Walking like an Egyptian

Egypt was part of our original trip instead of Iran, but due to quite a bit of bad press we decided to drop it and go to Iran. In Jordan we were so close to the pyramids that we couldn't help ourselves and decided to go on an overnighter.

I'm a nervous flyer at the best of times, but flying in over the Sinai I was terrified. But obviously my fears were wasted.

We had a guide pick us up from the airport and we headed straight to the lesser known "alty" pyramids. Some of them were so alty that from a glance you'd think they were just piles of rocks, but they were legit ancient. 

This is honestly a legit pyramid

The passage inside King Tetis tomb

The pyramid of King Teti has one of the most impressive tombs inside, covered in hieroglyphics, but nothing to note regarding the pyramid. Our guide had told us you couldn't take photos inside, but that the guy at the door will come inside and for a tip let you take photos. Sure enough when we were inside, he offered us to take photos, and kept fake checking that someone was coming. We even got photos in the coffin.

Hieroglyphs on the wall of King Tetis tomb

The outer sarcophagus in King Tetis tomb

We then went to the step pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara. This was one of the first pyramids built and kind of proves the progression of the design and debugs the myth that the Great Pyramids were built by aliens.

The step pyramid of Djoser (just putting the finishing touches on it after a couple of thousand years)

Another "alty" pyramid

We went to another pyramid next, that I have no idea what it was called or where it was. I've tried to google it but to no avail. This time the passage into the tomb was terrifying, the path was about 1m by 1m, and you had to go down about 50m into the darkness half crawling half walking. There was absolutely nothing inside too, no hieroglyphs, just steamy hot stone walls. 

The pyramid that I don't know the name of

Inside the "unnamed" pyramid

We also checked out the "bent" pyramid of Dahshur. This pyramid was built at too steep an angle and halfway through construction it was showing signs of collapse, so they had to change the angle in order to stop it collapsing. King Sneferu however was not keen on being buried in the "bent" pyramid so had them build him a new one.

The bent pyramid of Dahshur

We then travelled to Memphis, the ancient capital city to visit the open museum. Inside the open museum was a statue of Ramses II that was in immaculate condition, like it was freshly chiselled. There was also a whole lot of other statues and priceless artefacts just littering the grounds.

The beautiful tropical landscape in Memphis

The fallen statue of Ramses II, looking freshly chiselled

That night we headed to a Nile Cruise for dinner. This was arguably the most touristy thing I have ever done, but there were only like 10 other people on the boat which made it tolerable. The show they put on was one of the stranger I'd seen; it started with a strange man with a goatee singing wedding planner esque songs, then  an Egyptian exotic dancer, then a spinning dwarf, and finally a spinning comedian.

The wedding singer

The Egyptian exotic dancer

The spinning dwarf

The spinning comedian

The following morning we went to the famous Cairo museum. There are so many monuments and artefacts in there, that they say if you spent 30 seconds looking at each one, you'd be there for 3 years. You really just have to focus on the main ones or you just become overwhelmed. The Royal Mummy exhibitions were a highlight, they were seriously eerie. You aren't allowed to take photos inside the museum especially not in the mummy exhibit, but I sneaked one and I got caught straight away so I had a tail for the rest of the time we were inside.

The Cairo Museum

King Tuthmoses II

I had wanted to see the mask of Tutankhamen since I was a little kid, so I was beside myself with excitement as we went in. It was more extravagant than I had imagined. The mask is 11kgs of pure gold, then there is a huge golden sarcophagus, then a gold plated wooden sarcophagus, and then four other gold plated boxes that the sarcophagi go in, like a Russian doll. This wasn't the limit to the gold, the room gold was wall to wall; jewellery, walking sticks, chairs, you name it, and he was just a boy King. You couldn't even fathom how much gold a King like Ramses would have had when he was buried.

The mask of Tutankhamen (photo credit google images)

After lunch we headed to the famous Great Pyramids of Giza. I had organised to go inside the Pyramid of Cheops which is the largest of the three great pyramids. This one was one hell of a climb to get right up into the middle of it. My thighs were burning. Once inside there wasn't much to note, again, just an empty rock tomb.

The pyramid of Cheops, the largest of the pyramids

The rickety ladder stairs up into the tomb of Cheops

Inside the pyramid of Cheops

When I got back our guide had organised us some camels, I personally dislike camels with a passion, and I would have been happy to walk after my experience in India, but I agreed more for Dad's sake.

The three great pyramids

Dad & I on our camels

We walked around the pyramids on the camels and went to a neighbouring hill that looks over them. This is where everyone gets the photo of them touching the pyramid. I nailed my one.

Dad nailed the photo

We then finished with the Sphinx, another iconic symbol of Egypt. 

The Sphinx and I

Next stop Jerusalem

Nick + Tony

Petra & Lawrence of Arabia

If you ever mention that you're going to Jordan, the first thing you get asked is "Did you go to Petra?" 

So we decided not to go, but instead go to a little known place instead.

Ahh, The Treasury #nomakeupselfie, not what it looks like in any of the pictures

Just joking.

We were up at the crack of dawn to get to the ticket office to beat the crowds to the Treasury. We were offered a horse ride in, but we decided against it because the walk into the Siq (canyon pass) would build the anticipation. 

The first of the narrow passes, The Siq

The path through the Siq 

The Siq was such a foreign landscape, that we almost used up our camera batteries before we even got in. The last part of the Siq is the most extraordinary as it starts to narrow you can see part of the Treasury in the distance. Then it opens right up, and there, in front of you is the majestic Treasury of Petra.

The final lead up to The Treasury

The construction of the treasury is actually quite remarkable as it was built from the top down. The Nabateans cut a crevice into the rock and carved it from the top down. Legend has it that the Nabatean King put treasure in the pot directly above the treasury, and you can see bullet holes where people have tried to break it.

The spectacular Treasury, Petra

Petra is actually a huge place, and there are hundreds of rock cut outs and caves built into the cliff faces. 

Part of the ancient Nabatean city

We had heard about a place called the High Place of Sacrifice, which we started walking the track to. We were offered donkeys but we politely declined, because we didn't think it'd be that bad. We ended up basically scaling the rock face. I thought Dad was gonna kark it. 

At one point I lost site of him and was yelling out, he didn't answer so I walked down about 50m, and he was just chilling. 

The path to the High Place of Sacrifice; high isn't it

Stairs on stairs on stairs

The top of the High Place of Sacrifice only lived up to half its name, it was very high, but there was nothing noteworthy up there, except exceptionally friendly cats.

Both of us have tight moustaches 

Our next place to visit was the monastery, something about monasteries is they always put them in hard to reach & obscure locations. We were back at ground level, and everything indicated that the monastery was again atop a high place, so we got a donkey up. Some people think donkeys are like the Nickelback of the animal kingdom, but I have to disagree. Like Nickelback, they are just great. Sure, you don't look as majestic as you do on a horse, and they can be quite bad tempered, and those ears can get in the way of a good photograph but they are tough buggers.

My donkey was called Steven, funny that

Ears for days

Dads donkey kept trying to overtake us, this was the moment he boosted around us on a corner

We got pulled over a couple of times by bedouins on our way up for tea with them. Unfortunately, every time we would also have to look at all their stock, and basically their entire back catalogue.

The Monastery from the lookout

Puss and the monastery

When we finally reached the top the monastery we were in a huge clearing. It truly was in a spectacular spot. We went up to the lookout, and the view down again was a beauty. Also, had really friendly cats, one kitten would even climb on my shoulders and sleep.

I was tired, so was the kitten

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the ancient Nabatean town. Dad even took his first selfies with the Treasury which he has forbidden me to put on the blog, but one is on Instagram (@nick_doni).

Dad & I in front of the Monastery

That night we headed to a Bedouin camp deep into the Wadi Rum, where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. Chilling with the bedouins was my kind of jam, we just had teas & yarns by the fire. Talking about family, war, tourism and all the trouble in the Middle East. Our Bedouin translator Aid said that in 2009 during the height of the tourism, there would be hundreds of tourists across different camps in the Wadi Rum, now, he said Dad & I were the only ones.

The small arch, Wadi Rum

Me outside the Bedouin camp

Teas & yarns with Aid and his son

The sleep that night was completely undisturbed, there wasn't a sound as we got into bed, and the sky was alive with stars. I tried taking photos of them but they are all just black.

Me balancing on top of the big arch

The Wadi Rum Desert

The next morning we went in an open top jeep around the Wadi Rum. I've done deserts before but this one was different, the scale of the mountains was unreal. 

The cliff face and mountains in the Wadi Rum

We even stopped at a sand dune and I tried to recreate my picture that I did on the top of the sand dune in Namibia. That Dead Sea mud didn't help me one bit, after two years I'm definitely looking worse for wear.

Two years on, this time in the Wadi Rum

We are off to Egypt next, which is a scary prospect due to the current climate. If you see this post it means we've made it to Cairo.

Lots of love

Nick + Tony

Biblical Jordan

Our first stop on our path to southern Jordan was Bethany Beyond the Jordan (or the Baptismal Site), where Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. The Jordan River is not quite what it once was due in part to political reasons (river diversions) & climate change, but that didn't stop me getting in. The water was freezing, but I baptised myself round 2.

The Greek Church at the Baptismal Site

The Baptismal Site, Jordan

Dad getting some of the good stuff, Jordan river

Me dipping my feet in

The traffic is terrible around there 

The day was getting hotter and hotter which was a big positive as we were heading next to the Dead Sea. We drove passed the sea level sign that shows we are officially at 0m and then continued another 429 meters below to get to the Dead Sea beach.

Cheesy photo next to the sign

I was hoping to have gotten sick during my time in Iran so that I could be sporting my new beach bod, but it unfortunately never happened.

The Amman Beach, Dead Sea

I had heard that the Dead Sea was incredibly buoyant but I wasn't quite prepared for it. It was like wearing a full body life jacket. If you were lying on you back you had to wind up to spin around.  I decided against popular advice to dunk my head under.

Just writing in my diary

The pain was immense, first my nostrils, next my eyes, then my mouth. It was like sucking on a really sour lollie and your jaw kind of cramps up. So I told Dad it was invigorating and watched him writhe in pain as he experienced it himself.

We then caked ourselves in the mud, and stood in the sun like two black statues to dry. When we washed it off, I felt like a new me, and I didn't recognise dad, he looked 20 years younger. Unfortunately the effects didn't last long and we are back to our old selves.

Dead Sea Mud

Dad all mudded up

After that refreshing swim, we headed up Mt Nebo. This is where Moses saw the Promised Land. The view was fantastic.

Similar to Moses, me looking out to the promised land

A guide to the Promised Land

Then we made our way down to the town of Wadi Musa where you stay to see Petra. That night Dad wasn't feeling well so I went to the oldest bar in the world alone. It was built a couple of thousand years ago and is in a cave, surprisingly it's called Cave Bar. I was drinking arak which is made from aniseed, and is popular all over the Levant. It tasted a lot like sambuca, and completely numbs your mouth.

Cave Bar, the oldest bar in the world

Petra tomorrow.

Lots of love

Nick + Tony