Back in Cairo

The next morning, we flew back to Cairo for our last two days in Egypt. We spent the afternoon exploring the Egyptian Museum. It was a "must-see". There were so many strange, beautiful, and interesting things to see. My favorite room was the Amarna Room dedicated to Amenhotep IV, the "heretic king" that wanted his people to worship only one god (the Sun "Aten") instead of all of the Gods. He even changed his name to Akenaten to show his devotion to Aten.

After his death, his son-in-law, Tutankhamen (better known as King Tut), reverted back to multi-god worship. There were also many artifacts from Tut's tomb, his funerary mask and the multiple tombs that fit together like Russian dolls were the most interesting.
I also really enjoyed the room full of mummified animals. The animals were mummified for three reasons: as pets of the deceased, as "food" for the deceased, or as idolized animals with special significance. There were also minature figurines depicting various events. I did not really understand their significance, but they were interesting. (Note: all of the museum pictures were taken from the internet because photography was not allowed at the museum).

Later that night, as Nici and I walked to Regina and Kaitlin's hotel, a group of young boys (8 as the oldest), started cat-calling us and a number of them ran up behind me and grabbed my butt. If it hadn't been so shocking, it might have been amusing. How pervasive is this behavior in the culture if 8-year-olds are doing it? This was the beginning of my worst night in Egypt. As we were walking to the bazaar, a man walked by and grabbed my chest. It happened so quickly, I didn't know how to react but to turn around and flip him off. I was so angry! At the market, the unwanted attention was non-stop. Some of the lines were funny--"I don't know what you want, but I have what you need"--but we all were feeling very guarded and did not give any sign of recognition or acknowledgment to anyone. I was mad that a few assholes had left me feeling so violated that I could not even interact those that were truly trying to be friendly. I wonder how many experiences I missed out on or what kind of impression I left--an angry, stuck up American--but at that point I did not care.

This reaction seemed even more justified after getting lost and ending up in the Egyptian market that connects to the tourist bazaar. We got caught in a bottleneck of people that closely resembled a mosh pit at a punk rock concert. Not being able to move, I felt someone's hand rub between my butt cheeks. I quickly turned around to confront my attacker, but there were so many people behind me that I didn't know who to slap. I glared at all of them and decided that next time I would grab the person's fingers before turning around so I knew exactly who to knee in the balls. I felt such relief to finally make it to the street. I have never been so excited to hail a taxi! This experience left me feeling so wounded and angry. It completely ruined my impression of Egypt.

Here are some random pictures taken on the streets of Cairo.





Mish-mish, the cat from one of restaurants we ate at.


A picture from a sweet shop in Cairo. It was filled with special goodies for Ramadan. Sorry it is so dark. I'll fix it in photoshop when I get back. :)