The Sphinx kind of gets short-changed if you ask me. If this statue were pretty much anywhere else in the world, it would be one of the most impressive things ever. But considering it's basically a couple hundred yards away from two of the largest, most famous monuments in the world, it's way less impressive in person than it should be.
They're basically the opposite of the Mona Lisa - WAY more impressive in person than I ever imagined they could be. If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend seeing them in person. (Fuck taking a tour and going through the official gate - it's a hell-on-earth clusterfuck of tourist crowds).
The pyramids are really big. Way bigger than I always imagined them to be. At first you don't think they're all that large, but then you keep riding towards them and riding towards them and you're like "Uh, shouldn't they be getting bigger?" Nope, they're still really far away.
Getting closer! If you look to the right of the pyramids, you'll see just how near Cairo's sprawl comes! From L to R: Pyramid of Menkaure, Pyramid of Khafre and the largest and most famous Pyramid of Khufu.
I was dead-right in my assumption, and a couple of moments after introducing myself, the man in the plaid shirt took me to a private camel-tour business run by an in-law of his. I got hooked up with a great deal and less than an later I found myself on the back of a camel (named Banana! Awwww!) riding through the desert right next to the huge fence the Egyptian government puts up.
On the ride into the desert, we kept passing the carcasses and skeletons of horses and camels that weren't able to make it. Seriously. Not very reassuring!
This fence surrounds the entire site and tries to ensure that people only enter the site through the main entrance. But all of the local stables simple ride you out a couple of kilometers into the desert on camelback and circumvent it.
This time around I decided that rather than trying to fight the current so insistent on taking me on a private camel-back tour of the pyramids, that I'd openly embrace it and proactively try to seek out the best private tour company I could find. I ended up striking up a conversation with the guy in front of me in the plaid shirt - and since any local worth his salt in the area is basically an amateur tour guide ready to take you to any number of good places in exchange for some sort of "finder's fee."
After getting off the subway, I decided to forego a taxi (and all the hassle of a driver not taking you to where you ask to be taken) and instead hopped on a local bus that looked like it would get me really close to the pyramids.
I know I mentioned this in an earlier post when I tried to go visit the Giza pyramids the first time, but it bears repeating: I always thought that the pyramids were in the middle of a desert miles away from modern life, but they are literary right on the edge of a densely populated, totally modern suburb of Cairo. One minute, you're sitting on the bus passing strip malls and fast food chains and then suddenly, out of nowhere you're like...
