I flew the Egyptian Air and as you can see, Coke is in Arabic.  Why did they give up using their pictograph?

No one bothered to clean this up in the plane.  Therefore, me neither.
 

Yes, my first visit to Egypt.
 

The Korean guest house "Han-Kang" in Cairo.  Nice facilities and neighborhood.  Also, subway station El Maadi is within 5 minutes wal.

Korean breakfast.  Do you know how odd it is to eat Korean food in Egypt?

 

On the way to Turguman Auto Bus Terminal.  Follow the sign, "Cairo Gateway" and ask a lot then you can find it. About 20 minutes walk form the subway station Mubarak.

Traffic jam in Cairo near the Giza Pyramid.
 

High way rest area.  It took more than 5 hours from Cairo to Bahariy desert by bus. Of course the bus is NOT air conditioned.

See? I was already in a desert.

Bedouin lunch. Edible.

Desert Safari Home.  The motel runs a desert tours.  I like the owner. Very straight on price.  One car cost 600 Egyptian pound.  I and two other Japanese joined so each paid 200 pounds.  It included dinner and breakfast.  Also you can stay here.  They have air conditioned rooms as well.

A local gas station in the Bedouin village.   The meter was broken.



 

A car with ski carrier.  Do Bedouin ski?

Every Bedouin car has this sheep fur decoration.  Good for dash board.

We drove Toyota Land cruiser.

 

Even there is no oasis for tourist to swim, Bedouin made this pool in the middle of the desert.  Nice... we swam there for a while.  I didn't have a swim suit, though.

The entrance of the White Desert.  Really dry.

This is why it is called the "White Desert."

The Bahariy desert sun set

Put up a tent.  You don't need a roof there.  It will not rain.

Smoking "Shisha," an Egyptian tobacco.

Dinner on the desert. We had chicken.

They don't do laundry too often but it is biologically clean.  Chemically?  I am not so sure.  But you need them because it gets a little bit cold at the dawn.  Also, I am sorry that I couldn't take the night sky of the desert.  It was ABSOLUTELY beautiful.  Too many starts and milky ways.  Unforgettable.

My foot print at sun rise.


 

The first sun.

What am I thinking?

Breakfast was rather simple. Bread and cheese.  Of course with Egyptian tea, which is really sweet.  They usually put 5 spoons of sugar.
 

The Scarabe. They survive the desert by eating animals feces.  I made some last night and next morning I found many of them there.  They also appear in Kings' tombs.

We dropped by a rest area on the way back to the motel and had a Coke for 5 pounds (about $1), which is about 4 times more expensive than Cairo.  Also this girl's(10 years old) mother ask me if I was interested in marrying her.  The guide told me it cost about $5,000 to buy a house, jewelry AND wife.  Can't believe they still do that.

To see the black desert, we climbed to the mountain.



 

You wipe yours with the hose after you have done your thing.

One night friend.  Yes, we survived the desert!

A Korean guest house in Luxor.

The Nile and agriculture in Egypt.

Water way.

On the way to East side Luxor tour.

The statue of Memnon.

The Kings' Valley.  They are buried here.

It was 48 Celsius outside, 38 Celsius inside.  Yes, weather can kill.

The Valley of the Queens.  Will she be remembered in next 1,000 years?

Statues at the queen's temple.

At the gate of the Karnak Temple.

Are they lions or goats?

Yes, the Lamadan starts tomorrow.

The Luxor Nile at the sunset.

Finally, the Luxor temple.

Stone and Rocks at the Luxor temple.

The Giza Pyramids.  This was the second biggest one among the three.

A pyramid patrol.

Sun and the pyramid.  No wonder they worshiped the sun as their god.

The three pyramids.

The Sphinx. Care for a pop quiz?

The Egyptian Museum.  You can see the mask of Tu-tank-amon.  No photos inside. I bought most of my souvenirs here because I was sure about the Papyrus on the street and didn't want to negotiate all the time.  It turned out to be I was ripped off.  The quality is better here.

If you get off the subway at Mar Giris station, you can see this Christian church.  It is believed that Jesus Christ and his family stayed here for a while.
 

A Christian cross in Muslim country.

This is the way to the sacred ground.

The policemen there told me the visit hour was over but if I pay to them they can let me in.  I just ignored them.

 

I was stopped again by the police and ask me to pay if I want to take a picture.  I told them "I am here to serve my God and you want money from me?"  Then the policeman let me take a photo and insist on paying money and getting inside.  I took a picture and left.  I was really offended.

Chicken is very popular in Egypt.  So is KFC.

A local fruit store.  Cheap and delicious.

An Egyptian fast food chain.  They don't serve Big Mac or Whopper though.

The porch of the Korean guest house.  They use three floors.

The entrance of the Korean guest house.  Pretty usually looking building.

Clean bathtub.

And toilet.

 

I still remember this glass.  When I was 5 or 10, I was imagining these are ladies.  I never expected to find the exactly the same pattern here in Egypt.  I miss my childhood.

A flea food market.

For some reason, there are many unfinished constructions in Cairo.

The most reliable Taxi service in Cairo.   Call him directly if you need a ride from the airport to downtown.  It's $10. Call him at 012 383 7081 (Adel and Abdo)

Wherever you go, there are policemen and one of them is always behind a metal shield, always.

An Egyptian sandwich.  Very crispy bread (grilled).  I had it at the airport.