The Obligatory Camel Ride at Giza

It is commanded that every tourist in Egypt must ride camels at the pyramids on the Giza plateau.
I am just doing my duty.
My camel's name was Snoopy.

Smoking sheesha at Fishawi's

There are lots of ways to spell Fishawi's. I like Fishawy's better, but I think it might be Fishawi's. Anyway, here are pictures of us all smoking sheesha (like tobacco, maybe mot really tobacco I don't know). Me, Samia, Mahmoud, Ragab, AJ. I have more of these pictures I'll probably post.

Fishawy's

Inside the Khan el Khalili are several restaurants/coffee shops. The most famous of these tourist traps is called Fishawy's. It claims to have been continuously open (except for during Ramadan) for the last 200 years. It is hard to find, but if you keep asking, people will eventually get you there. The shisha (smoke) and the tea, coffee, and karkaday are good. But it's the atmosphere that makes it worth going.

Welcome to Egypt!

My all-time favorite corner in Cairo!

Khan el Khalili again

More pictures from around the market. It really is hard to get across in pictures how it feels to be there. There is garbage in the streets, dirt and dust everywhere, incense, animal smells, people of ALL kinds, the buildings are too old for an American to comprehend :) and the kinds of things for sale is sort of bewildering.

round the Khan el Khalili

The Khan el Khalili is sort of at the edge of what's called the Islamic part of Cairo. Since Egypt is an Islamic country I don't exactly understand the name. The buildings are really old and it is beautiful to walk around. I have tons of pictures and it's gonna be hard to choose from them. These are from just around the entrance to the market and just inside it. The goat, I'm sure, ended up as somebody's dinner.

Khan el Khalili market

I have been such a slacker! I haven't even finished posting about my Egypt trip this summer and I'm so far behind with this blog that I don't know if I can catch up. If I could just catch the Swine Flu I would have time to get some shit done. Anyway, I want to post pictures from the big market in Cairo. It has been in operation for something like a thousand years maybe? It is not all that fun to go by yourself because the sellers are very aggressive, but I did have a couple of nice experiences. One morning a coffee-shop owner invited me to breakfast with him and another guy that worked there -like Egyptians do and it's wonderful! And once I bought a pair of shoes and the guy gave me a Pepsi and discussed my love life with all kinds of good advice :) Hahahhaa!!!
So here are pictures from the famous Khan el Khalili...
Ah, I shold say, it was about an hour's walk from my hotel to the market. And it was about 103 - 105 degrees every day. But I'm a trooper, I swear.