Under the dust of two deserts.

I ran out of steam over the last two days in Egypt and didn't write a post to cover the est of the adventure, so here is my summary.

First, let's ponder the phrase "Egypt, it's just normal."(see previous posts). You can have a look at the slide show of street scenes and make up your own mind. I wasn't able to capture th3e flock of sheep being herded down main streets of Cairo in the traffic... but you'll see how Egypt is far from "normal".

Add to the fact that the entire country is bristling with antiquities and the capital is surrounded by massive pyramids. It's amazing to see the very distinct divide between the Nile delta and the desert.

Despite the travel warnings, the country being in a "state of emergency" after the recent bombings there are still plenty of tourists, especially from China. They are a special people, the Chinese. After trying to photograph a sculpture in Singapore and trying to avoid including the Chinese tourist doing some exercise/stretches, I thought I might develop a collection of funny Chinese tourist shots.

While at the Sphinx, one lady tried to push past Zeinab where there was no room... you have to laugh. This lady just slowly appeared in my shot.

This sculpture is amazing, overlooking Singapore, but this lady was doing her exercises. I thought the look on the sculpture's face is hilarious.

We went to visit the oldest pyramids in Saqqara: world's oldest substantial monumental structure to be built of dressed stone  

The little brown hut to the left is...

So I call this shot:

The remains of those on the throne are buried behind those who bury their remains on the throne.

To be honest anything I write at this stage would not do the history justice, so I'll just post some brief highlights.

Seeing the distinct line between desert and delta is astonishing.

I was taken to a carpet making school and was shown many beautiful rugs I could not afford. I however buy a small rug for a wall hanging.

I wonder why the girl is not in school, the man told me she is finished all her exams - but, I don't know.

I was taken to a Christian Coptic church, a Synagogue and the Mosque. The christian church identies the location where Mary and Joseph fled with Jesus to Egypt during the rein of Herod.

And this is the holy handkerchief.

 Old Cairo. Full of cats and picturesque-ness.

I was stopped by a couple of girls who wanted selfies with me. We ran into each other again, so I asked them for selfies too... with pink hair you are a celebrity everywhere you go!

The Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha or Alabaster Mosque is huge and situated on a hill over looking the city and the pyramids.

Zeinab told me about an American tourist she was taking around the mosque who got upset and asked her "Do you celebrate 9/11?" Zeinab perplexed, told her, "of course not, what are you talking about?", to which the tourist pointed at this:

Unbelievable. (They're Arabic characters for those who are confused, not 911)

Anyway we had lunch at a restaurant amid the markets and I was send back to the hotel with a bounty of two rugs, three cat figurines and various other object d'art.

The two wonderful ladies who guided my visit to Egypt will remain lifelong friends - I had a brilliant time and lots of laughs. Amira gave me Basboussa and Malban (turkish delight) as a farewell gift which I ate as I watched the sun go down for the lat time from my balcony.

It was amazing!

EGYPT Day 1

Today I woke up in Cairo with fabulous hair!

My guide Zeinab and her student Amira picked me up in a min bus and took me to the Museum.

Zeinab had her plans to show me the highlights and to share her immense knowledge of Egypt's ancient history, but I was easily distracted by the little things and my poor guides were dragged through every room of the museum.

As you enter there is a semi circle of busts from Greece and Rome. After my many hours of reading about Michelangelo and Leonardo Di Vinci I was intrigued by the sculptured folds in the fabric. You can see in the top image a beautifully crafted sculpture from ancient Rome while the more stylised one below was made much later - the lost art of the ancients in two figures. The art of sculpting realistic fabric folds was lost until the Renaissance.

In The Agony and the Ecstasy many artists debate about the nature of the wings and halos  and how they should be depicted. This cabinet brought tears to my eyes... pre-christian angels with wings.

Nerd Alert! Ancient measure stick!

Nerd Alert! Roman Dice!

Cat People... Cat People... Cat People... Cat People... Cat People...

While hundreds of Chinese tourists push and shove and talk loudly in high pitched voices to crowd around the Tutankhamen , I snuck away into the other sections of the museum to look at the other treasures below.

The photo below is a sneaky one. Behind the ladies seated at the bottom on the picture are Archaeologists in their natural habitat. Earlier this year there were newly discovered tombs in the news. Here we saw a team working on a mummy, measuring it and labelling all the details... very exciting.

I finished a great book recently about the history of colour pigments an the origin of how colours were made from ground stones and plants. Very excite to see this little parcel of "blue".

My Guides among the mummies...

This is a very famous image - published in many books about ancient Egypt. Click on it for detail of the brush strokes.

Then we moved on to a section where many of the depicted people were designed to be realistic and present the actual features of the people they represent. The sculpture below is of a man with a large head. I said that maybe his friends called him "Sniper's Dream" but... no laughs.

Finally these lovely ladies dragged me out of the museum to the pyramids. Here are my contributions to the world. How many times have these been photographed already? Well, here are more photos...

I'm  always intrigued by worn steps and floors... how many thousands of years have worn these pavers down?

Now, my friend Maxine, told me to take photos of people... so here are what can be found on the plateau viewing area for the three great pyramids.

Yes, I'm on a camel and it was the best roller-coaster in the world!

Here is the man that owned the camel I sat on. He has had Barak Obama sit on one of his camels! 

Now the lady in purple in my tour guide Zeinab and she is FAMOUS! People from everywhere come over to say hello. She is the expert Egyptologist that trains all the tour guides and student. She can talk for ages, she know so much detail. Incredible! And a lovely lady. Flew all the way from Alexandra to guide little old me!

We then went to the tomb by the Sphinx. Here are some arty shots.

I was taken by the alabaster floors and said to Zeinab, "Imagine the people who have stepped on these floors!" She said - Julius Caesar, Napoleon, US Presidents.... so here. Have a look at this floor that has held the foot steps of history.

Walking to the Sphinx there are markets.

The Sphinx and then the Sphinx plus Vic.

No I didn't race around the other side to take the picture - just selfy-madness-reverse-image technology.

Now this is the view from the restaurant where we ate lunch.

And that completes the Egyptology section of this blog-post. The rest of these images were taken  on the trip back to the hotel.

I took a lot of images of the empty apartment blocks standing on the outside of Cairo. These are the result of the recent revolution. Once Mumbarak was removed there was limited government controls and hundreds of unlicensed buildings were put up - with no controls over installing foundations, plumbing etc. There are miles and miles of these shonky buildings. Some with a single inhabitant. Apparently they all need to be demolished for safety reasons. The land they are standing on was used for agriculture - now gone.

Tomorrow - more Egypt.

Alternative Tourism Campaign Slogans

Alternative Tourism Campaign Slogan 1: SINGAPORE

On arrival to Singapore I was talking to the Taxi driver who told me it is a very safe place. "No Nonsense" he said.

Singapore - No Nonsense!

(Till you see the architecture)

Alternative Tourism Campaign Slogan 2: EGYPT

While on the hellish flight with the large lady of the grape, the window seat passenger was a young lady from Egypt heading home from her job in Dubai. We chatted and I asked her if I should cover my pink hair and she was shocked... "In Egypt?" she said. "Egypt is just normal!"

Egypt - It's just normal.

(It's fine)

Let's hope more traveller wisdom comes my way in the next few legs of my journey.