enough to swim in! So with no to much hesitation a quick dip was extremely refreshing and so was the local brew :)
Crocodile Farm - This guy couldn't wait for his bakshish (tip)!
Desert as far as the eye can see...
The views from a steep sandy hill we climbed on the banks of the mighty Nile River!
A refreshing dip and beer in the Nile... Pretty bogan really!
Sunset over the Nile in Aswan
The next morning at 2.45am (yes ridiculous i know!) we joined a convoy and headed 3 hours south towards the border of Sudan to visit Abu Simbel which are two massive rock temples. The history behind these temples is amazing with the huge carvings that are dedicated to Pharaoh Ramesses II being amazingly relocated in the 1960's to ensure they weren't submerged in the man-made Lake Nasser. After a the 3 hour journey back and an afternoon nap the group set out for a traditional Egyptian dinner which included lots of rice and vegies. A post dinner visit to a shisha bar and a stroll through the local markets ended a pleasant stay in the more relaxed city of Aswan.
Abu Simbel... Gees other tourists annoy me!
Green apple Shisha = head spins
The next morning we jumped aboard a felucca (traditional wooden sailing boat) and headed north on the Nile where our next night was spent in a local village. It was so much fun entertaining/being entertained by the local kids and enjoying a simple yet comfortable night in one of the families spare rooms/open areas. The food at the homestay was sensational and after a scrumptious breakfast we jumped aboard the felucca again for a whole day of sailing. This was probably one of my favourite days on the whole trip as it was so nice to read/listen to music/daydream and enjoy sailing the Nile river. As the sun was setting we pulled up to the riverbank, created a 'western style toilet' and slept the night on the felucca.
Cheeky kids eating my thongs/flip flops at the homestay.
Time for some traditional music and dance at the homestay.
Our felucca and our bed for the night :)
Relaxed chicken legs on the felucca!
Even our skipper was chilling out!
After a pretty decent sleep on the felucca and a pancake breakfast we sailed for a short while before catching a bus into the city of Luxor where a freshen up was definetly needed! Whilst in Luxor we visited the Colossi of Memnon and enjoyed a donkey ride towards the Valley of the Kings. My donkey was pretty frisky and seemed to be in a bit of a hurry.. So with my legs dangling precariously close to the ground we set out ahead of the rest of the group. I never thought riding a poor little donkey could be so much fun! I paid the few extra Egyptian pounds to visit Tutankhamuns tomb and mummy and also the huge and colourful tome of Ramesses VI. This was definetly a very fun yet jampacked day. Before leaving Luxor we made a visit to a very worthwhile charity called Animal Care Egypt that ensures the local animals are well kept to a high standard which is something that other cities in Egypt clearly need.
Colossi of Memnon
Donkey ride! Not particularly suited to me long legs..
Super fun!
Lucas... My frisky donkey!
Luxor Temple and the first clouds I had seen in Egypt.
Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Luxor Temple by night.
After a few nights in Luxor it was back onto an extremely loud overnight train back to Cairo where sleep was hard to come by! We had the day in Cairo to explore a mosque and some Coptic churches and of course the local markets. By this stage everyone was pretty much over the chaos of Cairo. The next morning we jumped on a bus at 4.30am to drive into the Sinai Peninsula to St Katherines monastery and to allow enough time to climb the Biblical Mount Sinai. This was another highlight of my trip and I think you can see why from the pictures. The ten commandments was apparently where God gave young Moses the ten commandments... I decided to take the 3700 steps of repentance/the quick way up Mt Sinai (2285m) where we watched a beautiful sunset. The 2.5 hour descent with a torch in the dark definetly wasn't as fun as going up!
Halfway up Mt Sinai with St Katherines monastery in the bottom left of the pic.
He clearly wasn't as happy as me!
But i finally got him to smile!
Mt Sinai was beautiful!
Mt Sinai conquered! The group at the top watching the sunset.
After a very busy couple of weeks it was finally time to head to the much anticipated Red Sea beach camp in Nuweiba which is situated on the eastern part of the Sinai Peninsula on the Gulf of Arabia. This place is stunning! The water is so clear and the sea life and coral was even better than what I had seen in Thailand. On our second day of snorkelling we were lucky enough to swim alongside a turtle who seemed very relaxed going about his own business. Plenty of good food, afternoon beers, sunshine and afternoon naps was a fantastic way to end an awesome trip through the very interesting country that is Egypt. It was extremely depressing to say goodbye to the Nuweiba beach camp and drive 7 hours back to Cairo but a final group dinner and a few drinks saw the fun tour come to an end.
Our very simple yet comfortable beach hut
Hammocks clearly were one of the greatest inventions ever!
Life is tough sometimes..
Bliss! Mountains one side, our huts in the middle and clear blue water the other side.
Sunrise at 5.30am over the Saudi Arabian mountains.
Reeeeelaxed Australian mofo.
Lucky for me I had planned another day in Egypt before flying out and it gave me just enough time to make a day trip to 'the prettiest' city in the North of Egypt called Alexandria. Rose a very fun Irish girl from the trip came along and we had great fun trying to work out the Egyptian underground and country train systems! At one stage we went 8 stops past where we should have got off!! But we finally made it to Alexandria and had a great day of sightseeing and indulging in the fresh local seafood.
This was the main train station in Cairo... It was more like a death trap!!
Beautiful Alexandria.
The fort at the end of the pier with locals looking at the fish.
Smile! Say cheese! Dried out puffer fish.
Lunchtime! On nom nom nom!
Check this dude out!! Just casually carrying a whopping fish down the street!
Myself and Irish Rose
Beautiful Alexandria harbour.
I had never expected or planned to go to Egypt whist over here in Europe but I am so glad I visited this fascinating country that was full of mindboggling history and friendly people.
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