Filed under: Egypt
Days 122 – 134, Thursday 18th – Tuesday 30th December 2008 (Al)
The trip on Royal Jordanian Airlines from Amman to Cairo was short and enjoyable enough. Seeing what I think is the Suez canal from the window was the only highlight…
Egypt had long been intriguing my imagination. Finally we had arrived in Cairo ready to enjoy all this country has to offer. In summary, its ancient sites are amazing, but the “tourist trade” that surrounds them is stifling. We attempted to stay good humoured throughout and were able to have some laughs at shop keepers offering camels for Cathy and Melanie (maybe just the first time, not the hundredth), but it definitely stopped us from looking in their shops at times! Meeting some great people on our tour and spending more time with Melanie more than made up for any annoyances we had from the Egyptian people who are just trying to make a living.
Cairo street scene – with far less traffic than usual
In Cairo, we had an overpriced evening Nile cruise, visited the wonders at the antiquities museum (King Tut’s bling), took a day trip to the older pyramids at Saqqara (Step Pyramid of Zhoser) and Darshur (Red and Bent Pyramids), where we climbed deep down inside the Red one – very claustrophobic!
Step pyramid – Egypt’s first attempt at building a true pyramid
Bent pyramid in the distance – attempt number two – still not quite right
Entrance to the Red pyramid – the first true pyramid – a 70 metre shaft to the first chamber
(the light you can see in the shaft is half way!)
The following day, on the way to the Great Pyramids, we stopped off for lunch at a perfumery filled with sweet scents and gorgeous little bottles. The glass topped coffee table in front of us had photos of previous visitors on display. After a few minutes, exclaimations of excitement came out of Cathy as she realised that her work mate from the Alfred Hospital (Steve) was staring back at her from a dated passport photo under the glass!
Cute perfume bottles
Note the red circle highlighting Steve’s photo. Had Cathy sat anywhere else in the large room she would not have seen this – another one of those “it’s such a small world” stories.
The Great Pyramids of Giza were simply wonderful, despite a run in with a local tout who complained angrily that we didn’t give him enough money for the photo he all but forced us to take with him. Fine, we’ll delete the photo and take our money back if that’s what you want!
It was surreal to be amongst the Pyramids, having seen them so many times over the years in photos and on film. The area around the Sphynx was more crowded but equally impressive. Apparently, Napoleon’s troops shot off the nose. A camel ride was included in our visit – thankfully mine did not decide to gallop away this time…
Following the long and uneventful overnight train to Aswan, we took a boat trip out on Lake Nasser to the Temple of Isis on Philae Island. It was our first of several similarly designed temples featuring a wealth of heiroglyphics and pictoral scenes of pharoahs brown-nosing the gods for after-life favours. They were all interesting and beautiful, and our experience at each was often made or broken by the varying quality of our guides and how long we had to look around.
View of the Nile from our Aswan hotel room – the desert is quite close to each side of the river
Temple of Isis
Interior heiroglyphics
Melanie, our new friend Sally and Cathy
Parting view of the temple
Getting up at 3am, we boarded the bus to convoy down to the temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel. Ramses II decided to deify himself and basically built statues of himself that were larger than the traditional gods. All four giant statues on the outside, plus several inside are of his likeness. Even the similar nearby temple his Queen (Nefertari) decided to build has mostly statues of Ramses II – this guy was up himself big time! The engineering behind the rock cut temple from thousands of years ago, and also its piece by piece relocation above the rising waters of the Nile, were impressive. Interesting also to see lots of carved grafitti inside saying “x person was here” – particularly as it was from the 1800s!
The dinner at a Nubian village near Aswan was a lot of fun. We enjoyed seeing the village, the traditional houses the locals live in, the small crocodiles they keep for celebratory dinners (although other visiting tourists poking them with a stick bordered on animal cruelty), the dancing and singing. Our first singalong to the Nubian “Ooooohhhhhh a le le” song was particularly memorable.
Looking back to the entry of the house we spent the evening in
Cathy getting a henna tattoo
After a quick walk around Elephantine Island, it was time for our felucca cruise down the Nile. We were to spend two nights aboard, docking each lunch and dinner time before staying overnight. We aren’t sure how far we were supposed to travel, but it seems that we went less than 10km up river thanks to strong headwinds. It was a relaxing way to travel and really brought the group closer together. We played cards or Trivial Pursuit on deck, napped in the sun and sat around camp fires each night.
Relaxing onboard
Christmas day was actually spent this way – the tour itinerary said “Christmas lunch onboard” which we all eagerly anticipated. This should have actually read “Lunch onboard on Christmas Day” as it was the same sort of food on offer as every other meal – rice, pasta, chicken. Simple and tasty though it was, it was not Mum’s roast with Grandma’s plum pudding! Kom Ombo and Edfu temples were visited after saying goodbye to our crew.
Makeshift Christmas tree, complete with KK presents, our feluccas in the background
Nile sunset
Kom Ombo temple column
Edfu temple facade
My birthday (December 27th – though I’m sure you all know that already) was spent a little differently to my usual birthdays back home – it was my first away from my family which was a little sad. A suitable consellation was spending the morning in the Valley of the Kings visiting three pharaoh tombs. We knew the tombs would be long devoid of any shiny treasures, but didn’t expect to see the paint still on the walls looking as fresh as it would have thousands of years ago. Pharaohs order work on their burial tombs to be commenced soon after they become Pharoahs, so when one dies after only seven years in power – quality declines somewhat. The second tomb we entered fit this category – upon entry the heiroglyphs are beautifully carved and painted, but after a few metres they are only painted, and then only outlines. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside unfortunately.
Valley of the Kings – before the large tour buses arrive
After the valley, most of the others went for a donkey ride around Luxor. The rest of us who were either too tall or too heavy – or both, like me 
( - relaxed in the sun and had a drink. I called my Mum and was glad to here her voice. We visited the Colossi of Memnon (seated statues below), the Valley of the Workers, followed by Queen Hapshetsut’s fantastic temple at Dier al-Bahri (second photo).
That night was a buffet dinner and a show in town. The group could not help but mention to the performing belly dancer that it was my birthday. I appreciated the opportunity to be invited up to perform some belly dancing moves in front of the other 150 diners. Good times! I did receive compliments from both the girls (I have some skill apparently) and the guys (for having the guts to actually get up) which was appreciated. Here’s a photo – all video evidence has hopefully been destroyed as per my wishes:
The next day, after partying long into the night, we travelled from our hotel to the largest temple we would see - Karnak. The city is working on moving residents, demolishing houses and excavating the “Avenue of Sphinx” which runs from the Luxor to Karnak temples, lined with carved Sphinx for the entire road stretching several kilometres. Future tourists will be able to use this road which would be a great experience. Karnak is huge and has some amazing walls, columns and obelisks – but given the similar designs, we were starting to feel a bit of what’s known as ‘temple fatigue’.
Karnak – the largest but also the most crowded temple we visited (part of the Avenue is visible)
Luxor temple – the missing obelisk that matches the one you can see above is in Paris’ Place de la Concorde – a gift
Avenue of Sphinx (Luxor end)
The following day, Melanie, Cathy and I said a sad farewell to our new friends as they continued their Egyptian journey to the Red Sea coast. We travelled back on the train to Cairo. We missed them, and the sunny, water sports-fuelled fun they were having – but we did enjoy visting the citadel area of Cairo (with a fantastic mosque and views out to the Great Pyramids) and the Khan al-Khalili market. Editor’s note: It was very sad to hear that two months later a bomb went off in this very market, killing several people.
Cathy and Melanie take in the view of Cairo from the Citadel
The Great Pyramids are visible through the haze
Muhammad Ali mosque
Inside the mosque’s forecourt
Market stall where we bought a lamp
Boarding separate flights to return to London, we met back up with Melanie (minus her suitcase thanks to Air Italia) and her Mum Tilly (who generously offered to pick us up) at Heathrow. It was a whirlwind tour of Egypt – I felt like we saw the major sites, learned a thing or two, haggled for some nice souvenirs and met some cool people. Oh, and learned some new pick up lines like “aah, you have two wives, I will give you a hundred camels for one of them!”
Filed under: Jordan
Days 121-122, Wednesday 17th – Thursday 18th December 2008
(Photos added Jan 26th thanks to Zambian technology)
There will be no photos for a while, because the internet connection here in Zanzibar is not quite up to it, but if I don’t write this now I may never catch up.
The morning after our camel trek, we rode a bumpy jeep (an authentic, white, old one this time, with bench seats in the back) out of Wadi Rum, nursing our still very sore joints and bruises.
Another car met us in Rum Village, and drove us back along the Desert Highway (passing a few turn-offs to Iraq), then across to the Dead Sea, where we arrived at the Dead Sea Spa Hotel in time for a buffet lunch. The food was delicious for a buffet, including heaps of dessert, and Al made the observation that it was lucky you couldn’t sink in the Dead Sea, because we were about to break the rules and swim within half an hour of eating. This led to a long explanation of the ‘rule’ for Eid, who hadn’t heard of it, and thought we were complaining about the way he’d arranged things for us.
On the way – officially at Sea Level and still heading down
The swim was more of a float, of course, especially as you would need to jump out of the water and run straight to the showers if you got some of the water in your eyes.
Al is normally more of a sinker than a floater, so he loved the sensation, and I took the opportunity to do a floating Sudoku puzzle.
Just as I got into the water, a group of six Jordanian men arrived; five of them sat on the beach, fully-clothed, watching and taking pictures of the one man who swam. I felt slightly uncomfortable as the only female on the beach, particularly because every time I looked in their direction at least one face and one camera was pointed my way. I felt like the girl in the itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny-yellow-polka-dot-bikini: ’she was afraid to come out of the water’. Eventually I braved the gauntlet. We turned down the Jordanian guys’ invitation to join them in applying some of the mud from the sea shore (so I guess we’re doomed to wrinkles now), but I had a short ride on the slowest waterslide I’ve ever been on (apart from the one we made out of a plank of wood and a hose in the backyard when we were kids), before using the hotel changerooms and getting out of there.
The mineral-rich salty shore, with Jericho on the hill in the distance. Crystals of salt appeared on our skin as soon as we even partially dried in the sun.
I have now been on a waterslide with a view of Israel - it was an interesting clash of frivolity and contemplation. As on the day we stood on top of Mt Nebo, it felt unreal (as in not real, not as in 90s-style exclamation of appreciation or Paul Jennings book title) to look into the distance and see the ‘Holy Land’ on the horizon. There were still military checkpoints dotted along the roads, a legacy of the war Jordan lost to Israel in the 1960s. We also saw what used to be the turn-off to Israel, but that road doesn’t exist anymore. The one we were driving on was smoothly asphalted – funded by the Vatican as part of a visit by Pope John Paul II, because it runs between Mt Nebo and what is thought to be the place where Jesus was baptised in the Jordan River.
We spent the night in Madaba, at a restaurant with a ‘live singer’, who sometimes drifted off into conversation with the waiters and just left his keyboard backing track running. It seemed a much friendlier town this time around. And in the morning, we were very sad to say goodbye to Jordan and its great outdoors. The airport security staff were very serious about their job and ushered me strictly through the separate screening line for women (shielded from male view), but also had some friendly laughs with us, and that seemed to sum up the best of our experiences with people in the country.
Fact: what we call ‘doing doughies’ or ‘donuts’ – spinning a car around in circles – the Jordanians call ‘making fives’, because the Arabic number 5 is shaped like a pointed oval. Cute.
Filed under: Jordan
Day 120, Tuesday 16th December 2008 (Cath)
Eid cleverly took the walking option today, using the good excuse that he had to train for a twelve day hike he would be guiding for a group of Germans two days after he finished with us.
We took camels.
Me (left) and Al (right) on our camels. Mine was the oldest and I was told at the start he was also the gentlest. By the end though, after he had bitten Al’s camel on the bum, sparking a sudden gallop and stay-on-your-camel challenge for Al, we discovered he was actually known as ‘the crazy one’.
Al, wisely keeping out of reach
My camel and his buddy, a younger female racing camel who came along just to keep fit in preparation for the next racing season. She was by far the smartest, fittest and nicest of the lot.
I found myself leading the group for much of the day – it seemed none of the other camels wanted to walk in front of mine for some reason. At this stage, Al was taking a walking break to make sure his hip joints still functioned.
Al’s camel had a break too, just hanging out where the two coloured sands meet (eroded and washed down from different mountain stones).
More ancient carvings, this time in a narrow gorge
Camels in motion
That little speck up there is Eid, on top of the Um Frouth rock bridge, which he had reached by a shortcut on foot while we rode. I was inspired to climb it, then was not (‘I think it is too difficult for you, Catherine - it is too critical’, said Eid as he saw me start scrambling), then was resigned to staying down the bottom and taking photos of Al, and then was encouraged again (by Al) to try it and just turn around if I wanted to.
Made it
Al did not only the Jetstar star but also the jump. Unfortunately his photographer couldn’t get any closer to the edge than this, so the shot is less dramatic than it could have been. Still, I’m sure you can imagine what was under him (about fifteen metres of nothing).
After the climb, for some reason, I became quite fascinated by the ground.
As it was yesterday, the scenery was stunning, and moving through it almost silently added another dimension to the experience. We spotted at most five vehicles for the entire day, and only saw other people at the rock carvings and Um Frouth. Otherwise it was just us, some Bedouin tents, the occasional vehicle glinting in the distance, and the desert.
Our guides for the day, who rode the camels while we walked for the last half an hour or so back to camp, trying to keep our muscles alive and joints moving. The one on the right offered my family ten camels (maybe even racing camels, but he couldn’t guarantee that) for me to bring my sister to Jordan to marry him. This joke would wear thin later, in Egypt, but this was the first time we’d heard it and it was well delivered, so we laughed. Interested, Mere?
Another beautiful sunset, but the rocks felt a little less comfortable tonight than yesterday.
Cold showers helped ease the pain more than expected, but I don’t know if these camp beds had ever been appreciated as much as they were by us tonight.
Filed under: Jordan
Day 119, Monday 15th December 2008 (Cath)
The landscape around Petra may have looked dry and eroded, but in Jordanian terms it still doesn’t count as a desert. For that, you have to head to the other side of the Desert Highway, which is apparently considered the dividing line between land that gets enough rain for at least some crops to grow, and pure desert. In recent years though, the ‘official’ desert side has actually had some freak rain and even snow – more wonders of climate change.
We headed for the ‘desert of mountains’ made famous by Lawrence of Arabia – Wadi Rum. We’d been sharing one pair of sunglasses between us for the last few days (Al hadn’t replaced his after they broke somewhere back in less sunny times), but as soon as we saw the sand stretching ahead of us we realised it was crunch time, and paid the sort of price you’d expect when there’s only one pair of men’s sunnies at the only shop in the middle of the desert. Huge mark-ups aside, the visitors’ centre was very modern and quite impressive.
Wadi Rum-o-vision (impressive setting, cheesy words)
The rock formation known as the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, behind the new Wadi Rum Visitors Centre
We headed into the desert in what we imagined was going to be a rusty old jeep, but turned out to be a less romantic, but shiny and comfortable, new Suzuki Vitara 4WD. Eid was happy with our request to get out and walk for at least part of the journey, though.
Ancient graffiti
Lunch stop – our driver for the day was a great cook
The reward for scrambling over a few rocks behind our lunch spot
The best kind of charcoal chicken (coated with lime and salt – meat shouldn’t be this delicious when I am trying to be mostly vegetarian)
Rainbow Camp, our home for two nights (to shatter the feeling of remoteness, it had mobile reception, as it was in line of sight of Rum Village!)
We watched the sunset on both nights from these rocks, warmed by the day’s rays and sheltered from the wind, just behind our camp. Then it was time to sit around the fire outside the main goat-hair tent sipping sweet Bedouin tea until the smoke died down, so we could take the fire into the tent. Inside, we reclined on cushions – topped with animal skins for extra warmth – and ate, listening to Eid’s stories while drinking yet more tea.
The two Egyptian men who worked at the camp wouldn’t accept our invitation to eat with us – their boss had told them not to interfere with guests, apparently – but they came and sat around the fire once we’d finished dinner. Eid managed to keep the conversation going with the two of us speaking only English, the two of them speaking only Arabic, and himself as partial translator. Most of the time we think he was just having two parallel conversations, but it still felt cosy and communal – as much as it could when there were three people working to host just us, anyway.
It was fascinating to hear Eid talk about the changing roles of men and women, his early life as a Bedouin, then being the first in his family to go to college and leave the country, his life in Kuwait and Germany, and his return to Jordan. I could have sat staring at the fire and listening for hours, and nearly did. It was the cold that eventually tore us away and into our sleeping bags.
Filed under: Jordan
Days 117 – 118, Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th December 2008 (Cath)
Instead of following the path through the Siq, we used two of Petra’s back entrances this weekend. On Saturday, we started by walking up into the hills to the left of the main track into Petra, where Eid pointed out lots of carved houses - they hadn’t been visible from the lower levels, but each of their rock-cut doors faced at least one other dwelling, so that signals could be sent in a chain across the entire city.
Looking back towards the main entrance to the Petra area (township of Wadi Musa on the hill in the distance) – rock-cut stairs lead to a Nabatean shrine on the right
Eid on the roof of a Nabatean house (also used more recently by Bedouin people)
We could tell we were getting closer to the heart of the ancient city when the rocks started to remind us of red central Australia (and yes, we do really need to see more of our own country! We’re listening, Julia Gillard!)
The Treasury – trifecta of views now complete (night, day, clifftop)
I loved the hike and the freedom to walk my own way, especially during the scramble down through a shady narrow gorge to reach this point. Once Eid found out about my fear of heights, though - it tends to show itself when I’m standing at the top of a 50m sheer drop- I found myself being guided just a little bit more than I needed to be for the rest of the day. As much as I appreciated his concern, Al and I spent most of the next two days reassuring Eid not only that I was still able to climb over rocks, but that I actually enjoyed it (most of the time).
Nabatean written language
The next peak we reached – the High Place of Sacrifice, overlooking Petra
A shady tea stop (sage and sugar = yum)
‘Sea onions’
Tomb in Wadi Farasa, on the way down from the High Place
Goats in Wadi Farasa
Back in central Petra – columns made of ‘wheels’ of sandstone, outside a building which was either a huge temple or a town hall (digs still going on around it might help the archaeologists reach a consensus)
Look what the hotel staff did
On Sunday, we headed in the other direction, with the help of a car this time. This is the view back towards Petra (on the right is the village, Um Sayhoun, where the Bedouins displaced from Petra live).
Our first stop was at a huge water cistern, still holding water about two thousand years after it was carved into the cliff. Local people still stop their animals at the water trough out the front – the goats don’t have to know about the colourful bits of rubbish floating inside.
In ancient times, caravans would have stopped in this area. Nearby are the Nabatean ruins of Baida, also known as ‘Little Petra’ - apparently a cheaper place to stay back then than Petra itself was. Like Petra, it has a narrow entrance (Siq Barid), is surrounded by sandstone hills, and was full of water channels, water basins and water cisterns. We could really learn a thing or two from the Nabateans’ obsession, as repetitive as it made our tour of their architecture.
Tomb in Baida
Nabatean fresco on the ceiling of one of the largest buildings
Real archeaologists doing real field work!
Just in case we were starting to get blase about visiting 2000 year-old ruins, Eid took us around the corner to see this Neolithic village. Dated between 7000 and 6500BC, this is apparently the oldest known place where soil was cultivated and man ’settled down’ from his hunter-gatherer ways. In the foreground is a house – the vertical gaps between stones are where wooden posts would have held up the roof.
Now we just had to walk across this desert (target: other side of hill on right).
Oh, and then walk across this ledge above a sheer cliff. We couldn’t even tell how high it was, as it dropped away into the darkness (I would have freaked out even more had I known Al was pausing up there to take photos)!
I was still buzzing from the clifftop moment when we came across our prize – the ‘Monastery’ of Petra (also originally a tomb, but named after its later use by Christians). It is the best-preserved completely Nabatean-style facade in Petra (the Treasury has Greek and Roman influences).
Big enough
The path down into the centre of Petra
Our feet, legs and eyes especially enjoyed a surprisingly peaceful stop at the Treasury (we weren’t even offered a horse and carriage ride to the entrance, although we would have been tempted), before we left the site for the fourth and last time.
