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Published: December 13th 2006
Hello all Drakey here, with another small installment, this time from Egypt.
As most people do, I went to Egypt for one reason only, to see the Pyramids. Unfortunately I was staying in Sharm el Sheikh, which is on the top of the Red Sea and about 45 min flight to Cairo.
Being the poor backpacker I am I had to resort to the cheaper option: Cairo by road. “It wont be that bad” I thought to myself…how wrong I was
My night started at 4 in the afternoon, this was my first mistake. I was with a friend from the UK and a couple from NZ who were also on the tour. After a few beers, then some dinner then a few more beers, the time was suddenly 11:30 In no state to walk, let alone wake up in two hours to catch a bus, we all resorted to the closest lounge we could find, which just happened to be in the hotel reception.
So after a quick two hour power-nap, we where ready for Cairo. Mistake number two came shortly after leaving. Someone really should have told me that it gets quite cold in the
dessert during the middle of the night, as old I was dressed in a shirt, shorts and of course pluggers, I was freezing!! Being the battler I am I managed to deal with this, but then come the pot-holes. I swear the driver was trying to drive into them as we hit one about every 15 seconds….so after the worst 7 hours EVER we finally hit Cairo.
Now, Cairo is the biggest city in Africa, but still relatively small and home to 30 million people and with that many people comes a lot of rubbish. And I mean a lot, it is literally everywhere you look. If the rubbish wasn’t bad enough there is also beggars and homeless everywhere, and not to mention the public urination (male and female), we were glad we were only passing through.
We went from there to the biggest mosque in Egypt and the burial place of Mohammed Ali (no relation to the boxer) Mohammed Ali Basha became the ruler of Egypt after killing most of the Turk leadership that had invaded the country, and is now buried there. Another quick stop to pick up our second tour guide, then on what we
Mohammed Ali mosque
This place was huge as wellhad all being waiting for: The Pyramids
I can’t describe the feeling we all felt when we first saw them, it was absolutely amazing. After a quick purchase of some headwear (see pics) we really didn’t have that much time. So after about 10,000 photos, we all just stood looking in ore and at the HUGE triangular mass that is the Pyramids. From there we went down to the sphinx for another 5000 photos, then an hour or so just walking around taking it all in.
We walked though a lot of the crumbling side tombs. I was surprised at the amount of hieroglyphs still perfectly visible, just like in the movies. The actual blocks of stone used to build the Pyramids weighs on average three - six tone, the photos don’t really capture how big they actually are.
After a quick lunch we headed to the Cairo museum. Unfortunately no cameras allowed inside, so no photos. This museum is huge! To look at everything properly would literally take months so after an hour or two on the first floor, we headed up the stairs and saw something just as amazing as the Pyramids: the mask of
Me and the great Pyramid
Proof that i really was here Tutankhamen. Solid gold and absolutely amazing.
It truly was an amazing experience just being around 4000 years of history, so after another hour or two we were all museumed out, after an exhausting day we were not looking forward to our 7 hour bus ride home….
Hope all is well at home and speak too you all soon
Next stop: Jordan - till then Drakey oxo
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World Battler
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Its all GOLD
Nice work chief, good to see your battling the world on the frontline!! Cairo what a shithole!!! Except for the pyramids of course!!! Cant wait to eeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee up LIVERPOOL chief, keep on livin the dream!!!