Petra, Jordan – Cairo, Egypt

Luka´s getting a kiss from a friendly camel. /Pentax

We´ve just left hectic Cairo and are heading towards Luxor. The desert road does not offer massive variety in scenery. Desert, desert, desert and the odd broken down truck or bus on the side of the road… We can now happily track every move we make with Iridium satellite tracking, usb GPS and Touratech. Once again we find ourselves puzzled over how time seems to just disappear. We have less than a week left on our 30 day Egyptian Visa and end up having to rush trough the Valley of the Kings and Luxor. On Monday we plan to take the weekly ferry to Wali Halfa in Sudan. So, what have we been up to for the last month?

Petra was simply magical. Walking through the narrow gorge leading to this hidden ancient city is an unforgettable experience despite the busloads of tourists. Petra was built in the 3rd century BC by the Nabataeans in a hidden valley completely concealed from the outside world and all the temples and tombs are carved out of sandstone cliffs. The Nabataeans where Arabs who controlled the trade routes of the region in pre-roman times and all the great caravans passing through from Damascus to Arabia with spices, silk and slaves had to pay taxes and protection money. Petra is believed to have been abandoned in AD 555 due to several earthquakes and was left a secret until the early 19th century when a Dutch explorer discovered the mythical city.

The magnificent entrance to Petra. /Pentax

Tanja and Oliver in Petra. /Pentax

After a whole day of wandering around this fascinating site (We worked out we walked 30 km in that day and Tuvalie impressed us all by doing 15km herself!) we were pretty exhausted and although people say you can spend days exploring Petra, which is probably true, we were all quite content with the one day. Dusty, sweaty with aching legs, tired children and one broken buggy we were extremely happy to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a cold beer. On the second day Pia and I took an alternative route in to Petra (not really open for tourist unless you have a guide, which we didn´t) whilst the rest of the gang recovered from the previous day by the poolside at the camp.

Getting a ride back after a long day walking. /Pentax

Tired Tuvalie and Oliver hitching a ride on a donkey in Petra. /Pentax

After Petra our next destination was the desert National Park Wadi Rum. We had a great time driving around this extraordinary desert landscape and only got stuck once. We camped all alone in the middle of the desert and got invited for tea by our Bedouin neighbors a few rock formations further down. A picnic on a rock watching the changes in the scenery as the sun set was a perfect ending to a perfect day!

Stunning scenery in Wadi Rum, Jordan. /Pentax

Picnic in the sunset, Wadi Rum. /Pentax

Pia admiring the view. /Pentax

Richard climbing the rocks in the desert. /Pentax

Luka waiting for his hommos and olives. /Pentax

From Aswan we took the ferry over to Nuweiba in Egypt. We did consider going through Israel to avoid the costs of the boat crossing but since some countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa (Sudan, for example) do not let you enter with Israeli stamps in your passport or carnet we decided not to risk it. Instead we finally got into Egypt after eight hours of ticket buying, paper handling, passport stamping, boat travelling, paper handling and pass port stamping (again) on a ferry that really should take roughly one hour! And it costs too…

Camping 20 meters from the reef in Ras Mohammed national park, Egypt. /Pentax

In Egypt we wanted to spend some time just relaxing by the Red Sea and decided to go separate ways for a week. Richard and Lina headed south for Dahab and then Ras Mohammed National Park, whilst Pia and Milan went north to Basata, a camp/resort that turned out to be a little paradise. We spent the week snorkeling on the reefs and building sand castles. Pia and Milan had a broken vaccum pump to replace and Richard of course had his usual weekly need to empty out and reorganize the entire car, but apart from that we didn´t do anything too exhausting. Pia and Milan met us up in Ras Mohammed national park where we decided to spend a few more days snorkeling and building sand castles. We just can´t get enough of the wonderful and amazing world under water. And Ras Mohammed National Park is probably one of the best places in the world to enjoy this. We camped in a designated area where only campers and researches were allowed, no tourist buses or boats, so we had the place pretty much for ourselves. Luka got hisown set of goggles, snorkel and fins and was splashing around like a mad fish. Both Tuvalie and Luka almost swim by now (and Tanja likes to think she can J)!

Tanja can almost swim! /Pentax

Let´s leave the washing up until later. /Pentax

Underwater wonders. /Pentax

Exploring the deap blue. /Pentax

Milan watching the sun rise on top of Sinai mountain. /Pentax

Beautiful view from Sinai mountain. /Pentax

One day we went into Sharm el Sheik, the city by Ras Mohammed built only for tourists. It is terribly over exploited and with little charm but Richard and Lina wanted to show Pia and Milan their favorite place from when they were here in 2003, a restaurant/beach/bar/club on the tip of Sinai. Unfortunately, just as we were leaving after yet another day mostly spent in the water Luka had an accident in the playground. He had, not only what we first thought knocked one of his front teeth out, but broken part of the bone on his upper jaw. After a long night at the hospital with anesthesia, operation, a replaced bone and a few stitches a dizzy Luka awoke with the comment - I want to have as many eyes as you have, mum.

With a good prognosis and instructions to only eat fluid food for a week, to stay out of the sand and dust for a couple of days and to stay still (! not easy for a four year old) brave Luka left the hospital with two relieved and tired parents. We had to pack up the camp and check in to a hotel in this tourist town. After a couple of nights in a ran down place, which happened to be exactly the one Richard and Lina stayed in five years ago, we swapped for a much nicer, all inclusive resort for another two nights.

By this time Ramadan, the Muslim holiday and month of fasting, had started. For us that meant that we should avoid eating and drinking in public out of respect (children excluded, of course) and it would be hard to find restaurants that serve food between dusk and dawn. And generally, everything will be a bit quieter and slower, since many people spend the hottest time of the day resting. At sunset the places come alive with all the people gathering together for the Ramadan Breakfast. Sometimes we felt it was a little unfortunate that we timed our visit to Egypt with Ramadan, although it gave us a nice opportunity to experience an important religious event, a lot of the places and cities we visited seemed dead and deserted.

On a camel (again) in front of the pyramids, Cairo. /Pentax

We then headed for Cairo, a week or so later than we originally planned. We saw the pyramids, of course, which was quite amazing. But apart from that, none of us seemed too much in the mood for sightseeing and instead we spent a few days dealing with practicalities such as: getting our Sudanese visas, seeing the dentist (for Luka) and servicing the cars. We also spent a couple of evenings with old Egyptian friends (Pia and Milans colleague with family from KTH in Stockholm) and newly made ones (a family Pia and Milan got to know at Basata camp in Sinai). We have found that the nicest and often best way to get to know a country and its culture is by meeting and spending time with the people, and not so much through the tourist sites.

After almost a week we said goodbye to Cairo, an ugly, dirty but strangely fascinating city, and headed for the desert and Luxor.

Happy mechanics in Cairo. /Pentax