Camel Riders!

Camel Riders!
Originally uploaded by kden604.

Wow, What a day!

I left for Giza this morning around 9 AM from Midan Talaat Harb and took the Metro to the Gize Metro Station (1 E Pound)... From there I took a mini-bus to Giza... To hail a minibus from the main road you put your arm out and yell out the destination... in the Giza Pyramids area you yell "Hiram!"

On the bus with me were a couple of really friendly Brits... His name is Andrew (Andy) and I feel bad but her name illudes me at the moment! I know it starts with a V... I'm sorry!

We headed to these stables outside the Giza gates and negoiated a tour for 160 EPounds per person... or about 30 canadian dollars. You could get a horse or a camel... this was quite a good deal because it included the entry fee (50 EP) and one pyramid entry (25 EP)....

Andrew and I got camels which was cool, it's a bit of a pain in the ass when they are walking on pavement... seriously its not a soft ride, but after they hit the sand its a much smoother ride.

We went to the lookout spot, the only spot in which you can see all nine pyramids in one picture... just beautiful, despite the haze. Then it was head to the middle pyramid... We dismounted and headed inside! It's this really small tunnel and you are bending over to about waist height while walking up and down very steep ramps... it's not too easy. It gets REALLY hot inside. It's very cool to be inside a pyramid, but to be honest there is nothing at all inside except a small room (maybe 4 meters by 2)... Everything is gone to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and around the world.

After that we headed back to our camels and headed to the Sphinx and snap more pictures then head back to the Stables... Now this is where the problem starts. The guide with us was trying to rush a little and he said that we couldn't get up to such and such area with the camels... Anyways we head back to the stables and talk to the owner...

The owner promised us that we could go all the way around all pyramids, go in to the second, go to the lookout point, and to the sphinx... We complained to him about the guide and he made good and got us three horses and we headed back in to the dunes.

We took the horses across some of the dunes and went around the pyramids, back to the sphinx and then headed to the boat museum next to the great pyramid. After that we dumped the horses and guide and said we would walk from this point forward.

We spent about two hours wandering around which was wonderful and snapped some great photographs. The boat museum is really quite cool, there was a boat buried next to the pyramid and perfectly preserved. It's been reconstructed and its really quite a sight.... Imagine looking at a boat that was actually made 4000+ years ago... perfect!

So after some more pictures we headed back to Cairo by Metro.... A REALLY wonderful day...