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Published: August 7th 2007
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Hello from Cairo!
It's great to be able to report that we made it here to Egypt and are both well. Although, at one stage, we were sure that we would be spending an extended holiday period adopting the personas of Kath & Kel (from Kath & Kim) and making the most of living, breathing, shopping, sleeping at Bangkok airport 😊 A 2.5 hour delayed flight found us having to wait around the airport for 5 hours!!! Finally departing from Bangkok airport at 3:15am... oh the frustration!!
Apart from the delays and the fact that we departed during a heavy thunderstorm on an Aeroplane that looked about 15 years old and was uncleaned, our flight to Egypt went quite well. We arrived in Cairo at 7:50am Egypt Time on the 31st of May (2:50pm AEST).
On first impression, we are both shocked at how bleak and colourless the city of Cairo looks. The buildings are all very old. The culture shock sets in immediately for Kim who jokes that we have been dropped in Baghdad and once settled in our hotel, says that she needs to catch up on some sleep and to wake her up in 9
days!
The city of Cairo has a population of approx. 22 million people, which is higher than the population in the whole of Australia!
The Cairo drivers are crazy, worse than Bangkok. Most cars have scratches, scrapes & dings so it is obvious that accidents are extremely common. There doesn't seem to be any road rule enforcement - traffic lights are ignored along with pedestrian crossings. We have found this to be a huge hinderence on what we are able to do in Cairo as some roads are just uncrossable!
We officially started our tour on the 1st of June. We had a jam packed day of sight seeing shown around by our personal tour guide Ahmed. Firstly we visited the Citadel (Egyptian design Mosque) and the Mohammed Ali mosque (Turkish design) - the Egyptians are strongly religious people. These were both beautiful, especially the Mohammed Ali mosque.
From the mosques we then went to the Egyptian Museum. Steve was very excited about this, being the big fan of Egypt that he is, although he was a little disappointed because there are no cameras allowed inside. We got to see the most famous of all treasures
that were taken from Tutankhamun's tomb, including his breathtaking burial mask which is world famous, as well as other impressive statues of pharaohs such as Ramses the Great and Queen Hatshepsut. Another highlight was the Royal Mummies hall which contained real mummies on display.
Most spectacular of all were the Pyramids of Giza! It was especially amazing to learn that these three pyramids are so close to Cairo city itself! Seeing the pyramids with your own eyes definitely surpasses any photo, picture or film you could ever see!!
We both went inside the pyramid knowing there wasn't much to see, but figured it was a must-do. Didn't enjoy this too much as it was extremely cramped (had to walk crouched inside) and there was no air movement. We then had a camel ride outside the pyramids. Mister Stev (as the camel owner referred to Steve) on one camel called Mickey Mouse and Kim doubled up with the Camel rider on another camel named Michael Jackson. Steve had a hard decision to make when the camel owner offered him 10,000 camels in return for Kim! After much deliberation, Mister Stev decided this was a fair offer 😉
To
end this first day of the tour we were taken along to the Khan Khalili Bazaar in Cairo City. These are a myriad of narrow side streets full of markets (mostly selling the same nick nacks) and you really have to drive a hard bargain as we learnt over the hour we were there - especially being foreigners, we found that a lot of the shop owners tried to take advantage of us and rip us off.
The 2nd & 3rd of June are at our own leisure in Cairo. This has been a bit of a killer, as there isn't really much else to do in Cairo that we didn't see with our tour guide. Cairo is so far removed from life in Australia. The bad traffic makes it hard to move around, and the constant banter of having shop owners approach us in the streets and try and drag us into their shops along with other locals constantly sidling their way up to us to give advice/try and help without asking (when no help is required) and then expect a tip is very tiring and draining. No help/advice is for free here!
Not only this, there
Fountain of Cleansing
Inside Mohammed Ali Mosque are many tourist police guards around all the time which is on one hand comforting, but on the other hand a little worrying that it is felt that so many guards are needed. Everywhere you walk here, every few metres is a guard - alot of them carrying machine guns. Kim in particular finds this intimidating and gets a bit nervous by it.
Neither of us have had any problems with the food here in Egypt, however that has probably been helped along by the vegetarian lifestyle that we have embraced since arriving haha. Fingers crossed we don't have any issues in this department!
Early tomorrow morning we will fly to Luxor and look forward to boarding our cruise ship for a 4 night cruise along the Nile and exploring Egypt further. We will keep you posted on how it goes 😊
Was great to here from a lot of you, and we are both glad that everyone is well.
We are having a fantastic time, hope you all enjoy the photos!
Love always,
Kim & Steve xx
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Mumsie
non-member comment
oo much time in Cairo
Great to hear from you both again, and to read about your Cairo experience. The photos were great and helps to make us feel that we are sharing your journey with you. Loved the pyramids and also the sight of you both riding camels. Kim looked as if she could blend in quite well, when dressed in appropriate attire. Hope that you both enjoy your Nile cruise. Did you get my SMS about Figtree Tyres fire on Sunday night, 3rd June. Love to you both, Mum. xxx.