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Published: September 15th 2007
so close yet so far...and then so close finally
ok your in for a long read..prepare yourself because my quest for the pyramids started last weekend! but dont worry the pictures are worth it!!! So our plan last friday was to get picked up at 1230 by the bus and all of us teachers were to head to the pyramids, then a dinner and then back to the pyramids for the sound and light show in the evening...courtesy of the school!!! I was tired from the week of school, but knew that if i had one thing to accomplish all year it was to see the pyramids.
So I started reading in my lonely planet all about the dos and donts of the pyramids..how much things should cost, what was worth the price..etc. The book also included a scheduale for the sound and light show, which said that the night we were going to there was no english show...THis should have been my first hint about the evening to come...but being the trusting naive little canadian that i still am (although let me tell you i am losing thesse qualities quickly)
So we hop on the bus all ready to
hit up the touristy pyramids. I had read and seen pictures that led us to believe that anything goes in the touristy areas as far as dress goes because ignorant people from all over the world go there everyday and the egyptians are just used to it by now. So I wore typical tourist style of dri-fit teeshirt and valhalla pure capri pants and my keens sandals (thank you mom for these valuable practical items i wear them constantly!!) Some other teachers were in modest tank tops, shorts etc. Well you can see where this is going...our tour guide tells us that the pyramids are not open in the afternoon today because of the new summer hours/ramadan or something...so she is going to take us on a tour of Islamic Cairo instead.. GREAT!!! take a look at the pics it is an amazing place with so much history that has changed very little. We got to wander around and check out a mosque. However, in the process our pack of touristy teachers offended a great number of people I am sure with our scandalous dress and ignorant actions!!!
First up was the old wall around Cairo, basically it still
stands and marks off the original areas of Cairo. We visited the two original gates where the warriors would enter when they were victorious!
Next we went to an amazing mosque that was being turned into a muslim school for prayer. As I had read in the lonley planet, you cannot enter the mosque without covering yourself and your head (women only) so when we arrived we were given these gowns to wear to cover ourselves up. I am convinced that whoever found these gowns picked them purposly to make those tourists who were unprepared for the mosque look REDICULOUS!!!! I wont go into too much detail, as the pictures tell it all.. But do note that i managed to sneak my way in with only a pink pashima and my ankles were showing!! My favorite was Joanna's Harry Potter gown!!
So after the tour of Islamic Cairo, our guide took us to Khana Halili ( prounounced hanna halili but with lots of throat closing noises for accent) THis is a market place that really is all the egypt that you hear about, the bartering for trinkets and the cat calls and harsh stare downs from every person in
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gate and wall around original cairothe area...as Joanna and I walked through we heard every line in the book...and some that I dont think are yet in any book
"excuse me miss, excuse me..(points and the ground) you dropped something...it is my heart...and you broke it"
"hey hey how can I take your money?"
"come in, come in...you come be my bride..number 3!"
"hey sugar and spice...spice girls!!!"
we were giggling pretty hard by the end...it was all in good fun, i think they do it for their own entertainment more than anything. its a fairly touristy spot so foreigners are the norm.
So, I had mentioned earlier to the tour guide that it didnt seem like we had alot of time to get to dinner and then the pyramids for the sound and light show if we didnt get going soon....but we toured the market for 30 mins regardless.... So now we waited on the side of a crazy busy road for our bus driver to come pick us up..and magically after about 10 minutes he did appear. So we hopped on the bus, and then we experienced Cairo traffic like never before. We had heard stories but even the teachers from last
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victory gate..the warriors entered cairo through here after any war victory year said they had never seen anything like it. We were in stopped traffic for almost 2 hours. We decided to just stop for a quick bite before the pyramids so we could just eat later...but another hour went by and now just getting to the pyramids was looking tough. The guide made a few phone calls and then regrettably announced that a tour company had booked up the entire pyramids and we were not able to go tonight anyway...just for the record i think this was a nice way to cover up the fact that there was not an english show that night...but anyway.
SO all the hungry and disappointed people on the bus decided that at least we should go to dinner. However, the wall to wall traffic prevented us from turning around so we eventually turned to just head back to Maadi and go home. This was more than an hour, on the way we passed numerous fast food joints, but much too quickly for our group to come to any agreement, so we just went hungry. When the traffic did finally move, we eventually passed the hold up....a slow moving donkey and cart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!So finally we got
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offensive tourists entering the gate home at about 10pm and unfortunately we had to work the next morning (630am pickup) so those poor children dealt with some grumpy teachers the next day.
So despite that fiasco, it was decided that we would try a better planned outing to just the pyramids this friday. So today at 1230,round two of the pursuit of the pyramids began. Not all the teachers decided to go due to their extreme frustration with the last time. Today was the second day of Ramadan and so some people thought that the traffic would be just as bad, if not worse....but i really really really wanted to see the pyramids so I figured I would take the risk..Thank goodness that I did!!!
It took us about 30 minutes to reach the pyramids this time! We arrived, and walked right up to the main pyramid without hassle. I have seen millions of pictures and spent some time learning about the pyramids way back when...but let me say that nothing can prepare you for how breathtaking they are in person. It was one of the most amazing things I have seen in my life. We paid 25 pounds (5 bucks) to go
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now the victory gates are merely an entrance into this part of cairo into Tutkenhamens pyramid (sorry no idea how to spell it) it was a very small, very steep decent into the pyramid. I was constantly bumping my head even though I was bent right over..so that tells you how small it was because we all know that im no giant. Then you walk along a long tunnel and then climb up another steep incline, after another long tunnel you reach the actual tomb sight. Everything has been removed from the pyramid and there is nothing on the walls. But it was just a very neat experience all the same.
After the tomb, we went straight over to the camel rides!!! I rode with Adrienne, one of the preschool teachers...I am so very proud of her, she was extremely frightened and not at all impressed with the fact that our camel was led by an 11 yr old boy. But she stuck it out and really really enjoyed the ride. The camel kneels down and you hop on like a horse and then they give you a few quick instructions..something like..hold on... and then up the camel goes!!! gawd sooo scary!!! I was clutching the little stub of a post in front
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man to egyptians know how to pack a vehicle... of me for dear life, not to mention my camera!!! but if you check the pics you will see I got brave and even took some pics while i was ridin along. Joanna and Melissa, the girls who live below me, were on the other camel. We rode around the corner of the pyramid and the little boy took some pics of us. He also informed us that we were riding Mickey Mouse and the other girls were riding Micheal Jackson!!! We gave the boy a 10 pound tip afterwards....he was very good at his job i must say...making jokes with his limited english and he even pretended to throw my camera back to me while i was on the camel!!!!!
Post-camel ride we took our bus down to the Sphinx, where we got to walk around that area and see all the tourists.... I have one sweet pic of the lady in the booty shorts, sporting the arabic headdress..I missed out on the opportunity to get her while she was bending over for all to see, but that is probably a good thing for all of you.
Next up we drove to the nile, where we had dinner
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unfortunately we werent around long enough to watch this guy ride away at a restaurant that is actually on the nile. The outside resembled a boat, but i dont think it was going anywhere. I think they made special arrangements for us to eat because it is Ramadan so none of our waiters or even our tour guide were able to eat until the sun went down!!! but man did they give us five star treatment. We had all sorts of breads and dips etc... not exactly traditional egyptian, which im realizing is quite rare here... but still delicious. They even served Stella beer to us sinners!
After dinner, we still had some time until the sound and light show at the pyramids, so our guide took us to a specialty perfume store. This place musta been giving our guide commission for bringing us here because they were so organized and prepared, like nothing i had seen in egypt....they really knew how to put on a show for us tourists. We came in and all the walls are mirror and glass, with shelves and shelves of glass perfume bottles and scent diffusers. We all sat down in the back and were given a talk about scents and essences and essential oils...etc by
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minaret at mosque...this is where the guy stands to call out the daily prayer an egyptian worker who spoke really good english and was pretty funny. They also served us delicious hibiscus tea ( which is served cold) After, him and a few other workers scurried around to let us sample any of the scents that we wanted..by the end my head was spinning and I couldnt smell anything. (erin you would have died in there!!!) There are only two male staff members in the group and they were good sports, one of them even bought some perfumes!!! I bought some unreal natural vanilla smell ( or vanilia as they spell it 😉 and some sweet pea...i really like them both. They came in these cute little glass bottles and a nice little case. So we left the store in a cloud of smells and made our way to the Papyrus shop, where we were treated to more beverages (turkish coffee and tea this time) and fresh dates. I had never had a date before..HA HA you know what I mean...these were about the size of a large olive and bright red, with a pit in the middle. They were very starchy, but i liked them. The guy there showed us how they make
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we had to cover up before we could enter the mosque, but we were supposidly free to take pics... papyrus paper and tried to sell us all sorts of really amazaing egyptian prints on the paper. I would have bought every one of them, but i did not bring enough money. I will return for sure, because i think they will be something so awesome to put up in my home in canada as a reminder of my arabian adventures.
One funny story: while we were getting the papyrus demo, the guy wanted to show us all how strong the papyrus is once its been pounded out, and so he handed a strip to kevin and got him to try to break it, and then to another teacher..neither of them. But of course being the PE teacher, any sort of physical feat and they all rally to make me do it...so im handed the strip, which i half-heartedly try to rip...OPPS! i totally rip it in half and everyone is laughing, and they say to the guy..oh haha shes a PE teacher, she is a weightlifter!!! no biggie, except ESL translation..weightlifter...they guy comes up to me later and starts asking me if im a body builder!! hahahaha so i try to explain with no luck...and hes askin me all
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I managed to get by with just a small, cute pink pashima!! these questions about working out. It was pretty funny, everything he thought he knew about working out was all the classic cliches that we now know are wrong like...if i work out and then stop all my muscle turns to fat! haha he thought i was a real workout scientist when i tried to explain to him that this wasnt the case.
Anyway, the pyramids... the sound and light show was spectacular!!! the whole thing is narrated with this cheezy booming voice that tells all about the past pharohs and stuff like that. But they do it so that its narrated by the sphinx. THey project all sorts of images onto the stones and light up the pyramids all sorts of colours. i got a few good pics, but it was dark and so oddly enough the black and white pics turned out best.
The night was a success!!! Traffic was unexpectedly light on the ride home and it only took 30 mins again to get home. We had been told that because of Ramadan, it would be awful trying to get anywhere at that time, but we lucked out I guess.
My next adventure will be tomorrow. We are
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group shot!!! as usual we caused a big scene..sorta like a circus act. gathering in the doorway of the mosque snapping pictures and probably offending every muslim in the entire area staying at the school and having a swim in the pool before we head to a nearby park for a local Iftar (when muslims break their fast at the end of the day) Last year's principal that has been here this month helping get the school going, is leaving after tomorrow so we are having one last celebration!!!
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Aunt Debbie
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double wow!!
Man Leah, that is just wild!! What a time!! Camel riding!! Going into King Tut's tomb - Does it get any better than this?? You sure look cute in your pink scarf!! I am intrigued by the fact you can feel the tomb energy!! What a great experience!! Pretty mundane here on the island. Ferry fares going up 25%. Already costs an arm and a leg. Pretty soon all the poor folk will just be stranded here. Have a great week in pharoh land. love ya, aunt deb