DAY 156 - CAIRO TO LUXOR

CRAZYJOURNEY VISITS THE GIZA PYRAMIDS!

Milestone! The boys reach the pyramids

This morning, Dave and Fintan headed straight to the packed Egyptian Museum, which houses over 100,000 relics of Egyptian history. This was the first time we’ve seen mass package tourism since the Taj Mahal and we’ve been completely unused to it travelling through the Middle East where it’s rare to spot even the odd intrepid traveler. The museum was pretty run down but the highlight for us was the gleaming solid gold death mask and coffin of the Pharoah Tutankhamun. King Tut also sported the Ratty (more details later!) much to Dave’s delight.

Dave and Fintan at the Pyramids

That afternoon, we braved Cairo’s manic traffic to reach Egypt’s most famous site, the Giza Pyramids which are the sole survivor of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Although it is spectacular to witness these extraordinary 4,000 year old structures rising from the desert, our entire experience was tainted by the huge quantities of rubbish strewn throughout the site as well as the constant nagging by irritating vendors and scam artists. It’s a pity the powers that be don’t preserve and maintain this unique and historically significant site appropriately.  The fact that you can sit in KFC with a perfect elevated view of the Sphinx and Pyramids really says it all. We got some classic photos sporting our Rick James/Cleopatra hats forced upon us by the incessant hawkers.

Tourism Overload! 

With the sun setting over the Pyramids, we hit the road again further south to reach Luxor by that night. Following the Nile South, we were running out of Petrol, and with no stations to be seen, we forced to top up at dodgy road houses which would only sell us 10 litres of crap petrol at a time, which was a constant worry as it didn’t get us far in this remote part of the world.

The views of the Pyramids from the 1st floor of Pizza Hut are amongst the best we found!

 

Rhys poses for the tackiest shot of the Pyramids!

Luckily enough, we scraped by and didn’t run out of petrol which we’ve been lucky enough to avoid since Sydney. Since we’ve been really travelling hard over the last few weeks, we’ve been absolutely hammering it and arrived very late into Luxor, absolutely destroyed.  Much to the disappointment of the Aussies, McDonalds Luxor had just shut, but we were lucky enough to find a decent kebab joint nearby our hotel. Dave was absolutely shattered from the incessant driving and practically fell asleep in his food.

DAY 156 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 155 - AQABA TO CAIRO, EGYPT

CRAZYJOURNEY ARRIVES IN EGYPT!

Dave with his Egyptian License plates and compulsory fire extinguisher

This morning’s ferry crossing from Jordan to Egypt was surprisingly painless. The ferry company seemed well used to foreign vehicles travelling this route and before we knew it, we were crossing the Red Sea over to Nuweiba.

The Hummer enters the ferry to Egypt

The Egyptian side of the crossing was a painful affair. Egyptian Customs insisted that we buy a fire extinguisher for the car. We’re not sure what use this would be as in the case of a fire, we’d probably just run away from the car as fast as we could! Customs also insisted on Egyptian license plates and another driver’s license for Dave.

After several hours of procedures, we escaped the port and began a long drive through the arid desert towards Cairo. On the way we passed through Suez and took a tunnel under the Suez Canal, the world’s busiest shipping lane.

We reached Egypt’s chaotic capital just as the call for prayer we’ve become so used to was echoing around the city at 3.30am. We began the usual ordeal of finding a cheap Lonely Planet recommended Hotel in this giant metropolis. We ended up in a bit of a dive just to put our heads down that is definitely the cheapest accommodation on CRAZYJOURNEY so far at only 5 Euro each a night.

DAY 155 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 154 - PETRA TO AQABA

CRAZYJOURNEY VISITS PETRA!

Dave and Fintan at the Treasury Building in Petra

No trip to Jordan is complete without visiting the spectacular hidden city of Petra so we were up early to explore this amazing site. The Nabataean Arabs  carved magnificent palaces, temples and tombs into red sandstone cliffs during the 3^rd Century BC to create an amazing complex hidden in a canyon.

The Treasury building viewed through the Siq

This wonder of the world can only be accessed through a narrow 1.2km canyon path which opens dramatically to a view of the city’s undisputed gem, the Treasury Building. In fact, this structure was the famous location for one of the Indiana Jones movies.

The boys at the Monastery in Petra

We walked around the vast site for a good few hours. The place was full of tourists and the always present hawkers trying to sell you anything from water to donkey rides. Dave challenged Fintan to a donkey drag race but was smashed in both races with Dave claiming shenanigans due to underhanded help from the donkey’s trainer.

We ended up doing two draining climbs, the biggest of which was to a scary cliff vantage point surrounding the treasury buildings.

Dave and Fintan too close to the edge overlooking Petra

Knackered after a long days trekking, we had a horrible dinner at a local restaurant followed by the perfect dessert for Fintan in the form of the first tire lick of the trip. We hit the road again towards Aqaba on the Jordanian Coast of the Red Sea. For obvious political reasons, passports containing Israeli Visa stamps are not permitted to enter most of the surrounding Middle Eastern countries. Therefore we must catch a car ferry across the Red Sea to Nuweiba in Egypt. 

DAY 154 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 153 - DAMASCUS TO PETRA, JORDAN

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES AMMAN

Rhys overlooks Amman

Leaving Damascus early, we had a painless border crossing before entering Jordan. It was a quick two hour drive from the border before we reached Amman, Jordan’s striking capital which sprawls over undulating hillsides. After a quick lunch and a visit to the city’s Ancient Roman Pantheon, we decided to visit the Citadel. Unfortunately these hills make for a city that’s a complete headache to negotiate and after an hour of getting lost we eventually got there.

Rhys and Dave at the Roman Pantheon in Amman

We visited the immense Temple of Hercules, constructed under the reign of Marcus Aurelius (Russell Crowe from Gladiator) and situated atop of one of Amman’s 19 hills with panoramic views of the surrounding city. 

Marcus Aurelius Temple in Amman

After a quick kebab feed which has been our stable diet for the last few weeks, we bolted south again for Wadi Musa, the town situated next to Petra. We got lost and were doing circles in the desert for ages so we didn’t arrive until very late. 

DAY 153 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 152 - LATTAKIA TO DAMASCUS

CRAZYJOURNEY VISITS DAMASCUS

Dave and Fintan at the Umayyad Mosque

Walking around for a few hours in the lovely port town of Lattakia, we stocked up on a fresh supply of pirate DVDs for the car and got moving towards Damascus. Syria’s capital is the oldest continuously inhabited city on Earth and it’s extraordinary Old City district is testament to this. We explored both it’s vibrant Souq as well as the intricately decorated Umayyad Mosque. 

Fintan, Rhys and Dave in the Old City, Damascus

Rhys samples some Damascan Shisha

The Souq had a massive collection of Shisha shops and we decided to get a few for ourselves and as presents for mates. As we’ve come to learn over the past few months, you need to use your bargaining skills to get the best deals in Middle Eastern Souqs. After half an hours mad bargaining, we left with 6 shisha boxes and no idea where to fit them in the already jammed packed Hummer.

The lads at the Shisha shop!

We ended up staying the night in this charming old city and plan to leave first thing to travel into Jordan.

DAY 152 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 151 - SANLIURFA TO LATTAKIA, SYRIA

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA!

Milestone! We finally reach the Mediterranean

After a quick Turkish kebab breakfast, we didn’t stay around this small city for long and got moving towards the Syrian border on a good quality motorway.

Towards the boder, we hit smaller roads and spotted a turtle plodding across the road. We didn’t want him to get squashed so we stopped to have a look and move him to the side of the road. Fintan picked him up and was playing with it when suddenly without Fintan realizing, the turtle took a massive gooey crap all over Fintan’s leg and bare foot. This was the funniest thing we’ve seen in a long time and the look on Fintan’s face when he realized what had happened was priceless!

The turtle shat on Fintan's leg moments after this shot was taken

Continuing towards the border, we were flagged down by Turkish Police who informed Dave through broken English that he had been speeding. We haven’t had a speeding yet on the whole drive and Dave was determined not to pay this one, insisting to the corrupt cops who were demanding an instant cash payment, that we would go to the nearest Police station to pay. The police were not too happy with this as they were obviously looking to pocket the €100 fine and called ahead to the main Syrian border to inform their mates that we were coming and to make sure we paid. We thought we’d get one over them by making a detour to a different border crossing about 100 kms away.

Dave with the two Turkish speeding fines!

During this detour, we decided that since this new border was close to Lebanon, we should try to make it to Beirut tonight rather than Damascus. Luck would have it that on the way to this border, we were done yet again for speeding and after a similar ordeal, we were given another €100 ticket! Refusing to pay the cash payment again, we continued to the border in the mountains overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Spotting this coastline for the first time was a huge milestone for us, highlighting our proximity to Europe and the vast distance we’ve covered on Crazyjourney so far.

Luckily enough, there were no police to be seen at this remote border and after a easy passage through the Turkish side, we escaped into Syria without paying any fines! The Syrian side of the border turned out to be a massive wait because the lazy Syrian border officials had no idea how much to charge us for our Visas. These guys were an absolutely classic bunch who ended up challenging Dave to arm wrestles, demanding we listen to Mariah Carey on their phones and even playing computer games on Fintan’s iPhone!

After paying the exorbitant $50 Visa fees, we eventually we got through and realized it was too late to go towards Lebanon or Damascus, so we travelled to the busy port town of Lattakia. We decided that visiting Lebanon would now be too much of a time constraint and we would also have to pay for 3 Syrian Visas. After a quick kebab, we found a cheap hotel and hit the sack.

DAY 151 ROUTEMAP

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CRAZYJOURNEY OMAN AND DUBAI VIDEO

Here's a quick video wrap-up of driving through Oman and Dune Buggying in Dubai

If you can't see this video please click here

DAY 150 - MAKU TO SANLIURFA, TURKEY

CRAZYJOURNEY GETS TURKISH!

The Hummer finally arrives on Turkish soil

We checked out of our prison like accommodation in Maku early and headed to the Turkish border which was only about 50ks away. The place was chaotic and it became obvious very quickly that this would be another classic ordeal. The Iranian side was relatively painless since an official took us aside and sped things along because we were tourists. The Turkish side was a different monster though and it was every man for himself. Dave had to spend ages tussling with all the Turkish and Iranian truckers to get the vehicle documents sorted. These guys are skipping experts and any position in a line must be guarded with your life! 

Dave with the incredibly skillful queue skipping truckers

Problems arose when the Turkish official refused to stamp the Carnet because we had a Car and not a Truck or Bus. This was just ridiculous and nothing more than an obvious attempt to force money from us but after a heated shouting match with Dave and refusing to leave he finally let in when enough of a scene was made!

Escaping all this madness we were on the road after a few hours and began heading South West with the aim of getting as close to the Syrian border as possible that night. Just after entering Turkey we passed the magnificent snow capped Mt.Ararat, which actually reminded us all of Tokyo’s Mt. Fuji.

 Mt. Ararat in the distance

Filling up on petrol for the first time we were blown away by its price in Turkey.  It cost €1.80 per litre which is by far the most expensive we have come across on Crazyjourney so far. We thought we had been totally shafted in the petrol station but we eventually realised that they were all set at the same price.

We were driving really close to the unstable Kurdistan Province where violence has been erupting between the Turkish military and PKK rebels so there were a ridiculous amount of road blocks for passport and baggage checks. This became really annoying after a while as we were trying to get as close to the Syrian border as possible that night.

Incredible Eastern Turkish Scenery

Today’s drive through South East Turkey was one of the more scenically enjoyable on the trip so far. The road skirted Lake Van and took us through picturesque farmland under snow capped hills. We stopped for our first genuine Turkish kebab at Ercis before pushing on all the way to Sanliurfa in Southern Turkey that night. With the roads surprisingly worse than in Iran, we had a very close call near Sanliurfa when a stupid oncoming driver was overtaking when he shouldn’t have been, forcing us to swerve right off the road! This was right up there with the worst of it from India, China and the Road Train in Australia!

DAY 150 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 149 - ESFAHAN TO MAKU

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES TEHRAN!

Dave at Bobby Sands Street, right by the British Embassy in Tehran. GERRUP!

Leaving early from Esfahan we had quick stop at Aladdin carpets in the Imam square where Fintan was buying his parents a Persian Carpet made by a nomadic Iranian tribe. The owner Sa’id was a lovely fella and gave a good deal on the carpet which we somehow squeezed into the already jammed Hummer.

Sa'id outside his carpet shop in Esfahan

The Hummer in Imam Square before we left Esfahan

We had a relatively short 400km drive to Tehran along Iran’s great roads. Iran’s chaotic and polluted capital was a bit of a nightmare to navigate with it’s teaming traffic.

Top of our days agenda was a visit to Bobby Sands Street. In keeping with Iran’s revolutionary past, the government has renamed many of Tehran’s streets after reputed revolutionaries and freedom fighters. One that we had to visit was Bobby Sands Street, which audaciously runs alongside the British Embassy to commemorate the life of the H-Block prisoner of war and hunger striker.

One of the Anti-US and anti-Zionist Murals outside the US Den of Espionage, Tehran

We also visited the former location of the US Embassy, used before the Islamic revolution when the two countries still had diplomatic ties. However, today, this building is known as the ‘US Den of Espionage’ and is interestingly occupied by the hardline Islamic group, the Sepah militia. The building’s perimeter walls are even plastered with anti-American and anti-Zionist propaganda commissioned by the Iranian Government itself.

The Statue of Liberty?? More Like the Statue of Death. These are all commissioned by the Iranian Government

After a quick bite to eat in on Tehran’s northside, we got moving again for the Turkish border. Pushing hard for another 600km that night, we managed to reach Maku, only 50kms from the Turkish border. This wasn’t much of town and the only place we could find to stay was a dingy old hotel that is definitely up there with our worst places we’ve stayed so far!

DAY 149 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 148 - ESFAHAN DAY 1

CRAZYJOURNEY TOURS ESFAHAN

Dave and Fintan at Imam Mosque, Esfahan

We were up early this morning to take a walking tour of Esfahan. This city is widely regarded as the most beautiful in Iran and has many of the country’s most amazing architectural sites. Walking around the city, we were struck by the lack of modernization and the whole place seems to be stuck in a time warp. Things don’t seem to have come on much here since the Islamic revolution in 1979. You still see shops selling tape players and VCRs and almost all the cars are run down old bangers. Even our hotel had an authentic retro feel to it.

We wandered around the city’s bazaar and were struck by how nice and genuinely welcoming everybody was. Even with all the media slant and it’s classification as a member of the ‘Axis of Evil’, the Iranian people are up there with the nicest we have met so far on CrazyJourney. At first they give you a bit of an odd look as they’re not used to many foreigners but with just a quick ‘Salam’ (hello), the instantly shoot back a big smile and interested reaction. They’re always hugely interested in where you are from and most seemed to have a lot of respect for the fact that we were Irish.

Esfahan's Camel Butchers...

After 2 hours walking, we were ravenous and seemed to be stuck in a part of the city with nowhere to eat. Chuck got fed up looking around and headed off to do his own thing for the day while Fintan, Dave and Rhys eventually spotted a restaurant selling some sort of meat kebabs. We had no idea what we were in for but if it didn’t kill the Iranian people eating there, we thought we should be fine. Despite not knowing what we were eating and with no English menu, our random selection ended up not being too bad. But after leaving the restaurant, we found a camel butcher only two doors down and couldn’t help wondering if we’d actually sampled the meat of these ugly beasts!

The incredible Imam Mosque

Visiting the city’s sights, the highlights were definitely Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and Imam Mosque which were both situated on the magnificent Imam Square. Imam Mosque was the most beautiful Mosque we’ve seen so far in the Middle East and we marveled at this huge and geometrically flawless structure, over 50 metres tall built using 18 million tiles to create richly designed mosaics.

Baker under the dome of the Lotfallah Mosque. We're not sure what's more spectacular, his moustache or the intricately detailed dome?

There was a giddy bunch of Tehran schoolgirls on a tour of the Mosque while we were there. Naturally, they all went a bit mad at the sight of us, since they don’t see too many young white guys other than in banned Hollywood movies! We had a good laugh with them and we all took photos with each other.

Fintan, Dave and Rhys with some Giddy Iranian Schoolgirls

We had actually met a good few guys in Imam Square where most of the tourists are located who just want to come up and practice their English with you. We even had a Mullah lookalike come up and practice French with Dave.

Dave with the French Speaking Mullah

With the sun setting and knackered after a day of marathon walking around Esfahan, we got a quick Iranian dinner and packed it in for the night with an early start to hit the road towards Turkey via a quick stop in Tehran.

DAY 147 - FASA TO ESFAHAN

CRAZYJOURNEY VISITS PERSEPOLIS

Dave and Fintan at the Gate of Nations, Persepolis

After an uncomfortable sleep we got up early and hit the road for Shiraz and Persepolis on a short 150k drive alongside a massive salt lake. We stopped in Shiraz, famous for it’s old vineyards for a quick kebab before reaching Persepolis.

Darius the Great began it’s creation in 1518BC and this vast complex served as the ceremonial epicenter of the Great Persian Empire. When completed, Persepolis was one of the ancient world’s great architectural masterpieces, with influences from all corners of the Empire in the hundreds of immense columns, intricate carvings and the imposing ‘Gate of Nations’. However, today, the site is only a shadow of it’s former self as most of it was destroyed by Alexander the Great’s army when they came to conquer the Persians.  In fact, rumour has it that it’s demolition was as a result of an accidental fire caused by drunken revelers at one of Alexander’s parties.

Overlooking Persepolis

We hit the road again that afternoon on another long drive to Esfahan. We arrived late and found a hotel right beside the Imam Square, the second largest public square on Earth.

DAY 147 ROUTEMAP

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DAY 146 - BANDAR ABBAS TO FASA

The Hummer is finally back on Iranian soil

With the Hummer arriving into Bandar Abbas port today at roughly 5pm, it would be a massive struggle and ordeal to organize all the customs and port paperwork before all the offices closed down at 1.30pm for the weekend (Friday and Saturday is the weekend in Iran).

So Dave was up at 8.30am and arrived to the shipping agent’s office for opening at 9am and was told by the staff that there was no way of getting all the port documents and clearance done today and even less of a chance without a representative from the agency there to speak Farsi and speed things along. Getting the necessary documents from the agency anyway he rushed off to the port determined to give it a shot since we would be stuck in this featureless town for the weekend if the car wasn’t released. Pushing through the packed Iranian port offices to get forms stamped and then signed by some other dodgy official to then go somewhere else to collect yet another document was the general order for the day and always with subtle but constant pleas for bribes along the way! Dave reckoned that being the only white guy in the place definitely attracted attention and sped things along and that it’s also amazing how far a smile and a quick mention of Ireland and Roy Keane can get you in these kinds of situations! Having not eaten or drank anything all day he somehow pulled it all off and it was 9.30pm before Dave finally returned to the hotel with the Hummer from the stifling hot port. He jokingly described what had unfolded over the previous 12 hours as probably the worst day of his life!

We hit the road very late bound for Shiraz but with the day taking its toll on Dave we had to pull in for a kip at the small town of Fasa. We found a completely empty government designated tourist inn that looked straight out of the 1970s and had a very strange feel, but it was a pillow to put our heads on and we crashed for a few hours.

DAY 146 ROUTEMAP

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