38 Days in Egypt - Travel Egypt - Egyptian Travel Blog - Visiting Egypt on a Budget - Egypt off the Beaten Path - Cairo Dahab Luxor Siwa Alexandria Red Sea Sinai Peninsula

A video of our experience in Egypt. 

Welcome to 38 Days in Egypt: A Travelogue. 

My wife and I created this blog to create a travelogue of our visit in Egypt.  We wanted to have a way to remember the journey and share it with others who were interested in what Egypt is like.

We also built this site to show that, although Egypt is seen to many as a dangerous place to visit, that tourists have little to worry about when visiting Egypt.  Overall, for tourists, the country is quite safe.  The military and police to go extraordinary lengths to make sure that tourists are out of harms way.  There are huge penalties in place for assaulting a tourist and locals are very warm and caring for those.  While there is a great amount of hassle to tourists in Egypt, salespeople will generally help you out in the end, even if you do not purchase items from them.  As far as countries that I have visited, both of us would say that the people of Egypt have been some of the most friendly in the world.

Lastly, I created this website to help others who are visiting Egypt.  While there are a lot of good guidebooks available.  We used the The Rough Guide to Egypt and found that it was very helpful.  With that being said, sometimes guides do not have enough space to tell everything, and I wanted to answer some of the questions and show some of the places that the guide books do not have room to go into in great detail.  I would recommend this book, however, if you are planning on visiting Egypt. 

As students, we did not go to Egypt with a large budget.  One reason we visited Egypt was due to the low cost of traveling at the current time.  Egypt is considered a bargain right now, and flight prices from the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world are at an all time low.  Also, the Egyptian Pound (LE or EGP) is at a very favorable exchange rate at the moment.  With that being said, Egypt can still be a very expensive country to visit.  There are touts and unforeseen expenses here, just as there is anywhere.  As this blog was geared towards the budget traveler, I have taken the time to review hotels and hostels in various cities that cost around $10 a night and under. 

This blog is still a work in progress, and I have a lot to add in the coming weeks.  Thank you for reading. 

Here are some recent updates to this blog.  This post will stay on top for the time being so that readers can see what has been updated.

1.  Video of The Catacombs in Alexandria: July 3, 2013
2.  Video of the Blue Hole: July 3, 2013
3.  Map of our Travels: July 3, 2013
4.  Review of Sindbad Camp in Dahab: July 7, 2013

Interested in seeing where we are traveling now? Check out "Travels with Sephie."

Review for the Yousef Hotel in Siwa, Egypt

Hotel Yousef, in the oasis city of Siwa is perhaps one of the city's most recognizable buildings.  It is pink in color and stands taller than most of the buildings on the main square.  The hotel itself is quite old and consists of a main floor where there is a small TV and a reception desk.  There are some posters advertising various tours that are offered by the hotel around the town and further out into the desert.



The hotel has three floors of rooms.  On the third floor is a fridge that guests can use to keep things cool.  There are some older shared bathroom facilities on this floor as well, which seemed to be in various states of upkeep.  They are not as nasty, as say, the shower at the Chelsey House in Dublin, but then again, what is? In fact, to compare them to that is unfair.  They are, in a few words, sufficient for a body cleansing.

On the fourth floor is a few more rooms, which are the rooms with private bathrooms.  These rooms cost 50 EGP a night as of this writing, and are, in all honestly, priced well.  This comes out to about $8 a night, and the rooms themselves are decent.  The room that we stayed in consisted of two beds, two pillows (which were not very comfortable, but that seems to be the norm for budget hotels here), and a nice balcony area.

The balcony was the main selling point for this hotel, as it had a great view of the square and the sand sea of the Sahara beyond.  There are double french style doors that open to it, and combined with the ceiling fan, it provided a respite from the oftentimes oppressive heat of Siwa.

The bathroom itself was not the greatest asset of the hotel to put it mildly.  The hot water was sporadic and the toilet oftentimes fought back with a vengeance.  That being said, it was usable and not the worst we had seen (or will see).

On the rooftop is a common area that, like at the Dahab Hostel in Cairo, could use some repair.  There is a covered area with a few tables, which boasts an amazing view of the entire oasis area.  Coming up here to watch the sun set over the lake and the palm trees in the distance is a magical experience.  There is an old kitchen area up on the rooftop that seems to be retired.  It's a shame, as this would be great for guests to use.  With that being said, there are a couple of good restaurants nearby and food is cheap enough in Siwa. 

The common areas are kept clean and tidy.  Outside of each room is a small trash basket which is emptied every couple of days.  The hotel was very quiet, but this could have been due to the fact that only a few people were staying here when we were.

Rooftop common area of Hotel Yousef.

Overall, we were happy with our stay at Yousef Hotel in Siwa.  The rooms are very basic, but at 50 EGP for a room with a bathroom, one has very little cause to complain.  I should also mention that the proprietor was very nice and helpful.  He was not pushy about offering tours and only mentioned them when asked about them.  Overall, this is how we found Siwa, there's no pressure to buy tours, goods, or anything really.  It's much more laid back than Cairo, and all the people who we met were very accommodating and welcoming.

***

Website for the hotel: Hotel Yousef in Siwa Oasis, Egypt.

Bus ride from Siwa to Sinai.

On the night on Sunday, June 9^th, we boarded the bus back to Cairo. We had hopes of catching another bus onwards to Sinai from there the next day. As we've come to expect, we were the only tourists on the bus. It was pretty full otherwise. I learned my lesson on the last bus trip and so took a Dramamine shortly before we started.

The beginning of the ride was very pretty as the very last light was disappearing over the desert. We saw a few of the stars come out and then my medicine hit me like a ton of bricks. I was out until the next morning. 

Unfortunately, I was still aware of the very uncomfortable seats. I kept having to change positions in order to find one that didn't hurt so much. I did away with caring what others thought and, keeping my abaya modestly in place, curled up in a fetal position in my seat next to the window. That helped for a while, until body parts started to fall asleep. I was vaguely aware of stopping at a few places during night. Some people got off the bus and other got on. There was a longer stop where people got some food, but I was still way to sleepy to even consider getting up to find a bathroom.

The very bright morning sun woke me before five the next day. Josh was trying to sleep again. I noticed that we were still a ways outside of Cairo, so I watched the road for a bit and then went back to sleep. Josh woke me as we were arriving in the city. The bus dropped us off in a familiar place in Tahrir Square. From there it was pretty easy walk to the Cairo Gateway bus station. A taxi driver actually gave us directions after we told him we would walk instead of ride. We thought that was really nice of him.

We did arrive in Cairo at about six in the morning. We bought our bus tickets to St. Katherine's and found an ATM. The bus didn't leave until 11:00 that morning, however, and so we had time to kill. We sat at a cafe area in the bus station and got some mango juice and some snacks while we were there. Mostly, we tried not to fall asleep.

Our bus arrived a few minutes late and at first it seemed like it was going to be a full bus. It turned out that most people were waiting for a different bus that would be arriving at nearly the same time. Again, we were the only tourists on board. The bus took a very round about way out of Cairo and stopped at three other bus stations in the city. It was unexpected, but gave us a good tour of more of the city, mostly parts that we hadn't seen yet. We went through Heliopolis, which is a richer suburb/connected city to the north. It took a bit over an hour to get out of the city and begin the trip in earnest. At this point I think I fell asleep.

Suez, Egypt.

I woke up as we were entering what looked to be Suez. It was strange because there were many apartment type buildings that looked like they were empty. Some were finished and some were in varying states of being built. As we got further in, however, it appeared that more people were living in the buildings. There were many apartment buildings on that side of the city, and not much else. We made a stop there in town to refuel and a few people jumped off to smoke and grab some chips. We got to see a bit of the Suez Canal on our way out and figured that we would be driving over it. Imagine our surprise, however, when instead we went through a very long tunnel. From the other side we could see the huge container ships traveling through the canal. It was strange because we could barely see the water and it looked like there were ships stuck in the sand.

Looking out towards the Red Sea/Gulf of Suez.

Josh pointed out that we were now technically in Asia. I thought that was interesting. I guess it is also considered to be the Middle East. It's funny how you can travel to a different continent so easily sometimes. We continued down Sinai and made our way along the coast of the Red Sea. It was very pretty and very blue. Another strange sight however, were tons of huge resorts that seemed to be deserted. They looked like ghost towns and were completely closed off with nobody around. It was rather eerie looking. I wonder if it is because of the drop in foreign tourists or if the revolution affected the local tourism there. There were a couple people that did get off at one of the resorts that was still in operation. It looked pretty nice.

Later in the afternoon we turned and headed inland. The views of the mountains were spectacular, even if the winding road was starting to make me queasy. The terrain is so much different from anything else that we have seen. It is quite beautiful and fascinating. The mountains are all rocky and of different sizes. We also passed by a few oases with palm trees and houses. It was interesting to see the different varieties of ecosystems in such a short distance.  

We arrived in the village of St. Katherine (St. Catherine or Sant Katrene) around seven in the evening. It was still light out for a little while. I was glad because we got to see so much of Sinai. We had decided to stay at a place called Desert Fox Camp that is about a kilometer out of town. We weren't sure which way it was so I asked the driver. He told me to take the taxi, so I asked how much it would cost. He said 20 EGP. This seemed like a lot to go a distance that we could easily walk, especially since it was cooling off for the evening. I said that we were okay walking and he said that he would help us out and take us for free. I have never heard of a taxi driver doing that before! I didn't want to take advantage, so when we arrived, Josh gave him 10 EGP, which was very fair really.

Desert Fox Camp, Sinai, Egypt.

Upon arriving at desert fox camp we were wholeheartedly welcomed by Hamdi, who made us feel like we were home visiting family. He made us tea and gave us some tiny and tasty apricots that they grow here. We asked about food and so he made us some spaghetti for dinner. It was really good and especially so since we had not eaten real food since the previous afternoon for fear of being sick on the bus. While we ate we had the company of the resident felines who were quite entertaining. After eating we were very tired and so we settled down for the night in our little room made of stone.  The room itself was very dark and outside the sounds of crickets could be heard in the distance.  The air was actually quite cool and dare we say cold as darkness set.  We were told that it actually snows here in the winter months.  We enjoyed sleeping in a real bed after traveling across Egypt on a bus ride that took about 24 hours.  

Last Day in Siwa

I am skipping a couple of the days that we have been in Siwa. I may revisit these days later on, but for now I am moving forward because, frankly, we spent most of our time in Siwa during a heat wave which made it near impossible to go outside due to the extreme heat. At times the power would go off in our hotel, which meant our ceiling fan would stop and the heat would barrel in. On top of this, the dust from the desert was something else. But that is how life here is during the summer. That is what the locals put up with every day. However, there is not too much to write about it.

Last night we went for a nice dinner at a rooftop restaurant near where we are staying. We had spaghetti and Borio shakes. Borios are cookies, a lot like Oreos, only they are spelled differently and they are not as “cool” looking. They taste about the same, however. The shakes were amazing. The spaghetti was great, too. It was nice to sit up there as the city got dark, but let me tell you, the dust was something else. The whole horizon was just shrouded in it. You could not even see the sun setting it was so thick. The dunes, the hills, everything was blocked out by the thick dust that permeated the air around us.

After dinner we retired for the night and the next day we woke up early to purchase a bus ticket to go to Cairo. We will be leaving at 8:00 p.m. as I write this. The bus gets there around 6:00 a.m. we are told.



The day is getting hotter, but it's nowhere near as hot as the last two were. We went to Shali, the old city, earlier today and sat up there for a bit and looked at the desert and the lake in the distance. Then we came back to the hotel, paid for our five nights and told the proprietor that we will be leaving tonight. He let us stay half a day extra for 25 EGP. We did not get to go to Bir Wahed due to lack of tourists and the price for only the two of us to go. That is a shame, because I was looking forward to that, but we may be back here one day. Who knows? There is so much to see here, and we are still on a tight budget, and we figured that we are seeing so much that it is alright to do without a few things. Also, still being a bit sick made put a bit of a damper on seeking adventures.

Our last day in Siwa was a busy day, and, overall, it was an enjoyable one that will not be forgotten anytime soon. We had decided that we would be leaving on this day, therefore, at 9:00 am we made our way to the bus station to purchase tickets to Cairo. The bus ride is an overnight bus and one that we were kind of apprehensive about, as sometimes sleeping on the bus is not the most enjoyable thing in the world. We also went to the bank, which is said to be the world's only mud brick bank. The ATM itself is not made of mud, but it might as well have been – it was broken/off. We did, however, purchase the tickets (80 EGP each) and made our way towards Shali for one last visit.



On our way we visited the government gift shop and Beverly purchased a couple of embroidered shawls, which were, in total 220 EGP. They are a pretty good size and were created by hand by local artisans.

The bank in Siwa.

We climbed up into the old city using a different path and made our way to top. There was a sleeping man in one of the old huts. We were unsure if it is house or if it is just used as a resting area. When we got to the top we sat for a while and discussed some things, things which I no longer remember.

The Siwa bus station.

We eventually came down from the hill and saw that one of the local artisan shops was open. We decided to go in and see what kinds of things were for sale. This shop had a good amount of things, such as handbags, small coin purses, shawls, and other fabrics. There were some wooden boxes with intricate designs as well. We both really like the Arabic style and got a few things here. The prices at this shop seemed to be very good and we didn't really haggle, as we felt that the artisans probably make little money in comparison to the cost of what the goods are being sold for. Beverly purchased a few things that are pretty nice. We ended up purchasing a some hand bags (2 large and 2 small), a couple scarves, and a couple shawls. It didn't come to all that much, maybe about 470 EGP total. We only haggled a tiny bit, maybe we should have more.

After visiting the artisan shop we went back to our room for a bit and spent some time up on the rooftop area. Later on we got lunch (spaghetti) and spent about an hour at the restaurant. One thing about the restaurants in Siwa is that you better set aside a good amount of your day. This is especially true if you go on a Friday, which is the Muslim day of worship.

Later on we went to another artisan shop, bought a few things and talked to the guy that ran the place. He mentioned a friend that lives in New York who comes back to Siwa every once in a while for a sand bath. We thought we may not have not enough money to buy that which wanted, and he said we could pay his friend in Cairo if we wanted. We were surprised how trusting people here are. Many places do not require you to pay until you leave, such as hotels. We both like that. We were offered tea, but we had to turn it down to go catch the bus (hope that wasn't considered rude). The man gave us his business card and we thanked him. He had a great shop with really good prices.

We made our way to the hotel and got our things together and checked out. We then went to catch the bus as darkness fell on the oasis. I was very sad to go, as I had met a lot of people and was starting to really recognize a lot of the locals. Everyone we met was very nice and being some of the only tourists in the city made it so we got a lot of attention. It was a good visit and I may one day return.

Graduation Day!

Today, had I not came to Egypt, I may have been at my graduation. However, I am glad that I am not and, to be honest, school is the last thing that I want to think about at this point. I am, after all, on vacation, and do not want to remind myself of all that while away, so that is all I will say about it.

There is not much to be said about today. It is Friday, and we read that much of town is closed down on Friday, yet we have not seen that to be the case. It seems pretty busy outside right now, as I type this. We are also considering not going to Bir Wahed. It seems quite expensive now with few other tourists also going. If you are sharing a tour with others, the price is shared, but for Beverly and I to go without anyone else, the price is close to 350-400 for the day, or around $100 to spend the night. We have decided it is best to not spend so much, especially since we are still toward the beginning of our trip. We figure we will have the chance to do something similar in the future. 

 

We have seen a handful of other tourists here, and I am thinking that many of them may be spending the night in the more fancy places outside of town. There is another couple who I have seen around this hotel, but other than that, we seem to be alone.   

Trek to Cleopatra's Bath

Beverly awoke feeling better so we decided that we would go to a few of the out of town sites today. Those sites were the oracle temple, some other temple, and Cleopatra's bath. I, personally, was really excited to go to Cleopatra's bath, which is a hot springs that is out in the palm groves outside of town. It is one of the more popular areas for tourists.

We got up early and headed out, on foot. We had no idea that today would be the hottest day in Egypt since we arrived. Anyway, the road was a lot less shade covered than we expected and we made our way through the sun for a couple of miles before reaching the oracle temple. We did not go inside, but looked around and took some pictures from the outside. It is where Alexander The Great visited the Oracle at Siwa before heading to Asia. 

 

After visiting this site we went to another site which was an old temple that had fallen into ruins. It was interesting to see. There were some old carvings on the rocks and a nice place to sit down in the shade. We sat for a while and then headed off to Cleopatra's bath. Cleopatra's bath, as I said before, is a very popular spot. Generally it is said to be quite busy. There is a large restaurant on site and a place to buy smoothies and other drinks. Well, when we arrived there was one man sitting (sleeping) on the other side of the road and nobody else there. Even though the restaurant was supposed to open at 9 and it was well after, the place was completely dead.

The pool itself was quite deep and looked somewhat inviting, despite some green algae floating at the top. However, it seemed too strange to change and get in with nobody else anywhere around. I was not comfortable with using the facilities to change since nobody was at the restaurant. It was rather spooky seeing this whole set up of hammocks, chairs, tables, and such with nobody else inside. It was as if something had happened that made everyone just vanish. In fact, something did happen. Tourism has long since come to a virtual standstill. This was proof of how little tourism is reaching a once very popular area of Egypt. 

Cleopatra's Bath

We made our way back without swimming, figuring that we would spend some time at Bir Wahed or in Dahab. However, it was crazy to see a lack of people at the hot springs. I had heard, however, there was a more private hot springs in the palm groves that locals used to use, and I went looking for it. Beverly was tired and was waiting at the ruins. I was gone for a few minutes and when I came back, a male had taken some interest in her. She was not sure what he was thinking, but it is said that a woman alone is sometimes not good here. So, when I came back Beverly seemed a bit nervous. We decided that we would not split up any longer and would stick together. With that said, we did not find the spring and may look for it later, if we rent bikes and head back that way.



We made our way back to town and upon arriving purchased a huge watermelon and took it to our room to eat. I borrowed a knife and two spoons from the rooftop kitchen area and we had a feast of watermelon for breakfast/lunch. The monstrosity cost 10 EGP and was very good. It was a great way to hydrate. Then we found ourselves stuck in our room as the heat grew to an unbearable level. We opened the doors to the balcony and let some of the air come in, which helped, but it was still stifling. Later that evening we went out for dinner at the same place as last night and talked to one of the workers about tours to Bir Wahed. We don't know who we will go with or if we will go. When we returned to our room there was a great amount of sand in the air and a possible sand storm in the distance. It was hard to see anything on the horizon, so we shut ourselves in and began to rest as the sun was setting. Did I mention we bought Borio cookes? They are like Oreos, only spelled differently. And they are not as pretty, but they taste very similar.

I took the chance to do some much needed laundry. Even though doing laundry is said to be cheap here, I have not seen many places to get it done. One way in which I save money while traveling is to do my own laundry. It may be kind of ghetto, but that's just how it is.

Second Day in Siwa, Egypt

We live in a world that is sometimes just too connected. At any time, most of us can sit down in front of a computer and access anything. The cost of that is our interaction with the real world immediately around us. The hotel that I am staying at has no wifi and I figured that this would be a great chance to do without the internet for a while. First of all, if one should go without internet anywhere, it's in the middle of a desert oasis. This is not only an oasis from the hundreds of miles of sand in all directions, but an oasis from the modern world of the internet and cellular phones, which I honestly believe sometimes do more damage than good.

There are internet cafes nearby. In fact, sitting on my balcony and I can see two of them. However, I know that in a few days I will be able to post on my blog and access the internet from the most humble hostel room in Cairo. A few years back, traveling to Thailand, that kind of thing wasn't to be expected. In fact, it was rare to find a hostel with anything more than a couple of computers hooked up and a long queue to use them. Many of the guests used a site called Facebook, which I didn't use at that time either (I have since tried and given up Facebook for good. Read more about that at http://www.FacebookDetox.com). Now, people are somewhat spoiled. We are able to use the internet anywhere we go. Back home, it's not uncommon to see people walking around and accessing the internet on the street. Soon a product called Google Glass will try to change the world by allowing people to access the internet constantly. Do we really feel the need to be connected all the time? Isn't some sort of privacy good?

I find myself often longing for the world before the cellular phone or before instant internet access became commonplace everywhere one turned. It's great to be able to use the internet often, and it's very helpful, but when one feels the need to be able to access it no matter where they go, there is a problem.

Siwa has become my retreat from the internet and such modern conveniences. I will remember it for that. There is something to be said about a vacation where one can turn away and take it slow for a while. If one should step into the past anywhere, Egypt is perhaps the place to do it. Yet, the reality is that Egypt is a very modern country, just like most places are quickly becoming. Although I do not see the same amount of people on cellular phones as I do in the United States, there is a very visible presence of cell phones here.

It is nice to sometimes take a while and detox from so-called modern conveiniences. The world around us is a beautiful place and we miss out on a lot by ignoring it to instead spend time living virtual (fake) lives on Facebook (link to fake lives post) or absorbing ourselves in whatever message the media wants to get across on the internet.



It was about 5:30 a.m. when we awoke. After preparing for the day, we went up the roof and saw the village around us. It was mostly quiet and serene. There was the sound of donkeys and roosters around us, while the honking of car horns was still silent, for now. However, one can barely complain, as their presence is never anything close to that of Cairo or Alexandria. We headed down from the rooftop and made our way out into the streets. We hiked through a nearby side street which lead through some palm tree lined roads into various neighborhoods. A young boy on a donkey cart passed by us as we made our way along the sandy dirt road. After walking for a while we decided to double back and check out what is known as the old city, or Shali.

We walked back through the square, near our hotel and made our way to the towering old city which is visible from our room. It is like a mountain of sand which has been shaped into buildings that rise from the green oasis. As we made our way into this area, we met a man who talked to us about Siwa and told us about some of the sights and about the restaurant he either works at or owns. He was very nice and mentioned that Siwa is safe. He also told us about Bir Wahed, which means Well One, a collection of springs and a hot spring, that lies a few kilometers from town. We originally came to Siwa wanting to take an overnight trip here, and we think that we will. Of course, that will be for a future post. He did mention that girls can swim there in a bikini a few times, which was kind of funny sounding, especially since he also mentioned that it wasn't good for a woman to be alone in Siwa. He said that it was good for Beverly to be with me, her husband, and that two girls is OK, but not just one. He didn't really explain further.



The people here are very laid back, especially the merchants. It is possible to go into the shops here without being hassled to buy something. It's somewhat refreshing, and I have found that it makes me more likely to buy something. There are many handicraft market areas around the old city, yet in the morning hours, these ones were closed.

We made our way along the paths that lead up into the city. As one rises, the views improve. Towards the top the views of the desert are stunning. Our hotel is four floors high, but the old city itself is much higher. Therefore, when we reached the top we could see much more of the lake in the distance as well as more of the city. There is an old building that has decayed where one can sit inside and see the oasis area beyond. We took some pictures there and enjoyed watching the town come alive. After that we made our way back down for some breakfast of date pancakes and yogurt. Dates and olives are a big thing here, and many shops sell almond filled dates and some are said to sell chocolate filled dates. I will be looking for the latter while I am here. Breakfast was delicious, and afterwards, we made our way back to our room, as the middle of the day in the desert gets very hot. Many people avoid it and instead opt for enjoying the early morning and the evenings here.

For dinner we went across the street and perhaps made fools of ourselves. Let me explain. We ordered various dishes off the menu which may or may not include baked macaroni, french fries, “noodle rice” and tomato soup. Oh, and Siwi Juice, which is a shake made from local dates. The waiter came to us and informed us, after ordering, that the tomato soup was out. Beverly asked if the Egyptian soup was vegetarian and the waiter said no, it had chicken in it. So, Beverly instead ordered lentil soup. The man asked her if she was vegetarian and she said yes. At home we are trying to be vegan, but gave it up on this trip as it has been hard to be vegan. Anyway, Beverly later got her “noodle rice” which was rice with some kind of meaty substance on it. The waiter came up and told her that he was sorry, but the rice had meat in it. She had noticed that there was meat throughout and on top in a large pile. She said that was OK and he got her a regular order of rice. He also let me know that baked macaroni had the same type of meat in it and I said that I, too, was vegetarian. He changed my order and later on brought me a piping hot bowl of baked macaroni. We felt silly for not asking if the meals were vegetarian. Well, anyway, Beverly has still been feeling sick so was not able to finish. The waiter wondered if she liked the food but she tried to explain she was sick. I am not sure if he understood. Later, on the way out, we were not sure if we should pay for the mistake or if that was just forgiven, as it was not on the bill. Well, I paid with a 50 EGP bill since it came to 41 EGP. The waiter had to go make change. (This was after I said Shokran instead of Shukran for thank you). Well, when he made change he brought a 10 EGP back and mentioned 1 EGP. I said “go ahead and keep it,” even though the tip is already calculated on the bill. Anyway, lo and behold he was asking me for a 1 EGP coin. I felt like a fool upon realizing that. I paid and we scurried away like rats. We joked that we were too dense to go back there and were probably banned for life. Little did we know that we would be returning once again tomorrow for another round of macaroni and Beverly would be getting cous cous and vegetables (but that's for another day).

Day 8: Bus Ride to Siwa Oasis

The day was younger than a weaned kitten when we disembarked from our hotel in Alexandria and made our way toward the corniche where we would make an attempt to flag down a micro bus. We were able to stop one van, whose driver let us know that we were doing the sign wrong. There is a special hand signal for each route, and for the bus it is holding your hand up beside your face with your palm facing out and moving the hand up and down as a driver passes. Most of the drivers held up one finger as they went by, which I did not know the meaning of. The finger that was held up was the index finger, not the middle, at least.

We eventually were greeted with the grin of a taxi driver who quoted us 20 EGP to get us to the bus station. Even though the microbusses are 1 EGP each, we figured that it would be worth it to pay the extra and just get there quickly. It was still only about $3, so not really a big deal. The taxi driver let us into his yellow and black chariot and we raced along the corniche toward the bus station, which is on the south side of town. Even though the taxi driver was quick about getting us to the bus station, the ride was not too crazy, as it generally is in a taxi.

When we got to the bus station we were about an hour and a half early, so we sat down and watched kids sell tea and shoe shining. It's like something out of Oliver Twist here. While we waited I decided to grab some snacks for the bus and to check out the bathrooms. When I made my way to the potty, I noticed one has to pay 1 EGP to use it. I paid, wondering if it was even worth it, and when I walked out, I realized that I didn't even to go in the first place. It was more of a donation than anything.

I picked up a couple bags of chips (small bags), a couple hostess type chocolate snacks, a big bottle of apple soda, and a bottle of water. It all came to 17 EGP, which seemed spendy compared to other small shops, but it was the bus station, so it is expected.

Beverly and I decided to play a game called “I spy a tourist looking guy” since there were none around. The bus station was full of buses and there were a lot of people present, but we were the only tourist looking people around. Beverly said that she saw a girl tourist when I was in the bathroom, but I did not see her. It is still very strange to me that so few people are visiting Egypt now.

The bus area was a bit confusing, as the buses are not marked very well and a few companies use the bus station. When it was getting close to time to leave, we made our way up to a couple busses that were loading passengers, and asked if they were the bus to Siwa. The second bus driver nodded and put our bag under the bus. We got on, noticing that the bus that we would be taking was less fancy than some of the others. It was a cramped ride and the seats were not soft by any margin, but it was at least our bus and that meant we were on our way. Our tickets assigned our seats, but on the bus the numbers are only in Arabic. I have gotten pretty good at quickly reading Arabic numbers, but it can still be confusing.

We eventually pulled out of the bus station and made our way through the delta area. There was a huge oil refinery that we passed through and then the green areas began to slowly disappear. Later we passed through some towns where there were houses sitting on hills overlooking the water. Some of the houses were crazy compared to others. There was one house that was huge and pink that looked like a castle. There were also some newer style condo buildings being built. It was a pretty interesting ride.

After getting out of the area around Alexandria, it quickly grew more dry and the only things growing were small bushes. At one point we saw a couple of camel herds next to the road. Later on we passed a couple of military checkpoints and about three or so hours into our bus ride we stopped in the city of Mersa Matrouh. We got off the bus, as we really had to use the potty at this point. The bus itself was air conditioned and I brought a sweater just in case. I was glad I did, because it was very cold on the bus. Anyway, being that it was cold, the soda had moved through me and at this point it was worth finding a bathroom. I was not sure how long the bus ride would be, as we had read it was 10 hours total with up to 3 stops on the way.

The bus station area was confusing, and we noticed that nobody really knew English where we were. So, it was very hard to communicate with people. A few taxi drivers knew enough English to be able to tell me that they could drive us to Siwa instead of taking the bus. Another guy kept telling me over and over that Siwa was no good. I was not sure how much time we had at this bus station, since the driver did not speak English, so Beverly watched the bus while I went to find a restroom. After looking around a bit, I was able to find one. I went back to her and showed her where it was. The bus didn't look like it was going anywhere anytime soon, as everyone had left and disappeared somewhere. So we went and bought some snacks afterwards and then went to sit on the bus. The bus was at the stop for about an hour and a half until it left. Many people got on and some had to stand or sit on the floor.

We then left Mersa Matrouh and took the turn to Siwa, which leads into the deep desert. A sign said that it was 296 km to Siwa and about 300 to Alexandria, so we knew we were over half way. I spent the time reading while the bus made its way into the Sahara. I was finishing Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea while Beverly tried to avoid car sickness due to the bus moving all over the road. Eventually she took a nap and I joined her. After a while I awoke noticing that we were deep in the desert. I listened to some music and watched the scenery pass us by for a while and after a couple more hours I noticed that we were in a very hilly area of the desert. I woke Beverly and told her we might be close. We passed a military checkpoint where a large assault rifle was aimed at the bus by a guard next to us. That was interesting. Then we entered the Siwa area. The landscape quickly turned green with date palm trees and we came to our bus station rather quickly.

We got off the bus and made our way toward where we thought our hotel would be. At first, we went in the wrong direction, but we turned around and found where the center of town looked to be. We walked in that direction as young boys driving donkey carts and men on motorcycles passed us by. A sign at the bus station warned women to dress modestly. Siwa is even more traditional and conservative than other areas of Egypt, especially Cairo and Alexandria. Men are not allowed to show their shoulders and women must cover as much as possible. Even when swimming, women are expected to wear pants and cover most of their arms. Many of the women here in town are fully covered, including their faces.  Although Beverly wears an abaya and hijab (the scarf), she feels that she is underdressed.

We came to our hotel and checked in. We were not able to reserve a room, so I was somewhat worried about not getting one. However, there seemed to be nobody else staying here when we checked in and there were plenty of rooms. A regular room without a bathroom costs 30 EGP for two people and a room with a bathroom inside costs 50 EGP for a double. We decided to pay the extra for the bathroom and noticed that our room also had a balcony, which is nice. It views the city and the park that is nearby. We also have a great view of the ancient city of Shali, which is inside the modern town area. The city of Siwa itself is only populated by about 25,000 people and it is much better looking in person than the pictures that I had seen before.

The person who checked us into our room told us about some tours and showed us the rooftop balcony. There is an amazing view from the top of the whole city and the desert and oasis lake beyond. There are many hills to the west and to the south is a sea of palm trees before ending where sand dunes begin. The hotel is also very close to the old city of Siwa, which is made of mud and rises out of the earth like a mountain.

We settled in our room and then went out for some dinner across the street. After dinner we returned to the roof top deck to watch the sun set. The sun set so fast over the water of the oasis lake that you could actually see it moving. It was a gorgeous sight. The clouds and water turned crimson red as the large disc of the sun slid over the horizon. The city then lit up beyond and the call to prayer from the nearby Mosques filled the air. In the distance we could see a group of people at the old city, climbing the hills. In the streets below, donkey carts and motorcycles passed as the evening came over the town.