Cairo: April 19, 2010

All material including photographs are ©2010 Ronald Dunlap / Doglight Studios

The morning was a little overcast, and I had a little trouble getting out of bed. After a long shower, I dressed, got my equipment packed, and headed out the door. Down on the fifth floor, I found a seat in the cafe, stashed my stuff, grabbed a plate, and headed for the breakfast buffet. It was going to be a long day and I needed all the fuel I could pack away, so I went back twice to shovel it in.

It is a good three-and-a-half-hour drive south to the necropolis of Khmun (Hermopolis Magna). Today, this large and dispersed site is known as Tuna el Gebel. Located in Middle Egypt in the Al Minya Governorate, it was the northern boundary of Akhenaten's capital city, Armana. One of the Boundary Stele of the Armana is located here but is now obscured by a glass booth whose purpose is to prevent further wind damage to the carving but which makes it hopelessly unattractive.

Magdy determined that the Desert Road was the best route to get to the necropolis. I was a little leery, as neither of us had been that way before and the place is in the middle of nowhere, where road signage is practically non-existent. It was a long, hot ride, and as expected we drove past the turn-off. We were 30 km past when we stopped at one of the numerous police checkpoints and were told that we had come too far. After hanging a U-turn, we headed back north until we found the dirt road that led to our destination. Ten minutes down the dirt road we came to a crossroads and asked a young shepherd, whose sheep were crossing the road, where Tuna Gebel was. He pointed north.

When we reached the little town of Mallawi, we knew that the shepherd had been having fun with us. We reversed direction and headed back south until we found Tuna Gebel.

Mr. Mohamed Wahballa Abdel Aziz, the inspector who had been assigned to show me around, was waiting at the chain barrier when we pulled up. It was hot as blazes when I got out of the car. Magdy said he'd find a cool spot to park the car and that he'd be waiting with the guard when I was done.

Mohamed led the way down the sandy path to the Tomb of Petosiris. It is a well-preserved tomb in the shape of a Late Period temple, very reminiscent of the Temple of Dendera. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of decoration, which looked to be a combination of Old Kingdom and Ptolemaic influences. I loved seeing the bas-relief figures dressed in togas.

Built for Petosiris, high priest of Thoth, it also became the final resting place for members of his extended family.

While my guides rested in the shade of the temple, I spent 40 minutes shooting the place. It was semi-dark inside, so I had to use my tripod to capture the essence of this late-period temple. When I'd finished, I called out "Halas" ("finished" in Arabic), and my guides knew we were off.

Our next stop was the Tomb/Chapel of Isadora. A young beautiful woman of means, Isadora lived in the second century AD. She fell in love with a soldier who wanted to marry her; but her father felt that the young man was below her station and forbad the marriage. Undeterred, she decided to elope, and in attempting to reach her future husband on the other side of the Nile, she unfortunately drowned.

Filled with a great sense of guilt and remorse, her father built an elaborate tomb to do a better job of guarding his daughter in the next life than he'd done in this one. Her mummified remains still linger here and can be seen in her glass-encased resting place. Although she's not as beautiful as she once must have been, there is still something about her and her story that even today generates a cult following.

Next on the itinerary were the massive catacombs that are like a small city under the necropolis. Dedicated to the God of Knowledge, the catacombs are filled with thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of mummified offerings. The offerings of mummified baboons and ibises were dedicated to Thoth, because he often appeared in their material form.

My main Egyptological interest is in Anubis, the god of mummification and protector of tombs, typically represented as having the head of a dog. The vast majority of archaeologists conclude that his head is that of a jackal, but I believe that it is the head of a dog, because he is always wearing a collar, and jackals don't.

There are canine mummies, but I have yet to find a large concentrated burial area of dogs, even though there are ancient references of them existing. Down in the catacombs, Mr. Aziz mentioned that there is a dog cemetery not too far from here at North Minia, near Bani Mazar City, but unfortunately that will have to wait until my next trip to Egypt.

I spent a good hour in the catacombs, shooting with the help of my tripod and cable release. When I finished, we exited the cool, underground chambers into the blast-furnace of late afternoon heat.

We were invited into one of the guest houses for cool drinks and a little rest before we hit the road back to Cairo. There was also a tour group of Italian women in the rest house.

It was a long, hot ride back, and I was worn out by the time we got back to the Hilton. I staggered into the elevator and up to my room. I unloaded my stuff, then ordered dinner and watched TV until room service delivered my spaghetti and soda. Then I went to bed and fell asleep with the TV on.

Cairo: April 18, 2010

All material including photographs are ©2010 Ronald Dunlap / Doglight Studios

Woke this morning to CNN blaring the news that there was a major air-traffic snarl in Europe. An Icelandic volcano was spewing ash into the air space of most Northern European cities, causing flights to be canceled and tons of passengers to be stranded.

I had an appointment at the Antiquities Office this morning to finalize my plans for the next couple of days, but news of the volcano made a stop at Delta Airlines essential.

Their office is on the second floor of a shabby office high-rise located at 21 Ismail Mohamed Street, in Zamalek. I got there just after 9 a.m. and took the stairs up. I've been visiting this office for the past few years, and every time I come in, the girls behind the counter start giggling at my appearance. They finally stopped long enough to reconfirm my reservation and nonchalantly tell me not to worry, that everything at Delta was under control and there would be no problems.

After that good news, I made my way over to the Antiquities building and to the inspectors' section of offices. I found Mr. Ismail, who was expediting my itinerary. I inquired if everything was set for my visit to Tuna Gebel the next day and the Egyptian Museum the day after. He smiled and assured me that everything was hunky-dory. He gave me the name and cell phone number of the local inspector who would show me around Tuna Gebel once we got there.

My first stop of the day was Abdeen Palace. The 550-room former royal palace is now mostly reserved for housing visiting foreign dignitaries, but the public is allowed to visit a small portion converted into a museum to house weapons presented to Egypt's heads of state, whether kings or presidents.

After parking in the lot next to the ticket booth, I went over to purchase my ticket while Magdy got hassled by the tourist police, who were making sure he had the proper papers to be chauffeuring a tourist around. I paid my 15 pounds and crossed the street to the entrance, about a half-block away. The museum is always crowded with groups of school kids on field trips, and today was no exception. I stood in line, then made it through security and came out into the courtyard that King Farouk once called his own.

I have felt a kinship with Malek ever since my first visit to Egypt in the 1980s. I'm told I resemble him, and people in the streets ask if I am related. In those days, people were still full of General Nasser's propaganda, so their comments were a little on the harsh side, but with time, Egyptians opinions have mellowed about their late king. He wasn't an intellectual, but he was cunning. They've come to realize he was not the drunken fool he was portrayed as. As a point of fact: Farouk never had a drink of alcohol in his entire life. He preferred "fizzy drinks" (soda pop), another thing we have in common.

Although in Egypt Farouk's name has mostly been erased or obscured, in the Abdeen Palace museum you can still see a few things that belonged to him personally. Farouk was a world-class marksman, and many of the weapons here had been used by the avid shooter. One of the stories that best illustrates his prowess is that when he was deposed, he fled in his red convertible sports car (in Egypt, only the king was allowed to drive a red car) to xxxx palace in Alexandria, where his household and 500-person Sudanese body guard were. You would think he would have taken cover inside, but instead, he was up on the roof, firing at the "Free Officers" intent on ending his life and reign. In the end, a combination of his marksmanship, his dispatching of at least four of the opposing force, and the loyalty of his Sudanese defenders enabled a negotiation that allowed Farouk to abdicate and sail away into a life of luxurious tedium.

I visited the museum a couple of years ago, but all my pictures had turned out blurry. You can't bring in a tripod or use a flash, so I'd brought my 5D this time and set the ISO to 6400. I took a lot of photos, but the light is so low in spots that I didn't expect to have more than a few sharp, in-focus shots.

My next stop was the Windsor Hotel. Built in the 1950s, it was at one time held in high regard by Americans and Europeans making the grand tour. Today, it is at best a budget hotel with just small glimmers of its former glory. The place reminds me of locations from the movie "The English Patient." The staff was very cordial and allowed me to shoot in the bar and their famous elevator.

From downtown Cairo we then headed east to the City of the Dead. Our destination was the Tomb of Mohamed Ali, the founder of the modern state of Egypt and the great-great-grandfather of Farouk. He was the Armenian commander of the Ottoman forces who had overcome the Mamluks and united Egypt. His tomb is done in the extravagant Turkish style. The Mamluk leaders whom Ali had strangled at his famous party are also buried here, as proof of his accomplishment. You will find the interior of the tomb pretty dark, and unless you're the only visitor there, you won't be allowed to use a flash. The tomb has seen better days, and the caretakers, who knew that Dr. Hawass was a friend of mine, asked that I bring the situation to his attention, and I agreed.

Magdy dropped me off at the hotel at 4:30 and said he'd be back to take me to the awards dinner at the Sphinx at 7:30.

I went up to the fifth floor and out onto the patio restaurant to order a lemon juice. I watched the Nile go by for an hour, then returned to my room to lie down for a while so I'd be rested for that evening.

At 6:45, dressed in my party best, I walked down the street to the back of the Television Broadcast building and found a guy shining shoes. I put my black Timberland six-inch boot up on the shine box and agreed upon a price. The young man began his ritualistic movements, humming a little sing-song as he worked away. By the time he had finished and I'd paid, there was a queue of four other gentlemen waiting to have their shoes blacked.

I was waiting on a bench outside the hotel when Magdy pulled up. I double-checked that I had the invitation and then got into the Toyota. It took about 30 minutes to get to the Giza Plateau. The invitation was for 8 p.m., but when we got there at 8:10, the Sound and Light show was still going on. The police said we'd have to wait. Magdy suggested we wait at the tea shop down the block.

The shop's interior was decorated like a Bedouin tent, with billowing canvas panels hanging from the ceiling. I ordered tea, and Magdy wanted Turkish coffee. We had only been there a little while when the place got totally reconfigured to accommodate the arrival of a group of Indian tourists. All twenty were seated at one large, makeshift table, across which they had to yell to hear each other from one end to the other. Magdy and I were moved closer to the door, allowing me to kept a lookout for the end of the light show.

Around 8:50 we paid the check and wandered back up to the entry gate. Just before 9 p.m. the police got the OK to begin letting in guests. They checked invitations, then let us walk the couple of hundred yards up to the screening area. That took a while, but finally we were in the designated dining area.

It took a while to get everyone in and seated, but finally, just before 9:20 p.m., the program began, with 10-minute film on the relocation of the two temples of Abu Simbel in Nubia. Following that, an MC came out and explained the significance of the awards being handed out, then Dr. Hawass came up and called out each award winner, one at a time, and explained their contribution to Egyptology and to Egypt. Each winner gave a very short acceptance speech. This all ended just before 10 p.m., right as Magdy called me to say it was getting late and that if we were going to Tuna Gebel the next day, we should head out. As fashion-show dancers in Egyptian costumes were beginning to gyrate, I made my exit and found Magdy waiting.

The traffic was very heavy on Pyramid Road on the way back. It took more than an hour to get back to the Hilton. I had to spend another 40 minutes getting ready for the next day, then I set the alarm and hit the rack.