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Published: June 11th 2017
When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable. - Clifton Fadiman We met our travel companions last evening for our short meeting, then we walked to downtown Cairo for dinner together. We have 12 in our group, 6 Australians, 3 New Zealanders, and us 3 Canadians. We walked over the bridge, through Tahrir Square, to the Felfala restaurant. On the way I asked our tour guide, Amr, whether the restaurant served alcohol. He gave me a sidelong glance and said no (I had asked during the meeting whether the sleeper train had a bar car so he clearly thinks I'm an alcoholic). The restaurant seemed like the type that might serve alcohol (some locals but also tourists were there) so I went straight to the beverages section of the menu and, hallelujah, there was beer! 3 kinds! Stella, Sakara Gold, and Heineken. The clouds parted, I could hear the angels sing. Finally, a beer! "I'm going to have one of each" Susan said. It was a joyous moment. One of our travelling companions, Jill (who is roommates with Dominica), asked the waiter if
we could order drinks, and before she could open her mouth to order I happily piped up "I'll have a Stella please". The waiter said, no, alcohol is not being served because tomorrow is Islamic New Year. Whaaaaat?? My shoulders dropped, the angels stopped singing and the clouds darkened overhead. I was forced to grumpily choose something from the non alcoholic beverage side of the menu. I was not happy. Susan was not happy. Jill was not happy. Ok, the hibiscus drink I had was good, but it was no Stella, I tell you.
I had the vegetable casserole with rice and Susan had the vegetable casserole with meat and rice. It was quite tasty, but I still hadn't got over the beer tragedy. We walked back to the hotel after dinner, and got to bed around 11 but unfortunately I guess I haven't adapted to the time difference because I got very little sleep. The nights I did get a good sleep I took 1/2 a sleeping pill, but I can't take one every night. I imagine I will sleep eventually!
The alarm went off at 5:30 am and we met our travelling companions at 7:30, after
Entrance to the tomb
Inside Khufu's pyramidhaving breakfast and checking out of our rooms. We have 3 rooms to share when we come back later in the day from seeing the Giza pyramids and the sphinx, and the Egyptian Museum, to freshen up in before we head to the train station for the sleeper train to Luxor.
We headed out in our mini van to the Giza pyramids. On the way Amr gave us tips for dealing with the many persistent vendors at the pyramids complex. They will ask you where you are from and they will love whatever country you are from, and want you to take their picture, just for a souvenir (but will then want money) and will give you a gift (but then will want money). If they put something on you, like a scarf, just drop it. Keep saying no thank you and then ignore them, if they keep following you say an emphatic "imshi" which means go away. This was good advice because there are many extremely persistent touts at the pyramid complex which is really unfortunate, because it really affects your enjoyment of seeing the pyramids. We had several following us around for quite some time. For whatever
Patient camel
Camels everywhere reason they generally didn't bother me too much. I just smiled and said no thank you several times and then just kept walking. One man insisted on taking my picture posing with the first pyramid (you'll see which photos I mean!) despite Susan telling him she would take the photos and we weren't going to give him any money etc. So he took the photos and then followed us (mostly Susan) around intermittently until we left. This was the only time I said imshi. I actually would have given him some money but we both had left everything in the van except the camera and Susan's phone. We did warn him though, that we were not going to pay for him taking the photos.
When we said we were from Canada, the touts all said they loved Canada, and without fail said "Canada Dry." So Canada Dry is famous.
We made four stops at the pyramid complex, one at the pyramid of Khufu (it is the largest), then at the panoramic viewpoint where you can see all three pyramids (Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure - father, son, and grandson). Khufu's pyramid dates to around 2570 BCE. So over 4500
Susan and Lori in front of Khufu's pyramid
Susan's got her Steel and Oak Brewery T-shirt on. years old! Khafre's pyramid retains the limestone casing a the top. Khufu's pyramid is the largest, though depending from the viewpoint, Khafre's may look larger due to an elevated location and a steeper angle. The third stop was to view Menkaure's pyramid, and the fourth was to view the Sphinx. We could have chosen to go into either Khufu or Menkaures's pyramid, but we decided not to as Amr told us it would be very hot inside and there is really not much to see. The chambers are not decorated inside. Since we had gone inside the pyramid at Saqqara, which was awesome, we decided not to go inside to either pyramid. One of the group, Annie, went inside Menkaures's pyramid which she really enjoyed.
Susan and I wanted to have a picture on a camel, and Amr told us the best place would be at the second stop. He knows a man with a camel at that location who only would charge 10 egyptian pounds (about $1.50 each). It was really fun to sit on the camel! You have to hold on tightly as the camel gets up and down, and lean back and forward at certain times.
The man was very nice and took pictures of all three of us on the camel. Having my picture taken on a camel at the pyramids was something I really wanted to do so I was very happy!
We viewed Menkaure's pyramid next, which has a section in the middle missing from previous unsuccessful attempts at breaking into the pyramid. We then continued on to the Sphinx. It was quite hot by this time and I walked some extra steps at the Sphinx trying to figure out how to get to the parking lot where the mini van was waiting. Susan had gone back before me. But I got some good photos. And there were fewer touts at the Sphinx which made it more pleasant. I almost forgot to include what happened when I went to the bathroom (known as the WC here). There was a WC at the parking lot where we first parked, which I took advantage of. I was trying to figure out how to flush it, and noticed a knob on the side, which I twisted. It was not the flushing mechanism. It was kind of a bidet function, which sprayed, at top speed, a
gusher of water, all over my pants, and all over the inside of the cubicle. Nice. I came out with one soaked pant leg and I had to explain to the others what happened! It was a hot day so it dried fast. I now know not to twist knobs on the side of toilets!
So, after our morning at the Giza pyramid complex (we had about 3 1/2 hours there) we stopped at a nearby place for koshary. It was as good as our koshary dinner the other day. We got a coke (you didn't think there would be beer did you?) and it came in a cute bottle with arabic writing. I got the medium size koshary (should have got the small) which cost 8 egyptian pounds (less than $2). The coke was 3 pounds (about 45 cents).
We then headed to the Egyptian Museum, which is located just over the bridge from our hotel (in Tahrir Square). Amr took us on a tour which covered the highlights of the museum, and then we had a couple of hours free time to see whatever else we wanted to see there. I am very interested in ancient
Finger on the pyramid
This was one of the photos the persistent tout took of me. He wouldn't take no for an answer. Egypt, but it was extremely hot in the un-air conditioned museum, and I was definitely flagging due to lack of sleep last night. The museum contains a mind boggingly amount of amazing treasures. It really is spectacular. A tiny number of the exhibits would be the absolute highlight of any other museum, and here they have such an abundance it is really hard to believe what you are seeing. Unfortunately the museum displays do not do the treasures justice. They are very poorly displayed, with such dim lighting the explanatory cards are difficult or impossible to read. 5000 year old statues are out in the open where anyone can touch them. Many of the exhibits are not protected in any way.
During our free time we visited 4 special exhibits, the first was the tomb of Tanis which contained gold and silver exhibits (interestingly silver was more valuable than gold in ancient Egypt because they had to import it whereas they had many gold mines). The second was the Tutankhamen exhibit (it was truly mind blowing), and the third contained a beautiful collection of jewellery. These rooms were all air conditioned and were such a relief from the sweltering
museum. The fourth was the animal mummy exhibit, which I toured very quickly since I really don't like mummies. We skipped the special mummy exhibit, which is an extra charge (not because it was an extra charge but because we didn't want to).
We had high hopes for the gift shop (I was thinking maybe a piece of jewellery based on ancient Egyptian jewellery or a nice t-shirt or something) but it was a big disappointment. They really need some marketing advice. The gift shop had reproductions of the ancient Egyptian exhibit items (many from the Tutankhamen exhibit). Nothing else. No t-shirts, calendars, jewellery, mugs, fridge magnets, nothing! We were dying for a cold drink by this time but the restaurant was closed. Apparently it closed 3 days ago. Don't know why. And there was nowhere to buy water in the museum, inside or out. We were really happy to meet back up with Amr who called the mini van to come pick us up. It was such a relief to get in the air conditioned van and get some cold water.
We then went back to the hotel, where we had 3 rooms to share. Louise and
Andy shared our room, which was one of the assigned day rooms. I worked on the blog for awhile, and had a shower. We left the hotel at about 6:15 and drove to the Giza train station to get our sleeper train. While we were waiting we had a very nice Arabic coffee and a pastry, and our train unexpectedly left right on time at 8 pm. I am on the train now writing this blog. Our compartment is pretty comfortable, much nicer than the overnight train in Vietnam. There is a row of 3 seats which gets converted into a bottom bunk, and the top bunk flips down. There is a teeny sink in the compartments, and a WC at the end of the hall (it is clean and even has toilet paper!).
Not long after we boarded they served dinner, which consisted of vegetables (which were good), rice, a beef dish (Susan said it was good), tzatziki, a bun, and a brownie for dessert. I didn't eat the meat, obviously, but the rest was not bad. Breakfast is also included. There is a "club car" apparently, but it serves only soft drinks. What's the point of a
Khafre's pyramid and solar boat enclosure
Several solar boats were found buried in the sand. These were symbolic boats to carry the reanimated pharaoh across the sky. club car that doesn't serve alcohol? No beer, no gin and tonic ... sob.
The attendant is waiting to make up our beds, so I'll sign off for now. I will post this blog when I get wifi. We get into Luxor very early tomorrow morning, and will go to Karnak Temple. Amr says it will be good to get there very early as it will be cool, and we will get there before the crowds. Then we will check into the riverboat, our home for the next four nights. Finally I will get an Egyptian beer!
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Valerie Brown
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King Tut!