Cairo!

At the moment, I'm sitting in the Luxor Airport, waiting for a 12:40am flight. From what I hear about airport times here, that probably means I'll board around 3am. So, time for some blog; I've posted pictures, but not experiences from, Cairo.

Imagine a 4,000+ year old relic; something big, but not huge - maybe something you'd put on top of a nice cabinet in your home. Now, someone's gone and duct-taped a computer, a cigarette, and three more people than actually fit, onto the relic. Yet, despite the absurdity of that image, and the stress it places on the relic, the cabinet, and, perhaps most of all, the people duct-taped to it, you can't help but love it.
That's my analogy for Cairo. Love it or leave it.

It's big, it's crowded, it's dirty. Crossing the street is more or less a game of Russian roulette with a fully-loaded station wagon. The people tend to act friendly, but swiftly ask for a tip ('Baksheesh' or 'Bes' for short) if you actually let them do anything helpful. Few stores post prices, which means you, the foreign devil that you are, are probably paying thrice the cost that a native would pay.

Yet, the lifeblood of Egypt, the sacred Nile, rolls through the heart of the city. Just a few minutes from the center of town are the great Pyramids (Al-ahram) at Giza and the Sphinx (Abu Al-Hool, or 'Father of Terror' in Arabic).

For all its squalor, all its overcrowdedness, and all the nigh-constant feeling of being seen as a walking, talking dollar-sign, I kind of love Cairo.
Maybe it helps that this is probably the stop on this trip that I've wanted to go to for the longest time; being in Egypt really is a nearly life-long dream come true.

I spent the morning half of my first full day in Cairo sleeping off the day before, with all its airport stress and ridiculousness.
In the afternoon, I went and got some food, and then went to be a major tourist dweeb see the Sound and Light Show at Giza.

It was awesome.
Maybe you saw the video I posted from it. There are also sound clips. They're all narrated with the most booming, (melo)dramatic British voice. It's one part history lesson, one part light-show, and one part over the top mytho-dramatic narrative.
It gave me chills. It made me forget the hassle of getting out to Giza, the disgusting iced-coffee I had before the show, and the numerous sketchy camel-rides I was offered on my walk to the show.

Long story short, Cairo, and Egypt in general, brings out the ridiculously excited 10-year-old boy in me.

The bad news is that I'll be in Cairo for the 4th of July, and it sounds like getting an invite to the party at the U.S. Embassy is not gonna happen (I don't know anyone working there, and it's too short-notice at this point, by far, to talk to any of my DC people to see about arranging an invite).

So, anyone reading this back in the U.S. of A., shoot off a firework or two in my honor. And none of those 'snakes' or sparklers either - real patriots shoot off fireworks big enough that NORAD would pick them up.