Egypt: football, buck's night, Red Sea, sheesha...and some tombs, temples and pyramids (8-25 July)

Photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/nickchasingthesunrise/Egypt

Egypt is so overhyped and overdone that I thought I would hate it. Despite all my pre-judgements, I am happy to be wrong. It is a magical place that deserves every bit of the hype. Here are some highlights:

Cairo: stayed in a hostel overlooking Midan Talaat Harb which is a 5-way intersection fed by squillions of cars, buses, motorbikes and people 24/7. I could sit and watch for hours. Highlight was wandering the old mosques and bazaar, Khalili. I sat and chatted in the Al Alzhar mosque, which has the world's oldest university, with guys eager to discuss misperceptions of Islam and learn more about Australia. Was educated in the art of sheesha (water pipe or hubble bubble) in the street cafes of Cairo and must admit that I have developed quite a dependence, especially on 'sheesha tufa' (apple sheesha) and have ideas for making it mainstream in Oz.

Giza: the most hyped of all, with the three pyramids and Sphinx, the Giza plateau was sensational. As you drive towards it from Cairo the pyramids loom out of the backdrop of the city and take your breath away. My bugger early start meant I managed to talk my way in half an hour before the crowds and it was great. Wandered about on the hot sand and stone for 5-6 hours before collapsing in a heap in a cafe nearby. Photos speak for themselves.

Bahariyya Oasis: I couldn't resist the opportunity to travel to the desert and spend some time gazing at the stars so headed west towards Libya and the Bahariyya Oasis. Cruised the dark and stark Black Desert then the bright and gleaming White Desert where I spent the night with the Bedouins, sipping Egyptian 'fodka' and gazing at the white stone rearing out of the sand in the form of tables, gates, columns and hills. The journey back included a paddle in a Roman spring with a brokenhearted Korean guy and mint tea next to an old British army post overlooking the plateau and villages below.

Aswan: I caught the overnight sleeper train to Aswan, the southern most city in Egypt, near the border with the Sudan. The first day I just wandered the city and the Nubian villages of Elephantine island, gazing at the River Nile and the felucca sailboats drifting across its breadth. I did a trip down to Abu Simbel and the temples Ramses II built to himself and his favourite wife, Nefertari. The temples were relocated when Nasser built the Aswan dam which flooded huge parts of Egypt and Sudan - imagine Three Gorges Dam in north Africa - one of the most ambitious development projects ever. Next was the island temple of Philae with its Roman, Egyptian and Christian layers. You can see how all the religions of this region are so interwoven and overlapping, often they appear to have more similarities than differences.

Felucca, football and the fellas: after careful negotiations with Monty, the overlord of feluccas (traditional sailing boats), we set off down the Nile from Aswan towards Luxor, gently tacking from side to side and often just drifting with the current past lush groves of palm trees, villages and towering sand dunes. I shared the felucca with Dylan and Teresa, Neil, two girls from Canadia and a French couple plus our crew of Mohammad and Islem. I tried to scale a sand dune in sandals and made it halfway before the heat sent me back down to the river. One morning I woke pre-dawn to watch the sun rise, huge cruise boats go by, birds out hunting and the locals busy on the river. One evening we stopped just south of Kom Ombo and persuaded the local elite team (ok, they were 7 year old kids) to play football (soccer) with us in a dusty, brick-filled construction site and it was magic. Even better was the wash in the Nile after to remove the sand, dirt and sweat.

That night we had a magical sheesha on the boat then Dylan and I went for a wander in the village where we met the Egyptian 'Fat Albert', who took us to a "festival" which turned out to be a Nubian pre-wedding celebration for men - a buck's night! We spent the next few hours singing along with uplifting chants where one man led and the others responded in turn. Then we attempted to play drums, tell jokes and understand each other's gestures in lieu of language. What an amazing day!

The next day we strolled among the temples of Sobek (local croc god) and Haroenis (falcon-headed sky god) at Kom Ombo; then the temple of Horus (dedicated to the son of Osiris) at Edfu. Then we joined the minibus to Luxor.

Luxor: before you get templed out I must mention the glorious Temples of Karnak on the East Bank of Luxor - imagine a huge complex with a giant hall filled with towering columns, a sphinx-lined path and majestic gates and you have only captured part of it. One funny was when we bribed a tourism policeman to let us up on top of the gate to take photos of the whole panorama. I managed to pretend to slip him the bribe as we snapped a photo with him and his shock and fear of being busted was amazing. Seeing as he was holding a large automatic weapon it was probably a bit silly but it is a cracker photo. Spent the evening in Oasis Cafe in an old 1920s building with the campest waiter in the village skipping around and telling us what to order. Next day saw us on the West Bank which is the ancient Theban Necropolis (burial place) for kings, queens, nobles, priests, artists, children and workers. Highlights were the dark passageways of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, built to resemble the Underworld. Then the exquisite reliefs and sculptures in the Temple of Hatshepsut, set in the sheer, limestone cliffs of Theban Mountain. The photos will do it better justice than I can here. That night we headed to the bus for Hurghada to find the ferry across to the Sinai and relaxing in the Red Sea. The nine hours spent in Hurghada were awful. It is an awful town which feels like a permanent construction site for resorts, with "all-inclusive" package tourists cramming the tacky bars and hotels. Awful.

Dahab: After the speedy ferry ride to Sharm el-Sheikh, we bussed it to the small, laid-back town of Dahab. When we arrived at the Penguin hostel I fell in love. The cool, white washed entrance gave way to the huge, Bedouin-style restaurant set right on the edge of the Red Sea reef, where you sit on the ground and lounge among a forest of large cushions, with free wifi, fresh sheesha, locals and travellers and great food. After so many temples and tombs this was a haven and I ended up staying six days! Most of that was spent diving some of the best sites I have seen. The Red Sea has the most amazing fish life, coral that is alone worth diving on and wrecks, cliffs, holes and so much more. The best sites were:

Thistlegorm: 125m WWII wreck at 30m with cargo intact - jeeps, train carriages, motorcycles, guns, winches etc. Also swam through the captain's quarters, still with bath and sink plus swam around the massive propeller.

Blue Hole: world famous drop off into the beautiful stark deep blue hole, 50m+ across and not much to see unless you can get down to 100m+ to see the bodies of those who have been mesmerised by its depth and couldn't make it back.

Sinai: a fantastic pre-dawn one day trek, via the 700 Steps of Repentance (I did!) to the peak of the mountain where supposedly Moses received the Ten Commandments from God, set amongst stark landscape of the Sinai Desert. Brilliant banter with Dylan, Teresa and Shauna. Felt the Burning Bush which wasn't that hot at all. Back to Dahab!

Next: Jordan (Petra, Amman, Dead Sea and Jerash) and the magical and mysterious "rogue state" of Syria...