I'm here in Cairo, but my bag is in Zurich!!!

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Salam Alaykum (hello),

So, i made the bus early this morning and caught my flight on Swiss airlines that will head to Zurich and then to Cairo. Our flight to Zurich was delayed and when it arrived i had 5 minutes to race down 3 gates and board for Cairo. They told me the bag will not make it and it will leave on the flight tommorrow and be dropped of at my hotel tommorrow... So, quite literally, i have just the clothes on my back till late tommorrow. Well at least i made to Cairo...

The taxi drivers remind me of the ones in India, crazy, spoke hardly any english and was quite a adrenaline rush. In fact, i have a story i will tell you when i get back to the states... I was able to learn some arabic while in spain and on the plane, enough to impress them and actually pick out some words as they spoke, so my taxi driver helped me pronounce them better.

the hotel is nice there are armed security guards in the front as well as having to go through a metal detector to enter the hotel. So, i'm safe at least inside. I ventured out and found a small papyrus store and talked with owner, in which he helped me book a tour to the pyramids, saqquara, memphis, and the coptic area for really cheap and no group just her. they owner was nice as he gave me the local drink made of hibiscas and there were two younger egyptian girls that worked there and spoke some english with them as well as teaching me some more arabic. The owner also suggested a good restuarant nearby serving good egyptian food, so i'm off after this to check it out... So far, every egyptian i talked too has been extremely nice and by they way, i turned Canadien while i'm here i egypt as a precaution... eh...

So, the next 2 full days i will be with my guide seeing all the sites. I will keep in touch as this cafe is right around the corner.

mas salama (good bye)

Mike

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