We arrived in Cairo at around 12.00 a.m. and drove straight through the city to the Nile. We started to look for a hotel and we never got anything until 5.30 p.m. Cairo is the busiest, noisiest city we have ever been to. All the hotels were full we drove all over the place. The traffic is horrendous. Nobody stops at red lights they just continue going through until the traffic coming the other way forces its way across and then visa versa. Trying to walk across the road is nearly impossible and very scary, nobody stops, even on a zebra. You just walk out slowly. I was frightened to death as 3 lanes of traffic came screaming up to me and I stood like a scared rabbit petrified. We went into one hotel on the outskirts at about 5 p.m. and he toldus it was full but gave us the name of another. We went to that and it was full. We returned to the first one as the van was there and Peter asked if we could stay in the car park as we were getting desperate as it was going dark. He went away to ask, came back and said no but that they did have a suite which wasn't being used and we could have a bedroom off the suite. They took us to look and we couldn't believe it it was a massive suite taking up nearly half a floor with lounges and bedrooms and hallways. Our room was fantastic with a beautiful bathroom and very quite as nobody else was there. We askednext morning if we could stay again but they said no the hotel was full.

We took a taxi to the British Embassy to get our letter of introduction for the Sudanese Embassy which took about an hour. We then went to the Sudanese Embassy, filled in the forms and left our passports. It was then 11.45 and they told us to come back at 2p.m which we did and finally the elusive visas were in our passport. We couldn't believe it after waiting a week in Jordan and people waiting 8 weeks in London we had them in 2 hours!!

We went back to the hotel to get the truck and left at 2.30 to find the campsite. Again absolute nightmare traffic but this time we were on the ring road and I have never been more frightened in my life. The speed was quite fast but cars were crashing into the central concrete barrier and bouncing into the carriageway, (bad crashes as well) or running into the concrete barrier at the side. People were climbing over the barriers and running across 3 lanes of traffic sometimes carrying babies!! It was just like a scene from wacky races. We drove around in circles again for hours and we finally spotted the Pyramids through the smog in the distance. We headed that way and finally found the mosquito infested canal along which the campsite is situated. The whole area was like a cesspit but we never managed to find the campsite and instead spotted a hotel. Peter went in and after much bartering managed to get a room for US$170 and the truck was locked in a secure compound come workshop next door. We went up to the room and couldn't believe it. The carpets in the corridors were stuck down with glue and tape. The curtains were stained and hanging off the rails. It smelled. The bath had been painted in emulsion paint. The beds sagged. It was the most disgusting place you can imagine but we were desperate as it is so dangerous for us driving in the dark with the traffic and the state of the potholed roads and the masses of people in the roads. At the moment Cairo are hosting the Arab Olympics and some of the teams from the poorer Arab states were staying in the hotel. We went out for a walk scrambling over the rubble and rubbish and came across another hotel. It was fantastic just stepping into the grounds away from the frenzy outside. They had a massive pool and gardens and bedouin seating areas. We ate in their Italian restaurant and listened to the singer around the pool. After about half an hour lots and lots of people arrived with massive amounts of luggage and were soon down at the bars. It turned out that they were American service men and women on a spell of R&R from Iraq. They soon took over the singing which became Karioke and by 6.30 the place was buzzing and noisy and we couldn't stop laughing as they strutted their stuff around the dance floor obviously letting their hair down.

We returned to the flea pit and went onto our balcony and were totally amazed as just in front of us looming above the dust clouds were the floodlit Pyramids. It was a jaw dropping sight as when we looked out before we could see nothing through the smog!

Next morning Peter returned to reception to a different guy and asked how much the rooms wereand was told US120. After an exchange of words he was told to see the manager later in the day and we set off again by taxi into the city to the Ethiopian Embassy. The taxi driver told us he knew where the Embassy was but it transpired he didn't..anyway we finally arrived and went inside, this being Thursday and everything is closed on Fridays. We completed the forms and he told us it was 24 hours wait for the visas which meant waiting until they opened again on Sunday which obviously we didn't want to do. We told him we were leaving the next day and luckily they processed the visas within an hour!

Back at the hotel Peter had his meeting with the hotel manager in his office which managed to get the rooms for US$120 per night which was still a total rip off. I couldn't believe the disgusting place had a licence to take guests. We went down what purported to be the fire escape which was blocked by discarded furniture, it was a death trap!!

That night we went to the sound & light show at the pyramids. The Sphinx narrates the story but it is worth going to see the Pyramids by starlight. AFter that we went to the Oberoi Hotel a former hunting lodge built in 1865 and converted to a sumptuous hotel. The interior of the hotel is opulent and we had the most delicious curry at their Indian Restaurant.

At last it was time to leave Cairo and make our way to the Western Desert after visiting the Pyramids which are an ama ing sight looming up like alien constructions just by the side of the busy town and nowhere near the desert as people imagine. The massive stone blocks are built in tiers one on top of the other perfectly constructed. You can wander around the bottom quite freely and take camel rides or horse rides but climbing the many steps to the top is now forbidden thankfully as there is evidence now of too much tourism.

From there it was a short journey to the desert road which we could see on our maps but nobody could actually tell us where it was. We stopped and asked so many people and each one told us a different direction or a different place. We must have passed the Pyramids about 5 times going backwards and forwards. We stopped at a 5 star hotel and were given directions and then returning there again hours later we asked their limosine driver who told us something different. We asked if it was along the 6th October road but was told no that just leads to 6th October city. We ended up 80k from Cairo again in the pitch black after stopping at a small supermarket where we again asked where the desrt road was. They called a friend who it turned out couldn't speak English and he got in the truck, with me in the back again, and took us on a wild goose chase back to the road out of town that we came in on!!! Again we had to find a hotel which turned out to be another really nice place by the side of a Lake. We got out our lap top and GPS and managed to find the GPS co-ordinates for the road we needed, something we should have done 6 hours previously.

As you can imagine we were desperate to see the back of Cairo as it had been difficult for us. Egypt is probably o.k. to visit on holiday, staying in a nice hotel with a coach to take you everywhere and deal with officialdom but as an independent traveller things are more difficult.