Out to the Desert

After my high-priced trip to see the pyramids that I arranged through the hostel, I was somewhat apprehensive about the rest of what I had booked through the hostel. I had booked two other trips through them, and given the apparently ridiculous mark-up on transport to the pyramids, I was wondering what it would be like for the next trip, the night in the desert. But the money had been spent and it was now water under the bridge, as it were. Now I would either have to go and try to winge my way out of it, or just try to have the best time possible. And it was always possible the taxi business to the pyramids was a one-off. Maybe it had really been a surprise to Mohammed. Okay, I know. I'm rationalizing and just trying to hide the fact they ripped me off.

Heesup had also signed up for the trip and she had told me that she found other trips to the desert, that sounded similar, if not exactly the same, for 200 pounds less than what we were paying. Koreans always seem to find the best sorts of deals for these kinds of trips. But again, we had paid and now it was just time to suck it up and have the best time possible.

So, bright and early, we got up and, along with a couple of American girls who were also going, got ready to go to the bus station for the 8 o'clock bus. There were two other people who were also supposed to go, but they had slept in believing that an overnight desert trip that was going to require several hours of travel to arrive at the site of the camp would be leaving at 8 in the evening instead of in the morning. I don't know how anyone could have a thought process that went like that, but they managed it. As a result, they decided to go the next day and it was going to just be the four of us. It was also New Year's Eve, so I was doubly happy. I would be spending New Year's Eve under the stars in the desert with, hopefully, profound silence surrounding me. Even grossly overcharged for the trip, it would still be worth it for just that.

We headed to the bus station and then rode a bus for about 5 hours to get to Baharia Oasis. This is the first and most accessible oasis from Cairo. It is also the biggest oasis in Egypt. In Baharia's town, we were met by Sammy, our guide. He put the two girls into one vehicle and put Heesup and I into another. Then we were off to the desert. Only the two vehicles separated at first and we went to one spot to wait for Sammy. We waited and waited and no Sammy. Eventually we began to wonder what was going on, and the two guys in our vehicle seemed not to know what was going on either. So Heesup and I called the hostel to find out. This seemed to cause some consternation with everyone, with them thinking we were afraid or distrustful. We simply had no information about what the heck was going and we wanted to be informed.

Eventually we did meet up with Sammy again and headed out to the desert. But this was not an auspicious start. This trip was starting where my last one had left off, with me (and Heesup and the two other girls) having not enough information about what was going on. But again, the money was paid and we were out in the desert, so there was little else practical to do other than to take a deep breath and assume it was going to work out better in the end. So I went with it.

We drove out to the desert. First we stopped at a place called the Black Desert. This was an area where a bunch of volcano-like mounds were sitting all over the desert floor. Sammy told me they were in fact extinct volcanoes, but I'm not quite convinced. In any case there was volcanic rock all over the desert floor, and it was mostly black, hence the name of the area.

Shortly after that we stopped at some place that seemed to be associated with Sammy somehow for lunch. This was not totally unreasonable, as all tours in these less rich nations seem to stop at places with the operator. More money into his/her system.

And then it was off into the White Desert National Park. Here the sands were white. And, although I wasn't to find this out until the next morning in the light of day, there were all these fantastically shaped rock structures jutting out of the desert floor that were of white limestone. Apparently the whole area was the sea floor at one point in time.

Just at the entrance to the national park there was a formation called the Crystal Mountain. It was made of some kind of crystals covered by rocky deposits. It was quite nice-looking.

And was a good place to watch the sunset.

Then we headed to the camping area. It was by now dark and so it was impossible to see the landscape. At the campsite, we could see these fantastic shapes looming in the darkness, but only those that were close by. It promised a nice view for the morning in the light of day though. Camp was set up and we had some dinner, and a nice fire. But it is winter and it was quite chilly. In fact it was downright cold. As I have been in tropical countries for some time, I really don't have much warm weather clothing, and I was a bit worried about how I would fare. I was going to be in a tent by myself and nothing much to keep me warm. Hmmm...

But the main event was midnight for me. The others, all seven of them (three visitors and four “staff”) went to bed before midnight and I was left alone to greet the new year. This was not a problem for me as I wanted to experience the night in silence. The half moon set some time shortly before midnight and as the new year came, the dome of stars was bright above me. The silence of the desert was profound, even with the whoops of people from nearby campsites. I was very happy to see the night sky again, and I missed the times in the past when I have seen it before. I resolved to find some way to do so again, soon.

Then I went to bed myself and spent a mostly sleepless and frozen night trying to keep from shivering myself to death. I think I probably got about an hour of sleep before dawn came and we were roused. The two American girls had decided to remain for one more night in the desert, which really made sense, as Heesup and I had spent eight hours in vehicles the day before (as had we all) to get to the desert camp site, only to spend about 12 hours, much of that asleep (or trying to be) before getting up very early to head back to Cairo, eight more hours in vehicles away. And all for the low, low price of about 100 dollars. It didn't seem to be worth it. Personally it was worth about half that, so the markup by the hostel wasn't as gross as the pyramid scheme had been, but it was still quite bad. I was getting less impressed with the hostel's “help.”

But on the way back to the bus station in Baharia, we stopped at a couple of spots in the White Desert to see some of these fantastic shapes close up. In particular, there were the mushroom and the chicken rocks. But the whole area was full of amazing white rocks sticking up out of the desert floor. What nature can do really is stunning.

And then it was a return to Cairo to prepare for the train trip to Aswan that evening.

I am glad that I went and experienced that night in the desert. It was a fantastic night in many ways. But it was way, way overpriced, and anyone asking me if they should do it would get a resounding, “Yes!!!” But they would also get the suggestion to find someone who charges less. I know they are out there. And they should also plan on more than one night out there. It's too much travelling for just one night.

Redemption of the Pyramids

I had been moved from a private room in the hostel into a shared room. My roommate was a Korean. Her name was Heesup. She has been travelling for a few months. She actually recently completed the El Camino pilgrim trail in Spain. She scoffs at the suggestion that finishing that 800 kilometer walk is an impressive feat that makes her impressive. But I think she is.

She had arrived the day after me and was looking to get out to the pyramids herself. After Mohammed's lukewarm response to my difficulties with his driver, I wasn't about to suggest to anyone that they follow the same route. I told her to take the bus. And then since I was headed there again to go out with Omar, I suggested we go together. She agreed.

So we got up and headed off to the pyramids the next morning. What had cost me 180 pounds to do with all kinds of hassles to pass through on the way, cost us 2 pounds one way on public transport, with no stop in a papyrus factory, and being able to walk right on by the camel places outside the gates. I gave her a couple of pointers about just ignoring anyone who approached her. I even suggested that she pretend to be completely Korean and that she didn't understand any English. That would take care of most of the touts. Then she went in and I went off to meet Omar.

I dodged the touts again as I made my way around to the other entrance, the Sphinx entrance. It turned out that there were three entrances for the pyramid area. One was the Sphinx entrance, where I exited the day before. I had agreed to meet Omar there. But I hadn't understood his insistence on it being the Sphinx entrance. Another entrance was for camels and horses, where I had gone in the day before. But when Heesup and I got on the bus to go to the pyramids, we had asked for the pyramids. The driver told us where to get off to go to the pyramids. And it was a third entrance. This left me with a long walk/jog/run around to the Sphinx entrance. And I thought it was going to be quite a simple matter to get around to there. I expected it to be about 5 or ten minutes. It turned out to be about a half hour walk. I was very late meeting Omar. Luckily, Heesup had a phone and I called Omar to let him know I was coming.

I arrived and we hopped up on his camel and headed off almost immediately. Our initial route was on roads. The army had claimed some land as a training facility between the Giza site and the next sets of pyramids further south. This disrupted the route through the desert between the areas. It was an interesting swing through the streets, and I got to see people doing normal people things in Egypt. It still would have been nice to be able to go all the way through the desert.

After a while we got past the military base and were able to enter the desert. We started through a cemetery. That was quite interesting. All the families in the area had family plots with a number of tombs for their dead. Here they bury the bodies, rather than cremation or other forms of preparing the body (like mummification).

From the cemetery, we entered the desert proper. Unfortunately, the first part of the desert area was the part where they are treating it very badly, as a garbage dump. It's a sad sight actually, all that trash covering the sands. Some of it is burned, but a lot is just mounded up piles of trash. And it is extending out into the desert further every day. As we passed through this area, I noted ten or twelve garbage trucks taking garbage out to be dumped in the desert.

But then it was out into the desert. And although it still wasn't the desert as I think of it, with great sweeping dunes of yellow sand rolling away into the distance, it was just the desert on one side of us and silent estates on the other. I was away from the tourist scene, and doing it on my own terms. I was happy, and I felt my experience of the pyramids changing.

By the time we reached the set of pyramids between Giza and Saqqara, the pyramids had been redeemed, due in no small part to Omar and his gentle approach to tourism.

When we reached the first little pyramid, and I think it was called the Temple of the Sun, we passed by a caretaker for the site. I suppose it should have occurred to me that there would be a caretaker there. But it didn't. It also meant that I would probably be paying out some money for the visit.

The caretaker came up on the pyramid with us and showed me around. There was a big table top area, where meals were served. Apparently. I'm not entirely sure that anyone who is not an archaeologist would be able to say with any kind of authority what happened there, but it did look like a table.

Nearby were some bowl-shaped stones that looked like they could have been, as I was told, places where the animals for meals were killed and prepared.

And there was a small pyramid. It was pretty cool.

In the distance, over a hill, was a set of three larger pyramids. In order to get a good shot of them, I climbed the hill to get a look. Omar offered to have me ride the camel up the hill. But I don't ride a lot, and certainly not camels. It had been a better than two hour ride out to these pyramids. I was in pain and actually not really looking forward to the ride back because of it. I certainly didn't want to hop on the camel right away and go to the top of the hill, even if it was only a matter of a couple hundred meters. So I walked. Omar and the caretaker waited.

I got some nice photos of the three pyramids. And I watched a few people ride by on horses, heading towards Giza.

While I was up on the hill, Omar waited with the caretaker at the temple. And sometime during my time away, the caretaker apparently managed to get in touch with the site archaeologist. And he came to the temple, so that when I got back down to the temple, he was there waiting. And though it was not overt, it hung in the air that he was there with his hand out. Omar advised me to pay just a little. He even offered to pay for me. But I came knowing that it wouldn't necessarily be a simple matter of visiting a place away from Giza, so I told him it wasn't his responsibility, and I gave the guy first 10 pounds, and then when he protested, 5 more. He still wasn't happy, but I was prepared to head in and buy a ticket for the area, and give the guy nothing if need be. He didn't press me any further, though, and Omar did say something about it to him.

Then we went to the caretaker's hut and sat and had some tea while the camel had a meal of clover that Omar had brought out with him. The caretaker also brought out some artefacts that had been found at the site. This was just a collection of bones from something that he said was connected to the temple, but there was no way to tell for sure. I suspected that if they really were connected to the temple, they wouldn't be in a tattered box in the caretaker's possession, but I didn't say anything. No need to be a rude guest.

Then it was his turn to get a handout. I made him settle for 30 pounds, since he had provided the tea and had shown me around the temple, but he also kicked up a fuss. I think Omar did translate my solution of buying a ticket and giving him nothing. That seemed to shut him up, although he was no happier about it than the archaeologist. It would be nice if they understood that coming from a nation that is rich doesn't automatically make me a rich person. Oh well.

Then it was time to head back to Giza. We kind of retraced our steps, but Omar found a better way back, along the back streets of Giza surrounding the pyramid area. And in the distance we saw the great pyramids looming over the community. I guess it must be kind of ho hum for the people around there, but as a visitor, I found it really cool that they could get to live in the shadow of those things. As you can tell, my experience of the pyramids had changed. I was finding them to be pretty cool on this day.

At length, we arrived back at the Sphinx gate and Omar took me to a perfume shop. This was the sole black mark against him. I really didn't want to visit the shop, but I let him take me anyway. There was someone I thought I could give some perfume to if I could get it for a small enough price. I did, without much effort (which leads me to suspect that I could have done much better than I did), and then we were out of there.

Omar walked me to the bus stop area. He made sure it was the right place for a bus to Tahrir Square, then I said I would be all right on my own. We said our goodbyes and I paid him his 250 pounds. I gave him an extra 50 just for changing my impression of Giza and the wonder of the world that the pyramids are. He went off to his family and I waited for the bus. I waited a long time. Then the people at the bus stop all seemed to take a cue and get into a line. I thought it was a ticket line for the bus, so I queued up as well. I was wrong. It was a line for flat breads that they had brought out. When I realized that, I went to go and wait longer. Someone asked me if I wanted bread. I said yes, actually I was hungry and bread would be good. But I also wanted the bus. They pointed me towards the place I would do better for a bus. And a couple of people just gave some of the breads. They were delicious. And the people proved that, even in the midst of the tourist zoo, one can still find real people who just want visitors to have a memorable time.

I headed off to find a bus and made my way back to the hostel, extremely glad that I had spent that extra day and 40 dollars changing my impression of the pyramids. They had become way cool during the course of the day. And when I looked at some of the photos I had taken the day before, I actually felt a fair amount of excitement that I had had the chance to do so.

Thank you Omar!!!

First the Taj Mahal, Now the Pyramids of Giza

The hostel where I stayed is very helpful. They will arrange all sorts of things for the people who stay there. I had spent a couple months in India, doing it myself. It had grown a bit exhausting. While I could very well have put things together for myself in Egypt, it was nice to have this staff there to put things together for me. I fully realized that they would also be making money on the deals, possibly even a lot of money. But I just wanted to not have to worry about that stuff for a few days at least. So when they said they could arrange a driver and car for me to go see the pyramids and a couple of other spots, I thought it would be easy and nice. For the fairly princely sum (as far as I was concerned) of 180 Egyptian pounds (about 30 dollars), I would be conveyed to Giza and then the other spots and I wouldn't have to navigate the public transport system of Cairo. All right.

I got up and my driver was waiting for me in the lobby. We went down to his car and he was very solicitous. He told me he was going to take me to the pyramids, but first he would take me to a papyrus museum and shop. Hmmm... Well, I wanted to get something like that, since it is one of the things Egypt is famous for, the first paper. So I accepted that little addition to the itinerary with a fair degree of equanimity, but I was suddenly on my guard. Maybe this wasn't going to be such an easy day after all.

Then he told me he would take me to a place where I could get on a camel. The pyramids site was very large and I wouldn't be able to get around easily without taking a camel or a horse. In my mind, I was of a completely different mind, but I didn't say anything. I didn't really want to ride a camel, but...

We got to the papyrus shop and I endured a lecture on how papyrus is made. It was all right, but rather propagandistic. Then I was allowed to wander around the shop. I was happy to purchase something. I liked the scroll with the Egyptian calendar on it, a ring with the hieroglyphic alphabet on it and a space for writing my name in hieroglyphics. That came to about 25 dollars. The guy kept pressing another scroll on me as well. It was priced at 400 pounds. But I really didn't want to buy it. If I buy something, I have to carry it. But it's small, and light. They just don't get it. It's not their baggage they are trying to fill up. Eventually, without virtually no effort on my part, he put the price down to 90 pounds, about 15 dollars. I was happy enough with that, but it just shows what an easy mark I am.

With everybody happy, I headed out of the shop and we went to the camel place. This is where I was given the big squeeze and heavy pressure to purchase a ride package. I really didn't want to. I really wanted to just walk around the site. But they kept at it and kept at it, and wore me down. I really should have just said no, got up and out, and asked which way it was to the pyramids. But I didn't. I let them get to a price that I could live with, even though I didn't want to, and I bought the ride. They also laughed at me when I said that horses don't like me. They said they had very nice horses. Again, they didn't have my experience with horses and other animals. But I got my camel. Off we went with the “real Bedouin guide” in jeans and sweatshirt (real Bedouin, my ass). And before we had even really begun the ride, he started hassling me about a nice tip later. Having just agreed to a camel ride I didn't want at a rather high price that I shouldn't have paid, I was not in the mood to discuss a tip for him before we had even gotten a glimpse of the pyramids. When I pointed this out to him, he jumped off the camel, foisted me onto another guide from the same place, and disappeared. I had the feeling this was not going to be a very nice time.

The new guy, who was leading the camel on foot (after I had told the guys in the office that if the camel was going to be led on foot by a guide, I ought be able to get around on foot easily enough by myself, only to be told that the guide would be riding as well), barely said anything, and I don't think he knew any English at all. I was getting more and more depressed, because I knew where this was headed. I was about to be confronted by an amazing sight, something I have thought of for decades, and it was going to be in a situation about which I was so upset that I would be unable to appreciate the sight for what it should have been.

And that is exactly what happened. My first views of the area were of hills and sand.

Then we came around a bend in the fencing and I had my first views of the pyramids from close up.

We reached a spot where I was able to take an iconic photo of the pyramids. The weather was perfect. There was no smog to speak of. It was pretty much ideal for taking photos of the pyramids. I should have been excited. I should have been amazed.

Instead, I was annoyed. And the only thing that kept running through my mind was about what I was doing on the camel. I didn't want to be on the camel. And yet, there I was, on a camel. I should have been enjoying the pyramids and this amazing sight. But I was on a camel and didn't want to be on the camel.

I ended up deciding to go with it, and when the time came that the circuit was finished, I would just release the camel and “guide” and go about on my own to try and salvage something of the experience.

After leaving the viewpoint, we headed down for a closer look at the large pyramids. And my “guide” was still not saying anything. We passed by the smallest of the big three, without even slowing. We stopped by the middle one and waited as another guide came up. He asked me how it was, and I told him it was awful, that I was just annoyed and not enjoying myself. He asked me why, and I told him I didn't want to be riding a camel, I wanted to be walking around, but that I was riding a camel and had a “guide” who wasn't saying anything. He called his office and had another guide come out.

I spent a few minutes by the middle pyramid. The new guide came out, and he was much more talkative. He spoke English, for one thing. And he told me about the pyramids. The big three were built by three successive rulers. Cheops was the first, built by Khufu. (Cheops is what comes out in English for Khufu. But I don't really know why. Khufu seems easy enough for we Englishees to say.) His son, Khafre, built the middle and somewhat shorter pyramid. And Khufu's grandson, Menkaure, built the smallest one. There are three smaller pyramids by the small big pyramid and three more beside the biggest one. The Sphinx is associated with the middle pyramid. These smaller pyramids housed the bodies of the three lesser wives of Khufu and Menkaure. Khafre didn't have any lesser wives, so he didn't have any extra small pyramids built. But he did build the Sphinx.

This was all interesting, and I started feeling a little bit better about the visit, and that I could get something from the camel ride experience. I was still going to be dismissing him before leaving the park and going about on my own, but maybe I could get to where I would feel better about the stupidity of not saying no to the camel ride.

My new guide, who was acting like an actual guide, took some goofy photos of me, and I did get a photo of me next to the pyramids.

Then he took me behind barb-wire fences. Oohhh. I was going somewhere I shouldn't be going. But there were loads of footprints showing that this happened all the time. We went in and looked at some tombs below the actual pyramids. They were for workers who built and designed the pyramids. Some were for the children of the kings. And it was truly a somewhat protected spot, although I have a hunch that it mostly for show, and to get another opportunity to get money out of the tourists. The caretaker of the area was hovering about, and my guide (and it was such a forgettable experience, I haven't a clue anymore what my guide's name was) told me that I should give him something for letting me in the area. At the new rise of my annoyance, he quickly backed away from the topic. I still gave the watchman a five pound note, and added it into my stupidity tax for the day. I really should have known I wasn't going to go in there without shelling out more money. I suppose it was really to give the twits who shelled out for an expensive camel ride something to believe that they were on a special tour that they couldn't get if they just went in on foot. I was really getting disillusioned with this system they had at the pyramids. It is obviously a sanctioned way to go about it all. No official stopped the process, or even tried. They simply held their hands out. But I got my look, and I took some rather lame photos.

And then it was on to the Sphinx. This was the last claimed spot on my tour on the camel. And again, I should have been awed. Instead, I sat and used my time to collect my thoughts and try to convince myself that I could still get something out of this experience. And more than ever I was determined that I was leaving the camel and going wandering about on my own.

I took so long in the Sphinx area that my guide wasn't there when I came out. He had taken a horse to ride around it to see what had become of me and rode up shortly after I emerged. Apparently people are not really allowed to deviate from the program. I told him I would be going around on my own. He didn't seem really pleased about that, but there are some things that are up to the person paying the money and he didn't have much he could say about it. He called my driver to let him know. I told him the approximate time I thought I would come out, and then we parted company.

And I started having a much better time. I got up close to all the pyramids. On the camel, I wasn't even taken to the biggest of the pyramids. Unforgivable. I didn't get the opportunity to turn down the opportunity to go inside the pyramids. Not part of the ticket deal they could negotiate with the park in order to fleece the unsuspecting tourists, I guess. And I got to hear how much it really should have cost to take a camel ride around the park. Lots, lots less that I paid. I paid about 50 dollars. I was getting offers of very nearly the same route as what I had done. And they were for 50 pounds, or less than ten dollars. That just annoyed me more.

But after the disappointing beginning and the lack of what I had seen up to that point, I was finally seeing some of what I had come to see. And I hoped that at some point, I would come to appreciate the majesty of these amazing structures.

After wandering around among the pyramids for a while, I went up to the panorama viewing area. This was not quite a nice a view of the pyramids as earlier on the camel, but it was quite decent anyway. While I was admiring the view, a man approached me. He had tried to talk to me when I got to the viewing area, but I just ignored him as being another one of those touts trying to get me to take a camel ride. But when he approached me, I had to deal with him more directly. I was going to just brush him right, but he started with how dejected I looked. He seemed to understand, so I just started talking to him. He completely understood my view of things. He told me how he and others who worked the panorama area hated those guys down at the gates and outside the gates because they gave the area a very bad reputation. He wished they could see how detrimental they were, particularly in this time of trouble for tourism in Egypt.

Then he made me an offer. I could go on a trip with him from Giza to another set of pyramids about a two hour ride away to the south. We could go there, take some photos, and maybe see the next famous pyramid down the line, called Saqqara. And it would cost 250 pounds, less than I had paid for my ride that day.

It was quite a bit of money, over 40 dollars more. In some ways I thought it might just throwing good money after bad. But I liked Omar. He had the ring of sincerity to him, although I also know that can be faked as well. And I really wanted to redeem my pyramid experience. I didn't want them to stay in the realm of disappointment along with the Taj Mahal, which still held a level of bitter disappointment a month later. So I decided to give it a go. I had nothing to lose, as far as my experience of the pyramids went, and only some more money to lose on it. I agreed. I would meet Omar the next morning and he would give it a whirl to change my experience.

Feeling quite a bit better about the whole thing, I headed down to meet my driver. When I met him, and he asked me (and the camel ride office guy as well) how it had been, I told him I hadn't had a good time. They were very upset about that. I told them I hadn't wanted to ride a camel, but felt pressured to do so. I told them I hadn't enjoyed it very much. I told them about the much smaller offers I had had once leaving my camel behind. I didn't ask for any money back, although they kept at me, wondering what I wanted to make it better. I told them it couldn't be made better. My experience of the pyramids had been tainted because of all of it and money back wouldn't change that. And I wasn't asking for any money back. But eventually, the camel guy went and got money, from my driver, which simply went to prove what Omar had told me. The driver who brought someone to these camel guys got a huge commission. Omar said it was 70 percent. They gave me 100 pounds back. I took it. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, they say. But it didn't make anything better. I really wonder if they will ever understand that. Because after they gave me the money back, they really, really wanted to hear that it was all okay. I just left it alone because I knew they just wouldn't get that the pressure and allowing myself to fall into that trap had tainted the whole day for me, and no amount of money was going to fix it.

It was now quite late in the day and there was not going to be time to visit the other places on the itinerary. My driver did take me to the next site, so I could take a photo from outside of it, Saqqara. But it was far away, and I couldn't see much of it. It didn't matter much in any case because I was no longer in much of a mood for seeing any pyramid and being impressed.

Then it was back to the hostel, where I was once again asked how it had gone. And again I was honest. This time though, despite having arranged the driver for me, and therefore bearing some responsibility for the fiasco, or at least for maybe feeling some of the responsibility, Mohammed foisted it all on me. They arrange for the guys to take people, but it's up to the visitor (ie. me) to put my foot down and not be taken advantage of. Hmmm... Well, if you hired good people to drive people around, and then made clear to them that there is some behaviour that would be considered unacceptable (like taking visitors to places where they would buy things and bring good commissions to the driver), and warning the tourist about such things, there would be less problem. Yes, I was the one who said yes. Yes, I should certainly have put my foot down and said no. I bear full responsibility for having done what I did. I think, though, that Mohammed made a rather negative impression on me for having that response to my concerns. I won't necessarily recommend the place to people. Or I would actively promote others to not do what they organize. And I did.

When I went to my room, my roommate wanted to know how it went. I told her she ought to visit the pyramids on her own, and it would be much cheaper and probably easier and with less hassle. Had Mohammed been more subdued and sorry, I might have tried to convince her to take them up on a driver. But it will in the end be his loss. Too bad Mohammed.

The Egyptian Museum and a Whirling Dervish Show

My second day in Cairo, I decided to head to the Egyptian Museum. I had been unsure whether to try to get to the pyramids first or go to the museum. The hostel staff settled that by offering to arrange a car and driver to take me to the pyramids and to a couple of other sites with pyramids a bit south of the Giza site. It seemed a bit expensive to me, coming in at a price of about 30 dollars for the driver, but I figured that if he was waiting for me and at my beck and call, it was reasonable. So I went for that option over my usual reticence at spending that kind of money when it was quite possible I could easily do it myself. After spending almost 3 months in India doing it the hard way, I just wanted to have an easier time of things for a little bit.

So I headed down to the Egyptian Museum at a little past 8:30. It was a Wednesday and the hostel staff told me that the museum would close at 1:00 in the afternoon. I initially thought I would go to the museum, in that case, on the Friday. But when I suggested that plan of action, they told me that Friday was the day when people gathered in the nearby Tahrir Square in larger numbers and made larger, and sometimes dangerous, protests of the current government. So, scratch that plan. No sense in putting myself in danger. So Wednesday it was, and I would go to the pyramids on Thursday.

What struck me immediately was the burned out building behind the pink museum. I found out later that this was the headquarters of General Mubarak, the former head of the Egyptian government before he was ousted in the revolution earlier in the year. It was also burned out because his workers had wanted to destroy papers that could prove embarrassing for him and his government if they should ever come to light. So they burned them, and the building. But this was right behind the Egyptian Museum. And a couple blocks away from the Egyptian Museum is Tahrir Square, where protesters gather, where much of the action was over the past year, where people died only a few weeks ago. And none of it touched the museum. The revolution is internal. It has nothing to do with tourism and tourists. It does not target them. As long as one keeps one's wits about him and doesn't go courting danger, there is no particular cause for alarm.

I bought my ticket and then headed over to deposit my camera in the storage area. There are no cameras inside the museum. And I had left my bag at the hostel, not wanting to have to deal with any security issues. Then I went, after firmly telling one of the guides, who was also apparently an archaeology masters degree student, that I really didn't think I would benefit from a guide inside the museum and that, as just one person, I didn't have the resources for that kind of thing anyway.

And then I set off inside the museum.

It's not the best museum I have ever been in. There are many, many artefacts (someone told me over 125000). But not many have any explanation on them, and fewer have explanations in English. They were interesting to look at and it showed again the brilliance of the ancients in what they could do. But for the most part, it was really just about looking around. There were a few placards that explained the broad historical eras of Egyptian history, and they were helpful, but I learned most of what helped me inside by eavesdropping here and there on tours with guides that were moving about the museum. Aside from pure artefacts, there was a section for Tutankhamen, which was particularly interesting. There was a room of mummies, including some of the big rulers of the past. It was an extra fee, and quite hefty. I have seen a couple of mummies before and so I happily passed on the chance to go and visit the old kings. Seen one, seen 'em all.

I did go into the gallery with the animal mummies. People weren't the only ones given the mummifying treatment. There were different kinds of mummified animals, although almost any animal might have been mummified. Pets were big, but obviously only the rich would have their pets accompany them into the afterlife. Most often they would be mummified upon a natural death. Other animals were mummified for ceremonial reasons and these, unfortunately, seemed to have been bred for their purpose. Evidence shows that they were killed and then mummified. They were often used to make some special prayer for the dead. But even in those long gone days, there were the scam artists. There were some “mummified animals” that only had parts of an animal inside the wrappings. Perhaps that was due to some kind of shortage of ceremonial animals for mummification, and perhaps the people purchasing these partial animals knew of the fact, but I would bet that not all of them did.

There was a lot of refurbishment going on inside the museum, painting and cleaning. But there was a lot of dust and dirt and it seemed to be a musty, dusty sort of place that one expects museums to be. I read they are building a new Egyptian Museum at the site of the Giza pyramids. I imagine it will be a flash new building with lots of bells and whistles. And it will also probably cost a lot more. Sigh!!

After the inside of the museum, I checked out the outside grounds. There were a bunch of other artefacts there and there was no restriction on taking photos there.

From the museum, I decided to take a little walk to the river, which was very close. The Nile!!! One of the great rivers. But it loses a bit of its magic when seen flowing through a modern big city. But still, it was the Nile.

I arrived back at the hostel and got ready to go to see a free show in the market area. I wasn't too sure what it would be, and I wasn't sure if it would really be free or if it would one of those shows that is free to get in, only to have some kind of hat passed around for donations later. There was another person from the hostel who wanted to go as well and she and I caught a cab to the venue. We went in and got a seat.

It turned out to a show of Egyptian music and dancers. One part of it was whirling dervishes. And that was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately my camera battery was exhausted before he started, but for his portion, he came out and turned in place for about 25 minutes. Continuously. Around and around, in the same spot. For 25 minutes. I have no idea how you even train your body to withstand that. And he had some kind of heavy skirt that he was keeping up in the twirl. It was possibly the most amazing show of stamina and strength that I have ever seen. And it was truly free. Nobody asked for a dime after the end of the show. Perhaps I will go again on the night before I leave Egypt. I would like to have a photo of the guy doing that part of the dance.