Adventures in the Desert

Craig and Michelle’s thoughts:

On Oct 9th we went to the Wadi Rum Desert. It was made famous by Lawrence of Arabia. The landscape is vast and consists of a majestic desert with towering mountains. A beautiful mix of red and yellow smooth sand dunes are the bases of some of the rugged cliffs. We booked a 6 hour tour and overnight stay with the Sunset Camp Company. We chose them because it was recommended by the Lonely Planet guide book and they were easy to access by e-mail. The excursion consisted of being driven around in a 4 x 4 truck to various sites in the desert. After the exercise we had in Petra, the drive was a treat.

At the end of the tour we went to the Sunset Camp to have dinner and stay overnight. There we met a Holland group and a young woman from France. We had some interesting and funny conversations. It’s nice to listen to other peoples’ travel experiences. Also at the camp were an elderly Spanish couple, a young Israeli couple and a group from France. Before dinner, we all watched the beautiful sunset. Afterwards, we ate in a large Bedouin tent and had a delicious meal. At night you could see hundreds of stars and in the late evening the moon was so bright that you didn’t need a flashlight. The accommodations were large tents that can sleep 4-5 people. We had our own tent and they supplied the pillows, mattresses and blankets. It was very comfortable. Surprisingly, they had built showers and western flushed toilets at the camp. Quite a luxury in the desert. We had a wonderful experience at Wadi Rum.

Afterwards, we went to Aqaba. It is a city by the Red Sea. Across the sea we could see Israel and Egypt. Saudi Arabia is just a stone throw away on the left. For two days we just went snorkelling. On the first day we swam with a fairly large sea turtle!! It was amazing!! On the second day we snorkelled at the Royal Dive area and it had some beautiful fish and coral. We’re glad we brought our own snorkelling gear because the conditions of the rentals weren’t great.

On Oct 14th, we arrived in Cairo, Egypt. On our first outing we went to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. It contains a huge number of pieces from every period of ancient Egyptian history. The highlight is the artefacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb. It was amazing to see the photographs of the excavation and the layout of the tomb, and then see the collection around you. He had so many items in his tomb that his exhibit takes up half the second floor of the museum. The creepy section were the royal tombs. Each mummy is in their own glass case where the humidity and temperature is regulated. The mummies’ bodies were wrapped in the cloths they were buried in; however their skulls, hands and feet were exposed. All of them had their arms crossed over their chest which meant they were from royalty. Some of the mummies still had their hair, teeth and even their finger and toe nails.

On our second outing, we saw the Pyramids of Giza and Saqqara. These monumental structures are too amazing to describe. We just stood there just staring at the huge pyramids, trying to absorb what we were seeing. We would look at each other with huge smiles, then look at the pyramids just shaking our heads. What a magical place!! Unfortunately, the pyramids are at the edge of the city and the pollution in Cairo is terrible. When flying in you can see the thick brown smog over the city. So when you take pictures of the pyramids, there is a haze surrounding the structures. It’s difficult to see the blue sky. Seeing the Sphinx was also very exciting. Hope you like the pics!

Egypt has wonderful sites and monuments to visit and sometimes we can’t believe we’re actually here to see them. The only problem about Egypt is the harassment you get once you leave your hotel or when you visit a site. In Turkey, when asked if we needed their service and we say no, they left us alone. But in Egypt, they won’t leave your face even when you are polite to them. They are hustling for a commission by using trickery or various scams. Some are also looking for a tip or baksheek. They start out being your friend and try to assist you, then they demand money, and we mean demand! They are very aggressive! Sometimes when entering a site, you have to tip the person guarding the area. When you tip, they demand for more money and they’re not nice about it. We were aware of this behaviour before we arrived, but it’s still hard to have to deal with all the time. It also doesn’t matter if you’re in a tour group or not, the harassment effects everyone.

We went to Abu Simbel, Egypt and visited the Sun Temple of Abu Simbel and the Temple of Hathor. We stayed overnight at Abu Simbel which is rare for most tourists. Most tours drive in from Aswan early in the morning to see the sites. We chose to see the temples in the afternoon because it’s a quite time to see the area. In fact, in the beginning, we were the only ones in the Temples. It was like we were having a private tour. Really cool!! By the time we left, there were only two tour buses at the site. The temples were breathtaking. They were built to honour Ramses II and Nefertari. The carvings and the reliefs inside were amazing. It was so well preserved. There was the threat of the temples of being engulfed by Lake Nasser, so UNESCO relocated the site. The visitor centre have displays and pictures of how they did the whole process. Though there are only the two temples, we took two hours to admire them. Well worth the visit to Abu Simbel. Enjoy the pictures!

Love,
Michelle and Craig