The Egyptian bus service is damn good!

Well they aren’t buses really, they are minivans that pick people up. It costs about 10 cents (sometimes 20 cents if you are a tourist). The buses come every minute at the most and go about everywhere. I have even seen them way out in the middle of nowhere going from town to town. The only thing is, sometimes they don’t fully stop to pick you up or drop you off, so you have to be fast. Fortunately they tend to go a bit easier on tourists, well some of the drivers do anyways. My Egyptian friend took me via the buses to the market where we went shopping. I found a couple of small stone statues and that was about it, since the prices were a bit higher then I like to pay. She managed to get a pound of henna for $1 though!

The market we went to was slightly more for the locals then the tourist markets, so it was a lot more fun. The jewellery shops though were far too tempting with some of the most gorgeous designs I have ever seen! They also had an extremely good selection of antique jewellery which is my favourite. Aside from this people were selling many different spices, fruit, vegetables, fish (sitting out there in the sun, ew), meat, and an assortment of tourist items. My friend bought me a head scarf. I have to figure out something to gift her back, she’s making it difficult by saying that she doesn’t like jewellery, so I have to be more creative.

I got to see part of an Egyptian wedding. There was the bride and groom, and they started dancing, then the men danced around the bride in the middle, then the women did. There was drumming and a horn or two all throughout as well. They were doing part of the ceremonies on the Carniche right next to the Nile. The bridesmaids had the prettiest dresses on. This was on a Thursday, which is apparently wedding day in Egypt. After the festivities outside, they would all go off to one of the local hotels or the like to have the party/reception, which would have at least 100 relatives and friends attending. After this, they could move in together, which I think many couples do on the same night. This means they are finally allowed to have sex.

Aside from this we just walked along the Nile, as well as sat and talked for a time. It is so much nicer to walk in Egypt at night since it’s nice and cool out, and I don’t get worn out after only a block.