Hey all,
The following two bits of text are copied from emails home. Sorry there aren’t any pictures right now, as I haven’t uploaded any yet. I’ll do some proper blogging once I’ve done so.
—–
I just wanted to let you all know that I have arrived safely in Cairo. My main bag got lost on the way from Sofia, but I was able to give them the contact info for me here, in Sarajevo, and in Louisiana. I should have the bag tonight and if not, tomorrow.
The cab ride over here was… interesting. I should be able to give a better description of my experiences later on once I’ve showered and settled.
—–
Good news! I have my bag back. It was here when I woke up this morning, having shown up around 4am. It had all my stuff without anything missing. Last night Carey and I explored a bit of downtown Cairo and ended up (unwisely I think) going on a boat ride on the Nile for dinner. We had arranged it through our hostel, but we were dead tired already, and the thing lasted to midnight, but we figured it would be touristy and have Egyptian food for tourists and would be a decent thing to do. Well, it’s not that the food was bad, but I felt I could get things like roasted chicken and cabbage salad anywhere. Also, there were two wedding parties on the boat as well, not a bunch of tourists, so Carey and I felt very out of place. Aside from saying we were on the Nile, I really don’t think it was really worth it in terms of “experiencing Egypt.” We got home well after midnight and went to bed immediately and slept in till 11 this morning.
After getting up today we decided to take our first showers, which I could finally do with all my stuff being here (brushing my teeth never felt so good!). We hailed a cab on the street and they took us just outside of Al-Hussein mosque, the most important in Egypt for state affairs. It is in the old quarter, near the main shopping bazaar called Khal-Kallili. We explored this area for a few hours, haggling heavily with one particular oil merchant. Carey and I finally agreed to buy four small bottles of perfume oil for 300 Egyptian pounds (about $55). After that we started walking towards the old city walls at the north gates, stopping by one old madras in ruins and climbing the minaret tower of Al-Hakim mosque. It provided some amazing views of Cairo. After that we walked down one of the main roads back towards Al-Hussein, which was an adventure in itself. I thought Sofia and Bulgaria had bad drivers and traffic. They have nothing on Cairo! I will have plenty of pictures and videos to share later on. I hope to have some of them uploaded tonight, as we are planning a quiet night in the hotel without going out to late.
Tomorrow Carey and I are taking a hired car to go to Giza, Memphis, and some other sites outside of the city to see the Sphinx and the Pyramids. I’m excited about it, more so than I was about what we did today. As of right now Egypt has not disappointed, but it hasn’t impressed either. Hopefully the Pyramids, the oldest and biggest tourist (man-made) attractions in the world, will live up to the hype.
