WEEK 13:We arrived in the port town of Nuweiba, in Egypt, after catching a car ferry from Jordan. Dealing with Egyptian customs was a day-long ordeal, with officials insisting the Hummer be fitted with local licence plates and a fire extinguisher.
It wasn't until nightfall that we managed to hit the arid and mountainous road to Cairo, reaching Egypt's chaotic capital just as the call for prayer was echoing around the city at 3.30am.
The next morning we headed straight to the packed Egyptian Museum. The highlight was the solid-gold death mask of the pharaoh Tutankhamun.
That afternoon we braved Cairo's manic traffic to reach Egypt's most famous site, the Giza pyramids, the sole survivor of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Although it is spectacular to witness these extraordinary 4,000-year-old structures, our experience was tainted by the rubbish around the site and constant nagging by vendors and scam artists. It's a pity the powers-that-be don't maintain this unique site properly. That you can sit in KFC with a perfect elevated view of the Sphinx and pyramids says it all.
Our next stop was Luxor, reached by a six-hour drive south along the Nile. The city is far more relaxed than Cairo and sprawls around the Luxor Temple, a striking collection of ancient Eygptian columns and statues. The Valley of the Kings, on the city's west bank, houses the burial chambers of ancient Egypt's most famous pharaohs, and a dawn balloon trip over the valley gave us great views.
We returned to the Red Sea coast and stopped overnight in Hurghada, which is strewn with tacky and half-finished resorts. We spared no time escaping to Sharm el-Sheikh on the tip of the Sinai peninsula the next morning. Although Sharm too has the package-holiday feel, it is better kept and offers great scuba-diving. We spent two days partying at Pacha, probably the craziest nightclub we've seen, ahead of next week's slog back to Turkey and onwards to Europe.
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