Trip to Cairo and Oman

Dear friends,

Account of my adventures to Cairo and Oman, complete with weather report.

Nov 11 2004 (Thur)

Finished picking my bag at 10 am. The adrenaline rush I get from doing last minute packing is something I've gotten used to ...

Departed from KLIA at 1.20 pm

Transit at Bangkok and Karachi airport.

During the long flight, mad rush to finish reading my travel guide on Egypt. It was not a slender volume, so I had to do selective reading.

Arrived at Muscat at 11 pm (3 hours behind MY time). Greeted at Seeb airport by Chan family consisting of my good friend Fei Yeen, her husband and their 5 year old son Eddie. After taking a shower, went to sleep at 1.20 am

Nov 12 (Fri)

We woke up at 8.00 am for breakfast. Read in the papers that Arafat's memorial will be held at Cairo in the morning. Daunting news.

Arriving at Seeb Airport at 10 am, we departed from Muscat at 12 pm.

Transit at Abu Dhabi airport, which has a unique design. Departure hall is circular in shape, so that one feels that one is in a huge green ball. In the middle of this circular structure, it has something like a peacock's tail that blends into the ceiling.

Watched the new Hillary Duff "Cinderalla" movie on board the flight to Cairo. Chose this movie over "I, Robot" and "Bourne Supremacy", something light-hearted instead of a sci-fi flick or a spy thriller.

Prince Charming is the cute guy from "One Tree Hill" TV series. He plays the good-looking, most popular guy in school and captain of the football team role. Girlfriend is the beautiful, most popular girl in school and head of the cheerleader team. Our Prince Charming has secretly applied to Princeton (against his father's wish, who wants him to someday take over his car wash business) and yearns to be a writer/poet. He feels that there is something missing in his life, despite fame and popularity at school.  Meantime, Cinderella has also applied to Princeton, desperately hoping to escape from slave girl role at home and work (waitress at diner belonging to evil stepmother). Both chatted on-line and romance blossom. Both wondering who the other is. 

"You are a girl, right ?" he asked (one can never be sure when it's a cyber romance)

"Yes !" she replied. He looks relieved.

"Let's meet" he suggested.

Do they meet up ? Evil stepmother vanquished ? You have to watch it to find out.

Arrive at Cairo at 5 pm (5 hours behind MY time).

We had our Nile river cruise at 10.30 pm. Couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the time for this on the tour itinerary. There must have been a mix-up.

Turns out, there is no mix-up. The first performance, a Dervish dance was okay. It's a traditional performance with a guy spinning round and round, his "skirt" flying around him. 

Next was a belly dance performance. Frankly speaking, I wasn't paying too much attention to the belly dancer by 11.30 pm. Feeling very sleepy and started dozing off in my chair. BTW, belly dancer has a tummy which is not what one would expect. 

Stumble into bed at 1 am. System shutdown a few minutes later.

Nov 13 (Sat)

Wake up call at 7.00 am (too early !)

First stop, Memphis. This is the old capital city of Egypt. Unfortunately, old Memphis did not survive into the 21st century. We were only able to view pieces of sculpture and statues. The colossal statue of Ramses II was the most impressive, I thought.

Bright sunlight and not a cloud in the sky as we were taken to Saqqara. This place is significant as it features the Step Pyramid, considered to be the prototype version of the famous Pyramids of Giza. It consists of 6 layers, each layer shrinking in size. There are many old ruins in this desert-like area.

Next stop, the star attraction of Cairo: the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. The three pyramids were built by 3 generations of Pharaohs - Khufu, Khefren and Khefren's son (can't recall his name). Khufu's father was the pharaoh who commission the building of the Step Pyramid.

The largest of the 3 pyramids was built first, by Khufu. An impressive structure, it took 20 years to be built. It was definitely an engineering feat, considering that it was built 4500 years ago and has withstood the test of time and weather.

This place is also desert-like, as in Saqqara. Lots of photo opportunities and then ... disaster struck ! My camera ran out of battery !! Fortunately, I had a backup camera, the one being used by the Chan family.

We had a papyrus demonstration after our historic visit to the Pyramids. It was definitely a time-consuming technique to produce writing paper, since it involves flattening out the papyrus reed, then soaking it in water for days. After that 2 or three layers were flattened together and voila, writing paper for the scribes.

Then back to the Pyramids for the light and sound show, which had me absolutely enthralled. Found myself wishing I could travel back in time to meet the great Pharaohs of ancient days. Couldn't decide whether I would rather be a visiting courtier from a neighbouring country and granted an audience with the supreme ruler, or a soldier in his majesty's army, or a servant girl at the imperial residence. What a treat it would have been to see what life was like in those ancient and glorious days of civilization.

Nov 14 (Sun)

Wake up call at 7.30 am.

Sunny and cloudless sky.

Our first visit of the day is the Mohammad Ali Mosque at the Citadel. This part of Cairo  was built as a fortress against invaders. The mosque is said to resemble to Blue Mosque in Turkey, except that it's not blue. Unfortunately, I have never heard of or seen the Blue Mosque.

Next stop was the Egyptian Museum, which houses the treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb including his beautiful, golden death mask. This boy king died when he was 18, and became well-known not for his achievements but for the fact that his tomb was discovered intact and unlooted. Lots of treasure on display, including his golden sandals.

Also on display in this museum, the mummies of great Pharaohs such as Seti I and Ramses II. The mummies are well-preserved and places where the linen bandages had come off, one can see the skin beneath it.

The mummification process takes about 40 days where the internal organs are taken out and placed into four jars. The body is then placed in naffron (a type of salt) so that moisture is removed from the body. Then the body is wrapped in linen and decorated with ornaments such as the death mask, toe caps, finger caps and jewellery.

After our intense session of Egyptian history, we were off to the Al-khalili bazaar where we were given two hours to do our shopping. Lots of tourist souvenirs on display. Rule of thumb here is that one must bargain before one makes any purchases. We found out to our dismay that 2 hours is too short a time and we did not manage to explore all corners of the bazaar.

Nov 15 (Mon)

Wake up call at 6.30 am (technically this shouldn't qualify as a holiday when one has to wake up this early). Another sunny and cloudless sky kind of day.

We spent the day at Alexandria, 3 hours drive from Cairo. This city is named after Alexander the Great who conquered Egypt (can't recall the date. Travel book is not with me. It is in FY's house as she fell in love with my book and bought it from me).

As I was saying we spent some time at Alexandria, which also happened to be Cleopatra's capital city. This much I can remember from my former book: Alexander himself did not stay long in Egypt. His best friend Ptolomy took over as emperor of Egypt and began the Ptolemian dynasty of which Cleopatra was the last ruler. 

It is most unfortunate that there is not much left of its glorious past for us to see. There is a Catacomb and Pompeii's Pillar but I would much rather have seen something about the man himself (Alexander) but no such luck.

Alexandria being a coastal town, adjoining the Mediterranean Sea, is well-known for its seafood. For lunch, we had fish, one for each person, which was really delicious. 

Back in Cairo, we had dinner at a rooftop restaurant with a view of the Pyramids. Awesome ! 

Nov 16 (Tues)

Our takeoff from Cairo airport was delayed by 1 hour due to a missing immigration card from one of the passengers. Another disappointment in store: no personal in-flight entertainment system on this plane. No chance at all to catch another glimpse of the cute guy, I mean the cute stars in the "Cinderella" story.

Instead I had to content myself with rereading the in-flight magazine with articles on Cairo, Sydney, charismatic man who built the most successfully Arabic website (Maktoob.com) and successful, female restaurant entrepreneur.

Flight back to Muscat had a transit at Bahrain. Nice airport but we didn't have time to look around due to rush to catch the connecting flight. Arrived at Seeb airport, Muscat at 11 pm.

Nov 17 (Wed)

Woke up to bright sunshine, nary a cloud in the sky. View from hotel room is fabulous, one can see the pool and the beach.

We had home-cooked lunch at Chan family friend's house in Muscat. The hot topic of conversation was organizing a trip to Dubai sometime in December, but not during the holiday season. I politely declined the invitation to join in the trip. 

After a leisurely lunch, we headed back to the hotel for some R&R at the fabulous poolside. I was sitting in the shade, chatting with FY while the orang putih did their ritual sunbathing.

Then back in action at a shopping centre before our dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Master chef is from China and made an appearance at our table, upon request. When asked which dishes are good, he looked non-plus and said it depends on what we wanted to eat. Being a busy man, he didn't stay for a long chat and soon disappeared into the kitchen.

Nov 18 (Thur)

It's a 3 hours drive from Muscat to Sur, where FY's mansion is located. During the long drive I dozed off for about half an hour. Our intrepid traveller (aka Eddie) was  chatting non-stop throughout the whole journey. The KFC meal did wonders for his energy level.

We made a pit stop at Wahiba sand dune. Exactly like what we would see in the movies except that the sand is reddish in colour. FY and I climbed to the top of the sand dunes, no easy task as the sand is soft and does not give one's feet a firm grip to climb. My shoes filled with sand with each laboured step. In the horizon, the sun was setting. It is only 5 pm, the sun sets earlier in Oman it seems.

Finally we arrived at FY's Sur mansion. It is definitely better than a 5 star hotel since I get to enjoy the comforts of home. Eddie came into my room and offered me two teddy bears to keep me company while I sleep. He is still full of energy after the long drive. I ask to see his room and I was graciously invited to have a look. He has a CD player in his room and we switched it on to listen to his favourite CD "Westlife Greatest Hits". Amazing, I thought. That's one of my favourite CD too ! We sang along to the chorus of "If I let you go" and "Uptown Girl". We had to stop after that because it's dinner time and we were off to the nearby clubhouse for a feast fit for a king.

Nov 19 (Fri)

Woke up for a late breakfast. It would be a crime to do otherwise.

Bright sunlight while we were having toast and juice at the front porch.

With high recommendation from FY, decided to watch "Troy". Had read a movie review that the Helen of Troy actress was "not the face that will launch a thousand ship. At most a few sampans". Intrigued as to whether this statement is true. At first was incensed that this woman's action - stupidity on her part, since she knew her husband was the vindictive type, and provided the Greeks with a good excuse to attack Troy. Nevertheless enjoyed the battle scenes with and without Brad Pitt (described as a bronzed, muscular hunk by the same movie reviewer). Movie was put on pause when we had lunch at 1.30 pm. Chicken rice and veggie soup was delicious.

Movie unpaused and I watched Archilles aka Brad Pitt in anguish as his beloved cousin was killed in battle. Followed by the destruction of Troy after the Trojan horse was brought into the city. Glorious movie with a sad ending, so much destruction and death. My personal recommendation: worth watching.

Then off we went for a swim at the clubhouse. Water was pleasantly heated and made for a nice swim. 

Next stop, lighthouse of Sur before heading to a Turkish restaurant for some authentic middle eastern food.

Nov 20 (Sat)

Took a few pictures of the sea coast en route to picnic spot. 
Blazing sun.

We had a picnic at the beach. While reading 2 gossip magazines provided by FY,  Eddie built his sand sculptures (the three Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx).

Back at Sur mansion, Eddie and I agreed on "Spiderman 2" for movie time. Had watched it when it was shown in the cinema few months back but still found it absolutely gripping. Jumped in my seat when Doc Oct (or rather his tentacles) suddenly appeared in a scene. Eddie asked "Scared ? Me too"

It's amazing how much I have more in common with a 5 year old kid.

Nov 21 (Sun)

visited the fish market and vegetable market as FY was doing her weekly shopping. 
Scorching sun.

Dine in comfort at FY's home. For lunch, we had nasi lemak. Finished the tiramisu while watching Discovery Channel (riveting episode of 7 ancient wonders of Egypt). Then packed my bag and was chaffeur driven to Seeb airport to catch midnight flight to Bangkok.

Nov 22 (Mon)

Adjusted watch to Thailand time while transit at Karachi.

Dozed off as it's now 3 am !

Breakfast served at 6 am (too early !)

Continued with my beauty sleep after breakfast.

Arrived at Bangkok airport at 10 am. During long transit, managed to read a few magazines and had an expensive lunch (RM8 for tuna sandwich and RM9.50 for a juice drink)

Arrived at KLIA at 7 pm.

Caught exciting episode of "Alias" on TV. This is the episode where Michael now knows his beautiful (but ruthless) wife is a treacherous spy and has to pretend he doesn't know. Meanwhile Sydney pleads with her father to save Sloane's life for the sake of her half-sister whom she has just found out is "The Passenger". 

Nov 23 (Tues)

Back to work & back to rainy weather.

The end.