This gal is a little hard headed. Humour's a little too dry. Also cold, stone-cold.

Well, what more can I say about Egypt? There’s the pyramids, of course. The sphinx and the mummies. The pharaohs and their temples for the old Egyptian gods. Cleopatra and her dalliance with the consuls of Rome. And throughout all of its history winds the Nile River, blessing irrigation and fertility to the soil. Egypt’s definitely on everybody’s bucket list (it certainly was on mine) and touring Egypt had been a whirlwind of emotions. 

Sunlight breaking through the dark clouds and shining down on the pyramid

The old world charm was much alive and well in Cairo - when our group touched down, our local guide was waiting with fresh roses for the ladies in our group. He guided us through customs, and using official documentations and no small amount of charm, we skipped past the metal detectors and baggage checks. 

No one was quite as stoked as me when we reached the Egyptian Museum and saw the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun. The tomb held particular historical significance: discovered in 1922, it’s the only tomb of a pharaoh that had been found intact, with all the treasures that were buried together with a pharaoh. Aside from the sarcophagus and the golden funerary mask of Tutankhamun (located in the photograph free zone of the museum), there are collections of hieroglyphs carved in stone tablets, and finished products made from sculpting and metallurgy techniques that had been perfected by a civilisation from over 5000 years ago.

And what’s a trip to Egypt without going to the pyramids? The Great Pyramid of Giza stands at 139m, a considerable flex of architecture feat. Estimated to have been built in 2600-2500BC, it is the final resting place for the Pharaoh Khufu. The two smaller pyramids are the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure, both housing his descendants and pharaohs in their own rights. It’s mind-blowing how far the ancient Egyptian dynasties stretched back. We think of Cleopatra as a being from ancient times, but in context to Egyptian history, the pyramids were already over 2500 years old when she was born. Her own archeologists were possibly exploring the Great Pyramid of Giza during her lifetime. On the grand scheme of humankind, Cleopatra (69-30BC) lived closer to the age of iPhones (AD 2007, 2000 years later) than the building of the Giza Pyramid (2600 and 2500 BC, or 2500 years earlier). When each square boulder in the pyramid comes up to your chest, it’s an inexplicable sense of wonder to look up at the structure and be amazed at the human ingenuity that it took to accomplish it. 

We also visited the Pyramid of Djoser, the OG pyramid, or officially, a “proto-pyramid”, with the experience gained from building these going into building the future generations of pyramids that we’ve came around to recognise instantly. 

When in Cairo, one also simply have to explore the sprawling marketplace that is the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. Like Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, it is virtually impossible to walk down every stall. And just like Chatuchak Market, haggling is expected. One TripAdvisor review mentioned that even after bargaining the price of his souvenirs down by 80%, he found that the ones sold at the airport were still cheaper. But the best thing to do in Khan El-Khalili bazaar didn’t involve any haggling. In one of the alleyways, at a small corner shop, I had my best meal in Egypt: a stuffed roast pigeon from Kababgy El Azhar Farahat. I mentioned in passing to our guide about trying local cuisine, and he promised to bring me to the “best roast pigeon in the whole of Cairo, Luxor and Aswan.” And he was as good as his word. The pigeon meat was fork-tender and perfectly seasoned, the roasted skin crisp with each bite. Even the bones can be eaten, and the bone marrow sucked from the long bones. Tearing off pieces of pita bread, we scooped up copious amounts of Salata Baladi (Egyptian Arabian salad) and tahini (pronounced Tah-hee-nay), and drank deeply from our cups of pigeon broth. Afterwards, we cleansed our palate afterwards with a hot spiced ginger drink - a zanjabeel, the drink that the Quran calls “the promise of paradise”. And yes, by serendipity, these are the very alleyway tables that Anthony Bourdain sat at.

The Egyptian language is no longer used and is considered a dead language. The people speak Arabic, and Islam is the predominant religion in Egypt today, about 80% of the population. The Citadel of Saladin is a 12th century Islamic fortification built to protect the land against incursions from the Crusaders. The citadel stood, and 700 years after, the region had been pacified sufficiently that the Sultan of Egypt commissioned a masterpiece to be built within the fortification: the Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha, or more simply the Alabaster Mosque. 

Coptic Hanging Church

The other 20% of the population is Christian. There are two attractions in Cairo with Christian influence. The Coptic Hanging Church was one, which had been named for the way the church was built between two towers of a pre-existing Roman fortress. Around the corner, and slyly hidden below ground, was the Church of Abu Serga, an underground room where purportedly Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus Christ stayed in for three months while fleeing Palestine.

Somewhere along the busy main street, I capped off my tour of the neighbourhood with my first taste of Arabic coffee (also known as Turkish coffee). Stir in a bit of sugar if you like, let the sediments settle, and voilà!

One quirk of touring Egypt is the near-constant police presence, but I found myself getting used to them rather quickly. Exiting the airport on our first day, we were met by armed policemen, which was customary for overseas tour groups. As we drove from one city to another, a different policeman would board our coach and escort us along our way through the country. We passed checkpoints, both ones made of concrete as well as temporary ones made of stationary police cars parked across the road. YouTube Vloggers speak of how they would get harassed by the police as they are filming. But for us, we had nothing but positive interactions with the Egyptian police, who were helpful, friendly even. While in Khan El-Khalili, some of us lost their way in the sprawling maze of alleyways, and was guided by a helpful policeman back to the designated meeting point. On another occasion, when one of us fell and broke her ankle in the city, they were at her side within minutes and had called for an ambulance. During the long drives, it was pretty funny how the coach driver was blatantly playing bootleg DVDs in front of them.

We made the 6-hour long journey from Cairo to the coastal town of Hurghada, powered with a latte from Vasko (great) and popcorn from Kukuruza (not great). Hurghada borders the Red Sea, and is popular with both locals and tourists alike.

It might have been my imagination, but the sea seemed bluer than all other waters that I’ve encountered. From the shore, we took a motorboat out to the sea to reach a floating platform where our submarine was waiting. We made a circuit around the seabed of the Red Sea, and it was a pretty incredible experience looking out at the marine life from our submarine.

Another popular day trip was a desert safari in the Eastern desert, which was found between Nile and the Red Sea. Scaling the sand dunes was plenty of fun, and even more when we shimmied our way down. All the sand dunes look identical to me, but to the Bedouins who live in the desert, we knew that we were in capable hands and there was never a doubt they knew their way around. 

From Hurghada, we travelled to Luxor, the capital of ancient Egypt. We visited Karnak and Luxor temple, both of them landmark discoveries in the world of Egyptian civilisation, and capped off our Luxor leg with a horse-drawn carriage through the streets of Luxor in the evening sun.

Boarding our cruise at Luxor, we spent a delightful few days sailing up the Nile river. We woke up every day in a different city, and disembarked to see the sights scattered along the Nile. We visited the Valley of the Kings, the Hatshepsut Temple, Kom Ombo Temple, Philae Temple, and of course, the Abu Simbel Temple.

Which modelling agency did these three people learn from in order to walk like that?

 

On the cruise, entrepreneuring peddlers were never far behind, and in the daytime, they lashed their boat to the side of the cruise to sell their wares to the tourists up on the sun deck. With uncanny accuracy, they tossed their products up the 5-storey ship. If you’re happy with the product, you place your money in the bag and toss it back down. The transaction’s built on trust (and a terrific right arm), which clearly have been working well for the sellers.

Sweets are a big part of the Egyptian diet, and throughout the trip, we filled up on dates and baklava. Egypt is still much of an agrarian economy, producing much of the world’s strawberries, eggplants, rice, beets, sugar cane and dates. Which most of us could probably guess, as these products feature heavily in their diet. But we didn’t quite realise how abundant strawberries are, until we went into Carrefour, and did a double-take when we found trays of huge red strawberries going for about $1 per kilo. We bought trays of strawberries back to our hotel that night, and we ate to my heart’s content. 

Touring Egypt may be brutal for some. The experience can be loud, crowded and disconcerting, especially to foreigners who do not know the language. Arabic can sound harsh. Egyptians are also used to standing in closer proximity, speaking in louder voices and gesturing as they speak, all of which may come across as a little confrontational. There is a tipping culture, and even in museums where we had already bought tickets, we’ve had a restroom cleaner drop everything that he was doing, stand in front of you and bar your way into the restroom, demanding a tip before letting you pass. But I find that many of the locals genuinely want you to have a good time, and would to go out of their way for you. Back at the roadside stall with the roast pigeons, they didn’t serve zanjabeel, but when I told the runner that I was looking to try some, he quickly disappeared into the maze of the bazaar and came back afterwards with cups of zanjabeel. Most of the people here are friendly and warm, and are making the most of what they got. وداع Egypt, you brilliant, charming, wondrous and complicated country.