My trip to egypt

Dave Gilbert · Thu 19/02/2004 21:49:09

Heh. I'd completely forgotten about this. Three years ago, I went to Egypt. I kept a very detailed journal of my experiences there, and as an excercise in web design I decided to put it online, complete with pictures. I never finished it, and only completed four of the ten days I wrote about.

I was recently reminded of this, and checked to see if the web journal was still there. ANd lo and behold, it was. If anyone cares to see a three year old website dedicated to me rambling about Egypt, the url is:

http://daveinegypt.8m.com/

The site is a disorganized mess, but it was my first ever attempt at html programming. Please forgive me.

-Dave

Hollowman · Thu 19/02/2004 22:06:09

Very nice.

Brings back some good memories of my own trip to Egypt about five years ago now.

I didn't go to Cairo though, I went to Luxor so I missed out on the Pyramids but got to see the Valley of the Kings and Karnak and Luxor temples. It is an experience I will never forget.

Privateer Puddin' · Thu 19/02/2004 22:31:54

love the pic of you in that touristy jacket :p

Dave Gilbert · Fri 20/02/2004 02:39:28

Quote from: John Donlan on Thu 19/02/2004 22:06:09
Very nice.

Brings back some good memories of my own trip to Egypt about five years ago now.

I didn't go to Cairo though, I went to Luxor so I missed out on the Pyramids but got to see the Valley of the Kings and Karnak and Luxor temples. It is an experience I will never forget.

The Valley of the Kings was amazing, yes. Although the "King Tut" tomb was kind of a disappointment. The tomb was so tiny! I find it amazing that there are entire WINGS of the Cairo Museum dedicated to the treasures found in that tomb.

Valley of the Queen was just as impressive. Nefetari's tomb had me saying "This is positively unreal!" no less than a dozen times.

Ah, I want to go back now.

shbaz · Fri 20/02/2004 03:13:36

Thanks for posting Dave! Nice pictures.

LGM · Fri 20/02/2004 04:03:57

What a shame.. You didn' raise any cursed mummies from the dead??

How.. un-hollywood of yoU!

Gilbert · Fri 20/02/2004 05:37:45

Heh reminds me that my group leader went there last year, and she gave me this odd metal pyramid, now sitting peacefully on top of teh moniter, which I don't know what it can be used for, a paperweight maybe...

shbaz · Fri 20/02/2004 06:29:42

Quote from: Gilbot V7000a on Fri 20/02/2004 05:37:45
Heh reminds me that my group leader went there last year, and she gave me this odd metal pyramid, now sitting peacefully on top of teh moniter, which I don't know what it can be used for, a paperweight maybe...

You idiot, it's for entombing mummified ant queens. :

Gilbert · Fri 20/02/2004 06:51:19

hehe why? should I pierce it open and see if there're any ant queen inside it? Or should I put one in it?

Babar · Fri 20/02/2004 11:06:33

Hey! You went all the way to Egypt three years ago and did not even come to see me?

? I used to live there. I lived right on the Corniche(sp?), next to the American and British Embassies.

Quote
Although the "King Tut" tomb was kind of a disappointment. The tomb was so tiny! I find it amazing that there are entire WINGS of the Cairo Museum dedicated to the treasures found in that tomb.

Thats because that it the only one they found which had not been robbed. Something about how it was hidden because it was just under another tomb. Tut was otherwise not a very important king. He was just a kid when he died. See? In all my time in Egypt, at least I learnt some Ancient history

. Most of it just passed over my head.
I even have a mini-pyramid. I see no way to open it though. Better not to anyway, its one of those sno-globe things that you shake.

SSH · Fri 20/02/2004 13:17:28

Hey, I was in Egypt about 4 months after you... and we stayed one night in the Ramases Hilton, too. Le Meridien Pyramids was a better Cairo hotel, though: huge pool and pyramid view. Funnily, the guides still tried to charge us 30 GBP to go to the pyramids even though we could have walked it...

Here's some funny adventures we had:

After unsuccesfulyl trying to find the oldest coptic church in Cairo, we went back to our hotel on the metro. All of the carriages were packed except on at the end so we piled in there. All the other passengers stared at me or laughed at me. They all seemed to be women. Looking through the dorr window to the next(very packed) carriage, they all seemed to be men... hmmmm

Also, we took a horse ride around the pyramids (being cheaper than a camel ride and also my wife prefers horses). It was a bit of a dodgy operation as we went up to the pyramids the back way. I suspect this is becuase by doing this, the horse guide avoided the tourist poilice and having to pay his comission to them. Also, as the horse bumped along, my wallet fell out of my pocket. The guide sent his boy to collect it, but the boy seemed to be gone an awful long time before I got my wallet back. Most of the cash was in my money belt, but the credit card and some low-denomination notes was in the wallet for convenience. They were still there when I got the wallet back.

However, when I got home, there was a 3600 Egpyian pound debit on the card (about Â£360 GBP). Fortunately, when I queried it, the card company invalidtaed it.

I paid 10 Egyptian pounds the first time I went to the toilet, too, Dave. The guy even turned the taps on at the sink for me in gratitude!

My wife was quite good at avoiding the Egyptian's scams, though. We wanted to take a boat over the Nile when we were in Luxor and go to some of the Alabaster factories. We saw where all the taxis were parked over the otehr side and selected a boat opposite. However, the boat took a very diagonal course and we got off where surprise surprise one taxi only was waiting. Also, he wanted to charge a high price to take us to a factory. Marina was having none of this: she named a price which the driver refused and so she started walking up the road (we had no idea where we were, really!) The driver pulled up alongside and agreed to her price.

I always let Marian do any bartering: she is so much better at it than me. I always get embarrased if the price goes lower than 50% of the origianl asking price, while in Egypt mostly they ask for 10 times what they want for something.
On the other hand, we got a taxi once to the market in Luxor and bought an Opal stone and a gold chain for it. The jeweller invited us for tea, told us stories, etc. All of which menat that the taxi that was waiting for us left (we did take longer than we told the guy). So we came back to where the taxi was waiting and had a problem.

However, the jeweller guy must have suspected that this might happen, followed us and sorted out a taxi to the hotel for us at no extra charge.

It's a very different culture, and a great experience even though I had the runs 80% of the time there. But I don't think I could go back again!

Hollowman · Fri 20/02/2004 22:03:41

I know what you mean about the size of Tut's tomb. It was a real surprise to go in and see just how small it was, despite being one of the most famous historical sights in the world. Some of the other tombs were more impressive, though my memory is very hazy and I forget the names of the others.

As for the bartering, I didn't really get the hang of that through the entire trip until the last couple of days when I spent about 40 minutes in a shop bartering for a gold cartouche. I think I got a good deal, but then, I'm too naieve for my own good sometimes so I probably paid twice what it was worth

I would definitely go back to Egypt. In fact I was planning to go back this year with my wife but she is not too keen so it fell through. I'll have to keep on for some time in the future.