Egypt Days One and Two - Uncut!

Taken from my trip journal -- Day One:

Egypt! The great pyramid is before my eyes. What a mass of humanity we had to pass through to get here! We flew from Tel Aviv to Amman (Jordan) and there we were lucky enough to see our connecting gate immediately, but we had to loop around behind it and go through security again. I was directed to a female inspector for my requisite pat-down. She wore a veil and was seated in a box with curtains. She had a bit of BO, which wasn't suprising because it was really hot in the airport. No air circulating whatsoever.

I decided to check out the bathroom, and had to return to Sweetie in order to grab some tissues (they just use squat toilets and only water to rinse in Jordan...). I decided to avail myself of the only Western style toilet in the ladies' room.

We boarded in a slightly random fashion (no line, but also no overt pushing and shoving). The plane was great -- two seats on each side (Royal Jordanian Air). We flew over some of the most inhospitable-looking places I've ever seen. Complete and total mountainous desert.

The Bales Travel rep (we booked the trip through British company Bales Worldwide) was waiting for us immediately as we got into the airport in Cairo. He purchased our visas at the bank window (I never would have figured that out on my own) and we went through immigration after a short delay in which Sweetie's passport somehow left the immigration officer's cubicle, completely unbeknownst to us.

My bag was virtually the first to come out and Sweetie's was right behind, so needless to say, we were very happy (thinking back to my FIVE days without my suitcase in Sicily). We had an entire crew from Eastmar Travel (Bales's local travel company) there to usher us to our minibus. It took us 75 minutes to get to our hotel, the famous and historic Mena House at Giza. it was a very scary ride because traffic is just INSANE.

We took a nap and had a scrumptious dinner at the hotel's famous Moghul Indian restaurant (best Indian food in Egypt, apparently). We walked around the hotel grounds, which are really "Oriental" (that means "Middle Eastern" in the Middle East).

Day Two:
Today we saw the Bent Pyramid -- a pyramid that the ancient Egyptians sort of messed up on because they got the angles wrong and had to tighten the angles as the reached the top. Oops.

Then, I ventured into the Red Pyramid at Dashur, all by myself. In retrospect, it was completely insane for me to go in by myself, without a flashlight, and without anyone else inside the pyramid. But, anyway, I had to bend over while scuttling down the very steep staircase/ladder that descended into the pyramid (as the entrance is about 1/3 UP the side of the pyramid). It was not easy. Then, once in, there were three separate chambers. There wasn't really anything to see inside, except the architecture, which wasn't what I was expecting. I didn't expect the three independent chambers. Anyway, it smelled strongly of ammonia inside and I was slightly worried that I would pass out, and sort of neared a panic-state when I realized how far down I was and that I was entirely alone.

So, I did not linger long and made the hunched climb back out. I have to be honest and say that as a result of that little venture, I could barely walk for two days after that!! I work out regularly and lift weights, but walking into and out of a pyramid clearly uses different muscle fibers!

After that, we went on to Saqqara (with our guide and driver, whom I had hired for the day). There I made the very short descent into Titi's pyramid, which looks just like a mound now because all the outer granite was plundered. An old man escorted me with a flashlight. It was much more interesting inside because it had carvings of Titi's cartouche and one chamber had a ceiling carved with stars. It was truly spectacular and very magical. I also looked in the sarcophogus. It was amazing -- the fine detail of the carvings.

After that, we saw a tomb of a noble where our guide Mustafa showed us lots of pictures and hieroglyphics and carvings that still had the original color from 3000 years ago.

We ventured onward to Giza. The Great Pyramid (visable from our hotel room) was impressive. Massive. The Sphinx was actually shorted than I expected -- maybe this is because you view it not from the base of it, but from a platform off to the side that is much higher than the base of the Sphinx.

Our guide took us for kushari for lunch -- a very traditional Egyptian food. It has macaroni and linguini mixed with lentils, fried and dried onion, tomato and spices. YUMMY. And dirt cheap.