Hello all now sans beard after visit to ...

hello all,

Sans Beardo

now sans beard after visit to Sweeney Todds on Friday. I got tired of it needing trimmed all the time (quite a task with mini-swiss army knife scissors) so went for a cut-throat job in the barbers round the corner. Unfortunately he also took off my sideys (they always do that), so i look like i've got a bowl cut which isn't the best obviously.

ok, can't remember what i wrote the last time i updated this thing, but i haven;t been doing much in Cairo, just recharging my batteries and sitting in tea shops reading and getting stared at which is a bit unnerving. The people don't have anything else to do so they sit and look at the tourists. I think they think i am strange because i am reading in public and they don't seem to do that (except for the Quoran). They go to tea shops to be sociable (though the men often just sit there and look in to space, or watch the live broadcast of some guy reading from the Quoran who appears to be a local hero). Anyway, I've been drinking tea and reading books. Suits me.

I have a wee radio on my walkman so of an evening i have been listening to the local radio stations which around 11pm start to play western style music for some reason and it's quite entertaining. The other night i listened to 'On The Rocks' and the woman was playing her favourite Jethro Tull 'hits' and also some Deep Purple with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. She was getting really excited by a Peter Gabriel 'movement' called 'Exposure' which is from his first album (even before he was in Genesis apparently...) and she read out the words for the song before it was played. 'Exposure....' she said. 'Out in public'... 'I want exposure' or something, but she read it like an excerpt from some Holy text. Total entertainment. Then to finish it was 'Ladies and Gentlement, from Los Angeles, California.... The Doors doo doo-doo doo-doo ', and then it stopped after 5 seconds and a new program called 'Sensible Thoughts' (true) started telling me all about relaxation techniques. Nice One. Spinning the dial I got 'Fool On The Hill' played on a Bon Tempi which should have segued into Besame Mucho, but instead turned into an easy listening 'Time is On My Side'. It was great.

Also I visited the Mahmoud Khalil museum and art gallery which is like a mini Burrel Collection with lots of European and Oriental art pieces. It made a nice change from all the Islamic culture I've been experiencing over the last couple of months. It was pretty good, with a coulpe of very impressive Gaugin portraits, and a great Degas. Do I sound poncey. Yeah alright, there was a monster bronze of this guy having a scrap with a horse-man-derbeest. That was magic. It was a bit of a swiz though as at the ticket office there were tickets market 5EP or 1EP for students, but the only ticket i could buy was marked 'Foreigner' like it was some scab or something. But I guess they think all foreigners are so much more well off than Egyptians because we can travel. It's not our fault the Egyptian goverment don't allow anyone to travel outside the country in case they realise how shoddy things are at home! Can't get too upset though, I'd just end up stoving ever ticket offices windows in. It was (almost) worth the extra money. And they had a Van Gogh too - big vase of flowers, natch. Nice view of the Nile from the balconies though.

In the evening myself and a couple of Korean girls from the hotel caught a taxi to the Khan Al Khalili to watch the Soufi dancers perform for the tourists. It was free entry so we had to get there early to get in. Anyway, the dancers were great. They had a band on flutes and trumpet things, and also drums and finger cymbals (Jethru Tull influence) and they all took turns doing their wee party pieces and they were all very good. After about 20 mins the first Soufi dancer came out. As far as I can tell they just dance round and round - a little like Whirling Dervishes, though not as mental. One chap danced for about 45 mins, his big round outfit flailing in all differnet colours, then he would pull it over his head and spin it on one hand... all very colourful and a great show. The location was in an old mausoleum so it was all pretty authentic, even down to the smell of the urinals behind the seats which wafted over out heads during the performance.

After the show the Koreans went back to the hotel, but I found a wee Egyptian pizza shop which only had an oven and a marble counter - so small even the cook had to stand outside and make the pizza's thru the window! Anyway, it was filthy, but the pizza was the best. Very spicy, with egg and pepper and tomato and cheese...och you know how pizzas are. Went for a wander in the market though it was all pretty much closing for the evening. Walked passed Feshawi's tea house (open 24hrs for the last 200 years apparently) but it was stowed with Germans (surprise) so just kept walking.