My Egypt Trip -IV

We slept for a long time after many days (phew, it was only two days of exertion but you feel the effect if you are a habitual long-sleeper :) ) Saurabh overslept, probably to make the tour-representative, Mr Malak, who was waiting in the lobby, suffer. Anyway, we were ready for the tour not very late, after having another heavy breakfast.

This time our tour guide was Youssef Ibrahim, surprisingly a male this time. We had thought that the company would be providing female guides only to us; to recompense for the poor accommodation provided till then. But it was better actually, because apart from being more knowledgeable, he was more homely. Needless to say about his ebullition about Indian movies (apparent now as a gesture to become friendlier), his talks were more detailed and honest. He was a forty-something guy with a distinct aura around him. He quickly endeared us by his knowledge and glibness. I realized then it might be the best day as far as sight seeing was concerned. We went to the ‘Valley of the Kings’ first.

The Valley of the Kings:-

I had heard only a little about the Valley of the Kings, save it being a historical place related to the kings. When Youssef explained the significance of the place while on our way to the Valley, I was simply marveled by it. It is good sometimes not to have read the history before.

“As told before, the pharaohs of the Earlier Dynasties were buried in tombs inside the Pyramids. But as happens with wealth, it was never safe from its looters. Over a period of time, the buried treasure was stolen away by thieves. From the Thirteenth Dynasty onwards, the kings decided to build their tombs in these hills to keep them safer from the ever-prowling robbers. So, these hills became a burial and resting place for the great pharaohs. Hence, the name ‘Valley of the Kings’.”

It is so obvious, isn’t it? But at that point of time, it was quite conjuring for me.

As soon as we entered the big lobby, we saw a mini structure depicting the location of the tombs inside the Valley. There was a TV show going on in one corner, detailing the excavation of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922.

We strolled out to a big open area following the lobby. There were small trams to carry the visitors to the site. Ah! a nice arrangement, one can say. Having reached there, our guide bought us the ticket but we were allowed to visit only three tombs. Visiting any other tomb would have incurred an extra cost. But as people had said, three tombs usually proved to be enough to give an idea about the creepy dungeons.

While walking to the various tombs, one can’t help but notice the tomb of Tutankhamen, the most famous king of Egypt, lying on the right side of the pathway. There was a sizable crowd outside it. Youssef then told, much to my dejection, that visit to that tomb would cost even greater additional amount which according to him was not worth it. Alas! I had to leave King Tut for my next trip. Later on I came to know that the tomb also housed his mummy. I had missed a great thing of historical significance :(

We went to Tuthmoshis III‘s tomb first. There was a big queue in an ascent up wooden steps. As told by our guide, this tomb was the most unusual one, with a pit after the entrance, and then a steep descent down into the tomb. The pit was probably dug as a deterrent to tomb robbers. Two small chambers, decorated with stars and a larger vestibule are in front of the sarcophagus chamber, which is uniquely rounded and decorated with only red and black.

We went to the tombs of Ramses-I and Ramses-IV then. I don’t remember much about them, except that they were shorter than the earlier one but contained similar paintings and engravings on the walls. I call them just paintings, unfortunately owing to my ignorance about them, but just consider their significance for the students who could study them in real. As usual with the other places visited till then, I was just excited to be there.

The Hatshepsut Temple:-

After coming from the Valley of the Kings, we went to the Hatshepsut Temple. It looked really magnificent from a distance. It was very hot, but we decided to take a walk than a tram this time to behold its beauty from a perspective as we sauntered closer to it.

“Hatshepsut was the daughter of Tuthmoshis I. She married Tuthmoshis II- her half-brother and assumed the title of Great Royal Wife. After Tuthmoshis II died, she became the Queen. But Tuthmoshis II had a son, Tuthmoshis –III (whose tomb we visited earlier) from another wife, but he was only a child at the time of his death and wasn’t accorded the throne. But he came back later to take the reign from his step-mother and in revenge, practically destroyed every single remnant of her. The Queen Hatshepsut remains though the longest-serving and one of the most powerful female pharaohs of the Egyptian history.”

History like this often tells the world hasn’t changed much since its inception. Deceit, treachery, lust for power etc was as widespread in the earlier world too. Yeah, the concept of marriage within a family, to say incest in a cruder form, is gone now.

The Temple is a three-tiered one with the first tier almost destroyed. There are sphinxes, statues, vestibules etc still remaining, despite the vandalism wrought upon the temples by his step-son.

The Valley of the Queens:-

The Valley of the Queens lies very adjacent to the Temple. There were not many tourists outside its entrance, which summed up the importance of the place. In fact, one of Saurabh’s colleagues had termed it ‘Useless’ in a very bland manner. But nothing is useless, if there is history attached to it.

As the name suggests, this necropolis was used to bury the Queens. But some of the royal children who had died young too have been engraved here. We went to the tombs of Queen Titi, and Amenhikhopeshef and Prince Kha Em Wast, sons of Ramses –III.

The Colossi of Memnon:-

Amenhotep III , a king of 18^th Dynasty, built a mortuary temple in Thebes (now Luxor) that was guarded by two gigantic statues on the outer gates. All that remains now are those two statues which themselves have been destroyed by earthquakes and natural elements over the years. The statues are still impressive, and we took some snaps against the backdrop of their base.

It was unusually hot that day-even though it was only mid-March. I wonder what life is like in Egypt during the sultry months of the summer. Anyway, it only acted as an aggrandizer for the big hunger that had set in.

Youssef took us to a very good restaurant, probably the best till then. We also had the best lunch. It is another matter that every another lunch seemed the best for us J But this also cost the least. The reason: we paid ourselves. Youssef certainly didn’t want to profit himself there.

A tour-representative was waiting for us outside the restaurant. He wanted us to buy the ticket for Light and Sound Show at Karnak Temple in the evening. We did buy in the end, but before that, we let out every word of bad experience we had had with them. We appreciated the praiseworthy things too. He seemed to be convinced, at least apparently, but we were finally relieved to have done the talking.

The Karnak Temple:-

Our first post-lunch destination was Karnak Temple. It lies very much at the top in the pecking order of significance in Egyptian history.

“In ancient Egypt, the power of the god Amun gradually increased over a period of time, and after the short persecution led by Akhenaten (the only monotheist pharaoh known till date), it rose to its apex. The temple is actually dedicated to three Gods, Amun, Mut and Montu. Each subsequent king added something (pylon, obelisk etc) of his own and the temple then sprawled out to become the largest temple complex ever built by man.”

There is so much about Karnak Temple that it is impossible and in fact, unjustified to write a summary on it. Every aspect of it has a history of details attached to it; none more so than that about the pharaoh, Ramses-II:-

"Ramses-II’s statues are very much prominent in the main open courtyard of the temple. He was the king of 19^th dynasty and a very powerful and certainly, a long-lasting one. He lived for 99 years and had about 110 children in total. In fact, he married some of his own daughters. Going by his family count, he probably didn’t have time for anything else. But actually he was an equally capable warrior, and extended his kingdom as far as the southern region of Nubia. The temples of Abu Simbel bear a testimony to his grandeur."

Ramses II had an obvious impact on the development of the Temple. But the most impressive part of the Temple is the Hypostyle Hall which contains the gigantic Colonnades-big rounded columns rising magnificently in the sky. They are placed very close to each other and hence, present a great overseeing look-up to the whole area.

There is also a very interesting thing nearby. A pedestal containing a scorpion statue lies in front of the sacred pond. At first, we were surprised to see people gathered around it. Then, we realized they were actually moving around it. Scorpion being the symbol of good-luck, is propitiated like this to bring good omen to the people. Saurabh and I too encircled around it but I forgot to wish anything. Huh!

The Luxor Temple:-

The Luxor Temple is not very far away from the Karnak temple. In fact, in earlier times, both were connected by a 3-km long avenue of sphinxes. The remarkable similarity between them is also not unnoticeable. It too contains big colonnades, courtyards, statues and vestibules.

The biggest attraction is the entrance though, where two big obelisks raised by Ramses-II present a grand view of the facade. The western obelisk is missing now; it was given to the French government in the 1830s by the then Egyptian ruler, Md. Ali (probably) as some sort of indemnity for loan-waiver.

Post Luxor temple visit, our tour for the day had come to an end. As anticipated earlier, it was the best sight-seeing day for me. Youssef had lived up to its impression of being a very articulate and affable guy. Good for him that as soon as he left us, he had another set of tourists, French probably, to guide.

In the evening, as per the plan, we had to go to the Light and Sound Show at 8 pm. We went to the hotel to take our luggage, and also bought the Khartoosh pendants from a nearby shop.

The Light and Sound Show:-

The show brought us back to the Karnak Temple. In the illuminated night in dark, it did look a bit different and I dare say, spooky. We were made to stand outside the entrance, and as the show started, were guided inside it with a commentary aided with light-effects explaining the history. We again revisited the different parts, and that time, understood their significance better. Finally, we were led to a big seating area across the sacred pond. The whole Egyptian history related to Thebes and Karnak was then narrated before us.That was the most riveting part for me.

Ramses, Hatshepsut, Tutankhamen, Akhenaten, just to name a few, were mere persons like us. But how different? In thinking, behaviour, achievements …. ? Probably everything, but again humans playing their part in this world. Suddenly the fleeting nature of life and earth started appearing in more certain terms than ever. ‘But this is life’, I had to answer myself at the end of the magnificent show.

We then headed off to the Luxor Airport to catch the flight back to Cairo. The next day was going to be our last day of the journey. We had definitely got exhausted in three days only, but somewhere there was an intrinsic feeling of this amazing trip to never get over. I did feel saddened a bit, but ‘this is life’, I again had to say.

My Egypt Trip - III

We landed at the Aswan airport around 01:00 am the next day, Saturday, 14^th March. I had tried to catch as much sleep as possible during the flight journey, but I still felt very drowsy after landing. This time, a boy, Mahmud, was waiting for us. As usual with our Tour Company people, he too was very involved and active. During our ride back to the hotel, he asked us to be ready by 4 o’ clock in the morning. ….WTF? ….That was our unsaid reaction to this least expected plan. First, you booked our flight so late and then you are asking us to be ready by the time only roosters wake up. I was literally fuming for the kind of callousness shown by the Travel Company. But what to say to this boy?

With pent-up anger, we reached the hotel which was at least better than the one in Cairo. We had only about 2-3 hours to pass, but most of that time went in joking about our current situation. Anyway, I slept for an hour; but we were fully ready by 04:00 am. This time, our guide was Fatimah, a typical Arabic Muslim girl, with scarf on her head. Also, the van was bigger this time, which actually helped us later in sprawling and managing some much-needed sleep. We owed something to that boy Mahmud, later nicknamed Half-Ticket by Saurabh, for this foresight or consideration.

Ah! I forgot to tell you where we were going in those wee hours. Our destination was Abu Simbel, the last minute addition to our itinerary owing to its eye-catching photographs we had seen earlier on the Internet. It lay about 290 km south of Aswan, but the traveling buses or vans needed to be escorted by a security convoy which only left at 04:15 or 04:30 am for the earlier part of the day. That explained some of that early morning exercise. I did feel sheepish for my enraged soul earlier :)

We joined the security convoy on time and off we were for the amazing temples on a desert safari. Fatimah tried to explain a few historical things, but I was too dopey to heed or hark anything, and invariably crawled off to the last seat to gather some sleep. I woke up a couple of hours later and gropingly put on my glasses. What I saw was hitherto inexperienced in my life: vast stretches of sand on either side with no modicum of life to be seen anywhere, and our van moving along with the caravan on an endless journey. My mind moved on to those similar scenes in the movie “Resident Evil: The Last Extinction”. Wow – I had to say.

Fatimah wasn’t very amused with our sleeping for those many hours. She wanted or needed to talk about history. Since Saurabh was in the front, he did most of the talking with her. There was some wrong information given to her by Mahmud about our itinerary back in Aswan, but it was sorted out with us having to skip some places, like Aswan High Dam, due to the cramped schedule.

Abu Simbel:-

Abu Simbel remains one of the most astonishing feats of engineering marvel. There are two temples there, the bigger one of Ramses-II and the smaller one of his most beloved wife-Nefertari. After the construction of Aswan High Dam, the temples were slowly getting immersed in the rising water of Lake Nasser. With the danger then clearly in sight, UNESCO with concerned people from all over the world, worked to move the temples completely to a relatively higher and safer position. With engineers and workers working round the clock, this movement was completed in a record 5 years time in 1972. Since then, the place has got added popularity.

We reached there around 09:00 am and we, by then, were relatively refreshed. There were lots of tourists too, all coming in the caravan escorted by the two security convoys. So, it was a bit of a rush to enter the two temples. But before that, Fatimah briefed us about the history of the temples from a booklet containing their pictures. Guides were not allowed inside the temples, nor was any photographing. As usual, the history was riveting. This man, Ramses-II was all powerful and omnipotent, as you could see he was everywhere we went. His full story, I will narrate in my writing detailing our Luxor sojourn.

We first went inside the bigger temple which is dedicated to Ramses-II. On the façade, four big statues of his, one slightly deformed by an earthquake, welcome you awe-inspiringly. Inside it, there are columns, and engravings on the walls. At the foremost place in the passage is the sanctuary, considered the most sacred place. There, on a black wall, are rock-cut sculptures of four seated figures: Ra-Horakhty, the deified king Ramses-II, Amun-Ra and Ptah. On a particular day in each of the two halves of the year, sunlight falls on these statues, barring that of Ptah, the God of Dark and Underworld, from a crevice located on the right upper part of the room.

The smaller temple of Nefertari is almost a replica of the former; the only difference being that it is dedicated to the female folks: Nefertari and goddess Hathor. The importance of the queen, Nefertari can be gauged by the fact that this is the only temple in the Egyptian art where the statue of a queen is higher than the knees of her husband. Ramses-II did attach a lot of importance to her and as he did to himself, he accorded a divine status to her.

Despite the magnificence of the temples and the abutting Lake Nasser, I didn’t feel that excited after seeing them. May be I had got too expectant after reading about them on the Internet, or the still-accompanying drowsiness had acted as a dampener. Interestingly, Saurabh too shared the same feelings. But we were definitely delighted to visit a great location of history.

After coming from the temples, we had to search for our guide, as she had moved to a relatively isolated place to bird-watch from her binoculars. Here was a girl completely different to our earlier guide. Grown-up in traditional way but very educated and carrying lots of dreams, she was indeed a product of modern Egypt. It was interesting to meet different people.

We returned to our van to go back to Aswan. After having breakfast which we had got packed from the hotel, on the van, I could afford another round of sleep there in. Philae Temple was where we stopped next.

Philae Temple:-

Again due to the submersion caused by rising water, Philae Temple was moved in toto from its earlier location of Philae Island to a relatively higher Agilika Island, located about 550 metres away. But the temple is famously named on its earlier location only. We had to go through a ferry to the temple, and we could see its earlier site, half submerged in water.

The temple is dedicated to the Goddess, Isis. She was the wife of Osiris and mother of God Horus. In the myth, Osiris was murdered by his brother, the wicked God Seth. Seth scattered Osiris pieces in various places. Isis tirelessly searched for Osiris' body parts and then using her Goddess powers, joined the pieces together and brought Osiris back to life. Following Osiris' resurrection, Isis and Osiris conceived Horus. Osiris then adopted the role of ‘God of the under world and judge of the dead’. At the end of the tale, Horus grew up to avenge his father’s death by defeating Seth in combat. Philae Temple is also the legendary burial place of Osiris.

What surprised us most there were the stark and vivid engravings on the walls. They were very intense and depicting. Although, we could not get everything of those because of our lack of knowledge of the exact history, we could roughly make out the happenings which would have taken place. Greco-Roman and the subsequent Christian history too was very evident from the different sculptures and constructions.

While Fatimah was explaining us the engraved writings, a group of boys speaking in Arabic dispersed around us. One of them clearly didn’t say something pleasant to her, as was evident from the subsequent hush of disapproval from her face. We could understand that; young ruffians are everywhere. A few moments later, one of them approached her and spoke in Arabic to ask us for our approval to be photographed with them. Ah! Here we were, always taking photographs of foreigners with us back in India, and then there, we were being photographed! They were glad to take some snaps and I too took one of them. Later Fatimah told we looked like film-stars to them. I don’t know about myself, may be Saurabh looked like one :) Meanwhile, they continued to have their bouts of photographing with other groups of tourists. I had told you before; Egypt is very much like India.

Coming back from the place on the same ferry, we headed off to ‘The Unfinished Obelisk’ site.

The Unfinished Obelisk:-

The site is located right on the side of a main road. In earlier times, it was a quarry, where Egyptians carved out granite stones in a single piece, called obelisk. These obelisks were the show of grandeur of the pharaohs, and each of them raised many to exhibit his power. There is an unfinished obelisk lying in the middle and that has become a matter of study and visit for the current people. Some say, it was left like that as the people digging it found it to be weak enough to be raised as an obelisk. Hmmm…anyway the real significance of obelisks was known to us in Karnak Temple in Luxor where we saw the actual erected ones.

Felucca Ride:-

Having had enough of historical sites, we needed to have some recreating moments. What better than a boat ride on the Nile River? It isn’t exactly a boat; it is famously called felucca in Egypt. Half-Ticket had arranged for us a small felucca for our sailing in the river. It felt really great to be amongst the water of Nile River. We sailed for about an hour around Elephantine Island, seeing the nearby scenery. There were many people relaxing in the shade of the feluccas. I wished, someday I too could afford that with time and money.

We hadn’t had lunch till then, and obviously felt very hungry. Our guide accompanied us to a very good restaurant where we were served delicious chicken tomato curry (the exact name I have forgotten). Needless to say, we gorged and guzzled everything.

We had to go to the railway station then to move to our next destination, Luxor. Fatimah meanwhile left us. I don’t know why but the words “God Bless You”, generally reserved for older people to utter, came out of my mouth when she was parting. Probably because of the sheer amount of respect I had developed for her by then.

Mahmud took us to our seats in the train and bade good-bye. We were apprehensive about the seating train compartment not being comfortable, but it was actually very cozy. Those bogies were especially for the tourists, it seemed, and soon we could find many others joining us. Two Chinese girls (could have been Japanese, Korean etc but I hope you got the drift) sat in front of us, and we kept talking about them under the guard of our Hindi. Typical boys naa, on a trip! Soon though, I was in the arms of sleep and Saurabh with a meal in front of his seat.

Three hours later, we reached the Luxor station where Mr. Malak was waiting for us. He looked a very reserved guy, and our talk remained very minimal during our ride to the hotel. As usual with the hotels provided to us, this again was a very sub-standard one. But our frustration grew into extreme wrath on seeing the room. It was pathetic; we were more annoyed on being taken for a ride like that. We decided to bring this up the very next day in no uncertain terms. Despite having a memorable time in the day, the end was as bad as was the start. Suddenly Luxor didn’t seem enjoyable, but we were so wrong.

My Egypt Trip -II

The next day we woke up early, and reached the restaurant on time for our breakfast. We decided to hog as much as we could, for we didn’t know when and where would be our next eating-spot. After a while, the driver came to summon us, and we had to finish our eating spree. We went down to the lobby, and checked out for the day. And there she was, Neevin - our tour guide, sitting on the couch. She was definitely pretty, and we thought the tour should be a good one with her (smiles).

We had a private A/C van occupied only by our driver and guide along with us; so it was very comfortable with space. We got to see Cairo in the daylight for the first time, and were immediately confronted with the reality. The traffic was snarling, and the whole aura had that throwback similarity to an Indian set-up. A while later, I started feeling very much at home.

Meanwhile, Neevin too started gushing about her Indian movies fascination. She had indeed watched a lot of Indian movies, and Akshay Kumar was her favourite actor. Bollywood is everywhere, you see ….. She then started telling us about Egyptian history, and how the current Egypt had shaped up over the years on it. It was intriguing to know about 5000 year long history, all open for us to decipher and experience. Our itinerary for the day was very much aligned with the chronology of the sites – I came to realize this later on - and that indeed had a right effect on our understanding of the history, as it had gone by. Our first stop was Memphis.

Memphis:-

Memphis was the capital of ancient Egypt. Right now, there are a few statues and sculptures present on the site. We had our first encounter with the king- Ramses–II there. A long statue with his left leg pressing forward, depicting bravery, stands right in front of the enclosed place. On the sides of the pathway, are different artifacts – statuettes, sarcophagus, hieroglyphics carved figurines, and also a small sphinx. In a separate small room, a reclined but very big statue of Ramses–II awe-inspires you in more ways than one.

Overall, it was a good primer for us for the bigger things to come. Neevin had tried her best to feed all that history into our minds, but it was too much for us to digest in such a small time.

Saqqara:-

We then headed to Saqqara, the necropolis of old times. From the outskirts of the place only, we could figure out our first pyramid. Ah! I had indeed seen one, after reading about those in the history books all my life. We entered into the complex through a pathway with small cubes like chambers on either side. They were used for different purposes, like storage, mummification etc. related to the after-death rituals. Following the pathway, is a big open courtyard, and right–in –front lies the magnificent pyramid. It was Djoser’s Pyramid (also called The Steps Pyramid). I must tell some history here:-

Ancient Egypt was unified around 3000 BC by king, Menes, and since then the Dynasty Rule started. The subsequent periods were divided into different dynasties of kings. Djoser was the king of 3^rd Dynasty and with the help of his chief engineer, Imhotep, he built this pyramid - supposedly the first Pyramid to be ever built.

Egyptians had a strong fascination with their lives and wanted to live forever - so completely believed in life-after-death concepts. For them, the sun-God, Re, was the ultimate universe and life-creator, and every night, He handed over the reins to Osiris, the God of Death, to emerge out again in a new life in the morning the next day. They believed their life-cycle followed a similar pattern, and so prepared in every way for their after-death experiences. One of the after-death rituals was mummification - embalming the dead body with various herbs and chemicals to preserve it over a long time.

The king, or pharaoh, was the direct representative of God on this earth, and was the protector of all and sundry. As soon as he became king, he started preparations to meet life after death. Pyramids were built to house his mummified body enclosed in a sarcophagus. Along with his body, several other offerings were laid to help him carry over to the other world during the night. It was a valuable treasure indeed, buried in those pyramids.

Djoser’s Pyramid, as stated already, was the First Pyramid to be built, and was constructed with Six Steps all around its sides. It was a primitive but effective way of keeping the structure balanced and protected from falling.

I kept listening to Neevin’s words with rapt attention. Such a fascinating but true story, which we sometimes take for granted. Imagine the mind-set, beliefs and daily learnings of those people around 5000 years ago. I was stupefied to say the least.

We also roamed around to look into various excavated pieces and writings. From an elevated portion, we could see Bent and Red Pyramids – the next generation of pyramids - located some distance away.

After an enriching experience at Saqqara, we decided to have our lunch. But before that, we also went to ‘Carpet School’ where children worked to make supreme-quality carpets and fabric. Saurabh bought a few pieces from there.

We were skeptical about eating something non-religious, read pork, beef etc., in our lunch. It is hard to be a vegetarian outside one’s home, but it definitely helps if one eats at least chicken. We decided to taste Grilled Chicken. The rest of food was surprisingly very delicious. Another myth, this time related to food broken! We had a small beer, and Neevin too could afford it there, as she was Christian. Muslim women are forbidden to drink anything remotely alcoholic.

Giza Pyramids:-

After a sumptuous lunch, we headed to Giza Pyramids. To tell you frankly, I had heard only about Giza Pyramids before studying about and going to Egypt. And I knew then exactly, why they were the most famous monuments for non-Egyptians. The first pyramid, Khufu Pyramid, lies right in front of the complex. It is astounding. It remains the only surviving wonder of the ‘Seven Ancient Wonders of the World’.

Entering into the campus, I was immediately hounded by several knick-knack sellers. “India! Amitabh Bachchan!” was the most common and constant phrase uttered by them on seeing us, and ‘us’ here included Neevin too, as she looked remarkably similar to an Indian to be mistaken by her own people. It was a recurrent phenomenon everywhere and to be honest, it was pleasantly flattering as it gave that distinct joyous and respectful Indian identity to us. But unfortunately at Giza, I was a bit distant to the rest of my group, and one of them got me to wear that sheikh- turban and photographed. Before I had to pay something, my group arrived to my rescue (grin). These are the tidbits I remember the most now.

Khufu Pyramid is the after-work of Bent and Red Pyramids, and is considered to be the first complete and original pyramid. Its interior is open for some distance for the general public, but incurs an extra entry fee. On the suggestion of our guide, we decided to visit the interiors of the next pyramid, lying adjacent to it.

Khafre Pyramid, named after its builder Khafre, the successor of Khufu, is smaller than the Khufu one, but actually looks taller as it stands on an elevated ground. The entry fee for its interiors was also less, and we decided to go inside. While we were going down the wooden steps, the creepy faces of the visitors coming outside struck an unpleasant note about the things inside. And soon, we knew why. It was all dark and creepy inside, and after a few steps, I about-decided to return. Thankfully, I didn’t. Stooping, bending and standing in between wherever possible, we reached the inner most part where an empty sarcophagus was lying. In need of fresh oxygen, we had to return soon. But the experience was a once-in-a-lifetime one, however claustrophobic it seemed initially.

We then moved on to the famous ‘Panoramic Spot’ to take the photographs of the above-mentioned pyramids. The lilting ‘Suraj Hua Maddham’ number from ‘Kabhi Khusie Kabhi Gham’ was shot from here only.

Giza Sphinx was our next stop-over. The word ‘sphinx’ meaning human-headed lion in a sitting posture, is very famous, but it has to be seen how and where it originated from. Sphinxes were considered the protectors of the land, and they were built outside important places to keep the enemies away. This big sphinx, built by Khafre, lies directly opposite as if in a straight line to the Khafre Pyramid, and presents a captivating view above the whole ambience. Inside its complex, there are storage chambers, mummification rooms, sacred pit etc.

We were overwhelmed by the whole experience till then, but had become very tired too. The evening had started to draw out. Our sight-seeing trip for the day had also come to an end. So, Neevin then took us for some buying. We first went to a 'Khartoosh Shop'. Khartoosh–an oblong pendant with Hieroglyphics engraved name on it, is considered a good-luck charm, and is generally bought by the travellers, esp. the first-time ones. But it was very costly there, and we thought to buy it later. Adjacent to the shop was ‘Papyrus Paintings Store'. It had some very good paintings done on papyrus made papers; the first paper in human civilization is considered to be made from papyrus plants only. I and Saurabh bought some of these paintings as souvenirs. Then, we headed off to a ‘Perfumery Shop’. There another beautiful girl, Barbie, greeted us, and showed some of the most original perfumes. They indeed were natural, and very aromatic. Some were massagers, pain-relievers and even aphrodisiacs. She tried very hard to make us buy that lady-viagra, but who needs viagra of a lady if you don’t have a lady :) Anyway, we hadn't intended to buy any perfume at all with our stock already full, and we bid her adieu promising to come to her shop when our stock got over!

Finally, it was the time to end our journey with Neevin. She had indeed been a very helping and knowledgeable guide to us, and her disarming influence was never missed on us at any point during the day. She was, nevertheless, to re-join us when we came back to Cairo in the last part of our journey.

Replacing her, Mr Michael then got together with us, and he had to spend the evening with us. The Tour Company had duped us a bit by booking our flight to Aswan very late in the night, and we had no option but to spend 2-3 hours somewhere at a joint. We decided to go to a Coffee Shop and have some snacks. Michael was very adamant on us trying ‘Sheesha’. It is nothing but flavoured smoke, drawn from a long pipe connected to a silvery stand containing the smoke. It is very much like ‘hookah’ in India but obviously more prevalent and enjoyed in Egypt. The ambience was apt too, as a football match between two teams the names of which I don’t remember, but akin to Manchester United and Arsenal in EPL, was about to start. Saurabh went for it, and though I don’t smoke, I too tried a few puffs. But Michael had the longest ones, the reason why he was so insistent on us ordering it. Otherwise, he was a very affable fellow. We shared some banter about Egyptian girls and culture. He had a Canadian girlfriend and lamented how it was difficult to live with a girl without marriage in Egypt.

With time spent like that, we left the shop to go to the Airport to board the flight to our next destination, Aswan. It had been a wonderfully well wonderful day, to say in a bizarre but truly experienced way. We hoped to have similar days ahead also. Our only downside was the hectic schedule and lack of rest, which as we found out later did take a toll on us.

My Egypt Trip -I

There is so much to say, but so few ways to express it. That’s what sums up my recent Egypt trip. I have never written a travelogue before. The best attempt was a narrative of my experiences in India in the early part of this year. I will try, nevertheless, to present a vivid and honest description of each and every thing I encountered and experienced during my short trip to Egypt.

It all started during my pan-India trip, mentioned earlier, when I felt that distinct joy and joviality, and the related travails associated with a travel. I experienced India and her people as never before. Then and there itself, I had decided to undertake several more journeys of the ilk, time and money permitting.

Coming back to Cyprus, I was able to coax one of my friends, Saurabh, to undertake a journey to the mystical land of Egypt during mid-March. Egypt had always fascinated me by its uniqueness and universal appeal. Moreover, it is only an hour flight distant from Cyprus. So, it was the apt destination as a starting point for my travel plans.

After much deliberation, we decided on 13^th-17^th March as our trip duration, and booked DeCastro Tours as our tour agent in Egypt. We had to arrange for visa and the to-and-fro flight tickets between Cyprus and Egypt. The rest of our arrangement, viz. taxi, hotel, food, guide etc., in Egypt was taken care of by them.

It was all arranged perfectly by and for us. Unfortunately, as the D-day got nearer, I developed an unwanted fit of restlessness due to the boredom set in my mundane office and personal lives. In the week, running up to Thursday, 13^th March, I including Saurabh got heaps of work suddenly. So, it wasn’t an expected run up to the journey date. Finishing or better said, managing, our assignments somehow on Thursday, we left for the airport after lunch. It was really a much deserved break for us.

Our flight operator was Egypt Air and without much ado at the airport, we were through the travel formalities and soon inside the carrier, which took off sharply at 04:00 pm. On that day, I, for the first time, got some time to reflect upon the impending travel. And it invariably wandered off to the fear of the unknown. I shouldn’t say fear but thoughts of doubt about going to an unknown land, populated by the much-derided Muslims. We didn’t know anybody there, save our travel company communicated through e-mails. But again it all imparted that same travel-induced sense of excitement. And I decided to soak in all which would come my way thence forth.

Our flight landed at the Cairo airport at its right time of 05:20 pm, and we went out excitedly to meet the land of mysticism. Our first encounter wasn’t a very exciting one though, as there was a veritable bedlam at the airport. We could spot our Travel Representative, holding Saurabh’s name in his company’s placard, in the crowd, and had to really keep up with him all the time for fear of losing him out in the mess, which we admittedly did once (grin). He placed us in the serpentine and long queue for Immigration Check. Ever wondering this shabby arrangement, we came to know about the computer network failure which had occurred just before our arrival. Certainly not an auspicious start! After going through the long procedure of then manually-done passport check, we exchanged some US Dollars for Egyptian Pounds, and were finally outside the airport. A different well-attired gentleman greeted us outside, and we were off with him to our hotel.

Cairo looked to me like New York! Even better. Exaggerated, but I certainly didn’t feel that way then, because it came unexpected to me. It was so marvelously developed in its infrastructure that it belied my image of Egypt being a third-world country. Night life added a distinct glamour to it. Traffic was huge, but certainly better managed than in a similar city in India. Cairo’s views that night will certainly remain with me for a long time.

The gentleman, Mr. Michael, with us in the car then broke my daze. He asked where we came from; the answer of which, I suspect, he knew. When we answered India in chorus, he blithely said about his fascination with Indian movies and Amitabh Bachchan in particular. We were both surprised and pleased to know about his Indian association.

We reached ‘Santana Hotel’ located somewhat in the interiors of the city. There the tour company manager, Mr. Soliman, was waiting for us. We finalized our itinerary, and then we paid and signed the formal paper of agreement. He, sadly but expectedly, told us about the cancellation of our plan of Nile Cruise accompanying Dinner and Belly Dance that night, owing to the delay caused at the airport. But he suggested where we could go out nearby for dinner and recreation. He finally asked us to be ready by 09:00 am in the morning the next day, when our tour guide, Miss Neevin, would meet us and show Cairo the whole day.

We were slightly disappointed with the Hotel, as it didn’t look like a 4-star hotel promised to us. But we were prepared for it, as we knew beforehand that we, as tourists, would be the prime target of some leeching. We strolled out to the nearby shops, and to my no-surprise then, even at 11:00 pm, the life was buzzing. We went to KFC to buy some food, and it was really heartening to see that particular branch being run by the disabled people; something novel for us.

We came back to our hotel and had our meal. Bracing ourselves for the wonderful would-be tour the next day, we went to sleep. The parting shot before our retiring to bed was, “Let’s hope our tour guide tomorrow is as exciting and beautiful as this place.” We were soon to find out.

To be continued …….