Cairo Telecom 1999 (Jan 25-30, 1999)
I was asked to attend Cairo Telecom 1999 as one of Lucent's representatives along with Mohammad Al-Dhalaan, Lucent Technologies, Saudi Arabia (LTSA)'s public relations director. LTSA hosted 3 members of the Saudi Telecom Corporation (STC) delegation: Khalid Al-Ajlan, Badr Al-Moussieb, and Nasser Saeed. The exhibition was in Cairo from Jan 26 to Jan 29, 1999. We attended several talks and got a chance to see some of Cairo's sights.
Cairo Telecom 1999
Entrance to the Exhibition
Khalid Al-Ajlan and Nasser Saeed at Lucent's booth.
Mohammad Al-Dhalaan, LTSA Public Relations director at the booth.
(There's a front view of him later on...)
Nasser Saeed, Badr Al-Mouasieb, and Khalid Al-Ajlan in the 3rd row back listening to the presentations.
The Egyptian Minister of Communications giving his speech at the conference.
A fountain at the Exhibition Hall which reminded me of one at the Al-Akariah Mall in Riyadh.
We spent a fair bit of time at the conference, but it wasn't that interesting or photogenic to anyone outside of the industry. So, I'll concentrate on the afternoon we took off to see the sights.
The Pyramids
We spent an afternoon seeing the Pyramids and the Sphinx. They're on the edge of Cairo and are awe-inspiring in their age and timeless grace.
The Three Great Pyramids of Egypt
A close up of one of the pyramids - It's the older large pyramid that I think was built by Ramses.
At the site, there are 3 main pyramids (Cheops', Ramses, and a smaller one for one of the queens) and several smaller pyramids. Throughout Egypt, there are over 100 pyramids.
Badr and Mohammad near Cheops' pyramid
Our Pictures at the Pyramids
Nasser
Khalid
Badr
Mohammad
Tom
All together now!
Our Picture inside A Pyramid!
We ventured into the third pyramid - the queen's final resting place. To get into it, you have to go down a steep ramp for a couple hundred feet. Once at the bottom, there's a couple of small rooms that were the tomb of the queen. There we met a man who seemed to worship the pyramids. He had a glass bowl which made a resonant sound like the top of a crystal glass will when rubbed properly. Not sure what it meant, but it made the experience that much more memorable.
The Sphinx and Other Pictures of Cairo
I didn't realize before I was there how close the Sphinx was to the Pyramids. It was put up as a guard for the kings resting in the pyramids.
A closer view.
I was taking the picture, so I'm not in this shot, but everyone else is.
A Few Street Views of Cairo
The entrance to the main bazaar in Cairo.
One of the streets in the bazaar.
A view of the city at night from my hotel room window.
The Nile by day and night.
A picture of one of the hotels in Cairo from a boat in the river.
A Cairo Wedding
While we were trying to check into our hotel on the first night, a wedding celebration was taking place in the hotel lobby. If you ever spend some time in a nice hotel in Cairo, you'll likely see a wedding. It's a spectacle to behold - the music, the dancing, and the ululations of the women. It was like something out of a movie, to me.
Tom Loos