Cairo Sunset

Cairo Sunset
Originally uploaded by kden604.

Today was a very busy day... Where should I start?

There is this crazy German woman with a broken leg staying at the hostel... From what I gather she didn't have a job in Germany, but she gets two more years of Welfare money so she is out boogying around the middle east and asia on the governments tab... She is a real wacko and I don't care for the fact she is abusing the welfare system... even if it isn't my country.

She also said our room stunk, so she opened the window during the night, which does two things... one - it gets very chilly and two - it gets very loud from the mass amount of cars in the square below...

ANYWAYS... she ranted at breakfast for about 20 minutes and I'm glad I left because I had just about enough of her. You meet some strange and interesting people in hostels... she falls in the strange category.

So I was heading to the Egyptian Museum this morning around 9am when I hear my name being yelled... this is odd, because only about 2 people in the country know my name. It's Walid the Egyptian guy I've been hanging around with... He got really wasted the night before clubbing and never went to sleep... he was sober when I saw him this morning but he came over and gave the big handshake hug which is customary among friends here. Just one of those random moments that happen to me, rather amusing.

So... Again, I continue walking to the Egyptian Museum... Sadly you are not allowed to take your camera inside the building which is a real shame. There is not a great deal of things I would like to take a picture of... but certainly 30 out of the 100,000 or so items would have made beautiful shots.

The museum is bitter-sweet I would say, it's got so much fabulous stuff, which really makes it amazing... but it's also got so much fabulous stuff that its packed and every room has item after item next to each other... it's difficult to appreciate one single item because its next to 30 more just like it...

The animal mummies were pretty crazy and the King Tuts gold mask and coffin were just fabulous... it's hard to put in to words how magnificent and extremely detailed the craftsmenship on everything really is.

I paid the extra money to see the Royal Mummies also and I have to say it creeped me out a little bit. When you look at their faces and bodies it just seems like it shouldn't be something on display. I think I have a moral problem with the mummies on display... Something along the lines of respecting the wishes of the dead....

These are basically my thoughts on the subject.... If I were dead and I said I want such and such done with my body and it wasn't dead then I would think my family would be pretty pissed off. Or if you believe in the after-life or "whatever" then perhaps your soul wouldnt be at peace...

SO... These are kings of the ancient world, who build monuments to their own glory, put themselves in tombs with all their goodies to help them in their after-life... Their bodies were mummified to keep their body in good shape so they could "re-animate" or whatever in the after-life....

NOW... You have taken their bodies, unwrapped/rewrapped, scanned, removed from their coffins, removed from their burial place, separated them from their items they wished to be buried with and put them on display for tourists to see and giggle and gawk at.

I believe there is a reason for scientific historical studies and such... but I think its wrong to have them displayed in glass cases the way they are...

Anyways, enough of my ranting on the mummies, I really thought it would be cool... and I was amazed seeing them, but I just feel that it isn't respectful... Ok done seriously.

After I got back to the hostel I met up with this French dude and we headed to Old Cairo... it's full of Bazaars and Mosques and old city walls.... it's a really fantastic area... On one gross muddy street you can see horses, donkeys, mules, pigeons (for sale), bunnies (for sale), and chopped up animals and anything else you could really ever want to eat or buy... It's a crazy world but it's a lot of fun...

I'm absolutely amazed by the things people balance on their heads... I saw this one guy RIDING A BIKE with a 8 foot table covered in pastries and breads.... perfectly level and just riding along... it's freaking so cool... I wonder how they do it... what if it's windy? LOL

Today was cool and it just got better as the sunset happened... I was walking along the Nile and this stunning red and orange sky with cityscape background occured... just beautiful..

I uploaded a bunch of photos, got some nice emails and MSN'd my parents this evening.... and ate some really spicy Koshry... Good day all around.