Seriously, this place is insane. Traffic lanes are merely suggestions. Headlights at night are more often used for signalling others than they are for actually seeing and being seen. Cars come within literally an inch of each other. Horns are constantly blaring and crossing the street is a major act of faith in god or some supreme being.

My best trick seems to be to stand next to an Egyptian and wait until they cross. I make sure if someone gets hit by a car first, it's them!

The air is unbelievably foul. I can't help but wonder how many years I'm taking off of my life just from breathing it even for a few days. Acrid is a good start, but still insufficient to describe the acidic thickness of it all. The picture on the right shows what looks like fog, but is actually pollution. It's the second most polluted city in the world, second only to Mexico City.

I arrived in Cairo last night and discovered that the airport is a great place to buy washing machines, dryers, and of course -- refrigerators. The airport is also filled with soldiers and police carrying machine guns, but at least I expected that part. I wish I could have taken pictures of it, but apparently the government doesn't like tourists taking pictures of Egyptian airports for some reason.

Getting to my hotel was scary given all of the road conditions mentioned above. My cab driver had a plug in electric "I Love You" heart that was presumably plugged into his cigarette lighter. I was exhausted, but tried to exchange pleasantries with him.

This place is as different as stepping onto a different planet (except it would be a planet where most people speak english.) Last night, I wore a headscarf to try to make an attempt at disappearing or at least blending in. But Muslim women don't seem to travel alone. They are with children, husbands or in the company of other women -- but not alone. I seemed to confuse people by wearing the headscarf. They didn't know what to make of me. Men here are very friendly, but I'm afraid of them -- not that they will rape me or anything....just harassment and manipulation. I've already found that in spades, yet I don't want to be too afraid to put myself out there and interact with the local culture.

I met someone named Ismael today who took me around to shops and I'm sure he was getting a kickback. But he seemed nice. It's hard when you're lonely and scared and I felt safe with him, but manipulated. I spent more money than I intended and in one instance bought something I really didn't want. I must get over that quickly!

I went to the Egyptian Museum today and I'm not even sure I can talk about it. To see all of these artifacts and to think they all came from such a small area of the world is awe-inspiring. It is mind-numbing after a few hours and I had to leave before I could see everything. I plan to go back closer towards the end of my trip.

I'm staying at the Lotus Hotel which takes up the top two floors of a building that doesn't seem to have much else in it besides a long-closed boarded up restaurant. I think I must be their only customer. The room is noisy with traffic and calls to prayer, but I love waking to the sound of the muezzin. The sheets are clean and the room has a certain decrepit charm. I must get a picture of the lift before I leave. It is decrepit enough to make my heart pound a bit faster every time I step in, but it seems to run reliably.

I started to give up hopes of meeting any fellow travelers. But when I came to the Internet Coffee (that's Internet Cafe to you), it was closed and when I sat down to figure out what to do, I met a woman from Shanghai. She is an experienced low-budget traveler and has chutzpah galore. She's currently living in Malaysia so she knows more about how to cross the street here than most tourists would! She and I are going to the pyramids tomorrow morning and she is trying to talk me into taking the 2nd class train to Luxor tomorrow evening (but the 2nd class train sounds like the experience from hell to me.....but maybe I will take the 1st class train instead of the Wagon's Lit sleeper train I had in mind. Wagon's Lit is quite pricey.) Her confidence is infectious and though I felt like I was starting to get into the flow here earlier today, I'm appreciative of being able to talk to someone else. Based on some things she's told me, I will probably move to her hotel tomorrow (Sun Hotel) because it's cheaper than the Lotus, clean, and most importantly has a lounge where it is easy to meet other travelers.

Food here is decent, but tends to be greasy. I ate pigeon, meatballs, and the Egyptian equivalent of falafel this evening. Last night, I had a yummy dinner for about 0.60/US.

As-Salaam (or maybe it's wa-es salaam??....I should have it down by tomorrow)

Kayla