Adventures in Cairo

So in case you all didn't know, Doug and I departed NA August 29th to enjoy the sites and sounds of Egypt.
The great part is that we arrived. We left MK with grandparents in YYC and travelled home to overnight. we departed the next morning on a pretty early flight of 7am. I can proudly say I only packed ONE CARRY ON bag. thank you very much.
We flew to Atlanta, then onto Frankfurt with no problems, and were cleared to Cairo early. I couldn't sleep a WINK on the plane, much to my annoyance. niether did Doug really. We were only cleared for coach class and it was SOOOOOO uncomfortable that I didn't sleep. then we were on Lufttanza, and OHMYGOSH, they were so GREAT with service and I stole a whole row of seats to sleep on. and sleep I did. I was pretty much incoherant.

This city is CRAZY. the traffic would make any Westerner gasp with fear. they walk out into the streets, have cars whiz by them and keep going. there are lanes, but no one pays attention, and they have traffic lights but no one follows them. I thought Jerusalem was bad, but this place makes it look positively sane. It is 25 million people, with 1 million people adding every 10 months. I guess there is a baby born every 23 seconds. any references I have made to my trip to Israel thus far have been met with a deafening silence. I told our guide how I bargained in the market, and how I got screwed on prices of things. he said "those Jews" and I said "actually it was all Palestinians I was dealing with, they drive a hard bargain" end of conversation.
I really get STARED at here, in spite of Doug. my hair is uncovered,, but today I wore a skirt and a tanktop and my giant hat. its not as bad. I am quite agitated though and thought about finding a scarf just so these men who are SO RUDE will stop staring at me. Its so irritating to me that they think they can stare just bc I am a Western woman. patriarchy at its best.
Someone picked us up at the airport and told us it was 20US each for our visa. we found out they were really 6US!!! funny. I am not sure whose wheels he had to grease either to get them. my first experience with Cairo traffic was when I walked out with my luggage, this car was racing down the lane and didn't look like he was going to stop. I ran. it freaked me out, but that was nothing.

Our guide took us to the hotel. which I will take a picture of, and its al right. but European standards, very nice. it has two twin beds and is clean right on the pool and AC. that is a start. Then he offered to take us tothe light show of the pyramids, which we thought would be fun. so we went and got "seated" at the restaurant. they asked if we wanted drinks, and we ordered a beer and wine. the wine was SO AWFUL I couldn't even FINISH IT. Neither could Doug, who drinks almost anything. Right before we went, our guide took us to this smoke shop, where Doug and I smoked this water pipe thing, I will post a pic when I get home. Doug also drank this crazy VERY strong coffee which I couldnt stomach.
I also tried to bargain with the guy as well. Since it was not included, I figured I would start at half and go from there. he gave us 5 off, which isn't too bad, though I felt a bit bad about it as I should have done it before we left. but I was really too tired.

This morning, we went back to the pyramids/tombs and saw them in the daylight it was very cool. We even went on a camel ride, went into the tomb, which was clausterphobic and cameras were not allowed, and went to Cairo museum. we also went shopping, but you all will have to wait until Christmas to hear about that ;) but suffice to say, we bought stuff that I am quite pleased with.

now I am going to go to bed as its almost 10 here. I think we have a early morning and we are off to our resort. its too bad really, we didn't see everything to be seen.
C