Well, the long and the short of it is that I am having a fantastic time in Cairo. We're all really well and it has just been amazing.

But back to the beginning: We had no trouble meeting Jenny and Fraser (Rohan's work colleague and her husband) at Sydney airport. As we checked in, the Etihad rep said that they had overbooked the flight and asked whether we would be prepared to leave the following day. If we chose that option she said that they would fly us first/business class to Cairo on Monday and put us up in a four star hotel in Sydney with $300 spending money in the meantine. While that all sounded great (Great!!), we really wanted to leave that day so we declined. Who really needs a sky bed anyway!?! Unfortunately the first leg of the flight to Abu Dhabi was delayed due to bad weather. This was a bit of a concern as we only had a one hour connection in Abu Dhabi for our flight to Cairo and we were particularly worried about the transfer of our baggage. Luckily the flight waited for us all, but unfortunately Jenny's baggage (and a few others) was left in Abu Dhabi. While we waited around for the baggage issue to be sorted out (it was around 3am), we had started talking again to a girl (Jenny2) we met on the plane who was trying to take a taxi all the way out to Giza on her own. In the end, we arranged for her to get a lift with us, so all five of us piled into the four seater car, Jenny2 and I squished into the front seat, which was interesting as the car was manual and the driver and I had some quite amusing exchanges as he tried to change the gears. Anyway, we all zoomed off to our hotel in Zamalek, where we promptly showered and got a few hours of much desired sleep.

We got up again Monday morning, and went for a wander around Zamalek (an island in the middle of the Nile river), which is quite picturesque with its tree lined streets and fading colonial facades. After lunch, we walked over to the Egyptian museum and got a guide to show us around. It really was very interesting, and actually just looking at some of the everyday items from 5000 years ago (such as a stone lemon juicer) was just as fascinating as looking at the museum's famous pieces. We walked back again, having had a very healthy introduction to Cairo's completely insane traffic.

On Tuesday we got up really early to head off to the Pyramids. It was just amazing to round the corner and see the tops of these giant pyramids rising up over the suburbs of Giza. I've seen pictures of the pyramids hundreds of times, but in real life they really are magnificent and it doesn't matter how many times you've seen it on paper. So imposing - and such a perfect pyramid shape!! It was incredibly hot and humid - even more so crawling into one of the pyramids, which was quite a cramped experience!! In the afternoon Rohan and I wandered around Zamalek again, taking some time to look in the shops. I've seen the most opulent furnishing fabrics, I'd love to take some home but they'd weigh a tonne!!

Today was definitely the highlight of the trip so far. We took a trip out to Islamic Cairo, which was just fascinating. We started off at the Citadel, which is the largest Citadel in the world, and walked around there for ages, taking in the views of Cairo (well as far as you can see before the pollution blocks out the horizon, which isn't really that far!) and wandering through the mosque of Mohammed Ali, which is one of the most striking buildings in the Citadel. There were lots of groups of schoolgirls who wanted to practice their english ("hello! what is your name?"), each in turn, and have their photos taken. All the boys were a bit more shy, happy just to yell out "Welcome to Egypt" (along with most males generally). Then we walked down from the Citadel to the Madrassa of Sultan Hassan, a mosque built in 1362 and really quite impressive.

We then proceeded to walk up through the streets of Islamic Cairo, including the street of tentmakers, towards Khan el Kalili, and then further up towards the walls of the old city. It's really hard to explain why just wandering the streets here is just such a great experience, but the combination of the people, the energy, all the shopfronts and the amazing old buildings made it an incredibly memorable day. At one point this fellow came up to us and said we really must go and see the whirling dervishes tonight, and walked us to the hall where they perform. We assumed it was someone who has then going to take us to his shop, but he turned out to be the French language lecturer at the University of Cairo who has spend seven years studying at the Sorbonne in Paris (his three brothers were also lecturers at the university, in english, law and agricultural engineering). He gave us his card, but he was just keen for conversation and took us to meet a very well known friend of his who practices herbal medicine it what is without doubt the most incredible spice and herb shop I've ever seen. There we were invited to smell and taste an amazing succession of freshly ground spices - so enticing! Then he walked with us to Khan el Kalili, chatting happily all the way, sometimes in French, sometimes in English. Just one of those quintessential unexpected travel experiences really!!

So all in all I have to say that I am really enjoying Cairo. It's just such an amazing city and so much more than I expected. The downside of course is the terrible pollution (which is really, really awful), but on the whole I find it very enjoyable to wander around. Zamalek is pretty quiet at night, so we've been sleeping well.

Off to see the whirling dirvishes tonight!!