About Me

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Guildford, Hampshire, United Kingdom
I am a 47 year old (2011) first generation Caribbean Black British woman. I have a 30 year old daughter and a 23 year old son. I am single and work full-time as Air Cabin Crew on long-haul. My first book (my auto-biography) called 'Shoy' was published in Feb 2004. Currently I am looking for an agent to represent me or publishers for the various projects I am working on such as a play, children's story, love story and the sequel to Shoy.

Monday 8 November 2010

Cairo - Egypt

Hello again to all of you.  I have had a great Sunday at home with the family and have done a huge chicken roast dinner (I apologise to those of you who are vegetarians) with all the trimmings and I had to add in Yorkshire Puddings as I love them and to finish a home made apple and ginger crumble with loads of custard.  So now I am full and relaxed, but not too relaxed got work to do.  Before I tell you about my time in Cairo, I would like to thank those of you from:
                                       The United Kingdom (home of course)
                                       The United States of America
                                       Oman
                                       South Africa
                                       Singapore
                                       Italy
                                       Russia
                                       Japan
                                       Libya
                                       Malta
Thank you so much for your support and interest.  Please I ask one favour of all that visit my blog and that is if you like (or even not like) what you read and digest, can you leave me comments on the blog.  I thank you.  So now on to Cairo.

I have only ever been to Cairo once and I have to say in some respects I was disappointed.  Having gone to see the Pyramids, I expected them to be in the middle of no-where just rising out of its sandy existence in all its splendour as seen in many books, but whilst standing looking at these true wonders, you turn 180 degrees and there it is, the town, cramped dwellings with a constant hum of the traffic and horns and people and animals sharing what is left of the streets, dusty and smelly in places.
The pyramids are just spectacular and as an attraction they do not disappoint at all.  You stand there marvelling at the ingenuity of these colossal stone tombs and question why as a race they were so wrapped up in their afterlife and the need to take their possessions with them - maybe I should have paid more attention in my history class I may have learnt the answer to that puzzle hmmm.
For anyone who has been to Cairo, you must have been in awe of the sheer size of the pyramids and the blocks that made them.  You just can't imagine how hard it must have been to move these huge chunks of rock, which when I stood next to one was twice my height and I am 5'3" - just mind blowing, but definitely impressive.  I have to admit, (but you probably knew this was coming), but I did not dare enter the pyramids.  The dimly lit, tight corridors to the inner chambers would have sent me into an absolute situation and I mean huge situation.  So for my dignity and not to scare the other tourists, it was best I stayed out (and my thoughts on the matter were, why would you want to go deep into a stone tomb anyway?)
The museum in Cairo is exquisite and the different areas of the exhibitions are so interesting.  The colours they used and the quality of the precious metals and stones.  They were definitely not afraid of showing their wealth and their respect for their dead.  Whilst walking around the museum I seemed to be attracting attention from the locals and the cleaners.  I was getting very uneasy with their actions towards me and as I could not understand what they were saying I was trying very hard not to make eye contact with them, but it was hard.  The other two guys I was with noticed all of this and told me stay close to them.  One of them then asked one of the security guards why was this happening and he replied, look at her and look at Queen Nefertiti, they look a like - personally I could not see this, but the two of them agreed and decided (laughing) that they should be my bodyguards for the day as they may want to snatch me (this I did not find funny at all) I was so ready to go.
On walking around the streets, they are very narrow and dusty and their animals share the footpaths with you.  They are very friendly and although there is a language barrier, facial expressions say a lot.  As you walk around the many shops that sell beautifully designed glass bottles for perfumes, you are always offered tea and a place to sit and they are quite happy to bring the merchandise to you, display it on a table and tell you all about it, how it was made and the different scents that can be purchased and what they promote in way of healing and well being.

There is one picture that I will not display as it may be disturbing to some of you, but there was a camel meat shop on what I would say was their equivalent of a High Street and hanging outside was a whole skinned camel with its head still on and tied up near it was a live camel eating away whilst the owners sat in the doorway waiting for their passing trade.  It was a photo opportunity not to miss, but seeing a skinned camel may not appeal to most - so you will have to imagine.

As we all know, Egypt is steeped with so much history, probably on every street in Cairo, there is so much to see.  I did not even get to visit the City of the Dead where the people live in the tombs of the graveyard of their dead.  Apparently it is huge area and there are thousands of inhabitants because of the housing shortage in Egypt, but as it is not an official housing estate, their are problems with pests, sewage and smells - this of course cannot be healthy, but for some it is shelter from the searing, dusty heat and the rain and winds.

I look forward to another visit.

4 comments:

Gem 64 said...

Thank you for leaving the picture of the skinned camel out ! I was reading this while eating my lunch and although I have a strong stomach that would not have gone down well ! :) A great read as always, Sydney is top of my list so far.

Aandi Greenway said...

Hello Colin
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a message. You are most welcome, I did not think the camel image would have gone down well. Also thank you for your positive feedback, very much appreciated. Thank you take care. Aandi

Dario said...

it is a pity you did not go to see the night show!!! the place looks magic!!!
Love your blog!! ciao Dario

Aandi Greenway said...

Hello Dario
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a very nice comment and compliment - Hopefully get to see the night show next time. Take care ciao Aandi