Egypt: Giza Tea Room

Waiting for an overnight  train to Luxor, we whiled away our time in this little tea room, within sight of the pyramids of Giza. Door less and window less, it was open air dining at it's finest, while still offering a welcome refuge from the chilly Egyptian evening.

In historic  Giza,  trains come and go  every few minutes .As we prepared for our overnight journey to Luxor  and a trip back in time to ancient Egypt, we  found ,to our dismay that having a ticket didn't  necessarily guarantee a spot on the train. With patience in hand , one waits until a train with  sufficient room arrives. Being in a group of 42, it was impossible for us all to get on the same train.

Several of us, along with the in-experienced brother of our tour guide got elected to wait for another train.(That's what happens when one is the last  off the bus and the youngest and supposedly the most experienced.)Being jet lagged, nuave and gullible, we didn't realize that we could have been stuck here all night.


Finding a refreshment booth, in spite of the long wait involved the logical response was to get something to drink. Iit seems the Egyptians can only do one thing at a time , so  ordering a glass of hot tea can be a long ordeal. I was surprised when given a four ounce glass of  tea with tea grounds in the bottom. Oh well, it only cost a nickel.( Oh yeah, it had been quite a while since the glass had seen a dishwasher).

 I was finding that despite all the hardships and differences in culture, the Egyptians were as a whole a people who did everything they could to make our stay as enjoyable as possible and continuously went out of their way to  please us.

It was an interesting encounter, many locals kept filtering in and out, as well as people waiting for the next available train. What stories some of these faces told, one can only imagine where they have been and what life experiences they have seen. I realized people are basically the same worldwide , the only differences come from life experiences and environment. And maybe a little thing called Karma.

I then realized, that although I came from a small town, I could drive down the small highway in front of my house and go anywhere in the world I wanted or desired. Where we live has little consequence, the whole world is open to us.

Train after train was leaving with no available space, it was getting darker and darker outside, finally, at about 8:30 the last train arrives in  the station, finding room on board,we anxiously grab our luggage and get on board, we're are off to Luxor and the Valley of the Dead.

Gary is a travel writer and photographer living in Sarasota, Florida. He maintains a website featuring some of his travel photos and markets a line of products featuring many of his photos.

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