The Epic Egyptian Experience

16 January 2011

It was evident how jet lagged I was when I woke up snugly and warm in bed… at 2 in the morning. I did manage to catch a few more hours of sleep, but I knew they were just restless naps. Doesn’t matter, today’s trip gave me the opportunity to catch up on some more sleep. Today, we head deep into the desert.

It was a 5-hour bus ride to Bahariya, an oasis city that houses 40,000 people, it’s conditions very similar to the generic Arabian towns seen in all those movies. Instead of sand coloured walls, it was mostly white chalky bricks. The city was alive, with everyone going about their normal daily activities. The main road was paved but covered with litter found in every other country and caked mud. The smaller streets and alleys were the basic gravel/sand, with fewer potholes than the paved one.

The bus ride was long, going alongside the train tracks. The scenery was rather plain and repetitive; sand, sand, rock, sand, ooo nice rocky formation, sand, rock covered with sand… you get the picture. If you don’t I took a few dozen for your viewing pleasure.

After alighting from the bus, we were hurried off in a 4WD truck and departed from Bahariya. We first passed through a desert with many little hills scattered across it, both were covered with black granite, which gives it the name, Black Desert. Our first stop was one of those granite-covered hills. It looked majestic from the foot, and the scenery was promised to be just as great.

For a person who is scared of heights like me, it was a daunting trip up. My feet grew cold, my hands shivered, as all blood seemed to have drained from them. My heart pounded with fear, screaming at me to stop climbing and think about the even scarier trip down. I could not look up and dare not look down. I stared into the ground and slowly made my way up, with the promise of a magnificent panoramic view in mind. I will say, the trip was worth the effort.

The trip down… was just as nerve wrecking.

Next stop was lunch, which was what I think is a typical meal, of the bread, yogurt salad, normal salad, dhal… and potato chips fresh out of a Pringle’s bag. The only thing that I can say is that the meal just makes me crave meat.

After that short break, we were on the road again, to the White Desert. The White Desert was indeed white, made from chalky limestone as far as the eye can see. With the matching temperature, the guide appropriately welcomed us to Alaska. The White Desert is one of the National Parks of Egypt, and hence an entrance fee was imposed on us. Also, there were many checkpoints along the road, which I would not be able to tell you what they were for. Egypt being Egypt, our guide drove off road into the desert to by pass all the checkpoints. Driving on desert sand is scary, listening to the roar of the wheels skidding through, vehicle threateningly swerving and wavering but never loosing its ground. Thank God for the 4WD, but I think I would have preferred a dune buggy.

The two main attractions in the White Desert were the Crystal Mountain and the stone formations scattered across the desert. The Crystal Mountain was named so because of the abundance of quart crystals with their sharp jagged edges and subtle lustre.

Next was the essentially our camping grounds, surrounded by huge rock formations made from limestone. Weathering and erosion over the years carved the rocks, akin to the Pinnacles in Western Australia. There were name shaped and sizes, including mushrooms, a camel, sphinx, and a chicken beside a tree.

Unfortunately, in our excitement, we missed the time and missed the sunset. The whether was not kind as well, and defiantly placed clouds directly over the setting sun. Fortunately, we managed to acquire wonderful pictures of the ‘sunset.’

Shortly after, we arrived at our campsite. A fire was made and we sat around the fire, played games and sang campfire songs. We also shared camp with a doctor couple from Malta, an island country smaller than Singapore. The wife provided endless entertainment, being the only young female around and subjected to the flirting from the locals.

Dinner was simple, roast chicken, rice and vegetable stew. We gulped it down hungrily, and that was the first bit of meat I had in 24 hours. Desert was an orange and we continued our campfire entertainment over a cup of mint Egyptian tea.

It got colder throughout the night and my family retired into the warmth of the truck, I stayed out taking more photos of the night desert scene.

I also got more excited when we were visited by 2 unexpected guests. One of them was a desert fox. It was actually kind of expected as we did have some nice smelling food, and one of our guides is a master as making goat sounds. I managed to get my first shot of wild animals in Egypt.

The other guest was the other camp, which had 4 pretty Asian girls. They were probably lured by the lively music from our entertainers. They joined in song and dance, and all I did was take photos. No wonder I am still single.

Eventually the night had to end, and we headed back into our tents…