Cairo, Luxor, Western desert oases,
White desert
Egypt
Photo Gallery
Overview
This
is a report of my
trip to Egypt
in January - February 2001. I'd classify it as a budget trip with some
comfort, meaning that I stayed in inexpensive hotels/guesthouses with
private
bath and used a mix of buses, private taxis and internal flights to
travel
within Egypt.
Basically I flew to
Cairo, continued
by plane to Luxor and from there drove back overland to Cairo along the
desert route, stopping in the oases (Kharga, Dakhla, Farafra,
Bahariya).
I travelled with a
high end camera,
a subnotebook and a mobile phone. I used GSM data services and a local
Egyptian internet account to send and receive emails while travelling
(I
kept in touch with my fiancee by daily email).
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26.01.01, Friday: Flight
Düsseldorf -
Milan -
Cairo
I'm supposed to land in
Cairo at
21:50pm local time.
27.01.01, Saturday, Cairo
Yesterday evening I
arrived in Cairo
and now I am staying in the Swiss Hotel. Today I booked a flight to
Luxor
(leaving Sunday evening 8:30pm) and I visited the Pyramids
in Gizeh and Sakkarah. They are supposed to be the best, on of the
seven
world wonders, but actually they were quite disappointing. A mass of
dirty
stones, full of dust and ruins everywhere. Tomorrow I'll visit the National
Egyptian museum. I'll try to get a local internet account as
soon
as possible.
29.01.01,
Monday, Luxor
Finally I have an
Egyptian Internet
account. Yesterday (28 Jan) I arrived in the evening in Luxor
(took the plane from Cairo). Today I visited the west side of the Nile,
opposite Luxor with all the graves and temples. Was interesting but a
bit
tiring. Actually I'm staying in a noisy hotel and this morning I woke
up
at 6:50am.
I'm thinking what I
should do in
the following days. One option would be to fly to Abu Simbel in the
extreme
south of Egypt and visit the temple, but it would cost 230-250 US $ and
it's just another temple and I have seen already so many. The other
option
is to go back to Cairo crossing the western desert. That would be
approx.
1200 Km across the desert - from oasis to oasis. There are frequent
buses
connecting the oasis, so it shouldn't be a problem doing the trip.
Other
alternatives are a cruise on the Nile river (boring) or going to
Hurghada
on the Red Sea and swimming and snorkeling a bit.
30.01.01,
Tuesday, Luxor
Today I visited the Karnak
temple. Tomorrow I might go into the desert and then I won't be
able to send/receive emails for a few days. Not sure if there are
internet
cafes in the oasis.The level of harassment in Luxor is very high. You
can't
walk 2 minutes on the street without having somebody trying to sell
something
to you.
31.01.01, Wednesday, Luxor - Kharga
oasis
Today I'm leaving for the
desert.
There will be a communications black-out until probably February 5th
(unless
of course there are internet cafes in the oasis).
31.01.01, Wednesday - Kharga oasis
Right now I'm in the Kharga
oasis. I arrived at 5:30pm and to my surprise the mobile phone
works in the oasis, so I can send emails.
Basically this morning I
negotiated
with the taxi driver the fee for the trip. It's 300 Km and we agreed on
a price of 300 Egyptian pounds (= 300 RM). The direct
road between Luxor and Kharga officially is closed to tourists
(or maybe not according to my guide book). Anyway the driver drove
through
secondary streets to avoid the first military check-point and insisted
that I wear the Egyptian headscarf (a turban, like the one of the
Indian
people) and a jellaba, the Arab dress. He said that I had to look like
an Egyptian, but even the children automatically recognised me as a
foreign
tourist. I looked like Mr. Stupid.
Anyway, after about one
hour, when
we finally had left the Nile valley and were in the middle of the
desert
I took off the Egyptian stuff. The scenery
was absolutely breathtaking. We then passed three army check-points and
the driver bribed the military personnel with some cigarettes so that
the
would let us through. Whatever.... In any case we made it to Kharga
Oasis
at 5:30pm, shortly before the sunset.
Kharga is a relatively
big town (70,000
inhabitants). Hard to believe that in the middle of the desert there is
such a big oasis. But the town has not much to offer, so tomorrow I'll
go to Dakhla oasis which is supposed to be much nicer. Don't know if my
mobile phone works in Dakhla.
From Kharga and all the
way to Cairo
there are regular buses, so I don't have to take a taxi.
01.02.01, Thursday, Kharga - Dakhla
- Farafra
To my surprise the mobile
phone works
in all oases. Apparently I'm not so far away from civilisation after
all.
Basically today I took
the 11:30am
bus from Kharga to Dakhla where I arrived at 2:30pm. I was planning to
spend the night in Dakhla
oasis,
but since there is absolutely nothing to do in Dakhla (and nothing to
see)
I just had lunch in Dakhla and then took the shared taxi to Farafra
oasis.
We (the taxi) left shortly before 5pm and arrived in Farafra at 9pm.
Right now I'm staying in
a "luxury"
hotel for the equivalent of 17 US $. The room has a TV, a nice
bathroom and three beds. The place where I stayed last night was only 5
US $, but there was no water in the bathroom, so I had to take a cold
shower
outside.
Since yesterday morning
I've travelled
a total of 800 Km across the desert. The worst of trip is over (today
we
passed just one military checkpoint, yesterday three) and now I'm back
in a "tourist zone". Yesterday was more of a "no-man's-land". Basically
there are virtually no foreign tourists in Kharga (and very few in
Dakhla).
I was surprised because
these oases
(Kharga, Dakhla, Farafra) are HUGE. It's not just a few palm trees
around
a little water spring - these oases are around 50 x 20 Km in size. I
read
that Bahariya - the last oasis before Cairo - is even 90 x 20 Km.
The next few days I'll
try to do
some desert trips. I might spend one or two nights in the desert, but
the
nights are FREEZING, so I'm hesitating a bit.
03.02.01, Saturday, Farafra oasis
Right now (and the past
two days)
I have been in the Farafra
oasis.
Yesterday afternoon I visited the white
desert, a desert containing stunning white rock formations.
Tomorrow
I'll go to Bahariya
oasis,
and then the day after I'll be back in Cairo.
05.02.01, Monday, Bahariya - Cairo
In the bus from Bahariya to Cairo. No GSM coverage in Bahariya.
05.02.01 - Cairo
Today I came back to
Cairo by bus
from Bahariya. And again all local Egyptians started talking to me on
the
street trying to sell something to me. This evening while I was walking
in the historic old town a guy approached me and tried to be my guide
(in
order to get some money). I told him 'no thanks' and 'no backshish'
(backshish
= money tip). He got very upset and said '...you think that I want to
have
your money... asshole.... shitter.... gay...'. Some people in
Cairo
are very aggressive and impolite.
06.02.01
Cairo - Milan - Düsseldorf
In the morning I visited
the Islamic
quarter. Pretty interesting with the markets, mosques and old
buildings.
I'm flying back to Germany at 3.45pm .
Copyright (c) 2003
Alfred
Molon
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