The world is enormous;
My surroundings are amazing beyond descriptions;
My life occupies that little part of the enormity;
and for those of you who are unable to experience;
what my eyes sees, this is the place where I dump;
what my eyes explains to my brain."Are you ready to go to Egypt?", HF asked just after we finished packing up.
Without an instance of hessitation, "Yesss!!", I answered with the most expected straight-faced alacrity. She was asking me the most obvious question; one for it is the place I've waited to visit for a very long time, and two, we're already packed up!!
Our recent trip to Messr (actual name for Egypt) was, apart from educational (bleh!), awesome! T'was phenomenal! Definitely extraordinary! My excitement was fueled by preconceptions of what Egypt was – one of the greatest, most complex ancient civilizations to exist on the surface of planet earth – and especially my inability to understand how great structures such as the pyramids on the Plateau of Giza were built. In addition to that, I stood in awe trying to appreciate the massive beauty of the pharaonic temples carved straight out of mountains or rocks, or both. Granites, dolomites, limestones, sedimentary stones, and sand stones were among the thousands of rocks used. There are halls after halls of colonnades (Karnak Temple) the width of up to four arms length, the height of at least 20m still stand erected complete with original (and restored) scenes with hieroglyphs illustrating the chronicles of the glory days of pharaohs. Egypt was one of the world's three most complex civilization to exist.
The city of Cairo is bustling with live, lights, culture, and of course, tourists. We arrived the city past midnight. As our van exited into the cloverleaf's bent, our guide alerted us pointing to the west. Behold, the great pyramids illuminated not too far on the horizon as silhouettes under the glowing moon. It was surely a breath-taking sight, even it was a short glimpse from afar.
We set off the visit the pyramids the next day -- early. Unexpectedly but not surprisingly, the heat outside felt like an oven at 220°C by 8 AM. It was so bright and the glare around was so intense that it was difficult to go about without shade. As for the locals, they use shades to shade themselves from being directly in the sun. They take advantage of shadow casts from walls, buildings, and trees or any inanimate objects that would offer any [open] shelter from the sun. Brilliantly simple!
The height of this ancient civilization peaked with my levels of expectations as well as enthusiasm and excitement. This is the one place I have longed to travel to. We traveled with TravelTalk Tours. We had an excellent tour guide, who goes by the nickname of Yuki, and our group of travelers was made up of young, vibrant, fun-loving, and interesting people. Majority of them are in their 20’s and most of them are Australians – don’t mess with Ozzies! It has been a great and memorable time not just on our part traveling, but also because of the people we traveled with.
Precautions
No trips are ever safe. If one has been to the city of Naples (Napoli), Italy, one should know that actual incidents there are more likely and real. Throughout Egypt, it is generally safe or safer than that of Naples.
There are, however, some precautions that are noteworthy. As long as you are
So don't let your vacation be harassed by unnecessary people. If you're cash-strapped and don't mind being a philanthropist, you will only be stopped when a group of poor people ganged up on your straps and pockets. I'm not against giving money to the poor, but I just don't want any troubles when in foreign land.
Your tour guide would let you know if 'they' have been tipped. Amount to tip ranges from 10 EGP to 50 EGP. Sometimes it's hard to decline to tip, but you just gotta bite hard and say "La'a" ('No' in Arabic) through your teeth.
Suncream or sunblock lotion? You had better equip yourself with a good one. If you're fairer skin (as with most Caucasians are), you'll need it. If your darker skin, you won't need as much as our fairer counterpart. Personally, I think the stuffs that's been going on about skin cancer are all fear-mongering and total BS. I'm not asserting that skin cancer as a result of not using sun block is not true.
Photos (Part I)
My photojournal of L'Egypt
Saqqara: Standing on the steps where ancient Egyptian priests ascends to place offerings to their gods. 
Camel stop: At long last, the perfect camel for the job! 
The camel ride experience from one side of the Giza desert to the back of Khafre pyramid was an unforgettable one. 
Ya'alaa! Heading towards the world famous ancient landmark visible from space-- the pyramids of Giza! 
Look, camel is smiling too! What a great way to express that they too enjoyed having us! 
And we kissed; camels are happy for us too! 
And they kissed, too! We are happy for them! It's what we called a-picture-perfect! 
An outstanding smile from the camels on such a beautiful day in Egypt! 
On the hump. 
HF's beast. This time her beast was much more tamed than the previous one in Santorini, Greece. 
I have never seen anything like it before; [male] camel's genitalia are on the reverse side. Can't imagine? Dog's peepee pointing towards 'north', camel's towards south. That's the best shot I could get! 
With the beast of the desert, after transporting us from the other side of Giza. 
The base of the pyramid of Khufu, the largest pyramid of all after Cheops and Khafre. Each of these base stones weighs at least 5 tons. Stones further away from the ground are lighter but no less than 1 ton each.
Putting the size of these stones in perspective, I stand at 5'10".
On the plateau of Giza, with Pyramid of Khufu as background 
On the ground against The Great Sphinx; a body of a beast with a human head. 
On the ground against The Great Sphinx; a body of a beast with a human head. 
With the legendary Sphinx 
What's for lunch in the middle of the desert on Giza plains? You have a choice of KFC or Pizza Hut!! 
All packed up ready to leave Giza (Cairo) for Aswan by train 
All packed up ready to leave Giza (Cairo) for Aswan by train 
The El-Giza train station 
With Qazi, a fellow ambitious traveler 
The room of sleeper train, albeit tiny, provides comfortable rest. Dinner and breakfast served. Meals not very fantastic but if you can stomach it, you'll be kept away from near starvation 
Arrived Aswan after nearly 15 hours train journey. Our train was delayed 2 hours 
The sleeping car (train) locomotive. Don't expect high-tech modern looking electric-run train. 
The frescos at the Aswan hotel. 
Inside the tabernacle of Philae Temple 
Previous conquests in Egypt left their mark on the walls, just as the way ancient Egyptians do with hieroglyphs. Here, the French, Ottomans, Germans, and various parts of Europes left evidences of their visits. 
The papyrus paper making factory, Aswan 
Volunteered and made my first sheet of papyrus paper. It was a very simple process We stayed over in 3 cities – Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor. We also spent 2 nights on felucca boat along the Nile. The felucca experience has to be an unforgettable one and it’s only because we did nothing for 3 days 2 nights but just sailing from bank to bank along the river from Aswan to an small island near Daraw (24°23'10.94"N, 32°54'28.76"E). It’s a good size boat but there aren’t any toilet facilities onboard. When you need to go, just let the skipper know and he’ll bank up the felucca so you can bark up a tree/bush to relieve yourself. Nobody had the luxury of privacy offered by being confined within four walls. It was done wide open in the air and it couldn’t get any more ‘nature’ than that. It was back to Paleolithic period.
The felucca (sailing boat in Arabic) on the outset looks rather basic and simple in design. Its big mast with huge sail is propelled by winds sweeping along the Nile and steered by wooden rudder situated at the back of the boat. Little did we know that the felucca can be rowed without being propelled by winds. The oars, which are at least 20 feet long each, are strapped vertically to the felucca’s mast. After partying and drinking on an island along the Nile one night, the crew rowed us back silently and skillfully back to Daraw (24.39639, 32.927132) from 1AM to 7AM.
From this point, we visited the crocodile temple in Kom-Ombo, then to Idfu (Edfu), and finally arrived Luxor where we spent another 2 nights. In retrospect, we visited 10 pharaonic temples altogether and some of us, surprisingly, got bored after the 6th or 7th site visits. There could be a number of explanations: 1) It is too hot. From 09:30 to 18:00, temperature averages between 44 and 47 centigrade (we were there in June). You get dehydrated very fast in the heat. 2) Because the majority of us do not understand hieroglyphics, most temples appear to be similar. Therefore, a visit to the next temple, albeit belonging to a different pharaoh, wouldn’t be appreciated as much as the first two or three. The scenes inscribed on the walls of all temples tell a story. Fei and I almost lost interest in another temple visit.
Nevertheless, my favorite temple visits are Temple of Ramses (Abu Simbel), Karnak (Luxor), Valley of the Kings (Luxor), Temple of Hatshepsut (Valley of Queens, Luxor), and the Kom-Ombo.
Among the many things we noticed while visiting historical and archeological sites is the presence of white-uniformed guards. They are the AK-47 rifle wielding Tourism & Antiquities Police! I mean, Tourism Police with a big bad-nasty rifle slung over his shoulder?! “Excuse sir, ‘salamoilaikum! Uh, where is the toilet?”, a curious and lost tourist asked. “Don’t mess with me!!”, grabs his rifle, “Think I’m a fool?! Well, think again! Give me 10 Egyptian pounds I’ll tell you”. You pissed in your pants! Too late! It’s crazy to arm these TA Police with big rifles.
to be continued...
