Liang Xinqiu
Pyramid of Khufu
I can't remember which book I saw the pyramids from when I was a child, so I learned about the country of Egypt. So, in my young mind, I was loaded into this mysterious country and the yearning for this country. Decades later, this dreamlike idea has finally become a reality. When I took a plane from the east of the world, through Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, after more than 13 hours of flight, the plane began to land slowly. The endless desert outside the porthole tells me that the mysterious Egypt has arrived.
Clear customs at Cairo International Airport, egypt's capital, and we will be greeted by a local guide. His long name stumped our memories, so he asked us to call him "Tiger." He looked to be in his 30s, over 1.80 meters tall, with big eyes and a beard covering his dark face. A smile, revealing two rows of white teeth, makes people feel very kind. A very gentle person with the name of "Mountain King" made us feel the cuteness of this tour guide. We followed him to the parking lot and got into the bus that had been waiting for a long time.
obelisk
Cars drive on the streets of the capital, Cairo, and the exotic atmosphere is overwhelming. Men wore black, white, and gray robes, while women had their hair wrapped around them, some veiled. Although I have seen images of Egypt in movies, television, computers, and various newspapers and magazines before, when I actually approached it, there was an indescribable feeling in my heart, in addition to the admiration for this mysterious and ancient country, and this feeling accompanied me throughout my journey.
Egypt, which spans both continents and is mostly located in Africa, is the most populous country in the Middle East and the second most populous country in Africa. It is the birthplace of human civilization and the oldest ancient civilization in the world. Although in history it has suffered many disasters, experienced vicissitudes, and experienced wars and turmoil, it has not covered up its unique charm and unparalleled seven-thousand-year history of civilization. From ancient times to the present, Pharaonic culture, Christian culture, Islamic culture, etc. have all taken root, sprouted and blossomed in this land. Imposing pyramids, towering obelisks, temples that have been through the vicissitudes, the majestic Valley of the Kings, the rushing Nile, the endless desert... That kind of beauty and that magnificence, no matter how beautiful the words are used to describe it, pale and powerless.
Street
However, it is such a country with the oldest history of ancient civilization, but it is still a poor country. They offer foreign tourists comfortable and luxurious coaches, but many of their own cars on the roads are from the 1950s and 1960s. The tour guide told us that Egyptians generally use used, third-hand, and even fourth-hand cars. Because they often crash, people buy a broken car, and if it is broken, they don't have to repair it. It is said that the Egyptians would drive them until they became scrap iron.
Although Cairo is the capital of Egypt, in addition to a few main streets with traffic lights, some streets are very narrow, mixed with people and cars, the traffic order is relatively chaotic, and people can often be seen riding donkeys leisurely on the road. Whenever I see this scene, I feel like I am walking on a country road. However, on some of the main streets you will see that the roads are neat and spacious and the traffic is orderly. The buildings on both sides of the street are unique, the shops are uniform, and the shop windows are dazzling, which is very modern. Still, in the city, it can't really be called comfortable and clean. Because some streets are covered with yellow sand on both sides, the leaves on the street are also covered with a layer of gray soil. Some roads also have overpasses, but under the bridges are unfinished, piled with debris and garbage, and no one is cleaning them.
Residential building
The most amazing thing is that many of the houses are half-cut projects. It is said that because of the current economic downturn in Egypt, the government stipulates that unfinished houses can not pay royalties, so many such unfinished houses have emerged. However, judging from the clothes that many people hang on the balcony, the building is inhabited, and some people even renovate the balcony. Of course, the people who live in such buildings are ordinary people, and their lives are not rich. Because there are many such half-cut buildings, the entire city is irregular, and there is little momentum and style of the capital. The rich live in new towns near the airport, some live in spacious villas, some live in beautiful bungalows.
Egyptian Museum
Walking through the streets of Cairo, I like both the fashionable cosmopolitan style of the city center and the Arab style of the civilian neighborhood. What they brought to me was the feeling of being different from any other city. It has come from a long river of thousands of years of history, and every inch of land under people's feet has a thousand years of civilization. Such a country with such a rich history, no matter how it is now, makes me hold a deep respect and a permanent yearning.
I believe that this country, in the course of thousands of years of civilization, has great courage and infinite wisdom to fight against turbulent societies and move forward with tenacity, and that the Egyptian people have the ability to rewrite their glorious history. I would like to set foot on this land again, to meet again with 7,000 years of history, and to listen to the ancient and modern civilizations created by the Egyptian people.