Egypt is the first "middle eastern" country I have ever been to - I know it's part of the continent Africa except even Egyptians refer to themselves as 'middle-eastern' rather than African. And OMG is it different!! We arrived at 1.30am on a Sunday morning and were collected and driven to our small family-run hotel, which happened to be overlooking the ancient Pyramids of Giza as well as the Sphinx. This was amazing to wake up to later this day as the pyramids had this instant "wow" factor that I wasn't expecting them to have. Mum and dad had been to Egypt 4 years ago so I had seen their photos and I had obviously studied a tiny bit of the ancient Egyptian history in school - but this did not even nearly compare to sitting on the roof of this hotel and eating breakfast (falafels & Turkish bread with dip) and staring at these magnificent structures.

Our first day in Cairo, after waking up after a well-deserved sleep-in, we walked across the road to arrange a camel tour through the pyramids to get an up-close and personal look at the only remaining ancient wonder of the world. After mastering the art of riding a camel (not as easy as it looks) we made our way around each of the pyramids, getting the best possible photos and having a lot of fun with our guide. It wasn't exactly the most educational of tours, however it was definitely the "touristy" experience getting photos of dad kissing the Sphinx and me stepping on the pyramids as well as standing on camels (this isn't an illusion my guide actually made me do this) and of corse climbing the actual pyramids. We knew we would be getting the cultural, historical perspective of the pyramids from our 18 day on-the-go "Dunes and Tombs" tour coming up, so just being a really stupid tourist who just wants to take the touristy photos and see the main things was so much fun for a day. We went down inside one of the smaller pyramids and saw where the mummies were once buried as well as all the amazing rooms carved underneath and into the pyramid. We also visited the sphinx, however you're no longer allowed to go up and touch it because its under preservation but it is still so incredible that it was carved out of one block of stone.

After our camel tour, we went into a near-by shop to check out some of their souvenirs, and to my complete surprise, dad actually bought me a silver necklace with ancient Egyptian symbols carved into it on one side, and he got "KTLOU" (Kathryn Louise) inscribed in hieroglyphics on the other side. It was such a great day… my recount of this day really doesn't do it justice because I try not to sound so corny but it really was quite an incredible experience - one of the highlights of my trip for sure, and even one of the greatest days of my entire life. For anyone who thinks the Pyramids of Giza are over-rated or not anything that special, don't judge it until you come here because I never expected to be so impressed but I was.

That evening, we watched the light show of the Pyramids from the roof of our hotel and were joined by all the other guests staying there. The light show was basically just the pyramids and the Sphinx lit up in different colours with some running commentary from the 80s played for an hour. Except to watch it from the roof - we didn't even need to pay to go and see it - was really very cool!

The next day we took it pretty easy and made our way to the next hotel which was where our group tour was suppose to start from. The hotel was really grand and expensive with a huge pool and really nice grounds, except it was completely empty! There is absolutely no tourists in Egypt at all its so bizarre! Everyone has been so welcoming to us and has gone the extra mile to make sure we are happy and taken care of which really shows how much they are suffering without tourists. This huge hotel was probably only 5% occupied by tourists when we were there which makes me wonder how it's still in business. We had this huge buffet breakfast with like 50 tables or so surrounding it and we were the only ones at breakfast. Many other hotels have had to shut down since the revolution and most Egyptians blame the media for the huge fall in tourism.

As a tourist myself, I can see both sides of the problem, given the instability of the government here in Egypt because of the severe corruption problems and even the religious reasons as over 90% of the population is Muslim (and this - despite being a person who is accepting of all religions - is a very different lifestyle to the one at home) and can be a reason, especially for single women, not to travel here. The large dependence of tourists for income has hit so many of these local families hard; it really does show the tragic effects of such a national event and how unfortunately risky a job in the tourism industry can be. This explains why we received a call in our hotel room from the group tour Cairo representative saying the first pre-departure group meeting (which was meant to occur this night) was cancelled as dad and I were the only members of our "group tour" for the first 5 days travelling from Cairo to Aswan. This was slightly disappointing as I had been on such a high since arriving in Egypt and was so ready for a group tour and to meet new people as I had those couple weeks in Kenya to prepare myself and chill out. Hearing that it was just going to be Dad and I, for the next 5 days, with a private guide and driver was very unexpected as I was ready to meet a group. However these things happen and luckily it was only 5 days not the whole 18 days of the tour - as dad and I were doing a couple nights in the desert where as most people skip this and so it takes us an extra few days to get to Aswan so our tour started a few days earlier. It was weird how no one else was interested in the camping in the desert but anyway I still had to remember I was in Egypt and this was amazing.

The next day was the first day of our group "private" tour and we headed back to the pyramids with a "real" tour guide who explained the ancient historical and cultural stories that were related. This was awesome even though we had been there 2 days ago because they really are just magnificent. Then we headed over to a sight called Saqarra, situated in the old capital Memphis, to see the remaining pyramids, which were smaller but built first as well as some tombs that were built for ancient royal families with the hieroglyphic inscriptions and biblical paintings. Most of the tombs are underground so you have to climb down small spaces to get to them which can get a little bit claustrophobic but it wasn't too bad! I'm not a very big fan of history in general - I'm more of a 'future' person rather then someone fascinated by the 'past' however this stuff is so far from the past, that it's like a completely different socialisation and way of life. The whole idea of mummification is so foreign but legendary, ancient Egyptian history is more religious than historical. These were times dating back to BC, with paintings of Noah's Ark, Adam & Eve, The prophet of Moses, Abraham sacrificing his son Isiah to show his commitment to God and Egyptian slavery (who built the pyramids) for different emperors. Who even thinks of the title "Emperor" anymore?! Then you combine the religious side with the archeological aspect of people spending decades of their lives searching for the tombs of these pharos and different gods, and discovering and preserving mummies and being able to tell you the level of royalty, the gender and even the age of these bodies that died thousands of years ago - it's truly mind-blowing to see a mummy with the gold mask and the bandages that were put there whole millenniums ago!!

Following this day, we met another guide Makmud, who would stay with us for the remainder of our 'private' tour until we caught up with the rest of our group. On day 2, we travelled out of Cairo through the desert to the Bahariyya Oasis. Our driver drove us at a speed that not even seatbelts would make a difference if we were to crash, however this did get us to our destination a little earlier than expected, leaving our afternoon open to have a nice swim in the hotel and do an afternoon drive out into the sand dunes to check out some awesome rock mountains and oases in the desert while the sunset. I will hopefully get some decent wifi over the next month which will mean I can upload the Egypt video I have made which will show you the accommodation we had here as it had some really traditional, medieval architecture mixed in with more modern features (for example electricity).

As we hesitantly climbed back into the jeep the next morning with our crazy speed demon driver (mum you would not have liked it) we headed out to visit a few more incredible scenic landscapes. We saw the black desert which was a desert of sand covered in iron ore which made it black. Then crystal mountain and rock caves which were these amazing rock formations and mountians made from quartz and limestone and all these other types of rocks I cant remember. And finally we set up camp in the white desert which was really cool because the rocks there were so white making it the perfect place to watch sunset. We decided that it wouldn't get cold enough to need tents (the real camping under the stars experience) however after we decided this, the wind picked up pretty strong and lets just say, sleeping in the desert, when there is wind blowing sand in your face, not that magical. However it was still cool and something I had never done before (well … soberly anyway)!

The remaining days of our private tour with Makmud included visitations to ancient medieval villages, different tombs, temples and shrines, some more amazing landscapes through the sand dunes and a couple of more local-based activities including looking at local artists artwork and trying some local cuisine. Overall, it was a much better than expected first few days of the tour, even if it was just dad and I, and it just showed me how flexible you need to be when you travel as your plans aren't always going to turn out how you plan them to.

Catch you on the flipside !!