During this Christmas break my family and I was fortunate enough to travel to Egypt for my grandmother’s birthday. While in Egypt for three weeks, we stayed in Giza, then Cairo. The two cities are separated by the Nile River.
The weather did not surpass 70 degrees during the day, and the nights were pretty cold. Egypt recently went through a revolution period in 2011, the revolution consisted of demonstrations, marches, riots, acts of civil resistance, and strikes that focused on legal and political issues.
According to “Egypt revolution Death Toll: Arab Network for Human Rights Information Documents 841 killed” by Sarah El Deeb, During the revolution there were “… more than 800 civilians killed by security forces in last year’s uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak last year.”
Which was evident by the environment and the lack of order. There were not many street lights, and the people ignored the lanes in the roads. A cab driver told me “You have to have 20 eyes to driver here.”
And he was not kidding. The Nile River was beautiful at night, but during the day you could see there was a lot of trash surrounding the area. The pyramids site was such a beautiful sight; it was hard to believe people created the structures so long ago. Something that surprised me while being there during New Year’s eve was that they celebrated New Year’s like Americans. For New Year’s Eve, there were fireworks at the pyramids.
Unfortunately, I had to visit the hospital because of dehydration. The hospital was very unorganized and chaotic. You can definitely tell that since the revolution the hospitals have went through a confusing change. I tried visiting the library, but I had to be a member to enter. My family and I went to the zoo, although there was a variety of animals the conditions were appalling.
There were stray cats and trash everywhere. We also visited The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, which has amazing Egyptian artifacts and mummies. I was excited by the museum because of the hieroglyphics and statues of the many kings and queens of Egypt. In contrast to some other parts of Egypt, the mall was very nice. It had many stores that are found in the U.S., such as H&M, Nike, Bath & Body Works, and Victoria’s Secret.
I definitely would say it was better than the malls here in Michigan such as Northland Mall and Eastland Mall. Also there
Of course the main reason for the visit was to visit the pyramids and learn about the history of the site. We were able to go inside the largest pyramid; Pyramid of Khufu. However, there was nothing inside, but still it was a great experience to go inside. The whole trip was an eye opener for me, I definitely want to travel more in the future to learn different cultures. Egypt with its flaws is still very beautiful.
