The Epic Egyptian Experience - 17 January 2011

Night Life
I’ve been to camps before – staying out in the middle of the jungle, staying in classrooms of our haunted school and in our own backyard. Camping in the desert was different. It was how the nomads of African deserts lived for centuries, and we are keeping that tradition alive. Of course, we had our trusty 4WD, but we got down into the sand to make the experience as real as possible.

Like every other camp, there was a campfire. I did not see how it was lighted up, but the fire got going almost immediately. It was necessary as the wintery white cold sand was beginning to chill us to the bone. We all gathered around the fire to warm ourselves up, while the cook went to prepare the food. Dinner was simple; roast chicken, rice and vegetable stew. After dinner, we gathered around the fire again to have a bit of minted Egyptian tea.

They also taught us a board game, of which I cannot find the name. It was played traditionally in the desert sand, using a 3x3 grid. Each of the 2 players has 3 pieces arranged in a row in front of them. Taking turns, each player shifts one piece at a time to the remaining empty spots. The objective of the game, is to form another line of 3 pieces other than the original one, either in a row, column or diagonally. It may sound simple, but can prove to be challenging.

Our other entertainment for the night, as with every camp, was song and music and dance. Despite being in a desert, in the middle of nowhere, no signs of civilization as far as the eye can see, spirits were high. Instead of sharing ghost stories, they were singing songs were about love and beautiful girls.

Having only one young female in the camp, she was the target of many flirting from the locals. She, as with her husband, is a doctor back in Malta, where they were from. Malta, as it turns out, is a country island half the size of Singapore. The couple explained that it was one of the last countries to gain its independence from the British rule and is now part of the European Union. That gave us an idea of where it was, but no one knew where this country sharing the initials MAL with us was. Malta, is situated south of Sicily.

The night grew colder and my parents and brother retired into the warmth of the 4WD while I continued to play around with my camera. The skies were not as clear as I would like but I had some good shots. As I explored further, I spotted a desert fox, one of our unexpected guests for the night.

This was my first encounter with wild animals in the desert and you can only imagine how excited I was. I quickly alerted my parents, and grabbed my telescopic lens and flashgun. I took as many shots as I could, before the bright light of the camera flash eventually chased it away. I could not wipe the smile off my face.

Our other unexpected guests were from the other camp, 4 young, pretty Asian girls and their guide. They were probably lured by the lively music of our camp. They joined in the song and danced around the fire. Being the shy guy as I am, all I did was took photographs. Before I could muster any courage to approach the group, they decided that it was time for bed and left for their own campsite.

Our guides erected the tents, as fast as you could tell the joke:
“I’m a tepee! I’m a wigwam! I’m a tepee! I’m a wigwam!”
“Relax man. You’re two tents (too tensed)”

The night was cold. We had to use thick heavy carpets to wrap ourselves up. For me, all was well until at about 4 am, when I woke up as usual. It was raining. I had to use a second layer of carpet, and even that was not enough. That was how cold it was. From then on, it was a restless cold night. Even the guides were saying, it was the first drop of rain for over 10 years in the desert. I lay in the tent curled up, with 4 layers of clothes, and 2 inches of blankets around me, wishing that the rain would stop by the time the sun rises.

Alas, the rain didn’t stop and the sun did not rise. The cloud cover was thick and dark. The rain was icy cold. The sand was as damp as the sand in the shoreline. The wind was freezing. There wasn’t much we could do, apart from taking photos of the cold scenery. We could not have any breakfast, and all we could do was pack up and head for Bahariya.

It was such a disappointment that it had to rain the day that we were in the desert. The trip back was just a reverse of what we saw on the way to the campsite, finally ending up on the bus back to Cairo, catching up on sleep that we’ve lost in the desert cold. Before we knew it, we were back in Cairo, just in time to see the sunset and the brief nightlife in downtown Cairo.

We walked across the Nile, to a little park. Annoyingly, it had an entrance fee of 1LE but since it was so cheap, we paid and went in anyway. The lights from across the river was no Clarke Quay, but it was still quite colourful. After walking by the other occupants of the park, I realised that this is a supposedly romantic and secluded spot for young couples. It wasn’t particularly romantic, I thought, and it was definitely not secluded. But the park was full of benches and couples engaged in their own little world, enjoying each other’s company without any care or concern of things around them.

We left them to their own, and headed back to the hostel, passing through the busy streets of Downtown Cairo. Downtown Cairo is like Sungei Wang – Bukit Bintang, but extended to whole district. The streets were brightly lit with the various neon lights, advertising the numerous products the shops had to offer. The streets were filled with peddlers and pedestrians, each going about their business, very much like Pudu Raya on a daily basis. The only thing missing was pirated DVDs.

That was the two extreme ends, I would say, of how nights can be in Egypt; the one of nomadic campfires, and the other with colourful neon lights of a busy city.