Thursday 7 July  Egypt

Breakfast in the ballroom

We awake to clear blue skies and calm air. Noel and I have breakfast in the huge ballroom of the hotel. We are told that this room can seat 800 people.

The food is excellent, and a huge choice. Just about every food you can think of. Just help yourself.

Saha our guide for today

After breakfast we are picked up by our driver Mohamed, the one with three wives, and also our tour guide Saha.

Saha is a woman aged 47 and a widow. She's a Moslem and a Bedouin. Like all Moslem women she wears a head veil.

She is quite short, with a pleasant face, beautiful teeth and a lovely complexion.

Saha our guide.

We visit a small, open air temple

Saha takes us first of all to a small, open air temple site. As we walk in we are met by a team of Egyptian musicians playing pipes and tambourines and little drums. Their music sounds good to my ears, very lively, the sort of happy music I like.

Egyptian band.

We are first shown some small sphinxes and obelisks and other sculptures of ancient Egyptian rulers.

Small Sphinx.

Ancient sculpture.

The huge statue of Ramses

Then we are lead into a nearby building which contains the huge statue of Ramses the Great, one of the most famous of the Egyptian Pharaohs.

This statue is just enormous, and the facial features are beautifully carved, as you can see from the close-up photograph below. The statue lies on its back as the legs have been broken off.

Ramses from a distance.

Ramses side view with Noel and I.

Ramses’ beautifully carved face.

Old Cairo

After this, Saha takes us on a driving tour through some of the older parts of Cairo.

The street scenes are amazing to us. It’s like going back 2000 years. Most of the older roads are wide and formed of compacted dry sand. We see flocks of sheeps, being led, (not driven) by their shepherds. Also Middle East sheep with their thick, flobbery tails. These tails are used to store fat and water like a camel’s hump.

There are donkeys everywhere with people riding on them. Just a totally different world from what we are used to. Highly exotic and interesting.

Wide sand streets.

Donkeys everywhere.

Flock of sheep being led by their shepherd.

Note the flobbery tails on the sheep.

The oldest pyramid

We are then taken out to the pyramids at Giza on the outskirts of Cairo.

Starting to get hot now. Our guide estimates 39°C.

We first visit the oldest pyramid. This is an early step-type pyramid. They evidently gradually evolved into the smooth sided type.

Old step type pyramid.

We see some old dogs lying near the pyramid site in the shade. They look completely worn out by the heat.

Dogs avoiding the sun.

Tourist carpet and papyrus painting shop-factory

Before visiting the nearby three main pyramids, we are first taken to the inevitable tourist shop-factory. Like at most tourist shops in the Middle East, we are offered free drinks – coffee or a bottle of water. We each accept a welcome bottle of cold water each.

In this place they sell papyrus paintings and make beautiful carpets. But the prices are high. You pay much less on the streets.

Most of the carpets are very beautiful. Some of the workers are children. The head man is portly for an Egyptian. Must be prosperous.

Women making carpets.

Boy worker.

Some of the beautiful carpets.

Serving the tourists free coffee.

Hieroglyphic carpet.

The famous pyramids at Giza

Our next stop is at the main pyramid site. It’s now about midday. The heat is quite intense and the sun reflecting off the light coloured sand is glary. I should have worn my sunglasses. Mohamed our driver remains in his air-conditioned van. Saha pays for our tickets then leads us onto the site for a hot walking tour.

We first visit the huge and most famous of the pyramids, the 4600 year old Great Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu (also known as Cheops). This pyramid was 2600 years old when Jesus walked the earth.

The largest pyramid, Khufu (or Cheops).

Some of the base stones are enormous and are estimated to weigh up to 70 tons. Most weigh around 2 tons. Somebody once calculated there were over 2 million stones in this pyramid, but this sounds a bit high to me.

Huge base stones.

Tourists are forbidden to climb on the pyramid. Besides it’s so steep as to be dangerous. People have been killed falling down the 51 degree angle sides.

Steep sides of pyramid.

White uniformed tourist police are everywhere to prevent such things happening, and also to keep the highly aggressive hawkers in line.

This pyramid is said to cover an area of 13 acres. The original polished limestone outside covering of the pyramid has been removed over the centuries, except for the high upper capping.

Upper capping of the pyramid.

We didn’t go inside the narrow passageway of the pyramid as the cost is high and there is evidently nothing to see at the end but a simple empty burial chamber.

Passage way inside Pyramid.

Rather boring burial chamber at end of passage way.

The Sphinx

We next see the Sphinx. It isn’t as big as you might think, but is longer than most people realise.

Sphinx front view.

Sphinx rear view.

Noel and the Sphinx.

Saha now leaves us, for the cool of the air conditioned van and Noel and I are free to walk around by ourselves.

The Egyptian hawkers

A lot of hawkers here want to take us for expensive rides on their camels. Noel has always wanted to sit on a camel. So we negotiate hard to get a reasonable price. The camel kneels down and Noel sits on it and I take his picture.

Noel on his camel.

We are pestered everywhere we go by Arab hawkers selling postcards and toy pyramids. Some of the younger ones are highly persistent and become a real nuisance.

We become separated briefly, and when I find Noel again, he is arguing with one of the young hawkers over a fee for putting on an Arab headdress and having his photo taken.

Evidently the hawker told Noel there wouldn’t be any charge, and then after taking the photo insisted that he pay him. Noel should have realised there would be a catch. Both are getting quite agro, Noel doesn’t stand much nonsense. Then one of the white uniformed tourist police observes what’s happening and comes over and orders the young hawker to back off.

Photo taken by the hawker of Noel wearing the Arab headdress.

Extremes of sheer desert and Nile-irrigated greenery

This Giza pyramid site is on the far edge of the outer irrigated area of Cairo. From here on out it is sheer desert. There is virtually no rain whatever in this area, they rely solely on Nile water irrigation.

When you look back towards the city you see greenery, but when you look in the opposite direction you see nothing but barren desert and more pyramids in the distance.

Greenery looking towards Cairo.

Pyramids and pure desert looking the other way.

All the pyramids.

Driving around Cairo

We then return to the van and are driven around some other interesting and old parts of Cairo.

There is quite a contrast, from modern traffic scenes to pure Biblical scenes.

Modern traffic in some parts of Cairo.

There are black and white taxis everywhere, mostly old battered 1970’s Peugeot 504’s.

Lots of dust on the roadsides and at all of the historic sites.

We see three big Egyptians riding in the tray of a tiny Hyundai truck.

Egyptians riding in the tray of a tiny Hyundai truck.

Goats are everywhere, mostly brown and black.

The Nile river irrigation canals

We see many irrigation canals full of murky brown water. These are all linked to the Nile. We drive alongside one of these canals for quite a long way and notice that every so often there are little barges, or rafts with a rope going across the canal so that the locals can pull themselves across. Bridges are few and far between.

Irrigation canal fed by the Nile

Canal rope barge

Back to the hotel

Tipping is becoming a major expense on this trip. Porters, drivers, guides, arrangers, all want their five Egyptian pounds which is equivalent to about US$1 or NZ$1.50.

We are returned to our hotel about 3 pm. We find a fruit bowl on the table in our room with a note from the hotel manager apologising for our first room being uncleaned.

It is very hot outside. At least 40°C. Not a cloud anywhere. Noel has a swim in the massive swimming pool while I have a nap under the umbrellas at the poolside. I don’t much care for swimming in pools.

Noel dealing with the 40° heat.

Noel and I then walk around the huge complex of this hotel. There are 398 rooms and site is 20 acres in area. Noel has another swim then he dresses and we go into the lobby and send an airmail to the family. Costs us a pricey US$8.

A fascinating  walk out in the streets

We decide to go for a walk out in the streets of the semi-rural area surrounding the hotel. This area appears to be on the outskirts of Cairo.

What a fascinating walk. Old vans drive past us, packed full of people, doors permanently roped open. Ancient horse-drawn carts trip trap along the street. We also see modern cars and donkeys. Old taxis pull up alongside to offer us a ride. Date palms soar upward.

Old cart.

Date palm.

We come across some papyrus paintings for sale priced at US$3. Similar paintings were US$20 in the tourist shop today.

We buy a mango and a rock melon for US$2.50 off an elderly farmer at roadside stall for our evening meal, and also two ice creams from a footpath vendor.

Typical road scene on our walk.

Sound and light show out at the pyramids

This evening at sunset we are picked up again from our hotel and taken out to the Giza pyramids once more, this time to see a sound and light show. This show is quite spectacular. Coloured lights and pictures are projected onto the sides of the pyramids, and the voices of old Pharaohs, supposedly, over loud stereophonic speakers tell us of the high points of their reigns. The show lasts for about an hour or longer.

Pyramid sound and light show.

More colours added later.

As we leave the pyramids area about 9.30 pm, we are met by another music band. Even better than the one we heard earlier today. The musicians are dressed in ancient Pharaoh-type head dress and white flowing robes and are playing wailing bagpipes, drums and clanging cymbals. I find the whole effect most impressive. Bagpipes are not native to Scotland and are mentioned in the Bible book of Daniel, during the Babylonian empire of King Nebuchadnezzar. Egypt was part of this empire.

Pharaohic bagpipe band.

Next day Friday 8th July

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