In Cairo

The flight was smooth, we got in about 12:10pm Cairo time. Getting through customs was not bad at all, the airport was fairly nice. It seems that they are building a new airport to replace the existing in fact.

We took a 15 minute bus ride to our hotel from the airport with the Gate 1 travel folks. We have not really socialized with any of them much; a mixed group. I sat down next to an Indian woman from Boston, that had traveled to Morocco with Gate 1 (everyone raves about Gate 1 btw).

When we got to the hotel (see lobby below) we got our room keys from our tour guide. The hotel is very nice (resort-like).

We spent some time out by the pool getting a late lunch / early dinner (I got the Arabic Sandwich, some unknown meat product, which was spicy and good).

After I took a dip in the pool, we decided to head out to see the area outside/around the hotel. There is so much traffic and no street/traffic signals, it is mayhem. We were able to cross the street (very scary)..then tried to find some shops, but this particular area is SEEDY. There were some automotive repair shops and some shady looking tea/hookah cafes (or whatever they are called here...tea shops). Young dudes, tokin the hookah, drinking tea, and playing dominos.

We decided to turn back pretty quickly as the two roads we ventured down, we felt like eyes were upon us, we stood out. So, to play it safe we came back to the hotel bar out by the pool. Luckily we leave this hotel tomorrow morning, we have a 6:45am flight down to Luxor, a full day of sight seeing, then we get on our Nile cruise. Since we are all tired from traveling here, it will probably be an early night. I am going to go meet Ed downstairs now, as there is a wedding at the hotel...got to see this (and free entertainment...can't beat that).

Check out the photos so far at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/martysupple/CairoDay1