I made it into Cairo, Egypt from Israel the evening of Wednesday, the 4th of November just fine.  I took a taxi from the airport, which took forever in the Cairo traffic.  I was fairly tired from a day of traveling, so I went to KFC for dinner and ate a huge chicken and jalapeno sandwich which you cannot get in the states.  It was great, and a nice change from all the grilled chicken I’d been eating in Israel.  After dinner, I booked a tour to go to the pyramids at Giza, Saqqara and Memphis the next morning.  I probably could have found my way to the pyramids on my own and for less money, but I don’t think I would have made it to the other places.  For $30 I had a private driver pick me up at the door of the hostel and drive me around for an entire day.  Once we were at the specific sites, he left me to do as I pleased.

  Approaching “The Pyramids” on the highway from Cairo, you can see the in the distance.  In front of them are all kinds of apartment buildings; some unfinished and decrepit looking, but at least they have a good view of the pyramids.  The suburb of Giza is on the edge of the desert.  So on one side of the pyramids you have the 3rd world metropolis of Cairo, while on the other, the Sahara desert.

Before I went into the Giza pyramid complex, I politely listened to one of the driver’s “friends” pitch me on renting a horse or a camel and being taken around the site that way.  I knew I could walk around on my own, even after he tried telling me it was too far and he would give me a good price: a “special price” just for me.  I did do everything on my own, but nevertheless, was confronted by many ad-hoc guides, camel drivers, horse drivers, post card salesmen, etc., who have the best price, want to know where you’re from, who have all kinds of ways to get your attention and attempt to deceive you.  It is kind of unfortunate that these people are all over the Giza pyramid site; no doubt throwing kickbacks to the tourism police.  I’ve become used to ignoring these types of people from my travels, especially in the 3rd world, but I have to say, the one’s at Giza are pretty good.  I feel bad for the poor tourists, just in for a week holiday, who end up being ripped off and taken advantage of, but they are the ones fueling the behavior of the touts and beggars.

I first stopped to check out the Sphinx.  It was carved from the existing bed rock and is about the right size I imagined it would be.  Where it once overlooked the Nile, it now looks back into the chaos and pollution of Cairo.  While I was admiring the Sphinx, a woman asked me to take her picture and then I had her take mine.  Her name was Mae, and we began talking and I found out she was a divorced Canadian who was also on her own.  We ended up touring the site together, helping each other get all the pictures we wanted.

  The pyramids are very impressive and tall like skyscrapers.  The largest is Khufu, also known as the Great Pyramid, while the second highest is Khafre and the 3rd is Menkaure.  All of them are named after the pharaohs who commissioned their construction.  Other than the main 3, there are actually several more pyramids and tombs throughout the Giza site as well as throughout the country of Egypt.  If you’re interested, do a Google search, buy a book or watch a documentary.  I am unqualified to comment on it all. 

 
I always imagined the site would be more orderly, but you are pretty much free to roam around the desert, the ruins, the tombs and the pyramids as you please.  Mae and I did just that.  I went up to all of the 3 main pyramids, touched them and had pictures taken with them.  I might have gone into Khufu or Khafre if there was enough time or if I had purchased a ticket (I wasn’t told this was possible when I bought ticket to get into the whole complex.)   At the same time, going actually inside of the pyramids is very much downplayed by people who have been in them and is not recommend if you are claustrophobic.  I later went into a smaller pyramid and I am told they are all very similar.  Not to mention, everything that was originally contained in the chambers inside of the pyramids has been removed and put into museums.

While I was out at the Giza pyramids, on a separate occasions, a few young kids, probably there on school trips, asked if they could take a picture of me or have their picture taken with me.  It was kind of funny and reminded me of how I was treated at certain places in China.  I assume these kids had come in from other parts of Egypt where they do not see to many westerners.  It was also funny to hear them practice their English, almost always saying, “Hi, how are you?”  It was easy to tell they weren’t touts, because they would just laugh with their friends and keep walking and never asked the infamous, “Where are you from?” 

After taking many pictures, exposed to lots of sun and having plenty of sand in my shoes, it was time to head to the next site: Saqqara.  On the way, my driver stopped for lunch for some kosheri.  Kosheri is an Egyptian staple, which consists of macaroni, chickpeas, rice, some sort of beans, dried onions and a chili sauce or two.  Mixed all together, the meal costs less than a $1, tastes great and fills you up.  Certain restaurants only sell this; where you can have any combination of the ingredients.  We also stopped at a papyrus painting shop where I learned how papyrus is made and I was pitched on buying some paintings.  Eventually we made it down to Saqqara.

Saqqara is the location of the step pyramid and funeral complex of Zoser.  This pyramid is said to be the first pyramid ever constructed in the world.  They are still in  the process of restoring and clearing the sand from it.  That being said, all the pyramids are missing the white limestone shells they once had.  You can still see the limestone on the top of the Pyramid of Khafre.  The limestone was taken away over the centuries to be used in all kinds of buildings, including religious temples, homes and state institutions.  All pyramids and the areas around them must have been amazing in their original conditions without the toll of the sand, time and weather.

From the Saqqara complex, I could see off in the distance, 2 very large pyramids.  These weren’t the Giza pyramids, but the pyramid complex of Dahshur.  Both of the pyramids  in Dahshur are of equal height and are the third highest in Egypt.  Most tourists, and therefore touts, do not make it to this site.  From the distance and what I’ve read, it seems like a nice, interesting, quiet place.

  While at Saqqara, I went into the pyramid of Teti and another temple.  Afterwards, my driver took me to the Memphis museum.  There I saw a huge statue of Ramses II, one of the most famous Egyptian pharaohs.  The museum was outdoor, with several old statues and sphinxes.  I spent about a half hour looking around before getting back into the taxi and slowly moving through the traffic back to my hostel.  There, I took some rest and then showered off and dumped the sand out of my shoes before going out for a late dinner of hummus, lamb and vegetables.  Cairo at night is very active, with people shopping and hanging out drinking teas, coffees and other concoctions, but rarely alcohol.  After dinner, I walked around a bit before calling it a night.

The next day, Friday (11/6), I was awakened to the Muslim call to prayer just before 5 am.  There was a mosque next door to my hostel or a speaker or something.  All that morning, I heard various Islamic sermons I could not understand while trying to get back to sleep.  I eventually woke up and headed to the Egyptian Museum.  Because Friday is the Islamic holy day, the streets were surprisingly calm and quiet.

The Egyptian Museum has heavy security and I was unable to take my camera inside,  although they did allow met to take in my cell phone (which has a camera).  I didn’t bother trying to take any photos though, because I did not want to be thrown out.  Once I entered the museum, I went straight to the first floor to avoid the new groups of tourists flowing in.  I went right to the Royal Mummy Rooms where I saw over 20 mummies, all a few thousand years old.  For being dead that long, they are very well preserved having facial features, hair and nails still in tact.  Some have wigs, some have fake eyes added, and some have had some modern day fixes, but you can actually see what these kings and queens looked like from thousands of years ago.  It is simply amazing.  They are all under temperature control and look kind of eerie, but it is all very interesting to see.

Upon leaving the Royal Mummy Rooms, I went through the Tutankhamen Galleries, seeing his thrown, sarcophagus and famous burial head dress among other various artifacts retrieved from his tomb.  I also saw all kinds of other statues and relics from throughout Egypt.  It was very incredible.  A lot of the artifacts had been brought to the museum to be preserved and to prevent them from being stolen or ransacked by thieves.  The museum is full of artifacts and history and definitely worth a visit.  At the museum, I ran into the Canadian woman, Mae, I had met the day before at the pyramids.  We talked about our Egyptian experiences and decided to meet up later for dinner.  I then left the museum and made my way over to the Hilton where I knew I could depend on a western style restaurant where I could catch up on both my journal and blog.

Friday evening, I met Mae out for dinner at a decent restaurant, and we then had  drinks at a somewhat seedy bar before calling it a night.  The next day (11/7) I went over to the Citadel with my new Canadian friend, to see more of the sites of Cairo.  The Citadel was finished in 1183 A.D. as the main part of fortifications to protect the city from crusaders.  For about 700 years, this area was the seat of the Egyptian government.  In the Citadel, we saw smoggy views of Cairo amidst the din of car horns and combustion engines.  We also went into the mosques of Nasir and Mohamed Ali and saw the Well of Joseph.

After seeing the Citadel, we walked a bit amongst the hustle and bustle: cars, buses, rickshaws, people and dogs.  Cairo is very crowded with about 20 million people making it the largest city in both Africa and the Arab world.  We found a kosheri place and ate good lunches with cokes for less than $2.  Leaving that area, we found a taxi to take us to the Khan-El_Khalili Bazaar or street market.  Here you can buy all kinds of things including souvenirs, clothes, bags, food and spices.  This place was really crowded with shopkeepers, tourists, and delivery men; not to mention normal Egyptian customers.  I picked up a T-shirts, cheap sunglasses, an Egyptian style hat and miniatures of the pyramids and sphinx.  Just like in China, and most countries with street markets, you always end up buying what you want for about a third of the initial price offered by the salesperson (if you can call them that).  Of course, this is after negotiating, them whining about their profits, talking up the “quality” and you walking away before they run after you, accepting or coming very close to your price.  In these types of markets, bargaining is a must and usually is a lot of fun, at least for me.  We walked the whole length of the market and then proceeded to walk some more through and on the streets.  We went into another mosque before conceding we had no idea how to get back to our hotels, so we took a taxi.  I went to do some more writing in my journal and agreed to meet Mae later for dinner.

We went to an Egyptian restaurant in downtown Cairo somewhere, having the normal fare of lamb, sausage and fresh vegetables with pita bread.  After dinner, Mae and I went to have some tea and smoke flavored tobacco from a sheesha, sitting on plastic deck chairs on a pedestrian alley.  Smoking a sheesha or hookah is very common in this part of the world.  It is very smooth, tastes good and you are not supposed to inhale the smoke.  As many of you know, hookah bars exist through the United States and I have smoked in them several times, however while in Egypt it was worth joining the locals.

After drinking tea and smoking the sheesha, we headed to see a another Egyptian contribution to civilization: belly dancing.  This turned out to be quite an interesting experience.  That night, we probably saw 4 different belly dancers with there being only one on stage at a time.  They would dance to a live band of musicians and a singer; all of them men.  IN fact, all the patrons of the restaurant/belly dancing theater were men.  Mae was the only woman customer in the place, the whole time.  Because it was Saturday night and the place was a local, non-tourist spot, it became very crowd with a crowd of what appeared to be business men, politicians and the like.  One guy appeared to be a huge boxer.  Mae and I were definitely the only westerners in the whole place.  Everything was sung and spoken in Egyptian, so we could only watch and half the time, wonder what was going on.  As the night progressed, the men began having the singer, who basically turned into a master of ceremonies, throw (in an affectionate manner) stacks worth of 5 Egyptian pound notes .  I think the stacks each had about 100 notes in them, which would be worth about $100 American.  Before we knew it, this was happening left and right and the money was being thrown everywhere, including into the crowd of customers.  The people working there, which included one midget, would go around and pick up the bills almost as soon as they fell to the floor.  All the patrons acted like they didn’t care about the money falling all around.  It was quite ridiculous and just kept carrying on.  Mae and I left the place around 3am after we grew tired of the same displays and shouting into the microphone over and over again.  We later found out the people who worked at the restaurant were throwing fake bills to encourage customers to do the same with real bills.  In some ways, the bills were like a tip for the belly dancers (which actually only get a small percentage), but also, the men throw or have them thrown to show off.

The next day, Mae moved on to other parts of Egypt, while I headed to the airport and began a new adventure in India.