nic hieroglyphics on had been re-used in various buildings. The inscriptions over the doorways were in an ancient script and some said that the owner had made the trip to Mecca – a major social status symbol now as well as in the past. Just as well we had a guide, because the tiny lanes and alleys between the crumbling multi-storey mud brick buildings made it easy for stragglers taking photos to get lost. We passed through a doorway into a courtroom which was also used as a school. The judge had residential rooms above and the prisoners were kept in cells at either side of the main room. Although extremely dangerous, some people live there now, and we saw cars and washing to prove it. 
A long drive to a hotel at the small oasis town of Farafra, where we had lunch, showed us how powerful the wind can be in raising a dust storm. Every surface at the hotel was dusted in white sand and it must be a nightmare to be the cleaners there. We were rather concerned because we were waiting for the safari jeeps to take us out to the White Desert, where we were to spend the night. Luckily the wind dropped enough to stop blowing sand in our faces, but the air was icy.
Before we left the town, we stopped to look at the museum and garden that had been set up by a local artist, Badr Abd El Moghny, who grew up at the Farafra Oasis. His work is very organic, with sculptures in stone, ceramic and wood. Each room had a theme – the room of games with paintings and sculptures of village life, the room of desperation, the room of anger and some others. Some of his paintings have thick paint made from different coloured ground stones found in the desert. Each powdered stone was stored in a ceramic bottle with a sculptured figure as its lid. Unfortunately the artist was not at home so we were shown around by a friend.
Before we left the town, we stopped to look at the museum and garden that had been set up by a local artist, Badr Abd El Moghny, who grew up at the Farafra Oasis. His work is very organic, with sculptures in stone, ceramic and wood. Each room had a theme – the room of games with paintings and sculptures of village life, the room of desperation, the room of anger and some others. Some of his paintings have thick paint made from different coloured ground stones found in the desert. Each powdered stone was stored in a ceramic bottle with a sculptured figure as its lid. Unfortunately the artist was not at home so we were shown around by a friend.
We piled into the jeeps again for what we had anticipated to be a highlight of the tour and for many of us, the reason this tour had been selected over others. Egypt has many different deserts – the one between Cairo and Dahab had been uninspiring, colourless and rubbly, with a lot of gravel and rocks, and stark mountains with only very occasionally sweeps of sand. 
We had an anxious moment when our driver left it to the last minute to stop for these camels to cross the road just before we reached Farafra Oasis.
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