Dear All,
I thought it would be nice if I share my DIARY with you about my Egypt trip, here is my “sorry” that I have taken long, Reasons were, I had to start preparing for my MBA exams since 3 papers sounded Latin to me and I had no idea what was it all about, had to enroll myself for some classes to hope a PASS mark! (finally, did well, though), Seemed like I had grown no immunity to Viral Fever, as it rightly hit me down as soon my exams were over L.
Here it comes…
Landing in Cairo, looked as if I was about to land in a huge chess board, though I had learnt a bit of the Cairo-city plans over different civilizations, it was not these scenes that I could imagine of, as far as I could see, I could see only rectangles and square roads; no curves whatsoever; with those sodium bulbs that marked the boundaries for those broad roads, it looked awesome. For a person from a small city like Kigali, it may feel like it takes decades landing, as it appeared to me when it took as much as 30 mins to land in Cairo International terminal despite No Air traffic.
Have you guys ever heard announcements like “For the kind attention of passengers, this is pilot XYZ speaking, due to reasons known only to them, they need me move the aircraft 10 Cms, so may I kindly request you all get back to your seats and be seated?”
“Due to some technical problems may I request you kindly get back to your boarding halls, while our engineers bring a spare from another aircraft and fix up our aircraft?”
God bless Kenya Airways and their in-flight announcements!! If they find problems only after the aircrafts ran upto the Take-Off mark, on what guarantee do we fly with them? I was wondering if they would ever ask their leaving pilots to give a report on the conditions of the aircraft before they hand over?!
Now on Egypt Immigration,
Here are the questions asked:
Q: Purpose of Visit
A: pleasure,
Q: How long is your stay?
A: a week,
Q: How much money you have
A: “well around 1200$” (though my central processing unit took a while on how to answer, it was not too late when I replied)
Q: Show me the money
A: here you are (OMG, I had around 5000$ and was afraid to take them off my pocket, here I go… had my jacket cover my pant pockets, took some out, Thank God, it was 1300$)
The officer checked, if they were not fakes! Thank God my HR did not cheat me! J
Go and Wait, we will call you.
Will it not worry you if you have 2 aircraft passengers, landed after yours, cleared immigration, and you still wait for a gigantic figure to come up with your passport? I was restless, had literally flown long enough to become restless! Nearly 3 hrs have gone, asked a guy to lend his cell phone, called my friend who was waiting outside the terminal to receive me, he had no idea either on why it was taking that long, I had no more patience, went inside the Head-Immigration, there were 6 officials, started a bit quietly
“Sir, I have my Visa stamped from, Egyptian Embassy-Kigali, may I know why it takes this long for verification?”
“Wait … Wait … Will Come (with Arabian slang..Roaring voice)
Me: “No sir, Am sorry, am literally tired, unless I know how long the formalities take, I can’t hold anymore, I prefer I travel back, ‘I DO NOT NEED TO VISIT CAIRO”
“I DO NOT NEED TO VISIT CAIRO”- might have struck him hard I guess; He calls another person through his phone, here it comes… my passport stamped hours ago…seemed like it had been put on hold for …….. money” (people said). Another reason that would have delayed their process, in other words, kindled some suspicion, would be the way that I presented myself out there; with 35 kilograms huge baggage, and with an Yamaha musical keyboard! Will a guy to see Egypt for 4 days come with keyboard?! And unless they know my complete itinerary till home?!
The delay made me tired. But when I came out of the airport I was charged up again though; with lots of zeal over egypt.
Mahesh, my good friend, working with Redington-Egypt, was there with his colleague Ahmed with sleepy face, Pity they had to wait from 9.30 PM till 1 AM.
Mahesh lives in an apartment; Cairo is full of flats, dense- apartments, built decently, with all facilities. We had lots to talk about our college days and our old friends, He kept ready chicken fry, Rice and my Favorite RASAM (those who don’t know what this means google/wikipedia it!!). Hardly slept 4 hrs.
We are out for Alexandria, a modern-city, with historical importance, Went straight to the Qaitbay Citadel in Alexandria, this is considered one of the most important defensive strongholds, not only in Egypt, but also along the Mediterranean Sea coast. It formulated an important part of the fortification system of Alexandria in the 15th century A.D.
The Citadel, is situated at the entrance of the eastern harbour on the eastern point of the Pharos Island. It was erected on the exact site of the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The lighthouse continued to function until the time of the Arab conquest, then several disasters occurred and the shape of the lighthouse was changed to some extent, but it still continued to function. Restoration began in the period of Ahmed Ibn Tulun (about 880 A.D). During the 11th century an earthquake occurred, causing damage to the octagonal part. The bottom survived, but it could only serve as a watchtower, and a small Mosque was built on the top. In the 14th century there was a very destructive earthquake and the whole building was completely destroyed. I was wondering how the Pyramids escape those destructive earth quakes. Must be the magic of those brilliant architects; pity they all (around 100,000 people) had been killed on completion of the pyramid. Had they had another chance, Earth might have witnessed many other wonders too… Isn’t it? The citadel served as a defense fort for ages, before it lost its military importance.
The Citadel has a small mosque inside with a beautifully carved ceiling! (find attached pic) OMG, with those phase of intellect, Egyptians should dominate today’s world, what happened to them in between- is still a mystery. We took very many pictures in the citadel till the long whistle blown, strong and loud enough to wake the dead, Why do these security people lose cool easily?! J.
By the time we drove back to mid Alexandria, the sun had gone asleep, night views of Alexandria were really great, The main issue that I noticed in Egypt is their lack of traffic rules, though it was not THAT surprising for an INDIAN J, they should have worked a bit on it. You will never know when a wheel will run over your boot! Our taxi driver held our hands tighter and helped us cross the roads with thousands of vehicles passing, to take some snaps; I had mortgaged my soul to god the time I crossed the roads, none seemed to have had brake in their vehicles, anyways we were safe.
Mediterranean [I always spell this wrong, and let MS word Correct for me, Poor speller!!] sea, did not let me leave! We took some nice snaps with those cruise ships. When I talk about cruise ships, I repent that I did not plan and book for a dinner in a cruise that would have also complemented me a BELLY Dance, a must watch for Egypt visitors! Better luck next time! J
Ahmed, our friend and guide wanted us stay back in Alexandria to see other important places the next day. But I insisted to get back to Cairo the same evening since I did not want to lose chances of getting into pyramids. The 150 Ticket Limit made me worry a bit and if I miss I would miss it forever since my itinerary was not that flexible. So we said goodbye to that private taxi that we hired! And decided to take a Public taxi, I was happy that we did so, since I liked the music that they played!!
Reached Cairo around midnight and had little time to sleep. Pyramid started rolling in my mind,
The Pyramids of Giza.
There are three main Pyramids here, which were built in the 4th Dynasty (circa 4550 B.C) 4550 + 2010 years ago. The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt were built as tombs for Kings (and Queens), and I was told that it was the exclusive privilege to have a Pyramid tomb. However, this tradition only applied in the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
The Great Pyramid of Khufu is by far the most famous Pyramid in Egypt, the biggest, tallest, and most intact. After its construction it became one of the “Seven Wonders Of The World” (old), and today, it is the only one of them remaining. For a period of 6400+ years, the Pyramid was also the tallest building on earth, until the French built the Eiffel Tower in 1889 to take that accolade.
On one side there are actually 2 entrances, one is the original, and is 17m (55ft) above ground level, and the other one is a man-made forced entrance located below it. Created in the 9th Century A.D by Khalif El-Mamoun, who was seeking the treasures that he thought might have been kept inside the Pyramid. He sent out stonemasons to open up an entrance, and they cut it midway across the centre of the northern side. Their tunnel goes almost 35m into the Pyramid, and was crudely cut, and at the end it connects with the original inner corridors of the Pyramid. Nothing was found inside, as it was plundered in antiquity. Nowadays visitors, to the site, use Mamoun’s entrance to gain access into the Pyramid, as it is actually considered to be a shortcut.
The entrance is guarded by two security officials, who had asked us if we carried cameras, Cameras are not allowed, we had 2, we should have carried one inside like others did, but thank god they didn’t mind us carry our mobiles and mine had a bit of good clarity(is there anybody to deny?)! And I took video! If someone could guarantee me on legal terms I could load them all in youtube!
Walking inside that tunnel was so suffocating and exciting, since it was a tunnel of about 4 feet we had to BOW /bend (I thought, it was designed as such as to respect the great architects), it was a great feel! The Queen’s chamber was on renovation phase and was closed. We went to King’s chamber, a Dark room with heavy granites, if i am right it was 6, each one weighing approximate 60 tons, I was wanting to know what would happen if an earthquake hits heavily! 1300000 Block of granites would have been rattled and eaten our lives! History!
Granites and Alabasters were brought from places like Luxor, approx 1000 kms away from cairo. I could, by heart, sense the sweat and pain of the labours used!
People looted alabasters since they believed houses built with few alabasters from pyramid would bring LUCK! Thank god Government came heavily, otherwise pyramids would have been scattered as pieces of stones in Egyptian houses.
It was easier to climb and harder getting down! Pyramids are simply great!! Words just can’t express!
For what we have seen in Egyptian museum, I would need to release 10 volumes! Even a tiny stone carried 2 pages of history behind it.
When we were about to enter, there were college girls (by the way, Egyptian girls are very beautiful, boys are smart too), Egyptologists (they study Egypt history for 6 years), wanted to know if we require them to guide through, having seen only few museums, of a Hall-big in our lives, we said “NO” to them.
Entered into the museum, Once seen the huge Halls inside, we decided that we should go with a guide, since we had only 5hrs left for the day and i wanted fly Mumbai the same day, I went to the Security guards and asked if i can go out take a guide and come back, they said OK but an idea struck me in the mean while, There was an European girl just entered in to the museum with a guide, just asked her if we could join her and Share whatever the Guide is gonna charge us. She said OK and there we go.. Egypt National museum,
What is mummification, what does coffins interior say (interiors have lot of formula carved which they thought would cure diseases, Eyes symbol carved in the coffins to show head-side, alabaster jars used to keep the organs like liver, brain, kidney, eyes; They believed that they would only need heart in their after-life, there is a weighing scale to measure the weight of the heart, if your heart weighs less than the FEATHER OF TRUTH, you go into heaven, hell otherwise). Lotus in the statues..., when our guide went on explaining every single thing we were breathless! Really wanted a Gold Collar! She had a nice voice, i should mention. Guides are not allowed inside ROYAL MUMMIES Room, unless we pay for them, which was quite an expensive deal for us, Aurlie, was not willing either, thus went inside without guide, took notes, i shall compile them in my next mail since I had 3 tissue papers fully scribbled with details ( I bet no one could read them except me)!!.
Though reserved rest for next mail, I must share this here itself, the thing i liked the most!! Here it goes..
Hatshepsut, If you have difficulties pronouncing, pronounce it like HOT CHICKEN SOUP, like my guide suggested J
Hatshepsut (1540-1481 BC) was an Egyptian queen of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Usurping the throne after her husband's death, she held effective power for over 20 years. The daughter of Thutmose I by his queen Ahmose, Hatshepsut was married to her half brother Thutmose II, a son of Thutmose I by a lesser queen named Mutnofre. During Thutmose II's lifetime Hatshepsut was merely a principal queen bearing the titles King's Daughter, King's Sister, God's Wife, and King's Great Wife. On the death of Thutmose II the youthful Thutmose III, a son of Thutmose II by a concubine named Ese (Isis), came to the throne but under the tutelage of Hatshepsut, who for a number of years thereafter succeeded in keeping him in the background. At the beginning she had only queenly status but soon assumed the double crown of Egypt and, after some initial hesitation, had herself depicted in male dress.
Although both she, and later Thutmose III, counted their reigns from the beginning of their partnership, Hatshepsut was the dominant ruler until Year Twenty. Thutmose III was also shown as a king but only as a junior coregent. In an inscription of Year Twenty in Sinai, however, Thutmose III is shown on an equal footing with his aunt.
For obvious reasons warlike activities were barred even to so virile a woman as Hatshepsut, and with the exception of a minor expedition into Nubia, her reign was devoid of military undertakings. But an inscription on the facade of a small rock temple in Middle Egypt, known to the Greeks as Speos Artemidos, records her pride in having restored the sanctuaries in that part of Egypt, which she claimed had been neglected since the time of the alien Hyksos rulers.
Among the many officials on whose support Hatshepsut must have depended at least initially was one Senmut, whom she entrusted with the guardianship of the heir to the throne, the princess Ranefru, her daughter by her marriage to Thutmose II. According to Senmut himself, he was responsible for the many buildings erected by the Queen at Thebes. Among these was her splendid terraced temple at Deir el-Bahri, which was inspired by the earlier structure there of the Eleventh Dynasty king Mentuhotpe I.
Apart from the customary ritual ceremonies, the colored reliefs on the walls of this temple depicted the two main events of Hatshepsut's reign, the transport of two great red granite obelisks from Elephantine to Karnak and the famous expedition of Year Nine to the land of Punt, an unidentified locality which probably lay somewhere on the African Red Sea littoral.
Once having proclaimed herself king, Hatshepsut had a tomb excavated for herself in the Valley of the Kings. How she died is unknown, but after her death her memory was execrated by Thutmose III, who caused her name to be erased from the monuments wherever it could be found.
Talking about tomb-320, Deir-el-bihari (spell?), Many of the egypts most important pharaohs were hidden by 21st dynasty priests, in tomb 320, along with such kings as tutmose-II & Rampses-II was a small wooden box inscribed with the cartouches (if this is the first time you hear “cartouches” google it.. it was new for me too… then my guide explained!!) of Hatshepsut, supposedly contained Queen’s liver. It was concluded as queen’s by DNA test and the perfect fit of the Missing tooth.
I shall end up here since it is getting too long and my fingers are paining already, ( I wonder if my friend, john schilling, has a secretary type for him?)
Senthil Ganesh Shenbagamoorthy
