Review 10 Days Wonders Of Egypt
I went on a package tour “10 Days Wonders Of Egypt” from Chan Brothers Travel in the beginning of March. We booked the tour package in early January and paid almost S$2,500, including all the different taxes. Another US$65 in total tips is set aside for the various guides, porters, camel boy etc. There are about 30 people in the tour group, including a tour leader from the travel agency.
Overall, it has been a memorable trip with good accommodation and food with little to gripe about. But of course, there are gripes even though as tourists, we can expect to get ripped off at every available opportunity even by our own tour agency. The Egyptian tour agency which handled our group is Spring Tours.
If you visit the Chan Brothers Travel website, you will notice their itinerary differs from what we actually had because of several re-arrangements the local guide did and the delay at the Esna Lock.
The Itinerary
DAY 1 - SINGAPORE / LUXOR (Via Doha)
Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple
DAY 2 - LUXOR / EDFU
Valley of the Kings, Queen Hatshepsut Temple, Colossi of Memnon
DAY 3 - EDFU
Horus Temple
DAY 4 - KOM OMBO / ASWAN
Ptolemaic Temple, Philae Temple, The Unfinished Obelisk, Nuban Village (optional)
DAY 5 - ASWAN / ABU SIMBEL / ASWAN / CAIRO
Abu Simbel, sail around Elephantine Islands, overnight train to Cairo
DAY 6 - CAIRO
Memphis, Pyramid of Sakkara, Pyramids and Sphinx of Giza
DAY 7 - CAIRO
Citadel of Salah Eldin, Alabaster Mosque of Mohammed Ali, Cairo Museum, Khan Al Khalili Bazaar, Pyramids Sound and Light Show (optional)
DAY 8 - CAIRO / ALEXANDRIA / CAIRO
Roman Amphitheatre, Morsi Abu Abas Mosque,, Pompey’s Pillar, Qait Bay’s Fort, King Faruk’s Palace, drive by Abu Darda Mosque, Maqam Nabi Daniel and Maqam Lokman Al Hakim
DAY 9 - CAIRO / SINGAPORE
Check out and head for airport
DAY 10 - ARRIVE IN SINGAPORE
Back to reality
Looking at the itinerary summary of the package tour, you will see that the first and last days are spent travelling to and from Egypt. Effectively, you have about 8 days or less for sightseeing.
DAY 1: Singapore to Luxor (via Doha)
We are a group of about 30 people, mostly the younger age groups. The tour is conducted in English which may explain the absence of “aunties”. There are 2 groups of 3 family members, with the rest pretty much in pairs. There are also tour groups departing from other tour agencies such as Universal Travel and SA Travel.
Our reason for choosing this particular itinerary is because it is the only one that includes 2 places omitted or optional in other itineraries: Abu Simbel and Queen Hatshepsut Temple. Optional tours to these places cost over US$100.
We are advised to change at least US$100 into Egyptian Pounds(el) for shopping and necessities like buying bottled water and using the washrooms. Approximately 10el = US$2. All other shopping at the tourist shops that we will be visiting accept US dollar and credit card payments. No moneychangers in Singapore stock Egyptian Pounds and even in Egypt, you can only change for the local currency in banks or at the airport.
The flight to Doha stopover is about 8.5hrs (minus 5hrs for local time). The Qatar Airways plane is new and has individual TV screens, however we are all mostly in need of sleep at that point. The food is average as far as airplane food goes.
Once at Doha airport, transit passengers headed for the toilets and long queues soon formed. The airport toilet is very clean and well maintained with an attendant on hand. We spend the rest of the 2 hour transit at the Duty-Free which has cheaper skin care products and cosmetics than in Singapore.
From Doha, it’s another 2.5hrs flight to Luxor. The feeling of finally seeing Egyptian soil through the plane’s window is one of great excitement and anticipation. After all, it has been my life-long dream to visit Egypt. Luxor International Airport has a very funky building - white facade with interesting cut-out geometric shapes. The first order of things after getting our baggage is to decide where to go for lunch. Much to our guide’s dismay, we decide on fast food over international buffet as the airplane food must have done something to kill our appetites.
The McDonald’s we go to is just across the road from Luxor Temple, one of our first main sights. It is the first ruins we see since landing in Egypt and everyone started snapping pictures even though there is really just rubble and nothing recognisable as Luxor Temple apart from the columns in the distance.
Continue Day 2: A temple, church and mosque.
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Review 10 Days Wonders Of Egypt
A temple, church and mosque
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Crawlspaces, pyramids and sphinxes
The spectacular pyramid sound and light show - NOT!
Alexandria - city by the Mediterranean
Back to life, back to reality
On the good ship, the SS Miriam
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March 28th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
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