Siwa Shali Resort

... this is proper dune desert with massive windblown dunes. As usual our drivers were mad and took us up and down some massive dunes - we stopped for a bit of sandboarding which was fun, but the climb back up the dune wasn't. On to some hot springs and some tea the back to town for dinner.<br><br>Great dinner in a BBQ restaurant, BBQs out in the street - kid sitting turning rotissere chickens by hand. Finally had camel - yummy.<br>

Lindsey and Brittany arrived in Siwa two days ahead of Sarah. After a much needed nap after Sinai, Brittany and Lindsey boarded took the minibus to the station to get on a bus to Sharm. They were planning to pick up one last thing of thai food and when it was closed they seriously considered staying in Dahab for even longer. To get to Siwa from Dahab, you had to take a bus to sharm, then a bus to Alexandria, and then another bus to Siwa. Before we left we found a big strong ...

After laving Luxor, we headed by 4x4 into the desert and the Oases of Dakhla and Siwa, we also were fortunate to spend a night camping amongst the weird rock formations of the White Desert.<br><br>Siwa was amazing, very rural but remarkably relaxed, the view of the town ...

... sell you something. Cycled over to the bar/restaurant place next to Cleopatra's Bath where I went yesterday. Nice just sitting around and talking to the two American workers there. Haven't really had a proper chat to someone for 3 days. How these hermits go about with no interaction is beyond me. I think Dahab which is my next destination will have more backpackers. I'm hoping so any way. <br><br>Cycled around some more and went ...

... no lanes (not like in Cairo where they just ignore the lanes, there were actually no lanes). We spent the night sleeping under more stars than I've ever seen in one sky in the absolutely benumbing cold of the desert night and were visited occasionally by a friendly desert mouse. All in, it was a truly breathtaking, once in a lifetime, experience.

... the desert with his army. Before he could conquer Egypt and become its leader, he needed to get approval from the Oracle to carry favour with the Egyptians. It obviously worked! The site itself was very old (like most things in Egypt) and again gave good views from the top. The final stop for us on the bikes was Cleopatra's Bath where we were able to take a refreshing dip in the perfect temperature water. An amazing smoothie was ...

... drivers were a bit younger and they whipped their donkeys way too much so I was happy with our little guy. Our calesh driver then took us to Cleopatra's Bath and along the way we stopped at another temple of Amun and this one was in an even worse state than the oracle temple. We arrived at the bath and it wasn't the hot spring I had been expecting. I thought it would be a small spot in the ground surrounded by shrubs and palm trees but this looked more like ...

Apart from getting a little upset with a group of white travellers who were managing to disrupt the whole bus the 10 hour journey wasn't too bad (ignoring my painful tailbone)... so we arrived about 5am in Siwa, just as the sun was starting to rise and hoped that the lonely planet map had the correct scale and walked into town since there was noone about and everything was shut up. We knocked on the door to a hotel at about ...

... right on the edge of the Great Sand Sea and just 20 - 30 km from the Libyan border. In fact, rumour has it smuggling can be a problem which means that apparently Libya has a shortage of either sand or donkeys. It is actually a really nice place and would be just like stepping back in time, that is if 19th century wagons had been equipped with car horns. Overall, a pretty even split between motorbikes, Land Rovers and donkey carts. Siwan taxis are just small donkey carts ...

... crazy fun. Watched the sunset out there. Perhaps the funnest part was the riding in the 4x4. The guy would drive over the edge of these enormous dunes and slide straight down. I was sure we were going to flip and roll! He's been doing it for 7 years, though, so knew what he was doing. To me it was nuts, though. Great fun. Taking the night bus back to Alexandria tonight to hang there for a day or two.