Egypt – probably the country that annoyed me the most when I was travelling. Just endless hassle, endless demands for baksheesh. Still, there is a huge amount to see, and I only started to scratch the surface. I don’t think I will ever go back to the mainland if I can avoid it, but I might be tempted to return to Dahab, to go diving. Just not on a public holiday…
The one good thing I will say about Egypt though was that it was pretty cheap to travel around. I became a flashpacker, staying in hotels, rather than dorms. I could usually get my own bed and bathroom for less than £5/night. So much cheaper than travel in the UK.
This is the view from my first hotel room, in Zamalek, Cairo – there’s the Nile between the buildings. Wow, the Nile, that famous river…but up close it’s much the same as rivers through many cities – dirty and smelly. Better further up, around Aswan. Still don’t think I’d eat the fish out of it though.
Obligatory Giza pyramids/Sphinx shot. It’s funny how many things seem smaller in the flesh than the image you have in your mind.
Sign seen in Alexandria. No, I’m still trying to work out what it means too.
El Alamein was the scene of the first Allied victory in WWII. These days, there are several war cemeteries marking it – Commonwealth, German and Italian. I had to pay a bribe to the police – the police! – in order to get in/out of these sites. Shocking. Ungrateful pricks.
The Nilometers were used for measuring the levels of the Nile, which then had a bearing on the taxation levels. A handful are left:
A few assorted shots of Abu Simbel, Karnak and the Luxor Temple
