Egypt â€“ My Travelogue :~)

system · January 10, 2003, 5:32am

Hi Guppies!!!

Its time to share the pictures of my recent trip to Egypt :~)

First of all!! let me tell you guys that .. it was totally an unplanned tour .. actually I was planning for something else but somehow I ended up going to Egypt :~) Things got clear to me just one week before Eid so my quick decision was to travel to Egypt and spent 20 days there in the shadow of pharaohs :~)

Right after making this decision .. I went to Jarir Book Store and brought the latest edition of Lonely Planet’s travel guide for Egypt .. btw, that’s a must for all my trips .. whenever or wherever I travel .. I travel with Lonely planet’s travel guides .. cuz they are really good for budget traveling *K

Neways The next thing I was worried about was the flight bookings .. cuz most of the Saudis Love to travel to Egypt .. specially in Eid holidays Egypt is their preferred destination .. so it was nearly impossible to get a seat confirmed .. neways I put my self on waiting list and started looking into other possibilities as a secondary option .. umm like crossing the Red sea on a ship :~)

After getting some tips from my Egyptian friends .. I went to AL SALAM shipping corporation and booked my self a cabin in their ship to Saffaga (the Egyptian sea port). Since, There was no hope to get my flight tickets confirmed .. I made my mind and decided to travel through sea :~)

6th Dec. 2003, early morning I packed my bags and took a domestic flight to Jeddah .. by 11am I was in Jeddah .. from here in the evening I had to take a Bus to “Tabook” and than to “Duba” (the Saudi Sea port). It was a 14 hours ride from Jeddah to Duba :~( I reached Duba at around 4:30 morning on 7th of December.

From here I had to jump in a Ship which will sail straight away for 12 hours to reach the Egyptian sea port (Saffaga).. well, I was under an impression that once we will reach Duba .. the ship will be already waiting for us at the port and we will straight away jump into it .. BUT it was other way round :~( There was no SHIP at the port crying we spent 7 loooongs hours waiting for that stupid Ship at the Saudi harbor on Red Sea :~( Thanks to God the place was amazing .. that’s why it was easy for me to kill the time watching the crystal waters of Red Sea :~)

Khuda Khuda kar key .. around 11:30am we got the news that the ship has arrived .. We (let me clear one thing.. when I say “we” it means the people who were traveling to Egypt in the same bus .. otherwise I was all alone) jumped back into our bus to cover the last 20 km distance to the port & Immigration office :~)

When we arrived to immigration Office I saw a huge line of buses .. waiting for a signal to get into the port :~( and I was like .. OMG!!! Its gonna eat another 3 or 4 hours :~( and yes I was right!!!

It took me 4 hours to cross all the immigration processes .. and than finally the time came .. when I was standing infront of my new ride :~) “AL SALAM” the huge ship .. which was ready to take me away from the deserts of KSA to the historic land of Pharaohs :~)

So far I wasn’t using my Camera .. but rite after getting into the Ship mere andar soya howa photographer phir sey jaag gaya .. and started capturing the moments :~)

Now onwards .. I’ll continue my story with the photos :~) btw, I took some 1200 picture in 20 day .. but I can’t post all of them .. so I will post only the selected ones :~)

OK Lets Starts :~)

This is a view of Red Sea from the Deck of my Ship :~)

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These are the mountains around Duba (the Saudi sea port)

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Another view of those lovely dry mountains :~)

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This is the Deck of our Ship :~) Thanks God I got a Cabin otherwise yahan to meri kulfi jam jaati raat main :~)

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This is the Huge Door of the Ship .. jahan sey luggage trucks ship par load hoo rahey they :~)

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I captured this sight of loading for you guys :~) btw there was 5 trucks loaded in the ship and few cars too :~)

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system · January 10, 2003, 5:35am

This was my Cabin and that is my bed :~) yeah yeah I know its small .. but believe me after traveling in a bus for 14 hours and waiting outside for 10 hours this small bed was like a Takht-e-shahi for me :~) and I had my best sleep in there :~)

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Wait a min.. it wasn't just the bed .. I got a bath room too :~) now don't ask me how small it was *smash

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Neways being tired I spent the whole time sleeping on the ship :~) and when I woke up it was already docked at Saffaga (the Egyptian sea port & border) .. I packed my things again .. took a quick shower in that miniature of a bathroom and rushed out of the ship :~)

This is how people were waiting for there luggage :~) Thanks God I was carrying just a small bag :~)

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This was the Ship :~) it was early morning that's why its kinda dark there :~(

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These two Egyptian girls were my neighbors on the ship .. we tried to chat with each other .. but their English was worse than my Arabic *smack

so I said Ma'asalama to them and went to bed :~) Behind them u can see the Name of the Ship :~)

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system · January 10, 2003, 5:37am

From here I had to go through the Egyptian immigration and luckily being the only Pakistani onboard I got special attentions from the superiors and just in half an our I was out standing infront of another bus :~) well, I was already in Egypt but it wasn't my destination .. it was just saffaga whereas I had to goto Cairo which was around 5 hours from here :~) so still a long way to go :~)

Neways after having a long sleep in AL SALAM (the ship) I was feeling fresh and ready for it :~) around 2:30pm our bus stopped at Cairo Bus Station :~) this place wasn't new for me .. cuz I've been there before for an official tour of 2 days .. but that was a year ago :~)

ne ways I knew where to go and find a nice place to stay and relax after a long & continues journey of three days :~) so I stopped a taxi and asked him to take me to Zamalek :~) as per the lonely planet there are few nice 3 or 4 start hotels .. I went directly to Flamenco Hotel .. a 4 start with reasonable price .. luckily I find a room there but it was available for just one night :~( and that time I just need a place to stay .. so a room for just 47$ wasn't a bad choice .. :~)

Heres some pictures of my first hotel in Egypt :~)

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I was carrying just 2 jeans a jacket and few shirts in that small black bag .. so the first call I made in the hotel was for laundry :~)

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Or phir laambi taan key soo gaya .. jese mere saarey ghorey bik gaye hoon :~) Next day I woke up at 7am and called for the breakfast :~)

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After having a heavy breakfast I was out in Cairo :~)

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It was cloudy out there in the morning but it got pleasant by afternoon :~)

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system · January 10, 2003, 5:38am

My first destination in Cairo was Saqqara .. The Step pyramid!!

On my way to Saqqara I took these pictures :~)

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Guys for the sake of GS I've reduced the resolution to the least .. otherwise the originals are really amazing :~)

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Is road ko dekh kar to mujhey Gujranwala ka bypass yaad aa gaya tha :~)

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This was my ride to Saqqara :~)

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This is Saqqara :~)

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Inside Saqqara I captured an Egyptian in their traditional dress :~)

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system · January 10, 2003, 5:40am

This is the ancient Step Pyramid :~)

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These are the two pyramids of Dahshour :~)

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At Saqqara I saw soo many khotas :~) but this one was the cutest one .. same like our own GS Gadha :~)

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Some security Guards are assigned to look after these step pyramids .. ( inko darr hey ke kheen pyramids uth kar bhaag hi na jaye :~) )

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system · January 10, 2003, 5:41am

These are some pictures of Saqqara historical findings :~)

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This is Mere Ruka Tomb ..Under the half destroyed pyramid of Mere Ruka :~)

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OK!! its enough for now .. I'll take you guys inside this tomb and further in my next post ... so stay tuned :~)

To be Continued ........

Faisal · January 10, 2003, 6:08am

Amazing :k:

It is just like travelling with you. Looking forward to the next installment. Nice pics.. really nice.

Pakistani_Tiger · January 10, 2003, 6:18am

Liked this one. :k:

little_human · January 10, 2003, 6:32am

WAAahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Amazing…:k:…you are really lucky…:k:…thanks a lot for sharing this here…

lost_soul · January 10, 2003, 6:33am

Hey, Mr. Npeeta. Welcome.

Wonderful pics, indeed. I agree with Faisal bhai, it seems as if we were travelling with you.

Qrius · January 10, 2003, 7:35am

Pita Bread Unkil, wooooooooow..what a coincidence..i was reading about pyramids of giza few hours ago..and i was reading about travel and tourism..and when i came to gupshup..i am seeing this thread of yours :)

Thanks a lot for sharing all the pics..i will look fwd to the next batch of pics.

Now here comes my sawalat ki bochaar...ready..set..go:

How did you felt while travelling in the ship? did you felt dizzy or any such feelings? How was the experience?

*How would you rate egypt's travel tourism in terms of $ value? was it cheap..moderate or expensive?

*How are the people? Are they friendly?

*Did you do any shopping? was there anything unique that would be classified as a sovenir or unique gift from egypt?

*Any egyptian dish that you ate?

Chalain, filhal itnay question kafi hain..

Once again thanks for sharing the pics :)

Dai_sista · January 10, 2003, 9:12am

As salaamu alaykum

Beautiful pics NaasPeeta… Did you get to go to Giza for a while? pyramids and museum there are great !

I’m going again to Egypt next year inshallah,cannot wait! Thanks for pictures :k:

Ma’salaama

SunnyBoy · January 10, 2003, 9:15am

Papeeetay … Zabar10 Pics. :k:

punjabi_kuri · January 10, 2003, 9:18am

beautiful:k:

Umer · January 10, 2003, 9:54am

Subhanallah!

Very nice and beautiful pics. And your travel report was amazing too. Very interesting to read. :k:

I’ll go to Cairo too next year Inshallah to visit my sister, her husband and her son, who live there. So far I haven’t been there.

Capricorn · January 10, 2003, 10:27am

Nice travelogue and Pics :k:

Gamma_Dilation · January 10, 2003, 10:49am

nice, :k: … whats with the copyright .. stop being cheap

Thap · January 10, 2003, 11:44am

You came to Egypt and didn't let me know?

Boy I got to start being nicer to people.

Lovely photo's and great commentry.

Sumble · January 10, 2003, 1:07pm

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by NaasPeeta: *
This was my Cabin and that is my bed :~) yeah yeah I know its small .. but believe me after traveling in a bus for 14 hours and waiting outside for 10 hours this small bed was like a Takht-e-shahi for me :~) and I had my best sleep in there :~)