Egypt Days 3 - 5

Day 3

I spent half a day with Tim. It was great catching up. Then I walked around Zamalek for a while. I stopped by Dewan bookshop, which is one of the premier bookshops in Cairo. After living in Saudi for a year, it was rather refreshing to see the much broader selection of books. Politics. Philosophy. Joy :)

Day 4

I tackled the monster that is the Egytpian Museum over a few hours. I get taken for Egyptian a lot so I decided to see if I could obtain a vastly cheaper entry ticket reserved for Egyptians. I managed to convince the guy at the ticket office. Next came the card checks, which presented the problem. I tried to brag my way out of it but the guy at the gate was adament that I show proof that I was Egyptian. I had to go back and buy another ticket for foreigners. Damn, so close.

I had Koshari for lunch. Pretty good.

Next I headed to Maadi to meet a travel agent to arrange a tour of the Pyramids in Giza, Memphis and Saqqara. On the way there, the guy sitting next to me on the Metro had the most bewildered look on his face when I took out my guidebook. He was surprised that I wasn't Egyptian. Trying to be helpful, he actually took me to where he thought I was headed (and paid for me on the microbus). It turned out that I ended up at Maadi Public Library. Since I was there, I thought I'd have a look around. Again, a refreshing array of books. Then I went to the travel agent and sorted out my tour for Day 5.

Next I went to Al-Azhar Mosque and University. It was awesome. I was moved. Walked around, prayed and then headed back towards the hostel. I stumbled upon a cinema on the way back to my hostel at night and decided to watch the only English-language film they had on offer: Splice. Awful. But it was nice to be inside a cinema again (they're banned in Saudi).

Day 5

Tour of Memphis, Saqqara and Giza. There were a couple of detours to a carpet school and a shop selling painted papyrus art.

My sister Sana got me in touch with one of her friends. He invited me over so I've checked out of my hostel for now. I should be meeting him within the hour. I might head to Aswan tomorrow evening. Let's see.