Zambia World Wide

After all the hassle with the hotel we wondered if the holiday would be a disaster, it was not, all that could have gone wrong, had already done so. As usual we checked with the tourist desk about where to go and what to see. The Pyramids at Giza were of course a must! we went there on a tour bus the first time. We later returned by ourselves which was much better. We were quite amazed at how close the Pyramids were to the City, once again we were in a Country seeing sites we had heard of and seen on TV, never dreaming that one-day we would be there. Just to be able to walk around the Pyramids was an experience! however we wanted to see more, so we hired a guide. The guide took us into one of the Pyramids and was able to explain the purpose of the different rooms, and the history of the Pyramids. No visit to the Pyramids would be complete without a ride on a Camel (unless you had ridden one before) Jan couldn't wait. She had always wanted to ride on a camel and now she had the chance. We spent some time walking around the camels and the souvenir stalls, it was then time for Jan to have the camel ride she was looking forward to. The worst part of riding a camel is when they rise and sit, the actual riding is OK, just like being in a boat at sea. After Jan it was Gary's turn, he enjoyed the ride but was a little apprehensive, Craig being only three had a ride with Jan. Although they all enjoyed the experience none seemed too keen to have a second ride. On our way back to the City, we stopped to look around the Silent City, or City of the Dead, as it is sometimes known. No visit to Giza would ever be complete without seeing the Sphinx, which stands out from the landscape and could be seen from miles away. Considering the Pyramids, Sphinx and City were built using Sandstone it is surprising how little they have suffered from the weather over the years.

After leaving Giza we stopped at a Perfumery, which was an obvious tourist trap, but also a pleasant experience. We sat on small mats on the floor drinking mint tea, meanwhile a shop-assistant was passing a variety of perfumes around for the women to buy. It was very relaxing and although some of the women did buy perfumes, none felt they had been pressured into buying them. It was while we were in the shop that we found out there was to be a Son-et-Lumeniere (sound & light) two nights later at the Pyramids, so decided we would go if it was possible. In the meantime there was still much we wanted to see in Cairo. As we were walking through the city we came to the statue of Ramses II, it's enormous! We then went to the Egyptian Museum where we spent some time looking into the history of Egypt through the many artefacts' and historical data on display. We decided to skip the Mummy room, we had seen mummies before and it seemed like sacrilege to us to stare at what was in effect a person's coffin, however ornate it might be. We left the Museum and went for a wander through the modern city and along the banks of the Nile. While we were walking along the banks of the Nile, we saw a number of fishing boats on the river with their nets out. We asked one of the fishermen what sort of fish they were trying to catch. He explained that they were not fishing but gathering

Seaweed. They gather the seaweed then take it ashore, then lay it out to dry, once it has dried they take it to the local market to sell.

In the evening we had an early dinner and took a taxi out to the Pyramids to see the Son ET Lumeniere, we arrived just before sunset and then sat down to wait for it to start. We arrived early as we had been told there would be a large crowd later and seating would be hard to find. It was nice sitting in the warmth of the evening and watching the sun going down behind the Pyramids, and the shadows slowly creeping across the ground. In the distance we could see a group of Arab horsemen riding off into the sunset just as the show was about to start. I know I speak for all when saying it was a magical moment, the show was about the history of the Pyramids from the beginning. The voices seemed to come out of the Pyramids and the lighting was changing colour and shape in time to the music. It was so good that we had the feeling that we were there back in time when the events took place. In some ways we were sorry when the show was over, it had been a magical moment in time. An evening we would never forget. When we were driving into Cairo from the airport we noticed a Pyramid that was different to those we saw at Giza, so went back to have a look while we had the opportunity. It was a step Pyramid, where those at Giza had smooth sides, this one was built with sandstone blocks. The blocks were offset so it appeared to have giant steps from the bottom to top on all four sides.