Saturday
The day began at 4:15am. We finished packing and were in the hotel lobby by 4:55am. All inclusive means cappuccino was available at that early hour! I had adjusted to the building tremor and had a relatively good night. On the bus and off to Cairo. It would be a long long day, driving for a number of hours through what Moses described as a vast and dreadful desert…
It was quite an interesting watching the scenery pass by.
The closer to Cairo one gets, the more development is going on. First there are 1000s of wind turbines. Massive wind farms generating electricity for this huge country of almost 100 million occupants. Then come the expansive holiday resorts. Most are under construction. We were coming in along the east coast of Egypt, mainly parallel to the Red Sea from Hurgharda. The resorts are on the coast.
We arrived in bustling Cairo and our first stop was the Egyptian Museum. This is old but huge and has thousands upon thousands of artifacts. They are all older than 2000 years. It must have been an astounding event for any archeologist to make a massive discovery of these kinds of things. Treasures beyond measure. Huge boxes that would contain the sarcophagus, masks, jewellery, statues and mummies, plus thousands of little bits and pieces that adorned the tombs including games they played (an early version of chess) and papyrus writings.
Here is Hatshepsut, one of two women to ever have ruled Egypt.Her reign was between 1470 & 1458 BC.
They have statues of those who built the pyramids. Cheops who commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza has the smallest statue. It’s only 7cm in size. He was a Pharoah in the 27th Century BC…
We stayed for a couple of hours, walking around and it included having some fun…
A new Egyptian Museum is nearing completion. It’s not far from our current hotel and is on the way to the Pyramids. It’s due to open in October this year. It’s going to be a huge improvement on the old museum we went to today.
In the afternoon we headed for the buzzing Cairo market. A lady in our group had bought a table clothe from one of the boat vendors (the ones who row alongside the river boats and throw things up to potential buyers). She got sucked in. They said it was EP1200, so she knocked them down eventually to EP600. The waiter then told her she shouldn’t have paid more than EP300. She was happy to pay the 600 because it’s a story to tell of how she got it. I liked it and decided I also wanted to get one so at the market we went to a couple of places and finally found the same one. They tried to sell it to us for EP450, but we haggled over it and eventually got it for EP250. It was exactly the same as the lady who bought hers on the boat. I didn’t tell her!
We eventually got back to the hotel at about 6-30pm. Whew! It’s been a day and a half. The rest of the group has gone for dinner. I bought internet time so I can work tomorrow. We have three more days here before we fly home and some important work has come up. I can get started tomorrow. It’s exciting being in Cairo. It’s a city of about 20 million people – that’s according to my online search. Our tour guide said it was 25 million.
Thank you, Jesus, for a safe round trip. The roads are crazy. I wish I could have accurately captured photos of what I have seen. Cars crammed onto roads that have no lanes. No one indicates. Motorbikes everywhere – no helmets. I’ve seen three adults on one motorbike, none with helmets. Today I saw a man in a wheelchair going along a road in the same direction as the traffic. The Egyptians are friendly and helpful but they do expect to have their palms greased with cash. It was refreshing to have them wave and smile when we were on the bus. They were friendly for no return!
Next: I need a shower.
Jeremiah 15:16
When Your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight.
These are the days.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gym:
I walked 13749 steps.
Braces:
1 year and 52 days.