All I wanted to do today was go to the museum. I finally mustered up the courage to leave my hostel to brave the streets alone. I'm in the downtown area of Cairo and it's very busy, dirty, dusty and loud. I don't mind so much, you just have to be careful not to fall down the holes in the sidewalk. It's not even too hot, just t-shirt or light cardigan weather, which is nice. I haven't even been majorly hassled on the street, just a couple of people trying to talk or ask me into their shops, nothing very annoying.
The problems arose when I got down the end of the area to visit the museum. I made it down there and it's on the other side of like a billion lane highway thingies. I stopped to ponder my options and a guy asked if I was trying to get to the museum. I said yeah I was. He said 'oh, don't go right now, there's a demonstration just down there. It's very dangerous. It should be over in half an hour, come see my gold shop while you wait'. I was like... hmmmm, right, no thanks. But then I continued down the footpath and there was all this barbed wire hung across it and people in a huge crowd on the other side of the street with flags and stuff. So, I left.
I walked around for about an hour, just exploring the area. Nothing very exciting, just tiny shops and souvenir places. Then I decided to go back down and see if I could go to the museum yet. Again, I'm pondering my road crossing options and a young guys comes up and is like 'it's group time at the museum now, if you come back at 2pm the groups will be gone and the tickets will be cheaper. If you go now it'll be really crowded'. Ok, thanks. So, I went and got some lunch.
Then, at 2pm I AGAIN try to get to the museum. A guy tells me I can cross the road at the subway station, can I please come see his paintings. I tried to find the subway, failed, so had to cross the 6 billion lane highway. It wasn't so bad if you don't mind near-death experiences. So, I now made it to the same side of the road as the museum. I walk alongside it looking for the way in. The entrance is barricaded. With armed guards. Super. Yet another guy comes up and asks me where I'm going. I said I'm trying to go to the museum. And then it got scary.
He was like 'no, you have to leave here, its very dangerous... everyone else is leaving', and as he said that, people stated running away down the street, shops started closing and pulling down rolling metal doors, sirens started.... So, he leads me away down the street telling me there's a demonstration going on and it's not safe. He took my hand and rushed me across the road and down the street. People are running down the sidewalk past us, and he's going 'where is your hotel? Can you get back to your hotel?'. Then he was like 'come in this shop, you'll be safe'. I was afraid, but I wasn't going in any tiny shop with him. I was just like thanks for the help, I'm going now, ducked down the nearest smaller street leading away from the problems and walked really fast. As I got away from the main area things calmed down, and up by my hostel things seem normal. Well, I guess they are. I won't be going back down there again.
So, now I'm sick, dusty, scared, and the internet just stopped working. Bah!
What do I do now? Hide in my hostel and eat at the McDonald's across the road until my tour starts? I've got a day trip to Alexandria tomorrow, which I'll go on, but what do I do with Cairo? As I said, not a great first impression and apparently Friday is a dangerous day too.
As you can imagine, I'm not feeling very comfortable. So, scared, sick, sore knee, and don't want to get shot in the head by Muslim extremists - I think I'll just chill in my room for the afternoon. Mum, don't freak out. I'm ok.
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