The Giza Pyramids

Pyramids

Pat and Fiona had a buffet breakfast included in their much-higher hotel room rate while we ate lightly in our room.   That allowed us to have a sleep-in till about 0800.

We left about 0900 for the Pyramids at Giza on the western edge of Cairo city.  We found the official entrance (as opposed to an unofficial one on our previous visit).  We realised that prices have gone up about 100% since our guide book was published.

Our first stop was the Cheops Pyramid, also known as the Khufu Pyramid or commonly the Great Pyramid of Giza.  This is the oldest and largest of the three major pyramids at this site, believed to date back to 2560BC and standing 146.5m tall.

We wanted to go into this pyramid but the separate entrance ticket had gone up a lot.  Also, it may not the be the best with the oldies in tow.

We walked around the back to see the Solar Barque, which in the ancient belief was used by Ra, the Sun God.  The pharaoh, being a representation of the Ra on earth would also use such a boat to travel to the afterlife.  The particular Solar Barque was that of Khufu.

Fiona had a short ride on a camel as we walked to the Chephren Pyramid, also known as the Khafre Pyramid.  It is the second tallest of the three here, at 136.4m.  It does seem higher because it sits on higher bedrock by about 10m.

Lastly, we continued to the Sphinx.  We were prepared for its miniscule size (20m high) because on our first visit, we thought “There’s a replica of the Sphinx!” when we saw it.    It was partially fenced off and we had to do a little detour to get to it.  The Sphinx was cut from bedrock rather than built up.

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Intermission

We took a taxi to the Nile Shopping Centre.  We had a lunch of Pad Thai (which was rather chocka full of shredded cabbage, healthy I guess) and Fish n Chips.  We also went to the Malaysia Airlines to update our local phone numbers in case of disruption but their connection was down.

We tried visiting the Egyptian Museum but it was closing around 1445 which meant we would have only 1h15 to explore it.  We opted to go to the bazaar at Khan Khalili instead.

Al Azhar & Khan Khalili

Alighting from the taxi, we took a peek into Al Azhar mosque.   The man showing us around kissed me a few times as he was impressed that I knew the stuff he was trying to tell us.  While the mosque was established in 972AD it was substantially rebuilt and expanded in the 1300s by the Mamluk dynasty after a massive earthquake.

I also caught a glimpse of Al Azhar University (972AD), one of the oldest in the world.  It supposedly has 4000 Malaysian students, 4000 Indonesian, 2000 Singaporean and 1000 Thais.  Naturally the man wanted a tip for his services and we probably gave him too much.

We crossed the road to Khan Khalili.  The place seems more spruced up than before.  It no longer felt medieval.  The dark aged buildings seemed to have been washed and are now creamy coloured.  The floors were paved (but worn) and many shops were selling tourist trinkets rather than wares for local use.

Here, I met a Chinese man from Yunnan province, on a Quran reading competition.  He spoke very little Arabic but can read and recite the language at a competition level.  Possibly with very little understanding.  It’s sometimes the case with people in Malaysia too, as I’ve been told.

In the Khan Khalili area.