Desert Rose Hotel Siwa

... the sun with her phone in a bag of rice. A Man came and screamed at her in Egyptian, she ignored him. Then the man from behind her in line came over to tell her that everyone thought she was homeless and offerred to take her to the embassy because she clearly was in need of help. Then a man pulled up in a car with a 200 pound note hanging out the window and asked for her services, he then upped his price to 400 pounds at which point Lindsey screamed at him and ran back to the ...

... stomachs found us back at Abdu for some dinner. After dinner, we rode in the back of Waleed's pick-up to his amazing organic garden and new house he is building. We sampled a variety of fruits and smelled his herbs. Then we got back in the truck and drove to the salt lake where Waleed is planning to open up a hostel. The salt lake was unlike anywhere else we had ever been. The bottom was extremely hot while the water was cool and we floated on top. Our very own Dead Sea made ...

... Arab Egyptian. It's a very small town, close to the Libyan border and is set in an oasis due to freshwater springs. So laid back and chilled out. Had to sit outside a hotel for 2 hours this morning waiting for them to open up. Sat there waiting and staring at the fortress of Shalli which has fallen apart from rainwater many years ago and has created a very odd but cool looking fortress which is the centerpiece of the town. <br><br>Did a bit of exploring on foot ...

... the centre of the town. The old mud town had been eroded by the rains that come once every ten years or so, but it was quite high up so provided a great view over the whole of Siwa town. Later in the evening we headed out to Cleopatra's Bath, which is a hot spring on the outskirts of the town. A few of us went swimming in the dark water which was a little disconcerting as there was no way to tell how deep it was, if ...

... unpacked our fruits and vegetable and ate our lunch and then we started our drive again. Along the way our bus blew a tyre (which always seems to happen at some stage on my tours) and we were stopped for close to 2 hours while they fixed it. While the tyre was being fixed we went for a walk through the desert and Heather and I tried to spot animal tracks - I don't think we had much luck. It was quite a nice walk except that I really needed ...

... until just after we had stopped for our lunch of fresh fruit, veg and bread at a lay-by. Things then started to go wrong. Only half an hour after lunch, we got a puncture so we obviously had to pull over. Whilst the drivers fixed it, we walked ahead. Although there was nothing to see, it was really nice just talking and playing silly games whilst we waited. Mohammed talked us through some of Egypt's history and geography but the drivers still had not fixed the bus! We watched ...

We took an 10 hour bus to Siwa Oasis which is a palm treed paradise in the middle of the desert. The town is about 3000 people and they see very few tourists. The Oasis has quite a few natural springs, fresh and salt water, that are accessibly by bike or donkey cart. We spent Heath's 32nd birthday here. We started the day by renting bikes that were at least as old as he was and we peddled our way around the town ...

... it rained for 3 days straight (an amount unheard of in Siwa) large portions of The Shali melted. The Shali is conveniently well lit at night, so even after watching a beautiful sunset from the top, we were able to explore a bit. We met a few Egyptians at Shali and they showed us their favourite café called Dreamers. This café was priceless as it was the local hang out to watch B action movies on one of the few televisions in town. This was an every night event and ...

... with Abdul from Siwa Oasis. While everyone, and I do mean everyone, here goes into the desert in Toyota Land Rovers, for these short trips Abdul chooses to use his old Chevy 4 x 4, from probably the early 80's, which was apparently his first vehicle (he also has the requisite Land Rover for longer excursions). We were to learn more about this curious choice later on. After piling into the back our first stop was Abu Sharouf, another natural pool, this one in the middle of ...

... on to some other sites including Cleopatras Baths!!! Had a swim while covering myself with my sarong so as to not offend the locals. In the pm we roared off into the sand dunes for some sand boarding and more hot and cold springs. It was wild and the drop off down the front face of the dunes was totally scary at times. Dinner with a local Bedouin family in the pm then lots of zzzzzzzz's!