A day out.

[onlymark]

Nipped out today with a friend to look for what we were told was 'Mohammed Ali's old palace'.
It was a disaster.
It turned out to be 'King Farouks shitty stable block for his hunting horses'.

Set off at 7.30am from central Cairo and followed directions.
Took wrong turn on main road at 9.00am and back tracked.
Took wrong turn at 9.30am and decided to call in a nearby village for directions.
No tarmac in village and took half an hour to find someone who knew. Pointed out direction back to main road as shortest route, but track blocked by concrete and couldn't get on road, even though it was just two metres away.

Back tracked about 8 km across outskirts of village through 'middens' to get to tarmac road.
Crossed over road about half a km further to start track to 'Palace'.
Found the track was very small and wandered through rocky hills and dry river beds. Very slow going.
Eventually about an hour and a half after leaving the road, found main track.
Followed it further 19km to ......










Most interesting thing was the pigeon accommodation -




Only had half an hour there to get a bite to eat and a cold drink then followed the main track back to the road, about 22km, and returned to Cairo -




Halfway back to main road found lonely Bedouin walking along the track. Stopped offered water and a lift. He only took the lift. He said he'd been only walking for an hour or so and didn't need anything yet.
Dropped him off when we reached the tarmac, still in the middle of nowhere, I said I'd take him further but he wanted to go a different way to me - straight over the road an on further into the desert.

But we did a deal when he offered me money for the lift. I wouldn't take any money and he'd take a cold litre of water from the cool box.
We were both happy.




Details - left house at 7am, returned 4pm. Total distance about 220km.
Time on road about 4 hours, off road about 4 hours with about an hour for lunch and pee stops.
About 165km on road and about 55km off road with all the pratting around getting the right track.
Tolls 10 Egyptian pounds
Calorie intake - oooh! too much chocolate, a packet of crisps, two cheese rolls, a salmon roll, two Coke Zero's and a couple of bottles of water.

Note to self - put Gummibärchens in cool box so they don't all stick together.

N 29° 25.176' E 31° 31.169'

[bixaorellana]

Oh Mark, I'm so glad you got lost, then returned with the "found art" of these pictures!

Whew, the "main track" is just kind of out there in the trackless wasteland, isn't it? Amazing that it must not be featureless to the Bedouin you met, but simply another landscape to be easily read by its inhabitants.

Were the smaller buildings houses? Also, how did that stuff come to be out there -- was it irrigated at one time? I absolutely love picture #5. It looks far more ancient than the pyramids, maybe from the race of beings who seeded humans on the earth.

Do you often take this kind of excursion, just to see what's out there?

[Deleted]

That is so similar to a lot of my Egyptian experiences out of Cairo: spend all day on the road to see not much. And yet I always considered those days priceless. Of course, in my case it was always the taxi driver who had the problems -- speeding tickets, tyre blowouts, mechanical problems. I just sat in the shade and sipped cool drinks with my travelling companions.

[onlymark]

K2, I learned very early on to be very picky as the where I went, especially as I wasn't just visiting, I was/am living here, so there was time to pick and choose after doing a sort of research. Fortunately there's only been a couple of bad days.

bixa, I only do this in the spring and late autumn, it either too cold or too hot. But usually at least a couple of times a season.
This place was told of by a local driver we know who had been here and was for some reason quite impressed. He told me a few times to go there, he must have got his facts wrong though not only about where it was, but what it was.

The big house in picture 1 is the stables, the rest of them are empty shells full of detritus, and graffiti, and probably were just simple accommodation. There is nothing at all inside of them to give a clue. The big one still has several feed troughs.
It has water there still. There is a well and a storage tank

To the right on picture two are what look like wire enclosures - they are. They were used to raise deer that were released at times for whoever to ride their horses around and shoot them.
How did they get the stuff there?
By truck, and labour is cheap.

[Deleted]

Have you taken the trip to Maidum? I thought it was very impressive.



Nobody seems to go there (we stopped by on the way to Fayyoum and nobody was there). Even though it was not possible to go in the pyramid, there was a mastaba nearby, and I had to crawl down into it because my Belgian colleague wanted somebody to accompany her son and the guide. It was terrifying! Just like Indiana Jones but no snakes.

[Deleted]

Sounds like a fun trip to me, Mark

I've never seen so much sand in my life! Do you ever worry about all the 'if's'? As in, what if you break down? what if you get two flat tires and you only have the one spare? What if you run out of water or you water container develops a leak? What if you get lost and run out of gas etc? I imagine that you must come well prepared. You probably don't worry about such things as much as someone with little or no experience though huh?

So different from where I live. The complete opposite in fact. Why don't we do a deal? You come over here and I'll show you around the iced up lakes and snow covered evergreens, and take you to lunch of fish (or lobster) and chips. In return you can take me out to the desert to see the pyramids and then cook up some mushy peas and mint sauce for dinner?

[Don Cuevas]

Mark; sounds like an offer you'd be foolish to refuse!

[bixaorellana]

That whole place is so other-worldly -- great story, Mark. I guess there maybe was stuff growing when it was still used. Otherwise, poor deer and horses with no pasturage or place to roam.

What a wonderful photo, Kerouac. Is that an eroded pyramid, or simply a different kind? Also, what's a mastaba -- is it a tomb?

[lola]

Oh, you mean you really do live in Egypt? How amazing. It IS a heck of a stable, though. When would these have been built and occupied? Love the pigeonniers; deserted, of course. I wonder how deep a well would have to be around there?

K, am starting to believe you are too gentlemanly for your own good. Your companion wanted "someone" to crawl into some ghastly hole with her son. That would be your cue to offer to hold her purse and tell her to let you know if she needed any help.

[lola]

That's a great story about the Bedouin, too, oM.

[hwinpp]

Mar 24, 2010 19:36:36 GMT onlyMark said:

...


Calorie intake - oooh! too much chocolate, a packet of crisps, two cheese rolls, a salmon roll, two Coke Zero's and a couple of bottles of water.

Note to self - put Gummibärchens in cool box so they don't all stick together.

N 29° 25.176' E 31° 31.169'

LOL!
I like you take care of creature comforts, even in the desert, Mark.

[Deleted]

Yes, Bixa -- a mastaba is a tomb, with ladders down which to climb and passages through which to crawl as sand sifts down on top of you. Luckily we did not have to carry flaming oil torches at the same time, because there were a few lightbulbs strung through the labyrinth. Just imagine a power outage...

[bixaorellana]

no no no no no noooooo

The first time I visited Monte Alban, people were still allowed to go into the tunnels. I watched as a tourist group lined up and one bermuda shorts-clad bubble butt after another all but plugged the entrance, and I thought how badly I did NOT need to go in there.

[onlymark]

Mar 24, 2010 21:41:50 GMT deyana said:

Do you ever worry about all the 'if's'? As in, what if you break down? what if you get two flat tires and you only have the one spare? What if you run out of water or you water container develops a leak? What if you get lost and run out of gas etc? I imagine that you must come well prepared. You probably don't worry about such things as much as someone with little or no experience though huh?

It's the 7P's Deyana. And after a time you come to realise the probabilities of the worst happening, if you are well prepared, are few and far between. But if it does happen you have to have confidence in your own abilities. It is far too easy to worry yourself sick and then you would never do it.

I have a confession to make - I hate being cold. Could we come to some other arrangement about it? Like a beach somewhere?

[onlymark]

bixa - no stuff growing, no more than there is now. It's only a few decades old and the area hasn't changed. If they wanted feed for animals then it was trucked in. When they are released, if they are, then there is enough foliage around to keep a small group fed well enough.

Lola, the water table is quite near the surface, only a few metres, so a well isn't very deep there. That's why the spot was chosen. If it is from King Farouks time, which I think it is, then it'll have been built in the late forties probably. It's a style of building that is still done here today so it's not so easy to date.

hwinpp, it's psychological. No matter what the hardships you may encounter, or are anticipated if the worst happens, they are always eased by the knowledge you have chocolate, sweets, pop and crisps to help you through.

Kerouac, I've been meaning to get there but it is to form part of an overnight trip rather than for the day, and they are not so easy to fit in at the drop of a hat. It would be visited on the way back from exploring a place called Wadi Hitan (Valley of the Wales), a UNESCO site near Fayoum.
Eventually, one day, etc etc -
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Al-Hitan
www.touregypt.net/featurestories/valleyofwhales.htm

[Deleted]

Wadi Al-Hitan looks fascinating, but...

Only about 1,000 visitors a year drive into wadi Al-Hitan by 4WD due to the fact that the track is unpaved and crosses unmarked desert sands.

There's something about crossing unmarked desert sands that dampens my enthusiasm. Maybe I'm just getting old.

[onlymark]

I'm not too sure what they are on about with that.
The desert is unmarked but the track to it isn't. And you stay on the track. The track is there to service the site, give access to study it and also for visitors. A couple of years ago a group of Italians left the track and tore round for a little while - they were thrown out of the country.
The desert stays unmarked but the track exists.

[onlymark]

Is it marking the pristine desert that gives you cause for concern?

[Deleted]

I understand that there is a track -- as long as there is not a big wind storm to erase it. (I may have been traumatized by that scene in Lawrence of Arabia as a child.) I think that little pegs or sticks are always good to show where the road should have been, like the poles along snowy mountain roads.

[Deleted]

Fascinating thread OM,thank you. I am intrigued by the pigeon houses,were they made of wood? Do you by any chance have a close up picture of them?
Photos in reply #16 blew me away.
Thanks for this.

[spindrift]

Mark - I loved your photos of the desert scenes and reading about your day out. Don't you ever get frightened that you might entirely lose your way? I doubt there are road signs so how do you find your way? with a compass?I suppose you're so used to finding your way around trackless wastes. I used to drive around the Masai Mara (long before roads were tarmacademed) and I'd be in a constant stated of stress as there were no signs and night might be falling and where to go?

It was touching that the old Bedouin offered you money for the drive. I do know that the Bedouin are people who are honourable. Wilfred Thesiger has written much about them and I've read all his books.

I think I spotted an oasis in the pictures of Ali's 'palace'....I've always wanted to visit an oasis.

Thanks for posting this thread.

[onlymark]

casimira, they are made of brick and plaster. There's not so much wood in Egypt. It mostly has to be imported.

spindrift and K2, how do I find my way? Especially when the wind has covered my tracks? (and it is often quite windy in the desert)
A combination of sense of direction, compass, following other tracks, memorising bits of scenery, noting mileages and GPS points. All are used to one degree or another.
I always take a GPS point when I leave the road. I then take others at various points. But I tend not to use the GPS points too much any more, and I can't remember the last time I got my compass out. I just follow my nose as it were and if needs be make corrections when I'm unsure.

It's not prudent to rely on any one type of navigation, especially an electronic one, you need to combine several and have them corroborate each other.
But there are not too many 'trackless wastes' as you put it. Often there is something there to orientate you even if it is just a hill in the distance that you passed by earlier on your right hand side or something like that.

As with most things, it takes a bit of getting used to but it's not beyond the average person to do it with a fair amount of success. It's just familiarity with what you are doing and the experiences you have.
As for an oasis, there are many types from small to very large, pretty to flyblown. They are not all pools of cooling water surrounded by lush vegetation, far from it usually.

[onlymark]

I forgot casimira that the last two photos of the Wadi Hitan track are not mine. As I mentioned, I've still to get there yet.
I don't have any more pictures either, sorry.

[Deleted]

I would love to build one of those pigeon houses. Nothing made of wood lasts here anyway,it all rots from the climate in no time. Hmmmm.

[Deleted]

Mar 25, 2010 6:22:42 GMT onlyMark said:

I have a confession to make - I hate being cold. Could we come to some other arrangement about it? Like a beach somewhere?

Sure, that would work.

[onlymark]

So, you're driving through the desert and you pass this -



I'm sure you'd remember it on your way back.

[imec]

Thanks for this - much of it reminds me of the desert around Riyadh (where i was so long ago I have no digital photos and can't find the paper ones ).

[Deleted]

The photo in #25 OM,it's made of what? And do these erode over time? I'm trying to get a handle on the geology of ,or something like that.And what are they called? (Perhaps,you mentioned in the thread and I missed,sorry).
I'm totally fascinated by 'them'.
Have you ever been out there during a wind storm? Maybe,that's for another thread.
I have so many questions that keep popping into my head.

[onlymark]

They are chalk formations. Formed by the obvious, wind and sand whipping across the area.
They will erode to just chalk dust over time I suppose. I've never been there during a bad sand storm, though I have been there in a mild one.
They are part of Egypt called the White Desert, north of an oasis called Farafra and south west from Cairo.
Just do an image search on Google if you want and there are thousands of images.

images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=white+desert+egypt&aq=0&aqi=g1g-m3&aql=&oq=white+desert&gs_rfai=&start=0

[Deleted]

I own this map which is a source of constant fascination and fantasizing for me, even though I will never actually drive myself on any of these roads. All of the little tracks leading to wells, the trails that just stop in the middle of nowhere, and the few main roads, where you can imagine the adventure and danger of intercontinental truck traffic, decrepit inns with some cots and the cooler full of Mirinda, overcooked rice with "brown stuff" (camel? goat? human feces?) and all of those two-toothed wrinkly men with dirty turbans smoking primitive cigarettes and spitting in the dust. They look like they are 75 and are probably only 45. I don't even really need to go there ever -- I have already been there in my mind. The only thing you are never able to imagine and must be slapped by the reality to understand it is the blast furnace heat and the lack of shade.