twenty ten chelle & ben: Egypt Day 8: Bahareya

We are in Baharaya. Its about 4 hours by car from Cairo and is one of a few oasis towns that dot the western desert of Egypt. The road out follows the train line where they shunt Iron ore to Cairo. We have a guide, his driver and a 4wd at our disposal so today we visited upon some roman period Egyptian tombs and mummies, took a hike up a natural pyramid and watched the sun set from an English World War II post. The area is remote and the streets are primitive, but the landscape is captivating and it is great to be out of the madness of Cairo.

We passed by on our travels a camel farm with some 50-100 camels – which brought me to ask – what is the going rate for a camel? Word on the baharaya steets is $8000 Egyptian pound – which instantly had me concerned! Earlier on our trip through Cairo we visited a rug weaving school, where Michelle was given a chance to try and keep up the weaving speed of the children. When our guide saw her talents he offered me 2000 camels for her, which I ignorantly refused. But now I know the going rate for a camel I am very concerned that I will not be offered such a high price again! What a fool I was to not take his offer...

Thanks to the Icelandic Volcano many tours of this area have been cancelled, which has a positive and a negative. The positive being we have seen a large decline in the crowds and we were on our own for most of the day, the negative being that all these tourism traders will want our dollars!
We walked through the remains of a monument to Alexander the great – who travelled through here for a short period of time. Artifacts such as pottery, cosmetics and tools lay in the sand, free for us to rummage through and inspect. Our guide would pick up a piece and tell us what it was used for – perhaps these items are so plentiful they have little value, but all the same it seemed a little odd...

In fact the Egyptian museum ( founded in 1901 to house the likes of Tutankhamen's treasures) was also a little odd. Seemed everything was dirty, dilapidated or just lacking the treatment it deserved. Our guide started the tour with the first and most central piece in the museum. Housed in a glass box , on a wooden frame was a 5,110 year old slate palette. Now I could bore you with the details of its significance (“possibly the most important historical document from the whole of Egyption history “ – Eyewitness travel guide(thank’s Elizabeth)), however it was of far greater interest to me that when our guide put her hand on the glass the whole box rocked on the uneven floor, whereby we all thought the stone would fall from its mounting frame! Te only solace I can take is that the guide book tells us that the whole museum will be moved to a bigger facility in Giza in 2012. As long as the piece of paper I shoved under the leg holds out and no-one else leans on the box till then we should be right. I’d love to show a photo but it was forbidden.

We’ve had a bumpy trip so far when it comes to the local cuisine. We have struggled to get an edible meal, let alone something to delight about. The trip to Baharaya could have been a disaster if it weren’t for modern medicine. Four hours in a car on bumpy streets would be no match for the bout of gastro I picked up somewhere in Cairo, but thankfully two pills solved that issue. Our expectation was for the food to get worse the more remote we got, but after a truly delicious lunch and dinner, prepared by the hotel keeper, things are looking up. We are in a cabin with limited amenities made from mud brick with a thick packed palm frond roof, an eco lodge they call it. It’s about a 2 minute wait for water from the sink tap and the shower is yet to respond, but having said that it’s comfortable, quiet and we are thoroughly enjoying it. Its also quite tranquil now the donkeys have stopped eeeooring

Tomorrow we sleep under the stars in the white desert!