My Cairo, Egypt trip as captured by my Casio digital camera (@2008)

When my colleague and I went to Egypt in 2008, we had to take a Middle Eastern Airline which required us to transit in Abu Dhabi. When we arrived at the first leg of our journey, it was pouring rain!

The flight was practically empty as well. My colleague sitting on the other side of the plane.

It was a wet day at Abu Dhabi. Thankfully, we have the aero-bridge to get into the terminal.

We took off for our final destination at the height of the rain.

I wondered how many times in a year Abu Dhabi gets such a wet day?

Across the Arabian Peninsular towards Egypt, it was not all sand and stones. There are pockets of greenery.

Interestingly, huge industrial (?) complexes can be seen from the air.

Below appears to be a residential neighborhood. Each house is a massive bungalow with large compounds.

However, at the centre of the Peninsular, nothing man-made could be seen from the air. Definitely a lonely place.

Hilly terrain.

The Sinai Peninsular can just been seen and now you get to see large towns on the ground.

Apartment buildings.

Like the way the architect designed the blocks. Looks like each unit is interlocking with the next.

Fertile land. Greenery in a sea of sand.

This particular city does not have any tall buildings.

Below looks like a slum. Buildings compressed against each other.

Finally, the Pyramids of Giza!

Clearly see the 3 pyramids as well as the Spinx.

This is the only part of Egypt that is fertile. Truly, the Nile river is a life giver to the people.

20 million people around Cairo. The mass of humanity alone is difficult to comprehend.

Sprawling residential units.

More modern building can be seen closer to the City. We much be close to the center of Cairo.

In the next few years, construction of taller buildings will be coming. They cannot just continue growing outwards.

The famous traffic conditions in Cairo can be clearly seen in the photo below. Organised madness!

As far as the eye can see, I do not see any buildings above 20 stories. I wonder why?

Cairo airport. When you land, the first thing that caught your eyes are all the abandoned planes along the runaway. It looks like a war has just been fought!

More abandon aircraft on their bellies. I was later told that Cairo Airport hosts a special training programme on airplane safety and the number of abandoned planes are used to facilitate training.

The hotel I stayed in is the Luxor Hilton on the Nile. Despite being the 2008, the room, furniture and overall design looks very 1980s.

An old CRT TV set and its own pedestal. Very 1960s!

Nevertheless, it is clean.

The bathroom has a lot of marble fittings. Egyptian marble I suspect.

Comes with a bidet!

First generation push-button phone.

The hustle and bustle of Cairo city.

The area around this 5-star hotel looks rundown.

The Cairo Museum of Antiquity was just 5 minutes walk away from the hotel. After checking in, we decided to visit this famous museum to see the treasures of ancient Egypt.

Is this replica of the Spinx? It was supposed to be a statue made thousands of years ago but the broken nose mimics what you would see on the real monument. Someone broke the nose purposely after Napoleon supposedly shot off the real Spinx nose with cannon fire a few hundred years ago?

Latin inscription.

You need to buy a ticket to get in the museum. Not that expensive though.

In the museum, you can see the mummies as well as the treasures (those that was not looted). The Pharaohs were filthy rich even in today's standards. 

After spending a couple of hours in the museum (we are not allowed to take photos), we took some pictures of the grounds.

A few stone carvings.

For dinner, we tried some traditional Egyptian dishes. The juices here are so thick that it can support a straw straight up!

Grilled meat on a very lovely looking brass grill box. If you are meat loving person, you would love the food there.

Next morning, we went to our first meeting. The company that we visited is situated in a very dingy looking office block, dark and dirty. However, when they opened their door, you are suddenly transported to a world of opulence, from floor to ceiling.

Although they have windows, its never opened and the blinds are never drawn up.

Marbles in the toilet from floor, walls and fittings!

Moral of the story: in Egypt, a house may look rundown from the outside but the inside could be a secret garden!