Route

Ancient Egypt is probably the country in the world that receives visitors for the longest time in human history. This has affected the culture quite a lot. To make it short, many Egyptians are a pain in the arse. Unfortunately money is involved most of the times and quite a few Egyptians can tell you the very same lie 10 times right to your face – without showing any affection at all. Since I never liked Israeli behavior and their politics, I took the expensive ($60) and incredible slow ferry (15 hours) from Jordan to Nuweiba on the Sinai, rather than taking the few kilometers of asphalt on the Israeli side in getting into Egypt. It’s actually quite advisable not to have an Israeli stamp in your passport while traveling in most Muslim countries, especially Syria, Iran and Sudan. Although it is nowadays possible to get the entry stamp on a separate piece of paper if you wish. Anyway a good government official, let’s say from Sudan will discover where you have been – if he wants to!

Egypt is a rather cheap country if you can get the Egyptian price, always ask the price in advance otherwise you are fucked. Surprise surprise, they have cheap beer named Stella for about $1 a bottle. A cheap room will cost about $6, while a cheap meal will cost from $1-4. Transport is also reasonably priced. The Visa for Egypt is only $15 for almost all nationalities; the Sinai is even for free – to make it more easy going for the package tourists. I traveled quite a bit around in Egypt; however, direct public transport from Nuweiba to Aswan: the most southern city in Egypt from where you can catch the ferry over Lake Nasser to Sudan would cost you about 160 Egyptian pounds, approx. $25 and can take up to 30 hours!

Recommendable places to visit would be:
1. Dahab: a sort of an up-graded Hippie beach resort, where you can watch elder European Lady’s holding hands with their Egyptian boyfriends.

2. Alexandria: Tout-free, western influenced city with faded elegance on the Mediterranean with a cool climate, consisting of many nice tea houses, horse carts and pastry shops.

3. Siwa: Highly recommended rustic oasis near the Libyan border, with countless donkey carts, unspoiled people with their own Siwa-language. Siwa men could marry the same sex just 90 years ago! How advanced would Guido Westerwelle think?! According to my research a good donkey in Siwa should cost about 900 L.E ($90), and is to be recognized by having long legs and erect ears!