A 35 hour day

Set off on my great Egypt adventure at 9 am Tuesday morning. One hour to Auckland. Leave 4 hours later, fly to Singapore. Arrive there in darkness, leave 4 hours later. Arrive in Dubai. Stay on the plane in Transit for an hour and a half. Arrive Cairo 6 am. Exhilaration! Soon the sun came up. I had been in darkness for 23 hours! Now that feels very peculiar.

We were met by the tour guide and with few people in the airport, moved through quite fast. By 7.15 we were out of the airport and driving along new roads through a huge bulldozed area. I would say between 10 and 20 sq km, with lots of new palm trees just planted. Some of it was airport extension but I couldn't work out what the rest was for. The blue road signs were in Arabic and English. The sun was just coming up over the horizon, a huge orange orb. We were on the ring road and we were heading for our hotel in Giza. The high tower of a small mosque was gleaming in the early sun. There were thousands (yes I mean it) of housing blocks, many still being built, others obviously lived in, but concrete reinforcing rods sticking out of the top. Found out later that people build like this, then add another storey when they can afford it or when there are more family members.

Saw a small truck with a whole family's goods piled on it 4m high, much of the furniture wrapped in gaudy striped blankets. The top one moved, and a woman was under it on top of the pile. Suddenly our Egyptian guide Sayed said, "Here's the Nile" and I banged off a photo as we crossed the bridge. By now there was a thick haze of pollution as the highrises continued. The population is 18 million - that's Cairo, not Egypt - and it's estimated that a further 3 million come into Cairo to work every day. There are 3 million cars, so take a deep breath and imagine just how big the city is. Work is from 8 am to 3 pm, so that's when the rush hour home starts.

Suddenly Sayed said, "There are the pyramids." WOW! For real! Looming up on our left out of the grey murk. Soon we were at our hotel, which is in Giza. It's called the Oasis, and the whole place is laid out in one story motel-style buildings joined together in rows of eight. The grounds are full of huge palm trees, succulent plants, grassy areas and trees shaped like large iceblocks.