The city is dusty, noisy and very interesting. There are donkeys pulling carts of vegetables and other goods everywhere.
Eman told us a lot not only about ancient egypt, but also about current customs and the impact last year's revolution had. I was very curious about the number of woman and girls with the head scarves on.
Eman said that covering heads and wearing the robes is new for women since the 1990's. Back in the 60's and 70's Egyptian women wore primarily Western clothing and Cairo looked very much like any European city. Women were professionals in all areas of business and commerce, education and the like. Since the rise of conservative Islam (which she said traveled from Saudi Arabia) is what is behind this...and she also expects it to swing back, in time.
On a lighter note, we noticed tons of "tuk-tuks", the small 3-wheeled taxis that we last saw in Bangkok. eman said they showed up a couple of years ago and now she thinks there are more in Cairo than in Bangkok. They are often run by young boys.
Our tour coordinator has our time in Cairo organized by chronology of ancient Egypt. So we started at the first pyramids built, down in Dashur. The first one is called the crooked pyramid because one side is built at one angle and the other side another angle. This makes it looked lopsided and the theory is that the builder was trying to get it right. It was first close-up look at a pyramid as well as a camel. The fellows tried to get us to take a ride, but we decided to wait until the most famous pyramids at Giza later in the week. They were almost persuasive--a third one carried an AK 37.
On the second try, he got it right. Apparently 43 degrees is the proper angle for a perfect pyramind. This is called the red pyramid and is nearby the first one...it's called red because it was originally covered in a reddish colored sandstone sheathing.
We moved on to Memphis and ended up at Saqquarra where the Step Pyramid is (so called because it is built in six set-backs or steps). The tomb there has incredibly detailed frescoes of Egyptian life and a dramatic column-lined entrance to a large courtyard. Eman said I should take a shot of the entrance--it was virtually empty! Normally a shot like this is impossible because there are so many tourists. Eman said this is now high season--but because of the revolution, tourists are simply not coming. She was quite interested in our reasons for coming--I told her we figured the media was making things out to be worse than they actually were.
The fellows who make a living giving camels rides and doing photos ops there got ahold of Bud. Before he knew it the fellow had him all dressed up Arab headgear.
It is amazing how the terrain differs once you get a bit away from the Nile. It turns to stark and completely inhospitable desert and high plateaus. This is what it made the areas attractive for tombs for the ancient pharoahs--no flooding from the Nile could reach their monuments.
We were delighted to find that we have a distant view of the pyramids at Giza from our balcony on the 24th floor. Tonight we will go to the "sound and light show" there--it will be interesting to see how it compares to the sound and light show at Chichen Itza in Mexico.
Tomorrow we are going to see Alex--as the locals call the city of Alexandria. We'll be gone most of the day...so look for another post tomorrow night.
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