Walk like an Egyptian

Finally making it across the border two days later than planned, thanks to many Jewish and Muslim holidays,  we headed straight to Dahab, a diving/backpacker resort on the Red Sea Coast. Through a recommendation we met up with the team from Seadancer with whom we spent a couple of days diving. The water was amazingly clear and warm, and the coral reefs were phenomenal. We found all manners of sea life (actually the dive instructor did, we just looked) and really were sad we couldn’t stay longer - especially because we know the water will only be colder in NZ! 

Following from this we took a very long bus ride to Cairo. Straight away we hit the hustle and bustle of the city of 22 million when our driver dropped us in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, (the word of our trip) a taxi driver found our hotel. This was coincidentally located close to Tahir square and offered great views of the ongoing post Friday prayer protests which are happening in Egypt still. Of course we took in the sights of the pyramids, antiquities museum and Nile but perhaps the best thing we did in Cairo was join our (now) friend Modi for a tour around the sights that were pivotal in the January Egyptian Revolution. Modi was heavily involved with the organisation and he gave us a blow by blow description of what was required to overturn the government of Mubarak (don’t worry John, we have no intention of instigating anything in NZ …) Modi also showed off the best of Cairo in terms of the old city and it's beautiful parks, and helped us acquire our prized Egyptian possession – a tabla (hand-held drum). While walking around Cairo we became aware of the downturn as a result of the revolution. We hope for the sake of those that rely on tourism that people realise travelling here is no more dangerous than any other country.

The upper Nile cities of Aswan and Luxor were equally interesting. Perhaps the highlight here though was our tour through the Valley of the Kings. Here tombs that are thousands of years old are so well preserved they look like they could have been made yesterday. Our final destination city was Alexandria – once home to the famous library and lighthouse. For us it was a stepping point to see the battlefield of El Alamein and pay our respects at the War Cemeteries. It was quite a shock to see so many New Zealanders represented, perhaps the most we have seen of the War Graves we have visited so far.

Our thoughts on Egypt were mixed. On one hand you cannot neglect the constant hassle and occasional underhand attempt to prize money from the unsuspecting. But we feel this was well and truly outweighed by the care we received from our hosts, our feeling safe on the streets, and the experience of being surrounded by such a rich and ancient culture.