mummies, towers and a bazaar of colors

Khan el-Khalili: is a major souk in the Old City of Cairo. The bazaar district is one of Cairo's main attractions for tourists and Egyptians alike.

One of the favorite lines used by the shop vendors : "you Egyptian?" or some variation of such a question...which is funny because if they really thought we were Egyptian then they would have asked us in Arabic and not English but hey, it got me to look the first time. After walking a block or two I started to just ignore the vendors questions and attempts to attract our attention. It was funny because then they would start running through all the languages. It was amazing, many of these vendors spoke Italian, Spanish, French, of course English and who knows what else. As I was walking one vendor started running through "where you from" first in English, then Spanish, then what sounded like Arabic and so I stopped. I asked him how many languages he spoke and he said FIVE! It was amazing. I just shook my head in amazement. He admitted he only knew enough to make a sale. But still, I was impressed. Shopping at the Suq, Arabic for market was fun and I had the best Lamb Kofta and let me tell ya, I'm hard to please when it comes to lamb. Below are some photos I took while walking through the Suq.

spices, tea, and shisha tobacco

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shave?
well lucky you can get this service curb side in Cairo

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Hookah!

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bargaining for a good price on a couple belly dancing outfits
fyi: they are not cheap
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al-Hussein Square (next to Khan el-Khalili)

to say crossing the street is dangerous in Cairo would be an understatement
but the Egyptians make it look easy

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The Egyptian Museum is filled with ancient Egyptian antiquities including royal mummies, since we are poor students we didn't pay the extra fee to see them up close and personal but we did peek in and see some pretty old royals with some serious cheek bones...
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No photography allowed inside, so all you get to see is the front entrance.

Back in the cab driving along, holding our breath, crossing our fingers and hoping not to die today although after seeing all that I have up to this point, I could say I would have died happy. But alas I'm still on this earth and hungry for more...

The Cairo Tower is a huge tower on Gezira Island in the River Nile, in the city center. At 187 metres, it is 43 metres higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza. It is one of Cairo's most famous and well-known landmarks and looks beautiful at night when its completely lit up.

The Cairo Tower was built from 1956 to 1961. Its partially open lattice-work design is intended to look like a lotus plant. The tower is crowned by a rotating observation deck and a restaurant. The rotation takes 70 minutes to complete.

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I'm a sucker for sunsets,

with Cairo and old 70s cars as the backdrop
this moment and photo makes my soul smile

create.

I do believe it is possible to create,

even without ever writing a word or painting a picture,

by simply molding one's inner life.
And that too is a deed.
~Etty Hillesum

twirly whirling dervish

Whirling Dervish (wurl-ing dur-vish)

n. 1. A mystical dancer who stands between the material and cosmic worlds. His dance is part of a sacred ceremony in which the dervish rotates in a precise rhythm. He represents the earth revolving on its axis while orbiting the sun. The purpose of the ritual whirling is for the dervish to empty himself of all distracting thoughts, placing him in trance; released from his body he conquers dizziness.

photos of the show from my dinner boat cruise on the Nile

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CHECK OUT THE SHOES
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We had a moment

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Mini Dervish

a FW: of Inspiration

I received an email or rather a dreaded forward from my friend from Kansas City this morning. I always open them because i love this dear friend of mine, but its usually a quick once over and then onto the NYTs update... But this time I opened it and it was filled with photos of babies in funny positions with a directive such as "do whatever you want...whenever you want" and "sleep as much as you can". Now let me say, I hate fwds and I don't even really like babies that much but I thought the photos were so beautiful and well...if you know me I lOVE to sleep as much as I can. I'm talkin' abnoxiously long naps on a Saturday afternoon are my forte' (sorry dad).
But anyway, I followed the photos all the way to the bottom of the page and found the below quote. Now I know by now its probably been circulated around the world a couple times and you may be one of the people who have had the pleasure of opening this forward BUT if not enjoy and if so, enjoy again.

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
So love the people who treat you right.
Forget about the one's who don't.
Believe everything happens for a reason.
If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.
If it changes your life, let it.
Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

*please note I did not take the photo on this post. As you know i'm a new blogger and I only use my own photos, so now I'm not sure how to cite my source on this bad boy. If you are the photographer I'd be glad to give you credit. Just let me know! :)

Pyramids, at long last

First stop: Sakkara
a vast, ancient burial ground serving as the burial place for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Sakkara features numerous pyramids, including the world's oldest standing step pyramid.
The step pyramid at Sakkara was designed for King Djoser (c.2667-2648 BC). It is the oldest complete stone building complex known in history. (see below)

The only entrance to the area near the pyramid was through the mortuary temple. We had to pass between stone block walls built in the shape of large open doors into the hall you see below, with two rows of tapered stone columns carved to resemble papyrus bundles. A modern roof has been placed at the same height as the original roof. This hall leads into the great court.

Around the corner from the first step pyramid we came across another tomb where visitors were allowed to enter. See below...

I had to leave the photos below in color so you could see how the hieroglyphics have maintained much of the color after so many years! .
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We then took a short trip over to Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt.

The Colossus of Ramses II is a 33ft tall statue first found in 1820. A small open-air museum was built around it, in order to protect it.

And you will notice the other guy in the picture. While I was photographing Ramses, he asked me to take a picture of him. I thought at first maybe he worked there but after I took the photo he left. Pretty funny, but I think it turned out pretty good. I mean look at him! He's a natural.

Another statue of Ramses outside the museum.

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The sphinx of Memphis statue found outside the museum.
Its disputed whether or not this is Ramses.
The facial features are a little bit different.

As you can see the first photo the sphinx, the side is rough and in the second picture the side of the sphinx is smooth. This is because when they first found the statue, it was on its side. They had to roll it over and stand it upright.

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LUNCH!

Fresh pita anyone?

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ONTO THE MAIN EVENT: PYRAMIDS of Giza
and watch out for the officer on the camel

I'm really small but I'm standing in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza also called Khufu's Pyramid. It's the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in Giza.
And the Great pyramid is the only member of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World remaining. On the right side of the photo you can see Khafra Pyramid. According to some authors he was the son and successor of Khafu (Great Pyramid guy).
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There I am again. Standing in front of the base of the Great Pyramid. The blocks are GINORMOUS.
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a view where you can see two sides
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The photo above is take next to the Great Pyramid. I wanted to show how close Cairo is to the pyramids. For some reason in my mind, I always thought they were way out in the middle of the dessert. But not the case here. They are located just a few minutes drive outside of the city.
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Grand Finale with the Sphinx in front of the Khafra Pyramid.

The Great Sphinx is a statue of a reclining lion with a human head. It stands 65ft High, is 241 ft long, and 20 ft wide. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture but basic facts about it, such as who was the model for the face, when it was built, and by whom, are still debated. The Great Sphinx faces due east and houses a small temple between its paws.

and a lil' kiss from moi.

All in all it was a truly amazing day and I was happy we were visiting in the winter vs. summer. The weather was perfect and we had to pinch ourselves a few times while looking at these monuments. The only way it could have been better is if we were taking the tour on a magic carpet with Aladdin.

Salaam.

Inspiration

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore,
is not an act but a habit.
Aristotle

On the Road to Cairo

Finally, some time for reflection. Since my return to the states I have been frantically playing catch up with papers I still have to write for my classes in Jerusalem and also keeping up with the assignments for the classes I'm taking this quarter here in Denver. Not to mention I moved apartments and had to squeeze in a weekend in the mountains , a birthday party, and taxes. This is only the start of the ever growing "to-do" list. But now I'm sitting in bed with eyes that are too tired to read another page . So I thought I might come back to my old friend and reminisce of exciting times traveling through the dessert.


In my last blog entry I was asking for prayer and well wishes so that the visa process would be expedited. Well....whatever you did worked! Thanks!
Upon arrival to Tel Aviv we decided to grab a quick bite to eat and go to bed early. We woke up bright and early and headed out to the Egyptian embassy. We obtained the proper paperwork and went in search of some place that would take passport sized photos (a requirement for the visa application). So we went around the corner to a travel agency and found that for a little extra we could bypass the entire visa application process and head straight to Cairo! (upon learning this information the angels began to sing and the light from the heavens shone down upon our smiling faces). So we raced back to the hostel and gathered our things and boarded a bus within the hour. We were on our way! No fuss. No muss.


Five hours later we had arrived to the Egyptian Taba Border Crossing. It is currently the only entry/exit point between the two countries that handles tourists. But surprisingly it was not too busy and we got right in. After a few cheesy photos that is...

Thanks! I feel very welcome thankyaverymuch.

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Once on the other side of the border we hopped in a van and continued on the second half of our journey. This one turned out to be the long leg but had some nice scenery for us along the way.

photo taking from inside the van on the way to Cairo

Katie pointed out the game plan in the Lonely Planet (map of Cairo)

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The van came to a skretching halt and we all lurched forward then back into our seats. All because this friendly fella decided to cross the road right in front of us. My cat like reflexes allowed me to snap this one photo before we went our separate ways.

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We Made it! Photo of Cairo from inside the Taxi. on a bridge crossing the Nile River
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View from our Hostel. Old buildings in Downtown Cairo. In the center is the statue of Talaat Pasha Harb, the father of the modern Egyptian economy.

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Inside our Hostel...check out the movie playing on the old school t.v.

yup, nice stache' my friend. nice. *note you can click on the photo to enlarge* you really want to get in there and see what he's all about.

So now in Cairo with lodging we were ready to discover al-Qāhira (Cairo in Arabic) which means "the Triumphant" and is the largest city in Africa with 8 million people in Cairo proper and 17.8 in the greater metro area. Pretty Big.

to be cont...