Egyptian Adventure Part 2 - The Pyramids

The pyramids were quite spectacular. What you see in the movies and in pictures just does not compare to seeing them in real life. The scale of such a monument really leaves you jaw dropped when seeing them for the first time. There was the 3 main pyramids that you usually see in the movies and pictures , but there were also many smaller pyramids scattered around the area.

While i was there , i got to go inside one of the pyramids. It was a series of very cramped downward and upward corridors for a good 10 mins then you reach the burial chamber. It was quite small and really empty because of tomb robbers. Along the way into the burial chamber , you could see many blocked off corridors and stuff , meaning that there are definitely other chambers and stuff that have been explored already! You really feel like Indiana jones going through those corridors all that was missing was the fire torch!

Outside of the pyramids there were many people selling stuff and lots of them trying to scam you out of your money. As i was walking past one of them he shouted "Rambo is back". I nearly get into a fist fight with that guy because he was trying to scam me and being quite persistent. Luckily a local came and broke it up before he got hurt :) Here are some pics of the pyramids

The Second great pyramid

After the pyramids , we went to visit the sphinx. Now this was very underwhelming. It was still quite incredible to see , its just that it is always portrayed to be so big in movies and picture , but in reality it is quite a small monument. While taking pics there , there were several street kids busy trying to hustle you out of cash , and some were begging. One kid came up to me and started tracing the lines of my tattoo on my arm with his finger. I dropped 5 dollars out of my pocket while getting my phone , and this kid picked the money up and started shouting that its his. Eventually he gave me back and nearly starting crying because i refused to give him my money. So i bought water and gave him 2 dollars instead. He was about 15 years old i think. Also saw that there was a project in progress to restore the sphinx to its former glory , lots of careful rebuilding was done along the bottom sides of the sphinx. Here are some pictures of the sphinx:

Some of the reconstruction of the Sphinx

 The #1 lesson learnt that day was : NEVER WEAR SANDALS TO THE DESERT!

Egyptian Adventure Part 3 - The Nubian Village

The next highlight of the trip was a visit to a traditional Nubian village. We got onto a small boat and headed down the Nile towards the village in the afternoon. I must say the river Nile is a thing of beauty coupled with the civilization on one side and just clear desert on the other. The view is quite something.

When we hit the village , the tour group took us to a school in the village. Being the desert , there main open areas of the school have sand there instead of concrete like in the more modern areas. we got into one of the classrooms where one of the teachers taught us a bit of Arabic. It was quite fun since he picked out random people to recite what he taught and when they got it wrong he proceeded to administer some old school punishment. It was quite funny!

Once done with the school we headed around the village to do a little shopping at the local vendors. Those guys were awesome. They didn't pester us like some guys did in Cairo but were very friendly and inviting. I managed to haggle a bit and got my Anubis canopic jar for half price!!

Next we went to a local lady, Zahara, who was quite hospitable. she invited us into her house for tea and to spend some time. Her house was fairly modern , had running water and electricity, however the central lounge area also had sand in there. Totally not what anyone is used to! They did keep some pet alligators , just the baby ones. I got to hold one for awhile. She was quite charming to be honest, id imagine that charm would wear off once she was able to eat me! Zahara had a little baby girl , who was cool to let me carry her but started crying the moment i did.. But the baby alligator fought to stay in my arms!

The strangest part of this trip was that the Nubian people, all thought i was either Nubian or Egyptian. It was really strange having random people come up to me and speak to me in Arabic. I can only imagine how much different my trip would have been if i could speak Arabic. Maybe some day ill learn and go back there!

Egyptian Adventure Part 1 - The Museum

Last year I decided to fulfill a life long dream of going to see the wonders and treasures that the great country of Egypt has to offer.Here is my account of some of my trip there.

The Egyptian museum was amazing! So much history in one place! I really wish i had some more time there. The sheer size, details and elegance of the carvings were incredible. There were so many statues and and artifacts spread across the entire museum. Unfortunately no cameras are allowed inside the museum so i only got pictures of the outside of the museum. I especially liked how the Egyptians depicted family and marriage. Kings were depicted in statues as they were in real life. The details use were incredible! Down to the length of fingers and toes!

There were some statues that were 15m to 20m tall inside the museum! The most awesome exhibit was the tomb of Tutankhamen. The exhibit had everything from his weapons to his clothes to the jewelry he owned. This guy was a very young king , he died really young and he had that much wealth in his tomb. Can only imagine what Ramses II tomb was like before it was robbed!

Here are some pictures of the museum, stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow The Pyramids!

Our Tour Group

Some papyrus plants

This is a monument to the political leaders of modern Egypt