Yesterday our friend Ben arrived from Alexandria, where he had come ashore from an Italian ferry from Damascus. The ferry only accepted Euros, which he didn’t have, so he had to go a good twenty-odd hours without any food. When he finally disembarked in Egypt he staggered straight in to the nearest McDonald’s and ate three Big Macs. Now, that’s hungry. I start getting a weird taste in my mouth about halfway through one. Syria, where Ben has been living for the last three months, has largely resisted the onslaught of globalisation and there are only a very few of the big global brands in Damascus. Cairo is a little different.

He’s only here for a couple of days before flying back to the UK, but it’s been great seeing him. We took him out round Khan-al-Khalili in Islamic Cairo last night. Khan-al-Khalili is the most famous market in Cairo in which, if you can push your way past the tourist touts on the outskirts, you can find all sorts of things being sold enthusiastically. It’s particularly good at night during Ramadan, as the groups of tourists are replaced by Egyptians out and about after breaking the fast. The atmosphere was great and we got to watch a little live music show going on around the back of the Al-Azhar Mosque.

Ben just set out, fresh-faced and excited (haha), for the Egyptian National Museum, while I’m writing this while I should really be at class. With this being our last week however, my thoughts are rather turning to home and, having had a late night last night, I couldn’t quite drag myself out of bed. It’s funny how you get in to that ‘count-down’ mode when you know that you are going home soon – even while I’m loving Cairo and am sure I will miss it! It’s often more the people you miss than the places, although I am defiitely looking forward to a pint or two of English ale.

Thanks to Meredith for the picture – serious, serious dudes.

Tags: Cairo, islamic cairo, khan al khalili, middle eastern museums, syria