Siwa, I'm in love!

Travel travel travel! 

Alhamdulillah during the last sem break, we managed to complete our trip to Egypt which quite tiring one for me because the trip was scheduled just right after my walking trip around Jordan. Two trips in a row! But yeah how could I resist to experience such those beautiful moments? Chewwah!

We safely landed in Cairo on 5th of February early in the morning since we departed from Amman at 5 a.m and it took about only one hour and fifteen minutes to arrive without any transit. Well only the Red Sea make these two lands stay apart.

To include all the travelog, from the beginning till the end of our journey here I think it will be so long, or maybe might trigger your jealousy at some points hehe. This one I afraid of :P

So this post I'm going to share only about SIWA, a very ancient place with all its hidden treasures. (love it)

Ok before I get started, let me give you read some facts related to Siwa. (copied link, more to its oasis but still you can get some info in general)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siwa_Oasis

We spent our three days and two nights in Siwa that was fully in charged by Gaisha Tour - yo yo yo! (an Indonesian kind of travel agent in Egypt, a very recommended one I thought for those who loves extremely sporting trip).

Privileges you get when you decided to follow their trip:
1. Bisa sama sama ngomong Indonesia sama para pak ustazs
2. Bisa request lagu sepanjang perjalanan dalam bas
3. Bisa dengar lagu daripada La Tasma' Band (conducted by ust wahid and ust nanang, don't really remember their names hehe)
4. Bisa merasa makanan Indonesia especially Tempe yang sedap!
5. Bisa dapat hadiah bila kamu coba menjawab quiznya
6. Bisa dapat informasi yang banyak sepanjang trip
7. Etc.

And I don't tell lie. Trust me. I rate them 9 out of 10 :)

The journey from Cairo to Siwa was incredibly long. Really out of energy since we just got back from Alexandria on the same day and began off to Matrouh Siwa late at night, yet worth experiencing one in a lifetime. For a day, we travelled about 1000km plus minus for two ways, go and back (by car and bus of course). We first stop in Matrouh in our way to Siwa and there, we visited (1) Hamam Cleopatra and (2) Bahr Ajibah (bahr of seven colors).

Ustaz did tell us a long story of Cleopatra in bus as an intro to that place but lucky me, I didn't provide any space for the words to come in mind and let the dreams conquered the stage instead lalalala. (because we seriously didn't have enough sleep huwaaa)

So here all the pictures in Matrouh go, sorry the story is not included perhaps you check on your own. Hee.

(1) Hamam Cleopatra (located between the gap of two big rocks where my finger pointing at, like normal toilet we have maybe because the water would flush away all the waste after she finished using it)

(2) Bahr Ajibah (called ajibah/ajaib just because it consists of seven layers of colors where I actually could figure out only five haha)

SIWAAAAA ---

Then, we continued the trip to Siwa about another four hours journey from Matrouh predicted without stop. All you can see along the way to Siwa was only desert on both your left and right, only few houses, animals and plants exist. Plus, a roadblock for every one hour maybe haha.

Later we arrived Siwa. I was like, "haa biar betul tiga hari kat sinii. Takde pape pun".

Siwa is a very ancient place I tell you, very old. Really not look like neither Cairo nor Alexandria. Totally different. Their houses, their transportation, their ways of dressing, their banks really caught my mind, am I walking 10 years backwards? (this one you should go and see, because I have no pictures of it)

Plus the hotel was very creepy, like a haunted house. But overall everything just okay.

So what could make me change my perception and get overly attached?
Here I'm going to list down the points,

(1) Fatnas Island.
This place is subhanallah cantik sangat! We came here to watch sunset also to have dinner together. Really hidden place that you wouldn't reveal when you just arrived Siwa. You have to walk real inside. Was mesmerized with this cosy!

(2) Sahra' Siwa (desert)
For the second day, we were having off road 4x4 by jeep and sandboarding in its desert area. First timer. Really challenging and seriously had no idea how could I get involved. Driving us down from the high sand hills, let us all screaming along the off road, haihhh mengucap panjang. Takut mati. Real sweating fuhh. Crazy drivers on a board! Five stars for ammu drivers!!

(3) Siwa Oasis
I visited both its cold and hot springs but got no chance to go down because I didn't have any spared clothes.

(4) Historical Places
So many places we went to, Jabal Dakrour, Ma'bud Aman, salt lake, Jabal Mauta (Mountain of The Dead), hot spring, Alexander The Great Temple, Shali and more. Wasn't really into this visit except for certain places hehe.

 

(5) The People
I found the people in Siwa was different from the other Egyptians, really kind hearted person, hardworking, no teasing foreigners around and above all surprisingly no beggars who waits for people's sympathy. Salute! What come across mind was how they're not influenced by all the bad viruses from outside due to its location which is far from the other states. Or maybe some got influenced but only in the little amount we can count.


(6) The Food
I LOVE BU MARDAMMMMM! *drooling*

I think that's all. Waiting for another free time to write, thank you :D