Cairo, Al-Qahirah : Day Three

Our first destination on day three was the Egyptian Museum a.k.a Tahrir Museum. Just like many places in Cairo, we had to go through security checks and despite that I managed to smuggled in my camera. Not that I wanted to use it but was concern of losing it. We were given 3 hours to tour the museum but then again I knew the time given would not be enough as the museum consists a huge collection of objects and artifacts. It was impossible to read all the descriptions about the exhibited objects, so I decided the best was to focus on the main artifacts particularly King Tut's golden mask, treasures from his tomb and of course the mummies although I had to pay additional LE100 to enter the Mummies Hall. It was a bit creepy looking at the mummies placed in the glass in the As I expected, we took more than 3 hours touring the museum and before leaving, I left a short note in the guest book at the museum.

Next, we headed to the Paharaoh's Village, a living museum complete with the exact reproduction of houses and temple during the ancient Egypt with actors and actresses performing the daily activities during those time, among others pottering, perfume making, weaving, mummification process and agriculture activities. An English speaking guide took us through the tour which originally was supposed to be on a motorized barges sailing down the canal with these activities being acted out along the canal. Unfortunately, we had to go on foot as the water in the canal was too shallow for the barges. We were then taken to the reproduction of King Tut's tomb where his coffin and treasures were arranged exactly like when the tomb was discovered. Although all these objects were merely replicas but it was amazing to see the exact details that have gone to make it look so much like the ones we saw at the museum.

When we arrived at our next destination, it was already closed to public. It's a holy place to the Christians where in the church courtyard stood Tree of Maryam and Maryam's well. The Christians believe that Virgin Mary sat under the tree with Jesus and quenched their thirst with water from the well. Somehow, our tour guides managed to negotiate with the guardian to allow us in but it was quite dark and we relied on the streetlights to see the tree and the well. There were stone carvings on the wall of Virgin Mary and Jesus and a beautiful statue of Virgin Mary in the compound. We had to be quick to avoid being caught and questioned by the authorities.

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at the largest shopping mall not only in Egypt but in Africa as well. The CityStar Shopping Mall looked exactly like any other typical shopping malls and packed with locals particularly the youths. I guess that's the only shopping and entertainment centre available for them to hang out. I was not interested to browse the shops but headed straight to Virgin Records to buy a few more Amr Diab CDs original from the birth country of the singer himself.

Once back at the hotel, at around 11 p.m. all 18 of us including our tour guides gathered in my hotel room to joinly celebrate Kak Rosni's birthday which fell on December 31 and Mom's birthday on January 1. Before the small birthday celebration, we watched photo slideshow of Cairo taken by a member of the tour, Richard complete with background songs. They were indeed beautiful photos. The birthday celebration was a small one with a chocolate cake, some puffs served with tea. Mum had received her birthday present earlier i.e. the fully paid trip to Cairo and I gave mum a hug and wished her a Happy Birthday. There were tears in her eyes. The night ended with a group photo as Liza and 3 of her friends had to leave for Dubai the following morning.

Background Song : Betkhaby Leh by Amr Diab