Trip Report Western Desert Part II
Mar 11th, 2005, 02:57 PM
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Trip Report Western Desert Part II
Due to last-minute illessn, Hani Amr, ([email protected]), who is reputed to be one of the best Desert Guides in Egypt, was not able to be my guide in the Western Desert. He subcontracted with Magdi Hanna (Adventuregypt.com.)who was great. We had a third person, a Brit woman who lives in Cairo. We all got along smashingly.
Westerners think of the Western Desert as the Sahara. It's the amazingly varied area west of the Nile and East of the Libyan border. There are 5 Oases -- Baharya Fararfra, Dakla and El Kharga.
The top of the line hotels are basic, but all clean with Moorish architecture, big rooms, an in-house restaurant and lots of hot water.
When I was there (the end of Januaryk, 2005) there were not many tourists. It was quite cold at night. During the day, the two Cairo dwellers wore fleece when I was in shirt sleeves. I wore fleece at night and long johns to sleep.
The trip felt like I was going back in time and getting a taste of non-Westernized Egypt. The smaller the town the less westernized. The larger towns had internet cafes and satellite dishes on the roofs.
You must be mindful that you are visting someone else's home and must take care to abide by their standards. Almost all of the women wore veils and scarfs. I wore long sleeves and long pants whenever I got out of the Jeep
One night we went looking for a place for mint tea and sheesha (a water pipe) in Farafra. Magdi led the way towards a place that was open. It clearly was men only. As soon as the patrons saw two women, there were daggers coming from their eyes. We made no effort to come in. The owner moved a table and some chairs into a secluded place outside the building and served us there.
The restaurants all served variations of the same thing -- they started out with Egyptian bread (pita bread) which we dipped in hummus, tahini, baba-ganoush, etc. , then we had chicken, rice, a vegetable dish and fresh fruit for desert. The fruit and vegetables in Egypt are a few hours from the fields and extremely tasty. Nothing like the picked green in the fields in Chile and transported in refrigerated containers that we get in the US)
There were few tourists there. We met 2young backpackers who were trying to
Westerners think of the Western Desert as the Sahara. It's the amazingly varied area west of the Nile and East of the Libyan border. There are 5 Oases -- Baharya Fararfra, Dakla and El Kharga.
The top of the line hotels are basic, but all clean with Moorish architecture, big rooms, an in-house restaurant and lots of hot water.
When I was there (the end of Januaryk, 2005) there were not many tourists. It was quite cold at night. During the day, the two Cairo dwellers wore fleece when I was in shirt sleeves. I wore fleece at night and long johns to sleep.
The trip felt like I was going back in time and getting a taste of non-Westernized Egypt. The smaller the town the less westernized. The larger towns had internet cafes and satellite dishes on the roofs.
You must be mindful that you are visting someone else's home and must take care to abide by their standards. Almost all of the women wore veils and scarfs. I wore long sleeves and long pants whenever I got out of the Jeep
One night we went looking for a place for mint tea and sheesha (a water pipe) in Farafra. Magdi led the way towards a place that was open. It clearly was men only. As soon as the patrons saw two women, there were daggers coming from their eyes. We made no effort to come in. The owner moved a table and some chairs into a secluded place outside the building and served us there.
The restaurants all served variations of the same thing -- they started out with Egyptian bread (pita bread) which we dipped in hummus, tahini, baba-ganoush, etc. , then we had chicken, rice, a vegetable dish and fresh fruit for desert. The fruit and vegetables in Egypt are a few hours from the fields and extremely tasty. Nothing like the picked green in the fields in Chile and transported in refrigerated containers that we get in the US)
There were few tourists there. We met 2young backpackers who were trying to
Mar 29th, 2008, 11:19 AM
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Since my first recommendation, Mr. Hanna & I became friendly (friends?) I know I disclosed that on recent recommendations. Something happened recently which caused me to reconsider that friendliness and I no longer wish to have my name associated with his. That's all.
