After 3 flights, and moving forward in the time zones, we're now sitting in a hotel waiting on room service having napped until midnight.  The view is of the great pyramids; it's a lit view.

Going through customs was quite easy.  We just had to buy some stamps to stick in our passports -- that was 30$ USD each. Other than the line, it took barely a minute and no questions were asked. 

After that, we were bombarded by folks asking where we wanted to go.  That wasn't too fun.  Some dude "befriended" me and wouldn't leave.  Ultimately, he charged $15 for the two of us to go out to our hotel -- about an hour drive from the airport.  That was about a third of the hotel person rate -- but covered both of us. 

As usual, there are always some "first things" you notice when in a new country.  Here, one of the things was that I don't have a clue on how to even start deciphering the Arabic symbols for writing.  The next thing was that the driving is very aggressive and leaves even the nicest cars scuffed on all sides. 

The apartment buildings as we were heading towards Cairo looked relatively normal, but covered with an amazing amount of satellite dishes.  As we were heading back out of Cairo, the buildings all turned to brick.  None of them looked finished, though.  And most had many holes, missing walls, open areas, etc.  Plenty of people looked like they were living in them. 

Also as we headed out on the west side of the Nile, we noticed that there was a lot of farming going on in between the buildings.  Since it was mid-afternoon on a Monday, normal business was in full swing.

The hotel had a security check for cars with two guys and two dogs sweeping the cars with mirrors and noses, respectively.  Around the rest of it was a nice high wall with various types of wire and poky things.

Another thing we noticed was the presence of armed military, both in the airport and in various high locations while driving away from it and at the airport itself.  We just don't see that sort of stuff back home, in normal conditions.

Well, as I've been writing this, the pyramid lighting has been turned off.  I guess it is getting a little late. ;)

Well, time to put this away before room service arrives.

Posted by Shane on September 5, 2006 3:42 AM | Permalink