Unified Egypt

This is an engraving that depicts the unification of north and south Egypt and the official beginning of the country that we today know as Egypt.

Bad Romans!

When the Romans conquered the Egyptians they decided to use the ancient Egyptian monuments and turn them into their own. This is a heartbreaking photo of Roman plastering and painting over heirogliphics that are over 3,000 years old.

Luxor Line-Up

The end of the Desert adventure is Luxor, the ancient capital of Egypt and with more ancient monuments than any city in Egypt. This is a photo of cruise ships lined up side by side, 5 or 6 deep at the Luxor dock. This is the way most tourists get to Luxor - aboard a cruise ship that travels south (up) the Nile.
Which reminds me - thank you Paul for telling me that there are more than 20 rivers that flow in a south to north direction - not just the Nile and St Charles River as I had previously written.

Sugar Cane Harvest

Such a Face

Camels 2 Go

Highway to Forever

Desert Art

Chapel From Early Coptic Chapel

Early Christian Cemetary

Near one of the Oases is a large Christian burial area from the first century AD, complete with the remains of a beautiful chapel. I didn't expect to find anything like it in the Western Egyptian desert.

Tea Time

At one of the Oases we stopped for tea and this kitty jumped into my lap. Notice my new white lucite ring given to me by a Bedouin widow as well as the red string that was given to me by a Rabbi in Jerusalem. I consider it a complete set.

Detailed Work in the Ghost Village

Restoring a Ghost Village

Mud bricks dry in the sun before being used to repair the walls of this ancient deserted village. We were the only people there and could easily have spent a week exploring it.

Ghost Village

An entire village from 100s of years ago contained wooden lintels over the doors, describing the past owners and the builders.

The Bedouin Connection

My guidebook states that if you want to see the most direct link to the people who lived at the time of the Pharoahs - you look at the Bedouins. They have maintained their 1000s of years of traditions including strict traditions concerning marriage.

View From Oasis Hotel - Egypt

Stop for Gas

The Desert Taking Back Its Own

The tiny shape of a guy on a motorbike can hardly be seen as the sandstorm tries to reclaim the land taken by the highway.

Lunar Landscape of the White Desert

The White Desert

It is often described as something out of Alice in Wonderland. The white shapes created by nature seem impossible and some actually look like animals.

Desert Visitors

For the entire 4 day trip through the Western Desert of Egypt we met only one other tour group - this jeep convoy of about 50 people. We also ran into a guide who was looking for a small group of people who had gone out into the desert on camels. He had temporarily lost contact with them, but no one seemed worried.

Yellow and Black Desert

Stone Caves

Hardship in the Desert

We had lunch and shopped at this woman's place. She is a widow with four kids and numerous relatives she supports. I ate and shopped and we exchanged cheap jewlery. I gave her my 25 cent bamboo bracelet from Cambodia and she gave me a 50 cent white lucite ring with red chili peppers painted on it, which I now wear proudly.

More Music - More Tea

As the evening wore on we found ourselves at the club house of a local hotel where Tammer and an impromptu band played for most of the evening. The floor is sand that is covered with rugs, except for a place for an open fire in the middle of the room. There is a hole in the roof for the smoke but it didn't draft well. Everything had an eerie glow to it while the band played traditional Bedouin music. It was an amazing evening and much tea was consumed.