Page 99 - June-July23

FOOD & BEVERAGE

t was an Arabian night to remember as the Pyramids of
Giza changed colours, dazzled and mesmerised during the
son et lumiere show. The oldest of the seven ancient
wonders, they had me in a bind.
The son et lumiere show went on to highlight the
Ihistory of the pyramids and that of the Sphinx. The
melodrama of multiculoured lasers and portentous, Burtonian
narration – of the “All men fear time but time fears the Sphinx”
variety – was captivating but it was the faces of the pyramids and
Sphinx that kept coming back to haunt me again and again long
after the show was over.
I returned to the comfort of my hotel room with a splendid view
of the Nile and the Cairo skyline sparkling in the night. However,
nothing could compare with what I had just witnessed. No matter
how many postcards you’ve seen, I bet nothing prepares you for the
real thing!
Not surprisingly, I wound my way back to Giza the following day
again. This time, with the sun beating down my head, I trotted on a
camel and after passing the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the oldest on
the site and the largest in Egypt, reached the entrance of the
smallest of the three pyramids, Menkaure, just in time before it
closed its door.
Crouched nearly on all fours, I climbed down the long, steep
stairways and down tiny passages to the empty burial chambers
but tired and exhausted, I ran up the same route double quick as I
could hardly bear the heat, the airlessness and the claustrophobia.
Gasping for breath, I rushed out and, ignoring calls from my
chirpy guide – “Oh, mister, now you want to see Sphinxter?” – I
headed straight back to civilisation.
I know there are other pyramids to see in Egypt as well –
including those in nearby Sakkara – but if you’ve seen the big one,
you’ve seen them all.
Next, it was important to see what lay beneath the pyramids. So,
off I went to the gargantuan Egyptian Museum of Antiquities.
Representing the largest collection of its kind in the world, it boasts
more than 100,000 artefacts spanning Egyptian history from the
earliest dynasties to the Roman era.

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