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Pizza Hut with a view :-)
Three Pyramids and the Sphinx! This 3 storey Pizza Hut/KFC sat right outside the entrance gates and had an amazing view. Our quick stay in Cario was a contrast of emotions. On one hand we saw the most amazing sites and had a great time with a new friend...but on the other hand we had some awful experiences and we were happy/thankful to leave and head to Jordan (where we had an awesome time!).
Every stop on this trip has been amazing, but in the quick moving style of our trip in and out of Cario we got the worst of the worst when it came to people we bumped into (remember, we had had zero sleep the night before in Nairobi, Kenya). One stop had to be that way...and it might as well been our shortest over-night stay. More on that later.....
On the theme of the Wonders of the World we had planned a short trip to Cairo. But after we booked our tickets we realized that 5 days was just too short to get to the Valley of the Kings...but too much time in Cairo and Giza alone. While we we in Tanzania we changed our flights to give us more time in Jordan to dive the Red Sea and see Petra -- what a great idea
that turned out to be!
We flew into Cairo on May 13th and flew out on May 15th. We had seen some really cheap hotels on the internet just blocks from the Egyptian Muesum in downtown Cairo and just planned to work out our pyramid vist from there. Jess picked the hotel with the best location, we wrote down address and hoped for the best.
But as we arrived we had to get Visas to enter the country. The immigration guy took the visa label and put it upside down in both our passports, then didn't put it in square, so it folded over onto the next page (I thought it was funny, Jess was beyond aggravated). We walk out of customs and wanted to get some breakfast, so we stopped in a shop to get a sandwich...the guy refused to take Jessica's money because the bill was too large (a bill the equivilant to a $10 bill for a $5 order)...in the airport?! One thing I have learned on this honeymoon is that you don't mess with Jess when she has had less than 2 hours of sleep -- he made the mistake, he paid, and then
Spanglish Description
Elseeidy...'The Seedy' seemed an accurate description of Cairo. By the way we have no idea what it really means in Arabic. Note: OSAMA in the back window... he let her pay for our food with the bill she wanted to.
Hotel Gresham was a good deal for $18USD per night...but not really where you want to stay with your new wife. Sorta dodgy, dark, down an alley, and had an elevator so old you wonder if the pharaohs themselves used it (seriously scary is the only description I could use..wow, it even made me very nervous). But we were so tired and under such a timeline we just took the room and took a quick power nap (ironic that Hotel "Gresham" was the ghetto hotel in downtown Cairo).
Made our way down the block headed for the museum...and wow, in Cairo everyone hits you up with the same lines. "Hello Friend...where are you from? UK? USA? Germany? So you need______?" (fill in useless touristy item in the blank). "I am a student and just want to help you friend."
The Egyptian Museum is like if I put together a museum...just boxes laid out with crap in them.
"No need to make it look pretty, just lay the box there and open it."
It kinda made you feel as if you got some
The Pyramids!!
We hired a horse cart to drive us around the big 3 pyramids and Sphinx before we got out to walk around. special pass to the Museum's warehouse...and they are in the middle of a big move...stuff everywhere.
Total Side Note: BTW....you know the actor that played "Steve the Pirate" in Dodgeball? He was at the museum at the same time we were...I said to Jess, "that guy looks like the actor who played Steve the Pirate, and she said, "that's because it is!" Sure enough it was! Saw tons of King Tut...pretty impressive pile of stuff he took with him into the after-life. He really seemed to have the best pile of loot compared to all the other guys that died as Pharaoh/ Sun God.
Anyway, got through the Muesum and headed back to the hotel to arrange the next days trip to see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx!!!
The manager of the little hotel got us a real Egyptian meal, and brought it to the hotel for us...Adamm (his name) was great to us.
The next morning the problems all started again. We woke up and the hotel staff still had not brought us towels...so when I asked the desk clerk told me it was "impossible, just impossible" to get towels at that time
(30 seconds of me grilling him and he suddenly showed up with towels).
Then when our tour guide didn't show and the desk kept telling us "10-15 more minutes, 10-15 more minutes" for two hours until we realized he didn't know what the heck he was talking about.
We finally took a taxi to the pyramids...which worked out fine. We took a horse carriage into the pyramid area itself...wow, they are stunning (the pyramids, not the horses)!!! Some great photos and then we headed over to the Sphinx..I had no idea just how close the Sphinx was to the Great Pyramids.
BTW: Our driver was a "piece o' work" as he was crude and obnoxious. He tried intimidation to get a bigger tip....wrong couple on the wrong day to try that. So we escaped across the street from the Sphinx for lunch at the Pizza Hut....BEST VIEW AROUND!!!! Literally the roof of the Pizza Hut has an amazing view and is right across the street (see pictures).
We finally decided to make a tour ourselves by walking all around the pyramid area...what a great afternoon. Took a taxi back to the hotel to meet Adamm. Since
Did you know...
that there are 6 smaller pyramids? This is the smallest of the 'Big 3 Pyramids' and 3 of the little guys that you don't see pictures of. our plans had gotten screwed up he decided to take us out that night for more local cuisine and local sites. Went to the famous Khan el-Kahlili market and then we made it down to the Nile where we took a river cruise.
Cairo was great for sites...but for the most part the people were crummy. An Egyptian girl sitting next to Jessica at the internet cafe just started spouting off about how much she hated American women in a loud voice and in perfect American accent english. "They're just dirty...they like spray stuff on them...but they don't wash! I went to College in America and there was mold in the womens locker room...eeewww dirty!" She wanted to see mold? She should have seen our hotel bathroom!
When neither Jess or I reacted she started off on Europeans (which we thought was funny because she was going to work herself around the world until she insulted us - though Jess is sure she knew we were Americans) but we still did not say anything or react. She was just a rotten wench. But we got the last laugh...just moments after her nasty little comments, her boyfriend dumped her
Lunch with the Sphinx
With a view like this who could pass up a slice of home and a diet pepsi in the a/c? (also in perfect english) and she stormed off all hurt. Just goes to show you that everyone gets thiers, and we got to watch her get hers.
She was just the last straw in a line of wretched people (except Adamm) that we had to deal with while in Egypt.
I think Cairo is made for the package tour group in a 5-star hotel...then escaping for the Valley of the Kings, and out of this city. Independent travelers are subjected to all types of rotten vendors and miscellaneous dodgy characters.
We loved seeing this "Wonder of the World" but we were so happy to arrive in Jordan. And what a great time we had in Jordon! We can't wait to tell you about it.....
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Tim Trickey
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Nuts on the Nile...
I wonder if any of those hazelnuts were from the George Packing Company? They very well could be! As it stands, I am 100% positive that Larry George is the first tourist to take a picture of himself next to a bucket of nuts in the middle of Cairo. I wonder what the onlookers must have thought.... : )