Mike in Egypt

mikeinie · Post by **mikeinie** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 7:54 am

Just returned from Cairo and as well as a short boat trip up the Nile River I managed to get in a fast visit to the Pyramids. What a crazy city, 18,000,000 people, cars everwhere. And talk about Western and Middle eastern cultures living side by side.. very interesting.

mikeinie · Post by **mikeinie** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:08 am

Chezzie · Post by **Chezzie** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:28 am

HI mike, wondered where you were. Sounds fabulous. Glad you had a good time.

Wheres my pressie???:wah::wah::wah: Egyptian rock sounds nice hah hah

p.s. fab pics

mikeinie · Post by **mikeinie** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:38 am

sunny104 · Post by **sunny104** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:38 am

welcome back! :-6

mikeinie · Post by **mikeinie** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:41 am

Imladris · Post by **Imladris** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:58 am

My hubby wants to go to Egypt but I'm not so sure, the heat puts me off and I've heard that there's a lot of poverty - how did you find it?

Chezzie · Post by **Chezzie** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 11:02 am

Imladris;756806 wrote: My hubby wants to go to Egypt but I'm not so sure, the heat puts me off and I've heard that there's a lot of poverty - how did you find it?

I think they give pilots a map or even sat nav for the sky :wah::wah::wah: soz Immy I couldnt resist...me bad:D:-4

sunny104 · Post by **sunny104** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 11:03 am

Chezzie;756835 wrote: I think they give pilots a map or even sat nav for the sky :wah::wah: soz Immy I couldnt resist...me bad:D:-4

:yh_rotfl

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:23 pm

Thank you for the photos, Mike. There's something about seeing a real photo (I mean as opposed to a glossy professional magazine type picture) taken by a regular person, that makes these places and these landmarks seem so incredibly real to me.

I would like to know....when you're standing next to the Sphinx or the Pyramids, are they as big and looming as they seem in pictures? Were you awestruck by the historical aspect and their size?

History buff · Post by **History buff** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:04 am

All I can say is WOW Mike. I would love to travel to Egypt and see the great Sphinx and other pyramids and float down the Nile.

I am glad you had a blast. I loved the pictures.

mikeinie · Post by **mikeinie** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:45 am

Thanks for you responses.

Positives and negatives points of Cairo:

Yes the Pyramids are amazing, I always wanted to see them and although I always knew they were huge, it is very different when you are standing in front of them and they are reaching up to the sky before you. Each ‘brick’ is almost my height and I am over 6 ft tall so you can imagine the enormousness of it.

What was a surprise is when ever you see photos of the pyramids they are surrounded by desert, which they are, but I always thought that they were out in the desert, however if you face the pyramids they are in a desert setting, turn around and Cairo is sprawling out before you.

What is a major turn off is the amount of hassle you get the entire time you are there. A constant barrage of guys aggressively trying to sell you post cards, souvenirs, asking to take a picture of you, asking them to take a picture of them with their camel. Every scam you can think of.

One guy asked for our ticket to escort us over to the entrance of one of the pyramids (we said no) but what he would do is take your ticket, walk you to the entrance and then want money to give you your ticket back.

It is non stop, in fact it took away from the experience of being there as I spent so much time telling these guys to leave me alone.

This time of year the temperature is just nice, it was about 20 degree Celsius. In the summer the temp can be as high as 40 degree.

Yes there is lots of poverty, the city is very dirty and crowded. The driving is like you have never seen before, it is madness. But then there are over 18,000,000 people in the city so you would expect that I guess.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 9:49 am

So those pyramid thingies are real then ?

Kathy Ellen · Post by **Kathy Ellen** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 9:59 am

Hi Mike,

Thanks for sharing your pictures. We took a hydrofoil from Gibralta to Tangiers. Thank goodness we had a great tour guide who wouldn't let anyone near us. We loved exploring Tangiers, but the beggers and salesmen would not leave the foreigners alone.

It was a good experience, but a bit scary at times.

Imladris · Post by **Imladris** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:22 pm

Chezzie;756835 wrote: I think they give pilots a map or even sat nav for the sky :wah::wah::wah: soz Immy I couldnt resist...me bad:D:-4

I thought that as I wrote it

!

Thanks for the info Mike, I'm still not convinced I want to go but I do want to see the pyramids so I might have to!!

The constant hassling I experienced in Israel and as I don't tan I got it all the time 'cos I looked like I'd just stepped off the plane!

lala0453 · Post by **lala0453** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:54 pm

I actually really enjoy reading your blog. Glad youâ€™re sticking around! And I must say, I absolutely love the title of your blog

AussiePam · Post by **AussiePam** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:40 pm

And the longest living troll prize goes to........................

Kathy Ellen · Post by **Kathy Ellen** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 3:53 am

AussiePam;1249584 wrote: And the longest living troll prize goes to........................

:yh_rotfl They're usually on here early in my morning:rolleyes:

mikeinie · Post by **mikeinie** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:14 am

lala0453;1249536 wrote: I actually really enjoy reading your blog. Glad youâ€™re sticking around! And I must say, I absolutely love the title of your blog

??? WTF

I don't get it

AussiePam · Post by **AussiePam** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 1:03 pm

G'day Mike - we've had a series of little trolls popping in lately. They are probably in some telemarketing sweatshop in some sad corner of the globe and the new methodology seems to be to copy and paste an artfully crafted "relevant" comment in a good attempt at English in random threads possibly thinking mods will miss them and so far this one has survived and resurrects old threads daily in similar mode - with attached link to whatever.

The link's always been surgically removed - possibly without anaesthetic - so who knows what. Gee - maybe we've been deprived of getting that American green card we always wanted, or extending our manhood, or perhaps we've lost the opportunity of sending our bank details to Nigeria....

minks · Post by **minks** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 2:04 pm

AussiePam;1249790 wrote: G'day Mike - we've had a series of little trolls popping in lately. They are probably in some telemarketing sweatshop in some sad corner of the globe and the new methodology seems to be to copy and paste an artfully crafted "relevant" comment in a good attempt at English in random threads possibly thinking mods will miss them and so far this one has survived and resurrects old threads daily in similar mode - with attached link to whatever.

The link's always been surgically removed - possibly without anaesthetic - so who knows what. Gee - maybe we've been deprived of getting that American green card we always wanted, or extending our manhood, or perhaps we've lost the opportunity of sending our bank details to Nigeria....

OOOO Pammy the king will be mad now no money now that you cut the spammer off tsk tsk tsk.... good job getting the trolll:yh_worshp