On my own in Cairo

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Geo: 30.0571, 31.2272

Took a bit to get me motivated to leave my room. Finally did at 1.30pm. To save myself from being ripped off by taxi's decided to walk to the Eugptian Musuem. Five minutes of being outside I remembered why I was so reluctant to leave my room- pollution, it is disgusting. According to LP a day in Cairo is like smoking a packet of cigarettes and it is the 2nd most polluted city in the world after Mexico City- great! There are still heaps of men everywhere, I thought they would be working today. This museum is a big mess, stuff everywhere, lots of things in the dark, a few things are labelled, piles of dust on everything.
- no smoking signs can be ignored
- no touching means you can lean on statues
- birds inside the museum are there to eat crumbs from people who have been eating inside the museum.

Saw lots of stuff, crocodile mummies looked pretty cool. Went into the Royal Mummy room and saw 11 kings and queens of Egypt who ruled between 1650 and 945 BC, so long ago! Their teeth seem quite white. Skin has gone black and dried looking. Some of them seem quite short, maybe they shrunk over time. Today I learnt that mummies have 4 canopic jars, each containing an organ and put into a chest in their tomb. Models of wooden boats are also in their tomb so that they can be transported to the afterlife. After crossing 12 lanes of peak hour traffic- by following a tissue box salesman. I made it to the other side and headed to KFC, where I knew I couldn't go wrong for food.
Crossed many lanes again and walked to Cairo Tower. Its 187m high and ugly from the outside. The view of the city from the top was good and could vaguely see the pyramids.
Ordered room service and found English speaking news on TV. Washed my face and the white towel had black marks on it from all the pollution in the city, yuck!!

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Photos

01 Egyptian Museum
The outside of the museum

02 View from Cairo Tower
Another bridge full of traffic not going anywhere.

03 View from Cairo Tower
A Cairo sunset.