Sleeping under the stars in the desert

Night wind howling. Staring at a whole sky littered with stars.
Complete tranquility and peacefulness.
Not a single soul in sight, not a single sound...
Just you and nature.

We were in the Western Desert, 6 hrs from Cairo
the bus passed miles n miles of barren desert,
rural lil villages n friendly country people.
The 4 by 4 jeep took us thru all sorts of desert landscapes,
the white desert, sand dunes...
At nite, we set camp, where our Bedouin host cooked us authentic food
made us Arabic tea, made fire
set by it to get some warmth
n laughed n joked with our host n fellow travellers.
Our Bedouin hosts made our trip one helluva experience,
they were so real, so sincere.. just down-to-earth.
I remember them tugging us into our sleepin bag,
laying thick blankets on us,
made us tea the minute we woke up..
it was more than hospitality, they made me feel like home.

We' r in Luxor now.. it's all ancient temples,
beautiful intricate hieroglyphic carvings,
and pure testiment to world's history.
The Ancient Egyptians strongly believed in life after death,
and so spent many years dedicated to building their tombs
decorating it, filling it up with jewellery...
I've learnt alot about Egyptian history
and perhaps formed my own picture of how it was like in the past.

Today we sailed along the Nile River on the famous Felucca
we caught the sunset, typical local life along the river,
buffalos along the wheat fields,
but what made it most memorable
was our chatty n funny Egyptian boatman.
He's sailed for 29 years, and still talks about it with this passion
you could see glimmering in his eyes.
He told us about Egypt's tourism,
how it was like in the past n now..

I love talking to the local people when we travel,
especially wise experienced men...
the stories they tell just weave the most beautiful experience
you could find in this strange world.