DAY 29 - GIZA PLATEAU
SYNOPSIS: About my experience at the post office, about my trip to and from the Giza Plateau, and some observations about what's up at the three big pyramids. Good bye dinner with Mountain Man.
The main post office in Cairo was tugged into a side street off Opera Square near the hotel. The night before, I had made the trip out there to check on the location since I did not want to drag my 8 kg box around in circles. A very attractive young man helped me to find it. It turned out that he was an Egyptian journalist who thinks that Mubarak is a good man… Yes, these guys are still out there, do I dare say in increasing numbers? Their line is that it wasn’t Mubarak who was bad, just his government. I don’t know how they explain away all of his embezzlements though. I heard the same thing again today at the Giza Pyramid entrance; both times, from very young people. Go figure.
The package counter was in the last corner. Thankfully, I was the only customer. To process my one international and one domestic package took them a good half hour. Several pieces of paper stapled together with carbon copy had to be filled out by me and copied into a big book by hand… Where on earth do we live?! The price for my international mail was more than my plane ticket from Luxor to Cairo and about as much as some people make in a whole month. This is crazy. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this package will make it home safely. Several Tahrir Square souvenirs, high-end papyrus paintings, and canopic jar carvings are on their way. In November, there will be an exhibition and talk at WCC – mark your calendar. ;-)
I ran so late that I decided to splurge on a taxi out to Giza. You would not believe the harassment you face as you approach the ticket office. Thanks, Lonely Planet for the warnings! I was ready. Just as predicted, there were guys who used the opportunity of the taxi slowing down in traffic to jump in with me! They proceeded to tell me about short-cuts, camel rides, fake ticket offices, and about the fact that my taxi was not allowed to go any further. All B.S. I yelled at them from my back seat “Out!”, pulled them at their collars, and repeated my “out” cries until they were gone. The taxi driver chuckled at me in obvious admiration over how I handled these hustlers, but he stayed out of this. Of course, he got me right up to the newly developed visitor center with parking lot and ticket office. No problem.
At the ticket counter there were several young guys who asked me where I was from: America. As usuall, a big smile follows and the response is: “Obama – good!” One person continued: “Obama good – Mubarak bad.” Another guy responded “Mubarak good!” and then they shouted at each other and we were just short of a fist fight! I pressed on to the Giza plateau but was immediately approached by guys on camels and horsebacks and surrounded by peddlers with a wide range of ugly souvenirs. One by one, I looked at them and said: “Shukran la. Shukran la! Shukran la!!” No thanks. Oh, you speak Arabic, was the response. I walked away. They followed. So I turned around and used up the third of five Arabic words I know and one by one I did the same thing: “Masalaam. Masalaam! Masalaam!!” Good bye. And again, I walked away. I did not say a word of English and finally the message got through. After that I was left relatively in peace.
KHAPHRE RENDESVOUZ
I had no intentions on getting inside the pyramids or the boat museum. I had seen all of these 15 years ago. This time, I wanted to explore the layout of the Giza Plateau, and see what side structures there are. But the area is so vast, that I only got a glimpse of it all. But there are many more tombs, mastabas, and subsidiary pyramids than one usually thinks about.
The site was frequented by mainly Egyptian families and a lot of young couples. This must be a famous rendezvous place. The Egyptians climbed the pyramids, the mastabas, the tombs. Police officers stood idly by. If you try that as a foreign visitor, good luck!
There were a few Japanese, and one inappropriately dressed group of young Europeans. Overall, this is still a very low number of visitors. I circled the two smaller pyramids, and the sphinx, walked up and down both of the remaining causeways, but I fell short to complete the big pyramid. The site closes at 4 PM. Light conditions were horrible – the day was hazy and the sun came the wrong way.
The Sphinx makes me cringe. The over-restoration of its front legs and behind is criminal but irreversible. Cairo has encroached on the pyramids in unconscionable ways. Right across the Sphinx is a KFC and a bazaar. The sense of the pyramids towering in the distance, rising in the middle of the desert as seen from the Nile is completely lost. My favorite spot was behind the smallest pyramid of Menkaure and its three satellite queens pyramids.
The pyramids did not capture my heart 15 years ago and they left me lukewarm this time. I am much more impressed and moved by the temples and tombs. Nonetheless, they are overbearing and awe-inspiring evidence of man’s capabilities - notwithstanding what all those E.T. "specialists" say!
On the way back I treated myself to my last authentic Egyptian experience: Public transportation home. Without a clue where to go or what to do, I managed to ask my way around and get help from locals who caught on to the two words I used: Metro-Cairo. First, there was a walk, then a micro-bus, then a city bus, then a walk, then the metro and then a walk. And I got home as efficiently as could be. This is one of the beauties of Egypt.
I took Mountain Man out for a final good-bye dinner. After we had said good-bye to each other three times already only to cross paths again, I joked with him: There will only be dinner if we really won’t see each other anymore. He is off to Jordan next. I am off to Turkey. Things looked promising. But over dinner we discovered that most likely we will be in Israel at the same time again! I guess, this wasn’t a good-bye dinner after all. We got a good laugh out of that.
All the best to you, Mountain Man, wherever you will be. See you in Israel.
Good night.