It was a fascinating experience in 1997 to be at the site of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The great Pyramid of Giza stood tall amidst endless ocean of sand. The Sphinx was seemingly guarding it and we took lots of photos in the walk away steps. It is said the Pyramid was the tallest man made structure for 3800 years and the only work that has survived into modernity. The doors weighed up to 20 tons and it has many tunnels and chambers.
The children and I had the courage to get inside the chambers. Becky stayed behind while our curiosity brought us deep down the Pyramid. If you are claustrophobic, this is certainly not the place for you as you can barely get inside the chambers and you will have to squeeze yourself into small manholes. There is really nothing to see except the empty tombs – no mummies, just stones. It was also a little dark inside and it will certainly give you the creeps if you start imagining all the dead pharaohs and slaves buried there. And if you panic, it will be take some time to bring you out for fresh air.
It was just difficult to stay longer inside so we opted to climb away up after about 30 minutes and we felt almost gasping for fresh air. We tried riding the camels. I rode one picturing myself like Lawrence of Arabia but it was really more for photo-ops. Egypt seemed to be a dangerous place to be in 1997. Everywhere we go, we were with heavily armed guards. I could not help make comparisons – malayong mas mahirap sila sa atin. We shopped around as well and tasted their food. Medyo iba sa panlasa natin at pati pabango, iba ang amoy. There was one thing we were happly to buy – a papyrus scroll with all our names inscribed in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Another really exciting and interesting experience was the visit to the Egyptian museum. It was like travelling back in time through antiquity.
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