Dashur

Even feeling a bit off, I was still determined to go out and do something today. I ate leftovers from yesterday which I’m surprised still hadn’t spoiled. First, I had to exchange some cash, so I searched and booked an Uber and had my first experience in an Egyptian bank. They offered me cigarettes but I declined. Good service though, I got my cash and off I went with my driver for the day, he took me to Dashur as I requested, he was surprised to find out that there were pyramids there. The journey to Dashur was interesting, I got to see outside Cairo. It’s sad to say life outside seemed to be much impoverished, even the donkeys seemed malnourished. It was quite sad to see this part of Egypt but also necessary. We arrived at the Unesco World Heritage Site and it was a pleasant surprise to see it was empty, I had the entire desert and pyramids to myself. I started with the red pyramid, and encountered a French couple inside who apparently hired a full day driver. Uber was definitely a much cheaper alternative. My next stop was the Bent Pyramid, I totally Indiana Jones’d that place, it was really fun and even a bit scary to be inside all that dark and narrow labyrinth all by my lonesome. I found myself to be out of breath quite fast, I wanted to continue on to Saqqara but my body wouldn’t let me, so I told the driver to head back and stop by McDonald’s. I got my food and we went our separate ways.

I was quite lucky that there was a pharmacy next to my place, medicine was cheap and I got some antibiotics, throat medicine and strepsils as well as hydration medicine which really saved my life. I was chilling until night when Khalid invited me if I wanted to go out with him and a girl from Tunisia. Riding the Egyptian metro was also an interesting experience. I was down, being outside in night in Cairo was a whole other experience, the city seemed to come alive as the temperatures started to go down. Egyptian lifestyle is quite different with many shops operating until late AM and opening in early PM. The place Khalid took us too was amazing, I don’t know how to describe it but it was like an Arabic chillout space, we sit on mats and have drinks while music plays. It was a good vibe, Chai’ma, the girl from Tunisia showed us a couple of dance and Khalid also joined in. I sang for them a Japanese song, Sugarsong & Bitterstep, while they also had their fun singing Arabic music. My cough really started to get worse throughout the night and the tea really helped. Towards the end, Khalid was obviously into Chai’ma, he was flirting with her a lot and she was into it too but in the end it didn’t work out. We all went back using an Uber.Read more