Day 173

July 11th

So at 6:30 we woke up again and got a taxi to the bus station in Imbadaa or some Podunk part of Giza. It was a shit-hole, with trash everywhere and a complete lack of infrastructure or suitable housing. However, after searching for awhile we found the bus to Birqesh, which cost 2 pounds for the 18 mile trip. I was pretty pumped about that. The ride up was pretty awful as we rode by an irrigation ditch that was used as a garbage dump and just smelled awful. We also got a flat tire, and everbody else other than a Sudanese man who told us to stay and an old man who couldn’t exactly leave jumped into passing trucks. It was kind of disconcerting experience, but the driver eventually fixed the problem and we were on our way to the market.

It turned out we did have to pay the 20 pounds, not the 5 pounds that Lonely Planet had said. The market was not as bad as the book says. There were a lot of camels and the owners did beat the crap out of them, but I didn’t see any throat slitting and I was never bitten. So that’s all good. It didn’t even smell all that bad. We got a mini-bus back after a couple of hours and headed back to Zamalek. We didn’t get lunch and instead just relaxed around the apartment for the next few hours as we waited for Beer and Wings night and once there engorged ourselves in a feast.

We got a cab back and called it a good night overall, although we were quite stuffed.