Well, I think I'm finally over the jet-lag and the culture shock.

I had a really nice Egyptian moment the other night while I waited for my bus back to Cairo. I sat and waited at a little cafe by the bus terminal. I was definitely the only tourist there, and it was nice to see Egyptians just being Egyptians... greeting one another very affectionately, chattering away over mint tea and sheesha pipes, and eating fuul (a delicious bean paste served in a pita bun, with some spicy pickled vegetable on the side... for about 20 cents CDN).

There's a real danger when travelling to only encounter the locals in a touristic context (i.e. they are taking you somewhere or trying to sell you something... one very friendly gentleman on my first night in Cairo started off very conversationally, welcoming me to Cairo, inquiring about Canada... etc... turned out to be an extremely polite and yet coercive papyrus sales technique). On the other hand, the waiter at the cafe was genuinely just looking for a chat (and maybe an opportunity to practice his english).

"You are only second person I meet from Canada. The first one was a very beautiful woman. The second is a very... polite man."