Cairo

This weekend I was able to go to Cairo which was amazing. It is as crowded as New York if not more and there are no traffic rules that people follow. Aside from that and the polluted air, its not so bad. It was amazing to see this really ancient city that has been inhabited for thousands of years. However, you can recognize the many transformations it has gone through. There is so much history here that there are many old buildings that look historic that are being neglected. It looks like the Egyptian gov't is focusing its money on preserving the big tourist attractions like the Pyramids so it can keep that tourist economy flowing.

Of course there is more to Cairo than "old Cairo." A friend of mine took me to the City of the Stars mall which was really something. In some ways it was like other malls although they recreated the historic Khan El Khalili bazaar (which was apparently better than being in the REAL Khan El Khalili bazaar). It was a showcase of the extravagant Egypt that I hadn't seen until this point.