Since I had such a great time in Dahab, I really didn`t want to leave for Cairo as I heard the following:
-It`s so dirty
-You will get very harassed by the local men
-It`s so hot and there`s nowhere to hid to get cool
-Crossing the street is a night mare as it`s a game of chicken and many people get hit
-It`s so smoggy
-People will be staring at you since I`m tall and blond
-No one will have change so you will over pay for everything
-My favorite “the city is Whack”
That being said…I`m really glad I was here for only 2 days/1 night.
I decided to take the overnight bus from Dahab to Cairo. 9 hours of fun. The bus itself was modern, but so full. The woman behind me kept pushing my seat forward as she signaled she was pregnant (but that shouldn`t stop me from putting my seat back a little as it was no where near her belly. But whatever. I thought of all my pregnant friends and them being uncomfortable. It was so hot outside when we boarded, so I wore a t-shirt and short. The bus driver put the A/C on and it was suddenly 16 degrees C/64 degrees F. So I was so cold. At the first stop, I got off and asked to get something out of my bag since I was so cold and of course my bag was on the bottom, but I still got it out. Then a man sat next to me on the bus and he must have been 6`5 with super long legs. He also was pushy with the seats as he kept pushing the seat in front of him up and jerking the poor Japanese kid in front of him. So to say the least, I didn`t get much rest on the bus. Makes me miss all the overnight trains I took in Eastern Europe as I got sleep there!
So once I got to Cairo, I knew I was going to take a taxi to my hostel and I had the expected price in my head as I asked the hostel before. Glad I did as I was told 15-20 pounds ($3-$4). When the taxi drivers offered to take me (and my new friend Rod from England), he said it would cost 40 pounds each ($16 for both). I said no and kept walking. It was hard, but I was able to bargain him down to the real price and felt proud. It took us walking away 4 times to finally get it right. I just don`t like to feel like they are taking advantage of us. Rod even said that I did a good job at negotiating that so one victory at 8am!
So after a nap Rod and I were off to the Egyptian Museum. This place has more than 100,000 relics and antiquities from almost every period in Egyptian history. So if I took 1 minutes at each thing, I would be there for 9 months. I can think of better ways to spend my time, so Rod and I hit the highlights of the museum.
Since no cameras were allowed in, I`ll describe a few of the highlights:
–Royal Tombs of Tanis – housed lots of gold jewelry including anklets that I couldn`t imagine wearing as they were so thick and heavy.
-Tutanhamaun Galleries – This was the treasure of the whole place. He ruled Egypt for only 9 years and 1,700 items were on display from him including the death mask made of solid gold and four gilded shrines for him.
–The Royal Mummy Room – This room was very ghoulish and little scary. There were 11 of Egypt`s most illustrious pharaohs and queens mummified in here. One that even had red hair that we thought was strange. I also noted how many of them had straight teeth. Rod laughed when I pointed this out, but I didn`t think they had orthodontia back then. So with this body count, I guess I have seen 12 bodies on my trip (including Lenin in Moscow), but then again I saw about 20 mummies in Kiev, but no faces for those, so do they count?
I will say, it`s really quite different when I was walking around town with Rod, as the locals respected the fact that I was with a man and I didn`t receive any harassing comments. After the museum, I went one way and Rod went another. On my walk alone (in the same part of town, I got so many comments, hisses, hey baby, and whatever else you think men would say to me they did!). It wasn`t half as bad as it could be as I spent most of my time with Rod, and then two other English guys we met that afternoon, so I was around guys and had less comments than I expected, which was nice. Thanks guys!
The next day, August 28th was my last day and Rod and I were off to Giza to see the Pyramids. It was a super hot day (at 10am) when we left, but we knew it would be hot all day, so we went. We started off taking the metro there and got in a car in the middle. Little did we know we got in a woman only car and one local woman told Rod nicely, so we changed cars. The mixed car was much more packed, hot and I didn`t like it, but whatever. We got to the stop and again had to negotiate the taxi. I knew it was only 10 pounds and the driver that came to us wanted 40. I stuck to my guns and got it down to 10. Then we liked him and he was nice, so we tipped him and he was happy. I will say, on the taxi ride, we were on the highway, and were passing horse drawn carriages (carrying watermelon of all things). Plus people were hitch hiking on the highway. Not a place I want to hitch. We finally see the pyramids from a distance (through all the smog). It was really hazy. But when we finally got there, the Pyramids were so worth it. They were huge and everything I thought they would be.
Rod and I spent 4 hours there and saw:
–Sphinx – This was much smaller than I thought, but still impressive with all the details and the front paws. This was carved from one large block of limestone that was left over from the great pyramids.
–Queens Pyramids – much smaller, guess the queens still get a pyramid, just not a giant one
–Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops)– This is the oldest and tallest pyramid. -Climbed inside the Great Pyramid (only 300 people get to go each day) and we got the afternoon tickets. It was so steep and claustrophobic inside, but well worth the extra fee to climb up the inside. I even was able to take a couple illegal photos.
–Pyramid of Khafre – This was the second largest pyramid, yet looks the same size as the great one. The top of this one still has it`s limestone which was cool.
–Pyramid of Menkaure – This is the smallest pyramid, but still nice to see in comparison. After the four hours of the walking, heat and having to tell too many people no camel rides, no junk to purchase and just shooing everyone away from us. One man actually grabbed my arm to move me which made me jump, yet he was trying to be nice to help me get a better picture. He knew you don`t grab another person and I think I startled him with my jumping and yelling no at him.
The last part to our adventure was taking a cab back to Cairo. We thought that would be easier and faster and it was so interesting. There are no lanes on the road, so cars “merge” where ever and when ever. There were two near misses hitting another car, and almost 3 women that were trying to cross the street. Our driver was actually driving slowly and carefully, but still it was scary! The windows in the car had to be rolled down by the driver, as there was only one window arm to roll them down, so they were down, and we were breathing in lots of fumes to the point that Rod didn`t feel too good when we got back. He`s off to rest, I`m off to finish my website entry before I leave for Kenya tonight. I know I won`t have Internet for the next two weeks and wanted to get this all out when it was fresh. I planned to take a Flucca down the Nile, but it`s just too bloody hot and not worth it.
So that`s it for Egypt. Off to meet Amanda in Nairobi tomorrow!