Today we planned to visit the Pyramids, yeeeeaaah. One of the ancient Seven World Wonders and the only one that was preserved until today. Something we just couldn’t miss.

After the breakfast we went back to our room and packed all our stuff, that night we were supposed to take a train to Aswan in the south. In the lift on the way down we met a hotel employee who asked us about our plans for that day. After we told him that we pretended to visit Gizeh first and then leave Cairo in the night, without saying anything he took our backpacks and put them into a closet. We could pick them up in the evening. At least we didn’t have to ask for it, haha.

According to the Lonely Planet guidebook the bus to Gizeh was leaving from a place behind the Egyptian Museum. Good thing, we knew the way already. The bus cost some ridiculous 50 piasters (half Egyptian pound) and the ride took some 25 minutes. Gizeh is a city right next to Cairo, you don’t actually realize where one city ends and the other starts.

Inside of the bus was a guy who smiled at us and suddenly asked us in good English where we were from. He seemed to be really nice and told us that he had some Czech friends so he knew a bit about Eastern Europe. We’ve been talking about Western tourists and that unlike them we weren’t travelling with a big budget. He nodded and assured us how he knows that Eastern Europeans often look for cheaper prices, blahblah. I definitely preferred to look poor then imposing the picture of a walking wallet in Egypt, it meant less hassle at least. The guy started to give us tips how to avoid the high entrance fees at the Pyramids, we just thought in a pretty naive way how nice he seemed to be and our doubts were getting less and less. We even followed him when he gave us a sign to get off earlier then supposed. The doubts reappeared when he told us that he knew a rental place for camels and that he could get us a good price especially if we were students. And using the services of them we could avoid all the high official entrance fees. Hmm, well, we could at least check the prices in that rental before saying no.

The owner of the place asked us in his tent and as it’s used in Arabic countries we got a cup of tea offered. Well, this was exactly the situation we wanted to avoid and the nice guy from the bus wasn’t probably as nice as we supposed on the beginning. But we would see. The owner told us the prices for 3 different tours depending on the transportation: horse or camel. Me and Pavel discussed the offer for a while, we didn’t want to spend too much money right on the beginning, but on the other hand…these were the Pyramids and one of the highlights of our trip. We opted suddenly for the big tour on camels for 230 Egyptian pounds, around 33 euro. Student discount already included. A bit expensive, but…well…once in a lifetime we were here, so what. We both didn’t have the exact amount with us, we had to give him each 250 pounds after he promised to return the change later. Our guide was a 17 or 18 years old boy who was accompanied by a 10 years old kid. Allright…whatever. We sit up on our camels while the owner kept our ISIC cards to arrange the discounted entrance fees. Pavel was a bit nervous if they will notice that his card wasn’t valid anymore. We started moving and I heard the owner shouting behind us that we should give our guide some tip on the end, but not more then 60-70 pounds. Was he kidding? 10 euro???? Our hotel cost 7 euro per night per person. I just couldn’t take this seriously.                   

Our guide leaded us slowly up a small sand hill, the heat was just deadly. Few minutes later he received a call and left us with the small boy alone. Did they suddenly notice that there was something wrong with Pavel’s card? We were getting a bit nervous, but 10 minutes later the guide returned and gave us our ISIC cards back together with the entrance tickets. That was it. We continued our way and got suddenly on the top of the hill from where we had a first view on the Pyramids. They were…so huge. They survived the ancient Egyptians, the Romans, the Arabs and many other nations, but most of the damage on them happened just within the last 40-50 years due to the heavy smog coming from the agglomeration Cairo-Gizeh. Great.

Little stops on our way allowed us to take some pictures. We hoped to get some explanations to this historical monuments, but all we got to hear from our guide was: ”Are you happy my friend? If you are happy, I’m happy.” Over and over again this phrase, heeeeelp. The more often he repeated it, the less “happy” I definitely felt. His main role seemed to be to get rid of the white uniformed guards sitting on camels. We met 4 or 5 of them on our tour and each got a little baksheesh from the guide to shut up and to look the other way. Would be interesting to know how much they received every time.

When we approached the 2^nd Pyramid we made a stop and our guide offered us to go inside while he would wait outside. Of course we were supposed to pay the extra entrance fee by ourselves. I refused, I’ve been inside a Pyramid already in Mexico and it wasn’t worth the money. And I read somewhere that it would be here more or less the same. Pavel wanted to go anyway so our guide explained him the way. While Pavel was gone, we took a little rest sitting down in a shade. I had a look on the tickets the guide gave us after disappearing for 10 minutes. Damn…the ticket cost only 20 pounds!!!!! I was starting to feel really bad that we paid way too much for this whole tour. We definitely got into one of these tourist traps we wanted to avoid. When Pavel was back I told him about my doubts. He seemed to be visibly angry, but it was too late to backup. We continued our tour and approached soon the Sphinx statue. The guy told us that we had to walk there on our own, he would be waiting outside…100 meters further. At least the entrance was included in our ticket this time.

The Sphinx, the statue of a lion body with a human face, was really impressive. Even if it didn’t have a nose anymore. Where it disappeared is still a big mystery which nobody hasn’t been able to solve yet. We got back to our guide and obviously the end of our tour was coming closer because he came up again with his stupid “happy you, happy me” slogan. This time he also asked us to give him a baksheesh. Well, it had to come sooner or later. Whatever we would give, he would be happy about it. After a short discussion we decided to be generous though, Pavel had a 10 USD note and he gave it to the young man. That was 50 pounds, quite a lot as we found.

You can’t imagine his reaction. First his face turned into a grotesque mask of the biggest disappointment ever, then he said something like the owner told us to give him at least 70 pounds…each of us!!!!!!! We got angry, Pavel was in a mood to leave our guide with the camels right there and to walk the rest of the way back on our own. At that point the young man got scared. Who knew what would happen to him if he returned without us. He changed his attitude immediately and was asking, begging us to get on the camels again. Honestly, we started to feel sorry for the guy so we did what he wanted. He even refused to take the 10 dollars from us again. Back in the tent of the owner we found out why.

He complained by his boss about us but without much success. He was told only to be satisfied with the offered money. His eyes were begging the owner for help, but his boss stayed by his decision. He only asked us for some tip for the little boy as well. Great, our guide wasn’t one that liked to share obviously. We gave the kid a dollar at least. The boss brought us a coke from the fridge and let us alone to cool down. But hey, there was still an open bill. He didn’t give us back the change as he promised when we paid for the tour. I was just too angry to leave it like that. I went out and asked the owner directly about it. He looked surprised and told us that he gave the money (20+20 pounds) to our guide together with our ISIC cards and the tickets. Damn guide. He just kept the money without saying anything. We didn’t leave until the boss forced him to return us the change. And we didn’t care that the young man looked like we were taking away his parents or something.

There aren't words adequate enough to describe the Giza pyramids.  Spectacular, breath-taking, majestic, architectural feat, spiritual, powerful - all fall short.  The Giza plateau is a place that everyone should visit in their lifetime.  To stand before these massive structures, one sees how the Pharaohs who built them achieved immortality.  Climbing around inside the Great Pyramid I felt as though I was transported back hundreds of years.  Back to the days of the early explorers.  The torches no longer burn inside, but the dim lighting and few people who venture inside coupled with the piercing silence and stillness brings out the unearthly power of the Great Pyramid.

On a sad note, there are a bunch of nasty words to describe the horrible little men on camels who spend the entire time harassing you to ride their stupid camels!  The Giza plateau is swarming with hagglers who want you to pay them exhorbant amounts of money to ride their rickity, old camels.  They follow you around, dragging their camels behind, shouting, "Good camel.  Nice camel. You ride camel."  No matter how emphatically you explain that you want nothing to do with their flea-ridden beasts, they hassel you at least 15 times before finally vacating your space in search of their next prey. Then you hear the cries of "Good camel. Nice camel. . . ."  And so, the whole cycle begins again.  Or as Kurt Vonegut wrote "And so it goes . . . "  Aaaah, the pleasures of Dashshur where you only have to worry about the antiquities guards who serenade you with the 4 lines of 'Oh Canada' that they know.

My Giza Plateau Check List of Tombs I Visited and Objects I saw:

- Great Pyramid: Got up close and personal inside is labyrinth of shafts and passageways.
- Khafre's Pyramid: Currently closed, so I have to raincheck this one.
- Menkaure's Pyramid: Climbed around inside.  A much more simple system of passageways than the Great Pyramid.
- Khafre's Valley Temple
- Sphinx
- Mastaba Tombs Visited: Seshemnufere IV, Senegemid Inti, Akhetmehut, Khenementi
- Hetephere's Pyramid: I got to climb around inside Khufu's mum's pyramid.  Her burial was found intact minus the mummy.
- Hetephere's burial shaft
- Boat Museum and boat pits
- Giza Sound and Light Show
- Sunset horseback ride around the pyramids
- Riding Arabians in the desert around Giza

We visited the pyramids along with visiting Cairo. It was hot and crowed but definatly a place to visit... atleast once.

So, today we’ve started after just four hours of sleep to the Pyramids of Giza. Because we’re in a rush on this trip (just three full days), we thought it might be a good idea to take the offer of our hotel guys and book a tour to Giza, Saqqara and Memphis for 100LE, so around 12 EUR or so. Don’t get me wrong, the trip was cool and our driver a really nice guy who gave us good tipps and so on, but on the Pyramids we’ve learned our first lesson on Scam.
Because after quick stop at a so-called Papyrus-“Museum“, which was basicly nothing else then a shop for cheesy papyrus art including a quick and entertaining explanation and a commission for our hotel if we buy something, the driver brought us to a friend who is organizing camel tours. Very friendly an entertaining as well, the camel guy offered us three kinds of tours on a camel around the pyramids between 200 and 350LE (25-45 EUR) each. A little suprised on that price we’ve choosen the medium tour anyway, because we where in the middle of freakin nowhere and saw no real alternatives.
So, we did the camel tour, and our first impression was not the best, because the Giza plateau is kinda placed in the middle of a not so charming suburb of Cairo, full of horse stables (Scam-City ;))
But in the end it was great for us. Seeing the Pyramids, the Sphinx and getting some flair of the desert was just great. Cheops and Chephren, the two big Pyramids, are so massive. That impressed us very much and we did a lot of cool pictures and video shots. So we weren’t that pissed anymore of the price we’ve paid for that.
Later we found out, that the current price for a tour like this is around 4-5 times lower than what we paid.
After that we drove a bit more south to Saqqara, where we had a quite good lunch in a garden restaurant for 55LE each (8 EUR), before heading to the step pyramide, the oldest stone monument in the world. There we’ve learned our second lesson: Everywhere are signs, that you can’t take photos inside of the tombs. So far, so good. Now imagine a charming guy, who’s wearing some kind of a uniform and insists that he works there and makes us a tour for free. Still good. While entering the tombs, he was always acting like your best friend when nobody’s around and is whispering that you (because of the deep friendship) can take a few pictures, but you have to hurry.. And so we did, because it was interesting and very impressive by the way. So, but now he gots you: you owe him one, and don’t worry, he’s taking every currency you can imagine, plus a „Kugelschreiber“ (a pen - but he used the german word) for his son. Haha.. Ewa was so pissed after her first day here, because everyone is trying to get your money.
But besides of that, it was a very interesting monument with a lot of tombs and interesting egyptian mural paintings and stuff.
After a quick stop in Memphis, watching some old sculptures including a very impressive one of Ramses II we drove back to the hotel. More soon.

I would not be able to forgive myself to visit Cairo and not visit the Pyramids of Giza, the only of the original 7 wonders of the world still standing. As my first business meeting was to start just after midday, I had only the morning to visit the pyramids so just after 6 o’clock in the morning I took a cab to the suburb of Giza.

I had to get past a number of people (receptionists, doormen, luggage carriers, hotel limo drivers etcetra) all trying to convince me that the pyramids were closed this time of morning and I had better wait and take a hotel tour to the site. I managed to waive them off and found a cab with a driver so flabbergasted by me wanting to go to the pyramids this time of morning that he forgot to rip me off.

He got his wits back eventually though, because he turned out to do what every taxi driver in Cairo does, which was not bringing me to the pyramids but instead driving me to his brother/cousin/uncle/whatever who conveniently happened to have a travel agency and would be able to supply me with the best camels or horses in Cairo, offering me the cheapest and best way of visiting the pyramids imaginable, including a discounted entrance fee and a knowledgeable guide as long as I entered the desert on his camel/horse/donkey cart. I chose to walk…

After I had fought of the taxi driver and his brother/cousin/uncle/partner in crime I arrived at the Sphinx entrance of the pyramids complex, where I found that indeed it was still closed and would not open until 8 am.

With more than an hour to spare I sat down at the top floor of a little café which boasts one of the best views in the world. From its balcony you can see the three main pyramids as well as the Sphinx and the desert that lies behind it.
There were three things that surprised me. The first is just how close the sprawl of Cairo has come to the pyramids. If it weren’t for the wall built around the site there would be houses right in between them!
The second thing was how this could be the only café with a view like this. I mean, there are tall buildings right up to the wall, howcome no one else thought of having a terrace on the top floor of their building?
And lastly, what kind of idiot decided to put a billboard right in front of the café, so that the best view in the world is spoiled by a billboard partially obscuring the Sphinx...

As great as the view was, I decided I wanted a closer look at the pyramids and set out to walk along the high wall hoping to find another vantage point from which I could look over the wall and see the pyramids.
The wall around the pyramids is actually so high and unwelcoming, it resembles a prison rather than a museum, with the difference that this wall is intended to keep people out. And this being Egypt, you can imagine that is a tough job. I bumped into a group of locals, who, like many others, make a living selling souvenirs to tourists. They were entering the pyramids complex through a hole in the wall, and summoned me to follow them. So I clambered up the ramshackle ladder they had positioned against the wall and wrenched myself through the gap in the fence they'd made at the top of the wall, dodging the security cameras as they instructed.

The four guys who had smuggled me inside advised me to wait for about 15-20 more minutes before venturing towards the pyramids, to prevent getting arrested for trespassing. So we sat down on a rock, exchanging the usual tourist to tout chit-chat, while nibbling on the biscuits I had brought with me.
Oh, and yes, they sold me some useless souvenirs. I could not deny them that after what they'd done for me.

At 7:30 they deemed the coast clear and after wishing me good luck they disappeared each into a different direction, in order to find the best spot for touting.
And for those 30 minutes, before the main gates opened, I had the pyramids literally to myself - It was magical!

The place where I had entered the compound was close to the largest of the three pyramids, the Pyramid of Khufu (also known as Pyramid of Cheops). I was wary of the security guards positioned around the pyramid, but rather than arresting me for trespassing they simply wished me a good morning.

The view of the pyramids, I must say, is breathtaking. It is so strange that an image you have seen so many times before on photos and films can still take your breath away when you first see it in reality. There is just something about these geometrical shapes that cry out to be photographed from every angle, and my camera shutter was working overtime to comply.

I made my way towards the main entrance, for though I had entered the site illegally, I had every intention of buying a proper ticket. However, as I was walking down towards the entrance the clock turned 8 and the gates opened. Literally a million people, taxis, buses, minibuses and camels speeding towards me, all aiming for the pyramid of Khufu. The reason for this madness is that the pyramid of Khufu can be entered, and understandably the inside of a pyramid will be a lot more impressive if you are the first person in, instead of having a thousands backs of people's heads in front of you.

I had no desire to go inside the pyramids anyway (saving it for the day when I properly visit this country) as I was short on time, but it was no use trying to be honest and buy a ticket either, so I turned around again and walked eastwards, towards the other two pyramids.

With all the tourists aiming for the sun side of the pyramids, I walked along the shadow side, and once again I seemed to be all alone in this world.

Pyramid number 2 is the slightly smaller, but frankly more impressive pyramid of Khafre. Because it is situated on a mound it looks higher than the Khufu, and it also still has some of the polished limestone casing which once covered all pyramids.

The smallest of the three main pyramids, Menkaure, lies at the edge of what seems to be a huge expanding desert. Even though you are technically still in a suburb of Cairo, it seems as if you are at the edge of the Sahara, and it was difficult not to say yes to the many locals who offered me camel rides into the desert. But time was running out, so I had to decline the offer, and made my way back to place where I had been dropped of by the taxi in the morning, with only one more sight to take in on the way: the Sphinx!

The Sphinx is another one of those icons that look a lot smaller than you'd imagined it. This perception is not helped by the fact that it is actually built in a sunken pit. However, once you can look past that you can marvel at the detail of the sculpture, still visible after these thousands of years.

Once out I took a cab back to the hotel and had enough time to shower and get changed into something more formal before my first meeting. I had proved it is possible to see (and enjoy!) the pyramids in a few hours time, as long as you start early enough.

That said, I can't wait to go back and properly visit the place, going inside the pyramids and venturing into the surrounding desert on camelback.
Actually I have a date with a camel to take me out into the desert at sunset next time I am here. Let's hope he keeps his end of the bargain...

A visit to one of the World's 7 Wonders in the Middle East.

Egypt, one of the place where every travellers ever want to visit, has lots of unbelievably great history and unforgettable experiences for every traveller to explore. A visit to the Mummy Museum in Cairo is recommended (although they won't allow you to bring in your camera for taking the photo inside the meseum). Though there are lots of things in there that you would want to take back with your memories.

Giza, another must-visit place in Egypt, for those who want to see the unseen Pyramid & Sphinx, one of the World's Most Remarkable 7 Wonders in the Middle East.

This is one of the incredibly amazing and unforgettable journey in my life and I would like to visit there again!!

My sister wrote today's blog...

We started the day with a visit to the Giza pyramids and sphinx outside of Cairo.  These are the largest pyramids and one of the wonders of the world. These structures were built during the Old Kingdom 2700-2200 B.C. Each stone on the largest pyramid weighed 250 tons and the structure is over 400 feet high.  There is nothing to see inside the pyramids but we did take a camel ride around them and even got to trot a bit on the camels. 

Next, we toured Memphis which was the former capital of Egypt during the Memses Dynasty 3100-2700 B.C.  There are ruins here that are in fair shape.  The Sakkra or step pyramid was the next destination. 

Driving through the countryside we saw a lot of poverty.  People still using donkeys for transportation and children begging.  We had an early dinner at an Egyptian restaurant with a view of the pyramids and then attended a sound and light show around the pyramids and sphinx that we had visited in the morning.  Our day was not over though, on to the airport for a late flight to Luxor.

After the diving trip, we had another day in Sharm el-Sheikh that we spend relaxing on the beach, snorkelling and shopping. After all, diving is quite exhausting. Pretty much all of the next day was spent in the bus to Cairo, that included the tunnel under the Suez Canal. In Cairo we had no problem finding a centrally located, affordable hostel.

In the morning of our first full day in Cairo we visited the pyramids of Giza. Being the only remaining ancient world wonder, their size and construction could not be more impressive. It was good to be on the site when it opened, because the pyramids are completely overrun by tourists.

Our pyramid adventure began with taxi from our hotel on Saturday morning.  The driver was supposed to drop us off at the Sphinx, however, he decided to make a detour to his friends who offer tours by horse, camel and Giza Cadillac (horse-and-buggy).  Normally when this happens we just say no, however, the sun was quite something and I had no sunscreen and they were offering a tour guide so we splurged & toured in style by Giza Cadillac.  There are tourism police all over and at one point I was climbing on some rocks at the base of one of the pyramids and one was coming toward me yelling something so I thought I shouldn’t be there, but actually he was trying to tell me to go up the other side because I could climb higher!  Our tour guide also positioned us for a few silly/fun pictures and we were able to hang out for a while and take it all in.  On our way down, we had to negotiate to stop at the Sphinx (no cadillac parking) but it was well worth the effort.  It is a lot to see, especially for someone who is in awe of just seeing horses running across the desert!  

After we ended our tour in Giza, we took a taxi to Saqqara to see what is believed to be the first pyramid in Egypt, and we also saw the Memphis pyramids in the distance.  It was nice there as there was much less commotion.  There are all sorts of ruins and tombs around and we were lucky enough that there was an English-speaking tour going on so we latched on a bit to hear about some of the engineering marvels of ancient Egypt.  We also toured a Mastaba which had all kinds of hieroglyphics and paintings on the walls (although most are headless as the tops have been stolen).  Even in an imperfect state, it was breathtaking.  

Next we were off to the souk in Cairo.  Everyone had told me that Cairo is a dirty city and there is nothing to see.  While it isn’t New York or Paris, it has a few bright spots and the souk is one of them.  When people say souk, I picture the souks we visited in Morocco.  This one was so different.  It is crowded, high-energy madness.  There are people coming at you all around to sell whatever and the locals are all walking through at full force in every direction (which is the same way that they drive - more on that later!).  I got a little stressed out when a man came up and put a LIVE SNAKE in my face but overall I was fascinated by the whole thing.  We escaped the madness for a quick bite and a stroll by the Nile (where we saw a sphinx with a head of a lion) & then took a taxi back to the pyramids for the evening light show.  

The taxis in Egypt are much rougher around the edges than anywhere else I’ve been.  I believe this is due to the manner in which they drive.  Have you ever been in the middle lane of a 2-lane highway?  I wish I was a cool enough person to say that you get used to it and it is even fun after a while, but no.  It is terrifying every time.  I nicknamed all of the taxi drivers we had Mohammed Schumacher (which, incidentally, I think would be an excellent band name)  Nobody drives between the lines (even if there is no one else on the road) and rather than using signal lights when changing lanes, they all just honk their horns at the cars in front of them as if to say ‘Don’t even THINK about changing lanes because I AM NOT STOPPING!’  We were trying to figure out what was worse - a taxi with a broken side mirror or no side mirror at all.  Anyway, the ultimate highlight of our taxi adventures was when we were trying to get back to the pyramids and our taxi driver took us to the Ritz Carlton and then acted like he had NO IDEA WHAT THE PYRAMIDS WERE!!!!!  Can you imagine?  Luckily, taxis are plentiful.  The one we ended up with saw us from the other side of the street and did the second-scariest U-turn ever to pick us up - he did the scariest U-turn ever with us in the car - honking his horn as he crossed 3 lanes (which could be up to 5 cars across!).  Egyptian taxi could be the next amusement park sensation.  

We made it back to Giza safely and in plenty of time.  The pyramids are impressive up close but somehow even more impressive from a distance and with no people walking around.  Walking into the light show theater was even more impressive than when we had been in the same spot earlier in the day.  There was some interesting entertainment before the show - an Egyptian bagpipe band!  They played all of the old favorites, such as ‘Egypt the Brave’ and ‘Pharaoh Doodle Dandy’ among others.  Once the sun had gone down, the light show started.  Aside from lighting up the pyramids (stunning!) there was history and pyramid facts and myths and all kinds of interesting stuff.  We loved it.  

We made our way back to the hotel and slept like never before.  We did all of this in just one day!  

WE got a two day delay on our tour, we were suppose to arrive on a Saturday but because of the storm that we got to face in San Francisco we ended up  arriving on a Sunday evening...we were on the runway for six hours where i watched two movies, and after running out of food, the plane needs to go back to the gate for refills. So we have to stay overnight in New Jersey to catch our plane the next day. I was hoping that everything would be just fine after all the mishap in San Francisco, but while i was on the plane and waiting to take off, the captain just announced that we would be having another delay with our flight, something got broken on the plane and it would take  2-3 hours to fix it, so we have the possibility of missing our connecting flight from Milan to Egypt, and there i was saying to myself "if this trip is not ours', i would rather go back to San Francisco now."  Waited for 2 and 1/2 hours for the plane to get fixed and luckily i brought my ipod with me or else i would be bursting in anger.

When the captain announce that we were ready to take off, i felt a relief but yet still unreluctant of what's going to happen when we arrive in Milan.

Anyways when we arrived in Milan, we only have 10 minutes to catch our plane to Egypt, so we have to rush and run. I don't know how fast we went, but we were really fast. Me and my friend were just pushing ourselves from the line going to another gate(we need to pass another metal detector which is very nerve racking because of all the mishap that was  happening to us, and we knew that the other passengers were  getting irritated  because we were going right in front of them, but what can we do, we made four months of planning for this, and we don't want to miss another day.)

Finally, we arrived in Egypt, our luggage was not in the plane, and we don't have any clothing items or toiletries. Our tour guide who was in the airport took care of the paper works for lost luggage, then we requested to stop by the market but he had no time to drop us off because we need to catch our night train. Long story short, we missed  the 2nd day of the tour and we have no refunds for this.

Tired, exhausted, yet i am excited that day. I have finally arrived in Egypt, my long awaited trip. I would experience my first train ride, a view of the only remaining ancient wonders of the world and i told myself that I would not let frustration get unto me after all the challenges we encountered with this trip. 

While i was on the train, i felt  a little bit fascinated with the place, like the  plane they also have a stewardess here,  they are responsible in converting our sits to bunk beds. The room also have a personal sink, a night lamp where  you can also dim the light if you want too, and also have a radio which plays Egyptian music. The toilet, not the most sanitary one, it goes direct to the railways, so it gives you the warning not to use it when you are on a stop. I think i saw this scene when I was watching the movie "The Mummy" starred by Brandon Fraser. Anyways I can't afford to stay up all night, and had no time to meet the rest of the group. They were having a meet up at the center of the train where they have the bar, just decided to stay in our room and rest for the night.

I decided to take the night train to Luxor. With the nice tourist night train you have two options -- either share your cabin or pay extra to have one all to your yourself. Sharing the cabin cost $60 for each while getting one to yourself cost $80. I found taking the train to be a little on the expensive side considering flying to Luxor is about $95 on Egypt Air. Then again, taking the night train results in not having to worry about a hotel room for the night. Overall, the train was very comfortable even if it was running several hours late. Dinner and breakfast were provided but beverages had to be bought. I personally found the view of the passing landscape in the morning to be the most memorable portion of the trip. Overall, compared to the Azerbaijani night trains I have taken, the Egyptian trains were of better quality and service, BUT the Egyptian fares cost over 10 times the amount of Azerbaijani. I would suggest the train to anyone who just enjoys traveling by train, but if time is an issue while in Egypt, fly.

I think that the flight from Istanbul was shorter than the drive from the airport to my hotel in Giza.  But the drive proved to be a lot of fun.  My driver pointed out several of the sites we drove past.  I had my camera out, doing what I like to call “guerrilla photography” or a “drive-by shooting”.   The thing with doing this style of photography is you might get some crappy photos but a few might come out wonderfully.  I got a few good ones of a several of the mosques around Cairo, along with some scary political signs.  Another one that I really liked was a motorcycle with a pedal bike attached to it and two people on the cycle.  The bike looked brand new and it made me wonder why one person was not riding the bike as opposed to pedaling.

By far my favorite photo during the drive was of a little girl riding in a bus.  She was staring at me, so I waved at her.  It caused some giggles from her.  I do not know about everyone else but I always bring some small gifts for anyone who helps me or merely entertains me during my travels.  Additionally, I also have a small bag with some cloth bracelets for the kids.  My driver drove close enough to the bus to where I could hand a bracelet to her.  There were suddenly a lot of smiles on the passengers on the bus.

I made it to my hotel.  It was nice and i just relaxed for a bit before getting a driver for the weekend.  I spent sometime with my driver in a small cafe before we headed to the pyramids.  I was fortunate that the sky was beautiful and my driver took me to a cafe, which had a great view of the site.  Unfortunately, the place charged way too much for food.  

I was very tired by the time we made it back to the hotel.  My sore leg started bothering me again.  I took some motrin and went to sleep.

Hello All,
Today was a big one everybody! This morning I took off at about 8am headed for the pyramids. I was armed with a hand drawn map from the concierge, and the security of being able to see my destination from wherever I was. Parking and entry was surprisingly easy. I paid a few egyptian pounds for the parking, and the about $6.50 for admission, and headed in.

The whole site is an egyptian national park, and there are at least three large pyramids, many smaller ones, and the sphinx located on the grounds. The area was filled with every variety of salesman and hawker, and the pressure was pretty endless. I try to be as considerate as possible when dealing with the high pressure pitch, but you can only hear "Where are you from?" so many times. I respond as often as possible with "No thank you.", but that response comes off as pretty rude when answering the aforementioned question. I guess that's why they approach you that way. It's pretty effective.

The Great Pyramid was directly in front of me on my walk from the parking lot, and the enormity and power of these ancient structures was overwhelming. There was a small opening in the front of the pyramid about 20 feet above ground level, and I assumed that this was the entrance to the inner chambers of the pyramid. After approaching the door and finding out there was an additional fee, I came back to find that cameras will not allowed inside the pyramid. Bummer, but I'll always have my memories.

The interior was amazing! The passageways were straight out of old movies. It was musty smelling. There was no room to stand up, and it was very steep in places. The Grand Gallery is 49 metres long and takes you upwards towards the King's Chamber, which includes a huge granite sarcophagus. The King's Chamber is 5.25m x 10.5m x 6m, and is roof is made up of stones the weigh somewhere around 80 tons. I was still pretty early in the morning, so the crowds were light. While I was in the chamber there were only a few other people inside, and they were quiet.

I spent about 15 minutes in the King's Chamber, some of them lying in the sarcophagus with my eyes closed and breathing deeply. Here I was 6,000 miles from home, inside this 4,750 year old piece of history, alone with my thoughts, just listening to the air going in and out of my lungs.

I spent time visiting each of the pyramids on the site, and checking out the sphinx as well. I was very thankful that my camera had mysteriously started working this morning, so that I can get some good photos. The drive back to the hotel was surprisingly easy. I checked out of the Hilton, and loaded up the car. After one wrong turn, I found my way to the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo. Parking was again, surprisingly available and cheap. I have a feeling that the enormous majority of tourists do Egypt on a package tour basis, bussing from place to place. This makes the seemingly crazy option of driving somewhat easier. Well, I do like to be different.

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities is a huge collection of ancient artifacts. There are two fabulous feature attractions at the museum. The first are the many discoveries from the tomb of King Tutankhamun. The royal tomb was unusual because unlike almost all others, it was found mostly intact. Most amazing is the Gold Mask, which rests over the bandages that wrap around the King’s face. The mask is 24 pounds of solid gold, and is believed to represent what the King’s face really looked like. The features of the mask the eyes, nose, lips and chin are all represented in a youthful way, representative of the King death at 18.

The other highlight of the museum is the Royal Mummy Room. Another additional fee grants you admission to see the 27 mummies from pharaonic times. Some of the mummies were completely wrapped from head to toe, others revealed the heads, arms, or hands of the long dead figures. I had never before even contemplated the thought of looking at a 3,500 year old face, or hair, or fingernails. It was truly a mind blower, and it is amazing that such a thing exists in this world.

I left at about 3pm, and the drive out of town was pretty easy. I knew that the five or six hour drive would have me arriving back in Sharm after dark, but I needed to keep my schedule to see all of these once in a lifetime things. I was a bit worried about the fact that I no longer had police protection from checkpoints on my drive back. There were about six or seven places along the way where all cars are required to stop and present their vehicle registration and drivers license. Only one even asked if I had an international drivers license, and when I said no they didn't seem to care too much about it. Whew.

Upon returning to Sharm with the rental car, and no hotel booked was a bit difficult. I wanted to get a cheaper hotel in the middle of the tourist area, so I could avoid all of the taxi rides and extra expenses. I found a nice place that also had it's own beach on Na'ama Bay, and free wireless internet! I grabbed food from the great selection in the area, and hit the sack.

Later, Phil

For as long as I can remember I wanted to go to Egypt. When I thought of Egypt it was always the same place - the pyramids in Giza. There are probably no other building in the world more famous and more well known than the great Cheops pyramid the last of the original seven wonders of the world. No other building in the world got a more mysterious aura around it - with people today more than four thousands years after it was build wondering how did they do it.

I always imagined the pyramids to be somewhere in the dessert alone. You would need to get driving - or preferable riding a camel through the dessert. But not so. I drive from central Cairo through the traffic madness of the city right up to the Cheops pyramid - it is right there right in front of me - with the city right next to it. Somehow this feels wrong. The pyramid in the middle of Cairo and I dont even have to walk 10 meters to see it. It is not like I thought it should be it takes away some of the mystery of the place.

I get out walk around the Cheops pyramid it is actually a bit of a walk to get all around it given its massive size. You can get inside it if you got lots of cash - I go to use the cheaper option and go into the Cefren pyramid it is not the biggest - but who cares the inside is similar and you cant really tell the difference from Cehops pyramid to the Cefren. The inside is not really all that interesting and you need to bend over to actually walk up and down the steps.

I go on to grab lunch at a restaurant that actually got a view at the pyramids and the Sfinx - much to my surprise the food is actually eatable despite the fact this restaurant must cater primarily to tourist who are unlikely to come back for a second meal the same place. Then a looked around the sfinx and of leaving Giza behind.

Continuing on from my last Egypt entry, the second day we spent in Cairo involved seeing the major sites including the pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.  We stopped in Memphis to visit an outdoor museum which had pieces of sculpture during Ramses II’s rule.  There was a massive one inside an enclosed structure in which me and my friends took pictures with.  After our stop at the museum we went to see the very first step pyramid built.  There was a step pyramid and another pyramid off to the eastern side which looked like a pile of stone debris (very old stuff!).  All the while guided by our tour guide, we walked around this site and took many photos.  There were medium sized dogs out in front of the step pyramid laying in the sand and waddling around.  I felt so sorry for those dogs but at the same time grossed out because of all the bugs that were infesting them!  They were covered in some areas by these non-flying insects and there was much evidence of these dogs being eaten alive.  This was the only thing I really didn’t enjoy about that site.

          The next place we went to was one of the many Carpet Schools nearby.  Just to let everyone know, the tour included going to different shops so our tour guide took us to a few places since these shops supposedly paid the government to bring tour groups to their shops for profits.  So anyway, we go to this carpet school and expect just to learn about what they do there.  The owners gave a great explanation and showed us how theses carpets are made.  But soon after that we were brought into the main gallery of the school where the carpets are on display and where customers choose what to buy.  So they sat everyone down and offered a drink of our choice like Sprite, Coke, or Coffee or Water.  Everyone got their drink then the owner and a couple of workers started to open up folded carpets of all sizes, explaining the material and tossing them in the air as we watched them fly down to the ground until there were layers and layers of these carpets laid out in front of us!  This was all just a marketing strategy that started right when we saw the poor 11 year old children working in the back of the building making these carpets.  This presentation including the drinks were all done in preparation for selling these carpets, because once they were done tossing out every possible variety, the workers or salesmen who were once standing behind us came up front, choosing which one of us tourists to target, and started doing their persuasive marketing/salesmen gig on us!  I think everyone bought at least one thing there in the end.  It may have taken an hour to complete everyone’s sales.  It was really our FIRST time bargaining in Egypt or bargaining ever!  At least it was for me.  It was so obvious that they all were trying to rip us off and treat us so nice at times just to get a good deal out of us.  I really don’t like this way of shopping.  I mean, if you’re good at it of course you can get good deals and you’d love Egypt since EVERYONE there is all about bargaining, but if you’re not too great, it’s really frustrating and time-consuming. 

          So after that fantastic experience we headed off to the Giza Pyramids!  It was an amazing sight to see!  The first of the pyramids was the tallest one.  I forget the details of the pyramids but they were just amazing structures to see in real life!  I was also glad to finally get out of the city of Cairo and to experience what me and my friends imagined Egypt to look like even before we decided on going to Cairo!  Of course everyone’s stereotypical view of Egypt is a lot of sand, pyramids, camels.  Well, once we got to Giza it was very much what we thought it might be.  Of course being there I was able to experience the grand size of the pyramids and see and feel the texture of the pyramids and feel the sand and touch camels, etc.  I really loved how the sun hit the pyramids and how it shined so bright during the day. 

          We then took a short ride to the second pyramid.  Our tour guide gave us the option of going INSIDE this pyramid to see the tomb within!  We all decided in about a minute to actually go for it!  So we got our tickets and went inside for a once in a lifetime experience!  And I say once because I know that I wouldn’t want to go in at a different time when I’m twice as old and I wouldn’t want to go in for a second time if I ever come back to Egypt.  SO, this was a crazy experience.  The tunnel going to the tomb was only about less than 4 feet by 4 four feet, I would say.  Everyone had to hunch over and make their way down a sloped path and then make their way up another sloped path to get to the tomb in the end which had a higher ceiling.  Not only was it a tough way to walk, it was very warm inside.  The humidity was high and the air was thick from body odors and sweat.  Once you get inside it feels like a sauna since you start sweating right away or your body captures the moisture of the air inside on your skin!  So it’s like a sauna except very stinky.  So we saw the tomb and had to travel back the way we came to get out.  I was happy to get out of there, it was gross and a bit scary if I thought about where I was while inside for too long. 

          After this adventure we quickly went on another!  We all rode camels!!  It was a lot of fun!  It was so funny too to see all my friends get on camels and it was fun taking so many pictures and some video of it happening.  I really enjoyed it.  From where we were all 3 pyramids were in plain sight so we were able to get a few of us riding camels and the background of they pyramids in our pictures. 

          Right after this we went straight to see the famous Sphinx (the statue of a lion with the pharaoh’s head on it).  We were able to get close to it just for a few minutes then left since we did not eat anything since breakfast and it was getting pretty late!  So everyone got KFC to go and were able to eat part of our meals, but we still had 2 more stops left��"the perfume shop and the papyrus paper shop.  It was pretty late when we finally got back to our hotel.  It was one LONG day seeing all the sites and traveling to different places and making a few stops along the way.  It was a great experience though, I really had a great time that day!  Egypt really looked lovely in my eyes after seeing the pyramids!