Marsa Alam

We were looking forward to meeting up with my friend Si from England on the Red Sea coast, he was flying in for a week's holiday of diving, catching up and taking advantage of our 'all inclusive rehydration package' hotel booking. After all, scuba diving and catching up is thirsty business.

We planned to make an early start as we had about 300km to travel and it was a good job we did as today of all days was when our travel karma points must have ran dry. We were at the bus station for 8 a.m. with 9 hours to play with before Si's arrival. We were told that the 8.30 bus had been cancelled and we'd have to wait until 10. As e had a bus to catch from Qeft at 11 a.m. we were keen to get moving, but as it was only 40 minutes away the 10 o'clock bus would still be ok for us. However this bus didn't show up until 11.30 and by 11.45 it had broken down and we stranded on the side of the road, so nearly 4 hours down and we had only moved 30km. We managed to flag down a truck that took us to Qeft. Once in Qeft we realised ( no surprise) that we had missed the bus and the next bus wasn't until at 6 p.m. We asked the shared taxi (battered old 7 seater Peugeot) drivers to take us but we were told that they weren't allowed to take foreigners as we couldn't travel without the police convoy, "Problems for people like you with the police man" we were told. They suggested taking a 'special' taxi, a taxi as we know it i.e. unshared, but even these guys weren't keen on taking us foreigners through the many check points outside of convoy hours.

Eventually after a lot of talking and whispers in policemen's ears we were ushered into a car. Following all the involvement with the police and our awareness of breaking the convoy rules we wanted to check with the driver that the agreed price hadn't changed. "Still same price, 100 Egyptian pounds?" "Yes, yes" the driver said. But as each police check point involved some chit chat/explaination from our driver he constantly demanded some "Baksheesh" or tip. We were just relieved to be hurtling towards the coast. And that wonderful 180km drive through the sandstone formation in the desert only cost us (including baksheesh) $26!

We still had 65km to travel along the coast and it was already 4.15, we had 40 minutes to meet Si at the airport. We chartered another 'special' taxi and sped down the coast road and we became habitualised very quickly to the car's speed limit warning bleeper. We made it to the airport in time to surprise Si and we were soon in our hotel for a week of bliss, relaxation, scuba diving and queueing for the 'free' bar with the pale Europeans and the thristy Russians.

Luxor

About 200km north of Aswan is the modern city of Luxor, site of the 4000 year old city of Thebes, the one time capital of the ancient empire. As we expected this area is peppered with temples, obelisks, statues and of course the famous tombs.

We visited the beautiful mountainous desert landscape that is the Valley of the Kings. Over 60 underground tombs, mainly for the pharaohs, with beautifully carved and painted walls can be found here. It's quite a spectacular site, but one which must be stored in the memory of observers as no photography is allowed in any of the tombs. We witnessed one couple being lead out of one tomb by a 'security' guard for flashing. Holding the offending camera, obvioulsy keen to claim his percentage of the heafty fine for such a crime, the guard frog marched them off and were never seen again....

Fearing an extension of her work day, our guide dissauded us from visiting the most famous of the tombs here, the one belonging to Tutankhamun. "It's quite a walk from here, you need another expensive ticket and it's not very good." Thankfully we had seen King Tut's impressive treasure room in the Cairo museam which included photos for the empty tomb.

Like most people we had heard of the pyramids of Giza and of the Valley of the Kings but we hadn't heard of the stunning temple complex of Karnak, only 2km the centre of Luxor. In its prime it was the most important place of worship in Egypt and it main structure the Temple of Amun was considered to be the largest religious building ever build. A marvellous mini sphinx-lined path leads you into the Great Hall a 6000 sq-metre garden of 134 massive papyrus shaped carved stone pillars, a truely awesome sight. We found this place very difficult to leave, maybe one of the greatest sights we had seen in Egypt.

Aswan

We took a wonderful overnight sleeper train from Cairo to the Nile hugging southern city of Aswan. From here the amazing ruins of Abu Simbel were only a few hours away. To help with tourist safety certain destinations can only be reached via a police convoy. These convoys leave at specific times during the day. The morning convoy to Abu Simbel left at 4 a.m. which meant a 2.45 a.m. wake up call for us! Certainly the pressure was on for this to be a good day and we weren't dissapointed. The 2 rock-cut temples with 20m tall colossal statues guarding the entrances certainly were a treat for tired eyes. The fine carvings in side the temples took our minds off the stiffling heat. After an hour and a half we were back on the minibus to join the convoy back to Aswan. So it was a 6 hour round trip to spend 90 minutes at the ruin site, which doesn't sound that great on paper, but was well worth it especially to see pink painted police watch towers at the check points in the middle of the desert.

Giza pyramids, Sakkara, Memphis

After much waiting and much anticipation we saw the pyramids. Along with the Taj Mahal and Uluru, it was probably the most iconic wonder either of us had seen and is accompanied with a slightly unreal feeling, one that makes you look back over your shoulder over and over again to make sure you're actually there in person.

We had very low expectations, not so much of the pyramids themselves but more of the experience. We'd heard tales of massively overcrowded sights, pushing to get into the pyramids themselves, touts literally shoving their goods into your arms. We were prepared for a constant battle with touts and tourist but were very happily surprised. The area is huge - we actually got around with the car instead of by foot - and even the most cramped quarters (inside the third pyramid), people were thoughtful and non-pushy. Seeing the the burial chamber inside the pyramid was a lot of fun and it was great to poke around the few rooms down there. Our guide leaded us around, providing constant information littered with names we no longer remember and keeping some of the touts away or at least better behaved. The sphinx was excellent to see in person. Really, the whole experience was a lot of fun.

We did a quick trip to Sakkara, a burial ground prestigious before the Valley of the Kings. Not much remains, but it was nice to see the National Geographic episode about the area and have a little noodle around, seeing the 'step pyramid'.

We finished off our trip with a visit to Memphis, the old capital of the kingdom chosen because it was in the middle of upper and lower Egypt and thus a great central base for the pharohs. While there was very little there, we checked out the incredible statue of Ramses II which was apparently unearthed when they dug the parking lot.

Siwa

We took a 9 hr detour through the desert, close to the Libyan border to the oasis town of Siwa. With plently of date palms and fresh water springs Siwa offers a great insight into mid-desert life, with donkey carts being the main mode of transport. With its fair share of Greco-Roman ruins and its abundance of mosquitos it has to take your mind off the strict conservative muslim ethics that the town's map asks you to respect.

Alexandria

And so onto the historic city of Alex, established in 332 BC by Alexandra the Great. Although nothing much remains of its glorious past (including one of the ancient wonders, the lighthouse of Paros) it has some impressive catacombs, regal colonial buildings, historic coffee shops and the oldest, noisiest tram system we've ever seen. We also stumbled upon a small scale fish market full of charactures more than willing to have their photos taken, even the crab man!

Suez

We hadn't planned to stay in Suez, but after a 7 hr bus trip we were ready for a break. Amazingly, our talented 'egg man' at the hotel in Dahab was on our bus and very kindly arranged for us to meet a childhood friend of his who not only found us a decent hotel but also took us out for dinner, showed us around some local businesses and took us to the famous Suez Canal. It was quite surreal seeing these huge cargo ships apparently 'floating' through the desert. It was one of those really fun days on the road that is simultaneously totally random and entirely fun. It has also induced a number of kushari cravings.