From the Land of the Pharoah

The ongoing project which took me to Frankfurt in February, took me to the land of the Pharaoh this time. Yes readers, it is true. UTP was in Cairo, Egypt these past few weeks and boy it was a trip.

Cairo known for history older than 4000 years and maybe more, owning the wonders of the world in the Great Pyramids of Giza and the River Nile, I was looking forward to this one. While work was the same, hectic and pretty much busy for the whole day, it didn't stop me from roaming around a bit.

On the first outlook, it looks nothing different from Karachi only worse when it comes to traffic. It was an eye-opener cos I couldnt imagine any place with worse traffic than Karachi. I was proven wrong. Cairo has a major infrastructure problem with 2 or 3-lane roads and many more cars compared to that with the increasing population. Wages are low and tipping very common on the streets for pretty much anything you want to get done.

However, that was the only bad thing I could find in Cairo. Its a great city with the atmosphere of history lurking nearby. About an hour from the office, we were standing next to the pyramids. I couldn't fulfill my wish of actually stepping into a pyramid but a little appetizer was the laser show which was based in the vicinity. The story of how the pharaoh wanted immortality and how the pyramids were built etc. Good stuff. However, as I said this was an appetizer. I'll be going back to finish the meal in the future whenever possible.

The other places to go was the Cairo Museum which was also a good idea as we went through the history and how Egypt had evolved over the years. One could see from the monuments kept how ancient civilization matured into sophistication at the time. It was also interesting to see how being ruled by different societies, Greeks, Romans, Muslims etc left a great mixture of culture while holding their history intact.

Our hotel was right next to the Nile which was a treat. Every morning, one could just step out of the balcony and see the great wonder that God had created. The never-ending Nile is a great source of pride for the Egyptians and why not. In the morning it shines the sunlight crossing through the country and in the night with the lights and cruises on it, it holds it peace still swaying with the wind.

We were lucky to be taken on a Nile Cruise by a colleague and it was a treat. Great food and good performances by a Belly Dancer and this crazy Sufi guy who was just turning circles in meditation and performing jugglery at the same time for around 15-20 minutes non-stop. Crazy but unique stuff.

Overall it was a successful trip work-wise so have memories to cherish both work and pleasure-wise. But its a destination I am certainly not done with. Need to go again, this time with no work, only explore and understand their history. Lets see when that happens.