It had been raining quite heavily in Cairo mainly overnight and the city clearly wasn't used to that. The streets were flooded, the drainage system let it down. Perhaps after the long dry time ahead there were many blockages. We decided to take a self directed "walking tour" around the city. Firstly we went to the American University bookshop to stock up for the long flight ahead. For Tim, a copy of "The Chrysalids". We then walked along the Nile and across the bridge over to the Island near Zamalek where we had stayed the very first night in Cairo over a month ago. We were headed towards the Cairo tower hoping to go up to the lookout but unfortunately it was closed for some reason or other. We paid a small fee to sit in a small park for a small while. It had a small coffee shop where we purchased small Cappuccinos for a reasonably small price. We strolled north along the river bank and went looking for the Zamelek bookshop that been recommended to us but found it closed. There was an alternative shop on the corner which a small selection of English books. For Julian a copy of "The Cider House Rules" which had been the topic of some discussion. Many times on the trip we had flippantly commented that we just couldn't understand why everything wasn't better organised and more efficient here. With comments like "If they would just regulate these taxi's so that you knew how much you had to pay and they just waited in a line so you got the next one in turn wouldn't it be so much easier". "If these drivers would just obey the traffic signals it would be a lot easier to cross the road". Time after time we suggested ways we thought things could be improved but we came to the conclusion that it would only work if people followed the rules/laws they set. But with tourist police and guards and touts all doing whatever would get them the sale or "baksheesh" or it seemed unlikely that would be easily achieved. In the book there is a set of rules written on the wall of the Cider House telling the apple pickers how they are supposed to behave, the rules are largely ignored - in no small part because none of the pickers can actually read them - and there is a line somewhere where one of the pickers says something like "those are there rules [the employers] we have our own rules". We did a big loop back over the next bridge and back around to Talat Harb where we were staying then grabbed a snack. Tim was a bit tired after the previous late night so Julian and I left him having a rest and headed to the main Cairo market ("Khan- al -Khalali") to pick up a few small souvenirs and gifts. We did a few loops of the cramped streets - it was mid evening but not too crowded and made our choices and a few small purchases. We were having fun with the haggling sessions "ten for that you must be mad" and found it was quite enjoyable when you took up the challenge and actually wanted to buy something rather than just being hassled for things you don't want which was our standard experience. We laughed and engaged the store owners "what price would you charge your brother for that ??" In a twist, Julian was able to convince a street tout to let him see if he could have any luck trying to sell some items. It was really a lot of fun. They taught him the arabic words for "Look here - every item 5 pounds" which he repeated faithfully to all the passing shoppers and tourists. He was quite a hit, the touts for the neighbouring stalls got into the swing and taught him a few "tricks of the trade". They were very good humoured with a great sense of the fun and novelty of the situation. So Julian learned what the real price of the objects were, learned that with Egyptians it is a take it or leave it price but with foreigners it is a see how much above that you can get (we new that anyway I guess - but here they were unashamed about it). He probably spent about an hour repeating his lines, trying new ones, trying to work out the nationality of passers by and so change language or sales pitch. The owner suggested that Julian would be able to make quite a bit of money (in their context) if he came in the day time when the most English or German speaking customers were there - but our schedule didn't let him try it. In the end Julian got a single sale of three small necklaces for 5 pound each - his commission was supposed to be 20% but somehow the the calculation went astray and the owner only gave him only 2 pound (40c). Julian decided that perhaps it wasn't going to be a good career choice for him after all. It was quite late by the time we walked back to our hotel - most of the shops and stalls were closed. We stopped at an Egyptian take away and had a couple of the small Felafel rolls that they sell for less that a pound. It was nearly 2 am before we got back to the room - which didn't matter as it was time to start thinking about adjusting our body clocks anyway.
