Day 8 Back to Crazy Cairo

Luxor train station waiting to go back to Cairo
Luxor train station
Ahmed delivering the catouche rings and bracelets to Zdina and Alex. My ring was three size too big and had to be delivered by another Intrepid group at Nuweiba beach camp.

On the sleeper train last night, my Dramamine wore off before the beds were pulled out so I was too nauseous to fall asleep. Julee was out as usually as soon as she hits the sack... lucky for her. Next door, Kirsten, the 22 year old from Australia also had the severe cough if not worse than mine. The whole night, I hated her! I heard her cough then I would cough. It was like a coughing symphony all night long. In the morning as I stepped out, she said she hated me because as she heard me coughing then she wanted to cough too!

Indeed most of our 10 person group are getting some type of "Pharaoh's Curses". Julee for one has only one arm working. Kirsten, Alex, and me came down with cold or some virus that induces low fever and cough, Zdina has a headache, Sandy has a badly bruised leg, Dora is having stomach runs... By the end of the trip, I don't think anyone will get away with ailment.

At 6:30 AM, we arrived in Cairo Station. We got lucky as today is not Friday since Friday is the Sunday for Egypt. Everything closes here on Fridays.

Since there would not be enough time to air dry laundry overnight, Julee and I dropped off our laundry and went out of the hotel at 8:30. Taxis stopped one by one in front of us until we got our asking price of 5 Egyptian pounds (90 cents). It's really not the matter of money but principle. We knew that 5 pounds should be the price to go back to Fishawy, the coffee house in Khan al Khalili. We did not want to be fooled yet again like a stupid foreigner. In Aswan, we were charged 14 EGP for felafel while we paid .75 for the same thing in Cairo. Being tricked wickedly certainly was not the best memory of the trip.

Lovely Fishawy

Thick as mud "Turkish Coffee"

We each had mint tea and I ordered Turkish coffee also. This coffee was not bitter but thick as mud. I had to wait for the color to turn from black to brown before sipping it. After finishing, I saw the mud at the bottom of the cup, which was about one eighth of the coffee cup's height. The taste was not bad though and it definitely had a kick.

The Citadel was the Ottoman Turk Saladin's fortress. All the minarets are pencil shaped and plain as compared to the other ornate minarets.The mosque inside is one of the largest in the Muslim world. The ceilings under each dome are intricately decorated with colorful patterns. The hall is lit up by hundreds of lights in round glass jars. We had to walk with our shoes in our hands. I had my first chance to look at Cairo from above outside the courtyard surrounding the mosque. Cairo is huge and dotted with domes and minarets of various styles, representing its different conquerors and history.

Citadel
Loved the emptiness...
Ornate window - a peek of Cairo sky
Center of the courtyard
Ceiling of the domes in the mosque
Cairo view from Citadel
The girl who walked into my frame. I love her bright red headdress in my photo.

We continued our bargaining with the taxi drivers to go to the Old Cairo (Coptic Cairo). It was already 4:15 by the time we got out of a local book store. All churches unfortunately closed at 4 PM. We wandered further and bumped into Zdina and Sandy. We decided to take the metro back. In the metro here, women have separate cars (the first two). A woman nursed her baby on the metro, which was a bit strange.

Coptic Cairo, Greek Orthodox church

Tomorrow we will take a 7 hour bus ride to Mount Sinai then climb the 6000 feet, about 4000 steps to the top of Mount Sinai for sunset. We have a choice of taking the camel but it will be harder to adjust to the climate on the camel and it may take longer on the camel back to get to the summit. I am going to walk and bring lots of warm clothes. Our guide said once it snowed when he got up there with another group. Unfortunately Julee may have to sit this one out with only one arm working.