Da Kowias khalas

Salaam'alaykum

I'm writing this from an Internet Cafe in Dahab on the Red Sea, where we have been since Monday relaxing and enjoying the weather - and the pool! :-) I hope the previous email made sense as the computer kept crashing so I sent it with fingers crossed!

Following my last email, the adventure continued with a Horse & Carriage ride to the Temple of Karnak or more precisely the Karnak temples as it is a huge complex of temples, oberlisks, sanctuarys and a hall of 134 massive hyperstyle columns (seen on films such as James Bond). This was started and built upon by many Pharoahs including Seti I, Ramses II, Hapshetsut and Tuthmosis III. Some of the areas have been damaged by an earthquake and post-pharonic reign damage. We spent quite a bit of time here exploring before visiting a papyrus museum to see how the papyrus paintings are made.

Then it was time to move on to Dahab; the first leg of the trip by convoy to Hurghada on the coast. I'm glad we didn't spend much time here. The hotel offered the best breakfast selection out of all the hotels we've stayed in but otherwise it was like being in the Russian Blackpool of Egypt! There were hotels upon hotels upon hotels and in between were all the hotels under construction; our hotel was on the outskirts surrounded by what seemed to be a construction site.

The following morning we caught the bumpy Red Sea Jet Ferry from Hurghada to Sharm El-Sheikh, but rather than stay here headed for the more relaxed "backpacker nirvada" of Dahab. It's been pretty relaxing compared to the rest of our hectic schedule but we have been quad biking through the desert on a sunset ride and did have a day snorkelling in the Red Sea yesterday at a place called the Blue Hole.

The Blue Hole is an amazing dive and snorkel site - or rather it would be if it isn't accompanied by litter, rubbish, broken coral and who knows what else floating around. The coral garden is stunning, the fish numerous and colourful but in places the coral is damaged; the very thing people are going to see is being damaged by the people seeing it. Although its a conservation area, there's a long way to go to reach the same standard as other conservation areas. Fortunately we opted for an early schedule; by the time we left the wall of coral was swarming with people. But I guess the Great Barrier Reef is similar. We are planning to go snorkelling again today off the beach outside of the hotel, but so far there's been a lot of swell and the water is very rough so we're waiting to see if the sea calms down and the wind drops. Otherwise (or maybe also) we're off for an Egyptian Massage. :-)

Food is cheap here (compared to the UK) so we've eaten out. We tried fresh Lobster. Unfortunately I was a litle disappointed with it - I was expecting it to be very sweet and succulent but found it to be very bland and dry. The large prawns were better. Still I've tried it now ;-)

Tonight we are heading for St Catherine as we are climbing Mt Sinai in the early hours of the morning to see the sunrise - this is supposed to be really spectacular. Mt Sinai is the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments. If we're still awake when it opens we're also going into St Catherine's Monastery where the Burning Bush (or its descendant) is surrounded by its high walls, though there is some speculation as the bush doesn't even smoulder these days! ;-)

From St Catherine & Mount Sinal its back to Cairo for one last night before flying out. It's definitely been one of the best trips I have done with one of the best groups (up there with the Moosers!). Everyone hit it off straight away and have got on fantastically. Egypt is definitely an experience and cultural learning curve but its been great! I would recommend anyone to give it a go.

Ma'is salaama

Kath & Andy

Eaziak from Egypt

Dear All,

Its been a bit of an epic for me to get on email so expect an epic yourself! ;)

A land of magnificent World Heritage sites and the oldest travel destination on the planet, Egypt has been enticing visitors for more than three millennia while also contributing much to the development of civilisation.

We are on a 2-week adventure, which we were promised would be a fantastic overview of Egypt, from pyramids to the Red Sea Coast, and across the Nile to Mount Sinai. From the only one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World still in existence, to the plethora of hieroglyph-covered tombs & temples in the lush Nile Valley over to what is reputed to be the site of some of the world's best diving and snorkelling and finishing at the pink & purple wedge of rugged earth where Moses was believed to have been given the Ten Commandments. So far this has been a riveting journey. We are travelling with an extremely great group composed of 8 Aussies, 4 Brits, 1 Canadian and our local Egyptian guide / Egyptologist.

We started the trip in Cairo, the biggest city in Africa where Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic history fuse with the present. In the shadow of the Pyramids, along the banks of the Nile, the commotion & chaos overpoweringly assaults the senses, well more precisely the smog, hanging over the city like an old curtain though some of it may be down to the sheesha smoke! The traffic is an experience as is crossing the road - not an endeavour for the faint-hearted.

Packed to the point of overflowing, more than 120,000 relics & antiquities from almost every period of ancient Egyptian history are housed in the fantastic Egyptian Museum, enough to induce "Pharaonic phatigue" on the first day of the trip. Approx 1,700 objects on display are from the tomb of Tutankhamun who died in 1352BC which are the best overall exhibits. Wandering from room to room is like taking a stroll through history giving a great insight into ancient egyptian life. Morbidly curious, we paid the extra for a walk through the Royal Mummy Room. Most of the mummies looked quite peaceful, well as peaceful as several thousand year old corpses look. However there was one who died in battle and his mummy was particularly grotesque. We also saw mummified animals including crocodiles, cows, a horse and various other creatures.

Just on the southeastern edge of Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile River stand the 4,500-year-old mausoleums known as the Pyramids of Giza. The only remaining one of the Seven Ancient Wonders, they rise out of the desert towering above the modern city of Cairo right on the edge of the suburbs. The tallest & oldest of these is the Great (or Khufu's) Pyramid with a base covering 5 hectares. In front of these pyramids is the mythical beast of lion's body & human head known as the Sphinx. These are indeed a spectacular sight although after hearing so much as I have recently about the pyramids I expected them to be bigger than they were. But they are still big and still impressive. The fun part of the visit was riding on camels around to the far side of the pyramids away from the normal tourist area on camels; mine was called Fred!

On the afternoon of the second day, we continued on the theme of pyramids and visited King Zoser's Step Pyramid at Saqquara where we also got a sighting of the Bent and Red Pyramids whioh were built by King Zoser's successor. The Step Pyramid is considered the first real pyramid though it was built in six stages. The architect was Imhotep, who was later deified not buried at the foot of Annubis in the City of the Dead as in the movie The Mummy!

From Cairo we took an overnight train to Aswan, overnight also including the following morning as the trip is some 13.5hrs long. Here it is said that the Nile is at its most beautiful and certainly compared to the polluted river in Cairo as it nears the end of its course, it most certainly is better. The heat in Aswan was pretty much unbearable when we first arrived, so we waited until the cooler evening before visiting the Philae Temple of Isis for its Sound & Light Show.

The following day travelling by convoy we headed off at 4.30am 280km south of Aswan (only 40km north of the Sudanese border) to Abu Simbel. This huge archaeological site comprises the two massive temples of Ramses II originally carved out of a mountain on the west bank of the Nile between 1274BC and 1244BC. Not only is this a magnificent monument in its own right but also its removal brick by brick & reconstruction (when threatened by submersion in Lake Nasser due to the construction of the High Dam) during a UNESCO project in the 1960's another feat of great engineering. The temple is aligned in such a way that on 22 Feb & 22 Oct every year the first rays of rising sun penetrate it where they illuminate three of the four Gods of the innermost chamber (sacred sanctuary) Ra-Horakhty, Amun, & the deified Pharaoh himself as they sit on their thrones. Ptah is the fourth. This was one of the most impressive sites on the trip so far. It was definitely more mind blowing than the Pyramids of Giza, but it is also much younger and by the time of Ramses II the Egyptians archititectural skills surpassed any earlier attempts. Ramses II was a great warrior but also a great family man (well producing them anyway). He graced Egypt with 125 of his offspring - 85 boys and 40 girls, of which he outlived 16 of his children and was succeeded by his 13th son! What a busy boy!

In the evening we visited a Nubian Village where we tried herbiscus and mint tea, held a small crocodile (as you do, though I have held an alligator in the past!), had henna tattoos then enjoyed a meal followed by Nubian singing & dancing.

We left Aswan to cruise up the Nile in a felluca for two days. A felluca is a traditional sailing vessel and an ideal way to relax and see the Nile at the same time. We had a few dips in the Nile to cool off and the sailors cooked our meals on the boat. The only downside was having to "go bush" literally for the two days, not good when several people in the group had developed "Travellers' Tummy"!!!

We disembarked the felluca at Kom Ombu where we visited another temple. This was from the same era as the Philae Temple, as was our next stop at Edfu temple. All three tell the story of Isis, Osiris and Horus in carvings, pictures and writing. Then we proceeded onto Luxor where we rested during the heat of the afternoon and enjoyed a refreshing dip in the hotel's pool on the roof followed by a visit to the markets in the evening.

Today we visited the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir al-Bahri, a temple blended into the limestone cliffs and terraced up the steep slopes. Although Hatshepsut was one of the most famous and uniquely female pharoahs, it would appear that she was not well loved in her time and her pictures and cartouch have been chiselled off the temple. Only restored statues remain.

We rode donkeys (mine was called Ali Baba) to the Theban Necropolis that is the Valley of the Kings. Here tombs were hidden in the hillsides to protect them from robbers, the most famously discovered being that of King Tut. We visited three of the tombs that are open (there are 63 tombs at the moment and the latest discovery was the tomb of Ramses II's sons - as you can imagine, its a pretty humungous tomb, but its not open to the public, neither is that of the big man Ramses II himself). We visited Merenptah (Ramses II's son & successor), Ramses I and Tuthmosis III. Merenptah's tomb was by far the most impressive but the other two were excellent too. Its quite wierd standing in a few thousand year-old mausoleum sweating like mad (they're extremely humid inside!).

Tonight we're off out to sample the nightlife of Luxor. Some of our party finish tomorrow so we're giving them a send-off. Tomorrow is a visit to Karnak Temple.

Ashofak baedain

Kath & Andy