exploring Cairo..bit by bit.

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So, I got tired of sitting around doing nothing so I thought I would have a mini adventure today.
Well, I did..it wasn't all that exciting.
I intended to go to Khan al-Khalili, which is the most famous (and touristy) souq in Cairo..
I thought I would be bold and take the metro and then walk down the giant main street until I got there..well, that turned out to be a bit of a failure.
Because of course once I got out of the metro I had no clue where I was and the streets weren't marked.
So..haha..I ended up wandering through this tiny little streets, it kind of reminded me of Fez in Morocco..
but they were very...not touristy..that is to say, I must have looked ridiculously odd wandering through there.
Well, eventually, I made it back out to a main street..I have no idea which one..with tons and tons of stalls and tables selling mostly clothes and household good..lots and lots of fabric too.
slowly I found myself in a touristy area, and I stopped at only one stall. It was selling this beautiful wall hangings with Arabic calligraphy, mostly of "la ilaha il ALlah" and "bismallah al-Rahman, al-Rahem"
I kind of wanted to buy one..but the man told me 250 (about US $45) as a starting price and I suddenly lost my enthusiasm to bargin. I know the first price they say is going to be ridiculous, but that was just crazy..these things weren't that great. However, I plan to go back to this place (and take a taxi, as soon as I find out what a fair price is) and do some shopping. I didn't really bring much money with me today anyway.

so, I kept wandering, back out of tourist land and into food markets..it was kind of gross. I wanted to take pictures but I didn't want to attract any more attention than I already was.
But..yeah.
Finally, I stumbled upon a gigantic, beautiful mosque and I went inside the gates to sit for a bit. According to the sign, it was Sultan Hasan madrasa and Al-Rafia mosque..and somebody famous is buried there. I'll have to look that up later. And across the street is the citadel.
well, the interior of the mosque was closed for the day. I guess I'll have to go back.
I took a cab home...yay my cab driver didn't speak English (this made me really happy, you have no idea) so I negotiated a decently fair price..still a little high, but he was nice about it and I was too tired to really care. Plus it was getting late and almost time for iftar.
(and I was dying of thirst!)

so..
I made it back to Dokki..yay.
and crashed on the couch for an hour..it was nice.
and just got back from treating myself to an oreo mcflurry at Mcdonalds..hehe.




The only other little adventure I had came a few days ago at AUC.
While I was going to catch my bus home I was talking to this Egyptian student and she and I got on the wrong bus..oooops. and it was basically the worst possible bus to be on because it went out to Heliopolis, which is a really nice ritzy area, but on the complete opposite end of town. So, we got off the bus and the girl felt really bad and said, don't worry, she'd help me get back to Tahrir.
So, we jumped (litearlly) on this local bus in the middle of the street (it's ridiculous, I'll have to take a picture sometime of the scene of getting on and off these buses while they're still moving) and she paid the pound for me, since she felt like it was her fault (it really wasn't, but she wouldn't take my money....sigh)
Then she said she had to get off before me but the ticket man would tell me when to get off..
SO basically, you get on these buses (as they barely stop..just kind of slow down and roll for a few seconds) and there's a man in the back who has a little stand and takes the money..
so, I'm very out of place on this bus..I don't expect a whole lot of foreigners ride the bus..and after the girl left, I was just awkwardly standing there and some man let me sit down.

lucky for me, Tahrir was actually the bus station so it stopped for real and I got of and found both the Egyptian Museum (yay) and the Sadat metro station..and one more pound, a pleasant ride in the women only compartment and I was back in Dokki.

It was an interesting.

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