Siwa Villa

... refused to get out of the car and had arguments with the cab driver and airport attendants. After a while of driving around and the cab driver trying to make us get out at various locations NOT at the airport, we were dropped off at the lovely Cairo International Airport. Let us paint the scene. One hallway, no food, 20 chairs and 50 leering hissing staring egyptian men. We were hoping for a more comfortable location, because we had 20 to kill before our flight to Ethiopia. We ...

... street, we were accousted and tehn chased through the center of town by the local crazy. We were screaming at the top of our lungs, and ten Egyptian men came to our rescue within seconds. One of which was a man named Fethi, who would become our personal bodyguard for the rest of the time. He worked for tourism center for Siwa and made sure that we were fully comftorable and that we had an amazing rest of our time in siwa. Trust us, we definatly considered getting right ...

... fortress. Still nice watching all the colours change in the sky and on the mountains but not as good as yesterday which was probably the best sunset I've ever seen. Off to get some food before I get the overnight bus to Alexandria where I hope to get on a bus to Cairo asap then get an overnight bus to Dahab. Hopefully will all go to plan. This has probably been my favourite place so far and would highly recommend the trip out ...

... desert so the palm trees are all very dusty and the oasis I visited were sprawling dusty towns looking much like the rest of Egypt but with fewer tourists. But there is water. There are usually several hot springs that provide the lifeblood for these communities. From Dakhla Oasis, we headed out in land rovers on a desert safari. First stop was the partially abandoned village of Al-Qasr. This was a town made from ...

... now in ruins but can still be wandered around. It is right in the heart of the town and everything else has been built around it. We watched a not too spectacular sunset from here then wandered back into town. Mum and some of the other ladies were in shopping mode so we had a quick look around the shops then returned to the hotel once again. This time our hands were full of dates and olive oil which I will end up lugging around no doubt!

... it. After sunset some of the group bought some dates as Siwan dates are supposed to be the best in the world and after that we went back to the hotel for dinner. I was really tired after dinner and decided that I would go to bed. Tomorrow we start our jeep safari and I am really excited because we found out that we will have access to our bags in the morning and at night so no packing 5 days of clothes in the one bag. Can't wait to hit the desert tomorrow!

So I met Cisco in Aswan after touring Luxor. It's cool to travel with a friend, especially someone low key. We made our way up to Alexandria, which is very pretty. Much closer to European, at least around the waterfront. I was finally able to have some proper coffee. A double espresso, which was actually about the size of a triple, was only 5 LE (about a dollar). After seeing the main sites, we relaxed at a ...

... to walk around and not see any other tourists or locals for that matter until we reached the springs where local boys were splashing around. The women on the other hand were few and far between. Those we saw were completely covered head to toe in a blanket over their heads and only travelled by donkey and cart rather than foot - which was very different to the rest of Egypt. Another day we walked to the dead mans hill ...

... like pre-teens, very little hope of changing virgin status anytime soon. Random Motorbikes: Appeared to be the married men, somewhat bored-looking but seeming to enjoy darting in and out of the procession interrupting the flow any way possible. Truck # 4: Overflowing with young boys trying to make as much noise as humanly possible in the most obnoxious manner they can think of. We thought one kid was using one of those firewheel things that shoot sparks but realized ...

... through all kind of tiny villages. Tomorrow I'm off on a desert trip to hot springs and riding the sand board down the dunes! Eating lots more good food. Just had a half roast chicken, some veg salad, pitas, mint tea for about $4 while sitting on a pile of cushions. No wine and ladies feeding me grapes tonight, though.