Cairo (first impressions and Khan el Khalili market)

For Christmas and New Years this year we headed over to Egypt with Bel and Andrew, two other Aussie friends. Our trip would take us across almost 10,000km by 9 modes of transport (plane, underground train, taxi, bus, horse-drawn carriage, camel, felucca, bicycle as well as our trusty feet). It would also take us past some incredible monuments as well as give us a taste of some of the modern Egyptian life.

We flew into Cairo and headed straight to our hotel (the nice and functional Pyramisa in Doqqi) to freshen up before heading out for our first taste of the local cuisine. The typical meal is like other typical Arabic food (Moroccan or Lebanese) and starts with pita bread and dips, like hommus, before moving on to meat and rice. No good dessert options, though, as far as we could tell...

Cairo felt like a unique part of the world - you can tell you're there when:

• There are five cars across four lanes, or more likely, three cars across two lanes
• Many cars drive without headlights, only flicking them on to alert other drivers
• There is an entire language spoken purely with the car horn
• Everybody seems to mistake you for an ATM, if only they knew what you wanted to buy ('Come into my shop...how can I take your money...')
  
• The male population feel compelled to remind you how lucky you are for having a blonde wife (you should have heard them when one of the boys was alone with Sarah and Bel!)
  
• You have to bargain for everything, from the tacky souvenir to a bottle of water and especially for the taxis
• You find yourself wishing for the fresh air of London, so that you can breathe easier
  

We thought we'd ended up with the worst taxi in Cairo, especially when he threw the bags on the roof and sped off down the highway - turns out this is the standard taxi in Cairo

After phone calls from home for Christmas eve we caught the Metro out to see the Egyptian museum, where our guide (and we strongly recommend getting a guide - though a bit of haggling on price may be required) showed us the most important and impressive artefacts and helped put everything in context. Most impressive was the contents of King Tutenkhamen's tomb (including the sarcophagi which were like a 5m x 2.5m x 2.5m Russian Doll (made of gold)) - most surprising were the hunting boomerangs found in another tomb (just like the Australian Aborigines would use).

After convincing the guide that we didn't want to see the perfume exhibition nearby (one of the usual scams), we jumped back onto the Metro to try to find Islamic Cairo, and more specifically Khan el Khalili market. We were very impressed by the Metro, which was clean, reliable and only one pound Egyptian (= 10p British or 25c Australian). The drawback were the crowds (apparently it moves 1m people per day), although Sarah and Bel had no problem fitting into the 'Female-only' carriage at one end.

The Lonely Planet made Khan el Khalili out to be purely for tourists, and there is some truth to it. The market is a grid, though, and while tourists seemed to be congregated along one street, we followed another which was almost entirely locals. We had a great time, bantering and bargaining with the shopkeepers. Sorry Bob, but there were no monkeys for sale...

Ready to bargain until we could bargain no more! (Oh, you lucky man!!!)

That night we had Christmas dinner at the excellent 'Fish Market' restaurant by the Nile. While it wasn't a traditional Christmas dinner (they don't go in for Ham much in those parts) it could have been a modern Christmas in Australia, complete with excellent grilled prawns and fish.

First you choose your fish, then they cook your fish, then...

A Christmas feast!

We were only having a taste of Cairo this time around, though, as it was off to Luxor via Egyptair (who were suprisingly good, and are now part of the Star Alliance) - more on Luxor in the next post.