Monday
Today I ‘ubered’ for the first time! We decided to catch an uber to an area that had some supermarkets. The uber drivers regularly do not speak English. Our uber took a bit of time to get to us and in between there were a couple of waving taxis trying to persuade us to use their services instead. He took us to a spot and dropped us off and we then just walked back along the road we have driven, stopping at small shops for some end of tour shopping. Here the prices are true Egyptian prices. Instead of charging a fortune, they charge what they would charge their fellow citizens so we got a box of 12 wrapped chocolate bars for Egyptian pounds 15 (equivalent of about R14). We got water for EP5 instead of EP23 at the hotel. We found a hardware store for cable ties – and paid all of EP10. We’ll cable tie our luggage tomorrow night. We walked quite a long way and then called an uber for the trip back to the hotel. This was the street we walked down…
On the trip we went pretty close to the pyramids… 
Later this afternoon, we went for a walk around the hotel neighbourhood. It’s really a mixture of really impressive homes alongside dusty sandy streets. This is one of the streets…
And this is one of the really nice homes…
From that you wouldn’t believe you were in Egypt. Not far away is the Bangladesh ambassador’s home. But it sits very close to the Canal which is a real mess. I couldn’t bring myself to take a photo, it’s so polluted.
We are staying at the Oasis Hotel, which is just fine. The gardens at the hotel are very well maintained.
This is the one right outside our hotel room…
Tonight is our last night, so we hope to sleep well and get a good leg stretch because tomorrow night we’ll be squashed on the plane. We are hoping for lots of empty seats.
A few other observations…
Tomorrow is the Orthodox Christmas for the Egyptian Orthodox Christians. For this reason, all the Egyptian Christmas decorations are still up and the hotel has still been playing Christmas carols. It’s actually quite fun. The hotel has a lovely nativity scene and that’s still up.
The weather has been amazing. It’s winter here and a little warmer than Cape Town’s winter. There has been very little rain which has not affected us at all. There is no wind and there are no bugs. The weather has pretty much been idyllic – cool in the morning and heating up during the day.
The crows here are black and grey instead of black and white!
One of the funny things that happened after we arrived: David wanted to go for a run outside of the hotel. The security guard at the gate tried to dissuade him, and told him to go and ask the receptionist. The receptionist said to David, “no you can’t run on the road outside – it is the freeway – you will get crushed by a truck.”
Almost time for dinner.
Isaiah 55:12
You shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace.
Amen!
These are the days.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gym:
12418 steps.
Braces:
1 year and 54 days