Day 2: More Cairo
Fog/ Clouds are everywhere. I’m trying hard to remember if I’ve ever heard anyone mention a foggy day in the desert. Ever seen a picture of the Sphinx peaking out through the fog?? Well I guess no pyramids again today.
I woke up early this morning after having passed out fully clothed – I mean the works – jeans, belt, hoodie…tv still on, all the lights still on.
Exhausted.
The morning news is full of talk of 2 things – the potential hanging of Sadam Hussein, and the holy pilgramage that is going on in Saudi Arabia. It will be interesting to see the reaction around here, if Sadam is killed, particularly given the holiness of tomorrow.
Anyhow, today we tackled the Khan el Khalili market, in old Cairo. First though, we “went for a walk”. The hotel is on the street that runs along the Nile, so we thought we’d get a little foggy air Nile View and walk down to the 4 Seasons, which is really a very short distance. Well, apparently, people do not walk in Cairo.
Every single cabbie pulled over or honked as they zoomed by on the raod, which we discovered was very difficult to cross over to get to the Nile side. 10 minutes later, once in front of the 4 Seasons, it was very near impossible to get back, as cars, trucks, cow wagons etc, zoomed by, not even pausing for a set of red lights ahead. So cabs it will be! At least they are easy to catch….
Khan el Kalili, a old style bazaar, was really just getting started as we arrived. It is very much full of colors and people and animals. Selling everthing. Spices, dead moist cow heads (defurred-the image will never leave me), musical instruments, cloth bolts, fake papyrus, lamps, and junk of all kinds. Vendors followed us around trying to guess where we were from, and lure us into their little hole in the wall stores. Of course, they didn’t succeed, so a few of them turned very rude, calling us names. By and large though, the hassle factor is much more moderate than I expected. Morocco is by far more annoying. What a relief.
We were followed for a short time as we wondered towards the dirty crowded end of the bazaar. He was pretty obvious though, and turning around and looking at him did no good. So I pulled Bryan to the side, leaving the shady character no choice but to pass. Bryan spotted him 10 minutes later though, back on our trail. We must have been pretty obvious, being the only two white people around :-)! Eventually, we further lost ourselves in the market, and we lost him as well!
It is incredible how dirty the streets are and how normal it all seems to everyone around. Piles of trash and debris are in the middle of rutted out dirty streets. Sometimes more trash than dirty. Modern Cairo, I guess. Tons of modern products with no modern ability to dispose of the waste.
In one of the alleyways of the bazaar we stopped for some tea and people watching. Picture Indiana Jones market…kind of like that. No doubt aimed for tourists, still it did the trick as far as feeling very exotic. People of all sorts were pushing through, tables of tourists and locals smoking hookahs and drinking black tea out of little decorated glasses.
The second half of the day we spent at the Egyptian museum. Indescribably packed… an entire cultures worth of stuff in one dusty oversized tomb. Its overwhelming. Nothing is translated, only 50% of things have any label on them at all. 2.5 hours later, we’d seen a bunch of mummies, and lots of King Tut stuff.
Back to exhausted.
Tags: Cairo, Egypt, Egyptian Museum, Khan el Khalili, Tag Index
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