Cairo

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My lifelong dream has been realised: I have set foot in Egypt and seen some of its wonders with my own eyes and touched them with my own hands.

Cairo is an enormous, dirty and polluted city, yet I thoroughly enjoy being here. There are roughly 20 million people in Cairo and I am yet to meet one person who has not greeted me with a smile. In fact, many have been quite keen to strike up a conversation with me, which I have always engaged in with much gusto. My first full day in Cairo was also a feast day, so everyone had the day off and was in high spirits. The feast means that even the poor get to eat meat, which is the only chance they get in an entire year in some cases, because the animals are slaughtered in the streets and the meat is then distributed to everyone nearby. It's a wonderful notion and appeared to generate a feeling of happiness and goodwill within everyone I saw. It was quite an experience having to step over animal entrails and walk through streams of animal blood flowing down the footpaths and alleys, but I couldn't help but get swept up in the positivity and the festive feel.

I wandered around the city for many hours, sometimes ending up in poor districts, other times in the downtown area, or in the magnificent bazaar Khan Al-Khalili in the heart of the Islamic Quarter in Old Cairo. This bazaar has been operating for over 600 years and is still frequented by locals to purchase anything from spices and food to a new sheesha or scarf. The original medieval gates of the bazaar can still be seen in the centre of the bazaar, striking for their design and character, making it feel like you have stepped into a bygone era. The colours and the throng of people are a sensory overload, but one that I loved so much that I returned the following day to immerse myself in the atmosphere. At one stage, a particular vendor did not have the correct change for me, so he took me to a tea house and poured me a fresh cup of tea to make up the difference - what service! There is one particular tea house (El Fishawy) which has been open continuously for over 200 years! Many locals simply sit there for an hour or so to smoke a sheesha, drink some tea, have animated discussion and watch the constantly changing mass of people pass by. I liked the look of this place so much that I made a point of spending some time there on my second visit to the bazaar.

Another highlight in Cairo is definitely the Egyptian Museum, which consists of thousands of items and houses all the treasures discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Even after seeing the image of his death mask countless times during my life, I could never have predicted how struck I was upon seeing it up close. The mask is 11kg of solid gold, beaten into shape. I still cannot grasp how they were able to produce such a smooth and visually stunning peice of artwork, even though I have seen it for myself. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, such was the impact it made upon me. I was then left breathless by his golden coffin, which weighs in at 110kg of solid gold. It is not just because it is gold that I was struck by this particular artefact, but because of the intricate and beautiful artwork that was carved into the gold. I would imagine that they only had one chance at creating the design, which makes its beauty and precision even more astounding. I returned to this room on three separate occasions, as I was so drawn to the masterful artefacts on display and it was also in an effort to create a permanent image in my mind of their golden splendour.

My introduction to the pyramids was the Step Pyramid at Sakkara. This is the oldest stone building in known history, having been constructed a staggering 4,700 years ago! I find it quite difficult to fathom looking at a structure so ancient, as I find it near impossible to imagine all the people that have walked this corner of the earth in that time, having also gazed at the structure in wonder and awe. I spent some time at Sakkara taking a close inspection of a collapsed pyramid, where I marvelled at the sheer size of the limestone blocks, along with their precision of both cutting and placement. From Sakkara, I was also able to see in the distance the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid which are both located at Dashur, as well as the famous pyramids on the Giza Plateau.

Despite having seen them from afar, I was still left with my jaw agape when I rounded a corner and saw the Great Pyramid up close for the very first time. It would be quite impossible to describe with words the scale of this pyramid. I was left humbled by this immensely massive structure and I could not help but wonder at how it was ever constructed. I took the opportunity to enter the second largest pyramid (the one with the limestone casing covering its apex) and make my way to the burial chamber. During the hot and cramped venture, I was amazed by the precision of its design and was thankful that the millions of tonnes of stone piled up above my head were built in such a perfect manner. To have seen the pyramids when they were entirely covered by the smooth limestone casing, reflecting the golden rays of the sun across the desert, would have been like looking at the divine, which was the intention I guess. It makes me angry and incredulous to know that this was stripped away for building projects taking place in Cairo. It is beyond my powers of comprehension to understand how people could willingly take away the opportunity for all future generations to see the pyramids in their full glory.

I had heard people say that the Sphinx is much smaller than expected; however, I didn't feel this way at all. I can imagine people thinking that it is small because it is seemingly dwarfed by the monumental pyramids sitting behind it, but it is still an enormous sculpture which is carved out of a single block of limestone. I had seen the second largest sphinx ever uncovered in Egypt during my visit to the site of the ancient capital city of Memphis. This sphinx did seem small, primarily due to the statue of Ramses II on display there, which is beyond even the scale of a giant. Whilst looking at this statue of Ramses II, it is incredible to see how familiar the ancient Egyptians were with the human form, as the muscles defined in the rock surface are incredibly accurate and realistic.

Having now just departed from staring at the battered face of the Sphinx at Giza, I head off with my group tonight on the train to Aswan. I have known what awaited me here in Cairo, but being here has exceded all of my expectations. Therefore, it is with much excitement that I will now head south and see the wonders that await in the southern region of the country, which is confusingly called Upper Egypt.

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