Whirlwind tour....

All the pictures you want to see (and maybe don't want to see)have been added to my new flickr account, it's at the bottom of the blog:) how's that for delayed gratifiaction?!
.....there were just too many to resize this time!

So I haven't been on here for a while, things have been kind of busy and kind of hectic, but always fun, and always an experience. So get ready for my longest blog yet!! Just over a week ago I went to my "Katb Ketab" which loosely translated means the writing of the book. This is the second stage in the marriage process in Islam. The first stage is formal engagement. The "Katb Ketab" is basically a written contract between the patriach of he bride's family and the groom, then the bride and groom sign each page of the contract (the "book") and add their thumb prints to each page. Basically at this point they are married, and after they sign all the papers they have a big party. The party can be, and it was, as extravagant as wedding, but that doesn’t happen until about a week after (the third stage).

So the "Katb Ketab" was in the afternoon, and then we had to jet off to another wedding by the pyramids. If you will notice, yes I am wearing the same exact outfit I wore to the first wedding! I just don't have the need for party dresses in Toronto :p

But, before I went to the wedding, I had a little side trip to Dubai and met up with Diana Pereira, a fellow, but much more experienced Toronto journalist, and her friend Tammy King. Let me tell you about Dubai....


There is absolutely no place in the world like Dubai. I have NEVER seen anything like it. The city is basically brand new and ever changing. Construction is literally going on 24 hours a day. The whole time I was there (four days) I never once saw the colour of the sky because there is SO much particulate matter in the air. They have approximately 5,000 workers building The Burj Dubai Tower, which will be the tallest tower in the world, and will dwarf Toronto's proud little CN Tower.

But big is the resounding theme in Dubai. They want to make the world's largest everything. The world's largest mall is currently under construction (they also have the most malls per capita in the world, one with a ski hill, complete with black diamond run) the world's only seven star hotel is at home in Dubai (which by the way we never got to see the inside of, because you have to make a reservation at one of the hotel's restaurants, which we didn't know and had to leave the day we went to see it). They are also building a Versace condominium complex, and the list goes on and on!!

This city is essence of opulence and extravagance. It is founded on commercialism, Dubai is the only place in the Mideast with 59% of the population owning credit cards, which according to the newspaper I was reading, makes it a developed country. In comparison, Egypt only has 1.2% of the population using credit cards. On that note, thank God I had my credit card with, because let me tell you the shopping in Dubai is something else!! Really you have no choice but to shop, because the city is so new, it doesn't have a huge amount of historical sites, and the weather is stifling, so you are forced to take refuge in the malls. That's my story and I am sticking to it, if anyone asks why I shopped like a crazy woman!!

But, we did take part in some of Dubai's nightlife as well. Night 1 we went to the Jumeira City hotel complex sat on bean bags, had drinks and shisha, and wow wow we wah it was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!! Night 2 we were pretty tired from chillaxing on the beach and shopping like crazy girls, so we grabbed a quick bite and drinks at a bar called Scarlett’s. Night 3 we went out with a friend of my cousin who lives in Dubai to a super chic place with the best sushi in Dubai called Sho Cho's, and then up to Boudoir for some hilarious clubbing action. And on our last night Diana and I decided to splurge and go for dinner and drinks at the Emirates Tower to Vu's restaurant, which is aptly named, the view was from the fiftieth floor (the restaurant, and fifty-first floor, the bar) was amazing, as was the food!! All in all it was a pretty fun place to check out, but not somewhere I think would want to live, it's a pretty artificial city, where money and more money rules all. But that said, Diana and I did find a super cute café, called the Basta Art Café, if you go make sure you check it out.

So we got into Cairo on Thursday evening, and on Friday I had ANOTHER wedding to go to, my cousin's best friend Menna (who's Katb Ketab was last week, oh and I also bought a dress in Dubai to wear to the wedding). I have to say I think this was the most extravagant, but beautiful wedding I have ever been to, and Menna couldn't have looked more gorgeous. It was a lot of fun and went very late, I think we got in around 6:30-7 a.m. Egyptians do likea good party!

And finally on to my last part of my longest blog ever:

Last night cousin Dina and I jumped on one of those big restaurant boats, where surprisingly we ran into some of the guys we met at the wedding, and went for a ride along the Nile complete with dinner, soufi dancers, a belly dancer, an Arabic band, etc. Needless to say, it was a whole lot of fun, and quite the experience. So it looks like I will be off to do the Valley of the Kings tour and then off to Sharm el Sheik for some beaching and scuba diving (YAY!!) And then the day after I get back, aka June 3 I start my job at Live,the entertainment magazine I have been hired at.

So it looks like Egypt has provided me with everything I could have asked for this summer: travel and adventure, sunny beaches, family visits, work experience, and great people. I am a happy cookie.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/cairocaroline/

Street Walker....

There are some pretty amazing things that happen on the streets here. I went out with my aunt Suzy to walk around Heliopolis (an area of Cairo). And we came across a man weaving a chair. I asked him if I could take his picture, and he looked at me like I was crazy and said something to the effect of 'Why? I am not doing anything special, but go ahead if you want."

I thought it was something special so I did. Along this walk we also saw hand woven baskets and all sorts of things for sale on the street. By the way, I love street vendors, which maybe why I like to going to Khan Khalili (the bazaar) so much

Another day, cousin Dina and I went to the Cairo museum, hung out with Ramses and King Tut, ogled their gold and stared with an astonished glaze over my eyes at the craftsmanship of the furniture jewelry and other artifacts. I will be going back, because there is too much to take in one day. But, alas you are not allowed cameras inside, too bad because I would have loved to show you all what a mummified baboon looks like!

After the museum we went to my grandma's apartment, where she has a spectacular view of the Nile, but unfortunately they are building a huge, ready for this, condominium building in front of her apartment, so the view from her bedroom will soon be concrete instead of water. But luckily the side balcony still has a good view, so all is not lost.

Oh, I just wanted to let you all in on one of my favourite things about being here, the flowers. We went to a bar a few nights ago and they had troughs in the table full of rose petals.

When you are stuck in traffic men approach your car selling little packets of tissues and random things. But the absolute best ting is the jasmine necklaces, and when my sister and I were kids we would ALWAYS make our parents buy them for us. They smell better than any designer perfume out there.

All Good Things Are In Heaven....

Hello again. It’s been a little while since I last popped in to update. The problem is my aunt has dial up, and it takes a while to get from page to page, so I feel guilty tying up the phone lines to check email, update the blog and read the news. So I haven’t been doing much of any of it. It’s strange not having access to reading a daily paper, but they are hooking up DSL this week, so I am not too concerned. So on to the good stuff….On Thursday night I went with my aunt Nadia, to my dad’s cousin’s son’s wedding (took me a bit to get my head around that one too!).

It was not like any wedding I have been to before. The women were decked out in crazy evening dresses (nothing I had was appropriate so I had to borrow a dress from my cousin) and more diamonds than a Hollywood award show, and no I am not exaggerating. It was insane, bling everywhere! Weddings are pretty serious here, they had cameras on cranes, huge video screens so you could watch the wedding movie as it was happening, chocolate fountains, you name it, they had it! The best part of the wedding was when the bride and groom arrived at the reception and were greeted by Egyptian drummers, and belly dancers, some even wore HUGE candelabras on their heads.

The day after the wedding my aunt Nadia and I went to Khan Khalili aka the most amazing bazaar in the world. There is so much to see and photograph there, which I did. It was a lot of fun, especially the bargaining. It’s a bit of a game. They tell you a price you haggle them down a bit, they make a big deal and then you say “Ashan Khatry.” Which means “For my sake,” like you are close friends and they are making a special deal just for you. And if all else fails, you walk away, go to a vendor a few doors down, and then when you walk out they (usually) find you and say “Ok, Ashan Khatrik.” This means “Ok, for your sake.”

But word to the wise, be careful what you wish for, the day we went to the bazaar was 39°C!

A Little Change...

After visiting My Man Henri's blog page I was dazzled by his über slick layout, so I had to update. Credit must be given where credit is due. So since I haven't figured out how to link his page to mine yet, just check it out from here: http://www.mymanhenri.com/