Cross Egypt Challenge briefing
The first disappointing news is the route had been changed and the true
desert part and the tent camp had been removed from the itinerary. Evidently
there was a SlapFace message about it, so I missed the memo. Despite that
setback it should still be a great ride. The new route runs down the Red Sea to
Abu Simbel and back up the Nile to Cairo. There are a record number of 60
riders this year from 11 countries. I thought they were pushing to make it
a motorcycle event as they negotiated a better deal on the motorcycles and
suggested we consider renting them in their correspondence. But that is not the intent - the problem is getting enough scooters for this large a group.
The Briefing started at 11:30 and lasted several hours. They get it more
right every year. It was a very professional operation with power point, safety
information, cultural information (“no we do not have camels-we traded them in
for cars”), etc.. We gathered our swag, t-shirts, gloves, helmets, etc. and then
boarded a bus to go to dinner. From there we went to the garage to gather our
scooters. Then the fun started. This is a major, major event in Egypt with billboards all around town with the CEC logo. There
was a huge stage in the parking lot of one of our sponsors, City Center Mall which is as modern as in the U.S.,
complete with huge video screen and stage, dignitaries, live music and Miss
Egypt who was escorted around with a swat team. When we rode
out of the event
there were people in ancient clothing holding torches just like in the
movies.
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| Ahmad
Elzoghby founder and leader of the CEC |
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| always with the photos |
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| Mohmad and his son on the right rode with me in 2012. Only he is riding this year. On the other side is his other son and another rider. |
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| Vicki being interviewed on local TV |
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| The rock stars on stage |
Day 1
This was one of the longest at 400 km, and challenging days. It is the weekend so traffic is not as bad as it could be. We ride in four groups, one with motorcycles, and three with scooters. Each group has a leader and a sweeper who follows behind. All of these guys are Egyptian professionals, dentists, lawyers, college professors and bankers, etc. All fluent in English and several other languages. The entourage consists of two four wheel drive land cruisers, two operational vans, a fuel truck, a luggage/supply truck and various security vehicles. All of these act as blockers of traffic for us. But even with all of that, it is a wild ride. All the road is divided into four or more lanes, but the road goes from no road, to rutty road, to super smooth, to ground up road. Cairo was the big challenge. You do not get to make left hand turns at an intersection, but you have to go down the road and make a u-turn with no indication most of the time where to do so. We arrived in Ein Sokhna at the Porto Sokhna resort at dusk. A huge resort on the Red Sea with not many guest. As this was the first overnight, there was a little confusion on rooms and stuff, but it was sorted quickly and we all ate and were in bed by nine.
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| the morning start |
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| the fueling truck in the highway |
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sorting details at the toll booth
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This would become a constant picture. Sherif, a very shy and quiet guy, pouring tea, while the most OCD and nicest guy I have ever met, Tarek would shine his scooter at every stop.
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Days 2
Everyday starts with a 5 AM wake-up and hopefully a 6 AM departure. It is usually a little later getting started just because. Leaving Porto Sokhna resort we witnessed the first fun time. All the vehicles were parked at the entrance to the large parking lot of the hotel and it was one way. We started to exit the entrance and this sent the security guard into a tizzy. So while he was trying to out macho our leaders we all rode out the gate he was not standing in. We did 275 km to El Goma and the fanciest resort on the trip, the Movenpick, right on the Red Sea again. El Goma is a huge complex that is spread over a large area with multiple hotels and houses in the desert. Vicki and I got a suite for reasons only known to a friend's cousins.
We went to the "town". This is a small area of shops and restaurants like around any resort just a little on the worn side. We decided we needed a bottle of gin as alcohol is not always availabe in Egypt due to their religion. We asked around with no success, so we hopped in a Tukaxi (tuktuk) and asked him. He asked some one on the street who sent us to a bar. The bar sent us to a little grocery store on the back side of the buildings. We asked for gin and the manager moved us to the back of the store and whispered would $24 EG pounds be ok. That is $3 so we said yes. He sent a guy out the back door who returned with a bottle of Holland gin in a brown grocery bag. We bought tonic, he threw in the lemons and we are were off.
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| Bill is giving Alex a hat from some remote cafe on the road to Alaska they both had visited. Alex Chacon is a Mexican American who has become quite famous by doing 360 selfie's around the world. He came to do one for the CEC. Check out his page and be sure and watch the video. http://www.youtube.com/user/chaiku232 |
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| John from England |
Day 3
This was a 280 km ride to a resort outside of Marsa Alam, the Elphistone. This was a little busy, all inclusive resort and a major dive area for the Red Sea.
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| odd, another group photo |
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| Everyday starts with a morning brief |
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| One name you will hear a lot "Thomas" and the Doc is wrapping his foot so he can always come running when called. |
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| I havenot a clue |
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| It is all about the photos |
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| We had various entertainment and receptions in places on our arrival |
Day 4
Every day is the same routine. Up at 5, on the scooter around 6 and start riding. Stop in a little over an hour and fuel. Repeat except add lunch at a stop until you reach your destination. There is no stopping for photos or touristy things. It is about the ride.
We passed through a true Egyptian town today, Edfu. There was no chance for photos by me but Vicki got some out of the van. It was dusty and crowded and I was hanging on. This town had lots of tuctuc's and horse carriages. Neither are for the tourists as there are none here. This is one of those back in time places where the horse drawn carriage is truly public transporation.
By now Sheriff's tea shop had become a big hit and was now named Sheriffotea and Coffee Shop
And Terek could no longer stand my dirty scooter and jumped on it with supervision from Vicki and Ahmed!!
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| Maxine.....wake up!!!!!! |
We arrived at the six story Helman first class hotel in Aswan a little late but close enough to on time. The Helman is a 6 story luxury hotel that had a total of 5 other guests. Sadly, four million people are in the tourist trade business in Egypt and times are very very hard. The Egyptians with us would go out and buy little trinkets to give to us, just to help their country. A carriage driver had set for six hours in front of the hotel for his first and only ride of the day.
