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WALKING
LIKE AN EGYPTIAN - 2004
Mysterious Egypt, home of the Pharaohs, prospective
home of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, home to a million ancient
tombs, temples and monuments, scams and corrupt policemen,
. Filthy, dirty, fascinating Egypt. Who can resist
its charm?
We proposed
to meet our eldest son Doug in Dahab, Sinai
for Christmas 2003 and New Year and would then continue through
Sinai to Africa and Egypt proper.
We started
by arriving in Nuweiba
by ferry from Aqaba in Jordan. From Nuweiba we caught a bus
down to Dahab,
a delightful backpacker/diving centre on the Red Sea Coast.
There we met Doug and stayed for Christmas and New Year.
After
New Year, we travelled north to Nuweiba
again and Tarabin,
where we stayed for two days before Doug left to return to
London's winter and we caught a shared taxi to Cairo
across the Sinai.
Cairo
was a huge culture shock after the laid back atmosphere of
Dahab
and Tarabin.
A million screaming Arabs, several million blaring car horns
and (it seemed) a billion loudspeakers bellowing out the call
to prayer from every street corner.
After a few
days in Cairo,
we caught the train to Aswan,
from where we ventured to Abu
Simbel. From Aswan,
we caught a Nile
Cruise to Luxor
where we spent several days exploring the Temple of
Luxor, Karnak and the West Bank. Then we went slightly offbeat,
into the west of Egypt to the Desert Oases Towns of Kharga,
Dhakla
and Farafra.
From Farafra,
we viewed the White
Desert and then returned to
Cairo.
Catching
a train north, we spent a few days in the lovely city of Iskendariya,
or Alexandria
as it is more commonly known and then ventured to Port
Said in the hope of seeing more of the Suez Canal.
Alas, we saw little of the famous Canal and returned to Cairo
for a few days before flying back to Amman in Jordan
to catch our return flight to Australia.
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