Putting the gypt back in Egypt

Our Egyptian adventure draws to a close as tomorrow we fly on to London! The past 2 weeks have been an intense combination of frustration, amazement, good times, and a little bit of illness.

We spent about half a week in Cairo with Lori feeling a little ill but thankfully recovering quickly, yay Cipro! We did all the must-do's including riding camels at the Pyramids, hitting the Pharonicly overloading museum with a vast amount of amazing historic pieces arranged in no particular order, and dodging insane traffic. Apparently the only reference to road rules in Cairo is in jokes, no joke.

We left Cairo behind via the day train to Luxor where some of the most amazing constructs of the ancient Egyptians still stand, as well as the Valley of the Kings and Queens, the burial tombs of the most important rulers of the Egyptian civilization. It is also home of the most deceiving and pushy touts to ever walk the planet. Upon arrival we were litterally attacked by them. One guy claiming to be the "manager" of the hotel we were staying at. He tried to work us good, but upon telling us that he "had a big group show up unexpectedly" but he "knew a good hotel that he could take us to" we were on to him.

Luxor is an amazing stop for Antiquities so we took a few days to see the Temple of Luxor, the stunning temple of Karnak with its pillar forest in the Hypostyle Hall, 3 of the tombs at the Valley of the Kings, (which we could not photograph) as well as 2 in the Valley of the Queens (no photographs), and the restored temple of Hatshepsut.

Unfortunately the sights seem a lot less amazing with someone hanging off each of your arms demanding money for unwanted fanning with cardboard pieces, or suggesting nice views for pictures in return for money, or getting into your pictures and expecting money, or just plain trying to get your attention so that they can find some way to get your... money. Walking around the town itself is no less a hassle as every shop you pass includes someone showing you the same junk every other shop has and trying to drag you inside with a broad range of different tactics. Rest assured, each one has the "best price." Luxor, home of the big Hassle.

Anyhow, from there we switched gears from antiquities and moved on to beaching it at the Red Sea. We headed over to Hurghada and then caught a ferry over to the Sinai penninsula and went up to Dahab. Dahab has a very nice vacation set up. Excellent diving and snorkelling, and the usual water activities with some of the most stunning water we've ever seen. Unfortunately, we were so scared of jelly fish that we didn't get as much out of our snorkelling as we'd hoped. But what we did see was just incredible.

From Dahab we had intended to go see the St. Catherines monastery and climb Mt. Sinai, where Moses recieved the Ten Commandments from God. However, series after series of mishap leads us to believe it was not to be so. Our bus to St. Catherines, the last day we could go, was broken down, and then the overnight tour which we booked turned up misbooked at the last minute leaving us with no tour at all. Which was actually probably for the good since we both got ill that night anyhow. So, we spent our 2 lost days in Dahab and then bussed our way back to Cairo underneath the Suez, no less!

With 3 weeks remaining in our entire trip, things are quickly winding down! Tomorrow we fly on to England where we will road trip around the countryside for a week and then its on to Scotland where Lori's parents will be meeting us! We probably won't have another post until we return home, so, thanks for adventuring with us!