I was on my own today, it was a bit worried going to brave crazy Cairo on my own for the first time. I got some directions from the hostel employees on how to get to the Cairo museum.
I ventured out and started long the right path, but once I started to look confused it didn't take long for a couple of Egyptians to start to follow me around. I managed to shake one guy off, but then another one followed. I decided I would take my chance and ask him for directions anyway, but instead he managed to trick me in to following him to his fathers shop. I felt stupid for falling for it, but it didn't take me long to sniff it out and walk away. Eventually I found the museum in the distance, but again that wasn't without being followed. After some hesitation and looking around I managed to cross the street. The Cairo museum was huge, there was so much packed in there, it was hard to take in. The rooms I enjoyed the most were the animal mummies and the royal mummies, which you have to pay extra for.
I ventured out and started long the right path, but once I started to look confused it didn't take long for a couple of Egyptians to start to follow me around. I managed to shake one guy off, but then another one followed. I decided I would take my chance and ask him for directions anyway, but instead he managed to trick me in to following him to his fathers shop. I felt stupid for falling for it, but it didn't take me long to sniff it out and walk away. Eventually I found the museum in the distance, but again that wasn't without being followed. After some hesitation and looking around I managed to cross the street. The Cairo museum was huge, there was so much packed in there, it was hard to take in. The rooms I enjoyed the most were the animal mummies and the royal mummies, which you have to pay extra for.
After the museum, and some negotiating I caught a cab to the bazaar so I could do some shopping I really wanted to buy a mini shisha. At the bazaar, of course I encountered the usual annoying and rude comments by the sellers, but this time I wasn't afraid to dish it right back. It didn't take long for me to start getting followed again. This man kept calling me Habibi and following me around all the stalls. He didn't seem dangerous and he was around my age so I didn't kick up too much of a fuss even though it got annoying after about an hour. At one point I didn't see very many tourists anymore around the bazaar and it was starting to get dark out, so I managed to find a taxi to get back to the hostel. Unfortunately my stalker decided to jump in the same cab as me. At one point he tried to sit next to me in the back of the cab, but I kicked him out into traffic. It felt like some crazy scene out of the movies, but it had to be done.
When I got back to the hostel I got some food down at the GAD restaurant around the corner. I went back up to the common room to eat and shared some of my leftovers with some of the hostel workers. Afterwards I decided to go out exploring, it was loud, crazy and crowded as usual. I went in and out of a lot of shops, but Egyptian fashion didn't really appeal to me, a lot of the clothes looked like it belonged in the early 90s.
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