After the extortionate cost of getting from Jordan to Egypt (350 Euro, including the clever Jordanian ‘leaving tax’), we were faced with a 4-hour wait and even more fees in Egyptian customs (around 200 Euro along with having to give the police man a sneaky $30 bribe). However, we were finally in Africa, and I had a chance to try out my brand spanking new Yasser Arafat scarf I picked up in Syria!!!
We found an amazing beach place called Salem’s Big Surf in Neweiba with huts right on the sand about 5 metres from the sea. Spent the next 4 days doing absolutely nothing chillaxing on the beach. It was the most laid-back place I’ve ever stayed in, pure paradise.Other than a cat running away with Janer’s fish at dinner one night, and a guy trying to sell me some home grown weed and opium, it was a pretty uneventful week.
However, all good things must come to an end and we headed for Cairo to get our Sudanese visas and see the pyramids. My good friend Soly (a native of Cairo now living in England, and the only person from Cairo I would trust) gave me the best advice ever…
“Don’t buy anything you don’t want to buy”.
Seems obvious, but it’s really something you need to keep constantly in the back of your mind. They’ll try selling you anything. The first person we encountered when we got into the city was some little scrote outside a car park. We stopped at the roadside looking for parking and he came straight up to us and said he’d take us to a cheap car park. We assumed he worked for one as he was beside it. Anyway, he hopped into the jeep and we drove around for about 5 minutes then he pointed and said, “hey, park there”, and by “there” he meant by the side of the road. He wanted 25 Egyptian pounds (about 3 euro) for one days parking. Obviously, we told him we’re not paying him to show us a dodgy parking spot on the side of some random road. While he was arguing with us about it, he then tried to swipe a 10-euro note from the ashtray. When we kicked him out, he then wanted some money for his troubles. What a complete douche bag! This was the first of many of Cairo’s complete chancers we were to encounter in the city.
Anyway, we were shown a hotel and a place to park by another guy called Sheref, who after took us down the road to a café and got us some Egyptian tea and a good auld smoke on a Sheesha. The less said about ‘an fear seo’ the better! The Dire Straits song; Money For Nothing comes to mind!
Next day we went to the Sudanese Embassy in Cairo, a mental place. There was an African woman who was mad as a hatter... completely off her bean. She started coming up and talking to us, then mid sentence would wander off babbling to herself. She reminded me of the crack-ho who lived down the street from Tre and Doughboy in Boyz ‘N The Hood. Anyway, Podge was standing at the passport counter and she was standing beside him (blatantly skipping the queue) with her daughter. Podge smiled at the daughter, and your one immediately covered the girls head, then moved her face right in front of Podge’s and gave him the evilest stare ever. He still hopes she didn’t put a gypsy curse on him.
After then heading over to the Irish embassy (where the Egyptian police man guarding it was fast asleep) we got our letter of intention and headed back to the Sudanese embassy. After only two hours… bada bing, bada boom, we had our visas. All the blogs on the Interweb say it’s chaos and can take a week to get…. Luckily for us, not true!
The following day we went to the Egyptian museum and saw all the old stuff they took out of the pyramids. I have to say; King Tut’s display was pretty class. He was buried in a big mask made of gold with his face on it so the Gods could know what he looked like when he was reincarnated. He was placed in a solid gold casing shaped like his body, then this was put in a wooden coffin covered in gold, and this was placed in another bigger stone tomb, and this in another and all in a pyramid or something like that, bit like a Russian doll… hence he’s all so well preserved. We also saw the mummies of some old kings and soldiers. No cameras at all allowed inside, so here’s us outside.
I would have taken the picture above of King Tut's mask if I was allowed a camera inside. Just pretend I took it... I am!
Before we left Cairo, we just had to visit the pyramids at Giza. I couldn't be bothered photoshoping my bunny ears, thanks Podge...
As expected in Giza, some Tourist Leech arsehole tried to get some money from me as soon as I went in. Before I knew it he was taking my picture and getting me to stand beside a camel. We all know, if you take a picture of a camel, you have to pay, so I said no way. I kept telling him I’d no money over and over (even though I blatantly had), and then he wanted me to open my pocket to show him my wallet. I said there was no way that was happening, rooted through my pockets and ended up giving him an old lighter from Lidl. Again...an arsehole!
So, in summary… not a big fan of Cairo. It’s a shame for people from there that are genuinely nice, because all the Tourist Leeches ruin it for them.
After the pyramids we headed south along the Western Sahara road through the desert and free camped out there that night. It was an unreal experience, lots of stars. Found out after that it’s illegal, supposedly you need a permit which is very hard to get.
Got up the next morning after an absolutely savage sleep and drove about 8 more hours through the desert to Luxor. On our way, Podge had a momentary lapse of sanity and decided to pull off the road ending up going straight into deep sand and we got stuck. Luckily a couple of sound Egyptian guys in a lorry pulled over and after 5 attempts (the rope broke 4 times), we finally got it out… with some sterling driving from Janer.
The two lads totally redeemed our faith in the Egyptian people and even gave us a cake too. Before we left, Podge got a nice big wet kiss on both cheeks from the driver. Podge was wearing one of Janer’s headbands, so may have been sending the wrong signals. You can only imagine what would have happened if he was wearing his pink t-shirt too???
We arrived in Luxor that evening, crossed over the Nile and arrived at a campsite called Rezeiky Camping. On our second evening there, 4 South African overland jeeps pulled in. We had already met one of them when we were in Petra in Jordan.
Such a really nice and really friendly group of people. They’ve already driven up through Africa on the west coast, up through Europe and are pretty much going the same route back down to South Africa as us. Their trip organiser Dave (check out his website above: Masazane) is bang on with some great stories and tips about Africa. He’s helping us get sorted with the boat from Egypt to Sudan which is meant to be a complete nightmare. Now we just have to wait and see how much it’ll cost.
Few days left here in Luxor, then down to Aswan. Next stop… Sudan!
Before I go, I feel I need to confess something or else I'll have a dirty conscience…
I did the Walk Like An Egyptian walk while at the pyramids. I know, I know… I’m only human. Janer made me!!!
The video for Europe and Turkey is up on Global-Slacker.com courtesy of Podge. Definitely worth a look…
Anyway, we were shown a hotel and a place to park by another guy called Sheref, who after took us down the road to a café and got us some Egyptian tea and a good auld smoke on a Sheesha. The less said about ‘an fear seo’ the better! The Dire Straits song; Money For Nothing comes to mind! Next day we went to the Sudanese Embassy in Cairo, a mental place. There was an African woman who was mad as a hatter... completely off her bean. She started coming up and talking to us, then mid sentence would wander off babbling to herself. She reminded me of the crack-ho who lived down the street from Tre and Doughboy in Boyz ‘N The Hood. Anyway, Podge was standing at the passport counter and she was standing beside him (blatantly skipping the queue) with her daughter. Podge smiled at the daughter, and your one immediately covered the girls head, then moved her face right in front of Podge’s and gave him the evilest stare ever. He still hopes she didn’t put a gypsy curse on him.
After then heading over to the Irish embassy (where the Egyptian police man guarding it was fast asleep) we got our letter of intention and headed back to the Sudanese embassy. After only two hours… bada bing, bada boom, we had our visas. All the blogs on the Interweb say it’s chaos and can take a week to get…. Luckily for us, not true!
The following day we went to the Egyptian museum and saw all the old stuff they took out of the pyramids. I have to say; King Tut’s display was pretty class. He was buried in a big mask made of gold with his face on it so the Gods could know what he looked like when he was reincarnated. He was placed in a solid gold casing shaped like his body, then this was put in a wooden coffin covered in gold, and this was placed in another bigger stone tomb, and this in another and all in a pyramid or something like that, bit like a Russian doll… hence he’s all so well preserved. We also saw the mummies of some old kings and soldiers. No cameras at all allowed inside, so here’s us outside. 
I would have taken the picture above of King Tut's mask if I was allowed a camera inside. Just pretend I took it... I am! 
Before we left Cairo, we just had to visit the pyramids at Giza. I couldn't be bothered photoshoping my bunny ears, thanks Podge...As expected in Giza, some Tourist Leech arsehole tried to get some money from me as soon as I went in. Before I knew it he was taking my picture and getting me to stand beside a camel. We all know, if you take a picture of a camel, you have to pay, so I said no way. I kept telling him I’d no money over and over (even though I blatantly had), and then he wanted me to open my pocket to show him my wallet. I said there was no way that was happening, rooted through my pockets and ended up giving him an old lighter from Lidl. Again...an arsehole!
So, in summary… not a big fan of Cairo. It’s a shame for people from there that are genuinely nice, because all the Tourist Leeches ruin it for them.
After the pyramids we headed south along the Western Sahara road through the desert and free camped out there that night. It was an unreal experience, lots of stars. Found out after that it’s illegal, supposedly you need a permit which is very hard to get.
Got up the next morning after an absolutely savage sleep and drove about 8 more hours through the desert to Luxor. On our way, Podge had a momentary lapse of sanity and decided to pull off the road ending up going straight into deep sand and we got stuck. Luckily a couple of sound Egyptian guys in a lorry pulled over and after 5 attempts (the rope broke 4 times), we finally got it out… with some sterling driving from Janer.
The two lads totally redeemed our faith in the Egyptian people and even gave us a cake too. Before we left, Podge got a nice big wet kiss on both cheeks from the driver. Podge was wearing one of Janer’s headbands, so may have been sending the wrong signals. You can only imagine what would have happened if he was wearing his pink t-shirt too??? We arrived in Luxor that evening, crossed over the Nile and arrived at a campsite called Rezeiky Camping. On our second evening there, 4 South African overland jeeps pulled in. We had already met one of them when we were in Petra in Jordan.
Such a really nice and really friendly group of people. They’ve already driven up through Africa on the west coast, up through Europe and are pretty much going the same route back down to South Africa as us. Their trip organiser Dave (check out his website above: Masazane) is bang on with some great stories and tips about Africa. He’s helping us get sorted with the boat from Egypt to Sudan which is meant to be a complete nightmare. Now we just have to wait and see how much it’ll cost.Few days left here in Luxor, then down to Aswan. Next stop… Sudan!
Before I go, I feel I need to confess something or else I'll have a dirty conscience…
I did the Walk Like An Egyptian walk while at the pyramids. I know, I know… I’m only human. Janer made me!!!
The video for Europe and Turkey is up on Global-Slacker.com courtesy of Podge. Definitely worth a look…
No comments:
Post a Comment