Egypt Day 1

Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Cairo
March 20th 2008

Published: April 2nd 2008

Edit Blog Post

gypsy_teacher

IndianaJonesesc?

Hey, you can't blame a history teacher for getting a bit nostalgic.

At long last, my chance to see my first wonder of the world, the pyramids of Egypt. Although the past couple of months have been very busy at my school, spring break has come along, giving Yuki and I chance to further explore the Middle East. Since so much happened during this vacation, I have chosen to separate the pictures and events into days. Thus, there may be a handful of entries, just showing this trip alone. Anyway, here comes the details.

We traveled through Kuwait, and reached Cairo late at night. Here we got to take into the driving scene and our hotel for the night.

Our next morning we started bright and early to the pyramids. This was quite an amazing sight! I don't think I can use words to give justice what it feels like to stand in front of the pyramids of Giza. All that I could reflect on is literally how much history and life the pyramids must have seen in all of this time. It's humbling in a sense of time. Hopefully the pics though give an idea of the beauty. Surprisingly, inside the pyramid was very hot, and in some places, a

Front view

A nice place to take in the history. The Sphinx is carved from one piece of rock!

very tight squeeze. Still though, to think that I have now been inside one of the great pyramids and have seen one of the tombs was a great experience. The pyramids were built during the Old kingdom, or the earliest period of Egypt's civilization. Of course, these were built as resting places for Pharohs and their families. Each stone was cut and places so precisely, that dating back to its early time, you couldn't even put a knife blade between the blocks. Each stone weighed an average of 2-5 tons, and of course, millions of blocks were used to make the pyramids. In fact, the pyramids were the tallest man made structure until about 1850 AD, that's about 3000 years.

After our time at the pyramids, we were then able to see the Cairo museum. There was of course A LOT to see. Within a couple of hours, we covered a lot of ground, including mummies, lots of golden artifacts, statues and many other artifacts. It was in many ways overwhelming, but by the end of the day I had gained a deeper appreciation of Egyptian history.

Other side notes, the driving in Cairo is complete and utter

Taxi in Cairo

For some reason, neon lights are the coolest damn thing in Cairo cars, according to nearly every car on the street.

madness. As some pics might show, there is only one traffic law that exists, don't get hit. Besides that, stop lights, pedestrians, painted lines in streets, all of these are either suggestions or obstacles. It was quite thrilling in the taxi rides, and I know think I understand why there is no need for an amusement park in Cairo. On another note, everyone wants a tip in Cairo. Where ever you go, whatever you do, if any person so much as even points you in the right direction, you will get asked for a tip. While at first it's kind of fun, after about 20 minutes you start to think, “please stop asking me for money." After about one day, you just have to not approach anyone or make eye contact unless you are willing to buy something or pay a tip. A part of the problem is that Cairo is becoming a very populated city. Currently the estimates are between 20-25 million people. That's quite a lot for one city. Unemployment is very high, and of course, poverty is becoming a very big problem. It's getting so bad, that many people are unable to pay for their marriage until

Celebration in the streets

All night, I was able to witness people celebrating, on or off the streets, driving or not driving. Doors being open, 9 people to a car, even babies being held out windows while driving, making the fare a deal!

their early thirties. While Cairo contains much beauty, it is still struggling with modern day issues of growth and development. It was a great time though and overall the city treated me very well!

Additional photos below

Photos: 20, Displayed: 20