Blogs from Giza, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 13

Untitled Hello Cairo We arrived late at night to Egypt at last! Land of a thousand wonders and what seems like a thousand days of history education when I was in elementary school! Or, as my mother says, "land of really old rocks." Due to my travelling schedule at work and my halfhearted attempt to learn Arabic before my journey here, my friends were saying they secretly suspected I was in the CIA. BUT - on our arrival here I would say there was more evidence that my Dad had secret connections - who knew???? Is contract management for healthcare just a front? But as we were on our way in our tour operator shuttle to our hotel with two other ladies the driver answers his cell phone - and it's for DAD! Huh? We get ... read more

So, turns out I forgot to mention I visited some pyarmidy things. Photographic evidence is attached. I'll post more when I get a chance, but basically whilst some people in our group were a little disappointed, I was still just blown away. If you have even the slightest interest of appreciation of engineering or construction, you have to be. The largest pyramid is 136m tall, made up of 2.2 million stone blocks each with an average weight of 2.5 tonnes. It's just insane. Consider that pretty much every other construction from ancient history - the other 6 wonders, ancient rome/greece, much of angkor wat, mayan pyramids, karnak, etc are all either moderately or largely destroyed. Most of these are 1000 to 2000 years old. The pyramids are 5,000 years old, and still in fantastically good ... read more

So...like a lot of people I suspect, Bryan and I have been thinking about visiting the great pyramids since we were very little. Finally, today was the day. Unfortunately, we were both feeling way "none the better" for the 10% beer of last nights gala event, and the early wake up call to pack/eat/load bus was a sorry state of affairs between the two of us. I didn't feel good at all and Bryan was moving insanely slowly and non-coordinated. Today was going to be a long day ending with a 14 hour sleeper train and we were off to a fine start. Kicking myself. Once in a lifetime experience and hungover because couldn't face 80s prom new years eve sober. Ah well, food in - hardboiled eggs, flat bread, tang. Coffee. Packed up the bus, ... read more

Although I would have liked to have seen much more, I only had a day in Egypt and so it was that I headed off to the Pyramids. I was bowled over. I knew they were big, but not that big! The sight was awe-inspiring ... and the Sphinx ... well ... impossible to take it all in. Having had my mind blown by the complex at Giza, the remainder of the day was spent having my mind blown by the treasures of Tut-ankh-amun in the Cairo Museum. Sadly, one day wasn't really long enough, but that's all I had and one must snatch the opportunity when it's presented.... read more