Reisebericht Ägypten/Jordanien (Englisch, da parallel LP)

[Gast]

Hi, just completed an 18-day trip through Egypt and Jordan,
as I got lots of information from this forum, I want to share some facts and thoughts on the places I visited

Dahab:
Taxi from SSH airport 35 € (split through 4), no real competition between the drivers makes bargaining a little difficult, if you´re alone it´s much cheaper to go to Sharm bus station first and take the bus to Dahab
In Dahab stayed at Dolphin Camp, nice, clean place, bungalows with air-con for 70 LE are very good value. Dahab is still a relaxed place with an awesome setting, probably more backpacker-friendly than any other place in Egypt, but already a little over-developed (the paved promenade, the cheap bazaar street, the constant hassle by restaurant touts).
Although originally planned to hike on Mt. Sinai for sunset, we changed plans for practical reasons (transport) and went for sunrise with the masses. No reason to be put off by them, imo this even adds to the experience, as it is quite impressive seeing the steady stream of flashlights crawling up the mountain. When you take your time at the top and walk down the stairs instead of the camel path, you´re gonna be almost alone on the way down and can enjoy the fantastic scenery in silence.
Minibus transport was 50 LE, new entrance fee for protectorate has to be added

Petra:

Bus to Taba 10.30 am 22 LE, Taxi from Taba border to Arava crossing 45 Shekel, Taxi to Aqaba 5 JD, Bus to Maan 2 JD, Taxi to Petra 6 JD (as a tourist it might be hard getting below 10 JD, we joined a local who arranged the price)
Border crossings are fairly easy but do take some time, so you have to hurry to get the 3 pm bus from Aqaba to Petra in time. We missed it due to two reasons. First up the last bus during Ramadan left at 1 pm, secondly we got a re-entry visa at the Egyptian border. This takes about 30 minutes and costs 51 LE. Therefore we didn´t necessarily have to spent a day in Eilat or Aqaba waiting for a new visa (but Yom Kippur forced us stay for a day in Aqaba anyway).
In Petra we stayed in Cleopatra Hotel (14 JD incl. Breakfast), very friendly place, very good service, strongly recommended.
Petra was fantastic, it´s easy to escape from the crowds by starting early and leaving the main path behind (Wadi Nmeir is great, but the entrance is a little hard to find, we got there by chance when trying to go from the high place of sacrifice through Wadi Farasa; Gebel Kubtha is poorly frequented and gives even better views than it´s counterpart, the high place of sacrifice, if you continue heading east after reaching the top you can view the Treasury from above; the small Siq is a nice alternative to avoid going through the Siq once more, but definitely no must see),

Wadi Rum:

Bus was 4 JD + 1 JD for the luggage, this probably was a scam, but after asking some questions we decided to pay, others left the bus at Rashida Junction and skipped Wadi Rum totally. They missed an absolutely wonderful place, at daylight it´s great, at night it is beyond words, we went with upmarket bedouinroads.com and were completely satisfied (40 JD pP).

Aqaba:

If you don´t dive no real need to stay here, but a quite pleasant city anyway, stayed at Naber al Khaled (?) Hotel near bus station (14 JD incl breakfast), nothing to rave about

Kairo:

Bus Taba to Kairo at 10.30am and 12.30 pm, you have to pay an extra “departure” fee in Egypt, if you enter through Israel (35 LE, strange but true and definitely no scam).
Stayed at Meramees Hostel (80 LE), very conveniently located, large rooms, clean, friendly and relatively hassle free regarding tours.
Pyramids (40/20 LE) can be easily done by bus from the Egyptian museum, 2 LE. On the way to the plateau there was very few hassle, we were almost left alone walking up to the entrance, inside the gates very few hassle as well, the police constantly tries to shoo away the touts. Even at the pyramids it´s surprisingly easy to avoid the crowds by wandering into the desert, from where you have the best and most photogenic view on the pyramids anyway.
The citadel was fairly boring (and, in comparison, overpriced), I would skip it next time.
Islamic Cairo north of Khan-al-Khalili is exciting, wandering through the alleys to the gates gives you fantastic views on urban life in medieval surroundings, the highlight of our walk was climbing the minaret of the Barquq mausoleum (15 LE after bargaining, we were approached by the gate keeper as we rested opposite to the entrance), I strongly recommend climbing one of the many minarets, people will offer this to you against baksheesh, if you go into or sit around the mosques.
Kairo is interesting bustling city, though a little dirty, not as congested as often said. Furthermore it is due to its size relatively hassle-free, Luxor and Aswan are much worse due to their much higher tourist concentration.

Aswan:

Day train from Kairo at 7.30 am (2nd class, very comfortable, about 44 LE, 12 hours).
If you want to see something of the country by all means go during daytime, the ride is very interesting, watching the cities, villages and farms pass by is really exciting, not as dull as crossing the Sinai desert from Taba to Kairo.
In Aswan stayed at the Nile Nuba (50 LE). No bad deal as we arrived late and it is close to the station, room was good, but a tout really got on our nerves trying to talk us into tours. Bad luck for him as we planned to do Abu Simbel by public bus with an overnight stay.
In Aswan explored Elephantine Island and got to know Hamdi, the Nubian village elder mentioned in LP. We went to his rooftop café, after a short introduction to Nubian culture he quickly changed topics and started to offer us all kinds of services. He does this very smartly, but in the end we were totally disgusted, as he steadily stared at my girlfriend (though wearing long trousers and sleeves) and suggested an individual houseboat trip up the Nile with wine, Nubian samba and massages from village girls.
Despite this Elephantine Island is fairly interesting and the view from the rooftop café at night is breathtaking.
A great place to watch sunset is the Nubian House a few kilometres up from the Cataract Hotel (taxi 5 LE), tremendous views of the Nile and the city

Abu Simbel:

Busses at 8,9,11.30 am (21 LE), we took the latter arriving at 3.00 pm and went to the temples for the Sound and Light show (60 LE), the show was surprisingly good, but takes only 35 minutes keeping the value for money quite low.
In the morning you can enter before sunrise (55/38 LE) and before most of the groups arrive with the convoy. This gives you the possibility to enjoy the by far best lighting conditions in relative isolation. At 6.30 am the crowds falls in and the place loses its magic at all. Due to the relocation following the creation of the Nasser lake, Abu Simbel temple is on the whole a little disappointing, the place has a very artificial feel, similar to most European tourist destinations. If it wasn´t for the fantastic photographing opportunities I would recommend to skip it at all and better do a trip of the Western Oases, they´re out of the way too but probably more rewarding.
The public busses back to Aswan leave at 6.30 am and 12.30 pm, the landscape is dull desert all the way with the exception of crossing the old dam shortly before Aswan giving views on Philae e.g.
We stayed next to the bus station at Nobaleh Ramses Hotel, 140 LE, besides Abu Simbel Village the only budget alternative, nice people, but a little run-down as it sees probably very few visitors.

Luxor:

Train from Aswan around 20 LE 2nd class, 3 hours. As we arrived late we went straight to Anglo Hotel (40 LE, clean rooms). After getting rid of their touts we headed for the West Bank the next morning and stayed at Al-Gezira Hotel for the next days (70 LE incl. Breakfast). This place is awesome, totally hassle-free, excellent service, beautiful rooms, gorgeous views from rooftop restaurant and rooms, very good food.
For 10 LE you could use the pool of the upmarket sister hotel Gezira Gardens which is awesome as well.
Temples in Luxor (Karnak 40/20 LE) were a little disappointing after having been to Angkor which is at least two levels above. As I rate landscape and people over stones I didn´t have the highest expectations, but I expected e.g. Karnak temple to be much less ruined and crumbled.
On the other hand the bike tour to Hatchepsut temple and especially the walk over Deir el-Bahri to the valley of kings was absolutely great. From top there are magnificient views to both sides, unbelievable that busloads of tourists miss it as we were virtually alone up there.
Besides Mt. Sinai and Islamic Cairo the one thing in Egypt that I consider an absolute must see.

Hurghada:

Bus from Luxor at 6.30 am 27 LE. Unfortunately there´s a brand new bus station in Luxor near the airport, you need a taxi to get there (20-30 LE).
We only had lunch in Hurghada before we caught our flight. Hurghada is the ugliest resort town I´ve ever seen, hell can´t be worse (though the signs say: Magic and Beauty of Hurghada, welcome to Dreamland). Rimini e.g. could be considered beautiful in comparison. If you take a taxi to the airport there´s a fee of 2.50 LE per taxi to get to the terminal (not 10 LE per person, as our driver first claimed)

Overall we liked Egypt a lot, but it´s definitely no backpackers country, as it lacks of nice places to chill out. I would rate Jordan even higher as people were also tremendously friendly, but more relaxed and Petra and Wadi Rum were the highlights of our trip.
Two thing added. On the upside we felt totally secure all the time, much more than in Western countries.
On the downside, we never really felt comfortable in restaurants, bus stations etc. as the discrimination of local women in every day life is permanently obvious. It´s a little depressing seeing predominantely men in public, no matter how friendly they are (as long as they are not in tourist business and constantly try to rip you off).
Hassle was a little annoying, but we expected things to be much worse (same applies to attitude towards women).

An extra thanks goes out to Ruth and jordanjubilee.com. What a fantastic website on Jordan! (one thing you could add to the overland section is the possibility of getting a re-entry visa at the Taba border)

Vielen Dank noch an Daniel Jackson für die Tips zu Abu Simbel!

[Uli]

Hallo,

was ist LP?
Und wer hat den Bericht geschrieben?

Gruß
Uli

[Daniel Jackson]

Huhu Uli!
LP heißt bestimmt "Lonely Planet", ist einer der zwei größen Reiseführer in englisch. Daneben gibts da noch den "Rough Guide", frag mich jetzt aber nicht nach dessen Abkürzung...

Wäre auch mal interessiert, wer den Bericht denn geschrieben hat bzw. ob ggf. hier ein Copyrightproblem vorliegen könnte (rauskopiert?)

edit: Ich muss doch mal editieren...
Sehr interessanter Bericht, allerdings kann man sich über die Bewertung von Abu Simbel und Karnak heftigst streiten! So hat eben jeder seine eigene Sichtweise...

[Juno]

Ich hab mal etwas gewühlt Der Beitrag steht im "Thorn Tree", dem Forum des LP, geschrieben von daweste. So sollte es zumindest keine Buch-copyright-Probleme geben.

[Juno]

Der Thorn Tree ist wirklich eine gute Info-Quelle Etwas unübersichtlich, da zu wenige Rubriken, aber die Such-Funktion geht ganz gut. wer auch schauen will:

http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/index.cfm

[Uli]

So sollte es zumindest keine Buch-copyright-Probleme geben.

Naja, es kann ja auch im Internet Copyright-Probleme geben.
Ich warte mal ab, ob der Autor sich nochmal meldet, ansonsten werd ich in den nächsten Tagen nen Link auf den Original-Bericht bei LP setzen (statt des Komplett-Berichts).

Gruß
Uli

[Gast]

Nicht nötig, ich hab meinen LP-Bericht selbst hiereingesetzt, ich hatte hier ein paar Fragen gestellt und wollte mich auf diese Weise mit ein paar Informationen bedanken, nicht irgendwelchen Ärger verursachen,

mfG daweste

[Uli]

Hi daweste,

alles klar! Ist auch prima, dass Du Deinen Bericht hier zur verfügung stellst! Nochmal danke dafür!
Du hattest halt nur vergessen, Deinen Namen drunter zu schreiben! Kann ja schon mal passieren
Aber dann ist ja alles ok!

Gruß
Uli