Cleopatra

I love driving in Egypt, they are developed enough to have road markings and lines, but backward enough that the drivers don’t really care. So that means i can drive how i like without any negative reproductions. Funny story: Pulled over to the side to look at map and a local came next to us and asked if we needed directions, we spoke a bit and decided to follow him 6 k’s down the road to our destination. Now remember they drive on the right side of the road. Down the road we go, T-intersection, he turns left, we follow, he stays FAR right on the hard shoulder, we follow, traffic coming towards us flashing lights (nothing out of the usual), we turn right on a dirt track and we realise the dirt track is a makeshift road that connects both sides of the dual carriageway!!! And for a kilometre, we drove on the wrong direction of a 4 lane highway to save some time! I burst out laughing and didn’t look back. Welcome to Egypt.

Today was tough. 3 stages in the full on desert. First stage we were trooping along very happily in the sand, driving through some beautiful canyons winding through some ‘sand creek’ things. Our massive ground clearance and slow speed torque was an advantage over some of the other cars. We were making our way through the sandy canyon and rounded a corner and just like the other day in the mud there was mayhem again. Bogged cars everywhere blocking our path. If there wasn’t any cars that were blocking our route we would have just plodded our way allllll the way through hassle-free. But, thats not how the cookie crumbles sometimes so we turned around and headed to the final stage of the day to make up the lost time from going the long way. Stil had a great day.

I think anyone could be a copper in Egypt. We were going along the dual carriageway and a cop car with two youngish guys in it flashed their lights and sirens behind us and i freaked out for an instant if i had done anything wrong, then they pulled up next to us and waved and thumbs up and everything happy and for the next 3km’s they showed us all of their different sirens and horns and all the cool things of a cop car (while doing 105km/hr).

Even in a beautiful hotel with marble floors and granite benchtops and classy waiters, you know your still in Africa when you turn the tap on and the water is still heaps dirty. Bottled water only from now on.

James