Cairo

We spent the next three days hanging out in Cairo, relaxing after our big tour and preparing for India. We had a few nice meals, caught up on some business, and recouped some of our strength.

The culture here in Egypt is very different. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in Islamic Cairo, where we walked around one day. Islamic Cairo is filled with Mosques from the 900’s, and lot of buildings from the Mameluke period (1500’s) which is beautiful in its own right. We went into a mausoleum and the Al-Azhar mosque, but mostly just toured around the neighborhood a bit, looking at the different shops and traditional crafts being made. Just about every woman in Cairo is covered head to toe, with only their face showing. Some are dressed all in black, and even have their faces covered with only eye holes, or a thin black cloth covering their entire face, so that even their eyes cannot be seen. On first glance, it is quite shocking, and it took some getting used to, especially for Laura who is all about women being themselves and not letting anything hold them back or stand in their way.

Cairo is a very interesting city. It has a unique mix of new buildings, and those from bygone eras, from ancient Egyptian times, to early Christians, to Muslim dynasties, to the Ottoman Era, and even many buildings from the boom times of the 1920’s and 1930’s when the British held sway. In fact, many of the city buildings seemed to be from this era, especially in the downtown. There are many old-school cinema houses, some of which are now closed and boarded up. There are a few new buildings in the mix as well.

One day, we went to the Egyptian Museum, which was a very awesome place, filled with statues, carvings, sarcophaguses, mummies, and all the trinkets, jewelry, and coffins anyone could ever want to see. It was really cool. This is also the place where the treasure from Tutankhamen’s tomb is shown, which really was the highlight of the museum. So many golden coffins and tombs, and all sorts of treasure. It was magnificent to behold. No pictures allowed inside though, sorry!

One of our better stories from Cairo is about tissues. Everywhere in Arabia they use tissues for everything, including as a substitute for napkins and paper towels. So restaurants have a box of tissues sitting on the table to use as napkins, and bathroom attendants hand you tissues to use as paper towels. Consequently, tissues are sold everywhere, including by people on the street. So while walking around one day, we decided we were low on our tissue supply and needed to restock and we tried to buy a ten pack of individually wrapped tissue packages from a teenage boy. We asked how much, and he said 5 pounds ($0.90). We gave him the money, (we actually handed over 6 pounds out of generosity) and we took the tissues. We then saw him go talk to his boss, minder, family member or whatever, who apparently told him that it was not enough and to go get more money from us. So three minutes later this boy is following us, asking for five more pounds. We try to duck into shops and buildings, but to no avail. Finally, after him stalking us for a good 15 minutes, we trade back the tissues for the money, and try to shoo him away, but after all this, he is STILL trying to sell us the tissues, following us around yet agin. This time, for 8 pounds, haha! We finally got him to go away, and bought our tissues in a market later that day for 5 pounds. Crazy days!

We also broke down one day and opted for a nice meal at Mcdonald’s, thinking it would be nice to have a taste of home. The thing is, the menu us a is bit different in Egypt. They have a sandwich here called a McArabia, which is hilarious. Its almost like a chicken pita sandwich type thing, and not too bad, and the french fries were good, even if they did taste a bit like palm oil. Fast food, and food in general is a bit different here. But it is still good. We’ve eaten everything from a $2 omelet, to a $14 cheeseburger. Go fig!

One more thing about the food…Pasta and pizza here are very “safe” dishes. No meat, its all boiled and cooked, and served piping hot. They are also quite cheap. We have definitely eaten more Italian food in Arabia than we did in Italy, just because it was so expensive there and so cheap and safe here!

Although Egypt, and the middle east, for that matter, has been really cool and wonderful to see, we are a bit pharaoh out. India is next, and a host of adventures lie in wait for us there!!

Enjoy the pictures. We threw in some random shots from around Cairo as well, for your viewing pleasure!

Much love from Cairo!