In sha' allah

Greetings from Amman, Jordan - country no. 4 on my tour de force!

I (sadly) flew out of Egypt yesterday morning. Egypt is, well, Egypt. If you've been there, you know what I mean. If you haven't, there are no words to explain it. I immediately felt extremely comfortable & safe in Egypt. It actually reminds me of Kathmandu - only cleaner and (much) bigger!

I have seen some amazing sights of the ancient world but it has been the Egyptian people that have left me with some of the most memorable experiences of my whole stay. The Egyptian people are wonderful, warm, kind & passionate people. As I always do when travelling o/s, I made an effort to learn as much of the language as I can. Which is not very much at all because I am linguistically challenged. But I have tried and it has, I think, made a huge impact on my experiences here. Almost every time I've tried to speak it, I have been on the recieving end of -

(a) a 'double take' - as if the person was momentarily confused by an albino red head speaking Arabic;

(b) the question ' do you speak Arabic?' and then when I say no -

(c) a long lesson, given with great humour, passion and encouragement, about the Arabic language.

After 33 hours of travelling via Bangkok and Vienna, my sore throat & I arrived in Cairo on the 5th (yes, I'm a long way behind!). Our magnificant hotel (which was a former palace) was adjacent to the pyramids at Giza. Less than 3 days since I'd been in the Himalayas, it was rather strange to be sitting on the balcony of my room looking at the great pyramid at Giza. Needless to say, I really appreciated our luxury hotel after spending 4 weeks in a tent! It did however take my brain several days to adjust to the fact that I was now in Egypt (my heart of course remained in Nepal).

By the following morning, my sore throat had developed into a terrible head cold. I have always, always wanted to visit the pyramids at Giza. But I must have been sick - or it was a sign of things to come - that all I could do when we visited the pyramids on the morning of the first day was think about going back to the hotel to curl up & sleep. After a day in Cairo, we flew by charter plane to Abu Simbel in the south of the country, only 60km from the border with Sudan. Abu Simbel is extraordinary not only because of the sheer size and scale of it, but because of the fact it was moved to a higher location in the 60s in a project managed by UNESCO to save it from flooding when the Aswan Dam was being constructed.

After visiting the incredible Abu Simbel we bordered our luxurious cruise ship for a 3 night cruise on Lake Nasser, stopping at various Nubian temples along the way. Lake Nasser is incredible; it was formed by the building of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River and, at 550km long, it is the largest artifical lake in the world. I particularly loved this part of our trip. I guess when most people imagine Egypt, the 'typical' Nile scene comes to mind. Lots of boats (on the Nile River there are apparently 320 cruise ships!), a band of lush, green agricultural land on the banks and then desert in the distance. Lake Nasser is completely the opposite of this 'typical' scene; there are only 7 cruise ships allowed on it. All of the Nubians who lived in the region were moved by the government hundreds of kms north to Aswan when the Aswan Dam was under construction - so that there is no-one living on the banks. There are very few signs of habitation and no vegetation; the desert continues all the way to the waters edge. It is stark, barren & spectacular.

At Aswan, we disembarked and then boarded our 3 night cruise on the Nile which I enjoyed because it was the 'typical' Nile scene that I imagine. When we arrived in Luxor, we visited the Valley of the Kings including entering the tomb of King Tut which is actually impressive due to its simplicity & size - it is tiny compared to the other tombs in the Valley. Of course, he died unexpectedly so (it is believed) his tomb was not completed and that he was buried in another (smaller) tomb which had already been completed for one of his military advisers. His mummy is also on display in its tomb. I have seen (and in fact handled) mummies before so it wasn't a new experience for me. But I always find it a good reminder to make the most of life now because we are dead a very long time. For me the most impressive tomb was that of Ramses V & VI. The colours in the tomb were so vivid, even 3000+ years later.

From Luxor it was off to Hughada on the Red Sea - which, to be honest, is really just a glorified Gold Coast. Not particuarly exciting. Or perhaps that was just because I was sick. I have been sick the whole time in Egypt - my head cold became an infection - and it seemed to worsen while we were in Hughada so, while Mum & Dad went off on a snorkling trip on the Red Sea, I slept. As I said, it wasn't the most memorable part of the trip for me.

Then it was back to Cairo for our final day which included a visit to the impressive Cairo museum. Unfortunately I didn't get to spend as much there as I would have wanted. I guess I'm just going to have to go back one day.... :-)

And (for now) I am in Amman, Jordan. Tomorrow night we are staying in the town of Petra and, on the following day, spending the whole day at the amazing ruins at Petra. Can't wait. Stay tuned for the next instalment sometime soon, in sha' allah (god willing).