After spending 12-hours night bus ride from Luxor, we reached Cairo.

Cairo, along with Alexandria, are old cities, much in contrast to Dubai. I  imagine how a century back, they were an envied bustling commercial hub in this Arab region. But it seemed to have stopped there. Our guide blamed bad (government) bureaucracy why this city seemed to have not further progressed.

Signs of antiquities were all over but of course, far not as old as the the Pyramids and Sphinx in Giza (dating back from 2560 BC).

We spared only a day for Cairo which was enough to see the Giza Pyramids, the Saladin Citadel and the Egyptian Museum. It was much hazy over the place (I did a little research but it points to smog. It was hazy/ foggy on a warm day even when the sun is on it's highest), and taking photos was challenging as we did not know how to manage it with our camera.

The Pyramids and the Museum
Understanding the ancient Egyptians' belief on afterlife is hugely interesting, largely explaining the existence of the pyramids as well as the many artifacts in the museum in Cairo.

The pyramids are architectural masterpieces.  There's more than seeing its 3D triangular shape, and THIS link provides  the impressive details.

We entered the pyramid of Menkaure and it's just amazing how BIG blocks of stones were closely put together. It makes me imagine a whole triangular prism that has linear cracks.

Khufu's Pyramid - made of 1,300,000 blocks of limestone. A big structure as a tomb for one king. How about that?

We were told it was believed that the sides of the pyramids were smoothed like the tip of Khafre's Pyramid above, but they chipped out over time

The local youngsters approached and asked to take my photos with them in their phones. I thought there's nothing wrong so ok I gladly obliged.

All together with the young Egyptians

The Sphinx that stands 65 feet tall

The Pyramid of Menkaure. We had to duck until we reached the bottom. Cameras were not allowed inside.

Next stop is the Egyptian Museum (in Cairo). Cameras are deposited at the gate. Lots of photos are online, although you dont get as much amazed than when you personally go there. Again, an Egyptologist explaining the artifacts helps a lot.

The museum houses over 120,000 antiquities, and the most amazing for me are the mummified people and animals dating back 5000 years.When mummified, the kings/ queens then are elaborately buried along with their things they are believed to keep them through in the afterlife, including their dogs, golden jewelries and weapons.
 

Photo credit

Outside of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

 THE CITADEL

Then there's the Saladin Citadel.

"One of Cairo's most popular tourist attractions is the Citadel, located on a spur of limestone that had been detached from its parent Moqattam Hills by quarrying. The Citadel is one of the world's greatest monuments to medieval warfare, as well as a highly visible landmark on Cairo's eastern skyline. Particularly when viewed from the back side (from the north), the Citadel reveals a very medieval character." (you may read more about it here)

The Citadel as fortified by Saladin between 1176 and 1183 CE, to protect from the Crusaders

A closer look at the external walls

Inside the Citadel's mosque. Shoes have to be taken off.

From outside the Citadel, this older part of Cairo is a view

There's more to see of Cairo but I guess spending the night before in a bus has exhausted us already. With our backpacks, we were just too tired and at just past 3 pm, we were too eager to rest our tired bodies in a three hours train to Alexandria. I've saved here more of our Cairo photos.

Some links:

Our Luxor trip HERE
Ask Aladin's notes HERE

See you next in Alexandria.

Luxor, Egypt sits 12 hours by bus away from Cairo, and on its east is Libya.

People visit Luxor because it's known as the world's greatest open air musuem. The Nile's west bank is said to be the 'city of the dead' because it's where the ancient kings and queens took years to build their mummification temples and tombs. 'City of the living' is on the east bank with temples to adore their many gods.

People in Luxor are generally linked to "hassles" -- cunning to the un-assuming tourist, or rude to their unwilling prospect-client.

I'll leave the details of what to see in the place to the following links:

Some links:
Luxor on Wikipedia
Luxor on TourEgypt.net
More importantly, for an unbiased photoblog of Luxor, I guess Mr Tony's blog speaks most about the streets of Luxor. I suggest you check him here.

Now, I hope I recall it right some of our guide, Aladdin's remarks on Luxor:

• Most houses are not properly roofed signifying they're not fully constructed and not subject to taxes. A finished house is taxed 40%
• Arabic Valentine is celebrated every 4th of November
• Tourists are stereotyped based on their nationalities. And jokingly he said the following are most likely seen with: Japanese - a camera and an umbrella, Canadian - a bag with a Canadian flag, tourist from Holland - beer and drugs (remember, said jokingly), Russian - naked and high-heeled. English - bottle of beer and a girl. We haven't seen a Filipino in Luxor so that explains why we were spared of a remark
• Cruise boats along Nile River numbers around 300
• The smokey sky is due to burning of the fields
• Sugar is a staple among Luxor people, hence the vast sugar cane plantations
• Sugar canes were banned to grow near the roads for security reasons -- terrorists can easily hide behind.
• It rains in Luxor for two minutes every four years.

The tombs such as those in the Valley of Kings and Valley of Queens strictly do not allow taking photos and videos. It's said that the lights from the camera damage wall inscription colors. It's a shame but I'll share anyway: we were too stubborn and took a video using our mobile phone (took cue from an elder tourist we saw doing it). We got caught, and the tomb guard took from us EGP100 (USD 16.80).

Most reviews say hot air balloon rides are cheap in Luxor. We paid EGP 400 (USD 67.25) each via our hotel but we were told getting it directly from the operators could be some EGP 300.

The ancient Egyptians believe they attain salvation  after life through mummification, spending years to build their mummification temples. This is where Queen Hatshepsut got mummified.

Egyptians wrote their stories through hieroglyphics

Temple walls with colored sketches (that withstood centuries) mostly showing how the ancient kings and queens adored their gods.

Luxor boasts of alabaster craft. The above shop owner demonstrates how the alabaster design diffuses light (a lighted bulb has been put inside)

I think this is Amun, the god of fertility.

In Karnak temple. Notice the massive columns. There are 134 of these rising 10-21 meters high.

Firing up the balloon.

A view from the hot air balloon -- unfinished roofs as a form of tax avoidance.

Starting to carve/ shape the alabaster stone.

(if you intend to backpack from Dubai to Luxor, Egypt, you might want to read further)

Our Egypt trip last year came about when I received Flydubai's enticing newsletter giving 30% one-leg airfare discount (and Dubai - Luxor was under AED300). When I shared it, two friends exclaimed it's an inexpensive try. One spent AED 1500 per person for five days on Luxor and Cairo. Another spent AED 5000 per person for ten days Luxor/ Cairo/ Sharm Al Sheikh with five days four-star hotel stay in the latter.

It was AED 2500 each for me and my husband, for five days covering Luxor, Cairo and Alexandria. Nothing fancy in our hotels. We engaged tourist guides and had a hot air balloon ride. From Dubai, we arranged our Luxor and Cairo tours, airport pickup and hotels with Nefertiti Hotel and Alladin Tours which is a convenient option, I guess.

A third of our travel cost went to paying our tour guides, hot air balloon ride and entrance fees to the temples (yes, everything Egypt has to offer comes with a fee, more expensive than what's paid for tour guide fees).

It's worth paying for a tour guide. A good one, could spare the tourist from hassles, although the tourist should still remain discerning especially when the guide leads the group to a shop were he is said to have a huge cut of the price the tourist buys.

For Luxor backpackers, Nefertiti Hotel is good with nice staff, clean small rooms, buffet breakfast and roof top view overlooking the Nile River and the Luxor temple. We booked online via Hostels but on our first night, they guided us to Queens Valley hotel since they were full. Queens VAlley is a turn-off, it looks ok outside, but inside is like an unattended haunted and dirty place. We forced ourselves to eat their small serving of breakfast served on dirty utensils and unhygienic setup just as we were so hungry and our tour van was already waiting outside.

Our Egyptologist-guide Alladin's enthusiasm and knowledge got us awed at how the ancient Egyptians have left tales of their lives then, considering how crude things were.

Our fourth night saw us in a 12-hours bus ride from Luxor to Cairo. It was the holidays the previous week then, making all trains full. We would be going back home Dubai via Alexandria which is 15 hours away, leaving us no choice but take the bus. We realized that our itinerary should have been Dubai-Alexandria - Luxor - Dubai. Moreover, flights in Alexandria are always reaching and leaving at mid day, so our route only gave us half day light to explore the place, that's not a fair allocation to appreciate what it can offer.  

There's lots of walking, so a stamina investment prior to travel may be better. I noted that the comforts of city life is not found here. There was no shopping mall or huge hypermarket in the area.

For more photos, please do check here.

By the way, we visited Egypt in November last year before the unrest.

Next to blog: Cairo and Alexandria.

I'm currently sorting 1400 photos we took in our 3.5 days Egypt tour and I dont know where to start sharing.

In a nutshell, it was a tiring but enriching trip. And:

- We like Egypt because of its traces of ancient civilization
- We like Egypt for the (cheap, they say) hot air balloon ride
- We like Luxor's Nefertiti Hotel's hospitality

- We like our Luxor guide and Egyptologist Aladdin. He's Luxor's lively walking encyclopedia. We have yet to tell Nefertiti though that their Cairo agent who guided us, was not as accommodating as Aladdin.

- We dislike Egypt for its people who see tourists as $$$$$$$$. Let them flag a taxi for you, or take a picture of them, or enter a toilet that says "Free entry", or any petty favor -- now spell trouble --  you're OBLIGED to PAY them. There's also obnoxious locals on the streets stretching their palms. You could either be expert at ignoring them, hand them $ or hand them a thing in your bag they'd ask for.
- We dislike the cunning Egyptians. Spell RIP-OFF boldly. There's overpricing or making up stories for fakes. Twice, the locals came over to us as if we were acquaintances insisting we spoke earlier and agreed to pay them for their services.  
- We dislike our first night hostel. Talk about mold-laden cups tray; hazy drinking glasses; room lights not working, bed linens that seemed un-washed for weeks, unkempt toilet
- We dislike Egypt for it's "multi-pricing". Tony, a Welsh who made Luxor his home said: "You pay EGP 65 while the Luxor resident pays EGP 2.
- We dislike Luxor McDonalds, rip-offs too. We attempted to save on our food, but weren't too careful to read the deceiving menu and did not confirm. I was expecting an EGP 60 meal for our EGP 99 bill.
- We dislike having to travel 12 hours by bus from Luxor to Cairo because the train was full.
- We dislike Egyptians who doesnt know the word QUE. They just come in front of you in the line. Once, our Cairo guide suggested we give a coin to be attended in priority.

Oh, oh, I'm being mean now, really mean =) . Please dont get me wrong, Egypt has must-see treasures that's why tourists flock by the countless buses. And I guess it'll take me 4 to 5 blog posts to share.

For now, here are random picks from my 1400 shoots:

The pyramid sides used to be smooth as the tip of this

Hatshepsut's mummification temple. Cant pronounce? Say Hot Chicken Soup =)

Egypt's First Class train

Sensored, sensored. But yeah, they make this in Luxor. Reminds me of my village's wood carving industry.

Much of land along Egypt's Nile River is green

Inside a Coptic Christian Church in Luxor

Inflating the balloon

Rooftops as seen from the balloon

Bread anyone? ... in Cairo

The Great Pyramid of Giza

Alexandria's fishermen

Alexandria

Citadel of Sultan Qait Bay in Alexandria

Please do come back for my individual posts on our experience. It's 2:25 am now, have to hit bed otherwise, would be too groggy for our Wadi Wurayah, Fujairah drive at sunrise =)

It's holiday in the Sandpit today. Happy 39th dear UAE!