It was 23:35 when we went on board the airplane for an eight hours flight to Egypt, Cairo where the whole Holy Land Trip began.
11:30 a.m. (18th April 2012)
"Bless Tour! Bless Tour!" shouted Lina the tour leader, a beautiful middle aged woman with slim figure and healthy pink complexion, when we arrived at Cairo International Airport. Compared to Dubai's airport (where we had our transit after a five hours flight) which was filled with people from one corner to another, Cairo's airport is much quieter and humble in appearance than the grand and modern look of Dubai's."Make sure you get your own bags." Lina warned as we looked around for our bags that had been brought down from the conveyor belt.
Making sure that my camera is fully intact with me, together with my bagpack (plus the luggages) I found myself unable to contain my excitement anymore as I looked out of Cairo's airport for the day's trip.
It was believed that there had been a sand storm in the city the day before, thus creating the whole city dusty and slightly foggy. I was a little uneasy when I saw the amount of thick dust flying around the city, as I'm afraid my allergy will start to bother me; however, thanks to the excitement that was unbearable, I found myself diverted to another attention, besides the fog. And that is, the Egyptians plate number.
Unlike the usual plate number that we see, which was written in numeric, in Egypt, all car plate numbers were written in arabic!
"Hello Egypt!" I said to myself at the thought of being in another part of the world, whereby its culture, language, traditions and lifestyles are one that is totally different from mine. (That's the purpose of travelling isn't it? to see the world beyond textbook/ youtube/ google etc.)
"Good morning everyone" Greeted our Egyptian tour guide as we boarded the bus "My name is Amin." he said self-introducing himself. Amin, is big built, with broad shoulders and tanned skin. A pair of big brown eyes, a sharp nose and exotic eye lashes (which only Egyptians are bless to have....those beautiful lashes you know). Amin gave a brief explanation about his collaboration with Lina as well as our destinations for the day.
"Now, if you see to your left" Amin said over the microphone "You'll find yourself seeing many houses with no one living in it..." (As he was saying these, my parents, who were sitted behind me, were just discussing among themselves "why are the houses empty?" afterwhich their doubts were clarrified a second after, as Amin said) "that is because, those buildings that you see are actually tombs. And this place is what we call the Dead City, or Kota Mati" He said in our native language, Indonesian. The moment the word "dead" was heard, my mom who was about to take pictures of the buildings, and who also had a tabboo towards deadly related things, immediately, kept her camera, while my dad and I laughed at her reaction.
"But why they create such a thing?" My dad was saying when, again Amin gave the anwers.
It was believed that this rituals had been passed down in Egypt since the pharaoh time and because for the Egyptians dying is part of the beginning of a new life. And thus, unlike our usual custom whereby the dead is being left to rest in a place of their own, for Egyptians, it was not merely like that.
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Well, pretty creepy, but you will find it even more creepy when I told you that about 50000 beggars in Egypt use that place as a shelter they called home. Reason is because, they can use up the facilities there without having to pay rental fees etc. even if it means to break the law, as the Dead City is located far away from the city.
Anyway, after we drove past the Dead City, we were brought to see the streets in Cairo, whereby a silent riot had taken place for a democratic country. And what I find amusing was, just when I thought that they would be pissed to see a tourist bus walked past, and the worst might happen, the rioters were in fact happy to see tourists. Some of them even wave to us and mouthed the word "Welcome" as we drove past them.
I dont know if this sounds, weird, maybe it does, but, really I found that pretty hospitable. :)
Next, after roaming around the busy streets filled with people and cars dashing across the road in irregular patterns and drove past the street markets in Cairo that sells all sorts of fruits, and had our first lunch in Cairo, we found ourselves face to face with the church that was famous for its suspended architecture, Thats it!
The Hanging Church!!!Indeed, it was brilliantly cool!
Built in the 3rd Century A.D. and the beginning of the 4th Century A.D. the church was regarded as the oldest church in the area of Al-Fustat (Old Cairo) with the church's wooden roof in the shape of Noah's ark
and behind the altar, a wooden panels decorated in ostrich-eggs shape designs.
The designs are used to symbolize God's love for us as He sacrificed his life for us, just like an ostrich mother who sacrifices herself for the predators when danger comes to attack her eggs. Thus, like that, the congregattions was told to reflect upon God's love each time they enter the church.
It was a really beautiful church with elaborative wooden lamps hanging on the ceiling and the church's wooden chairs that made the whole church sensation looked so warm and sedate under the soothing yellow lighting.
Also not to forget, the (in my opinion) Alladin like entrance door made of marble that made the whole church appear so exotic in its own way. So remember if you ever went to the Hanging Church, do take a picture with the doors like this: --->>> **and note that you are actually 30 metres above the ground. (Go to the side of the church, from the entrance to your right, to see that you are really suspended!)
Finished exploring and posing around in front of the hanging church, it was already about 2:30 almost 3 p.m. then.
At first I thought it was time to go to the hotel. Had a warm bath and Yipeee!!!! a rest at last. (For your record, I had not been sleeping throughout the 8 hours flight, or maybe I did, but it was only for about 2 hours) But unfortunately, the day was not over yet.
In fact, we are still making our way to the next 2 churches we were told to see, which was the St. Sergius Church and the Synagogue Church. (But too bad, no pictures allowed, so no photos to show :)) And then, we headed for our last....this time is for real, station for the day: Cairo Museum!
For those of you folks out there who LLLLOOOOVVVEEEE!!!! Egyptian treassures like the mummies or the Pharaoh or the Egyptian gods, you gotta love it there.
It was a huge museum, filled with all the Egyptian treassures, mostly (the one I see) was the remains of Egyptian 12th ruler and the most famous Pharaoh of all time, Tutankhamun. His statue, His carriage that was made of gold, his chair, which was also made of gold and decorated with gem stone found from the Nile River as well as his golden containers to contain his body remains in the canopic jars could be found in the museum.
And frankly speaking, being a fan for Mummies and Egypt, I found myself standing in awe in front of all these Egyptian treassures. Seriously, if the time was not too late and too rush, I would love to explore further like the hieroglyphic written on the papyrus paper in the glass jars along the walls, or the many2 little jars and elements that was displayed there on the museum. Due to time constraint, we only stayed there for about 1 and a half hour I think. But anyway, it was a great experience after all. Learning more about it through websites now :) and I just learned that for different organs that was transferred into the canopic jars, they have a guardian of their own. Such as the bamboon head jar (Hapi) which was used to contain the lungs, or the jackal like head jar (Duamutef) which was used to contain the stomach.
Usually, organs that was preserved are the lungs, the stomach, the intestines and the liver.
(http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00194/mummies.htm)
The heart which was believed to be the one organ use to think, feel and control the brain, was left in the body, which will later, according to the Egyptian belief, during the soul's journey to the afterlife, will be judged by the god of death, Osiris.
The heart will be weight alongside the feather of truth (on the opposite side of the weighing machine) and if the feather is heavier it means the person in his life is a good man and allowed to enter. But if the heart is heavier, it means, the person do more bad deeds than good, and thus, Anubis (another god of death) will order the beast, sitting beside him to eat the heart and the man will be thrown to hell.
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| picture taken from google (I didnt owned this) |
How you like the Ancient Egyptian belief? There are so many things to read about Egypt and their gods and goddesses and they are interesting! trying to memorise some of its interesting facts :)
But anyway, so far so long...for a post. And it is only the first day of my trip. So ya, gotta break it down. :)
Anyway, after we had finished exploring in the museum, finally, after an exhausted day we are sent to our first lodging for the night, Le Meridien for some delicious dinner, a warm bath and a good night sleep :)
** Check out day2 of my trip and more. :)
Love and Peace,
Yuliana :)
