I’m woken at around 6.00am by the collective sound of a thousand cars beeping.  Again there is a thick layer of smog floating over the river Nile.  Peter is still asleep so I make an attempt to start writing up the blog.  It’s almost impossible to keep up with on a daily basis.  I decide to just write manual notes and then will type it all up when I get a chance – more than likely when I get home to England.  I download some of the photo’s I’ve taken so far just in case anything happens to the camera when we’re out and about.

We had said that we would meet Abdul for breakfast but decided just to have a cup of tea in one of the hotel’s café’s.  It’s midday before we go out to see Abdul.  Our first appointment of the day is over in Nasr City – an hour or so outside of central Cairo.  We had arranged to meet with a supplier of copper lanterns.  The journey there was horrendous – the traffic in the suburbs of Cairo is just as bad as central Cairo.  We had to phone our contact a couple of times once in Nasr City to find the office.  We did eventually find it and was met outside by the owner of the company.  Although they didn’t have a show room they had arranged to bring a selection of lanterns to their office for us to look at along with some mother of pearl inlaid mirrors.  We took photos and we were very pleased with the quality of the lanterns.  We were invited to drink tea and we had the opportunity to ask a range of questions first hand.  We asked about the packing, the shipping, the timescales etc. 

We didn’t stay long – very short time compared to the length of the journey there.  We now had to face that same journey back to central Cairo.  We skirt past City Stars – a fantastic shopping mall I had previously visited with my friend Jane who lives in Luxor.  City Stars is huge - almost a city within a city!                   http://www.citystars.com.eg/citystars/index.asp

Back in central Cairo we ask Abdul to drop us at the Khan el Khalili.  This is one of my favourite places in Cairo and where I could easily spend days wandering around it’s maze of alleyways and ancient bazaars.  It was known as the Turkish Bazaar during the Ottoman period – now generally know as Khan.  http://www.touregypt.net/khan.htm    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_el-Khalili

The ancient Islamic architecture gives you a real sense of another time a time when the merchants from afar used to come and pedal their wares.  My guide book tells me that “The souq dates back to 1382, when Emir Djaharks el-Khalili built a big caravanserai (or khan) right here.  A caravanseri was a sort of hotel for traders, and usually the focal point for economic activity for any surrounding area. This caravanserai is still there, you just ask for the narrow street of Sikka Khan el-Khalili and Badestan.”

My fondest memory of the Khan el Khalili was during my trip with my friend Jane.  I love the novels of Naguib Mahfouz and had recently read Zuqak al Midak which was based in the Khan.  We decided to go and seek out the alley where this story took place.  We had great fun with map in one hand and limited Arabic between us trying to find this elusive place.  Eventually we found it.  I was shocked.  The alley was tiny.  At the end of the short alley stones steps took us up past entrances to a large house divided into flats.  It didn’t match what I had imagined the alley to look like.  So many characters with so many trauma’s, hardships, love affairs, Kirsha’s café where men went to smoke shisha, listen to the story tellers – all taking place in this tiny little alleyway.  At the time of this particular visit there still stood a little coffee shop called Kirsha’s.  The coffee shop had no more than 6 small tables where locals came to drink tea and smoke shisha.  The wall was adorned with photo’s of Naguib Mahfouz himself.  We were told by the proprietor that Naguib Mahfouz used to sit in this very coffee shop to pen his stories.  Also on the wall is a rather imposing picture of a man dressed in traditional garb.  We asked who this was.  The proprietor told us that this was Kirsha himself, his own grandfather.  Experience tells me to take this story with a pinch of salt.  However, I really wanted to believe that I really was in Kirsha’s Café, the very one that Naguib Mahfouz wrote about and that we were experiencing a little bit of Egyptian history and culture.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naguib_Mahfouz     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midaq_Alley_(novel)

Back to today. Peter and sit in a coffee shop on the edge of the Khan – absolutely parched.  As soon as we sit down we have various pedlars approaching us with sun glasses, jewellery and scarves.  I show no interest but Peter purchases some jewellery for a 'very cheap price' (and also very cheap in quality) but all I can think is that Peter sees it as a benevolent act to help his fellow countrymen!

I ask Peter to investigate the toilets whilst he goes to pay.  He comes back and says he wouldn’t recommend the toilets so we leave and make our way to the Naguib Mahfouz Café where I know the toilets are absolutely immaculate. (This is not the cafe mentioned earlier in Zuqak al Midak) We order more tea.  I catch sight of one of the staff that I had my photograph taken with 3 years ago on my trip with Jane.  Great memories!

We venture forth again working our way through the bazaar sellers presenting their wares to us as we pass.  It’s almost like running the gauntlet – too scared to stop and look at any products or we might find ourselves trapped.  As we move to another area – a bit quieter, I stop to take some photographs.  2 men sit on  chairs outside a shop.  One who speaks very good English suggests a good spot for me to capture the picture I was after.  He moves his chair so I can get a good shot.  He then politely asks us to look at his hand blown glass – especially the Christmas decorations.  Now, this is a much better selling technique.  Why oh why doesn’t everyone else realise that the more aggressive you are the less likely people are to buy?

His name is Gabr and he tells us that he used to live in England.  He also had a friend who used to work in Harrods and that this friend used to import glass products to Harrods.  After we enter he brings out a big selection of glass decorations.  We had already been speaking to various other suppliers and manufacturers so knew what the prices were.  He wasn’t willing to give what we call a good price for a single purchase.  We told him we would be interested in purchasing a large number but we would have to negotiate on price.  He told us that he had a friend in America with a website of all his products.  If we looked at this and then told him what items we were interested in we could then discuss prices – either by fax or phone.  This seems a bit too long winded for me.  Without an email address the communication process can be very lengthy.  Add to that the difference in concept of time – we needed a speedier mode of working.  However, we have nice sample to take back to England and to help us decide whether this is something we should add to our range.  It is easy to feel a little deflated when you realise that business transactions can be such a long drawn out process.  Small enterprises like this could reach out to a wider range of customers if they utilised the internet and email.  But I also need to learn to accept other ways of working - regardless of how long they take.

We say our goodbyes.  This is a short trip to the Khan – only one and a half hours.  We phone Abdul who is still waiting for us and ask him to drive us to El Quba Garden – Garden of the Domes.  We are going to visit some of Peter's family.  The area is famous for having two residences previously belonging to King Farouk – one of palaces being the largest in Egypt.  We arrive at the flat and I leave Peter to pay Abdul.  Abdul asks for 300le which again is way over the going price.  We leave it until we get back to the hotel to discuss this further but I think we have already decided not to use Abdul again.

I am introduced to Peter’s mother’s sister, Akhlas and her husband Mourid.  Also Peter’s cousin Shareen who is married to Raymond and their daughter Molly and also cousin Christine.  Such a warm welcome.  We sit and talk and it isn’t long before we are invited to sit and eat dinner.  Again we are presented with very generous plates of food.  Very delicious and most welcome after such a busy day.  After dinner we move to one of the bedrooms to sit where there is air conditioning.  Molly attends a private French school and excitedly gets out her text books to show Peter.  Peter begins to read from the books and Molly takes great delight in correcting his French pronounciation.  Later Mourid brings through some photographs that had been taken in Garagos in the 1930’s.  He tells us this was part of a much bigger album that had contained photographs of local people in Garagos and how they lived at the time – how they dressed, where they worked and what they looked like.  Photographs were taken in profile and face forward - a bit like mug shots. I can imagine that if a study like this was done nowadays people would find it rather intrusive.   Mourid says that over the years he has given various bits of the album away and only these few pages remain.  This is a shame – Peter and I would love to have seen more.

I tell Mourid about an academic paper I came across on the internet.  It is a study that was done in 1999 on the impact of the conversion of Copts to Catholicism in Garagos.  The website only gives a synopsis of the paper but it can be purchased in full.  However, it is written in French.  Mourid who used to work for the French Embassy in Cairo before retiring speaks fluent French and said that he would be interested in seeing the paper and between them all they would be happy to translate it.  Time moved quickly.  Its 9.00pm and Raymond needs to leave for Hurgada – a 7 hour drive from Cairo.  He tells us that as soon as he arrives he will start work without any sleep.  This already is becoming a common theme where well educated men are leaving their families to go and work on the Red Sea coast where tourism is booming.  This must be so difficult for the family.

We spend the rest of the evening chatting and we laugh as Molly continues to try and deliver a French lesson to Peter.  At 11.00pm we also say our goodbyes.  We are told that next time we must stay with them in their home and not stay in a hotel.  We go out to the street to find a taxi and it’s only minutes before we find one.  Now we may have already decided not to use Abdul again but I think after this particular journey I can certainly appreciate what a safe driver he is.  I think we just climbed into the Taxi from Hell!  Peter is very good at striking up conversation with people but the driver didn’t speak – just grunted responses.  He drove like an absolute lunatic and after routing around on the backseat discovered that there weren’t any seatbelts in the back.  He drive at high speed in very congested traffic, weaving and dodging other cars, beeping his horn at every opportunity.  This can only be described as a white knuckle ride.  I kept praying that soon I would catch sight of the Cairo Tower and would then be confident that this ordeal would shortly be over.  We hit some congestion in and around Tahrir Square where I thought if we crash at least it will be at a lower speed.  As we approached Dokki via one of the bridges I could see how heaving the city was.  It seemed busier at midnight than it did during the day – both with pedestrians and traffic.

We eventually arrived back – in one piece thankfully.  Peter and I sat on the balcony (well I’m more half in and half out of the room).  We watch the busy metropolis come to life and try to think about what the following day will bring.

So yesterdays plans are moved over to today.  After a lovely breakfast in the hotel, Peter goes to do some errands – he was also going to pick up my Chinese parasol from the flat in Luxor – I'm not great in the heat and it's hot hot hot!  I stay within the confines of the hotel.  The temperature is more than I can bare and the swimming pool is calling me.  For now I’m sitting in the shade of the restaurant terrace trying to update the blog – a summary of our visit so far.  This blogging is really hard work – I wish writing would come to me more easily.  I think when I get back home I’m going to invest in some voice recognition software as this may be a little better.  Besides, as a touch typist I’m finding working a netbook an absolute nightmare!

It doesn’t take long before the battery on the netbook dies.  It’s also way too hot for me even in the shade of the terrace so I take refuge back in the hotel room under the air conditioning.  

Peter and I had planned to go to Snack Time at lunch time as they serve a nice Panini and provide free wifi.  I would usually forget all of the usual day to day trappings of technology whilst away from home but I wanted to upload some of the blog as it was written. 

I tried to phone Peter from the hotel but couldn’t get a signal.  I decided to start walking with the hope that I would pick up a signal along the way.  What started out as a short trip to Snack Time ended as something else.  As I ventured forth out of the hotel I was faced with the onslaught of “Tax Tax” “Caleche Caleche” (the taxi and horse and carriage drivers).  Whereas before a short dismissive hand wave would easily impress upon them that I wasn’t interested – this didn’t seem to be working now.   The carriage drivers were particularly persistent, one following me down the street and eventually making quite offensive comments.  I have never experienced this in Luxor before – the direct offensiveness that is.  I’m told later that the drop in police presence has been a green light to some carriage drivers (and felucca men) to behave as they wish.    I understand the desperation for business but being offensive to tourists isn’t going to help increase trade!

My god I had forgotten how hard that walk is in the midday heat!  By the time I get to Luxor Temple I was dying of thirst and the heat was getting to me.  I sought refuge in the shade of a tree at Hamees café.  I ordered a water and checked for a signal on my phone again.  No signal, but I also remembered that I didn’t have any money with me either.  I asked one of the staff if they had a phone I could borrow.  I was told that if it was to an Egyptian phone – yes, if it was to an English phone – no.  Well Peter’s phone is English. What a dilemma.  Peter doesn’t know where I am and I can’t contact him and I can’t pay for the water.  I checked my phone for a signal again – nothing.  I checked my phone for any Egyptian phone numbers and had one called Peter Garagos – I thought this may be an old phone of his mother’s so was prepared to ask for any willing translators to help explain my dilemma and to ask them to phone Peter.  Luckily Peter answered!  He was on his way.

We made it to Snack Time.  Nice and air conditioned, free wifi and a nice view of Luxor Temple and the Theban Mountains.  4 hours and a stream of snacks later we left the café – first blog uploaded and friends invited to Facebook. 

We decided to take a stroll through the Souk and call  in and see a couple of friends.  Firstly to one of my favourite shops – Aladdins Cave –and Aladdins Cave it truly is.  This is one of several shops owned by the Uncle of Bob's Uncle, Badir.  He has had this shop in his family for several generations.  The shop houses a truly eclectic mix of copperware, mother of pearl pieces such as chess boards, jewellery boxes and mirrors.  It has a selection of Pharaonic style pieces, a wide range of rugs at a price to suit every pocket and best of all piles of antique pieces such as old copper coffee pots – I have bought 2 of these on previous visits. Badir gives us an update on the attack on the Saudi Arabian Embassy.  Some Egyptians had recently travelled to Mecca for the Haaj.  They returned saying that they had been treated badly by the Saudi Arabians, luggage being lost, they had been kept in areas that weren’t nice. (I’m trying to repeat this verbatim).  Once back in Cairo they decided to show their dissatisfaction at the way they had been treated by attacking the Saudi Arabian Embassy.  He tells us that a volcano has erupted since the revolution – now everyone protests about everything!

A couple of minutes later we come across another old friend Yousef.  Again we are invited into the back of his shop to drink tea.  Peter has known Yousef for many years – like Peter a science teacher but also with several shops selling cotton products.  He works in the morning at the school and comes to the shop in the Souk in the afternoon.

Now if ever there was an engaging story teller – Yousef is the man.  He sits cross legged on the floor in front of us and begins to tell us of his concerns for his country and particularly for the Coptic Christians who apparently are leaving the country in droves since the revolution began.  He tells us that 300,000 have left the country so far through fear of continuing persecution.  I suspect this number is greatly exaggerated but get the sense that this is what he truly believes.  He tells us that Luxor has become lawless – no police, no army but most Egyptians he knows are carrying guns.  Politics and religion was discussed for some time.  Yousef portrayed a sense of hopelessness for the country.  Peter and I managed to steer the conversation away to less contentious subjects.  Among these topics were parapsychology, undiscovered pharaonic treasures, Yousef’s  idea to import English chocolate into Egypt and solar energy.  I would struggle to capture even the essence of the conversation we had with Yousef.  He said himself that people would either consider him very intelligent – or crazy.  I would suggest both – not one or the other.  He harbours a strong belief in a number of conspiracy theories, but however incredulous they may sound – we may go back in years to come and tell Yousef – he was right!  Another hour and half had gone by.  We said our goodbyes and said we would see him the following week. 

We decided to go to Egyptair to see if we could change our return flight from Cairo to an earlier one.  On our way there we came across Bob outside his jewellery shop.  Bob invited us into the shop, introduced me to his father and offered us a drink – we asked for and received coca cola.  Peter and Bob talked about computers and mobile phones.  Bob had bought a top of the range laptop in Cairo for a very good price and shared the number of the shop with Peter.  Peter isn't currently interested in buying a new laptop but I think the conversation was more about sharing contacts, building the network on which all Egyptians exist.  

 One of the children from the family came in with a piece of freshly baked bread from the church, which was shared amongst us.  Bob invited Peter and I to go to a new coffee shop in Karnak which we did.  Before we left Bob’s father presented me with a beautiful pair of silver earrings with turquoise stones and Peter with a silver ankh and chain.  We were quite overwhelmed by this generosity.  Bob’s father said it was a gift to first a first time visitor to his shop, though we suspect that not all first time visitors are treated so generously.

Bob drove us to the coffee shop.  We drank mint tea, Bob smoked shisha.  Bob tells us that business in the shop in Luxor is so bad he has rented a shop in Hurghada that will sell leather goods.  He will leave Luxor on Saturday morning after dropping us the airport for our Cairo trip.  The rental on hotel shops is very expensive and nothing is guaranteed but he feels he needs to take the chance. 

Before we knew it, it was midnight and time to go back to the hotel.  Maybe we’ll get to Egyptair tomorrow?

Today more people come to say hello. Conversations drift towards the uprising.  Many feel despondent and feel the country has no leadership and is becoming more and more lawless.  “Egyptians don’t know what freedom is – they see it as an excuse for bad behaviour and taking the law into their own hands”.

Peter’s mother and sister Margreet are preparing a special meal for us – one of their chickens and a variety of vegetables from the land. Sara and Susanna are a delight and entertain us with the usual antics of two and a half year olds.  

Throughout the day several members of the family come to us to express their concern about us going to Cairo at the weekend.  We had planned our trip to avoid being there on Friday when most protests take place. The week before we left for Luxor protestors had tried to tear down the security wall of the Israeli Embassy, resulting in the Israeli Ambassador leaving the country. We also heard this morning on one of the Egyptian news channels that there had been an attack on the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Cairo. However, we have a carefully planned trip and will travel by taxi instead of the metro.  We have made arrangements for Abdul to pick us up from the airport and be our driver throughout our visit.  Abdul was born and bred in Cairo, is an ex policeman and someone who knows the City like the back of his hand (or as much as anyone can).  We had spoken to Abdul and his son Mohamed before leaving the UK and they told us everything is OK in Cairo - the odd protest but these can be avoided if you have your bearings right. Despite our reassurances, little can be said to put Peter's family's minds at rest - I just hope they don't catch today's news.

We return to the hotel later that evening.  I had intentions to write some more on the blog but was too exhausted.  It will have to wait until tomorrow.