This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw.

Sunday October 25, 2015

Egypt: Day 4, Part 1 – Road to Dahshur

I woke up early and took a shower to help wake up. Although the day before the hotel told me I could stay in the room…I figured there would be problems. Which is why I packed up before going off in search of breakfast. To my non-surprise the only option was the buffet (the same one from the night before). I didn’t have high hopes. As I entered I asked about the cost, and found thankfully it was included in the price of my room. That was the only good news. Many of the buffet stations were empty (due to lack of tourists), and those that were there had just been picked off by an Indian wedding party who came through before me. I managed to get some very bland potatoes, some bread rolls and butter, and what appeared to be mini donut holes. After a lot of salt (which took a while to find) the potatoes were edible, and I found the bread rolls to be the same from the night before, but still good. The best part was the mini donut holes. They weren’t really donuts, but they were a close enough approximation. Looking at the time, I quickly finished up, and using paper napkins to take some more bread rolls with me to go.

I eagerly sat in the lobby, while surfing the wifi while waiting for my guide. I had decided to splurge and pay extra for a completely private day tour to the pyramids of Dahshur, the open air museum at Memphis, and the tomb complex at Saqqara. I partly chose a private tour as I didn’t want to be rushed (or feel like I was slowing down others). And partly as I was apprehensive of meeting people on my tour group. I knew a few people on the message board suggested they were going to take the G Adventures hosted tour, but I wanted a day to myself before I was crammed into a van with 15 other souls. (This turned out to be an unfounded fear, everyone was amazing!) So upon doing some research, I decided on Egyptian Sidekick as the company to manage my private day tour. I’ll do a full write up on the blog later, but the short version is, no they aren’t actual Egyptologist, but are real Egyptians college students. I saw their most popular guide was likely pretty close to my age, and figured it would be fun to have a “Sidekick” show me around instead of a stuffy older Egyptologist.

And so 10 minutes to 7AM (the recommended start time Egyptian Sidekick recommended to beat the traffic) I sat, waiting for Mohsen, my Sidekick to arrive. As I waited I could see local Egyptians being denied access into the hotel past the security area. I kept a look out for Mohsen, who I had seen a photo of, just in case he was being prevented from coming into the hotel. At first I wasn’t worried, but time started to drag on. I watched as excited tourists met their guides and headed off for the day. After waiting 40 minutes, I was starting to realize that my grand plans and tight time tables would not be met. I started trying to reach out to Egyptian Sidekick. I sent emails…but it was too early. I posted on social media…and waited…and waited. I was getting frustrated and tried their Skype account, but you couldn’t message them until they had accepted your contact request. And nowhere could I find an in-country phone number. I had only paid $5 to reserve my spot. So I didn’t think it was some elaborate scam or fly by night tour company.

After waiting over an hour, Mohsen arrived apologetically saying traffic was an issue. While I know traffic in Cairo is bad, I would have figured they would have left early to meet their recommended start time at 7AM. Heck, I would have been happy to have slept in an hour if I had known. After a quick bathroom stop, I walked out to meet our driver. My frustrations soon faded away as we started to drive to our first stop, Dahshur. It would be over an hour drive as Dahshur would be the furthest point away from the hotel.

As we drove I saw vignettes of daily life. I watched as people hopped in and out of micro busses, as people expertly moved between cars and camels to cross the road, at traffic jams and close calls. I saw much trash along the road and in the canals fed by the Nile. I saw the various houses and shops and food sellers along the road. In some places in you could see people had setup mini shops on any bare strip of road, and while we got out of the bigger cities you could see people tending the farmland. I also marveled at all the livestock. Camels, horses, donkeys, were intermixed with the normal flow of traffic. I also saw loose dogs, cats, chicken and other domesticated animals. At one point we stopped quickly to get more gas.

While we drove Mohsen and I talked. We talked about what I did and what he studied. We talked about the strange weather (it was overcast and rain was in the forecast) and what other plans I had for Egypt. At one point Mohsen asked if I smoked and through the corse of the conversation it came to Weed. Mohsen was warning me that many tourists come to Egypt looking for it, and that there were proper ways and dangerous ways to get it. I laughed, and explained that no, I had no interest in Weed, and even less of an interest since it was completely legal in my home state of Colorado. This shocked Mohsen, so I explained what had changed in the last 2 years in Colorado, how this related to states that didn’t allow Weed, and just general conversations about legality, laws, and how different governments handle things like that. After some more conversations, the driver turned on some local radio station and I happily stared out the windows, wide eyed, trying to take it all in.

When we came up to the ticket office, Mohsen hopped out to get us tickets. I handed him 50 EGP as he said the ticket cost was 47 EGP, and when he returned he lamented that they had no change and so kept the 3 EGP. I didn’t mind as I knew not many people traveled to Dahshur anymore. Plus I was distracted by the pretty hologram on the front of the ticket. (Protip: if you go to Egypt you will get a lot of these, make sure to put them in a safe, flat place to save as souvenirs.)

We then entered the area. I knew that it was next to a military installation, and hadn’t been opened to the public until the early 2000’s. As we drove through a deserted area I could see soldiers walking around. And then I could see the pyramids come into view. Dahshur has numerous pyramids, but the two most famous are the Red Pyramid, and the Bent Pyramid but built by the Pharaoh Sneferu. We quickly pulled up to the Red Pyramid. I transferred my water bottle and camera into a collapsable bag and got out.

While I had seen the Giza pyramids from a distance at my hotel the night before, it was impressive seeing the Red Pyramid before me. I took note that there wasn’t another car or tour bus in sight. After snapping some photos Mohsen and I started to climb. I hadn’t planned on going into a Pyramid before this trip. I had heard that they are dark, unbearably hot and humid, and you’d have to hunch down at awkward angles to climb in them. I also knew the Red Pyramid smells really bad (like cat pee) due to the bats that live in it. I also was worried about the stress of having people above/below me trying to pass if i was too slow.

But all those worries got thrown out the window when you are standing there. I realized that since no one else was at this Pyramid, that this was the best way for me to go into one. I wouldn’t have any worries of slowing anyone but Mohsen within the pyramid, and so I could go at my own pace and take as many breaks as I needed. I also was happy to note that the Red Pyramid was included in the price of my Dahshur ticket (while the Giza ones would be at least another 100-150 EGP on top of admission.) And finally I was completely sold on having my own personal Indiana Jones moment of being the only person in a pyramid (minus Mohsen).

So we climbed halfway up the massive pyramid before reaching the caretaker. Mohsen had warned me that the caretaker would want money if he saw a camera, and so I had hidden it in my bag. We started the long climb down. I won’t lie. It was hard. I was wearing both my leg braces, but the know its not stairs. Instead it is a wooden ramp, with small 1 inch thick slats every few feet to prevent you from completely sliding down. On either side of the wall are wooden hand rails. Even at my 5 feet 2 inches, I had to awkwardly hunch. I realized quickly on that I couldn’t carry my bag, and Mohsen graciously carried it, and passed me my water when I needed to stop and take breaks. There was absolutely no way I could have done it if there were other tourists. I tired a few different ways of walking down. Some times I’d position myself sideways, having one foot go down the the next slat, and then the other foot meet it and so on. Other times I hunched and tried to take it like normal stairs. A few times I sat and tried to slide down, but that hurt my butt to much and Mohsen looked at me like I was crazy. Its a long way down, and seemed to take ages.

When you finally reach the bottom you’ll open up into a large corbel-vaulted ceiling. You can see 1920’s graffiti in some areas along the wall, but otherwise its empty. People will tell you one pyramid looks much like another, and the important thing to note is they are really bare compared to the tombs and temples you’ll see elsewhere in Egypt. But I just stretched from that long climb and looked around for a while. You’d think it would be erie being many feet underground in a tomb, but it wasn’t bad. Sure it was hot and humid as hell (thank god for the water bottle!) but the smell wasn’t near as bad as I was lead to believe.

After a bit I ducked into the entryway of the next chamber, very similar looking to the last. The main difference in this room is that is is directly below the center of the pyramid, and it has a set of wooden stairs (stairs this time, not slats) leading to an opening on the far wall. I didn’t dwell much here as I could hear the bats. After ducking through a longer passage, it opens up into the 3rd valued chamber, but this one’s floor is all dismantled. The story goes that treasure hunters dismantled (and used dynamite) to try to find buried treasure.I did hum a little of the Indiana Jones theme song in my head as I pretend that I was a lone explorer stumbling upon this room, casting my eyes around for any hints of treasure.

(Read more about the layout of the Red Pyramid here.) I went back slowly through the rooms, reminding myself that I wouldn’t be standing strait for a while and that it was a long climb back up. Mohsen took a lot of photos of me and then we headed back up. Again Mohsen was a lifesaver, carrying my bag for me, and handing me my water bottle when I needed it. When we reached outside Mohsen tipped the caretaker, and we made our way down from the pyramid.