walk like an egyptian!

So I have left Egypt (currently in Jordan) but have finally found a sec to kinda update everyone on my travels in Egypt. I flew into Luxor and then went to Cairo (for the great pyramids) and then to the Sinai Peninsula to relax for 6days in the great chill town of Dahab! It was a very interesting country and totally diff from any place I've been to thus far.(prob doesnt top my list but had its good features).Sorry about not writing much but when I get home (mid July) I'll elaborate more.

here it is.....the FAMOUS Nile River. but please dont swim in it bc its infested with worms that will eventually work their way to your eyes and thus affect your vision. needless to say i just stuck my big toe in.

the souq (aka shopping area) in Luxor. the men working at the shops would do absolutely everything to try to entice you into their shops...i found it sooo amusing! :)

Luxor temple, in the middle of luxor. the Muslims built a mosque right int he middle of the temple and the Romans defaced the temple too, painting christian biblical scenes on the walls of the temples thus trying to make it into a church.

Luxor temple at night.

the outside of one of the tombs in the valley of the kings. we werent allowed to take pictures inside but the inside of the temples were amazing. pictures are just covering the whole tomb and its all in color and perfectly preserve. they used precious stones to make the color and then covered the paintings with bee's wax to preserve them. how intuitive!

the inside of my taxi in Cairo. from the moment I arrived, I knew I wanted to leave. It was so polluted, had very very very crazy drivers and very very creepy men. YUCK!

I have a lot of pictures like these (its the cost of traveling alone) so i thought it was time to include one in my blog. this is taken on the balcony of my hotel room in cairo.

The "money" shot! My camel's name was Mickey Mouse (yeah right!- i think George suits him better?) The pyramids were cool but the fact that the city of Cairo basically comes right up to the pyramids kinda ruins the whole atmosphere(plus there was a pizza hut right across from the pyramids....do you think Pharaohs like pizza?)

desert anyone?

there are police checkpoints just like these all throughout egypt. its a good thing bc it protects the tourist but it also makes traveling in Egypt long and tiresome. however, it is a bit funny bc you have all these young guys just lounging around until a car magically appears from the desert and then they act all official "checking" passports.

one view of the walkway in dahab, egypt. it was such a great chilled out city...totally different than the rest of Egypt which is very strict and conservative.

there are tons of cats in egypt and this was a typical situation at any dinner. this pic was right before the kitten jumped on my table and stole a piece of my pita bread. it was so cute that i didnt mind. but it was funny that with every dinner came a water spray bottle to shoo the cats away!

the view of part of the Funny Mummy restaurant in Dahab...i practically lived there and became a local for a week with all the workers. It was such a chill place. Fire twirling shows at nite and really cool nice people to talk to all day and night. (plus really good food)

I went snorkeling in the Red Sea at a place called Blue Hole. It was an awesome place to snorkel and dive bc the reef was right off the beach(rocks) and its a weird phenomenon bc reef is surrounding this crater like hole that dips down hundreds of feet for some reason (no one really knows?)