We met our tour group early in the morning. As we left passport control and walked out of the building where we were immediately greeted (mobbed) by vendors, like right in your face vendors. Our guide, Kareem, was there waiting for us along with our armed security guard. The guard was carrying a fully automatic pistol under his suit jacket. I am sure my parents were wondering what in the world they were doing taking this trip with us. Our group became now known as “Dennis Group”, which was what Kareem always called out to us when he needed our attention. One of the guys in our group bought an Egyptian head scarf for $5.00, Jay bought the same thing later in our trip for a $1.00. We all loaded up in our small bus for our 3 hour drive to Cairo. On the road to Cairo we saw many large beehive shaped structures near the homes. The structures were pigeon houses, where people raised the pigeons for food.
As we came close to Cairo, we could see the pyramids towering above the city. Unbelievable!!!! We did notice how dirty the city was. Trash was everywhere. Our first stop was Memphis at an open air museum which is where we saw a huge statue of Ramses II and the Sphinx of Memphis. The statue was over 3200 years old. There was a vendor that came up to my dad, and dad will listen to anyone, but this vendor would not leave him alone. Dad had his own personal escort back to the bus. The whole way back to the bus the man was trying to sell my dad something. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.
We then stopped for lunch at a place that our tour guide had arranged. As we got off the bus we could see the locals making bread and there was an open pit grilling area. The dining area was outside under a thatched canopy. We had traditional Egyptian food from the area. God only knows exactly what we ate, but it was good. Of course Jay had to try an Egyptian beer, Sakara Gold. The food was pretty good, but mom didn’t eat too much, she was afraid to try the food. A couple musicians played while we were eating lunch.
Our next stop was Sakkara, which is part of Memphis’s massive necropolis, and the burial site of the most ancient Pharaohs where we saw the first pyramids built, the Step Pyramids. The Step Pyramids are the world’s oldest stone monuments. The group did a quick tour in a few of the chambers.
The next stop was to the Great Pyramids and for our camel ride. Just amazing. I only wished we had more time to just admire the pyramids. We were rushed to the camels, where we were further harassed by the camel’s owners. We heard that once you are on the camels and if they don’t think you have tipped them enough they will not lower the camel for you to get off until you give them more money. Getting on and off wasn’t easy either. You feel like you’re going to fall over the front of the camel when it is getting up or down. We rode the camels for about 15 minutes with the pyramids behind us. After our camel rides we were off to the Sphinx. Just amazing. Again, vendors all over. It’s a shame that the vendors are in your face so much that it is really hard to soak up everything around you.
We got to experience the worst traffic ever on the way to the shopping area. There are no traffic lights or stop signs, not that that would do any good. There are 5 lanes marked on the road and they make 7 lanes. And we thought rush hour in Houston was bad – no comparison. It makes Houston traffic look like nothing.
We checked into the hotel, Obeori Mena House, this was a very luxurious hotel. We had enough time to get ready for our evening, which was a dinner cruise on the Nile with belly dancers. Some of the other people in our group went to dinner on their own and others went to a Laser light show at the pyramids. We had the security guard with us the whole time. The dinner cruise was OK and the food was OK, but the entertainment was pretty good. Of course the guys enjoyed the belly dancer, but there was also a male dancer that was unbelievable. The man was an Egyptian whirling dervish, or Sufi dancer. He constantly spun around for at least 10 minutes. It was amazing how he spun and twirled the skirts that he wore.
When I laid in the bed that night I thought I died and went to heaven. The bed was so comfortable, so different from our German bed from IKEA, which is absolutely terrible. I wish I could have taken the bed back to Germany with me.
No comments:
Post a Comment