So we set off early and spent a good while trying to find 92 petrol. Finally getting some in Giza we climbed past the Big Pointy Buildings on the Giza limestone escapement and set off south.
Ahmed said he had never been this way before (this was untrue, as he took a wrong turn this way when we were trying to find Joe at one of his football tournaments, but I didn’t want to be picky). The road is quick and straight and dual carriageway, which all equates to high speed crashes. It was not long before we came across and double lorry that had glanced a microbus. Tarantinos movies have nothing on the view from a passenger seat in Egypt.
Quite fittingly half-way acorss the desert towards the Fayoum Oasis there is a massive cemetery in the middle of nowhere. City of the Dead (another B Movie)
Karanis, or Kom Ushim or, my favourite, Crocodilopolis is one of the best known sites of Roman Egypt. Never heard of it? Nor had I. Well the ruins are not that spectacular compared to the big pointy buildings in a country with more classic ruins than you can shake a stick at. Archeologists do get excited however because Karanis is the best known town on paper, or more specifically papyrus. The town was once a thriving, lower-middle class agricultural town on the banks of Lake Quron and the Romans, like most “civilizations” collected copious amounts of paperwork documenting the minutiae of every day life. As the waters of the lake receded, along with the Roman empire the town slowly died only to be rediscovered as an unremarkable pile of ruins. The discovery was made by farmers attracted by the organic rich soil, left by the ancient inhabitants. The farmers came across many well-preserved tax records/notes/letters/official memoradums and sold them on. There value was eventually appreciated and proper excavations of the town occurred in the 1920s by, no doubt well dress chaps in the style of Howard Carter.
Now I know its not a “A” grade tourist site but it looked completely trashed and we had to wake the 3-4 police from their morning slumbers (10.30am) to open the gate. They were surprised to see us, not many tourists this month! The visitor centre did not look like it had seen any visitors since Churchill coming here (apparently). The building looked like something out of the “Time Machine” when the guys goes centuries into the future (in fact the ruins looked in better shape than the visitor centre). They police insisted on following us around, which did not bother me as the sun was now high and they were flagging soon in the heat and got very bored very quickly. For some reason they did not want me to take my tripod, camera was ok, and would only agree to it for 1000 egyptian pounds – all very curious 
Large pots were strewn everywhere
The name Crocodilopolis comes from one of the two ruined temples dedicated to the crocodile gods (hence the cult of the crocodile. Mummified crocs were found in the temples. The paperwork gives an insight into the life of an everyday town, weavers, wool sellers, potters, farmers, carpenters, hairdressers. This population paid heavy taxes to the government, mostly consisting of grain (Egypt - the breadbasket of the Roman Empire). The town interestingly was also inhabited by the mercenaries of the Roman army (you got a bit of land for slaying a few Britons/Gauls as a pension).
Fayoum oasis in the background from South Temple
The old town buried for centuries
A couple of examples I retrieved from the internet of the paparyses (papayri?). My favorites was some poor guy complaining a soldier guarding the town would not let him pass with this donkey hay/olive oil cart unless be gave him a bribe (lessons that the Mubarak era did not take heed off). Also in year 198, a dispute took place with a violent tax collector, while there was a robbery of a woman whose brother was in the army at an unknown date. In 214, a fire destroyed a field of crops, while in 216, there was the burglary and vandalism of a house 
The site reminded me of Byblos in Lebanon, the foundations of a city left to eroded away. The impressive thing in Karansis is the amount of 1st-4th century pottery on the floor, everywhere you step as piles of pot shards. Either these guys had some smashing parties or the pots were of poor quality.
Piles and piles of broken pots
The north Temple - dediciated to the Crocs
Leaving our little antiquities police to their beds we headed toward the lake along some great agricultural roads. These roads are fantastic as there is so much to see going on. It was obviously Market day in Fayoum and the lorries were chock-full of farmers and cows.
Farmers and Cows travel together
Cows up front, farmers in the back
No overtaking....
Although 1st class is not luxurious, 2nd class is worse
A whole flock of farmers for sale
Selling fish is tough when customers are travelling at 60km/hr
A few tiddlers
This was quite a pose - reminder me of Eric Idle dress as a woman in Monty Python
Fishermen getting ready to go out again...its a family affair
Photo-shy Egrets
Fishing boats
And so we headed back to the smoke. Much more to see in this area (Wadi Rayan, Hitam, Fayoum itself) so its on my list of things to do. 
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