Otherwise Travels (Mickey)
Once in Asyut, I walk to the bus station and jump on the next bus to Kharga. The bus is extremely dusty and sandy. As we start moving, I feel like someone has thrown a bucket of sand in my face and down my throat. On the bus a gentlemen sits down in the row opposite me an invites me to join him for a chat. I sit down next to him and we begin to talk. Conversation is slow due to his limited English but I can tell he is a kind and genuine fellow. He likes travellers and relishes the opportunity to practice his English. He tells me of his dreams to one-day open a hotel and restaurant for tourists. After getting to know each other, he invites me back to his place and offers to take me around the oasis the next day. I happily accept and look forward to meeting his family and perusing the oasis. Before the three-hour trip is over, he passes me what appear to be tiny apples. They look exactly like mini granny smiths and taste how you would image a little apple would, the same but slightly more sour.The landscape along the way is nothing short of amazing. I catch my first real glimpse of the smooth untouched dunes of the Sahara. I feel an immediate peacefulness come over me, it is as if my heart rate just suddenly drops to 30 beats a minute. I only see small tracts like this but I now have a taste for what the next week might be like.
I am dropped at my near my accommodation in Kharga and after a little aimless wandering around the empty and slightly eerie streets (I don’t have a map of the town) I find the Hamadalla Hotel. It’s an interesting establishment, it reminds me of a dusty, dingy and deserted hospital but with carpet and no patients or doctors. Every toilet in the quiet large hotel seems to be leaking, it’s a little weird. The bathrooms are so grimy I decide not to take a shower as I feel I will be dirtier after. I am pretty sure I am the only one staying in the entire hotel. Hey, for $8 AUD it’s all good.
