Kevin was invited to Egypt by HC Securities and Investments to run a 3-day workshop on Advanced Valuation topics and was unable to go on the originally planned date in October 2007 due to a motorcycle crash on the highway en route to the airport which caused him to miss his flight. The rearranged date was January 2008 and Kevin was careful to leave very early for the airport the second time around.

Arriving in Egypt, all went quite smoothly and Kevin stayed at the Nile Hilton. When introduced to the group the next morning, he met Abdelaziz Abdel Nabi "Zizo", who was a great guide. Besides having a great time with the group in the workshop, Kevin managed to see lots of Cairo, from the nicest nightclubs and hangouts (there is a Second Cup (Canadians will recognize this as the "Canadian" version of Starbucks), as well as lots of cool local restaurants from extremely traditional to very trendy. Zizo also introduced Kevin to some of the poorest and roughest parts of Cairo, careful to do so after midnight when it would be most "spooky" (It was!)

Kevin managed to also do a very quick trip to Giza to visit the largest pyramids in the world, as well as the Sphinx.

Great Pyramid of Khufu Commentary

"The pyramids at Giza—descendants of primitive 'stepped' prototypes built in superimposed layers—are gigantic prisms unique in world architecture, mathematics at an ultimate scale. It is quite possible that Cheop's Great Pyramid consumed more dressed stone blocks than any structure ever built, an estimated 2,300,000 of them, averaging 2.5 tons each. It is generally thought that the blocks were moved on log rollers and sledges and then ramped into place."

— from G.E. Kidder Smith. Looking at Architecture. p8.

Details

Khufu or Cheop's Great Pyramid is 756 feet (241 meters) square in plan, and 481 feet (153 meters) high. The angle of inclination of the triangular faces is about 51.5 degrees. The square of its height equals the area of each triangular face, as determined by Herodotus in 450 B. C. The base of the pyramid covers about 13 acres.

The other two pyramids in the famous trio are Khafre, 704 feet (214.5 meters) square, 471 feet (143.5 meters) high, with a face inclination of 53.2 degrees, and Menkaure, 345.5 feet (110 meters) square, 216 feet (68.8 meters) high, with a face inclination of 51.3 degrees (or possibly 330ft wide and 206 ft high (105m x 65.5m)).