Hi everyone, well our time in the Middle East is starting to wind up, we only have just over a week to go until we're back in Sydney!We had a really nice relaxing time in Dahab, we didn't really do anything except sleeping, reading and eating - I think it was just what we needed after our busy time in Jordan!We left Dahab on the 30th, we took a bus which took us right around the bottom of the Sinai and back up the other side, the scenery was pretty much the same the whole way around with dramatic rocky mountains the colour of sand with no vegetation on them.Things got really interesting when we got to the Suez Canal, the size of the ships travelling though it was incredible, neither of us have ever seen ships that big before, and they just looked like they were sailing through the desert because we couldn't see the water from the bus, only the sand.The bus took us through a tunnel that went under the water after the bus driver had negotiated his way through a huge traffic jam.The security around the canal was huge, there were men with guns everywhere and we got our passports checked so many times.We finally made it to Cairo after just over 9 hours on the bus, found a taxi and after a lot of negotiating we agreed on a price for the driver to take us to our hotel.The next day was New Years Eve, we decided that evening we'd go out for a nice dinner then go to a bar for when the clock ticked over for new years.During the day we visited the Pyramids which were really amazing, there were so many touts though, we wandered around and took lots of photos.In the evening we had a beautiful Korean meal for dinner with wine but by about 10:30pm we decided we were too tired to go to a bar and stay up until midnight (I know - very sad!!) so we went back to the hotel instead via this amazing sweets shop just near our hotel and picked up some cake and brought in the New Year sitting in bed eating cake, Greg almost celebrated midnight with the toilet instead of me after drinking a dodgy bottle of water we brought at the Pyramids, we forgot to check if the lid was sealed on the bottle and Greg drank some before we realised it was bad, luckily he made it back from the toilet to our room 15 seconds before midnight to celebrate New Years with me!On New Years day we had planned to go to the Egyptian Museum for the day but after we left the hotel I felt really unwell and spent the rest of the day in bed sleeping off whatever was wrong with me.We visited the Museum on the 4th instead when we got back to Cairo.We just seem to keep getting things wrong with us here, we're definitely struggling with the food now, everything is fried or really oily - even the salads! We never thought we'd think that as when we first arrived here we loved the food, but now we'd be happy never to see falafel, hummus and pita bread again!The next day we took a bus to Alexandria which has the smelliest bus station ever, and checked into a hotel which was really nice, definitely one of the nicest places we've stayed at but still really cheap.The following day we visited a Roman Amphitheatre which was quite interesting; apparently it's the only one in Egypt, although I think we were more entertained by the stray cats there!We tried to visit a museum only to find it was closed so we ended up wandering along the waterfront until we reached the Bibliotheca which is like a library, Greg just wanted to go there because it says in the Lonely Planet that it looks like the Death Star from Star Wars, apparently it really does, I wouldn't know since I don't know what the Death Star looks like.It was really nice to be near the Sea, we sat by the water for awhile and later visited the Citadel and fish market area where we had dinner.The restaurant where we had dinner was really interesting, as we walked in some of the waiters directed us into a side room where they had fresh fish, prawns, crabs, eel, squid and oysters sitting on ice, we chose what we wanted to eat and they cooked it up for us.We got fish and some prawns, it was such a beautiful meal and our stomachs thanked us for it. It was the best meal we've had in the Middle East! We really enjoyed being in Alexandria for a couple of days, it was so relaxing to be by the sea, the hotel was really nice and it was an easy city to walk around.It is definitely not as chaotic or polluted as Cairo, although crossing the road was still as difficult and dangerous!!On the 4th we took the bus back to Cairo and visited the Egyptian Museum which was amazing, so many ancient artefacts, we wandered around for a couple of hours, it was so busy in there though, huge tour groups everywhere!There were a lot of signs telling people not to take photos, of course people did anyway, Greg saw someone take a photo and within seconds the 'photo police' came rushing into the room looking very serious and quite scary, they didn't find the culprit, but it was a bit of excitement.That evening we took a dinner cruise on the Nile which was ok, the food and wine were average and so was the entertainment, they had a belly dancer who was quite good.The following day we went to Cairo Airport for our flight to Muscat in Oman.Checking in was, as it is in most African airports, difficult and very confusing.In the time we were standing at the check in desk, which was awhile, there were about 4 power cuts, each of them only lasted a minute or two.As usual there were airport staff everywhere standing around pointing people in the wrong direction, at one check in desk there were 5 staff helping to check in one person!Once we eventually got our boarding passes we went to our gate and were told not to go through, we could see other people at the gate so asked if we could go through anyway, they let us in to sit at the gate with all the other people on the flight (the only other place to sit was in a cafeteria where they were playing music really loud, it sounded like a nightclub).After sitting at the gate for about 10 minutes we all had to leave the gate and come back in again but this time have our passports checked, sometimes you have to wonder how they get these bizarre processes at some airports!The flight was just over 3 hours before we arrived in Muscat.First impressions were very good.All the airport staff were very helpful, surprisingly I didn't need a visa on my NZ passport, Greg did need a visa however.There were hardly any people in the airport and I have to say they had the flashest squat toilets I have ever seen!We took a taxi to an area of Muscat called Mutrah, it doesn't even feel like we're in a big city, it feels like a little fishing village, we are right by the ocean near fish markets, it is really clean here, the traffic actually stays in lane and there aren't any touts or over-persistent taxi drivers!Also it is really warm, the temperature is about 30 degrees and it's beautiful and sunny and most people speak English.Last night we had dinner on the footpath outside this little fish restaurant, similar to the one we went to in Alexandria, once again it was an amazing meal!The landscape around the bay that we're in is really rocky and hilly and there are old Portuguese forts up on the tops of the hills, it looks absolutely stunning!Already we really like it here, it is so much calmer than Cairo!!All the men here wear the long white sheets (I've forgotten what they're called) and the women wear black Abayas and Hijabs, last night when we walked past the mosque it looked quite amazing, it was a sea of black and white!Today we went for a walk along the water through some nice parks and had a look at the Portuguese forts.This afternoon we'll have a wander through the Mutrah souq and hopefully find some nice Arabian sweets!!Tomorrow we're going to a town called Sur for a couple of nights before coming back to Muscat.Well that's all for now, we'll probably do our last update for Oman next week sometime.Also we'll have to put up our Egypt photos sometime in the next week as we don't have a good enough internet connection here.