All Work and Little Play Makes Greg a Dull Blogger

As you might of guessed, there hasn't been a lot of stuff happening around here.  I've been working at the factory until 8 or 9, 6 days a week.  Here in Cairo the normal work week is Sunday - Thursday with Friday and Saturday off.  We've been busy trying to get stuff done here at the factory, so we only got Friday off.  On our day off we went to the Egyptian Museum where they keep the contents of King Tut's tomb.  Unfortunately they do not allow cameras in the museum, so all that gear I was hauling on my back was for not.  I did get some photos of the outside though.

This is a shot of the security you have to go through to enter the grounds.  Your bags have to go through x-ray and you walk through a metal detector.  That's just to get into the grounds, you have to go through it all again to enter the building itself.


Here's a shot of the building from the outside.


It was pretty cool walking around seeing thousands of years of history.  King Tut's exhibit was the highlight.  I can't believe how much stuff was crammed into his small tomb, it's amazing.  Also, I guess I was lucky to actually see the Tut stuff since it is usually on the road at different exhibits.

After the walk through the museum, we headed over to the Pyramids of Giza.  On the way I took some shots from the van as we were bouncing through the city. 





We stopped off at this little street shop in Giza to pick up some water n snacks. 



Then onto the Pyramids.  I don't know how many people know this, but the Pyramids are pretty much in the city of Giza.  This shot was taken from the van, we were maybe 5 minutes away.



We arrived a bit late at the Pyramids, but there wasn't that many people there.  While in line to purchase our tickets, this older guy comes up to us and says, "Give me your money and I'll get you your tickets".  I told him I could purchase my tickets on my own and thank you.  After declining his offer, he starts going on about how he's not trying to rob us and that he's not mafia.  Then he goes and tells me that he's a government official.  I said, "oh really?" and he whips out his so called government official ID.  It's a drivers license....  After we purchased our tickets the guy keeps following us.  As we walk towards security he tries to grab my ticket from me and says he'll give me a tour of the pyramids.  I pull my ticket back and tell him no thank you, I'll just walk around on my own. 

I'm telling you, this guy didn't know how to take no for an answer.  He grabs our used tickets and starts leading us up towards the pyramids, talking non-stop about how he's not trying to rob us and that he's not mafia.  I stop him and ask, "Sir, what exactly are you trying to achieve here?"  I'm trying to be respectful, but the guy is really starting to piss me off.  He says, "I will take you to where you can get a very good picture and I'll tell you the history."  I again tell him that I will just walk around on my own and that I don't want his help.  He again starts going on about how he doesn't want to rob us or is mafia.  He also says that he's not wanting any money from us.  Oh yeah, and he puts in the line that he's a government official.  I told him that I highly doubted he was actually a government official and that we didn't need his help.  It only took 10 minutes of haggling with him to finally get him to leave us alone. 

So, that was the first guy trying to get money out of us.  Next, it was the camel guys.  I'm telling you, the people trying to sell you stuff totally ruins the experience.  First it was the so called government tour official, now it's a guy trying to sell me and my friends a ride on a camel.  After another 15 minutes of them following us around asking if we wanted a ride, the guy finally started talking price.  The price wasn't actually that bad, but I was so pissed about him stalking me for money, I told him I didn't want a ride.  He drops the price further and I say no, he then drops it again and I finally tell him, "I would not take a ride even if you offered it for free."  That finally drove him away. 

So, after 30 minutes of fighting off people trying to sell me stuff that I don't want, I finally get to start taking some pictures.  It's getting close to 4:00 PM and the light is starting to look good.  Sunset is around 5:30 or so.  That's when the guard yells at us, "You can't walk any further, the place is closing at 4:00".  So, there's my experience at the Pyramids of Giza.  I did take a video of us walking back to the van though.



Well, I'm still at the factory and boards may be at test by now.  I probably should head down there and see how things are going.  We're off again this Friday and plan to go back to the Pyramids of Giza to see the Sphinx, the Pyramids then onto Sakkara and Memphis.  It should be a fun day as long as I don't get too mad at the so called "government" officials.  :)