It was difficult enough walking in the hot desert of upper Egypt in the middle of day but being French and not able to speak with anyone else made it worse. Frances was home sick and bouncing up and down on the camel. He looked down and saw the natives smiling , laughing and wondered why he could be like them. So he started to count the reasons why he was in the country that he had always wanted to visit yet so miserable since he had arrived last week.

First of all , it was the heat. Incessant heat that surrounded everywhere he went to. From the airport , to the taxi to the hotel. He bathed , and turned on the air condition till lowest temperature possible but he still felt the heat from the outside desert greeting him. He went back to the bath and stayed there till dinner time. He felt excited to be in Egypt , the country he had been dreaming of since the day his father brought home the book about the tales of Napoleon’s adventures in Egypt.

Since then whenever his heart yearned to travel outside his home town at the outskirt of Paris , Egypt always came to his mind. Tales of Kings , Queens , mummies and great pyramids had always intrigued him and as soon as he graduated he found a job at a local cafe and saved up just to come here. He was here but it was nothing like what he dreamed of.

That brought his mind to the second reason why he was so miserable. The sand. It was everywhere. Literally. It was in his hair , in between his butt and probably , he recollected , was in the breakfast he had in the hotel before coming out into the desert as well. He didn’t mind the sand as he was used to it from the beginning. Growing up along the river Seine , he was quite familiar with sea , sand and beaches.

Getting sand in the pant was not the issue but the heat made it entire different matter altogether. Not only the sand made the camel ride uncomfortable , the heat made it worse. He felt itchy but with hot sand running against his body continuously , he felt as if he was tossed and turned in the hot pan being fried alive. He wasn’t sure where he was but he was certain it was worse than the hell his mother threatened at him for not going to Church on Sunday.

Then he came out the desert dune and the sight took his breath away. It was the sight of 3 pyramids as he had seen in the picture books. 3 majestic buildings that withstood over 5000 years of history , heat and sand to appear before him. So excited was he that he shouted in triumph.

“ALLEZ!!!!”

So shocked was the camel that it bolted towards the desert with the helpless man on top of it swinging left and right , bouncing up and down , and screaming for help.