Cairo to Abu Simbel

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The past few days have been spent roaming around Cairo, hanging out with some of the local guys from the Canadian Hostel and dining out. I met a couple of girls who were living in the UK for a while due to studies (one Egyptian the other Jordanian) and they had met a couple of guys from Cairo so we all hung out together until they had to go home. The last few days on my own in Cairo went very fast and next thing I knew I had to check out of the Canadian and head over to the hotel meeting point to join my tour.

December 19th Cairo
This afternoon I checked in for my tour of the Nile and Sinai. As no activities were planned for tonight I just went out for dinner with some of the other tour members.

December 20th Cairo to Abu Simbel
Wakeup time was early with first stop being the pyramids of Giza. Since I had already been around them on horse back I figured it was a good opportunity for me to go inside one of the pyramids. The weather was fine as usual with no breeze and to top that off there were very little other tourists around. I observed the pyramids from many different angles then my previous trip here and also went into the tomb of the second pyramid (Giza) The tomb entrance was very small so one has to bend down almost to a crawl to get down the passage. Entering the tomb all has been removed except the sarcophagus. The room was very dark, warm and very humid. There were a few people inside when I entered but they soon left leaving me and a couple of guys from my tour. There was a local Egyptian sitting quietly but once only a few people remained he began to speak and retrieved a flash light which was great because I borrowed it off him and looked closely around. It would have been nice to take some pictures but cameras are forbidden inside. Once I decided to leave the man asked for money (as they do) which unluckily for him, received nothing. After we were finished with the pyramids we then proceeded to visit the sphinx then headed off to the Egyptian museum. The main attraction there was king Tutankhamen’s various treasures including his golden mask and caskets. Post to leaving the museum we collected our bags from the hotel and caught a coach to the train station, the train arrived quite late and we boarded to head off to Aswan. The train was quite comfortable, as we were in first class the seating was similar to business class on a plain and reclined about 45 degrees. (The train trip lasted just over 12 hours)

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Photos

Back to Giza
A second trip to the pyramids this time to go inside them

Back to Giza
A second trip to the pyramids this time to go inside them

Back to Giza
A second trip to the pyramids this time to go inside them

Train from Cairo to Aswan
A look at the first class train cabin. You wouldn't like to see regular class...