It is quite horrifying to think that just over a month ago, my family and I returned from a holiday in Egypt. Watching the Chaos and violence that has erupted all over Cairo - Tahrir Square and the Egyptian Museum in particular - places that we spent almost an entire day exploring, is just mind boggling.
Our almost 3 week holiday in Egypt was a superb experience despite my battling to adapt to the sudden 'tour guide' mode of traveling as opposed to the 'backpacker' style I had gotten used to for the previous 4 months in Asia. We spent our first 4 days exploring Cairo - our first Egyptian guide, Mohammed picked us up from the Airport at 6am in a big 12 seater van and we wound our way into the already masterful Cairo traffic. En route to our hotel, he asked us 3 questions - the first, Who is the President of Egypt? "Hosni Mubarak, of course!" This catalyzed a long conversation as to why the Egyptians love and cherish Mubarak's great leadership which , infused with the obvious from the westerners - "well, even though there are 'democratic' elections, is it not a dictatorship - when the constitution has been specifically written so that technically only one candidate really fits the criteria for said elections? What is 81 year old Mubarak really doing for the millions of poverty stricken Egyptians after decades of monotonous rule?" "Mubarak stands for the values that our Dear Prophet Mohammed wanted us to live by, that is why we continue to vote for him." Well, since we had been in Egypt for less than an hour, we didn't really want to overstep the boundaries by arguing with an indoctrinated Egyptian in a Muslim country. It seems a little ironic now though, given all the events of the past 2 weeks.
The second Question - How many people do you think live in Cairo? We came up with numbers ranging from 10-15 million people. The REAL figures - somewhere between 29 and 35 million! The slums of Cairo are some of the biggest in the world competing with places like Bombay and Lagos, Nigeria. The city has expanded urgently and hastily to accomodate the masses that it's neighbouring city Giza, is no longer seperate. The Cities have joined and the urban shadows extend through the desert to practically outside the gates to the Pyramids.
The Third Question - Do you like soccer? :) I mean, I don't have anything against soccer, really - I owe the sport one of the funnest and wildest times of my life and one of the best events that South Africa has ever seen - the 2010 Soccer World Cup. But did I know that Egypt has a successful soccer team called the Pharoahs? NO! Luckily there were three men in the car who had more than enough to say on the topic and keep us out of hot water with the clearly Egyptian-Soccer-mad Mohammed.
Mohammed then began on the typical banter about Egyptian history - a banter that we would hear from each one of our tour guides in each new city we visited. Now, don't get me wrong I am truly fascinated by the Egyptians and their exceptionally advanced society (way back when), the beautiful and intricate detail on their art, hieroglyphics, tombs and the way they managed to manoever massive stones and rocks manually and then carve perfect sculptures by chipping away day by day. But after the 45th God or Goddess, King or Queen, battle and tomb, monument and statue things start getting a little confusing. Once again we were saved by my brother who knows enough about Egypt and it's long history that he could probably give Egyptologists a run for their hard earned money.
We arrived at our hotel for a quick 'freshen up' and were then handed over to our next tour guide - Mohammed. (*Surprise*, in Egypt every second person is called Mohammed or Ahmed -a derivative of the name Mohammed after the Great Islam Prophet.) Mohammed #2 got us packed into the van and onwards and forwards to the PYRAMIDS. I have to say even after a 30 minute lecture about the significance of what we were about to see and the fact that the Pyramid complex is practically woven into the cities buildings complete with smog, dirt and rubbish - I was still impressed. The sheer enormity is overwhelming. The first row of stones are taller than my dad (and he is tall!). How Egyptians over 4000 years ago managed to move and lift stones of that magnitude and then design a structure so sound and sturdy using only their raw strength and intellect is beyond my imagination especially considering the amount of technology and machinery we have at our aid in our modern age (and somehow we still manage to create structures and buildings that collapse.)
Our visit to the first set of Pyramids was also our introduction to the persistent hawkers selling tourist 'crap' that we would encounter many more times on our trip. And I'm sure they just saw my dad coming and sent messages of thanks to the heavens. My pops is a tourist crap nutter. He will get conned into buying any stupid trinket for anything that 'sounds' like a good deal. Case and point at the pyramids - he was scouted by a little old man selling Kheffiyeh - head scarves. Suddenly Caryn and I were spun around and a man began securing one on each of our heads. Confused and annoyed (convinced this man was trying to sell us something we DEFINITELY didn't want) we tried to argue and told him to stop. With that he starts jumping up and down and pointing over at my mum and brother who are also being harassed by men and head scarves. I then look over in my dad's direction to see him smiling happily with a video camera and a thumbs up. He had bought one for each of us (for a ridiculous US$5 each!) I tried for the rest of our trip to convince him how he was getting ripped off, but he continued to amaze me with his useless purchases that always had us in hysterics (more to come on that - don't you worry!) However, I will admit those overpriced pieces of dirty cloth disguised as head scarves made for a great family picture.
We rode camels across the desert which was just hilarious. All the camels were named after famous western singers and actors - there was a Michael Jackson, a Chuck Norris, a Bob Marley and a Britney Spears. The young Camel minders however were less than funny, throwing stones at the camels to make them go faster and then demanding more money from us when they decided amongst themselves that our tip wasn't 'good enough.' On top of our $15 a person 20 minute ride, we gave them an extra $20 to share amongst themselves - and when they came back aggressively yelling at us for more money, I was ready to demand it all back. Camels, however really are the funniest creatures on the planet. Their facial expressions and sounds are enough to have you falling on the floor laughing.
We soon found ourselves in front of the Great Sphinx of Giza - a huge statue with the pyramids as it's background. It was exciting to see it but Caryn and I decided to stay behind instead of entering into the grounds to have a 'closer look.' Caz was still on crutches from her surgery and I was honestly monument-ed and egyptian history-ed OUT for one day. This did not mean that we would encounter peace and quiet for a quick half an hour whilst the others got themselves a good side photograph of the giant half man, half lion - not 2 minutes after finding a spot to rest our legs - we were approached by an Egyptian family and thrust with a newborn baby by a woman in full burqa asking if we could please hold the baby and take a photo with them. "Uh, sure." This started the trend among the rest of the families, young men and school children in the vicinity taking pictures of us with camera phones and begging if they can sit with us and some even asking for our hand in marriage.It didn't take us very long to work out that we were the ONLY foreign, blond-haired lady duo in the entire area and we were very grateful to see our family coming toward us after what felt like hours.
We ate lunch at a delicious spicy chicken pita restaurant and then spent the late afternoon at a papyrus factory where our guide (Ahmed - Suprised?) who demanded that we call him "my brother, Ahmed" showed us how paper is woven and pressed using the papyrus plant. We then spent another hour and half being shown around the gallery and choosing Egyptian paintings to buy as well as being donated half of the shop for free by our dear brother, Ahmed. We moved from there to a perfumery where we had a demonstration of all the different oils made from flowers that are used to make famous designer perfumes. The whole shop was covered in adorable miniature perfume bottles in interesting shapes, sizes and colors. We came out of there feeling a little higher, than when we went in and it showed at the Sound and Light show over the Pyramids and the Sphinx that evening when most of us fell asleep in our chairs. It was a very long first day in Egypt - but great all the same.
and historical sites. We saw the oldest pyramids ever found at a complex called Saqqara. It was right in the middle of the desert and the wind was unbearable blowing dust and sand all over the place. We were beginning to understand a woman's choice to remain wearing a Burqa to protect herself from all the sandstorms even though sadly that probably had not crossed their mind. We went to another outdoor Museum and looked at ALOT of old statues of Ancient Egyptian Kings - the largest remaining statue of the Great King Ramses II was a big attraction. We also visited Tahrir Square and the monumental Egyptian Museum of Antiquities where we saw thousands of ancient artifacts AND the entire Tutankhamen collection including the famous Gold mask that he was buried in and his entire fortune that was buried with him. What I found interesting is that Tutankhamen is possibly the most famous of the Egyptian Pharoahs, but his significance to Egypt is based solely on the discovery of his tomb and not regarding anything to do with his time as King. He had his tomb built so well and so disguised that it was undiscovered by his successors and all the civilizations that invaded Egypt thereafter. All the lavish treasure and jewels were still entact. Now imagine, if Ramses II had managed to keep his tomb hidden from invaders. We saw mummies of many Kings and Queens that have been preserved in temperature controlled casing since their discovery. Many rumors over the last few weeks suggested that rioters and looters broke into the unguarded museum and ripped the heads off.
Personally, after 3 days of monument sighting I was ready to NEVER see another statue, building or mention of a king or god ever again. I was anxious to spend time in Cairo just walking and observing the life there instead of always listening to a tour guide. Luckily on our last afternoon in Cairo we requested to be dropped at a market and picked up later, giving us the chance to wander and chat to people. Well, let me tell you I have never seen any salesmen as enthusiastic (or desperate) about selling you an abnormal amount of junk as any person I have ever come across. Luring you into their alleyway shops by telling you your mom is here looking for you or by telling you that 'you are so beautiful and you need a nice husband - ME!' But regardless of all their tricks and quirks, those market hawkers were really entertaining and it certainly encouraged us to go to any bazaar we could find during the rest of our trip. The bargaining is out of control and eventually just becomes a game for both sides of the stick. Such fun.
My dad was once again caught out by a man selling "alabaster/granite" (aka fake plaster) statues of the popular Egyptian Gods. A man demonstrated how strong his rock sculptures were by bashing them as hard as he could against a stone stair. Well, the first one he tried smashed into a million pieces. The second's head came tumbling off and the third - a hideous green and black 2kg statue of the Jackal God of the Dead, Anubis - well he chased dad around the market with it for about 15 minutes. Eventually Dad gives in because well "cool, it's a genuine granite statue, why not?" WHY NOT DAD? Because regardless of it's 'granite' value, the thing is dam hideous!!! Anyway he must have spent 15 minutes trying to explain to us, how excellent his purchase of a 'real' granite statue was. A few days later, we stopped at an Alabaster Workshop where we were shown the difference between REAL and FAKE statues. Dad excitedly brought out his prized Anubis for the man to examine. The next thing we know the man is testing the statue with a fire and in about 2 seconds the thing catches alight and starts melting in front of his eyes. Well, his mouth dropped open in disbelief and the rest of us burst into hysterics and had entertainment for at least the next few days.
And so after a busy and bustling four days we packed up to get on an overnight train to Aswan to begin a 5 day cruise on the Nile. Cairo was an interesting experience, perhaps a few too many monuments for me but still a city with a lot of excitement, hustle and bustle that I would love to see more of one day. It was a great start to our Egyptian adventure, and I am exceptionally happy that we were able to experience it before all the REAL Chaos broke out. I mean, Cairo is Chaos, Chaos at it's best but over a million revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries packed into one square is just plain ridiculous. I sincerely hope that the rest of this crisis can be resolved without anymore violence.
The rest is still to come -
وداعا ، ونراكم قريبا!
It turns out that just after completing this , Mubarak has stepped down as President, handing over Egypts affairs to the Military. The power of the people and protesting has prevailed and I sincerely hope that the people of Egypt are finally given the democracy they have been fighting for and that the tourism there is revitalized.
Our almost 3 week holiday in Egypt was a superb experience despite my battling to adapt to the sudden 'tour guide' mode of traveling as opposed to the 'backpacker' style I had gotten used to for the previous 4 months in Asia. We spent our first 4 days exploring Cairo - our first Egyptian guide, Mohammed picked us up from the Airport at 6am in a big 12 seater van and we wound our way into the already masterful Cairo traffic. En route to our hotel, he asked us 3 questions - the first, Who is the President of Egypt? "Hosni Mubarak, of course!" This catalyzed a long conversation as to why the Egyptians love and cherish Mubarak's great leadership which , infused with the obvious from the westerners - "well, even though there are 'democratic' elections, is it not a dictatorship - when the constitution has been specifically written so that technically only one candidate really fits the criteria for said elections? What is 81 year old Mubarak really doing for the millions of poverty stricken Egyptians after decades of monotonous rule?" "Mubarak stands for the values that our Dear Prophet Mohammed wanted us to live by, that is why we continue to vote for him." Well, since we had been in Egypt for less than an hour, we didn't really want to overstep the boundaries by arguing with an indoctrinated Egyptian in a Muslim country. It seems a little ironic now though, given all the events of the past 2 weeks.
The second Question - How many people do you think live in Cairo? We came up with numbers ranging from 10-15 million people. The REAL figures - somewhere between 29 and 35 million! The slums of Cairo are some of the biggest in the world competing with places like Bombay and Lagos, Nigeria. The city has expanded urgently and hastily to accomodate the masses that it's neighbouring city Giza, is no longer seperate. The Cities have joined and the urban shadows extend through the desert to practically outside the gates to the Pyramids.
The Third Question - Do you like soccer? :) I mean, I don't have anything against soccer, really - I owe the sport one of the funnest and wildest times of my life and one of the best events that South Africa has ever seen - the 2010 Soccer World Cup. But did I know that Egypt has a successful soccer team called the Pharoahs? NO! Luckily there were three men in the car who had more than enough to say on the topic and keep us out of hot water with the clearly Egyptian-Soccer-mad Mohammed.
Mohammed then began on the typical banter about Egyptian history - a banter that we would hear from each one of our tour guides in each new city we visited. Now, don't get me wrong I am truly fascinated by the Egyptians and their exceptionally advanced society (way back when), the beautiful and intricate detail on their art, hieroglyphics, tombs and the way they managed to manoever massive stones and rocks manually and then carve perfect sculptures by chipping away day by day. But after the 45th God or Goddess, King or Queen, battle and tomb, monument and statue things start getting a little confusing. Once again we were saved by my brother who knows enough about Egypt and it's long history that he could probably give Egyptologists a run for their hard earned money.
We arrived at our hotel for a quick 'freshen up' and were then handed over to our next tour guide - Mohammed. (*Surprise*, in Egypt every second person is called Mohammed or Ahmed -a derivative of the name Mohammed after the Great Islam Prophet.) Mohammed #2 got us packed into the van and onwards and forwards to the PYRAMIDS. I have to say even after a 30 minute lecture about the significance of what we were about to see and the fact that the Pyramid complex is practically woven into the cities buildings complete with smog, dirt and rubbish - I was still impressed. The sheer enormity is overwhelming. The first row of stones are taller than my dad (and he is tall!). How Egyptians over 4000 years ago managed to move and lift stones of that magnitude and then design a structure so sound and sturdy using only their raw strength and intellect is beyond my imagination especially considering the amount of technology and machinery we have at our aid in our modern age (and somehow we still manage to create structures and buildings that collapse.)
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| The Pyramids of Giza |
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| Family Snap in our head scarves. |
We spent the rest of the day exploring the rest of the pyramids and even got to go inside one of them.
We rode camels across the desert which was just hilarious. All the camels were named after famous western singers and actors - there was a Michael Jackson, a Chuck Norris, a Bob Marley and a Britney Spears. The young Camel minders however were less than funny, throwing stones at the camels to make them go faster and then demanding more money from us when they decided amongst themselves that our tip wasn't 'good enough.' On top of our $15 a person 20 minute ride, we gave them an extra $20 to share amongst themselves - and when they came back aggressively yelling at us for more money, I was ready to demand it all back. Camels, however really are the funniest creatures on the planet. Their facial expressions and sounds are enough to have you falling on the floor laughing.
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| The Great Sphinx |
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| First Egyptian Meal |
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| Sound and Light show at the Sphinx |
The next two days we spent in a handful of museums
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| The Ancient Pyramids at Saqqara |
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| The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities |
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| Waiting at the Train Station in Cairo |
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| Our Luxurious Train Cart to Aswan |
The rest is still to come -
وداعا ، ونراكم قريبا!
It turns out that just after completing this , Mubarak has stepped down as President, handing over Egypts affairs to the Military. The power of the people and protesting has prevailed and I sincerely hope that the people of Egypt are finally given the democracy they have been fighting for and that the tourism there is revitalized.
