Cairo Marketplace

Hello everyone. So I didn't make it to the Suez Canal yesterday (but maybe I'll make it there some other day), instead Alex and me went to the big tourist Marketplace called Khan Al-Khalili. Yes, that's the same marketplace that the 17 year-old french girl was blown up a couple days ago. I didn't realize it when we left to go there that it was that same market. The people at our hostel informed us that, that was the area to buy souvenirs when we asked them. Not until we had been there for a couple of hours was I informed that it was the same market where the terrorist attack had taken place a few days before. But that explained why there were cops checking purses and bags when we entered. It was a pointless attempt at making the marketplace more safe, because they only had guards at a few of the main entrances that only the tourists use, so I'm sure the terrorists would probably not use the tourist entrances anyways (I think they were just there to make the tourists feel safer). So basically I spent the day practicing my haggling skills, which if I do say so myself are 'amazing'! We headed back to the hostel after having completed our souvenir/gift shopping in order to grab our bags and head to the train station for our overnight train to Aswan.

The overnight train sucked. Originally I was planning on taking a sleeper train, but discovered that if I took this other train it would only cost me $20 instead of $50. Unfortunately the flaw of taking the train we ended up taking is that we only had reclining seats, not beds (and the seats didn't really recline, they were more like a little slant that was not quite parallel to the wall, but almost), so I didn't sleep very well (not to mention the car was freezing cold). But I've arrived safely in Aswan which was my goal, so I can't complain to much. TTYL. LoveYa.