Just a quick note to everyone to let you know that we're alright. We were on the overnight bus to Dahab when 3 bombs went off at our destination. We were wondering why they started having passport checks every half hour or so, but no one provided any explanation, so we were quite shocked to arrive here and find out.

We'll post further once we've decided what we're going to do from here.

Hipostyle at Karnak
Taken by Neil Carey on April 23, 2006.
One of the most impressive parts of the Karnak complex.

We're leaving Luxor this afternoon for Dahab. An extra-fun 14 hour bus ride. Very much looking forward to the Sinai, as we're getting a little tired of the hassle that is everywhere in Upper Egypt.

Luxor has some amazing Pharonic monuments. Karnak temple in particular is quite the complex. It's actually several temples built over a period of about 2000 years, with even the newer bits being over 3000 years old (or possibly still under construction). The other very famous site here, the Valley of the Kings wasn't so great. The tombs, while vaguely interesting, are extremely uncomfortable to enter (too many tourists & no ventilation), and, since we can't read ancient Egyptian, after a while all the writing & drawings are just kind of the same.

Luxor has also been the worst stop for beggars & touts. More pushy than most of Egypt, and the beggars are more insistant. Outside of Karnak, there appeared to be a whole family begging/selling useless junk, but no parents. Stewart, a guy on our tour who's been living in Kenya and has traveled extensively in Africa, made the comment that Egypt's not even particularly poor in the grand scheme of things, and many poorer countries still don't have people begging the way they do here.

Temple of Ramses
Taken by Neil Carey on April 20, 2006.
The larger temple at Abu Simbel.

It's been a bit hectic lately. Our time in Aswan seemed to have lots of spare time built in, but it all disappeared fast. We took our first trip to a souq, and it was certainly an experience not to be forgotten. The first time out we really had no idea of prices, so ended up getting gouged. It's hard when the prices start out as less than we'd pay for something similar at home, and then you find people afterwards who paid 1/3 of what you did for the same thing. We're starting to get a better idea of prices now, but it's still difficult, and tiring, to go to the market.

Our time in Aswan also included visits to Philae Temple, the High Dam and a long drive out to visit Abu Simbel.

The White Desert
Taken by Neil Carey on April 14, 2006.
A night shot under the full moon of the white desert. The rock formations appear to be chalk. Looking at the formations is a bit like cloud watching, as almost all seem to have some shape in them.

We've just returned to Cairo after a three night, four day stint in Bahariya Oasis. The trip out to the oasis was a bus ride about 5 hours long. It's only 350km, but the amount of time it took to get from downtown Cairo to the open road was extraordinarily long.

As soon as we got there, we were served a quick lunch, and then told to quickly repack our small bags, as the desert excursion we were expecting to do the next day had been moved up. There were six of us - Kathy and myself, Heather and Marcus from the UK and Georges and his daughter Apaulina from France - who then quickly rearranged our daypacks for a night in the desert and set out in a beaten up Toyota Landcruiser that appeared to be on its last legs. Once we were actually out in the desert, we were happy to be there, as it was incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately not quite as isolated as we would have liked though, as the area between Bahariya and Farafra is a really popular area for tourist excursions, so there were a number of other 4x4s around. On the way to our camp area, our driver stopped to help an older couple (possibly German) who had rented a 4x4 camper, and had gotten stuck in the sand. We all pitched in to push them free, much like pushing someone out of a snow drift, except that it's everywhere, there's no road, and you just have to get onto less soft sand. Still, spending the night in the white desert - a part of the western desert where there are a number of white coloured rock formations that appear to be made of chalk - was an unforgettable experience and well worth the effort.

Sakkara
Taken by Neil Carey on April 11, 2006.
Zosser's Pyramid at Sakkara, with Kathy and I in front. We realised when we got home that this is one of only two pictures of ourselves as a couple that we took in five months.

Today was certainly a packed day. We got up earlyish (okay, so around 8 am) to head out and see the pyramids. Our first stop was Saqqara, where some of the earlier step pyramids are (instead of the smooth walls of the "newer" pyramids, they have several levels to them, kind of like giant steps...I guess a little closer to Mayan designs, than what most people view as Egyptian. A couple of them had not stood well to the tests of time, and from the outside look more like piles of rubble than anything else, but one, Zosa's pyramid, is still quite intact.

Cairo Street
Taken by Neil Carey on April 10, 2006.

We've now finished our first day in Cairo. It is definitely different from anywhere I've been before. Somewhat intimidating, and yet also very interesting. We're staying in the downtown area, just a couple of blocks from Midan Tahrir, where the Egyptian Museum is, and there is a huge variety of people around. We didn't wander too far from the hostel today, and in the same blocks you could see people living in extreme poverty, and people who would qualify as middle class doing their shopping. On one corner, one side of the street was a restaurant which was as sterile and modern as any western fast food chain, and on the other side of the street, the building was crumbling, the sidewalk was covered in rubble.

There are three kinds of Egyptians when it comes to tourism. The majority, who are friendly to you if you ask for directions or look lost, but generally don't much care about you; those who make an honest living in the tourism industry and want to make sure you have a good time; and the third, who seem to think you came here so that they could try to get your money without any service of value in return. Unfortunately, the last group is large enough to make walking around the streets a tiring game. On our first trip out, we were talked into a perfume shop, but after getting the hard sell, we were left alone when it became apparent that we were not going to buy anything. Having been caught once, you catch onto the pitch quickly, and become better at ignoring it. The downside is that sometimes you end up shrugging off people who are honestly trying to be helpful, which creates kind of a guilty feeling.