By Jeanette Teh
“Club sandwich?”, asked the waiter as he brought our food, interrupting our reverie as we looked out at the Great Pyramids rising majestically in the distance, just beyond the sprawling pool and hotel walls.
While we tucked hungrily into our lunch, we remarked how surreal it was to be dining in a modern hotel overlooking ancient pyramids built thousands of years ago.
The Great Pyramids of Giza
The next morning, we drove to Giza through the chaotic Cairo traffic, where lanes do not exist, to get a close-up view. As we neared the Pyramids, camels, mules, and horses merged comfortably amidst cars and trucks, painting an amusingly anachronistic picture.
“We will start with the Pyramid of Khufu, the largest one”, said Ahmed, our tour guide as he handed out the entrance tickets. “I will give a short history and then you can take photos”, he continued, but of course, my trigger-happy fingers were already busy snapping away at the looming sand-coloured structure in front of us.
Although the Pyramid appears fairly consistent in texture from a distance, up close, the 142 levels of limestone look like miniature steps running all the way to the top. The Giza Pyramids are comprised of three of the 119 pyramids in Egypt although more pyramids are still being discovered today.
The Khufu (or Cheops) Pyramid was constructed around 2570 BC over the course of 20 years with the labour of 100,000 farmers, who worked on the Pyramid during the three months of the flood season. In total, 2.3 million blocks of stones, with an average weight of 2.5 tons each, were used to reach the original 146 metre height.
We stood there in awe of this ancient tomb — almost 5000 years old, standing upright and in splendid condition, built with human hands without the aid of machines. I thought about the jokes my late father would have made, comparing the shoddy construction of our five-year-old apartment, which already needed new flooring, to the brilliant, sturdy architecture of the ancient Egyptians.
That started a torrent of tears and sobs as the pain that our father, whom we called Pops, did not make it to see the Pyramids throbbed loudly in my heart. He had been planning a family trip here for last Christmas, but he passed away unexpectedly and suddenly just a month prior. I turned around to see my mom and sister also wiping away tears. We hugged silently, remembering Pops, before taking a photo of us holding his picture beside the Pyramid we came to see in his memory.
Hopping back into our van, we set off to see the Pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, the tombs of Khufu’s son and grandson. Ever the wily one, Khafre built his pyramid on a hill to circumvent the rule that a son’s pyramid be smaller than his father’s, while simultaneously making his own tomb appear larger.
From the hill, we clambered onto the waiting camels. While I have previously rode a camel at a Dubai resort, I was still terrified as the tall ‘ship of the desert’ rocked back and forth, threatening to throw me off, despite my husband Mike holding on behind me.
“Please, I want to come down”, I whimpered to my grey-haired, bearded Bedouin camel guide, who somehow persuaded me to stay on with simple gestures and kind words of broken English. Fortunately, the rest of the ride was far smoother, and even enjoyable, as I followed my mom’s lead of swaying her hips in synch with the camel’s motion. I did however, decline to follow her regal (in manner of Queen Elizabeth) waving to the onlookers in favour of tightly gripping the harness with clenched fists.
Our camel caravan went around to the back of the six smaller pyramids of the Pharaohs’ wives where we stopped to take photos. With the scorching sun beaming down upon us amidst the lightly blowing desert sand, we felt rather like Bedouin explorers just about to discover the majestic Pyramids.
The Almighty Sphinx
We were immediately accosted by street peddlers hawking all types of souvenirs when we reached the resting ground of the Sphinx a few minutes away.
“One dollar”, a merchant called out, holding postcards.
“35 Egyptian Pounds”, a rival bellowed, showing us ceramic replicas of pyramids. Egypt was occupied by the British for approximately 50 years from the 1880’s and has retained the British term for currency.
“La, shukran”, our tour group responded dutifully in chorus, just as Ahmed had taught us when turning down offers from merchants.
Despite the flocks of tourists, we were able to capture great views of the magnificent mythical creature with the head of a man and body of a lion, including the obligatory tourist photo of ‘kissing’ the Sphinx. This is one of my all-time favourite photos, where, with the precise guidance of Ahmed turning my head towards the Sphinx in the distance, the photo captures me kissing this exotic beast.
Treasures of Tutankhamun’s Tomb
Upon our arrival at the Egyptian Museum, Ahmed took us to see artifacts from the Old Kingdom (the Age of the Pyramids from 2650 to 2100 BC) and the Middle Kingdom (2100 to 1650 BC). What stood out most for me were the coloured statues with gleaming blue-grey eyes that seemed to sparkle with life.
Despite hearing so much about the boy king Tutankhamun, who became pharaoh during the New Kingdom (1650 to 1070 BC) at the age of nine and who succumbed to malaria at eighteen, nothing could have prepared us for the splendour of his tomb’s treasures. Although Tutankhamun’s crypt, the only one not pillaged by grave robbers, was actually located in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, all his 5000 treasures have been moved to Cairo.
As tombs were often raided, pharaohs tried to secure their treasures by having four different tombs very much like a Russian doll set — one coffin encased within another one. Tutankhamun’s outer tomb was made from wood with gold plating, about the size of a little hut, followed by a second one with carvings, and a third made out of gold with an 11-kilogram gold mask placed over the mummy’s head. The final coffin in which King Tut’s body remains still lies in the Valley of the Kings.
The precious stones and jewellery in addition to the furniture adorned with gold and carvings were simply stunning, leaving my mouth perpetually shaped to form the word “Wow!”. Given that Tutankhamun was not an important king due to his very short reign, one can only imagine what the treasures of an older and more accomplished pharaoh would have been like.
My quick tour of the Royal Mummies Room, which featured incredibly preserved mummies, was at once both startlingly scary and fascinating. I gasped in shock and awe when I saw the body of King Ramses II (Ramses the Great) bandaged in mummified form showing dark rusty brown, mud-like skin with several strands of blondish chin-length hair still intact from 1200’s BC.
The other eight mummies were in different states of preservation, some showing teeth, one with a box holding his liver, and others looking a bit like aliens. It was an unparalleled experience, my heart pounding with fear and excitement, to see bodies that were over 3000 years old. It certainly left me with an unadulterated admiration for the scientific brilliance of the ancient Egyptians.
Christian, Jewish, and Islamic Cairo
We began our multi-religion tour of Cairo at the “Hanging Church”, the most famous Christian Coptic church, so named for its location on top of a Babylonian fortress.
The start of the third century church grounds is marked by a beautifully-adorned gate that leads into a courtyard with mosaic-filled walls. Climbing up the steps, we entered the church which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The walls and ceilings are filled with colourful murals depicting religious scenes and intricate geometric patterns and crosses.
After leaving the church, Ahmed took us through quaint, narrow streets flanked by book stalls, to get to Cairo’s first synagogue, a small and simple place of worship.
We drove to Saladin Citadel next which is one of the most important structures of medieval warfare. Named for the leader who ruled in the 1100’s, Saladin Citadel was built to protect Cairo from the Crusaders. The top of the fortress provided wonderful panoramic views over the city.
Enclosed within the fortress is the Mosque of Mohammed Ali (the founder of Modern Egypt, and not the boxer) built in the early 1300’s. Although not as well preserved, this mosque resembles the Blue Mosque we visited in Istanbul last summer. The mosque’s facades were not very well kept leaving its once-white walls looking a tad brownish.
As we left the Citadel, we turned back to a spectacular sight. From a distance, the mosque looked magnificent, sitting majestically atop an imposing fortress.
Ruminations over mint tea
Watching the setting sun disappear slowly behind the Khan El Khalili Bazaar, we sipped mint tea and smoked shisha with Ahmed while waiting for the rest of our tour group. As it was my shopaholic sister’s turn to be sick and stay back at the hotel (mine had been the day prior), my mom, Mike and I had quickly finished shopping.
A little boy of about eight with tousled hair, unkempt clothes, and a cheeky grin approached our table selling postcards. “Ni Hao?”, the boy asked us in Mandarin, since my mom and I are of Chinese descent. He then turned to blue-eyed Mike asking in rapid succession, “How are you? Speak English? Hablas Espagnol?”.
After politely declining his offer, I marvelled at how clever he was while feeling sad that such a young child had to work to help feed his family. As I played with my newly purchased ankh (key of life) pendant on my necklace, I silently vowed to think of the less fortunate the next time I wanted to complain about the sorrows of my life, just as Pops would have reminded me to. Deep in thought, I placed my teacup back in its saucer, looked up at the darkening sky, and smiled at my father.
This article was originally written in 2011 and was not able to be published at that time due to the unrest in the region. We actually arrived back in Dubai just a week before the protests began in Tahrir Square.
Jeanette Teh is a legal and corporate trainer, adjunct (assistant) professor, non-practicing lawyer, writer, coach, and founder of Kaleidoscopic Sky. You can find more about her at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanette-teh-601115.