Before anyone jumps on me for failing to update the blog consistently in the past month, I’d like to get my excuses in order. First, my laptop is dedicating all of its resources which were once used for photo editing, blog-writing, and web browsing to its ultimate goal of kicking the bucket in the most prolonged, dramatic way possible. It started with blue screens of death, and then progressed to screens of death in every other hue and shade imaginable. Thankfully, a shiny new laptop is on its way to Cairo, and the photos from a handful of recent adventures will go up on the blog when it does.
In addition to this, I also had somewhat of an insane work schedule these last few weeks – I had to write speeches for something like 15 events on campus to celebrate the inauguration of our new campus and the 90th anniversary of the university. This increased workload meant a decrease in travel and photography adventures, but I do have some photos from around the city.
While I can’t post new pictures of my trips around Cairo (and I really wish I could, I have some great shots of freshly severed camel hooves for sale in the Friday Market in Islamic Cairo – NO JOKE), what I can do is link to two “photo tours” I made recently and put on picasaweb.
First, there's the walking tour from my apartment to downtown Cairo.
A lot of people have misconceptions about the Middle East - many are influenced by Hollywood's vision of the Middle East as only small rural villages that alternate as terrorist training camps, and think there are no paved roads or skyscrapers and that the entire region is thousands of years behind. Not true. Parts of Cairo, of Egypt and of the Middle East are much more developed than people expect. Unfortunately, that also means there are plenty of McDonald's and KFCs here.
I probably came in more open-minded than most as a result of my previous travels, but I was still a little surprised. But Cairo does that in a way - it surprises you as being both more modern and more ancient than you would ever believe before setting foot in this fantastic city.
You can find the photo tour here:
Walking Tour to Downtown Cairo
Second, here is the bus photo tour of the ride home from the New Campus out in the desert to my neighborhood here:
Driving Home From New Cairo
Finally, if you look to the left sidebar of this blog, you'll see that I've put up some links to my selection of pictures on Flickr, my pictures on picasaweb, and my old blog.
Enjoy!
