Crazy Chaotic Cairo!

Fact: 20million people in greater cairo crammed into an area the size of sydney!!

We were hooked on cairo... its chaotic nature was just what we like! Most times!!

We wandered the backstreets, got hopelessly lost (ben doesn't believe in asking for directions!) and saw the cairenes go about their daily business. the only time we saw tourists was at the tourist sites. what a shame that more peole don't get to see the real cairo. no wonder people gave us such negative comments and dire warnings prior to us leaving. i would get put off with cairo too if i had to deal with the touts and teh souvenir sellers with their ingenuine interest in us just so we will buy something. we on the other hand are teh lucky few who've chatted (with lots of sign language) to some cool people.

highlights, lowlights and unforgettable experiences:

* seeing the pyramids for the first time - from a busy highway - weirdly was more of a highlight for me than actually getting there and running the gamut of touts trying to get you to hire a camel/horse/donkey cart to get to the pyramids as "cars aren't allowed there"! yeah right! total anoyance that took away the majesty and perfection of the great pyramid.

* being only one of 2 families at Dashur to see the Red Pyramid and climb 125 steps upto its entrance and then descend 63m to the beautiful interior with its stunning corbelled ceiling rearing up 12 - 15 m above us. the sheer architectural feat of that was awe inspiring.

* being driven in the dark in taxis not using headlights! aarrgghhhhh......
many cars drive this way some with their parking lights on. Is it with a false notion of saving battery who knows. scary especially when a 4 lane highway constantly changes to a 6 deep one with cars cutting in using only their horns as morse code to indicate their intentions!
flashing of their high beam and suddenly putting on their hazard lights send yet another (unknown to us) signal to other drivers. the death defying drive through a tunnel put my heart firmly in my mouth!

* climbing 195 steps up the minaret of a very old mosque (abt 1000yrs old) and seeing cairo spread out below us. all this while standing on a 800m wide ledge with no railing (!) 60+metres above street level!! for the first time I felt slight vertigo from hieights. the boys and ben pranced around it making me feel even more giddy! great exercise for the butt and thighs!!

* the "oldness" of the place - the unchanging face of it all behind the facade of cars and modern buildings. the backstreets of the real cairo look like it's been that way forever.

* the tuneful sound of the call to prayer in Islamic Cairo echoed from mosque to mosque mixed in with the din of the cries of the street vendors, people on carts and bikes hissing at us to move out of their way and the creak of cart wheels. the smells of rose oil, mint and cummin mixed with fumes and rubbish and other unidentifiable smells. a sensory explosion!

* being given a spur of the moment tour by a big old very loud man with no english but excellent hand gestures and acting skills! this was at the "city of the dead" - the ancient northern cemetery where people live amongst the old mausoleums and tombs. fascinating.

* stepping into Coptic Cairo with its cobbled narrow alleyways and surprising number of churches (and a synagogue) instead of the usual mosques. an aura of quiet and peace here sitting on old pews with beautiul stained glass in an area said to be where Mary and Joseph brought Jesus for refuge when hiding from Herod who was destroying all young children in order to kill the messiah.

* stumbling across a pretty park (40c pp entry) where the local couples go to canoodle! :o)

* random men at tourist sites, expecting to have their palms greased with "baksheesh" just for saying "watch your head mister" or pointing out the bleeding obvious (eg: hieroglyphics on a wall full of it in front of you!)! being of sri lankan origin, I of course, dont' put up too well with that nonsense and generously handed out a piece of my mind on occasion much to the embarrassment of Sanjay!

* Sanjay being checked out by the local girls! He's loving it!! a group of about 6 giggling teenage girls yesterday insisted on taking his photo and chatting to us tho both parties couldn't understand a word of what was being said!

* Sanjay losing his ipod on our last day in Cairo. Forgot he had it in his pants pocket and it must have slipped out in the taxi cab!! He's a very sad young man!

In Aswan now ... caught the sleeper train down last night ... and off to have more adventures!

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!