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[Page 9]
Egypt
After breakfast the next morning 23rd January 1916 our reinforcement fell in for inspection & roll call , before being dismissed the boys were told that they could have leave for the remainder of the day. As soon as the parade was finished two of us accompanied by a mate who had been in Egypt for some time set out for Ciaro for the day. On leaving the camp our way lay through Heliopolis which at first sight seemed a very decent town but our minds being made up to see Ciaro no time was to be lost in getting to that city. When we arrived at the terminus in Heliopolis we got aboard an electric train which is a very elaborate vehicle & a credit to the country. The ride into the city lasted about twenty minutes, seeing many an interesting sight on the way for the natives' customs were extremely peculiar to me & the sighs were altogether different to anything I had ever seen before. On arriving in Ciaro we disentrained at the Central Station which is a fine big building, then made our way towards the European quarters of the city. This part of the city consists of some very fine building & business places, with several small parks and avenues of tall trees all of these being kept very clean by squads of niggers constantly at work. After spending some time here having a general look round we made our way towards the native parts of the town. These parts of the town where the natives live & shop, although very interesting are the most filthy & degraded places eyes could possibly look upon, one visit being quiet sufficient for me. After visiting the native quarters we made our way to the Y.M.C.A. which was situated about the centre of the City in the Ezbekieh Gardens. These gardens are well layed out & after having a look round made our way to the Y.M.C.A. hut for tea, which was nicely served up at a very reasonable price, the place seeming to be under real good management. Tea being finished we decided to make our way back towards camp for it was then getting late so after half an hours travel we were back in camp & was soon in bed being well satisfied with our first days experiences in Egypt. On the 24th January I made arrangements with three mates to visit the Pyramids & Sphinx. We set out from camp about 10 A.M. after walking to Heliopolis caught the Electric train to Ciaro where we changed into a tram for the Pyramids which are at Mena. On alighting from the train at the terminus we found natives there with camels & donkeys which we used to take tourists to the Pyramids for the walking was extremely heavy across the desert. We decided to hire a camel each the charge being a shilling & was soon on our way being taken past the Pyramids to the Sphinx where we had our photo taken on the camels in front of the Sphinx. The Sphinx is a very peculiar structure having an animals body & the head of a man being made of huge blocks of stone beautifully carved but is now very much worn with age. After having a good look at the Sphinx we hired a black guide to show us over the ancient toombs of the old Egyptian Kings. Our guide was a real typical Egyptian always on the make & each time he would finish explaining anything he would want to tell our fortunes but he did not succeed. Having had a real good look over the toombs which over to another guide to show us through inside. before entering we had to take our boots off for it was deemed sacred inside. we had to crawl through a small opening near the base then slide down a narrow passage about thirty yards long which was very slippery through constant use by tourist. The entrance was also very awkward for proved very interesting our guide took us to the main Pyramid & handed us others were getting out the same time as we were going in there being barely room in the passage for two people to pass. On reaching the bottom we had to climb up another passage about as long & wide as the one predescribed.