If you're into experiencing the Pharaonic life, Egypt is the place for you. Having Egypt as one of my three wish destinations, when I heard about a forthcoming trip to Egypt, it was almost like a dream come true.

I flew to Egypt with joy and anticipation. My tour started by visiting the Pyramids. Did I mention that it was a wish of mine to get inside the pyramids? Here it is about to become a reality.

Heading to Giza city where the three giant pyramids are located, we get into the desert. It's a hot-cool day. The sun is up and bright, yet the cool wind blows gently in an awkward mixture. I got off the cab and moved around the place. How did they build these things? There are three pyramids, the biggest one is the Pyramid of Khufu, the second is the Pyramid of Khefre', and the smallest is the Pyramid of Menkaure (there are other smaller, unknown pyramids by the way). The day we visited the pyramids, the biggest and the smallest ones were closed to visitors. Thank God the medium-sized one is open today!

I bought a ticket and headed to the pyramid. The security man at the entrance told me that I'm not allowed to take a camera with me. Why not? I want to take pictures of the place! It seems they want to keep the mystery hidden underground. Alright. I gave him my camera and got in. I won't waste a dream of mine for a camera.

I climbed my way down. There's a narrow, long tunnel through which you have to walk until you reach the room where the Pharaoh's tomb was once. The roof is too low, you can't walk but with your back bent, and you walk on what resembles a wooden ladder that leads you down. I walked down, passers by going up. Inside, you feel as if the air has been vacuumed, it's not easy to breathe. At the end of the tunnel there is a small, empty, dark damp room. There are no inscriptions on the wall like you would expect, nothing but a dim light and a hole where a tomb was once. That's all. Nothing so special or mysterious.

Anyways, I'm glad I experienced it. I climbed my way up, and when I finally got out of the pyramid, I was so tired and out of breath that I needed to sit on the pavement to take a deep breath before I could continue my tour.

A village man convinced me to camel ride. I was sort of intimidated by the huge animal. I once again "climbed", this time up the camel. :) It was a scary ride, but not at all an unpleasant one. I felt "on top of the world!" :)

Finally I stood beside prince charm and took a picture, I mean, the Sphinx. It was a lovely picture, maybe because I was eager to take it.

Back to the hotel "Ramses Hilton" for some rest.

When it was dinner time, we decided to try the hotel's restaurants. There are 2 of them, one on the ground floor, and another on the last floor up. We tried both, but after I took a glance at both of them, I expressed my disliking for the loud music. (Well actually, I tried to avoid getting in because I saw belly dancers inside, and I could not possibly imagine sitting with my employer or co-workers while a belly dancer is giving a show!"

We tried every possible restaurant, but all come with belly dancers on menu! Alright, I quit, order a belly dancer for me with some chilly and pepper. :)

We had dinner, then we decided to go and see the famous Huseini mosque and Khan Al Khalili and Arabisk. It was almost midnight. Egypt is bustling with life, even at such a late hour! Public cafes, people seated in the open, drinking the Nargile, women, families, children, it was awesome. I ordered tea. It comes with a big pack of mint soaked in. An old female beggar started dancing and performing some simple moves, people clapped hands for her and gave her some money. Even the beggar is joyful! Opposite the cafes is the front yard of the Husseini mosque. Some tramps took the sky as their cover and slept on the floor peacefully, not minding all the passers by and the noise.

In Egypt I noticed a weird phenomenon. There are roaming singers who offer to entertain any table of people upon request for a small amount of money. Singers sing different kinds of songs, some sing Egyptian, or Syrian, or Kuwaiti songs, just name it. We chose a Syrian singer and asked him to entertain us with specific Syrian songs. He sang traditional songs so beautifully that the people sitting to the tables around us started to sing all along. It was an atmosphere
of coziness and joy I will never forget. The cute old singer was looking at me and smiling widely, as if he was singing for me. It was an enjoyable time.

We also had another singer sing for us, this time Egyptian songs. It was also lovely and memorable.

We took a walk through Khan Al Khalili, and we reached Arabisk and saw where that famous TV series called "Arabisc" was shot. I bought three small monuments for the pyramids and 2 statues of the Pharaoh Khufu and the Sphinx.

Time to go to sleep, I suppose. :)

It's the morning of the next day. After we were done with work (spare you the hurdle), we went to Cairo tower to have lunch. This is a high tower with a round top that revolves around itself so that you can see the whole of Egypt while you're seated in your place, enjoying their TASTY fish. Honestly, I never fancied fish all that much, but eating fish in Egypt is a MUST! A wonderful view from the high tower, it took around 20 minutes for the circular restaurant to make a complete round and for us to be back to our start point. All the waiters and waitresses were dressed in a Pharaonic style. They offered to analyze my personality based on the Pharaonic alphabets of my name! And weird enough, the results resembled my personality. :) This restaurant isn't the highest point of the tower. At the very top there are binoculars and you can use them to see around Egypt more clearly. I could see the pyramids from the restaurant, but with binoculars the scene is much clearer. The weather up was fabulous as well, and I enjoyed the hasty wind blowing my hair, which I untied.

We left the tower and went for a walk along the Nile River. Lots of youngsters were sitting to the Nile, couples. We bought grilled corns, tasty! When it was dinner time we decided to try the Pharaonic boats. (Didn't I say that this is the right place to experience everything that is Pharaonic? :) )

The Pharaonic boat is a different story. These are huge boats consisting of 2 floors. They take you in a two-hour tour into the Nile. The second floor is in the open while the first is surrounded by windows and you feel as if you're sitting on the water! I enjoyed the sense of floating to the limits. As the boat started to depart the shore, we were entertained by an Egyptian female singer. Later, a male singer joined. They sang together for sometime before it was time for a traditional dance. This is called "the Moolid dance" – A dance performed on the night when the Prophet was born. A man performs this dance. He wears multi-layer skirt and spins non-stop for lengthy minutes that you wonder how he never gets dizzy. Our dancer for the night started revolving and revolving while our mouths dropped open in amazement and fascination. He then raised a skirt and held it above his head and kept revolving, with one skirt to his waist and the other over his head. He then covered his face completely with the skirt. I wonder how he didn't lose sense of direction! After a while, he got down on the floor and almost slept, covering himself totally with the skirt which he was still revolving with his hand! And finally, he wandered around the tables, with that skirt still spinning over his head, and he took pictures with each and all of us!

At last, it was time for the last part of the show… a belly dancer! This beautiful woman in hot red appeared from no where and started dancing. She was talented indeed, and she just did her part excellently and left. During that time, a buffet was prepared and we had delicious dinner.

That was the end of our second day in Egypt.

On the last day, we went to see the Pharaonic Village. This place is a must see! We purchased our tickets for a boat trip and lunch for two. We entered the place, and at first we were taken to a small antique shop. After that, we were told that it's time for our tour to start. The tour is on what resembles a boat, only that it has no edges. On the boat, there are rows of chairs and a place for the tourist lead, with speakers to provide recorded tourist guidance as the boat sails into the Nile.

The tour was initiated. The boat moved and as we sailed through the Nile, I could feel the refreshing air mixed with the shade provided by the papyrus trees on the banks of the river. On both sides stood the statues of ancient Egyptian Pharaohs and gods and goddesses. The recording introduced these characters to us as well as the signs accompanying the statues. The second part of the tour took us back in time to the Pharaonic era as we were introduced to ancient
buildings and real humans acting how the civilization developed in Egypt! We saw a woman dressed in Pharaonic style. She approached a stream and picked something. The recording explained that this is the Pharaoh's wife picking the infant Prophet Moses from the river! We saw farmers plowing and we saw how handcrafts were made in Egypt as women were sewing and how the corpses of Pharaohs were mummified.

After an astonishing display for the development of life in ancient Egypt, we left the boat and went into a replica of an old temple. We were greeted by a priest, who led us inside the temple and showed us its different parts. I saw fake tombs and mummies, one of which weighs 101 kilograms of GOLD! Then we were taken to museums, each about a certain phase in the history of Egypt. One of them was about the life of late President Jamal Abd Al Nasir (as I recall). After that they took us to a Pharaonic studio and a lady helped me get dressed in a Pharaonic dress for Queen Cleopatra, with a wig and special eye make-up. Wow, until now, this is my favorite picture. I would have made a gorgeous Pharaonic queen. :)

Time for lunch. In a Pharaonic restaurant (of course), we had tasty lunch and enjoyed the place that is anciently decorated. After lunch it was time for a tour in a fast yacht. We got on. We were taken along the Nile and we passed under the huge bridge of Cairo. We saw old houses and poor people washing their clothes in the Nile, just as we saw fancy hotels and homes overlooking the Nile.

After spending a day that I will never forget in the Pharaonic village, our day was approaching its end. We went back to the hotel and packed our baggage as we will be leaving this beautiful country early in the morning and go back to Jordan. I know for certain that Egypt is a country that will be in my have-to-visit-again list.

(Trip dated: January 5th, 2005)