The Pyramids Of Giza, Cops On Camels & The Museum
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
156
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Giza,
Egypt
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
There are three main pyramids to see here and these are the ones you see in all the photographs, the Pyramid of Khufu, 137metres high (known as the Great Pyramid and the Pyramid of Cheops), the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre (or Chephren) and the relatively modest-size Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinos). It is believed the pyramids were built as tombs. There have been various scientific and alternative theories regarding the Great Pyramid's construction techniques. Most theories are based on the idea that it was built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place but i like to think that beings from another planet operating on a higher consciousness space built the pyramids
horsebackride to The Pyramids
. Building something this big in the 20 years it took would involve installing aproximatly 800 tonnes of stone every day and it was all done so that it fit together with extremely high precision in the measurements. Impossible it seems although one look inside the Egyptian Museum tells us that the people of the civilisation were incredibly creative and intelligent. I still like the alternative alien theory though because it seems like a lot of work just to bury a Pharoah there. Seems to me like the ancient Egyptians were trying to leave something so they could communicate to us in the future. But then again, i know absolutely nothing. There is also the Great Sphinx which faces the sun and is a half-human, half-cat / lion statue that had his nose lopped off by a Sufi fanatic in 1378. We went on a supposedly 'complimentary' tour from our hotel and realised we had been stung again when the driver took us to some stables where they hired out camels and horses for exploring the site. We knew it was too good to be true, the hotel must get a cut. Plus they had us write a faux report online about their hostel. We haggled down the price of a two hour horseride that was to take in a panorama of all the pyramids. Hate to think what the other two ladies from our hotel paid for a camel tour. All good though, we were at THE pyramids and brought ourselves back to the moment. Nadine has a horse riding phobia too so it was a good way to get back on the horse for her.
the first pyramid
We walked through the streets while crazy Egyptians galloped passed us whipping horses and camels. We lined up behind some camels and entered the site through what we think was a dodgy back entrance where horse owners and police have a deal together because we never saw our entry tickets. We were told the horses are likely to run off with us so a young boy holds their reins and walks with us. We skirted the edges of the main site, took some stupid tourist pictures, rode through the funerary complex and made our way to the base of a pyramid to touch the stones and feel the immensity. A cop-a-feel sleazy police man sitting on a camel and holding a whip stalked me by following me around with the camel and shouting at me to shake his hand, a very peculiar chap he was. The police boys here usually are. At one point an old guy in faded jellaba and turban came out of nowhere holding icy-cold sodas in glass bottles. The guy cracked the top off a bottle and tried to hand it to me to buy from him. I politely refuse it even though the whole scene looked like an advertisement for Coca-cola. We saw The Sphinx from a distance away from the hordes of tourists in the circus. This is a mecca on the scale of Argentina/Brazil's Iguazu Falls and Peru's Macchu Pichu. We plan to return for another visit just to see the tourist action, it's hilarious. Next we went to the Step Pyramid Of Zoser at Saqqara and the Red and Bent Pyramids at Darshur. These pyramids are away from Cairo in an area called Memphis where in Pharaonic period, the Nile Delta met the valley and Upper and Lower Egypt were unified
guardian for Red pyramid entrance
. These pyramids were the first pyramids to be built and a little bit of an experiment done before the Great Pyramids of Giza were constructed. The area around the Step Pyramid is still being excavated and they have found mummies, statues and a door with heirogyphics here as recently as 2007. There were jewellery sellers and guys charging people for rides on their donkeys or camels. Nadine got bailed up by one of them for awhile and i bought a cheap necklace to get her out of it. Nadine had a marriage proposal from an older guy with a weathered face who lifted her up onto his donkey. We gave him some bakeesh for the effort. We ran around doing the walk like an Egyptian. Again, the tourist watching was great and we particularly liked the large group of Japanese folk who were sporting golf pants teamed with giant, brimmed, space theme inspired sun visors and trying to keep up with their tour guide who was waving around a broken car antenna to use it as a flag. We have also seen plastic flowers, elaborate walking sticks and feret like animals used as group markers.The Darshur Pyramids, the third largest after Giza were much quieter and we could climb part of the way up The Red Pyramid. On arrival we were greeted by two policemen on camels that were facing each other with a space in between them so that they made a gate that you walked through, the surrounding scenery was a little "Neverending Story" Again, there was a massive sleaze factor involved with the cops on camels
museum tutankhamun death mask
. After paying a guardian some 'take your camera in' money, Nadine did the Indiana Jones down into the burial chambers of the pyramid. Nothing is inside the pyramids because it's all at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo City but she still got to feel the sensation of actually going inside, very cool and she is braver than i am for going in. Even monkey went inside and not many monkeys have done that. The Bent Pyramid had some straight vertical edges at it's base, hence the name. All were experiments done and inspiration for the Great Pyramids.We also went to an open air museum and were very impressed with a magnificent, fallen, colossal, limestone statue of Ramses II. The energy around the statue made you feel good being close to him, a handsome fellow. There was also a cool alabaster sphinx and some more sleazy police guys. A dodgy bloke tried to sell us fake student ID cards so we could get half price entrances at the monuments. These are worthless because everybody tries to use the same ones. We should have sorted some out before we left Australia.
A different day we went to The Egyptian Museum where we were completely blown away. We gave the experience a whole day and still didn't see all the treasures there. It was a fascinating and surreal adventure through time. The ancient Egyptians had alot of gear. There was the treasures of Tutankhaman, grave goods taken from tombs, coffins, chariots, Royal mummies of Pharoahs and animals, jewellery, statues, furniture, whole sections of walls, pillars and ceilings covered in heiroglyphics telling stories, eating bowls, toys of Egyptians and smaller objects like things used for grooming
one of the smaller pyramids
. It's kind of like a giant warehouse of treasures where some things are not labelled and some of the important finds are sitting in old display cases with mediocre security. Scanning all the stuff gave you an idea about how the civilisation worked and it was alot more civilised than we thought. No cameras were allowed in so the photographs here are ones i stole from the net. I don't agree with the mummified remains of people being displayed in glass showcases to the public considering the ancient ones went to all the trouble of building the pyramids as tombs and putting them to rest there. Some of the mummies were out of their bandages. There is supposed to be silence while you visit the mummy room but we could hear the Yanky doodle dandies yapping away and saying things like "oh, so that's the mummy laying there" and reading the signs out loud. I didn't mean to be rude but it took all my effort and would have been a little hypocritical to break the silence to tell them that silence means shut up mate. The wackiest thing i saw was a sculptured container for a mumified goose but there were so many random objects. There were many beautiful pieces and the workmanship was supreme. There was amazing finds everywhere you looked. Tutankhaman had an astounding amount of treasure found in his well-hidden tomb in 1922 in The Valley Of The Kings. There are 3500 items of his on display including a lion throne and gold statues plus his death mask made from solid gold and his coffins, definitely a highlight.Many of the statues and heiroglyphic writing on pieces seemed to be repeated many times so it leads me to believe that the ancient people were trying to communicate with us people of the future. We may return to the museum for a closer look at more detail.
Did i mention that we love Egypt
