Singapore to Cairo.
I got on the plane, and due to the current climate, I've become very terrorist aware.
I walked down the aisle of the plane, and tried to see anyone that looked suspicious.
That was bloody hopeless, they all looked suspicious!!
Every one of them was dark, swarthy, with lots of facial hair.
After that, I decided I'd better start checking out the men!!
They all looked the same to me.
We were definitely the topic of conversation, being two of only 6 westerners on the plane.
I knew we were heading for hell, when all the toilet seats were up, and there were footprints on the rim.... "Better have a good cack now, and enjoy it" I thought.
"God knows what we'll find in Cairo!"
Yes, the topic was the war, the war, and more war... that's all that is on every telivision set. Everyone is talking about it, and theres no getting away from it.
In the taxi for the umpteenth time, we just agreed that Bush is a tyrant, and that Blair and Howard are his lap dogs. That seems to please everyone, and we change the subject as quick as possible.
The airport was falling apart and filthy. The taxis outside though, made the airport look something like a building out of the future. Choosing one that at least had all the wheels on, we negotiated the price, which was probably a rip off, but was still only a few dollars anyway, and got in. Seats were ripped, door handles and window winders were missing, the dash was half hanging out, and the meter hadn't worked since WW1 I reckon. We said our prayers as he negotiated through the morning traffic. To my surprise, at least the horn and the brakes worked. Both got a full workout especially the horn.
The hotel is brand spanking new, and on the pyramids road. It was only three weeks since it opened, so there is still building work going on. Strange... the place looks 30 years old!!
Bit hard to explain really, maybe I'll try another time.
Things are dirt cheap here. However, we went into the Nile Hilton to cool down in their air conditioning. Whilst there, we decided to have coffee and cakes, served to the table, with table cloths, silver cuttlery, and the works. The total cost was a mind boggling, rip off price, of 21 Egyption pounds!!!
That's a disgusting 6 dollars Australian if you are in the land down under!! Roughly half of that if you are in the tyrants country (Bush), and if you are anywhere else you'll have to look it up.
Hahahahaha... I would have paid at least double (Shhhhhhh......).
We did the pyramids this morning, and were there really early. Even the beggars were rubbing sleep from their eyes as they chased us.
When the gates finally opened we bought our tickets, and instead of following the rest of the tourists, me being me, zoomed off towards the horizon shouting "Orrance..... Orrance...." This was from 'Orrance of Arabia' in case you don't know.
Watch the film... he does say 'Orrance', honestly.
Anyway, I decided to head off away from the usual path, and dragged an unwilling woman through this grave yard, miles away from the rest of the tourists. On the way back, I'm poking my head down all these holes, looking at half buried buildings, and find these two guys listening to some wailing music. We are way off the beaten track so I start talking to them, and they invite me in. Next, one of them goes into speach mode, and starts to give us a tour. He shows us around and I sling him a tip (10 pounds ($3 AUS)), then he says
"Hey, you want to see some real live (well dead) bones??"
"Streuth, bloody oath, crikey, Not arf, lead on my good man" I say.
This confused him a bit (don't know why?), but he grabs some keys, passes me over to his mate and we go next door. He unlocks all these doors, and invites me down a hole in the ground.
I'm begining to wonder if the bones we are going to see, are in fact the last lot of tourists he murderd and robbed using the same ploy. I make sure he stays in front of me, and we climb down.
We have to scale down this thing in the dark, with a single dodgy torch, that he keeps slapping on his hand to get it to keep working. There was no way Stella could get down there, so I left her in the dark at the top, and told her not to talk to strangers (as one does). I'm not quite sure why, but she started whistling and singing to herself!!
Anyway back to the plot...
A quick scramble through a tunnel on hands and knees, and sure enough we are in a burial chamber. True to his word, in the glow of this failing torch are the bones and a scull of someone long departed, looking at us.
Amazing.... I go 'click' 'click' with the camera, and crossed the fingers hoping the pics come out.
Im taking orders by the way, so get in quick if you want a set.
After talking to the guy (back in the safety of sunlight), it appears that apparently, this dead guy was a chief builder or something, and warranted a lesser hole, a fair way away. They were still excavating it, so it wasnt open to the public or anything. 10 more pounds later, for the second guy, and we are on our way again.
We made our way over to the pyramids, and discovered the next notable thing about them (besides them not being as big as I thought)... CAMEL SHIT!!!!
Tons of the bloody stuff... its everywhere. The government here are saying that they are preserving the pyramids. I reckon they are doing it by burying them in camel shit.
So duck shit is OUT and camel shit is IN folks......
I dont want to hear anymore about duck shit ok???
Those of you that dont have a clue what Im talking about have not been following my adventures properly.
There was also tons of garbage blowing about all over the place. Seemed a shame for something so important to be in disrepair. The government has no funds and not enough tourists come I guess.
We had a good look around the pyramids, took some pic's and played dodge the beggars. We even had to dodge a cop on a camel that kept perstering us to go with him.
The next day we did the Cairo Museum, King Tut and all that. It was great when you first go in, but it all becomes a bit same'y after a while. There are only so many sarcough... sarcoffa... sircofigus.... 'STONE COFFINS' you can look at!!!
Tomorrow its off to the Kasbah or whatever they call it, and the old Coptic Cairo. Coptic Cairo is where the city of Babylon was. If you are a 'Telepath' from Babylon5 they need you there.
That will just about do us, and its off to Malta the next day.
Regan