2001 A.D. Welcome to my latest travel journal Egypt 2001! In April I flew off to Cairo, Egypt from Saudi Arabia to meet up with a friend of mine, Aungela, from Los Angeles, for a 10 day vacation that took us from the Mediterranean Sea port of Alexandria south through Cairo and on to the southern desert cities of Aswan and Luxor. During our trip we saw the fertile Nile Delta in the north, navigated the urban madness of modern Cairo, and walked among the ruins of pyramids and temples of a civilization which has spanned more than SEVEN THOUSAND YEARS!!! On this Egypt 2001 website you'll find the nine main webpages that chronicle the trip from beginning to end. Those pages are: Cairo, Giza, The Egyptian Museum, Alexandria, Aswan, Edfu, The Nile, The Valley of the Kings and Queens and Luxor. Since the trip officially began when the tires of my Saudi Airlines jet touched down on the runway of the Cairo International Airport, let's begin the story there! 12 April 2001 - Day 1 - Cairo, Egypt After being in the air for over two and a half hours, flight SV313 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Cairo landed at the international airport located in the desert-lined suburbs of the city, and I was greeted in the airport terminal by our Saqqara Tours travel agent Akhmed, a bald Caucasian looking man who spoke Arabic and was presumably from the Levant (the area of Lebanon and Syria). Akhmed held a small sign with my misspelled name printed thereon and upon meeting him he took me through immigration where I purchased an Egyptian VISA stamp for 60 Egyptian pounds ($15) and after a minor delay got my passport stamped and was officially let into Africa! Akhmed informed me that Aungela had arrived safely several hours earlier and was currently sitting in main terminal, just a few meters away. As I walked out of the immigration processing point and around a wide corner, I entered a large rectangular room lined with slightly rustic windows through which the late afternoon sun shone on one side, and on the other side of the room were old-style flip-card flight information announcement boards hanging uneasily above the ticketing booths. Way on the other side of the cigarette smoke filled arrival hall, I noticed a tall, thin figure standing in the distance and I perked up and squeaked to myself, "It's Aungela!!!" :-) As we locked eyes through the crowded room we ran up to one another and embraced in the longest, tightest of hugs! "Daniel!!!" she peeped! "Aungela!!!" I peeped back! "You made it! How was the flight?" "Good. And yours?" "Great!" "How exciting to see you again!!!" And just as we were about to release one another from our friendly grasp, I leaned over to Aungela and said in a low, quiet voice, "Aungela, if anyone asks, tell 'em we're married, just to avoid any potential mini-dramas or cultural-misunderstandings. OK?" "OK." And with that established, arm in arm, we marched outside of the airport following our smirking middle-aged tour guide and were shuttled into a compact blue 4-door Mazda sedan with a red sticker on the right-rear break light that said "I Love You!" and were whisked away to our first destination: The Marriott Hotel. Due to a total stroke of luck, as it turns out Aungela's aunt works for the Marriott Corporation in the United States and managed to get us a *screaming* deal on a hotel room at the Marriott for a minuscule $59 a night! Keep in mind, the Cairo Marriott is not just some random run-of-the-mill hotel. Known formerly as the Gezira Palace, it was built by Khedive Ismail of Egypt to host royal guests attending the celebrations marking the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1859, in particular to host Empress Eugenie. The Palace was designed by a German architect named Julius Franz and was adorned with items imported from Paris and Berlin. In 1879 it became the Gezira Palace Hotel and was then sold in 1919 to Prince Habib Lotfallah, who then transformed it into a private residence. It was again turned into a hotel in 1962, named Omar Khayyam, and was then handed over to the management of the Marriott Hotels in the 1970s. Located along the western banks of the Nile River beside the 26th of July bridge, we were within walking distance of downtown, Islamic Cairo, and the Khan al-Kalili market district. But all of that would have to wait for the following day since the sun had already begun to set and we would be busy that evening checking into the hotel, freshening up, and then relaxing in the Egyptian Nights restaurant outside in an Arabian tent next to lush, colorful gardens and a large outdoor swimming pool. Once we got situated in the room, I flung open my suitcase and said to Aungela, "You know, I brought you something from Saudi Arabia!" and sitting right atop my tightly packed clothes was a plastic bag with a couple items purchased in Riyadh. I handed the bag to Aungela and when she opened it she found a nice long, black Saudi woman's robe ("abaiya") with the accompanying head wrap and facial mask. "Oh wow!" Aungela eeked as she raced in front of the mirror to put it on and I scadaddled myself into the bathroom to dress in my own matching white Saudi men's robe ("thobe"). The idea in bringing the abaiya and thobe was twofold: a) as a nice little gift from the Arabian Peninsula, and b) to have something to wear to the costume party aboard our Nile River cruise the following week. Well, as you can see by the pictures above and below, we were both ready for a little cultural fun! Personally, I think Aungela looks quite nice in her abaiya! Here she is on the left without the facial covering. Well, once we had our fix of cross-(culture!)-dressing like Saudi Arabians, we threw off our robes and went downstairs to the Egyptian Nights restaurant 20 floors below where we had ourselves a nice little Arabian dinner. Aungela had a yummy vegetarian entree and I ate a delicious chicken kebab plate garnished with freshly made hummus (ground chickpea paste) and a sprinkling of olive oil. Served along side our entrees was a bottomless basket of piping hot Arabian pita bread handmade in a brick oven just outside the entrance of the restaurant by small group of elderly women. The care and attention given by the women to every round of bread was apparent from the first bite and the mouthwatering taste lasted until we could eat no more! In addition to our tasty dinner, I ordered a nice glass of dry Egyptian white wine (wine being illegal in Saudi Arabia!) and sipped on that as Aungela and I sat at the table and caught up on and the year and a half which had gone by since we last saw one another in Tokyo, Japan in December 1999. And believe me, we had a lot to catch up on! After finishing dinner, we waddled our stuffed selves up through the lobby of the hotel and out to the front of the building, overlooking the darkened Nile as it slowly flowed past us, flagged down a little riksha (a horse-drawn carriage) and went for a nice and relaxing 30 minute riverside ride through nighttime Cairo for 80 Egyptian pounds ($20 - a bit pricey actually, but I didn't have the change to give him the 70 pounds we had agreed on, and of course he wasn't volunteering to break any big bills!). We rode up to the 26th of July bridge, crossed the Nile River, rode along the east bank and then circled northward again toward the hotel after crossing the 6th of October bridge to the south. The jiggly ride was fun and to my surprise (having been in Saudi Arabia for the previous eight months), apparently the Nile River and its bridges are total Lovers' Lanes! Everywhere we looked, couples were walking along hand and hand enjoying the city lights reflecting off the moving waters of the river. This was a particular shock to me since in Saudi Arabia you can be arrested for such behavior in public! (Having a boyfriend or girlfriend is illegal in Saudi Arabia in accordance with the Quran, which states that premarital romantic relationships are strictly forbidden. And since I have accustomed myself to the Saudi way of doing things, I find myself forgetting what the rest of the world is like sometimes!) In any case, as Aungela and I were driven along the river, scores of couples and groups of young Egyptian guys constantly greeted us and yelled cheerfully over to us, "Welcome to Cairo!!!" It was pretty funny actually, as if they had been instructed to do this by the Ministry of Tourism or something, but say it they did and the warm welcome and smiles from all around were greatly appreciated! Once we returned to the hotel Aungela and I both agreed that we were exhausted from our day of travelling and that it was bedtime. Aungela jumped in her bed, I jumped in mine, the lights went out, and the next thing we knew it was morning!

13 April 2001 - Day 2 - Cairo After a long, well deserved night's rest, we woke up, flipped on CNN International, thrust open the heavy light-tight curtains of our 20th floor room and walked out onto the balcony letting the rays of light wash our room in a brilliant early morning African sunrise! We stood there with our commanding view of Cairo as a slight wind blew around us and just let out a collective "Wow!" As you might see why above and right, I was surprised by how densely the buildings were all built together and that the city appeared to be on the verge of bursting at the seams. I hadn't seen population density like this since I visited Hong Kong a year before. I had read in a book once that Cairo has one of the highest populations per square kilometer in the world, but I guess it didn't really sink in until I actually saw it with my own eyes.

We took in the view from the balcony for a while then got ready, put on our walking shoes, and headed outside the hotel for a little self guided foot tour of Cairo. The pictures below are the first ones taken at ground level, on the right is Aungela in the middle of a spin through the garden-side cafe at the hotel, and the picture left is of us standing atop the 6th of October bridge crossing onto the east bank of the Nile where Downtown, Islamic Cairo and the Khan al-Khalili market district are located.

With nothing more than an undetailed map of Cairo in my Let's Go Middle East travel book we set foot to pavement and charted our Cairo Plan of Attack: head south on the west bank of the Nile to the 6th of October bridge, cross the river there, and then wind our way through Downtown and walk eastward out toward the Citadel and see everything else along the way. As we stepped out of the hotel we were accosted by a barrage of eager taxi drivers who were honking their horns at us trying to get us to take a ride in one of their dilapidated old "taxis", but with the flip of an upturned palm we waved them aside and simply said, "Sorry, but we're walking today!" and began our adventure through Cairo. First sight: the Cairo Tower above left. And when I say "sight" with regard to the Cairo Tower I literally mean "sight" since all we did was see it. It's supposed to have a commanding view of the city, but since we were staying in a hotel room at an elevation not much lower than the top of the observation deck of the tower we thought, "Now, why would we go up in some tower for $5 if we're already staying in one for $59?" So we walked by the obelisk (foreground) and took a picture of the tower instead and left it at that. Just as we were getting ready to continue our walk through the city, an old man darted out from behind a parked car beside us and whipped out a stack of plastic wrapped papyrus paper with flashy gold colored Egyptian themes painted on them. "How would you like to buy a nice Papyrus scroll?" he asked us. "Um... uh... well, let's see what you've got!" So he showed us his collection and tried to sell us the whole bunch, of which there were over a hundred! "Well, how much is each one?" we inquired. "Ahhh... one print, 10 pounds! ($2.50)" Aungela and I: "Are you crazy?!? 10 pounds for *that*?!? No, we'll give you 2 pounds (50 cents)." The old man: "Are *you* crazy?!? 2 pounds??? I am a poor man, I cannot accept 2 pounds. How about 2 for 15 pounds, or 3 for 20?" Us: "But we don't need 3, we only need 2." Old Man: "But I'll give you a good deal on 4!" Us: "Listen, we'll give you 10 pounds for two prints. Deal?" "Yes, it's a deal! Here you are!" "And here *you* are! 10 pounds." So we crammed the "papyrus" paper (which was probably just cheap banana paper) into our backpacks and continued along our walk. Above right: the Nile River flowing lazily through Cairo. After crossing the 6th of October bridge, we followed 6th of October Street into the downtown area. (I'm getting the feeling that the 6th of October has some significance in Egyptian society. . .) So we continued our way past Abel Moniem Ra'id Square, which is actually shaped more like a circle, and zig-zagged through the congested narrow streets. We crossed Champollion Street, Talaat Harb Street, came up to Talaat Harb Square, yet again shaped like a circle, and noticed that there really wasn't anything interesting to see in downtown! Most of downtown was a bit rustic and I suppose the interesting part was just seeing the people in their shops doing their day to day things. There were small grocery stores here and there, coffee shops and all sorts of other little stores. The one thing we did notice though were all the stares from the natives as Aungela and I walked hand-in-hand past all their storefronts. Was it because we were obviously Westerners/Americans? Was it because we looked like Bi-racial Couple of the Year, 2001? Or was it that someone had stuck "Stare at me!" signs in on both our backs?!? Whatever the reason, everyone was all up in our biz!

We took the stares with a grain of salt and as I always remind myself wherever I go, "I suppose if I were in their shoes and grew up in the environment they grew up in, I'd stare at me too. After all, in their eyes we probably do look quite strange!" As we continued our walk through and out of the downtown area, we passed by Mustafa Kamel Square, again shaped like a circle, and hooked a quick left on al-Gomguriyya Street and headed past Opera Square (an oval this time!) and up to Ezbekiyya Gardens where we turned east and walked straight into Islamic Cairo. The term Islamic Cairo is a bit of a misnomer actually as the area is no more or no less Islamic than any other part of the city, but allegedly the name has something to do with the abundance of mosque minarets towering over the skyline.

The area itself is quite old and very rundown, and it's obvious that the neighborhoods of Islamic Cairo aren't exactly the seat of residence for Egypt's most rich and powerful. The buildings appeared to have been built sometime around 1 billion B.C. and haven't been tended to ever since. Whatever paint may have once graced these formerly attractive buildings has long since chipped off and left only the scars of years gone by. Slivers of flaking concrete here, cracks in flimsy walls there, and dry split planks of splintered wood everywhere else in between. Amazingly enough, scores of people still call these buildings home and have apparently just cemented off parts of the buildings which have literally fallen away into the street below. The whole area predates the automobile by centuries, if not millennia, so the streets were narrow and nearly impassable by motorized transport - just the way I like it. Since it was Friday - the last day of the weekend here - the streets were packed with people all going about their business shopping, sitting in cafes, going to mosque, or whatever else they have have had planned for the day. Aungela and I just continued walking aimlessly through it all and just observed.

We turned down one of the wider streets of the area, which was about 15 to 20 feet wide (5 - 7 meters), al-Muizz li-Din Allah Street perhaps, and noticed this middle aged man step out of a bakery to our right just start walking up the street with a giant rack of steamy fresh pita bread balancing atop his head! Dressed in traditional Middle Eastern clothes, the man darted along minding his own business weaving in and out of the groups of people meandering to and fro without dropping a single piece of bread on the ground as I trailed behind snapping the pictures above. In the picture on the left, you can see not only the man, but a woman dressed in a very conservative black robe (abaiya), which is by no means the rule in Egypt since most women seemed to be wearing Western-ish clothes with colorful head/neck coverings, and in the picture on the right you can see some of the nice architecture of the city albeit a bit discolored and drab due to a lack of fresh paint and an abundance of dust and air pollution all around.

As Aungela and I sauntered along we came upon a nice bit of shade being cast from a neighboring building where there was a conveniently placed round slab of concrete which served as a makeshift seat on which the both of us were able to take a load off our feet, and watch the world continue on past us. As we stood there (above) we observed a man across the street gut bucket after bucket of fish on a solid yellow metal workbench with a family of cats below eagerly awaiting a rain of fish entrails to shower down upon them. Next to the man's fish shop on both sides was a series of small stores selling everything from basic food items to home goods and jewelry. One of the shops was more of an outdoor cart than a shop per se and the man was blasting a cassette tape of upbeat Arabic music which created a carnival like feeling to the street as people popped in and out of the little businesses. Below: just behind us was a cute little street which appeared to be well swept and freshly painted, quite an anomaly in Cairo to tell you the truth! Since my motto wherever I travel is "Turn off the beaten path every chance you get!" I said to Aungela, "Hey, let's go down this road and see where it leads us!" and Aungela instantly agreed. So we grabbed hands and headed into the twisty back alleys of Islamic Cairo.

We walked through the back alleys of Islamic Cairo and passed by mosque after mosque and minaret after minaret. As we meandered under stone arches connecting one block with the next and zigzagged between the occasional oncoming vehicle, the sun passed directly over us which in the Islamic world means it was time for noon prayer. Just when the shadows were at their minimum, the air came to life with the sound of thousands of men calling all Muslims throughout the city to join them in prayer. Every loudspeaker atop every minaret atop every mosque let forth with the uniform and semi-musical declaration "Allah akbar!" (God is great!). Although I did not photograph it (being a bit leery having just come from photo-phobic Saudi Arabia) I was rather surprised by the fact that apparently only about 30 to 40% of the men on the streets had actually stopped what they were doing, threw down their prayer rugs, and got down on their hands and knees and prayed. I was also interested to note that this being the Friday afternoon prayer, i.e. the weekend sermon, many people were just going about their business as the religious leaders in each of their mosques gave their hour long speeches. Also unlike Saudi Arabia, it seems in Egypt shopkeepers have the right to decide whether or not they will close their shops during prayer. In Saudi Arabia *all* shops and businesses must close their doors and cease all business transactions five times a day, once for each of the day's prayers. I thought, "Was this because the Egyptians are less pious than the Saudis? Is it because the Egyptians have more religious freedom than the Saudis? Or was it for some other reason?" Whatever the explanation, I found it all quite surprising. And while I liked the fact that in Egypt people apparently have the freedom to choose their business hours despite their religious obligations, one thing I do like about Saudi Arabia is that they say, "We are an Islamic state and as such we will follow the teachings of the Quran (in public at least) word for word and since the Quran says we must cease all business transactions during prayer, all business must shut down the for the occasion five times a day." There is certainly something to be said for people who actually practice what they preach, regardless of whether or not you actually agree with what they are preaching.

So we continued our walk through Islamic Cairo and continued to peer in on the daily life of the Cairo-ans. Eventually we entered the Khan al-Khalili (kha-LEE-lee) market area which was more of an ultra-densely populated area with apartment blocks and first-floor stores, businesses and coffee shops than a market in the American sense. This is where these people lived, where they worked, and where they socialized. The automobile was simply not a part of this district and I loved being able to walk in and out of back alleys actually designed for human beings and not mechanized, polluting monsters. Since I really had no particular need to buy anything, I generally just followed Aungela in and out of shop after shop as she looked for souvenirs, purses, trinkets, and colorful indigenous cloths. As Aungela slowly shopped her way through the market district we got to practice our bartering skills with the Egyptians and were quite proud of ourselves when we managed to knock 50 to 70% off the original asking price. Fortunately for us, nearly all the Egyptian vendors had at least a basic command of the English language so going back and forth over prices was a breeze and even rather humorous when both parties involved stated a price and then howled, "ARE YOU CRAZY?!?" While I find the whole act of bartering tiresome and not worth my time in the United States, here in the Middle East it can be a fun little game where you state one price, get rejected, then threaten to storm out if you don't get your price. Well, of course they call you crazy and complain that if you don't buy it for their price they won't make a profit and therefore lose money and then go out of business, but at that point you just need to throw your hands into the air and say, "Look, we're outta here." and just leave. Just as you set foot outside their shop they run up to you and say, "Alright, give us your best price, and let's talk." So you tell 'em what you're gonna pay, and then they say, "Alright, we we'll lose money on it, but alright. It's yours!" Now, if they were really losing money they most likely wouldn't sell it, so it's all just a big charade, but it's still rather entertaining.

As we walked through one particularly decrepit part of town, this younger-ish Egyptian merchant (in his late 20s?) came up to Aungela and me and said, "Good items, cheap prices. You come?" So Aungela and I looked at each other and were like, "Well, why not?" So we follow this guy around the corner of some run down old building, which if it were in America would be a crack house for sure, and then he points us toward this dark and scary staircase that lead into the interior of the building which was where his little family shop supposedly was located. Upon seeing dark clouds of doom roll over us as we stood at the foot of this creepy stairwell, Aungela and I conferred: "Do we ascend the stairs and risk being mugged, beaten, and having all our money stolen and then be left for dead, or do we just run for our lives right now and try saving ourselves before it's too late?" So what did we do? That's right, we ascended the stairs! Fortunately we weren't accosted and left for dead so the story has a non-horrific ending. While we were upstairs trolling around the open-air interior (not too dissimilar from the picture at left), I was surprised to see that there were actually shops and little businesses inside and people were just sitting around making all this random stuff. One particular piece that impressed me that was being made by a man sitting in a tired old chair next to one of the building's crumbling ledges was this large copper disc that was being hand etched into an ancient Egyptian themed image with pyramids, pharaohs, and hieroglyphs. Needless to say, whenever you say, "Oh, that's nice!" the merchants instantly peg you as a potential customer and so we had to convince the salesman that we actually had no need for a giant 2-foot (60cm) wide disc, and that even if we did have a need for such an item, which we clearly did not, that we would have nowhere to put it in our little travel backpacks which in our case would make such a purchase cumbersome and totally impractical. Lesson learned: Egyptian society is not based upon logic, reason, or conceptions of practicality. At least not when it comes to trying to wring a couple bucks out of a pair of Westerns on vacation in Northern Africa with some extra money in their pockets to burn. So in order to remove ourselves from this rather grubby and unnecessary environment, we quickly ditched our ephemeral shopping guide and bolted down a buckled set of concrete stairs and ran out into the street quickly diving into the surrounding briar patch of narrow alleyways and streetside vendors. After escaping from our self-inflicted netherworld of retailing discomfort, we continued through the Khan al-Khalili market area stopping in and out of the occasional shop to check out the wares and see if we could score any screaming deals. My half-baked pursuit turned up a bust, but Aungela was able to swing herself a pretty good bargain on some ancient Egyptian styled jars so we were able to walk away satisfied customers.

Well, after walking halfway across North Africa (well, ok, downtown Cairo), we decided to take a load off our feet, yet again, and sat down for a nice bottled drink at some random cafe next to Midan Hussein Square. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was some cute little joint with a streetside seating area, which, as seen above, was actually in the street. Fortunately for the photo there was a ritzy little BMW parked behind me which made quite a nice German addition to the surrounding Egyptian environs. Our stay at the cafe was relatively brief, as we didn't have anything to eat, but we weren't disappointed to leave once we were presented with a bill of 10 Egyptian Pounds for 2 measly little cokes. That works out to about $1.25 per coke, which in an American/European/Japanese setting wouldn't seem too terribly expensive, however, in a country where a coke retails for 20 cents, I felt like we were being royally ripped off! So to entertain myself I stormed up to the waiter inside the cafe and started arguing with him in my best Arabic: "5 pounds for a coke?!? Are you people CRAZY?!? This wouldn't cost more than 25 cents in Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia is a *much* more expensive country than Egypt! What a joke!" and of course he just shrugged his shoulders and looked at me light I was some cheap Westerner - which I am! - so I threw 10 pounds down on the table, grabbed our things, and then left. Lesson to be learned someday in Egypt: one day the Egyptians will learn that the less you stiff people over, the better your reputation in the community (and the international tourist guides!) will be, and the more business you'll get. But then again, since most tourists aren't repeat customers, perhaps these business owners really don't care about their reputations? Lesson to be learned someday by me: always ask the price before ordering drinks in a 3rd world country! Well, we had our fix of Egyptian cafe culture for the afternoon and mapped out how to get out to the Citadel, which was our final tourist destination for the day. We made our way out to a crowded thoroughfare and started hoofing it toward the Citadel - appearing to be right around the corner on my little Let's Go Middle East map of Cairo - however, once we reached the corner that was supposed to lead us straight down to the Citadel, it suddenly became clear that our destination was much farther away than the map alluded to. So Aungela and I waved down a rickety little black and white taxi with a cramped back seat and no seatbelts and got a ride to our next sightseeing stop. Below: the Mohammed Ali Citadel of Cairo We got to the Citadel at about 3:30 which was lucky for us since the entire area closes at 4pm. The entrance fee was 20 pounds ($5) for me and 10 pounds ($2.50) for Aungela since she had her student discount card. We got our tickets and hurried in through the stone walls of the fortress area (originally constructed in the 12th Century by Salah ad-Din) and shuffled our way up toward the Mohammed Ali mosque which was built in 1830 AD (left). Mohammed Ali was a Greek soldier of Albanian origin sent to Egypt to free the country from Napoleon's occupation in a land battle which took place on July 25th, 1799. By 1805 Mohammed Ali had taken over control after a revolt against the then-leader Wali Khourshid. There is a main court of the mosque measures 52x54 meters (yards) and is surrounded by four corridors lined with marble columns surmounted by little domes. In the center of the court there is a fountain for ablutions (where Muslims wash before saying their 5 daily prayers). The mosque itself is square in shape with the length of its sides 41 meters (yards) long. The central dome is 21 meters (yards) in diameter and is 52 meters (yards) high, which is supported by 4 square pillars and is surrounded by 4 semi-domes. On the western side of the mosque stand two cylindrical minarets in the Ottoman style, whose height each is 84 meters (yards). This mosque is characterized by great quantities of alabaster adorning the walls and a large number of pendant glass and crystal lamps inside. Right and below: we walked into the interior of the Citadel which consists of a large, beautifully decorated domed room with vaulted ceilings and columns towering up on all sides and removed our shoes as per tradition when entering a mosque. And as per reality when hundreds of people enter any enclosed structure on a hot day without their shoes on, the place had a very pedestrical odor about it. Fortunately my nose quickly adjusted to the scent of several hundred pair of sweaty feet tromping around everywhere, so the sensation of nasal discomfort lasted but a moment. As we walked into the room filled with Muslims and non-Muslims, I was rather humored by the mosque attendants who were running around trying to get all the non-Muslim visitors to properly place their unworn shoes on the floor's carpets, which means that instead of setting your shoes down with the soles facing and touching the carpets, you need to place the soles of the shoes so that they touch each other with the tops of the shoes facing in opposite directions and then set the pair of shoes down together gently on their sides as to not dirty the mosque carpets. Most of the Western tourists (the great majority of whom were from Europe) either didn't know about this tradition or simply didn't care, to the apparent dismay of the surrounding Muslims who were obviously biting their tongues at the wanton soiling of their holy place of worship. Sure, there should have been a big multi-lingual sign hanging above the entry way into the mosque detailing how one should set down one's shoes, but on the flip side, aren't people intelligent or aware enough to think, "Alright, I'm not a native to this country. I'm not a Muslim and I'm about to enter into one of their holy sites. Perhaps I should step back and observe what the locals are doing and then do the same." ??? But judging by all the men walking around in shorts and women in tight, nearly non-existent skirts and tops (immodesty being a big no-no in Islamic countries), awareness of local customs and culture wasn't exactly a strong point among most of the tourists. Above two images: I had wanted to photograph the interior of the Citadel, but once we entered inside I quickly realized that in the absence of a fish-eye lens on my camera, I simply wouldn't be able to capture the grandeur of the dome and its supporting columns, so I settled on two nice little shots instead, one of the splendid colors of the dome itself (directly above) and one of a gold painted disk at the meeting point of two grand arches and the dome, which if my Arabic (in)abilities are remotely accurate says something like, "Rasool Mohammed Allah" or "Mohammed, Prophet of God" (above top).

Left: once we had completed our tour of the mosque's interior we walked to the western side of the Citadel where there stands a great wall propping the entire complex atop a large hill that overlooks the whole of Cairo. At the base of the hill beside the Citadel is the Mosque Madrassa of Sultan Hassan and was built from 1356 to 1363 AD. (Sultan al-Nasser Hassan was the 19th of the Turkish Sultans (sultan = absolute ruler of an Islamic state).) The mosque is considered to be one of the most beautiful and monumental mosques in Cairo and one of the greatest examples of Islamic architecture.

Above: from atop the Citadel wall we had a commanding view of Cairo in nearly all directions. The above is a mosaic of 5 different images with south to the left and north to the right. As you can see, Cairo is a very urbanized and very congested city. Smoke rises from the buildings, cars pack the streets, and people flood to the markets making the city a very vibrant place to visit! In the lower left corner of the mosaic image you can see a magnified section of the horizon, which, if you reduce the brightness of your monitor, you will faintly notice are the Great Pyramids of Giza! While we were standing atop the wall looking out over the city I scanned the horizon and suddenly sighted two giant mounds off in the distance and hollered to Aungela, "Look! Look! Look! It's the pyramids!!!" Just then this really amazing feeling came over me. For years I had heard stories of the Great Pyramids, seen documentary after documentary trying to decode their mysteries, and been intrigued by their incessant allure, and suddenly there I was peering out over the north African urban cityscape and seeing them tower up over the horizon with my very own eyes! It was a dream come true - a goal accomplished - and I was truly exhilarated! Sure, the pyramids were some 15km (9 miles) away and I wouldn't see them up close for another day, but the fact that I had sighted them with my own eyes and I wasn't looking at them in a magazine, a movie, or on a TV screen, well, I just thought that was extremely cool and it totally energized me!

But that excitement had to be contained until we could actually visit the pyramids. In the mean time Aungela and I were atop a great citadel, which was in the throws of being closed for the day afternoon, and we had to start making our way back to the hotel. We ended up grabbing a cab and arrived shortly before sundown. On the left you can see a picture I took of myself in the reflection of one of the Marriott's windows as the sun began dipping behind the trees as evening quickly approached. Once we returned to our room we showered, washed off a day's worth of urban grit from hoofing through the city, and went downstairs to the large outdoor poolside restaurant, had a great meal and caught up on a year's worth of gossip, news updates and personal tales over a delicious meal in great company!