Egypt: oft-visited, oft-advertised, travel agents’ favourite package tour. I’d seen hordes of families signing up for the 3n-4d or 6n-7d packages to Egypt & return; happy at having seen the pyramids. People seem to go for 4 to 7 days so we’d probably need 10-12 days; that’s what I figured. So, I began reading & planning. And the 12 days grew to 15, then to 18, then to 21, then to 25, then to 30 & would have probably grown further had I not stopped myself, alarmed. K threw a fit:”Are you crazy? Asking my boss for a month off is hara-kiri & I refuse to do it. Cut it down”. He didn’t understand why we needed to go for 30 days. And then I explained to him what my research had thrown up; enticed him with pictures. Soon, he was convinced but said that he could try for maybe 25 days. Over the next couple of weeks, we both negotiated with our respective bosses. Bargained hard. Tried to save every day possible. Finally, all 4 of us arrived at a consensus: it was to be 23 days. Well….I could live with that!
Fast-forward to 3 months later - My history teacher’s voice echoes in my head, as I day-dream: The Egyptian civilization, mummies, the porcelain beauty of Nefertiti, Cleopatra’s milk baths, King Tut’s riches, fine Egyptian cotton (supposedly rivaling silk), Papyrus leaves, Cuneiform script, Hieroglyphics, Abu Simbel, Karnak temple’s hypostyle hall, King Ramses, Queen Hatshepsut, the Nile, the Sphinx, the Giza pyramids. When I studied to be an architect, Egypt again had a lot to offer. Finally, it was time for me to see it all. 
An October evening, my flight hovers over Cairo, preparing to land. It’s just 5 pm but the sun’s already set. I crane my neck trying to get a glimpse of the pyramids, but, without success. I was to see them weeks later, when I returned to Cairo; journeying along the Nile, South to North. Today, I take a connecting flight to Aswan, where I reach at midnight, to begin my 3-week odyssey across Egypt. 
It’s crazy to even attempt writing about each & every temple that we saw, every tomb that we visited, every museum that we wandered into, every statue that we admired, every carving that awed us, every god we tried to recognise & every hieroglyphic we pored over. Egypt has history seeping through every pore & copious amounts at that; even the most avid history buffs can get tombed-out & templed-out after just a week of monument hopping. But, that’s not all there is to the country.
Space out the history with some walks on the beach; a dive into the inviting aquamarine sea; some surprisingly accessible snorkeling; quiet walks along corniches (roads by the sea), watching the sun go down; spend hot afternoons savouring the cool breeze at sea, as you sail in a felucca (traditional wooden sailboats); go potty in souks, bargaining for that thing that you must have; eat delicious food : fresh, crunchy & exotic; walk the dunes in a desert & feel incredibly tiny; eat some of the yummiest dates you’ll ever taste, plucked straight from the tree; gape at the starry sky over the desert; trek all night to the top of Mt.Sinai for some glorious sunrise; take a hot-air balloon ride for a birds’-eye view of monuments; wander around past midnight, watching the markets & roads come alive with locals out for a stroll…. 
Let me also put in a word of caution: Travelling across Egypt requires you to be prepared. Disclaimer: No amount of preparation may prepare you for what you will experience. With this perplexing statement, read this for tips that I put together after my trip to Egypt.
Along the Nile
My first taste of Egypt was at Aswan, near the Sudanese border; usually just a transit point for visitors to Abu Simbel, that stupendous temple built by the megalomaniac Ramses II. I spent a few days here that left me wondering why people didn’t explore this town. Small, with a leisurely pace of life & a friendly Nubian population, Aswan is a great place to unwind. Here, the Nile is at her most beautiful. I spent hot afternoons drifting around in a traditional sailboat, a felucca, cooled by the river breeze; sometimes, I stopped at the botanical garden island, to seek shade amongst exotic trees.
Evenings, I joined locals strolling around the river-side promenade, the corniche; watching the sun set, munching on falafels. Sometimes, I spent time in a Nubian village across the Nile; sipping Hibiscus juice, Karkadai, seated in a typical roof-less house with a sand floor. Souq lovers, Khan-al-Khalili in Cairo may be your mecca but I think the lively souq in Aswan is the best. Throw in the excellent Nubian museum, a sound & light show at the isolated Philae temple, fresh local food by the Nile & I had to drag myself away from Aswan to proceed to Luxor.
From Aswan, we drove to Luxor in the convoy. Luxor is in central Egypt, by the Nile. It is on the popular tourist circuit & hence, crowded. Thebes, as Luxor was called centuries ago, was the prosperous capital of ancient Egypt. This explains why it is filled with stunning architecture. The Nile cuts across Luxor too. Ancient Egyptians believed that the east bank signifies life as the sun rises here while the west bank signifies death because that’s where the sun sets. While all the monuments & temples are on the east bank, the west is filled with a treasure trove of hidden underground tombs, all brilliantly painted. Mesmerising, to say the least. I spent a few days soaking all the monuments in. Equally distracting are the collection of artefacts at Luxor museum & the unique Mummification museum, which tells you all you wanted to know about the process.
Staying in the quieter west bank amongst sugarcane fields, I walked about, chatting up locals & occasionally stopping for a cuppa at tea-stalls. A ferry ride to the East bank & you can walk along the corniche or ride a caleche (horse-carriage) through the markets. If you’ve had enough of the water, Luxor allows you to take to the air! A hot-air balloon ride at sunrise gives you a birds’-eye view of all where you’ve been to while grounded. And, given the plethora of monuments, it makes for an interesting landscape. Sometimes, flying over the roof-less houses, we could literally peek into people’s lives. I wonder what they felt about that!
Sinai & the Red Sea
It was time to de-tomb & de-temple myself; a dose of Dahab was just what I needed. A small town by the Red sea, it is an extremely popular place for scuba diving & snorkeling, blessed with abundant corals & marine life. It's a shame I didn't have an under-water camera! When I wasn’t in water, I could be found relaxing on one of the lounge beds, drink in hand, staring across the waters into the land-mass of neighbouring Saudi Arabia. The Assalah beach was barely a pebble strip but with aquamarine water like this, who needs the sand? Further down, it did widen into a sandy beach but I refused to be parted from my perch. In the evening, it was time to dress & return to the same shacks; by then, they’d metamorphosised into lively eateries & bars, adorned with twinkling lights, music & candle-lit tables. If more activity is what you crave; the water-sports, desert safaris by jeep or camel, relaxing massages & shopping will satiate that.
If you can break away from this languorous life-style for a night; drive a couple of hours to Mt.Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Some people undertake the climb as a pilgrimage and then visit St. Katherine’s monastery after they descend. About 1500 of us began climbing at 2 am & reached the summit just in time to catch sunrise. Along the dark, 5 km long trail, moonlight & torches are your only source of light. Camels guided by Bedouins can carry people who are unable to climb, for a part of the trail. The last 1.5 kms has to be climbed by foot. The total height that we climbed is 2900 metres. The climb in the freezing cold, under the starry sky, was quite an experience; as was the view over the vast expanse of the Eastern desert. As the sun rose over the peaks, there was a collective cheer. Snugly ensconced in a thick blanket, I was thankful for the vendors at the summit, who hire these out. A mug of hot chocolate in my hands would have been wishful thinking!
Wanting to fulfill a long-standing wish to stay in an oasis, my next stop was at Bahariya in the Western desert. The oasis was as tiny & green as I’d imagined. Life there seemed frozen in time. I watched Tamar, my guide, as he plucked a few dates off the tree & offered them to me. When I was about to wash the sand stuck to the dates, he coaxed me into eating them with the sand; he claimed it added to the taste. And he was right; they were the softest & tastiest dates I’d ever eaten! Tamar & Somali were to be my guides into the desert. Somali was so named by his parents because he’s dark skinned unlike the fair men & women in the desert. The pretty women in the oasis were all clad in colourful gowns called abeyyas, famed for local embroidery work adorning them. I bought one for myself at a women’s co-operative; a memento of my Egyptian sojourn. 
I set off to visit the famous Black desert. We drove around in a 4-wheel drive, which could manoeuvre the sand dunes; sometimes at heart-stopping acute angles. En-route, when Tamar dropped by his aunt’s to say hello, she insisted on rustling up a quick meal for us. After we’d lunched around the traditional communal plate, we drove towards the White desert. Famous for its sculptural white-rock formations, this desert plays on your imagination. I whiled away time naming all the rocks based on their shape: mushroom, whale, dove, lion-head & Alladin’s lamp. As the light dimmed that afternoon, we set up camp. Soon, we sat basking in the warmth of a roaring fire, taking turns playing the Zummara (a traditional Egyptian clarinet); with me producing noise compared to the mellifluous notes my guides generated from it. Since my tent collapsed (not related to how badly I played the instrument); I slept in the open, with the starry sky for a roof. Shivering under blankets with temperatures hovering a little above zero, I literally saw a million stars!
Cairo: dense, congested and as chaotic as the Kushari; a Cairene dish of rice, pasta, lentils, onions & gravy mixed together & sold by the bowl. And, as inviting! I reached Cairo at the end of my trip, to unwind & summarise all that the last 2 weeks had offered me. Cairo’s most famous resident is the Sphinx, flanked by the Giza pyramids. Once I’d seen all the monuments, I explored the rest of Cairo’s offerings. There’s the mammoth Egyptian Museum with un-believable treasures on display, which you can put into context once you’ve seen all the historical sites around Egypt. And then, there are the mummies; not looking like they’ve died aeons ago, but just sleeping peacefully.
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| The Red Pyramid |
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| A view of Cairo |
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| Ibn Tulun mosque |
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| Inside Mohammad Ali Basha mosque |
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| Lanterns at Sultan Al-Hassan mosque |
Egyptians, both young & old, are crazy about Amitabh Bachchan! They have a channel which screens Hindi movies 24 x 7! The family set-up in Egypt is very similar to India, which is why they say they can relate to our movies. Indian tourists are rare to find except in Cairo & the main tourist sites; so, we were chased everywhere we went. That was a very different feeling for us! People would run behind us calling out “Amitabh Bachchan” and would then shake our hands. We had some shopkeepers handing out things for free, just in exchange for a handshake. Our refusals to accept free goodies would be met by such doleful looks that we indulged them.
It's over-whelming to see monuments & artefacts from thousands of years ago. We, for all our modern tools & technology, still cannot ape the work done in that age; neither in precision nor in grandeur or scale. It makes you question: Were people 'backward' 5000 years ago or are we, now? For me, the thing that clinched it all was this: Where else in the world can you see monuments from so long ago as well as the bodies of the kings who had them built? With such an abundance of history staring you in the face, it’s little wonder that most people don’t see beyond it. But, if you do, Egypt rewards you.
Curious to know more about Egypt, our itinerary & travel tips? Read on:
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For my story published in Jet Airways' in-flight magazine JetWings, read:
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