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KFC - COMMUNITY CARE RESTAURANT
All the staff are hearing or speech impairedDAY 34
Off to Cairo this morning. The trip has officially ended. Rather than take the train, we decided to take a private van for an extra $10 US per head. The van takes us directly to the Hotel Indiana the starting point of our next tour that begins in two days time. Thankfully the weather in Cairo is only about 28c or 80 F. We hope the mild conditions continue.
We are staying at the Hotel Indiana on the west bank of the Nile in a quiet area if that is at all possible. Some small embassies are in this area. The hotel is said to be a 3 star but that must have been from the 1940's when the hotel was at it's heyday. Now it is looking good only in dim light. Our toilet had been giving us trouble and the repairman came up 2 x's to fix it with no results.
We had back to the Khan El Khalili Markets with Sam and Stef. We make only a couple of small planned purchases. We bought a few extra items the same as the first trip to the market, at a cheaper price. This means
ZOSER STEP PYRAMID
The first pyramid built of 104 discovered we found out that our mafioso guide had added his bit extra to the price. We had thought this would have been the case and now confirmed. It did make our shopping time more efficient and we weren't hassled by the other vendors.
The girls buy everyone gifts and a few small things for themselves. They remind us of what we were like on our first travels and buying all the souvenirs. We have wised up and now find it amusing with the memories of lugging bags around and having to post items home.
Sam and Stef are taking a flight to Greece at 3am the next morning so we offer for them to use our room as a base until their departure to the airport after dinner. We sit back in amusement with our feet up and watch them pack and repack their bags plus the additional bag they bought to try and fit it all in.
We give hugs and kisses to our new friends and bid them a safe journey.
Francine and I hit the sack we are tired and it's been a long day.
Day 35
We sleep in till
a wrong number wakes us up at 8:00am. This day has been planned to be a lazy one to concentrate on our blog.
But our toilet in the room would have run all night if we hadn't turned off the water to it, so we asked to be moved to another room. So we did and got a better room except not all of the lights work in the new room. So less lighting is actually a plus for this hotel.
Our breakfast is included so we enter the restaurant and are given stale bread, a tough old omelet square and 3 slices of pungent cheese. Two men come into the same restaurant and they are given fresh hard boiled eggs with cucumber and tomato slices with rolls. We stare at each other like what the heck is going on. We also ask for fresh bread and hard boiled eggs. I wanted an OJ without the long brown hair in it but it never came.
We get to the internet cafe at midday because of changing rooms and doing some laundry. We are there for 3 hours then decided to eat lunch across the street at the
KFC- the hearing impaired restaurant. Just down the street is a nice neighbourhood market so we shop for munchies and come back with a tub of chocolate with chocolate chips ice cream( we have a fridge with a small freezer) among so other items
DAY 36
Today is our last day in Cairo so we decide to hire a car and go out to see Sakkara and Memphis area. This area dates back 5000 years.
It costs us 30 USD for the 45 min. ride to and from. The driver waits for us since there is no other way back.
Sakkara is the oldest ancient Egyptian necropolis and is lies on a desert plateau SW of Cairo. It has the step pyramid of Zoser, who was the 1st of the III dynasty pharaohs. It is about 59 meters tall. South of the step pyramid is the pyramid of Unas, the last of the V Dynasty pharaohs. The walls are inscribed with what is known as the Pyramid Text. Also there is the Persian shaft. This tomb of the XXVI Dynasty is 25 meters deep and at the bottom lies several tombs.
The Serapeum only has the
TOMB OF A NOBLE
Sneaky photos inside lower corridors remaining, measuring several hundred of metres in length and containing the tombs of the sacred bull Apris. It was started by the XVIII Dynasty. Close by is the Greek Philospohers circle containing the statues of Plato, Herakites, Pythagoras and Pindar.
The Mastabas are tombs of the nobles. These tombs have brilliant carvings and paintings on the walls.Very detailed pictures to describe the preparation for the afterlife. One of the tombs was only discovered five years ago.
Traveling onward to Memphis was like traveling through a garage dump. Very poor and a good bit of the area was actually a dump site.
Memphis has a museum with various statues. The most impressive is the Colossus of Ramses II, this is fairly intact statue expect for the lower legs and feet that is huge and very impressive. It is laying flat on the ground and has building over it for protection. An impressive site is the Alabaster Sphinx that dates back to the old kingdom.
Francine and I have decided that Egypt is indeed the beginning of civilization as noted on various pamphlets but also they can claim the masters of tipping. We paid 30 LE
(Egyptian pounds) to get into the to the tombs and there was an old man sitting in the tombs wanting a tip to let us out of the tombs.
People here will do anything for a tip. The tourist police will have their picture taken with you, or take your picture for a tip. A man will help you cross the street for a tip. Everyone will give you a special price, just because you are their friend. Just remember that nothing in life is free especially here in Egypt. This is where it all began.
We arrive back in town at 2PM and the only place around to exchange money into USD is at the Sheraton Hotel. While we are there we decide to splurge on lunch and have this wonderfully delicious buffet lunch. We have the best meal ever and even indulged in the dessert table. We really held our reserve and actually waited till we ate our food first. The 15 min. walk to out hotel did some good but we both wanted to nap. Francine did a little but Angie decided to shower and do some writing.
We meet our new group tonight.
ON TOP OF OLD ZOSER
Frangie wants in on the trick photos The next 21 days will be spent traveling through Jordan, Syria and Eastern Turkey. Our leader is a New Zealand women and we have 12 others on the trip.
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