Arabic nights

Women outside the mosque

You might end up in the most unexpectable places and meet people you´d never meet otherwise if you every now and then let someone else decide. To be honest, I wasn´t so enthusiastic about travelling to Egypt but since my sisters wanted to go there I went along. We ended up having great time in a culture that is very very different and therefore so utterly fascinating. The mix of arabic and western lifestyle is controversial but egyptians don´t seem to mind. I´ve been interested in arabic and eastern cultures for quite a while and this was a perfect field trip as the country is not too shocking for a European.

The arrival alone was pretty breath-taking. Landing to Cairo in the middle of the night and immediately going sailing on the Nile in the moonlight... wow! We can thank our friend in Cairo for a lot of amazing things we experienced, this was only one of them. We continued to the South, Sharm el-Sheikh, where we spent the three first days. Riding a bus through the Sinai peninsula was the first time I ever saw a real desert. Just some checkpoints and gunmen here and there, lot of rubbish and half-finished houses. On the bus there were mostly men, just a few had their wives with them.

The area where we stayed in Sharm el-Sheikh is an artifical tourist village filled with British and Russian tourists. I can´t recommend going to Naama Bay but the presence of Red Sea was enough to keep me happy. We went snorkeling and watching corals which was probably the highlight.

A constant nuisance were countless salesmen and restaurant staff who were after our money. I developed a way to ignore their blabbering even though it was hard. It´s even harder for girls and that´s why I always wore long skirts and scarves as not to awake so much attention.

The polluted Cairo

Back in Cairo we had the sweetest host, an American expat. She was a proof that a western girl can live independently amid a culture ruled by men. We also made other new friends and found that egyptians are very hospitable and friendly towards tourists. I made an effort and tried to speak Arabic which everyone always found hilarious, including me.

Kheops

We did the usual things, you know, saw the pyramids, rode camels, smoked a lot of shisha, drank tea, went to a museum, visited mosques, bargained at the bazaar, belly danced... Pyramids look like just heaps of ancients rocks but when you think about their age and the history it´s pretty impressive. We also went inside the biggest pyramid, Kheops. There was nothing in the chamber, surprisingly or not.

Visiting mosques was more special for me. It´s so fascinating to visit such a holy place, a place where people actually go and pray. The mosque of Mohammad Ali was the most impressive one. Somehow being there was such a beautiful moment. Taking our shoes off, just watching in awe all the lights in the ceiling, speaking sounds echo back from the dome muffled and then suddenly the prayer call comes, loud and clear.

In Egypt it seems that islam is present in peoples everyday life which makes it a "proper" religion in my eyes, compared to the way people practice religion in Finland for example. Also, meeting muslims that are also really great people could be an eye-opener to any westerner who bases his opinion on the mainstream media... 

Inside a mosque

For me it was awesome that people could spend time late in the night without drinking alcohol. We would sit outside in a café smoking shisha and drinking tea and it was completely normal. I would love to do such things in Finland.

After the mosque of Mohammad Ali, my favourite place was the big bazaar Khan el-Khalili. It´s a labyrinth of little shops selling jewelry, shisha, copper, leather, farbric, souvenirs, spices, silver, gold and a lot more. There I practiced my bargaining skills big time with more and less success. It´s another world.  After that I was happy that here in Finland prices are pretty much fixed.

At the bazaar

Egypt is so much more than a beach holiday. Everything´s upside down, the traffic is crazy as if people didn´t know about accidents. It´s ridiculously hot all the time. Cairo is dirty, chaotic, vibrant, noisy, colourful and always open. Men have beautiful brown eyes and long lashes. Go to Egypt and prepare for adventure.