Egypt - Cairo, Giza, Memphis...and the Sphynx /Pyramids!

So many people I have spoken to have described Cairo as ‘the armpit of the world’ and a ‘sh#thole’, but I disagree. I think part of the reason I am not more affected by the dirtiness around me is that at this point I have been fully immersed in the Middle East for three weeks and will now probably suffer culture shock when I return to the western world instead. However, while I find the aesthetics of the city nice, I cannot say the same for the people.

Cairo is huge – its population is 23 million. And Giza, which sits right on the other side of the Nile, is 14 million. So you can imagine the crazy traffic and atmosphere that these two cities combined create. What I think is really cool, is that rather than having rich and poor neighbourhoods, instead it is all mixed together in one huge melee. So you have a beautiful modern high rise beside a burnt out shell, beside an old colonial building. There are many vestiges of the old English influence (tree lined streets, rowing clubs along the Nile), and there is so much colour everywhere you look. The buildings themselves are all covered with a thin film of dirt – everything here is – but then will have brightly painted balconies, doors, laundry hanging from the windows…it’s like a dirty rainbow. Only problem is that your lungs will also be coated with a layer of dirt after a day or so – I need some fresh air!!

The traffic here is ridiculous. Complete and utter chaos. There are no lanes, rather everyone just drives all over the road at extremely high speeds. At night few use their headlights. And as a pedestrian, to cross the street is to literally put your life in their hands – there are no crosswalks and the streets are huge, so you just run across eight lanes of traffic and hope for the best. There is a freeway that forms a ring around the city, which is 12 lanes wide, plus shoulders in which you can find horse and donkey drawn carts alongside cars going 160 km/hour. In the fray are tuktuks, rusted out mini van buses with 30 Arab passengers crammed inside (and some hanging out the door clinging to the roof), scooters with three people squeezed onto one seat, and then top of the lines Mercedes and BMWs. It is best not to look out the front window when in a car.

 

My first order of business was to see the pyramids – so I hired an awesome guide, an Egyptologist named Dalia who took me to the ancient capital of Memphis (where there is a mini sphinx and some huge statues of super-Pharoah Ramses II. We then headed to Saqqara to see the step pyramid, and some little collapsed pyramid remains nearby. It was obviously nice to see in real life, but doesn’t hold a candle to ‘the’ pyramids. Apparently there are actually 120 pyramids throughout Egypt, but the three by the Sphinx are the best preserved and known. The largest, the pyramid of Cheops, is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. What can I say? They look exactly as you would expect them to. They are massive. You are allowed to climb partway up too, but they feel pretty damn high once you get past the first five rows. Despite warnings about claustrophobia and the fact there is nothing left inside, I decided to buy a ticket to enter one of the pyramids. I feel like it’s something you HAVE to do when in Egypt. You enter through a long passage way cut from rock that is only 3.5-4 feet tall for 100-plus metres, and you have to hunch/crawl the entire way. It definitely isn’t for the claustrophobic or anyone with a bad back. While there are only burial chambers remaining, I still thought it was pretty cool to be inside of a pyramid and am glad I did it. I also came back to the pyramids the next night to see the laser light show, which features a recording by Omar Shariff about their history. It was really beautiful to watch the sun set over them, and then to see them lit up in the dark was totally breathtaking. I think they actually looked far more majestic by night. It probably helped that there wasn’t 5,000 people crawling around the bases. Although in my opinion Petra in Jordan is the more impressive of the two attractions, the pyramids are obviously a must see. Again, just as with many things I have seen on this trip, it is totally surreal to stand before them. Even more surreal to see that Cairo literally reaches the bases, and there is a Pizza Hut and KFC not 300 metres from where they stand. I ended up buying some tacky tourist mementos, even though I said I wouldn’t. Pure oils made from flowers here are cheap, so I opted for some jasmine scent, a tiny Nefertiti pendant, and another with my name in hyroglyphs. What can I say, I got caught up in the moment.

The sky here is really spectacular, though kind of hard to describe. It will be white and fog-like (mist-fog-pollution all rolled into one), and yet through the mist you can see the sun glowing white hot. It’s eerie, and yet, you can absolutely imagine that it looked this way over ancient Egypt 4,000 years ago.

Anyway, the next day I had another tour booked, this time of Coptic and Islamic Cairo, which included a number of beautiful old mosques – including the White Mosque, which is based on the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. I visited the old city, which looks like it was in a recent war (think roofs missing, burned out shells of buildings, and the smell of urine everywhere). There is also an old Coptic section of Cairo (Coptic refers to Egyptian Christians), so we walked through the narrow winding streets, and I visited the old museum, and the famous Hanging Church, and Church of the Virgin Mary which features a grotto down below where Jesus and Mary stayed while in Egypt. I also visited the Gayer Anderson Museum, which I loved! It is the house of an English military officer, who was an avid collector of Islamic art and curiosities. The museum houses many treasures and features elaborate wood and wrought iron, and décor themes from various Arabesque and Islamic backgrounds.

For day three I decided to go it alone which ended up being really horrible and stressful. First off, I headed to the famous Egyptian Museum, which is mind blowing if you are at all into Egyptology. Seeing the mummy of Ramses II and finally seeing Tutenkhamen’s funeral mask were both memorable, and there are just so many phenomenal things there. Sadly, they don’t let you take any pictures. Of course, with my luck, my visit was ruined when I realized that I had some creep following me, who would not leave me alone. I officially dislike Arab men.

Then I walked down to the garbage strewn Nile River for a boat cruise. Despite the filthy water, the scenery is really nice and of course it feels epic to be cruising along the famous Nile River. In Cairo the Nile is lined with modern five-plus start hotels, boat nightclubs and marinas. Our boat actually crashed right in to another boat – so it seems like they drive on water as they do on land here.

I managed to have some horrid run-ins with the local gentlemen over the last day or so. At first I was lucky, since I was sheltered by private guides but I now realize that in Cairo, that is in fact the only smart way to travel. People approach you here on the street and say the stupidest things. Two examples:

I went for an evening walk across the bridge, which I had been told was safe, but some guy came up to me and said “I’m going to kill you.” Awww, thanks. Today I was approached by another charmer who said “Welcome to Egypt, you white idiot.” Yes, they are lovely. I also had one freak in turquoise eye-liner (guy-liner?) harass me really badly, and another loser with what appeared to be pink eye offer me directions (he seemed innocuous enough out for his power walk), but then of course tried to lure me into his friend’s shop and stared screaming “BYE BYE! BYE BYE!” with a red, rage filled face at me down the street when I had the temerity to say “no thank you’. I actually had to motion for a police officer to come help me – thankfully they are absolutely everywhere here, especially since the latest bombing. Not so thankfully, they are too busy leering at you to actually assist. Quite a few women here wear the full on burqa, and I now think I understand why. If I had to put up with men like these on a regular basis, I would choose to cover my face and body as well. Apparently it really is the woman’s choice to wear them – and I don’t doubt as to why they do. It must be quite liberating for them.

I have entered into political conversations with many of the more civilized locals I have encountered (think tour guides, a lawyer, hotel people – not the street freaks), and it’s really interesting to hear their perspectives. People here tend to like Americans as people, but they hate Bush with a passion. And none of them believe that Egypt is producing any terrorists. Rather they think that outside countries such as Yemen are trying to cause trouble here with bombings, to create a rift between the Christians and the Muslims. I’m inclined to believe them – there really is no religious tension here, and people seem pretty harmonious. They seem to believe the conspiracy theories about 9/11 being an inside US government/CIA job quite strongly.

Even though it is winter here, I have managed to acquire three large mosquito bites on my face. One on my forehead, and one of each cheek. And they are itchy bastards too! I’m trying SO hard not to scratch. But they are definitely killing my photo mojo.