Day 22: Cairo, Egypt


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Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Cairo
October 12th 2008
Published: November 7th 2008
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Here we all are. Sadly some of the group that had traveled with us for the first three weeks are not here in the picture....

”Did I really do that much shopping?"



I woke up early today to make the most of a proper bathroom and shower. It’s amazing how when you don’t have the usual things that you would expect to get at home you soon start to recognise how important they are to you - Like a flushing toilet, a shower recess (not a shower head over a toilet).

Not only is this probably the first time in 4 weeks that I have not needed to wear thongs in the shower, nor expected to have a mud trail following me as soon as I walked out of the bathroom because of a totally wet floor but this is also the first time that I have felt truly clean and I relished it.

After the last few weeks of travelling (and shopping) I thought it would be a wise decision to re-assess the packing situation. I was already starting to get that familiar butterfly feeling - knowing what was going to be ahead of me in Madrid as I boarded my plane for London (Bloody low cost airlines and their tight baggage allowances.)

I honestly don’t know how I managed to accumulate so much stuff. Did my backpack suddenly gain legs overnight and decide to fill itself with a whole assortment of things that I didn’t know about? Surely it couldn’t have been me that was stupid enough to go nuts in the local bazaars, knowing fully well that I would have to carry everything around with me? Not possible!!! I could have sworn that my backpack wasn’t as heavy as that yesterday!!! But as I picked it up that morning to load it onto the truck it weighed as if it was closer to 50kgs rather than 20kgs.

Pinch me - I have finally seen them
Today was going to be another big day - The Pyramids!!

This was certainly going to be one of those pinch me moments as I got on to the truck to start the 20km+ journey to Giza. This being Egypt - there was certainly no possibility that it was going to be a smooth journey. True to form as soon as we hit the main street that would take us to Giza we hit the ultimate traffic jam that took us over an hour to get through. There was literally no movement as far as the eye could see along the very straight road that we were, for the most part, parked along. All around us people were going about their business, setting up their stalls, jumping over fences to get to school, riding in taxi’s to get to work or driving their cars to add to the congestion. The buildings, shop fronts and housing blocks seemed to stretch out for miles, blackened from years of accumulated soot, dirt and pollution. It truly deserves it’s title as the ‘World’s most polluted city’.

Therefore my first glimpse of the Pyramids themselves came as a complete shock to me. One minute I was staring out the window at someone hanging their washing along their windowsill and the next thing I saw peeking out from behind the building was the apex of one of the Pyramids. It took a few minutes to register what I was looking at - but once my brain finally figured it out, I screamed out in panic and made a mad dash into my bag to fish out my camera.

I was finally here!! After travelling for over 4 weeks I had finally reached Egypt and I was finally standing in front of them, so close I was practically touching the base. We entered the Giza Plateau from Pyramids Rd (Sharia al - Haram) at the foot of the ‘Great Pyramid of Khufu’. We stood with our guide as he gave us the history surrounding the area and the pyramids themselves, whilst at the same time doing our best to side step and avoid the chorus of ‘Postcard, Buy a postcard, 1 pound only, Postcard, Postcard, Postcard….’ from the local touts. There is also the usual cry of “Hey beautiful girl…Where you from? Wanna buy scarf lady, ride camel, horse?”

There are three main Pyramids in Giza. The first is the Great Pyramid of Khufu (The oldest and largest in Egypt) stood 146m high when it was built and completed in approx 2570 BC. The second Pyramid is the ‘Pyramid of Khafre (The son of Khufu), stands at only 136m high. The third Pyramid, The Pyramid of Menkaure (son of Khafre) is the smallest of the trio at only 62m high.

Seeing the Pyramids from the outside, although impressive, is nothing like the experience of being inside the Pyramids themselves, There isn’t really anything to see inside by way of wall paintings or carvings. It is really more about the descent into the centre. The heat inside was stifling and the passageway to get inside was so narrow and steep; clammy from the sweat accumulated from years of people going in and out of the place. Thankfully I am not claustrophobic, but once inside you instantly recognise that you have entered a place with no windows and only one way in and out, through a very narrow and steep passageway. (Sister dearest - For you to make this descent would be something to witness!! I can already picture you hyperventilating just reading this passage)

Once we descended to the 10km long Kings chamber, which is over 30m deep into the heart of the chamber, we were finally able to stand and look at the ceilings and get a glimpse of what the structure was like. You certainly cannot stay there for a long time and after a few minutes of walking around and looking at the tomb we made a mad dash to get out of there as quickly as possible - A chance to breathe in some fresh air and get away from the intoxicating heat from inside the Pyramid.

I didn’t want to cheapen my experience of the Pyramids by doing the usual ‘touristy’ things so I opted out of the typical camel ride around the desert surrounding the Pyramids that was being organised by our guide. Earlier he had warned us against choosing camel ride from one of the touts because they were known to rip people off be demanding more money from the unsuspecting tourist halfway through the ride. Therefore the fact that this was being organised on our behalf made most of the group feel that this was going to be a safe bet - but sadly they were wrong. What was supposed to be a 30 minute ride through the desert became a 5 minute ride & a 15 howling session between our group, our guide, the tourist police and the camel drivers - as our group inevitably got dumped a few minutes after they set off with demands for more money.

Our next stop after the Pyramids was the Sphinx (In Arabic Abu al-Hor or ‘Father of Terror) which stands a fair way in front of the Pyramid of Khafre. It was already starting to get hot and festy - so all energy was completely dissipating from my body. I streamed in together with my group to get as up close and personal with the monument before hiding under the closest thing I could find to offer me shade - Right in the middle of the stalls of vendors - all offering to sell me an assortment of belly dancing outfits, carvings, scarves and postcards.

It is always funny to watch the stream of foreigners that jostle with each other to do the stupid poses to get the best shot (Me included) but you do occasionally get the odd few that make you sigh and want to scream out the tell them what country they are in....Sorry girls but the see through boob tube with no bra or the tighty whitey arse hanging micro-shorts with matching crochet top will probably be problematic for all Western women in a muslin country - Thank you very much!!!

I walked out smelling like roses...
Our last stop before heading out into the Western Desert was a perfume stop. As they say 'When in Rome,...or in this case Cairo!!, one should always buy perfume. So we all sat around in a group to listen to the spiel about how the essences are extracted and how they are used before being let loose in the shop to select our purchases. The heat of the day must have addled part of my brain because I completely forgot about my earlier cries of pain at the weight I was carrying on my back. My most recent excuse is that I need to buy some presents for my family (Whatever!!! Any excuse will do really)

So Mom, Sis - I bought you some perfume, it may just take a long time before you actually get it....if at all.




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As always...Camel anyone??As always...Camel anyone??
As always...Camel anyone??

Dont be fooled by these guys. They will rob you blind!!
Me and the girlsMe and the girls
Me and the girls

Mag, Steph, Me, Mel & Kate


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