The light and sound show was…well like any other sound and light show. The ambiance was spectacular, the cold desert air chilled our bones and the eerie shadows falling on the pyramids and the sound effects brought the bygone era back to life. The next day we visited the Egyptian museum. My main interest was in seeing a mummy. We had to pay extra for that and we came back highly dissatisfied. I had seen better mummies in an exhibition in Calcutta museum. What I found interesting was the treasures found in the tomb of the boy king Tutankhamen. On November 26, 1922, Howard Carter made archaeological history by unearthing the first Egyptian pharaonic tomb that still contained most of its treasures. Even though this tomb had been robbed in antiquity, the robbery attempt was apparently thwarted before the thieves could make away with most of the treasure. This tomb also yielded something else that had never been found in modern history - the pristine mummy of an Egyptian king, lying intact in his original burial furniture. The most famous among the exhibits was his death mask and the Eye of Horus, a pectoral amulet worn around the neck made of gold and inlaid lapis. The whole experience is a bit surreal and one could feel the romanticism of the ancient days.
At night we were scheduled to go for a dinner cruise on the Nile. The Nile Maxim is a river boat restaurant that supposedly serves an elegant dinner and entertains diners with Oriental dance shows. The show opened with a performance of a tannoura. The tanoura is a form of sufi worship displayed by men wearing long, large skirts who twirl around performing some interesting formations. It is a symbolic ritual through which dervishes aim to reach the "kemal" (perfect) . They try to desert their nefs', egos or personal [bad] desires by listening [to their master and sufi music], thinking about God and whirling which resembles the rotation of other beings such as electrons and planets of the microand macrocosmos. However the next item on the list was what everyone was waiting for. The famous belly dance!!! A dancer called Leyla sizzled on the floor and after her routine she went to each table, selected an unsuspecting customer and crowned him with a silly hat singing ‘yalaralli’ in a monotonous singsong tone. The poor customer was then forced to part with some of his precious Egyptian pounds.
It is said that Before Egypt became an Islamic state, it was a mostly Christian country with an ancient Christian heritage. It was a land where Jesus and his family were known to have travelled, and where early Apostles came to spread his word, particularly at first in Alexandria. On the final day of our trip we decided to explore this lesser known areas of Egypt. There is The Hanging Church or El Muallaqa (means suspended) which derives its name from its location on top of the southern tower gate of the old Babylon fortress, is one of the most famous Coptic Christian church in Cairo.
