Day 2: Cairo and Giza

So this was the big day. Our first full one in Egypt. The day we would see the pyramids...in sunlight. There was a logistical challenge, because we had check out of the hotel before we did that, we had to have breakfast even before that and we had to be packed even before that. Not to mention that Ma wasn't feeling very well.
But jetlag to the rescue.
We were up at the crack of dawn, welcoming the sun's ascent across the smoggy sky, viewing this gorgeous view as I prepared instant coffee in the room.

The smog in Cairo was amazing. Like Delhi from two decades ago. You could not clearly see a mile out. As in this case.

This is Rania Maher, our wonderful guide in Cairo. A single mother of two girls that she sends to American school. Explaining ancient Egypt's choice of pyramid as the divine shape to my mother and daughter.

And here is Ayon, trying to figure out the pyramid geometry himself. Notice the West Side Montessori School, hat.

And here is me. Doing what everyone else seemed to be also doing, except my friends maligned poor Japanese tourists; of whom we did not see much. Lots of Chinese tourists, though. And a few Indians, from India. In fact, whenever the Egyptians asked us where we were from and we said India, they would roll their eyes like they knew that already and ask us the next question ..."but where do you live now". We would say NY and they would be satisfied. That is a state of things that is changing. One of the guides told me that some guides have been going to China to learn Mandarin to guide Chinese tourists. Chinese tourists, that is, from China.

Camel, topview.

The less brave, i.e. Ma, Mamta and Ayon, chose this as their mode of transportation around the pyramids. Keya and I, of course, went camelback riding.

No sense of scale in this picture but these things are huge.

Each course of stone is about 5'-6' high.

The tourists.

The Sphinx.