King Akhenaton Hotel Al Minya

text-indent:0cm">Three weeks into my stay in Cairo and I've just about become accustomed to most things. I hardly ever notice the prayers, I can cross the street without having to hold someone's hand, I can barely smell the stench of pollution and animal feces, and my stomach has expanded to fit the enormous amount of food they keep feeding me with. I like it here... can I live here? I don't think so. I miss the freedom ...

Today we checked out of the Pyramids View and started our drive to El Faiyum. On the way we stopped at Saqqara and I saw my first new thing in Egypt - The Imhotep Museum. It was a very good small museum and the displays were well done. The most interesting thing was the only intact statue found of Imhotep. After the museum we drove to the Step Pyramid which was a bit of a disappointment this time as there was ...

It was one of those strange 10 degrees of separation invitations so common in Egypt. A friend of a friend's Bohab (type of janitor/security guard/ building representative)'s sist** was getting married in a village near the Fayoum, about 2 hours down the Nile from Cairo, and he'd invited him and anyone else who wanted to come along to join in the celebrations. So off we set bravely in the Thursday aft**noon traffic as the rest of Cairo also fled the ...

... We arrived at the lakeside town of Shakshouk (This was the name on the front of the Hotel) but they call the area the Faiyum Oasis. Lake Qarun is the largest lake in Egypt (about 22km by 5km). It is salt water. Our hotel is right on the lakeside. One half of the lake is built up with towns but the other half is desert. We had a great view of the lake from our room and watched the sun set with background music, being the call ...

... you have to bend over to go down. The ramp going down, has boards about every half metre to stop you slipping. We went down and down and down. It seemed like it took forever and was never going to end. You have to remember that we were in a crouched position so the going was tough, especially for mum. Several people turned back. I thought mum would, but she persevered. Eventually, we got to the chamber at ...

Memphis was previously the capital of ancient Egypt, however it is difficult to believe it now. It is a rural farming town and very poor. Not much there. Memphis was the capital froml 1700BC, then El Liisht from 1500BC, then Thebes (Luxor) from 1100BC, then Alexandria from 3 BC then Cairo from 700 AD. The museum at Memphis has a total of 29 pieces on display. There are more ...

Hi everyone!! Just in Cairo again... Im trying to remember what I've done since I last wrote! Oh yeah... we went from Dahab to Alexandria. We weren't sure why we suddenly just felt the need to up and leave to a new city.. we kind of regret it now because we ended up not liking Alexandria much at all... why did we leave a gorgeous tropical beach 2 days early to go to a major bustling city with an ocean (the Mediterranean Sea, which we had much higher ...

... verdaechtigen personen und gar nicht froh darueber dass wir bei einem fremden ins auto eingestiegen sind.. (war ein reisefuehrer und sprach perfekt englisch und war einfach nur hilfsbereit) aber fuer max ein moeglicher entfuerher mega grins. sind dann gleich am ersten tag mit drei weiteren personen (gott sei dank nicht mit ihm allein, haette den dort sicher irgendwo ausgesetzt) in die schwarze und dann in die weisse ...

... and with the glimpses of the countryside we did have, the reason was apparent. It's not an ugly country, it just doesn't have alot of variety. Sand, sand, and more sand. Safety - As a clear category of "safety," Egypt gets high marks. As a tourist I don't think you are ever in any danger. The country is a police state and tourists are valued so if your safety were ever compromised, a few shouts would bring people running to help. (Laura's comments ...

... It's analogous to Taco Bell in that it's basically the same seven ingredients configured different ways. I'm not saying it's bad, it's just really boring! Humus is served with nearly every meal like an appetizer, but the humus here is bland compared to even store bought humus from the U.S. The typical Egyptian meal will include bread (always bread), some rice and/or potatoes, the aforementioned ...