"Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May" is a poem by Robert Herrick. This poem portrays our existence on earth, and that people age as life goes on, and everything becomes boundless. Herrick here urges people to take advantage of youth and energy while they may! The poem is in the genre of carpe diem, to seize the day.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Cairo - Part I





OK, Cairo was fun at some points and very disappointing at some other points! I have lots and lots to tell and talk about, but will try to make it short for each part! In this post, I will talk about my first day... and since I haven't been to Cairo since the 1980s when I was little... This trip was like my first time there :-)

Day I - March 26th
*****************
We arrived at the airport and were received by two assistance (we arranged that from Kuwait). They basically did the whole going into immigrations and baggage claim thing.... very useful and highly recommended. They were two young men, very polite, very proper, and very helpful. The whole process was a breeze! We also hired a driver for the three days we were gonna be there for EGP 500 per day (everyone told us it was WAY TOO MUCH/over charged) . One of those young men told us we were supposed to be picked up by another driver, but he got caught up in something and will meet with us tomorrow. Meanwhile, they arranged for us another driver for the day.... Both drivers' names were Ahmed. So Ahmed I substitued for Ahmed II.....
I tipped those two gents for EGP50.... he hesitated to take the money, but I insisted! He smiled and said thanks!

It took us around an hour to get to our hotel, Sofitel El Gezirah. As soon as we reached our room, we quickly showered and changed to meet my friend from the States at Buddha Bar in our hotel... whom I have not seen in over 10 years! She came with her hubby and his friend. We had dinner at the Buddha Bar restaurant and then went outside and sat by the Nile for a while to catch up. It was nice to see her after those long years....

First day was super nice! All the people I met were friendly, the service was great, my food was amazing, the hotel was nice and the staff were great.... and I had good company!

Two more days to come!!

13 comments:

chika said...

sofitel is good, glad you had some fun ;p

Jonyboy said...

Ahh...finally....details abt your trip to Egypt. Cant wait for the 'sequel'.

Btw....were the first 2 pics...the view from your hotel room?

If so....its fantastic.

Ansam said...

chika-
Yes it was
Stay tuned for more stories ;-)

Jonyboy-
Yeah stay tuned... it was such an eventful trip :-)
Yes they were... actually I took few shots and tried to make out a panoramic one! Thanks

Anonymous said...

glad you had fun :)

eshda3wa said...

so far so good

Ansam said...

..::Amu::..
Thats day I ;-)

eshda3wa-
Yes! Stay tuned hehehe

Web Weaver said...

I love Egypt!!! It is so fun and energetic. I'm glad you had fun.

Ansam said...

Web Weaver-
That was only Part I :-P

AQ said...

liked the pano's but u need to use some other software, one which can do a better job at blending exposures.. autopano being one.

KK said...

I know the juicy stuff is still to come... and that i will laugh so loud.
Sofitel Gezirah (old Sheraton Gezirah) has a great location all rooms see the nile and recently renovated. Waiting for more.

Ansam said...

AQ-
My camera was broken :-( I used my mobile, so they're not bad as mobile photos ;-)
I will check out that software since I like taking panoramic pics :-) Thanks a bunch

KK-
LOL... Well it was (the trip) as a whole OKAY, but our driver ruined it for me at the very end... which I wont say now, because it will spoil the whole story telling on my blog... so stay tuned ;-)
I loved Sofitel.. not bad, and well priced!

Bashar said...

away from the trip, I like how you merged the photos together :)

Ansam said...

Thanks Bashar :-)

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