Day 3: Pyramids of Giza while Riding a Camel

The day started off great, it was bright and warm, perfect day to go riding a camel.  After a long ride on the van, I was prepared to hop on a camel (but not really as I found I was still pretty nervous to get on the camel). Getting on a camel was actually abit scary, for one, I was afraid the camels didn't really want anyone to get on top of them (some of them were making some grunting noises).  The camel leader assured me that the camels were friendly, although that didn't really help but I was still glad he continued to reassure me. 

When I was finally able to get on and my camel started walking inline with the rest of the camels as they were linked by the rope, I would realize the camel right behind me would be literally an inch away from my torso/body.  That was a bit scary as I was afraid that camel would have a sudden change of heart and bite me randomly (none of which happened thankfully).   I was finally able to get comfortable with my camel but balancing on it was difficult at times.  We got pretty close to the Giza pyramids and get some amazing shots.  After seeing the 3 pyramids, we visited the Sphinx. Overall the whole experience of riding a camel while visiting the 3 pyramids and the Sphinx, as well as walking around on the sand just made me wonder how it would have been for people in the past to have been traveling in the dessert and/or visiting these sites.

Soon after we visited a authentic papyrus Museum/ store where we learned how papyrus was made and how to distinguish authentic papyrus from a counterfeit.  It was interesting to know that Papyrus can be used for a variety of ways--it can be used for building, can be a delicious food, and ofcourse be used as a form of paper which is inflammable.

Naseer Shamma's Concert at the Culture Wheel

For New Year's we went out for Naseer Shamma's Concert.  Naseer Shamma is the world's famous Oud player and it was really a pleasure hearing his concert.  I started off thinking I would be bored, and working literally an hour of sleep, I was afraid I would have to strenuously fight off sleep.  Fortunately this was not the case, and the music was very folklorish.  Surprisingly it reminded me of South Asian folk music and reminded me of classical music from that time.   When the the clock struck midnight the lights turned off and there was silence for 20 seconds.  Then the lights came up and a 2011 banner with happy new year banner was on the stage and everyone applauded and cheered.  It only lasted for 5 minutes and the concert continued.