To Egypt, to Egypt

I'm currently sorting 1400 photos we took in our 3.5 days Egypt tour and I dont know where to start sharing.

In a nutshell, it was a tiring but enriching trip. And:

- We like Egypt because of its traces of ancient civilization
- We like Egypt for the (cheap, they say) hot air balloon ride
- We like Luxor's Nefertiti Hotel's hospitality

- We like our Luxor guide and Egyptologist Aladdin. He's Luxor's lively walking encyclopedia. We have yet to tell Nefertiti though that their Cairo agent who guided us, was not as accommodating as Aladdin.

- We dislike Egypt for its people who see tourists as $$$$$$$$. Let them flag a taxi for you, or take a picture of them, or enter a toilet that says "Free entry", or any petty favor -- now spell trouble --  you're OBLIGED to PAY them. There's also obnoxious locals on the streets stretching their palms. You could either be expert at ignoring them, hand them $ or hand them a thing in your bag they'd ask for.
- We dislike the cunning Egyptians. Spell RIP-OFF boldly. There's overpricing or making up stories for fakes. Twice, the locals came over to us as if we were acquaintances insisting we spoke earlier and agreed to pay them for their services.  
- We dislike our first night hostel. Talk about mold-laden cups tray; hazy drinking glasses; room lights not working, bed linens that seemed un-washed for weeks, unkempt toilet
- We dislike Egypt for it's "multi-pricing". Tony, a Welsh who made Luxor his home said: "You pay EGP 65 while the Luxor resident pays EGP 2.
- We dislike Luxor McDonalds, rip-offs too. We attempted to save on our food, but weren't too careful to read the deceiving menu and did not confirm. I was expecting an EGP 60 meal for our EGP 99 bill.
- We dislike having to travel 12 hours by bus from Luxor to Cairo because the train was full.
- We dislike Egyptians who doesnt know the word QUE. They just come in front of you in the line. Once, our Cairo guide suggested we give a coin to be attended in priority.

Oh, oh, I'm being mean now, really mean =) . Please dont get me wrong, Egypt has must-see treasures that's why tourists flock by the countless buses. And I guess it'll take me 4 to 5 blog posts to share.

For now, here are random picks from my 1400 shoots:

The pyramid sides used to be smooth as the tip of this

Hatshepsut's mummification temple. Cant pronounce? Say Hot Chicken Soup =)

Egypt's First Class train

Sensored, sensored. But yeah, they make this in Luxor. Reminds me of my village's wood carving industry.

Much of land along Egypt's Nile River is green

Inside a Coptic Christian Church in Luxor

Inflating the balloon

Rooftops as seen from the balloon

Bread anyone? ... in Cairo

The Great Pyramid of Giza

Alexandria's fishermen

Alexandria

Citadel of Sultan Qait Bay in Alexandria

Please do come back for my individual posts on our experience. It's 2:25 am now, have to hit bed otherwise, would be too groggy for our Wadi Wurayah, Fujairah drive at sunrise =)

It's holiday in the Sandpit today. Happy 39th dear UAE!