So I am now in crazy Cairo with it's fast laneless traffic and beeping symphonies. It is a tough pill to swallow for me considering that I have been chilling beside rice paddies and beaches for so long....but change is good...I guess. Anyway the changes all began with a wheelchair. Yes Kuala L kicked my ass! My hips were insanely sore, between the pavement and the damp weather, my hips said "peace out gurl, you are crazy, have you forgotten about the 2 surgeries and the fact that it is bout time for 2 more?" (no I have not forgotten, it is called denial:) So yes I ordered a wheelchair at the airport; and was I happy I did. The KL airport is HUGE! So I got pushed around and stared at for quite sometime...and then when the flight was delayed, the stares and pushing would all begin again the next day...but I was happy about the 5 star hotel they put us in. I went to the gym, dangled my feet in the pool, lounged outside, took 2 baths, watched cable, ate 2 buffets, and slept, I accomplished a lot in those 12 hours. So after the bumpy ride to Kuwait where we were put in a -5 star hotel (but the staff was nice) where I laughed at the smells and the views...and the gym, the gym had 2 ping pong tables and a bunch of chairs...and a man sleeping on a couch. So what more can I say, except feeling the dry arid desert air was nice, hearing the familiar names and sounds was an unexpected treat for me. Sometimes I take it for granted the multicultural environments that I have been a part of. As a child many of my friends were from Iran; and though I know Kuwait is not Iran, there are many of the same names and sounds; so it was comforting to hear them and get carried back to some childhood memories. And now I sit here in Cairo where the sounds are not that familiar and the alphabet entirely different...and where the stares last longer than the usual 5 seconds....sunglasses are a big help...that and hiding my curly hair (makes me miss the Afro Pride of Fiji!)aside from those two things, many seem to assume that I speak Arabic and am part Egyptian. But the food is delicious, many people are very friendly...oh and the jeans and the shoes here fit me!!!! Anyway, I will venture out to an oasis and then a desert in the next couple days. Cairo is very interesting, exciting, and challenging...so far I have couchsurfed with a family, stayed at the sweet Bedouin Hostel, and now staying with a friend of a friend at the American University of Cairo......and I will share more later...after I come back from the desert :)
and the photos are of the massive mall in Kuala Lumpur, KL airprt and me, on kuwait airlines with Bippy, Simo smoking in the Bedouin Hostel, me with Noran, her husband and brother, me at the biggest mosque in Egypt, views
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