Egypt
15th - 24th March 2008Trying to cover another wonder of the world, we went to see the Pyramids
We decided while it was cold in the northern hemisphere, we should go and visit somewhere a little warmer. Boy, did we get more than what we bargained for.
We actually booked our holiday through a tour operator called Travel Talk. Ashika, having read the TNT (like any local Aussie living in London) compared the travel operators listed in there and decided this one was right for us (Essential Egypt with Nile Cruise). Travel talk specialise in tours in Middle East and Northern Africa. Having booked our 9 day Egypt tour with Travel Talk over the Easter period, we ended up booking another 9 day tour through Turkey in early May (read here).
Day 1 - Cairo
Our tour started with us flying into Cairo (capital of Egypt). At Cairo airport, we disembarked the plane onto the tarmac and that was when we first felt the heat. Picked up by a Travel Talk representative, we were taken to the hotel (Cataracts Pyramids Resort in Giza). After running us through an introduction session, were attending a dinner on a cruise up and down the Nile with some traditional entertainment (belly dancing and some weird guy who danced simply by spinning round and round and round and round and... well you get the picture).
Day 2 - Cairo
Early start and off to the pyramids. Started at some early pyramids and ended up at the 'real' ones. Despite sounding cliche, we indulged in a camel ride around the pyramid area. Wasn't too bad despite the heat and the camel operator asking for more money even after we tipped him as well as the guide tipping him. The afternoon finished up with visiting the Sphinx and having lunch at one of the local 'tourist' restaurants. After lunch, we visited a local perfumery (one of the many shopping stops we would have).
We had an early dinner at the hotel by the pool as we headed to the train station for an overnight train to Aswan (14 hours).
Day 3 - Aswan
After a reasonably comfortable train (we traveled 'first class' seated, and I use the term first class very loosely). We had the option to upgrade to a sleeper train but decided not to. The only negative with the trains in Egypt are the toilets (very similar to train toilets in India).
Arriving at Aswan, we did a city tour visiting the Aswan High dam (of local significance), and some Phillae Temple ruins (the first of many such ruins). The tour concluded in the afternoon culminating in a visit to a papyrus factory. Ashika decided to buy a couple of items, one item has our names written in hieroglyphics on either side of a wedding invite (the wedding invite of King Tutenkhamen and his wife). The evening was a visit to a Nubian village having dinner there. This was fairly average, though Ashika got some henna done that ended up lasting 2 weeks.
Day 4 - Abu Simbal, Aswan
Day 4 was a VERY early start, 4am. On a bus to join the police (tourist) convoy for the 3 hour drive to the Abu Simbal temple. Abu Simble temple was awe inspiring (see pics below), though being in the very south of Egypt gets very hot. So, we finished our visit by 10am by which time it was touching high 30 degrees. Back on the bus for the police escorted convoy back to Abu Simbal. Bank in Aswan, we boarded our (3 day) cruise called the Crocodillo. We did have 2 other options instead of the cruise, overland for 3 days staying in hotel or 3 day cruise by felucca (glorified and motorised dinghy that could seat 20 people) and we're very glad for the cruise choice. The overland would have meant coach travel for the most part and the felucca... well the fact that you have to do your bodily duties either in a bucket or over the edge of the boat... enough said.
Oh, about our tour group, you'll see a couple of pics below. There were about 20 of us, all aged between 25-40 and all either Aussie or Kiwi (oh and two Russians plus one American girl who was currently working in Kenya). By the end of our tour we were all getting along very well and had a great time with plans to catch up with many of them in London. Also, we met one guy who lives 3-4 doors down from our house in London - it really is a small world, yes Tony I'm talking about you.
Day 5 - Cruising
Basically all day cruising north in the Nile stopping at the Kom Ombo and Edfu temples. The evening was fun with a party on the boat where many of the groups (we weren't the only tour group on the boat) dressing up in traditional garb.
Day 6 - Luxor
We arrived at Luxor and said goodbye to the cruise staff who'd looked after us for the 3 days. There was an option to do a hot-air balloon ride this morning, but we opted out (although the 4m start was very enticing). We checked into our hotel (Isis Pyramisa) mid morning and had a day tour of Luxor including Luxor and Karanack temples. The evening was dinner at an Irish pub in Luxor. At this pub, the tour guides had organised for a local craftsman to come by to take orders for those who wanted various jewelery pieces with the name in hieroglyphics on it. I ended up buying a ring with my name on it in hieroglyphics.
Day 7 - Luxor
Day 7 was touted as an exciting day. We visited the Valley of the Kings, where we saw the actual tombs of many of the kings we heard about throughout the tour (Rameses III, Rameses IX, Rameses IV, Tutanknamen etc) . One the way back from the Valley, we stopped in on the temple for Queen Hastchepsut (or as our tour guide kept referring to her as Queen Hot-chicken-soup).
In the evening, after a final dinner with man from the group continuing onto Dahab and Jordan, a smaller group of us boarded the train back to Cairo (only 10 hours from Luxor... ONLY!!)
Day 8 - Cairo
Arriving by train from Luxor, we checked into our hotel (again Cataracts Pyramids Resort in Giza) and went off to visit Cairo city aswell as the infamous Egyptian Museum. This was amazing as we got to see many items retrieved from the tomb of King Tutankhamen. Thought provoking is the fact that King Tuts was one of the 'poorer' kings, so we can only imagine what wondrous things were in the other tombs (robbed earlier in history).
Day 9 - Cairo
Many of those on the 9 days tour ended and departed today. So we just lazed by the pool. It was a very nice time to simply unwind from the day-to-day traveling we'd had.
Day 10 - Departure
After relaxing, having a swim in the pool and being just plain lazy, we departed for Cairo airport for the journey home. I was dreading Heathrow airport (being Easter Monday), but between landing and getting on the tube was just over an hour (amazingly quick for a public holiday).
Over and out.
EOM
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| Waiting at Gatwick Airport, with a very early start..4am! | |
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| Can feel the heat already..as soon as we touched down in Egypt, I was already sweating! |
Night 1 - Cruise dinner |
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| Musical entertainment | Our entertainment - A belly dancer |
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| Second entertainment was the spinning man - he kept spinner for 30mins straight! I was more dizzy than him! | |
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| Walkway from our room towards the pool | |
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| Day 1 of our tour - The oldest pyramid - The Step Pyramid | |
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| No comment | |
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| This is how they made the pyramid - no machinery here! | |
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| The Great Pyramid! One of the wonders of the world | |
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| It got really hot out there | Just making sure it's all in place :) |
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| Spot the difference | |
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| Camels resting | Our camel ride! Great fun! |
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| Kiley and Tony | |
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| The trusted arm length pic | |
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| Nice shot huh? | The Sphinx |
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| The local beer - Stella | |
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| Our tour group at our hotel in Cairo before our 14 hour train trip to Aswan! | The hotel pool was amazing and a nice way to relax in the 40 degree heat |
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| Waiting at Cairo station for the train | Our train to Aswan |
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| The beginning of the train journey with the tour group. It was supposedly 1st class! |
Ready to go to bed on the train |
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| Breakfast on the train, chips and chocolate! | Not a morning person :) |
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| Finally we arrive in Aswan! | Aswan Dam |
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| Where's Ashika (part 1) | |
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| Shade, a scarce commodity | |
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| At the papyrus factory | |
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| Getting on the felucca enroute to the Nubian village | |
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| The boatsmen were prepared with the local brew on hand | |
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| Mithi, Chaps, Sarah and Joe | |
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| Ashika's henna | |
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| Ashika and Claire's henna | This was dinner at the Nubian village |
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| There was folk dancing too | |
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| Arriving at Abu Simbal | |
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| Those statues were HUGE up close | |
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| Relaxing back on the cruise boat in the shade | |
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| Other's preferred to sunbake | |
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| These sun lounges were usually packed! | Another felucca ride during sunset |
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| Zizo, our tour guide, also known as Ahmed Azizz | |
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| Our cruise boat... the crocodillo | |
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| What a lovely picture | Perhaps the best pic Ashika has ever taken |
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| Spices at the local market | Clair and Kiley in the 'Egyptian Ferrari' (horse cart) |
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| Tony, Adrian and Nav in the other Ferrari | |
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| Nav got tired very quickly | |
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| Where's Ashika (part 2) | |
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| The cruise staff made different animals with the towels each day | |
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| The pool on our cruise ship | |
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| The ruins were HUGE. Can only imagine how big they were when they were built. | |
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| Where's Ashika (part 3) | |
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| Such a poser | Gavin on the traditional night on the cruise |
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| The boys all got up to dance | Will, Hong, Kiley, Tony, Ashika, Nav, Claire and Adrian |
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| Traditional Egyptian game played by royals | |
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| The infamous Stella shirts we got at the markets for 10 Egyptian Pounds (1GBP) |
Ashika, Chaps, Sandra, Sam and Sarah |
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| With Zizo, one of the girls | |
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| Originally, this stretch of lions was 7km long, from one temple to the other. | |
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| The Egyptians say if you circle this scarab rock 7 times, you will marry in the next year | |
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| I told Ashika to sit on it like a rocket | |
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| Man, it was tiring! | |
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| Statue of Tutenkhaman and wife, defaced by Rameses III | |
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| Night out at the Irish pub. | The Stella again, much better than the Luxor beer |
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| We got to ride a train from the entrance. | The reason this site was chosen for the valley of the kings was because he mountain looked like the top of a pyramid. |
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| Tomb of Queen Hatchepsout | |
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| With Zizo our tour guide, he was awesome | |
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| Luxor train station | Another late night train ride |
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| Ashika and Chaps - green ninjas | |
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| Local vegetarian food, rice, macaroni with some tomato and chick pea based sauce |
It was really nice though |
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| Leaving Cairo on the last day |