To Egypt and Back 3: From Dubai To Cairo

Dubai airport is huge. In fact huge is a big understatement. It's so big that you can spend a whole day just moving from one end to another. We had two options. We could spend the 8 hour transit in side the airport, or we could go to a hotel. Hotel accommodation is offered free of charge for such transit passengers. However, I didn't get a room in the hotel where my colleagues would be staying, and once I reach the hotel, there's nothing much to do. Moreover, if we had to go to the hotel, we had to leave the airport instantly. But the famous duty free shops of the airport looked really tantalizing to me, and together we decided not to take the hotel facility. Instead we checked ourselves in to the business lounge.

Inside the business lounge there are lots of comfortable sofas. Also, food and drink supply is abundant. When we reached the lounge, it was pretty late. But still the lounge was live with many transit passengers from different countries, and the food corner was well laden with all sorts of delicacies including but not limited to salami sandwiches, salads, croissants, bread, curry, meat dishes, all sorts of liquors, juices, soft drinks, tonic water, fizzy water, good old cappuccino, latte, cakes, pastries, whiskey, tomatoes and what not. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat much due to the somewhat heavy dinner I had in the aircraft.

After settling down for a while and having a coke, we went out to see the duty free shops. We already got some view of the shops while searching for the business lounge, but this time we went inside the shops to see what goodies are available for the shopoholic. I am not really a shopping freak, but I do enjoy browsing certain items of interest. There was this big electronics store where we spent a lot of time. It had different sections for DVDs, Audio CDs, different electronic gadgets and many other things. I really liked the toy store where there were some monkey and turtle dolls. Whenever someone touches the monkey's tail, it makes some very cute "kichir michir" sound and starts wiggling back and forth.

After skimming through most of the shops, we returned for a late night snack. We got ourselves something to eat, and then we brought out our individual laptops and got connected to the internet using the free wireless access point of the business lounge. After biting some chumps and checking gazillion emails, I and Raihan went out for a walk. Dubai airport is huge, but we wanted to conquer it. We started walking from one end to another. We kept on going. The walk became easier due to the existence of walk ways.

A walk way is basically a flat version of escalators. You stand on a walkway, and you are automatically moving ahead. While we were very relaxed, we found people zooming through the walkway, running. At the beginning, this behavior was really surprising to me. However, quickly I realized that these people are just running to catch their next flight. I saw people from different countries, ages and races. I recognized some good looking Malaysians girls playing Scrabble, and I even managed to figure out a word for a player (yeah, I could see her scrabble tiles from a far) before I moved ahead on the walkway. The walkway trip was like a tour of the world's cultures. I saw Europeans, Asians, Africans, Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Americans, French, Germans, Koreans--and Bangladeshis!

After what seemed like eternity, the walkway came to an end. Me and my colleague realized that we might have to run back to the business lounge, if we are to get our belongings and board the plane on time. So we did. We brought humor to others, just like others gave us humor almost two hours ago, and ran through the "walk" ways and finally reached the lounge again.

However, reaching there, I found out that there is still significant time left till the plane ascends again. I indulged in yet another luxurious relaxation only to be bemused by a loud commotion created by some people outside the lounge. I went out, and found a medium sized mob shouting in Bangla. Apparently someone got pick pocketed by someone else, and everyone in the vicinity seemed to be from Bangladesh. Wherever we go, we make our mark, and it was good seeing everyone getting united and confronting the thief.

The flight towards Cairo from Dubai was quite pleasant. After the ample rest, good food and the long walk, I was in a cheerful and refreshed mood. I didn't notice how time flew by. I watched and listened a bit more, had breakfast, and finally at around 1 PM local time, I landed in Egypt.

Desert very near to the Hotel

It was a beautiful Saturday noon and the temperature was 24 degrees Celsius. We found someone from the hotel holding a placard with our names written on it. The guy was smart and hence we didn't have to spend too much time in the immigration. Soon we were aboard a microbus and on our way towards the hotel. That was the first time when I brought out my camera and took some snaps of Egyptian landscape.

The hotel JW Marriot is situated in the outskirts of the city of Cairo. There is another Marriot hotel in the heart of the city which is built upon the river Nile. JW Marriot is more of a resort than a hotel. It has an artificial sea beach, a golf course, a large swimming pool, a children's water park and a pool side podium for hosting cultural programs (read belly dances) and weddings.

Egyptian Sun

We met two delegates from the hosts of the conference. One of them I already met in Dhaka airport, and this other gentleman from India was also not a stranger; we met sometime back in banglalink office during a presentation.

Before going in to my room, I talked to the guys in the reception about any possible shuttle buses towards the Cairo museum. At first I thought about going to the pyramids. I didn't want to waste any time as I was not sure whether I'd be able to go places during the conference days. However, I came to know that Giza plateau gates are closed by 5 PM, and it even if I can start out at 2 (which was quite unlikely), I won't be able to reach there before 3 PM. 2 hours is not enough time. Giza is a town on the west bank of the Nile river; some 20 km southwest of central Cairo. Giza is most famous as the location of the Giza Plateau: the site of some of the most impressive ancient monuments in the world, including a complex of ancient Egyptian royal mortuary and sacred structures, including the Great Sphinx, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and a number of other large pyramids and temples (credits Wiki).

Thus instead of going to Giza, we asked to arrange for a car that'd take us to the Cairo Museum. We asked the hotel people to make the car available by 2 PM, and rushed towards our rooms. The room was not different from any other 5 star hotel rooms. It had a large bed, two bed side tables, a sofa, a reading table, couple of lamps, a big cabinet holding a large TV and the private bar. The bathroom was also nice; complete with a shower and a bathtub. Disappointingly, there was no plasma or HD TV. Last year I had a plasma TV in my room in Taj hotel in Delhi, which was too good to watch.

The bed with accessories scattered on it

I really wanted to take a hot water bubble bath in side the tub, but I knew if I did that I'd miss the trip. I took a quick shower (kaak gosol in Bangla) and then went to the verandah for taking some random snaps. After taking some random snaps from the verandah and changing, I went downstairs to the Grill restaurant to have lunch.

Swimming Pool view from the verandah

My colleagues and the Bangladeshi delegate were already there. The Indian delegate already excused himself saying that he already had his lunch. This was the most popular (or so it seemed) restaurant in the hotel, because it is very near to the hotel lobby and also the elevators. The hotel is divided in to two plazas, which are not connected sideways from the 1st floor upwards. This means you will find two sets of elevators with each having 1st to 8th floor buttons. I was staying in the 4th floor of the left plaza. Once I made the mistake of taking the other lift, and I ended up coming down 4 floors, walking some distance, and again taking the elevator to my room.

The food was really good. The pleasant weather and the long journey made us really hungry. I ordered a mixed grill which contained pieces of grilled Lamb and Beef, served with exotic sauces and boiled vegetables. It was really tasty, but it took while to arrive. Eventually we got a bit late and boarded the microbus at around 2:45 PM.

The journey towards the Museum was nothing special. I noticed one thing--there were almost no Toyota cars on the streets. Instead, I saw Corvettes, Fords, Nissan and other cars. The hotel microbus was a Toyota, but there were very few other Toyotas out there. Also there were the trademark black Egyptian cabs. I thought our cabs were the worst in the whole world, but the Egyptians ones beat us in that area by a long shot. I prayed to God so that I didn't end up in a situation where I had to get in to one of those black cabs!

Random Mosque is Cairo

A jolly guide was assigned to go with us. His name was Omar. He was a nice and big fellow. His English was excellent, which we later on came to know was a rarity amongst the mass. We reached the museum at around 4 PM. The museum looked a bit like the old buildings erected by the East India Company in Bangladesh. I was disappointed to know that camera's are not allowed inside the museum. I had to submit the camera to a veil clad lady at the gate. She gave me a token. However, before submitting, I took some snaps and Omar also took a few for us.

Me and the cute Sphinx replica

Museum Entrance (Curzon hall???)

There were two book and souvenir stores at the left side of the entrance. The line at the entrance wasn't that long, as it was almost closing time and most tourists have already visited the museum. The museum is a two storied building. In the first floor, there are hundreds of earthen, stoned, marbled, alabaster, gold and bronze made statues. This floor shows a chronology of ancient Egyptian history. If you walk clockwise, you will get to see statutes of important persons, gods and other significant testaments of Egyptian culture, from ancient times to a certain period dating back 3000 years. While most statues are of ancient Egypt, many of them are also from the Rome occupied Egypt era. Those statutes are quite different from the rest. You get to see people stoned in Julius Caesar like attire as well as the standard statutes of Anubis, Ra, Neffertiti and others.

Omar told us that the 2nd floor has a better view, as it has all the viewable artifacts recovered from the pyramids. So we decided that he'd give us a 1 hour tour of 2nd floor, and afterwards we can see whatever we like for the rest of the duration of our stay. So we quickly ascended the 2nd floor through the stoned stairs. The sight in the second floor was breathtaking. There were so many hot chicks from so many continents and cultures, that I was in a dilemma as to what I actually wanted to see more, the artifacts or the people! Jokes apart, the initial view thrilled me beyond anything. I was feeling like Indiana Jones, ready to enter a tomb for recovering the Holy Grail or some other important historical item.

Famed Mask of Tutankhamun

The highlight of the museum is Tutankhamun's tomb. I don't want to go too much in to historical facts. The Wiki page has more than enough in it. So instead I'd concentrate on describing my experience. Tutankhamun was a very young pharaoh. He died when he was 19. Tutankhamun's tomb was one of the few tombs that were discovered in tact. The actual tomb is in Luxor, the valley of kings. That place is quite far away from Cairo, and I didn't get to go there. There were three other tombs above Tutankhamun's. Contrary to popular belief, the tombs are not always inside the pyramids. They are often below the pyramid. Thus the pyramids actually act as hats or you can say covers for hiding or protecting the tombs of the kings.

Tutankhamun's tomb is very famous because it is perhaps the most un-ravaged tomb of all. All other tombs were attacked by robbers, time to time, and most of the Pharaoh kings treasures were melt and sold as regular gold by these miscreants. However, in Tutankhamun's tomb, the following portions were discovered intact:

The tomb layout

• Staircase
• Entrance Corridor
• Antechamber
• Burial Chamber
• Sarcophagus of Tutankhamun

I saw many everyday items that were used by the king. The kings swords, eating glass, plates, undergarments(!), shoes and sandals (both made of gold), his chairs and thrones, war chariots, the sarcophagus and what not. The most remarkable sight was Tutankhamun's golden mask. They say the mask was created by using the finest of Gold and the inner most sarcophagi was created by 110 KG gold. Tutankhamun's mummy is not in Cairo Museum, it is stored in Luxor.

Okay, the concept of a Sarcophagus is kind of tricky. The mummy is stored inside box like coffins, one after another. It's like the box thing. You keep on opening boxes to discover smaller boxes inside. The sarcophagus of a mummy contains at least 3 smaller sarcophagi. I hope the picture is clear. For further details, you can always browse it out.

In a corridor, three large chariots were on display. I wondered how these huge things were stored inside the tomb! Tutankhamun used to lead his soldiers by riding one of these chariots. There was a very nice looking beach couch and chair. Omar told us that the young king was a lover of scenic beauty and he, often accompanied by his young wife, would sunbath (!) in the banks of the river Nile. There was also a huge umbrella, which looked quite similar to what we use today for protecting ourselves from sun and rain. However, this particular umbrella was created just about 3,000 years ago!!

Interestingly, all the chairs Tutankhamun used has a foothold with the four human figures representing the four enemies of Pharaoh empire-- the Nubians, Itiopians (Ethiopians), Foreigners and Egyptian traitors. The foothold gave an impression that all the kings enemies are under his feet, all the time. Also, nice Hieroglyphs are always painted on the king's treasures. There were guardian birds and gods, each having distinct meanings. Omar took his time in passionately describing all these. There were also other sarcophagi and items used by other Pharaoh Kings, but they were not much fascinating. Tutankhamun's mask and sarcophagus is kept inside a room, unlike the other items that were organized in long corridors. Too many people are not allowed to enter these rooms at the same time, and it is heavily guarded. Tutankhamun's mask is kept in a large glass box, which is situated on top of another square like glass box. Inside the square box, there are hundreds of small jewellery items that were owned by Tutankhamun and his wife. There were also bows and knives, and at the other end, there lied the 110 kg golden sarcophagi, which was a sight that I won't forget in a long while. Once again, the cutest of tourists could be found in this room..hehe.

At the end of the tour, Omar told us that we have about an hour left till the museum, and we can do whatever we want in this one hour. There is a mummy chamber, which you can enter by paying additional 50 Egyptian pounds (the original entry fee was another 200 pound, if I remember well). I decided to get in, along with my colleague.

The mummy room is a medium sized room; a dark and gloomy one. Surprisingly, there were more ladies than guys in this room, and oh boy! Brave they were. I consider myself to be a very fearless kind of person when it comes to being afraid of ghosts, mummies, haunted souls and stuff. To me, these are just stories. But I couldn't walk around with ease in that room. It was appearing to me that the 10-15 mummies in that room might wake up and chase me out of the room for disturbing their slumber. There were mummies of fallen Pharaoh kings and queens, and most of them were very tall while they were alive. These are mummies without the fancy coffin. 3000 year old dead bodies kept intact through mummification. Only the blackened face was exposed while the entire body wrapped in a sack like dress. I heard an English lady with her typical accent chanting "This guy here had really bad teeth"!

So I was looking at the once great dead men and women and I exclaimed to myself "I wouldn't want these guys haunting me in my nightmares tonight; they are so frightening". Two ladies overheard me and we shared a good laughter. The interesting thing about the Egyptian culture is that even the slightest of actions have deep meanings. As an example, if a Pharaoh had his two arms folded and rested over his chest; it means he was a king and he died in honor. If there is a weapon in his hand, then it means he died in war. If his hands are not folded, that means he was either a traitor or not a king. Also there is this flute kind of thing which denotes nobility. So a Pharaoh having both a flute and a bow means he was a great warrior and a noble ruler. All the mummies were closed in side glass boxes with a small white sticker placed at the top right or left side. The sticker usually contained some vital information like the name of the dead person, who he was, how and when he died, etc. The most interesting finding was a lady who was killed under suspicion that she was a witch.

After spending about twenty mystified minutes inside the mummy chamber, I came out and started walking towards the other mummy chamber. If the last one was creepy, this chamber was definitely bone chillingly frightening. Here I saw different animals mummified. These were sometimes beloved pets of the fallen Pharaohs, or sometimes they were supposed to wake up and provide food or companionship to the Pharaohs. I think we all know that the Pharaohs believed in an afterlife where they would wake from their sleep and resume their normal life. That is the main reason for keeping so many things inside their tombs. Items included, but were not limited to servants (!), food, flowers, weapons, jewellery, money, animals, etc. There was this huge freakish alligator mommy, a bison, a large eagle, ducks and chickens, cats, mice, dog, lizard, large fishes, cows and goats and other animals. Some were also fake mummies, e.g. mummy like statues of imaginary animals and birds. As I am writing this description, I am having the feeling of needles piercing my whole body.

Will you call the Pharaoh's cruel for all this? Think about it.

Afterwards I came downstairs and spend another 30 minutes or so glancing through the different statutes of great Egyptian people. It was a nice walk, and there were very few people at that time. Eventually we did our rendezvous with Omar at the entrance, and went inside the souvenir shop. I bought a book containing photographs and descriptions of everything that is there inside the museum, which I can show you when you visit my home next.

I collected my camera and went out. It was around 6:30 PM then. Omar told us that we can visit the other souvenir shop outside the museum till the driver comes back with the car. This shop was nice; it had many interesting books, collectibles and CDs. However, most of them were very expensive and we decided not to buy anything. We already heard that there's a place like Bonbobazar where you can buy all sorts of souvenirs at a very cheap place. It's a bargainer's heaven and items are plenty. I will talk about Khan El Khalil later.

My colleague inquired about the availability of a Cartouche. Omar was wearing one, which was made of Gold and silver. A Cartouche is basically a small piece of metal with the wearer's name inscribed in Hieroglyphics on it. The maximum capacity is 6 to 8 letters, and if you give the maker some time, he will inscribe the words you like. We visited a shop where Cartouches were available, but due to time constraint, we did not buy one.

We came back to the hotel in about an hour, got refreshed and went to the hotel's Italian restaurant to have dinner. That was a unique experience....To Be Continued

(I am actually in a hurry to finish writing this portion now, so I will mention the dinner experience in my next entry. Happy New Year!)