The Gynormous Pointy Triangles

As I stepped out of the car, I could not possibly believe that I was standing in front of the only remaining one of the original 7 wonders of the world. I mean, it cannot possibly be. I thought I was going to cry and before I managed to take a step towards the pyramid, I was swarmed with a horde of bloody camel touters.

Luckily Reena told me beforehand the expected price to pay for camel rental was 30 Egyptian pounds. Therefore I was not surprised when I was offered an overly inflated camel rental rate of over 100 Egyptian pounds. I told them that I could rent a limousine WITH a driver to go round the pyramids with that price! As I realised that the tourists season was low, I offered to pay only 20 Egyptian pounds (E.P.).

Of course they scuffed at my offer with the obligatory expression of insult on their faces, telling me that I was crazy. This particular camel guide who called himself Mickey Mouse pointed to a nearby couple and told me they paid 120 E.P. each to which I retorted, "That's because they are suckers."

After I thought we have finalised the price of 20 E.P. per camel, they brought us through a maze of cemetery which was used to bury the workers who built the pyramids. It was quite creepy since there was nobody else there apart from us 2 women and the camel guide. I could imagine it as a scene from a movie; being led to a secluded area to be gang raped and killed. Thank goodness we were only led to our camels.

I was super annoyed when after all that, he extorted more money from us, and throughout the camel ride he kept asking us to tip him later. I was so pissed off so I told him to shut up and to stop talking about money.

The most unfortunate thing was he rode one of our camels with us which we then found out was wrong. He was supposed to lead us on a separate horse or on foot. Of course he did not do anything to us but it was still very cheeky of him. Rebecca suspected something was amiss when each time another guide passed us, they would exchange comments in Arabic which made her felt very uncomfortable.

I was later told that if I were to inform his boss of his behaviour, he would have been instantenously sacked but not before a slap on his face by his boss, right in front of us. Oh nevermind, whatever thrill he got from us sitting behind him was to be considered as charity work.

Anyway, the pyramids were truly marvelous but the trip was marred by the unscrupulous bunch of camel touters. Next time, bring your own camel.

N.B. Touting is expected anywhere in the world where there is high concentration of tourists presence.

CAUTION: Camel riding results in sore bottom and sore thighs (inner) but I suppose it all depends how fit you are, posture, and camel ride distance. We were on the camel for over an hour. I could not walk properly for days.

Khan el-Khalili

Khan el-Khalili is the epitome of the greatest bazaar ever, in fact I would call it the mother of all bazaars. Well, it's not that I have been to many bazaars in my lifetime since I am not a shopper anyway. One thing for sure, whatever little I have seen, I was very impressed.

I went there without knowing much about the history of Khan but I have since found out that it was established in 1382. It used to be called Turkish Bazaar during the Ottoman times.

Due to time restriction, I was only there for about 2 hours. I am not sure exactly how big Khan is, but I believe that I have not even seen 25% of it. If anyone thinks that Petaling Jaya is impressive, Khan is at least 100 times the size of Petaling street.

Its narrow streets with tiny shops are amazingly disorganisedly organised into different sections of goods. Of course as you enter, you see shops selling mostly souveniers but as you dwelve deeper, you come across goldsmiths, brass, sheesha, copper lanterns, clothes, spices etc. Towards the end of the bazaar which I never made it to, that section contained shops selling household fares mainly for locals. I find it very romantic and most beautiful for photograph taking.

I did not buy much since goods there were more expensive compared to other non touristy parts of Cairo. When I was in Khan, security was very tight ever since the bombing a couple of weeks ago. This must have attributed to the lower than usual number of tourists in Khan. In fact, I thought there were more shopkeepers standing on the street (trying to woo shoppers), compared to tourists themselves. And since that same types of shops are lined up next to each other, the shopkeepers had to say alot to attract your attention. Of course because I am Oriental, I was constantly badgered with "ni hao" (how are you?) followed by "wo ai ni" (I love you). Then some would ask me if I were Japanese. When I told one shopkeeper that I was from Malaysia, he said "apa khabar" (how are you?) and proceeded to tell me that he knows Abdullah Badawi. An American friend who was with me, always got the Obama comment whenever she told them that she came from America.

It could be a little bit irritating when some of the shopkeepers kept pestering us as we walked along the shops. In fact I found out that it is was something they would not dare do to the local women. It was really like going into a bar, and be bombarded with 100 different pick-up lines all at the same time!

Two very memorable ones were:-

• "I may not know what you are looking for, but whatever you are looking for, I have it for you."


• "I will kill my wife for you."

The second one was said to my American friend, Rebecca. I could not stop laughing when I heard that one. hahaha...

Playing Moms in Cairo

10 days in Cairo playing moms with my dear old friend Reena was truly amazing. We have known each other for 17 years and have never even been on holidays together before. I have not seen her for over 2 and 1/2 years and to see her standing at the arrival gate with her almost baked bun in her tum tum, how could one not be overcome by emotions.

It was even weirder when we both went out with Safeia and Eddie, and there you go, we are both mothers! Yes I love downtown Cairo and the pyramids, but this trip was really about seeing my very dear old friend. Next time round, I will do the real tour, and those who are interested, please sign up because that's when we do the whole Egypt plus Indiana Jones in Jordan.



N.B. The poor kids looked absolutely stoned from lack of sleep. This photo was taken during our transit in Dubai hence the "Property of Emirates" label on the strollers.

Hail Nefertiti!

I first came across Egypt in Standard 4 when I was a librarian in SRK Methodist ACS. It was a book about world mysteries, two of the stories in the book were Bermuda Triangle and the mysterious disapperance of Nefertiti. I was so intrigued and fell in love with Egypt since then. All programs featuring Egypt be it the building of pyramids or mummifcation process, I watched and read them all.

I was also totally crazy about Wilbur Smith's River God and the subsequent books that followed. How cool was that to have fiction set in ancient Egyptian times. When I was in college, I contemplated studying Egpytology until I realised that being immersed in sand pits in the middle of deserts won't make me lots of money. It just was not a very attractive proposition, R:E = 0, to my education financier i.e. my father. Honestly, if I am going to spend my hard earned money on my children's education, it'd better be medicine, law, engineering, architecture or accountancy. If not, he can open a Kedai Motor Eddie. How old school is that??? And how we vowed never to be like our parents. hahahaha...

So Egypt and yummymummy, I shall see you both next week!!!

We can't have it all or can we?

With international woman's day looming around the corner, you get the usual doses of features on great women in magazines, newspaper etc. Nothing much has changed in the past decade. There are still talk about women juggling between their careers and being mothers.

I was a career woman, then I was both a career woman and mother, and now I am a full time mother. This I suppose lends me some credentials for the purpose of this topic discussion.

Honestly I do not see what is so complicated about this matter. You either are a full time career woman cum part time mother or no career woman cum full time mother. It is your choice at the end of the day and what is the big deal about it?

What irks me the most are those who make the decisions but at the same time guilt-ridden. The guilt ridden part is understandable, but it pisses me off when the guilt is manifested into anger/jealousy targeted at 3rd party. Hmmnn... perhaps one day when Eddie grows up and pisses me off I will say something like, "I've sacrificed those years of my life not working just so that I could look after you!!!" Well that won't work because Sig.Ot will surely butt in and say something like, "Yes Eddie, those years of your mother not working, she was going for massages and holidays etc."

Well for most women who choose full time career, someone else will need to stand in to look after the children. The luckiest ones would have their parents or in laws to help look after their children. If that is not possible, domestic helpers are the next most popular option or maybe nurseries?

Of course even if there is a domestic helper, most mothers on their off days will take over all the looking after of the baby. This is a chance to bond with the babies. After all on weekdays, you probably won't get to see your baby because when you are off to work, baby might still be asleep and when you get home, baby is already asleep!

There are also mothers who refuse to let the helpers get emotionally close to their children. This is the part that I do not get. When you have another person working and living in your home, it is not similar to an office job whereby when you walk out of the building you could separate work from your personal life. When someone else lives in your home and look after your children, it is definitely more than just professional work relationship. There are definitely emotions involved. So if there is even the slightest doubt or mistrust towards your maid, do not hire her at all, or fire her now.

Some women who may be feeling a little bit guilty for not being able to spend as much time as they would like with their children, may feel a little bit resentful towards the other woman who gets to i.e. maid. This guilt sometimes lead to jealousy and possessiveness. So it is very bizarre how on weekdays, the maid may be playing the main caretaker role and when the mistress of the house comes home, the maid tiptoes around the house and pretend that there is no relationship going on with the poor confused children. The most extreme case which I have heard is that the helper is not allowed to appear in ANY photograph with the baby! Obviously the mother does not want the child to have any memory of the maid. Or when a 5 months old baby started babbling mama in the direction of the maid, the mother got jealous, suspecting that the maid had been teaching baby to call her (maid) mama.

N.B. Babies do not know the meaning of mama until much much later. Eddie used to call everybody including our family dog "mama" as well at that age.

My maid Juvy loves Eddie to bits, and Eddie loves her in return. The way I look at it is we are all so blessed to have so many people loving Eddie. There is never too much love to go around, don't you think?

Poo-litics

When will the government realise how stupid they look in foreign press whenever they announce a not-much-thought-about decision and then change their minds about it a week later?

Surely any person in a position to run a country must know that whatever decision to be taken; be it business, financial or religion, must be thought thoroughly and analysed FIRST before being finalised?

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_344806.html

Aren't We What We Are?

In the past few days, the media has been focusing on the labelling of "old people". There was also an articled entitled, "Don't Call Me Old" featuring a grey hair woman in fashionable top paired with tights and pumps. Today, a reader wrote in to say that her late mother was offended when a doctor referred to her as "old lady".


So is aging paranoia a new thing or not? Lets see, when I turned 30 early last month, I talked about buying beauty products to delay the aging process. Both my mother and late grandmother have always been complimented for looking much younger than they really are. Obviously I did not bag the same genes hence the talk of SK II etc. Last week when I was walking in Botanics Garden, there was an Indon tai tai sitting next to Eddie and I. I kid you not, her skin was more supple and smoother and more glowy than Eddie's bottom!!! This tai-tai has got to be in her 50s but she looked damn good for her age. Undoubtedly, her doctor has done an excellent job.


I read a very good article last week which talked about accepting aging and fight social negative labelling of aging. Point #1 in the article was, "Stop telling people that they look younger than they do." I have to both agree and disagree to this point. First of all, you are what you look. So if you look younger, it is a fact. And if you don't, live with it. Too bad you haven't got the good genes. Too bad you have smoked a pack a day for the last 10 years. Too bad you were drinking a bottle of whisky every other two days and getting 5 hours of sleep while working in a super stressful environment. The only reason why I would agree to this point is for the sake of the weaker minded people who are so influenced by mainstream media. We already know that this group of people generates a multi billion dollar industry.


When we were growing up, I am sure all of you would agree school was one of the most cruel places. Children spoke their minds and gang up against the odd ones out. I am sure most of us were teased for being fat, skinny, ugly, pimply etc. Guess what? We grew up accepting our differences and moved on. And the same should apply too when we reach that juncture and accept the fact that we are old.


It is true that the general pre-conceptions about being old is weak, sick or wrinkly. If you cannot fight all 3, at least then do what you can and stay fit. And if you cannot, accept what you are that you are old; weak, sick and wrinkly.