Warm Milk and a Free Ride (Egyptian Hospitality)

Near Qena to Sohag Police Checkpoint

Distance: 54 km
Time: 3:26:00
Ave Speed: 15.6 km/hr
Max Speed: 24.5 km/hr
Temp: 14 C
Weather: Cool afternoon, really chilly night

We woke early but stayed in the tent as long as possible, hoping the sun would warm up the air. The nearby kids could hardly wait to get a peak at us, a great encouragement to get up and packed as they grow bolder and creep closer. As we were finally prepared to leave the old men also waiting nearby insisted we sit down for some chai, kindly presenting us with hot, fresh buffalo milk and a chunk of thick, yeasty bread. Slowly a crowd gathered, all intrigued by the strange foreigners, and the men set up a hookah to share. It was homemade from a paint tin and a stick of bamboo. Ingenius.


Yep, that's a paint tin sheesha


Chris joins in the sheesha fun

We said goodbye and began the day's journey along the river, passing by more mud villages, cattle, at least a thousand children yelling emphatically hello!, women washing laundry, robed men riding donkeys, and still more fields. Every village passing seems a similar experience: we ride and wave to the first armed guard, if slow enough he will ask our nationality and inform us he is police. There is usually a mosque somewhere in the distance, maybe across the water, surrounded by water buffalo, donkey carts full of sugar cane or fodder, laundry hanging on a line, children running and screaming at us... There are many sufi shrines dotted along the way, usually small and painted in chipping pastel colors. They add quite an old ambiance to the already 'old world' feel around here.


Colorful laundry spruces up the drab mud and cement buildings...


One of many colorful sufi tombs

Around midday we arrived at the city of Qena, where we stopped for fuel. The only visable option was more falafel, probably the worst I've tasted so far. To add salt in that wound we can't seem to go anywhere without constantly attracting a large crowd of onlookers, mostly boys. We fled to the train station (curious in case we want to ride back into Cairo, evidently we can jump on for 40 pounds) and then to a nearby market to pick up some fruit. I've never seen fruit so cheap! We bought enormous tangelos and tomatoes for .20/ kilo.


Break at the Qena station

Back on the road, we cycled far from town, stopping for tea at a house with a wicker bench out front. The tea of upper Egypt is powdered, kind of like Turkish coffee, so it settles into a thick layer at the bottom of the cups. At first I thought this was sediment from dirty river water, but have decided to use the power of positive thinking to keep from getting sick.


Power biking

While passing a village some robed men waved at us and invited us to stop, saying ftr, or come in! We did, hoping that if all went well they'd agree to let us camp nearby. We sat for tea, encircled by an ever-growing crowd of men and children. All of the sudden a truck of policemen arrived, fully armed, and though pleasantly friendly insisted we get into their vehicle. Sort of baffled but amused, we climbed inside, and together drove to the nearest station. Usually every 2 km or so an old man with a rifle is posted along the road, a traffic cop, always eager to point out he is police. Then at the big stations we are always stopped and required to show our passports, questioned a bit and finally wave by (except when they told us to turn around). This is the type of station we were taken to, told it would be too dangerous for us to bike. The police insisted on escorting us to the next station, refusing to let us camp with a family. Three stations later the men agreed to let us camp behind the building, curious and amazed at crazy foreigners. Apparently nobody has ever biked up the Nile, the officers are completely baffled about what to do with us.


New police friend and internet

The young men eagerly helped us get settled, extremely curious as to how the tent and sleeping pads and bag works, but eventually left us alone. Another chilly night.

Honk for Upper Egypt!

Luxor to village before Qena

Distance: 69.25 km
Time: 4:26:00
Ave Speed: 15.6 km/hr
Max Speed: 22.4 km/hr
Temp: 21 C
Weather: Cooler days, chilly night

Biking up the Nile (El Neel) sounds nonchalantly easy enough, except when the police get involved. We checked out of our hotel and paid 10 pounds ($2) for a boat to ferry us and our bikes to the less crowded west bank.


To the West Bank round two!

Everything started out beautiful and carefree- my spirits elated from a minor funk as we cycled along a small lane. The villages resemble many parts of India; tropical with mud homes and water buffalo everywhere. We made about 18 km before arriving at a police checkpoint where we were refused passage. Too dangerous. No police. No negotiations.


I really want my own pet camel

So Chris and I had to backtrack south of Luxor to cross the bridge, then bike back through the city again. This time we departed on the main road full of heavy load of traffic. The 'touristic' streets are noticably different from regular Egyptian streets, usually marked with a sign and lined in manicured bouganvilla.


"El Touristic" street, landscaped well

We cycled a few hours on the east side, with the road following directly next to a wide tributary. On our right a continual stream of mud houses and fields, most appearing to be full of sugar cane. Huge truckloads stuffed with cane passed us by, otherwise most of the other traffic was the occasional donkey cart.


Bikes along El Neel

At sundown we pulled over to a cluster of homes where an empty patch of brush was cleared. The man nearby (presumably the owner) replied mumkin (is possible) when we asked permission to camp- all set! We popped the tent and settled in for an early, cold night along the Nile.


Tent time!

Mighty Luxor

Our train pulled in as scheduled at 5 am, the morning still cold and dark. Not knowing what to do, we decided to splurge on a hassle free hotel room (our 4th on the entire trip) and found one called the Princess, advertising 20 pound ($4) rooms. To pass the time Chris and I waited outside at a cafe drinking 1- pound glasses of tea until the front boy at the hotel counter woke up.


Pre-dawn chai outside the Princess cafe

Egyptians strike me as late morning folk; nowhere we have been shows life before 9 or so. That gave us plenty of time to bike around the nearly empty streets and explore Luxor's infamous temples before the crowds hit. The main temple sits directly at the heart of the town, encircled in a low, barely obtrusive fence. It's obelisk and double flanked entrance leads to a lane of pillars, with the street of sphinxes extending out the opposite direction. New sphinxes are apparently still being uncovered, as they now lead all the way down to the temple of Karnak.


Crazy 8's outside the Temple of Luxor


Obelisk and double flanked entrance to Luxor


One of many babs into the Temple of Karnak


Heiroglyphs on the bab (gateway)

Chris and I spent the majority of the day along the Nile, watching the luxurious ferry boats and feluccas bobbing in the water. We even ate pizza from an Italian kitchen near the expensive hotels, because the falafel sandwhiches we've been surviving off of have lost their charm.


Temples make us sleepy...


Internationally accomodating fleet and ferries along the Nile


Pizza time! Oh Albania, I miss your abundant Italian cuisine

There is almost nothing else to do or see inside Luxor after viewing the temples. We tried to find the hidden life of the town by exploring the back alleys and streets away from the horse drawn carriage tourist streets, but found little more than dirty, crowded alleys full of kids. I didn't feel so well so Chris bought a roasted chicken to go and we settled in for the night, watching Ted Talks on the wireless in our room.


Sketch mode


Roasted street birds

Out of the Sinai

El Tor to Luxor

Distance: 52.7 km
Time: 5:17:00
Ave Speed: 10 km/hr
Max Speed: 46 km/hr
Temp: 35 C
Weather: hot hot like an Albanian summer

Yeah we made the train!

Al hamdullilah we finagled our way into a sleeper cabin heading from Cairo to Luxor, arriving at 5 am. Today we woke in the Sinai, outside the town of El Tor, and managed to hitch our way over 300 km across the Suez and into the capital.


Empty highways cutting through the Sinai mountains

We had fully intended on taking the ferry from Sharm to Hurghada, but low and behold when we showed up the guard informed us they closed the ferry line. Maybe they are afraid of a bomb. This information is not posted online so word to whoever may be traveling in the area!


Yachts outside of Sharm El-Sheik (but no giant ferry)

Our tent last night was unknowingly pitched at the edge of a family's garden, and in the morning they invited us to come inside for tea and freshly baked bread. They live in a small cluster of concrete rooms built by the family and decorated with tattered rugs and, in most cases, large religious posters (usually of Mecca). We sat with them near the morning firepit in a shaded backyard enclosure.


Sheik Christopher wakes near a house


Daughters and sisters roll out and bake the bread daily

The women were cooking it themselves, on a fire inside the cap of a 30 gallon drum. Their warm bedouin tortillas were delicious, served with cream and a tahini-grape molasses mix. The patriarch of the family (Abu something, we didn't catch that) sat by us, smoking a hookah made from a Coke bottle.


Bedouin sheesha and sugar tea= American coffee and cigarettes


Chris and I were presented with warm bread, sweet cream, and tahini-molasses

The first carful of Sharm-working guys we hitched with took us along the flat, empty, Nevada-desert-like landscape of western coastline (for unknown reasons this seaside has been left 100% untouched). They dropped us in Suez; from there an older man with a truck stopped on his way to Cairo and amazingly enough took us all the way to the southwest area of town, weaving through, on average, 6 lanes of stop-and-go traffic.


Women and daughters rest in the shade while walking the animals to graze

Cairo is a disturbingly crowded city ringed by foreboding brick slums. Many of the buildings seem to be highrise brick without any windows, strange skeletal towers. Inside near the Nile are the wealthier neighborhoods, though we didn't get a good look during our race to the train station. We will be back at the end to fly home, until then we can just enjoy what we call our "Hilton resort on wheels".


Comfy cozy another train ride

Diving in Dahab

Taba to Dahab

Distance: 29 km
Time: 2:17:00
Ave Speed: 12.7
Max Speed: 52.4
Temp: 25.4 C
Weather: Oh so hot and sunny!

Chris and I woke very late in our isolated Taba beach dwelling. Actually we woke early with the sun but I had been awake all night with the flu and intense body shivering so I was super tired. I rolled over and tried to block the sun for every last bit of rest my exhausted, aching body could absorb. Entirely not enough.


Morning in Taba (note the sun at a noon position)

We discovered Chris' glasses underneath his sleeping pad, busted in two. He got to bike blinded behind me while I warned him with shouts of "pothole!" and "glass!".

The road along the Sinai coast juts between deep blue ocean and dry, barren mountain rocks, without a sign of greenery or life. The exceptions to this are the random conglomerate resorts like Hilton and Club Med that appear, over the top and energy guzzling with their landscaped grass lawns and 100% imported supplies. Most of them follow a Saudi desert palace theme, and there are skeletons of dozens more in the process. In the last few years there have been large suicide bombings at these type of resorts, blamed on the bedouin who feel that their land has been taken away. I don't by that-- it sounds like scapegoating to me-- but all is luckily quiet for the time being.


Clear waters at an empty Sinai beachfront (the only empty cove we saw)

We climbed a few hills, disappointed slighty that the road didn't closely follow the water, and also feeling quite dehydrated in the strong sunlight. From Nuweba we caught a ride in a water delivery truck who carried us over the steep mountain pass to the Dahab turnoff.

After passing yet another checkpoint, (Egyptian roads apparently have them everywhere to check for bombs or something) Chris and I coasted down the hill to the beach town. We've been couchsurfing here in Dahab with the most fabulous couple- avid divers who run a conservation NGO. They lived a few years in Maritus, where their team of staff work with local fishermen to convince them not to kill the dugon, or sea manitee, that accidentally wash into their nets. Now they mostly manage from abroad, with a small office and staff here. Not a bad life!


With our CS hosts

Our hosts are also amazing cooks, and vegetarian. Upon arrival we feasted on a veggie, beans, and creamy mashed potatoe bake. The next night during their arabic lessons I baked eggplant pizzas, which luckily turned out well.


Delicious dinner with Patricia and Chris (and Chris)

Chris and I spent the days scuba diving, something we've been looking forward to since getting certified in Thailand. Dahab's beach boardwalk is lined with mostly wooden, mostly low key, lounge bars and restaurants, as well as dive shops, markets, and hotels. Overall it's still relatively small scale, lacking buildings over 2 floors, and not too outrageously priced, at least compared to Sharm El-Sheik. There has been a recent explosion of Russian tourists, however, who come with tons of money to blow, and thus the local vibe is shifting from the hippie getaway to a more refined high market.


Dahab's boardwalk, lined with lounge bars and dive shops


Chris enjoys hearty Egyptian koshari: rice, pasta, noodles, fried onions, lentils, garbanzo, and spicy tomato sauce


Twilight at the beach

Just away from the boardwalk the neighborhoods are full of new apartments and old, crumbling ones; the streets are teeming with herds of goats, thankfully munching away at the garbage that accumulates everywhere. Every so often we spotted a very white, European woman walking hand in hand with a young, half-Egyptian child. Apparently there is a trend of ladies who come for a beach holiday or yoga get-away, then fall in love with a bedouin man and decide to stay. In locals slang, that's called 'sampling the snackbar'.


Goats a plenty in Dahab!


Yoga retreat lures the women in... "snackbar" bedouins get them to stay!

We arranged diving with a shop out on the edge of the boardwalk: Adventure Spot Dive, a team of super friendly Egyptians with a few expats on board. Our instructor, Ahmet, spoke perfect English and has 16 years of dive experience. The first day he took us on a (manditory) refresher dive, to a central spot called the Lighthouse. In the shallow water we quickly reviewed our underwater skills, such as mask clearing and bouyancy, then decended for an exploration dive. The shore dropped off at a high angle allowing us to get down to our 30 m easily. At the bottom were a few scattered jugs with fish living inside, playing peekaboo as we glided passed. Outside of diving I forget why it's so amazing- then as soon as I'm underwater I instantly realize how beautiful underwater life is, a hidden world of fish and corals. I am reminded of my desperate desire throughout childhood to grow flippers and become a mermaid.


Adventure spot, our dive shop


Juvenile Lionfish [courtesy www.richard-seaman.com/], plentiful at the Lighthouse


Between dives at the Lighthouse

After surfacing we detanked and drove to another sight at the edge of the boardwalk, away from the populated areas. This site is called the Eel Gardens. After a swim out over some coral we decended between more coral plumes, then down a long sandy shore. The white sand almost looked like snow. Suddenly we noticed that in all directions were hundreds of tentacle-like worms, sticking up about 2 feet from the sand and waving rhythmically in the current. Eels! They are pencil thin, long, and as we swam near they would sink back into the ground, always forming a ring around us. We also saw a ton of red sea puffers, though try as we might we couldn't get them to puff.


Creepy eels from the Eel Gardens [courtesy www.richard-seaman.com/]


Sinai Puffer! [courtesy www.richard-seaman.com/]



The next day we went early to meet for our slightly farther dive, requiring a truck ride north of town to a place called the Canyon. Along the way are hundreds of camels and bedouin, ready to take tourists on rides along the beach.


Camel rides along the beach...

Out on this stretch of beach are no hotels, only a handful of wooden beach restaurants and divers. We jumped into an area called The Bells, a shaft of coral and rock that makes an eerie echoing sound as you swim down. Unfortunately, my flu has died down to merely a killer sinus infection, so when I began to descend the otherwise unnoticed airbubbles in my head cavities began throbbing, making my forehead hurt like I had a pen jabbed into my skull. I started freaking out. I couldn't equalize. I was whirling in the bubbles desperately trying to blow out my ears and make the pain stop (point being, I didn't hear the bells).


Blue Hole beachfront awaiting divers


Aerial view of the Blue Hole [courtesy aquaviews.net/must-dive-sites-dahab-blue-hole/]


Suiting up! Its diving time!

Eventually it all worked out and our trio moved along, following an endless coral wall that dropped down into oblivion. Coral walls are amazingly vivid, this one with wispy white flowery bulbs fluttering in the current. Millions of fish of all sizes scamper in and out, some pecking at the coral, others at my face (tiny blue ribbon fish that occaisionally mistook my lips and ears for a snack).


Swimming down the Bells [courtesy www.responsibletravel.com/copy/dahab-dive-sites]

We drifted in the current along the wall until reaching a big hole, appropriately called the Blue Hole. Here is where free divers plunge to insane depths without a tank or gear- just one deep breath to get down as far as possible. Inside the hole I watched one diver slowly ascend to the surface in his long thin flippers.


Free diving atthe Blue Hole [courtesy http://aquaviews.net/]

Before heading home Chris and I rocked Dahab in true form by drinking a strawberry smoothie at a plush beach bar. We could only afford one between us, but that's ok because the shady booth and sea breeze was all we were after...


Post-dive rest on the pillow lounge

Oh and yes, Chris did find a clever welder to solder his glasses back together.


Chris' mended specs