Ramandan Salam from Cairo, Eygpt

Two days in Cairo & we're still alive! Can you believe it?! Trying to cross the road on foot is a true experience to be had! The traffic is crazy, non-stop action with each car vying for a position, cutting each other off. Can you believe that there were 6 lanes of vehicles in the traffic circle at the same time?! A light tap on the horn signals that I'm coming through & not slowing down whereas a loud blast signals get out of my way! The noise is crazy... a constant blast of horns can be heard all day & all night long! Leanne loves her earplugs! We're starting to feel comfortable in this organized chaos.

Met Megan, a really friendly Aussie, who is also on our tour; explored the Eygptian Museum together. Incredible animal mummies (although a bit creepy!) & amazingly carved/painted sarcophagi & many other artifacts. Wednesday, we'll be back there to see Tutankhamun galleries as part of our tour so will get a better insight into Eygptian history.

We stumbled across Mo (well, he found us!), a pleasant Eygptian "artist", who showed us the ropes at getting around Cairo & enlightened us on scams to watch for. As he led us through the streets in search of a supermarket & bank machine, which conveniently led to his Papyrus Art shop. Two hours later, we left for the Egyptian museum with the promise to return for some "break-fast" (from Ramadan) & to negotiate some more over his art. We find Egyptian people have such warm hospitality as Mo & his brother (Amed) treated us to Pepsi & tasty Eygptian subs. Then negotiations began again. Mo gave us three Egyptian names so now we are Lilia (Leanne), Gamilla (Maria) & Amira (Megan)... we're now part of an Egyptian family. Maria made her first purchase on the 2nd day in Egypt. What a shopper! Also gave the apple sheesha a go. Leanne gagged but Maria thought it was alright. To top the night off, we took in a great belly & sufi dancing show & enjoyed supper on a Nile cruise.

Hired a car & driver to venture to the Step Pyramid in Saqqura, one of the earliest stone momument in Egypt & we thought it was amazing!

Then we went to the Red Pyramid in Dahshur, which is the world's oldest true pyramid.. an amazing workmanship for it's time. To reach the entrance, we climbed 125 steep stone steps only to descend into a narrow 63m hot & stinky shaft, ducking our head & croching down was a must! It was quite dark inside as only a few of the lights lite our way to the burial chambers.

Our next stop was Memphis, which became the new capital of Egypt aroud 3100BC. The museum there focused on Ramses 11 & had a giant statue which you'll see in our photos.

Upon our return to the hotel, Megan learnt a lesson for the group. Do not get out of the car on the left hand side. Without thinking, Megan opened the door right into the thigh of a guy on a motorbike. He bounced off the door & onto another car that was passing at the same time. As she sat in shock, our driver defended (we think!) her, shooing away the biker & calmly acepting the damage to his taxi & went on his way!

Tomorrow, we start our adventure with our tour group heading down the Nile.

We're enjoying Egypt &adjusting well to our new surroundings. We feel safe so no worries.