Cairo: Take 2

We arrive back to our original hotel in Cairo an even get the same room. Our belongings are there and waiting for us thank goodness. We think about going out to the sound and light show at the pyramids but decided against because the reviews are so so and it’s a long way to go and semi pricey. Instead we catch up on a few things in our room and hang out. 

Finally a full clean wardrobe!

 Ahmed takes out to a nice Egyptian restaurant on the other side of the river. It’s a class above what we’ve been having the last two weeks even if the food is somewhat repetitive no matter how good it is. We go over our trip in it’s entirety and relive the funnies with everyone. We thank Ahmed for being such a great guide for the last two weeks and wish him well. Hopefully he can pick up some more work soon. We get back to the hotel and farewell the boys as they have an early flight wishing them well for their new start in Spain.

In the morning we get breakfast with Jaio and Alex before saying more goodbyes and getting a cab to our next hotel. 5 stars! Sofitel! Much love! Our room is spacious and gorgeous with an impressive view over the island and the Nile. 

We go out to the mega mall and buy a new suitcase so we can load up on shopping in Cairo and Dubai and on the way home. Whislt at the shops we indulge in Applebees for lunch and have to roll ourselves back out to the street to get a cab. The afternoon is spent indulging in our hotels amenities such as infinity pool and steam room, free cocktails and finally a delicious Moroccan dinner at the restaurant.

 

The next day we lie in, have a swim and a late breakfast before we go to Khan-El-Khalili, the big tourist market. We walk up the street and hail a local cab to avoid highly marked up hotel taxis. The market is the usual array of Middle East goods, clothes, spices, souvenirs etc. We are able to brush off the touts and shop pretty much hassle free. Finding just about everything we want we get a cab ride back to the hotel.

The Sofitel in Cairo is superb, it’s far and away the best place we stayed in our entire journey. Beautiful rooms, high balconies, delicious restaraunts and drinks with friendly staff. Yes the food and drinks are pricey but so what. There is no haggling, no tipping, no judgement for having a beer its fantastic to finally just sit and relax, eat good food, drink a cocktail and soak in a pool or steam room. Relaxation central. 

We meet up with Jason at 5. We met Jason and his dad in Morocco on the train from Fes to Marrakech and had a great long chat and agreed to catch up in Cairo. Jason showed us around the downtown area just over the bridge where the revolution in 2011 happened. We wander down side streets checking out street art, to a traditional coffee shop where we could also get a beer. It was great to chat with someone who has lived in Cairo a while and get his perspective on a lot of issues. 

Speaking Arabic is obviously a huge advantage to interacting with the locals and Jasons local knowledge takes us places we wouldn’t have gone on our own. One interesting place is the old synagogue that is virtually unused except for a few old ladies, police are stationed outside all churches and synagogues for protection and to discourage vandals but you must be muslim to be police… interesting conflict of interest.  There are one million people who live on rooftops in Cairo for $1 a month. On top of some of the lower buildings you can see shacks or lean to’s. It’s not much but it’s cheap. Plenty of strange building laws in Cairo inhibit development such as you cannot ever knock down a building of arts like a cinema or you cannot knock down a building and build a taller building on the same site. Bizarre beaucracy. 

Further walking around the centre and we stop at the local ice cream and sweets shop. It is packed out and bustling with people. Jason takes care of the exchange of money for goods as there is a protocol we’re not familiar with. Although it’s sortof like a drive through, pay at one counter, order at another and then finally you will get your ice cream from another guy. It was pretty delicious and just what we needed to keep cool. After a bit more of our guided walking tour Jason took us to dinner at a local place that served Egyptian pizza which was a little like Burek from Turkey but flat and round. Simon mucked up the protocol by not tipping the man at the end of our meal, fortunately Jason apologised for us and explained we’re not from around here (obviously!)

Cairo at night in the downtown is bustling and moving with 24/7 shops, sidewalk clothes vendors and cafes with constant calls to join them for tea. There are people everywhere, it’s crowded and noisy with flashing lights and can get a little disorientating. 

There are some beautiful buildings from the French and British occupation days. The French buildings were done by the same architect who rebuilt most of Paris but unfortunately the buildings area not treated well like most of Cairo and look shabby with some exceptions. External aesthetics mean very little to Egyptians and it’s apparent in everything from the buildings to the cars to the food. They care very little for fancy or nice.

 

After a tasty meal we walk back towards our hotel and soak in the vibe and the view. The traffic is chaos, the sidewalks uneven and there is rubbish everywhere but in the chaos is a freedom. You can live where you want, eat where you want, wear what you want (unless you’re a woman). Everything is affordable.

There is very little to no waste collection in Cairo. People will drop their rubbish where they stand, throw it out windows of cars or off their balconies. Some streets have piled that are half a metre deep with cats and dogs chewing through them to find food. There are private companies that drive around in utes and collect the garbage to sort through it to find recyclables and sell it foreign companies but this is a horrid job often employing children as sorters.

In the morning we get a transfer to the airport, even in the hotel you need to barter for the price. First they’ll try and sell you a private limousine. When you turn that down it’s a private transfer and when they finally accept you just want a regular taxi you have to negotiate that too, not with the driver directly though, the taxi manager needs his cut… Knowing that on the street we would pay 80 to 100 pounds to the airport we set a limit of 120 to go through the hotel. He wants 150, when I say all I have is 120 he agrees and goes to get us a taxi. Only he can’t get one so he gives us the hotel transfer bus instead. Nice. Once at the airport our driver asks us for money, the price is the price don’t hit me up at the end of the ride. No backsheesh mate.

The airport is small with not much to do and we are quite early but we find a Starbucks and settle in with the wifi to get some things researched for Dubai, our final foreign destination.

Camping Under The Stars In The Sahara

Early in the morning we leave Siwa for a 9 hour ride in the back of a Toyota Landcruiser troopy. There is no AC and the wind is hot so we slowly bake in the back of the truck. Out the window is nothing but the vast expanse of the desert. There are 20 checkpoints between Siwa and Bahariya, our destination. The checkpoints are there to prevent smugglers coming from neighbouring Libya into Egypt with weapons and other unwanted merchandise. As we head further out the checkpoints become more and more rudimentary until they are just tents on the side of the road and barrels to zig zag around on the road. We cannot take photos of them as they are technically military sites but we can’t help but feel bad for the guys who for 45 day stretches are stuck, literally in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to do but watch and wait.

In the morning we had collected our ordered lunch from a restaurant to save us from another day of junk food travelling. Around lunchtime our drivers pull off the road and park behind a rocky outcrop where we eat lunch in the shade. The outcrop looked like it was a reef millions of years ago with thousands of tiny fossils stuck in and around the rock. Our cold shakshuka beats the heck out of a bag of chips and Oreos for lunch like two days earlier.

We set out again and much more tedious time passes. It is hot and sweaty travel. We set up on the back seat with the laptop, draw all the curtains and watch some shows and a movie to pass the time. Finally we arrive at checkpoint 20, here Ahmed told us that there was a pool at our hotel and our spirits soared. 8ish hours sweating and bouncing around in the troopy we were ready to swim. Shortly after we arrive at Bahariya, a tiny oasis in the middle of nowhere. After checking in with the tourist police we go to the hotel. The sight that greeted us was devastating, the pool was empty. Stunned but not surprised given the tourist situation we go into our room which at least has excellent air conditioning. 

While watching the sunset Ahmed tells us all the basics of Islam. He took us through the five pillars of Islam and how they are applied. It was interesting to get a holistic explanation of how it all goes together. We won’t be converting any time soon though.

Dinner was an amazing feast put on by the hotel. For once it was nice not to choose between chicken and ‘meat’ and just enjoy a nice spread. To be clear, ‘meat’ in Egypt is a term which encompasses beef, lamb, goat and a few other miscellaneous red meat animals. Chicken and fish are their own categories. You often see a menu that says ‘meat’ and you ask “what meat is it” and the waiter looks at you puzzled and says “meat”, and we look at him puzzled and say “yeah but what meat?” Meat is just whatever is available, don’t expect an answer other than ‘meat’.

The next day we pack our overnight bags and leave our big ones behind as we are loaded once again into the troopies and make our way out into the desert where after a short drive we peel off the tarmac and onto the sand. Our first stop was the ‘black desert’ so called due to the layer of black volcanic rock that covers the surface like dark icing sugar. Our drivers ascending big dunes to get us great views of the surroundings before plummeting back down with all of us wooping and yelling on board. Such a rush! There are what looks like mini volcanos all over the landscape. 

We went to one of the primary volcanic sites and walked through the valley between two extinct volcanos. The scenery was ragged and beautiful with sharp black rocks covered in dust and sand.

After the black desert and some more duning fun we made our way to a small oasis village for lunch. 

Some of our group hiked up this mini volcano for the view in the 40 something heat!

We hadn’t heard that this place had a spring we could swim in so whilst lunch was being prepared we swam in the spring in our underwear and t shirts. The water was rich in iron and turned the sand in the spring dark red and our skin shades of orange, the equivalent of a bad fake tan. Luckily it was easily washed off.

Lunch was on the floor of the shady hut that had long low tables and throw cushions for us to use. A small channel from the spring ran through the middle giving us a cool spot to dip our feet after our meal whilst we waited for everyone to be ready to leave.

Leaving our cool oasis we drove towards the White Desert National Park. There is an incredible spot on the way called Crystal Mountain. Here you can find all over the ground and in massive formations completely natural crystal. The formations are beautiful and some of the rocks are massive.

This gives a nice idea of how in the middle of nowhere this road is!

Finally arriving at the white desert we stopped at a panoramic spot at the top of a huge sand hill to get a view out across the desert. Huge columns of stone and chalk rise up all around us and loose chalk litters the ground. Some of the group write their names on the rocks with the chalk. It feels like you are looking at the bottom of the ocean without any water in it. For some reason we agree to walk down the hill and meet the trucks at the bottom in the shade. We immediately regret this decision with the sand being loose and deep filling up our sandals and making walking hard. It’s a bit of a giggle though with Olie not wearing anything on his feet and jogging the rest of the way because the sand is hot!

Simon assisting with another groups breakdown

Further driving and more dune surfing we arrive at the main site of the White Desert, the calcium formations. There are huge hunks of calcium that through countless millennia of wind and sand whipping at them have taken various shapes but most commonly the mushroom. We stop to see a huge mushroom formation and find the local kids have been dropped off and are using the place as an adventure playground, climbing all over these special formations. Eventually they all get shouted at and herded by their minder and we have the place to ourselves.

To describe this place is difficult. It’s just awe inspiring. Stretching out to the horizon in an endless field of paleness dotted with white plumes of fabulously shaped calcium stumps. As we drive around them and duck and weave through the narrow tracks between them we marvel at how unique and special this place is. And then it gets even better.

The chicken and the mushroom. The only formation that has a fence around it. Looking precisely as its name suggests the chicken and the mushroom needs no further description other than they look really cool in person.

A short drive further and we reach our campsite for the night right on sunset. There is cloud cover but the afterglow is spectacular lighting up the clouds in the most stunning shades of pink, orange and red. Putting that against the paleness of our surrounding the combination was eye wateringly pretty. 

The bunny rabbit!

The drivers quickly get onto their second job of setting up camp and feeding us. Rapidly unloading the roof of shelters, ground blankets, cooking equipment, sleeping mattresses, tables… it seems like magic the amount of stuff they put together. We kill time playing celebrity before the food is ready and get stumped a few times on some great people. Dinner is delicious, Egyptian soup, camp fried chicken, Turkish rice and potato stew with some tasty and refreshing chopped melon for dessert.

How incredible is our setup with the sunsetting!!

After dinner we play some games and tell stories from our travel. The drivers teach us a new game (the name escapes me, because it’s Arabic). Where one person turns their back on everyone and puts their hand behind their back, someone in the group touches their hand and the person has to guess who it was. Hilarity ensues.

As we settle in for sleep we get organised into a row of six and tuck down under our blankets or in our case, sleeping sheets. Once the light is switched off we all in unison go “OOOOOOOHHH” the stars are like a glowing painting brushed across the sky just for us. We can see bright and dim stars, maybe a planet and the occasional shooting star. We don’t want to close our eyes. We do sleep eventually though in the most incredible place we’ve ever slept.

 

Simon wakes first and the sun is only just up. Slipping away quietly from the group he goes and gets some photos while the light is still soft and the place is entirely quiet. It’s almost surreal to be standing in the middle of the desert and have the place almost to yourself with everyone sleeping quietly behind you.

You can see where Simon slept...

How small our camp looks in comparison to this past ocean floor

Ahmed wakes the group with his best rendition of ‘What Does the Fox Say”. Groaning people rustle from their slumber and we start to pack up and the drivers make up a desert breakfast of the usual boiled eggs, bread and jam with spreadable cheese. We’re all still pinching ourselves about our breakfast location.

The drivers pack up the camp quick sticks and with a quick group photo we are on our way out of the beautiful place where we laughed, dined, marvelled and slept.

Sadly on the way out we met a camel safari. Whilst it sounds great we were unimpressed with the treatment of the camels. To stop the others wandering off they bind the leg of one of the camels and tie the other to it. Seems unnecessary and cruel. 

The drive back to the hotel in Bahariya is uneventful but the weather is cool as the sun hasn’t cooked the sand and road yet. We gather our belongings after a break at a coffee shop nearby and start the long drive back to Cairo. We are very very keen to check into our 5 star Sofitel accommodation the following day and live it up a little.

Lessons Learnt

• 4x4ing is awesome and we should do it all the time
• Toyota Landcruisers are king of the desert. Did not see a single other variety of vehicle.
• There is no greater let down than a swimming pool that is empty after baking in a truck all day
• A hotel without a shower is not excusable
• Nature does incredible work given enough time.
• Sand will get into everything. Absolutely everything. Including (sadly and frustratingly) our camera

Parting Thoughts

We need to get a 4x4, simple as that. After our experience in Siwa and now in the White Desert we are in love. Our last big experience in Egypt finished we feel we have really ‘done’ Egypt and seen all the big sights. Our expectations were met in that the monuments are amazing, the weather is hot and the desert is massive but what surprised us was how far behind on the development scale Egypt is. We really thought it was further along. In Cairo the poverty is a bit more hidden, capital cities are always the height of development in any nation but looking under the ring road you find herds of goats eating garbage and garbage that is everywhere in every city and town. This basic fundamental we take so for granted in keeping our cities clean is non-existent here. 

Aside from the overnight train to Luxor which is specifically for tourists there is little transport infrastructure besides highways that are chaotic with manmade speed bumps next to pop up roadside stalls and shacks.

So come to Egypt, come and see its marvels and its struggles. We have not at any stage felt unsafe or concerned. There are soldiers nearly everywhere and the tourist police are an army in their own right. Egypt is in decline without tourists to support it and it shows. There are nearly empty monument locations that should be bursting we people, boarded up western food places and slashed hotel rates with occupancy in the single digits. Hopefully now the election in done there will be a return of stability and prosperity to this country. God knows it needs it.

Simon & Amy xoxo

Goodmorning Sahara desert!