Perfume store & Khan El Khalili Bazaar

We all voted to stop at a perfume store (pic. 1) where we sampled the local scents.

Then it was on to Khan El Khalili Bazaar. Pic. 2 is of the restaurants that front the area where the bomb went off in Feb. This was in the main entrance square. A French woman was killed and 23 others injured. It was a sobering thought to cross the same place where this tragedy occurred.

Pic. 2 is of the narrow streets of the bazaar. Our guide asked us to stay on just one street. The streets were very narrow, winding and irregular. I suspect this was to prevent us from getting lost.

After shopping and lunch we then made the long 3.5 hour drive back to the ship.

Surprisingly there was no secure zone around the ship. When our driver opened the trunk the locals grabbed our bags and were off with them. Where where the tourist police when you need them? I had to grab the guy with my bag to get him to stay with us. He kept trying to take off so I resorted to whacking him a few times with my back support to get him to pay attention to where we were vs. him and keep him with us.

We went through the security checkpoint which checked our passport. I don't know if the guy (tourist police?) had authorization because the Egyptians just went in and out without anyone checking their ID.

Then it was through the flea market of vendors to the security scanners. The guy with my bag was still trying to port the bags to the ship without us but I kept a close eye on him. I was amazed that they let him right up to the gangway. At the gangway I handed him a dollar for dragging my lightweight roller carry-on bag the short distance. He handed it back to me and said "no, two dollars". I pocketed the dollar and got on the ship with him muttering at me the whole time.

I dropped my bag off at my room and headed back out to check out the vendor's wares. The bag guy was one of the vendors and kept muttering in Arabic about two dollars. I figure he lost his chance when I gave him the money and he gave it back to me.

Pic. 4 is of a boat at Port Said with a welcome to Egypt sign. Despite the last incident with the bag I found touring in Egypt really easy. The Egyptians were friendly to Americans and generally nice while still looking for every opportunity to ask for a $ for a bit of unsolicited information or the privileged of taking their picture. Our tour guide service took really good care of us and seemed to know the ins and outs of negotiating the sites successfully. I highly recommend you hire a service when visiting Egypt to avoid some of the potential hassles which we skated right through.

Here is the contact info of the people who made it possible:

Chrismar Travel (the tour agency in Egypt)

www.chrismartravel.net

They took credit cards and were very reliable!

Mohamed A. Senousy (guide in Luxor)

www.mulieb2000.8m.com

mulieb2000@yahoo.com

Randa Abou El Khair (guide in Cairo - fantastic guide!)

randakairy2002@yahoo.com