14 September - 12 October 2002

September 2002 Pics Text

	14 September 2002 Central Cairo from the air. You may just be able to make out the island in the Nile, and the Cairo Tower on said island.
	15 September 2002 You see all sorts of amazing sites on the Cairo roads... witness the cyclist carrying a 6 foot dish of bread on his head through this intersection! Oh... and incase you wonder why I happened to be hanging about at this particular junction? See the cab with the flat tire on the roof? Leaning to one side because the wheel is being changed? Erm... well I am a passenger in said taxi!
	15 September 2002 The view east from the top of the Cairo Tower. Behind all those ugly 'modern' looking hotels is the old town with the Citadel far in the distance.
	16 September 2002 Rob standing in front of a big pile of rocks... erm... the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops).
	16 September 2002 Sorry - Rob in a cheesy tourist pose at the Giza Plateau.

16 September 2002 Khafre's Valley Temple, The Sphinx and the three great pyramids beyond.
	16 September 2002 The Spinx and Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops).
	17 September 2002 Love the blue coloured spice stuff (whatever this was - I did ask but don't remember). I told the storekeeper to try and look casual, I think it got lost in the translation somewhere!
	17 September 2002 Feluccas on the Nile near Aswan.
	18 September 2002 Carvings (and tourists) in the Great Hypostyle Hall, inside the Great Temple of Ramses II.
	18 September 2002 The leftmost (youngest looking) of the four enormous (these are 30m high!) statues of Ramses II at the entrace to the Great Temple of Ramses II.
	18 September 2002 The temples of Hathor (foreground) and Ramses II at the Abu Simbel site.
	18 September 2002 Four enourmous (30m high) statues at the entrance to the Great Temple of Ramses II.
	18 September 2002 A dancer performs that incredible spinny-round kindof dance at a rooftop dinner here in Aswan.
	19 September 2002 The Nile from the breakfast room of our hotel here in Aswan.
	19 September 2002 Colonnades along the outer court of the Philae temple near Aswan.
	19 September 2002 The Kiosk of Trajan (or "Pharaoh's Bed" is an unfinished pavilion by the water here at Philae.
	19 September 2002 Chaos theory in full effect - boats dropping off and collecting visitors to the Philae Temple. Egyption waterways are just as crazy as the roads it would seem.
	19 September 2002 Lunch onboard a Felucca on the first day of our trip. Note how my Source Hydration water bottle can have the inner removed and serve as a beer cooler - I'm very impressed with this one.
	19 September 2002 Canadian paramedic Ken proves he's also pretty handy in the role of boat barman.
	19 September 2002 Sameh cooking up some sort of vegitable dish as part of this evening's dinner onboard the Felucca.
	19 September 2002 Ooops... what happens when you try to pass under a bridge without ducking. The broken mast of our Felucca in need of a little TLC.

20 September 2002 Sunrise on the Nile.
	20 September 2002 Rob and Ken enjoy a beer on the Nile as we gently drift downstream and soak up that sun.
	20 September 2002 Sunset on the Nile, our sistership (yeah - we had two boats for our group) slowly passes by.
	20 September 2002 The Nubian people bring out their drums once more and entertain us (and another boat who also happen to moor nearby) by the camp fire.
	21 September 2002 Detailed columns at Kom Ombo. Amazingly the colour is still visible here after 2000 years in the sun.
	21 September 2002 Incredible detail still shows in the hieroglyphs here at Kom Ombo.
	21 September 2002 Nile fisherman passes us close to dusk.
	21 September 2002 Sunset on the Nile - simply stunning.
	22 September 2002 The massive entrance facade to the Temple of Horus here at Edfu.
	22 September 2002 Rob, Nat and Mireille inside the Great Court of the Temple of Horus.
	22 September 2002 Hieroglyphs on the wall by the Passage of Victory, within the Temple of Horus. Outstanding markings that cover the whole of this wall from the floor to it's apex.
	22 September 2002 Rob get's to sit at the back of our mini-bus and mind the baggage.
	22 September 2002 One of the amazing Obelisks of Hatshepsut, the tallest in Egypt.
	22 September 2002 Rob inside the Great Hypostyle Hall amongst the 134 towering pillars. This hall is large enough to hold both St Peter's in Rome and London's St Paul's. Lonely Plant cannot be faulted for it's comment, "... there is nothing to do but stand and stare up at the dizzying spectacle."
	23 September 2002 Entrance to the Valley of the Kings, close to Luxor.
	23 September 2002 The group climb high above the valley floor.
	23 September 2002 The Temple of Hatshepsut from the mountains towering above as we ride down from the Valley of the Kings.
	23 September 2002 View from atop (ahem... if you can say that when on a 4 foot high donkey) my trusty mule on the way down from the Valley of the Kings.
	23 September 2002 On the way down from the Valley of the Kings we pass the Workmen's Village. From here the many labourers would be blindfolded and lead into the valley to try and protect it's secret location.
	23 September 2002 On the road to Hurghada travelling in convoy, as many travellers are now forced to it Egypt.
	24 September 2002 Wonderful views from My Sinai as dusk approaches.
	24 September 2002 A rather hot and sweaty Rob (yerch!) atop Mt Sinai afer the 1 hour 15 minute stroll to the top.
	24 September 2002 A small chapel here on the summit of Mt Sinai.

24 September 2002 Worth the brisk 45 minute walk? Yes, I think so!
	24 September 2002 Rob admires the sunset atop Mt Sinai.
	25 September 2002 The rather nice pool here at our lodgings in the Sinai Desert.
	25 September 2002 The St Katherine's Monastery at the foot of Mt Sinai (well - sort of at the foot... at the bottom of the path to it's peak anyhow). This illegedly holds a descendant of the burning bush that spoke to Mosses.
	25 September 2002 Inside St Katherine's Monastery.
	25 September 2002 Rob in appropriate dress for the Sinai Desert. Head scarf, two water bottles (3 litres) oh... and sunnies of course.
	25 September 2002 Inside the White Canyon we had a chance to get out of the fierce desert sun.
	25 September 2002 Our desert guide, affectionatly know as Sillyman (a play on his real name which us silly English lot find unpronouncable).
	25 September 2002 After exiting the White Canyon we pause for a quick group photo... well, had to be done really, didn't it?
	26 September 2002 A family of camels take in breakfast as I look on, close to the oasis we spent te night at.
	26 September 2002 View from atop (yes... you can definatly say that when on a 8 foot high camel) my trusty camel during the second day of our desert trek.
	26 September 2002 Rob of Arabia? Could be...
	26 September 2002 What you lookin' at?
	26 September 2002 The guys ('Ris and Warwick) wondering into Closed Canyon. You think this is narrow? Nah... see nothin' yet!
	26 September 2002 Amazingly this tree seems to grow straight out of that rock formation.
	26 September 2002 Sand, rocks, etc? Must be a desert then!
	26 September 2002 Forget all those fancy kitchen appliances, the Egyptians feed all their trash to their camels! The remains of a Baraka (that's mineral water to you) box.

26 September 2002 Sand, rocks, etc? Must be a desert then!
	26 September 2002 Sand, rocks, etc? Must be a desert then!
	26 September 2002 Sand, rocks, etc? Must be a desert then! Erm... and Rob.
	26 September 2002 Sand, rocks, etc? Must be a desert then!
	26 September 2002 Sunset on the last day of our trek... wonderful.
	27 September 2002 The last Desert sunrise before we head off to the shores of the Red Sea... ahhh.

October 2002 Pics Text

	4 October 2002 The many eating establishments along the beach here are all pretty similar. They are mostly decorated with colourful lights (as seen here) and have great comfy sofas to lounge in.
	7 October 2002 A reef off Tiran Island, as you can see this is a pretty popular dive location. Many of the dive sites near Sharm el-Sheikh get crowded like this after early morning. Lucky for us on the liveaboard we can get some diving donw before the crowds appear.
	7 October 2002 Sunset somewhere on the Red Sea.
	8 October 2002 Carpe Diem's launch looking rather the worse for wear. Luckily the repairs went well and we were back riding off to another dive in this later in the day.
	10 October 2002 Rob working hard (ahem...) on his tan on the deck of Carpe Diem.
	11 October 2002 Sunrise at Ras Katy, just off Sharm el-Sheikh.
	11 October 2002 Crew members of Carpe Diem prooving traditional Egyptian drums are waterproof
	11 October 2002 Sadly leaving Carpe Diem.

View Slideshow