May 30, 2010 - 12:15am (May 31)
Yesterday, the photo-fluids group went to Sakkara, Dahshur, and Mit-Rahina (Memphis). At Sakkara, we saw the famous step pyramid, then climbed down into the tomb of a smaller pyramid. We had to bend over significantly to enter the tomb, and to move between the rooms. The rooms themselves were plenty big, though, and the entrance ramp wasn't too long. I was able to handle it, despite my claustrophobia.
Dahshur was a different story altogether. This pyramid was huge, and I decided to not even attempt to climb down in because everyone was having trouble breathing in the stale air, and the ramp was tighter and went much further down. There's no way I would've made it. Still, we got to spend some time sitting on the side of the pyramid, which was a cool experience in itself. It was brutally hot that day, but I kept pushing myself because I knew it would be worth it! We visited the bent pyramid (near Dahshur), and walked all the way around. The fluids guys were able to hold a policeman's rifle and pose with his camel for photos. Afterwards, the "tourism and antiquities" policeman kept demanding more baksheesh - Rob shut him up real quick when he suggested blackmailing him with the photos. He felt safe doing so because we had our own security guard with us, carrying a machine gun. The police are so corrupt here, it's just amazing.
Today, we were able to sleep in for the first time in a while. I got up around 11 and met with Kelly and Clancy unexpectedly. They invited me to go see Iron Man 2, because we had a free day. It was showing at the Nile City Towers, which cabbies inexplicably can never find (it must have a different name in Arabic). We had a lot of trouble with our driver and with traffic - we were in the cab for 45 minutes (versus 15). Luckily, we made it to the theater just in time, the movie had just started. The ticket vendor tried to charge us double for some reason, but we ended up with 25 LE tickets, less than $5. Can't beat that! The movie was really good, and was free of the usual cultural interruptions, minus the intermission. After the movie, we explored the mall a bit, then hailed a cab to get back to Zamalek. This cabbie was awesome, he was this funny old man who laughed at everything and gave us his card. Afterwards, Clancy left her wallet in the car, and he returned it to the hotel. He was a really good guy.
Around 8, Rob, Avery and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe, which was an interesting experience. Our server tripped when bringing us food, and I got some salsa dumped on my lap. They were really concerned and brought me a ton of wet-naps, and stood there as I scrubbed my pants. They made sure I was happy before they would leave. We got some good American burgers and listened to music for a while. Our cabbie on the ride home had no idea where our hotel was and was loudly talking on his call and driving pretty recklessly (even for Egypt). We just hopped out in a random spot on Zamalek and walked from there.
This coming week is going to be super packed with editing, website stuff, and final book work. We've got some time to finish things up before grades are due July 1.
1 comments:
Sounds like you had quite an adventurous day!
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