Beautiful Money

C'mon, where else on earth can you find Tutankhamen on a dollar coin, or the Sphinx on a 100 pound note?




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Bumper Cars

Remember all the fun you had as a kid driving bumper cars? Well, in Egypt (and in Cairo especially) driving on a daily basis is a bit like that. ;-) Fortunately the car shops are really great with repair work.

Little old men who sit at cafes all day

Speaking of cute, I just love the little old men who sit at cafes drinking tea and coffee and sipping shisha all day, very cute old guys.

Kosherie

Kosherie is a staple of the Egyptian diet, and its wonderful. The word kosherie apparently means a mixture of many different things (a great symbol for Egypt really...). To make it, you need small round pasta, lentils, rice, chick peas, some burnt onions and garlicy spicy tomato sauce to throw on top. See this post more about Healthy and Delicious fast food in Egypt.

Kosherie often scooped into plastic cartons and served to go!

Kids leaning over a kosherie cart in Old Cairo

Woodwork

Egyptian crafstmen are masters when it comes to woodworking, especially in designing wood lattices and turnery (which apparently is woodworking with a lathe). The below examples are taken from the Bayt al Shuyami Area, however they abound throughout Egypt. You will often find symbols or words (like the name of God) written inside the latticework. Here's more information on The art of Egyptian Turnery from the Egyptian State Information Service.

 

Bayt el Suhaymi

Bayt el Suhaymi is a hidden gem, unbeknownst (unfortunately) to the majority of tourists who get dragged through Khan el Khalili. It is a true pity that most of Egypt's long and variegated history is overlooked by the tourists who tend to be exposed to very little other than its ancient artifacts.

Bay el Suhaymi is a restored Ottoman building dating back to 1648 AD nestled just behind Khan el Khalili amongst beautiful buildings from the Fatamid period.

This is the street that leads up to Bayt el Suhaymi

  When you enter the buildings complex, one of the first things you'll notice is how cool it is, despite the raging heat outside. The buildings were designed in a brilliant way that somehow naturally cools. It also seems to block a lot of sounds, it is very calm and peaceful inside the area, juxtaposed against the usual noise of Cairo.

Wooden window frames designed in a way to let the inhabitants
have a pleasant breeze and view the street while passerbys cannot see in

A Sunny Outlook

Optimism is the engine of hope and the driver of change, and Egypt is short on neither.

Maybe all those rays of sunshine help Egyptians always look on the bright side of life.