Old Market, Cairo Egypt

You have to have a couple of things before you enter the Old Market:
1. Your wits about you
2. Your handbag held very closely to your person
3. Determination not to buy anything you don't need
4. Steely looks for use while bargaining also come in quite useful

This is one of the gates into the market. I wish I could at least decipher Arabic. I bet it is saying something beautiful.
Here is Vicky, Emily and our guard as they inspect souvenirs. Emily wins the prize for the best souvenir ever. I kick myself now for not taking a photo of it. It is a Sphinx ash tray that is painted silver and has holes for pens! It is really gruesome but over all we never found its equal.

Vicky got brave and bought a pair of shoes. She had to as the heat was so fierce that it melted the glue on her sandal and her flip flops had one too many flops. She got her new sandals for a good price. The seller was beaten down from £5 per shoe to £3 for the pair. They really will sell you only one shoe if you're not careful. I'm not kidding about the heat either. It did melt her shoes. The heat also melted all the glue bindings on all the cheap airport novels that people were reading poolside. Egypt in July is HOT!

Here is a photo of Henry, George (obscured by his father) and the guard again in a souvenir shop. Sister Vicky looking on in amusement. George bought a few souvenirs too for his friends and brothers. I just took photos and held the packages. I didn't need anything and I was just groovin on the atmosphere.

It was just after this photo of George was taken that things went a little pear shaped. We were talking to some merchant who had stopped us. While we were making up excuses to get away, some of the packages I was holding started to slip. The merchant grabbed the bags saying, "I'll get you a bigger bag" and he ambled down a small alley way. We had to follow him as he had our souvenirs. He led us to his perfume shop (surprise surprise) and begged us to sit down and have something to drink. Okay, so we're hot and could do with a minute's rest. He then starts giving us the hard sell about his wonderful perfumes. Stating at regular intervals that his perfumes contain no alcohol. A cigarette lighter is wafted over the jars to indicate the lack of alcohol.

We were dabbed on each arm and wrist with different scented oils. He had Jasmine and Myhrr and other wonderous things. We were plied with chilled Cokes too. I would have sat there for a little while longer but the guard and The Man of the Place said that we had run out of time. I think the merchant panicked at this point. He was going to lose a sale. Out of politeness Vicky asked him how much a small jar of one of his perfumed oils was. He speedily decanted some of this perfume oil into a small (probably 200 ml) jar which I would have called an extra large and had it wrapped in paper for the sale. As he handed it to her, he said 800 Egyptian Pounds. We didn't even touch it. We all just left at that point, leaving behind some money for the Cokes. That was a rediculous price and we hadn't even said that we wanted his oil. We just wanted to know the price. This merchant proceeded to CHASE us down the narrow lanes of the market shouting "You said you wanted!" and dropping his price as we walked. He was a big man and was quite intimidating. He stopped at 20 Egyptian Pounds. MAN! The Man of the Place said that he was going to thump him if he had kept on one moment longer. Here we are safe in a cafe on the edge of The Old Market. The smiles are of relief and happiness that we have survived another adventure.

We think that those perfume oils that merchant was selling were mostly salad oil as the scent had faded by the time we got to this point. On top of that, I had a big red mark where he had dabbed one of his noxious oils. Allergic reaction. Nice.

Here is a photo of Henry, day dreaming of falafel on the bus out of town.

These are the wonderful shoes that Vicky got. Remember they were only £3! Can you believe it?!?I took more photos of Cairo traffic. It is spectacular! Hey! That woman is carrying stuff on her head.

Another person carrying stuff on his head. He's got bread.

Pedestrians, cars, trucks, donkey carts, people selling stuff at intersections. It was a wonderful mess. We were really glad to get out of the city and on the open road. Next stop, the Suez Canal and then back to the Sinai.