Egypt long weekend

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  Sharm el Sheikh and the pyramids Egypt, Egypt
Thursday, August 30, 2007

Just back from a short but busy break in Egypt, it was meant to be a relaxing, sit by the pool type weekend but between a whirlwind tour of Cairo, including the impressive pyramids, snorkelling on the most colourful reef you can imagine and riding camels and watching the sunset in the desert we have come back to Libya to chill out!

We stayed in Sharm el Sheik which is a resort town on the red sea where the desert literally drops into the sea and the reef; you can see the fish just from the sand!
The Egyptians were very friendly and thought it was great we could speak some Arabic and everything seemed very efficient (I guess compared to what we are used to *). We were also spoilt by the travel company looking after us.

There was excellent snorkelling at the hotel but we also did a day trip out to different parts of the reef and I don't think I have seen so many fish in my life, the water literally feels and looks thick with life..

Alia of the Desert!

. and I saw a turtle!! Unfortunately the waterproof camera turned out to be not so waterproof.

On the third afternoon we did a trip into the desert, which is mountainous and umm desert like. We rode camels through a wadi (dry river bed) then had hibiscus tea in a Bedouin (desert people) camp (set up for tourists but you get the idea) at sunset we climbed up a small mountain to see the view and then returned to a yummy Bedouin style dinner followed by entertainment around the campfire. I do have to say that the Egyptians seemed to like to put on entertainment, however the entertainment was usually them making the guests do silly things, we entertained them!

Another evening we spent in the not so nice, Bali like shopping/ nightlife area of Naarma bay, it was fun though, I found 2 brothers very keen to marry my sisters (see picture) and we were held captive/ captivated in the perfume sellers shop until 2am when he had talked our ears off, dressed us up and somehow persuaded us to spend lots of money on stuff we just don't need.

Our last day was back in Cairo and due to very bad plane schedules we nearly spent it sitting in the airport all day but luckily our friends organised a private tour (we felt like royalty) and therefore managed to see the museum, pyramids, Sphinx and have lunch overlooking the Nile

around the campfire

.
You could spend a week in the museum; there are so many things to see, from mummified crocodiles and cats to colourful chariots all in amazing condition.
The Pyramids and Sphinx were more impressive than I imagined, they are actually very steep so standing in front of them you really can't imagine how they could be built. Definitely not by aliens our guide informed us.

So that was our little taster of Egypt, we will definitely go back to appreciate it more and do a cultural trip down the Nile. Enjoy the pics.
p.s the company who looked after us so well was www.travelways-egypt.com and we stayed at the Hyatt which was really lovely.

* 2 funny things as we left and arrived back. On leaving Libya we were made to put our bags through the xray machine even through there was no-one close enough to be checking the screen. On returning people cuing to get through immigration had to watch and wait for ages as the man at the desk played his computer game.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

children riding camles	dancing around the campfire in the desert	desert	desert and Lance
desert view at sunset	dressed up	enjoying view at Hyatt Sharm el Sheik	group at the top for sunset
here comes the sand 1	here comes the sand 2	here comes the sand 3	hotel oasis
it's behind you!	learning to make bread	loving Sharm!	Nile in Cairo
outdoor lounge	postcard seller at the pyramids	pyramid and Sphinx	pyramid and Sphinx and Lance
pyramids , couldn't say no	pyramids 1	pyramids 2	pyramids and sphinx and tourists
reef infront of hotel	reef infront of room	shopkeeper who kept us till 2am!	top of the mountain for sunset
trying Shisha	view from pyramids back to Cairo	Wadi view	waiting for my sisters

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