Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Email to Erin, sent from the President Hotel Zamalek. Cairo.
hey Erin.
have had a great, unforgettable two days, been ripped off some places, treated well in others, seen the pyramides, rode a camel, went to the worlds most famous mosque and sat around inside, had lunch and chicha in the city of the dead (the heavily islamic and poorest part of Cairo) with my taxi driver and his friends. i went on a pretty touristy cruise along the nile, and there was a belly dancer, people playing bongos and this other guy who seemed to never stop spinning on the spot.
the city is filthy,polluted, incredibly noisy, the roads are crazy and people are always trying to rip you off, but its amazing and at the same time poeple have been so nice here. There is a weird dynamic in this city with the pyramides, just outside of Giza, towering over all but a few modern sky scrapers.
To think that thousands of years ago this was possible, makes you feel small, as im sure it does for the people of Cairo. To think that it was once such a great, thriving and avant-guarde civilisation, and now is a low income, developing country can't help but render the modern city a dissapointment. All, it seems, in the appeasement of the Prophet Mohammad, even the city's largest Mosque having been built from the stripped granite of the Great Pyramides, of this i'm not quite sure what to think. The sand from the dessert runs thick in the air of cairo, blanketing all the buildings in a thick layer of dust, the net effect being a potent, shadow-casting past to carry on Islamic shoulders.
Today is my last real day here, tomorrow i have to get up early and go to the airport to go back to paris, so i am having a slow morning, following that i will go for a walk and then finally to the khan el-khalili markets.
love you
have had a great, unforgettable two days, been ripped off some places, treated well in others, seen the pyramides, rode a camel, went to the worlds most famous mosque and sat around inside, had lunch and chicha in the city of the dead (the heavily islamic and poorest part of Cairo) with my taxi driver and his friends. i went on a pretty touristy cruise along the nile, and there was a belly dancer, people playing bongos and this other guy who seemed to never stop spinning on the spot.
the city is filthy,polluted, incredibly noisy, the roads are crazy and people are always trying to rip you off, but its amazing and at the same time poeple have been so nice here. There is a weird dynamic in this city with the pyramides, just outside of Giza, towering over all but a few modern sky scrapers.
To think that thousands of years ago this was possible, makes you feel small, as im sure it does for the people of Cairo. To think that it was once such a great, thriving and avant-guarde civilisation, and now is a low income, developing country can't help but render the modern city a dissapointment. All, it seems, in the appeasement of the Prophet Mohammad, even the city's largest Mosque having been built from the stripped granite of the Great Pyramides, of this i'm not quite sure what to think. The sand from the dessert runs thick in the air of cairo, blanketing all the buildings in a thick layer of dust, the net effect being a potent, shadow-casting past to carry on Islamic shoulders.
Today is my last real day here, tomorrow i have to get up early and go to the airport to go back to paris, so i am having a slow morning, following that i will go for a walk and then finally to the khan el-khalili markets.
love you
Cairo, Giza, Zamalek - Egypt
Erin Fouracre (Australia) wrote
at 5:11pm on May 23rd, 2008
You are a young belgian traveller and reporter, aided in your adventures by your faithful fox terrier Snowy. Your travels will soon be recorded comically in a wholesome childrens comic strip. Seriously, Cairo?
Chris Booth wrote
at 6:36pm yesterday
i am not belgian, to the contrary i am an esteemed member of the Geographical society of
kent, i have been sent here on reconnaissance, namely, to the Valley of the kings where the shadows of the past follow you through claustrophobic tunnels leading deep underground. My mission, to recover a sacred text based on the mythological healing methods through the use of hibiscus. I do have a compagnion, but not a dog, i have an owl who can burp the alphabet and turn its eyelids inside out. On each other we rest, together we search.
At journey's end, we will have come full circle, only to discover that what we really discovered was ourselves, and that it is not the dfestination that really matters, but the journey. Nevertheless we will receive a much heralded arrival by the cliffs of dover, and for the following weeks will tour greater london giving presentations on our findings to various historical organisations.Yes seriously, Cairo.
at 5:11pm on May 23rd, 2008
You are a young belgian traveller and reporter, aided in your adventures by your faithful fox terrier Snowy. Your travels will soon be recorded comically in a wholesome childrens comic strip. Seriously, Cairo?
Chris Booth wrote
at 6:36pm yesterday
i am not belgian, to the contrary i am an esteemed member of the Geographical society of
kent, i have been sent here on reconnaissance, namely, to the Valley of the kings where the shadows of the past follow you through claustrophobic tunnels leading deep underground. My mission, to recover a sacred text based on the mythological healing methods through the use of hibiscus. I do have a compagnion, but not a dog, i have an owl who can burp the alphabet and turn its eyelids inside out. On each other we rest, together we search.
At journey's end, we will have come full circle, only to discover that what we really discovered was ourselves, and that it is not the dfestination that really matters, but the journey. Nevertheless we will receive a much heralded arrival by the cliffs of dover, and for the following weeks will tour greater london giving presentations on our findings to various historical organisations.Yes seriously, Cairo.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
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