Egypt |
10.04.2010 |
Having eagerly waited almost two years to finally get a chance to visit Egypt, I was stoked to finally land on ancient grounds. Air pollution and dust hails in Cairo and those were My first impressions of the city but I was soon mystified by the magnificent pyramids of Giza. As I stood in awe of the Great Pyramid (built by King Khufu), the sight of tourists soon faded into the background and I soon immersed myself in the history of the Pharoic period as it was recited by Ahmed, our tour guide for the day. And of course, having traveled so far, how could I miss the opportunity to check out what lays inside a pyramid! I decided to explore the 2nd pyramid, built by King Chephren, son of King Khufu. As you enter the pyramid, you descend underground before you start ascending toward the tomb. The corridors are narrow and only a little over a meter in height, not a good place for those who suffer from claustrophobia.
The third and smallest pyramid was built by King Mykerinos, son of Chephren. Beside it, you will notice 3 smaller pyramids. Thos were built for his 3 favorite wives…
And how could I not try riding a camel in Egypt?? Holding onto my life with my left hand, I nervously managed this shot with my right hand! Camels are TALL, VERY TALL!
That night, we had dinner on board the Hyatt Cruise and watched a belly dance performance.
Day 2 – It was a 2.5 hour drive to Alexandria, a city located north of Cairo and sits right along the Mediterranean sea. Founded by Alexandria the Great, this city is quaint, a lot greener and a lot less dusty.
We drove around the city…
and visited the Alexandria National Museum…
Day 3 – Borg el Arab
Borg el Arab is a new industrial estate not far from Alexandria. My dad spends at least 2 weeks of every month there since he set up his factories in Fayoum & Alexandria about a year ago. And although I’ve seen his glass factories before, I was curious to check out this new one!
We headed to the marina for lunch and to check out Mr Baraka’s summer home. Located about 30km from Borg el Arab, the marina is beautiful development that sits on the Mediterranean sea. The waters are clear but very cold at this time of year. Just perfect for summer! (which I intend to return for another vacation soon!)
This is Nour, Mr Baraka’s daughter, a 10-year old with a brain of a 20!
Day 4 – Luxor
A one-hour flight and we landed in Luxor. Luxor is Luscious in green but because it’s located further south, it was HOT! The city is believed to contain 1/3 of the monuments in the world and is divided into the west and east bank. We started our tour just as soon as we landed at the airport!
Valley of the Kings – Known as the religious capital of Egypt during the new kingdom, Luxor was chosen as a burial ground for the kings to escape tomb robbers. Albeit the scorching desert heat, the underground tombs maintained a cooler temperature and i was mesmerized by the grandeur structure of the corridors and the intricate inscriptions carved on the inner tomb walls. Unlike the pyramids of Giza, these corridors were large, at least 3 – 4 meters in height. No photos are allowed in the valley of keys and the tour guide had already warned us how strict they are but I managed to sneak a shot on my iPhone (which we almost got caught for!)
Hatshetsup Temple. She was the most famous pharaoh and most powerful queen who ruled Egypt in the 18th dynasty.
By the 4th day, I had fully immersed myself in their culture and was looking for my Arabian prince…
My favorite temple of all the places I’ve visited here in Egypt has to be the Luxor Temple. In the midst of towering pillars and giant statues of phaorahs, i stood there amazed, mesmerized and in awe… That such massive structure could be built so many thousands of years ago, when there were no cranes nor machinery!
Inscriptions on temple walls are plentiful. This one below contains hieroglyphics and depicts offerings being made to the Gods.
In the evening, we checked out the Sound and Light show at the Karnak Temple …
Day 5
The day started early, as usual. We departed at 7am and made our way, to Aswan, a city about 300km south of Luxor. The auburban landscape was an interesting one, with lots of green (sugar cane, palm trees and Padua fields) right by the Nile river and the rest of it is dessert. Two and a half hours into our journey, we arrived at a town called Kom Ombo and we made a quick stopover at the Kom Ombo Temple, which, unfortunately after having visited the temples at Luxor, we weren’t quite impressed by.
From there, it took us another hour or so to reach the heart of Aswan and all along the way, I was amused by the many donkeys we passed and camels being transported at the back of trucks. (there’s a camel bazaar in one of the towns nearby… What’s a camel bazaar? I asked… They buy and sell camels and /or slaughter and eat them!)
Soon, we had arrived at the city of Aswan and I was taken aback by the lovely scenery by the Nile! Countless sailboats lined the riverbank and our hotel, Movenpick was located on a tiny Island on the river! They say the water on this part of the river is so clean it’s drinakable and true enough, the waters here is crystal clear, but not enough to convince me to taste it! Our hotel was so nice we all decided to cancel our tour guide and stay in instead. I finally got a chance to relax and tan by the pool!
Day 6 – Like many other tourist, we flew into Abu Simbel (30mins away from Aswan) for 2 hours to visit the two temples and we flew back to Aswan right after. Originally located by the Nile river, this temple, built by King Ramses II was discovered underwater and was carefully relocated to higher grounds (not far from its original site) in 1964. The relocation process took 4 years to complete. This temple is especially special because on 2 days of the year (Feb 21 & Oct 21, the latter being the King’s birthday) the sun shines directly into the 3 statues placed at the end of the temple. After its relocation however, those dates were delayed by one day. The second temple was built by King Ramses II for his favorite wife, Nefertiti.
We returned to Aswan for a late lunch (after having spent so many days in Egypt we were all immersed intheur culture which included lunch at 3-4pm and dinners at 9-10pm!) Overall, our stay in Aswan was a pleasant and relaxing one… We flew back to Cairo late that night…
Day 7 – Our last day in Cairo was packed with To Do’s! We started out at the Cairo museum which I completely loved! I had the pleasure of meeting most of the famous (& decaying, well not really) kings and queens of the pharoic period (their mummies, of course!) and I am amazed at how their teeth, hair and nails are preserved till this day! Most impressive of them all are King Tutankhamon’s (the youngest king who gained power at 9 but unfortunately died of malaria at 19) treasures found in his tomb. His coffin was enclosed within 4 shrines, made of wood and plated in gold. And his mummy was enclosed within 3 coffins. Imagine Russian dolls! An 11kg solid gold mask, together with a whole bunch of other precious and intricate jewelry were placed atop his mummy.
The treasures found in his tomb were just stunning! There were so many items including his chariot, throne, figurines, chess set, weapons and the list goes on! Unfortunately, no photos are allowed and I didn’t dare risk being caught this time round!
After the museum, we stopped by the “Hanging” Coptic Church, constructed and suspended above a Roman fortress.
Before lunch, we popped into a famous silver shop (I had held out on buying silver jewelry all trip long coz Mr Baraka mentioned that the store he knows in Cairo charges half the price of silver per gram!) I say “famous” because The Clintons have been there! Silver jewelry were found in bucket loads and we picked out items like there was no tomorrow! I managed to find some really cool antique Bedouin (they are the nomadic tribes who roam the desert regions of Egypt) necklaces which I absolutely love!!! By the end of the hour, we had spent USD5000! (No, I did not buy that much shit, my dad and his friend did!)
The photo below was taken specially for my nephew Nata who loves elephants!
We had lunch at a quaint Egyptian restaurant at Khan el-Khalili bazaar, located in the Islamic district of Cairo, one of the main tourist attractions…
One thing we had without fail at every meal was the very sweet & yummy honeydew melons!
Apart from being harassed by all the street vendors every 2 seconds, the bazaar setting was great for photos (although I was a little apprehensive to take photos of the people and the stalls coz that would give them a chance to hassle me for money!)!
A very big THANK YOU to Mr & Mrs Baraka and family who took such great care of us during our stay in Egypt!!!
