Siwa to Cairo, Egypt - I am the King of Bleak...

Hey kids, here's some pix of the scenery between Siwa and Marsa Matruh.

You'd think we were out in the middle of nowhere...

...until the bus pulls up alongside the loneliest snack bar in the world...

I came all this way and they didn't serve kushari...hmmmph.

Tiny Mosque on the Sahara...(aka the mosque out back).

Little more of the desolate, sun baked desert. Libya is yonder... Note the rubbish heap on the right...

Phew... we were not alone...

That was a long day on the bus. Siwa to Marsa Matruh (4hrs/15LE). Then an overpriced ticket to Cairo (50 LE). When we arrived in Cairo I didn't know where the bus was stopping. As it turned out it definitely wasn't at the main bus station (Turgoman). After what seemed to be an interminable amount of time and kilometres (it just wouldn't get off the freeway), we exited the freeway and ended up in a bus station called Al-Mazar. According to the map, we were nearly at the airport...

That was one of the biggest logistical snafu's I've made on the trip, so far. The cost of a taxi from here to downtown was prohibitive. Situations like this call for calm. DO NOT PANIC (Cairo taxi drivers seem to be able to smell panic in the air)!! We sought the help of a well dressed business man. (Ed. note: well dressed people probably understand English.) He directed us to a bus headed to Midan Tahrir (exactly where we needed to go).

We stumbled into the Dahab Hostel 2.5 hours late... Shit. Some of the regular Hostel residents had moved on. Mohammed (Robert the German) was packed and ready to leave for Dahab (the sea side town) at midnight. Tomoko (Mimi) was still here. The Norwegian was predictably here. I think he's hustling the gorgeous German girl, Katerina, now. Dennis, the Chinese/Dutch guy, found an apartment. He's gone. Adi, the Canadian girl, and Harald, the Dane, both gone...

Out of Canuckistan: A travel blog, June 4/07
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