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Egypt- The Gift of the Nile

‘Give me a break people’ I moaned as my mother yanked the blanket of me. It was two am in the morning and I had to get up. We were going to Egypt and we had a flight to catch at 5. I had my annual day and had got home by 11:30pm but I got sleep only by 12. Anyway the four of us trudged to the car and piled up our luggage and set out for the airport. After standing and filling the passport forms we go past security and immigration. We had some free time so we went and sat in the lounge.
We got to the plane and found our seats and awaited the take off.

While everybody else was sitting and watching movies I was reading my book, The Martian. It was brilliant and couldn’t leave it until I finished it. We had landed as soon as I had finished and so I had to pack while my sister told me the movies available to watch. We had landed in Abu Dhabi and we had 1 and a half hours to kill. We somehow managed not to get bored and boarded our flight on time. This was a Etihad Airways flight and their movie selection was awesome. I managed to finish Mission Impossible 5 when my mother told me to shut it and get some sleep. I woke up to the hustle bustle of passengers getting their hand luggage. We left the plane when my mother smacked her head. She had forgotten the Tupperware bottle in the flight and there was no turning back ( literally). The Cairo airport was small and far away from the runway. We got passed immigration but getting our luggage took us 1 hour. We met our guide  and he took us to the hotel in a modern air conditioned vehicle ( in the itenary it was written in bold).

The hotel room was amazing! The beds were comfy and the bathroom was huge. And dad had got two rooms so we were all relaxed and comfy. It had taken a full days travel and we had reached the hotel room by 3 pm Cairo time. We had 3 hours until the next event and we took this time To chill. and you know we could actually see the pyramids from our hotel room! When 6 rolled in we all got ready and got into our camper. We were going to the sound and light show.


 As I got out of the camper my mouth touched to the ground and my eyes popped out Tom and Jerry style. The sound and light show was happening at the Great pyramids of Giza. It had always been my dream to see these pyramids. As I went through security the machine beeped for the first time In my life since  had camera on me. Anyway we got our seats for the show and sat Down. There were actually putting lights and green laser projection and told us the story of the sphinx and also about the great pyramids. About Tuthmosis the 4th who did something for the sphinx and he became the king. About how Cheops and Khufu and made their tombs  in their pyramids. I really liked it and recommend it to be watched on YouTube. After that we went back to the hotel and crashed as all of us had a really long day.


The next day we started with a hearty breakfast and I actually had so many courses I lost count. But today I was very excited as we were visiting the pyramids again but we would actually be able to touch them. We were in the camper before schedule and we awaited the presence of our guide. As soon as hopped on we started of towards the the great pyramids of Giza. We were actually living close to the pyramids and we could see it everyday from our balcony in our hotel room while sipping tea. but before we knew it we were at the the ticket counter getting our tickets for the pyramids. Our guide then started to tell us about the pyramids. These are the facts that he told us and I am revealing to because I think the time is right and you all can be trusted-

1.They first used to bury the people in the sand. They realised that the body would not be able to continue onto the afterlife. So they started to make like a step tomb a few metres of the ground.

2. In the third dynasty, king Cheser built three big tombs. For himself, his wife and his mother.

3.then Imhoteb built himself a wall around his pyramid to keep people away. He also made the first step pyramid.

4. In the fourth dynasty Senefresun made the first pyramid which was smooth. He depicted it as the sun. The tip of the pyramid is the sun;the corner lines are the rays and the base is the earth.

5. Cheops wanted to make the largest pyramid and didn’t want any of his things stolen by grave robbers. So he made his pyramid in such away that there were many fake passages and trap doors. But still it got robbed. They made it close to the Nile so transportation of stones will be easy.

6. The great pyramid was made at the centre of the earth because they thought the magnetic force would the strongest and help the pyramid to be built nicely.

7.  The bricks were brought from Aswan by boat. The minimum weight of the brick was 2.5 tons heavy and the maximum was 15 tons.

8. Egyptologist’s are contemplating whether it was slaves who pulled the bricks of the elephants because there have been discoveries of ivory statues.

9. The height of the great pyramid of Cheops is 148.90metres but some other kings needed the bricks of the pyramid for their city. They thought that if they removed the capstone then the pyramid would crumble inwardly. However when they did it nothing happened. They just walked away and reduced 10 metres from its height. The current height of the pyramid is 138.90 metres but there is a pole on the top to show the original height.

10. The angle of the pyramid is 52 degrees




After the guide explained it to us. my father held up some passes  and told us that we will be going inside the tomb. We climbed up some stairs to the entrance showed our tickets and went inside. There was a long passage way that eventually opened up to a narrow flight of stairs. It was a very steep climb and we had to get off many steps to make  way for other people. But finally we reached the top. It was a small room with three cctv cameras. In the middle there was a stone rectangle sarcophagus with nothing in it. My dad said “well, this was a rip off” but my  mother told us that know she knew how the pyramid was and what was the structure. She explained it to us and all the pieces started to click in. After that we started our journey down.  I almost slipped on to somebody else but my shoes saved my skin. 


The hawkers are really pushy. They know many English words  but  not ‘no’. They bothered us  the entire time and tried to sell fake statues. But we eventually got into the  car and moved onto  the tomb of Khafre.
Khafre was the son  of Cheops. His was the second pyramid. His pyramid  was shorter then his  father’s but   it was  built on an elevated  ground and looks taller. 
This pyramid was also covered with a glaze of limestone but it has worn off and only the glaze on the top remains. It has the same architecture as the first pyramid. In front of the pyramid is the sphinx. Originally the sphinx was a misshapen piece of rock and was in front of the pyramid, so Khafre ordered it to be carved out into a piece which had a body of a lion and the head of Khafre. This is symbolic: the pharaoh’s head shows wisdom and the lions body shows bravery and strength.
The last one is the tomb of Menkuare. He is the son of Khafre son of Cheops. He was a ruler of Memphis. His was the smallest tomb but the best one. The bricks were of good quality and size and they arranged and placed in a very good order. This was the cleanest tomb and my second favorite. However we were not allowed to enter the second or the third tomb.

After visiting the the pyramids we went to the sphinx. There was a secret passage way that led to the second pyramid. It was meant to scare away the tomb robbers. We also saw and touched the Sahara Desert.


After wrapping up at the pyramids we went to the papyrus institute mad we actually saw how the papyrus Was made. They took the papyrus plant which grew on the riverside. They took the papyrus plant and skinned it. The outer green layer was tough and couldn’t be torn. It was used to make baskets and sandals. They got rid of that. Inside was the white part which was used for the main paper. They skinned that and used it. They put the strips in the water and soaked it for five days. They then took it out and they put it in layers of a cotton/wool board. They made a overlapping and perpendicular sequence. They then put it under the press( the ancient Egyptians had to lay it out in the sun and put bricks on it and leave it for five days). That removed the juice and instantly hardended it. Voila!you get papyrus! After that we were shown the different papyrus paintings and the guy persuaded us to buy some things. After 25 minutes of him giving us offers we declined and we left.

We then went to the Cairo museum where we saw ancient tomb treasures and the guide explained.

After visiting the Cairo museum we went to the Khan el Khalil baazaar for some lunch. We had the standard vegetarian lunch: falafel. Since we are vegetarian we don’t have many options and we always had to eat falafel. Damn it! Anyway after we had lunch we went exploring the market. I knew it was a bad idea. As soon as we started walking the vendors and hawkers swarmed upon us, each selling the same thing at a different price. If we bought something then they would keep coming for more. We didn’t buy much, just some 20000000991092854756336192 bookmarks. Okay. I am exaggerating. We actually bought on 20000000991092854756336192-20000000991092854756336190. Do the maths . I’m on holiday.

After the perilous  journey where I almost wanted to tear the hawkers apart we went to our camper and drove back home. After that we basically had the day to kill. We went swimming and caught up on some sleep and did work and read our books. After dinner we retired for the day. Day 2 of the trip was a success.


I woke up by five and smelled excitement in the air. I sniffed around for some time and then it hit me. The smell was so bad. It was coming from the other room where Saanvi was sleeping. I knew it. Actually I am kidding. It was our birthday. The Disney junior happy birthday song played in my head. Saanvi loves jake and the never land pirates. Anyways my mom and Saanvi woke up and we did the rituals and blah,blah,blah. Then my mother handed me box which was packed in newspaper. I opened it and found myself face to face with a canon EOS 1200. It was so awesomeeeeeeeee! I removed it and fired it up. Oh this was so cool! Best birthday gift ever. We horses around with it for some time and then went to the the pool. We splashed around for a half an hour. Then we went for breakfast. Oh my god! I actually had different courses and used up to 5 plates or more. But all good things last not too long. Next thing you know is that you are stuck in Cairo traffic going to the airport.

Another dream come true. We used a smaller plane for our flight to Luxor. I always used to want to go in a smaller aircraft with propellers instead of and engine. This plane was small 🙂 but with no propellers:(. 


After we flew to Luxor we met our guide. He showed us out of the airport and we got straight into our camper and were off to see Karnak temple.

At the Karnak temple we got our tickets and surged forward.
in the hall we saw a model of the full temple.


We went inside and we saw the real temple and the facade was massive
This temple was started by Ramesses II. It had taken 2000 years to be built. The courtyard in the front was full of sphinxs but they had the body of a lion and a head of a ram. Underneath each of them was a statue of Ramesses II.

We entered the temple and on the side walls we still saw the mud piled up that was used to make the ramps so they could build a high wall.
As we came in we saw a big column above us. It opened up as a flower on the top. The guide explained it to us and said that there were six rows of columns. The first column was open papyrus plant shaped and the others were closed. This was a design to keep the heat away. We also saw hints of colors which looked  outstanding.
There was a blue line marked and when we asked him what that was for he said that was the line till where the water had submerged it and that is why everything is broken here and refurbished.

Then i saw the shadow of a huge structure looming over me. I looked up and saw that it was a rectangle with a point on the tip. The guide told us that it was an obelisk and considered well in Ancient Egyptian times.
We them moved on and we saw a scribe, defaced. I joked that he might have written a bad word and his master beheaded him.

Just next to the scribe there was an alley that was shut off but we could see inside. The top was painted and we could see the stars on the top. I joked that they must have got Van Ghogh  to do it.

In front of us the sacred deity lake was sprawled. It was here that most religious ceremonies took place.

Right in  front of the lake there was the scarab. It was a sign of good luck for the Egyptians. If you walked around the statue two times anticlockwise then you would be blessed with happiness for the rest of your life. I believed it was just blah but we did it anyway. Just taking precautions.
After this we went to the Luxor temple which was just two miles away. When we got there it was already dark and so they had switched on the lights. It made it look more beautiful. This was also made by Ramesses II and he had made two statues of himself flanking the entrance.
On the sides of the throne there was his name written in a cartouche.
At the bottom of the throne there was a picture of people with their heads tied together. The guide explained it to us that the king showed his power by cutting the heads of the Asians and Africans who tried coming to Egypt.
It had a beautiful facade and courtyard. They tried to make the columns like a bouquet of papyrus plants. The courtyard was massive. The early Christians came and they used it as a house and there were burnt marks. They also plastered the paintings but over the years the plaster had fallen off to reveal the paintings. Alexander the Great had also came and make carvings of him as an Egyptian king. My dad was on his phone the full time and after the guide finished explaining he came and said he was ready. So I went again and explained everything to him.

After this we went to our cruise. We got our room keys and then transported the luggage to our room. We killed some time and then went to the dinner table. We had our dinner and then crashed.

The next morning we went to the valley of the kings and saw it. No camera was allowed and so I can’t explain much. There were three tombs that we could go to which were-
·         Ramesses IV
·         Ramesses VII
·         The tomb of a general who became an illegal king and whose name cannot be said.
(HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED)
They were very nice tombs. They had colour and they were very intricate. One tomb went so many feet below the ground i lost count. Unfortunately the tomb of Tutankhamen was closed and so we couldn’t visit it. We got to the tombs and back in a tram. The tombs were outstanding. There was no camera allowed because they thought that the camera flash would destroy the colour.    


After that we went to the temple of Queen Hatshepsut or famously known as Hat-Chicken-Soup. She married  Tuthmosis II. He had a son from another wife, Tuthmosis III. When he died Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III ruled. But she kicked him off the throne and she ruled. She built her temple and ruled as a king, wearing a fake beard and man-clothes. But Tuthmosis III took his revenge and destroyed her temples. We had to use a tram to get to the tombs and back.  So we saw  the numerous defaced statues and the only remaining lady sphinx. We had to climb up numerous stairs but we saw everything.
 After her temple we went to the alabaster factory.  We got shown the statues and how they were made. They didn’t try hard selling it to us which was good. We quickly moved out. We then stopped at the two statues of Amenhotep III.

We returned to the cruise and had our lunch and saw the people undocking. Then we started sailing towards Edfu. We stayed n our rooms and read our books and spent some time on the sun deck playing cards and watching the sunset.

 Let me just tell you Edfu was boring. The guide had probably skipped breakfast, missed his tea or ran out of phone recharges. He was in a miserable mood and half the time I had no idea what he was talking about. So let’s keep it short. It was made for Horus, god of strength. It was mainly destroyed and restored. We went to it by horse carriage and on the horses tried to eat my ear. End of story. I am on holiday.

We then continued to our cruise. The ship started sailing and we went to Komombo temple. Around 7:00 it was already pitch black dark and we reached about then. This temple was mainly devoted to two gods. It was the first time that one temple held two gods. They believed the asked the goddess Ma’at, goddess of order to come and divide the temple. One half is to the crocodile god Sobek and the other half to Horus. On the Sobek side there was a statue of him and same on Horus’s side. But obviously they were stolen. This was made during the Ptolemic times. There was also an inscription which showed the surgery tools of the ancient times. There was also an inscription on their calendar system which worked well. It worked like this-
·         They had 12 months.
·         They measured the period between the inundations.
·         Each month had three weeks.
·         Each week had 10 days. That sums up to 360
·         The other five days were for festivals.
After visiting the temple we saw the crocodile museum. There they kept the mummies of the crocodiles. Yes, the ancient Egyptians prayed to the crocodiles for strength and protection. They mummified the carcasses of the crocs. They had relics in the museum.

So that’s that for the Temple of Komombo. We went back to our cruise where we slept early because of the event the next day.
Horus

Sobek
 I was woken up three AGAIN. That the second time in the week. Honestly what was the deal. My official roomie, Dad had woke me up and told me to get changed. I did as I was told. He told me get a pillow and follow him. We went to the restaurant and picked up the breakfast box. We then piled up in the car and headed out with the convoy. As soon as my head touched the pillow I fell asleep. I woke up to my mother saying “Eh Saanvi Rani, ootjaa rani. Oh meri sannu.” Does that mean I get to sleep more? Then my dad  said “Raghav, I want you out of the car in the next two minutes.” So much for sleeping extra. The guide paid for the tickets and walked us in. we climbed down a slope and then I saw it. 4 21 metre tall statues were seated. Ramesses II. All the temples we have been too have been made by this guy so I recognise him. He is the biggest show off. Camera’s were not allowed inside his temple. The inscriptions and pictures showed us how he fought many battles and how he made a peace treaty with the Hittite people. In the chambers there were picture of him offering the different gods different offerings. It was brilliant. Then there was a very special chamber. It that on a bench there were figures of Ptah(god of darkness), Amun-ra, Ramesses II, Ra horakhty. On the morning of October 22 and February 22 the first light of the sun falls on everybody except Ptah as he is the god of darkness. Just next to it was the temple he dedicated to his beloved wife, Nefertari. Yeah. We then took some photos  and then we met our guide back at the parking lot. We sat in the car and waited for the convoy to move. When it finally became 1:00 we pulled up in front of the boat area. We then ate our lunch and then got some rest. 


Then at 3:30 we filed up outside our boat. The guide took us to an even lower level where we caught and a small boat. It took us to the Nubian village. In the Nubian village we saw the different houses and even went in one. In that house they were breeding crocodiles and then after ten year they would leave them in a lake. We saw many camels and I stepped on the camel poop. We also got a bottle with our name written in sand and it was made with precision. After looking around we got back into the boat and we rode back to the cruise. It was dark by the time we reached back. We had an early dinner and slept early.

The next morning was the last day of sightseeing. We got up and had breakfast and were ready in time. We then went to the unfinished obelisk. This was made by Queen Hatshepsut but was abandoned before finished. It was made in the granite queries of Aswan. We horsed around for some time and then mom took us back to the car.

 We then went to the Philae temple. In the temple it was basically like any other temple. It had and important relic which was stolen. This relic was a boat and a solid gold statue. We then went to another courtyard which was my favourite. There were pictures of musical instruments like
·         Trumpet
·         Harp
·         Egg Shakers
·         Hand Tambourine
·         Type of Guitar

It was cool. Dad got fed up and left and so we continued taking pictures. We then went to the High Dam. We could see the area that was once a village but know moved. We saw the electric gizmos and that stuff. When we got into the camper i realised that our sightseeing is over. We were driven back to the cruise and we got our stuff.

We chilled on the deck and then the car came to pick us up. We were taken to the airport and then we caught our plane to Cairo. At Cairo we went back to MovenPick and so i looked forward to another breakfast.
 After a good breakfast we were taken back to the airport. We then caught our flight to Baharain. We then had a five hour lay off. Imagine a busy airport and you have nowhere to sit? But dad solved the problem. He got us into the lounge and we were so happy. We then caught our flight to Mumbai and got a taxi home. And now i am writing this for my eager readers who have asked for this blog before i even went to Egypt.     

20 replies on “Egypt- The Gift of the Nile”

Your sister is not stinky Raghav!! This trip was memorable because of you. Can't imagine the getting history only from the eygyptologist.
Keep being curious!! To many more lands and adventure and breakfast☺. Thankyou for capturing it for me.

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Brilliantly captured. Congratulations for new SLR. Hope you are enjoying that! I am amazed that you got to eat multi course breakfasts. I thought it would be difficult being vegetarian there. You should write about food separately.

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Great stuff Raghav. Unbelievable the way you have written felt as if I am there. So exhaustive
After reading feels like going there immediately. Great photographs. Overall loved it. Keep it up. God bless you. Lalit.

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Hey Raghav… nice post.. almost felt like I was there. Few things –
– how did you keep the vendors away?
– what will you change in the trip if you had to?
– Congrats on the camera! Be careful and use it well. perhaps when you come to blore next i will enrol you on a basics course for 1-2 days. a friend runs something!
– did you folks go on a camel ride? do they even exist in egypt?
– were they less tourists? seems like you folks got lucky with lesser crowds!
– the breakfast must have been delicious the way you describe it
Lots of love and cant wait to see you in Dec!

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Raghav, you have completely bowled me over with this blog of yours!! It is so well narrated that I felt that I myself was in Egypt. The photographs are strikingly good and have the finesse of a thorough professional. Raghav, you have made me proud and I feel there can be no other grand mom as lucky as me. I am so excited that I am running short of words to express my appreciation at this tremendous ability of yours to narrate so impressively. All I can say is that I am blessed to be the grand mom of such a brilliant child. Kudos to you. Keep up the good work. God bless.����

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Hey , this is so brilliant
Egyptian travel industry blogs so need to bid for this !!!
I so so want to go to Egypt now !!!
Happy belated birthday champ and looking forward to having my copy of your books signed by you after waiting out in a line 🙂
Of course you were on a holiday ;-))
But if this comes out of a holiday —
Imagine the works !!!

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It's the most amazing story that I have read. I can't believe I was living this story right there as I was pretty lost in my own world the first couple of days…the Luxor temple is an example. I don't know if down markets are more stressful or bull markets. ….the attention to detail is absolutely fabulous and I can see some inherited traits in that (ha ha)…

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Wonderfully creative writing this raghav, great stuff! BTW I've been wanting to read the Martian real bad, make sure you bring it over when you guys visit this Xmas. Your descriptions of each day is succinct and makes for fun reading. Sorry that you vegetarians were stuck with falafels, imagine if you were a carnivore like me ha-ha! You should now read Asterix and Cleopatra by Goscinny+Uderzo, you'll love it! Also did you mean to say Nefertiti when you wrote Nefertari?? Gonna sign off now, need to get some sleep, as I'm not on a holiday! Before that I'm reserving an Egyptian bookmark please, given that you've got 2^10 of those 🙂

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so I am finally free peoples.
I will answer you're questions:
No masa I didn't make a mistake for nefertari. She is the wife of Ramesses II and Nefertiti is the wife of Akneton.
Yes dad I must have inherited Hardwork and writing in detail by you.

Now for Masi:
we kept the vendors away by saying Namaste and keep walking
I would change the amt. of breakfast at Movenpick. it was much too less. also on the last day they didn't have rocket leave :*(
yes masi camels do exist in Egypt. we saw them in the Sahara Desert but we didn't ride one even though the owner asked papa if we wanted but dad told him no three times and he still didn't go away.
yeah we went in an off-season. there were no queues.
that course would be awesome.
yes describing the food was the best part. eating it was much better:)

So this is answers to all you're questions and thank you for commenting!
I really like it

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Message from Nanaji: dear raghav, I have gone over your travel description word by word and I could imagine as you were narrating this, as though I was there in the trip along with you! I know you will be traveling a lot in the future whenever you get the chance, so please keep the practice of writing about your journey descriptions so people like me sitting at home get the view of the world. And of course you will be improving your writing skills also, which will be a great asset…knowing the world and putting it in words! all the best. love….Nanaji

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