Konnichiwa Egypt (Part III)

12th February 2008 , Tuesday

Woke up at the ungodly hour of 3 in the morning yet again. This is due to the 3 hour drive to the temple of Abu-Simbel . So essentially we had to give the bus about 6 hours to drive to and fro from the temple and had to back by lunchtime for the other activities in store for us on the day.

The hotel was kind enough to pack us breakfast in these cardboard boxes cause we most definately were not gonna be able to be back in time for breakfast. Most of us didn't really eat much at all cause everyone pretty much went to sleep on the bus. Me being me couldn't really sleep and so just stayed up and looked at the scenery outside. At around 3.00 in the morning there was pretty much zero visibility outside BUT since we were in the middle of the desert and far away from any man made light source from cities, the stars shone like i've never seen them before. The whole early morning sky was literally GLITTERING with all the stars. And then it happened.

I swear on my life that i saw a shooting star ! It was a tiny little white thing with a short streak at its rear. However , it didn't really shoot across the night sky like you see them in movies but rather in a small area of the pitch blackness of the sky. I thought to myself , "what a magical moment. .simply magical" and then i proceeded to wolf down my hard boiled eggs from my packed breakfast. It too was absolutely delicious.

Reached Abu-Simbel around 6 something in the morning. Went right to the toilets and proceeded to see the 2 huge ass-ed temples .

Abu-Simbel , as i said before , is one of the must-go-to places when you're in Egypt as it is seriously pretty awesome to look at. Furtheremore, one of the temples was transported stone by stone from the rising Lake Nasser to the neighboring island to prevent its complete submersion in the lake. If Mr Habibi didn't tell me that i would've thought it was right there from the get-go.

From left to right : Ramses II when he was 30 , 40 ,50 and 60( which is when he shaved)

Abu Simbel and I

Pictures weren't allowed to be taken inside the temple not because that mummies or ancient curses would arise if you do but rather they wanted you to BUY the pictures from them. Smart buggers. Inside the temple , the walls were filled with 'propaganda' pictures or rather pictures of the pharoah ramses giving a nice ass-kicking to his enemies and the like.

So after having our share of sand , blocks of stone and of course Ramses II, we bopped back into the cruise for a quick shower and lunch. After some more mid-eastern cuisine we went off to other places like High Dam , Temple of Philae. I'm sure that a quick reference in wikipedia will get you the specifics of the places as to me they are both wonders of architecture that has me thinking . . "These fucking egyptian must've been born with hard hats on em ! "

So at the end of the day we had a nice Felucca ride across the Nile. Now a Felucca is kinda like a boat that doesn't use nothing but wind for propulsion. It was alright i suppose. But the kicker of it all was what my sister asked me. She said something like .. . 'Hey why's this Egypt trip so rude?' My reply was . .' What do you mean?' . .she said 'Well first there was a Labia Party and now there's a Fellatio Ride .. .wtf man?! ' By that time i was laughing like a man outta Bedlam. If you don't know it already , my sister's a real piece of work.

Anyway, to end the day we were to spend a night in a Night Sleeper train bound for Cairo which would take about 12 hours . . i know.. crazy right? Well it was a 6pm to 6am ride so we were pretty tired by then. The train 'rooms' were a disgrace. They consists of 2 bunks , one on top of the other and enough room for the legs of 2 petite ladies if the sat straight up . . man , I've seen dustbins bigger than those rooms. But i have to admit , sleeping on the top bunker was the best sleep i ever had in some time. . . it was like being in a baby pram all over again. Lovely, simply lovely !

Living Da Vida Loca In The Train

13th February 2008 , Wednesday

Wake up call was at around 6.00, breakfast at 6.05 and got out at the Cairo Station at around 6.35 and got onto ANOTHER bus to the one . .the only The Pyraminds of GIZA !!

So you've seen them in pictures, you've watched The Mummy more than once. . Well so have i before i went to Egypt but STILL i was shocked and DUMBSTRUCK when i saw the sheer size and beauty of it. I mean seriously , go ahead and laugh at me but when you get your sorry asses to Cairo , Egypt and see the big bitches with your own two eyes you'll know what i mean. They . Are . Beautiful. In an enigmatic kinda way.

fooling around the pyramids

We didn't actually go INTO the pyramids but it was possible. According to one of me tour-mates , it was REAAAALLLY narrow.. like barely enough space for your shoulders narrow, and it was low as well, where he had to kneel and bend his head down alittle bit. And thats just the half of it. As you proceed deeper into the pyramid , which is kinda like a huge V tunnel where you'll have to descend and then ascend , the air gets thinner and thinner and it gets harder to breathe. So if any accidents were to happen while you're in the tunnel it'd be REAAALL hard to get anyone in to help you or get you out in time.

So anyway , after seeing the fullness and pointyness of the pyramids ( and not to mention some intense camwhoring) we set off to the next point of travel. The Sphinx !! For those of you who aren't too sure what the thing i mentioned is , its the thing with a body of a lion and a head of a human. OR you could see it in the ensuing pictures.

The Sphinx !

The Sphinx ! with me and my sister

The Sphinx ! , Coco Chanel cameo and a bad kisser

So there I was . . a few feet from the protector of the pyramids. Too cool , man . . . too frickin cool ! ZOMG! i almost forgot. Well in between The Sphinx and The Pyramids , I had me a goddamn CAMEL RIDE ! As in a real , walking , smelly , bellowing CAM-ELL !! Well actually they weren't that smelly . . . or rather they weren't smelly enough for my rubbish sense of smell to pick up any smell. However , i DID notice a peculiar smell wafting around me and the other people who went for the camel ride . .though it wasn't foul in any way . .it was more like. . .musty-ish. Hahah.

Me , the camel and camel boy

So anyway , after that we went for lunch and the proceeded to some Papyrus Factory where they showed us how papyrus was made old skool style. And this is where i , according to my mum , wasted my money on papyrus bookmarks. Shee-esh. Talk about cheapos. Anyway , the rest of the day was back at a new hotel getting some R and R after a pretty badass day. Lol

14th February 2008 , Thursday (Last Day)


The first thing on the itinerary today was a visit to the Muhammad Ali Mosque and no, not the boxer but the 'founder of modern Egypt' . Initial thoughts about the mosque were ; "A mosque? Right. Y'all go on ahead. I'll be taking a nap in the bus. I've seen one too many mosques back home already" . This however was not to be. It was a mosque in name but a citadel in practicality in ancient times. I don't know much about ancient or modern architecture and the sort and haven't really seen my share of it all but GOD-DAMNIT ! The mosque was simply beautiful. Y'know i'm wondering if i'm using the word too much. Beautiful i mean. Heh. But seriously , there's no other word to describe it. Every inch of the place was beautifully made with a very royal kinda feeling to it. The interior of the mosque had a certain vastness in it. It isn't particularly huge but it seemed that way.

Although it wasn't that big inside , it is still pretty hard to give sermons by shouting alone so the place is built with a natural speaker system which was demonstrated by our good friend , Mr Habibi. He shouted the words 'Alaaaaah Ooh Akhbah' (this is by no means the real spelling of it but just what is sounds like when he said it ) and the words reverberated throughout the whole mosque. Echos. Pretty cool stuff for a 151 year-old mosque.

The Muhammad Ali Mosque

At the Entrance

Inside the mosque

Awesome awesome stuff indeed. Well after the mosque the rest of the day was pretty much dull. We went to a bazaar to get some knick knacks for the peeps at home and we had a surprise for dinner. We got our first taste of Egyptian Chinese food. Hahah. Our first chinese food in ages . .or rather 8 days. I have to admit that the food there was pretty good by my standards. Quality was good but as for quantity. . we didn't quite had our fill yet when the food ran out. HAHAHAH. Yeah. . .heh

So that was pretty much our whole experience in the Egypt.

I didn't get to ride no roller coasters but i rode a camel ,
I didn't get to see Mickey Mouse but i got to see The Sphinx,
I didn't go to a beach with blue seas but i did go to a temple in the middle of the desert,
I didn't get to see the Empire State building but i saw its equivalent 3000 years ago,
I didn't see lush tropical rainforests but i saw endless dunes of sand and dust ,
But more importantly , I didn't go there for a holiday , I went there to see with my own 2 eyes the oldest and perhaps one of the greatest civilizations in known history.