Blogs from Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 108

My beloved blog readers, I am sad to report that this is my last night in Cairo. The past few days have been simply AMAZING but the fun has to end sometime I suppose. Tomorrow morning (bright and early) we leave for Alexandria where we'll stay for a few days before (sadly) the trip will come to a close. I left my last entry mid-day after a delightful 4 hours of tea with our new friend Mawra and some of her friends. Afterwards, we went back to the hostel where we decided against the trip to Luxor (much to Paul's chagrin) but, instead, ran into our old friend Jason (the high school teacher from CA) who agreed to go to dinner with us. We ate at Abu Tarek which was somewhat of an Egyptian fast food ... read more

Today I found my worth measured in camels and t-shirts as Paul (our sole male companion) was offered a wide assortment of goodies in exchange for his women (aka us). "Lucky man" they say...I think it's getting to his head. :) I recently heard a story about a man who accidently sold his girl friend to a foreign man for a camel...we've been warned by Paul that if we act up he might do the same. ;) We finally went to the Egyptian museum today to pay King Tut a little visit. There was so much gold everywhere you looked! We had heard that the museum was almost like taking a trip to a very big attic and we found that to be fairly true--relics and ancient artifacts are somewhat haphazardly strewn about. My favorite exhibits ... read more

Greetings from Cairo, home to many very friendly offers from Egyptian men. :) We arrived yesterday safe and sound and, after a death-defying, hold-your-breath-and-hope-to-survive taxi ride, found the hostel to be quite pleasant. We have already made a new friend. His name is Simon and he is from South Africa and has been in Cairo for a week or so and knew a lot about the area already so he was a good friend to have around. Cairo is SO different than anything I have ever experienced--there are mosques at every corner and, contrary to what I expected, very few people speak more than broken English. However, there are moments when I swear I'm in New York (especially when in a taxi)...and other times it seems strangely like Mexico (strange: a lot of the men call ... read more

Second Day Cairo, or Al Qahirah in Arabic, boggles the mind and the senses. The first impression simply overloads the brain; too much is happening in too many places too fast to make any sense of it. The insane traffic bound by no rules mixing with masses of apparently suicidal pedestrians, both dogging the donkey carts wondering the streets seemingly ignorant of the 20th century heap of humanity and technology surrounding them. Then as your eyes slowly adjust to the cacophony that surrounds them you begins to hear to the music of Cairo, a symphony composed of a thousand car horns, the vibe of a million pedestrian lost in their individual conversations, competing with hundreds of taxi radios blaring the latest Amr Diab or local Qu’ran reading while their drivers yell out their window, all beautifully ... read more

Last weekend I visited "Islamic Cairo," a slight misnomer, as this area of Cairo isn't more "Islamic" than other parts, but it is the old historical district, packed with markets, mosques, and madrasas. How bazaar The most popular area with the tourists by far in Islamic Cairo is the Khan al-Khalili market. Part genuine marketplace and part tourist trap, anything you could ever want to buy is located here. Besides the usual stuffed camels, alabaster pyramids, and sheeshas (water pipes), there are spices, precious metals, fabrics, and so on. Like most souqs (markets), each area is devoted to a particular craft or trade, except for the main thoroughfares, which are shamelessly decked out for the tourists. Truth be told, the souq in Fez, Morocco seemed more genuine to me. On the other hand, the hassle in ... read more