Bunnygoespop in Egypt

As we stood in an old Egyptian temple, looking at layers of hieroglyphs, sadly plastered over with Roman paintings, walls cut through to make stables and churches and mosques, I was suddenly filled with awe for Egypt. I realised that it was easy to be put off by the “new” layers, such as guides trying to make an extra buck at every opportunity, outdated hotels, and let’s milk the tourists as much as possible culture. But just like in that temple, if one scratched the surface deep enough, one would find details and other treasures that no amount of time would be enough to take in everything, for every time one would look one would find something new.

In this blog, we will share our trip details and some tips, should you get smitten by this fascinating place by our pictures or our words, just like I got 25 years ago.

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So, 25 years ago, a school friend, let’s call her Gargi, showed us her pic in front of the pyramids. I still remember that picture and my thoughts back then – “whoa, her parents are so cool”. It was beyond my imagination that one day we would be the cool parents ourselves.

However, I did not feel the sense of deep awe that I had projected for myself, just plain annoyance at our guide for trying to sell us a camel ride at “today’s special price”. Don’t get me wrong – the pyramids are magnificent and a must-see in Egypt. They might also be the only thing one might know about Egypt (like my 8 year old nephew), quite a bit like the Taj Mahal in India.

The pyramids in Giza are to Egypt what the Taj Mahal is to India- very impressive but not the most impressive, but most known and with the most irritating guides.

Following our trip to the pyramids (this was on day 3), we sought refuge back at our hotel but if you are young and/ or determined, we would really recommend to follow it by a visit to the Cairo Museum (which we did on day 1). The museum has not been updated since the 1960s (or so it felt) but has such an amazing collection, especially the exhibit on the artefacts found in the tomb of Tutankhamen. Unfortunately pictures weren’t allowed in the exhibit but a big thanks to the British for not taking it away with them.

Pro tip: Spend only a day in Cairo, half at the Giza pyramids and the other half at the Cairo museum, then get out of there.

Fun fact: Muhammed Ali gave the king of France one of the obelisks from Luxor temple (what an #%^*t..) and the French king gave Egypt a clock that never worked in return! How ironic. Muhammed Ali should have given the obelisk to the Swiss instead :P.

Pro tip: Do not order pizza in Egypt 😛

Finally time to leave Cairo (day 3) (yes!). We flew into Luxor, Luxor turned out to be much milder than Cairo except for the weather (it was 44 dg C max for all the 3 days we were there!) Honestly I felt my eye lids burning at one point.

Pro tip: Skip the queen of Hatshepsut for the valley of the kings. and go there as early as possible to beat the sun and the queues

Pro tip: Do NOT ask the guides for restaurant suggestions. Our guide in Luxor took us to eat “authentic Egyptian food with a Nile view” at a place called Hawaii. They gave us a full tomato as “salad “, some old meat and french fries from the bin it seemed and charged us 20 USD for it. A strong smell of smoke from a cruise ship parked nearby, occasional floating plastic bottles and 1000s of mosquitos hinted the “Nile view”.

Our original plan was to take a Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor but Aswan was 47 dg C hot even in late Sept and having seen how close these ships parked at night (plus the smell and the smoke), that’s off the list for us for any future trips.

Day7: We proceeded to Hurghada by the Red Sea, a perfect ending to this amazing trip.

Hurghada was a different Egypt altogether. Very calm, great food, and very pretty. There were kids of every size and altogether Egypt was the most kid friendly country we have been to (10 with baby and counting!). The diving was great and Bunny mummy and I really enjoyed the snorkelling in the reef too.

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Some adult talk:

• Price of organised tours (excluding entrance fees and flights) via “Egypt tailor made”: ˜1050 USD for 3 adults. Honestly it wasn’t worth it but Indians need a guarantee letter from an Egyptian Travel agent. We received some ridiculously priced quotes from other travel agents (e.g. 6000 USD/ person for the same itinerary).
• Everyone expects tips but are quite polite about it.
• Hotels:
  • Steigenberg El Tahrir in Cairo (price to quality ratio very high)
  • Steigenberg Achti (Nile view) in Luxor (Decent enough)
  • Hilton Plaza in Hughada (Amazing suites, still reminiscing about the fava beans at their breakfast).