Pyramids og Giza
The great pyramids, older than the hills
Date: 08/10/2006
Looking at the pyramids, you are stuck trying to imagine a time when one man said: "What we need to do is build a giant mountain of stone out in the desert. Round up the peasants; I want a word!"
The Sphinx
Date: 08/10/2006
One theory is that the sphinx is built from leftover materials from the pyramid construction, a sort of bonus protection to guard over your tomb. But the sphinx was completely covered by sand and the tomb raiders still got all the gold in the pyramid.
The White Desert
miles and miles and miles....
Date: 08/10/2006
From Cairo out west to the desert. An amazingly weird environment that changed into a new shape every 100 miles or so.
We slept next to rocks like these the first night and it was really cold but the crazy landscape and the welcome quiet after the noise of Cairo made it all worthwhile.
We slept next to rocks like these the first night and it was really cold but the crazy landscape and the welcome quiet after the noise of Cairo made it all worthwhile.
Camel ride
Date: 08/23/2006
During an early morning camel ride, we passed dry farmland and sand dunes to see views like this.
Mahmoud
Mahmoud
Date: 08/10/2006
Mahmoud, the little kid who led my very large male camel throughout the trek.
Thanks Mahmoud!
Thanks Mahmoud!
balloons
Date: 08/10/2006
The kids asked for pens but I gave them balloons. Some of the younger kids were thrilled with them. Hey, who wouldn't want a bright balloon?
The desert
Date: 08/10/2006
We slept under the stars near the desert and celebrated Christmas Eve by capturing scorpions, wandering around the desert and playing football with balloons.
Aswan
Date: 08/23/2006
In our southern-most destination city of Aswan, we took a motorboat down the Nile to look around a Nubian village and have dinner. The Nubians were a very nice calm people and we enjoyed joining them for dinner. I had no idea that fried chicken and pasta were staples of the Nubian diet but they sure did taste good.
Harankash
Date: 08/10/2006
My Dutch tour group and leader, Harankash. Every one of them were great and all were adventurers. I had short conversations with them in Dutch and long conversations with them in English.
They are overlooked by the three remaining massive statues of Ramses II at Abu Simpel. The statues greeted visitors and enemies entering the kingdom from the south. We pleased the pharaoh by buying trinkets from the locals and leaving baksheesh (little tips) here and there.
They are overlooked by the three remaining massive statues of Ramses II at Abu Simpel. The statues greeted visitors and enemies entering the kingdom from the south. We pleased the pharaoh by buying trinkets from the locals and leaving baksheesh (little tips) here and there.
Cataract Hotel
Date: 08/10/2006
In Aswan, I had high tea on the terrace of the Old Cataract hotel, overlooking the Nile and the archaeological goings-on of Elephantine Island. This is where Agatha Christie wrote 'Death on the Nile' and it was easy to imagine the characters strolling around the old, colonial hotel.
Aswan souk
Date: 08/10/2006
A spice stand in the souk at Aswan. We became skilled at haggling with the locals and practiced saying 'NO'.
Sailing down the Nile
Date: 12/28/2004
From Aswan, we sailed up the Nile to Kom Ombo temple, one of many fantastic temples that we saw on the trip. We ate, slept and read while we criss-crossed our way down the river into the night.
Valley of the Kings
Date: 08/10/2006
A dusty day with the tourists and we clambored into three of the tombs at the site. Ramses II was off limits, Tutankhamon cost another LE 70 and Harankash advised against it. The tombs here post-date the tombs built inside the pyramids because they thought it less likely that these tombs would be robbed. They were wrong again. We saw several incredible tombs and it was surprising how spacious the tombs were. Evidently they needed to be large to admit the huge sarcophagus of the pharaoh and all the gold he took with him.
Many of the wall paintings were still intact and our canary sang throughout.
Many of the wall paintings were still intact and our canary sang throughout.
Hatshepsut's temple
Date: 08/10/2006
The only woman pharaoh was Hatshepsut, who wrested power from her young half-brother, built this temple and ruled for 21 years. Unfortunately, her successor rubbed out all of her cartouches and any images of her. Worse yet, this is where a busload of tourists were massacred by terrorists in 1997. As a result of that, we had armed guards and vehicle convoys for many parts of the trip. I was apprehensive of them at first but they seemed to do a good job of making the place feel secure.
Karnak temple
Date: 08/10/2006
By the last and most magnificent temple at Karnak, we all had our fill of dusty temples and needed a few days lying on a sandy beach.
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