Day 37 Cairo

I wake up at 5am -I get to see the sunrise – very beautiful.

I do some work and debate paying for internet access – it is very expensive.

I downloaded pictures – it seems that we are missing some – I do not see any photos of the Water Palace from Jaipur for example. Nothing I can do about it. I also validated that we had maps loaded in the phone for Egypt – looks like we are good to go.

The Marriott we are staying at in Mirage city is very nice. It has a water park with wave pool, great workout facilities, a spa, 5 restaurants and a golf course. The room rate is pretty good but everything else is very pricey. It seems to be NW of Cairo.

I wake the girls up at 7am and we start to discuss what we are going to do. Aria takes her malaria pill and becomes ill and I start saving with the razor provided by the hotel but can only finish half of may face before it becomes dull. Ouch – it has been a while since I shaved. I weigh myself 88 kg's – less than 190 lbs – I hope the scale is accurate.

Poor Aria is still throwing up – I hope she feels better soon.

Pam and Allysha head down to check on our flights, look into hiring a driver and finding out if there is internet at the next hotel. I hope the next place is as nice as this place. This was a very welcome respite after our India accommodations.

Since we drove across Cairo twice yesterday I must say I am pleasantly surprised. The city feels much cleaner, the driving while still chaotic is an order of magnitude better than India. There are police at every corner. As we entered the parking lots for the hotels the car is searched for bombs – a little disconcerting. I saw a museum dedicated to the 1973 Israeli attach on Cairo that destroyed most of the Egyptian Air Force.

I am having difficulty understanding people and they seem to speak less English than the in India. We have not drawn as many stares from casual observers so far – probably due to the fact that tourism represents 20% of Egypt's gross domestic product.

Not sure what we are going to do today – the concierge is validating our flight to Rome – check-out is at noon and we validated that there is internet available at our next hotel. We explored options for hiring a car – I think we might call our taxi driver from yesterday who offered five hours for 300 EP. Perhaps we will move to the next hotel and drop our bags since check-in is not until 2pm. Then go see some sights in Cairo and return to the new hotel where I can get internet access.

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