Colours

What a day...

I felt so proud of myself, going through all my costumes and washing all the veils.. getting those impossible to remove lipgloss stains off them.... if anyone has any specialist tricks for doing that I'd love to hear them!!!

Unfortunatly, the stain remover i used... does actually say in bold 'not to use on silk'.... but I noticed that AFTER i took my lovely red SILK veil out the water where I had been lovingly washing it in said stain remover. Silly silly me. Also, i figured that if i machine washed veils that were all synthetic the colours wouldn't run... well they didn;t- apart from one..... onto a lovely cream/gold veil, which is now 'bambi' ie baby pink! grrr. I was incrediably annoyed with myself!!!

Anyway- i figured they all looked so pretty on the line that a photo was called for and only after i had finished i noticed that i had a washing line full of veils and bikinis.... oh what a life I have!!!!

My new Garden!

I strongly suspect this latest home improvement was powerfully inspired by my recent trip to fayoum.... walking through the fields, surrounded by fabulous greenery! I have always had plants, even as a young child I drove my parents crazy with the 'jungle' that was my bedroom. I just realised that i have lived here in Cairo for nearly 4 years without any plants around me at all!

On Friday i decided i MUST have a garden! (ie buy some plants to put out on my balcony!) so I travelled around in a taxi for about an hour trying to find somewhere to buy them where they wouldn't charge extortionate prices as soon as they saw me... eventually found a place on the corniche just before kit kat mosque, but the guy who takes the money wasn't there- so we had to go back again on Saturday. see- even a simple trip to buy some potted plants in this country isn't as easy as you'd expect!!!!

Saturday I returned with a friend and we selected 15 plants!!!!!! ( ok- 3 of them are tiny- little herbs- mint and basil) but still 15 !!!! This includes a ficus tree, a 'christmas tree', a chamomile and a bourgainvillea among others! All for 290le. (After a lot of bargaining of course!)
so then how to get them home?? It's very strange as well to be buying plants for outside that would normally only ever be indoor plants in UK!

My garden would never squeeze into a taxi- assuming any driver would accept- and for once I had found somewhere in Cairo that didn't deliver!!! so my friend went out into the street and managed to find a microbus that would take us, and the garden, to mohandiseen for only 35le. I was quite happy about that- sitting up front in a microbus full of greenery- what a sight. i think my neighbours think i am slightly mad!

Happy though. And now it takes a lot to get me out- when instead I could be sitting at home in front of my lovely garden!!! Does that make me old? or just content? I certainly feel this is 'home' now!

Next- - what plants to add to it now? all the ones that repel mosquitoes- that’s for sure! Basil I have and I am open to new suggestions..........?

'wild' animals on the way to Alex

Yesterday I went for a day trip to Alexandria. On the way up the road my friend,Sherif, and I decided to stop on the road at 'Lion Village'.

It was the most bizarre restaurant I have ever been to. We didn't eat, but we walked around the grounds.

They have the strangest assortment of animals I have ever seen together in one place.

Lions, to chickens,

tigers to monkeys,

ducks to hyenas,

cats to tortoises,

turkeys to vultures,

dalmations to lamas,

'toy' dogs to reindeer.

I didn't ask- but I suspect that they breed the pedigree dogs in order to fund the keep of the other animals. I couldn't really workout otherwise why so many dogs of different breeds-and almost all with puppies.

All the animals looked healthy to me ( although I am no expert on the matter!) apart from a couple of the monkeys which were repetativly pacing their (very small) cages.

The big cats looked very healthy- but sad... and again, in really small cages.

The Lions were also in heat. I have never heard a sound in my life like the mating call of a lion- a roar which goes through your stomach like thunder!!!

They do a tourist 'circus' show with the lions for coach loads of tourists... and a group of koreans were there the day we were. We didn't watch the show though- so I couldn't tell you what went on.

The restaurant is reasonably priced- and worth a day trip out in its own right aswell as a fabulous way to break up the trip to Alex.

Saqqara

Yesterday I went to Saqqara with a couple of friends. I've been before, many times, when i used to organise groups of bellydancers to come over on dance holidays... but I haven't been for years. We had been hoping for sunshine- but for once- a cloudy day in Cairo- we don't get many- so these shots are pretty rare!!!

It was a bit too busy for my liking.( although I accept it doesn't look like it in this photo!!!) ..... but there were memorable moments. Like eating taamia and foul at the roadside and a bus of locals going by shouting out the equivalent of 'cheapskate!!!' - it was very funny! Then you have the guys inside the pyramid complex offering 'taxi' rides on their cadillac donkeys ( the Camel being the limo?).

We went over to the tombs that i have only been inside once before... I forgot how amazing they were......... a few fun pics............

No I haven't altered the direction- these funny wee men are actually doing back bends and high kicks....... whatever the dance was it looks hard work but fun!!!!!!!


This one took a while to work out........ a cow on its back with its feet tied....

But this guy with the big ears if my favourite.......................

St Catherines

It wasn't easy to get to St Catherines from Dahab. I thought it should be, as its only and hour and half away... One bus- leaves 8.30am ( too damn early!!!!), service taxi, ie micro bus leave 11pm at night ( too damn late) and the taxi from the hotel was going to cost 250le!!!!! NO way! In the end a friend managed to baragin a taxi price for me so i got there for 130le.

The taxi driver was a friendly fun guy... although wasnt' shy to tell me that he had his bango (grass) with him and did I want to see it? totally high. thankfully since there wasn't really any traffic on the road it wasnt' too dangerous! He also wasn't wearing a wedding ring and said he didn't have a wife etc etc ( and next day when i came back with my friend Sherif in the car too he had suddenly inherited a wife and ring!!!!!!)

The interesting and stressful part of the journey is all the numerous check points. They check the drivers license about 6 times between dahab and st cats, and they checked mine too. each time saying he couldn't go or shouldn't ( he didn't have a 'taxi' licence for outside of dahab town centre) but if he brought them a phone card or sandwich on the way back that would be ok. All corruption, in the form of call credit!

At st cats there is really nothing apart from the monastary and a couple of shops and a post office. I met sherif who had arrived an hour before on the bus from Cairo and we went to a campsite called the desert fox. the people there seemed really stoned- but very nice and helpful and they fed us and we talked into the wee small hours around a campfire in a bedouin tent. Mostly in arabic ( so that was really nice practise for me- although the bedouin accent is VERY differnt from Cairo!!) The range of conversation topics reflected the vibe of the place; it went from Mobarak ( who they think is close to God) to Van Damm ( something to do with a certain karate kick he can do....) to the great bear in the sky, to demons and devils. wow.

At 1am we left the heat of the fire- put extra layers on - and started our climb to the top of Mt Sinai ( also known as Moses mountain!). We had met a girl from Malasyia (Cindy) and she joined us for the climb. Its a pretty long way ( 2285m high!)- and I was sure my leg muscles were going to give me a lot of trouble, but we took our time and it was fabulous. in the full moonlight the white rock on parts of the cliffs looked like frost or snow... we didn't need our torches until the steps near the top and most of the time we were the only people in sight. Amazing. Almost bumped into camels in the dark! We took the 'camel' route... because although the other way is more direct, with its 3750 steps it was just not an option!!

At the top of Mt Sinai there is a chapel and a mosque. sorry the pic is fuzzy- camera was still on 'mountain' setting!!! Just as we stepped onto the summit the call to prayer started from the mosque ( a small square room with one man inside!) . It was spiritual and uplifting- except that there was a man trying to to rent us blankets (for 20le!!!) and he wouldn't give it a rest so he talked all the way through the prayer which really annoyed me!!! At that point though we were the only tourists on top. Sat night is a quiet night because the monestary is closed on a sunday... and people tend to visit that in the morning when they climb down the mountain... but if all you want to do is watch the sunrise in peace- i really recommend a sat night- esp if you have the full moon to help you find your feet!!!!

The sun took a long time to rise- but it was amazing. The desert mountian looked like a set from Mordor (lord of the rings) and then when the sun was coming up it turned into a Colin Baxter photograph! Very very cold ( but we refused to pay that for a blanket!!!!) but very very uplifting and beautiful!!! I took over 100 photos and then its was hard to choose which to include here because it all felt so amazing. Looking forward to Cindy sending us copies from her camera ( which was far better than mine)! We saw a bedouin waman walk her donkeys up the same path we had been puffing and panting over on the way up- she must be super fit to do that everyday!!!

wonderful , beautiful. I'd do it again! ( but not until my calf muscles have recovered!)

We took the taxi back to Dahab ( so another 130le) but discovered that the guy from the desert fox camp could have got us on a service taxi for 50le each at 11am ( but we didn't know this when we booked our taxi!!!)

Another day of chilling on the beach (- I know- I have a hard life!) then the 10pm bus back to Cairo ( got us in at 6am) Since I had had 4 hours sleep on friday night, then climbed a mountian instead of sleep on sat night, sunday night I slept the entire 8 hour bus journey!!!!!!!!!!

Back in Cairo... and off to Salsa tonight ( trying to loosen up those muscles before work again tomorrow!)

House proud

Let me start this entry saying I am house proud..... but not proud of where the house is- or should I say of the people who 'live' in this area!!!! I just walked home from a restaurant- 15mins walk..... The number of cars who trailed me, turned round and round to follow me, calling names.... just saying hello hello... i love you etc etc during those 15mins was amazing! Funnily enough I didn't feel scared- not really sure why. Maybe once the summer kicks in for sure and there are even more arabs in town then it will become more threatening- it did last year. Hate not being able to walk home- but then- I guess its hard to be scared when there are just SOOOO many people in the streets- not like at home if you walk at midnight there is no-one on the street except yourself- THEN being followed is scary- rather than here where it just feels downright pathetic!

Anyway- I wanted to show off my lovely curtains on my balcony. They keep the sun off the livingroom windows, give me privacy from the neighbours, and mean I was able to have hour today lying in the sun in my bikini- wonderful! If anyone knows the actual name for this type of pattern that would be great.... Its the material they usually make tents out of here to celebrate weddings, parties, festivals and funerals !!! I love it cos its so colourful and cheerful.


And this is the wonderful carpet I bought myself in Siwa..... the colours haven't shown too well , maybe due to the sun this afternoon... but I have this on the floor of my balcony- so I can lounge about outside- wonderful!!! Cushions are getting stuffed this weekend- so more pics to follow once the scene is properly set...........


Another Siwa purchase- I couldn't resist these palm leaf made baskets..... Great for hiding the washing power in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And of course - my dance studio................ Love this room!!!! Sound system. Mirrors (on 2 walls), lovely wooden floor, enough space for me plus maybe 3/4 students. Perfect for private classes. Fabulous. I have found myself just wandering in and out of the studio having a wee potter about in front of the mirrors- testing a few moves here and there- its a joy to have! feel very lucky to be in a place big enough to fit it in!!! I have even been known to go in there and do stretching for a bit too!!!!!!
Wen dancers rent out my spare rooms- they get full use of the studio if they want it.... so far it seems to be a pretty good selling point for my rooms!!!!!!! lots of people coming to see me this year! looking fwd to it!

And this next pic has nothing at all to do with my flat- but I spotted this can in the supermarket this afternoon and had to buy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scotland is never really very far away!!!!

general Siwa shots

head in the flowers!its a donkey's life....
playing..................
early morning shave..........

coca-cola rest stop............

Robert Burns night- in Cairo!

On friday night I went round to my friends Ruth and Mohammend's place to help celebrate the birthday of the great Scottish Poet, Robert Burns.....

They have a LOVELY flat (in which they rent out room as a bed and breakfast.....)

and Mohammed even donned his tartan trous for the occasion........

In fact- most people had some tartan on of some discription-

from a kilt...........

to a scarf...........

to a fleece.........



or even just a ribbon............



some people really went the whole hog.... well- I guess he did have the job off addressing the lassies- so it was only right! Check out the shoes! Ruth modelled the lovely new 'gold tartan' sash............. with interesting footwear too..........



and I got to wear my lovely new shoes and bag.... both bought in Cairo this week!!!!!!!!!! Was so chuffed with them... everyone kept asking if I had had the shoes specially made!!!!!!!

We danced that great traditional burns night dance of 'balancing the 'caber' on yer heed'...............

and of course...........we ate lots of haggis........... after talking to it- as you do- well- we do in Scotland... but then we'll address anything if it means a drink after!!!!!!!!!!!

oh- and did I mention my shoes and bag..................................?!!!