Murni in Cairo, Oct 2005

Thought I'd post some pictures of my buying trip to Cairo, Egypt last October. Went with my father who goes there every couple of months on business... he's practically local! Anyways, I found Cairo as a place of rich and dense history, mad taxi rides and unexpected kindness from its' people. The traders that we dealt with constantly reminded us that, "my shop is your shop. Do whatever you want," and people on the streets kept welcoming us to Egypt with a resounding, "welcome!"

Pictures, pictures, pictures....

That's me and... uh, can't seem to remember his name but he's the manager of this Belly Dancing Costume shop. Look at the lovely costumes! It's a shame that Malaysian women are so malu about showing their bellies though. All my customers always ask for "modest" costumes and believe me, we scoured the whole of Cairo for ATTRACTIVE belly concealing costumes and came up with nothing! In the end, we had to design and commission our own costumes in Cairo. We should be getting them soon and I'll definitely post up pictures.

More beautiful costumes. The costumes you see here are probably by an Egyptian housewife or a grandmother to supplement their household income. These ladies have been making and sewing costumes almost all their lives and could probably do it in their sleep. Fact: it takes appoximately over 100+ hours to make a complete costume. Imagine that.

Cairo's famous market, Khan El-Khalili (I think that's how it's spelled). This is the best place to go to mingle with Egyptians and to get your various memorabilia. Also the site of last year's terrorrist bombing. No bombings when we went though. Whew!

Me again. This time at the Sphinx with a million other people. Poor dude lost his nose and beard, not to mention that he's been chipped, hacked and bombed. Now, tourists and touts litter at his feet and around the pyramids of Giza. It kinda cheapen the experience for me, sad to say. You're better off seeing these wonders on Discovery Channel.