And So I Don't Forget...

TBT: Dwarfed by Pyramid

After posting an old email from Egypt last week, I thought I'd delve into my albums and find some Egypt photos to share.

These were taken in April 2003. With film. It seems to long ago! ;) 

TBT: Email from Egypt

Today I thought I might share an email that I sent to family and friends when I was in Egypt, back in April 2003. As you will read, I'd been experiencing some donkey dramas. ;)

Hey folks,

I think many of you will have heard about my donkey drama by now but I will let the rest of you in on the story. I was riding a donkey to the Valley of the Kings when I lost my balance slightly. I was just righting myself when another donkey and rider charges past beside me and I got walloped. I went flying off the donkey to land on the bitumen road chin first. Initially I thought I had lost teeth as I was wearing a necklace made of bone that broke and bits of teethlike material were lying on the road. The tour leaders came running and I got bandaged up. I continued to the Valley of the Kings in a taxi. After looking around there for a while my chin was actually bleeding through the bandage so I was laid back on a bench and all the tour group huddled around to have a look. The consensus was that I needed stitches. The doctor at the hotel agreed and gave me 5 of them. Just let me add here that he needs work on his local anaesthetic technique. One stitch I felt in its entirety. Ouch! He bandaged me up again said I couldn't get it wet for 7 days... 

My large bandage got a lot of stares and many people asked what happened. At our hotel resaurant the waiter asked and when I replied I fell off a donkey he laughed a little and asked what really happened. When I assured him that I did really fall off a donkey he couldn't help himself and really laughed, apologising at the same time...That is the story of my donkey drama.

The other major event in Egypt was my 4 day/3 night felucca trip down the Nile. It was fantastic fun, despite the only toilet facilities being behind bushes on the bank. The motto was D.D.W.B.B. Dig, do, wipe, burn, bury. This was actually quite an experience for me as in any camping trip in the past REAL toilet facilities have been a definite requirement. One problem we repeatedly experienced was locals walking past with donkeys at the very wrong moment. On the felucca we slept, ate and lived on the deck, under a cloth awning...I did go swimming in the Nile a few times. We had to hang onto the rope to keep up with the boat if it was moving fast. 

I have seen the pyramids and the Sphinx! My first thought was that they weren't actually that big. In my mind I had built them up to be massive when they are actually only really big. We walked down inside one and you needed to be hunched over the roof was so low. The walk back up was easier on the back but not the calves.

The Valley of the Kinds was most amazing for the colour of the paint in the temples. It was still bright thousands of years later.

In the museum I saw all the things that had been buried with Tutankhamen. The death mask was simply amazing but there were also beds, chairs, toys, anything you can think of. It really boggles the mind when you consider that he was a minor king who died suddenly in his teens. I can't imagine what the tomb of a major kind might have been like.

Ok, that is it for now. I am out of news.

Love yas,

Delanie. 

Do you get the sense that Egypt isn't my favourite country? Chances of my ever getting on a donkey again still remain slim. Evil creatures. ;)