A more detailed overview

This is the first time I've had some free time to go into more detail. Apologies if I am repeating myself, I can't remember what all I posted and what I haven't so far. I have a 2 hr wait at the Cairo airport for my trip to Aswan, and apparently this airport has excellent wifi, even in the domestic flight section! Egypt is funny that way, you get ancient pyramids and some places where the toilet is nothing more then a hole in the ground, but then you also get wifi, brand new clothes, and the latest electronics. I didn’t check to see if there was wifi at the pyramids, but I did notice my guides were talking on their cel phones just fine lol.

The hotel I’m staying at is quite nice, it’s a budget place, so it has marble flooring, air conditioning, my own toilet (if I only wanted to pay $2 per night I could have shared with other women), and the maid came in daily. The only downfall was the lack of toilet paper upon checkin. However I was prepared, as someone warned me about the tp shortage in Egypt. Fortunately the lack of tp was taken care of later. It really is a rare commodity in Egypt, people having to pay 25cents to get some outside of any public bathrooms. There also seems to be this odd shortage of anything to wipe your hands with after eating. Napkins are apparently a foreign concept in Egypt. Wiping your hands on your clothing doesn’t work well either if you are wearing light colours to keep off the sun!The clothing customs are downright... well religious here. The women are expected to keep their hair covered at all times, and very few seem to cheat. It is funny how the local women are just appalled at how the tourist women dress and have their hair out. I have decided to just wear a silk head scarf to get less harassment, and keep the sun off. I’ve seen some tourist women with hair completely down and short shorts on; they should have an interesting trip in Egypt I figure lol. Of course women are also not supposed to have bare legs (fuck that), and not bare arms, but one can sort of get away with short sleeved t-shirts. The shoulders are also not supposed to be bare. This is in Cairo, so I’m sure it’s extra strict in the smaller towns and villages. I have seen some of the woman cheat a bit and wear the head to toe outfit, but part of it being tight. I have yet to see an Egyptian women wear less then a tshirt and capris though. Many of the woman wear black head to toe, and some wear veils. Now that might work out just fine in the winter, but would be damn hot in the summer!

The food has been excellent and extremely low cost! Well it depends where you eat of course... there are sometimes two prices, one for the locals, and another special tourist price. I still seem to keep finding lunch and dinner for $3 or less though. I have yet to have a bad meal here which is good. I just look for the places that seem packed to the brim with a lineup, or go with the one the hotel or my driver suggests. Speaking of which, when my driver and I go out, he has been quite nice, and stops at all of the fresh squeezed mango juice stands for me. I have no idea what that crap in North America is, but the mango (mangu) juice in Egypt is amazing! It’s also a very good deal at only $5 per 1.5 litre water bottle filled up with it. My driver was quite sweet and just randomly showed up one morning with a huge bottle of it for me. Needless to say he got a large tip for that one :>.

The hotel is a bit odd, or more likely wanting extra income, and they are convinced that tourists cannot get anywhere alone and they always need a guide and/or driver! Personally I like to walk around, so I spent 2 of my days in Cairo just wandering for 4-5 hours. Definitely an interesting experience. The second day the wandering was greatly extended because I was hopelessly lost (I think I was circling my hotel and the museum and not knowing it lol). So I finally gave up and hailed a cab, so he drove me around lost for half an hour, which also included asking directions from people, trying to get interpreters and so on. One must have a good sense of humour to be in Egypt. He finally gave up, and I got out. I offered him a very low amount since I was nowhere near my hotel. He was quite mad, but fortunately the tourist police intervened and I got Egyptian price (the cabbie was extra pissed now) and they got me a new cab to the place that I could find my way back to the hotel from. It was a nice tour of Cairo at least LOL.

I have found that everyone that knows English in Egypt that tries to talk to you either is trying to be your guide for a fee, or they just so happen to own a perfume shop that they attempt to lure you into. Of course most of these perfume shops have fake essential oils. You would not believe how many people with perfume shops told me about how they traveled to Canada (or the US)... then they just so happened to show me their shop next. I only fell for this once. The first time when I did fall for it, the guy quoted one price, then another price if I got 2. Suddenly a bit later the price went up a lot, so I walked out saying he was a rippoff. I come to find out later that he lied about how early the Egyptian museum closed so he could lure me into his store.

Whenever you go shopping in Egypt, they always sit you down with a mint tea (or other drink of your choice). Then they proceed to show you what they have in their shop and talk you into something. I’m not all that patient and like to cut to the chase. I’m sure I pay a lot more then I should for this, but half an hour of haggling is just not my idea of fun :P. My guide brought me to one perfume shop that was government sanctioned, so the oils were actually real. I had to get some papyrus oil and some lotus oil. I think they would go over extremely well for Egyptian magics.

I was also taken to a government sanctioned papyrus institute where I was shown how papyrus is made. It’s pretty neat, they take off the skin of the stalk, then they slice strips. The strips are then put in water to soak for a week or few. When they are done soaking they are put into a press and flattened (a rock in the old days) then rolled out with a rolling pin to flatten them even further. They are then overlayed with each other to make the papyrus. They naturally stick to each other due to their high starch content. The funny thing is that the “papyrus” one finds in north America is not actually papyrus, but banana leaves! Real papyrus is MUCH thicker, and waterproof. I think a papyrus rain jacket would be quite nice :). Unfortunately most of the papyrus in Egypt is also fake. The real stuff is actually quite thick and sturdy. The papyrus institute was amazing, the paintings on the papyri were truly masterpieces, what you would expect to find in any art gallery. I was completely amazed at how well they were done. Again, nothing like you find here. However the prices were also a bit high. For a large poster sized one it was $500 (likely haggled down to $200-$250), but they are truly gorgeous.

The next shopping stop was a rug school in Sakkura. Apparently Saqqura (no nothing ever really does have a standard spelling in Egypt) is famous for their rug making and rug school. I was brought on the tour and shown how they knot the rugs. I was let try as well, and have photos, but the wifi here is not fast enough for photo uploads! The silk rugs were just gorgeous and sooo soft! I told them no thank you, I don’t want to buy any carpets, right up until he showed me a silk one with the weighing of the heart papyrus on it! So I left with one of the smaller carpets.

Aside from that I’m avoiding the souvenirs as most are very low quality, and I would rather spend my money on tours of remote temples. Also, haggling for inordinate amounts of time is getting old... fast! I did find out that when I paid $5 for a pair of sunglasses I was paying way too much, since my next pair was only $2 lol. For other souvenirs I have more blisters then I can count! There are the butt blisters from camel riding, the blisters all over my feet from the new sandals, and just a load of them for walking around for 5 hours per day.When my tours were booked, I thought they might be short 4-6 hour tours. Meanwhile I found out that they were an 11 hour and a 9 hour tour! Needless to say I was exhausted by the end of the day. The good part is that they were private tours with my own driver and guide. So I nixed the Christian temples and Mosques right away. I had seen enough in Morocco when I went, and when you’ve seen one monotheistic Deity’s church/mosque you have seen them all. Well OK perhaps not, the inlay is beautiful, but there were important tombs and pyramids that needed to be seen instead.

I have seen about 10 pyramids now, and crawled inside 2 of them. Pyramid crawling is quite a bit of exercise and wears one out quickly, so I chose not to go into all of them, just a couple of the more interesting ones. They do feel pretty neat inside, but I think the thousands of tourists per day does take away from it a bit. I was able to take photos inside one of the pyramids, but not the other. You aren’t supposed to take photos inside of them, but with the right backsheesh, well you can get away with a few more things. I think this country is run on backsheesh actually. Of course they always tell you that you haven’t given them enough, but that is a common tactic that is best ignored!

My first tour of the Egyptian museum was with a guide and only lasted an hour or two. She definitely told me some interesting facts that I did not know, and many relating to magical practice, which is quite handy. However she also did not cover even half of the museum, since one never could in that short of a time. So I went back on my own a few days later and spent 4-5 hours in the museum. I of course quickly saw the exhibits my guide had shown me, and remembered much of what she said, but I also found some new ones that I had not yet seen before! One of my favourites was this 20 foot tall statue of Horus :>. Across from the statue was the white crown of upper Egypt. I made a joke about his hat falling off, but I don’t think the guard got it. Unfortunately they were watching that statue like a hawk (pun intended), so I couldn’t get away with too much.

Speaking of Horus, there was another room where there was a Horus statue sitting in one of the sacred granite houses for statues, in every quarter. There were also hundreds of eyes of Horus in various places in the museum, including the ever so wonderful jewellery rooms. All this and a couple of stuffed, er I mean mummified falcons. There was also a Horus statue outside in the gardens (well it was sort of a garden, there was Egyptian lotus and papyri plant there. After hours of touring the museum I bought a much overpriced bottle of water ($1.60 can you believe it?!) and relaxed leaning up against the statue.

There was of course also statues of all of the kings/pharaohs, and many of them had an extremely strong presence! All of the famous pictures that I have seen of Egyptian statues, well they were all there! The one with the pharaoh with Horus on one side and Set on the other, was in a closed off under construction room. Fortunately it could clearly be seen from the door if one peeked around and took the back route through a few of the monuments. I’m sure if there was some backsheesh involved the workman may have let me in, but I was far too tired at this point that just seeing the statue from the door was good enough. Then there was also of course the famous statue of Khephre with Horus behind him in hawk form, made of granite, and very nicely done. The statues are much more awesome (and very huge) in person!

Another of my favourite sections was the main court where you walk along it, and there are about twenty 50 foot high statues of pharaohs all looking at you. The neat thing was that some of them definitely did look at you, and this room won out for seeing statues move or smile slightly.

I went into the animal mummification room, to see all various sorts of animals mummified. They had everything mummified, from crocodiles down to sand dollars. I can see why they mummified the sand dollars, since they had the same design on them as the stars on the ceiling of many of the temples and tombs. There were also many many sarcophagi in the museum, so many that I actually got tired of seeing sarcophagi, even if each and every one of them was very pretty. As everyone knows, the Egyptians put a LOT of work into their burials... everything from nicely hand painted red cedar various shaped boxes, to granite hand carved with thousands of hieroglyphics. There was even one set there which held the king and his organs (there was a canopic jar box involved which held all 4, which was covered over in 18K gold. Of course not just regular 18K gold, but gold that had various deities and hieroglyphics all over it. Then inside that box, was another box that had gold sheeting on the outside, then inside that another box, and so on. There were about 5 of the gold ones, then an alabaster one or two at the end, inlayed of course.

I also had to go see the royal mummy room, that would be a room with nothing but 10 old Pharaohs mummified. Here they thought they were spending all of eternity beneath their pyramid, or in their tomb, but now they are in glass cases, with their faces exposed at the Egyptian museum in Cairo. So much for a restful sleep. Some of them definitely did have a presence etc. about them. It was $20 to get into that room, and I thought you could buy a ticket inside the museum. I was far too tired to go back outside and buy the ticket but fortunately a guard looking to make a day’s wages in 5 minutes saved me the trip LOL. We just exchanged the cash around the back to Ramses III.

It really is a shame that photography is no longer allowed in the Egyptian museum, as there are so many pieces that I would love to have a photo of. There were people there who decided the new laws forbidding cameras would not slow them down, and they were just drawing the inscriptions that they saw upon the tombs, statues and so on. There was one person who was actually fully painting the design on one sarcophagus, complete with paint pallet of many colours just sitting on the ground there in front of the box. It seems they are pretty relaxed at the museum fortunately. You are allowed to touch all of the monuments accept for those which are behind glass. So I had a great time connecting with and getting a feel for many of the old kings and Deities. I also packed a lunch so that I would survive the entire day there without having to leave for lunch or water, and no one seemed to mind me sitting there amongst the Gods eating my Egyptian pizza.

The best part of the museum for me were the 3 jewellery rooms. They were amazing!! To actually see the gorgeous gold, lapis, carnelian, etc. jewellery that the pharaohs wore in ancient Egypt was amazing. That was a LOT of 18K gold! I would go broke just re-creating even one of the many pieces. Needless to say, they had no lack of jewellery in the afterlife. How they could wear all that and still walk is beyond me though, as much of it was pretty large and cumbersome. There were also talismans and amulets in the jewellery rooms as many of them were worn, as pendants, rings, bracelets and more. The most amazing bit is that they created each of these pieces without the help of a dremel.

One interesting tomb was the one where all of the hieroglyphics were outees instead of innies. Most hieroglyphics are carved into the stone. However with some tombs and statues, they are carved around! This would mean you would have to carve away the entire stone accept for the little bit that makes up the intricate hieroglyphics! When you look at the displays in the museum, you see literally millions of little (and some not so little) hieroglyphics perfectly carved into granite, alabaster an many other stones. There were very few statues that weren’t written on. I have tried to engrave hieroglyphics into gemstones and believe me, it is not as easy as it looks! Also, how they got them so deep is beyond me.

It is a shame that they took all of the nice statues and sarcophagi out of the original sites, but that is probably the only way to keep them from getting damaged and/or stolen. The tomb robbers already got away with a LOT of loot over the millennia, so it is all a lot safer in the museum now. The temple and tomb guardian statues at the Egyptian museum look a little annoyed by the thousands of visitors, but I guess at least what they are guarding is now quite safe under lock and key.

There was also a room full of papyrus, the fancy coloured sort that we are used to, but also the regular ol’ black and er tan sort that seemed to be much more common. It is truly amazing that the colour stayed so bright after all these years. There are also a few tomb and temple wall pieces that are now in the museum where the colour is fully intact! The original temple and tomb walls were carved into the stone, as were the hieroglyphics, then they were painted on with charcoal, ochre, malachite and azurite. Very pretty colouring.

There was a display of hundreds of little statues, they were the people who were to serve the king in the afterlife. Some sets contained 360 so that one could serve him or her each day of the year. Some Pharaohs would have their servants buried with them (they were killed for this) so they could serve them, but most would just have a set of statues. Also with the dead, the Egyptians in the old Kingdom would go to the tomb of their ancestors each day and leave out food and water offerings. Well eventually they would just paint food and water on the tomb walls to provide the nourishment for the deceased. I think the dead got a bum deal in this one. They were of course also buried with protective amulets, as well as their royal jewellery. Apparently they protected against magical dangers, but didn’t do so well against archaeologists.