I am in Africa for the first time in my life. My journey is taking me back in time, and Egypt is a perfect stop to see what the world was like in the ancient times. Unfortunately, it is also dusty, dirty, crowded, noisy, polluted, and badly organized. Only the weather is better than i thought.
My host Ibrahim is an IT professional but works as an accountant. Job situation is difficult, and tourist arrivals have slowed since the revolution. Hema, as he is usually called, lives with his family. He was kind enough to pick me up from the airport when i offered to pay both ways, and, I suspect, after adding a fat margin for himself, but it was a good idea as there is no way in the world i would have found his place inside the meandering nameless roads.
This is such a different world from where i was just a few hours ago. I have been told to knock on the door before coming out of my room so the women in the house can cover their heads. The house is in shambles, with hardly any lock or faucet working properly. I put a small towel at the door to keep it from opening and to indicate someone is inside. Every one has a late start, and life usually goes on late in night, with lots of eating places open till early morning. He smokes sheesha first thing in the morning and three times a day, but when i catch his younger brother smoking, he is scared to death that i will tell Hema who will beat him up. They sit around smoking sheesha and playing dominos till late night every day, and are generally friendly to include me in everything. There are hardly any women to be seen outside in the night, and side walks are full of sheesha smoking domino playing horse riding, loudly shouting and laughing, occasionally fighting egyptian men.
Hema lives next to the Giza pyramids, so that's where we head first. He obviously has setting with the tour operators and shopkeepers, but i find only mildly irritating as organizing any thing by myself would have been difficult, and its good to have a personal concierge in this place. Some where i had to pay the cost of being so unprepared and it was in Egypt. I choose a camel to go to the pyramids, which is not a comfortable ride, but i get used to it pretty fast. Going inside the pyramids, unfortunately badly lit -may be just to give tourists the experience of what it was truly like in the ancient times - results in an eerie and bruising experience. The sphinx, though, is smaller than i had imagined it to be.
The pyramids are obviously a wonder to behold, and the statistics associated with it is also astounding in every way. It took over 30 years to build with 100k slaves. These are the oldest architecture built by mankind that are still in existence today. And no reason would have existed to visit Giza, had they built the pyramids anywhere else.
My host Ibrahim is an IT professional but works as an accountant. Job situation is difficult, and tourist arrivals have slowed since the revolution. Hema, as he is usually called, lives with his family. He was kind enough to pick me up from the airport when i offered to pay both ways, and, I suspect, after adding a fat margin for himself, but it was a good idea as there is no way in the world i would have found his place inside the meandering nameless roads. 
This is such a different world from where i was just a few hours ago. I have been told to knock on the door before coming out of my room so the women in the house can cover their heads. The house is in shambles, with hardly any lock or faucet working properly. I put a small towel at the door to keep it from opening and to indicate someone is inside. Every one has a late start, and life usually goes on late in night, with lots of eating places open till early morning. He smokes sheesha first thing in the morning and three times a day, but when i catch his younger brother smoking, he is scared to death that i will tell Hema who will beat him up. They sit around smoking sheesha and playing dominos till late night every day, and are generally friendly to include me in everything. There are hardly any women to be seen outside in the night, and side walks are full of sheesha smoking domino playing horse riding, loudly shouting and laughing, occasionally fighting egyptian men. 
The pyramids are obviously a wonder to behold, and the statistics associated with it is also astounding in every way. It took over 30 years to build with 100k slaves. These are the oldest architecture built by mankind that are still in existence today. And no reason would have existed to visit Giza, had they built the pyramids anywhere else.
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