Advertisement
Published: August 25th 2007
Edit Blog Post
You know you had a good trip to Egypt when, once you return home, you can't stop looking at your photos, you pledge to learn Arabic, you romanticize every aspect of your trip (conveniently forgetting about the crazy tour schedule, the baksheesh obsession, and the horrible plane rides), and you start scheming to see how fast you can get back!! We have been doing all of these things...we had an amazing trip to Egypt!
The plane trip to/from Egypt was the worst part. We flew overnight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok to Dubai to Cairo...lots of transfers and 4-5 hour waits at each airport. We were pretty exhausted when we arrived in Egypt. Thankfully, our tour company reserved a room for us at an incredible hotel on the Nile. We rested that afternoon and then jumped into the tour schedule!
The Group Tour System
The tourism industry is extremely organized (note that we are comparing eveyrthing to Cambodia!) and very tour-group oriented. We have never traveled with a tour group before so it was a new experience. Parts of it we loved: 1) They arranged EVERYTHING for us...tours, transportation, hotels, etc. This would have taken up SO much
Our new best friends...
On our first day in Cairo we got snookered into a very expensive camel ride...at least we have these pictures to show for it ;)! They were fun to ride and super cute. of our time if we had done everything ourselves once we arrived; 2) We had one-on-one tour guide & transport for our 4 days in Cairo...we were able to ask a ton of questions, learn so much about every site we visited, and didn't have to worry about transportation; and 3) We had tour guides throughout our 11 day tour...on the Nile cruise, at each town we visited...which added greatly to our knowledge base. We would have missed out on so much information and history if we had not had a tour guide!
However, parts of the group-tour system we hated: 1) You are always "a tourist" and very separated from everyday Egyptian life and culture. We are very spoiled and used to being "locals" and separated from the tourists in Cambodia. It was hard to have to join the tourist system (tour vans, tour buses, with a tour guide, tour boat, etc.) and know that we were missing out on getting to know Egyptian life outside of the tourist spots (to do that, though, we would have to stay a lot longer than 12 days!); 2) The group-tour system is very fast-paced...we would have loved more time at
each of the sites (and another 2 days in Luxor) but we had to move at the pace of the tour package; and 3) the tour system in general is very money-oriented/money-driven...every side-tour they take you on (perfume making, rug making, papyrus making, etc.) is oriented towards getting you to buy items. It's a really hard-sell place, so we were constantly fighting the "buy-buy-buy" attitude.
All in all, though, we were glad that our first visit was through an organized tour group. We loved our tour guides, they took great care of us, and we learned more about the history, sites, and culture than we would have on our own. The next time we go back, we will probably tour on our own (especially because Ben will speak fluent Arabic by then..hehe!).
Cairo
We landed in Cairo and were amazed by the incredibly fast traffic, wild driving, huge freeways (remember...we live in Camboida where we don't drive over 30 miles per hour and most the roads are un-paved!). The city is MASSIVE....the Nile is gorgeous. It was totally chaotic and wild....I loved it!! We settled into our hotel, ordered in some hummos and tabouli (well, Christa did) and
Giza Pyramid
Christa & our guide are in the bottom right corner. The pyramids were magnificent! cleaned up. Our tour guide picked us up in the evening for the Light & Sound show at the Giza Pyramids. The weather was INCREDIBLE! Very cool and breezy in the evenings (high 60s/low 70s) and perfect in the daytime (high 70s/low 80s). We wrapped up in huge blankets at the light show and gazed in awe at the incredible Pyramids and the majestic Sphinx. They were bigger than we imagined! The light show was beautiful (if a bit cheesy)...all in all a perfect introduction to our trip!
The next day we went back to Giza to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx in the daylight. The crowds were insane and it was hard to take a photo without 100 people in the way. Plusses and minuses to it being Easter weekend! We also got snookered into a VERY expensive camel ride and learned our first lesson about some of the tricks pulled on tourists 😉. The pyramids were amazing, though. It felt so surreal to be there in front of them! It was hard to imagine how old everything really was.
We spent our first 3 days in Cairo touring the Eygptian Museum (we spent HOURS touring
The Sphinx
The Sphinx was much more massive and impressive than we imagined it would be! Ben loved it. this incredible treasure...literally...treasures everywhere! We could have spent another 2 days here...in fact we did return on our last day in Egypt!), Coptic Cairo (churches), Islamic Cairo (the Mosque of Muhammad Ali), the Citadel, and the Khan al Khalili Bazaar (shopping!), the Opera House, and some wonderful book stores. There was so much to see! We loved the chaos, the pale yellow buildings, the incredible architecture, the winding Nile, the beautiful spires of all the mosques and churches in the skyline. Fascinating place...we wanted to stay longer! But on we go...
Train ride & Luxor
We took a 10-hour overnight train (Ben's first!) to Luxor. It was a fine, clean compartment, but it was pretty tight for both Ben and I and all our bags. We didn't sleep too well and were happy to pull into Luxor. Luxor was a quaint, small town on the Nile. It was nice to be in a smaller town after massive Cairo. We could have spent another week in Luxor...it is filled with some of the most incredible sights in Egypt....Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple, the Valley of the Kings, The Valley of the Queens, the Temple of Hatshepsut, the Colossi of Memnon,
the Mummification Museum...and more! We sall all of these sights except the Valley of the Queens. The tombs at the Valley of the Kings were mind-blowing. The hieroglyphics are astounding and the original colors are still on many of the walls. Again, it was so difficult to believe how old everything was..we kept having to remind ourselves! Much of it is so incredibly preserved, the colors so vibrant, and the structures so elaborate and massive. Our tour guides were SO helpful at this point...Egyptian/Pharaonic history is so elaborate and can get confusing when learning it for the first time (all of the gods, the Pharaohs, the timelines, the relationships between everyone, etc.). Our tour guide explained everything so clearly and answered hundreds of questions.
Head to "Part 2" for more photos and travel stories!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.116s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 11; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0279s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Stephen Paul
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Great Pics!
Loved the blog. the pictures were cool too, I think people in the pyramid photos adds great perspective! They seem huge. I was wondering when you would be posting this, I dont know how many others can say Travelblog is a family affair!!