Luxor, in German

It is funny how some things just happen sometimes.

After finishing with the diving course I thought it would be a good idea to do some more tourism so what better idea than to pay a visit to Luxor and see the  temples and the famous Valley of Kings.

As you can see on the map below it doesn't look like it's far... but it is!

El Gouna is just off Hurghada. It looks like a quick ride but it's in fact several hours (about 4-5 hours or so) of bus and you don't just get a bus and off you go. No, you first go to Hurghada and all the buses going to Luxor get together there and then they all depart at the same time with a military escort. Yes, that's right! you have a military escort all the way stopping all the other traffic on the road and the buses pass by one by one... tens of them!

But I'm getting ahead of myself... I bet you are wondering  how is it that I ended up in a German excursion?

Quite simply because there weren't any other spots left in any other excursion and luckily, Holger and Karen managed to get me into theirs, so for 4-5 hours I listened to the guide explaining all the Egyptian history from the beginning of times, in German... at first it looked like it was going to be a very long trip indeed. As it turned out, the guide didn't seem to be very good because as soon as some of the other passengers found out I couldn't speak German they turned to me and started talking to me... in English... mainly asking me why in hell did I joined a German excursion if I couldn't speak any German. O:-) On the positive side of things, thanks to that, I didn't have time to get bored.

The first stop in Luxor was at the temples of Luxor and Karnak. Luxor used to be known in the ancient times as Thebes, and it used to be the capital of Egypt at the time.

One of the problems when all the buses go together is that for one or two hours the place gets so full of people that it is hard to walk despite of the enormity of the place...as soon as the buses go, the place becomes part of the desert... not a soul in the place.

At first I felt like I was missing out a lot with our guide giving all sort of explanations in German... and as I was leaning back against a column trying to get a good picture of the columns in front of me I heard another guide giving the explanations in Spanish... and another in English... then is when it hit me... all I had to do was to linger around those groups, swap from one group to another so not to draw too much attention to myself and pretend I didn't understand what they were saying...

So I may have missed the first 10 minutes of the history of Egypt but I sure got all the rest. :-) and with different versions, each guide had his/her own style which made it much more interesting than just listening to one person all the time. This is something I may get to do again in the future... it's so much more interesting when you have 2-3 guides instead of only one!  :-)

It seems it wasn't only the Brits that "borrow" some of the Egyptian treasures... If you have ever been in Paris you may find the below obelisk kind of familiar.. guess where the French Obelisk comes from? :-)

 The detail in all the engravings was amazing

Holgar and Karen posing by the obelisk

Yours truly in my desert camouflage attire.

The obelisk, twin brother of the one in Paris.

The guardians at the entrance

From there we resumed the excursion and went to Deir el-Bahari also known as the Northern Monastery. This site was on the way to the Valley of the Kings and it was a complex of mortuary temples.

Can you see a bunch of people on the right hand side on the above picture?
That would give you a good idea of the distance from where the bus left us to the temple... perhaps 200 metres. It doesn't look far, does it?

But they do not let you walk all the way there and they force everyone to go in one of the below trains.

It seems that with the heat a lot of tourists ended up fainting on their way to the temple. The area is very exposed and offers no protection whatsoever, so now they force everyone to go using the little train. That day the temperature was around 35C, quite bearable... but I can only imagine in the middle of the summer... where you can get 50C easily... then the little train makes total sense.

On the way out, they have a team of hard sellers who would stop at nothing to sell you their trinkets. Specially if they saw you were a girl going on your own. I've never seen anything like it. They were so aggressive that it was even scary. When we were leaving the place we were advised to go all as a group and not to leave the group at any time, or at least that's what my translator said as I was still receiving instructions in German. O:-)

Finally we made it to the renown Valley of the Kings

Unfortunately I could not take any pictures inside the tombs. There were too many people inside and you could only let yourself being pushed by the masses and go with the flow. There were so many people inside the tombs that they felt like the London tube at peak time in the mornings. I'm surprised nobody fainted it was quite stuffy in there but the tombs were quite impressive and worth the effort.

After that we went back to El Gouna (6 -7 hour trip) and we got there at night. The following day I just  walked around and took a few more pictures making time until it was time to catch my bus back to Cairo.

Below it was my last picture of El Gouna

It looks good, but it is better than it looks on the picture.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip and I have some amazing memories from it. Had I had more time, there were still a lot of things I could have done there. Who knows, perhaps I'll get back some other time. It is just worth it for the diving... Now I only need a volunteer to join me. :-)

El Gouna - A piece of Europe in the Middle East

It was a long trip on the bus...5-7 hours and we crossed several borders within Egypt where the police came into the bus and asked for everybody's passports. Security in Egypt is quite tight.

When I got there, this is the first thing I saw:

As I learnt later, these buses were brought to El Gouna all the way from Pakistan. This is the kind of ride you want to keep a low profile on a secret mission. I bet the CIA has 10 just like those.

Tempting as it was, I decided to take a tuk-tuk instead.
For those of your who don't know what a tuk-tuk is. Below you can see a picture of one (random picture from the internet).

Alex's apartment turned up to be a really nice 2 bedroom apartment with its own swimming pool and hold tight... its own lagoon, yes, they opened up the area to the sea  in order to create artificial lagoons, in case the swimming pools weren't enough.

You may think the above photo has been taken from some random catalogue off the internet.  Nope... This is the swimming pool on the back of Alex's apartment and Alex's apartment is the one right in front. Second floor.

In case you are wondering, the lagoon is right behind the photographer.

I must admit it was hard going back to the UK.

I thought I would have plenty of time to be by the beach, do some swimming etc... but no. As it turned out the Diving course was quite demanding and it was like a full time job so for the next 5 days I spent all the time on the diving course from morning to evening. The first two days were just the theory and the swimming pool exercises the next three days were a bit more fun... We got to do some proper diving in the sea.

After shopping around and checking prices and offers I decided to go with Orca divers (a German company) by the Marina.

Below is the Marina:

Initially I was the only person enrolled on the course but in the afternoon another guy joined in which was great since we got on really well with each other and made the course a lot more fun.

His name was Holger (sorry about the spelling if it's wrong). He is German but the Diving course in German was fully booked already and only had spots available on the English course where I was the only student, so that's how he ended up in my class.

The three mosketeers. Right to left:
Wael (the instructor), funny guy and Holger.

I can't remember the name of the guy in the middle with the green t-shirt as he only came once or twice with us but he was a really funny guy and we had a good laughs with him.

Left to right:
Karen (Holger's girlfriend) and the reason why he took up scuba diving.
Holger
Funny guy
Wael

It wasn't all work... we had some great times, and between trips there was also time to enjoy the sun.

We even got to go out at night and try a few local amenities

I concluded that wasn't for me. :-)

Unfortunately, keeping myself alive underwater was hard enough so I do not have any underwater pictures, which is a shame since Egypt is a fantastic place and I promised myself I would be going back there one day. There are lots of wrecks as well, World War II wrecks even...

After the diving course it was time to do some tourism again and due to a set of circumstances I ended up joining a German excursion to Luxor, yeah... I was as surprised as you are! I do not speak a word of German but once there I realised that with a little bit of ingenuity you don't really need to. :-)

But that's a story for another entry. :-)

This is what El Gouna looks  like from the sea:

One of the things I liked the most is that there is no haggling for a taxi fare, or at the shops. All items are priced. There are some local shops where you can go and haggle with the seller but not on the main shops... so you know they are not ripping you off more than anybody else. :-)

Egypt - The tale of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves

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Now that I'll have some time in my hands I'm going to take this opportunity to add the two missing trips, Egypt-2008 and Brazil-2008. I am also working on adding a few entries for the London 2.0 experience.

I'm not planning on travelling abroad for the next few months but London is a place full of interesting things to do and see and some of you may find some of these things interesting.

The title may sound intriguing but I promise you, when I finish telling you about my trip throughout Cairo you'll understand why Ali Baba and I had so much in common... at least 40 thieves in common.

The reason why I decided to visit Egypt is two fold. First, I received a threat from my favourite cousin in the whole world, in December we were travelling to Brazil and WE would be diving. Hence I needed to get some kind of diving accreditation or I would be spending a couple of days on a boat looking at other people having fun.

Now, getting into the water in the UK didn't sound very appealing to me. The outstanding views of sunk household waste together with the freezing temperatures were a powerful enough reason to send me somewhere else in pursuit of the required diving accreditation.

The second reason is that Alex, a very good friend of mine here in the UK, had offer me to go and spend some time at his place in Egypt.

Now, Egypt did sound a bit more appealing for learning how to dive. Average water temperature in the Winter: 25C, crystal clear waters and amazing underwater fauna. Not to mention a nice constant 30C temperature on the outside (a bit hotter in the summer though, like 20C more).

It was a difficult choice, of course, but in the end Egypt won so I booked my flight, packed my stuff and off I went.

Alex's place is in El Gouna. An amazing little known place in Egypt!

As it was my first time in Egypt I decided to fly to Cairo, spend a couple of days there and then take a bus to El Gouna where I were to spend the rest of my stay in Egypt.

Let me start by saying that my near death experience of travelling from the Airport to my hotel took all the life out of me. Driving in Cairo is not for the heart fainted... also using both hands for driving at more than 140 Km/hour should've made the trip a bit safer, but I suppose it makes sense to drive with only one hand when you are taking half of your body out of the window every 5 minutes to shout about some profanities in Arabic and swerve brutally right and left as you step on the accelerator at more than 140 Km/hour

I was in the back holding myself to the two handles on top of each passenger window, trying not to fly out of the car with each bend.

At this point you may wonder why I didn't say anything to the driver to slow down and take it easy... Well... I tried, but with the speed and the windows open and all the shouting I was doing, I soon lost my voice, plus the fact he didn't understand a word of English didn't help much either. Besides, after a while I realised it was better if I close my eyes and kept my mouth shut that way I wouldn't have to stare at death straight in the face nor would I swallow any more flying by insects sucked into the car by the speed. Also, better not to distract the driver...

When we reached our destination, my hands were in so much pain I couldn't even pick up my suitcase I was also voiceless from all the shouting. As soon as I made it to my room, the adrenaline shot from the taxi experience was starting to wear off so I practically fell unconscious in bed and woke up the following day, ready to start a new day in Cairo.

When I woke up the following day, it really felt good to be alive and in one piece... the things you give for granted sometimes...

The plan was simple. Visit the Cairo Museum, have some lunch and catch the bus to El Gouna...

As it turned out, I did not visit the Cairo Museum, I did not have any lunch, instead I did visit the pyramids, a papyrus shop, a perfume shop, also against my wishes I rode a... let's be generous and call it a horse, haggled with every taxi driver in town, got ripped off more times I can even remember and finally, exhausted, I made it to the bus... with a much lighter wallet.

This is the story of how the 40 thieves took good care of Ali Baba's money.

Once upon a time, in a far, far away place there was a tourist called Ali Baba, one glorious morning he was walking down the street looking for the Cairo Museum when a local approached him and asked him where he was heading.

Ali Baba knew better than talking to strangers so without saying a word smiled to the stranger and kept walking. The stranger, also known as thief number one, smiled back and in a friendly tone told Ali Baba that if he was going to the museum, he would find it closed. It was the end of the Ramadan and a bank holiday in the  whole country but the pyramids were open, they never close.

Ali Baba pondered about this for a few seconds, he hadn't planned going to the pyramids but what was the alternative. Going back to the hotel? and while Ali Baba was considering the possible alternatives, thief number one, offered Ali Baba to share a taxi with him to go to the pyramids since he lived close by.

Having nothing to lose, Ali Baba decided to accept the generous offer and after half an hour in a taxi  and a longer than normal conversation in Arabic between thief number one and the taxi driver in order to work out how much to pay he found himself in a papyrus shop outside Cairo.

Once in the shop, thief number one introduced Ali Baba to thief number two, one of the papyrus seller and just to make a long story short, after half an hour in the shop, a nice cup of tea, a detail explanation of how the papyrus get made, 10 minutes of endless haggling and of course the purchase of 4 clearly overpriced papyrus, Ali Baba found himself back in the back of the taxi.

You would think that Ali Baba would now be heading for the Pyramids, no such luck I'm afraid. Next stop, some stinking lotus shop. I had enough with all this touristic crap and I told thief number one so. He seemed disappointed (he was getting a commission from every shop he made me stop on) but relented.

Finally, the pyramids! but for Ali Baba's surprise the taxi wasn't going to the main entrance... they just got into some dodgy looking narrow streets. Thief number one always guiding the taxi driver through the maze of little streets until we reached a point where the stench coming from the surrounding buildings made it clear that 4 legged creatures had an important presence in the area.

The taxi stopped by some dodgy looking individual. Thief number one greeted the individual and a couple of minutes later Ali Baba was introduced to thief number 3, they kept talking in Arabic until someone brought a camel into the picture.

Ali Baba told them there was no way he would be riding a camel and that he would prefer to walk thankyouverymuch... They said walking wasn't an option with the heat and the distances which Ali Baba had to admit made perfect sense so after some re-negotiation and another 10 minutes of haggling  Ali Baba managed to convince thief number 3 to procure a docile horse instead for an exorbitant amount (mind you, still was half of what thief number 3 was initially asking for).

Once the money exchanged hands, along came the guide, thief number 4, the King of bribes... together with my ride ... Rocinante

Rocinante and I

The poor four legged creature looked more dead than alive and there still are some questions regarding its species but just for the sake of the argument let's assume it is a horse.

The ride through the Egyptian sands reminded me why I do not like horses. Don't take me wrong... I like horses... from the distance! but not riding them... it is worse than a bicycle!. It may all be down to simply having an ass that lacks volume and substance hence the painful experience of bouncing up and down for an hour on the above four legged creature is not my cup of tea.

So summarising... I am in the pyramids that I wasn't planning on visiting, I am riding a horse and I hate riding horses but it gets better.

Thief number 4 turned up to be a very colourful man, the King of bribes and the dodgy deals... so not even 5 minutes had passed that he offers Ali Baba the long tour instead of the medium tour that Ali Baba had paid for to Thief number 3 (Thief number 4's boss). Just for a small tip he would give Ali Baba the grand tour.

These are the pyramids as we were getting closer to them.

Once we reached the pyramids a couple of guards approached Ali Baba's guide, this asked him to keep riding along that he would catch up with him later.  Ali Baba couldn't resist his curiosity and looked back just in time to see thief number 4 paying off the two guards...

Ali Baba knew better than to ask directly but through various indirect questions he found out that thief number 4 had purchased an Egyptian ticket for him rather than a tourist ticket and was better off by just bribing the guards and pocketing the difference. This scene of Ali Baba riding ahead and thief number 4 staying behind while spreading the wealth among the guards collective was repeated several times during "the grand tour".

Yes, it was hot and I had no hat so I had to do with what I had at hand...Laugh it out! don't mind me... I know it is not pretty but it was much safer than getting a heat stroke.

I was in constant fear that my four legged friend would drop dead at any moment so I tried to give it as much rest as possible but he did also come out in some of the photos.

After some extra bribing and me pretending to be Egyptian I've managed to make it into the great Sphinx of Giza. I suppose my olive complexion together with my Arabian nose played an important part in the deception but just in case, money exchanged hands just to make sure nobody looked too hard into my olive complexion and Arabian nose.

From here it was time for Ali Baba to return to civilization... which wasn't as easy as you might expect... and a visit to a lotus shop, four taxis later and hours of haggling with taxi drivers Ali Baba made it to the bus station. Thank God Ali Baba didn't have to spend a week in Cairo or it would end up being the most expensive week in history!, you may think you are an experienced traveller but trust me, no one will make you say good-bye to your money faster than in Cairo. Specially taxi drivers. By default they'll try to charge you 1000% the price of the trip and no, I didn't put an extra zero by mistake. If you haggle real hard you may get it down to 100% the real price of the trip.

When I was in the bus heading out of town I was relieved and at the same time exhausted from being always watchful and also from the constant haggling.

I just couldn't wait to get to El Gouna... but that's another story...