Egypt 3 - edited with photos
Feb 26, 2009 17:11:31 GMT
Post by bazfaz on Feb 26, 2009 17:11:31 GMT
(Egypt 3 – Jan 29th)
Mrs Faz has kindly stuck down little bits of paper on the keyboard with the letters on so I can see what the keys stand for.
We spent nearly a week in Dakhla, mostly in the main town of Mut. Main town makes it sound too grand. Certainly it had a couple of boulevards with a central reservation but this was mainly to keep the donkeys from running into each other. Yes, people still ride donkeys here and wear straw hats (unseen elsewhere in Egypt) so people with a nostalgic idea of Mexico 50 years ago would feel at home here.
We stayed first in El Negoon hotel for 3 days (90 EP a night). This was fine, a modern hotel with a garden where we had our breakfast, but maybe a bit on the edge.
We ate our first night at Abu Mohammed restaurant because Rough Guide gave it a good write-up. They are wrong so my advice is to avoid it. We had a 3 course meal there: soup, a dish of baked vegetables, and a slice of almond tart. The baked vegeatbles were so dried through overcooking they stuck to the dish. We each had a beer. There was a visitors' book where people said how delicious it was. Crap. Also people write in the book before they are given the bill. It was double what we have paid anywhere else. Two Canadians ate there and we saw them next day and they were equally shocked at the price. Avoid.
We found a much better place for dinner: El Forsan hotel. It was the standard Egyptian meal of soup, grilled chicken, rice, salad, tahini. Though the guide books don't mention it, the owner Zac produced beers for us. I realise that onlyMark and Sky won't be interested in this but other travellers might like to know that restaurants will often produce a beer if they feel the police are not watching.
That was the strange thing about Mut: every hotel had its police guard outside, or sometimes asleep inside. The trains will have police on board (we sat with one from Qena to Assyut). The buses note down what nationality you are and at checkpoints along the road the police aill come to peer at us.
We went for a night to El Qasr, also 30 kms outside Mut. The El Qasr Guset House has four bedrooms and a very cheerful owner. We went for a walk in the farms and palm groves in the afternoon when Mrs Faz could indulge her passion for birdwatching. We ate a copious dinner - again the visitors' book raved about the brilliant food, but I guess most backpackers have low standards. The food was OK and beers were produced. Next morning we walked out of town, climbed a hill and wandered round the expensive Desert Lodge. It was totally empty except for a dozen staff lolling about.
That was the strange thing about Mut: every hotel had its police guard outside, or sometimes asleep inside. The trains will have police on board (we sat with one from Qena to Assyut). The buses note down what nationality you are and at checkpoints along the road the police aill come to peer at us.
We went for a night to El Qasr, also 30 kms outside Mut. The El Qasr Guset House has four bedrooms and a very cheerful owner. We went for a walk in the farms and palm groves in the afternoon when Mrs Faz could indulge her passion for birdwatching. We ate a copious dinner - again the visitors' book raved about the brilliant food, but I guess most backpackers have low standards. The food was OK and beers were produced.
Next morning we walked out of town, climbed a hill and wandered round the expensive Desert Lodge. It was totally empty except for a dozen staff lolling about.
We stayed two more nights in Mut at El Forsan. The owner Zac has added 8 new rooms at the back, domed ceilings, immaculate inside, very tasteful. 76 Egyptian pounds a night including a copious breakfast. He is a good and generous host and the hotel is recommended. He is redoing a large circular resataurant and he laid a table in there and we ate by candlelight. Lunch we had at the nearby Four Cats restaurant- grilled chicken and salad.
We went out three kms to what is called the Fish Pond. There was one boat beached with nets in it so maybe some fishing takes place. Lots of birds for Mrs Faz.
Lunch was flat bread and felafel and white cheese under some convenient palm trees. We walked back into town stopping at the hot springs. Mrs Faz had her swimsuit, I went in wearing my black knickers. The water was rust red from iron ore and 40C, very pleasant.
Yesterday was a long travel day. We caught the 6 a.m. bus from Mut via Kharga to Assyut - 6 hours. Then the train came in. First class was full. Second class was overfull. A boy gave up his seat to Mrs Faz and I stood for 4 out of the 6 hours. But it had its interest. There were a lot of university students going home for a vacation. I have no Arabic and their English was poor so there was little in the way of meaningful talk. But they were very angry about Israel's invasion of Gaza and wanted to know why the West was doing nothing. There were female students whom I talked to as well. The boys and girls didn't mix even though they took the same classes. The girls said they didn't mix with the boys because they were dangerous. I wasn't dangerous because I was old. (I leave it to female TTRers to comment on this)
This is a budget tour of Egypt so in Luxor we are staying at the Oasis hotel. Our spacious double room with bathroom and balcony and breakfast up on the roof costs 60 EP. It is clean and owner/manager Hassan is most helpful. He doesn't push the tours they run and didn't even tell us they served food on the roof terrace.
Mrs Faz used to be a teacher (and still does teach Englich to local children) so he suggested that we get Teacher's cards which will allow us into all the sites at half price. He has organised this for us this morning and we'll put it to the test, maybe this afternoon.
Our hotel is not by the Nile but in the centre of town. It is bustling all round us, no touts, a couple of good restaurants, lots to look at, friendly people, and we are having a good time.
One last thing from the students on the train. I asked one of them if he wanted to get married. Yes. What was he looking for in his potential wife? He said she had to be a good muslim and know about Egypt. Love wasn't mentioned. Were his parents going to arrange the marriage? No. But since he didn't speak to the girls, how was he going to find a wife? He seemed puzzled at the question, or maybe his English deserted him. Then he leaned closer and said he had seen American films where the boys and girls were kissing and maybe... He put his two index fingers together. He said he could never marry a girl who had kissed another man. He wanted to know if I could and I said yes. He seemed stunned by this. But after a bit he leaned in even closer and said he thought he would like to travel to the West.
Mrs Faz has kindly stuck down little bits of paper on the keyboard with the letters on so I can see what the keys stand for.
We spent nearly a week in Dakhla, mostly in the main town of Mut. Main town makes it sound too grand. Certainly it had a couple of boulevards with a central reservation but this was mainly to keep the donkeys from running into each other. Yes, people still ride donkeys here and wear straw hats (unseen elsewhere in Egypt) so people with a nostalgic idea of Mexico 50 years ago would feel at home here.
We stayed first in El Negoon hotel for 3 days (90 EP a night). This was fine, a modern hotel with a garden where we had our breakfast, but maybe a bit on the edge.
We ate our first night at Abu Mohammed restaurant because Rough Guide gave it a good write-up. They are wrong so my advice is to avoid it. We had a 3 course meal there: soup, a dish of baked vegetables, and a slice of almond tart. The baked vegeatbles were so dried through overcooking they stuck to the dish. We each had a beer. There was a visitors' book where people said how delicious it was. Crap. Also people write in the book before they are given the bill. It was double what we have paid anywhere else. Two Canadians ate there and we saw them next day and they were equally shocked at the price. Avoid.
We found a much better place for dinner: El Forsan hotel. It was the standard Egyptian meal of soup, grilled chicken, rice, salad, tahini. Though the guide books don't mention it, the owner Zac produced beers for us. I realise that onlyMark and Sky won't be interested in this but other travellers might like to know that restaurants will often produce a beer if they feel the police are not watching.
That was the strange thing about Mut: every hotel had its police guard outside, or sometimes asleep inside. The trains will have police on board (we sat with one from Qena to Assyut). The buses note down what nationality you are and at checkpoints along the road the police aill come to peer at us.
We went for a night to El Qasr, also 30 kms outside Mut. The El Qasr Guset House has four bedrooms and a very cheerful owner. We went for a walk in the farms and palm groves in the afternoon when Mrs Faz could indulge her passion for birdwatching. We ate a copious dinner - again the visitors' book raved about the brilliant food, but I guess most backpackers have low standards. The food was OK and beers were produced. Next morning we walked out of town, climbed a hill and wandered round the expensive Desert Lodge. It was totally empty except for a dozen staff lolling about.
That was the strange thing about Mut: every hotel had its police guard outside, or sometimes asleep inside. The trains will have police on board (we sat with one from Qena to Assyut). The buses note down what nationality you are and at checkpoints along the road the police aill come to peer at us.
We went for a night to El Qasr, also 30 kms outside Mut. The El Qasr Guset House has four bedrooms and a very cheerful owner. We went for a walk in the farms and palm groves in the afternoon when Mrs Faz could indulge her passion for birdwatching. We ate a copious dinner - again the visitors' book raved about the brilliant food, but I guess most backpackers have low standards. The food was OK and beers were produced.
Next morning we walked out of town, climbed a hill and wandered round the expensive Desert Lodge. It was totally empty except for a dozen staff lolling about.
We stayed two more nights in Mut at El Forsan. The owner Zac has added 8 new rooms at the back, domed ceilings, immaculate inside, very tasteful. 76 Egyptian pounds a night including a copious breakfast. He is a good and generous host and the hotel is recommended. He is redoing a large circular resataurant and he laid a table in there and we ate by candlelight. Lunch we had at the nearby Four Cats restaurant- grilled chicken and salad.
We went out three kms to what is called the Fish Pond. There was one boat beached with nets in it so maybe some fishing takes place. Lots of birds for Mrs Faz.
Lunch was flat bread and felafel and white cheese under some convenient palm trees. We walked back into town stopping at the hot springs. Mrs Faz had her swimsuit, I went in wearing my black knickers. The water was rust red from iron ore and 40C, very pleasant.
Yesterday was a long travel day. We caught the 6 a.m. bus from Mut via Kharga to Assyut - 6 hours. Then the train came in. First class was full. Second class was overfull. A boy gave up his seat to Mrs Faz and I stood for 4 out of the 6 hours. But it had its interest. There were a lot of university students going home for a vacation. I have no Arabic and their English was poor so there was little in the way of meaningful talk. But they were very angry about Israel's invasion of Gaza and wanted to know why the West was doing nothing. There were female students whom I talked to as well. The boys and girls didn't mix even though they took the same classes. The girls said they didn't mix with the boys because they were dangerous. I wasn't dangerous because I was old. (I leave it to female TTRers to comment on this)
This is a budget tour of Egypt so in Luxor we are staying at the Oasis hotel. Our spacious double room with bathroom and balcony and breakfast up on the roof costs 60 EP. It is clean and owner/manager Hassan is most helpful. He doesn't push the tours they run and didn't even tell us they served food on the roof terrace.
Mrs Faz used to be a teacher (and still does teach Englich to local children) so he suggested that we get Teacher's cards which will allow us into all the sites at half price. He has organised this for us this morning and we'll put it to the test, maybe this afternoon.
Our hotel is not by the Nile but in the centre of town. It is bustling all round us, no touts, a couple of good restaurants, lots to look at, friendly people, and we are having a good time.
One last thing from the students on the train. I asked one of them if he wanted to get married. Yes. What was he looking for in his potential wife? He said she had to be a good muslim and know about Egypt. Love wasn't mentioned. Were his parents going to arrange the marriage? No. But since he didn't speak to the girls, how was he going to find a wife? He seemed puzzled at the question, or maybe his English deserted him. Then he leaned closer and said he had seen American films where the boys and girls were kissing and maybe... He put his two index fingers together. He said he could never marry a girl who had kissed another man. He wanted to know if I could and I said yes. He seemed stunned by this. But after a bit he leaned in even closer and said he thought he would like to travel to the West.
