I left Luxor at 05h30 this morning with the intention of going to Hurghada to get some diving in for the day however, by the time I got there,it was already 11am and figured that by the time I found a hotel, got checked in and unpacked there would probably not be enough time left for a dive and therefore took a spur of the moment decision to press on to Cairo today.
Dale will either be leaving Luxor tomorrow and heading directly to Cairo or will get to Hurghada tonight for the night in order to shorten the 800km ride to Cairo tomorrow. In the interim he is spending the morning exploring the sites of Luxor.
My spur of the moment decision was a good one and a bad one. Good because it suited my goal oriented personality that was (after 2 months on the road) shouting, “enough already, just get there now”! and bad, because fatigue set in by 2pm and then I hit peak Cairo traffic at 3pm and took me another 2 hours to fight through to get to the hotel.
Cairo drivers are like nothing I have ever seen before. Where 2 lanes exist on a road, they will create 4. Indicators are obviously optional extras when they purchase their cars as they weave between these 4 lanes haphazardly without any regard for other drivers. Hooters on the other hand are obviously legal essentials because they don’t ever stop honking at each other!! I saw 3 bumper bashings and 2 serious accidents in the space of the 2 hours whilst trying to get to the hotel.
On arrival at the Hilton after being on the road for nearly 12 hours, my bike was overheating, I was drenched in perspiration and when the security guard said “hey you, you cant park there”, well, to say that this poor man unfortunately got the brunt of a very long, hot, sweaty and frustrating day is probably the understatement of the century!! For what its worth, I did go back and apologise later.
After settling down and having my first beer, it dawned on me that the trip was now complete!! It has come with a strange calmness that is fulfilling from an achievement perspective, deep in a “gifts gained” perspective, and empty in an “its all over” perspective. The following days will no doubt bring all of these feelings together into a meaningful perspective that I will be able to properly digest.
Tomorrow is all about starting to deal with those wonderful customs people again as we now need to get the bikes crated and packed for their flight back to SA.
Road to Hurghada.
More Luxor sites.
