The Electric Chair

From the plane.. flight via cairo... dont ask me where this is!!

Sound and light show at the pyramids...

Pyramids by daytime... arent they huge? Square base of 230 meters side, and height of 147 meters (about 45 stories). It has 2.3 million blocks of stone and each one weighs an average of 2.5 tons (with the heaviest ones upto 15 tons).. And this was built before the wheel was invented, so they did not use pulleys to hoist the stones. Interesting fact: There is enough stone in the pyramid of Cheops to build a wall around France!!

The Sphinx.. A huge monolith carved out of the bedrock..

Nile Cruiseeeee

Belly dancing... very erm... satisfying :D

Ceiling of a mosque in the Citadel of old Cairo. The carpet on the floor here is the original 200 year old one and is still in use.. and doesnt look like its that old!

The obelisk at Karnak Temple, Luxor

Hypostyle hall of Karnak temple.needs to be seen to be believed. It is 5000sqm area and has 134 pillars each of about 18 meters height. Look closely and you will see a person standing in the distance to give you an idea of scale... need I say more?

Sunset en route Nubian village, Aswan.. great scenes from the mototboat.. too many to post

Nubian people breed crocodiles in their homes!!

Sound and light show at Philae Temple... extremely beautiful

Pompey's pillar in Alexandria - 27 meters tall

Alexandria library... the main hall is really really huge. Its really difficult to get the hugeness in the photo

Sunset on Alexandria beach. Personally my favourite photo.

At the end of the journey.. light at the end of the tunnel...

Folks am back from my honeymoon in Egypt. In case you were wondering about the title, it derives from a wierd ass egyptian shopkeeper who said "Where you from? India? Very nice people.. India, welcome to Alaska" We have no clue whether this was Egyptian humour or he has a screw dheela.

It was a 10 day package and we visited Cairo, Aswan, Luxor and Alexandria. In terms of shghtseeing and historical interest, Cairo I liked the most (of course as a single site I would say Karnak temple is most amazing, and also the pyramids if you consider the era in which they were built) but as a city to stay in Alexandria is difficult to beat. Cool and not humid (inspite of being a costal town) while some parts of Egypt were experiencing Delhi summer.

We also did a 4 day Nile Cruise and the scenic beauty is awesome. River, green valley and undulating dunes of the desert can be seen one behind the other and makes one wonder how such incredibly fertile land and incredibly barren land can be so close beside one another.

Recommended place to visit, definitely.. but try go when its a bit cooler.. October onwards would be a good idea.

# posted by A Chrysanthemum by any other name... : 1:14 PM