One more try to revive this dying blog…

The sun is setting. I’m sitting behind a cup of sweet turkish coffee at a cafe on the corniche of Alexandria, Egypt. I feel good. After the large helping of lamb kofta and good hour of smoking sheesha, nothing can get me out of this chair. So I’ll write.

I arrived by train this morning after a few days in Cairo. My introduction to the African continent has been a good one: in addition to the classic tourist itinerary (catching a sunburn at the foot of the great pyramids of Giza, getting lost in old Cairo) I’ve met some interesting characters.

“Backsheesh, grease for the gears, right?” My new friend Mohammed explained a few things to me about his version of the “Egyptian way” over sheesha and mint tea. I told him that I had just visited the Egyptian museum but was disappointed about not being allowed to photograph anything. “Of course you can!” He showed me the proper way to pass the museum guard a folded up bill on the sly. “They’ll leave you alone. The Egyptian way, my friend!”

Mohammed just wanted to sell me on a tour of the Cairo, but I knew that when he asked me to sit down for tea. I told him with a smile that I wasn’t interested in a tour but he asked me to stay anyway and chat. He wasn’t busy. We talked for an hour about all sorts of random things, I met his wife, he introduced me to the neighbors (awkward, no English), then I walked on.

I’ve been in the country for 4 days and already I’ve had two such experiences. Of course, for every genuinely friendly guy there are a dozen annoying touts who have no interest in me beyond what I might be persuaded to buy, but I can’t even say that much for many other cities I’ve visited. With the reputation Egypt has among other travelers I’ve met, I’m surprised to find it such a pleasant place to be a tourist.

Other random observations:
- People walk fast here. Thai people walk slow. I hate that.
- Single women don’t have it so easy around here. I’ve witnessed some minor harassment.
- Old Cairo is just like it is in the movies. Which movies? I don’t know. There must be some.

OK time to go.

I just finished uploading all of the photos from my first week in Egypt. Check out these two in particular for mini-stories in the captions:

I had a streak of bad luck during my last days in Cairo which included discovering several thousand dollars’ worth fraudulent charges on my debit card and then losing my wallet. After a last minute scramble, I got my hands on some emergency cash (thanks Mom!) and am back in business.

I was greeted at the airport in Johannesburg by my friend Lourenz, whom I met while passing through Beijing on my way back to Thailand from Mongolia. Lourenz is a student in the captial, Pretoria. I decided to base myself at a hostel there for a couple days and hang out with Lourenz before heading to Johannesburg. Tonight I’ll be meeting up with my grandparents to start a trip around the country, ending just short of 3 weeks from now at Victoria Falls in Zambia.

Pretoria is a university town, and in many ways is no different from most American college towns I’ve visited. There is one thing I noticed right away, though. Every home is a fortress. I haven’t yet seen a single residence not protected by high, razor wire-topped walls. Most have automatic gates with intercoms and guard dogs. I even spotted one with an electrified fence.

I haven’t been made to feel at all unsafe walking around this neighborhood (Hatfield), but Lourenz and a few other locals have assured me that just a couple kms down the road in Sunnyside I “wouldn’t even make it a block without being mugged.”

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to find that someone stole all of my underwear from the laundry line yesterday. Great.