Khan el-Khalili - Day 9

We walked our legs off. Being Friday, the streets were noticeably quieter early on. The souk we wanted to visit is not on Cairo's Metro system. So we talked about taking a taxi, but we ended up walking all the way there and most of the way back. I think my Mi Band showed around 12 kilometers for the day.



The 'tourist' section was slow as there are few here presently. We also hit it right at Friday prayer time. Trying to walk back through the area did get pretty busy. In fact, there were a few places we didn't walk as the crowds simply didn't allow passage. It was tiring but a great way to spend our last day in the city.

At about 10:30 we decided to check out of our hotel and head to the Egyptian Railway Station at Ramses Square. From Vancouver, a few weeks before we left, we booked the 12:05 AM train to Luxor through the website.

Pretty soon, we officially start our winter in the West Bank neighbourhood of Luxor, Egypt. We are not far from the National Ferry that shuttles folks across the Nile. We should be unpacking well before noon tomorrow.

Some Things Just Never Get Old - Day 8

Today, I felt a little selfish. Many people have heard of these particular 'Wonders of the World' but will never have the experience of seeing them in person. I not only saw them less than a year and a half ago, on May 9, 2014, but we returned to see them again today too. It just seemed as long as we're in Cairo with an extra morning, why not walk around them again?


I think we, as humans, are attracted to superlatives. The biggest and oldest are surprisingly seductive ideas. Touching an enormous, quarried stone around the base and knowing it was cut by humans 5,000 years ago is intriguing. Yet even a single number like that can be deceptive. I've most probably already said this in the blog, but it still fascinates. We generally think of the time of Christ as our benchmark of measuring time; it is 2015 after all. Yet when Jesus walked the earth, the Great Pyramids had already been standing for a thousand years more than the time between him and us. That certainly makes my goal of eight or nine decades on earth seem pretty inconsequential.

We did go back today and I enjoyed it much more this time than last. The reason was, although we saw only a dozen or so other tourists, we saw hundreds and hundreds of Egyptian school children. It might be because tomorrow is their weekend day off. It seemed as though many may have been on class trips from a substantial distance. Regardless, it was fun to see the life and energy they brought to the site. Sadly, tourism has dropped to such low numbers many were curious to talk and take pictures with us. Alas, the younger generation not only runs around with smartphones, but their own selfie sticks as well!






We had asked our hostel to get a driver for us. He came at exactly 9 o'clock. This made the trip out to Giza easy. He waited there for more than two hours while we again walked around all three of the largest monuments of human achievement. We happily avoided the chance to ride on a horse, in a carriage, or on the back of a camel.






I am so glad Jay convinced me that we should go and visit the Great Pyramids again. Tomorrow we have a full day around town, but plan on taking a midnight train to our little, rented villa in Luxor.

Hanging by the Nile - Day 7

My Mi Band keeps telling me we are walking many more kilometers in a day than usual. Of course this is to be expected






Today we continued to add to the count but did ride around a bit on the Metro as well. We walked to places such as the Nile, the Egyptain Museum, numerous back and side streets, and the Egyptain Railway Station. Of course there were rewards too.

We hadn't really planned on it as we saw them a year and a half ago, but when in Cairo, who doesn't want to revisit the Great Pyramids. We'll do that again tomorrow. I better cut this short now for some sleep.

Nice to See You, Cairo - Day 6

Our weird sleep patterns worked to our advantage this morning, as we both automatically woke up at 4:30 AM, before our 5:00 alarm.

As our flight left at 8:10, we found the 6:00 Dubai Metro start-up time a bit too late. So, we rolled out to the road with our bags to catch a taxi to the airport. The fleet is run under some transit authority now and the early morning ride cost the same as it would have back in the 1990's.


The flight was nondescript and that's a good thing when flying. I watched the in-flight information to see that we did fly over the Sinai and not far from the recent downed Russian airplane. I felt perfectly safe. Media really does twist perspectives of true, actual danger. If statistics alone were used, those who keep telling us to be careful, would be a little more nervous about staying home.


We are now two time zones behind Dubai, meaning we will be ten hours ahead of Vancouver time for our winter here. Getting out of Cairo airport took extra time, but our driver was waiting for us. The drive to our downtown hostel was typical for the city. That means lanes are to be completely ignored and the bravest driver gets to the destination first. (Unless, that bravery turns into tragedy.

The guys at our accommodation remembered us, although we were last here in the spring of 2014. We even ended up in the same room.

Ah, downtown Cairo! It has an energy about it. We found our favourite restaurant of the area. We took a nap in the afternoon and it ended up being longer than expected.

In the evening, we joined the throngs on the streets. Talaat Harb is the fashion street so it's really busy regardless of the day of the week.

We have three full days here before we take the train to Luxor.