Egypt - (Bi-lingual)
OK, I'll try to be shorter with Egypt than for other countries as the internet connection is even more difficult than in Jordan.
So we started on the Red Sea, in Dahab, where we arrived at 2.30 in the morning, and even had to prepare our beds, as bed sheets are just left on the bed, and blankets are in cupboards.
We could sleep till 10.00 and decided to rest during the all day, walking along the see and finding a place where to swim. But I found myself alone again in the Red Sea as the rest of the family, felt it too cold!
Many people stay there for snorkelling and diving.
The village is ugly, but the atmosphere is relaxing and during high season, must be really fun... We heard many Russian, Italian, French speaking.
Sinai is just close in the mountains, but we did not take time to go to Saint Catherine Monastery as kids and Philippe have enough with history, museum, stones, religion, especially as we will get some more (here she means STONES...) with the "Nile".
Next day we left by bus for 16 hours by night to Luxor, we planed to take a ferry from Sharm el Sheik, (which has no charm at all), then a bus to Luxor, but we were told the ferry is not working anymore, and our motivation had a bit faded after our experience from Jordan.
This is an opportunity to save some money for a cruise on the Nile, (if we can afford), by joining night and transportation.
That has been an experience, but none of us slept much, and we are all exhausted and Philippe has pain in his back. The bus was full of men, we got many stops for smoking, or to go to: how to say? You know the places where to peee.... Ok Don't waste your time to imagine how it was there.
We got three movies, an Egyptian, not to be mentioned by stupidity, then a dark movie with no interesting dialogues, unless mmmmmmffff, grouch, aaahhh, aouch, spoink... then Die Hard 4 in French, I usually cannot bear Bruce’s movies because of unsurprising success of the only good boy facing so many bad boys, but this time, the incongruous situation made it more attractive to watch time to time between my reading of Egypt history. Then I could sleep may be 8 times in the 8 remaining hours.
Right has come the sunset and we could watch at the sceneries: low desertic mountains, sand dunes and wild rocky valleys!
Then all a sudden we drove in a green oasis! No in fact we was the shore of the Nile. We were driving along the canals, and it was so alive with donkeys or horses pulling carriages, men or kids riding donkeys, people working in the fields or gardens. After a few stops to drop people, the bus has stopped on a bridge and we all had to get off: terminus in the middle of nowhere, and the guys from the bus are here to help you with their own taxi, bringing you to a cheap hotel...
There was an English guy learning about languages, who we talked a bit with, who is a bit upset, and does not want to play their game, so we prefer to take a taxi to get to a hotel, I had read about in the LP. The problem in Egypt, seams, they do not keep their word. They say no problem my friend, money is no problem, you agree on a price and they modify later pretending misunderstanding, and then ask for baksheesh and so on.
So when we got to the hotel they could give a room straight after a great buffet breakfast.
Late morning we were ready to go to visit Luxor Museum and Karnak temple, which is huge and full of hieroglyphs, stones, high columns, high statues, high obelisks... After 3 hours, everybody was exhausted so we headed back to the hotel and had a nap.
The guy working in the hotel has found a cheap cruise for us, but we will have to leave Luxor as soon as tomorrow at noon... No time for us to see the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and all the temples around!
We have dinner in the street, as the wind is so strong on the roof, but just see the Luxor temple down in the street.
It was great to leave the bags and nicely float on a three days cruise on the Nile. We were on an old boat with a German group and an Austrian lady (doing the cruise 2 times in a row, for the third time this year, to support Egyptian, who are not making anymore money for a lack of tourists).
So we will be the only travellers in Egypt who will have missed both the Valley of Kings, and Abu Simbel, which is too far for the time we spend in Egypt.
Further more the entrance fees are expensive and for five it makes a consequent amount, now we have to say Tanguy is less than 6! Other wise he will have to pay. Should we be sure the government would use that money to improve people condition, we would agree to pay, but everything is so under negotiation and corruption, that we try to get the price the lowest as we did in Asia, till they go down, they can...
We have visited with a guide (very confortable for me and interesting for all) Edfou that was interesting as still covered with his roofs, so we could understand the wildness and feature of karnak.
Kom Ombo is still Greco Roman period, which is the more recent, dedicated to Orus and Sobek, the crocodile.
Finally we berthed in Aswan, a cleaner, rather better organised city than Luxor. Then we saw the impressive dams, the lower one, and the upper one, which closed a huge Nubian valley flooded by the artificial Nasser Lake thanks to which Egypt is exporting electricity. The reason why they had to move some temples upper than the lake level, the most famous one is Abu Simbel.
Then we saw the elegant and well-rebuilt temple Philae. Which is pleasant with the bougainvillea flowers, and our guide was more friendly and interesting than yesterday's one.
The visit is a bit shorter than we were told by the agent in Luxor, but every price is different afterwards than when you talked, they try to get more tips, gifts, or all have story to make you have sympathy, and try to get more money.
After a nap, we go for a felucca sail at sun set. It is a relaxing time and magical time, especially with a tea prepared on board... (But now we are wondering if we will not have problem tomorrow, when we realise the guy is washing the glasses in the Nile!)
Tonight we got a traditional Nubian dances show, funny, but not so interesting.
Tonight we are on the night train to sleep on the way to Cairo where we will arrive after breakfast tomorrow. We are first class, but not the "orient express " I take Tanguy to see the engine then I agree when I hear for the first time from the Captain, after 5 days: " insh Allah...
I was willing to visit Cairo museum, but it seams it is closed now, due to the events in Tahrir place, where the museum is... Let see what we will do from Lumat's place, an ex-colleague from Philippe.
Voilà c'était bien agréable cette petite croisière de deux jours et demi sur le Nil, de Louxor à Assouan au sud. Nous avons visité trois temples en route et contemplé les rives cultivées du Nil. La terre est noire, les gens y travaillent avec leurs ânes, leurs buffles et á l'arrière entre 500 mètres et 2 kilomètre , il y a le désert.. Il ne semble pas qu'il y a eu du changement depuis les temps anciens, à part qu'il y a des antennes satellite, qu'on entend des sonneries de téléphones, des haut-parleurs sur les minarets. Et bien sûr les bruits des voitures, mobylettes, les pompes d'irrigation. Nous avons farnienté au bord de la piscine, sur les chaises longues, nous nous sommes baignés sur le Nil.
A Louxor nous n'avons visité que Karnak et vu le temple de Louxor aux pieds de notre hôtel, mais nous n'avons pas eu le temps d'aller visiter les tombeaux de la Vallée des Rois et des Reines...
Je n'avais pas bien potassé mon guide et nous avons fait confiance à l'agence quant au programme complet des trois jours. Mais finalement 2 auraient suffi, et nous aurions pu faire les tombes, au moins 3 de Louxor.
Bon disons que je suis en repérage et que nous reviendrons faire ce qui manque lorsque Philippe sera remis de la surdose de pierres, colonnes, mosaïques, temples, basiliques vues depuis 2 mois... Donc à la retraite !
Néanmoins, les deux guides d'un genre différent, nous ont expliqué en rapide et succinct certains hiéroglyphes, bas et hauts reliefs, histoires, techniques, complétant ou reprenant ma découverte personnelle.
Nous connaissons maintenant les rois, reines, Dieux, déesses : V'nez faire pipi, Assez d'soupe, tout en carton, dit tout en camion, ,les Tout moisi 1-2-3-4... Les Rame cesse 1-2-3-4... Jusqu'à 9, Ose Iris, happy, huit, non sept et la fête aux pets, les colosses du même nom.
A Assouan nous sommes allés voir les 2 barrages du Lac d'Assouan. Il y a des turbines qui produisent de l'électricité, seuls 30% sont utilisés pour l'Egypte, le reste est exporté vers l'Arabie entre autres.
Le plus joli fut le temple de Philae, qui a été déménagé sur l'ile d'Egilkia (le nom de notre bateau). Nous avons fait aussi une balade en felouque au moment du coucher du soleil et Philippe s'est essayé à barrer, mais la technique est très différente des bateaux de Daniel et Bruno.
Le personnel à bord était très serviable, ils sont contents d'avoir un peu de travail, ils recevront 30% du salaire qu'ils touchaient l'an dernier, jusqu'à la révolution.
Tous les gens travaillant dans le tourisme, regrettent l'époque Moubarak. Mais au prix où sont les billets d'entrée des sites, on se demande où ont été répartis les bénéfices du tourisme.
Côté transports, nous varions les plaisirs : nous avons donc testé le ferry depuis la Jordanie pour venir à Nuweiba, puis le taxi de Nuweiba à Dahab, de l'hôtel à la gare routière de Dahab un pick up rouge (ah oui, pour ceux qui suivent nos aventures régulièrement nous avons vu l'agent Fix à une terrasse à Dahab ! Incroyable ! Allons-nous le semer finalement?). De Dahab à Louxor un bus pendant 16 heures, une longue et fatigante expérience casse dos pour Philippe. Ensuite confort, calme et volupté en croisière sur le Nil, et finalement, nuit dans un train couchettes, loin de l'Orient Express, mais nous avons mieux dormi que dans le bus.
Ce matin nous sommes arrivés chez Lumat, un ancien collègue Tesco de Philippe. L'appart est sympa ; les enfants dorment et j'écris... Le Mussée du Caire est fermé... Qu'à cela ne tienne, nous irons à la Citadelle pour se sortir, et prendre l'air hyper pollué (c’est pire que ce que nous imaginions), même si il y avait un peu de brume matinale.
Nous devons avouer que les enfants suivent, ne se plaignent pas pour l'instant, malgré le rythme des visites, mais nous avons ménagé des pauses. Ils sont fatigués tout de même du fait du changement de rythme, de vie, d'hébergement. Ce qui leur manque le plus ce sont des amis.
Demain soir nous nous envolerons vers le Kenya, où nous allons rencontrer une famille française, contactée par "Nairobi accueil". Ils ont 3 garçons du même âge exactement que les nôtres. Nous nous réjouissons de passer un tel moment, avant de partir en safari en Tanzanie (en espérant que l'agence vienne bien nous chercher, car nous n'avons pas réussi à effectuer le paiement par internet...)
Et puis ça y est la partie chargée culturellement se termine, finis les vestiges, les temples, les pierres, les colonnes, les tombeaux, les palais....Nous nous envolerons pour découvrir des paysages de savane, des lacs, des animaux...
Serai-je aussi inspirée pour écrire ?
Cécile