Wrong truns = Wrong parts of Cairo

Have you ever wandered in a city only to find your self in the wrong part of town? it happens so innocently and yet, you are where you really shouldn't be! Woops.

One of my many weaknesses is markets. I was in search of the biggest market in Egypt (or at least in Cairo) today. Khan al-Khalili. It is huge and famous. And hard to get to. I took the metro (another interesting story, suffice it to say give up your seat to elders or you are gonna get punched), to Attaba and then tried to find the market. I am pretty good with maps and directions and finding my way. I am even pretty good about memorizing the maps and the directions I need so I am not always whipping out my book with the map in it. Not so much today. I was all turned around.

I left the metro and couldn't figure out where I was. All the street signs were, of course, in Arabic. So I took them map and tried to figure it out. I made a wrong turn and walked for a while, realized it couldn't be right and turned around and went another way. Then I forged ahead. This time I was sure I had about 1km to walk. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I was realizing that I was wrong about the same time I figured something else out. The neighborhood was definitely sketchy.They say that it is safe to walk around in Cairo. But how safe can it be when there are men with machine guns on every corner? hmmm. I begin to ponder this when I realize that that the looks I am getting are not "oh look a lost American" but rather (perhaps) something more sinister. A kindly stranger explained I had lost my way and it would be best to turn around. I always like to think of these strangers as my grandfather pointing me in the right direction.

Eventually I found the market. It was, as expected, fun. I also found those guys that sell fresh squeezed ice cold orange juice. Bonus.

I then returned to my favorite "ahwa" had my thick and strong coffee and got on my way. Tonight I am overnight training it to Aswan (about 15 hours or so).