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Published: August 31st 2006
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Well my last blog entry was a week and a half ago and due to a mix of (1) an unreliable internet connection in Alexandria and (2) the onset of severe travel blog fatigue (yes it did kick in eventually) I left the conclusion of my Egyptian adventures to be told another day. I am now back in London, and with the down time that one has when you are on the job hunt, now seems as good a time as any to finish the story and recap my last few days in Egypt. We arrived back in Cairo having endured an epic 13 hour overnight train ride north from Aswan in surprisingly good shape, considering the sheer length of the journey and the fact that most of us had not sat quietly and stayed out of trouble for any period of time during the past couple of weeks. Given that it was our last day together in Cairo the day was free for us to do as we pleased, which for most of us meant a trip to the infamous Khan al-Khalili bazaar to get in a bit of last minute souvenir shopping and give the haggling skills one
3000 Camels!!
The guy in the black shirt was very keen on Kirsten but we were pretty firm and refused to sell her to him for anything less than 3000 camels. last trot. 'The Khan' is a huge marketplace crammed with hundreds of shops selling anything from tacky Tutankhuman figurines to gold and silver jewellery. Like any sort of market in this part of the world, when the ever enthusiastic merchants tempt you with their wares you need a good sense of humour, your best haggling face and a sixth sense for detecting a dodgy deal! As was the case everywhere else in Egypt, the girls were the stars of the show with the Egyptian men, with quite a few shopowners throwing in marriage proposals while we haggled over prices with them. But it was all harmless stuff and a bunch of laughs really, so as the male chaperones we would bargain back, saying that we wouldn't accept nything less than 3000 camels as a dowry. I must say though that despite being a notoriously reluctant shopper, I had a great time browsing through the myriad of shops in The Khan and I fully recommend a visit to anyone while you are in Cairo.
On our way back to the hotel our taxi driver managed to plow into the back of the taxi in front of him which was a
special treat (no damage apart from a tail light and a mangled bumper). In Egypt only the driver's seat has a seatbelt, which means that you effectively take your life into your own hands whenever you take a ride anywhere (trust me it adds to the fun and so long as you brace yourself in the crash position you are perfectly safe). In an earlier blog from Santorini I said that the Greeks would have to be the craziest drivers in the world, however I now unreservedly apologise to the Greeks, who make driving look like a Peter Brock safety advert compared to the Egyptians. Brakes, indicators, observing lanes and speed limits - none of this matters to an Egyptian driver as the traffic weaves its way through the streets with the speed of a swarm of bees and the grace of stampeding water buffalo. But as I said it adds to the fun!
Our tour officially ended that night with a concluding dinner in a rooftop restaurant. It really was a nice way to conclude what everyone agreed had been a great tour. I must say that I was a little dubious about going on an organised tour
instead of cutting my own tack, but in reflection it was a brilliant way to see Egypt and I would certainly sign up for another tour like it. The tour was exceptionally well organised by our tour leader and we had some great local guides along the way at each important site we visited. We were also fortunate enough to do some other things off the usual programme, like the hot air balloon ride over Luxor and dinner at the Nubian village. But most importantly the other people in the group were fantastic, which meant that the tour was a great social time too.
If anyone is interested on the actual trip that we were on the company was Gecko's Grassroots Adventures (I think it is called Peregrine in the US) and you can check out the tour itself through this link:
Nile Adventure
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Great stuff!
Well done Fitch! An awesome chronicle of your travels thus far.