Doug & Jodie

Having always, always, always (well since I became a Sex & the City Addict) wanted Jimmy Choo shoes! For those girls who are not familiar, they are fabulous, designer shoes from London and now sold in beautiful boutiques in New York and over the world.

Anyway, in the search for approporiate wedding shoes I have been dissapointed not to find anything I could wear again. So, what better reason to invest in some Choo’s!! I ventured down the exclusive Bond St after work on Thursday and was treated to the superb service of an Aussie girl working in Jimmy Choo! In the end my mum’s good advice ‘you must get comfortable shoes’ was a distant memory and I soon walked off down the street with a huge grin on my face and a pair of silver, asymmetrical, strappy, 10cm high heels under my arm! My feet may feel the pain, my bank balance certainly did but hey – I love my Jimmy Choo’s!!

p.s Mum, yes I may need to lean on you a little as we walk down the aisle. Must remember to pack the Haviannas (thongs/flip flops) in my purse for later in the night!!

Wednesday 9th Jan

We arrived in Cairo, after a 4 ½ hour flight. Africa is seems, hasn’t changed since I left it in 1999. The flagrant disregard for the road rules and ‘money-talks’ approach is typical of the 3rd world. We organised a pick-up from the airport, which included a ‘handler’, who pushed us to the front of the visa queue and straight through immigration. The S-class Mercedes which picked us up seemed out of place, looking back at the whole experience.

The rain had fallen heavily over the last 24 hours, so the standard exit from the airport was flooded. We drove around (aimlessly it seemed) for about 10 minutes, before finding a route through to the main road to Cairo. The standard approach to driving in Cairo is to utilise all of the tarmac, this meant on a 3 lane road, we could squeeze 5 cars abreast. The constant hooting, was a warning to other drivers, that you were there, and coming through.

Thursday 10th Jan

Today was our first full day in Cairo, and we started by walking to the Cairo Museum. Later, we found out the travelling by taxi is the easiest way to get around (after some negotiation of course). The museum was nothing like you would expect, especially after visiting museums in Britain and Europe. It seemed to be more like a giant warehouse, than a museum. The minimalist approach to displaying some of the oldest treasures the world has even discovered, seemed a little inadequate. A 5500 year old mummy was simply placed in a pine and glass box, with some temperature control.

Our guide (paid by the hour of course) tried to stretch the 2 hours we negotiated into 3 or 4 hours. His English was a little shaky, but we got the message.

After the museum, we were corralled into a small ‘government listed’ business, which sold perfume, papyrus and gold/silver work. We had a good look around the shop, before deciding to purchase some papyrus work. We walked back to the hotel, noticing that almost every shop along the street, had a ‘government number’… me thinks this is a scam.

That night we went to dinner in the Egyptian Nights, a sort of marquee style restaurant with authentic Egyptian food. As alcohol is prohibited for some religious sects, so the price was astronomical.

Friday 11th Jan

We joined up with a tour group for our tour of Sakkara, Memphis, The Pyramids and the Sphinx. Sakkara has a statue of Ramses the 2nd, which is quite impressive. The pyramids were not as I expected. It’s definitely a tourist trap, with every camel rider asking for money, even for photos. The guide warned us about buying things from the tourist areas, and to consult her, if we wanted to buy something. She could warn us about fakes and junk, she also negotiated for some of the other travellers. We paid to enter the second pyramid. The journey into the pyramid, was probably 100 steps down, where low ceilings (about waist high) and lack of oxygen gave a very claustrophobic feeling. The tunnel then went straight on for about 40m, before an up hill sreies of steps lead to the burial chamber. The best description I could give for the chamber was a pitched roof room, about 12m long by 5m wide. An empty marble tomb, was all that was in the room. The humidity in the tunnels must have reached 100%, with the temperature getting up to 35 degrees. We visited a papyrus factory, which seemed to have pictures which were air-brushed instead of hand-painted. We then ‘hand just enough time’ to visit a perfume ‘factory’. We bought some perfume oil with my mum, in a ‘deal’.

Saturday 12th Jan

Today we visited the Kahn El Kalili markets, which are the most famous markets in Cairo. The taxi driver tried all the usual tricks to get us to pay him more money. The markets are full of hagglers, wheeler-dealers… and tourists. We walked down the front of the markets, in what can only be likened to a larger gutter. Each shop and shopper, seemed to just throw their rubbish into the street.

Mom and Jodie bought pashminas, all the while practising their bargaining skills. Every steps brought on an offer or ‘where you from?’… With every answer of ‘Australia’ can a response of ‘Flat out like a lizard drinking’.

We entered the main part of the market, which was a series of alleys lined with shops. We looked around for somewhere to eat lunch, and settled in a small ‘café’, which only had locals in it. A short while later, after being server our kebabs and Jodie’s plate-o-noodles, the restaurant filled with other tourists, feeling bullish by our daring to eat in a local café.

Another crazy taxi ride home, and we were back at the hotel. It seems that in Cairo, the traffic rule is ‘whoever is in front, is in the right’… this meant the taxi driver would dive from lane to lane, and put the nose of his car in front of other cars, which meant they had to give way. This was the case through our stay.

Sunday 13th Jan

This was our last day, and we left the whole morning to visit the Citadel. We arrived by taxi, who dropped us on the side of the highway, as (as the cabbie claimed) he would have to pay a fee for stopping. The old Mohammed Ali Mosque, was quite spectacular. The Citadel sits high above the city, with a hazy view over all of Cairo. The dead city is right below the walls of the Citadel.

A line from our final cabbie, sums up the entire experience… ‘Cairo drivers are crazy, and all the hooting is their theme song’