Bahrain and Egypt

Our flight from Delhi took us first to Bahrain, in the Persion Gulf. What struck us immediately upon arrival was the over the top Christmas display, complete with moving Santa’s and snowmen. Men and women wearing traditional muslim dress taking pictures of Santa. We had a 12 hour layover so we were able to get a 24 hour visa and the airline put us up in a hotel with meal vouchers, it was a leisurely day.

We arrived in Cairo before sundown. We were staying in one of the busiest areas of the city, a street full of shopping and eateries. We spent our first day exploring the city and eating, such a great selection of food there, meat cooking in windows and shawarma’s being made on the street. Matt blended in almost too well, people would automatically speak to him in Arabic thinking he was Egyptian. We always received local price though, which was great!

The next day we arranged for a guide to take us to the Sakkara and Giza pyramids. He explained to us that he had to say we were Canadian. He said “if I tell the guards I have Americans in the car, they’ll make us ride with a security guard and I don’t really like having men carrying guns with me.” It was completely understandable and seems that the security detail would only call attention to us. We went inside the pyramids of Sakkara, walking down a long, narrow passageway about 4 ft high until we reached the bottom. The hieroglyfics on the wall are still perfectly in tact. Then we were off to the Giza pyramids. It’s impossible not to be blown away by them, we didn’t have a lot of time so we decided to go back the following day. The next day at the pyramids was much nicer, blue skies and not a lot of wind. We encountered a few characters while we were there. A camel guide really had his pitch down and before we knew it we had scarves wrapped around our heads and were sitting on a camel. He wanted a ridiculous sum of money for it after, as usual, but a price of $4 was reached. We also ran into some police officers who wanted some photos with us and a little baksheesh (tip). We walked every inch of the place and then headed out into the desert to see the pyramids from afar. It’s a beautiful site to see, the pyramids laid out before you.

The following day we went to the Egyptian Museum. It contains over 120,000 artifacts and less than half are on display. The most famous exhibit at the Cairo Egyptian Museum is the Gold Room that holds the treasures from the Tomb of Tutankhamen including the funerary mask, throne and second/inner coffins. We spent most of the day there and probably only saw 50%.

We went to the khan al khalili bazaar a couple of times, one of the largest markets in the Arab world and on an ancient trade route that dates back to the 1300’s. There are tons of Egyptian goods for sale; rugs, hookah pipes, shisha, souvenirs, etc. We’ve been to many markets throughout Asia but this one was different. People want to talk to you, eventually to make a sale but either way, the vendors want you to sit down, have a cup of tea and talk. It isn’t for hagglers who want a quick purchase, if you want a good price in the Khan, you need to spend some time. We were in the market for perfume oils so we found a shop and sat down for tea. Two cups of tea and over an hour later, we all agreed on a price. The Market vendors are always saying things as you pass, sometimes it’s the common, “where are you from?” while other’s try to make you laugh by saying things like, “welcome, please let me take your money”. It’s great fun to walk around and a place to mingle with the locals.

The last day we were there was the end of Hajj, the largest annual pilgrimage in the world to Mecca. Everyone in Cairo was preparing for the big feast. People perform animal sacrifices, to symbolize God having mercy on Abraham and replacing his son with a ram, which Abraham then sacrificed. After the sacrifice, the animal is divided into three parts, one for the family, the second for neighbors and friends and a third to feel the poor. We witnessed sheep and goats being pulled out of the trunks of cars, blood smeared in the street and butcher’s walking around covered in red. The elevator to our hotel was being fixed so we took the stairs up the 8 floors. On the 4th floor we came upon a large cow tied to the elevator door. It was strange to see such a large animal on the 4th floor of a hotel in such a busy part of town but we just figured he was for the feast and kept walking. When we walked back down about an hour later, the floor was covered in blood and the cow was being quartered. We did not expect to see that!!

We spent our next days just walking around the city and taking in the rest of the sites. Cairo is a city that lives by a different clock. Restaurants and shops stay open and the streets are full of people until about 5am, in the morning the city is deserted until about 11am when people start coming out.

We had a great week, it went by much too fast but we’ll be coming back to Egypt some other time. It’s time to finally go home!