Date: Saturday, 28 March 2009 12:20 AM
Hi all
Well the whole gang, all 13 of us, arrived safely and well, all on the same flight, on Tuesday morning at dawn. About an hour later we were deeply involved in the chaotic Cairo traffic, thankfully as passengers aboard a mini bus and accompanied by a rep of the tour company. This rep was a fountain of knowledge and this resource was mined more or less successfully by the new arrivals in between gasps at near misses with trucks and donkey carts and attempts to take in and photograph scenes never before encountered.
Our impressions in that first hour or so seemed to universally centre on the chaos, rubbish, buildings whose main means of support seemed to be of the miraculous variety and a sad and plenteous population.
At every turn we encountered more of this, but much of it was forgotten as we rounded a bend and there in front of us was the great pyramid of Giza, turning pinkish in the hazy early morning light -- and this even before we'd checked in to our hotel, which is located literally over the road from the sandy wastes which surround the colossal monument and its companions.
We're ensconced in Le Meridian Pyramids Hotel in Giza. It has a huge circular heated swimmimg pool which is overlooked by the Great Pyramid. Pool swimmers can actually see the 4000+ year old pyramid's huge cone of gigantic sandstone rocks, all cut to shape, while enjoying the waters. Surely this is one of the most surreal backgrounds anywhere.
Our days are filled with sightseeing accompanied by a guide whose knowledge base of the ancient Egyptians seems inexhaustible, and with searches for alcoholic beer at a reasonable price. You see, we can buy beer in the hotel and other bars, and Egyptian wine (made from French grapes!!) but both have exorbitant prices and the latter is the worst wine I've ever tasted, and I've tasted some pretty bad stuff. Everywhere, beer is sold at small shops, but it is almost all non-alcoholic. I say almost because we did manage to find, on the first day, five cans at one small stall in the Coptic Christian area of Cairo -- that's been the extent of it. Wine outlets are non-existent. We're hoping for an improvement in this situation when we get to Luxor, the day after next, on a flight from here.
Lest I appear to be obsessed with getting a cold beer, I wish to relate that the tour so far has been very enjoyable and informative and highly praised by our little crew -- all are partaking as far as is reasonable in activities, given the need for some to stay within a few minutes of a serviceable toilet, no easy task in the wilds of the Egyptian tourism landscape -- 'nuff said.
I won't get a chance to check my email or send another until we reach Luxor on Sunday, if I'm lucky. And after that we'll be aboard a Nile cruiser for four days.
I've included a few pics:
On an early morning walk the first morning here I was greeted by this really nice guy who was running a tea stand based on a coffee table on the footpath. Business was quiet for him as I passed and, picking me for a non-local, he called me over and with gestures indicated that he'd like me to have a cuppa with him. I'd deliberately come out without any cash and indicated this to him but he insisted that this was a gift. Very quickly I accepted and within seconds I was sipping a delicious and very hot and sweet cuppa, contained in a throw-away plastic cup. It was an experience which contrasted starkly with that of many visitors to Egypt.
A still from a movie. The stepped pyramid (ca 2600 BC) at Saqquara, near Memphis, the now ruined ancient capital of Lower Egypt. In the background the smaller pyramid of Titti, which contains at its centre a heavily hieroglyphed tomb chamber, complete with granite sarcophagus (which we visited, accessing it via a steep ramp downwards from the present ground level).
Still from a movie. View of the Sphinx, foreground, with the huge pyramid of Khefren, one of the three main pyramids at Giza behind. Some kids on a school excursion also visible.
Still from a movie. Our gang, less me (behind camera), accompany our guide Magdy, the big guy in the white shirt, during our visit this morning to Saqquara.
Regards
Kev & Mary Long, and all the other members of the travelling gang.
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