Friday, July 30, 2010

THE AFTERMATH

I've been back four days now. The time is still flying by – only another 2 days left before I have to head back to work :( I've managed to get out and do some shopping, get the dogs registered and buy some dog food. The horses are all good if somewhat muddy, though the second day I went down to feed them, Trillium had a swollen weepy eye. I went to check it the next morning, and it was looking much better – I had wondered from how swollen it was whether she may have been bitten above the eye by a tick (the poor girl gets a bad allergic reaction to tick bites), as she was showing signs of having been bitten on other places on her face as well. I've found places for some of my purchases, and all the clothes have been washed again. The best pictures have been uploaded to facebook, and I have almost finished getting the blog online, and the diary up to date.
It may be tempting fate to say this, but it hasn't been as cold as I was expecting – and fortunately the rain has been minimal. The paddocks are drier than I was expecting, though Lee and Ooly (and Precious for that matter) are slightly fatter than I was expecting – probably because the horses decided the grass was greener over the other side of the fence, and it wasn't electrified to keep them in, so they have had the run of the entire back paddock (about 3 acres). And Precious – well, Mum has been giving the dogs their dinner with hot gravy – so they eat everything!
The Tui was having a bath in the bird bath on my first day back, so I got a good photo of him, and when I went out to do some shopping on the second day, I realised that we already have some daffodils in bloom beside the drive way.
I rode Lee today, after spending about half an hour trying to get rid of all her loose hair (I had to give up in the end). She's shedding out already by the looks of things, and it is only the end of July. In fact all the girls are currently shedding. Tammy and Trillium just grow a thicker coat for the winter... Lee and Ooly grow a thicker AND a longer coat. Add to that the dust – icky – can someone send me over one of their grooms please? In fact I decided to ride Lee bareback, as I didn't have a hope at removing all the mud off her girth area.
Unfortunately, although my legs recovered from the climb into and out of the Red Pyramid, the Pharaoh has obviously cursed me – my Achilles is causing me nothing but grief at the moment – well, at least I can ride, especially bareback... though hopping on to Lee bareback did cause a temporary cramp in both hips – the joys of riding a widebody.
I think she was of the opinion that because I hadn't been riding her, I hadn't been riding for the last 6 weeks – she seemed disappointed to realise that not only could I still ride, but I had been honing my skills on lots of different horses – lol. I'll take her out for a ride up the road tomorrow, and I am contemplating doing a slow 10km endurance ride on Sunday with her if I can get the truck to move.
Thanks to everyone over in Egypt who made my stay so enjoyable – I'd mention names, but its getting late at night and I don't want to forget anyone – safer not to put names. To everyone who came riding or showed me around places, or who was just there to talk to, thanks – you're all wonderful! Miss you all, and if someone could please send some sunshine and warmth over this way, it would really be appreciated,
Love Kelly

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

DAY 43 Sun 25 to Mon 26 July

I woke up early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to make sure I had everything ready, including a last minute rearrangement of the bags (moving some coin belts into the hand luggage to try and make the checked luggage a little lighter) and last minute weighing (it will be close) and scrubbing of the riding boots. When Mohamed turned up, he had all the photos I got printed out, so I sorted out the ones that I would leave with Maryanne for her to give to the people in the photos, and I handed out the photos I had of the grooms as well. They enjoyed looking at their pictures. That didn't leave me much time to say goodbye to people or animals however, as when I had finished that, Mohamed and Sherif were loading all my stuff into the Volks – so much for a last minute walk around the farm to say good bye to the horses. The grooms were also off doing work too, so just a wave good bye had to do. I did get to say a proper good bye to Maryanne however. I really enjoy my stays with Maryanne, but leaving is harder each time, so I guess I was lucky in a way that it was such a quick parting – they say to pull the plaster off fast – it doesn't hurt as much. I'm not sure I believe that myself!
As we were driving along one of the main roads, I looked out to my right, and saw all these kites tangled in the power lines – some must have recently become caught, others had obviously been there for a while – only the bones of the kite remained – it was an interesting sight. Those kites would have been flown from the top of the buildings in the area most likely, as there wasn't much open space to get the kites off the ground otherwise.
I am constantly impressed by Cairene's abilities to navigate. We had to detour off the road and head through the town instead at one stage. Not only is Cairo a rabbit warren to try to negotiate, quite often you have to head in exactly the opposite direction to the way you want to go, until you can get to an area where you can do a u-turn. I'm glad Mohamed knew where he was going, because I will admit to being completely and utterly lost! The other thing about navigating through Cairo and surrounding areas is that one minute you will be driving along a narrow lane beside a canal with opposing traffic using the same lane, and the next minute the traffic will only be going in one direction, without obvious signage notifying you. And even if you are on a one way street, you can't get complacent, as you are more than likely to see someone driving the wrong way – it may be a car or it may be a cart – the main thing about driving in Cairo is expect the unexpected!! My undying amazement to all those people who manage to drive and navigate their way through Cairo, I'm very impressed!
I got to the airport on time, and it was sad to see Mohamed driving away in the Volks, knowing that the only way to go now was on to the plane back to NZ. First stop was security screening before check in – I'm not sure if they are checking you to make sure you don't have any bombs or guns in your luggage or to make sure you aren't smuggling out any antiquities – maybe it is a mixture of both. Once at check in, I put my bags on the scales to see what the damage was with the belly dancing gear – 30.2kg. Ooops – a little overweight – but as Maryanne had said, just smile sweetly and maybe they will let it go. It was a nice young Egyptian man behind the counter, and I don't think I would even have needed to smile sweetly – he didn't say anything about the weight of the bags.
Once I was through immigration, I was rather disappointed with the choice of duty free shopping. In the old terminal, they had a lot of the touristy Egyptian souveniers. Here they just had normal Duty Free shops, with very few tacky souveniers (and all of them way over priced). In the end I had to resort to buying a couple of pharonic soft toy camels to get rid of the last of my Egyptian pounds. I then grabbed a bite of food for breakfast before heading through to departure gate.
Once on the plane, I had a bulk head row, so nice leg room – the woman beside me had two kids, and her sister was in the seat behind, so for the flight from Cairo to Dubai, I moved to one of the spare exit row seats so that her sister could help out. This section of the flight I watched a Clash of the Titans – I enjoyed that – especially the Pegasus – he did however look a little funny in flight. I'm also used to the Pegasi being white, but a Friesian certainly made a good Pegasus!
It was just a short flight over to Dubai, so I didn't have much time left to fill in after watching the movie – it was an older plane though, so I had to watch the movie right through – you didn't have the option of pausing the movie or starting a movie a time you wanted, which was a bit of a pain in the butt. Once in Dubai I moved back to my seat for the hour and a bit on the ground. The flight from Dubai to Singapore was even fuller than the last flight, and I couldn't keep the exit row seat. I did a good samaritan deed after take off, and let the sister sit in my seat for the flight to help with the kids. At least the kids didn't lean their seats back, so I had a little bit of leg room. I tried to spend most of this flight sleeping, and I managed to doze on and off between meal services. I was going to watch a movie here – I wanted to watch The Bounty Hunter but for some reason I couldn't get this one movie to work. Then tried for the Green Zone, but at the time that wasn't working either. Frustrating.
On the ground in Singapore I was reunited with my fragile hand luggage (they had put the glass in a cupboard for me, as there wasn't room for it in the overhead locker, and I headed on out to fill in 3 hours in Singapore Airport – did a little bit of shopping, but other than buying lovely Singapore orchids for Mum and Nana, I just limited my spending to some books to read on the last part of the flight.
I had a bulkhead seat for the flight to Auckland as well, and for a change, no kids in the seat beside me – woot! And there was enough room in the overhead locker for my laptop bag, the bag of fragile glass and the orchids – sweet. I spent this flight dozing a little, and watching the Bounty Hunter and the third in the Mummy trilogy (it was a newer plane, and I could pause, rewind and fast forward to my hearts content – small things but such fun). Started reading one of the books but couldn't get into it at all. Spent some time listening to music and just generally chilling out.
Once down on the ground in Auckland, I just made a quick stop to pick up my pre purchased duty free. There was a queue for the regular immigration, as there were also flights down from Australia and Tahiti, so I decided to check out the smart gate. It was rather quick and simple, though I found it rather amusing when I got to the bit where you have to look into the camera – it said look into the illuminated camera – they all had bright arrows pointing at them – lol. I just chose the one that was more at my eye level – it seemed to work – lol.
I was the first down at the carousel, but unfortunately my bags weren't first off – I had to wait for a while. That gave the dog handler time to head over my way, and the beagle to sniff out the orchids. Had a quick chat to workmates as I walked through, and then had to wait in line at the search bench to hand over the orchids for inspection and to get my riding boots dipped in virkon. Waiting in the queue for our search bench gives you a new perspective on what the passengers see and how it looks to them – I think MAF should pay for us to travel so we get to experience it more often. Other people actually have an advantage when coming home to NZ. They don't have to travel through their work to get home – lol. Technically I have another 6 days off before starting back at work, but I was already there – it certainly hits home that you have to head back to work very soon.
Once through the xray and outside, I saw Mum and Dad sitting and waiting, and we didn't have to wait long until the lab window opened and George and Loreen poked their heads out – they had already inspected the orchids.
It wasn't as cold outside as I was expecting, and finally at about midnight we pulled into the driveway. The dogs were very happy to see me, and I'm sure Mum is very happy that I'm home so that she doesn't have to put up with those two trouble makers as much. We then spent another hour together as I pulled all the goodies out to give people their gifts and to show them my other purchases. The miracle is that all the glass and ceramic goodies made it home in one piece – even the stuff that I had in my suitcase. One thing about working at the airport and having to look through peoples luggage is that you learn how NOT to pack breakable stuff!
It was good to head over and collapse into bed (they had turned the electric blanket on for me so my bed was nice and warm). The dogs didn't waste any time in joining me (in fact they have a tendency to beat me onto the bed. The one advantage with that in the middle of winter is that they do a good job of warming the bed for me! So now I'm home, and the blog is almost at an end.

DAY 42 Sat 24 July

I organised with Maryanne to head out into the desert with Mohamed this morning. I had missed heading out for a ride with Pal, as I wasn't feeling quite human when he rang. On his way back from his ride, he stopped off at the farm to see Maryanne. After Pal had left again, Mohamed had saddled up Wadi and Negmadin (I had to get my last ride in the desert on my favourite horse), and we headed out into the desert looking for pottery shards. I led the way out there (I was pretty sure I was following the directions that Maryanne had given to Mona the time we went out there), but it wasn't until I was on top of the excavation that I knew I had done well. I had been seeing the darker area that I thought indicated the excavation for quite a while, but it wasn't until I was right on top that I gave myself a pat on the back. Looking around the area turned up more painted pot shards, and Mohamed even got in on the act finding some more for me – I had quite a bum bag full by the time we were finished there. I also found part of the top rim of an alabaster pot which joined the painted shards. They had excavated quite a bit of the mud brick wall in that area as well which was interesting. It was certainly quite a profitable morning. On the way back, I took us via an area I had seen a couple of times before from a distance – it is out in the desert, but there are a few small bushes holding their own out there – I wonder if there is a little bit of ground water there. It could explain why the area with the pot shards is there if back in the day that was a little oasis, but that is just speculation on my part. We rode back through the bone yard to get more photos, but didn't do as much weaving through the area as we had done yesterday, and then we were able to go for a race up the race track. It wasn't the fastest ride I have been on on Wadi (that was the day I went out with Mohamed, Waleed and Hassam on Diva, Negmadin and Nazeer), but it was still great fun, and it will be a long time before I am able to do that again. When we got back, Pal and Sabine were visiting, though they were about to head out to Sabine's place with Mohamed and Sherif to pick up the last of Sabine's stuff from her flat, to take it around to Tatouch's. It was her final day of moving and settling in :) Unfortunately as I was giving Wadi a last pat, he rubbed his head on me, tearing a hole in my jodphurs. I had already decided to leave one pair there in case anyone could use them, and so I left that pair there as well – it cut down on weight, and they are more likely to be repaired there – I'd never get around to it if I took them home.
My job for the rest of the day was packing – and I felt a bit like a chook with its head cut off, trying to get things in and arranged in such a way that they would make it home safely (I had bought a little too much in the way of fragile glass – impulse buy – but they look so good!) I had room left to put stuff in, but weight was a big issue, with the weight of the belly dancing costumes (it would be interesting weighing each one to see what they way – lol). I had taken over Maryanne's scales, and they told me that I was right at the limit of my 29kg (editor's note, grand total was 30.2kg).
I got a phone call from Morad in the afternoon, saying that he was home for a little while before he had to head out again for the wedding, so I headed over there to say bye. On the walk over, there was a donkey cart beside the path festooned with washing hanging out to dry – it certainly made for a colourful donkey cart! I dropped the last of my beer in Morad's fridge, as I wasn't likely to drink it tonight, and I also left him my NZ Haflinger shirt, and my Haflinger hat. I then sat down and spent some time talking to Morad and his friend. They gave me a lift back to the farm on their way into town, and a last hug from Morad, before I walked down to the farm to finish my packing.
I got an evening ride in around the village, with my other favourite horse, Shaboura. It was hard riding round there listening to all the kids calling out "Allo, allo" and asking to have their photos taken and knowing that it was the last time I would get that for quite some time. The sweet potato man was in the village again, which was a nice sight, as the smoke from his stove headed up the little chimney on the back of his donkey cart, while his donkey nuzzled in the dirt looking for some food to eat. The interesting thing, as we headed up the last stretch to home was the guy riding his donkey, and leading a camel – the light at this time had the colour that you associate with the beginning of sun set – catching and highlighting the yellow colour (which is nice in Egypt where nearly everything has a sandy yellow colour) – it showed up the camel nicely. The camel was ahead of us, heading in the same direction as us on the opposite side of the canal, so we were following behind and beside it for quite a distance – it's things like this that make riding in Egypt very special – the randomness of Egypt means that every time you head out, even if you follow the same route every time, you are likely to see something new, different and/or interesting. After we made it past the camel, there was a donkey in the shafts of a cart on the side of the road. It was waiting while its owner loaded up the cart with green fodder for the animals. Talk about carrot stretches – this donkey bent its neck right around trying to get at the grass in the cart behind him – clever donkey – he managed it too! Once again the battery of the camera died at the last village before home – fortunately there was nothing extraordinary to take photos of for the small bit of trail left.
Once back at the farm, I got the other camera out and got some photos of the grooms. I also got to meet the new gardener. I then spent a little bit more time packing and trying to finish the Amelia Peabody book I was reading (don't think I'm going to manage that unfortunately), until Sabine & Tatouch turned up for a celebratory drink for Sabine's new accomodation, and a commisatory drink for me for my departure. After they left, I tried a bit more to sort out my luggage, before collapsing into bed.

Desert ride 13:

Distance - 12.4km
Time - 1:41:52
Average speed - 7.3kmph
Max speed - 49.1kmph


Countryside ride 22:
Distance - 4.76km
Time - 1:02:59
Average speed - 4.5kmph
Max speed - 12.6kmph

DAY 41 Fri 23 July

I woke up this morning and got Hassam to saddle Dooby for me so I could go for a ride in the desert with Pal, his wife, Laura and Sammy. It was a good, long ride, and the legs weren't as sore as I was expecting them to be – maybe the riding on Wednesday after climbing into the pyramids had stretched them out a little. We rode for miles, and through a couple of different quarries. At one stage I looked to the left, and I think I saw the area where the pottery shards are to be found. I could make out a darker area on the hill that I think was the site of the excavations. We didn't head that way however, so I couldn't investigate.
A couple of times during the ride, Laura took my camera and got some photos of me on Dooby which was nice. Because I haven't headed out with Maryanne much, I'm lacking in photos of me riding. As we neared Japanese Hill, we were overtaken by a guy who was riding one horse and leading three – I think they were from the polo club. Once on the other side of Japanese Hill, he proceeded to lunge them all together. Good horses and a good rider to be able to handle that many at once. Dooby was in his element today, walking out at the head of the group, keeping pace with Pal's stallion. In fact, often when Pal's horse was cantering along, Dooby would just be stretching out nicely at the trot (not exactly what I was after with my legs like they were, but it could have been much worse!) On the way back, as we neared the quarry, we encountered a few storks out in the middle of the desert, and Pal said that when they are migrating, they will often meet in this one spot, and he related a story of his horse walking right through the middle of them one day – they just stepped out of the way of his horse, but didn't fly off. That must have been amazing. There were just five or six around today though, and they would often go flying past us. One was sitting on a ledge of sand, silhouetted with the pyramids at Abu Sir in the background. As we headed up into the quarry, there was a small flock off to our left, so Laura and I headed that way. The storks let us get rather close before first one, and then the rest took off – and to think they shouldn't even be in Egypt. And then we had fun weaving through the tracks left by the trucks in the quarry – good for keeping the humans and horses focused on where they are going! I enjoyed what was likely to be my last ride with the group before I head back to New Zealand, good horses, good people and even some cloud cover to break up the desert heat!
I relaxed for a bit at the house before heading around to Morad's with my laptop, as Morad wanted to see some of my pictures (though with all the comings and goings of people at his place, he probably missed a good number of them). While I was there, Ramy also came round, and the three of us looked through the pictures. At one stage Morad had to disappear off somewhere, and so instead of the Egyptian pictures, I showed Ramy some of the photos from home. Before Morad came back, I had to head off to the farm, as I wanted to fit in another ride in the desert before heading back to NZ - the plan was to try and find the pottery shards place. I headed out in the desert with Mohamed. I was on Gameela and he was on Diva. I think Gameela was a bad choice. I figured that with my dodgy legs she would be a good horse to take out, as she isn't inclined to run. Unfortunately she also wasn't too inclined to walk either - lol - talk about stubborn and slow – I'm sure she is half mule! Even after swapping reins with Mohamed (he had longer reins that could be used like a whip), I still had trouble getting her moving. Her canter is really weird – it is like she puts more effort into going up than she does going forward, making it somewhat like a rocking horse canter. Feels really weird – there was certainly no gallop in her today either. Maryanne had organised it with Mohamed to take me to the pottery shard place, but we ended up at the bone yard. I'm kind of glad in a way – I don't think I could have handled riding Gameela all the way out there - it had been hard enough getting her to the bone yard - lol. To top things off, I ended up having left the memory card in my computer after trying to get some of the pictures over to Ramy's phone. So the only photos I could take were saved to the camera's memory, limiting the number of pictures I could take – talk about the day going from bad to worse! One positive aspect to the day however was the young bird I saw (I think it was a falcon) out at the bone yard – it was just a slightly darker shade than the sand, and it still had the fluffy look of a youngster – it didn't fly away very far or very fast, and looked rather awkward – quite possibly it was its first flight. I couldn't get close enough to get any photos, and it probably wouldn't have enjoyed being followed. I saw it twice, which was very special.
We weaved our way in and out of the mounds of rubble that have been dumped from the excavations at Saqqara. Amongst the mounds were human skulls and thigh bones, ancient mud brick, dog or jackal skulls, ancient linen, pottery shards, ancient baskets and the detritus of modern civilisation. It never ceases to amaze me how they can justify the dumping of so much history. I realise that after over a hundred years of excavation they have a lot of bones and artifacts from the ancient egyptians, but still those bones belonged to a person, even if they did live thousands of years ago - someone who went to a lot of effort to have their body preserved for eternity, and here the archaeologists are just dumping the remains in the desert. I think those remains deserve more than that ignominious end! Though at the same time I do enjoy heading out there and looking around at this area and seeing this history laid out before me – hmmm. Does that make me just as bad?
In the end, I was glad that ride was over - it required a little more effort than I was planning on for my current mental state. I was glad to collapse into bed and put today behind me!

Desert ride 11:

Distance - 17.9km
Time - 2:22:02
Average speed - 7.6kmph
Max speed - 37.0kmph


Desert ride 12:
Distance - 8.84km
Time - 1:31:25
Average speed - 5.8kmph
Max speed - 26.3kmph

DAY 40 Thur 22 July

After getting up and medicating the dogs, Mohamed then drove me round in the Volks to Pat's place, making jokes about the air conditioning (windows) as we drove along. The only problem with the 'airconditioning' was the fact that the roads around the area often have a thin layer of sand on them... and we were following a rather large truck. Got a little sand blasted before reaching our destination – lol. Once at Pat's we gave Willie (her three legged balady dog) his medicine, and when her driver turned up we hopped in the car and headed out to Khan el Khalili to do some more shopping – tshirts, and belly dancing costumes were on the list, as were the hand blown glass christmas decorations once Maryanne told me about them.
In fact, our first stop was Maged's shop with the Christmas decorations – they were beautiful. In fact I went a little overboard with my purchases – here's hoping I can get them home in one piece! We then went next door to his t-shirt shop, where once again I overspent – some on t-shirts, some on galabeeyas and costumes for use with the horses. I'd better make sure Anna uses them now – lol. After spending way to much money here, we then headed to try and find the five story belly dancing store. Found another store instead with some lovely belly dancing costumes, and the guy was very helpful in choosing the right stuff to take home. I tried on coin belt after coin belt, and got an outfit in the end that consists of a skirt and two coin belts – one of the coin belts can be used as a bra. I think that will do me for now until I work out where I am going with the belly dancing. Before I head back to Egypt I will try to have more of an idea in mind of what type of costume to get! I found some coin belts that Lisa had asked for, and bought an outfit for Linda as well. Here's hoping it fits – but the guy did seem to know what he was talking about. After a coke to refresh us, we then headed to the shop behind, which was the large store I had been told about – it was a good store to look at, but the staff were nowhere near as helpful as the guy I had bought my stuff off. They did have a very wide selection of costumes however. I had no money left by this time to buy anything with though, which was a good thing. The fifth floor however was closed off - probably used for storage, meaning there were only four floors of belly dancing equipment on display.
When we left the store, we headed to a coffee shop for a nice mango lassi, before making our way back to our driver.
It was a long drive home, as we got stuck in traffic at one point – the cause of the traffic jam? A guy directing traffic who had no clue of how to do it correctly and efficiently. Oh well.
Back at Pat's, we gave Willie a much needed bath, and left him in the yard to dry. He did his normal trick of heading to a nice dusty place to lie down instead of on his towel, but fortunately he didn't need to be rewashed, he just needed a spot clean instead.
Once back at Maryanne's, with all the gifts unloaded out of the Volks, I could relax for a bit before heading around to Morad's. I sat with Morad for a bit watching movies, before heading back to the farm, as I needed some food – hadn't eaten since breakfast. As I was walking to the guest house I saw something moving on the ground ahead of me, and at first I thought it was just a bit of rubbish – but the movement was too regular, and when I looked closer, it was a tiny little snake, about 10cm long. I assume it was harmless – it was more concerned at running away (sqwiggling away) from me, and Buffy who was following me. That is the first snake I have seen in Egypt, and after talking to Maryanne about it, she said it was a little garden snake.
After some food, I headed back to Morad's and we sat down and watched King Arthur, before I headed back to the guest house for a well deserved rest. To think, I have only two full days left in Cairo :(

P.S - thanks to Pat for the photo of me in the belly dancing ensemble (it looks funny, but I tried it on over my clothes - lol)

DAY 39 Wed 21 July

Dragged myself out of bed early to make it to Morad's for 9am, which meant I had to quickly medicate the dogs before leaving. After saying by to Maryanne, I tried to ring Morad, but the phone didn't connect for some reason, so I walked around to Morad's and knocked on the door... no answer. I persisted, and we ended up heading out only a little later than originally planned. I'm still dying to ride out there on horseback, but I guess that will have to be next time. Once out at Dashur, Morad organised the tickets and a guide, and we drove first to the Red Pyramid, which you can go inside.
The entrance to the Red Pyramid is almost half way up the side of the Pyramid, and we were all a little breathless when we arrived at the top. There was a good view from this point out towards the Step Pyramid at Saqqara – the army base in between doesn't block the view, though I'm suprised there weren't signs up on the pyramids telling you not to take photos of the army base – lol.
Morad waited outside while the guide and I made our way into the pyramid. It was a steep descent down into the pyramid, and very awkward when you have to be bent in half to make your way down as well. I'm not the tallest of people, but it is uncomfortable enough for me – I'd hate to be taller and try to make my way into that Pyramid! The chambers inside the pyramid seemed to be in much better condition than the pyramid I went into at Giza 10 years ago and seemed cooler – though probably the ventilation systems have improved in the last 10 years. The actual burial chamber was unfinished, so they are not sure if the Pharaoh was ever buried in this pyramid. It is a shame that Pharaoh's didn't go to the effort to decorate their pyramids like the tombs of later Pharaoh's were decorated – but it could be that the effort to get the thing built in the first place left less time for any means of decoration.
I'm not sure what was worse – climbing in or climbing out – by the time I got out, it took a while for the legs to stop shaking (in fact it took days for the legs to stop complaining!). Once out I got Morad to take some photos of me at the pyramids – it is nice to have that photographic proof that yes I was actually there and I am not making all this up – lol.
We then drove to the Bent Pyramid, but what is kind of weird (but I guess is to be expected) is that when you get that close, the changes in angle on the pyramid are nowhere near as obvious as they appear from a distance. The facing stones of the Bent Pyramid appear to be in the best condition of any of the pyramids I have seen, though there is some evidence of erosion and damage at the ground level. There was even some scaffolding on one corner where they appear to be making repairs. The tourist police here looked rather bored, and seemed to spend most of their time relaxing under the overhang where the facing stones had been worn away, making the most of the shade there for themselves and their camels. Dashur is certainly much quieter than Giza and Saqqara (but no where near as quiet as Abu Sir!).
As we drove out from Dashur, we also got a good look at the Black Pyramid (or as I used to call it, the Melted Pyramid, because it looks like it has melted away, and effectively it has – it wasn't built of stone like most of the Pyramids, but was made of mud brick instead).
Back at Morad's place, I showed his friend some of the pictures for the last couple of days, and we watched another bad movie. After his friend headed off to work, Morad fell asleep, and as I had told him I'd stick round till he fell asleep (I had a feeling the early morning would have been too much for him), I thought that was time to head home and get some stuff done at the farm. Back at the farm I was also able to head out for another desert ride, as Maryanne had a client coming back again – Nicole who had come out on Sunday was back again. She was riding Gameela, and I was on Dooby, with Waleed on Wadi. It was a nice ride out past the pyramids at Abu Sir to the little hill that gives a great view out over the four sets of pyramids, stopping on the way back to take a photo of Nicole at Abu Sir. It wasn't a fast desert ride but it was still a good desert ride! I am glad I was riding Dooby however, as he is a gaited horse, and instead of doing too much trotting today, he paced instead - which was a blessing for my tired legs - climbing into that Pyramid was certainly hard work, and I couldn't have risen to the trot for very long.
As the sun started to set, Sabine came around and was treating Nayzak in front of the guest house, so I was talking to her, before Morad turned up. Served up beer and spent time talking to him, Laura and Mohanad. A good night!

Desert ride 11:

Distance - 6.08km
Time - 1:09:02
Average speed - 5.3kmph
Max speed - 20.1kmph

DAY 38 Tue 20 July

Today I had an appointment to head into Maadi with Pal to do a bit of shopping – in fact, despite the fact I had less than a week left in Cairo, this turned out to be one of my more expensive shopping trips. First stop was Road 9 where we split up and I went off to do some of the touristy shopping things. First stop was El Maadi House, where I had bought souveniers previously – picked up some nice wall hangings and scarves and linen shirts – tick some people off the list. Just above that shop was Drinkies, so I decided to buy a dozen beer (all Saqqara as they were out of the large cans of Stella). I then tried to find a shop I had been in with Pat on an earlier day – I missed it the first time, and headed all the way up to Graeco (the coffee shop) before realising I had gone too far. Found it as I walked back thank goodness. There I picked up a set of six coffee mugs with picturesque villages on the side of them, and an ornamental tea pot (it doesn't have a bottom, and has holes in the side where the windows of the buildings are – lol. By the time these were wrapped, I was late meeting Pal back at the car. The car was parked near a car I had admired (I'm not sure if that is really the word I am after) previously. It had a heavy coating of dust, and looks like it hadn't moved since Ramses II was a lad! We then headed towards the big Metro (supermarket) in Maadi, with a stop at the pharmacy along the way. This was one of my most expensive food shops in Cairo, and it was for the shortest period of time... but I had decided to pick up some food for Morad (his fridge is always empty). This ended up being a good thing, because in payment for the food, he took me sightseeing at Dashur :)
Pal then dropped me off at Maryanne's, where I relaxed for a little bit before heading over to Morad's to drop off the food and say hi, before heading back to Maryanne's when Susan and Sabine were due to turn up for an evening ride in the desert. Susan rode Lilly, I was on Wadi, and Mohamed was riding Diva, and once the horses were all saddled up and ready to go, we met Sabine at the back gate, and headed out into the desert. The plan had been to head out towards the pottery shard spot, but unfortunately Susan hadn't had much to eat that day, and the pace was a bit much, so before getting too far we turned around and headed back towards the gate out of the desert. Riding back through the village, there were children playing in water that was leaking from a pump I'm assuming - having a great time sitting in the water and playing in the mud (well, maybe wet sand as opposed to mud!)
Back at the farm, after getting Susan a bite to eat and us all sitting down for a beer and a chat, Susan and I hopped into her taxi and headed off to Khan el Khalili. The plan was to do a little bit of shopping and get some night time photos around this picturesque area of Cairo. The area with the Suk is a mixture of old and new, including some of the old city walls, and the fact that the sun had set added further ambiance to the photos. Despite the time we got there (nearly 9.30 at night), there were still a lot of people around and a lot of shops open, though as we made our way deeper and deeper in, the shops in the centre were beginning to close, though the shops on the main roads surrounding stayed open. Stopped to pick up the perfect gift for Simon, a statue of the head of Bastet. There was an amazing little antique shop, with all these odd little things in it that we went into. The lighting in the area added to it – and Mum's camera allowed for some amazing photos to be taken – the image stabiliser allows night time photos to be taken without a tripod being required (not that I ever had a tripod – I used to try and find a flat surface to lean the camera on to minimise shake, but it didn't often work very well). And the lighting of the mosques in the area also meant some nice photos, especially with a nearly full moon behind them. At about 11pm we stopped at one of the cafes for dinner. It was a good place for people watching – there was a guy a couple of tables over playing a traditional instrument, and then there were all the hawkers coming round – one guy was selling dolls, another lady would do henna paintings. The smell of flavoured tobacco was also strong in the air, nearly drowning out the smell of the cooking food behind us. And the number of children up and about at that time of the night was astonishing. They had toys with little LED lights, some like UFO's heading up into the air. At midnight we headed back to the taxi, and after dropping Susan off in Maadi, he drove me out to Maryanne's. What a long day – by the time the taxi pulled up at the gate, it was 1am... and I had to be at Morad's at 9am for our trip out to Dashur!

Desert ride 10:

Distance - 6.27km
Time - 1:05:46
Average speed - 5.7kmph
Max speed - 38.7kmph