Ash is entering addresses on our netbook and I am using a local machine with a dodgy keyboard and mouse. We arrived at dawn on Wednesday after a long trip, but reasonably comfortable for economy. Singapore Air were very good and we had leg room.
Cairo is as big and busy as expected. The traffic is amazing. We thought crossing the road in Vietnam was a challenge. We gave up here. It is truly crazy. We stayed awake all day by walking, firstly around the local area here, Docki, and then by walking along the Nile and onto the better class residential area of Semanyak.
We saw some amazing street life in the morning as the locals started their days. Bread being baked, fruit market stalls and meateries. The sheesha cafes open early and men gather there smoking quietly. We got totally lost in the afternoon. Cairo is not well suited to pedestrians and we later found out we should have walked right down the Nile (rather than left). The school kids were out and groups of boys seemed a little threatening at times. The architecture is, however, wonderful. Especially the skylines and upper parts of buildings. I am so sorry not to be visiting in the Colonial heyday.
The first trip we did with a guide was to the Citadel, where I promptly fell off a tiny ledge while trying to avoid a set of postcards being pushed towards my face. I am now walking with a limp, and much pain, as my ankle has swollen and bruised. Fortunately it is not broken. Ash is also coping with pain in his neck and arm numbness. A pair of crocks in Cairo. The weather is superb which is lucky because the hotel swimming pool is very minus water. It is an amazing mixture of comfortable and incredibly rundown. The electricity seems to just arrive and has disappeared a couple of times too. The bathroom is enormous and functional but has a false ceiling, disguising walls and ceilings which are disintegrating. The beds however are comfortable, they serve good Egyptian food and have a really comfortable lounge with large, plush chairs in the old colonial style. Reds and golds and chandeliers and lampshades- all on precarious angles. It is an interesting place to be.
Yesterday we saw a few sites with a local guide, then dropped into bed at 4.00pm, totally missing dinner and sleeping through to dawn this morning. Today we have walked the Nile at dawn and will have a fairly easy day with not too much we have to do. Love Janet
