Cairo

The enormity of the city (+20 million) is immediately apparent. After
passing through immigration, asking many people how to get to our
hotel, and refusing the many offers for tours and taxis, we were
pointed towards a shuttle bus that would connect us to a public bus
that was supposed to take us to our hotel. We were at the mercy of
those who spoke English as most everything is written in Arabic.

Thankfully we met a man at the bus terminal who was very nice. He was
going on our bus and even insisted to pay for our bus fare to welcome
us to Egypt. We saw pictures of his wife and two boys (one two days
old) and his engineering projects on a slide show on his phone. He
was a completely innocent and kind though we were suspicious until we
said goodbye. His stop was before ours and we still weren't quite
clear where to get off. But an hour later with the help of a couple
others, we made it to the last stop across a frightening street of
traffic from the hotel. We'd had time to observe Cairo traffic, and
it's laughably crazy. No lanes, often no lights. Continous honking
and buzzing of cars. Pedestrians holding tight to each other to
cross. Motorcycles zooming through cars without any rules. So to
cross the street (5 cars wide) we used more confident people as human
shields. We are much more comfortable now with the roads, though
every time we feel our bodies respond with a sort of "fight-or-flight"
response. The later it gets the streets are jam packed of honking
cars. We even saw a horse-drawn carriage galloping on a major street
with cars following close behind and all around. The horse was
frantically running being chased by buses and cars. Quite funny.
Many of the electronic walking men signs on crosswalks have the man
running. Cairo city planners must have a since of humor.

It's very hot here. Lots of pollution brings a haze over the city.
At night the Nile is filled with light beams, florescent neon light-
decorated cruise boats and feluccas (small sail boats). We often see
individual men or groups of men on the streets praying towards Mecca.
At sunset we walk pass groups of people gathered to break fast
together or iftar. It is a communal activity here like in Istanbul.

Most all women here wear the headscarves and dresses that cover their
arms and legs. Men wear pants, if not the long robes. Almost eveyone
has been very friendly and welcoming. Though we are often approached
by someone who "loves Americans" and "is not a tour guide" and just
wants to give us their business card or address in America, but to do
his we would need to follow them down streets, so we exercise patience
and endurance till we can break away. One man even said, "say yes, or
I will kill myself". They often yell anything just to get you to pause.

We've tried lots of delicious Egyptian foods - felafel sandwiches,
fava bean paste sandwiches, swarma, and a noodle, rice, and lentil
dish. We've found a place where we can both eat for about a dollar
together. The people who work here are starting to recognize us.

The Egyptian Museum was really cool, though it is really more of a
massive warehouse without air conditioning. We weren't allowed to
take the camera inside. It is overflowing with ancient and priceless
treasures. So much that many are without labels or behind something
in a corner. The oldest statue was from the 4th dynasty, around 2500
BC. The most jaw-dropping treasures were from King Tut's tomb. Over
1500 treasures were found in the tomb of the young king, from jewels,
to thrones and boats and leopard-skin shields and golden claw-footed
beds all of which he would use in the afterlife. The ancient Egyptians
were fascinated with the afterlife. We saw King Tut's famous golden
mask. The face looks just like him because it helps the gods to
recognize him amongst others.

Day two - the pyramids and sphinx of Giza. We are unable to describe
the feeling of being there. As we drove through the city, the point
of a pyramid began to poke through the crowded housing and buildings.
The city seems to stop abruptly, and all of a sudden we were standing
in desert gazing up at the magnificent pyramids. We crouched down
through a very narrow slanted pathway into the tomb and burial chamber
of one of the pyramids. Still have the dust of the pyramids on our
sandals. Then we saw the papyrus institute, where we learned about
the process of paper-making from papyrus reeds. We had an interesting
conversation about women in Egypt with the guide of the tour who was
an Egyptian woman.

On the tour we met a friendly Singaporian who was working in Israel.
He is an executive member of the Marriott collection and invited us to
the executive lounge for dinner and dessert and then breakfast. Then
we spent our last day with him seeing Islamic Cairo, Old and Coptic
Cairo.

In Alexandria now.