Gracy Bee

Egypt 3rd/4th April

Posted on February 7th, 2007 by GracyBee.
Categories: Places.

Flashback: 3^rd April 2006

The day finally arrived. We are geared up to go. Great, my luggage is 19kg. *gasps*. Actually not my clothes leh…but all my comestics, hair dryer. Hehe….need some facial and physical maintenance also~

We left home at 12pm to go to Birmingham Airport to catch 1705 flight (KLM) to Amsterdam and transit to Cairo.

Flashback: 4^th April 2006

Finally reached Cairo at 0105. (oh yea, very awkward hour). At this time, all I want is to go through the customs and catch the taxi to the hotel and sleep. It was my turn finally. But it didn’t go smoothly as I have expected.

At the customs

Officer: What is your name?
Me: XXX
Officer: Where do you come from?
Me: Malaysia.
Officer: Malaysia?? (looked confused, turned to his colleague and talked, keep pulling his face)
Me: (oh dear~~~~~) I have my Malaysian IC with me.
Officer: (took it from me, but not convinced) You sure you from Malaysia?
Me: YES (getting impatient)
Officer: (reluctantly stamped my passport)
Me: Thanks (phew!)

Now is my housemate’s turn. Then I heard a commotion. I looked back. That same officer signalled me to go back.

Me: eh?
Officer: (pointing to XC) He China Chinese, ok. (pointing to me) You Malaysia Chinese. Not Ok. Go there and sit. (taking our passports)
Me and XC: *stunned*

Oh GREAT. He don’t believe I’m from Malaysia!! Already so tired…but what to do? Can’t argue with them. So I just sit down there and wait. And wait. And wait.

Finally nearly 1 1/2 hours later, we were allowed to go. We reached the hotel at around 3am. Showered and sleep.

^^^^^^

Woke up at 10am. We need to get to Ramses Station to get the tickets to Luxor. The bright and warm weather was a welcome escape from the cold weather we left behind. On the street, we soon lost our way. The locals are very friendly and helpful. After telling us where the subway is, they punctuated with ‘Welcome to Egypt!’ Well, perhaps we are tourists, but it is not the same experience when I visited other places.

The subway is the first in Middle East. They don’t serve a lot of places, but they are very efficient. Very comparable to London Underground. I felt ashamed that this is not the case in Malaysia.

A local lady helped us to find the way to the train station. She even offered to help us buy the tickets on our behalf! But we couldn’t get the tickets that we want and can only settle for the one next morning, meaning we need to stay in Cairo one more night.

This is also where I faced bad experience. I was groped twice in this station while I was buying the tickets till I stared angrily at this particular guy. The locals soon see what happened and the security guard escorted him out of my sight. Darn it! This is exactly what the book described.

Lesson learnt here: Dress modestly!! This is what we took for granted while at home – dressing freely. But not here definitely. I need to wear my coat.

^^^^^^

We headed off to Cairo Museum after quick lunch. There we found out that the locals can’t get into the museum unless they pay extra fees to go in. I was puzzled why that is the case.

Needless to say, the stuffs in there were spectacular. In fact all these make me realised there are more in Egypt than what the media actually portrayed. My knowledge of Egypt is just peanuts.

Tutankhamum’s treasures are an eye opener. They are so much bigger and more beautiful than we have seen in TV. The famous golden mask looked as if it was finished yesterday and put on display today. His golden coffins were beautifully craved. Really took my breath away.

 

After spending three hours in there, we went towards the Nile River. It was beautiful there.

 

We are looking around for cheap and good food. We ended up in Felucca that served take away food. Their kebabs are so delicious!

^^^^^^

End of the day

Felt unlucky and messy for our 1^st day in Egypt. I started to feel the stress about planning own trip. Starting to worry about the later trip to Aswan and back to Cairo cos there is a delay of one day. What is frustrating about self planned journey is uncertainty. It would help if your travelling partner helps in planning the trip. One day behind schedule now. Hope the rest of the trip will run smoothly.

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