Cairo, Egypt

Hello! So yesterday I arrived in Cairo and I thought I'd fill you in on my day and first impressions. Upon leaving the airport I was immediately attacked by taxi drivers (like vultures on a carcus), trying to get me to take a taxi to downtown Cairo. However, I had already decided I would take a bus into town, because it was cheaper and more adventurous. Probably not the smartest move on my part however because public transportation isn't the most sanitary form of transport in this town (somebody send me some PURELL!!!). Upon finding the bus depot (after circling around the airport twice while everyone on the shuttle bus glared/stared at me) I boarded a bus that was absolutely disgusting and crowded (it reminded me of the carnival ride 'the gravitron' because it smelled like burning oil/dirt and had the same blue color decor). Luckily it had air conditioning, because it ended up being an almost two hour ride. My search for my hostel started off badly (a random youth randomly walked by me and yelled 'f*ck you!' right in my face), but I finally asked some young adults for assistance and they were extremely obliging. They didn't know how to get to the hostel either but they asked around until they found out where it was at and then escorted me all the way there (I should have just taken a taxi to avoid all the hassle it would have cost me 65 egyptian pounds, but thats only $13). I was hesitant to leave the hostel after my more then unfriendly welcome into the country, but decided I'd give Cairo one more try. The attempt failed miserably. I returned after 45 mins, because I was tired of being harrassed by shop owners and random guys on the street (I had my headphones on and music blaring, but they still wouldn't leave me alone, even after I claimed not to speak english) and being stared, glared and pointed at (I stick out like a sore thumb with my white skin, red hair and gender), but my last straw was when I boy followed me ten blocks back to my hostel trying to talk to me and me only speaking in french saying I didn't speak any english. My first few hours in Cairo had been a disaster. I'd never felt more uncomfortable, scared and unwelcomed in all my travels. Upon arriving back at the hostel I was afraid to leave again and was planning on talking to my hostel people to see if they could arrange an escort for me everyday, but thankfully I got a roommate half a hour later and it was a male (he sticks out like a sore thumb too, because he's white and 6'6"). I was no longer afraid to enter into the dredges of the city, because I now have a permanent escort around Cairo and Aswan (he's headed to Aswan at the same time as me). We headed out in search of a restaurant for dinnner and wandered for hours finding nothing but kebab shops and hookah cafes (we stopped in one for rest and enjoyed an apple flavored one that actually tasted like black licorice). We did end up finding a place to sit down and eat at, but what I ate exactly I'm not sure (rice/grains/spaghetti/fried onions/tomato sauce mixture). We then tried to find our way back to our hostel, but were completely lost. We asked a lady for directions and she was so helpful that she got us on the correct bus (apparently we had wandered a very, very long way from our hostel, so it was necessary to take a bus back) and even paid for our bus ride. We finally arrived back at the hostel after midnight (with are feet exhausted from walking to much).

I discovered a lot about Cairo while wandering around. For one thing not everyone is unfriendly (or maybe they approved more of me, when I had a male escort) as I originally thought. Another thing is that its very apparent that Egypt is a third world country. There was garbage all over the streets (not just a little litter but massive amounts piled everywhere and broken down cars and buildings just left to decompose themselves). The city is extremely dirty, I actually saw rats running around on the streets (which with the amount of stray cats in this town its remarkable that any have survived). The houses are all five stories or taller and have hundreds of satellite dishes on top of every roof and lots of the buildings aren't finished but people are living in them still. Every other street seems to have a mosque on it (I'm actually listening to a pray right now, it can be heard all over the city five times a day). The people drive like maniacs around here (the only traffic laws they've heard of are all in jokes), I've already been hit by a car once. Tell you more later. LoveYa.