Seeing as it was going to be our last chance for a trip together before returning to South Africa, me and Heather decided that we'd go for a trip. We looked at a couple of options but decided that we'd do Egypt in the end.
So we went of last minute dot com and found a cheap package deal to go to Egypt.
The flight was alright, albeit that because of the cheapness of it we had to pay for drinks etc. The interesting part however came when it was time to land.
We had been flying over desert and some more desert and just to be different some rocky mountainous desert until the pilot announced that we should fasten our seat belts for landing. Looking out the window I could see DESERT. No city in the distance, no nothing.
Our trip had us staying in Luxor, mostly because it was cheapest but we could kinda kid ourselves by saying it was where most of the archaeological sites where. Bar the pyramids and Sphinx of coarse.
The little town however was mostly funded by tourism and it was dirty and poor, and small.
So getting back to landing, the little town was completely out of site. I would have felt better if I could have seen the Nile, but no such luck, and as the hollowing sensation started in my stomach as the plane started dropping there was still nothing.
We were eventually very low over the desert, and I must admit to having a tiny moment of doubt in our pilots sanity before suddenly the wheels made contact with something and much to my relief the plane settled onto a runway. I could still see nothing other than desert out of the windows.
Desert in Egypt is real desert. There are no scrubs, no nothing. It an endless landscape of rocky nothingness as far as you can see.
The plan eventually turned into a docking bay and we could see the station in the distance along with one or 2 other planes.
The next thing that comes to mind after your initial fear of having to hitch a ride with an Egyptian on a camel to the nearest town is the stupid little thought that suddenly comes to mind. “Are you guys sure we can breathe out there, it kinda looks like we’re on Mars.
As airports go, this one looks quite a bit like the one you’d see on some moon base in a star wars movie. I’m not sure if they intended it but the floor of the runway was a similar color than that of the rest of the desert and the the actual Terminal building was ridiculously modern compared to its setting.
Our trip being in end of January, which was technically winter in the southern hemisphere, we were thinking mild temperatures. We were surprised tho to find that the temperature never really dropped below 25 degrees Celsius, and we even had a 30 while we were there.
We stepped out into the African sun and the heat was a welcome change to the cold London we left begin. I don’t know about the rest of the crowd but I had to take in a deep breath of the fresh air. The sky was a stunning blue and it seemed oddly very clean, as if the sun would not allow a germ to life here.
The terminal building was cool and air conditioned. We went quickly through customs and went outside to catch the buss to our hotel. The realization dawns on you rather unexpectedly that you are no longer it a safe 1st World country. Maybe our South African instincts kicked in, but both of us kept a closer eye on luggage and reluctantly gave our bags to the bus driver who promptly demanded English Pounds for a tip.
After a few minutes of driving a few palm trees start dotting the sides of the streets. Traffic rules does not seem to be of the greatest importance and horse and donkey cars get more and more plentiful the nearer you get to Luxor.
We checked into our hotel, one of the more up market buildings stretching long the promenade and settled into our room, which had clearly been picked for an unmarried couple of 2 separate beds. It did however have a view of the Nile and the great mountain on the dead side of the Nile (called so because that’s where all the tombs are). In the dark however we could only make out some lights in the distance and thought it was a temple.
The next morning we decided to start exploring. As soon as we put out feet outside the hotel the hassling starts. Come ride on my horse cart, hire a bike, come down the the Nile and ride on my fuluca (Donno how you spell that but it a little rickety sailboat).
Eventually one of the hassling horde invited himself to join our walk and promptly walked us straight onto a Jetty where he wanted to take us on his fuluca. We were so bewildered by this stage that we had actually followed him almost straight onto the boat. Heather eventually whispered in my ear “Fake a phone call!!” and I made a little show of my friends calling me and I turned to see 2 people standing on the bank. I promptly adopted them as my friends in my little act and said. “Yes I see you…. Cool we will come and join you now.” And with heartfelt apologies me and Heather started, walking at a more that brisk pace of the jetty with calls of “You liar” following us all the way. I never said I was a very good actor. In fact I don’t even know if Luxor has cell phone signal.
Our brisk walk I think might have turned into a jog as we reached the promenade and we made at back to our Hotel after dodging another couple of the hassle’ing horde.
So we did what every sensible tourist would do. First we sat down in the safety of the hotel and had a drink to calm the nerves, and then we booked group tours for the remained of our stay so that we would never have to go out there alone again. These tours set us back quite a bit more than the flights and accommodation did but we were not about to risk the horde outside again quickly.
We settled in our room to watch the run set over the Nile after our first day. The sunset was amazing.
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