My Summer Story: Matruh & Siwa Vacation

Do u have gut to enjoy a desert during summer? Blazing sun and hot weather? Pheww.. Well i had done that :'). It all start when we done expressing our heart with 'gile kentang soalan dr bagi!' for pediatrics exam :I. Well, to release our tension, we planned a small group trip to Matruh and Siwa. This place is an oasis located at western Egypt. Opss, i mean the Siwa one. So the scenery along the journey was about the same as my trip to Bahariya last winter. Yeah, i know it is all about brown, rocky, and sandy world. However Matruh is one of tourist site with beautiful beaches.;)

19th of June 2014

The journey to Matruh took around 6-7hrs from Cairo and of course we had stop in some places. We check in hotel, rest and went to our first place, Agiba beach.

This is how Agiba beach look like.:)

The beach is soooooo wonderful and picturesque.. SubhanAllah!!. I got very super duper excited. So, our main highlight here was bathing and playing with crystal clear water plus sunbathing. lol. and of course, taking the pictures too. :)

At first, we ate lunch..

then taking picture with canyon-like rock ^-^, feeling a Californian,

and looked for the water. :P it's so clear!!

Once we get into the water..

 ...our excitement was shining sparkly! haha.

Our next top model pose while sunbathing. Oh please don't be nauseated by this. >.<

Sigh, a fail selfie under a blue sky~  that's ok 'lah' for the no front camera handset.. amateur.

This Agiba beach alive only in summer. Yeah, nobody was stupid enough to throw themselves into the cold water during winter except in suicide attempt maybe..  -_-'

We also went to Hamam Cleopatra or cleopatra lavatory? toilet? restroom? hurmm, i rather think of Cleopatra Bath...  Meh, it is just a huge rock at first look but when we approached nearer, there was a gate or way to get inside it. 0-0.

Watch out for jagged stone floor ! 

Guys sunbathing version.. on the rock. -_-'

We climbed in and there were 2 holes: each at our right and left to where we were standing. Water poured from one of it to another hole along the tide. Oh yeaa, the rock has hole on the ceiling that allow the sun ray to warm the water during bathing. Ok, economic water heater for Cleopatra.:P

The view from inside the rock. I know, it's a bit unpleasant to see. Yup, sorry for that..

 We came in wrong time and couldn't see the sight of water flowing inside it. Ok, next time maybe. 

Taking picture first before we leave.

and  another picture.:D

I tell you, this is Cleopatra and kids love her..

But we were gossiping about her at the back..XD

 We are forteen: Pikah, Fatin, Kelly, Hana, Sarah, K. Sab, K Zana, K. Attia, K. Ulfah, Izzat, Amirul, Izani, Muhammad and lastly me. Yuppy, less and efficient.:D

Our day visit in Matruh has ended.  We were so hungry and we did dinner hunting later on!! We shopped at a bazaar, ate KFC and chatting. I don't know what we were chatting at but i just go with the flow. haha. In the same time, my eyes scanned for any fun place to visit :B.. lol. So, we had a peek at a souvenir stand nearby and i got a blue bracelet from my friend. Ok, that's after i persuaded her. -_-' We walked to our hotel and I really got lost where i was. We was lucky to have Ulfah with us, she remembered the direction. Uhh, thanks Allah! We got back to hotel save and sound. :)



20th of June 2014

Our next place was Siwa Oasis. It took 4 hrs to reach there from Matruh. We arrived at a hotel and our first thing to do was eat. Yeah rite, eat.^-^.  Preparing and loading...... There were many places to be visited on this day. Take a deep breath~ 

Ok, our first place was Shali Ancient Fortrees. 

Tadaa!! Our first thing to see and do when we arrived here were.. 

...climbing.

Actually, we went to a building located on top of the small hill. It was the oldest monument built in Shali and also the oldest mosque in the world maybe. This mosque was once constructed using the mixture of clay and salt. Wow, that's one of unique thing i heard! Yeah, I am sure they replaced it to concrete to preserve the building, rite?

There were also old men sitting and chatting inside. Their language has slang!

Back to this fortress story, there were 2 gate to get inside this oasis: west and east gate. Since this place is located far in the desert, people built this fortress to protect themselves and their food storage from the outsiders. They live in it for hundred years. However rain had poured for days (as i remembered) and had leave them roofless. Nice story. ;D

I wonder how this scenery look like at night~ I'm sure it will be awesome!

Siwa view from our site..:)

Our next place was Mountain of Death, a creepy name of place i heard! ~.~  Huh guess, I even had an imagination of seeing many tombs on the mountain before reaching the place. The flash view of Chinese tombs with smoke come from the red stick came to my mind. I even had a joke with my brother that the place is haunted too. lol. However it was beyond all that.;)

Yes, we are here!

Is it the mountain of death? yea it is! 

This is the entrance of amun' pharoah tomb. Its very dark inside. Phone light was used.

As the pharoah was sent' along with his wealth and belonging, some people had come to dig and stole them. I don't know what else left for him..:P

See! No creepy things here. Just two happy face..:D

It was just a short visit at Mountain of Death. We rode on bus again, passed the palm and olive farm to reach our next place which is called Alexandria Oracle Temple. Sigh, i kinda miss most of the explanation. I was way back behind busying taking pictures requested by my friend. Hurm. Never mind.:) This is what i claimed when i knew i will miss them. Teeheee!

Picture told everything.

Above on what we were standing, there was once a chapel. When Islam spread and came to Siwa, it became the mosque. There were also men walked between us to get there. Pray maybe. Praise be to Allah.:)

Tadaa..!!  This is the scenery around the temple looks like.

At the top.  Me with an attempt to fail a picture of her. haha XD

We can see the view of siwa from above. There was salt lake behind us.

The day was getting hotter. We rushed to Cleopatra's spring or pool. It's a big round pool where boys jumping into and bath in it during hot weather. -_-' The water was soooo blue~

Heaven feeling to jump in. I can feel it, bro~ wondering how much the depth too.

They were swimming happily and I don't know what to do here. errk, what the fish?! Am i just came here to watch them? Oh no~... Fortunately,  there is little coffee house by the pool. :D Ulfah offered me her Siwa tea. Hurmm it nice, has a characteristic taste yet bitter too. I ordered Mango Lassi, a delicious mango and yogurt drink. pheew, what a wonderful feeling. We relaxed, played with little kitten n enjoy our drinks. We were feeling fresh again!

Pretty sight~ Sheltered from a scorching summer sun~ 

lol, just by looking at this make me feel thirsty again.~

Guess what, the story behind our next stop was fascinating. It was Dakhrur Mountain where thousands of Siwan people do gathering every year in October for Siwa Festival (dont remember the exact name). It's my favourite month..:p

Oh yea, rite.. It's Syaha Festival!

It lasts for 3 days. The story behind the mark of this festival was also interesting. The story goes as once upon a time... no no, many years ago, there were tribes in Siwa who fought with each other. I don't know what they were quarrel for. There was a person from a clan had order all Siwan to attend a meeting at this mountain. They were men compelled to pray to God for the harmony and they refused to leave until all the quarrels been settled. Gulp, kinda big issues! :o

They celebrate this festival annually. They did zikr, partake a huge feast, resolved quarrels and renewed friendship. Aaww, that's so sweet~  There were altogether 12 clans in Siwa. And guess, only the head of each clan which represent his own clan will do the voting in the election. @-@.  So bad that this festival had been banned nowadays since the revolution :'(. There were lots and lots of question and answer about Siwan to be dig and i guess it will take 2 days 2 night to finish it. XD Yeah, rite.

Before we get back to our hotel for lunch, we went to salt lake for a short visit..:)

I see white *.*~  there are visible salt crystal in the water.

This is not 'frozen' location site.:P

and my friends busy scooping salt into the bottle. 0-0

Well, i had a taste and the water was sooo salty. Even saltier than the salt lake of Bahariya. Siwa was once of depression that reaches below sea level and the lake is a portion of it. That's how the saltiness came from. Did they used this crystal salt and soil to built the Sali fortress? Hurmm, seems logic~

Craft made from salt at Shali Art-Bazar

Our next activity after having the lunch was joining the Desert Safari. ;D Not all of us joined this activity. There were 2 jeep that brought us to explore the beauty of this desert. 

This is how siwa's desert look like. Sandhills all around.

We stopped at small dune to snap a picture.:) I think there's no history of this place to be told ya.. 

We are altogether 10. Guys hairstyle was so weird. That 's the art of siwa desert. lol..

and the way we jumped was errrkkk.. kinda hurmmmm... and someone face was missing!

We went to an oasis in the middle of the desert. There were many fishes sized from small to big inside it. Compared to the salt lake, i guess there were no creature living inside it due to it saltiness. Oouh okay, now i know, this is where the fishes live and Siwan get protein from.:P 

the view of the oasis from the dune.

I gave the fishes special chicken flavour of bread. Wanna make them carnivourous. haha.. Naaa, not logic.. :P

Aggresive attack on the bread.. 

me with ninjas of the desert..

and interrupted other person picture.

Our next 'roller-coaster like ride' adventure in the desert was so ridiculous and kinda cool! My friend started to shout and laugh causing ammu', the driver to tease her again and again. haha. After that crazy ride, we had stop at a cold spring.

 This is how the spring look like..:)

People come to soak their  feet in the water but we invade here to take picture.

And another picture..

Ok, that is enough.

Sigh, we had come to the level of  'tak tahu nak buat apa dah'. Picture of our shoes -_-'

Our next stop was the site where the fossil of fish is located. Unfortunately, my jeep was stuck on the sand dune. Why did this happened to us?

huh, thanks. Due to this unexpected situation, we got attention and support by other friends..-_-'  see! haha.

Not only from my right side,

but also from the left side. ok, our jeep temporarily got famous..

But in positive way, we, persons in the stuck jeep got beautiful shot from them...

Persons at the back squeezing like sardines in a can just to be in picture.. lol.

and i was at ease~ fuhh. Failed at the other side snap.

We also don't want to miss our special shot on the sand dune too.

with any whatsoever pose that came to our mind.

 here 3 ammus and their discussion. 

It' a relieved. Our jeep problem had been solved and we visited the fossil site. Why fish? This place is once a depression years ago. ''Hurm, why not starfish, clam or dolphin eh? btw, what kind of fish it is?'' haha. Please stop this ridiculous question, Haniey Izhar! 

Here's the fossil. hurm..:/

And the rough whitish land was actually coral long time ago.

At the same time we just got to know a Taiwanese woman came by another jeep. For me she's so brave as she travelled alone even it is common things to do by other tourist. 

Our last activity in the desert was playing sandboard. The sand dune was steeper and longer than in Bahariya made me feel out of breath when i was trying to climb back to the top. Fuh, that's tough. I played it twice. Okay, i realized my stamina level got down!  I am done now! 

 This is how sandboard look like. My focus here just to play while  ammu' at the back tried to put up fire to make tea.. :)

And the sun had set down.

We enjoyed the sunset and later on having tea together with the Taiwanese woman that we just met before.  XD We did selfie again. Oh nope, it is now a groufie with ammu!

We went back to our hotel and prepared ourselves for dinner hunting again. I thought we went there by bus, but actually we rode on truck to reach the small town of Shali. Airy~ It was calm and breezy night. Once we get there, they were many people in the restaurant watching something on the screen. Hehe, Siwan watched Fifa too!!!  Without wasting any time we checked in a restaurant and ordered different menu of foods. 

While waiting for food.  Everyone looked hungry and exhausted.  Stomach was growling. Oh no, seems like not everyone.

We then strolled around, bought ice and looked for things as souvenir. I bought a packet of dried lemongrass. Yeah rite, i know it sound weird to buy the lemongrass as a souvenir -_-' but it's useful and it is not easy to find it here. I admitted that i am kinda astonished with this finding. lol. Most of my friends bought dates and olive oil. 

It's getting late and we had sleepy puppy eye. We rode back on the truck and went back to our hotel. I was really tired and i only got sleep for around 2 to 3 hrs before reach next subh.


21st of June 2014

It was the last day of our trip, the day of travelling back to Cairo. There were no other places to visit. We took a picture together before we travelled. The journey took around 9 to 10 hrs. Oh my back! Nice, we had stopped at Matruh for our lunch. 

only god know how hungry i am at this time. omg~

And this is the last picture with all friends in this trip.

~The End~

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This trip worked as a new start up for my long study as we don't have any holidays later on. But it was a lie! I backed home and even had holidays. So don't trust me in any of my early decision plan. It will change later.  This trip gave us memorable events and feelings. Thanks to all who join this trip. ('-')v 

p/s:  I planned to write it short, but why it turn to a long post?? >,<'

-XOXO-