It's HOT, HOT, HOT!

Who the hell would go into the desert in the middle of summer...? Ummm, I think that would be the same person who went to Africa & didn't take binoculars :o) IT'S ALL GOOD!

There are 25 people on the tour with me so I'm not the only one who's stupid enough to have come to Egypt to brave the 48oC+ heat & that was only yesterday, it's only supposed to get hotter... See the plan is to lose the extra weight that I put on round the belly in Africa - I'll just get to sweat, sorry 'Glow', it off - no exercise needed. Sounds like a great plan to me! :)

The last few days have been great & I'm really enjoying the tour although for the first 2 nights (Sunday & Monday) we pretty much just put up tents in the desert & had no facilities, glad Africa prepared me for it, cause some of the others found it a bit hard. As per usual day by day account of what I've been up to (Just to bore the shit out of you. I've had no comments on the last few posts so figure I must be a tad boring!)

Saturday 7/8 - Went for a wander round the streets of Cairo near the hotel & brought about a $111au (500Ep) worth of art work. 7 works all up, on the traditional papyrus paper. We went to another gallery with the group & they were charging 500ep for 1 work!!! Plus he's going to send them home for me for free, too. Mum, in case I forget to tell you there's one in there for you, 1 for J & 1 for Claudia & Lyndon (Claudia could I get you to email me your new address so I can get mum to send it to you?). They have your names written on them in hieroglyphics. I also brought some perfume, essential oils, 7 x 70ml bottles for 500ep ($111au).
We had the pre departure meeting & I met the 12 new people joining this part of the trip, only one of them, Nick, is going all the way to Istanbul also. I think we'll pick up a few others along the way but think it's going to be a small group.

Sunday 8/8 - Giza, I SAW THE PYRAMIDS!!!! Oh, & the Sphinx. It was so surreal! You look at them from one view point & the desert sprawls out behind them, you turn around & there's the city. We went inside the smallest pyramid & I'd thought the walls would be covered with art work etc but there was nothing, it was just very, very hot. We then went down to the sphinx & had a look round the temple then had some lunch across the road, get this, at KFC :) I was sitting in KFC looking out the window at the sphinx & the pyramids...! After that we went to a perfume shop & they were charging double what I got my perfumes (oils) for. After that we went to the papyrus gallery then drove for a few hours into the desert. It's so amazing, there is nothing at all except sand & rocks, pretty cool.

Monday 9/8 - Spent most of the day on the truck but stopped off for a couple of hours at an Oasis with a hot spring. Me thinking that it couldn't be that hot put my feet in & I swear I just about got 3rd degree burns! No one could brave it! It was nice having a couple of hours off the truck to break up the trip but it was so dam hot! We arrived at the white desert about 5. The reason it's called the white desert is cause there's these rocks that have been blasted by the sand & wind & they're white - they look pretty cool.

Tuesday 10/8 - now I know why mirages are called mirages. As we were driving through the desert yesterday you'd see what you'd swear was water but it was just the water reflecting off the sand/rocks - pretty amazing. We stopped off at an artist's gallery which was pretty cool, don't have his name with me at the mo so when I do will jot it down. After that about 1 hour more of a drive & we arrived at another oasis, this time with a cold spring!!! It was fantastic, although the bottom of it was a little mushy & it smelled a bit but hell it was 48 oC, I didn't care! :)
We stayed in a place called El Kazar last night & slept on a roof top which was cool. I forgot to mention that the stars here are awesome! Where we stayed prepared us a traditional meal & it was really nice.

Wednesday 11/8 - Pretty much spent today driving to Luxor, where I am now. We're staying in a hotel!!!! That has air con!!!!!!! And a decent BED!!!! I am excited beyond belief!

Well that's the basics, let me know what you're up to!!! :o) xoxo

Luxor, EGYPT!! - Wednesday, 11 August, 2004, 6.45pm