Right when I start figuring out my way around...

...its time to leave Egypt. Buuut I'm very excited to go to Dubai and see Dominic!

Today I wandered around Zamalek, which is an area on the island in the middle of the Nile. I went in search of this lead-free kohl eyeliner shop I'd read about in a magazine (silly, I know, but I wanted to see that area of Cairo, anyway). It was nearly impossible to find -- the shop has no sign (of course), but with the help of some super-nice women in a hair salon who knew where it was, I found it. Afterwards, I walked down to L'Aubergine, the only restaurant in Cairo that bills itself as vegetarian. It was excellent, but the waiter kept coming by mid-bite to ask where I was from or some other inane question. I'm not going to miss every waiter leaving their cell phone number on the check. I wish I could wear a paper bag over my entire person when I walk around here. Though that would probably get too hot. But less people would stare at a huge walking paper bag, I'm convinced.

After that I walked around a bit. I stopped by a great bookstore and got a biography of the Prophet Mohammed's life and a small Arabic phrasebook. I went to this trendy little cafe called Cilantro and drank cappuccino and read for a few hours. Then I took the long way home, through quaint little streets with lots of trees and plants, and people's pet cats and dogs running around -- animals look a lot better taken care of here than in Ghana. I get the impression more people have pets. Anyway, I had a really lovely day. And I realized I'm starting to get to know my way around here, at least in the Downtown area.

I leave early tomorrow, so my next post should be from Dubai. I'll write soon!

Ancient versus modern Egypt

Today I went to visit the Pyramids. I saw the 3 in Giza and then the Step Pyramid nearby in Saqqara. I walked around them a lot and went in some museums. They're really....large! It was definitely cool to see them, but the experience was pretty annoying. Its the world's biggest tourist trap. Everyone is aggressively trying to sell you something. People come up and start talking about history and you say you don't want a guide and they claim not to be a guide and then expect money at the end, even if you weren't really listening. I started just saying "NO. GO AWAY." This only worked occasionally. If you don't answer, they follow you around. One particularly annoying guy shoved a stupid stuffed toy camel practically in my face and said "Take for free." Soooo incredibly irritating. Its difficult to enjoy anything in that kind of atmosphere.

I'm really, really sick of people trying to sell me something! I still like Cairo, but I'm looking forward to going to Dubai and seeing a familiar face (Dominic). I also wanted to upload all my pictures, but the computer here is really slow...I think it would take 5 hours. Hopefully I can do that when I get to Dubai! I have some more photos from Ghana and, of course, all the ones from here in Egypt.

Tomorrow is my last day in Cairo and I just plan to hang out around the city. I don't feel like doing any more touristy stuff. Bye, everyone!

Egypt!!

Hi everyone! I'm here in Cairo. I landed this morning and am absolutely exhausted. I checked in to a hostel across from the Egyptian Museum that was recommended by Lonely Planet and a few other travel companies. Its great, actually. Its not necessarily that nice, but it seems clean enough and everyone is really friendly. It feels safe, which is high on my list, especially here. The guy running the place, Amir, is really helpful. He taught me how to say "No, thanks" in Arabic to deal with hagglers on the street (its "Lla Shukran") He also said that if I take a taxi anywhere, to have him write the destination in Arabic and quote a reasonable price, so the drivers don't misunderstand the location and/or try to rip me off.

I really just wanted to take a nap but instead I showered, changed and headed to the museum. I saw lots of cool Egyptian stuff. I saw a lot of mummies, including Ramses II. Mummies are creepy. I also saw animal mummies, including a huge crocodile, little baboons, dogs, etc. Afterwards I was starving, so I wandered into a restaurant. The food is AWESOME. I had incredible baba ganouj and then this delicious okra baked stew thingy...don't know what it was called exactly but it was really good.

So now I'm back at the hostel. I'm so tired, so I don't think I'll go out again. I don't plan to go out at all after dark, anyway. I bought a book that's supposed to be the quintessential modern Arabic novel, so I'll start on that. So far I really like Egypt...but I think I'll like it a lot more after a good night's sleep. Bye, everyone!!