Pyramids!

Cairo and the Great Pyramids

It's the last early up and long bus tour day of the trip I promise the kids (and myself as well). It's dawn and already stinking hot. We are docked in the port of Alexandria, Egypt for the next two days and have open access to Egypt, for as long as we can handle it.

The bus takes us about 2 1/2 hour to go from the Mediterranean Sea to Cairo. We are looking for our first sandy glimpse of the last standing wonder of the ancient world - The Great Pyramids of Cheops. Liam is practically jumping out of his seat. He so wants to be the first to see them. Our bus drives through city, filled with the ubiquitous half finished buildings - until suddenly they are there right in front of us. Huge and majestic. Looking a bit sad and forlorn, wishing for their days of glory, but still standing strong and loyal.

The Pyramids were built around 2560 BC, the largest was finished in just 20 years. A stunning testimony to the Old Kingdom of Egypt and the Pharaohs who wished their tombs to be epoch memorials to their time in power and their home for the afterlife. Tourists have been coming here to see them for millennium. Now that's a really interesting thought. Not years, not decades, not even thousands of years - but millennium. It makes you feel a bit small and connected to humanity as a whole all the at the same time.

The Great Pyramid of Cheops was the tallest man made structure for 3,800 years. Having seen the Burg Khalifa (the current tallest building in the world) in Dubai just a few weeks ago it makes me appreciate the durability of this ancient wonder. I doubt the Burg Khalifa will still be standing 300 years from now, let alone 4,000 plus years. Just pause and give a silent nod to the builders who built for the future and not just the short term glory.

Our bus drives directly past each of the two huge pyramids, as well as the smaller ones, designated for the Queens, and stops on top of a large sand dune/parking lot for a panoramic view of the area.

We are plus one today. One of the kids friends from the ship, TJ, is in our care. (Hey when you already have four, what's one more?) He is a super nice 12 year old from Auckland who gets along with all our kids, but who is also not as used to the rougher side of life. Meaning specifically the awful hawkers of all the crappy Egyptian souvenirs who prey upon the tourist buses stopping at the famous sights.

We get off the bus and are literally swarmed. They are a very hands on sort. They are putting necklaces on my girls, head dresses on my boys and shoving old post cards in my face. I get very angry and start shouting at the top of my lungs which they think is great, taking it to be my interest that is fuelling my outburst. Damn!! The best thing to do is ignore them, but practising that is hard for me. The hawkers respond to a different kind of language, one that we would consider very rude. Complete imperial indifference I jokingly call it. But hey we survived, and got some lovely pictures too.

Next stop we are given another warning about the hawkers and let loose on the pyramids themselves. It's good to get up and personal with the huge structure. Randall, who is the most remarkable bargainer I have ever met, has arranged to have our photo taken on a camel, which is a bit of a crack up. The camel is belching and moaning and growling. The hawkers are all shouting at us. We're all laughing. It's complete chaos. But hey, this is Egypt. You have to roll with it. If not, why come? Other cultures are great to experience, and sometimes they make you realise the things you like about your own!

Just after we are done taking photos with/on the grumpy camel (never did get one with all of us at the same time) I hear a yelp and poor TJ has been physically grabbed and put on a different camel (an animal he is not keen to be around, let alone on). He panics. I yell. The camel jockey asks for money to take him off. I yell louder. Then finally make a jump and physically pull the poor boy off the camel and keep my arms wrapped around him for the next few minutes. (The next day he shows me bruises which he is telling everyone is from the hawker, but I must admit, I think are from me grabbing him, poor guy.)

We head over to the actual foot of the pyramid and this time the persistent buggers side step grumpy mama bear and pick on Randall. Bad idea. He puts one guy in an arm lock and pins his arm behind his back. Suddenly we are left alone and the younger hawker calls him "The Man from New Zealand". TJ and Liam love this. (And so do I.) We are able to continue our tour in peace - and Liam is asking to join karate class again.

The blocks of the pyramids are just so huge! From far away they look like small building bricks, but up close they are far above our heads. The kids scramble up part of the way of one. The hot dusty scene makes it feel old. Once upon a time, this whole place would have been sparkling marble and temples and fountains. The holiest ground of Egypt. Time moves on for all of us, even great monuments and civilisations.

Next stop the Sphinx. So now to test a little of your high school history.... What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the mid day and three legs in the evening?

Yep, the riddle of the Sphinx. Anyone remember the answer?

We have a good half an hour to explore the very crowded area. The kids say they are more moved by the huge human headed lion than they were by the pyramids. And it does look pretty amazing with the pyramids in the background. The scientists think the face of the Sphinx is that of Cheops, none other than the Pharaoh responsible for the giant pyramids. (Makes senses really!)

Back on the bus, we head to lunch at a super plush near-by hotel. It's weird to come from the poverty of the street vendors and unfinished buildings to be met by a brass band dressed as Egyptian Pharaohs playing Jingle Bells (really, that is such a non sequitar it is hard to describe) and ushered into the uber fine, five star luxury that we are eating in. Not that any of us complain about the air conditioning.

The final stop on the itinerary of our last long day is the Egyptian Museum. Home to the treasures of King Tutankhamen and mummies of the Valley of the Kings.

But before we are allowed to go there we must go by the obligatory shopping stop, which must be the bus driver's families store. Papyrus and souvenirs of all kinds. What's your best price?

I was very proud of Liana. She really wanted to buy some Egyptian papyrus, and managed to get the price down by over 50%. She stuck to her price and even started walking out on the guy before he finally gave her what she wanted. She's so happy with her wall art and I was so happy to see her negotiating in the real world.

So, finally, finally we reach the famous Egyptian museum. Next door is a burned out building, left over from the rioting that rocked Egypt a year ago. There is a change in the government, but one can only wonder if the people will be able to shake the corrupt military government that has ruled the country since the 50's?

To see the museum, you really need at least a week, or more! And we only have an hour (due to the extra long stop at Mohamed's brother's nephew's son's sister shopping mart.) There are so many niches, each filled with it's own treasure. We take a brief tour through the funerary equipment that accompanied the boy king, Tutankhamen, to his grave. His favourite chariot. Beds. Shoes. Chairs. Statuary. And finally we enter the heavily guarded room that contains his jewels. His rings and necklaces, and most amazingly, his death mask. A likeness of the boy himself, just 18 when he died, in solid gold, with inlaid precious gems and so stunning all five kids stand in front of it with the proverbial jaw dropped expressions. I can't help shake the feeling that this is really him. Even though 3,000 years separate us, I know him a little.

Randall spots a tiny sign that leads off to another room and it hold animal mummies (because Egyptians mummified EVERYTHING important to them). There are huge crocodiles, tiny cats, baboons, Nile Perch the size of large dogs, and even bulls. It's amazing.

Last but not least we suck it up and pay nearly $100 extra to enter the room of the mummies. Yes, even the Egyptian Museum must hit you up for that last money. This is Egypt right?

I had a talk with the kids outside the room about what we were going to see. The dead kings and queens of Egypt. Their actual bodies and how it is important to show our respect. I don't think it prepared them.

The ability of the ancient Egyptians to preserve their dead is legendary and it is well deserved. The faces of some of the mummies look like they may just open up their eyes and have a chat with you. The bodies are skinny, but most have parts that are so well preserved they could be part of me. My hands, or my foot sticking out of the bandages. To think these were living, talking, breathing, loving people who just happened to walk the earth millennium ago is astonishing. Clara shed a quiet tear or two. Juliet plastered herself against me. TJ refused to come all the way into the room. Liam was horrified at first and then got his courage to come in and read all of their information to us. Liana was fascinated. Getting down and looking into each face. That's my girl. I find it a bit unsettling to look upon them. They wished to be buried in the ground or in their tombs so that they could enjoy their endless slumber, but here we are putting them on display for people to gawk at, all in the name of science. I must say it leaves me with an unpleasant feeling.

Back to Alexandria by bus. It takes forever. The kids are well and truly done when we get back. The girls fall asleep before we even have dinner. As much as I fought the idea of a cruise ship at the beginning of this trip I must say that it is a nice thing to come back to with the little monkeys, safe, cool, and very western. Ah, and a nice shower!!!

Tomorrow is Alexandria. Our last day in Africa!

Luxor and the Valley of the Kings

Luxor and the Valley of the Kings – A tale of speed bumps, dreams fulfilled and way too many trips to the bathroom

After crossing the Red Sea during the night our ship docked at Safaga early in the morning. Safaga is mainly a shipping port, exporting phosphates and other mining ventures from this region of Egypt. In ancient days this was the shipping port that Queen Hatshepsut sent forth her convoys to the land of Punt (Somalia these days) and Oman for spices and exotic goods.

We board a bus (all six of us this time!!) for the three hour drive across the desert to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. This is one of the most famous places in antiquity and one of my personal dreams to see. It’s going to be one long, long day, but we can’t come this close and not go there. Luckily all the kids seem to be recovered and are excited by the adventure, especially Liana who has picked up on my love of ancient Egypt.

Unfortunately for me, about an hour into the bus drive the stomach pains started. And I spent the next two hours wondering which end was going to get lucky – or unlucky as the case may be!

The second you arrive in Egypt there is a completely different feeling than the countries we have visited to date. It seems just a bit more chaotic, less organized and dirty. The rubbish on the side of the road is piled ridiculously high. No building seems to be finished, each with exposed wires coming out of the roof, waiting in perpetuity for the roof to be built. The souvenir hawkers are that much pushier, just and edge of desperation that we haven’t encountered to date. And the road trip to the Nile from the Red Sea took three hours, only because there were police check points and speed bumps every few kilometers, making for one of the most uncomfortable trips you can imagine in a bus.... even for those in our party who were well.

First we climbed through the rocky mountains into the great sandy desert. Until we near the Nile where the land turned lush and green, with field after field of crops. Small mud bricked farm houses. Donkeys and children running along the dirt streets. Canals have been built to bring water up from the Nile river, and farmers are living their lives fairly similarly to way they did in ancient Egyptian times. Only now that they have built the Aswan dam they need to use fertilizer as the dam prevents the river flooding which would normally bring fresh nutrients to the soil. They had such a good thing for over 5,000 years, it’s sad that the need for electricity over shadowed it, not to mentioned destroying several ancient tombs.

And finally we reach the Nile itself and cross over to the west bank. The east bank of the Nile was where life happened in ancient days. The rising sun, the giver of life, the daily life and toil. And the west bank was for the dead. The afterlife. The journey through the night to the judgment day where the individual’s life and hearts would be judged against the feather of truth and they could continue their lives into the everlasting; or be eaten by a crocodile headed god.

Ever since I was a little girl I have been absolutely fascinated by Egypt. My dad was always trying to get me to study a culture “that wasn’t so obsessed by death” – which of course I did, heeelllooo Ancient Greece – but there is just something so powerful to me about Egypt and their thousands of years of kingdom in this sandy desert.

We finally make it to the Valley of the Kings, burial ground of the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom (think 1500 bc era). As we approach we have to get off the bus into the extreme heat and take a small tram up into valley. Surrounded by high sandy cliffs the tombs are buried deep into the valley floor and into the walls so as to hide them from tomb raiders. Egyptians were buried with everything they would need for life in the afterlife, and as Egypt has plentiful gold mines, the Pharos were to be well looked after indeed. The only tomb to be found with all its treasure is the tomb of Tutankhamen, the boy king, whose face is immortalized in his funerary mask that everyone has seen a time or two. This being Egypt you have to pay a second fee to enter his tomb, even though it is less spectacularly decorated than the rest, given that he died at the age of 18. We’ll see Tutankhamen’s treasures in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in a few days so we opt for three tombs of different Ramses’.

Ok, I’ll admit it, I cried. I am not sure what overcame me, but I did. As we walked down that long tunnel, inscribed by verses from the Book of the Dead, I was overwhelmed with emotion. The sheer beauty of it. All the years I spent learning about this culture and it’s kings. The powerful meaning behind the texts. Just the impact of it all. I don’t think my kids understood why mum had tears streaming down as we toured the tomb, maybe they thought it was the extreme heat.

But really, it was spectacular. No picture can do justice to the artwork depicted here. And how surreal it is to go from the searing 35C (95F) degree heat, down into the mountain itself where it is cool. As you go you get to see the pictures and hieroglyphics telling the story of the kings life and his hopeful journey into the afterlife. And hieroglyphics from the Book of the Dead, reminding him of the spells he would need to recited to get him through his journey.

We toured a total of three tombs while we were there. Ramses II, Ramses IV and Ramses IX. Liam wanted to know if we could see someone besides a Ramses, but we ran out of time. It was the right amount of time to spend. I would have liked to see all of them, but my stomach condition and the scorching heat told us to be sensible. Clara and Juliet’s faces were beet red, time to retreat to the air-conditioning.

Back on the bus I took a turn for the worse, barely able to get upright for a viewing of Queen Hatshepsut mausoleum in the mountain, before heading to a hotel in downtown Luxor for lunch. I evacuated the dining room and set up camp on one of the couches in the lobby. I fell asleep almost instantly and had the most extraordinary dream. (You, my dear reader could probably care less, but well, you know me, way too verbose.)

I dreamed that my Ba (the Egyptian’s word for your soul, usually depicted by a bird with the head of the soul’s owner) left me sleeping on the couch and headed out into Luxor. And there, in the desert, I met some really fine looking people, all dressed as ancient Egyptians. They all assured me that the afterlife was ok, and there is nothing to fear. If life was too hard I could just come away with them and my work for this life could be done. In my dream I was so tempted, and had to fight to remember why I wanted to stay. So I visualized Liana’s face and showed them why I had to stay. Then Liana’s face morphed into beautiful young girl from the 50’s then it rapidly morphed into girls from all the generations past until finally I was seeing the faces of little girls in ancient Egypt. It was just to let me know that this is the way of life, and all people who pass away leave behind their little girls, and not just the little girls they have given life to, but the little girls that we all are and grow out of. But that it was ok for me to stay, I would be at this cross roads again. And the next thing I knew I was being shaken awake by the hotel staff who were making sure I was ok.

I was just a bit freaked out and decided not to go back to sleep, although I could feel my fever raging. I thought of Randall’s mom, and how she died suddenly of a heart attack on a trip to the Nile just a little over two years ago. I wonder if she had a similar dream and decided that she’d had a better offer, and took it. And then I wondered how Randall was handling being here and seeing the Nile cruise ships, docked all along the Nile, knowing that one of them was the ship his mother passed away on.

The Temple of Karnak was next on the agenda for the day. Considered the world’s greatest open air museum, the temples of Luxor and Karnak are immense and had huge religious significance for the ancient Egyptians as the home to Amun-Ra, their sun god who manifested himself in the Pharaoh himself.

When the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were united into one country the capitol city moved from Memphis in the north to Thebes in the middle of the country (modern day Luxor). And that is when the building began in earnest. Huge temples were started to house the sun god Amun Ra, along with the other many gods in the Egyptian pantheon. And over the next 400 plus years each Pharaoh left his mark with rooms, halls, pylons or obelisks all intricately detailed with carvings and hieroglyphics. In some places the paint is still vibrant. The size is staggering. Pictures don’t do it justice. There is a real spirit of the ancient times as you walk the halls of the priests and Pharaohs of Egypt’s New Kingdom.

I got as far as I could touring Karnak, but every time I looked up to the columns above, with their perfectly preserved carvings and paintings, I spun out. I got to the colonnade and threw in the towel. Leaving Randall and the rest of the group I took the heat wilted little girls and got myself back to the bus. There I took up a whole row and spent my time laying there or in the bathroom. Not the way I wanted to spend this long anticipated day, but what the heck can you do?

At some point the people came back and we made the three hour journey to the port in Safaga, with everyone on the bus cursing the corrupt current government of Egypt for all the nonsensical speed bumps and the police check points. The ship was certainly a sight for sore eyes when we finally rattled down the last few speed bumps onto the dock....

To Be Continued......