Adventure Chronicles™

02.27.01 - Adventure in Cairo
Cairo, Egypt - Cairo & Giza

Hello from Egypt! We arrived in Luxor today, after spending two days in Cairo. Things have definitely gotten more interesting since we left London.

Day eight was a travel day. Our flight was pretty uneventful, except for our landing. We were just about to land in Cairo (literally, we were pulling on to the runway) when our plan suddenly sped up and ascended quickly. The pilot came on a few minutes later and said they had to "abort" the landing, but didn't say why. There were many interesting and amusing theories floating around the cabin. Hmmm....we tried not to think about it and were happy when our second attempt ended successfully.

Mark had arranged for a car to meet us at the airport, so a driver was waiting when we got off the plane and quickly ushered us through customs and immigration and out to a waiting van. The airport was a blur of random stores (they sell washers and dryers in the Cairo airport) and policemen. I (Lisa) suspected that Cairo was going to be an interesting, but somewhat stressful, place to travel. I definitely had a "Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore" feeling.

Our ride from the airport was an adventure. Traffic in Cairo is pure INSANITY. Picture twice as many cars as you find in Seattle, eliminate lane markings and any real traffic signals, add constant horn honking and what seems to be a million taxis, and you'll start to get the idea. Cars weave all around and squeeze onto any inch of available pavement. The horn honking seems to mean something - without it I think the whole thing would fail miserably - but we decided that driving in Cairo would be sure death. We joked about how long it would take to get in an accident. It didn't take long, but more on that later.

It was 1:00 a.m. by the time we got back to Mark and Sabath's hotel, and realized that the address we had for our hotel was wrong. The streets looked a little intimidating as we drove from the airport, so we crashed on the floor and vowed to hunt down a hotel room in the morning.

Walking through Cairo the next morning was interesting, because it is so different from any other place I've been. The city has many beautiful places, but is also very dirty and polluted. There are military/police on almost every corner, which was intimidating (men in uniform with machine guns), but I think it is a good thing since they are there to ensure safety in tourist areas. The Nile River is wider than I expected, and definitely a life force in this dry, desert region.

I have attracted A LOT of attention in this country. Blonde hair and blue eyes are a novelty, so I have been stared at everywhere we go. (I'm not exaggerating) I wish I had an Egyptian Pound for every man who has told Jay how lucky he is. One young man even asked, "how many camels for that?". The whole thing was unnerving at first, but I'm used to it now. People look, but no one has bothered us. I was surprised at how friendly the people here are. They welcome Americans (and try to sell us everything under the sun).

It didn't take us long to find a hotel room at the Ishmalia House ($11.00 per night), very close to the Egyptian Museum. A little grubby, but your basic backpacker hotel. It did lack a few modern luxuries I've come to enjoy...like toilet paper. Good thing I packed some. Jay thought I was crazy, but lets just say that he appreciates it now. Funny, but toilet paper is not a wide spread phenomenon in the world. We didn't spend long at the hotel, since we were anxious to get to the Pyramids. The hotel manager was kind enough to bring the elevator up for us. At first, I was thrilled, since we had hiked up 8 flights of stairs when we arrived, but that changed when I saw the elevator. Picture a box of metal bars and a thin plywood floor. I had visions of us crashing to our death. I was going to skip it, but Jay hopped right in (I hate it when he does that). I joined and the hotel manager sent us down...half a floor where we got stuck. We had to yell for help, which arrived quickly, but I vowed not to take that elevator again.

We met Mark and Sabath back at the hotel, had breakfast and headed for the Pyramids. Our guide for the day, Mona, was a wonderful Nubian woman from Aswan. She took us to Giza, just outside Cairo, to view the Great Pyramids (Cheops, Chefran and Mycerinus). I will never forget how they looked as we drove from the city. Words cannot express how beautiful and magnificent they are. They are massive structures! We drove up a desert road to a hill and got out to take pictures. Then we decided to take a camel ride down the hill, through the Sahara desert and towards the Pyramids. The camel ride will definitely be one of the highlights of this trip. Again, I cannot find words that do the moment justice, but we took lots of pictures to capture the experience. Getting on and off the camels was humorous, since they are a lot taller than you think.

Once we got off the camels, we explored the Pyramids up close. Although we've learned how they were made, it still amazes me. I have great respect for the ancient Egyptian's work, especially considering the rudimentary tools they had to work with. We were able to go inside the smallest pyramid, Mycerinus, and see the tomb where the king's sarcophegus (coffin) once laid. The inside of pharoah's tombs are amazing - the walls are painted with beautiful artwork and hierogliphics that tell the stories of their lives as well as pay hommage to the important gods of the times.

After the Pyramids and lunch, we went to a papyrus museum. Papyrus is a plant that the ancient Egyptians used to make paper. After a demonstration on how it is made, we looked through a gallery of beautiful artwork, and bought a few pieces to bring home.

In the afternoon, we visited the famous Sphinx, which is located not far from the Pyramids. It is a beautiful structure, even with a missing nose and beard. The view from it, overlooking the desert and Pyramids is unforgettable. On our way in to the Sphinx area, we had our first traffic accident. All of the cars and buses were jamming through the entrance (no order whatsoever) and a bus scraped the side of our van. No damage to us and minor damage to the van, but we had to chuckle, since it took less than 24 hours for the accident we had predicted the night before. Funny, because the driver of our van and the driver of the bus didn't even discuss it. No police, no traffic tickets, we just went on our way.

On our way back to Cairo, we had a flat tire. I felt sorry for the poor van driver, he had a tough day that day! We waited on the median of the highway while he fixed it, but the delay prevented us from heading to the Egyptian bazzars as planned. Mona felt bad about this and arranged a felluca ride on the Nile to make it up to us. This was a perfect way to end the day. Fellucas are simple sail boats that you see all over the Nile, and are navigated by local men. Sailing was peaceful, and a nice change from the hustle and bustle we had encountered all day.

After dinner, we called it an early night and headed for our hotel. We discovered that they were doing construction in our building and that the noise in Cairo really never ends. Not the most restfull night, so it was good that we stocked up on sleep in London.

On our second day in Cairo, Jay and I got up early, and took several taxi rides around the city to run errands and arrange a train ticket to Luxor. The train station was pure chaos, so much so that we said forget it and decided to come back later in the day. There is a totally different kind of "service" in this country. People crowd around the ticket office for tickets, but no one ever seems to get one. We've found that tipping is expected for absolutely everything in this country. If you ask someone for directions or to take your picture, they will usually expect vakeesh in return.

Thankfully, Mona came back with us in the afternoon and helped us arrange our tickets. Even she had to "tip" someone to help us get them!

We spent the rest of the morning exploring the Egyptian Museum with Mark and Sabath. This was one of the most interesting museums I have ever been to. Egyptian history is fascinating, and the more I learn, the more I want to know. On display at the museum are most of the contents of King Tutankhamun's tomb. You wouldn't believe how many treaures went into pharoah's tombs. The elaborate detail of the artwork inside was amazing. We learned that King Tutankhamun was not nearly as important in Egypt's history as I thought, but he is well known because he is the only pharoah who's tomb was found intact. Most others were robbed of their coffins and treasures long ago. The museum also had an ancient mummy display of many famous kings and queens. I was surprised to see how well the bodies were perserved by the mummification process - you could still see faces, teeth, fingernails, hair, etc. I think the Egyptians were on to something.

After the museum, we met Mona again and headed for "Old Cairo", a very old section of Egypt out by The Citadel. Inside, we were able to tour old churches, and a current mosque. One of the churches, St. Sargius, was built on the site of an underground home where The Holy Family once stayed. I was glad that we had an opportunity to visit a mosque and to learn more about the Islamic religion, and how it compares to Christianity. Outside, we met a little Egyptian boy who we thought was pestering us for money, but all he wanted was a pen (Mona helped interpret). We gave him Jay's automatic pencil and you would have thought we had given him a true treasure. He was so happy, that it was well worth losing our pencil.

After a little more driving around the city, we headed back out to the Pyramids for the evening light and sound show. Seeing the Pyramids at dusk was a treat. There was a beautiful, clear sky and sliver moon that was so amazing it almost didn't seem real. The show was interesting and informative. Although we've learned a lot about the history here, I don't think we've even scratched the surface of what I'd like to know.

We also toured a perfume factory and were able to sample several perfume oils that are made in Egypt. I was tempted to buy, but not excited about packing delicate perfume bottles around the world, so I held off.

Once the show was finished, it was back to the hotel and to the train station. We took an overnight train (9.5 hours) from Cairo to Luxor. On the way to the train station, our taxi driver backed into another car. Again, no damage to us, but two accidents in two days! The train was crowded, and we didn't get a lot of sleep. Although I know no one will feel sorry for us, this traveling thing is actually is quite tiring. :)

Want to contact Jay and Lisa?

william.gibson@airtreks.com