Today was a gorgeous sunny day, and we got to the site before it got too warm which was perfect. As we turned onto the road to get to the site, there were all these guys in the road, blocking up, yelling at us. Ali said it was because they wanted to be our tour-guides. He yelled out his window in Arabic at them, and they got SUPER confrontational, starting kicking the car and banging on the window. It was intense- even with Ali being Egyptian, they still treated him like he was a tourist! We eventually make it up to the site and much to my surprise, again, there was hardly anyone there! We drove right up to the gate, got our tickets, and get this- drove right onto the site! You just drive around the site on the rough run down roads, and drive form Pyramid to Pyramid- even two big tour buses were doing it! If you don't have a car, you can rent a horse, or a camel with a guide.
With all the majestic grandeur of the pyramids, you don't really get to "smell" the area. There was horse and camel dung everywhere. I mean everywhere. It was disgusting.
I had heard that the picture of the pyramids was always shot from one side as to hide the truth of Cairo being directly behind the other side, and it is true! The one side; blowing sandy desert, the other, a rough looking city skyline.
We did end up getting a guide because Ali said he felt really bad for all these guys- they have no work. It was ok, I felt a bit rushed as he was power walking around the sites, then wanting us to get Camels' to the far smallest pyramid- a total add on "he knows a guy who has the best camels..." So we did get them, and I got a complimentary head scarf as they all thought I'd get sunburned. All was going good till we finished and the guide came up and told me "200 Pounds and I'll let you down" (egyptian pounds is the currency). I looked at Ali who told me not to pay. Then the guide stated yelling at him in Arabic and he looked away! LOL- I was like- "Ah, Ali- Can you help here??" And the guy insisted that I needed to pay, "250-300, it was worth it". Looking around, I was like; fine. I gave him the 200pounds, and then he said "no- I told you 300" then Ali did step in and so did the other guide, and finally he brought the camel down. The thing that made me so mad was that I was going to give me 200 pounds just because we did have a good tour- but now, he made it all ugly. Blah. We got back to the car, and headed across town to the new hotel we're staying at now for the work Visits.
I have some great photos of the city I'll post later.
I had heard that the picture of the pyramids was always shot from one side as to hide the truth of Cairo being directly behind the other side, and it is true! The one side; blowing sandy desert, the other, a rough looking city skyline.
We did end up getting a guide because Ali said he felt really bad for all these guys- they have no work. It was ok, I felt a bit rushed as he was power walking around the sites, then wanting us to get Camels' to the far smallest pyramid- a total add on "he knows a guy who has the best camels..." So we did get them, and I got a complimentary head scarf as they all thought I'd get sunburned. All was going good till we finished and the guide came up and told me "200 Pounds and I'll let you down" (egyptian pounds is the currency). I looked at Ali who told me not to pay. Then the guide stated yelling at him in Arabic and he looked away! LOL- I was like- "Ah, Ali- Can you help here??" And the guy insisted that I needed to pay, "250-300, it was worth it". Looking around, I was like; fine. I gave him the 200pounds, and then he said "no- I told you 300" then Ali did step in and so did the other guide, and finally he brought the camel down. The thing that made me so mad was that I was going to give me 200 pounds just because we did have a good tour- but now, he made it all ugly. Blah. We got back to the car, and headed across town to the new hotel we're staying at now for the work Visits.
I have some great photos of the city I'll post later.
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