Egyptians

The people of modern Egypt have generally got a pretty bad reputation. After spending the last 1 1/2 months traveling through the bulk of Arabia I feel as if I have a certain amount of credibility to comment of the situation. I've worked with Egyptians in India and Saudi and found them fair and extremely helpful and consider them friends, but it seems that the people who are even remotely involved in the tourist trade give the rest of the country a bad name. Traveling in Egypt is not the easiest thing in the world. Getting from place to place is relatively straight forward as there isn't much of a path to stray from. If you head of the beaten trail you end up in the boiling desert. But dealing with the people is enough to pull your hair out. It seems that most people you come across are only intent of seeing how much money they can swindle you out of. If you were visiting the country on a brief holiday, I'm sure it wouldn't matter so much, but when the word 'budget' is constantly on your mind the hassling and cheating starts to grate. The country is a total hassle zone, it's so bad in parts that in order for shops and restuarants to entice you into their establisment they advertise as 'no hassle zones'. The Egyptian government realises that tourism is important for the economy, so they created the Tourism and Antiquites Police force, which you assume would be tasked with protecting the interests of tourists and tourist sites from the onslaught of scamming touts. However, in true Egyptian style, the police are among the worst offenders. I'm sure my reaction is a bit over the top, but most other backpackers we have met are of the same opinion. It is truly a shame that a country that has some of the worlds most amazing sites finds a way to take the shine of what could of been a remarkable visit. If only some of the geniune hospitality we experience throughout Syria and Jordan could filter across the Red Sea it would make Egypt such a more enjoyable place to visit.
We are leaving Egypt today and have mixed emotions about the time we spent here. The places we visited and the incredible ancient monuments are some of the best sites I've ever seen, but unfortunately I think our memories will always be partially tarnished by the scams and hassle that are constantly present.

Cairo

We are now in the capitol city, Cairo. Supposedly home to 10 million people and full of chaos, which I highly doubt is organised. We have been here for 4 days and have managed to see most of what the city has to offer. Its stinking hot in the city, so excursions out of the A/C of the hotel must be planned carefully. The highlights so far are the mummies of Rameses I and associates in the Egyptian Musuem along with all the loot that was found in Tutankamens' tomb in Luxor. For a teenage king who only ruled for 7 years he sure went into the next world fully loaded. His tomb was crammed with 3 gold beds, tables, shoes, rugs, jewelery, and everything else a 1500 BC teenager could want. The 'crowning' gem was his 11kg solid gold mask that adorned the mummy when he buried. We also made the trek out to see the Pyramids of Giza. They are quite stunning, and definitely live up to the hype. From a distance they don't look especially big, but up close the size of them is incredible. It is easy to see why archaeologists have been scratching their heads for centuries trying to figure out how they were made.
We also visited Islamic Cairo were many of the famous mosques of the Islamic world are found. It's a small area within the greater city of twisting alleys and souqs. Although the mosques are undoubtable special the area is a rubbish tip. The rest of Cairo isn't exactly clean, but the streets within this quarter were full of rubbish that had seemingly been there for weeks. After visiting religious districts in other cities in the region, Islamic Cairo was dissapointing.
Today is our last day in Cairo before we fly over the Sahara to land in Africa proper. We splurged mightly and paid to sit by the pool at the Nile Hilton. What a treat and an eye opener to see how the other people live. Servants and hangers-on galour, but we had a great time relaxing and having a swim and generally soaking up the hospitality of the nice people at Hilton Hotels.
The gorillas are calling, our next post will be from Uganda were we will shortly be re-united with Lauren.

Monuments of Ancient Egypt

We have almost completed our tour of Pharaonic monuments that line the banks of the River Nile. First stop was Luxor (Thebes) to visit The Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatshepsut. On the surface there is little to see at The Valley of the Kings except for the effects of the blistering heat on the hapless tourists. However, buried deep in the ground are the amazing tombs of the Pharaohs. The three tombs we visited were totally different, but equally amazing. The sculptures, paintings, and hieroglyphs are incredible. The painted hieroglyphs in one tomb covered almost every surface and looked like they were done yesterday. They were stunning, especially since they're 3500 years old. The detail of the carvings is equally impressive. The picture of the hand holding the 'key of life' is typical. The whole carving is probably 5-6 m high, but they took the time to include such detail as the finger nails and cuticles. While in Luxor we also visit Luxor Temple and the Temple of Karnak, which is the largest of all the Ancient Egyptian monuments. The columns that dot the entire complex are immense and were built to prove how great and powerful the current Pharaoh was.
We are now in Aswan, the most southern town in Egypt, and it's obscenely hot. Aswan doesn't have a whole lot to offer except a few hours sailing around the islands that dot the Nile. The main attraction is the Temples of Abu Simbel about 3 hrs south on the Sudan border. The huge temple was carved out of a hill/mountain 3500 years ago under the order of Rameses II. The main feature of the temple is the 20m high statues of Rameses II that guard the entrance. When Egypt built the Aswan Dam in 1960 the temple was to be submerged under what is now Lake Nasser. UNESCO solved this slight problem and cut the mountain and temple up into small pieces and moved it to higher ground. I'm not sure what is more impressive, the actual temple orf the fact that the whole thing was moved. Just outside Aswan is the Temple of Philae, probably the most beautiful of the temples in Egypt. Just like Abu Simbel, the Temple of Philae was relocated to avoid the rising waters of Lake Nasser. It is beautifully situated on an island in the middle of the lake, totally peaceful.
Next stop is Cairo for even more hustle and bustle. We have treated ourselves to the sleeper train, so will be traveling in semi-luxury.

Sinai

The Sinai Peninsula has had some troubles of late. However, we couldn't resist some much deserved rest and relaxation at the beach after 3 weeks of sucking dust throught the Middle East. We caught the 'fast' ferry from Jordan across to the Sinai and got a bus to Dahab, not without some serious bartering with the bus drivers. Welcome to Egypt, the land of hard sells and scams. Everything is negiotable here, and it drives you crazy.
Dahab is a beautiful village on the Gulf of Aqaba that once used to be a secluded bedouin village, but is slowly becoming a backpacker/tourist mecca. The hordes of Russians that invade the Sinai are starting to extend their reach from Sharm el Sheik up to Dahab. Nonetheless, it is still a wonderful place with good accomodation and plenty of opportunities to laze about drinking milkshakes and just generally recharging the batteries. We spent a full week there and could quite easily have spent 2 weeks, but temples and tombs beaconed.
While in Dahab we managed to see the 2 main tourist attractions, Mt Sinai and the Blue Hole. The trip to Mt Sinai was really good. We left the hotel at 11pm in order to hike to the summit in time for sunrise. Luckily for us we picked a full moon night, so the 2 1/2 hr hike to the top was under an eerie light, which gave the surrounding mountains and valleys a lunar feel. The sunrise was very good, but partially ruined by half the population of Moscow, all of which were not exactly dressed for the occasion. You would think that if the description of the activity included 'climb a mountain' you would leave the high heels back at the hotel. At the bottom we visited St Katherines Monastery, the oldest in the world, and keeper of the Burning Bush. However, Leighanne is convinced that the Burning Bush she saw 12 years ago was an entirely different species of tree to the one that is inside the monastery now.
Next stop was a snorkeling trip to the Blue Hole, a 160 metre deep abyss only 5 metres from shore. Sadly the coral has been badly damaged by snorkelers and divers, but there were still thousands of fish swimming about.
Our remaining time in Dahab was spent eating lovely seafood, drinking milkshakes, sleeping on cushions next to the sea, and generally being completely lazy. A wonderful week.
We are now in Luxor and getting psyched up for some serious temple, tomb, and hieroglyph viewing.

The Rose City

What a fitting name for Petra. It is an amazing place, but must of been simply incredible 1800 years ago. Petra was built by the Nabataens, an ancient Arabian people who constructed a kingdom in southern Jordan about 2000 years ago. Petra was their capital.
We have just finished 2 exhausting days seeing everything Petra has to offer. Everything about Petra is dramatic. You start your visit by winding along a narrow 1.2km long passage called al-Siq until you start to glimpse views of the Treasury. The Treasury is the star attraction at Petra, primarily because it is the most complete and unaffected by erosion. Trying to fathom how the people managed to carve this enormous building out of the mountain is mind boggling. The entire site of Petra is very large and mostly carved out of the surrounding mountains, with monuments and tombs spread everywhere. The colour of the rock gives the city its nickname. Trails lead through the main part of the city and also up into the surrounding mountains where equally amazing buildings and views exist. Today we conquered the 800 step climb up to the Monastery at the far western point of the city. The Monastery is very similar to the Treasury, but slightly simplified. However, it is incredibly large and is well worth enduring the climb to see. Views from the Monastery are stunning and stretch all the way to Israel.
We have now completed our visit to Jordan and will be moving onto Egypt tomorrow. The Middle East proper has been fantastic and we will be telling everyone we meet that it is a wonderful place to visit. Hopefully our little blog my entice some of you to venture this way in the future.

Hello Mister Assault Rifle

In addition to our slight problem getting to the Dead Sea, Leighanne had a personal meeting with an assault rifle. We should of known that security would tighten as you headed toward the Palestinian border, but we neglected to take our passports along. Anyway, it all worked out, I showed my UK Drivers License and smiled nicely and the pleasant soldiers let us through. However, at one particular checkpoint the soldier came onto the bus to check IDs' and walked down the aisle. He stopped next to us in full battle fatigues, flak jackets, with an assault rifle casually slung over his shoulder. To Leighannes' utter shock it came to rest about 5cm from her nose. Without to much effort she could have leaned over and given the noozle a big kiss. At first she didn't realise, but I took it upon myself to inform her of the situation. I had to make sure she was getting the full cultural experience. A few tense moments passed and the soldier made is way off the bus. The next half-hour of the journey was filled with statements such as 'I wonder if the safety was on', etc...

Maa Salama Syria, Mahaba Jordan

Welcome to country number 5. We had a very enjoyable trip into Jordan. There were only 8 people on the bus for the border crossing, including a Lebanese - Australian couple who works for the NSW premier on muslim public relations. She had been in the Middle East at a conference and it was wonderful talking to her about what is being done in Australia and elsewhere. Also, with the recent Cronulla riots, she has been extremely busy.
The difference between Jordan and Syria is night and day. Syria is pen and paper, Jordan is computers and eye scanners. It's amazing what cool gadgets you get when you sign peace treaties with the US and Israel. Funny how the world works!
Anyway we arrived into Amman, which has not a whole lot to see, but is strategically situated for day trips to Jerash (Palymra in grey) and to the Dead Sea. Jerash was actually very good, much more touristy then the ruins at Palymra. However there were loads more descriptions, which made hiking around the site very interesting and educational.
Our trip to the Dead Sea was exciting. We decided against an organised day trip from the hotel and instead picked public transport. Usually a relatively safe and interesting choice. We boarded the minibus in Amman with Dead Sea written on the outside and assumed, wrongly it turns out, that the bus would go to the Dead Sea. Not quite, we ended up being let off on a road within view of the Dead Sea, but a good 5-6km walk from the nearest beach/resort. Being 400m below sea level it gets bloody hot, so we were a little anxious of how exactly we were going to continue. Luckily, a boy racer picked us up in his VW Golf and gave us a lift to the beach. We did the kodak moment swim and generally relaxed. The water is supposedly 25% solid, although it looks and feels pretty much like real seawater, until you try and swim. If you had any ideas of swimming to Palestine you would quickly forget it. It is almost impossible to get your legs submerged in the water, so you could forget about kicking. Overall a very odd experience.
After Amman we traveled to Dana Wildlife Refuge for a couple days of walking and relaxing. We are now in Petra for the star attraction in Jordan. We will spend 3 days here exploring the Rose City before moving onto Egypt.

Road to Damascus

We have arrived in Damascus after a slight detour towards Iraq. Never got to within sighting distance, but did start to see road signs pointing the way. Unfortunately, I don't think the burly Syrian bus driver would have obliged me a quick photo stop. Before hitting the border we disembarked at Palmyra, which is a truly bizarre little town in the proverbial 'middle of nowhere'. The one and only attraction is the ancient Roman/Arab city of Palmyra. Palmyra was an outpost city for the ancient civilizations starting in the 1st century, and grew to great importance because of its situation on the spice and silk road. It was ruled by numerous dynasties before finally falling to mother earth, via a massive earthquake. There has been some remarkable excavations done on the ruins and they are extremely detailed and expansive. The city itself is huge and was a full day exploring in the blistering desert heat. The main excavations have unearthed the impressive Temple of Bel and the Main Collanade (see photos above). It was so cool walking around and being able to look at all the intricately carved columns close up. If this site was in Europe you would only be able to look from behind barrier ropes. Palmyra is definitely the top site in Syria and worth the trek out into the desert.
However the small town that has popped up to support the tourist industry is sadly weighed down by greed and corruption, completely at odds with the rest of Syria. It just shows what can happen to people when their lives are governed by the tourist dollar, all ethics go out the window. So, although visiting the ruins at Palmyra was amazing, the town left a lot to be desired.
Prior to Palmyra as mentioned we visit the Krak de Chevaliers near Hama. Unfortunately, due to my stupidty and limited knowledge of Arabic and a thousand Syrian school kids our visit to the castle was marred. Firstly we didn't even realise we were at the castle because the name is in Arabic (Qala al Hosn) rather then the Krak de Chevaliers that is advertised everywhere else. So we held back on taking pics thinking we were shortly heading to the real deal. Also, Sunday must be school excursion day in Syria as there were kids everywhere, and they are not the quite well mannered kids of Morocco. Even still, we had a good trip out the castle.

We are now in Damascus and shortly will be heading to Jordan. A full summary of Syria will follow in the coming days. Also, by popular demand from immediate family and relatives a certain picture is included above.