The Widow and the Spinster: The Search for Adventure, Enlightenment, and the Quest for Forbidden food - Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, and New TR Link! 5/23

[franandaj]

I had a pyramid complex. I tried to get help for it, but they told me I had to bring two friends and they each had to bring two friends and each of them had to bring two friends and...

This I knew. I remember (several years ago) the first time I saw a photo of how close the city was and I was shocked.

I had heard that was the case, but it was rather jarring to actually see it.

Not exclusive to Egypt. I've encountered similar (or a tripod fee.)

Really. I've not been abroad much, but this was the first I've heard of it. I'll have to remember that. My camera doesn't seem to take much better pictures than the phone, so I may need a new camera if I intend to keep up this DSLR thing (which I do like!)

Makes sense. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before Disney owns them... if they don't already.

I don't think they want to do business in Egypt.....

Give me a sense of scale here... roughly how far are you from the pyramid in this shot?

I'm not sure. Maybe 100 meters? We weren't close at all.

Interesting that you made the choice but both have decided to to in next time.

Also interesting that you're already thinking of a next time!

No we weren't given the choice as far as I know.

And one thing we really wanted to see was the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) which has put back it's opening for over four years now. They have all the King Tut Artifacts that have toured the world plus more all in one place. We would like to go back for that, plus a few things we missed on this trip. When we get there I'll let you know.

You say in the video that the climb wasn't hard, but it looks awfully steep. Or at least the steps look quite high.

We didn't find them hard to navigate. They might have been steep, but we took them slow.

Huh. I'm a bit surprised by that. I'm so used to seeing signs not to feed animals...

Everything in Egypt is pretty much opposite what we think is normal.

Glad you got that taken care of. Did you burn at all?

I don't think so. I think we weren't out in the sun that long before our driver rescued us. (next chapter)

 

[pkondz]

I had heard that was the case, but it was rather jarring to actually see it.

I bet!

I don't think they want to do business in Egypt.....

Why do you say that?

I'm not sure. Maybe 100 meters? We weren't close at all.

And one thing we really wanted to see was the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) which has put back its opening for over four years now. They have all the King Tut Artifacts that have toured the world plus more all in one place. We would like to go back for that, plus a few things we missed on this trip. When we get there I'll let you know.

Good enough reason to go back.

Everything in Egypt is pretty much opposite what we think is normal.

So I’m seeing!

 

[bcwife76]

So the decision not to go into the pyramid sounds like it wasn't your decision...something lost in translation? I love that you are already planning a return trip to Egypt
The poses are fun and goofy and fabulous!

 

[jedijill]

We had just finished lunch, and now it was time to tackle the Pyramid Complex. Here we are on our approach to the drop off area for the Main pyramids of Egypt. This is the Great Pyramid of Giza.

I was in awe...I was finally there and seeing what I'd studied and looked forward to for years! I was not disappointed!

At one time, the pyramids were “outside the city” maybe 100 years ago, but now the city edges right up to the pyramid complex.

I had a friend who studied in Cairo that warned me and he was right....The whole complex is almost completely surrounded by "city."

After we entered that building we went through the body scanners. I had my camera with me. And as I was leaving the scanning area, the person sitting at the monitor said something to Achmed. Now I’d heard that some monuments there is a “toll” for large DSLR cameras. They allow cell phones at no charge, but I’m not sure why they have a thing with DSLRs. Achmed handed her a bill and she waved her hand like, “OK you can go.”

The whole situation was very "Egyptian." The changes in expression of the lady was hilarious.

There was so much bread and food leftover from lunch, Achmed had them package it up. He planned to give the leftover meat to someone on the street, but he had us bring the bread along to feed the dogs that hang around the pyramids. Jill tried to spread it around but this one dog ate it all, taking it away from either of the other dogs she tried to give it to.

I tried to spread the bread around but only one dog was willing to come up to me...I tried to throw the bread to the shyer dogs but the assertive one would go grab it. Oh well, we tried!

Jill in CO

 

[jedijill]

So the decision not to go into the pyramid sounds like it wasn't your decision...something lost in translation? I love that you are already planning a return trip to Egypt
The poses are fun and goofy and fabulous!

No, it was our decision to make. Achmed had warned us that it was much steeper and longer than the tomb we went into at Saqqara so we made the decision to skip it. I think Achmed was disappointed as he could have used that time to be in his mysterious phone calls!

Jill in CO

 

[pkondz]

I was in awe...I was finally there and seeing what I'd studied and looked forward to for years! I was not disappointed!

I love this.

 

[bcwife76]

No, it was our decision to make. Achmed had warned us that it was much steeper and longer than the tomb we went into at Saqqara so we made the decision to skip it. I think Achmed was disappointed as he could have used that time to be in his mysterious phone calls!

Jill in CO

Ah, gotcha. And he definitely sounds like an interesting fellow

 

[franandaj]

Why do you say that?

I don't think that they would want to deal with all the bureaucracy and corruption.

Good enough reason to go back.

So I’m seeing!

So different!

 

[pkondz]

I don't think that they would want to deal with all the bureaucracy and corruption.

You're right. None of that at Disney...

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Good job climbing that pyramid! My thighs burn thinking about it.

 

[franandaj]

So the decision not to go into the pyramid sounds like it wasn't your decision...something lost in translation?

I guess Jill explained this, but.....

I love that you are already planning a return trip to Egypt

Well even before we left, Jill described this as a "sampler" trip where we hit the highlights. We really wanted to see the Great Egyptian Museum, but it still hasn't opened. Also there were areas that we would like to go back to and spend more time. Also less time in Cairo.

The poses are fun and goofy and fabulous!

The guides really liked doing those.

 

[franandaj]

I was in awe...I was finally there and seeing what I'd studied and looked forward to for years! I was not disappointed!

Yay!

I had a friend who studied in Cairo that warned me and he was right....The whole complex is almost completely surrounded by "city."

The whole situation was very "Egyptian." The changes in expression of the lady was hilarious.

I tried to spread the bread around but only one dog was willing to come up to me...I tried to throw the bread to the shyer dogs but the assertive one would go grab it. Oh well, we tried!

Yeah, that dog was a jerk. I know we tried to give some to the female dog, but he kept poking his head in and scaring her away.

No, it was our decision to make. Achmed had warned us that it was much steeper and longer than the tomb we went into at Saqqara so we made the decision to skip it. I think Achmed was disappointed as he could have used that time to be in his mysterious phone calls!

I don't remember this discussion. I'm wondering if it's one of those that you had with him when you were paying for the tickets. Not that I disagreed with the decision, and if it happened in the van, evidently I was somewhere else and so enthralled with taking pictures of donkey carts that I missed the decision being made.

I do remember offering to do Eeny, meeny, miny, moe to choose between the mosque and the Citadel, and you told me that rhyme was racist. But I don't remember the decision of whether or not to go in the pyramid. Wouldn't be the first thing I don't remember.

 

[franandaj]

You're right. None of that at Disney...

They just want the exclusive on it, not have to deal with in someonelse.

I could make a comment about Florida, but I don't want to get banned.....

 

[franandaj]

Good job climbing that pyramid! My thighs burn thinking about it.

What we did wasn't too bad, but I can imagine that the Great Pyramid would have been a big climb. When we go back I will be sure to train for it!

 

[franandaj]

Our driver had just picked us up as we walked along the road from the Great Pyramid to the Pyramids of Khafre and the Pyramid of Menkaure. I had forgotten my hat in the hotel and I neglected to put on sunscreen after lunch. I quickly applied the sunscreen while we drove the short route to the next parking lot.

Keeping with my constant need of nature’s calling, I took advantage of an interesting advanced version of a mobile potty. It was a portable type building, but it had full running water. It was definitely not a porta-potty, but it wasn’t a fixed structure either. It was raised off the ground and each stall had a separate entrance with a couple stairs to get to the doors. There were probably four different stalls. I was very impressed, it was really clean for being in the middle of a bunch of pyramids.

Then Achmed took us to a small group of vendors who were set up in the area.
Jill got a keffiyeh, an arabic style headdress, while I went with an American Tourist hat, I wanted a brim to shade my face. Then we went to find our camels. It was $40USD for the longer ride from our starting point around the backside of the pyramids to the Sphinx.

While we were waiting for our camels we each snapped a few pics, I couldn’t see a thing in the camera because it was so bright, so I just started snapping away. I lucked out with this shot.

Here's Jill eyeing the potential prospects.

Achmed took these photos of us with the camels. It took at least 10x as many photos as I'm showing you to get these winners.

Jill mounted her camel first.

Next it was my turn to mount my camel.

Achmed captured my mounting of the camel on Video.

An artsy fartsy shadow shot.

More videos of us on camel back.

I don’t know how Jill managed to get any pictures while we were riding on the camels! I could barely hold on to the camel much less keep hold of my phone! I was also really glad that I went pee before this experience!

As you saw in the videos, Jill’s camel really liked to come up and rub the side of his head on my thigh.

Once we got to a certain point with the pyramids as a background, our camel guide, Mohamoud, took pictures of us. He enjoyed making some funny ones.

Here’s a picture of him taking the pictures of Jill.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

And then we were “back on the road” again.

Then we got to the Sphinx, dismounted and took some more pictures.

There was a bit of weirdness because as soon as Mohamoud finished taking the pictures above, he asked about his tip. Achmed had told us not to give him a tip, but tell him that “our guide” will give you the tip. I suppose there had been situations where the camel guides felt they weren’t properly tipped and wanted more from their guests. Luckily Achmed showed up promptly and tipped the guide. He also asked if we could take a few more pictures with the camels.

He also took these videos of us with the camels.

We said goodbye to our camels and got up close to the sphinx to take some more pictures.

and then we headed out to the van to head for our hotel.

Next Up: A surprise and a rude awakening

 

[rentayenta]

The camel pics are fabulous!!!!

 

[franandaj]

The camel pics are fabulous!!!!

Thanks!

 

[pkondz]

I went with an American Tourist hat

I didn't know that was their official name.

It was $40USD for the longer ride from our starting point around the backside of the pyramids to the Sphinx.

That seems reasonable.

Except that when I first read that, I thought you said "ride to the backside of the Sphinx".
"Ladies and gentlemen! The eighth wonder of the world... the backside of the Sphinx!"

I lucked out with this shot.

Nice. Looks like a dove, maybe?

It took at least 10x as many photos as I'm showing you to get these winners.

Got some really good ones, too.
I especially like the one where it looks like Jill is in the camel's mouth a bit.

Next it was my turn to mount my camel.

I was very interested in that video. I'd heard that the camels rise up the rear first and wondered if you'd have trouble staying on. It didn't look too bad. How did you feel about it?

An artsy fartsy shadow shot.

Nice.
But... I'll be honest and say I wish the person wasn't in it.

I was also really glad that I went pee before this experience!

Like this shot.

And this one too!

There was a bit of weirdness because as soon as Mohamoud finished taking the pictures above, he asked about his tip. Achmed had told us not to give him a tip, but tell him that “our guide” will give you the tip. I suppose there had been situations where the camel guides felt they weren’t properly tipped and wanted more from their guests. Luckily Achmed showed up promptly and tipped the guide

Huh. Good thing he told you what to say. (And took care of it too.)

We said goodbye to our camels and got up close to the sphinx to take some more pictures.

So cool. I really hope I can see it some day.

Next Up: A surprise and a rude awakening

uh oh!

 

[franandaj]

I didn't know that was their official name.

I made it up!

That seems reasonable.

We thought so.....

Except that when I first read that, I thought you said "ride to the backside of the Sphinx".
"Ladies and gentlemen! The eighth wonder of the world... the backside of the Sphinx!"

Except I said the backside of the Pyramids....

Nice. Looks like a dove, maybe?

It's a bird, that's about as technical as I get.

Got some really good ones, too.
I especially like the one where it looks like Jill is in the camel's mouth a bit.

I picked the best two of the lot, but he just kept snapping shots as the camel made weird faces.

I was very interested in that video. I'd heard that the camels rise up the rear first and wondered if you'd have trouble staying on. It didn't look too bad. How did you feel about it?

I was afraid that I would fall off the entire time! I was sore after that because I was squeezing the camel so tight to make sure I didn't fall off!

Nice.
But... I'll be honest and say I wish the person wasn't in it.

Yeah, Achmed had a way of getting in our photos.

Like this shot.

It's my profile picture on Social Media!

And this one too!

That's one of Jill's. I was afraid to get my camera out while we were on the camels. I was afraid I would drop it or fall off the camel.

Huh. Good thing he told you what to say. (And took care of it too.)

Yup

So cool. I really hope I can see it some day.

I hope you can too. It was pretty cool.

uh oh!

At least it taught us a lesson that we didn't forget for the rest of the trip.