Cairo

  Cairo, Egypt
Thursday, April 12, 2007

Cairo - we arrived in Cairo 2 hours late due to flight delay and a suprise Khartoom connection. We found an exhausted tour guide (Amr) waiting for us at the airport. Drove through Cairo from the airport (through old Cairo downtown and to the new Cairo new building's and lots of constructions going on) to our hotel - Zoser.  Hotel Zoser is on the pyramid road, the same road that leads to the Pyramids as described by the guide who along the trip was so sleepy he kept falling of his seat. The drive through Cairo highways at 1 AM was a full story by itself - much busier than Nairobi at noon on a weekday, buses, lorries, and sort of local motives share the same higways with  donkeys and camels.

We got to the Hotel , checked in and slept as we had an early morning the following day. Our breakfast at 8.15am, was about average and even thought the hotel was of good standard we somehow felt like we were back to boarding school dinning hall - loads of tourists may be 100 on the same breakfast buffet- was little less than rugby scrubble. WE we out on time to meet our Tour Guide Randa at 9am and the tour in Cairo began.

We visit the Pyramids of Giza - There are three pyramids in the same areas erected by different Kings times in History.

The first pyramid was build by King Cheops (Anderson claims he will not forget this King because there is a way that Randa positioned her lips when she pronounced King Cheops), height of 147metres but today stands at 138 metres.

Second by King  ...... stands at 136 metres. The second pyramid looks taller than the first one but it is because it was built at a higher plateau and it also has a Sphinx's of the King still standing in front of the pyramid. We get to go inside the pyramid to view the tomb of King ...... At the opening of the pyramid we show our tickets, wait in the queue and ascended down to the tomb via a tunnel where by we could only ascend bending as the height of the tunnel was only about 1 metre high- for once Anderson's heigth did not work for him - three times that of the tunnel you can imagine the struggle.

The third pyramid is smaller than the other two and it was build by King .......

On our way to Lunch, Randa took us to the Papyrus Institute where we get to learn how paper was made from the papyrus  (it is cut into pieces, left in water for two to three days, and then arranged on a pressing machine for two weeks and wala papyrus paper).

We bought one of the drawings signifying ancient Egyptian love i.e. two gods of Love - a man and a woman - `and have our names and our wedding date inscribed on it in Hierography (ancient Egyptian way of writing). After that, it was time for us to have Lunch.
Really nice - buffet and a beer and its time to move again. 

After Lunch, Randa took us to the Nile cotton shop and explains that Egypt is famous for its cotton - Anderson credit card falls victim and he buys some cotton  golf T-shirts.



We then proceed to Memphis where we are to visit the Sphinx of King remese II.   This King was a very famous King, during his time he married 100 wives and had hurdreds of children - in the common egyptian lignual he is reffered to as the machine man :)). This King was based in Themes - lower Egypt and modern day Aswan, when he visited memphis (modern day Cairo) the people in uppper Egypt erected this great statutue in honour the King. The humogous statue of King Remeses II was found almost intact at the location of the Memphis meseum.



Step Pyramid of Sankara is the oldest pyramid identified, this pyramid is close to the memphis museum and even though it is in the vicinity of the other pyramids across the desert it is in the original memphis location. Interesting to note that the pyramid contsruction  skill developed over time, on this pyramid it is clear that the skills improved as the pyramid progressed on the various levels, also around it is a couple of incomplete pyramids which were various attempts by oterh minor kings. The skill develped from small unfinished pyramids, to step pyramid and then to the perfect pyramids of Giza

We bid Randa goodbye and we headed back to the hotel to wait till 6.45pm when we would be picked to the train station to catch our train to Aswan.

Train on time, very impressed with the sleeper couches. The days fatigue got the better of us we sleep soundly till we are woken up for breakfast 30 minutes before we arrive in Aswan.