I have to admit that I have been a bit intimidated walking around Cairo. As a western woman, you are ogled at as if you are some sort of alien from Mars. It seems to go beyond simple curiosity... at times the stares feel hostile... other times, it's as if I've forgotten to put on clothes despite what I consider to be fairly conservative dress. I'm glad to be traveling with a male partner... I can only imagine what it would be like to travel here as a single woman on your own.

This gets compounded by aggressive hawkers who will greet you with that legendary phrase... "Hello my friend... where are you from?) The conversation invariably results in the salesman trying to walk you into his papyrus factory, perfume shop, hotel, etc.. There is nothing wrong with trying to sell something... but those sales folk who won't take no for an answer after you've told them 50 times... start to become irritating.

Then there is the Cairo traffic. You take your life into your hands when you attempt to cross the street. There are no stop lights, cross walks, crossing guards,... you just have to find a break in the traffic and make your way between the squealing taxis and blaring horns. Put it all together and getting around Cairo can be a bit intimidating.

But despite all this, our walks through Modern Cairo have been an excellent way to get acquainted with this city that overflows with humanity. They say that New York is the city that never sleeps... but it's probably more true here. The horns are still blaring at 3am (thank goodness we have earplugs!) and people are everywhere no matter what time of the day or night. It's an experience in itself just to sit and watch what other people are doing! It was on one of our walk that we stumbled into a local Kushari shop. Although we didn't know it at the time, Kushari is favorite Egyptian dish and consists of noodle, rice, black lentil, fried onions and tomato sauce. I wouldn't say it was "wonderful" but it was a good local experience none the less!

We dedicated a whole day to exploring "Islamic Cairo" which is apparently no-more Islamic than the rest of the city but it does have a good number of minaret's and the confusing, winding alleyways that are typical of an Islamic old town. It's almost like stepping back in time and easy to see that people have been living the same way in this area for centuries. The market was particularly interesting... you could ee everything there from live animals being slaughtered, to cotton being sold by the bale. The aroma of spices filled the air and it was all accompanied by the background noise of people milling around (or fighting!), donkeys braying and the prayers of the local mosques being amplified into the community. But what I noticed most about Islamic Cairo wa that the further we got away from the tourist scene, the friendlier people became. We heard more "welcomes" and "hellos" without the attached "Come to my shop!" and I even started feeling a bit more like my normal self... rather than some alien from Mars.

From here we will head out West into the great Sahara desert...

Next Entry: January 20, 2004