On November 2nd, we flew from Istanbul to Cairo, Egypt. On the 3rd we got picked up at our hotel by our guide, Mohamed, and drove to some ancient ruins called Saqqara. It had the first pyramids and a lot of tombs. The pyramids were sort of like the “practice pyramids”. You could see all of the mistakes they made. The tombs were so cool! The ancient Egyptians believed that once you died you would go to the afterlife. So they made the tombs and put your body in it and all of the stuff that you loved and was valuable to you could be brought with you to the afterlife. The only people who really had tombs were rich people, like kings and priests.

Saqqara

After Saqqara we went to The Great Pyramids of Giza. (theme music playing)

When we got there we looked and admired the pyramid. It was so awesome!!! It was closed for an hour for lunch and prayer so we rode camels!!! It was awesome! Camels are soooo tall! They make horses look like baby goats. I think camels are my new favorite animals. They are so dopey and funny looking. Unfortunately no camels spit on Decker. This guy took us around and took some pictures. By then the pyramid was open again. We had bought the tickets to go inside so in we went. We walked on a ramp up and up and up. It was so low we had to crouch. It was really claustrophobic and cramped. We kept having to wait for people to pass. It was so hot and humid I could barely stand it. Once we got there it was worth it. It was this dark enclosed space with a bunch of people standing around. There was the sarcophagus of Pharaoh Khufu in the middle. The mummy wasn’t there. There was a bunch of people standing and closing their eyes. Apparently some people believe that the pyramids are too perfect to be made by humans that long ago so they think that some higher power created them. They go to Giza and stand in the room so that they can absorb the “special energy”. After Giza we hopped in the car and drove to the Sphinx!!! It was awesome but short.

At the foot of Giza

The next day Mohamed picked us up and we had a 3-hour drive in the desert to Valley of the Whales. It’s this valley in the middle of nowhere were they found whalebones from millions of years ago. Apparently back then whales had feet and walked on land!!! After that we went to a lake and sand boarded! It was awesome. It was like snow boarding but on sand.

Driving back

Driving back

On October 26 we flew to Istanbul, Turkey. We met this great family in Japan who lives in Istanbul. The mom’s name is Zeynep Unlu, the dad’s name is Burcin Unlu, and they have a son my age named Kaya Unlu. We became good friends and they invited us to stay with them. We took a taxi from the airport to Kaya’s aunt’s house. She had extra rooms so she let us stay with her. Her name is Sanem. On the night we arrived it happened to be Kaya’s birthday. His family and other aunt, with her daughter, came to the party at Sanem’s house. We had dinner and opened presents. We got him Uno.

The next day the Unlus took us around the city and went we went to the Hagia Sofia Church and the Blue Mosque. They took us to a delicious Turkish lunch and we had meatballs. My dad almost cried tears of joy.

In the Blue Mosque we had to wear head scarfs

Blue Mosque

Hagia Sofia

Hagia Sofia

The next day the Unlus picked us up and we drove to the university that Burcin teaches at. It was a really beautiful university. There were stray cats and dogs everywhere but they were really nice because they were neutered and spayed. We then walked down to the water and had lunch. We ordered  fish and sardines. We got the whole fish! Kaya said that the eyes of the fish were delicious so Decker tried to eat it.  After that we walked back up to the university and drove to their apartment.

Do you see the eye?

Decker has been asking all year long when he gets to see Kaya because then he gets to play video games with him. So that night we had dinner with them and then Decker and Kaya got to play video games for hours. Burcin had a really big IPad with a Bluetooth pen so I drew stuff. 

The next day we were really excited because we got to do a Turkish Bath. We were naked except for our underwear and we lay on a big stone circle with other people and then some lady comes and scrubs all the dead skin off of you. Awkward, I know. It was not what I had expected! Unsurprisingly, my dad hated it. On the way there we passed a carpet store. My mom said that she just wanted to take a quick look real fast. We ended up staying there looking at carpets for three hours.After the Turkish bath my mom went back to look at carpets, we didn’t even end up getting one, and my dad took us to look at a mosque. It was closed. When we were going to meet my mom at the subway station my dad got a text from Burcin.

It takes a certain kind of person to understand my dad’s jokes. Most people are not that kind of person. 

The next day my mom walked around with Zeynep and we did school. We met them for lunch and then me and my mom went and got our haircut. The last time we got it was in Sri Lanka and it was really bad for both of us. This time it was really good. We also got a mani-pedi.

That night we took Sanem out for dinner. She picked the restaurant and it was delicious. 

The next day we packed up and got on a ferry to the Princes Island. It is an island right off of Istanbul in the Mediterranean Sea. We had lunch and then we borrowed bikes. We rode around the whole island and it was beautiful! There were very few cars and a lot of horse carriages.

The next day my mom went for a run, we had breakfast, and then we got back on the ferry. That night we went over to the Unlu’s apartment and had dinner and played video games again.

The next morning we flew to Egypt.