Crazy Cairo

Eagle heading down the Great Pyramid of Khufu
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Cairo makes Amman look organized.  The traffic is constantly snarled and obeys no laws whatsoever.  Crossing the street you have to take your life in your hands; actually we paid policemen to stop traffic for us.  Besides the police, every person has their hand out asking for "baksheesh."  But you have to go for three things:  The Egyptian Museum, Khan al Khalili, and the Pyramids of Giza.

The Egyptian Museum is just incredible.  Bring a guidebook, and pre-select what you want to see, because you can't see all of it, and there are very few interpretive signs.  My favorite parts:  Amarna Room (3), featuring Nefertiti and Akhenaten; the Tutankhamen galleries; ancient Egyptian jewllery, (room 4); the Model Armies (Rm 37); Middle Kingdom Models (Rooms 32 and 27).  And everyone's favorite was the Royal Mummy Room, where you actually get to see the mummies.

pyramids and mummies

Shazzam entering the Queen's burial chamber.
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I was so shocked at the status of development at the Giza Pyramids.  In Jordan, there are well-posted signs for even the smallest tourist attraction, the sites are secured by fencing with a well-defined ticket office, and you can hire a personal guide for a modest fee who actually has been trained in interpreting the exhibit.  At Giza, there are no signs.  Of course the pyramids themselves stand out pretty well, so that's not so much of a problem.  But there's no fencing around them, they're open to everyone.  As we walked in, men around an unmarked shack waved us over and sold us "tickets" -- not sure if it was necessary.  We were hounded by so many locals wanting to be our guides, finally one stayed so long that he became our defacto guide.  As least he chased away the others.  Entrance to the pyramids is ticketed, but only twice a day.  We all climbed into the Queen's pyramid and were shocked to find an extremely narrow passageway with rickety handrails, and you literally have to almost crawl through.  The burial chamber itself was rather unremarkable.  Only Eagle and Zahra went into the Great Tomb of Khufu (Cheops).  The crawl in was about the same as the Queen's tomb, but about ten times as long and ten times as many people.  After getting several hundred meters in, I realized that there was no ventilation system in this narrow passageway where hundreds of people a day huff and puff their way through.  Some people were near collapse from claustrophobia.  The traffic was two-way through a space barely a meter wide.  Finally it opened up into a taller, yet still narrow shaft and then into the burial chamber, which was bare yet atmospheric.  I'm glad we did it, but don't you try if you do get claustrophobic.  Then our guide took us on horseback to tour the smaller pyramids, the Sphinx, and surrounding areas.

The Magic Carpet Ride clan in front of the Great Pyramid.
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Khan al-Khalili was a trip.  This is an ancient shopping district, parts of which are unpaved and you literally feel that you've stepped back a few centuries.  The hawkers are relentless in pursuit of the tourist dollar, but a lot of the goods were actually quite high quality.   Princess Jasmine was proud that every male eye was on her, offering her discounts for a pretty face.  But the whole thing was in a spirit of good fun, not threatening or wearisome.  Egyptians do have a great sense of humor.  Some of the shopping areas are so narrow they feel like alleys.  Finally it started to rain in earnest, and we headed out, through a local shopping street that had no outlet, and got more and more crowded, and people were knocking us about, and we did feel somewhat threatened.  We formed a human chain, and Azzam led us out.

Entrance to the Great Pyramid.
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We also went to the brand new City Stars Mall, an incredible 10+ story building.  There's actually a central atrium with just an ordinary-height railing separating you from a 10-story drop into the food court.  This was a rainy, cold New Years night, and by 3pm crowds of hundreds of people were clamoring to get in.  Things were getting kinda crazy.  Cairenes really don't mind being sardined together, but we did so left again.

We stayed at the Semiramis, which had a beautiful view of the Nile, and close in to everything.  The worst Intercontinental that we have ever stayed at, however the Thai restaurant is to die for.  We ate there twice.