Day 22: Pyramids & Egyptian Museum

Met the rest of the group over breakfast. There's 10 of us - two couples from Melbourne (Tim & Cara, Matt & Clare), a couple from Brisbane (Shane & Jodie), a single mum from Adelaide (Cheryl) and a pair of Canadian girls from Toronto (Jess & Jenn). Everyone is young and friendly and seem pretty chilled out which bodes well.

First stop for the day was the Pyramids which literally just stick out of the city. There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said about them. They're huge, impressive, so iconic it's hard to believe they're really there, and surrounded by friendly people doing their utmost to rip you off. Being brought up with British manners, it's hard to not reply when someone calls out "hello my friend, where are you from?", but they only want to part you with your money. One kid even rode his camel into a photo and then demanded a tip for being in the photo!

We wandered around for a couple of hours and went inside the Great Pyramid to the burial chamber which was incredible. Visited the boat museum (they found an enormous wooden boat buried next to the great pyramid in the 1950s) and the panoramic vantage point where we took some silly group shots.

After that we went down the hill to the Sphinx which is beautiful but smaller than I expected. And again surrounded by street vendors and touts. Had lunch at a nearby local joint where we ate koshari - Egypt's national dish of noodles, rice, chickpeas and other stuff mixed in. Very delicious, but carb overload!

In the afternoon we visited the Egyptian Museum. The collection is mammoth and way more than we could see in an afternoon. I wandered around with the Canadian girls, marvelling at the statues, sarcophagi and so on. And of course the entire wing dedicated to King Tut's burial chambers. Sadly we missed the Rosetta Stone!

Back to the hotel where I killed time for an hour or so before a group meeting ahead of our overnight train to Aswan. We got upgraded to sleeper cabins which is awesome, though I had to share with Cheryl the single mum, but that was no big deal. Much better than sitting up in a seat for 14 hours!Read more