Jumping into the back of the black SUV with a driver and a video screen in front of me I felt like I had hit the big time. (I had finagled a lift with a British actuary who was vacationing in Dahab). What a way to travel through the desert. Forget Lawrence of Arabia. No horses here!

As I watched absolutely nothing go by but sand and scraggly bushes I was happy we skipped what would have been a nine-hour bus ride. That is, until we hit the traffic on the outskirts of Cairo which now extends far from the centre in this ever-expanding city. The driver, clearly bored with the five-hour drive decided to play chicken at 100 kilometres per hour. When he finally stopped I nearly lost my lunch.

Because our actuary friend was going to meet his friends for a coffee we decided to join and see what a mall in Cairo was like. Talk about a change from desert. We could have been in a mall in the US or Canada with a food court, designer clothes' stores and Starbucks coffee. His colleague was Egyptian and it was great being able to get to know a local even if for an hour over coffee.

She gave us great tips on where to go and how I should dress in Egypt so not to draw attention (easier said than done as a blonde girl). Otherwise we found it really hard to get to know Egyptians who seemed to always be pestering us for money.

By 10 p.m. though, I had had enough and we decided to make our way to the centre of Cairo where our hostel was located. Cairo, which is the most populous city in Egypt with 20 million inhabitants is trying to cater to the hordes with satellite cities that have sprung up filled with expats and well-off Egyptians where they have everything they need at their fingertips – gyms with tennis courts, restaurants and schools.

This is where our new friend lived and it was a far cry from what was waiting for us in the centre. This capital city seems to be a city of juxtaposition from Islamic Cairo and conservatism to the crazy streets of central Cairo and the leafy, luxury of the diplomats.

So as we took the taxi in I was a little apprehensive. Everyone warned us of complete chaos and scams. Besides our taxi driver trying to get us to pay double the metred rate (he wanted to charge us for him having to drive to the mall) Cairo seemed like any other city with tall buildings and busy streets.

Well that is until you notice many of the building's façades are crumbling and interiors are barely holding them up. That's the fun of an awfully complicated tax system that my actuary friend tried to explain to me.

In any case our first day in Cairo had to be an admin day because I hated the hostel we originally settled in and we needed to apply for visas to India (our next destination).

If traffic lights are a suggestion in Italy they are merely street decoration here in Cairo. Instead, honking is a way of life and some poor Police officer draws the short straw every day having to stand in the middle of the cross roads. Our new room was right above the street and the din of the car sounds echoing up was incredible. Somehow though, it was so consistent that it actually didn't disturb sleep and instead, eventually, became background noise.

With admin accomplished by the afternoon we were free to trek through Cairo so we set off to find the bazaar. This was accomplished by heading in its general direction and then wandering through streets of underwear, sweatpants and other every day affairs until we wandered into Khan el-Khalili, which was once known as the Turkish bazaar during the Ottoman period. Turkish it may once have been, but I'm afraid it didn't even touch the bazaar in Istanbul. More cheap tourist gifts than decent wares, I lost interest quickly and decided a coffee in El-Fishawi Cafe, or Cafe of Mirrors where Egyptian artists and even Nobel Prize winning author Naguib Mahfouz frequents, was the better option.

It didn't revive me though. I think I may have eaten something something with flour in it (I'm celiac which makes it tricky when you're travelling through Middle Eastern countries). This, coupled with the heat in Cairo, the pollution and the busy streets, I just didn't have the energy to go out and see much else. So it was dinner in the room before I crashed and showed a pretty miserable first day in Cairo.

Second day in the capital and I was ready to give it a go. First stop? The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities (better known as the Egyptian Museum). More than one person told us if there was one museum to see on our entire trip this was it! I felt like I was back in Mrs. James' history class at Bermuda High School. All her descriptions of the ancient life were here on display. Three floors are in this museum and almost every space is crammed with mummies, statues, and every type of Egyptian artefact you could ever want to see. More like a dusty antique shop than museum, there was incredible access to these ancient works of art, which appeared to be stored in the same wooden boxes they were found in. It's dizzying to walk through.

All of this of course comes at a cost. Almost $50 to get into the Egyptian Antiquities Museum and then it was another $30 to go see the mummies. Seriously, how can you turn down the chance though? Not sure, so we anteed up for a chance to snoop around the dead bodies (felt a little weird). Talk about a perfect haunted house setting. The bodies of the pharaohs and their family still have their hair, finger nails, and even an explanation of what they may have died from. Then it was on to the creme de la creme of the museum – Tutankhamen's tomb's treasures.

Though this boy king only ruled Egypt for nine years, the spoils from his tomb are the most interesting. Mainly because they believe everyone hated his family and wanted to get rid of everything that would remind them of the family (or at least that's one theory). This immense wealth was hidden underground until 1922 when Howard Carter finally unearthed the 3,500 items inside. This included three gold coffins inside the sarcophagus (never can have too many coffins), a 24-pound Golden Death Mask and more statues of the boy king (he died at 19) then I care to ever see again!

After basking in the golden glow of the king's treasures, we had spent five hours in the museum including a half-hour lunch break and I couldn't stand seeing another Osiris statue or sarcophagus.

After dodging the ocean of cars we managed to arrive at our hotel.

Unfortunately, the Egyptian cuisine still wasn't sitting very well with me (too much bread) so after a quick dinner of rice it was time to crash.

The next day we relaxed because we had booked the overnight train down south to the town of Aswan. Don't worry we were not going to miss the pyramids. I mean really what kind of travellers would we be? Well, when we enquired about the India visas, they said we had to wait till our departure date was imminent to apply and then we would have to wait at least three days to get the visa. So we figured head south, see Egypt, and then head back to Cairo to get our visa before heading to India. (I know, fun times with visas). With enough of Cairo for a while we headed for the train station for the overnight transport down south to Aswan. Surprisingly it cost us $60 each (kind of pricey in a country where lunch costs you $3), but then we had our own compartment with beds that fell out of the wall and were served a fairly decent dinner. Five star all the way!

When we awoke the next morning we were greeted with the Nile River flowing beside us, its green creation on one side and desert as far as the eye can see on the other. This river is about all that leaves a traveller believing Egypt could once have been a luscious land. Unfortunately now the river barely irrigates an area of about a mile from its shores for poor farmers to try and scrap a living by. We watched as they started their days with the camels and water buffalo tilling the ground as we lucky westerners whirled by and munched on our breakfast feeling very lazy and guilty.

Only a hour later than we expected, we arrived in the town that caused the death of the Nile (Aswan Dam anyone?). It was with great relief to depart the train and stretch our legs even if that did mean carrying our 20-kilogram bags nearly a mile to the hostel!

Next stop: Aswan