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Published: August 4th 2006
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Cairo is more hectic than Bangkok and possibly dirtier than Delhi but no one really goes to Egypt to visit Cairo...its Giza they want to see...
My driver was a bohemith 6'5" 275lb boy of 20 years old who boasted that he had only been in as many accidents as his age. This was a fact that he was legitametely proud of which naturally scared the hell out of me. His car was something out of an Adam Sandler song with no radio, no working seat belts, no working windows, no rearview mirror or sideview mirrors, and the seat was pushed so far forward that I was practically sitting in the fetal position grasping onto whatever I felt wasn't going to break away from the car's frame if we were to suddenly swerve. Mohamed picked me up at the airport and drove me to my hostel without ever turning the car lights on despite my repeated requests for the entire half hour ride. I should have known that the car didn't even have headlights.
Without thinking, I arranged for a driver to take me to the Ancient sites surrounding Cairo through the hostel I where I was staying and
suprise, suprise, Mohamed and I were practically hitched...
As ‘Ive been told, in order to truly appreciate the building of the Pyramids at Giza, you should visit some of the older pyramids in and around the area first. These include the original Step Pyramid built by Zoser, the Bent Pyramid (aptly named because they screwed up and kept on building) and the father of the “modern” pyramid, the Red Pyramid, all pictured. Like 90% of the drivers I’ve encountered on my trip, first you detail the destinations you’d like to visit, then you negotiate the price, then they take you wherever the hell they feel like. Mohamed didn’t take too kindly to me altering his plans for the day, forget the fact that I had hired him, he obviously had other plans, but after I bought him a chocolate bar, we seemed to be back on speaking terms. No joke, this guy LOVED Cadubury!
The three aforementioned pyramids are cool, interesting and all that jazz but I was really only biding my time in the 100 degree heat so that I’d be able to spend the remnants of the afternoon wandering around Giza. I spent the morning inside
the Tombs around Zoser’s pyramid and climbed into the Red Pyramid, (the Bent Pyramid is on Military property so its off limits) and at the Museum in Memphis, an ancient demolished capital of Egypt. I know I’m not giving any of these sites their due attention but none of them are the only surviving members of the Wonders of the Ancient World. Side Note: Only the original and largest Pyramid at Giza is a natural Wonder, the rest just hang out for pictures…
I’m a romantic so I decided that the best way to visit Giza would be on the back of a Camel. Who wouldn’t want to roll around the desert on the back of a humper? Its more natural than walking on the beach, ride a camel in the Sahara… Never in my wildest dreams could I have expected to have ridden on the back of the Most Evil Camel in Giza.. By lack of comparison this guy took the title but I can’t imagine any other domesticated, working camels that tried to snap back and bite their rider as many times as mine tried to eat me. Though I was riding it with my guide on
Statue of Zoser
Incased inside the Serdab (Cellar) horseback behind me smacking its ass with a stick to keep it moving, I also had to have a boy walk in front of me, reins in hand, pulling, no dragging this evil camel through the desert. My smiles in these pictures are part elation at not being a camel kebab and part pure joy at realizing a lifelong dream of visiting the site where I was.
Part of my relaxing camel ride around the pyramids included entrance into the center pyramid. You’d honestly be surprise how non-grand the interior of this pyramid actually is. It’s a tight squeeze down the shaft to the center but not unbearable. It gets tighter still when you have to hug the wall to allow someone to exit the shaft while you are climbing down but again, its nothing someone with a little sense of adventure can’t handle. The center holds the sarcophagus of the pharaoh and a pretty cool echo and little else. It was the end of the day so I was able to stand inside the Pyramid all alone for a solid ten minutes. Eerie feeling…
When I surfaced from the interior of the Pyramid I found my guide,
Mohamed also, atop the camel without the boy or the horse. Apparently while I was gone, the Camel bit the boy in the arm and threw Mohamed off his back. The boy went to get fixed up while Mohamed bled from the arm and hands the rest of the tour. I offered to return to the stable but he would hear nothing of it, so of course I jumped on the back of the pissed of camel, now burdening him with two passengers.
When Mohamed’s hand wouldn’t let up bleeding, he finally relented to returning to the stable after he took a few pictures of me in front of the Sphinx and all 3 Pyramids. I’m guessing that he felt he needed to finish the tour regardless of his personal safety no matter how many times I told him I could come back the next day for pictures.
I wallowed in my desert oasis for a few hours and enjoyed a “complimentary” lunch at the stable eagerly awaiting sundown for my second jaunt into the Sahara. For my first trip I was given the choice of Camel or Horse, this time I chose wisely.
I can’t imagine
Face of the Red Pyramid
& Entrance halfway up the face many westerners having their first horseback riding lesson in the Sahara Desert with the Pyramids in the background but then again I’ve never professed to be anything but a lucky bastard. I’ve been on horses before but mostly at birthday parties before my age reached double digits and almost always while the horse had his head six inches away from the ass of the horse in front of him. Within ten minutes on this horse I was at full speed gallop desperately trying not to die!
The basics were simple. Left, pull left, Right, pull right, Stop, pull back, Go, kick with your heels. I didn’t quite master the command of Go Faster because not only did my horse not go any faster when I beat it with the stick, I’m sure he went slower because I was beating him with no idea why or where I should be smacking him. After a few minutes of beating the ever living shit out of my horse to no avail, Mohamed grabbed the stick and started smacking it so hard I nearly was tossed out of the saddle when it took off! The initial takeoff wasn’t the only moment when I
thought I was about to be ejected from the saddle, every subsequent stride left me clutching to everything on this horse including his hair to prevent me from being killed in the middle of the desert.
I got the hang of it after a while, riding the horse that is, though I could not get him to walk straight nor make him walk any faster than a snails pace but I was in no hurry. In fact, this horse was a bit like my driver for the day who knew where I wanted to go, had been fed and still decided to go wherever he wanted to go.
Overall the day was everything I had hoped it would be and actually exceeded my expectations due to the unforeseen circumstances of the peoples that were involved in the day. Mohamed the first didn’t get into any accidents while driving and ended up taking me out to dinner to show his appreciation for the Cadbury and Mohamed the second didn’t bleed for too long. The stable boy was able to keep his arm (just kidding, he was fine, I don’t think the old camel’s teeth broke skin) and I went
to sleep a happy man.
My second day in Cairo was spent at the Egyptian Museum which I’ll discuss in my next blog, as it has more to do with my trip to the Valley of the Kings than with the Pyramids at Giza…
Next up, a night train to Luxor…
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George Fraunces
non-member comment
When are you back in AZ? George
when are you back?