Day 9 - Taj al Sultan & Yuan Shan @ Cairo

Now for the final installment of the Egypt tour. I leave you with 2 food reviews. Basically that's what we did before we left Egypt. We ate.



Thank you Egypt for the memories.



Thank you Dr.Farag for being the best guide we've ever had. Thank you for being a great teacher!



Shu-kran.


Day 8 - Dinner at Taj al-Sultan (near Khan el-Khalili Bazaar, and right across the Al-Hussein Mosque)


A nice quaint spot to have our "last supper" with Farag.


Standard buffet again, last chance at all things Egyptian tasting... (get your mind out of the gutter)




Beetroot and Tzatziki.. can't get enough of those two.. I might have found a new craving just right there!


Last Egyptian bread...




AND...


Day 9 - Final Meal - Yuan Shan @ Cairo

Don't buy the breads on the streets?


Our first Chinese meal in the whole trip and our last meal of the trip...


For some reason, we were very early.. 10am (had to catch the plane), and thus, we had to access the restaurant via the fire escape.


Typical Chinese decor in a foreign country.


Very China-esque...


They even have a waiting room dedicated in selling souveneirs! How very enterprising the Chinese people are... 0_0


Chipped bowl aside, their food was okay. However being the first Chinese food we've eaten in 2 weeks, the entire tour group was ecstatic. Tears of joy from some uncles...


Chilli!! And very spicy!


Soup... tomato and egg


Fried Fish... this was really nice, although the fish wasn't very meaty, given we were sitting in a table of 11.


Vegetable dish 1 - cucumber...


Vegetable dish 2 - Cabbages


Vegetable dish 3 - Lettuce


Chicken boxing (Yum!) I had about 4 people's share...



I missed out on 3 other dishes, one which was stir-fried beef, and 2 more vegetable dishes... meh

And that's it.... Egypt trip - concluded!

Thank you for your patience!

Day 8 - Part II - Sakkara (Saqqara) & Citadel of Salah Din

(the first pyramid ever built, the Step Pyramid, during the reign of King Djoser; pronounced zozer)

And so we arrive in Sakkara, the original Memphis... not the one where Elvis was born.

Beautiful smooth columns, cool to the touch. This is the roofed collonade columns leading into the funerary complex of King Djoser.



Salam habibi...



This pyramid, began the building blocks of foundation for the creation of the Great Pyramids of Giza. What started out as a mastaba (flat tomb), started growing upwards as more of the royal family joined the departed.

(Djoser's funerary complex, built by the royal architect, Imhotep. Yes you heard right, Imhotep, King Djoser's vizier. Apparently he was an engineer, physician and an architect and a royal one at that, not a mudering mummy brought to life as depicted in Mummy I&II)

We have been travelling back in time, in regards to the tombs, firstly by visiting the Valley of the Kings, then the Great Pyramids, and finally concluding with the first chapter, here in Saqqara.



They say this is the start of the Great African desert. Indeed you can see distinctly, where all the green ends and where the desert begins.



Moving on, Farag decides to pack our day in and take us to see the Citadel of Salah Din and the Mosque of Mohamed Ali, aslo known as the Alabaster Mosque.

(the city of the living dead, the citadel is surrounded by large complexes of tombs of nobles, as well as two smaller Mosques. Being so big, families live within the tombs (sprawled like villages), to maintain and upkeep the area).

The beautiful Mosque stands out from a hill within the Citadel.



This citadel was built to protect its people from invasion of the Crusaders.



During the reign of Mohamed Ali, he tore down the beautiful Mamluk palaces within the grounds of the citadel and built this mosque in memory of his son.



The beautiful interior of the mosque (once inside, you have to take off your shoes), lit up with beautiful lamps (now via electricity).



This mosque was built to showcase the strength of Mohamed Ali and to get back at his Ottoman rulers at that time. This mosque was meant to rival that of Hagia Sophia. Madam Mummy, having now been to both, says that the Mohamed Ali mosque is no where close to the beauty of Hagia Sophia. Well, it didn't make it into the 7 wonders of the Medieval World for nothing.)

(Can you see the clock tower in the background? That was France's gift to Egypt when they were given the twin of the obelisks from the Luxor Temple. The clock has never worked since the day it was attached to the tower.)

The view of Cairo from the citadel. Smog and haze covers most of the town.



A final view of what's left from both the Mamluk and Ottoman empire.



p/s After the visit to the Mosque we were given two whole hours to shop at the Cairo Bazaar, the famed Khan el-Khalili. BEWARE of touchy feely men (mostly shopkeepers), who don't care if you are married or not. They touch and they bargain for you to be their wive/s

Day 8 - Part I - Giza & Lunch @ Carvery

Checked in round 8pm... after a long 4 hour journey from Alexandria to Cairo, I couldn't be happier.



For our last 2 nights, we were put up in Le Meridien, Pyramids. A would be stunning 5 star hotel if we didn't stay in Alexandria the night before.



Also, the fact that the whole lobby area was a smoking area, was a big turn off. However, they did have a band playing Christmas carols next to the cafe, which the Boy and I went down to enjoy...

(If you zoom into this picture, you can make out Nefertiti's face emblazoned on the automatic doors)

A pricelist of the rooms in the hotel, happily stuck to the wall in our closet.



Breakfast in this hotel was one of the worst. It was so bad, that I didn't bother to take any pictures (I can hear you letting out a sigh of relieve).

(The view of the Pyramids from our hotel)

Staff were also the most arrogant and rude that we've encountered through out our whole stay in Egypt, truly... city people aren't very nice.



The area next to the pyramids of Giza. The downtown urban sprawl of Cairo is literally right next to the Pyramids.



Can you see the original entrance of the Great Pyramid? Before they found the entrance, excavators and raiders long past made an opening at the bottom, and it is now where everyone enters the Pyramid.



The tiny figure in white is the Boy, making his way into the inside of the tomb. I didn't bother, as I'm not a fan of enclosed spaces. To get into the pyramid, you pay an additional LE100.

(Madam mummy is showcasing the size of the original boulders, and how beautiful, smooth and white they were. The whole pyramid used to be encased by this, and this is all that's left of the original)

There were huge crowds at the Pyramids, and as was expected, we were constantly harrased by peddlars trying to sell their cheap goods, as well as very touchy Egyptian men who did not hesitate to try and jump into your photos (and then demand baksheesh from you)!



As we waited for the Boy to come out of the pyramid, we went around taking photos and were further harrased by disgusting Egyptian men. They will touch and grope willy nilly... and one is not allowed to scream or shout. Happened in the markets of Luxor and Cairo as well.



Although we didn't visit the inside of the tombe, we climbed up to the entrance and back down... so technically, I've scaled the walls of the Great Pyramid!

(The lesser pyramids of the wives of the pharaoh entombed in the 3 pyramids)

From pictures and documentaries, I've always assumed that the middle pyramid was the largest of the three (the one with the capped top).



However, it only seems larger as it was built on a higher plateau than the great pyramid. It was amazing to imagine the great skills and the many thousands of workers in building such magnificent structures that have stood the test of time.



Indeed, it is the remaining 7th Ancient Wonders of the world.



From the actual grounds of the Pyramids, we were taken to higher ground, to capture in our memories and pictures the beautiful background. This is the nicest spot to see all 3 pyramids at a distance.

From there, we made our way back down to the other side of the plains to visit the Sphinx.



And it is true, when one finally manages to see the Sphinx, it is like meeting a celebrity for the first time. It is way smaller than I ever imagined. A bit of an anticlimax really.

But that didn't stop me from kissing it!



Or us trying to be like it! I wonder how long we could stand there and wait for man to discover us?



After the pyramids (which was the 2nd highlight of our trip, the first being Abu Simbel), we made our way to Sakkara, to visit the first ever pyramid built by the ancient Egyptians.



On our way there, we passed by the man made rivers (irigated from the Nile) and saw that it was much worse than the Klang river!...



Lunch was at another tourist joint, with busloads of tourist there.

Carvery (I'm sure this is a chain of restaurants).




A woman making Egyptian bread outside the Restaurant.



I finally have my Lamb Kofta... and it's not as nice as I thought it'd be. I get nicer Kofta's here in Melbourne (unfortunately or fortunately...)



More sweet desserts! Although the chocolate cakes were very nice and smooth... their love of sugar is beyond me... MUCH TOO SWEET!!!



Overall Food Rating: 6.5/10
Restaurant ambiance: 6/10