Sonesta Cairo

That's what I'm calling it. For some reason, I simply can't write about Dashur or Saqqara. And since I feel I must, but I can't, nothing else gets written. It simply has to stop.

So, here it stops. Dashur and Saqqara were lovely. It was hot. The pyramid was claustrophobic, especially for the ...

... world.

We are off to Aswan tonight on a sleeper train which should be fun and after exploring there for a couple of days we will get a felluca ( nile boat) up to Luxor. We are loving Egypt and having a fantastic time, aside from being in a awe inspiring town its just so lovely to be by our selves again.

So to finish off - we love Egypt and are having a ball, we are loving have no set plans and just seeing where the days take us.

... an opening, and but also saw a taxi approaching to make a turn in front of me. I stopped to let him turn, but there was another pair of pedestrians blocking his way. Rather than waiting for them to cross like in the USA, he took a wide turn and headed straight at me. I quickly decided it'd be best to start walking again, so I did, and he rather gracefully turned just behind me. The thing is, he wasn't ...

... in Amman.

Day 9: Umm Qais – Ajlun – Jerash - Ajlun Castle

Breakfast at hotel- Drive to Umm Qais, which located on the site of the ruined Hellenistic-Roman city of Gadara, Where Jesus Christ cast the devils into a herd of pigs which ran into the Sea of Galilee- Transfer to visit Jerash, 48km north of Amman, visit Nemphyum, Artemis Temple, North theatre, St.Cosmos & Demeanors church- Transfer to visit Ajlun, a hilly town in north of ...

... and we just hung out in there for a little to get out of the 40oC heat. After a while we went into the big Pyramid. It is amazing. Up a big ramp to the top of the Pyramid which takes a little time to get there. Once in the tomb the acoustics are amazing. We did the usual shouts and screams and then while relaxing we must have really freaked out when we started singing barber shop quartet songs randomly – Mr Sandman was the best – it sounded brilliant!

We ...

... further exploration we discovered no English signage other then the name of the station, so decided against that thought. Back at the main gate we successfully negotiated a fare with a taxi driver to take us to Cairo Tower.

By now it was around 1pm and the traffic seemed to be even busier, especially around shops and market areas. As Friday and Saturday are the weekend here many appeared to be doing their weekend shop!

The Cairo Tower was built in ...

... shop, spice shop, egyptian clothes shop and ...ok there's only 3 categories! The vendors there are also very colorful and a great for engaging in quick wited banter (some of them). However, we bought nothing cause...well the prices are total rip-off prices and had already bought lots of stuff from government approved shops. Back at the hotel, I got to do some fun stuff - Walk around on my own and do ...

... that we would spend 6 hours on the bus (3 hours each way) shuttling between Alexandria and Cairo. This tour also includes a lunch on a cuise boat on the Nile river in Cairo. Our tour guide is a charismatic young guy who is always joking and having fun. He's very well educated, and gave us long talks on Egypt's even longer history during the long bus rides to ...

... all packed up, put a carpet down on the floor and joined each other in prayer for 10mins before opening back up again. We still had some time to kill before our night train so hopped onto the tube and visited Coptic Cairo. This is the tiny ancient Christian enclave still surrounded by walls. We went into the church that supposedly is built above a cave that Joseph, Mary and Jesus hid in when King Herod was hunting them. After collecting our bags from the hotel we enjoyed one ...