A cat’s life

Some people believe that a person’s maturity is proportional to our age, but I beg to differ. Though we have all grown beyond as a child, we could still remember how time had added wisdom into us. However, when we gain something, we tend to lost others, such as time. When we blame our irresponsible actions to the lack of time, can we still be labeled as – mature???

How should I put it?? I mean, everyone has expectation, including me. We expect friends of the same age to be understanding and be able to put themselves in our shoes. To a certain degree, we are selfish. We think we were never unhappy alone, and all we needed was just a companion to kill time, sometimes.

Imagine you bought a female kitten, and named it kitty. Kitty was there because all other friends of your same age group keep pets and it was the norm. Initially, you were wonderful towards kitty and she enjoyed napping on your lap. You were pretty apprehensive whether kitty would last forever, especially when you enjoyed her company. However when time passes, you were busy with your own life and couldn’t afford the time kitty had demanded. You forgot that she had not been showering for days and had no companion, neither is she happy. Days went by and kitty had grown up into an independent cat, able to look for food herself.

One day, while kitty was out fishing at the pond, she met kitto. Kitto was a stray cat. He was charming, and unlike other cats, kitto could swim!!! On knowing that kitty love gold pomfret for lunch, kitto dived into the pond to fish out 2 gold pomfrets.

On her way home, kitty realized she had choices. She did not need you to provide food, if she can learn swimming. And she did not require love and care, when she had been surviving without it for quite some time. In fact, she survived without you. Kitty laid on her cushion, and thought for a long time….

The next morning, kitty left home taking nothing with her. She walked towards the back of the hills where kitto was staying, and met many other stray cats like kiwi, kitu and kitchen, just to name a few. They were very happy to welcome kitty into their home.

A few days went by before you realized you had not seen kitty for quite a while. You ran towards her cushion, expecting to see kitty but she was nowhere to be found. You combed your entire house, and screamed your lungs out, but all you could hear was the echo of your voice. You had lost kitty forever.

If maturity leads to less time and result in irresponsibility, then why adopt a pet in the first place?? No, this message is not brought to you by SPCA.

The same theory applies for relationships, isn’t it??

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Egypt – Part 6

After 12 hours in a tiny cabin, we walked out from the train station and were welcome by a totally different city - Cairo!!! Yes, the pyramids await us and that was the sole purpose of visiting Egypt in the very first place.

We’re outside El Giza station

Residential area in Cairo

But before the highlight of the day, we visited a couple of others not-so-famous sites. The first site was the Memphis museum. It was an open museum, where artifacts were place right under the sun. That museum was located in the west bank of the Nile river, and we were there to see a huge statue of Rameses II himself. Ibrahim said the statue used to be erected outside a train station, but during a reconstruction work the statue was broken into pieces, and from then on, the pharaoh laid there as tourist like myself peeped under his pants.

Limestone statue of the pharaoh

Just outside the building that houses the huge statue was where the great alabaster sphinx stands. It was craved in honor of an unknown pharaoh, and it was different from the sphinx that we will be seeing near the pyramids in Giza later on.

Alabaster sphinx

Hathor – the cow goddess

Standing Colossal Statue of a Pharaoh

We left the museum and travelled towards Sakkara, one of the oldest step pyramids in history. Personally, it was not magnificent and neither did I take many photos. But this pyramid is located very near the Sahara dessert, so the air was a little choky.

The step pyramid

Entrance to the step pyramid

Lots of camels, nicely spaced out

Cute!!

Sahara Desert

I looked like an arabic man, no?? And wj was wearing a tudung

We came along a carpet making school within the vicinity and dropped by for an impromptu visit. It was nice to see the carpets made of silk but the pricing was crazy. USD 200 for an A3 size carpet, something I cannot afford.

Work in progress...

Where’s Aladdin??

This piece cost 300USD

Lunch was at a nearby restaurant and the aroma of the local chapatti not only invited tourists, but tons of flies!!! I just close my eyes, pray hard and eat.

Everyone was anticipating for the pyramid, and hurried with lunch. It was a whole new experience when I share my food with flies, but the buffet and BBQ meat had been one of the tastiest foods I have ever eaten!!

Our resturant for lunch

Woman making chapatti, with lots of flies of course...

Chapatti

BBQ meat, I like...

Lunch with lots of meat, as usual

No, I can't read this

We hopped onto the coach and spread sunblock lotion across every inch of flesh that can see light. Before long, the gigantic pyramids were right before my eyes!!!

It was still quite a distance from the place we were dropped off, and I thought we would have to walk up by ourselves under the scorching sun. Just when I was getting ready to battle the sun, we were up on the coach again for a ride to the feet of the pyramids. Phew~ Thank god I joined a tour.

Pyramids!!!!


The official ticket

The only remaining wonders of the ancient world still stand magnificently to welcome the thousands of tourists like myself, who had crossed mountains, oceans and deserts to admire its beauty. I could not help but gasp in astonishment when I witness how huge pyramids are. So huge even a wide lens camera cannot fully capture the entire pyramid in one shot.

Arghhh…. I wanna cry!!

Just next to the pyramids was a camel parking area, where well-decorated camels give tourist a ride around the deserts. The short 10 seconds walk towards the camel was lengthened to as much as a minute, when clean freaks like me take each step carefully to avoid the droppings all over the sand.

Camel parking area, with lossa shit

The camel ride was scarier than bungee jump!!! Ash can vouch for that. The camel’s hind legs got up even before I was properly sited on its back. To save myself from being thrown off the camel, I grabbed Ash and my entire body weight was on her, while my butt was in the air. I could have topple over her to land on the camel’s neck.

My camel ride

Wonders of the ancient world, I wonder...

Eewwww... full of shit

I almost capture the entire pyramid

After our ride, there was an optional tour to visit the inside of a pyramid. Photography was strictly prohibited, and we had to leave our cameras outside. It would take a lifetime to forget the trip into the pyramid. We had to hunch our back and bend really low to enter the pyramid, and the air inside the pyramid was thin and cooling. It was also the first time I perspired in Egypt after so many days.

I've been inside but there was nothing

There was another short 3 minutes ride to the infamous Great Sphinx of Giza, where Napoleon broke his nose. The half-human, half-lion statue symbolized the power of the pharaoh.

Ok, I can finally die in peace…

Front view of his broken nose

Some of the tour members were tired and requested for a break at the hotel before continuing on our journey, so we headed towards our hotel, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise!!!

Our queen sized bed

Not only did each of us have a queen size bed to ourselves, there was cable TV and a toilet big enough for 4 to play mahjong!! How can I not be pleased??

We learn online, they learn through cable TV

After a couple of hours, we went for dinner at a local restaurant just a stone throw from the hotel. Food was as usual, lots of meat but ended with a plate of bananas. Surprise indeed. Guess they knew I was constipating…

Not very appetizing

Chicken soup for my soul

Another meaty meal

I love bananas!!!

Most of our water supply was running low and we were taken to a nearby petrol kiosk for a quick replenishment. We emptied every bottle of Dasani by the Coca Cola company and Aquafina by Pepsi because all the other brands tasted weird.

Yeah, we just came from the desert…