Looking back at Egypt trip South Canterbury Travel Club

• Published date: 22 June 2022
• Publication title: Courier, The

Although preferring not to travel solo, Lynley made her way via Melbourne and Singapore to Cairo. On the way, she met her son in Melbourne, then enjoyed her time exploring Singapore over four days

There she took myriad orchid photos, bought yet another handbag and partook of the tasty street food. The flight from Singapore went well; going over Mumbai with its never-ending twinkle of lights was quite magical.

In Cairo she met her partner John (who suggested the trip) and was introduced to Ishmael, a delightful man who was to be their taxi driver for their stay.

The sights and sounds of Cairo with the old city markets, the stands of colourful fruits and vegetables, fresh breads and busy chaotic traffic, plus all the top label shops was a great and memorable experience.

Visiting the citadel on the hill and seeing the view of the pyramids of Giza in the distance was spectacular. One amusing incident was when a bookmark seller offered to buy her from John for 15 camels.

Trips were made to the pyramid and sphinx built in 2500BC. It was scary, awesome and surreal exploring the narrow tunnels inside. The guide spoke of the presence of ghosts there as ‘‘the ghosters’’, which added to the scary feel.

They then visited the Valley of the Kings. Following that, they took a nine-hour train trip to Luxor to pick up a small cruise on the Nile to Aswan.

At Luxor, they visited the enormous Karnak Temple, where the temperature was 50degC.

There were only 12 passengers on their cruise, which made the experience more personal. The boats were often moored three-deep so people had to board each one prior to getting to the shore — a kind of boat hopscotch!

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