Egypt 1: Fuul and Lipton - First Impressions of Cairo

July 29, 2004

The Capital City formerly known as Al-Qahira ("the victorious") during the Fatimid Empire, and subsequently corrupted by foreign tongues into Cairo, is an assault on the senses.

I arrived at 7 am on a Friday. The immigration officer passed my passport through a little hole in the wall of his cubicle, into another cubicle that was blocked on 4 sides by black opaque plexi-glass. "Wait a minute please," he said, and motioned that I should move 5 inches away so the next person behind the yellow line can step up. An official yet anonymous hand handed my passport to me out of Plexi-glass Cube, and I was on my way. That was also the first time I spoke Arabic to an Egyptian: “Shukran, maais salaam.” (Thanks, goodbye.)

It was great to see Neveen again. That was the second time I spoke Arabic to an Egyptian: "Izzeyik, habibi!" (How are you, darling) Neveen's cousin Adel was there to pick me up. The air was dry, with a hint of sandy pollution. With the sun rising behind the airport, we drove off with our lives in Adel's hands.


All In A Day's Work

My first introduction to living norms in Cairo - Friday mornings are quiet, because it's the day off; broad multi-lane highways that lead out to the city center were mostly empty aside for some buses and the occasional passenger vehicle.

"Take a picture, Pat! Cairo buses are not normally empty like this," says Adel. But I did get to see little kids hanging off the back of donkey carts (Arabaya Caru), buses that slow down for passengers on the run without truly stopping, drivers that honk to say hello or to make sure the horn is still working, and lane markings and red lights were just mere suggestions to traffic.

We went past grand mansions that were on tracts of land reserved for the current President, and through a tunnel built to provide him easy access to town. Past where President Sadat was assassinated, opposite where he was buried. Past two statues of Ramses, both with his - um – back to us. One of Egypt's most powerful historic symbols turns his back on the visitors when they arrive, but bids them goodbye to their face - what is the significance of that, I wonder.


President Sadat Was Assasinated Here

Cairo is a modern metropolis, with broad roads and overhead highways criss-crossing the various neighborhoods that have distinct personalities. The urban layout is very reminiscent of Paris, which is no surprise since the Chief Architect of Cairo's city planning, Monsieur Osman, also was key in the planning of Paris.


Downtown Cairo Architecture

One particularly poignant reminder of foreign colonial influences on Cairo was the ubiquitous Lipton sign. The distinctive yellow and red label can be seen hanging off lampposts on main boulevards, adorning the sides of old buildings, plastered on billboards inside new ones, and always appearing in shop windows. One begins to wonder what the mighty British empire would have become if it wasn't for the intrepid trading moguls of the East/West India Company.


Lipton

As we drove past relatively smooth traffic and the heat began to intensify, Neveen mentioned something interesting: "Everything in Cairo is a shadow of what it once was." How apt - grand pharoanic monuments are lost amid bustling city traffic. Ornate Islamic architectural landmarks and modern industrial buildings are covered alike in a thick layer of sand and dirt. You suspect behind closed shutters, the daily lives of Cairo residents are taking shape quietly. As the day heats up, the haze intensifies until around 2 pm, the hottest part of the day, you see a blurred Cairo through a curtain of dust particles. Everything seems muted - as if the rich history and vibrant culture are hidden behind the sands of time and waves of heat, the entire city a mirage on its own.


The Nile in a Haze

A funny image arrived unbidden - someone taking a giant squeegee sponge swipes across the city of Cairo like a huge windshield wiper, so that the domes, minarets, statues and the beautiful Nile will gleam in the sunlight again.


Oct 6 Bridge and Pollution

We drove through some fascinating parts of Cairo, including a scenic turn along an old aqueduct that snakes all around Cairo along its old borders and brought water from the Nile to the top of a hill - quite an engineering marvel.

Cruising on the highway past old Cairo brings a whiff of true spice through the car window. Sayeed Aeesa, which is a part of town that has become famous for cheap clay pottery and infamous for expensive drugs, runs along one side of the aqueduct wall.


Sayeed Aeesa

We got stuck behind a gnarled knot of traffic, all vehicles attempting to disregard the red light at the same time, including a passenger bus, a banged up old Peugeot, a dusty new Renault, a donkey cart and a dozen or so jaywalkers. The dodge-and-run styles of driving and street conditions make me very happy that Adel is driving a jeep with awesome suspension.


Stalled Cairo Traffic

Hunger drove us to one of Adel's favorite spots - a hole-in-the-wall selling Fuul - pronounced exactly the way it's spelled. Fuul is a spiced mixture of fava beans cooked in oil and mashed up, in many ways similar to refried beans in a burrito.


Fuul Man's Son

Apparently this man makes the best fuul in town, and does it for pennies. The owner is in the courtyard in front of his store chatting with the locals, lounging in his chair while smoking a cigarette. His son is behind the counter, efficiently moving from one fuul sandwich to the next as customers line up outside.


Fuul Man and Me

We bought a few felafel and fuul sandwiches, and washed them down with Coca Cola. I was told Coke was the perfect complement for fuul, not for while you're eating, but for how you will be feeling after. Folklore has it, after eating fuul, most people become stupid for a little while and can't walk in a straight line, because the blood from the rest of your body rushes towards your stomach to digest the incredible amount of fava beans you just consumed. So I suppose it is a divine coincidence that we would pronounce fuul, "fool".

We went to Neveen's family's apartment in Ma'adi, a leafy and well-to-do suburb of Cairo, with a fair number of diplomatic and official residences. There was no shortage of front door security guards here. Egyptian lifestyle normally involves a long afternoon sit-in or nap between the hours of 12 pm to 4 pm, after the morning rush - this is a practical matter, as it would be too hot to do much of anything outside. After a big late lunch/early dinner around 4 - 5 pm, life begins again and people will only settle down for supper around 10 or 11 pm, finally calling it a day at around 2-3 am. My kind of schedule. :)

Maadi was a good introduction to normal life in modern Cairo. Driving 10 minutes takes you to the local strip, which has small shops, a cybercafe, McDonalds, Pizza (pronounced "bizza" locally) Hut, Hardees' and Baskin Robbins. A fair number of restaurants that serve real Egyptian food also dot the place. Strangely out of place in Maadi, when very at home in Sayeed Aeesa, is the man that delivers the overflowing basket of home-made aish (flat bread) on the back of a bicycle. On Friday evenings, most people do their weekly shopping - in a local strip mall, or a little further to the City Center mall, which contains everything ranging from Crabtree & Evelyn to a monster Carrefour superstore. I felt like I stepped into the Palisades Parkway Mall, off I-87 in Nyack. This is about as far removed from the pyramids as you could possibly get.


Hardee's and Hejab

So after a dinner of grilled meats of all sorts (kofta, kebab, roast pidgeon), where we established that my new nickname is Battah (which means “duck”), we rolled ourselves back to the apartment and finally I got to sleep after a long long long day. Whether it was jet lag, too much meat or hangover effects from fuul, I don't know. Tomorrow we fly to Luxor, and spend a quick 2 days among the Valleys. Tesbah ala khayr (good night).

Next: Luxor... http://atygerontheloose.blogspot.com/2004/08/egypt-2-luxor-walking-in-pharoahs.html

Egypt 2: Luxor - Walking in the Pharoah's footsteps

Morning doesn't really greet us, because we sleep behind curtains that shield the light to keep the apartment cool. So even though we're stumbling around in the dark sleepily, it's close to 9 am and the sun was already streaking its rays all over the city.

Today we fly to Luxor, which contains some of the most famous monuments of Ancient Egypt, as it is situated on the old capital city of Thebes. Neveen’s jolly Aunty Ohoud, a fun and really outgoing tour guide, organized this. We boarded the plane together for the 50 minute flight to Luxor.

I had not enjoyed a window seat more in my life. From 25,000 feet, I could see the desert plains of the Sinai Peninsula stretch across to the Red Sea. The scale of so much barren dry earth and shifting sand was awe-inspiring -- it makes you think twice about how much land is left arid, and if you were religious, consider what the tribes of Israel had to contend with during the Exodus.

Desert at 25,000 feet

The desert changes its face over the flight down the East Bank of the Nile. First flat and a light brown, it darkens and begins to show some contours, marked by twisting paths that are reminiscent of bubbling streams over this land. From 25000 feet the land looks like a blank canvas where dried riverbeds were little veins that creep across it like a spider's web.
Twists and Turns

Twists and Turns

As we near Luxor, the desert finally meets the cultivated Nile Valley farmland. The Nile looks like a blue ribbon that cuts across the barren yellow sand, with borders of green on both sides of the river. It’s fascinating how abruptly the desert ends, cutting to the greenest of green fields. As the most cultivated area in the world, the Nile Valley certainly doesn't look very broad, just very very long.

Nile at 25,000 feet

Landing in Luxor, the first blast of true desert heat makes my eyes water. This is it, I thought. This is what the desert is all about. In the mid-40's Celsius, I was told this was considered "cool" as the heat can reach Celsius 50's on bad days. Men wearing long flowing galabiyya's and white turban scarves call out their taxi fares to us, but Aunty Ohoud makes a beeline for one specific taxi, agrees a price, and we all head out to the Nile.

We crossed the border between desert and farmland, and green sped by our taxi instead of brown. The main crops in the Luxor area are corn, rice, and sugarcane. Sugarcane is especially lucrative because both of the largest sugar producers in Egypt are based in the Luxor area. Farmers here tend their own land, no sharecroppers or co-op farmers here.

Main Crops in Luxor

We arrived at the Corniche (usual term to refer to promenade by the river) in Luxor, and boarded one of the many Nile cruise boats that were docked stern to bow against one another. Aunty Ohoud had arranged a room for us on the boat that she's going to be working on, we get to stay there but check out before the boat takes off for the famous Luxor-Aswan cruise down the Nile River. This works out admirably for us as we only have one stayover night in Luxor.

Our first adventure was to visit the center of Luxor -- Aunty Ohoud hired a hantur for us. A hantur is a horse buggy, the hantur driver was a dignified gentleman named Monsieur Ramadan, and his horse's name was Rambo. Riding in a horse buggy wasn't necessarily my idea of truly experiencing Luxor, but I have also come to realize that this is a demonstration of care and hospitality for a guest, so I decided to relax and enjoy it.

So off we went like two princesses driven in a carriage. Luxor center was not large - but it was cozy. And we went into a souk (street market), which got even cozier. With barely enough room to rub shoulders, the buggy maneuvered its way into the narrow winding streets-- the fruit sellers had to move their stalls to make way for Rambo. Neveen and I looked at each other and felt absolutely out of place to have to sit high up in a horse buggy while the poorer folk in Luxor make way for us. It was surreal. We asked to be let down to walk the souk, but Ramadan firmly said if he let us do so Aunty Ohoud would kill him so the answer had to be no.

There were carts selling everything ranging from breadsticks, batteries, rubber flip flops, combs, the largest watermelons I've ever seen, ratty old cactus pears, and every now and then there would be a cart with a little smoking coal stove used to roast corn or sweet potatoes. In the narrow alleyways these carts were squeezed right next to each other, the people nimbly avoided the horse while staring at us. Some called out greetings, others called out less friendly remarks. Older men who had seen many summers just ignore us, while kids with boundless energy would jump on the side of the hantur and ask for baksheesh. Women covered from head to toe in black slid alongside, continuing on their daily shopping routine - sometimes you could see a glimpse of their curious eyes looking our way. Behind this press of humanity were shop fronts that proudly displayed their wares in the windows or on the front steps. Gold, shoes, shisha pipes, clothes, headscarves, and most beautiful of all, spices.


Spice Shop Man

A spice shop is indeed a golden shop, as some of these spices are not found anywhere else in the world. There were more familiar ones, like cumin and coriander, with scents that were more intense than their weak American counterparts. There was indigo (which is electric blue, interestingly enough), kirkider (dried hibiscus), sunny yellow ground saffron, dazzling colors in an otherwise spartan store. The shopowner was very welcoming, he gave me almost US$100 worth of spices for a measly 80 guinea - about US$13. And a little box of rose-scented incense as a present.

On the down side, we also passed a newly opened McDonald's in the town center. Enough said on that.

From the marketplace for the everyday man, we took a giant step back in time and started our journey to learn more about Ancient Egypt. Our first stop was Luxor Temple, which is curiously located smack in the middle of town, with a mosque in the heart of temple grounds. This is because before the temple was excavated by archeologists, a village was built on top of the site with a mosque in its midst. After discovering the temple, the village was relocated but no one wanted to move the mosque, so it now stands proud, a strange misfit amid pharoanic ruins.

There was an avenue that linked Luxor Temple with Karnak Temple, and it was lined with sphinxes on each side. This avenue once numbered over 75 sphinxes, there are now only 12 or so left.

Avenue of the Sphinxes

The obelisks that the Pharoahs dedicated to the gods were hand carved and shipped up the Nile from Aswan as the best granite can only be found there. The master stonecutters calculated the precise measurements such that when one looked up at the obelisk from the ground, optically all the hieroglyphs looked the same size. The temples were gargantuan, columns rising at least 50 feet off the ground, wider than the arm-lengths of 6 people. Statues and carvings detailed the conquests of pharaohs, the legends of demigods, the political propaganda that bestowed upon human pharaohs the power of their supreme idols.

Prayer Carving

These hints of the existence of an entire civilization that walked the very flagstones we were treading on, were at least 3500 years old. Ancient Egyptian lifestyle, beliefs, rituals and customs were so foreign and on occasion quite brutal, but their accomplishments, intelligence, and prosperity were indeed worth marveling at. Every column or hieroglyph carving I looked at, I had to extend my imagination further to accept that it was over 3500 years old, and made by a people who have since disappeared.

Our next stop was Karnak Temple, a 15 minute hantur ride away. Karnak temple's awesome relics are, in my opinion, best viewed during the day - however the desert night deserves some space here.

Night-time in the Egyptian desert is a dream-like experience. Sand reflects moonlight, heat waves from the daytime simmer and turn the sky an unusual shade of indigo - a blue I have never seen before. This makes the moon a prominently bright orb - its presence behind these ancient relics is surreal and timeless. Palm trees and obelisks are visible under this moonlit night, you don't see their details but you can see their outlines and you can imagine their grandeur during the day.

Karnak by Moonlight

The breeze may caress your cheeks, a gentler reminder of the scorching day. It carries with it a unique fragrance that hints of eons of history and whispers songs of the endless Nile. If you listened carefully, you can make out a distant echo of reed music. The air is balmy, a perfect complement to the rest of the night that throbs with life all on its own. It is a sultry, romantic, dreamy night, a whole other world. I could almost feel myself walking into a milk bath strewn with rose petals. Without much more effort, you can imagine the overwhelming passion that propelled an ancient civilization to such heights, and the emotional missteps that brought about its downfall.

Of course, on a more personal level, it was the perfect night to spend with a passion-stirring soul mate. Unfortunately Neveen and I were not that kind of friends.

But we did top the night off with a swim in the roof deck pool on the boat, sometime around 2 a.m. - we don't remember, we were seduced by the timelessness of the Egyptian night.

Next: Valley of the Kings... http://atygerontheloose.blogspot.com/2004/08/egypt-3-empires-lost-in-valley.html

Egypt 3: Empires Lost in the Valley

Colossi of Memnon

At sunrise, we set off for the renowned Valley of the Kings. In truth that covers the Valley of the Kings, Queens, and Nobles. Given our limited time we planned to visit only the tombs of three Pharoahs, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, and a couple of Nobles' tombs.

The Valley of the Kings is not the desert third-world backwater some people think it is. It is remarkably organized - Disneyworld-like people-transporters take you from the parking area to the ticket counter, where foreigners are directed to one window to pay an entrance fee that is 10 times that of an Egyptian, who smugly go to the other window. This is no joke - this was the first of many differentiating fee practices at Egypt's major attractions. This is meant to serve a good cause, by encouraging Egyptian interest in its own history/culture, while I get a ticket stub with English print on it.

Photo-taking is not allowed inside the tombs, which was a shame because I can't share with anyone else the marvelous artistry I saw. Another shame was the number of times we were informed that treasure was taken or relics were destroyed by tomb-raiders. Considering that the tomb-raiders only left a fraction of the original treasures, it boggles the mind how much opulence surrounded the lives of these historic rulers.



Regardless, what is left is magnificent. Mostly they were wall murals that document the accomplishments of the buried. Ancient Egyptians believe that after death, the heart of the deceased is "weighed" to see if it is found wanting. As a result, especially for royalty, there were many wall panels dedicated to wars, prisoners captured, lands conquered, tributes made, priests feted and gods worshipped. All in an effort to demonstrate a heart worth its weight in gold.

The royal tombs were a good place to learn about Egyptian mythology. In addition to motifs that depicted various Pharoahs peopled with the spirits of the Jackal, the Wolf, the Stork, the Scarab, the Snake, the Boar, the Lion (which is Tutankhamun's favorite), there were repeated renderings of Nut, the Mother of All. She swallows the sun at night and gives birth to it in the morning. I like the idea of a woman being responsible for the beginning and end of each day.

3,500 year old paintings

The Valley of the Nobles and the Temple of Hatshepsut (or "hot chicken soup", as the locals call it, during summer) were more of the same dedication to detail.

Murals in Tomb of the Nobles

The overwhelming impression among all that we saw was the level of idolization that these rulers received. It must have been something akin to worship that made these subjects put in such effort to produce miles and miles of figures, hieroglyphs and stone carvings. Either that, or a population under significant duress. The confluence of power in such a concentrated area was evident. Vanities and egos across the ages fighting for the same space.

Temple of Hatshepsut

The Temple of Hatshepsut was remarkable for one other thing -- the timeless struggle by a woman to prove herself just as powerful as a man. Queen Hatshepsut was able to do that through a combination of propaganda, by mixing myth with reality and twisting legend and folklore to support her claim to power.

Shrine Column

Once in power, she spared no time establishing monuments that were testament to her supremacy - bearded statues of herself in the pose of Osiris, shrine columns with a statue of her head on top of each, carvings that document her claim to godly protection, and more.

Bearded Statues

And as proof that nothing is forever, after her death, the pharaoh that claimed her throne built walls that blocked her obelisks from the rays of the sun. Renderings of her on her own shrine walls were scratched off, and her statues were torn down and crumbled to become no more than particles among the sands of time.

Fall of Hatshepsut

Karnak Temple is another reminder of the impermanence of life. Kings and Queens attempted to erect proof of their legacy on this revered site, but these relics eventually faced either natural disasters or political vengeance and today all that is left is a shadow of what it once was.

Columns in Karnak Temple

It was a potpourri of different Egyptian architectural style, now old caretakers in the galabiyyas sit on the walls and wild goats are running around where pharaohs used to step.

Tourists in Karnak at Peak Hour

The number of tourists was overwhelming during peak hours, but at the 2 hours before the temple closes, the fading sun saw to the departure of commercialism and ushered in legend and myth. I heard the echoes of Karnak Temple best at dusk, and into the night.

Ancient Egyptian Windows and Hieroglyphs

Here are some other glimpses of the strange mix that is Ancient Egypt today:




For the people interested in the macabre, they may be pleased to note that I actually saw a mummy in the Valley of the Nobles, stripped of its linen, coffin and sarcophagus.

This tomb was close to the village of Ghurna, which legend has it live the descendants of the original tomb raiders.

Village of Ghurna

Now the majority of Ghurna residents either tout tourist souvenirs or act as foremen for excavation projects.

Ghurna set in the Valley

We spent the rest of our time in Luxor enjoying the Nile at sunset, which also meant it was too late for us to go on a felucca ride. It is unfortunate that feluccas do not operate after dusk, as that is when the Nile is the most beautiful.

The Nile passing through Luxor


Brave Felucca Boy


Corniche Sunset in Luxor

We boarded our plane ride then back to Cairo, and it was a little unsettling to be back in honking, squeezing, pushing and pulsing traffic and city folk all over again. We tried to find a quiet spot in Cairo to recover from Luxor withdrawal, and decided to bring pizza to the top of the hill Mo Atem. Well it turned out to be full of parked cars with loving couples, family gatherings, teenage gangs and the occasional engaged party taking pictures. The view was breathtaking, but there never seemed to be a quiet spot to be alone in Cairo.

Next: Cairo - A Better Look http://atygerontheloose.blogspot.com/2004/08/egypt-4-cairo-modernity-and-history.html

Egypt 4: Cairo - Modernity and History

Today we met with Neveen's cousins to visit the Egyptian Museum and explore Midan Tahrir, or Freedom Square. We went from Maadi to Sayeed Zaineb on the Metro - Cairo's subway system, which on the outside resembles the Metro from Paris. With some key differences - it is too cheap to take a ride on this metro, and the front car is for women and children only. We boarded the regular cars though – we preferred taking the chance of riding with other men than deal with too many wailing infants. The cars were not air-conditioned despite the 40 degree heat, although the transportation bureau was kind enough to provide three whirring fans in each car.

Sayeed Zeinab is an old area in Cairo, most residents tend to be more traditional and ethnic. As much as they were ogling at an Asian tourist, the rhythm of their lives never seemed to stop and the souk hawkers continued to call out their wares and mothers were still ushering their children.

Largest Watermelons

I was amazed at the number of arabaya caru's (donkey carts) in such a crowded place - for the poorer folk, these rudimentary carts were shop front, store room, transportation, and napping spot rolled into one.

Arabaya Caru

We went to the Egyptian Museum that day, after a heart-stopping adventure trying to cross the Midan Tahrir (Freedom Square) on foot. “Dodge and Run” does not even begin to describe the level of dexterity that is required.


The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is the first attraction I've been in so far that does not require a higher price for foreigners compared to Egyptians. The guards were flirtatious, which wasn't a surprise to me anymore. Almost all men in Cairo have a little bit of the Casanova in them. But that didn’t stop them from placing our cameras under custody, so there are unfortunately no pictorial evidence of what we saw this time.

The museum is hot and stuffy, air conditioning was reserved for the exhibits that needed them, so visitors are left to fan themselves. The exhibit quality is top-notch, but organization of these exhibits leaves much to be desired. It was clear that the museum needed more funding. We went to see the Royal Mummies - the mummified remains of various members from Ancient Egyptian royalty. These included Seti, Ramses, Tutmoses, etc.

These mummies were fascinating- the equivalent of a human raisin. Only their hands and heads were exposed under the glass exhibit case, the rest were still under linen wraps. Arms were arranged in specific layout, mummies from different eras were preserved in different ways, and there were even dried flowers/reeds/decorative items left on these mummies, preserved for over 3000 years.

After the awe of viewing dead royalty wore off, and we went into another exhibit area that had various less noble mummies in storage cases (which were no more than covered library shelves), it hit me with a jolt that I was standing among at least 50 dead bodies, not more than 2 feet away from me, separated by nothing more than a piece of glass. Before my imagination took the better of me, we went on to another chamber that displayed the equipment used during mummification. As macabre as the subject matter was, a lot of science and experimentation actually went into the process of mummification, I suppose no different from conducting bio-science tests on animals or cadavers today.

We did indulge in a little girliness and wondered which of the thousands of jewelry pieces that were discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb we would like to have for ourselves. His Death Mask was opulently decorated with so much detail, his coffins were intricate and clearly made with incredible dedication. What is mind-boggling is that King Tutankhamun was not a remarkable ruler since he was only a young pharaoh, yet he was treated with such opulence upon his death, one can only imagine how the truly great rulers e.g. Seti I, would have been buried and how much treasure was stolen by grave robbers. The country needs to dedicate significant resource to preserve Egypt's heritage in Egypt - Mona said that many times. All the most significant Egyptian artifacts (e.g. the Rosetta Stone) are currently placed in museums in other countries.

We had dinner in an Egyptian classic in Cairo - TGIFridays. Located on the corniche by Zamalack, a very European and yuppified part of Cairo, TGIF was strange but familiar - the menu was what I had expected, however the restaurant plays Arabic pop and I keep having strange 80s flashbacks. But it felt good to eat some french fries again.

Downtown Cairo

Our walk after dinner was interesting - a mix of poverty and showoffs. Destitute folks trying to sell us penny items from their cardboard campsite, mothers dragging their kids along to beg for money, and local young men calling out comments and trying to impress us by balancing on the bridge railings. Too bad none of them fell into the Nile, would have taught them a lesson.

Street Sale


Neveen's Stray Kitten

We went to Khan El Khalili that night. It was exactly what the guide books promised, and more.

Coffee Shops in Khan el Khalili


On Display

Khan el Khalili at night was a press of humanity, everyone and their mother were out shopping. And fighting and smoking and drinking tea. Khan is kitsch and art and the incredible enterprise of Egyptian tourism. "I don’t know what you're looking for, but I'm sure I have it," must be the most memorable line called out to me that night.

Older Shops

Snaking our way through narrow alleyways and dodging burning light bulbs, kids getting chased by adults for touting in front of their shops, respectfully nodding to octogenarians chatting with their friends in front of Masjid al Hussein after prayer, a miscreant getting told off by others for inappropriately touching a customer. Khan el Khalili at night was a wonderland.

Perfume Shop

One memorable stop in Khan El Khalili is a store that sells antiques, called literally The Old Shop.

This was one of the first shops in Khan, it is 110 years old. The main salesperson, an enterprising man in his 60s, had been working there since Junior High school. The interior of store is remarkable, ceilings and walls were decorated with complex floral paints accompanied by intricately designed ceiling fans and lamps. I bought two little Aladdin lamps – my very own private genies.

The crowd in front of Masjid Al Hussein, which is a mosque that has enshrined the head of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, was truly a colorful fabric of Cairo society.

A well-to-do family that were out to visit their favorite air-conditioned jewelry store, were on their mobile phones placing an order for the design they liked with their private jeweler. The middle-class family who had come to pray at the mosque now sits on the steps in front enjoying a little picnic and the cool night breezes. The poorer family worshipped here because anywhere else was too far and expensive to travel to. After prayer, kids kicked around a flattened Coke can until the first kid got it between two guard posts and he jubilantly yelled "Goal!!!!" The truly destitute either begged for alms in front of the mosque, or sold penny-items ranging from tissue packets to garlands of jasmine. Half the time I didn’t know how to react, and found myself gawking at this sea of humanity with my camera at the ready while my mouth hung open like the proverbial tourist. How gauche.

Next: The Citadel http://atygerontheloose.blogspot.com/2004/08/egypt-5-citadel-religion-culture-and.html


Al-Azhar School of Islam