Friday, February 5, 2010

Egypt (17) Pyramids and Sphinx



Sunday, January 24 2010

The drive to the pyramids is short, and Dana is explaining about the history and construction of these majestic monuments. I'm beginning to zone out. I see her lips moving, but she becomes blurry as my eyes start to close behind my dark sunglasses. I need to be outside and walking. If I don't, I'm going to pass out. As if she can read my mind, we get out and walk around taking the beauty of these creations in.


Seeing the pyramids before me is surreal. I have no words to describe how I'm feeling seeing what I've studied at school in front of me. It's still early in the morning, but there are many tourists there are already. My mum and I notice a few stalls with men selling souvenirs. Nearly every second person is selling the same thing and each one is trying to lure us to buy his goods.



I walk past a man who looks me up and down and says to me, "Your body is like Egyptian woman - beautiful!"

"Really?!"

Another woman may take offense to this, but I'm a bit chuffed! I live in a society (Korea) where women with my body type - full figured - are not appreciated or even regarded.

With Dana:



We spend about 10 minutes browsing and we move to our next stop, The Great Sphinx.

By now, my body is feeling heavy. I feel so sluggish and will myself to carry on.

I'm in complete awe when I come face to face with the reclining lion-human head statue. Am I really here? There are many people hustling around, so after taking my photos, we proceed to exit. A boy selling postcards catches my attention, and I buy something from him. I can only liken this experience to when I saw Big Ben or Tower Bridge in London in 2008. I don't know what I'm more in awe of - the size of these monuments or the fact that I'm right there looking at it with my own eyes.


It's one of those things where you have to just be there to understand what I'm talking about!


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