Dance, not walk, like an Egyptian!
Trip Start
Jul 28, 2009
1
83
121
Trip End
Aug 10, 2010
Where I stayed
Wakeup Cairo Hostel
Cairo, Al Qāhirah, Egypt
Friday, March 5, 2010
We arrived at 5am in Cairo and we headed sleepily outside to find a taxi. Again, I had checked with the hostel that it should not cost more than 15 pounds. A cab driver was following us saying 50 pounds, I laughed at him and said 15 pounds only! He finally agreed.
He didn’t know how to get to the hotel and had to stop many times to ask for directions. We finally found it and when I handed him the money, he said its 20 pounds. Thank god that I had the correct change, because I gave him the money and walked off. However, I couldn't help being angry. I really thought I had good control over being angry or impatient, but Egypt has tested all my emotions!
We took a creaky old elevator to the 7th floor where we found the happy sign of WakeUp Cairo Hostel! We were greeted by a sleepy man who showed us to the lounge area where we would have to hang out until checkout time at 12noon. At 7am, guess who we met in the lounge, the Italian couple from the Felucca. They were leaving that day so the maid quickly cleaned the room and we were able to check in before 12noon. We both took a nap as the lack of sleep from the train was catching up with us.
The second day we headed out to the Egyptian museum and there was soooooo many people. There was no free map or guide of the museum so I had to spend $7 on a stupid map. This is one place that I would not have minded to have a guide to explain everything. We had to pay an extra for the Mummy room, but it was worth it. I mean, how many times do we get the chance to see Ramses and Seti Pharaohs as mummies? It was so cool! I think its incredible that these pharaohs still have a face, even though they are kind of scary looking. Some even had their hair still attached!
In the afternoon, we headed to Khan El Khalili Bazaar with another guy from the hostel. His name was Salim and he was originally from Afghanistan but has lived in Australia most his life. He had an unusual hair style and he got a lot of stares and attention from everyone. He,had also had many bad incidents in Egypt but mostly harassment from the police, who thought he was a gay prostitute! I don't think he was a gay prostitute, but he was definitely one of a kind!
We took the metro and got off in Old Cairo. We walked around this quiet neighborhood as I thought we could walk to the Bazaar. Boy was I wrong. The bazaar was in Islamic Cairo, not Old Cairo. We ended up taking a taxi as it would have taken us over an hour to walk.
When we got to the Bazaar, there was too many people for my taste. We got a bit tired and sat down to have a coffee, which later turned out to be a big argument as he was overcharging us for instant coffee. I went to the tourist police who helped us negotiate a lower price even though he said that we have to "Pay tourist price". Ha! Not me, I said! We finally negotiated to half the price and left again feeling ripped off!
Walking through the Bazaar, I noticed that a lot of the mothers carry their children on one shoulder. The child straddles the mother shoulder by sitting sideways and has one leg in the front and the other in the back and holds on to the mothers head……this seems to have less strain on the back! I wondered how many children had ripped off their muslim mothers headscarf?
Everywhere we went in Egypt, the local men would call out to Nik and say “U face look Egyptian” or "U father Egyptian, no?”. If Nik would not have been walking with me, he could definitely pass for an Egyptian, so many times I sent him in to do the shopping as he would get the local price! he he he he......
That evening, we met some other people at the hostel and we headed out to the Nile to catch a local boat ride. To say that was an interesting event is an understatement! It seems that the
locals (mostly young men) like to dance while the rest of them watch and clap their hands. They danced and pranced which seemed like a cross between Russian dancing and Kung Fu kicks along with Thai hand movements and Egyptian belly dancing, all rolled into one! It was definitely worth the 75 cents!
NIKOLAS VERSION
We met some people at the hostel and we thought we would go on one of these boat rides on the Nile. We had to wait on the boat for over a half an hour before the boat was full of people. Mostly locals and only a couple of girls, we were the only tourists. They played loud music and the men danced the weirdest. I thought they danced like girls and looked funny with all their hand movements.
