Video Egypt: Pyramids Approach

Now that you’ve suffered through my Flickr photos it’s time to marvel at the cheap 30-second videos captured by my Canon S70 — actually this one got cut off at 7 seconds for some reason, so you can watch it four times!

Your typical Giza Plateau camel tour brings you to the Pyramids from the opposite side of the front gate, Lawrence of Arabia style — that was pretty cool, but to get there Ray and I had to ride our camels through some pretty dodgy slums, and despite my free and easy grin seen here in Ray’s backward-facing photo it added about an extra half hour of travel time both ways.

Since camels have been trained to kneel they’re far easier to mount and dismount than horses. But once the beasts are at full height there are no stirrups in which to plant your feet, so if the camel breaks into a trot one’s ball sack can lift a full six inches off the saddle then coming crashing down with each step.

Thus, Ray and I took it very slow on our ride to the Pyramids and back…

Egypt Wrap-up

The final batch of my pics from Egypt have been uploaded to Flickr, featuring a spectacular sunset felucca ride on the Nile and just a taste of downtown Cairo.

My only regret with this trip is that I didn’t have more time to spend in Cairo proper. Ray and I got to ride the very impressive subway (the only underground railway system in the entire African continent!) visit the Egyptian Museum and get fleeced at the famous Khan-Ali-Kalili market, but there was a lot we didn’t get to see in our two days there.

Maybe a return visit is in order someday…

Inside Cheops

A 200-metre crawl to a tomb deep within the largest of the three Great Pyramids has definitely been the highlight of our trip thus far. I realize that the lack of any available illumination may not impress, so I’m working on some heavy duty light recovery in Photoshop for my Flickr collection…

Next stop, Luxor and the Valley of the Kings!