My first evening in Cairo was spent on the River Nile. We boarded the boat on the Giza side of the river after almost an hour battling through Cairo traffic for a distance that should have taken half the time.
Driving in Cairo requires a whole set of skills even Malaysians may not have, and a high level of tolerance and understanding of their living conditions is key.
The rivercruise was two hours long and the evening's focus was more on the entertainment than the buffet and nightscape.
Dinner was over and done with sooner than I had hoped and the buffet line was cleared a little too soon. It felt very much the case of "Good, this is over and done with, let's move on to the next part" by the organisers.
The next part entailed performances by a belly dancer and two sufi dancers. Apart from her revealing costumes, the belly dancer's performance was a bit of a yawn. Perhaps Shakira has set expectations a little too high.
The sufi dancers, however, stole the show. There were other tourists from Japan, Canada, Serbia and Germany and the personable sufi performers knew how to connect with all of us.
Traditionally, sufi whirling was done as a form of meditation performed in a worship ceremony of the Mevlevi order. Our guide told us that it was a way for them to get high in place of alcohol. The dancers' ability to remain unaffected by the dizzy twirling amazed me.
The cruise including the buffet spread was US$17 or EGP100, excluding drinks (soft drinks and mineral water were EGP20 or US$4). Yes, not cheap.
The next morning, I awoke to a beautiful sunrise at 6am. It was pyramid day and boy, was I excited! The majestic colour of the sky was just the perfect start to the day. I had my breakfast on the balcony.
We met guide Omar at 9am and started our traffic battle towards the Giza Pyramids.
On our way there, we stopped by the Papyrus Museum. There was a demonstration on how paper was made from the papyrus plant and then some coaxing into retail therapy began. The Papyrus Museum was more an art gallery than a museum, every art piece was for sale.
The Pyramids of Giza can be accessed by motorised vehicles, horses, camels or on foot. The animals provide more flexibility to move around compared to cars because apart from the single road leading up to pyramids, everything else is surrounded by sand.
The four of us shared a camel and two horses. We each paid EGP140 that included the animal ride, the entrance to the pyramids and access into a tomb that has not yet been officially open to public.
The ride through the desert was windy and not as scorching hot as I had imagined it to be. I enjoyed being on the horse. Had flashbacks of my sister and my pony-riding family holidays in Fraser's Hill.
It was so surreal to be up-close with ancient architectural wonders, we just wanted to sit there savour it, imagining what it must have been like to transport those huge blocks of stone.
Our desert guides were very familiar with our Asian photo-taking antics and patiently obliged at jump shots and posy pictures.
The fees we paid included entry into a tomb of one of the kings, although we didn't know which one. It included a space for his body and another separate room for his riches, which they Egyptians believed then he would need for his life after death.
Surrounding the king's tomb were several holes in the ground, about 4-5metres deep. They were mass graves for the slaves who worked to build the pyramids.
After two and a half hours of sand and sun, we were quite ready to return to base and empty our shoes of sand.
Our next stop was the Pharoanic Village. We opted for this instead of the Egyptian Museum, which we thought we could reserve for our next visit. On the way there, we made a pit stop for some lip-smacking shawarma lunch. It was deee..lish combination of well-marinated grilled chicken, bean paste, lettuce and parsely in a thin pita-type pocket.
The Pharoanic Village is what they call a "living museum" where exhibits are a combination of life demonstrations and replicas of ancient treasures. It is located on Jacob's Island, which was originally a papyrus plantation that was turned into an educational park by Dr. Hassan Ragab.
The first and the most interesting part of the tour was the boat ride around the island as people acted out everyday life in ancient Egypt.
The rest of our visit at the village were exhibitions. They were interesting, but we were too tired to absorb anything more. At least the village allowed photography of replicas. We would not have had that opportunity at the Egyptian Museum.
By sunset we were on our way to the Khan El Khalili market in downtown Cairo, not too far from our hotel. There are many markets all over Cairo specialising in different things, but this one is the oldest and supposedly the most fascinating, selling spices, souvenirs, jewellery, bags and fabric.
What amused us most was not the items sold, but the attention we attracted just walking between the shops. Omar had mentally prepared us for the staring and cat-calling, so the only thing we could do was laugh.
We had dinner at an Egyptian pancake shop and order two pancakes and a pizza. The local pancake is something like roti canai empat segi with sweet or savoury filling. We had one with turkey cheese and another with sugar and banana for dessert. Yummy.
On the way back to the hotel we made an impulsive stop at an ice cream shop for a taste of some Eyptian ice. The chocolate was dark and rich, and strawberry was probably the most naturally flavoured one I've tasted and its texture was more like gelato than Turkish ice cream.
A lovely end to a fascinating day.
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