Camels, shisha, Sahara, and more perfume!

It was another standard Egyptian day in my world. We started the day with a leisurely stroll down King Faisal road, the road where our hotel is located and now the road that is lined with our new Egyptian friends who recognize us as the foreigners who show their arms and hair. I have been making an effort each day to be modest with long skirts but today a camel was on the agenda, so I threw on pants for the first time since arriving in AFRICA. The looks I got made me feel like a 5 cent call girl. SO, I decide I would cover my head instead. I mosied on into a clothing store where 5 ladies, fully robed were working. As Martha and I perused through the different colors and fabrics of scarves available, the ladies taught us how to wrap them around our head in the traditional manner. I, of course, chose a zebra print scarf to add to my zebra clothing collection and walked out of the store feeling like a new woman with my new headdress. I think my attempt to fly under the radar backlashed, though, as the response became giggles instead of gawks. I realized my displaying my arms and wearing pants WITH head covered was probably the equivalent of a nun in a habit and leather biker pants.

The Papyrus museum had been recommended by several of the locals and Martha and I made our way there today. We were greeted at the entrance by a young, attractive, charismatic man who immediately started making ancient Papyrus paper with the Papyrus plant while telling us the story of the most famous Papyrus painting, "The Last Judgement". This story was told thousands of years ago about what would happen on judgement day and since I find it so fascinating, I will tell you the story here exactly as it is written on the museum's one-sheeter:

The Ancient Egyptian believed that there is another life after death. So they believed that everybody must be judged. To decide the destination of each person and "What you sow is what you reap" in the painting you see the dead person kneels down in front of 14 judges offering some sacrifices saying I didn't kill, I didn't pollute the Nile River. And he asks them to help him in the trial scene. After that, they will send him to the god of mummification and death named "Anobis". Anobis will lead him to the balance of justice to weigh his heart the center of intention against the feather, the symbol of truth and justice. If the heart is heavy that means the heart is full of crimes and offences. So the animal "AM AM" will devour his heart. So no life anymore for him. But if the heart is light means a pure heart, so the god of writing and wisdom, "Tut" will transmit the result to "Horus", the protection god and his wife "isis" the goddess of love and beauty and his sister, "Neftis" the goddess of magic. THE END

After the story we spent time looking at all the beautiful art. Mohammed, our host just married one month made sure we were aware he was looking for another wife. How's that for a pickup line ladies? You could be the lucky one of four!

When we returned back to our King Faisal road we stopped to say "hello" to Naura and Mohammed #2 of the day from our beloved "Arabian Nights" perfume shop saw us there and invited us back to the shop for some tea and conversation. Somehow, an intended 20 minute pitstop turned into 3 hours complete with breakfast (dinner), bartering, new friends, more perfume, lots of business talk, and finally, shisha. Shisha is apparantely another universal name for what I call Hookah, or flavored tobacco smoked from an ornate pipe. Good times had by all.

The last, final, and best part of the day began when Ayman walked into Arabian nights and invited us to watch the famous Pyramids Sound and Light show from his families' rooftop at the base of the pyramids. We gladly accepted the invitation and arrived at his 1000 year Bedouin home at the foot of the pyramids. After yet another round of Egyptian tea, we headed out into the streets and alley ways to hunt down a camel for our night ride into the Sahara. Walking through the town I felt I had flashed back in time a couple thousand years. Families were sitting outside their doorways on the dirt in their traditional dress, fully robed amid the heat. The goats, sheep, camels, horses, and chickens filled the space casually with them as well. We finally made our way into a small mall of sorts and found our camels laying in a row against a fence. Ayman and I mounted one and Omar and Martha another. Ayman quickly named our camel King Khufu, one of the ancient Kings of Egypt. Khufu was a good sport along the way galloping from time to time to spice things up a bit. When we approached the foot of the desert mountain and began making our way up, I was in absolute awe. The desert was only lit by the beauty of the moon and a few distant fires here and there. The air was pristine and the wind blew the sand around in a whimsical haze. My Eastern facing view was the pyramids and other camel riders and heards of horses running free and bare back escorting their riders into the night. When we reached the top of the mountain, we were greeted by a Bedouin man at a makeshift camp. Several young Egyptian men sat around drinking tea and sitting by a campfire. We joined them in their retreat and took in the views of the pyramids, the flowing desert and the exotic night sky. A night to remember indeed.