Egypt, The Giza plateau

Sunday, July 3'rd

MS865 from Bangkok to Cairo departed ten minutes before midnight. The plane came all the way from Tokyo with a stop over at Manila before Bangkok. We were a couple of days late (we missed our flight) so we were pleased with finally being on the way. The plane was filled up with Japanese girls going to Egypt, most of them asleep when we borded.

Monday, July 4'th

I didn't get much sleep on the flight in seat 39G, I spent most of the time onboard the Jumbo talking to this Japanese girl (39E); Shibuya Hiromi from Niigata (2½ years younger that I) eager to test her spoken English.

I think there were a mutual attraction

We finally landed again in "Cairo International Airport" at 5AM, totally exhausted. Shehab and I headed straight for the apartment in "El Maadi" while the sun was rising. The sister of Shehab had arrived and lights and everything was working. We slept until 11AM when the cousin arrived, she had volunteered to show us around Cairo and we were eager to see the Giza plateau.

While driving towards Giza the Pyramids was visible from quite a distance, much like the Eifel tower in Paris, they were rising above the dwelling houses in the village nearby. Up close they are really gigantic, humongous. It is a mystery how the pyramid are built. The 2-3 ton heavy limestone blocks origin from the the other side of Cairo, some say the movement was done during a period where the valley was flooded. Perhaps the level of water was so high that the blocks wasn't lifted but droped from boats and placed to form the pyramid on the bottom of the flooded Giza plateau. Well, this is just my own theory.

I almost got conned () by some local

We were among the first visitors to Cheops that day, it was hot but there was no line at the entrance. You are prohibited to take pictures from inside so these are from sources found on the web. It was nice and cool inside but a bit a bit claustrophobic.

The steep footbridge up to the royal burial chamber is quite narrow and you have to walk in a stooping way. It was probably designed this way to have you be humble and respectful for the buried king. The casket found inside the Cheops tomb still amazes the scientists.

Outside again a line was forming at the entrance. A flock of Japanese girls were lined up. I looked for the girl I had talked to on the plane but this wasn't her party. We drove down the plateau to have a look at the astounding Sphinx. Scientists claim

Next to the Sphinx is the ramins of the buildings where the mummification was made. There is not a much to be seen here but there is a bar close by. A nice cold soft-drink in the shade was just what was needed. We later found out that this particular