Camping in the desert!?!
Hey everybody! Guess what I did this weekend? I went camping in the desert! It was crazy and totally awesome! I shall record the details presently. We left Cairo on Friday morning and met up with our desert guides at the Bahariyya Oasis in the Black Desert. We transferred all our stuff into their two 4x4 jeeps, and we were off! First up was the tour of the Black Desert, which was pretty cool. We climbed up rocky hill things and I got some neat-looking rocks. After that, we drove on toward the White Desert, which is SO AMAZING and better than the Black one. You should all check out my pictures on Facebook, because they're very good.
We picked a nice campsite in the middle of all these large chalky rock formations (which are excellent for climbing on, I might add). My friends and I then spent several hours scampering around the desert doing ridiculous things like "Baywatch runs" and striking silly poses on the rocks for some intense picture-taking sessions. After that, our guides cooked us this incredibly tasty authentic Bedouin dinner consisting of delectable rice and grilled chicken. And some potato stuff. Yum!
Later that evening, we played hide-and-seek in the dark, and it was loads of fun. Of course, the first round took forever to complete because, well, the desert is kind of big, so there were a lot of places to hide. Thus, we switched to Marco Polo for the second round, and that worked out a lot better. We got to see the desert sunset, which was full of pastels and all gorgeous and stuff. After that, we were pretty tired, so we went to sleep. We slept in sleeping bags out in the open, with nothing but the stars over our heads. It was a tad uncomfortable, but worth it.
I woke up around 5:30 to see the sun rise, and eventually everyone else joined me. I actually think this sunrise was prettier than the one we saw on Mount Sinai. It was really really cold, though. You know how you always hear how it gets freezing cold at night in the desert? Well, that is correct. We went back to sleep for a few hours, then we had a nice little breakfast. We went and saw this thing called the Crystal Mountain (which is not as impressive as it sounds), and then it was time to drive back to Cairo. I'm glad I had my iPod with me, because while we were out in the desert, we seriously listened to the same Nancy Ajram CD the ENTIRE TIME. It was playing CONTINUOUSLY. I mean, I like Nancy Ajram and all, but hearing the same album about 30 times in a row is enough to drive anyone batty.
We got back around 6 PM on Saturday, and I had a glorious shower. I also enjoyed being able to use a proper bathroom once again. There are obviously no bathrooms (or even outhouses) in the desert, so...yeah. It was interesting. But putting that aside, we had such a good time! I think it was the people I went with that really made it an awesome experience--we had so much silly fun. My last three weekends have been packed with adventures, so I'm looking forward to a few days of just shopping, going to the movies, and relaxing this Friday. Anyhow, I guess that's about it. Now I have to go deal with U of I students bombarding me on Facebook with questions about the NSEP scholarship. They want to read my essays and get tips and blah blah blah. I did everything on my own, but I feel like I should help them. So yeah. Ma'a salaama!
P.S. I HIGHLY recommend listening to the song I have listed on this entry. It's priceless.
We picked a nice campsite in the middle of all these large chalky rock formations (which are excellent for climbing on, I might add). My friends and I then spent several hours scampering around the desert doing ridiculous things like "Baywatch runs" and striking silly poses on the rocks for some intense picture-taking sessions. After that, our guides cooked us this incredibly tasty authentic Bedouin dinner consisting of delectable rice and grilled chicken. And some potato stuff. Yum!
Later that evening, we played hide-and-seek in the dark, and it was loads of fun. Of course, the first round took forever to complete because, well, the desert is kind of big, so there were a lot of places to hide. Thus, we switched to Marco Polo for the second round, and that worked out a lot better. We got to see the desert sunset, which was full of pastels and all gorgeous and stuff. After that, we were pretty tired, so we went to sleep. We slept in sleeping bags out in the open, with nothing but the stars over our heads. It was a tad uncomfortable, but worth it.
I woke up around 5:30 to see the sun rise, and eventually everyone else joined me. I actually think this sunrise was prettier than the one we saw on Mount Sinai. It was really really cold, though. You know how you always hear how it gets freezing cold at night in the desert? Well, that is correct. We went back to sleep for a few hours, then we had a nice little breakfast. We went and saw this thing called the Crystal Mountain (which is not as impressive as it sounds), and then it was time to drive back to Cairo. I'm glad I had my iPod with me, because while we were out in the desert, we seriously listened to the same Nancy Ajram CD the ENTIRE TIME. It was playing CONTINUOUSLY. I mean, I like Nancy Ajram and all, but hearing the same album about 30 times in a row is enough to drive anyone batty.
We got back around 6 PM on Saturday, and I had a glorious shower. I also enjoyed being able to use a proper bathroom once again. There are obviously no bathrooms (or even outhouses) in the desert, so...yeah. It was interesting. But putting that aside, we had such a good time! I think it was the people I went with that really made it an awesome experience--we had so much silly fun. My last three weekends have been packed with adventures, so I'm looking forward to a few days of just shopping, going to the movies, and relaxing this Friday. Anyhow, I guess that's about it. Now I have to go deal with U of I students bombarding me on Facebook with questions about the NSEP scholarship. They want to read my essays and get tips and blah blah blah. I did everything on my own, but I feel like I should help them. So yeah. Ma'a salaama!
P.S. I HIGHLY recommend listening to the song I have listed on this entry. It's priceless.