Egypt

As most of you know my dad has been working in the oil business most of my life, but the past few years he has been working to drill on some land in Oman of all places. You know, like by Saudi Arabia? Anyway, we decided that it was high time we see where he has been working so after Christmas we went to Egypt, Dubai, and Oman for two weeks. It was amazing and really allowed me to learn a lot about middle eastern culture and Muslims because we spent a lot of time with my dad's business partner Ali and his family.

First we went to Egypt, and although we had been there three years ago, we got to see a few pyramids we hadn't seen before and it was nice to get another perspective from a different tour guide. We went to Saqqara the step pyramid, the Bent pyramid in Dahshur, and the Red Pyramid. It was interesting to see the succession to the Giza Pyramids. We had a great dinner right on the Nile and we also hit up the Bazaar, but we weren't to into people yelling at you to buy stuff so that was short lived. We also went to the Mohamed Ali Mosque which overlooks Cairo, so it has a great view of the city.  One thing that is interesting about Cairo is that when people used to come visit their loved ones graves they would stay so long that they often built a little concrete structure to shield them from the sun as they read the Koran and thought about their ancestors. What is sad is that the city is so overcrowded that poor people now live in those little structures in the cemeteries.

After Cairo we went to Luxor and saw the Valley of the Kings, which is where all the tombs are. It is so amazing how deep they went and how big the tombs were with so many jewels and riches. We saw the gold from King Tut's tomb in the Cairo museum and it is incredible how much gold he had in his tomb, and he wasn't even a very beloved ruler. Can you imagine Ramses Tomb before it was robbed? Then we saw queen Hatsheput's Temple, Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple.  I really like Hatsheput's temple because she is the only woman who has a temple, and its built into a mountain, but I think Karnak is my favorite. Karnak is just so huge and the main room when you walk in has hundreds of huge columns. I can't imagine it in its hay day painted and with a roof! The Egyptians really were so amazing. It was so fun to be with my family seeing Egypt for the first time too.  My Dad was blown away.  I don't know how long he has wanted to go to Egypt, but he was really amazed by what we saw.