Dunes II

A few more from the trip down to the Liwa oasis ... Those little black dots in the colour shot are camels, Blogspot.com won't let me put up anything bigger but if you click on the shot you [might] be able to make them out better.

More sand... This last one is of the salt-flats after sunset...

Dunes

Back to the edge of Rub'al Khali, the Empty Quarter, last weekend to try out a new camera body, expect more sand shots soon...

Aswan

A few more from the end of the trip to Egypt...

East Coast

Drove to Dibba (Oman / Fujairah), past the sand dunes at Maliha, for some diving, despite the Red Tide.

Egypt (continued)

A few more from the trip down to Aswan. Stopped at Wadi el Chat & the quarries at Djebel Silsileh ...

Egypt

Flew to Cairo in the January break, as polluted and crowded as ever, with hassle thrown in for good measure. The best part of the whole trip was the 5-day boat journey down the Nile on the traditional dahabiyah Meroe. Did the usual touristy things like gawping at the Pyramids, eating kushari and getting ripped-off in taxis...

Then took the overnight sleeper train to Luxor. Overwhelming number of sights, best seen from a balloon to escape the crowds...

Boarded the boat at Esna; a great town with a bustling market place...

One advantage of travelling by a small boat is that it can moor practically anywhere. Loading up sugar-cane in the morning.

Hafeet Tombs

The UAE may well be celebrating its 37th birthday, but the 500 graves at the foot of Jebel Hafeet are thought to be five thousand years old... Next posting: Egypt. Inshallah.

Shaking Hands with a Sheikh

Went to Abu Dhabi a couple of weeks ago to pick up 5th place prize for the Abu Dhabi Brand photo competition. Won a shiny gold coin thing (alas, not chocolate) and enough cash to buy a wide-angle zoom, which I took to Egypt. Two photos also appear in a coffee-table book full of photos of, well, Abu Dhabi. Egypt - very big, very old. Photos up soon'ish.