Another detour

Variety is the spice of life, not only for travel destination but also for food. During this trip to Cairo we were served a lot of beet recipes on British Airways. I've never cooked beets before so I decided it was time. I think I found a recipe from one of Skye Gyngell's cookbooks, she's the chef at Petersham Nurseries in London, a place I hope to visit later this year. I bought 2 pounds of golden beets, roasted them, peeled and quartered them and dressed them with some zesty Italian dressing and they tasted so wonderful. I now love eating beets. I've cooked them many times since coming back.

I Tried some blood oranges years ago and they weren't any good. So for a long time I swore off them till a few weeks ago. I gave them another chance, I found some really good ones at the market. Again, Skye Gyngell loves to make a blood orange jelly. So here am I with a few pounds of blood oranges....

I found this great wooden reamer at Sur la table for $3.50 and started to juice these oranges. Then I heated up the juice with a little sugar till warm, dissolved a packet of gelatin into it and chilled it.

It makes the greatest blood orange jelly.It is so good, try it, you'll be a convert. It is so refreshing. You've gotta hurry, the season for blood oranges is almost done for the year. I think I'm going to make it one more time.

Soon you'll be dreaming of the next episode with blood oranges which will be next Spring.

My next trip is in June to Yunnan province in China. I've my visa and my ticket to fly already.

These are the Hakka dwellings in South China. I'm not going there but I hope to one day soon. Being Hakka, myself, I've heard of this place from my grandfather who came from here. Every one with the same last name lives together in these huge circular buildings. I want to see this before they disappear.

My Egyptian visa. You can get one as you arrive at Cairo airport.

My China visa, I didn't line up at the Chinese Consulate, though I could have. We have a Chinese consulate in Los Angeles. Instead I mailed my passport to some outfit in New Jersey and paid them to get it for me. They wanted me to write something about their services and I'm doing it right now. Their website is www.visarite.com . I found them on the Internet, recommended by the Chinese government and I called them and they walked me through the process and in less than 10 days, my passport was mailed back to me with the visa. It was very efficient. Thanks to them I'm now waiting for the time to come when I'll be leaving for China.

Detour

The desert

Growing up in a tropical rain forest on the island of Borneo, we've only read about this desert in the bible and in Geography. Moses, presumably left building pyramids and went into the Sinai desert which he would later lead the Israelites into and wander for 40 years. Abraham left the promised land and stayed in Egypt a few times. The Holy family, afraid of Herod, wandered and lived in Egypt for a while. This is the same Egypt written of in the Bible. I'm sure they never would have imagined a day like this when this same desert would be filled with tour buses carrying people from all the world.

Imagine the three wise men coming over the desert....

The past and the present, intermingling and bridging a gap of almost 5000 years. The camels were the only mode of transportation then. They didn't have air conditioned buses.

It is fascinating. That's why I travel.

The Giza pyramids

I emphasized 'Giza' pyramids because there are over 100 pyramids in Egypt. These are the famous trio at Giza. Most people come here, they may go to Saqqara but very few go to Dashur. All the tour buses stop here. The biggest one is that of Cheops and there is an entrance into this pyramid that for a fee one can enter. We chose not to. Of the seven wonders of the world, the pyramids at Giza are the only one that exists. These are the pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Menkaure. The Pyramid age began at Saqqara in the 27th century BC when the royal architect Imhotep built the first step pyramid and the great funerary for King Djozer which we will visit later. Later they experimented with making the sides straight but made a false calculation and ended with the Bent pyramid at Dashur which again we will later visit. Finally they found the formula and the red pyramid in Dashur was the result. So by the time (2500 BC) they built perfect pyramids as is apparent in the Giza trio. The Great pyramid of Cheops at Giza marked the zenith of pyramid architecture.

It was so exciting as the we drew closer to the pyramids. This was the highlight of our trip and we are finally here. Wow! This is the lace cap of our driver. I was wondering what is this in my picture.

Some of the limestone covering is still on the top of this pyramid.

This was our ride. We stepped down to go get tickets to get in while he waited for us. How great is this? What a great shot!

He's having a smoke.

You can ride horses or camels here.

The city of Giza is fast growing closer to the pyramid field.

What a cheesey photo! Our driver took this. These are the few pictures with us in them. One of our taxi drivers laughed, he said this is the first time he's seen pictures without the photographer in them.

It's been a lot of fun. I can't wait to get back. The greatest thing was our money went pretty far and bought us more experiences. I can't wait to go to Luxor and Abu Simbel in the South.

Giza city

Our horse and buggy driver and this was our ride around the Giza pyramids and the Sphinx. All these pictures were taken from this horse and buggy. We had to go into the main road and into traffic. At that moment I self flagellated and was upset that I got steered into riding this contraption. Now, as I uploading these pictures, I am smiling from ear to ear and am glad I did it. Now I think it was worth it as you shall also see.

If not for the Nile, Egypt would be one big desolate desert. It is amazing what water can do, coax some sand into producing abundance. Water is the stuff of life. All along the Nile, plants and therefore life spring into life. There are date palms and underneath them grows tomatoes, green vegetables, bananas, cotton, citrus and other things. There is no shortage of produce. Unfortunately the unchecked population growth takes away arable land because unlicensed buildings takes its place. There's always a very delicate balance between living spaces and arable land.

All along the Nile are thriving communities. The guidebooks say to go to some oasis to see Egyptian country life. One does not really have to go far to see it. In Giza, the country life exists side by side with new building constructions and tourists buses. Cars compete for space on the road with mule carts, horse buggies and maybe camels. There are camels but they probably don't go on the main paved roads.

I know this because our taxi driver steered us into taking a horse and buggy ride from one of his friends. The guidebooks say you don't need a camel or horse and cart to go to see the Giza pyramids. It's true. I only agreed to the horse and cart because it was going to be a long day. The taxi driver agreed to take us to Giza, Saqqara and Dashur. I'm glad I did the horse and cart because the photographs we took were exceptional. We saw the area where the horses and camels were kept. We saw the back streets of Giza where the country life is lived. If we had just driven to the pyramid field, we would have missed all this action. It explains why pictures taken by most visitors to Giza are so sterile. The tour bus takes you straight to the pyramids and back and you wouldn't have seen a thing of Giza city. Looking back I'm glad we paid the 250Le for the horse and cart and something extra for our driver.

We got to see the area where the camels and horses are kept. We got to see the desperate poverty which fascinated us. We got to see the dirty camels, one of them peed, spreading its hind legs and in a slightly squatting position pissed!

As we headed towards the entry to the pyramid field, we can see them through the trees. Wow! What a sight! We are here! Here we are on a cart driven by a horse and driver, riding along with traffic and heading over to see the Giza pyramids. All our pictures were taken from the horse and buggy. It was a lot of fun, I do recommend it! I do recommend the horse and buggy. You get this colorful contraption and an Egyptian in a 'night shirt' as your driver. It makes for happy memories and beautiful pictures.
You can see the silhouette of the pyramid through the trees.