First Day in Cairo, Egypt

I slept at 5 am (Cairo time) in the morning (of course..it is AM, right) since I waited for fajr pray (sholat subuh). I woke up at 8 o'clock even though my body was still tired since I was very hungry. After took a shower and dressed, I went to have my meal. I met Mr. Chatti there who were having his breakfast. It's a good choice to wake up at 8.00, since at 9.00 we would tour around Cairo.

Mr. Faiz and Me

At 9, the representatives of Cairo University came, introduced herself as Dr. Magda and then she introduced our guide, Mr. Faiz. "Faiz" which means "winner" in arabic. He acknowledged that he can speak german but not english. It's a sad thing though since there's a representative of INT, French who can not understand german. His name is Joseph Pablo Escobedo.

The first tour started with withdrawing money from ATM. I dont know the kurs (between Egypt Pound and Euro) and how much do I need, so I only withdrew 100 LE. What is LE? LE is "Liver Egypt", a french term, it means "Pound Egypt" in english.

Mr. Faiz first explained how "Egypt" word came from. The delta in the middle of Nile river is named as "Kemet" in old egyptian language. Then, after a while, people also refered it as "Kebet". People said "a kebet" or "e kebet" to say "to kebet", in other word, "a" or "e" there become the preposition. From this "e kebet" then come the word "e Gebet" which transforms into "egypt".

See those three Pyramides? Le-Ri: Qiops, Kefrin and Makatoros.Me and Sphynx

First destination is Pyramides in Giza. Giza is another province near Cairo. Mr. Faiz said that there is only subtle border between Cairo and Giza, we can not clearly distinguish them. We visited the most popular pyramides of Egypt: Qiops, Kefrin and Makatoros. Actually I want to explain more about them, but I dont want to bore you by telling you the stories about it. After that we went to see sphinx and tal temple which are located near those three famous pyramides. The price to enter the Giza Pyramides location is 25 LE, since I am a student. So never forget your student card (especially international student card) when you visit Egypt. You'll get a lot of discount for that.

Me and the papyrous seller of Mena Papyrous Institut

It's already 12.30 when we left Giza, but hey it might be once in a lifetime opportunity to visit Egypt funded by other people (european people, to be exact). We then visit a store named "Mena Papyrous Institut". In store, we are told how to create a papyrus. It was very exciting moment since now I know how to create a papyrus from papyrus tree and also I saw a lot of beautiful painting on papyrus. I bought some papyrous painting for my families and friends.

Then I went to Cairo museum. To enter the museum, I payed 25 LE again (non-student pays 50 LE). The museum consists of two floors. You can see many historical or archeological things in this museum. Sadly, we were not allowed to bring our camera, since it is forbidden to take a picture inside the museum. However, later on my egyptian friends said that actually it was not forbidden. They forbade to take pictures since it would make a lot of crowds and disorganizations. However, my egyptian friend also said that it was many years ago, so maybe the rules has already changed.

Fata with Lamb

Left to Right: Cinnamon with Milk (in the cup), Lentil (in empty plate)

Then I went to eat in Felfala restaurant. It provides many vegetarian food and also traditional egyptian food. I try Lektil soup, Fata with Lamb and cinnamon with milk. To me, they are not to my taste, however I was very grateful to have opportunity to enjoy the traditional flavor of egyptian food for FREE. Huheuehuueh...the cairo university treated us, so that I should not pay for any food I ordered. It's a shame though that I felt really full really fast so that I can not order more foods. I just knew at the day after (the second day) that fata is not an traditional egyptian food but lebanese food.

At 18 o'clock I went to see Masjid Al-Azhar, Khan El Khalili market (the oldest market in Cairo) and tourist market. That time, I could not enjoy the tour anymore. I felt too tired. I just wanted to go back to hotel, found the bed and had a rest. However, Mr. Faiz was so excited to show us around and I could fully understand it. It might be once in a lifetime opportunity to see the situation of Cairo guided by a professor of Cairo university. I was very shocked and honoured to be guided around by a professor. Mr. Faiz is not ordinary person, in actual. He is a professor who gives lecture on tourism and history. That is the reason why he can explain all the details about Pyramides, Temples, Papyrouses, archeological history of things in cairo museum and many things. Last, he brought us to enjoy the scenery of Cairo night by drinking tea in the nearby cafe. We saw many people came and passed us by: muslims who just finished their praying in a nearby mosque, tourists who'd like to buy things in the nearby market, sellers who always try to sell us something and other things. After that we got back to hotel to rest.

One thing that I learnt in todays tour. 100 LE is not enough. When I wanted to pay the tea in the cafe, I realized that I only had 5 pounds (or 5 LE), but the price is 10 pounds. With a lil bit of shame, I asked my supervisor politely so that he could lend me the rest of 5 pounds.