Once again the internet has been pretty erratic out in western desert, but I should be happy there was some at least some of the time so I could keep up to date what is happening in the world. So here is the final entry for my trip, I am now at a hotel in Cairo and will be catching a taxi in a couple of hours to the airport. Here is what has happened this week:

Monday So New Years in the Bahariya Oasis was a good as can be expected. We went out for dinner and then moved up to the hotel roof to have some drinks and set off fireworks. It was a pretty good night, though it is strange to be in a place where there are no other celebrations going on.

Tuesday The next day we had a big bus trip to the Siwa Oasis, it took about six hours to there. Half the trip is on a new road and the other half is on the old road which was built during World War II and looks like it has not been maintained since.

We took a detour into the desert to check out the remains of WWII fighter plane that crashed and then just out of Siwa we stopped off at a natural spring that was originally developed by the Romans and used by soldiers during the war. It was so clear and at one end you could still see the original Roman walls and steps. The water comes out of the ground at about 20 degrees.

Once settled into our hotel we went for a walk into town to look at the old part of the city which was all mud brick (and preserved for people to see). We climbed up to the high point of the building to watch the sunset. We went out for dinner and then picked up our bicycles that we were going to use the next day.

Wednesday So today was our bike riding day around Siwa, the first to was the mountain of the dead, a mountain not far out of town where 300 tombs where found which date back the Greek and Roman era when Alexander the Great rule Egypt.

When then went to a temple built by Alexander and then to the place where he was made king of Egypt.

Once final stop for the bike tour was to go to a spring used by Cleopatra, once again it had been enlarged since, but you could still see the original stone work under the water. It was the warmest spring yet at 24 degrees. We hung out at a cafe set up next to the spring where we had lunch and smoothies.

Thursday This day was pretty much a day stuck on a bus again, taking 8 hours to get to Alexandria - our final stop for the tour. Once there we went to Alexandria library and then out to find a local seafood restaurant to eat as we were all starving.

Friday The last day of actually doing touristy things. We started at the catacombs under the city, then to Pompey's Pillar and the museum. After a felafel lunch we then walked to the Citadel on the waters edge.