When Tami went to Egypt land…

I am officially in love…with Egypt!! This was seriously one of the most amazing trips that I have ever taken. It’s so amazing to me that I was looking at structures, and even a few pharaohs, that were more than 4000 years old! I don’t know how they pulled this off, but we seriously used every mode of transportation possible while on the trip, including camels, an overnight train, and a sailboat on the Nile. This was also the biggest whirlwind trip I’ve ever had, and that’s saying something considering that my family’s idea of a vacation is to pack as much as we can into a day as possible and when you get home you feel like you need a vacation from your vacation. But this one tops them all, with the possible exception of the trip me and Kevin took to downtown Chicago last summer where we did everything in one day…hmm….nope, this one beats that day too.

*Disclaimer: This is a very long post. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’m going to be adding to it as I get more time to get everything written down, so keep checking back.
*I’ve already taken more than 1000 pictures since I left the States. It’s so much fun having a nice camera to play around with and document this adventure. I took a TON from Egypt(about 450)but the internet here is really slow and it’s really hard to upload pictures. I’ll add the pictures when I get home, so don’t worry they are coming. :)

Day 1 – Sunday (not the Sabbath)
Breakfast was bright and early at 5:30 so that we could pull out at 6. I think I might be getting used to this early morning thing. I don’t love it, but I’m not dying like I thought I might be. So anyway we loaded all of our stuff onto the bus and headed out. We ended up taking the long way down so that we could stop at some sights on the way there. The first couple places were archeological sights that they have dug up and dated back to biblical times. We even had to wear hard hats while we were there. The first place was Tel Beersheba where Abraham used to live. It even had the well that he built outside the city walls still completely intact.

Our next stop was the wilderness of Zin. It’s an overlook where you can see the where the Children of Israel camped while they were traveling in the wilderness for 40 years. I totally understand now why they would have been complaining so much. It was insanely hot all the time, and there is absolutely nothing around. Not even any sagebrush. I think it would be hard not to complain.

That afternoon we went to another archeological sight from way back in the day called Tel Avdat. This one even had a whole bunch of arches that were still standing. It was so cool! And that night we spent the night in a Jewish Kibbutz. They are these Jewish communities where the people work together and share everything. It was really neat to see a completely different way of life like that. And the people were so nice and friendly. Staying there was so much fun because we spent the whole night outside playing games. I don’t think the other people staying there really appreciated it to much though. We tried to be quiet, I promise!

Day 2 – Monday September 22
The next day, after way too many hours of driving on a bus, we actually crossed into Egypt. Yay!!! I got my first glimpse of the Red Sea, the Nile River, and the great pyramids of Giza. They were HUGE!!! When the bus turned the corner and we were first able to see the Pyramids, the whole bus gave this huge gasp of surpise. Even though we’ve all seen pictures of the pyramids, nothing can really prepare you for seeing them first hand. They tower over everything. It’s such an impressive sight. After we checked into our hotel, we went to a sound and light show at the pyramids that told that story of how they were made and such. The pyramids looked so cool with the different colored spotlights shining on them. I haven’t figured out how to take good pictures at night though, so I don’t have very many of them at night, but the ones that I have are pretty cool.

Day 3 – Tuesday September 23
This day I think was my favorite day. We saw and did the best things. First off we went to the Great Pryamids, and got to climb up them, or at least up on the first level of stones. Like I said - these things are massive! Some of them still had some of the origianl lime stone covering on them! OS Cool!! We were even able to go inside the 2nd pryamid. It was this small little tunnel that went right into the center and opened up into the burrieal room of the pharoah. It was so hot and humid inside the pryamid with all the other people in there. It's amazing how refreshing 90 degree weather can be after you have been inside a pryamid. :)

The Sphinx is right next to the pryamids so we went there next, and yes, I got a really good picture of me kissing it.

The papyrus factory was our next stop. They showed us how they used to make papyrus, and they still make it the same way today. They just peel off strips of the plant and pound them together with a mallet, soak them in water, and let dry and wha-la, Papyrus. It was so interesting to see them actually make it in front of you. I ended up buying a really pretty papyrus picture of King Tut and his wife. It's gorgeous!

Then we went to Memphis, the original capital of the Old & New Kingdoms of Egypt. Let me just say, that these guys really knew how to build things. There were tons of scuptures in this place. Including a massive sculpure of Ramses II. (He was a little cocky I think.) It was so big that it couldn't support it's own weight and they couldn't even lift it up!

We went to lunch at an authentic Egyptian resturant. It was....interesting. We couldn't eat any of the fruit, and there was lots of humas, I tried it, but not my favorite. After lunch, we went to Saqqra and saw the step pryamid. This was the 1st pryamid ever built!! The Egyptians were so impressed by it that the guy who built it for the pharoah was later made into a god of architecure (and medicine).

That night we jumped on an airplane and flew down to Luxor, the site of Thebes, the capital of the Middle Kingdom. We stayed at the nicest 5 star hotel overlooking the Nile River! It was beautiful. The hotel was so good to us. They even left the swimming pool open late for us and let us swim until 11. I'm supprised they let us in the next night too. Imagine 80 twenty year olds in a pool that late at night. It was so fun!

Day 4 - Wednesday Septemeber 24

We woke up early and after a wonderful breakfast (5 star hotel remember), we went to the Valley of the Kings. This is one of the coolest places in all of Egypt. It's on the west side of the Nile and it's where all the Kings were burried after they stopped building pryamids. (The pryamids were getting robbed to easily). So instead they burried them in a huge valley under a mountain that was shaped like a pryamid. We took a tram into the valley and we were able to go inside 4 of the thousands of tombs that were there, including the tomb of King Tut. King Tut's mummy is actually still inside the tomb. The heiroglyphics inside these tombs were incredible. They are so detailed and the color on them is still so bright and vivid. This might sound creepy, but this was probably my favorite place in Egypt!

Just outside of the Valley was the place where the papyrus of Abraham was found that is now in the Pearl of Great Price. How amazing is that!

After the Valley of the Kings we went to the temple of Ramses III. This was the most impressive temple that we went to. It seriously goes on forever, with rooms and rooms of pillars and statues, and every inch of the wall is carved with very detailed heiroglyphics. They had everything on these wall, they showed all the great battles of Ramses III and even showed images of their daily life. These people had some serious talent. I was very impressed.

That afternoon, we had a falukah ride (a sailboat ride on the Nile) where we crossed the river and went on a camel ride!!! This was so fun because we not only got to ride through the fields but they also took us through the streets and we got to see the people. I love the Egyptian people. They are so nice! They have so little and yet they are so happy and so willing to help. As we were riding through the streets the kids and even the adults would smile and wave at us as we passed by. My guide was a little flirty with me. He kept singing Bob Marley songs to me, picking me flowers, and he letting me hold the reigns of the camel. When it was over, we took a boat ride back across the Nile while the sun set. It was perfect.

That night we went shopping for the first time in the Bazar. This was the craziest experiance ever. The shop keepers are so much more aggressive than in Jerusalem. But so much more personal and talkative. Everytime we went out shopping, my self-esteem went way up. Everywhere I went, I was told that I was so beautiful and I had such beautiful eyes. I think I got proposed to about at least 4 times a night. A couple guys even offered a million camels for me. :) I was talking to one guy and he seriously interuppted me 6 times during the conversation to tell me that he loved looking at my eyes. :)

Day 5 - Thursday September 25

We woke up for another boat ride to go to the Karnuak & Luxor Temple. These were so amazing - everything was amazing there, lets be honest. I am so amazed at what these people were able to accomplish so long ago. They had a statue of a scarb that was supposed to bring you good luck if you walk around it so many times - lets hope it worked!

That night we rode on an overnight train, back to Cairo. This was so sweet. I kept thinking of Harry Potter, or Anastatia or something like that. The train was actually really creepy looking on the outside. It was very ghetto, but totally worth it for the experiance. There was a whole bunch of us that stayed up playing games and passed people through the narrow opening of the hallway. That sounds weird but it was actually really fun.

Day 6 - Friday September 26

After a very bumpy night on the train, we got back to Cairo and went back to the hotel for breakfast. Friday is the Muslim sabboth and since everyone in Egypt is Muslim, we had our sacrament meeting in the morning at the hotel. That was a very neat experiance. Everyone was in their travel clothes, and we didn't have a chance to clean up at all, but we still gathered in one of the rooms and held sacrament meeting. It was amazing to me how strong the spirit was. Even though it was a very unconventional sitiuation, it was still the same peace that I feel in other church meetings. I love how true the church is!

That morning we went to the Egyptian Museum. They had so sweet stuff in there! I have to admit though, that I didn't really love the first part of being there. We followed around our tour guide though masses of people that were smashed in really close together. But the last half we got to wander around on our own for a while, and I really enjoyed that. The treasure from King Tut's tomb was in there - holy cow - he had a ton!! My favorite part of the museum was a mummy room that had about 11 mummys lying in there. I was actually looking at mummys that were 1000's of years old!!!

For lunch we went to the Hard Rock Cafe!!! This was so fun. We actually had real American hamburgers. It made me miss Big J's food. :) It even randomly broke into a dance party when they played YMCA. The waiters even got into it. They loved us.

That afternoon we went shopping in the Bazaar again - and I got proposed to a few more times. Oh, I miss that already. :)

Day 7 - Saturday September 27

We ended our time in Cairo with a trip to 2 Islamic Mosques. They was so pretty. Probably the prettiest buildings that I saw in Egypt. One of the mosques had a minaret that we climbed to get an areal view of the city - 220 stairs to the top!

Ok - I need a break... I'll write more later...stay tuned!